Last week I penned a few words about the state of Florida’s financial crisis from one particular point of view .●.●. mine.
I referenced the column as “Florida on the Verge,” but, after receiving many responses from readers, I’m re-thinking what I wrote.
Readers from all points of the political spectrum shared their observations about the challenges we face both as Floridians and Americans.
Some of their opinions were close to mine, others, not so much.
However, I realized something. While we may debate on the right approach to get us out of this mess, this much we agree upon .●.●. something’s gotta give.
And here I thought it was just me.
More specifically, someone’s gotta give and I know who.
You.
And me.
And the rest of our great country – you know the one that is the red, white and blue and touted as the nation of ideas.
But, increasingly we have become a nation of ideology.
And it’s tainting our collective conversation to find common ground.
You can’t talk about poverty without someone quickly sizing you up as either a bleeding heart liberal or a cold-hearted conservative waxing tough on welfare reform.
If you suggest a solution for Iraq and Afghanistan, you better be willing to reveal your political leanings or run the risk of having them revealed for you.
And just try to talk about education. That’ll send ‘em scurrying to opposite sides for sure.
It seems as though we can no longer discuss the issues without becoming tersely political. Or is it?
The political is personal or vice versa, right?
Nothing illuminates this more vividly than the subject of our economy. President Obama may go down in history as having the shortest presidential honeymoon. He barely unpacked in the Oval Office before partisan bickering began over the economic stimulus package.
(Hmmm. She’s talking about Obama. She must be a liberal.)
I’m not too thrilled with the proposal coming out of Washington as it stands. Last fall’s credit rescue – you know the one that held to the truths of the red, white and blue touted by Wall Street – didn’t rescue me, nor my family, nor my neighbors. Maybe there’s something to the growing chatter about returning part of the proposed stimulus money directly to the citizens.
(Whoa. Sounds like a tax rebate to me. Maybe she’s a Republican.)
One reader e-mailed me saying we are a nation that needs to be on the verge of major “shift thinking.” I agree. Trouble is, which way do we shift? And how do we get there in one piece? This is where we hit the roadblocks, clenched philosophical fist to the sky.
I thought I was writing last week about Florida’s antiquated tax code. I wasn’t, as one reader astutely observed saying, “I think we are on the verge of a new kind of citizenry who doesn’t fall lockstep behind one party’s philosophy. We’ve got to arrive at a consensus on the big issues.”
Unity over ideology? I couldn’t agree more.
Maybe that’s where we begin.
ays welcomed.