WHY A SLOWING ECONOMY (insert "R" word here) MAY ACTUALLY HELP OUR COUNTRY

IT WILL GIVE US SOME HUMILITY. For all our grandiose talk and proclamations about being number one...in everything, we aren't. Haven't been in quite some time now. Education, Infrastructure, Social Programs, Innovation, you name it, we aren't number one, in just about anything important, except for our own hubris.

IT WILL END OUR STIFLING SENSE OF DENIAL. We are hurting. We have blown the Clinton budgetary surplus, our students graduate functional illiterates with no drive or even a modicum of ability think critically, our bridges are falling down by their own weight, we have allowed ourselves to accept. Accept less than what we should be, and deny that we have lowered the bar so low that we can't keep our heads above water. We have allowed our puffed up chests to obscure our ability to see that we are standing in quicksand.

WE ARE A LAZY, OVER INDULGENT, SLOTHFUL NATION. When we speak of our crumbling family units, we always speak of single parent families and their effects on our children. The fact is, our dual parent families are in decay as well; we do not stand up for or represent any redeeming social values anymore. Honesty, virtue, character or the value of good old fashioned hard work. We are so mired in overindulgence that we cannot see the ridiculous habits we treasure, $4 mocha frappucinos, $60,000 behemoth automobiles, and the like. The waste of this nation alone would feed a starving nation. We need to see that for the majority of our people, what we do not have, we probably do not need after all.

WE MAY REGAIN THE ABILITY TO FOCUS ON WHAT WE TRULY NEED FOR OUR NEXT PRESIDENT. During the Bush administrations, we focused on fear. Fear of terrorism, fear of inaction, fear of everything that we almost certainly will never experience firsthand. But now, we can all face a reality check of fear. Fear of a crumbling economy is something we all will face. This is the overwhelming issue at hand. It is the engine that drives us where we are going, good or bad. And if the the engine is sputtering, it doesn't matter in which direction you may want to turn the steering wheel. If the next President is unable to turn this economy around, and that means job creation, we will be stuck in a virtual quagmire. Never mind all the other peripheral issues at hand, abortion, religion, individual rights, and the like. If we cannot face the facts, if we cannot pull our heads out of the sand and see our nations direction, we will be digging ourselves a hole it may generations to correct. We need to awaken the You tube generation as to the seriousness of the state of the nation today. A nation you will rapidly inherit.