The Fig File for 03.11.08

The Fig File: Complacency Kills.

It has been exactly fifty days since Barack Obama placed his hands on the same Bible once held by Abraham Lincoln 148 years ago to take the Presidential Oath and be sworn in as our countries 44th President. President Obama, whom is now referred to as just ‘44' by some news outlets, inherited a mountainous pile of doody in the form of a slowing and corrupt economy, an almost endless investment in two wars on the crust of the oil playground in the Mideast, a crumbling health care system that has deemed people as patient numbers rather than patients, a parade of defaulted or defaulting mortgages powered by the pompous greed of home brokers and Senorita Fannie and Senior Freddie Mac, the end of the American Car Manufacturer, the end of the Brass Bull blowing million dollar farts down on Wall Street and as Mother Russia licked its vodka soaked lips and boasted to the press: the End Of America.

The Russkies just might be right. Here’s why:

We have become a nation of complacent and compliant liars lying to ourselves that the latest course our country is taking  right now is the right one because the reality of what is truly happening is too overwhelming to take hold of, grit our teeth at and rabid punch in order to get those at the reigns to stop and take notice of the underlining outrage. Government is out of control folks and those in power have taken notice that we are not flinching when our constitutional rights are taken away, money disappears from our pockets, vital programs morph into a Government controlled blunder and our sons and daughters souls have been sold to Uncle Sam.    

In 50 days President Obama, flanked by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has placed the United States into over 3 trillion dollars in debt through programs that were meant to rescue, revitalize and rebirth a nation. In only 50 days! Our nations health care is on the fast track to becoming a nationalized; a give some to everyone system which sounds alright in theory until one finds Washington dictating what doctors you can see, what medication you can take and what procedures you should have.

But it’s not just in our nations capitol, it’s here in New York too. My favorite hell spawned agency the MTA releases report after report of rider ship being up; buses and trains are seeing an extra billion and change of commuters leaving their cars and trucks home and taking mass transit, this in light of the price of gasoline spiking last Summer, and the trend has continued right through the winter into the Ides of March. Yet, there is still this blood sucking specter fare hike, toll hike, East Side Tolls, payroll tax and general plausible pick pocketing by the MTA - but how can this be? Two words: Public Complacency.

We are like Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh. ‘Ok, I guess it’s ok, what can you do, I don’t know, it’s just how it is’ - this ho-hum woe is me it just has to be this way attitude exuded by the public through non-action, speak when spoken to mentality is crippling us. It’s killing us.

It’s our city. It’s our country. President Obama knows this. President Lincoln did too. The ‘We The People’ premise that kicked off the Constitution hasn’t change since 1776. I know the economy is bad, but how much of the burden in fixing should be bore by the people’s back?

I didn’t sign up for that We part of the People all of the time.

Complacency kills. And if we never speak out against this kind of madness then we are nothing more than what Winston Smith called the people of 1984:

“We Are The Dead”