Ron Schenone

Are You A ‘Whiner’?

Posted by on Jul 11, 2008 | 12 Comments

By now we have all heard about the remarks made by former Senator Phil Gramm, saying we are a ‘nation of whiners.’ Though he has tried to shift the blame on Congress, it does make one think. Are we ‘whiners’? Sure we are! But there is only one problem. I don’t think we have whined enough. We have been lulled to sleep in our apathy of how our political system works and have not made our politicians take responsibility for their actions.

Several weeks ago I had a conversation with a relative and asked a simple question. For 35 years we sat on our hands doing nothing about oil, knowing it would bite us one day. Why haven’t we done anything?  His take was that he was busy raising a family and couldn’t get involved.  OK. I can relate to his thinking since I haven’t done squat as well. I guess I could of called, wrote, sent a telegram, emailed or whatever my representatives but didn’t. Why? Because I also was way too busy to do so.

Most of us feel that our elected officials were supposed to handle these problems. But we woke up one morning only to find that they were not representing us, but were representing big business via lobbyists. These lobbyists were handing out fists full of cash to these folks who took the big bucks and voted the way the lobbyist wanted. Now let’s look at this honestly. If you were in Congress, and you got a few $100 grand from a lobbyist, who would you listen to?  Do you really think that your tiny voice would be heard in this sea of cash?

If you would, put aside your feelings about the two political candidates. I personally believe that it is irrelevant who gets elected. If Congress continues to not represent us, and continues to represent special interest groups, nothing much is going to change in the next four years. Our political leaders seem lost when it comes to solving issues that are important to the American people.

Questions like, should Medicare pay for Viagra? This is important stuff people. I don’t know about you but I lay awake at night worry about this. :-)

So what do you think? Do we need to whine more or just shut up?

Comments welcome.

  • Austin

    nn no we should just shut up enjoy life as it is y9ou whine to much you want htis you want that but no its nto gonan happend that hows the goverment makes it fro a reason whether if it to their advantage your advantage or everyones advangte its like that for a reason dont act liek 3 year olds

  • Leo Yale

    I don’t like to be “picky”, but isn’t it spelled “whiner”?

  • http://wp3.lockergnome.com/nexus/blade/ Ron Schenone

    Hello Leo,
    Thanks so much for the correction.
    Regards, Ron

  • Urban Underbrink

    I think most of us have become accustomed to getting what we want and now that we have to pay a lot more we are complaining. We must do something drastic, like replacing every one of those worthless Politicians in the House this Election Year. If we continue to vote for those greedy Control Freaks, then we deserve to have what we are getting. Fact is it will get much worse, and we will need a Revolution to get back on track. I personally think it has gone too far for any other solution.

  • Ryan

    I for one consider myself pretty open minded and progressive.

    Pay for V1agra so Social Security can turn around and pay for their kids….

    vs.

    Pay for birth control so people that can’t afford to have kids may put less of them on the public welfare system.

    I think the second choice is obvious, there is no “miracle of life”, just the “accident of birth”, the problem is that religion still teaches people birth control is wrong and they should still pop out 20 kids, it made sense when there weren’t very many of us, not it’s just ludicrous.

    If they can’t think up any ways of promoting their beliefs besides telling all their followers they have left to breed like rabbits, then maybe their time is up.

    But unfortunately they still have our government somewhat under their control, enough so that the worst things they attempt to pass though don’t make it, but not a whole lot of stuff *does*.

    Thats why Congress has a 9% approval rating, because they’ve finally gridlocked themselves so far that *most* special interest groups aren’t getting what they want.

    Money always speaks though, the church should tell it’s flock to invest in Comcast, AT&T, and Eli Lilly.

  • Guillermo

    Dear Ron,

    You state: “For 35 years we sat on our hands doing nothing about oil…”

    I have to disagree with you. “We” did do something.

    “We the people” demonstrated in favor of environmental preservation. “We” established Earth Day and formed organizations like the Sierra Club, World Wildlife Fund and PETA. As a consequence public opinion was shaped in favor of environmental preservation and a number of important decisions were collectively made and enforced by our elected representatives.

    In particular “We” decided that the preservation of the natural environment was more important than increasing domestic oil production or building nuclear powered electric generation stations.

    “We” decided that we would rather have a pristine natural environment than abundant domestic supplies of oil and electricity.

    “We” decided that we would rather use foreign supplies of oil than our own domestic supplies.

    For the past 35 years the issue of oil and energy production has been discussed in great detail both by the interested public and our elected representatives. With the exception of the North Slope oil field and the Trans-Alaska Pipeline the decision has always been to block development.

    “We” have blocked oil drilling in parts of the Gulf of Mexico.
    “We” have blocked oil drilling on the Pacific coast.
    “We” have blocked oil drilling on the Atlantic coast.
    “We” have blocked additional Alaskan oil extraction.
    “We” have blocked the construction of new refineries.
    “We” have blocked the use of oil shale.
    “We” have blocked the use of oil-tar sands.
    “We” have blocked the construction of nuclear power plants.

    The list goes on at length. My point is that, at least when it comes to environmental regulation, our elected representatives have acted on the will of the people rather than the wishes of “Big Oil”.

    Of course, the Federal Government has bought off “Big Oil” with subsidies and “Big Oil” still makes their money by selling us imported oil, but that’s a whole different argument.

    Now I don’t want to start a partisan flame war (since I am an Independent), but in point of fact most of this obstructionism with regard to increased domestic oil and energy production has come from the Democrat party. I think they will point to their efforts in this regard (i.e., protection of the environment) as a badge of honor and a good thing. It is up to you to decide whether it has been a good thing for the country.

    Furthermore the Democratic presidential candidate, Senator Obama, will likely continue those long-standing Democratic policies. He has already stated his opposition to offshore drilling, drilling in Alaska (ANWR), drilling in the lower 48, use of oil shale and the building of nuclear power plants. He advocates “alternative” energy sources. But those won’t be online and usable in time to save us from $10/gallon gasoline IMHO.

    BTW, I went to see Senator Obama at one of his campaign rallies and I must say he is a very impressive speaker. He really whipped the people in the audience into a frenzy of emotional support. It was kind of like being in church. A lot of people shouting “Hallelujah”, “Praise the Lord” and “Right on brother”. It was quite and experience.

    In summary, I think “We” have done something about oil. It just wasn’t something that would increase our supplies of oil (and electricity).

    Regards,
    Guillermo

  • Kensington Leek

    The prince of oil is complicated and there is no one reason it is so high at this moment.

    HOWEVER: Bush has managed to spend this country into bankrupcy so the Dollar is 40% of its value against other countries compared to when Bush became president. If the dollar was at its year 2000 value oil would be $80 per barrel, and gas would be $2.00

  • http://wp3.lockergnome.com/nexus/blade/ Ron Schenone

    Thanks for all of the comments. They are appreciated.

    My point was not about producing more oil, it was finding alternatives to oil. :-)

  • Craig

    Suck it up.

    We are a nation of panty waists! .

    There is to much what is in it for me. Do good things for others that may not benifit you and do not expect anything in return

    The government is not going to save us we will have to come togeather to help each other.

  • HarryH

    Well your sentence “Most of us feel that our elected officials were supposed to handle these problems” sets the groundwork for why we are whiners. IMHO, the government has done way too much in the name of protecting us from ourselves and too little to say out of our lives. The US was once a very self-reliant nation with great innovation in solving problems. Too many of us are dependent on the government to solve our issues, preferable at the national level.

    At Ron Paul notes, the government is busy doing a lot that the constitution never intended. Exactly why does the government have a program of No Child Left Behind, or for that matter any program related to our children’s education? Why must abstinence be taught to get Federal money? Exactly who is responsible for a child born out of wedlock? Where are natural consequences for actions?

    Why was it that the government mandated 55 mph speed limits and withheld tax monies to states that didn’t comply. Why does the government have anything to do with highways within states? Before the Interstate cut through the country, states did their own thing.

    So you see, we whine because we want the government to solve our problems. Gas prices too high? Use more public transport, cut back, get a smaller car. Medical bills too high? Try to better maintain your body. Can’t live of Social Security? Should have saved more. We are becoming much less self-reliant and more dependent on government which favors those politicians that promise more of the same.

  • Guillermo

    Dear Ron,

    You state:

    “My point was not about producing more oil…”

    Maybe it should be. The economy of the United States of America is completely dependent upon oil, coal and natural gas. If our supplies of those vital energy sources were interrupted our society would collapse.

    Imagine having electricity only 4 hours a day — or none at all. Imagine being stranded in your home for lack of gasoline. Imagine being unable to drive to work or to the grocery store. Imagine food disappearing from the grocery store shelves because there is no diesel to power the cargo trucks that distribute our food supplies. What a nightmare!

    Oil is the lifeblood our our nation whether you like it or not. We need to produce more of it.

    You go on to state that your point was about:

    “… finding alternatives to oil.”

    Well, that is a nice idea and it sounds good. But, according to the experts, alternatives to oil will not be commercially viable in this country any time soon (fewer than 20 years).

    For example, synfuels have been touted as an alternative to oil since the 1920s when the Fischer-Tropsch process was invented. And the U.S. government has funded research in synfuels since at least the 1970s. They are still not a commercial reality. And there is no reason to think that they, or some other alternative to oil, will suddenly arrive on the market while oil is still available.

    Nations go to war over natural resources. Are you aware of the fact that historians attribute Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 and the ensuing war with America to their desire to secure their supply of oil and other natural resources? Can you imagine what might happen if China, India, Russia and the United States go to war over oil? It is too horrible to contemplate.

    While we need to develop alternatives for the future, we can’t rely on them now. Right now we need to develop our own domestic supplies of oil, coal and natural gas fully. And we need to build new nuclear power stations. And, regretfully, we need to maintain a presence in the Middle East to assure the Free World’s access to the oil of that region. Think about it!

    Regards,
    Guillermo

  • http://wp3.lockergnome.com/nexus/blade/ Ron Schenone

    Hi Guillermo,
    I agree with your thoughts. The unfortunate reality is that this should of been started 30 years ago. A blind man could see where we were heading. Now all of a sudden we have an oil crisis?

    When we started to import the first barrel of oil we had a crisis. One that has been ignored since the oil embargo. The American people are mushrooms. Kept in the dark and feed crap.

    But they are finally waking up. It should be interesting to see what happens in November.

    Regards, Ron