As young boys, growing up in Ohio, we spent many summer days playing “Smear the Queer”. We didn’t know the inappropriateness of the name of the game as young boys. We only knew it meant coming together in fields behind our suburban homes to blow off summer energy and to demonstrate each other’s bravado. The game consisted of one boy holding onto the football as long as possible by running to escape the others. Each boy would run with abandon in his chosen direction until the rest of the pack would catch up and dog pile him into the ground. Another kid would then capture the ball and run headlong in the opposite direction knowing that the crowd would soon pound him into the ground as well.
In this childhood game, there were no winners, no advancement of the ball to score for the team. There was only chest pounding, boyhood energy, and bull headed bravado. Because we were oblivious to the bigoted implication of the game’s name, we perhaps could have been forgiven in our 1960’s innocence of youth. However, America’s two political parties, claiming to be learned elite, continue this politically incorrect game with reckless abandon in the year 2011!
In the midst of an historic crisis that left 24% of our able workers sidelined from our economy, a crisis that may eliminate America as the leader of the free world and sentence us to a diminished future, our two parties have refused to be either a beacon of hope or a forum of reason. Instead, as each party has been given the opportunity to gain the support of all Americans, they have foolhardily run with abandon in the direction of self interest. Easily discerning their veiled motives that disregard most of America, our electorate has voted to quickly dogpile each party.
In 2008, after elections signaled America sought “change”, the country experienced a monetary crisis that impacted us all. Instead of rapidly revising agenda to lead us out of crisis, the Democrats lunged forward with wealth redistribution and universal healthcare, worthy goals for their party, but lacking acknowledgement of our country’s need to wage war.
Punishing blind loyalty to party, the Great Middle dogpiled the Democrats in 2010 and elected leaders who promised to get the country back on track. Instead, when the Republicans gained firm hold of the football, they giddily sprinted for the other side of the field toward their ideals of wealth protection, union destruction, defunding of Planned Parenthood and NPR, and cutting of entitlements.
The New York special election that gave a majority to Democrat Kathy Hochul in a Republican stronghold once again signaled the Great Middle piling on a party that irresponsibly misconstrued its mandate. Instead of advancing the Great Society in the absence of real economic growth, and instead reverting to trickle-down economics after having shipped 40,000 factories to China in the last decade, America wants critical leadership.
The Democrats are now beating their chest because they succeeded in mongering fear to protect Medicare from the likes of Paul Ryan. In the absence of leadership that calls for sacrifice from all Americans but that promises to not leave any of our brethren behind, this election signals that Democrats will likely get their turn to run like silly school children toward their camp in 2012.
But America cries out, “Where is our great leader?” Who will blaze a path forward that all can follow? Ask us to sacrifice for we must. Reduce our entitlements but put all able Americans back to work. Reduce government spending but divert it now into the private sector and transfer government jobs immediately into private domestic endeavors that can rebuild our future together. Call on multinational corporations to sacrifice for America’s future productivity. Divert dollars that continue to keep insolvent international investment banks afloat to keep America afloat. Put aside your silly boyhood games and lead.
Clif Carothers
Job Voucher Plan 