Well, Halloween is here, and I hope that you got into this very American holiday and bought a mask or managed to create some sort of costume for yourself. I don’t know about you, but I can’t think of any other holiday that has been created just for children. I know that my children and now my grandchildren planned their costumes for weeks ahead and just loved the ability to “trick or treat” and go to a party organized by some local organization.
These days, although the little ghosts and goblins have dwindled to a precious few, I still love it when they come to my door and are surprised when I can guess who they are. And you and I have to admit that the parents hovering in the background make it, if not possible, at least easier. This is such a fun day for kids and the idea that this is a bad day is just something that overzealous parents have decided. So, kick back and enjoy, Maybe you can get a Snickers or some Reese’s Pieces from one of your children. Or if you are like me, your grandchildren are much more likely to share with you.
I thought long and hard about whether I should mention the latest debacle in Washington or not. But I was so disgusted and so enraged, I decided to make myself feel better by discussing it with you! Can you believe that our elected, and the word here is elected, officials actually shut down our government? I am sure that all of us know that these fools really are not representatives of anybody. Too many of these people are not only receiving a large paycheck for their service, they are also receive huge “donations” from God only knows who! And then, when they refuse to work with each other, one weird little ultraconservative group doesn’t get their will, they actually shut down the entire government. And the rest of us, who are supposed to be the electorate, have no ability to change what was happening and the perpetrators did even begin to get what they wanted.
And who really suffered? Well, the Senate and the Congress continued to get their paychecks so I assume their suffering was either non-existent or minimal! What about the rest of us? Well, if you had a government job, you were laid off with no pay. And those of us who were able to continue our lives relatively unaffected? After it was over and the government was able to restart, we found out that this foolish debacle cost us well over $2 billion! Did you authorize anyone to join into this group of crazies who insisted on torturing somebody and ended up charging us such a sum of money? I don’t know about you, but I sure didn’t!
I am sure you know how I feel about civilized behavior, and now I realize why our young people have no idea how to behave – because their role models in Washington are just outrageous. I realize that these guys believe that they have no one to really answer to. They can say and do anything that they want and they relish their role, And why not? Not to have to answer to anyone and to receive, until death, a paycheck that is quite a bit larger than most of us Americans.
What can we, as citizens, do? Well, immediately, not too much. We can and should write real letters to these guys and demand that they work with each other. And probably much more important is to vote them out of office. Fortunately, here in Vermont, we have two Senators and a Representative who appear to be civilized guys who actually are working for us Vermonters. But we can encourage them to keep on the path of good behavior and to remember why they were elected and by whom!
In my opinion, a number of our elected officials in Washington are absolutely appalled that Obama, a man of color, was actually elected President! And they are making defying the President their life’s work. In other words, they are willing to try and ruin eight years of a presidency that they don’t like. And the American people? Forget them, but unfortunately they already have!
