Living in a 3rd world country but hoping for a Happy New Year anyway...

This holiday season was somewhat complicated, for us personally, by a serious wind storm in Seattle that knocked out our power for a week. We got pretty desperate. Seattle is cold and dark in the winter, and we rely on a furnace for heat. And we REALLY rely on electronic connection to the world. Without it, we are pretty miserable. And so, late on Monday night before Christmas, we gave up on Seattle, packed up the cats in the car and head south. Refugees, as it were.

I wasn’t, probably, in the best of spirits for the trip. I admit that. But I took a different look at the countryside along the way, and with the mess we left behind in mind as well, I got to thinking my old refrain: that we, as a country, are making some bad decisions about priorities and character and direction.

It wasn’t just the little things – the fact that, for example, “Buckle up for Safety” signs have been replaced by “Click it, or Ticket” signs; and even “No Littering” admonitions have escalated to “Litter, and it will Hurt” threats. Or the fact that SeaTac airport had a big ‘to-do’ about whether or not they should be allowed to have Christmas trees as holiday decoration. No, it’s bigger than that.

America is, literally, falling apart. Our entire infrastructure is old and weak. Our highways are in disrepair, our bridges are past their expected life span, our power supplies are limited and at risk to the elements in fragile overhead systems that were installed half a century ago. Sewer and water systems are inadequate; drainage and reservoir systems outdated. And even more worrisome still, our education policies have severely limited the number of people willing and able to train for technician jobs, so we don’t even have the plumbers, pipe fitters, electricians, refrigeration technicians, diesel mechanics, pile drivers – the list goes on and on – to rebuild our infrastructure.

But, of course, that's not all. We have public policies, affecting nearly every sector, that confuse the best of us and provide opportunities for corruption to the worst of us. We've screwed up our air traffic control systems, our schools, our universities and our libraries with budget cuts that have left them hopelessly behind in the technology that private business and industry counts on every day. (And yes, they have all managed to retain their upper and mid-level managers who carry coffee cups around all day and make decisions about cutting direct and important services while saving their own jobs.) Our laws and policies have brought us perilously close to a police state. But our bureaucrats continue to distract us from seeing that by declaring imaginary ‘wars’ on drugs and crime and terrorism and Christmas. Our politicians are corrupt, our military is confused, our media is untrustworthy, our prisons are overcrowded, our schools are failing.

Maybe Neil Stephenson is right and pretty soon all America will be able to do well is deliver hot pizza in 30 minutes or less.

Our immigration policy alone is putting our own citizens’ very financial security at risk through rampant and uncontrollable identity theft. But we don’t do anything about it, because big business and the government are making out like bandits on this scheme. And even if you didn’t care about that, think about this: People died in Seattle Emergency Rooms simply because they don’t speak English and didn't get the word that they shouldn’t run generators in their living rooms during power failures in cold Seattle winters.

We have had critical shortages of nurses and other health care providers for years. We can’t get good people to teach – but we sure do have a lot of lawyers, because that’s where the money is. Our 'entertainers' (and I use the term lightly) are the most valued people in our social structure – instead of our engineers and inventors and composers and mothers. Half of our ‘workers’ are flying all over the country giving PowerPoint presentations to other people about toilet paper improvements and the latest in cotton underwear, while the other half are flipping burgers and cleaning hotel bathrooms. We don’t seem to produce much, or build much, or create much that backs up our economy with real value. We're sliding into a service economy of low-wage, low-skill jobs contrasted by a few high-wage, high-skill professions and all we have is a big debate about minimum wage laws as the solution???

It's all about priorities. In a perfect world, we could do it all. But this isn't a perfect world. (And believe me, being without power for a week in December truly brought that point home to roost.) We don't get to have it ALL.

I think we have our national priorities out of whack. We have limited resources, and we are spending them in the wrong places. I think we are moving ever closer to being a 3rd world country right here at home. And I am afraid that might be The Plan.

I’m worried about us.

I want to have a Happy New Year. I want YOU to have a Happy New Year too. I want to believe that we will manage, once again, to swing back to common sense and practicality and decency and kindness and balance and all those things that mean civilization and prosperity and the freedom to pursue happiness.

I want the lights to come back on.

Good grief. I don't know how to fix any of it, but I sure do know how to complain about it.

I am, of course, part of the problem. I 'want' and I 'hope' but I don't know what to 'do.' Or where to start. Or even how to stop complaining about everyone else's solutions. I'm struggling with my role and my responsibility and my impotence. But if there are a lot of other people who are doing the same, maybe we'll manage to make it a Happy New Year after all.