Back in August of 2010, when I was living in Columbia, SC - before my life was laid waste by a young woman with a serious mental illness - when I was the Columbia Conservative Examiner, I wrote an opinion piece.
It was called "Sometimes you just need a new one."
It bears repeating here. And I'll tell you why afterwards.
My five-year old grandson came up to me with a small inflatable basketball. He asked me to blow it up. I suspected that there was a hole in it but I went ahead and wore out my lungs blowing the darn thing up anyway. Sure enough, there was a small leak in it. Slowly, it began to deflate again.
"Sorry, pal," I explained to him. "It won't stay inflated. It has a hole in it." I then squeezed on the ball to show him where the air was coming out. He took the shriveling plastic globe and looked at it for a second. Then he said, "I know how to fix it."
"You can open it up,” he thoughtfully explained to me. “And put money inside. That will fix it."
I explained that putting money in it would not fix the hole. But he insisted it would. I then showed him the tube and said money would not fit in there.
"Yes, it will," he insisted. Then he looked around, spied a dime and said, "It just has to be a little money."
I took the dime and showed him it would not fit in the tiny tube.
"Sorry, pal," I explained. "Money won't fix the problem." Sadly, he took the ball, looked at it for a second then cheerfully turned to his brother and said, "Wanna go play in our room."
And off they went, deflated ball forgotten on the floor. Ah, the resilience of youth.
Then I wistfully wondered why Democrats are not so easily taught. You can show them the tube, explain that not only will the money not fit into the tube, it won't fix the problem. And they will keep trying to shove that dime or penny or quarter into the hole and insisting it will fit and it will fix the problem.
The stimulus money, what little was actually spent trying to stimulate anything, was a total bust. But what do they (those in power - aka the Democrats and the Obama Administration) want to do? They want to keep trying to shove money into that tube. Even if they force the tube wide enough to accept the dime, no amount of money is going to cover up a hole in the ball. It may sit on it for a little while, keeping some air from escaping. But in the long run, the air will still keep whistling out of the hole, the money will shift, and the initial problem will not get fixed.
And then you have the problem of closing the hole you widened to get that dime through in the first place.
The only way to fix a hole in a plastic ball is to use the right patch for the job, wait for it to set, then slowly re-inflate the ball to make sure the patch stays. And sometimes, you have to just accept the fact that the ball is not going to be fixed and you need to just go ahead and get a new one.
But as much as some politicians act like a five-year old, we just have to accept the fact that they're not as smart. And we have to just go ahead and get some new ones. Politicians that is, not five-year olds.
Now, the reason I bring this back up, because the economy is still in the toilet. The whole has still not been patched and the powers that be thing it needs MORE money shoved into it. Not only are they delusional, but they are using the problems in this country to consolidate power into their own hands and OUT of the hands of the people.
Don't get me wrong. Both parties are playing these stupid games of consolidation. Both parties are steering America off a cliff. The Obama Administration with its stupid politics of fiscal ruin and European style revision. It didn't work for them, it sure as HELL is not going to work here.
AND the Grand Old Party is doing with controlling manipulation and sneaky politics.
AND BOTH PARTIES are doing it with the extreme division of this great nation.
Look, it takes the heart of a liberal and the common sense of a conservative to find and administer solutions. Compassion to want to help those in need and a steely eye to make sure those who would take advantage of another's compassion to make sure there is the means to help those in need.
You can agree or disagree. I don't care. But if you want this country to regain its footing as the greatest nation on the earth and begin leading the way again, then you need to stop listening to all those spinners out there and start thinking for yourself. If I get you to at least do that, than I will consider this time well spent. But hey, this is just me, as usual, Thinking Out Loud.
Have a great day.
Charles
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