Skip to main content

Throwback Thursday: This is REALLY depressing!

I have long admired the writing and perspicacity of Bob Herbert. As an observer of the modern scene and especially of politics, he seems spot on most of the time. In November 2010, he was still writing for The New York Times and he had a column that I found "REALLY depressing!" It affected me so much that I decided to write a blog post about it.

Much of what Herbert wrote on that occasion is still true of the condition of the country, although the economy and the unemployment rate have recovered faster than anticipated at that time. 

But his observations on the divided political scene remain, unfortunately, true, and the elections this week did not indicate that any healing has taken place. Here is my blog post from November 22, 2010.

*~*~*~* 


This is REALLY depressing!
I read Bob Herbert's latest column in The New York Times and now I'm so depressed that I just want to curl up into a tiny fetal ball and pull the covers over my head. The topic of this column - as are the topics of most of his columns - is the state of the country. He doesn't pull any punches regarding what he believes that state to be.
"We're in denial about the extent of the rot in the system, and the effort that would be required to turn things around. It will likely take many years, perhaps a decade or more to get employment back to a level at which one could fairly say the economy is thriving."
This is especially true since one of the major political parties in the country is not interested in governing or in trying to make things work better. Instead, they are betting everything on doing nothing and letting the country slide ever farther into decline and decay in the hope that that will limit President Obama to one term. That is their only concern, their only goal - ending the Obama presidency by any means necessary. If the country and the American people have to suffer in order for them to achieve their goal, well, then, so be it!

As Herbert writes, "The wreckage from the recession and the nation's mindlessly destructive policies in the years leading up to the recession is all around us. We still don't have the money to pay for the wars that we insist on fighting year after year. We have neither the will nor the common sense to either raise taxes to pay for the wars, or stop fighting them." (My emphasis.)

A country that the rest of the world used to look to for leadership and good ideas has become completely obsessed with following policies that are against our best interests and which the world can see are entirely bogus.

Again, Herbert: "All we are good at is bulldozing money to the very wealthy. No wonder the country is in such a deep slide."

The economic inequities in our society between the very, very, very rich and all the rest of us are growing daily, and one of the major political parties in the country is totally dedicated to seeing that those inequities continue and increase and are made permanent.
"America will never get its act together until we recognize how much trouble we're really in, and how much effort and shared sacrifice (My emphasis.) is needed to stop the decline. Only then will be be able to begin resuscitating the (American) dream."
There was a time in our history when shared sacrifice was accepted as a good thing. It gave everyone a stake in their country. No more. The only sacrificing today is done by the working and middle classes. The rich are not asked for any sacrifice at all and so they have no stake in the country and are not interested in seeing it work.

And that is why I am so depressed. I no longer believe it is possible for us to get back to a place where shared sacrifice is considered a good and noble thing. Not as long as one major political party and all their rich allies bend all their efforts toward defeating the idea. I am afraid that Bob Herbert has got it just about right.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Poetry Sunday: Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver

How about we share another Mary Oliver poem? After all, you can never have too many of those. In this one, the poet seems to acknowledge that it is often hard to simply live in and enjoy the moment, perhaps because we are afraid it can't last. She urges us to give in to that moment and fully experience the joy. Although "much can never be redeemed, still, life has some possibility left." Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty of lives and whole towns destroyed or about to be. We are not wise, and not very often kind. And much can never be redeemed. Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this is its way of fighting back, that sometimes something happens better than all the riches or power in the world. It could be anything, but very likely you notice it in the instant when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid of its plenty. Joy is no...
19 comments
Read more

Poetry Sunday: Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney

My mother was a farm wife and a prodigious canner. She canned fruit and vegetables from the garden, even occasionally meat. But the best thing that she canned, in my opinion, was blackberry jam. Even as I type those words my mouth waters!  Of course, before she could make that jam, somebody had to pick the blackberries. And that somebody was quite often named Dorothy. I think Seamus Heaney might have spent some time among the briars plucking those delicious black fruits as well, so he would have known that "Once off the bush the fruit fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour." They don't keep; you have to get that jam made in a hurry! Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney Late August, given heavy rain and sun For a full week, the blackberries would ripen. At first, just one, a glossy purple clot Among others, red, green, hard as a knot. You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet Like thickened wine: summer's blood was in it Leaving stains upon the tongue and lust ...
6 comments
Read more

Poetry Sunday: Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman

You probably remember poet Amanda Gorman from her appearance at the inauguration of President Biden. She read her poem "The Hill We Climb" on that occasion. After the senseless slaughter in Uvalde this week, she was inspired to write another poem which was published in The New York Times. It seemed perfect for the occasion and so I stole it in order to feature it here, just in case you didn't get a chance to read it in the Times . Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman Everything hurts, Our hearts shadowed and strange, Minds made muddied and mute. We carry tragedy, terrifying and true. And yet none of it is new; We knew it as home, As horror, As heritage. Even our children Cannot be children, Cannot be. Everything hurts. It’s a hard time to be alive, And even harder to stay that way. We’re burdened to live out these days, While at the same time, blessed to outlive them. This alarm is how we know We must be altered — That we must differ or die, That we must triumph or try. ...
24 comments
Read more