The Associated Press recently went looking for optimism in this place called America and found little as this country slides deeper and deeper into both a recession and depression.
America the beautiful has become America the worried, America the once was and America that may not recover.
The American psyche is, at best, wounded and morale is in the pits.
Even folks in the Optimist Club are having a tough time toeing an upbeat line these days. Eighteen members of the volunteer organization’s Gilbert, Ariz., chapter have gathered, a few days before this nation’s 232nd birthday, to focus on the positive: Their book drive for schoolchildren and an Independence Day project to place American flags along the streets of one neighborhood.
They beam through the Pledge of Allegiance, applaud each other’s good news — a house that recently sold despite Arizona’s down market, and one member’s valiant battle with cancer. "I didn’t die," she says as the others cheer.
But then talk turns to the state of the Union, and the Optimists become decidedly bleak.
They use words such as "terrified," "disgusted" and "scary" to describe what one calls "this mess" we Americans find ourselves in. Then comes the list of problems constituting the mess: a protracted war, $4-a-gallon gas, soaring food prices, uncertainty about jobs, an erratic stock market, a tougher housing market, and so on and so forth.
One member’s son is serving his second tour in Iraq. Another speaks of a daughter who’s lost her job in the mortgage industry and a son in construction whose salary was slashed. Still another mentions a friend who can barely afford gas.
Joanne Kontak, 60, an elementary school lunch aide inducted just this day as an Optimist, sums things up like this: "There’s just entirely too much wrong right now."
Happy birthday, America? This year, we’re not so sure.
The nation’s psyche is battered and bruised, the sense of pessimism palpable. Young or old, Republican or Democrat, economically stable or struggling, Americans are questioning where they are and where they are going. And they wonder who or what might ride to their rescue.
These are more than mere gripes, but rather an expression of fears — concerns reflected not only in the many recent polls that show consumer confidence plummeting, personal happiness waning and more folks worrying that the country is headed in the wrong direction, but also in conversations happening all across the land.
Once again, David St. Lawrence, the sage of Silverleaf, jumps into the fray as the self-proclaimed expert on all things. This time he is a media critic, ready to pass judgment on the oldest and most respected news wire service in the world. Of course, the man who declares his superiority over the world in general does so from his safe, cozy position in the hills of Virginia, where he fled after his corporate employers sent him packing, and questions the veracity of those who are still out in the real world, actually researching the news and interviewing those who feel the effects of mismanagement of America by George W. Bush.
Dragging Bilal Hussein into the argument is an old Republican trick of diversion and division. Hussein is an Associated Press Photographer held for two years by the American government on claims that he " had links to insurgents and was found in possession of bomb-making materials when he was detained April 12, 2006." The charges were later dropped because, like so many other claims of the Bush administration, they could not be backed up with facts. Hussein is, among other accomplishments, one of the winners of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography.
Rather than deal with the very real issues raised in the article, Mr. St. Lawrence chooses instead to attack the messenger and avoid the truth. Then he ends his simplistic tirade with a veiled attack on the owner of this blog, suggesting not too subtlety that those who question the status quo lack his warped sense of values.
I had the opportunity this past weekend to attend a delightful concert at Oak Grove Pavilion by Windfall, a Floyd-based musical group with loads of talent. I noted that one of the sponsors of the evening was Blue Ridge Muse, which also sponsored an earlier concert this summer by Natural Selection. This tells me that Doug Thompson supports his community by putting money back into it. Tell me, Mr. St. Lawrence: What do you do to support the community, besides looking for ways to make money off it and feeding your enormous ego?
I suppose David St. Lawrence is running out of things to attack. There can be no other explanation about his two straight days of unwarranted attacks on Doug. First he questions Doug’s patriotism and now he he makes snarky comments like “we can even see it in Floyd where some work to create a better place to live and work and others spend their time attacking them.”
Shame on you David. Doug did not start this flame war. You did. Your comments are petty and self-serving and have no place in this discussion. But since you choose to attack someone who spends so much of his time trying to make both his hometown and his country a better place to live, let us take a closer look at the man you choose to make the target of your wrath.
My sister’s daughter played on the Floyd County High School championship basketball team this past year. Doug and Jeri Rogers donated their time and talents to putting on a show for the kids that featured portraits of each member of the team along with an action shot from the game. They gave each player two large, free photos from that memorable season.
My cousin serves on the county rescue squad. She tells me Doug donates web hosting space for the organization. I understand he also donated web space to The Jacksonville Center for four years. This past year he donated his time to help high school students with their Living History video project and donated an expensive professional video camera and editing equipment to the high school. My child benefited from his gracious gift.
I often see Doug’s name as a sponsor and contributor to many charitable causes in this area. I understand his wife is a volunteer at Angels in the Attic and other worthwhile endeavors.
Does this sound like a man who, as you claim, spends his time “attacking” the community? I would much rather read the commentary of a man who has the intestinal fortitude to raise much needed questions about what may be wrong in our society than wade through the self-promoting pap that takes up space on far too many blogs.
I do not always agree with everything that Doug writes but I admire the passion that he puts into his writing. It is one thing to disagree with him and it is something else to engage in the childish sniping that has marked your last two commentaries on this blog. We have enough schoolyard bullies in this county David. You do not need to try to be yet another one of them.
It is probably inaccurate to say that the Bush administration’s policies have caused the economic problems we see around us today. But I would say that the Bush administration’s lack of policies has had that effect. The only economic policy this administration has is to ensure that the Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate sectors remain unrestrained. The F.I.RE crowd have given us the mortgage crisis, ridiculous health care prices, and the labyrinth of “risk management” tools that served to disguise a house of cards as a safe investment. Congress, like good lapdogs, went along with everything.
What we are experiencing is nothing compared to what many countries are dealing with, nor is it close to past difficult times. Let’s say we’re in recession now, even though technically, and this always moot, we are not…yet. This is nothing more than another business cycle running through its course. For centuries we have emerged from every dose of tough economic times and created more wealth than we ever lost.
I see problems for those unwilling to change their lives or reinvent themselves in response to changing times. If you think either the answer or the fault to your problems lies with the government, then you’re not really being honest to yourself. And I agree with David St. Lawrence, and it has been empirically proven, that the vast majority of our media is biased toward liberal policies.