Every child of decent parents knows a universal and important truth:

There are consequences to your actions.

Often, we learn as we grow, to weigh the short-term consequences against the long term consequences, and that is the reason we often do things that “seem like a good idea at the time”. We do things because they give us instant gratification, or we think we’ll get instant gratification.

Here’s the problem: Instant gratification has long term consequences. It’s nice to sit back and drink a whole bottle of 1955 Taylor Vintage Port, but the sugar will just about put you in a diabetic coma and the alcohol will give you a day or two of razor sharp headache that won’t stop. It’s fine to sit and graze on ring dings and suzy-q’s every day, but the weight you pack on will be hard to take off. I know these things out of personal experience, believe me.

At every point of American history, when the American populus voted for a candidate, be it local or federal government, out of a need for short term gratification, the result has been a disaster. A whole lot of people believe that voting for this guy or that will fix something, will make something happen in the near future that will help them. They may be right. Me, I want not for the here and now. My back is strong and my hands are willing, the here and now will take care of itself. I am concerned about consequences.

The consequences of weakening the country for the short term gratification of a few people are clear: the weakening of the country as a whole. We have become a country of peoples who expect to live without hardship.

Life is hard. Hardship is the fire that tempers the steel, and freedom, the oil that draws the edge. There are no quick fixes without long term consequences, and in our case, the quick fixes have bought us a bureaucracy which is about to topple under it’s own weight. We’ve a president who has, unfortunately, added to the mess, as a whole. I’m disapointed in that. On the other hand; he has a singular devotion to taking the war to the terrorists, and that has, so far, suceeded. Maybe someone else can give us short term gratification, but here’s what I want: I want this country to be here for my offspring. I will deal with short term discomfort and suffering; in the long term, there will still be America.