“Did you hear the good news?”
Rudy asked, sporting a larger than usual grim that brimmed like the Cheshire
cat from Wonderland.
“From that grin you’re sporting,
you must be referring to McCrory
from North Carolina?” I rhetorically asked. The state’s governor had signed into
law a bill lowing unemployment benefits and canceling federal extensions, which
would account for his grim.
“Finally we have a governor who is
not afraid to lead. I think they should run McCrory for President come 2016.
He’ll get the nation back on fiscal track,” Rudy concluded.
“Hum,” I reflected, while slipping
on swimwear paraphernalia. “What makes you so confident? Except for Chris
Christie, he’ll have a long list of corporate-financed candidates to compete
with.”
“Hell, he’s turned around his
whole state in seven months,” Rudy responded as if their Governor had found the
panacea for saving the nation from its follies.
“That depends on how you define turnaround,” I replied. There was an
urge to mention that North Carolina had a former reputation for being
progressive. Now, in its quest to return to its old plantation mentality, it
was showing signs of regression.
“All we have to do in Ohio is
follow his lead. We start cutting unemployment benefits here, people will be
forced to get off their lazy-duck behinds. That’s how I define turnaround.”
“If I recall correctly, North
Carolina has succeeded in becoming one of the nation’s highest unemployment
states. You sure cutting benefits will solve that problem?”
“Damn-straight it will. People
are basically lazy. You have to motivate them. Give them a good crack with a
whip tends to be a good motivator. He’s really doing them a favor.” He could
see I want about to enter the pool. “You don’t seem to understand. Their
governor is doing this for their own good. Cutting benefits should do wonders
for their business economy.”
That comment gave me pause. “There
will never again be enough substantive jobs to go around. We have most likely passed
the point of no return. That means that most people will never find meaning
employment.”
“That’s my point: We have to stop
pandering to liberal, touchy feel-good thinking,” he wiggled his fingers as if
sharpening Cheshire cat claws. “Besides, there is at all the wasted tax money we’ll
save,” Rudy added with exuberant self-satisfaction.
I wanted to reach over, grab him
by the neck and strangle him. To do so, would have required dropping the swimming
paraphilia. “Rudy, I won’t have time to get my laps in.” With that closing
comment, I slipped into cooler water where smiling cats dare not tread.
Our nation has long-term
structural problems: Cutting unemployment benefits creates more problems than
it solves. There are not enough decent paying jobs to go around, and there won’t
be enough in the foreseeable future. At the national level, the decision not to modernize the nation’s
infrastructure appears to be the current agenda—a decision we will come to regret.
There is no point in continuing
the pretext. We have digressed from being a progressive nation into the shadows
of what we used to be. Have you learned the words to God Bless Corporate America?