An Alternative to Bailing Out

By G. E. Shuman

Today I really wanted to tell you all about a great invention I have discovered, that can save every one of us some serious energy-related money. I wanted to, but I’m not going to. I will save that subject for a later day. If you are good, and pay attention, I will disclose it in my very next column. Check here, two weeks from today.

Right now, I have decided to simply expose my feelings to you, regarding our country. (If I’m going to expose something, it really is best if it is just my feelings.) I address you all with absolutely no authority or expertise relating to the economic and moral issues at hand, but I will still address you, simply as a fellow American, who is very concerned about his country. As I write each of these lines, I have no clue precisely what idea will flow next. No big surprise there. If you have read others of my columns, you will accept this fact readily enough. The truth is, I know only that I need to share with you, my friends, my take on that present state of our fifty states. A bigger truth is, I am not confident at all in the direction our nation seems to be heading. Well, here we go, as I once spoke aloud, “For better, or for worse.”

Recently our congress voted, after much arm twisting and pork proportioning, to spend about seven hundred billion dollars, of which they had not one penny to spend, on the massive bank bail out we have heard so much about recently. Our president and leaders on both sides of the bitter aisle finally endorsed a plan to keep our national ship from sinking. After all, isn’t that what bailing out does? Now, I am all for doing whatever is necessary to protect our citizens. What irks me is the fact that our leaders have allowed us to get into this mess in the first place. Aren’t they supposed to stay awake during approaching national or global disasters? If I could address our current congress or president, (Which I would love the chance to do, and I‘m not kidding about that.) I would simply ask them why on earth they failed to see this coming. Were they all on vacation for the past half decade or so? And if they did see some global economic collapse in the making, why didn’t they warn us earlier? I’m pretty sure that if I were in a huge ship full of people, especially people I have sworn to serve and protect, and happened to notice a gaping hole in the bottom of that ship, I might just tell somebody. In fact, I might just tell EVERYBODY! If President Bush or any of his cabinet or congressional shipmates were even remotely aware of the huge hole in our national financial hull, why didn’t THEY tell somebody? Hello? Can anybody say Titanic? Sure, many of those people are now adamantly proclaiming their own genius in forewarning us of the dangers, but now I have another question. Did you, any more than I, hear their loud warnings of an approaching iceberg even as recently as this past summer? Nope, I didn’t think so.

The strange thing is that I have always believed our country produces the best, most educated and brightest people in the world. Evidently our nation’s economists, (Bless the dollar bills in their eyes, and their foggy little minds.) must have missed a math class or two in college. The only other conclusion I can draw from all of this insanity is that they missed no classes, are just as bright and well educated as I always believed, and are simply as uncaring and crooked as the greedy bankers who got us into this mess. Is there a third choice?

You know, that thing called greed; the love of money, really is the root of all evil. The absolute, insatiable greed and irresponsible actions of our nation’s lending institutions, to me, is even more than that. It is something that The Bible and our forefathers would refer to as sin. By the estimated cost to you and me, to our children and our grandchildren, it seems to be a very big sin, indeed. The people truly responsible for the mess we are in, know very well, as do you and I, that doing right is all any of us need to do. Bail outs, paybacks, and pork lined incentives in a congressional vote will never fix anything for long. And now, as I fully acknowledge that you may think this corny or old fashioned, I must add that the only true and lasting fix is a change in the hearts of men.

We are only weeks away from a very close, and very divided national election. From the debates and ads I have seen, I’m afraid we are in the middle of politics as usual here this fall. I sincerely hope that my fear is unfounded. If you are uncertain who you will vote for, for president of this still-great land, you might want to pick the one you feel is less likely to lead us into any more sin.

My friends, it has been said that if you find yourself heading in the wrong direction, remember, God allows u-turns. I suggest that our nation turn the ship of state around, just as fast as we can.

2 Chronicles 7:14If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.