By the time you read this the Ospreys should have returned to my little patch of the Long Island Sound. However, it’s been a strange year for birds. They practically disappeared over the frigid winter months.
Normally, the red berries on the local holly trees would have been devoured by late January, yet they were still glistening during St. Patrick’s week.
Still, the Clapper Rails, in their long-beaked glory, have been click-clacking away in the nearby marshlands for weeks, and gloriously colored American Finches are cavorting amid the new leaves on the maple trees.
But no sign of the imperious Ospreys. Have they grown tired of us and our political shenanigans?
I still enjoy living in the North-East’s four seasons. But I’m less patient with the long winters. I try to take a vacation now in mid-March, something I could never do in my Black 47 years.
Last year I made it to Morocco and this year to Egypt, both countries where the sun can braise you and the dollar goes a long way.
The friends I made in both countries were reluctant to speak about the US. But when tongues loosened they were puzzled by our erratic foreign policy, the casual rejection of long-time allies, and the fear they might get denied entry when seeking to visit family members living Stateside.
It got me thinking of the times we live in and a country that was once considered a beacon of hope. What happened?
There’s no point in blaming politicians. We vote them into power. That’s what a democratic republic is all about.
I’ve always found the two-party system limiting, even restrictive; although I tend to vote Democrat, I don’t totally identify with either party. It’s a common immigrant complaint. Jan, my Czech landlord in the East Village, was the exception. A confirmed Republican, he used to proclaim, “Why should I vote poor people party, I come here be rich man!”
However, the current Republican Party brings to mind the 19th Century Know-Nothings. While the Democratic Party is still coming to terms with its failure to deal with Joe Biden’s geriatric ego.
I consider myself a small “d” democrat and a small “r” republican. I believe in democracy and the principles of a republic.
With regard to the first, why do we allow self-serving Republicans and Democrats to gerrymander our states and districts as though they own them? Talk about appointing the fox to police the hen-house!
It’s not that long ago Catholics and Republicans in Northern Ireland refused to accept the rampant gerrymandering of their sectarian state. And yet here in the US of A, states are casually gerrymandered by both parties, often with the assent of a partisan Supreme Court.
As regards, small “r” republican issues: Why do we allow Democratic and Republican politicians to serially increase the National Debt without the least murmur of dissent?
Yes, I did indeed bring up this issue only months back in this column, but since then our current US Federal Debt has zoomed past 100% of our Gross Domestic Product, and shows not the least sign of slowing down.
Have you ever heard President Trump even mention the word “deficit?”
Hardly, for if the word was part of his vocabulary, he would have thought twice about blowing the hell out of Iran in a war of choice whose massive bill has not even begun to become due.
Yet, in all these macho Republican war games, how often have you heard a Democratic politician rail against the annual one trillion bucks cost of interest or the ever-growing size of the debt.
Nah, that can wait until the next Democratic Administration is forced to cut social security benefits in 2032, while our retired King of Debt looks on benignly from Mar-a-Lago.
When did we as a country decide to use the national credit card rather than pay as we go like other generations?
Back in January 1835 President Andrew Jackson totally paid off his national debt, while after 8 years of the Clinton presidency, we owed less than $6 trillion. The good old days!
Ah well, if I’m lucky enough to be still pontificating in 2032, I promise I won’t criticize our Republican and Democratic rulers when the fiscal chickens finally come home to roost.
No way, I’ll be too busy scouring the skies above the Long Island Sound for sight of some common sense and the long-missing Ospreys.
