You Can't Run Away

It's over.  Please God, tell me it's over. At least half of America wept with joy today at just before 12 noon when Joseph R. Biden and Kamala Harris took the Oath of Office. Mike Luckovich captured the moment so well (as he always does) -- tears of relief, joy and hope.  The reign of Trump the Terrible is over.

The work ahead of us isn't.  You can't run away.  You cannot relax.  You cannot go on vacation. America -- you, me and all that we hold dear -- is in peril.  You get today to celebrate.  That is all. When you rise in the morning, you must begin to work as hard as you did to bring an end to this reign of incompetence and cruelty.

About the only thing I've managed to concentrate on for the last year is the COVID-19 virus. As you can see, this blog is full of the screen shots I take daily, after I get up at 5AM.  I took another one today, just before noon.

Over 400,000 Americans have died from it.  And roughly half -- at least half -- are on Trump's head. This pandemic will not go away.  As a matter of fact, it may get worse.  Much worse.  For those that might remember me as a safety rep. for NATCA, if you think I was full of doom and gloom, you should listen to Laurie Garret on Twitter.  She is Doctor Doom.  In all fairness, I was only worried about killing a couple of hundred people at a time.  She's worried about a couple of million (or billion even).  Suffice it to say the new variant currently ravaging the United Kingdom won't be the last one.

Once we face that crisis, we will be left with a financial crisis as great as any we have ever faced -- Great Depression or Great Recession.  The people suffering from it cannot wait for us to conquer COVID, they need help right now.  Hopefully Congress will act.  Swiftly.  But rest assured, Republicans have NOT  "learned their lesson".  They will remember their antics from the Obama Administration. Some of them will use it as their playbook.

I will not lose you to a discussion on foreign policy.  Suffice it to say, COVID and Congress aren't the only problems we face and we will have to face them with a wrecked Government.  No, not Congress or the Courts.  The professional Civil Service that greases the wheels of our Government.  The people that make things work.  The people that execute the orders from the President. Trump was just the icing on the cake Ronald Reagan baked.  Republicans have hated our government for 40 years now.  And it shows.

This is where you come in. I'm not sure how an old guy like me will reach young people (maybe your father or grandmother will show you this) but that is what America needs.  Uncle Sam needs you.

I want you to come work for Government.  Any government. Local, State or Federal.  In the Federal Government, I know you can have a challenging career because I had one.  More importantly, I know you can have a good life.  You won't get rich but you will be rewarded.  You will have security.  Go ask just about anybody you know right now past the age of 50.  Ask them if their future is secure. Their savings.  Their retirement.  Mine is.

Are you too young for that to sink in?  You want to change the world?  Take your degree in Criminal Justice and sign up to be a Deputy Sheriff in a rural county.  That won't make you rich either but it will change the world. Yes, it will require a sacrifice of you. Millions of Americans before you have sacrificed the best years of their lives so we can be free and prosperous.  Why do you think it should be different for you?  I'm only asking you to take a decent job with good pay and benefits.  Before we find ourselves in a war. 

For Federal jobs you can go here.  For State and Local, well, you know how to use the internet.  Get with it.

Look, I can draw you a straight line from Ronald Reagan to Newt Gingrich to George W. Bush to Donald J. Trump to show you how we wound up in this mess.  I just can't do it in this one post.  For 40 years we have tried "less government" and "lower taxes".  It hasn't just failed, it has led us to this catastrophe. Any priest over the last thousand years could have told you that greed is not good and that pride is a sin.  The human heart has not changed.  That philosophy has never made sense.

Go ask your grumpy grandpa if his taxes are low enough.  He'll give you the same answer he gave 40 years ago. Well, if it hasn't worked in 40 years, when will it work?  That's right. NEVER.

All I'm saying is that we are in a hell of a mess in America.  We need you to help fix it. If you have a way to help, have at it. If you don't, I know how you can help.  Get busy.  Tomorrow morning.  Bright and early.  You can't run away. There's no where to run.

Don Brown
January 20, 2021