Cleaning out the barn

"And one of the candidates has vowed to fix this country with Bible in one hand and Constitution in the other."

It is a great expression. Former Speaker Boehner said he would do it - sort of. According to sources, the former Speaker did sweep out the barn - but he left the pile of manure sitting in front of the barn door. So the new Speaker was left with a very unpleasant job to do once he took over the gavel. Ergo, we ended up with a huge omnibus type funding bill for GFY 2016.

Not that I want to sound like Mr. Gloom or Dr. Doom, but that barn was nothing compared to the much larger barn which needs to be cleaned out come next January. And this barn is not just full of manure, it is also full of broken agreements, a decimated military, a gargantuan debt, a fractured nation and a new entitlement which is bleeding red ink all over the place. 

Often times I wonder why in the world anyone would want the job of President. In my lifetime, there has not been one President who did not age right before our eyes while in office. Never a day off, even while on vacation. And to fix this great nation, to get it back to its Constitutional roots, is going to be a Herculean (maybe impossible) task.

With all due respect to one of the candidates running, fixing this country will take more than just fancy slogans. And with respect to another candidate running, fixing this country will take more than just thinking it is "her turn". No, to fix this country is going to be a hit the ground running type of effort. And one of the candidates has vowed to fix this country with Bible in one hand and Constitution in the other. To me, those are the two instruments of redemption needed to fix our floundering nation. It is as simple as that.

My biggest disappointment with all the candidates so far this election cycle is the reluctance to discuss our growing debt. In particular the entitlements. Actually, the closest thing I have heard discussed about the entitlements is one of the candidates wanting to add another one - free college. What will that do to the debt? Who cares? Nobody else seems to.

Bottom line is this. The barn is huge and the barn is dirty. And besides the big barn in D.C., there a whole bunch of smaller barns spread throughout this county. We have one in St. Paul. And after close to six years of our current Governor, that barn is pretty stinky also.