We’ve all Got Skin in this Game

Written by Joe Driscoll

April 2, 2020

We’ve all got skin in this game.

The comeback from COVID-19 will come, you can count on it.  The timing is uncertain, but the direction is as determined as we all will be when the time comes.

Why?  #1 because that’s what we do.  Our entrepreneurial spirit, economic freedom and the human drive to make things better will prevail. From cyclical recessions to periodic crises, the depression, WWII, the 60’s, stagflation, the 80s, the crash of ’97, 911, the 2008 recession, all different problems with much different rebounds, but a common direction.

Why will this comeback be better?  Because we all have skin in the game.  The impact of previous crises discriminated.  This is an egalitarian crisis that doesn’t discriminate, but it does educate. 

Life as we know it has changed, and over the long term it will be for the better.  Any taskmaster will tell you, “get out of your comfort zone” to improve performance.  Each of us has been challenged to “get out of that comfort zone” and we will have greater appreciation and awareness as a result.

Nonsense

According to a recent study conducted by the U.S. Department of Education, 32 million of American adults are illiterate, 21 percent read below a 5th grade level, and 19 percent of high school graduates are functionally illiterate, which means they can’t read well enough to manage daily living and perform tasks required.

Approximately 76.4 million or 44.4% of Americans won’t pay any federal income tax in 2018, up from 72.6 million people or 43.2% in 2016.  Taxes are inequitable at both ends of the spectrum and as a result,,,, insufficient attention is paid to how tax money is spent.

The United States ended the draft for military service in 1973, transitioning to the all-volunteer force with slightly less than 0.5 percent of the U.S. population currently serving.

A sample of 15 senior US Senators, both Rs and Ds, both ladies and gentlemen, have an average age of 77.3, average years in public office of 40.8, average longevity in the Senate of 24.8 years.

CommonSense

From an interview with the late Senator Tom Coburn;

“I don’t think Washington can fix Washington,” Coburn stated after announcing his retirement two years early when his cancer recurred. “You’re always going to have this built-in conflict of getting re-elected. Parochial interests will trump the best interests of the nation, and the actors will do what’s expedient to be popular. It doesn’t have to be that way. There’s hundreds of thousands if not millions of people who could do these jobs well. All it requires is common sense and courage.”

Build a fair tax system that everyone understands and participates in at an appropriate level.  One that in the face of irresponsible spending citizens will stop saying, “oh well, the government paid for it” and start saying “hey, that’s my money”!

Build our education system to be as indiscriminate as COVID-19 so that all children get a quality education and an equal start.

Develop National Youth Service programs that provide opportunities for all our nation’s youth to serve and experience the discipline and pride that comes with service.

It’s our skin in the game.  Get involved, Vote and Volunteer.

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