A strange morality and lackluster leadership

A group of tea party people stood at an intersection in Studio City holding signs protesting “Big Government” and “Socialism.” The strange thing was many of them were retirees and judging by their attire, not that well off. Most of them rely on their monthly Social Security check and on Medicare. If the tea party actually succeeds in their political agenda, many of these elderly tea party supporters would find themselves destitute and without medical care in the old age.

Today Senator John McCain successfully stopped the repeal of DADT. Countless of members of the armed forces and their loved ones will continue to suffer as a direct result of his efforts. He and his allies will doubtlessly make various “fag” jokes discreetly in their private conversations. They will speak of a “victory for morality.” Yet, by strict scriptural standards [Mark 10: 11] John McCain is an adulterer, since he divorced his first wife and took another.

Looming on the horizon are the Mid-term Elections and it seems that the Democratic Party stands to suffer substantial losses. Political analysts offer various insights why this is the case. The state of the economy and high unemployment figures are identified by most as the principle reason for the anger of voters. Democrats are quick to identify “obstructionist Republicans” as the culprits for their inability to govern. There is an element of truth to that charge; however, it does not excuse the fact that the President has simply failed to lead.

If President Johnson had assumed the same attitude towards Civil Rights legislation that President Obama has assumed towards Health Care legislation, then Obama would probably never have been a Senator, let alone the President. Corporate interests and the senators they bought off effectively torpedoed a national Health Care Plan. Realize that this is an issue that directly affects all Americans and was the centerpiece of the Obama Administration’s agenda.

Only at the eleventh hour did Obama become directly visibly involved when it appeared as though any Health Care legislation might fail. What we got was a modest Health Care Reform bill. I am grateful for that; however, it was much less than what we could have obtained. Even now there are legal initiatives and legislative threats to destroy that modest reform, before Americans realize it actually is to their benefit in 2014 when the Reforms take full effect.

When I was in High School I read a novel by Alexander Solzhenitsyn entitled “August 1914.” It was set during the First World War and included a conversation between two Russian soldiers. A young soldier was lamenting that when a Russian soldier was wounded that there was no medical attention whereas, the German soldier was transported via ambulance to a fully staffed field hospital. The old soldier nodded his head in agreement and said “good, good.”

Exasperated the young soldier blurted out, “Why do you keep saying ‘good, good’ things are terrible and getting worse.” The old soldier smiled and quietly answered, “The worse things get, the sooner they’ll change.”