JIM COHEN
Staff Writer
Growing up in the Midwest, I always laughed when politicians would stop on by for a visit and lecture on the importance of morals and values. They’d tell us, “Morals and values are good,” and, “Responsibility is the fiber of a good life.”
Hearing politicians say these kinds of things was nothing new or inspiring to us because we believe morals, values and responsibility are just plain common sense.
The Midwest has gone through difficult times over the past few years as many young men and women have left to go overseas to fight a war while the further decay of farming and manufacturing has forced our families to struggle to make ends meet. Energy, health care and education costs skyrocketed in the region. At the same time, we have seen the national median income of a young person graduating from college decline by almost 10 percent and the average family’s income decline by about three percent. These realities have caused us to question the direction our country is moving and wonder why we have to organize bake sales to help properly equip our soldiers overseas.
Apparently, while people in the Midwest have been struggling to make ends meet, we seemed to have missed the memo explaining the reason why we have discontent for the state of our nation. It seems United State’s media are to blame for recent difficulties, according to the president. In a speech last week, President Bush said the media aren’t reporting enough good news about Iraq and suggested the media is helping the enemy spread fear to the American people. Bush has also indicted the media for not talking-up the current state of the U.S. economy.
While giving his speech, the president forgot to mention that around 80 journalists have been killed in Iraq over the past three years risking their lives to report the facts on the ground. This is higher than the total death rate of journalists during the Vietnam War. Are the American people being deprived of fighting a successful war and economic security because the media are not reporting the “right news” on television? Or is it that the rhetoric from Washington doesn’t match the morals and values of the Heartland of America?
At some point, the leaders of our nation need to take responsibility for their actions. A former president from the Midwest, Harry S. Truman, believed taking responsibility for his actions was very important, so he coined the term, “The Buck Stops Here.” He made it clear that he accepted the repercussions of every decision he made as president. Vice President Cheney sang in tune with the president last week as he found a way to blame the Democratic Party for leading a failed effort against terrorism. The Democrats don’t control one branch of government and somehow Cheney has reason to imply that Democrats are incompetent to fight the war on terror in the 21st century. The only problem Democrats have is being able to win a national election. It appears the “Buck” stops anywhere but the desk of the president or vice president.
When people from the Midwest see billions of dollars are being earmarked for a “Bridge to Nowhere,” a government growing to its biggest size in history and adding $3 trillion worth of new debt to the burden of future generations, we see something doesn’t make sense.
A senator from Wisconsin recently suggested the president should be held accountable for his actions with a vote for censure. Those in control of our government have become upset over this and have said it makes no sense. To the contrary, the proposal made by the senator from the Heartland is doing something what we in the Midwest like to call, plain common sense.
03-30-2006