What’s the Matter with America? Part III

Well, we have been told by various people, in various ways, that all America needs to do to get back on the right track is  (insert bumper sticker slogan here) and everything will return to the halcyon days of the Fifties,  when all men were like Ozzie, all women like Harriet, and the children were just like David and Ricky.

Except we got Ozzie Osbourne, instead of Ozzie Nelson.

Regardless of your position on our “moral decline,”  step back a moment and consider whether your vote could truly change morality in America. We have often tinkered with laws attempting to legislate morality, often by denying free choice and violating the Constitution. The “War on Drugs” failed to reduce drug use. Laws attempting to regulate sexual behaviors have been ruled unconstitutional. Attempts to void “Roe v Wade” have only chipped away at the foundation of choice.

And now, unbelievably, there exists a possibility, that within the next year, laws restricting gay marriage may be stricken from the books.

So now, can we stop with the voting on what we perceive to be the moral failings of our fellow Americans and begin to address the issues that truly affect us all?

When you clean out your garage, often the best course of action is to drag everything out into the driveway, trash what you can, organize the rest and put it up in an orderly fashion. Well, let’s “trash” the moral divisions that divide us – we’re not going to change them anyway – and let’s get organized, prioritize and proceed in an orderly fashion.

While politicians and talking heads are flitting about, whining about the moral decay of America and what they think should be done about it, the actual issues of the day are being obscured by a fog of mindless partisanship and self-serving bombast.

Aaron and James are going to pay the same taxes as Erin and Jim, so let’s address that issue and not whether Aaron and James are going to burn in Hell. If James and Jim are both out of work and trying desperately to figure out a way to pay the mortgage, their bankers only have one issue in mind – money.

The so-called “moral issues” that divide us are going to matter little if we cannot unite as a country and deal with the real problem that face each of us.

This I know to be true; I had lunch with Aaron and Erin last week and they both expressed the same thought to me.

William Stephenson Clark

Thursday, 8/12/10, Public Square

The Perseid meteor shower will sparkle across the night sky in the wee hours of Friday, and people lucky enough to live far from the glow of city lights will be able to see as many as 75 meteors an hour.  Perseids offer the most spectacular show, and this year’s will be above average, thanks to the new moon and the Earth passing through a more concentrated swath of dust left by the Swift-Tuttle comet.  The meteors appear as though they are emerging from a patch of the sky containing the constellation Perseus – hence the name. That constellation is high enough in the night sky by midnight Thursday to begin the show, but best viewing in our area will be between around 2 – 5 a.m.  If you miss the show early Friday morning, plenty of meteors will still be visible at about the same times early Saturday morning.  Look to the northeast!