By Hamilton Ryan
“…that this government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from this earth.”
-“Gettysburg Address” by Abraham Lincoln, November 19, 1863-
As I searched for the epigraph that I used above, I thought about the bailouts that have happened over the past few months. First this nation had a $750 billion dollar bailout, to which some CEOs almost decided to spend the money on bonuses and vacations until they were called out on the matter. After that bailout Congress decided that we should bailout the automotive companies, which was a decision that I was, and still am to this day, fully supporting. However, it became increasingly clear that these owners/CEOs/Presidents lacked a certain care for the American economy, and people, when they decided to ask for a bailout after showing up in their own private jets.
I began to think a little bit about these so called “bailouts.” This nation needs to bailout someone, but that someone is not an automotive company, or a big hot shot company such as AIG. This nation needs to bailout the people! Yes, it is true that if you bailout some of these big companies the economy may get a little better, but while that is going on we will see an increase in the amount of thefts and robberies taking place around the country just so the middle class working family can put food on the table. You see, the problem is not that the companies are being choked out, but rather that the typical American citizen’s livelihood and voice is. We must learn to bailout Main Street, as well as Wall Street.
Even as I say this, many will tell me that I am simply preaching socialism in a country that was built off of democracy, but I tell you that this country was built off of the common man as well, and when we begin to leave that common man out in the rain, then we drift even further from who we are, and can be as a nation. John F. Kennedy once stated, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” Maybe it is time that the American people began to ask the country what it can do for them. For me, and I know for many others, we are tired of seeing the bad guy get bailed out by the good guy who struggles daily just to put food on the table. You may be asking yourself, “Why would Congress think to bailout major companies before bailing out the average American citizen who needs the money?”
Well obviously, we will hear about how it needed to be done to save the economy, but I have seen no saving grace out of the $750 billion dollar plan. Many of these congressmen, I believe, are helped out by these big companies within the political spectrum, and therefore naturally help them first. It may also be that these companies lied to the Congressmen on actually being in need of the money. In truth, it is probably a little bit of both, but what I can tell you is that these Congressmen have a higher obligation to the American people, and they will never be lied to by the common man/woman in this country who truly need that money.
We the people of the United States of America need to stand up and be heard again. We the people of the United States of America need to write our Congressmen and women. We the people of the United States of America need to be a part of our government again so that we may never say that we built a government to become one based off of greed and self-interest. We need to be the change that we seek. We took the first step by electing a good and honest man to be the 44th President of the United States. Now we must stand by him, and work with him to make our voices heard around Washington D.C., and may there never be an excuse for middle class families to have to scrounge around for food and shelter while top level CEOs fly their jets to ask for a bailout check so that they can go on vacation and give bonuses. We are our brother’s keeper as well as our nation’s keeper.
President Abraham Lincoln once stated, “With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan - to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.” We must in this time of struggle “strive on” to come together as one people in order to both “bind up the nation’s wounds” and “form a more perfect union.” Let us never forget the common man, and may we also never lose sight of that simple phrase that is the fiber of this nation and is both branded in our hearts, and pumping through our veins, “E Pluribus Unum,” “Out of Many, One!”
