It's with some concern for certain friends of ours that we've noticed a heightened level of anxiety lately, specifically about the Federal budget and the debt negotiations going on in Washington, DC.
It's not that we aren't concerned with the insane obstinance and utter stupidity of the Republican leadership in Congress - or the repeated naiveté of the Democratic leadership - on the issue of the debt. We've been concerned enough about the topic of sensible budgeting - both bringing in more revenue and cutting wasteful spending - that we've discussed the topic at least once a month, every month, for the entire history of this publication.
That being said, we're not overly worried that the government of the United States will end up breaking its proverbial neck on our debt ceiling, regardless of what kind of hostage techniques Congressional Republicans try to pull off. As former corporate lawyer and longtime legal journalist, Reynolds Holding noted in a column for Reuters on Tuesday, America's constitution - specifically the Fourteenth Amendment - doesn't technically allow for us to default.
Still, even if we take a Pollyanna-like approach that the federal budget and debt negotiations now being led by President Obama will work out, that sadly won't change the selfish, self-centered, poisoned atmosphere that permeates much of America.
In our hometown of Lincoln, we used to be proud of a crazy annual community event known as the Star City Holiday Parade. We're intimately aware of how unusual it is for a midwest city to host an outdoor parade, annually, on a morning in early December (Our web guru helped host that parade for his former radio station, outside, in the cold, for seven years in a row). As crazy as it was, it was an event that brought the community together, attracted huge crowds, and had grown over its 25 years to become Lincoln's kickoff to the holiday season.
When the economy crashed, the funds for the parade went away, and we highly doubt it will return. It was an unusual event, but one that raised both the economy and the quality of life for everyone in the area. Even more unusual, was the fact that none of Lincoln's "money guys", including members of the Lincoln Independent Business Association, were willing to step up to the plate with checkbooks at the ready to continue this long-standing, successful community tradition. They should all be ashamed. We surely are.
Now, instead of acting together as one community to do things that will benefit the greatest number of our citizens, even "family friendly" Lincoln, Nebraska, seems to have turned inward and selfish in many ways.
Yes, the citizens of Lincoln did vote to build a new entertainment arena last year, a vote that was easily twenty years overdue when it passed. But a single vote doesn't improve the overall quality of life in a community. In fact, instead of working to make the venue more energy efficient and less of a drain on the pocketbooks of future Lincolnites, Lincoln's Mayor has recently decided that the city can't spend a little more money now, to make sure the arena is built right the first time.
After all, the arena suites are scheduled to go on sale soon for between $45,000 and $65,000 a year - and Lincoln simply couldn't ask for more money from the poor little rich folk, who can afford such extravagance in our current economic climate, right?
As syndicated columnist Leonard Pitts Jr. noted last weekend, there are reasons all of us, rich and poor alike, pay our taxes. Making our communities worth living in is one of those reasons. Paying the debts we all owe is another.
Getting past the debt ceiling argument won't be the hardest thing America does in the near future. The hardest thing we'll do is finally address the question of what kind of America we actually want to live in.
We hope that the America that we collectively choose doesn't end up being one where we toss out traditions and things that have made our country such a great place to live and work for so long, in order to make way for the "suite life" of the super rich. If that turns out to be the case, then we at The Daily Felltoon will be truly concerned.
For now, count us as worried - but holding tight to the Fourteenth Amendment.
