I once had a professor in a psychology class who said there are two types of people in the world: those who take responsibility and those who place blame. I’ve seen it often in my day-to-day dealings with people, whether it’s in the workplace, in my social circle or within my own family. Lately, while digesting the political news, I’ve been thinking about that professor and what he had to say.
There is a strident quality to the voices on the right and it rises to nearly unbearable levels when placing all the blame for the sorry situation in which this country finds itself on President Obama and the Democratically controlled Congress. They scream about spending and how it’s going to take us down the road to bankruptcy. Odd, isn’t it, when we heard none of this during the Bush years of profligate spending. Back then it was okay, even good to deficit spend. Want to wage war? Don’t include it in the budget, just ask for emergency funds while holding our military members hostage to the whims of Halliburton, Blackwater and all the war profiteers, including the Profiteers in Chief, Bush and Cheney. Back then, there were no fingers pointed at those who were marching us down the Road to Ruin. The only fingers pointed were at people who were actually possessed of the capacity for reason and they were accused of being unpatriotic cowards. Those on the Republican side – the Right Wing side – never took responsibility for their actions unless it was for some stupid show like that “Mission Accomplished” debacle. And then, when it was shown that not only was the mission not accomplished, it was just the beginning of a quagmire in which we are still mired to this day, well, it wasn’t the idea of the White House to hang up that sign. Oh no. It was the overzealous military, so carried away with their victory. Never mind that George W. Bush donned a flight suit and strutted across the deck of that aircraft carrier like some bandy rooster with a sock stuck in his crotch.
Those finger pointers are all over message boards on the Internet as well. They’re deluded people who haven’t a clue about the real world and how it works but are angry and scared. They write what they think are their opinions without realizing that they are simply regurgitating the pap fed to them by people like Sarah Palin, who wouldn’t know a real issue if it bit her in the ass. This woman is now widely accepted as the leader of the Republican party by virtue of the fact that she’s the leader of the Tea Party movement, which, though touted as a grassroots movement, is really a front for monied interests like the Koch Brothers who can buy and sell most of us countless times over and regard us as little more than worker ants to do their bidding. Sarah Palin, who couldn’t even hack it as governor of Alaska for a full term and told everyone during the ill-fated McCain campaign that Alaska was the largest state in the union. Okay, maybe in square miles but Alaska has a population smaller than New Hampshire. And this woman is regarded as someone with a brain and to some, the capacity to lead this country. Heaven forbid!
So here’s my point. It’s time to decide which kind of person you are. Are you a finger pointer or are you one who takes responsibility? I hope it’s the latter and that you have voted and your vote was to continue to repair the damage done by the crazy element that has become so vocal. If you haven’t yet cast your vote, I implore you to make the time in your day on November 2 to go to your polling place and vote against taking us back down that Road to Ruin. We’ve just begun and the way ahead won’t be easy but it isn’t impossible. We just need to stay on target, remember how we got into this mess, remember why we voted for change and to stop acting like impatient children who want it all yesterday. We need to take the reins of responsibility, turn our backs to those who are laying blame and do the hard work necessary to return our country to the bright beacon it has always been to the world, to the land of opportunity for us and for our children.
I’m just saying…
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