The road ahead for America

To me, having had the opportunity to listen to Obama's speech on the economy...and now hearing the pundit patrol out there making commentary, I am struck by my day-after response to his win in the Presidential election.

Determination.

I, and the revellers around me, on Nov. 4 were frenzied. We partied till dawn, or so it seemed. Actually, I was at the David Ford show, 'I like America', playing a drunk working class dude who got off work and voted. A reality character...it's hard to explain, but for anyone who was at the show, I wasn't really drunk and my name isn't Ephrain. N-E-Way when the results were announced, I booked it home to celebrate the win with my honey-pie.

But in the morning, I was struck with the heavy responsibility we face. I was struck with the fact that we are in a position where the data isn't really all that recent on how to combat our flaged-out economy. Wow. We are going to the moon again, only at home.

I've had my days of blatant emotion, seeing Obama on TV and seeing the remaining vestiges of the election campaign. A dizzying panoply of joy washed over me from time to time.

But, today, like most days in this transition, I am imbued with equal parts resolve and fear. Fear of the unknown. I fear the personal outcome, of poverty and strife and struggle against odds I do not know, for me and my friends, and you, my friends.

The resolve to trust and move forward is part of what the campaign was all about. Yes, I am living the recession, and some of my friends are even worse off, right now. But there are positives to our situation. The sluffing off of the unnecessary baggage, the chance to make new choices and choose a different path, I think, is the great boon we are facing.

Americans have a chance to change course. It used to be the bad thing to do, changing course was the cowards way out, it was said. But why do should we continue our path of lowest common denominator? Why, when we know it hasn't worked? So this country, filled with enterprising individuals have the opportunity to take the opportunity to move ahead with humanity.

Imagine, here we have an opportunity to live and profit, for that matter, on making humanity better. Truly following the edict of managing our Eden is the chance we have here.

Why has it been that we haven't cared about the Earth in the actions we have taken? I guess it's been someone else's job. We have left it up to the general populace to make the world a better place, we have placed it upon the head of the Free Market, a world filled with profiteering, immorality and vice and corruption.

In a tomb called "The Entrepreneurial Venture". budding entrepreneurs are told, in effect that Morals don't matter. Ethics are nice, but those who skirt the rules of Humanity are the winners.

I have found it to be true in limited, gaming activities, that you can make choices to take the path of "the closed fist", where the weak are meant to be preyed upon, and do very well...and the only consequences are to your psyche...and if your brain is not wired that way...it may be that there are no consequences. You are free to lie and cheat and steal from your neighbor and even if you get caught, there are protections that leave you absolved, and not only that, in a better position to move ahead. True enough.

But the consequences to our society, any society...truly, our humanity are severe and dire when this happens.

Lies spread that this is the way it is. This is the way it must be. To each their own, forget the rest. Take care of yourself. Those who falter deserve their fate.

One thing though. Why is fate part of the equation? Why does fate come into the consequences of people who have little say in how their lives are laid out? If fate conquers your every attempt to eek out an existence, why must there be a punishment for that?

I think those who say that there must be no help for less fortunate, that this is Communism, or socialism are lying to themselves and me and you. A government must protect its people. Protection is not just security, that psychological sense of safety, it also is allowing humans to provide for their lives, so that they may live out their days unmolested by poverty.

We must allow ourselves to balance ourselves out, as certainly, we are entitled to live how we choose. It isn't about idleness and procrastination right now. We have changed our welfare structure so that it is very difficult, even a JOB unto itself, to remain on welfare. Even the tainted morals of those who prey upon other people can be protected, But there must be a balance.

There has to be a low water point, to ensure that we are neither caught in a drought, nor overwhelmed in a flood. Pain and suffering are ways in which we can feel joy and all the positives become more poignant, but in no way should we allow our neighbor to, especially when we have the resources to obstruct this course, go hungry, live with no shelter and have to beg to survive.

There has to be a balance. There has to be a more equitable bottom line.

There are so many things that have to be put into place to ensure the well-being of our populous.

It's not a call to share the wealth at the detriment of your life and livelihood. Business can thrive and profits can happen at the same time as we are allowing for everyone to live in our humanity. Allowing for everyone to pursue those edicts penned in the Declaration of Independence.

So, yeah, there's a lot of work to be done. A zeitgeist of change in a decade, rather than lifetimes. Lets get back to doing what we have been trying to do for hundreds of years, caring about us, and those whom we are charged to care for.

Compassionate Conservatism, maybe the real definition is yet to be gained.

This is not a Liberal slant, to care for others. It is more than conservative to protect our environment, rather, our Earth. It is more than conservative to make sure that your charge is maintained.

So stimulus plan? Fine, if we have to make an incentive for our culture to work toward making our country a land that promotes, Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.

We must work together and stem the ebbing of our life-force. We must be strong for each other. We must meet, shake hands with and walk through the ghost of our fear of our neighbors and their ideas to pursue their dreams.

From now on my hue is Purple.