A pre-boomer’s thoughts about hope and change
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Two years ago, at just about this point on the pre-election calendar, people of all ages were wearing pins , donning T-shirts and slapping stickers on their cars in support of the idea of hope and change as the battle cry for fixing whatever was wrong with America.
Today, there is growing anger among many regarding the attitudes and policies of those they elected. Recent pools indicate that two-thirds (66.6%) of likely voters believe we’re on the wrong track, yet the train keeps on rolling faster and faster toward possible disaster. How could things go so bad so quickly?
Of course, we all recognize there’s a difference between how well politicians campaign and how well they perform in office. I voted in my first election the year Jack Kennedy ran, 1960. You had to be 21 to vote back then. As with our current president, JFK had charisma, he excited people (especially younger ones) and he was a breath of fresh air in staid, old Washington. However, his work was cut short by an assassin’s bullet.
In 2008, the idea of change appealed to the majority of voters on election day. But the concept of change means different things to different people. To some change was a promise to clean up Washington and make it more transparent. Others believed change to mean giving the government back to the people by listening to them and trying to meet their expressed needs. And for another group change meant fixing the nation’s problems, real and perceived, which would require some restructuring of the current system.
Most citizens did not understand that change would mean out-of-control spending, a worsening economy, increased unemployment, collapse of the housing market, higher taxes and running up a national debt that’s so big our grandchildren and great grandchildren will be paying for it throughout their entire lives. And, while all this was occurring, we were fighting two long-standing wars, found ourselves unable to handle home-grown disasters like the Gulf oil spill and were not able to stop the flow of illegal’s at the borders let alone deal with those already in this country.
The above problems, as well as others too numerous to mention, were not created by one person, or even one party, and did not all happen within one year. However, as in the past, those in power get the accolades as well as the blame. This is why so many incumbents or establishment candidates from both parties are in real trouble this year. Because it is not a national election, past voting records and current issues will be viewed more carefully by state and district voters. And party preferences can be trumped by candidates deemed more trustworthy and better qualified to tackle what’s facing us.
So, a big change can be expected this fall, in the U.S. Congress and in many state houses across the country. It will be a people’s election, one where change will be instigated from the bottom up instead of from the top down. And, one thing is certain, if the newly elected representatives don’t get the people’s work done to our satisfaction, these politicians will be voted out of office the next time we go to the polls. Because in the United States, government is supposed to work for us not the other way around.
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