How Did We Get Here?

As I ponder the meaning of our Independence Day, I think about the vision of our Founding Fathers and Mothers. I think about the waves upon waves of immigrants who came to our shores, seeking the promise of a new life, with greater opportunities; how all those cultures enriched our own culture.

I think especially about the sacrifices of my parent's generation (the "Greatest Generation") as they faced the scourge of the Nazis, and how their efforts enabled my generation to "question authority" in ways that led to the Civil Rights movement and the end of the Vietnam War. In so many ways, we tried to match the courage of our parents. We helped to build a more just world where even the least among us could share in the wealth that is America.

Today, I wonder: how and where did we lose that courage? How in God's name did we get to the point where we're intimidated by know-nothings with teabags stapled to their hats?

Today, we're in the midst of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. If we learned anything from those times, we should have learned that cutting spending only makes things worse. Sure, we need to take a long-term look at our fiscal structure, so that we can eventually dig ourselves out of the debt created by two unfunded wars and the colossal Medicare drug benefit giveaway.

BUT TODAY IS NOT THAT DAY.

We got through the Great Depression by putting people to work in massive public works programs. Contrary to popular Conservative opinion, our build-up to WWII had little to do with the recovery (at least, according to Robert Reich and several other respected economists). In other words, we spent our way out of the Depression.

And we can do it again. Many economists today believe that the failure of the recent stimulus program was that it wasn't big enough. We need a bolder vision. We need President Obama to live up to his earlier promises of infrastructure and alternative energy spending. We need to fix our roads, bridges, and schools. We need to put more computers in those schools. We need to bring the internet economy to every hamlet.

We need to tell our Conservative brethren that, despite their total lack of empathy, an economic recovery belongs to ALL Americans.

And we need to start today, by telling them that allowing America to default on its loans is an act of treason, and will be treated accordingly.