Observations of the Obvious

Are we in a recession or an adjustment?

Should we bail out folks with sub-prime mortgages or just Wall Street barons?

Israel has received over 500 missiles from territory she relinquished for peace - how many more concessions will it take?

China is buying billions of our Treasury Notes -is that good or bad?

Forty years ago the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King was shot in Memphis - who can claim his legacy? (Hint: none of the current candidates for public attention.)

We elected "The Terminator" to get rid of debt - why do we have more today?

1975: Global cooling and a new Ice Age; 2005: Global Warming and  looming disaster - maybe.

There is a dirty little secret abut Western Europe and her environmental demands on the USA: Europeans already have - and keep on building - nuclear power plants!

OK - there are lots of problems and much controversy on how to interpret and solve them. What is the big deal? Why devote blog space to the obvious?

Here is why: In my more than four decades of observing and reflecting on our human condition, I have never seen such blatant refusals to deal with reality and apply commonsense to our issues. Consider the obvious with me:

Economic progress comes from courage, not contraction, from faith, not fear. Look for creative and innovative people and companies and you will see the future.

I am old enough to remember a balanced budget and a total national debt at less than a trillion dollars. (It is now $9,000,000,000 and counting). Here is a thought - why not spend less than we take in? The dollar will go up, gasoline prices will go down and resources will be generated through expansion instead of printing more money.

Demand that Arab leaders accept Israel as a sovereign state with full recognition - or there will be no peace.

Martin Luther King appealed to real faith and universal principles, not Afrocentric hatred.

Let's take care of God's world - regardless of popular speculations.

Let's also avoid UN control of anything. At best it is a forum for compassion and negotiation - anything more inhibits real freedom and progress.

Above all, we must not expect Washington to solve every problem!

Earlier I spoke of self-deception. We need to get up from the couch, put down the remotes, the computer mouse, the games cubes, the iPods, the cell phones - and talk to each other, care for each other and stop pretending that "someone else" has to take care of things.

Politicians serve at OUR behest - we can demand change. Incumbents count on our dependence, fear, guilt and ignorance. If we take care of each other, have faith in God and the possibilities ahead, care for the poor and rigorously demand an accounting of OUR money "they" spend - the way forward is much brighter.

The choice is ours - dependency and ultimate subservience to a state and world government interested in control or a country and world enjoying the fruits of freedom.