2000 - 2009: What the Hell Was That?

Sweet Jesus did this decade suck.

It started out with irrational panic about Y2K causing everything from toasters to airplanes to cease functioning. Normal, rational people were hoarding foodstuffs, drinking water and precious metals as if an inoperable oven would be the 4th horseman of the apocalypse. Turned out that we survived somehow and were able to move on to another panic.

Then came 9/11 - an event that changed the course of human history. Believe it or not, we have lived in relative peace since the foundation of our country. WWI and WWII were not really world wars - they were conflicts of a small percentage of the world's population. What were faced with after 9/11 was a truly global war. It was a war of Islam against Christians and Jews. The numbers on either side are total, there are no borders and the rules of warfare are totally inapplicable. If you don't believe me, ask yourself why we are unable to find Bin Laden in countries that are supposedly cooperating. Bottom line, they have come to the conclusion that they will not turn against one of their own - something that we in the western world must resolve in the very near future.

Then came 2 wars that we will be involved with for a very long time. WMDs are now in Syria - Hussein used them on the Kurds, Iranians and even our own troops - see Gulf War Syndrome. So with those missing in radical Islamic-land, we are at the mercy of people who show no mercy. Afghanistan has faced occupation throughout their history. The Taliban are gaining a stronger hold as UN resolve has dwindled and Afghanistan will again fall under the control of a brutal regime.

We managed to live through SARS, mad cow disease, bird flu, swine flu and a host of other illnesses that were supposed to wipe out mankind. Again, perfectly normal people preparing for the End of Days. We have Fox, CNN and Reuters to thank for more fear journalism to which we have become accustomed.

The world's financial systems have been rocked by unprecedented greed and corruption. From Enron to Tyco to Fannie Mae to ponzi schemes, we have witnessed seemingly unthinkable dishonesty and fraud. The citizens who punch a time clock and pack their lunches in the morning are left with not only decimated savings and home values, but also the bill for the crimes of others.

Our leaders have become so detached from the underlying problems and realities of the everyday person that we spend congressional time and resources on steroids in baseball. Honestly, I LOVED steroids in baseball. Sitting in the bleachers at Wrigley for half of my adult life, I was elated watching Sammy Sosa jack 600 footers out onto Waveland Ave. Shattering windows across the street, crowd going wild and beers being hoisted! What is not to love about that? - Oh but what will we tell our children! When did ESPN become so concerned about your children? If they truly were, they probably wouldn't hold gambling tournaments every week. What has destroyed more lives, steroids in baseball or compulsive gambling and the associated vices? Again - arbitrary 1, underlying issues 0.

Now we are sitting at the edge of a new decade and a new start. We have made a choice to take the promise of an easy way out via Hope and Change - 2 words that are so utterly abstract that even the most fanatical supporters can't tell me what they mean. The realization is setting in that there is no easy way out. No panacea in a $3000 suit. This is going to be a long painful recovery. The underlying issue that separates us so deeply comes down to whether the infrastructure of our country is strong enough to handle the massive burden that it is under. It is a structure that is not up to code right now, and congress is basically adding a couple of floors to the top. We are the bailout generation. Can the work of our parents and grandparents survive our misgivings?

Here's the point, while people are lifting their glasses and watching either a lighted ball drop or a redneck jump a bunch of busses in a car, what will you be toasting? Personally, I will be toasting the demise of a decade that will burn in history as one of the worst. I will raise my glass (read solo cup) and be glad to be done with it. God willing, I will make it to 2019 and be toasting to the rebirth of the American spirit and moral fortitude. I hope to kiss my wife, kiss my children and go to sleep that night knowing that they will not have to live through a decade like the "naughty aughties." Slancha 2010.

And you are stuck with it.

In our era of big government, we need some perspective on what this really means. Never in the history of the United States has the government ever taken anything over, then given it up. Now that you and I own GM, Chrysler and half of the country's banks, there are some examples that you need to understand. In theory, the government "fixing" or "helping" works out quite well. However, there is a chaos theory called the "law of unintended consequences" that can't be predicted except with the study of history.

Ever ridden on Amtrak? If you are a fan of seeing Aldi bags used as luggage and watching people eat cold fried chicken, chances are that you have. Not only synonymous with total disaster, it is owned by the US government. It exists solely for the purpose of existing and costs us millions every year. It was taken over officially in the mid 1950s as it was being rendered useless by commercial aviation. It was previously bailed out in the 1920s as Henry Ford's prowess pushed them to the brink of collapse.

In the 1950s, you and I bought Amtrak and have operated it, or should I say funded it, ever since. Although commercial aviation is 7x faster, 1/3 the price and has on-time performance exponentially superior, the trains continue to run. Freight First. The rules of the railroad state simply that passenger trains must yield to freight trains. Delaying freight trains can drastically impact the economy by delaying production, import, export, what have you. There is no accurate way to predict a way when an Amtrak train will depart or arrive. To this end, Amtrak is not a viable means of transportation in the 21st century. While there is part of us all that can only imagine the history and romance of the train travel era, we have to ultimately accept that Amtrak has gone the way of the Zeppelin, White Star Lines and Oldsmobile.

Politically, Amtrak has been a victim. The US government has hired executives to make the company profitable only to fire them because of the way in which they were achieving it. Congressmen and women would call for an ousting when a revenue hemorrhaging route in their jurisdiction would be nixed. The sad part is, it has been close to profit under several different managers, however, as political whims go so goes Amtrak. Relegated to limbo by a schizophrenic political climate.

With Obama's firing of Rick Wagoner and a disproportionate control of GM given to UAW, he essentially politicized the US economy. You and I have stock in GM - if you own a mutual fund or a money market account, you have money somewhere in GM. The US government now controls a good percentage of the free market, which can now ebb and flow with political landscape. It has nothing to do with financial viability - it has to do with who is in office, and whether they will continue to fund it and to what extent. If they fund it, your kids can go to college. If they let it fail, your kids will be flipping burgers. If they fund it, you can retire at 58. If they let it fail, you work until you are 67. They now have that power, and you didn't even realize it. Check mate - you will never get that back, you can merely play along.

Here's the point; the government does not give anything back. Further, they tend to over control things to the point of destruction. They consign a bad product to an eternity of mediocrity and continue to charge you for it without your knowledge. The military is the only thing that the government does well; and that is a direct result of a lack of political input. Have you been to the DMV in recent years? It is painfully backwards, inefficient and bureaucratic - and that is the on a good day. Now imagine that process building a Cadillac.

Ronald Reagan said "the most terrifying words imaginable are 'I'm from the government and I am here to help.'"

Lot's of Praying Around Here

As I sit in the Women's Center at Northside Hospital in Atlanta, where my wife is recuperating from surgery, I have seen a lot of prayer over the last 48 hours. Prayers of joy, prayers of hope, prayers of sorrow and even prayers of anger. I have watched an unending stream of clergy and religious figures flow into and out of the hospital lobby. I even witnessed an asian family with their clergyman cheerfully walking through the atrium to welcome a new arrival to their family, complete with bags of oranges and rice.

In everyday life, there is almost an unspoken embarrassment about religion. Not here. Here it is strong, embraced, participated in and encouraged. Our surgeon grabbed our hands and said a beautiful prayer before he took another life into his hands on an OR table. One of the best surgeons in Atlanta, wealth to spare and the utmost confidence in his ability asked someone above him for help and guidance.

My pseudo intellectual friends make fun of religion and feel as though they have ascended above it's relevance. When my dad was a kid, everyone went to church. There were no school shootings, bombings or babies abandoned in dumpsters. It strikes me as odd as we watch society and humanity erode around us, that we don't at least acknowledge the similar degradation of faith. As we chase prayer out of our schools, should we be surprised that other more nefarious things fill that void? The drastic violence, with such ambivalence, of crimes committed by kids today is simply...devastating.

Here's the point, we watch the human condition erode on a daily basis. We rip a kid like Tim Tebow for being vocal about his faith and praise people like Mike Vick for getting out of prison and getting a job after slaughtering helpless animals. We explain away God in our everyday lives and wonder why everything around us gets worse. We have told God we don't need him and can't seem to figure out why personal accountability is completely gone. Our leaders lie, cheat and line their pockets right in front of us and we don't bat an eyelash.

Jesse Jackson said something that I have reflected upon for years since; If I was walking through a parking lot and a group of young men were walking behind me, I would not worry if they were on their way home from church.

Spend some time in the Oncology unit at Northside Hospital. Try to explain away what you see there.