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written by Norm:

Musing with Alice

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 "The time has come," the Walrus said,?"To talk of many things:?Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--?Of cabbages--and kings--?And why the sea is boiling hot--?And whether pigs have wings."

    This quote from Alice in Wonderland is relevant today. Now that the Congress and many of the local politicians are in “recess” we are relieved of the daily carping between parties.
    The time has come to take a breath and talk rationally about what our country is doing and the direction it is headed.
    Last November the people decided we needed a change from what was perceived as an unresponsive and negative Administration. Barrak Obama promised that change. He was elected to take our country in a different direction. He said he wanted to repair our international image and to bring to an end the loss of American lives in the Middle East.
    Once elected, he found a serious distraction; the U.S. and worldwide economy in freefall. To solve this problem he promised to create millions of new jobs and stabilize the economy by pumping billions of Federal dollars into various recovery programs.
    Now we have a pause in the rhetoric, both positive and negative. Our elected officials are at home to “test the waters” and “feel the pulse” of the people who elected them. “To talk of many things”, as Lewis Carroll put it. “Of shoes (the jobs and economic future), of ships (the war and foreign policy), and sealing wax (the proposed and existing legislation) and cabbages and kings (the electorate and the elected).
    It seems the job market is a long way from turning around and the economy, while showing some early signs of recovery, is still in deep trouble. There is a lot of talk about better relations with foreign powers but Iran and North Korea haven’t relented in their search for nuclear capabilities. Our men and women are still dying in Iraq and Afghanistan and our allies haven’t yet come to help us.
    The money that has been thrown at the economic problem hasn’t had the desired effect yet and now there is talk about raising taxes on the middle class to pay for this spending. New legislation is being considered to reinvent our health system and by all estimates this will cost over a trillion dollars in the long run.
    So the “sea is boiling hot”. The arguments continue. The debates go on and the sea continues to boil.
I submit this is a good thing. Proposed bills and laws should be scrutinized and debated and appointed officials should be held accountable for their promises and actions.
    So where do we go from here? Do pigs have wings?
    Do we accept the idea that huge infusions of money will eventually turn things around and the resulting success will pay for the investment? Do we accept that the health care in American needs federalizing? Do we wait another six months to see if this stimulus package works? Do we put down our swords and have a cup of tea or a beer summit with our adversaries?
    Now is the time for the “cabbages” to let the “kings” know if the “pigs have wings”.

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