Many years ago, I was told that I needed to fail at things so that I could learn how to succeed. The point of that statement is that people are supposed to learn from adversity. No one goes through life without ever facing some sort of failure. There are bad test grades in school, lost games in athletics, failed romances, lost contracts, lost jobs and even losses to illness. People have to know how to handle these losses and move forward with their lives. They also have to learn from the losses about things they are doing that simply do not work. If a student does not study for a test and gets a poor grade, that student should learn that more or better study is needed. If one is fired from a job for coming to work late repeatedly, one ought to learn that being on time is a necessary part of any job. To use the current phrase in the media, these failures are "teachable moments".
This whole concept, however, causes me to worry about the future of our country. We have an enormous group of people who no longer seem to learn from loss. It is as if a mass delusion has descended on a big chunk of the American people.
Think of this: today, president Obama announced new rules for gun control. We all know that there have been enough losses to guns from which we should have learned many lessons. Obama has proceeded with lax enforcement of the gun laws while talking a lot about the need for new laws. Then we witnessed major shooting events that were perpetrated almost entirely with weapons that were legally obtained under some very strict gun laws. For example, the San Bernardino terror attack was perpetrated with guns that were bought in California after meeting all the legal requirements including detailed background checks. So did Obama learn from this failure? The sad and troubling answer is NO. He is continuing NOT to enforce the gun laws. Indeed, in the last few days, Obama has taken steps to release from prison a great many felons who were convicted of violating the federal gun laws. And Obama is talking more about new gun laws which basically do nothing to put any requirements on gun purchases different from those in California which did not work.
Then there's this: when Obama took office, the USA was in a serious recession. Obama decided on a course of massive fiscal stimulus and he encouraged the Federal Reserve to engage in massive monetary stimulus. In the last seven years, the federal government has stimulated the economy by spending roughly eight trillion dollars of borrowed funds. Meanwhile the Fed has kept the interest rates at essentially zero. That economic program, however, has not worked. The economy is still limping along at a 2% growth rate and millions upon millions of people are unemployed or underemployed or have just given up looking for work. What lesson has Obama learned from this? The answer is NONE. He has no suggestion for different programs or steps to increase economic growth. Indeed, Hillary Clinton tells us that the Democrats will just continue with more of the same if she wins the presidency. Why would they keep going with policies that have been proven not to work?
The problem we face as a nation is that many of the mass communication media have been usurped by members of the groups that suffer from the delusion that ideology will triumph over facts and reality. It won't. The scary part is that unless a clear eyed realist takes over in the Oval office, we may continue with delusional policies coming from Washington while the rest of the country continues to circle the drain.
This whole concept, however, causes me to worry about the future of our country. We have an enormous group of people who no longer seem to learn from loss. It is as if a mass delusion has descended on a big chunk of the American people.
Think of this: today, president Obama announced new rules for gun control. We all know that there have been enough losses to guns from which we should have learned many lessons. Obama has proceeded with lax enforcement of the gun laws while talking a lot about the need for new laws. Then we witnessed major shooting events that were perpetrated almost entirely with weapons that were legally obtained under some very strict gun laws. For example, the San Bernardino terror attack was perpetrated with guns that were bought in California after meeting all the legal requirements including detailed background checks. So did Obama learn from this failure? The sad and troubling answer is NO. He is continuing NOT to enforce the gun laws. Indeed, in the last few days, Obama has taken steps to release from prison a great many felons who were convicted of violating the federal gun laws. And Obama is talking more about new gun laws which basically do nothing to put any requirements on gun purchases different from those in California which did not work.
Then there's this: when Obama took office, the USA was in a serious recession. Obama decided on a course of massive fiscal stimulus and he encouraged the Federal Reserve to engage in massive monetary stimulus. In the last seven years, the federal government has stimulated the economy by spending roughly eight trillion dollars of borrowed funds. Meanwhile the Fed has kept the interest rates at essentially zero. That economic program, however, has not worked. The economy is still limping along at a 2% growth rate and millions upon millions of people are unemployed or underemployed or have just given up looking for work. What lesson has Obama learned from this? The answer is NONE. He has no suggestion for different programs or steps to increase economic growth. Indeed, Hillary Clinton tells us that the Democrats will just continue with more of the same if she wins the presidency. Why would they keep going with policies that have been proven not to work?
The problem we face as a nation is that many of the mass communication media have been usurped by members of the groups that suffer from the delusion that ideology will triumph over facts and reality. It won't. The scary part is that unless a clear eyed realist takes over in the Oval office, we may continue with delusional policies coming from Washington while the rest of the country continues to circle the drain.
No comments:
Post a Comment