What's Going On: Americans duped into thinking we stink

Abused spouses come from all walks of life. They can be white, black, rich, poor, fat, skinny, college educated or high school drop outs.

But if there is one thing they share it is this: a low level of self esteem.

It’s much easier to dominate a spouse after they have been degraded into believing they are worth nothing.

Americans have become that battered spouse.

I’m saddened to hear so frequently today a chorus from all corners of society: America is headed down the toilet.

Quite frankly, if I hear one person claim they are “afraid for the children” I’m going to vomit.

We have been convinced by our polarizing federal lawmakers that America is the dung pile of civilization. That if we don’t vote out the Democrats or the Republicans, our precious children will be naked and living in boxes, begging for scraps of food in just a few years.

Pardon the vulgarity, but that’s a pile of crap.

So America is so bad off that we should fear for the future of our offspring? Is the future of today’s children really bleaker than those of 50 years ago when thousands of boys were dying in Vietnam and nuclear weapons were being stationed 30 miles away in Cuba?

Is the future of today’s children worse than 70 years ago when Japan was invading and we were engaged in a massive world war?

How about 80 years ago when the Bible belt was a giant dust bowl and most Americans didn’t have a job? Or how about 150 years ago when we really were a nation divided, killing each other at a rate still unseen even today, despite more prolific methods of destroying the human body.

Is our society really more morally bankrupt today than 60 years ago when a black man could be found hanging from a tree simply because he winked at a white woman? Or how about 100 years ago when that same woman couldn’t vote and was basically the property of her husband?

I’m not saying our nation isn’t facing its share of trials and tribulations. But to believe those challenges are any greater, or scarier, than those of the cold war era, or the world wars, or the Great Depression is ludicrous.

We are a resilient nation. We overcame those challenges and we can certainly overcome the ones that face us today.

However, that seems to have been forgotten. We are like the battered spouse: degraded and as such, dominated.

And whom do I blame? Our political leaders.

An unfortunate byproduct of the information age is the tendency to overstate and exaggerate in an attempt to make a message stand out in a sea of commentary.

As a result, political rhetoric has become so inflammatory the mere concept of bipartisan cooperation is as mythical as a unicorn.

But what’s worse than the ensuing gridlock that paralyzes Capitol Hill is how that kind of inflammatory language has infected the everyday American.

We have been conditioned to choose a side, right or left, conservative or liberal and embrace the extremism that goes with each. As a result, civil discourse regarding important topics has become nearly impossible as we lobby the same insults and degrading language we hear from the politicians on CNN or Fox News or our favorite talk radio show.

And there is no reason to expect this to change. For the politicians, the status quo is great.

It’s a good time to be a federal legislator with campaign finance reform a dirty word and deep-pocketed lobbyists as thick as fleas. So the longer they can inflame, and degrade the masses, the better because they know real change won’t be coming anytime soon.

And our nation could use change, starting with those federal lawmakers.

Frankly, it’s astounding to think Iowa’s sitting Senators have been “serving” at the federal level since Gerald Ford was president. That was nearly 40 years ago.

Nobody should be in office that long, I don’t care how good a legislator they are. When our constitution was written and our government created, nobody was a full-time legislator. It truly was a service to country done primarily after crops were harvested in the fall and before they were planted in the spring.

The thought of making a career of it, and becoming rich doing it, would make our founding fathers stick a quill in their eye.

Despite our lawmakers best attempts, Americans aren’t as extreme as we think we are. A group of Democrats and Republicans can actually sit down in a room and have a civil conversation, when given the opportunity. Given that opportunity, they typically find they share more common ground than expected.

And if you ask the average American, regardless of party affiliation, they are almost all in agreement on one thing: term limits.

Democrats and Republicans alike are tired of the status quo. They want change, but they just don’t know where to start.

My suggestion: divorce your federal lawmakers and find someone new to lead America who won’t make us feel like second-rate citizens who want to rip out each other’s throats.

Gregory Orear is the General Manager/Editor of the Red Oak Express and Glenwood Opinion-Tribune. He can be contacted at publisher@redoakexpress.com.