This Election is About Our Nation's Survival

Are we currently in a recession or a depression? That question remains to be answered as we watch the stock market's mostly downward spiral.

Will the housing market right itself? Another question without an easy answer. For those who bought their home a decade ago and who plan to live in it for another decade, they may not see the huge financial gains made in mid-decade, but they will probably come out ahead. For those who bought in 2003-2006, their home's value may take a long time to reach the level they paid. That is a sad outcome for those who weren't paying attention to the news, but was forseeable for those who were aware of the economic climate and likely outcome.

The stock market fall and the declining housing market were both predictable, and it didn't take a financial whiz to realize it. We have been spending like there was no tomorrow. Now, we will all be paying the price because of lack of loan sources, lowering limits on existing credit cards, and an economy that will affect small businesses as well as large as they face the fact that without a source of money, they must layoff employees and some even close their doors.

The era of greed is over! The upcoming era may be about surviving through some very tough times.

This isn't written to scare you, but everyone that can, must start taking financial responsibility for their financial decisions. And I realize that there are some people who are already hurting too much to be able to help themselves. We must all become sensitive to the families and individuals who are in desperate straits and need our's and our government's help. But we also have to realize that the government, our government, is now in financial straits, and we may all need to step up to the plate and be willing to pay more in taxes. If we don't, we may find the eventual cost is too steep to ever pay. China basically owns us now. We, the greatest, most successful example of a democracy, the most powerful country in the history of the world, could soon be on our knees begging for mercy.

This election is important. The financial policies of the current administration have been disastrous for our nation, and we must NOT elect representatives and a president who will continue those same or similar policies. We need a really intelligent person to run this country, one who has chosen a running mate that offers more than cutesy, folksy or simplistic declarations. After all, that person will be only a heartbeat away from the presidency. And that's why we also need a president who has the best chance of living through his term. This is not ageism on my part. It's just plain old common sense!

While some of you may not believe that things can get worse than they are now - believe me, they can and will if a wise choice is not made in this election. This is not an election where we can afford to elect a candidate based upon emotions. This election is about our nation's very survival.

How Will The 2008 Election Impact History?

As the election of 2008 approaches, it becomes apparent that this will be a campaign filled with unprecedented fear-mongering and hateful lies. So how do we, as voters, separate the truth from lies?

Well, we can all watch every speech by Obama and McCain that is televised so we’ll know what, exactly, each one says. But watching every speech takes enormous amounts of time and it requires undivided attention so that we don’t simply catch a few words or phrases here and there. And as a matter of fact, so far, we in this household have watched all the speeches. We feel we owe it to ourselves and the future of this country to make sure we vote for the most honest, most competent, most ethical and moral candidate, so that’s why we’ve spent so much time in front of the television this campaign.

We’re constantly receiving emails from people trying to enlighten us on their own political biases. Why, we don’t know, because most of our acquaintances know that we take our responsibilities as citizens seriously, and never believe anything we receive by email until we’ve followed up and checked out the facts. Most times, we find these emails to be false, or to be based on part of a statement made by a candidate that leaves out the most important words in the statement. Maybe our acquaintances are simply checking to see if we’re awake?

Political ads are the worst source of truthful information, so we might as well all hit our mute buttons during these ads because, unless the candidates are talking about the issues (the economy, the war in Iraq, energy prices, etc.), we’re not listening. I want to know what the candidate, if elected president, will do about the issues that involve us, concern us, and affect our future, and I want the truth!

So how can you know what’s true and what’s not without spending hours in front of the TV? There is a nonpartisan Web site that checks email rumors and TV commercials to find out which are true or false. You can find it at www.factcheck.com. And of course, you can also find reports on urban legends at www.snopes.com., which checked out 31 emails about Obama and Clinton and found that only two were completely accurate. Most were flat-out lies.

In an article on factcheck.org, Lori Robertson reports that David Emery, who checks rumors and facts pertaining to the election as author of About.com's Urban Legends page, notes a decidedly anti-Democrat tilt to the bulk of the e-mail chatter. Does this mean that Republicans are meaner, their numbers are larger, or they have more leisure time to spew out hateful, divisive messages? Or does it mean that Democrats are less passionate, or they have less time to send out emails? Emery also says that less than one-tenth of what's circulating out there at any given time turns out to be 100% true. “A substantially larger portion – maybe around half of all the emails or a little more – contain a mixture of facts and falsehoods."

If you are truly concerned about the future of the United States, realize that your vote does count and that this election will make history, no matter which way it turns out. Either we'll have a black president (albeit he's one-half white and was raised by his white family) for the first time ever, or we'll have a woman vice-president, also for the first time.

Also consider the positions of the candidates and how their platforms stack up with or against the Bush administration. Will they continue the policies of the past eight years, or will they represent real change from the past eight years? And consider how their decisions might impact the future of the world. Whatever the newly elected president's policies or decisions, they will also go down in history someday.

We all have the opportunity to influence history with our vote.

Is the Cold War that Influenced a Generation, Back?

Growing up in the late ‘40s and ‘50s, the Cold War created a constant sense of danger in our young lives. It was our boogie-man under the bed. Everywhere there were daily reminders—from air raid sirens that blasted at noon each day to the “duck and cover” drills at school. Nuclear annihilation was a constant fear as conflicts between the United States and U.S.S.R. threatened to escalate into a full-scale war. And that would mean one country or the other would use “the Bomb” in order to win.

We children didn’t know if we would live to see adulthood. Heck, we didn’t even know if we would make it until tomorrow! Fear and anxiety among those of us whose families discussed the news of the day was palpable as we said our prayers each night and climbed into bed.

Even if the Cold War wasn’t discussed at home, social studies classes in school reminded us of the threat.

As some of us reached adulthood during those years and later in the ‘60s and ‘70s, the concept of “zero population growth” took hold as we wondered what kind of future we could actually offer our children. We couldn’t promise them a peaceful existence, nor could we even guarantee a future. That was only one result of the Cold War.

The Boomer generation reached their teens as a very conflicted group of young people: those who thought it might be possible to achieve lasting peace by becoming social activists; and those who ignored the dark cloud and lived as though the tomorrows were an endless canvas upon which they could paint their ideal life. Even with contrasting opinions, most young adults realized that the world situation was serious and became more involved in politics than any previous generation.

In the late ‘80s, a huge sigh of relief was breathed as our enemy in the Cold War, the U.S.S.R., started to disintegrate. Would world peace finally become a reality?

We hoped so, but the one constant in the history of the world is change, and unfortunately, what goes around almost always comes around again. Fast forward 20 years, and once again Russia is trying to assert its power by invading a smaller country that declared its independence from Russia only two decades ago.

How did this happen? Did Russia decide the time was ripe to strike while the United States was distracted by two wars and its President was in China enjoying the Olympics? Is it that Russia wants to assure its access to the oil fields in Georgia? After all, while they were rebuilding their power, the United States had started making inroads into their previous territory by providing military help and training to Georgian soldiers. Was the United States there because of the oil?

It does appear that oil is the commodity over which future wars will be fought.

But now we have to ask ourselves, is the Cold War starting up again? It would certainly appear to be a possibility. It seems that there will always be something to fight about as long as there are people on this earth—just as there has always been. We can only pray that our children and grandchildren won’t have to live with the constant, crippling fear that defined our lives.

Stories that Define the Boomer Generation

Memories of the past. That’s what I prefer to call recent history. The word history conjures up painful sessions of learning boring dates, names, and useless information that couldn’t possibly have been of importance to me.

Now that I’m an adult I realize just how valuable knowledge of our country’s and the world’s history is. In fact as a civilized society, we cannot proceed with courage and conviction without knowing what has happened in the past. So history is extremely important to our very survival.

Since my school days, there’s been one important change in how I relate to history, and that is because I have now lived through several decades of lots of important stuff. All of a sudden, since this is the Baby Boomer era we’re talking about, HISTORY IS HOT!

In my anthology, Looking Back: Boomers Remember History from the ‘40s to the Present, 20 writers (including myself) share stories of growing up through the greatest, most triumphant and most terrifying of times.

As children, we faced the polio epidemic, which forced our parents to keep us at home to avoid crowds so that we didn’t become victims of a horrifying disease that could cripple us, or worse yet, force us to live in an iron lung for the rest of our lives. Today a Tennessee woman who had been in an iron lung for nearly 60 years and whose story was mentioned in Looking Back, died due to a power outage that shut down the machine that had kept her alive for all these years. Dianne Odell managed to finish high school, attend some college, and write a children’s book—all while encased inside the iron monster. Luckily for most of us, a vaccine was discovered in the early ‘50s that prevented polio so that we, as children, could once again enjoy swimming, movies, and the other joyous activities of summer.

We also lived in fear of the Cold War, Communism, and the BOMB. One writer poignantly recalls living in constant fear and vowing that she would do something about it when she grew up. And she did, which you can read about in the book.

Our world changed as integration and civil and voting rights for black citizens became a pressing issue, finally lifting them out of their second-class status that had existed since the end of the Civil War. I was there when Little Rock Central High became the first Southern high school to be integrated, and when President Eisenhower sent in the 101st Airborne Division to protect the rights of nine black students and ensure security amid swirling threats of violence and mob protests. But mine isn’t the only story of those times. Two other classmates also write about their memories of that frightening time.

Then President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. That November day in 1963 stunned and shocked our nation and destroyed any illusions of security we might have felt. Next came the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, civil rights leader, and a few weeks later, the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, brother of John F. Kennedy and a candidate, himself, in the upcoming presidential election. We all had to wonder what was to become of our beloved country and us?

The major tragedy of those times was the Vietnam War and the tremendous anger and violent protests it generated among the Boomers. Suddenly our streets were filled with young and old protestors and hippies who voiced their opposition to a war that was decimating the numbers of boys and young men. Some protests were peaceful, but many violent, radical groups were also at work during the war. We could never be sure whether our society could withstand the onslaught of opposition by angry young Americans. Many young people marched and others dropped out of society, choosing communal living and drugs to numb their pain. The ‘60s and early ‘70s were both sad and exciting times to live through.

To have been alive to witness history being made during those decades presented an opportunity to those of us who were young to seriously contemplate how we each might make a difference in the world. And even those of us who sat on the sidelines were affected in lasting ways that will remain forever etched in our minds.

Yes, history is hot when you can picture the past vividly through the lenses of those who lived through it. And that’s what Looking Back offers readers: 24 terrific, poignant and very personal stories by those who lived through the Boomer era and truly know what happened then. Read the book and you’ll understand the events and moments that defined the Boomer generation. And maybe you’ll understand why.

Will the Current Recession Make History?

Folks like me have experienced the ups and downs of the economy over several decades, but a recession is always a shock when it hits the middle class. Certainly I can’t know the horrors of surviving the Great Depression during the ‘30s, but my parents and grandparents suffered terribly and survived the worst economy the United States has ever experienced. It affected their entire lives. Will we see the same type of depression happen in our lifetimes?

Unfortunately, none of us can know how the current recession and raging inflation will end. Will the economy get worse before it gets better? And how much worse must it get before everyone in the middle class is affected by the blows. Certainly those Boomers who planned to use their real estate to fund their retirements will have to postpone retiring to the leisurely life. Most will have to work into old age, that is, if they can find a job.

Last night on the news, a story featured middle class women who have been forced by the downturn in the economy to live in their cars. And this was in wealthy Santa Barbara, California! One woman had been a notary public with lots of business when houses were selling and her services were needed to notarize financial documents. Then with the economy on the skids, she lost her job, and with it her home.

She’s 67 years old and has a teenage daughter who had to go live with her friends. Meanwhile, the woman draws a social security check and has a part-time job paying $8.00 per hour, which means she earns about $1400 per month. Still, it’s not enough to rent even a small studio apartment. You see, the average rent for a tiny one-room apartment in that part of California is $1600 per month. That’s why the woman is forced to live in her car. Each night, she has to store some of her belongings under her car so there’s room for her and her two dogs in the back of her SUV. This is a woman who should be enjoying her retirement today instead of scrambling for a place to live and enough to eat.

What does that say about the United States and Americans? And for any racists who read this and seek to brush her story aside because you think she might have been an illegal alien or a minority, no, she was caucasian. Race has nothing to do with the status of the homeless in America today.

Santa Barbara is one of the few communities that recognizes the homeless problem and has set aside some parking lots for those who must live in their cars. One of those lots is restricted at night to women who call their cars, home. And they have to be out before 7 AM before businesses need the parking spaces. These people are lucky—at least they’ve been able to hang onto their cars. But what about the many others who are left with nothing but the clothes on their backs?

So will this be a historic recession that makes history? Thousands, and maybe millions of Americans are homeless. Millions are jobless. Millions lack basic health insurance. What will happen to them? Will those Americans who say that everyone has a responsibility to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps finally realize that some people don’t even own boots, nor do they have hope of ever owning a pair? Will those Americans finally vote for candidates who offer a realistic solution for the jobless, homeless, insurance-less families, or do they still believe that poverty is each person’s own problem, and certainly not theirs?

The only thing that can prevent the recession from growing deeper and becoming a major historical event is if elected officials face up to the problem and bring unnecessary government spending under control, all while offering a helping hand to those who find themselves in dire straits through no fault of their own. We are our brothers' keepers, although there seem to be a large number of Americans who no longer see it that way!

We live in a unique place in history, when our government is waging war in a foreign land for questionable reasons. There were no terrorists in Iraq until Saddam was brought down, so while some in our country feel smug because they (we) “saved the Iraqi people from the brutality of Saddam’s regime,” the fact is that most Iraqis hate our country because now their homeland is overrun with terrorists and insurgents. Thousands of Iraqis have been killed as well as thousands of our own soldiers.

No, this war was not fought for Iraq’s benefit. Instead, it is making American war profiteers, oil companies, oil speculators, and some of our top elected leaders, rich while America sinks deeper into debt. And all of this is happening while taxes for the wealthy are being cut. Supposedly, cutting taxes for the wealthy has a trickle down effect. I would ask the homeless, jobless, and insurance-less, and even those still in the middle class if any of that trickle down effect has reached them lately?

America’s middle class is paying all of the costs. The question is how long will our citizens willingly accept the status quo before they vote to replace those in charge? The recession is not simply a problem for people who are having a hard time getting by. When the middle class falls, and it eventually will if there’s no serious commitment to make changes, America’s system of democracy will fold. You see, our unique middle class is what makes our system of government a democracy. In fuedal societies, there are only rich and poor. There is no middle ground. And if our middle class falls, this recession with accompanying inflation will surely become a historic event that will be long remembered for the folly of our leaders who misused their power.

It's up to all of us to hold our leaders accountable. It is within our power to control history.

Politics Will Determine Our Future

This is a long post, but I hope you will stay with it.

Since it is a political season with the upcoming elections taking place in six months, it is important that voters understand how their vote will affect their own interests, but also how it will influence the history of our country, and our planet.

I often wonder what would have happened if Senator Goldwater had won the 1964 presidential election. Would the United States have bombed Vietnam into oblivion, like Goldwater’s political enemies wanted us to believe? Or would the war have ended sooner, with fewer American lives lost? Would anything have changed?

And then there was 1968, when Richard Nixon was elected president. What if Hubert Humphrey had won that election. Would our lives have turned out any different? Certainly, the Watergate scandal wouldn’t have taken place. Still, I have to wonder about the enormous secrets that our government kept from us during the sixties, and how some of the worst finally became public in the early seventies. Would the shame have been any different?

For so many years I felt disenfranchised from the election process. We moved a lot because of my husband’s military career, and sometimes we landed in the middle of a conservative community, while the next move might put us in a more liberal setting. And I didn’t have a voice. My voting opportunities were limited because of not being able to register to vote in many of the places we lived. Things are different now, but then, military spouses were discouraged from becoming part of the communities where they lived. Yet, those communities were where I went to school and worked.

While then, it was confusing to be pulled politically in two different directions, I learned a lot and have been truly blessed to have had so conflicting influences on my life and political views.

What I can’t really comprehend is how this election seems to be attracting voters who hold extremist views. I believe that a person can only hold extremist ideas if they haven’t been exposed to the thoughts, ideas, and lifestyles of a variety of people—conservatives and liberals, rich and poor, educated and not. Maybe knowing the concerns and feelings of both sides gives me a more middle-of-the-road attitude. Still, the far right wing of the Republican party, which seems to have seized control of that party, would probably believe that I’m a wild-eyed liberal because I respect the views of liberals. And the far-left liberals would likely think that I’m a rabid conservative because, basically, I respect conservative beliefs.

I’ve decided to lay out my views for readers, because my feeling is that MOST AMERICANS are caught somewhere in the middle, just as I am. I was raised in a conservative family and still hold conservative values, but unlike many of today's conservatives, ours was a family that believed it was our moral duty to help those less fortunate than us, no matter what their color, religion, or political beliefs. Today, it's impossible for me to buy into the extremist ideals held by those now in control of the Republican Party.

In the first place, as I see it, the conservative view that everyone has personal responsibility for their own and their family’s lives is morally wrong. I realize that it is impossible for people living in poverty to pull themselves up by the bootstraps, because many, many Americans don’t even own a pair of boots. Yes, sometimes someone does overcome overwhelming odds to become successful. Yet, how can the average person who is underpaid, under housed, and undernourished be expected to lift themselves out of poverty without help—a little boost up, or just plain luck? You see, I’ve known these people in places like Hawaii, California, Arizona, Washington, Texas, and Arkansas, and some are my friends.

I believe that it is the moral responsibility for the wealthy to help those who are less well-off. But experience tells me that many won’t. I’ve known these people in Hawaii, California, Arizona, Washington, Texas, and Arkansas, and some are my friends.

The only way some will help those less fortunate is by being taxed. And yeah, they don’t like that—but we no longer live in a socially responsible society where all individuals voluntarily help the less fortunate. There was a time when rich and poor lived in the same communities—sometimes side by side—so helping a neighbor in need was hard to ignore. But now, the rich segregate themselves behind iron gates so they don’t have to ever come face-to-face with a family that is struggling to get by. And the wealthy certainly don’t make it a habit to drive through the communities where homeless people roam the streets. "See no pain, feel no pain" seems to be the current mantra of the wealthy and upwardly mobile.

And some politicians live the lives of the rich and powerful, so don't have a clue what the real world is like. Just today I heard Senator McCain say he wants a healthcare system that will give each person $2500, or a couple or family $5000 to buy insurance on the open market. It sounds commendable, but there are several problems with his plan.

1. First and foremost, $5000 will not begin to pay the cost of health insurance for the average family.

2. Many people who lack health insurance, don’t have it because they can’t get it at any cost. Anyone with a pre-existing condition is refused insurance coverage, period. McCain’s plan doesn’t address this situation.

3. Those who retire before sixty-five face having no healthcare coverage until they turn sixty-five and get Medicare. Of those who had coverage when they worked, most lose it when they retire. And this happens during a period when chronic health problems typically crop up. I can’t even begin to enumerate the number of people I know personally who discovered they had serious illnesses immediately after they retired—long before Medicare kicked in—and long before they ever thought they might be stricken with diseases like cancer, heart disease, Parkinson’s, diabetes.

4. McCain's plan will only help insurance companies make more money with less state regulation, since he wants health insurance companies to be able to sell cross state lines! Gee, a politician doing something to help his rich business friends? Surely not!

Letting the profit-oriented marketplace become the dumping ground for everyone who needs healthcare will never work because it is profit-oriented. Private companies will never grant healthcare coverage to those who have pre-existing conditions, or are at risk for serious illnesses. So a government-based healthcare plan seems to be the only solution. And for those who claim that government-based healthcare will not work, let me tell you what it’s like

For all the years we were in the military, and even following retirement, government healthcare was the only type of medical care we ever had. And for the most part, it was extremely good. In fact, since we are now getting healthcare on the open market, we’re finding that private physicians are much less caring, and in many cases, not as skilled. But we do have coverage now—the same as all people over sixty-five. And if we could find healthcare professionals as good as those military doctors we once had, we would have no complaints whatsoever.

Because of the reasons stated above about my having been exposed to, and friends with, people of every race, economic class, and educational level, and a few other reasons, I now hold a broader view of subjects like politics and healthcare than when I was younger. I do believe that society owes all its members basic healthcare, help in securing a good education, and social programs that aid those in need. And now I realize that who I vote for in the presidential race will have a lasting impact on society, including whether we all can live a humane existence, or whether some of us will suffer further deprivation because our tax dollars are used to wage war and wreak destruction in far-off countries instead of providing much-needed services to our young, poor and elderly.

For too many years since I reached adulthood, war profiteers have grown wealthier as our government awarded them billion-dollar contracts, while the young, poor, and less educated of our citizens have lost their lives fighting senseless battles. History was being made then, and it’s being made even now, as you read this. And it’s not always just or good. It’s up to each of us to vote our conscience, and not just for our own selfish concerns. We must remember that elections impact not only you and me, but millions of Americans, and indeed, the billions who inhabit our planet.

And yet, in spite of my beliefs about voting for a person that I think can best rule the country, I have faith that whoever gets elected, it is God’s will, and the world will evolve as God intends.

WHY YOU AND I MUST KNOW OUR HISTORY!

"History is knowledge." This is a phrase I wouldn’t have understood back when I was in school because I could not see how history related to my life. Knowing who the signers of the Declaration of Independence were would give me knowledge? Knowing what year the Civil War started and ended was important to me and my life? Why?

What I didn’t understand then was that knowing history WOULD give me knowledge, and power. The dates wars started and ended were not important, in and of themselves. But knowing history put the dates in context, and that was what was important. What was going on in the world when a war started? Why was it fought? Who were the good people and who were the bad? Those were the facts I really needed to learn.

As I remember History 101, it was boring! It was all about names and dates, and stories that proved the United States government was always on the right side—but was that true? Were our leaders on the right side when they shoved Native Americans off their land so the white man could claim the treasures buried there? Were they right to choose to fight Communism in South Vietnam? Are they right now to initiate a war in Iraq based on the lie that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and that they were harboring terrorists?

That, dear friends, is why history is knowledge. Knowing that our government leaders should always be questioned can come only from knowing history. They’re not perfect—and neither are we—no one is! But those of us who lived through the Vietnam War, then followed the news and studied government reports following the war, have learned this lesson. Those of us who lost loved ones in the war, learned the lesson the hard way.

From recent history, I can only discern that most of our citizens have not studied history thoroughly, and history teachers are failing to teach all of the facts about history. Okay, teachers do have a lot of information to cover, and they often teach from books that don’t cover everything. But I feel it is their responsibility to learn the facts and teach them, even though their textbooks may be lacking. Do they read newspapers? Do they read historical books outside the textbook they’re teaching from? Do they even watch the news or documentaries on television?

Well pardon me, but I believe there is a responsibility to future leaders and voters of America to be taught the facts behind history. We all bring our own beliefs to our jobs, be it teaching, as a journalist, or as a parent, but everyone who impacts the young in any way has a responsibility to learn the true facts and teach or write them. Not our truth, which may lack depth or be lopsided, but the TRUE and COMPLETE FACTS.

The future of our country depends on those youngsters now learning about the history of their country--knowing what really happened. They, like us, can’t make rational decisions on things like: how will this new legislation affect my life in the long run? Which candidate will work to improve the lives of all Americans? Which one will bow to special interests, like the war profiteers, or big business? Will bowing to them negatively affect my own family’s lifestyle, our dreams, my retirement?

We must know what has happened in the past to understand what will happen again in the future, because history does repeat itself. The economy? It’s all been played out before. The war? Well we’ve certainly been there before—and not too long ago!

Unless we all make it our mission to read, watch the news, and study the history we don’t remember or never learned, we have no one to blame but ourselves when the American dream turns, instead, into a nightmare.