REMEMBERING PEARL HARBOR
Wednesday, December 7th marks the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1947: "A day which shall live in infamy." The USS Arizona shares a prominent place as part of this event. As I reflect on the significance of this anniversary, I am moved by the way the country came together. Everyone came together in a common goal for the good of the country. People sacrificed doing metal drives, doing without gasoline and foodstuffs, rationing, volunteer work and bought war bonds to support the war effort. Prior to the attack there was bickering in Washington as the President and Congress had different agendas for America.
That was 70 years ago- a lot has changed, and most of the participants are dead, but the message of that event should not be lost. 10 years ago on September 11, 2001, the country briefly did the same thing. We were suddenly attacked by an unseen foe. There was great loss of life and Americans came together in support of the victims. Donations were made to the families of the New York victims. There were tears for complete strangers in the largest city in the United States. But they weren't "strangers" or "New Yorker's" only, they were "Americans" just like you and me. Again, there was bickering in Washington as the President and Congress had different agendas for America, but they overcame them for the common good and we banded together as Americans. We may differ on our feelings towards some of the laws that stemmed from "911" but America was strengthened by the attack.
We, as average Americans, are again under attack today. Regardless of your politics, it is pointless how the President and Congress fight. They all have different agendas for America. The only common goal they seem to share is their desire to line their own pockets at our expense, tear down the other side, and blame the other side for all the ailments of this country. The result is a class warfare fought by "tea party" advocates on one side and "Occupy Wall street" advocates on the other side. They sling mud at each other using derrogatory terms such as "tea baggers" and "occutards" to tear each other down. Instead of coming together for the common good, they drive us further and further apart. They fail to see that they fight a common enemy: a bad economy that is hurting average Americans, and runaway spending by Washington politicians, which makes the problem even worse. The bailouts protected corporate profits, but kept the housing market from rebounding, and hindered improvements in the business strategies that no longer worked. Washington is attempting to tax and spend us out of the depression and into prosperity. This can never work. And we as Americans are helping them do it while blaming other average Americans for thier "greed" or "laziness". We cannot see the problem, and we cannot come together. What is different? Why can't we get beyond our petty differences and look to the solutions rather that blaming the other side- both parties are to blame- neither has our best interests at heart.
I think the answer is we have no "common enemy" such as Bin Laden, the Taliban, Saddam Hussein, Moamar Quaddafi, Japan or Germany (world war 2 - not now!). We percieve no "attack." But there was an attack, it just happened gradually rather than a "sneak attack." Rather than one violent physical attack, there has been an eroding of the middle class, increase in distance between rich and poor, and steadily increasing national debt. THIS SHOULD BE OUR COMMON ENEMY! We should band together and fight the runaway spending in Washington, corporate bailouts while average Americans are forced to Bankruptcy, unemployment forcing people to bankruptcy and disability, and eroding of the American way of life. If we don't band together, Washington politicians will succeed in destroying America where the Nazis, Japanese, and Taliban failed- and we'll cooperate all the while blaming fellow average Americans. I sincerely hope we can band together before it is too late.