Finding Our Priorities: Thinking Out Loud

"Laws, like sausages, cease to inspire respect in proportion as we know how they are made."

A friend of mine introduced me to that concept, one that is more apt every day, it seems. (The origin is in dispute, but may date back to the 1800's.) I vote. I registered to do so on my 18th birthday. I vote in all the elections, but don't take my word for it—ask the poll sitters for my district. The last few years, I have sort of despaired because I observe what I can only call VADD, or Voter Attention Deficit Disorder. (And no offense is intended to those who actually have ADD.) We are blessed with more information than any generation that has come before us, and yet the electorate allows itself to be distracted, beguiled, and persuaded by topics that have little to do with what we actually need—as a nation and a people. 

For 30 years, we said the economy was the most important issue. But the epic fail of Wall Street in 2008 shows that we really weren't paying attention. The collapse of the housing market demonstrated that even smart people could ignore the obvious. We've ignored the crumbling infrastructure for three decades, then were shocked when bridges started to fall apart. 

 We ignored it when they started to encourage people to borrow heavily when their incomes did not keep pace with inflation, and personal debt tripled from a manageable $2K per household to over $6K—not counting mortgages. 

We failed to notice when people were downsized from decent jobs with benefits and forced to take minimum-wage work that couldn't cover their basic bills. But when Wall Street tanked and the housing bubble burst, it suddenly arrived in all our neighborhoods. Our kids will face college debt to rival some mortgages—before they collect a single paycheck. Our neighbors are facing foreclosures, and underwater mortgages. One of the galling points of all this is that most of it was predictable. We were just too busy to notice. 

When people talk "green," they use the expression "sustainable resources." For human beings, that includes employment. Outsourcing and downsizing created a shortage that we need to address: jobs. Underemployment is as serious an issue as unemployment, because it creates the false impression that something has gotten fixed. In reality, we slapped a bandage on an arterial bleed. 

I will not pretend to have the answers to the "big questions." But I don't believe that repeating our mistakes will fix anything. What is the expression? "Only a crazy person does the same thing over and over and expects a different outcome." So I am looking for both opinions and ideas. Please, no trite rehashing of old campaign promises. No bitter baiting from one side or another. What do you think should be our national priorities? And why? 

 And please... keep it polite.