Begging For Change

The first time that I ever voted was during the Gore/Bush race where Gore basically got ripped off, more or less.  That was in 2000 and I was 33... and although pitiful that I waited that long to get involved in the political arena and voted, I was much happier then.

The movie 2012, as over-the-top ridiculous as it was, seems less so now, with the state of the world.  Wars and fighting, the economy of every country, religion, hunger, etc... all paint a pretty grim picture not only for the future generations, but for us as well currently.  Throw into it that the government structure is corrupt, over indulgent, greedy and mostly ineffective and it seems like any hope of change is futile and unrealistic.  And while I am a registered Democrat, I support the party that wants to step up to the plate and solve some of this, albeit Democrat or, ugh.... Republican.  But all it seems like happens is mud-slinging and purposely derailing any inititive.  To want to throw your hands up in the air, give up and tune it all out, sadly, seems like the most productive solution for sanity.

Today I saw a sticker on a truck that said "Thank you, President Bush"... for what, I thought (in a loud, scream)?  Adding some insight was the Reagan sticker below that one... and it started to make more sense to me.  I pride myself on being an adult.  So, even through the 8 disasterous years of the Bush era, had it made sense to march into the firey pits of hell to advance the country, I would have.  I wish that Republicans would do the same thing.  Sometimes I think... maybe watching normal news instead of Fox... or Rachel Maddow, John Stewart, Chelsea Handler, Bill Maher and the like isn't helping my disposition towards the world right now, although they do make me laugh at it, however I don't mind being put in check if I'm wrong.  The alternative... Beck, Palin,  Limbaugh, etc. doesn't seem like it'd help... just a hunch.  When I see a sticker like that still on a car, despite his terms going down in history as the absolute worse and him with the lowest approval rating and the state of the country that he  left... are these people fucking stupid, or what?  Or just too stubborn to admit that they were wrong?

I'm still on the fence about some of the things that the President is doing, but I have to believe that he knows what he is doing.  You can't please all of the people all of the time and you can't take eight years of destruction and fix it over night, especially with unemployment.  And maybe if we were a nation that didn't have a superiority complex and would actually do jobs instead of being unemployed, especially ones that we think are below us, then maybe we wouldn't have such a high rate.  And then get mad at a Mexican for doing it... it doesn't make any sense... you can't have it both ways.  Coming from a person who has done service jobs all my life, I can tell you that I am doing just fine because I don't think that I'm better than anyone else.

I have adopted a new mantra... be part of the solution instead of the problem.   I was reading an article in TIME magazine that gave me some new-found optimism and a new insight to what's going on.  The article was titled How the Stimulus Is Changing America.  The Republicans are eager to label and judge the stimulus effort as a job creating bill, which it is to a degree (creating 3 million jobs) and, with the current unemployment rate, maybe it's not giving the people in this country that need instant gratification, any immediate satisfaction.  But it's so much more than that... and how it will change the country for the future, you have to realize that it is for the future that it's designed... and much-needed.  In fact, it's the most ambitious energy legislation  in history, pouring $90 billion into clean energy including investments in a smart grid, energy efficiency, electric cars, renewable power from the sun, wind and earth, cleaner coal, advanced biofuels, and building factories to manufacture green stuff here in the U.S.  Here are some of the not-so-immediate things it is trying to accomplish:

- Effort to weatherize homes, trade in cars and appliances
- Triple the number of smart electric meters in homes
- Quadruple the number of hybrids in the Federal auto fleet
- Tenfold increase in funding to expand access to broadband
- High-speed passenger rail network
- Race to the Top grants to promote accountability in public schools
- Move health records into the digital age, reducing errors and drug interactions
- Back fit 75% of federal buildings to be energy efficient
- Cut electric auto batteries by 50%, making them just as cheap as gas counterparts

Polls suggest that the actual contents of the Recovery Act are popular, but the idea of the stimulus itself remains a toxic subject.  Today it's judged by jobs... but in ten years, it'll be judged by whether it transformed our economy.  Right in the definition of  Conservative is their inability or non-desire for change of any kind.  The opposite is written about Liberals.  Obama, in his acceptance speech, offered Hope and Change... not Hope FOR Change.  Doing nothing to do your part to support your President and country and bucking and sabotaging progress... isn't going to get you anywhere except sitting on your couch hoping for change... and possibly begging for it on the streets.