Frozen

I'm sitting watching America The Story of Us and wondering if people really learn. It seems that we only learn from television any more. I made comments to my wife about events that the show hadn't covered yet or added to it.

I think that the show really oversimplifies the motivations of many of the people in our history. The Pilgrims were not trying to reinvent themselves, but rather get away from other Christians that they viewed as being heretical. Isolation, not some sort of soul searching.

Then the show is blatant is saying that the government spending done during the Great Depression essentially didn't do anything. It took World War II to get us out of the financial crisis. Makes you wonder about the current administration's goal of spending more for government subsidized projects. Then they go on to talk about how reducing taxes for the rich and corporations improved the economy and brought in record receipts of taxes for the US government. Hmmmm - are we going to learn anything about this. If people are comfortable spending money, they will and large amounts of it.

Ultimately, fear drives us. We react like any other animal - fight, flight, freeze. A lot of us are frozen right now not knowing which way to go. It is time we start thawing ourselves out.