The Right Thing to Do

I am hopeful today after the passage of the health care reform yesterday. It is far from what I would like, but it is a start, as was Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid. It will evolve into what most Americans want and rely on. This is the right thing to do, as our President has often said.

What concerns me as I think about this fiercely independent spirit of the American people, is the nastiness and meanness and lack of generosity I perceive right now. When is the line crossed?

I am a direct descendant of John Adams who was vilified in his time. Seems he had some cause to be hated, but, he too, wanted to do the right thing. So this is nothing new, this vitriol. We have grown to be a huge and populous country with many agendas striving to be paramount. We must not forget our responsibilities to see beyond the personal needs and desires we all have. We need to look to doing the right thing.

Abortion! o.k. So personally I may be against it. In countries where the people have universal health care, abortion rates are far below ours. This is because young folks have access to free birth control. I wonder why there is such an outcry about this (by old men in gray suits, otherwise known as politicians)? I conclude that this is really a non-issue concocted to get votes for politicians who really do not have a clue. There is another agenda, and it is probably race.

It seems to me that there have been very few politicians these days who vote with their conscience. Like the financial wizards motivated by their greed, politicians are for the most part just seeing to getting themselves elected next time don't ask me about doing the right thing.

Seems we just love the media circus, Glen Beck and all the rest (of both parties). We are the internet generation!

I love America! I love our spirit and I do not want to live in Europe or wherever. I love the raggedness of us, our sassiness, our questions and our inappropriateness. But I wonder about our generosity of spirit in these days? Florida is at the bottom of the heap of states in philanthropic giving and volunteerism. What's happened? Have we become misers, hunkered down with our own issues and suspicious of change? Would any one of us really cast a cold eye on a tiny illegal Mexican immigrant child who needs medical attention and not step up to the plate? Would any one of us kick that homeless old man under a bridge? Would we help?

We need politicians to say "YES" to a few things they believe in. We need them to be responsible to their view of what is the Right Thing to Do. Looking at last night's proceedings in the House, it seemed like such a zoo!

Just thinking..