Our Don Quixote Moment

There is so much going on in this country that it is often hard to make sense of it all. From battles over education, to budget debates, to Wall Street bonuses, to banking reform, to assaults on collective bargaining, to corporate propaganda disguised as grass-roots advocacy, to tax cuts for the wealthy, to cuts to the safety net, to multi-billion dollar corporations paying little or no taxes. It just seems to be out of control and beyond belief, as if ignorance, anger, greed, and self-indulgence trump everything that occurs in this land.

Just look around the nation. Vindictive proposals are being peddled as fiscal restraint; fingers of blame are being pointed across the country, from right to left, and back again. And so few people are capable of engaging in honest and fair discussions that it is almost impossible to distinguish the truth from the lies.

The problems are most evident in the Congressional budget debate in Washington. Last year, during the midterm elections, Republicans declared that the Democratic controlled House and Senate should not pass a budget for the current fiscal year because of an anticipated change in power. Senate Republicans in the 111th Congress even blocked any budget deal with filibusters, and Democrats seeking re-election were more than willing to allow them.

Now, we are faced with a possible government shutdown, with the Republicans, who are seeking excessive cuts that cannot and should not pass, claiming it’s the Democrats fault, and vice versa. Meanwhile, the ignorant among us scream that the government should be shut down, as if sending 800,000 government workers home for a week or two will resolve the systemic problems that plague the government.

We know that making major cuts in the budget at this time would further slow the nascent economic recovery. Yet, Republicans and Tea Party operatives seek to slash every program for the sake of slashing. Retrenchment now, when confidence is beginning to build, would set back efforts to pull the nation out of its financial funk. That does not seem to matter to too many people, including those in Congress.

Instead of creating a workable solution to our economic problems, they rage and bellow against liberal policies, greedy unions, Socialism, and high tax rates for companies that actually may not even have to pay taxes because of numerous loopholes.

The same is being played out on local levels across the nation. There is no need to recount the assaults on collective bargaining rights for public employees in Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, and Florida. They have been discussed ad nauseam. Nor is it necessary to detail the extensive cuts that various governments have proposed to education and social services programs, while giving tax breaks to businesses and the well-to-do.

There is such a disconnect in this country that honest and sincere debate is almost unheard of. Instead, everything is the fault of liberalism and socialism.

For example, The Detroit News ran two columns recently. One column, by Daniel Howes, tried to make sense of Detroit, asking whether the city is headed for further decline or revival. The second column, by Laura Berman, detailed how home vacancies had increased in the well-to-do communities of Oakland County, MI.

According to some of The News’ readers, at least those that are most vocal, the problem in Detroit and Oakland County were caused by liberals and socialism. It doesn’t matter that the economic meltdown began under President George W. Bush, who can be confused for many things, neither of which is liberal or socialist.

Missing from the debate about Detroit and Oakland County were the words greed, misguided optimism, economic crisis, hysteria, and the relation each has to the other.

It was greed that prompted lenders to provide money to anyone who asked, regardless of whether they could pay it back. Some lenders even went so far as to fudge numbers to make home loans. Who cared if the loans were paid back? The money was made by bundling the loans early, and passing the risk on to someone else.

Then, of course, there was the misguided optimism that the housing bubble would never burst, or if it did it would burst so far down the line that it would not matter to most people. That optimism was shattered by the very real economic crisis that saw a booming Wall Street pressed hard against a struggling Main Street.

As Wall Street struggled the hysteria set in. It’s the fat cats who caused the problems, critics screamed until the lobbyists and public relations firms turned everyone’s attention to other culprits. It’s the government, others said, particularly the public sector unions whose members have fat pensions and health packages. Actually, its teachers. It's all a liberal and socialist plot.

The result is we have become a country of Don Quixotes, lost in our delusions, unable to see the world for what it really is. Peasants are now princesses, buffoons are great thinkers, and the most honored are the most dishonorable.

It’s becoming harder and harder to make sense of it all.