Doctor, Doctor, Give Me The News!

No one would ever choose a doctor who works only with the left half of the body. That would be absurd.

Why, then, do we U.S. citizens [seemingly happily] limit ourselves to so few--and such narrow-minded--options, when it comes to our politicians?

Imagine a doctor who focused solely upon only one portion of our bodies—intentionally and happily ignoring the larger picture. Surely, he would miss the big picture, not to mention, go out of business within the year.

“Oh, bummer for you. I’m guessing the cancer is in your liver but I only work with the left side of your body . . . ”

The same can be said for many of today’s U.S. politicians who practically feel mandated to turn a deaf ear to nearly half of U.S. citizens--not counting illegal immigrants, the young or the poor, who, let’s admit it, don’t really count anyway.

If politicians, like good physicians, took a more holistic approach to their “patients,” (i.e., their towns or their counties, their states or their country), surely they would do things differently. Surely, like a wise physician, these politicians would acknowledge (and, I’d like to think, emphasize that acknowledgment with an enthusiastic “DUH!”) the utter stupidity of believing that one could maintain a healthy life (i.e., community) by starving it of the things that otherwise would sustain it and even lead it to flourish.

Starve a cold and starve a fever? Sounds like a lose-lose proposition, if you ask me.

Yet, that’s what most U.S. politicians—Republicans and Democrats—seem hell bent on doing these days.

Some even have the audacity to propose preserving or actually—GASP!—expanding tax cuts to those who are most able to contribute more, all based upon the goofy notion that “If we give it, they will give it back, tenfold, at least!”

Really?

Ain’t NO baseball field in Iowa that turns in those kind of magical statistics! Even God himself could only find one measly investor who managed to reap similar profits.

If you’ve ever been a parent—even a mediocre one, like myself—then you know that the childish utterance “I want it all!” is both an unreasonable and hardly admirable goal for a young person, let alone an older, crankier, more sleep-deprived one.

Here’s a novel idea. What if every political candidate stood at the podium, pointing an indignant, refreshingly wise finger at the crowd, and shouted “You guys are a bunch of FOOLS! What you need is to make do with fewer frills, charge fewer things, and be willing to pay for the quality lives and futures you’d like for yourselves and for your neighbors--even those you will never invite over for a burger!”

For all the tough news that spews from our media and our world these days, Americans are surprisingly timid about taking that news personally.

I, for one, am hungry for some honest and tough talk, even if it means paying higher taxes and practicing lower-impact living.