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Lessons of a tough 2007
A Times Editorial
Published January 1, 2008
Even those Americans who don't drink probably woke up with a hangover of sorts this morning. As the sun rises on 2008, we're still paying for last year's excesses and indiscretions. This new year will be a time for choices and changes, from choosing a new president to reordering the nation's priorities. And you think your vote doesn't matter?
Last year's military surge in Iraq seemed to work, at least as measured by the drop in the level of violence, but the Bush administration still has no coherent security strategy or discernible endgame in our war against terrorism. Politically, all we know for certain is that George Bush is in the last year of a miserable presidency. Let the countdown begin, by hours, days and weeks. As for the economy, we're not sure if it resembles the Times Square New Year's Eve ball or the Rockettes: Is it shiny but sinking? Or does it still have a lot of kick left?
A nation at war should feel uneasy. One of the most troubling aspects of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq is that so few Americans have been asked to share the sacrifice. Our magnificent military is frayed and fatigued by the constant demands on its finite resources and needs relief that can't come too soon. The leading Democratic presidential candidates have promised to end the war but not necessarily the U.S. military presence in Iraq.
At a time when Americans need answers, or at least options, our presidential candidates are giving us too many platitudes and sound-bites. While subjects such as abortion, taxes and immigration are important, can we really afford to pick the next leader of our nation based on a single issue or a religious test? As for which candidate is closest to God, only he knows, and we shouldn't trust any mere human, even a Baptist preacher from Arkansas, to speak for him. The 2008 election could prove to be fascinating and historic, with the potential for the first woman or first black man to be elected president.
Americans are uneasy about the U.S. economy, and for good reasons. One thing we all should have learned from last year's economic roller coaster ride is that you really can't borrow your way to happiness. In 2008, let us resolve to think of our house as a home, not an ATM; to neither borrow nor lend more than can be repaid; to call investments rated AAA based on smoke and mirrors what they really are: junk; to work hard and save before we play hard and spend. If we do that, the American economy will once again make fools of its detractors.
So plop, plop, fizz, fizz, press on, and Happy New Year.
[Last modified December 31, 2007, 21:01:23]
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