"It's the economy, stupid..."

Recently I caught some heat because I took the optimistic side of things with the soon to be Red Herring that is Phil Graham. It appears to me people don't like optimism and really optimism and hope can't compete with the doom and gloom art form that has become our mass media.

I'm going to cover a lot of ground today, so hang on...

My first observation is...people don't like much. We don't vote FOR candidates, we vote AGAINST candidates. We change the radio station because we HATE that song, we don't go TO a station we love. I root for whichever team is playing the Gators, not because I LIKE UT Chattanooga, but because I LOATHE the Gators...and I think most people are like this.

So, it goes against the grain to list all of the economic positives about our country: freedom to choose a career, change jobs, decide where and what hours you want to work...the fact that we have more millionaires than every other country on earth combined, our welfare recipients are in the Top 3% of wage earners in the WORLD...I could go on...but anyone who reads this is probably starting to feel their skin crawl with discomfort right now (if the venom I received the other day has anything to do with it).

My second observation is...we (American Society) have lived an opulent, spoiled existence for five decades. The lifestyles we have become accustomed to is so unrealistic relative to long term sustainability that previous leaders (Kennedy, Nixon, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush, etc.) should all be ashamed of selling "unlimited consumption"

The stewardship implications of the previous statement are evident. Church giving is at an all time low. America is now the third largest "mission field" in the world. We've gone from No. 1 on the list of "Global Missions Giving by Country" to No. 18 in the last 40 years...all because we can't check ourselves at the door before we go to Walmart or Home Depot.

I get that people are hurting. I've got family members, retired, about to lose their house in foreclosure. While discussing their options with them, we talked about selling dining room sets on Craig's List and possibly declaring bankruptcy or selling the house to settle the debt and move into an apartment. The responses floored me..."Where will we eat Thanksgiving dinner...I love that dining room set." And, "I can't live in an apartment, I won't have a flower garden."

I'm really concerned. These comments came from middle class, professionals, who are retired...I can only imagine what are lower middle class and poor are saying.

The really scary part is when someone takes a leadership position, calls a spade a spade, and asks America to dial it back a bit, conserve and work together to get this thing back on track...they get vilified.

Sheesh.