Stuck in the Land of Hyperbole

 

"I am starting to understand why this country is still stuck in neutral..."

Earlier this week, my wife and I went to a seminar on how to recognize mental illness, especially in youth.  Towards the end of the session, the topic of suicide came up. The instructor told us that thoughts of suicide amongst teens were "common" these days. I challenged her on that point. I was corrected as the data validated her point. When I asked "why?", a young man from a local college gave me this answer - "Kids have no hope these days. They read the paper. They know what is going on. They have no hope for the future."

I thought about that on the drive home. This young man was right. It is not the fault of young people - it is ours. We set this table. We elected (twice) the inexperienced incompetents that govern us right now.

A good example of why kids become disillusioned happened yesterday in the ongoing IRS investigation. It turned out to be a mess, a real kerfuffle, and made everyone look bad. So what are the facts, and please, no hyperbole:

• The IRS was caught with their hand in the cookie jar, targeting conservative groups such as the Tea Party. This was validated through many FOIA requests and the documentation on this point is immutable and solid.
• In the center of the storm is Lois Lerner. She is a careerist who has a long history of going after conservative groups. She had it in her former job at the FEC, and still has it at her IRS job as head of the Tax Exempt Organizations Division.
• Targeting conservative groups was not just "some rouge employees" at the Cincinnati office (as reported by the lap dogs) - it was endemic throughout the entire organization.
• The President and his defenders may refer to this as a "phony scandal", but is far from that. Most Americans, including myself eschew the misuse of this most powerful government organization for political reasons. It is simply un-American.
• Ms. Lerner's attorney's promised Congressman Issa she was ready to testify. Then she reneged, and again took the fifth. All hell broke loose with Representative Cummings who thought he had been "dissed" when the meeting was adjourned. It then became Issa's issue, and not Lerner's. Hyperbole, pure and simple.

So as we continue to bicker and obfuscate the truth, hungry bears are on the loose in the world. We govern like we are ungovernable - maybe we are. Truth has become a stranger and decorum is on long term disability. Nobody cares any longer about real justice, we are stuck with hyperbole and sophism. Maybe Washington needs to adopt the spirit of Lent and repent for past sins. Maybe, just maybe  we can then forgive those who got us in this mess.