The Need For Grown-Ups.....

The United States has been through a traumatic period over the past 10 or so days. Over a trillion dollars in wealth has disappeared overnight. Many of us are worried about the future. Many of us wonder if all we have worked for is going to be in fact there. The whole world seems to have grinded to a halt. Loans are hard to come by, jobs continue to be lost, the shooting wars are continuing and brave souls are dying.

In the midst of all this misery, we have to be faced with another thirty days of attacks and counter attacks by the Presidential Candidates. The latest one was Governor Palin's attack on Senator Obama. She discussed that William Ayers was a member of the weathermen and called him a "domestic terrorist". This particular attack is dangerous because it will open up a whole pandora's box of issues which will simply serve no one. Governor Palin herself said that we ought to look to the future, not the past. She said it at the debate. Yet, she brought it up at a rally in Carson California Yesterday.

The need for grown-ups and a true sense of realitycheck by all is pivotal if we are to get out of this paralysis we are in. Many opposed the bailout. It may well be that Main Street was not helped in this go-around. But, we had to make a start. Furthermore, this notion of the entire $ 700 Billion being spent is simply not true. Something had to be done. The political leaders in Washington understood they had to act. To their credit, they did act.

We as a people must act as grown-ups and truly start living within our means and "live poor" as a colleague of mine once said so that we can in turn force our leaders to act like one. Nothing less than our future, our children's future and our standing in the world is at stake here.