WTF has happened to us?

It has been a long, hard week.

Too many people have died both here and abroad. I am tired and depressed and my entire frame of mind was summed up by the morning DJ on WXPN. "I don't know how you parents do it anymore. If anyone had told me twenty years ago that going to school and eating spinach would be fatal I would have asked them what they were smoking."

She's right you know. Our world has been turned upside down lately. American has always been the 'land of oppurtunity', home of the free, land of the brave. Americans were decent, hardworking people. They were kind and generous and often looked upon with jealousy by other nations. But that has changed, hasn't it?

Now it is America who has decided that war for any reason or even no reason is just fine. It is not Saddam who is running the torture camps and rape rooms but America instead. Our children are beyond our protection and in many cases beyond control. Predators of all shapes, sizes and inclinations roam not only our streets, but our schools. I cannot be the only person who sees this.

I have heard some people rant and wail that it is the fault of mass media, or the liberals or MTV or feminists or what have you. Personally I think it boils down to poor management of resources and the destruction of the middle class. The middle class has always born the burden of carrying this country. We work to support ourselves and others, our tax dollars were used to fund 80% or more of the country. Everything from NASA research to welfare to military programs. But where is the middle class now?

The middle class is extinct. Now it is a two income family trying to scrape by. The parents are out working, some of them holding more than one job just to keep the family above water; This means that many of the children are raising themselves. I'm sure most of us would agree that this is NOT a good thing either for the child or the parent.

And what about those tax dollars? The top 5% of the richest get cuts, the rest have to make up for it, but the money is NOT being reinvested in the country. It goes to Haliburton and other no-bid contracts. It goes to line the pockets of dishonest Congressmen who vote against the best interests of their constituants. Money is taken away from schools, social programs and health programs; leaving scores of people without a safety net. Leaving mentally unstable people to walk our streets without medication, counselling or oversight. More families slipping through the crack, living on the streets or in cars, becoming more desperate and more depressed with each passing day. More people turning to drugs to temporarily ease the pain of knowing they have no where to turn but the grave or crime.

Is this the sole reason for the ills of America? Sweet zombie jesus on a pogo stick NO. But I think it is a good place to start. With a little effort and a good financial planner we can create a fairly big impact in a reasonably short period of time. And a huge revamp of Welfare does need to be addressed but that is a whole 'nother post.