Back in the Groove

It's been a while. The chance to sit at the keyboard for any length of time has been hard to come by, moving into our new digs up here in the Big Sky Country. I also have been neglecting my writing, but for good reasons. Hopefully, I'm back now. More hopefully, someone will notice.

The world continues, and I continue to watch it. The word is out that blogs and tweets are becoming the opportunity for people with opinions to express them, no matter how vile their terminology or outrageous their thoughts. Ah, freedom of speech in the instant electronic age means we get that much more chaff to sift through to get to the grain. I want to be part of the grain, not the chaff.

Still, no one seems to notice. I feel like I am screaming in the dark in the middle of a forest. Hey, that's exactly what I am doing. Yet the thoughts are there, and the facts are there, and sometimes the solutions seem so obvious. But nobody is listening, and why should they? I'm just a retired mailman with a bachelor's degree in history who likes to read and write. Nobody needs my advice.

And yet . . .

Here are a few observations and ideas gathered up since Congress decided to hold the economy hostage for a better photo op.

My idea of a stimulus package: two cups of coffee before breakfast.

Seriously, if we wanted to jump start the economy, instead of bailing out big business and hoping they will get back to hiring people, I would give every taxpayer in America $100,000 cash, tax free, and watch them spend it. If they pay off their debts, that helps the banks. If they rush out and buy houses and cars and whatnot, that helps recreate demand, ergo, jobs. The last stimulus was a bust.

My idea of Utopia -- doctors make house calls and Congressmen ride along, or, better still, all politicians get out of that bubble they're in and spend time in the real world where the rest of us live. Better still, flush the politicians out of the system. Elect housewives, accountants, historians and scientists instead -- we'd have purpose, balance, perspective and more than one eye on the future.

Now, what would you do with one hundred grand? What does your congressman do with his?