"Do-Nothing Congress"

For this entry, I will be critiquing the opinion of Michael Bowen's piece " Obama can't blame the do-nothing Congress"  The Christian Monitor- Obama can't blame the do-nothing Congress (opinion section) September 28, 2011 issue.

It became painfully obvious that the history professor of West Minster writes as if only conservative college students will read his work, which would have served readers best in a West Minster's news letter instead of a international magazine such as The Christian Monitor. Although it was his opinion, one simply should not write an article on national issues from a biased standpoint and make it count as an objective argument. Being that Mr. Bowen is the author of "The Roots of Modern Conservatism: Dewey, Taft, and the Battle for the Soul of the Republican Party," I would say that this article gave you more of a synopsis of his book rather than what is going on with our nation's government.

Mr. Bowen is arguing that our current president can not blame congress for the political climate at hand, he referenced the year 1948, when Harry Truman campaigned against the "do-nothing" 80th Congress. Citing several issues that Truman was able to lean on, Mr. Bowen said "the political climate is different today than it was in 1948" (I beg to defer). In 1948 we were dealing with inflation caused by the demobilization from WWII, today we are still dealing with demobilizing effects stemming from the War in Iraq, except it seems to be much worse with the torture issues coming to light. In 1948 there was a housing shortage, today we are still dealing with major housing issues, and in 1948 there was the rampant labor unrest, today unemployment is almost at " The Great Depression" status. So why would the president not blame Congress? Why would he not demand action from both sides of the house? Something has to be done and if that means reaching back and gleaning from your predecessors' success then so be it.

There was really no logic to what Mr. Bowen wrote in his article. It never once made me rethink any of my current concerns differently, never made me think that our president would not succeed nor that history could not repeat itself in a number of ways within the next few months. It is all prospective, some see the glass half empty, others see the glass half full. The points that were raised about the Democratic and Republican parties are pretty much still true today except for the Democratic party being in shambles, nevertheless, I felt that the lack of evidence in this article made most of the political implications seem very shady and if this is how our government is ran then again I ask what is the point of making our voices heard? If orders continue to be passed down but our United States Congress is hell bent on fighting, blaming and bickering to the point that nothing gets done while the people continue to suffer then what is the point?

State Pension Systems have already changed in Massachusetts, how long before Texas changes their system?

I read an article today that said and I quote “This is not the beginning of dismantling what we have, it is crafted to protect what we have.” (Boston Globe) and as I read, I could not help but to wonder if all the approaching 55 or 65 individuals echoed those same sentiments? Better yet what does our government have planed for that same age demographic who has not only recently loss their jobs, but what minuscule pensions they once had?
I guess the even bigger question is what will the State Pension Systems look like by the time I am 65? It is deathly apparent that our national government has some major work to do when it comes to securing jobs, resources and federal funds that will assist and or support several generations down the line and as a people this is not the time to create this "got to get mine" mentality. We must put a plan of action into place now or my generation, your generation, your children's generational retirement age and top years earnings will drastically change. That my friend is a very scary thought!
Keith Fitz-Gerald wrote an article in January 2010 entitled "Why the Government Wants to Hijack Your 401(k)" and in the article he states "It's bad enough that we've been forced to bail out Wall Street. But now the Obama administration is hatching plans to raid our retirement savings, too." (Money Morning) Although I am a firm believer in not believing everything you either see on television and or read on the Internet, there are however somethings you need to give careful consideration to, and I believe this is one of them. Pay attention to what the government is doing to every penny of your hard earn money, because one day you may wake up and that little that they have been setting aside for you has now turned into an IOU.