Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Ruins in the Making

Took a break from blogging. Congress is in recess, guess I am too. Other excuses include spending too much time working at the zoo. On a particularly slow and hot day at the dinosaur store (called much to everyone's delight the Dinostoraus) I tried to reconcile the front page news with what I observe during my daily shifts. The zoo is basically a giant day care. Lots of families, lots of strollers, lots of babies, lots of families with babies in strollers who are much too young to remember anything.

Many things annoy me at the zoo, this is no secret, but many things reassure me. Parents are taking care of their kids, trying to show them a good time. Breaking news aside, kids still like toys, parents still buy them for them. Which leads me to my next point; if ever you feel nervous about the consumer economy come on by, I can assure you it is alive and well.

Though life appears to continue as normal along the winding paths between the penguins and polar bears, scratch the surface and you see all is not well. I was saddened to read an article in the Times this weekend describing the progress of schools experimenting with four day weeks in order to cut costs. The article concluded that cutting hours is not ideal but hopefully it wouldn't be too detrimental to students' education. Wow, is that the best we can do? Hopefully our new reforms won't hurt one of the most vital natural resources we have. The schools are doing the best they can, but government is failing them, society is failing them.

Most people I talk to these days believe that the public school system is broken beyond repair, and that privatization is the key to the way forward. Fine. I am open to that. I am open to a lot of private solutions to public problems. But as usual I ask, where are the proposals? Where is the call to action? Where is the outrage at the crumbling pillars of society? Must we wait for collapse before we begin to rebuild?

Politicians left and right claim to love America. Everyone claims patriotism. But for all that touted love, society is working against itself. Hate of the other is rampant. Hate of those on welfare. Hate of those on private jets. Hate of public institutions. Hate of private corporations. Seems everyone is playing a zero sum game. But please, can't you see that allocating resources -private or otherwise- to the basics of society is not subtracting from any column but multiplying our potential ten fold?

Spend billions on defense, ignore the middle class, go on vacation, but let our schools crumble and one day you'll find society in ruins.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

On the Brink

I finally decided to delve into the Mad Men series. It's a quality show, quite nuanced and masterful in how it ties current events of the time into the characters' daily lives. Last night's episode featured the Cuban Missile Crisis. In the background in people's homes and offices were news clips and footage of JFK explaining the situation as it developed. The phrase "on the brink of nuclear war" came up often. I noticed this because that was the second time brinkmanship came up yesterday. The first was in an article about the debt ceiling debate.

Back then it was us vs. them. We had a foreign enemy, and worse we could destroy each other. Now our latest use of the word brinkmanship is reserved for our own internal affairs. Our credit rating and financial health was threatened not by some far away country but by our own compatriots. What happens when the largest threat to our country's well being is internal? Embarrassing as it is, we no longer need the Soviet Union, we apparently can push each other to the brink.

This period in history will be remembered for the Arab Spring, but more broadly it seems now is the time we see people demand improvement in internal politics. England, Spain, Greece, the Arab world, and now even Israel continue to witness mass protests about issues inside their borders, issues that can only be resolved between a government and its people.

I am not suggesting that America take to the streets, but surely it is time we too focus on our own internal threats. As Jon Stewart said in a rant about the Tea Party, "government isn't perfect, but some people want it to be better, not gone." As our ideologies become more steadfast and the stakes rise ever higher, let's remember that no matter what other security threats we face around the world, we can be our own worst enemy.