How about frustrated?

There are some things that anger me--but it's mainly out of frustration.

Frustration that there are so many laws and regulations.

Frustration that the federal government is seeking to spend (at least) $3.1 trillion. On what? Part of my frustration stems from the fact I don't know where my money is going, or even why it is going.

Frustration that government does so little right and so much wrong.

Frustration that someone who's short on substance but great on style has a really good shot to become the next President of the United States.

I work for a living. I don't dig trenches or do anything which would be considered a hard living, but I do work. I provide for my family. I have bills and debts. I feel responsible. I feel like it's my obligation to take care of my wife and sons. I feel like no one else has the primary responsibility but myself and my wife.

So, it's hard when the federal government wants to do this or that. Be Big Brother, or the Nanny. It's frustrating when more of my tax dollars goes oversees in the way of aid to countries which later end up being our enemies, because we armed and fed them. It's frustrating when every new social or economic program gets sent out, or unfunded mandates get sent to the states.

Like the author of the article "Angry White Men" said, I want to make my own way in the world. I don't expect a handout, but I do expect a fair deal. Doesn't mean I'm guaranteed success, it just means I'm guaranteed to succeed or fail based on my own merits or lack thereof. I don't like regulations which inhibit what I want to do. I feel like I have common sense and the wherewithal to get something accomplished, and am not afraid to seek out guidance if I need it.

It frustrates me that so many of us are just letting things happen. Maybe we don't know how to stop it, but a lot of us either don't care, or somehow believe it's the role of the government to have such a say in everything we do.

It doesn't help that people aren't responsible. It's tragic when innocents are hurt because of this irresponsibility. Perhaps there are a couple of things government should jump in and take control of and do.

If businesses, for example, were self-regulating--or paid a third party perhaps to set and enforce standards, there wouldn't be others who felt government needed to keep a watchful eye. I don't buy completely the fact that the free enterprise system is infallible--but it's not because of the system itself. It's because, we, as consumers, don't do our due diligence when it comes to such things. We aren't all smart enough to be careful with the cup of coffee, and to not use products for what they were never intended to be, and we do sue over such things. Our health care system can point to all kinds of things. It happens to be the nexus for everything which can go wrong will go wrong. That said, we could have worth, and government owned health care is not the solution. Big business health care, at least for the common every day things, doesn't seem to be either.

We've been listening to the naysayers about the economy, as well as those who think things are just fine, and it's hard to know who to believe if you're not making money with your business, or you're going to be laid off or the company you've invested 10 years of your life is going out of business. There's some of that going on as always, just as there are those who are prospering despite of it all.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand we can't keep running up deficits on the federal government side, debt in our own personal lives, trade deficits, and whatever other negative growth we can think of before we'll be so far under we can't come back. There needs to be some restraint in spending on all levels. There needs to be some long term perspective and restraint, and to invest in a rampant consumption kind of system will eventually burn itself and cause even a harder crash. Resources are plentiful, but they are not infinite. Some moderation is essential.

So, there's plenty to be frustrated about. At the same time, we're the greatest country to ever exist, and continue to be the greatest country. People aren't looking anywhere else before they find out what we're doing our what our leaders think. We are the people the rest of the world turns to and depends on. If we're going to continue to be that world leader, we can't just run it into the ground, either through big government or free enterprise run amok. We've seen communism fall. We're witnessing socialism as it fails. We don't need to go that way.

We need to work on sustainable growth. We need to work on common sense and personal responsibilities, from the individual, to the family, to the community and all the way along the spectrum. If we don't, then we will fall, just as surely as other nations have fallen.

This is a choice land above all other lands, with a promise of protection and prosperity from the Divine. That promise is revoked if we don't keep our side of the promise.

So, am I frustrated? Yes, I am. I yet hold out hope, however, that we are not in a hole we cannot climb out of or a wrong course we cannot correct. It will take more than a president, or a Congress. It will take like-minded people everywhere to correct the course and keep the faith.