The Right Candor

The second mate finally agreed that the outlook for the flailing ship looked bleak.  Despite their efforts to stem the tide, icy water continued to cascade through the gaping crater that exposed the ship’s interior hull.  The beautiful ship was sinking.

So seems the scenario for America’s financial markets.  Lately, every day it seems that the sun rises and sets on new financial woes.  The Dow closed last Friday (3/13/09) at 6626.94, losing half of the value from the single high of 14,165 in October of 2007.  The rally that started earlier today now seems to be slumping; predicting another cold day for those whose retirement depends so heavily on the financial markets to rebound.

To add to the dismal picture, unemployment numbers continue to climb, rising to 8.1% in February 2009, almost a 1% increase since December 2008.  These unemployment numbers are the highest since 1983 and show no signs of slowing.

Isn’t this a beautiful picture I have painted: a sinking ship, sinking financial markets, and a giant wave of layoffs looming on the horizon?  Now, more than ever before, Americans are looking for work among an economy that has none to offer. 

But wait!  Is there is a bright spot on the horizon?  Could Congress possibly be a lighthouse; signaling hope among the waves and terror of the rising ocean?  Let’s see.

What they’ve brought before the floor in our time of need is the DC Voting Rights bill?  What is the DC Voting Rights bill and how will it help our country?  Well, put plainly; it won’t, but for our legislators, that is beside the point.  After all, this bill was created to give one congressional seat to Washington DC and one to Utah; therefore, increasing the size of the House of Representatives from 435 to 437 permanently.  Currently the District of Columbia has a delegate that has no voting credentials; this bill would change that and increase the size of our government (is this the change we were hoping for?).  The bill would treat DC as if it were a state.  DC, however, is not a state; it is the seat of government as stated in the US Constitution (Article I, Section 8).  The Constitution, you ask?  Yes, remember the Constitution?  That blessed document that is suppose to guide this Republic. (The real Lighthouse.  The one that would have prevented these continuous ship wrecks when our country has encountered dark, uncertain waters if we’d have only followed its light.)

In a time of failing financial markets and increasing unemployment, our legislators turn their faces away from us, the people, to concentrate instead on an issue that would solidify the power of one political party.  Maybe it is time they experience unemployment.  Let’s make sure they do, come the next election. Their attitudes will change if they too feel the terror of being in a sinking ship. 

Keep the Constitution alive.  Follow its light.  And there are lifeboats on this sinking ship.  Let’s use them.  Not all ships have to share the same fate as the Titanic.