A Moral Responsibility: Rectifying a heist of monumental proportions

As a society, we have many concerns for the future of our country and the world, but those issues are overshadowed by the fiscal crisis we now face. Our ability to seek accommodations and solutions for our other concerns will

be severely limited if we do not first get our fiscal house in order. On this point, there is little disagreement among honest politicians of the left and right. Yes, there are many issues that cry out for our attention, but they must wait until our survival as a nation is secure, and this requires resolving our fiscal crisis. We must get our priorities straight if we are to ever gain control of our gargantuan government.

We adults had the good fortune to inherit a society that included a sound economy that has largely lifted us out of poverty and democracy that honors our personal freedom of expression and beliefs, that offers opportunities to all for the development of our individual talents, and that takes care of our less fortunate brethren. Was it a perfect society? No, but its creation was an enormously important historical step and it has been continuously improved as we have become aware of its remaining deficiencies. It stands today as a beacon of hope for people around the world that seek freedom.

Having received this precious inheritance, we have a moral responsibility to leave for our children and future generations a society with these same attributes; one that protects their right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” To do less would be an immoral act with unconscionable consequences.

But we will not fulfill this obligation

if we do not solve the looming fiscal crisis

of debt, deficits, and entitlements.

Since we have a democracy, it has been often said that we get the government we deserve. If our form of government is to survive, and there are no guarantees that it will, we must perceive what is most important to us and our way of life, vote for politicians that share those ideals, and then hold them accountable for their political actions.

But how do we make this happen when our government is dysfunctional, gridlocked, and manifestly incapable of addressing our problems in a rational, constructive manner? The answer is we must first undertake broad and fundamental repair of this government, reorganizing it to improve the checks and balances among competing interests.

If we can accomplish this. we will transform our crippled government into an effective one. Once that is done, we will tackle our pressing fiscal and other problems with improved results, fulfilling our obligations to future generations.

Frank Keeney