As culture shock wears me down, I can't help but think we are in serious trouble, but what to do? I have written about it, but always held off on posting anything. My times in Mexico taught me to stay silent and observe - of course, the fact that I did not have the language skills to say anything intelligent helped in certain respects. I did keep wondering where the outrage was. So when I read this Lee Iaccoca quote from his recent book this morning, it resonated and I am posting it here."Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, "Stay the course."
"Stay the course? You've got to be kidding. This is America, not the Titanic. I'll give you a sound bite: Throw the bums out!
"& someone has to speak up. I hardly recognize this country anymore. The President of the United States is given a free pass to ignore the Constitution, tap our phones, and lead us to war on a pack of lies. Congress responds to record deficits by passing a huge tax cut for the wealthy (thanks, but I don't need it). The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the guys in handcuffs. While we're fiddling in Iraq, the Middle East is burning and nobody seems to know what to do. And the press is waving pom-poms instead of asking hard questions.
That's not the promise of America my parents and yours traveled across the ocean for. I've had enough. How about you?
"I'll go a step further. You can't call yourself a patriot if you're not outraged. This is a fight I'm ready and willing to have.
"I'm going to speak up because it's my patriotic duty & I'm hoping to strike a nerve in those young folks who say they don't vote because they don't trust politicians to represent their interests. Hey, America, wake up. These guys work for us.
"Why are we in this mess? How did we end up with this crowd in Washington? Well, we voted for them — or at least some of us did. But I'll tell you what we didn't do. We didn't agree to suspend the Constitution. We didn't agree to stop asking questions or demanding answers. Some of us are sick and tired of people who call free speech treason. Where I come from that's a dictatorship, not a democracy.
"And don't tell me it's all the fault of right-wing Republicans or liberal Democrats. That's an intellectually lazy argument, and it's part of the reason we're in this stew. We're not just a nation of factions. We're a people. We share common principles and ideals. And we rise and fall together.
"There was a time in this country when the voices of great leaders lifted us up and made us want to do better. Where have all the leaders gone?
"On September 11, 2001, we needed a strong leader more than any other time in our history. & That was George Bush's moment of truth, and he was paralyzed. And what did he do when he'd regained his composure? He led us down the road to Iraq — a road his own father had considered disastrous when he was President. But Bush didn't listen to Daddy. He listened to a higher father. He prides himself on being faith-based, not reality based. If that doesn't scare the crap out of you, I don't know what will.
"So here's where we stand. We're immersed in a bloody war with no plan for winning and no plan for leaving. We're running the biggest deficit in the history of the country. We're losing the manufacturing edge to Asia, while our once-great companies are getting slaughtered by health care costs. Gas prices are skyrocketing, and nobody in power has a coherent energy policy. Our schools are in trouble. Our borders are like sieves. The middle class is being squeezed every which way. These are times that cry out for leadership."
UPDATE: It is amazing to me that I am in agreement with Mr. Iaccoca, but I think he has moved more towards me than I towards him.
1 comment:
Mr. Iaccoca writing resonates so much with what I've been feeling about my 2 countries of origin and what's been going on there especially in a last couple of months...
Those countries just happened to be Russia and Ukraine.
People in the USA at least have freedom to express themselves and be heard by their representatives (at least the ones at the lower level...municipal, county, state etc.) No such thing exists in my 2 countries of origin.
If the US president lies and it's found out - he's in trouble (like Clinton was with Monica). No such thing will be found in any of those 2s.
US is not a prefect country, but it deserves admiration from people like myself who came from other parts of the world and are the first generation immigrants.
I do not like many politicians here either, but I do like American traditions. One of them is to obey the law - and you'll be alright.
In those 2 countries of mine if you obey the law - you are a looser. In order to be successful you've got to learn how to manipulate with it and escape the prosecution...
I have respect to the cops in this country. Again, not everyone there perfect. But they are the ones who came and helped me and my daughter when I had a deer collision car accident in the middle of nowhere in Michigan. If that would be in any of my 2 countries - I would be afraid to call those guys at night, because they can come and rob me, because it's not in the city and nobody can see it, and may do something even worse...
I do hope nobody reads my post, I just had to went it out of my system in a lieu of all the recent events happening in my both motherlands .......
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