It's not just stay-cations, trimmed entertainment budgets, and difficulties meeting the staggering increases of college tuition that are affecting American families. Our current economic situation is causing a spike in domestic violence. http://www.ndvh.org/2009/01/increased-financial-stress-affects-domestic-violence-victims/
Children who grow up surrounded by violence become habituated to its existence. They often become abusers and victims themselves, continuing a cycle that may last for generations. Spousal abuse has not only increased, but also child abuse. Some hospitals are reporting twice as many shaken babies as a year ago. http://www.courierpostonline.com/article/20090411/NEWS01/904110357
The American home is becoming, more and more, a stressed-out climate of violence. Elder abuse is also up, and I would hazard a guess that abuse of dependents with disabilities may also be on the increase. http://www.boston.com/news/health/articles/2009/02/09/mass_elder_abuse_on_rise/
Cutting spending for social programs and working against initiatives that may help address the roots of these social ills are "anti-American family" actions. Increased funding for education, healthcare, unemployment benefits, and stimulus package initiatives aimed at assisting the ever-growing ranks of the unemployed aim to improve the lives of the children, elders, and parents in the American family. Wasteful spending on "pet projects" does need to be eliminated, as President Obama has stated within the last day or so. But, we need to get our priorities straight. American families are suffering, and so are families elsewhere in the world, due to the crisis in our economy. Our number one priority needs to be on ensuring that the weakest among us do not bear the brunt of the fallout.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Tea Party
Many of the 2500 attendees of the Las Vegas Tea Party including me wandered around Sunset Park unsure of where to find the focal point. In the hour leading up to the speeches dozens were scattered on the edges of the park with signs facing the road eliciting honks from passersby. More meandered in small groups, heads on a swivel looking for - something. Eventually we drifted toward a radio station van in the far corner of the park. We were obviously inexperienced at being a mob.
Why would so many right-of-center “silent majority” people enter a left-wing world of working themselves into a lather? They weren’t chafed enough to break windows and light fires like the anti-globalization movement (whatever that is) but managed to leave their homes and offices to listen to talk radio hosts and bloggers speak of taxes, deficits and government intrusion in our lives. These people were very angry, but in a lighthearted, jokey way.
A sign reading, “The Problem with Socialism is that Eventually You Run out of Other People’s Money” summed it up for me. Since the New Deal our elected officials have spent enormous sums on social programs and construction projects to buy votes. The abysmal track record of such boondoggles has elicited a collective decades-long yawn from the electorate. What’s changed in the past year is the government is bailing out entire industries with borrowed money and in some cases taking over ownership of private companies. Add in a trillion dollars in deficit spending, more than George W. Bush ever dreamed of, and you leave people wondering where this money will come from. Ask the guy with the “Don’t Tax Me, Bro” sign.
The funds for this bare-bones rally came from one man who paid the $200 permit fee. There was no rented stage, no elected official at the microphone and no marching orders from Fox News as CNN’s Susan Roesgen would have you believe. And definitely no money was spent on signs pointing to the van. The Republican Party wasn’t involved in these efforts evidenced by Chairman Michael Steele’s being denied a request to speak at the Tea Party in Chicago.
This seems to be the beginning of a larger movement as there is another round of tea parties planned for July 4th. We're mad as hell and we're not going to take it anymore... if you don't mind.
Why would so many right-of-center “silent majority” people enter a left-wing world of working themselves into a lather? They weren’t chafed enough to break windows and light fires like the anti-globalization movement (whatever that is) but managed to leave their homes and offices to listen to talk radio hosts and bloggers speak of taxes, deficits and government intrusion in our lives. These people were very angry, but in a lighthearted, jokey way.
A sign reading, “The Problem with Socialism is that Eventually You Run out of Other People’s Money” summed it up for me. Since the New Deal our elected officials have spent enormous sums on social programs and construction projects to buy votes. The abysmal track record of such boondoggles has elicited a collective decades-long yawn from the electorate. What’s changed in the past year is the government is bailing out entire industries with borrowed money and in some cases taking over ownership of private companies. Add in a trillion dollars in deficit spending, more than George W. Bush ever dreamed of, and you leave people wondering where this money will come from. Ask the guy with the “Don’t Tax Me, Bro” sign.
The funds for this bare-bones rally came from one man who paid the $200 permit fee. There was no rented stage, no elected official at the microphone and no marching orders from Fox News as CNN’s Susan Roesgen would have you believe. And definitely no money was spent on signs pointing to the van. The Republican Party wasn’t involved in these efforts evidenced by Chairman Michael Steele’s being denied a request to speak at the Tea Party in Chicago.
This seems to be the beginning of a larger movement as there is another round of tea parties planned for July 4th. We're mad as hell and we're not going to take it anymore... if you don't mind.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)