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Highlands Today

America Must Hunker Down And Get Through Bad Times

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 22, 2008

President John F. Kennedy asked Americans to ask not what their country could do for them, but what they could do for their country. These days, our two presidential nominees won't dare ask for personal sacrifice. Both are convinced they will lose an election as a result. We're not so sure.

These incredibly trying times have everyone looking for signs of hope and even help. A growing number of people are losing jobs and homes. Others are stressing, wondering if their job will be there in the coming difficult days.

Our government has passed huge financial bailout packages that indebt our nation for years to come. It's a scary time. We can't help but think, however, that too many people are handling this all wrong.

We don't blame Congress and the president for passing the bailout plan. They had to do it, as distasteful as it was. We can be furious with them for getting us into that situation in the first place, but we shouldn't blame them for doing the only thing they could do to prevent total chaos.

We also believe that some Americans have forgotten a basic principle that has worked for a few hundred years. It's the belief that no matter how bad it gets, if we all sacrifice, we'll get through it. That's worked from before the beginning of our country, through the Civil War, World War I and II, and the Great Depression.

During our country's darkest days during Korea and Vietnam, even during the Iran Hostage Crisis, there was an underlying feeling that we could turn it all around. And we always have. For some reason that same feeling is lacking these days.

Is it laziness on our part, or a lack of faith in the American spirit? We don't know, but we believe our country has great days ahead. We steered off course, but with a lot of hard work, we can right the ship.

It's too bad our presidential nominees don't just tell Americans the truth. We're in a financial crisis. We can get out of it, but it won't be easy. It's going to get worse before it's going to get better. Until our economy starts to turn around, the only new programs that will be green-lighted will have to have an obvious effect on fixing the economy. No tax cuts, no health plans, no other goodies until we get this done.

Americans can live with that. Plenty of people will squeal and whine, but we've been through it before. Just ask Great Depression-era Americans and they almost laugh at the lack of sacrifice Americans today are willing to handle. World War II-era residents remember when commodities were short, so was gas, rubber and all kinds of things. Do we face that now? No. We're in the middle of two wars and other than military families and our troops, we're not sacrificing anything. We're not even paying for this war. Our grandchildren will. That's disgusting and appalling.

Let's quit waiting for the government to give us something. Except for the worst cases, we can get through this without handouts. Our politicians need to understand this too. Just fix the problems that caused this mess, make sure they don't happen again, and get on with it. We can all hunker down and get through it.

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