Legacy Of Fear

This morning on the radio, a commentator made this mind-boggling suggestion: "Why don't we wait until after the election to sort this whole financial mess out?" I guess this guy doesn't watch much TV. If he wasn't spending all that time on radio, he would know that this is a CRISIS. It is a MELTDOWN of EPIC proportions. We should, to quote Geena Davis, be afraid. Very afraid.
After all, wasn't that what we did in 1929? On Black Tuesday, didn't terrified investors fall from the windows like rain? After all, that's what people do in a PANIC. It's an image that lives up to the name: CRASH.
Well, here it comes again. Only this time it appears as though we can buy ourselves out of it. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't be full of fear. On the contrary. Ever since the turn of this century, we have been operating in a near-constant state of terror. There were a great many folks who expected Y2K to be the end of the world, or at least the financial world, as we knew it. The lack of a few digits didn't bring down the system. Eight years later, we are just now finishing off the duct tape that we were given as a "Whew-the-lights-are-still-on-and-there-were-no-riots" present from a friend who had prepared for the worst.
The worst, sadly, was yet to come. Pinhead's entire presidency has been leveraged by fear. Thanks to the tragic events of September 11, 2001, we were given a color-coded vision of the future. He has decided that we are better off living with suspicion and anxiety in a very limited range of hues. Have we been allowed a day of green among the past seven years of yellow, orange and red? Not one. Then there were the hurricanes. And the blizzards. And after much debate and discussion, global warming. We have spent most of the last decade fearing for our lives and livelihood. This administration has made its hay off of terror.
And so, I'm looking forward to more rational discussions. Ones that are not based on the reactions of our lizard brains. I'm looking forward to decisions based on long-term goals and proactive reasoning. I'm looking forward to a president who is a thinker, not a decider.