Where Have All The Good Men Gone?

There are so many problems, and yet no one is addressing them.  Beyond just our immediate economic issues, which are about to be made worse from rising gas prices that will drive up food prices, there are huge global issues that we need to consider.  We need leadership that is willing to step up, and start us back on the path of success.  Even China is working towards energy independence.  They know that we need to get to the point where we can run the world on renewable energy.  

All of our politicians are nothing more than self-absorbed narcissist.  They aren't doing anything that is good for the people or good for the world.  Gone are the days when we had forward thinking men who would step up to the challenge of moving America closer and closer to perfection.  The world is changing and we can either change with it or we can be left behind.  There is something almost magical that happens with people when they receive a liberal education.  Access to worldly knowledge makes you a better human being.  The more people we educate the better we make society.  If we add other securities such as gainful employment, living wages, affordable food and housing, health care, and other safety nets, then we can truly move closer to a peaceful world.   This is something FDR knew. 

From FDR's 1944 State of the Union Address:

This Republic had its beginning, and grew to its present strength, under the protection of certain inalienable political rights -- among them the right of free speech, free press, free worship, trial by jury, freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures. They were our rights to life and liberty. We have come to a clearer realization of the fact, however, that true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. "Necessitous men are not free men." People who are hungry, people who are out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.

In our day these economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. We have accepted, so to speak, a Second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all -- regardless of station, or race, or creed. Among these are:

The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries, or shops or farms or mines of the nation;

The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;

The right of farmers to raise and sell their products at a return which will give them and their families a decent living;

The right of every business man, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;

The right of every family to a decent home;

The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;

The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, and sickness, and accident and unemployment;

And finally, the right to a good education.

Another interesting tidbit of American history is that I think coincides with this: in the Federalist Paper No. 84, Hamilton actually argues against putting the Bill of Rights into the Constitution.  He felt that it would be interpreted as the only rights that people have.  It seems perhaps they should have heeded his warning.  Today, a large portion of the society would like to take us backward to the "Guilded Age" in which only the wealthy had a chance at success.  A time of lax regulations and no organized labor.   

The progressive vision is lost from American politics.  No one is looking into the future, or preparing for the inevitable.  Our society has become a man eat man world with little concern for the ramifications of our actions.  We have lost our compassion and humanity.  Instead of working towards creating systems that reach the most amount of people, we blame the have-nots for their lot in life.  Without really looking at the bigger picture.  We value money over compassion for our fellow man.  I hope that in the wake of this crisis that tomorrow's leaders will step up, and bring some humanity back to governance.