Is there something wrong with the picture?

 

 

"To be rich and famous is great - however to be poor and downtrodden is turning out to be more common than uncommon..."

Today in the paper there were two interesting and disturbing articles. Let me preface what I am going to address by saying the following - I am not a Socialist; I am not an income redistributor; and I am not a RINO. I am a citizen who cares deeply about our country and the people who live here. That being said, there is something wrong with this picture.

Homeless Elderly - This one has snuck in under the wire. I has been a growing problem and now is at crisis levels in many homeless shelters across the metro area. People in their "golden years" having to live like vagrants. And most homeless shelters are not equipped to handle seniors or geriatrics.

My wife and I have had exposure to the homeless issue in our county, especially the youth. Our youngest daughter works in outreach to find and help homeless folks. In the paper this past weekend was an article stating that 25% of our population does not have a dollar put aside for emergencies. And it has been said time and time again, many of us are one lost job, one medical emergency, one major unexpected bill away from losing our homes. This is a huge problem which has become much, much worse during the past six years.

Income Gap - The second article in the paper today concerned the income disparity at the Capital Building in Washington. You know which one - the one where the people who always bitch about income disparity work. While our representatives make a tidy annual salary of $174k (some get even higher), some of the folks who keep the place clean and neat make about $10/hour. $10/hour equals about an annual salary of $20k. In a city with a cost of living like Washington. As I have said, I am not an income redistributor, but there is something wrong with this picture. Visitation on the lower perches of the income scale (most of us have been there as youth) are not places one should stay and try to live on. Solutions? Don't have an answer. I do know this - without fixing our economy in order to have it once again spew out "living wage" jobs is critical. Failure to do so will condemn us to stay on this downward spiral.

Our Thin Blue Line - This weekend two more law enforcement officers were shot. One in New York, and one in Chicago. Six police officers have been "overcharged" for the death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore. One with second degree murder. All of a sudden, there is a narrative developing there is "something wrong" with our police forces. They are "out of control". We need to "nationalize" them. Here is my take. There is nothing wrong with our police forces. They have and perform one of the toughest (and most dangerous) jobs in the country. Are the perfect? No. Are they corrupt? I believe not. This is one to keep and eye on folks. Powerful progressive forces would love to see our police force nationalized. We would end up with a domestic military force. Posse Comitatus would be thrown out the window, as would our liberties.

We have a whole lot of damage control to do in 2016. We need to undo many, many wrongs. Our homelessness problem has become worse. Our income disparity has become much worse. Our police are under attack like never before. That is the picture I am painting this morning. And there is something wrong, very wrong, with this picture.