This column has questioned the truth or wisdom of some of our most famous and revered national and religious quotations. But there are some that even this column will not challenge. One is JFK’s famous “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” It seems more valid today than it was 50 years ago. How many of us remember it or think about its meaning?
Today we are facing many serious challenges to our well being. America has been digging out of a severe recession for three years now. More than 13 million Americans are out of work. Millions of homeowners are losing their homes owing much more for them than they are now worth. We seem held captive by OPEC, which sets oil prices affected by supply and demand as well as speculation and forces us to pay more when filling our cars. Some of us feel that we are not getting enough information from our mainstream media. Many of us feel that we are not getting the same advantages as others take for granted.
We want the government to help us.
If we are unemployed, we want the government to give us unemployment benefits for as much and as long as possible. We want our elected officials to fix our economy, which is affected by various global factors. If we have borrowed more than our homes are worth, we want the government to help us get the principal and interest rate reduced. If we have large cars and trucks and are being forced to pay a fortune to fill up, we want the government to do something to lower gas prices. If some, like the rich, are getting advantages that we aren’t, we want the government to fix the system so that we all get a fair deal. Many of us have lost faith in our elected officials to fix our country the way we want. Our government, like our very nation, appears fractured and moving in different directions. We fear that our representatives cannot be counted on to make the needed changes to make sure that our lives only get better.
What are we to do?
We could ask “what can we do for ourselves as well as our country?”
If we are unemployed, sending out resumes to get back into our former careers, we might consider other employment options. What else can we do that needs be done? We could get a specialized education doing a different kind of work. We could do work that people have said Americans won’t do like gardening, housecleaning, child care, manual labor, farming, building maintenance, dog walking and handy-person jobs. We could offer our services to our neighborhood as well as to the larger community.
But most of us are not unemployed. What can we do about the unemployment problem? If we run a company, we can refuse to outsource work to other countries. We could comply with federal law and hire only legal residents and citizens even for yard work or child care. We could go out of our way to buy products made in America, even if they cost a little more. When making calls to large corporations that outsource their customer service, we can ask to speak with someone working in America.
If we borrowed more than our home is currently worth, should we stop making payments and move out only when forced regardless of its effect on the neighborhood or our economy, not to mention our credit rating? When our homes were worth much more than we paid for them, should we have offered to pay the bank more? Do we have any personal responsibility for borrowing too much or too often to have something we could not afford? We could realize that the home is worth to us exactly what it was before the crash. It is not just an investment, it is a place to live in comfort and security. We could try to remember that homes were not always seen as profitable investments. Their value used to decline with age, like cars, refrigerators and washing machines. When we buy a new car or appliance on credit, as most of us do, we are immediately underwater. Not only are they worth less than we owe for years, when we sell them, if we do, we get much less than we paid. Should we immediately walk away from all these purchases?
We recently got a reduction in our payroll taxes. It amounts to, on average, about $2 a day per worker more in our pockets. We were excited to get this small amount because it would help us and the economy recover. Now gas prices are up by almost $.50 a gallon. We are in shock. It threatens to destroy our personal and national economic recovery, the media tells us. We hear that the increase is due in large part to speculations driven by media hyperbole. We watch interviews of our fellow Americans in the back of their large trucks and SUVs saying that this is outrageous. They say that the government should do something to lower prices at the pump. Is drilling the answer, even though the effects would take many years to realize?
It has been only a few weeks since the payroll tax cut extension was signed into effect meaning that the average worker will save $14 a week, but we have already forgotten. This additional amount per week would pay the additional $.50 per gallon for 28 gallons of gas per week. If we drive 60 miles a day (most of us don’t) and get 15 miles a gallon for the same seven days we would come out even. But there’s more. Are we driving a truck or SUV? Why? Is it just for work? If yes, can the additional cost be written off or passed on to the consumer of the services? If the truck is not needed for work, why have it? We could sell the SUV or pickup and buy a more practical family car. They get much better gas mileage and are easier and more fun to drive. Or can we reduce our driving by the percent of increase in the price per gallon? So a $.50 increase is about a 14% change from a $3.50 a gallon base. Can we cut our driving by 14%? We could do our errands more efficiently. We could carpool, take public transportation or even walk when possible? Could we cut waste in other areas, like spending four dollars a day on coffee at our favorite cafe?
Could we stop whining and do something?
And if we no longer trust our elected officials, we should work to replace them with people we trust more, if not completely. When we see what the conservatives in the Congress have been up to these last few years, many of us are starting to realize that more must be done. We must change the way we pay for elections, and should restrict lobbying to clear presentations of positions without the exchange of any money or favors so that our legislators are not tempted to prostitute themselves to special interests. We must also encourage our best and brightest to go into government service. In order to have enough best and brightest, we must significantly improve our education system. This would involve not only hiring, training and encouraging more great teachers, it would also mean changing our high school curriculum to better prepare our students for college and life. A better educated population should produce better voters as well as improved candidates. These are changes that we must know enough to care enough to fight for.
And if we believe that some are getting more advantages than the rest of us, we should insist on better coverage by the media and organize for changes in our tax code which is usually at the heart of economic and political inequity. ( This column has proposed a new, simple and fair tax code with no itemized deductions, just a standard one; treating all sources of income as equal; and with only five tax brackets ranging from 10% to a maximum of 30%. Please see this previous column online).
So maybe we, as a strong, self-reliant people, can stop complaining about our difficulties blaming the government for not doing more to help us, and instead can ask ourselves what can we do for ourselves and our nation?
Taking positive action to effect change is the best way to get over our depression about life’s cruelty and our own shortcomings.
So let us not ask what our government can do for us but rather discover, declare and demonstrate what we can do for ourselves and our country.
Today we are facing many serious challenges to our well being. America has been digging out of a severe recession for three years now. More than 13 million Americans are out of work. Millions of homeowners are losing their homes owing much more for them than they are now worth. We seem held captive by OPEC, which sets oil prices affected by supply and demand as well as speculation and forces us to pay more when filling our cars. Some of us feel that we are not getting enough information from our mainstream media. Many of us feel that we are not getting the same advantages as others take for granted.
We want the government to help us.
If we are unemployed, we want the government to give us unemployment benefits for as much and as long as possible. We want our elected officials to fix our economy, which is affected by various global factors. If we have borrowed more than our homes are worth, we want the government to help us get the principal and interest rate reduced. If we have large cars and trucks and are being forced to pay a fortune to fill up, we want the government to do something to lower gas prices. If some, like the rich, are getting advantages that we aren’t, we want the government to fix the system so that we all get a fair deal. Many of us have lost faith in our elected officials to fix our country the way we want. Our government, like our very nation, appears fractured and moving in different directions. We fear that our representatives cannot be counted on to make the needed changes to make sure that our lives only get better.
What are we to do?
We could ask “what can we do for ourselves as well as our country?”
If we are unemployed, sending out resumes to get back into our former careers, we might consider other employment options. What else can we do that needs be done? We could get a specialized education doing a different kind of work. We could do work that people have said Americans won’t do like gardening, housecleaning, child care, manual labor, farming, building maintenance, dog walking and handy-person jobs. We could offer our services to our neighborhood as well as to the larger community.
But most of us are not unemployed. What can we do about the unemployment problem? If we run a company, we can refuse to outsource work to other countries. We could comply with federal law and hire only legal residents and citizens even for yard work or child care. We could go out of our way to buy products made in America, even if they cost a little more. When making calls to large corporations that outsource their customer service, we can ask to speak with someone working in America.
If we borrowed more than our home is currently worth, should we stop making payments and move out only when forced regardless of its effect on the neighborhood or our economy, not to mention our credit rating? When our homes were worth much more than we paid for them, should we have offered to pay the bank more? Do we have any personal responsibility for borrowing too much or too often to have something we could not afford? We could realize that the home is worth to us exactly what it was before the crash. It is not just an investment, it is a place to live in comfort and security. We could try to remember that homes were not always seen as profitable investments. Their value used to decline with age, like cars, refrigerators and washing machines. When we buy a new car or appliance on credit, as most of us do, we are immediately underwater. Not only are they worth less than we owe for years, when we sell them, if we do, we get much less than we paid. Should we immediately walk away from all these purchases?
We recently got a reduction in our payroll taxes. It amounts to, on average, about $2 a day per worker more in our pockets. We were excited to get this small amount because it would help us and the economy recover. Now gas prices are up by almost $.50 a gallon. We are in shock. It threatens to destroy our personal and national economic recovery, the media tells us. We hear that the increase is due in large part to speculations driven by media hyperbole. We watch interviews of our fellow Americans in the back of their large trucks and SUVs saying that this is outrageous. They say that the government should do something to lower prices at the pump. Is drilling the answer, even though the effects would take many years to realize?
It has been only a few weeks since the payroll tax cut extension was signed into effect meaning that the average worker will save $14 a week, but we have already forgotten. This additional amount per week would pay the additional $.50 per gallon for 28 gallons of gas per week. If we drive 60 miles a day (most of us don’t) and get 15 miles a gallon for the same seven days we would come out even. But there’s more. Are we driving a truck or SUV? Why? Is it just for work? If yes, can the additional cost be written off or passed on to the consumer of the services? If the truck is not needed for work, why have it? We could sell the SUV or pickup and buy a more practical family car. They get much better gas mileage and are easier and more fun to drive. Or can we reduce our driving by the percent of increase in the price per gallon? So a $.50 increase is about a 14% change from a $3.50 a gallon base. Can we cut our driving by 14%? We could do our errands more efficiently. We could carpool, take public transportation or even walk when possible? Could we cut waste in other areas, like spending four dollars a day on coffee at our favorite cafe?
Could we stop whining and do something?
And if we no longer trust our elected officials, we should work to replace them with people we trust more, if not completely. When we see what the conservatives in the Congress have been up to these last few years, many of us are starting to realize that more must be done. We must change the way we pay for elections, and should restrict lobbying to clear presentations of positions without the exchange of any money or favors so that our legislators are not tempted to prostitute themselves to special interests. We must also encourage our best and brightest to go into government service. In order to have enough best and brightest, we must significantly improve our education system. This would involve not only hiring, training and encouraging more great teachers, it would also mean changing our high school curriculum to better prepare our students for college and life. A better educated population should produce better voters as well as improved candidates. These are changes that we must know enough to care enough to fight for.
And if we believe that some are getting more advantages than the rest of us, we should insist on better coverage by the media and organize for changes in our tax code which is usually at the heart of economic and political inequity. ( This column has proposed a new, simple and fair tax code with no itemized deductions, just a standard one; treating all sources of income as equal; and with only five tax brackets ranging from 10% to a maximum of 30%. Please see this previous column online).
So maybe we, as a strong, self-reliant people, can stop complaining about our difficulties blaming the government for not doing more to help us, and instead can ask ourselves what can we do for ourselves and our nation?
Taking positive action to effect change is the best way to get over our depression about life’s cruelty and our own shortcomings.
So let us not ask what our government can do for us but rather discover, declare and demonstrate what we can do for ourselves and our country.
Great post, John!
ReplyDeleteThanks Anne. I'm glad someone is reading this and I'm glad that it's you.
ReplyDelete