Simply Put- “Living in America”

7/3/08
By: Clint Cox

The day after this week’s edition comes out our country will be celebrating July 4th. There will be the usual abundance of hot dogs, watermelons, ice cream and fireworks. All the upcoming celebrations got me to pondering about living in American and what follows. A column. There are a boat load of folks that spew out all the bad things about living in America. If you dwell on all the rhetoric, you would get the impression that living in America is terrible. The far left decries the war, the economy, gas prices, racial problems, over zealous government and law enforcement and the lack of gay’s right to get married. All these woes of course are the far right and President Bush’s fault.
The far right decries those wanting to abandon the war before the job is fully done, the economy, gas prices, taxes, crime, drugs, gangs and gay lifestyles shoved in their face every time they turn on the television. All of these woes of course are the far left and President Clinton’s fault. I know our country has problems. The current gas crisis is certainly one of them. But I get tired of all the left wingers blaming it all on the government. One of these left wingers was complaining after his $100 fill up at the gas station recently, saying it’s the government’s fault. He then promptly went out and got in an SUV that gets maybe 15 miles to the gallon. We are to blame just as much as the government. We have refused to give up our gas sucking SUVs, big trucks and go anywhere anytime mentality. We can do our little part by driving smaller and more efficient vehicles, walking or riding a bike occasionally and staying closer to home more often. The country’s drug problem is another example. The left blames the government for not funding enough treatment programs. The right blames the government for not dealing more sternly with the countries that grow and import the drugs. But we Americans have the power to strike a blow to the drug cartels of the world. Stop buying the drugs and they’ll go out of business. Or legalize the drugs, load’em down with taxes and take those taxes to expand drug treatment programs. I guess I’m just tired of hearing all the folks bad mouth living in America. If life is so bad here, why is the rest of the world trying to cross our borders to join us. So to all the nay sayers of our country, Simply Put, give the rest of us a break. As we celebrate our nation’s independence, take a day off from all your negativity and let us spend the day enjoying our family and our freedom. From the front porch: Coach said a team is where a boy can prove courage on his own. A gang is where a coward goes to hide.