"Okay...I Admit It..."

I've been lazy." So, sue me. It's not that events which have transpired in my life these past few weeks have been anything approaching cataclysmic. If anything they have been mundane in importance and thus (in my opinion) unworthy of comment. Being still unemployed...especially in the month of December when commerce even in the best of economic times slows down to a virtual crawl...has rendered my enthusiasm to get very excited about life in general to the near point of total apathy. My forced retirement (thus far) is agreeable in that the hours are excellent, but the downside is that the pay is horrendous. Still, Judi and I are managing to keep our heads above water and are anticipating that this New Year will bring about far better fortunes. After all, Mr. Obama is about to become President and his promise of "hope" has me nearly convinced that come January 21st we shall awake to our own personal bail out check in the mail. It's that what every American is hoping for? Sorry 'bout the skeptical sarcasm...

Here's what I do hope for. That President-elect Obama will take the reins of power and become a guiding influence for the betterment of our country, not for the benefit of the few, but for the many. Even without our current economic turmoil, we live in a perilous world of divergent viewpoints, many of which are harbored by persons who would slit the throats of their neighbors for some perceived slight that occurred centuries before they were born. Keeping these dangerous ideologies at bay and hopefully safely at a distance from our shores should be among the highest priorities of our new President. Failing to be so persistently diligent will render our current economic woes mote.

Like it or not, every American will continue to have a discomforting price to pay in order to right our nation's course. Until just recently Americans for the most part have enjoyed an almost unparalleled period of prosperity, albeit underwritten by the false notion that the heretofore free and easy credit would be a debt the Pied Piper would never call due. The startling reality is that our institutions of trust have let us down, choking on their unquenchable thirst for a bigger and more profitable share of the pie. We all bought into the notion that the good times would continue to roll, that our sense of easy entitlement would have no end, and that our futures were safely secure. What far too many folks discovered is that we all are intertwined with a world economy that would forever function on the notion that someday in the future all that we borrowed today would be paid back in spades. The bill continues to come due and even the innocent among us are facing the uneasy consequences of mistrust and uncertainty.

President Obama must now translate his rhetoric of hope for a brighter tomorrow into concrete policies that will provide a foundation on which each hard-working American can again stake their trust, their fortunes, and their futures. President Obama is willingly inheriting this present place in our nation's on-going history from which there is no turning back. The American people will give him his lead to search out and implement resolutions to our many short-comings, but he needs understand that his opportunity for significant change from the old policies of "business as usual" will be short lived, that the American people will take whatever steps may be necessary in order to separate those who would abuse their elected power and garner it unto themselves. President Obama, like American as a whole, needs to be ever vigilant and held closely on a very short leash. For if we cannot as nation of free people decide and command our own fate, then in the wings wait patiently those who would deny us our very basic freedoms.

These are indeed perilous times. We each have a responsibility to not blindly abdicate our vigilance to those who make promises yet fail to deliver. The future of our country lies within each of us to demand that each and all of our governing institutions are help strictly accountable. If we fail to hold to the strict adherence that we are a government of the people, then we each shall sadly discover that we have apathetically allowed a government that serves its own self interest and continues to be populated by persons who too readily point away from themselves the finger of responsibility. There is no excuse for deceit. We must never forget that we are a people governed by law. There can be no order without law. When we as a people are no longer resolute in applying the rule of right and wrong, when we fail to apply the scales of justice to all of our institutions, then we shall surely lose ourselves in the resulting chaos for which we have allowed ourselves to be the witting authors.

Be, therefore, prayerful that this renewed promise of hope is far more than mere audacious speeches eloquently mouthed to appease the masses. Be, therefore, diligent and demanding of those whom we have imbued with our vote of representation abide by the letter of constitutional law. Be, therefore, Americans...ready to uphold truth and ready to demand that it be always the pillar on which as a nation this country unwaveringly stands. Mr. Obama...the ball is squarely in your court. Don't drop it.