I am back here in the Whining States of America for a short while-for personal business-before returning to the fray on the other side of the Atlantic. Coming back to the US after a prolonged period of living someplace else always provides a good opportunity to showcase the ways America is failing at some things, doing other things well-and overall allow one to shake your head at the missed opportunities of what America could be doing.
Now there were some who have said that I , as an American, have no right to criticize the fact that the country is failing on what it could be doing. I have no patience with what one person wrote that I should just be content to "celebrate America for what it is, rather than withhold their love in favor of what it might yet be". I completely reject that line of thinking because it is nothing but fluff-and a cop out that gives license to those who would destroy the USA-even while they claim to want to save it. It is precisely because I care about America-that it disgusts me to see the country turning its back on solutions that are both practical and necessary, all because of our twisted, ignorant brand of politics that worships at the misguided altar of "american exceptionalism"-that false gospel that misguided Pollyanna's adopt to give themselves a reason not to adopt better ways of doing business-soley because they were invented overseas by one of "them".
Consider the transportation piece of my trip over here. I was able to get up-walk from my abode to a bus, connect to a train and in 1+30 minutes find myself stepping from said train into the terminal of Frankfurt airport. Getting through security was rather painless-and relatively quick and so I found myself sitting in the lounge for 2 hours eating free food and booze-another thing overseas carriers get right and ours don't-before boarding my flight to the US of A.
Now contrast that to the other side, when arriving at Dulles Airport. The immigration hall is cramped-as is the baggage claim. Getting through security to the transit flights is a long, slithering ordeal-not because it has to be, but because the powers that be refuse to place enough manpower on the lines or design a facility large enought to move the line along faster. Now I am told that Dulles is building a new terminal to address this as well as a metro line to downtown. Those are moves that make perfect sense-but I suspect are being screwed up in execution, not the least because of whining by folks who see it as a "dagger in the heart of the taxpayer". The better way to think of it is a way to improve the quality of getting to and from the airport-which in DC just sucks, no matter which airport you use.
Now one could say its unique just to DC. I've traveled enough to assure you its not. It applies to just about every major airport in the USA. There is a reason that 4 of the 10 worst airports in the world are in the USA. People respond that it is because of liberal ideas and environmental red tape. I think that's just an excuse-to give top cover to fat guys like Chris Christie who simply don't want to invest in the infrastructure to make their cities compete. Americans have the third worst congested roads in the world-falling only behind Hungary and Romania. ( And even Romania has a better train system than we do-which is saying a lot about how bad ours is).
The roads getting from destination airport in the particular state I am in were crowded-and thus my journey onward took far longer than it should have. Americans have the third worst congested roads in the world-falling only behind Hungary and Romania. ( And even Romania has a better train system than we do-which is saying a lot about how bad ours is). Arriving at the familal abode-I get subjected to the lunacy that is politics in America these days-getting to watch the Mittster reassure me that, if only rich people like him had even more money than they do now, there would be jobs and plenty for everyone. Never mind that facts of the previous decade point out exactly the opposite-sadly there are enough deluded morons people who are actually believing this stuff.
And we won't even discuss the fact that there is a major news network egging on these lies day after day.
What probably frustrates me most is knowing that -unlike Europe-America has the resources to fix most of its infrastructure problems. The money is out there, not matter what evil monsters like Paul Ryan tell you. Contrary to the Wall Street Journal-America is not Europe. Our problems are not externally created-they are caused by bad choices made by ourselves. With an over 15 trillion dollar GDP-please don't stand there and tell me that the resources are not there. It belittles us both. And for all Europe's problems-the citizens of Stuttgart did themselves proud by voting for needed infrastructure improvements in the city. Picture that happening in an American city-not a chance.
Now I will grant you-that in a properly resourced government effort, there will have to be some tradoffs made. But we get no where because of our current political gridlock-and that has more to do with the GOP's stubborn insistence on defying Obama-even when its against their long term interest to do so. This is a group that has a vested interest in seeing America suffer-and they simply can't seem to imagine (or care about) the consequences of such policies, but they can't even imagine that people like Obama would actually feel moral outrage at their plans. They can't imagine a liberal objection as representing anything other than an attempt to score political points.
And finally lets be sure to single out the real authors of the problem-the ignorant American voter. In 2010, thanks to a combination of people not showing up and too many people being swayed by Tea Party lies-the current herd was elected to office. Without a doubt they consititute the worst Congress that I have known in my life. They are even worse than the post Waterfgate Congress that did a host of stupid things ( like making the service academies co-ed). They are infected with a sickness-a callousness towards their own citizens and a love of a flawed ideology. Tax cuts were never the answer-and if there are to be spending cuts, there has to be increased revenue as well.
So I will be here for several days back in the land of my birth. But I will tell you the truth-I will be looking forward to the day I get back on the plane overseas. Too much craziness here-and no one of a mind to fix it.