A National Malaise

For sometime now I’ve felt that the American public is in some sort of malaise. Of course it started with the shock of the attacks of September 11, 2001. Ever since then we, as a country, have been just going through the motions. We bought into the rhetoric of Bush and company that we have to strike someone, so we went along with the war in Afghanistan and Iraq. Even the congress, first the Republicans and now the Democrats seem to go along with the flow. What ever Bush wanted we went along.

Now the crises are mounting. The mortgage mess was caused in part by the Republican attitude to let the free market do its thing. Now the housing market is in the toilet and credit is tightening. Oil and gas prices are hitting the roof. We complain but still we saddle up our big SUV to the pump and suck the gas down. Healthcare is a looming crisis if not already. Our population is getting older and health costs are spiraling. What’s the plan? Well, let everyone buy health insurance, says McCain.

Food prices are next. We decided to divert some food production to making biofuel. Now with higher gas prices, just getting the biofuel to a station will cost more. Great idea!

Now Bush wants to start a fight with Iran. Is he dense? The military is stretched to the breaking point, we can’t pay for the mess in Iraq and now we want to start another war?

And the media have themselves in a snit because Obama said some people are “bitter.” Maybe angry is a better word.