Just about all of Generation X can recite this, but not without hearing that song in their heads:
We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
This week there have been events pertinent to most of the line items in that paragraph. Let’s start with establishing justice. This week an appeals court ruled that the Bill of Rights applies to everyone, and not even the President has the authority to arbitrarily declare that certain people do not get due process of law. Specifically, Jose Padilla has the right to a speedy, public trial with lawyers and everything. Furthermore, a different appeals court declared that those folks held at Guantanamo Bay for the last year and a half deserve lawyers too. Even if you think all these people should be executed and burn in hell, they deserve the same rights of due process that you deserve, mister law abiding citizen. If they can pick up some random guy who happens to be Muslim at the airport and lock him up incommunicado for 18 months on skimpy evidence, what is there stopping them from doing the same to you?
Moving on to domestic tranquility and the common defense, we have another “look out!” warning that doesn’t rate an increase in the terrorist warning system to orange. All we are allowed to know is that we should be alert but don’t panic in New York, Los Angeles, and Washington, DC. Oh, and be wary at the airport too. Never mind that Bush’s hand picked Chairman of the 9/11 Probe Committee says the whole thing could have and should have been prevented. Let’s not forget the nutcase shooting at passing cars and school busses in Ohio. Things don’t sound very tranquil on the domestic front.
The general welfare isn’t looking too good either. As I have discussed before, poverty is up, bankruptcies are at record levels, consumer debt is high, the trade deficit is funneling money out of the country, and the dollar is at historical lows.
Christmas is just a few days away, and retailers are still waiting for the register to ring. It seems that the luxury and electronic retailers are doing fine, but the discounters and clothiers are not. My theory is that the typical discount store shopper has run out of money and finally maxed out the credit cards. They are waiting for the December 23 “Oh please get it off our shelves” sale.
Let’s not forget this item: experts tell us that “Structural change in the economy means many jobs are never going to come back.” Not just manufacturing jobs that are being done by machines and cheap foreign labor, but good jobs in finance, computers, and the courts. Make no mistake, Generation X now has a history of making jobs where there have been none. We were told when we graduated college that we were pathetic, apathetic slobs who would be the first generation to not do as well as their parents. Left unsaid was “…and you should be ashamed of yourselves.” We shrugged, exhaled loudly, and created the internet bubble. There was no such thing as a “web designer” when we were in high school. I don’t know if we are prepared to do it again.
California is no closer to ending the grocery workers strike. They are still wrangling about health care costs. Interestingly enough, the Congressional Budget Office is also concerned about health care costs, saying that we’d better make serious changes to Medicaid and Medicare, or accept that taxes will be really high in a decade when the Baby Boomers start to retire. So much for the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity.
Here’s wishing a happy 2004 for the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.