Monday night I
found myself excited about the presidential debates. I
wanted to see how the outsider did. So I
planned my evening around watching them.
But in the morning I wondered what I was
so wired up about.
When I look back I try to think of one
thing that has radically affected my life because of who was president.
When I wasn't in trouble over my
addiction I was pretty much able to find a job. No one I know has
had a major change in their life because of who got elected.
Now it's true that the recession of
2008-2012 impacted a lot of lives, including mine. But I'm not sure whose fault
that was. Was it the president’s?
In other words, how much does what
happens in Washington DC affect my life?
I think if we had a president who was
interested in helping drug addicts, that would be encouraging. But
that’ll never happen because we have this large lobby that believes addiction
is a moral issue – rather than a disease.
Perhaps at this point of life I’m becoming
cynical. We hear those who want our vote promise to change everything. And do it right away.
But once they're elected they find they
have a daunting job. Once they arrive they have to deal with an
entrenched bureaucracy so large as to be almost unwieldy.
Don't get me wrong. It's not a job that I
think anybody can do well. There
is only so much money to go around. And there are so many people with their
hands out.
I'd be more excited if we had a
government that really cared about those challenged by addiction. It would
excite me if we had a government
that would do something about poverty and violence in the inner cities.
Instead, candidates promise free
stuff to anyone who'll vote for them. They appeal to the weak and greedy and lazy.
To those who believe the government is there to take care of them.
But
once they get to Washington they have to deal with the reality that's in place.But the reality is that nothing is free. And the biggest changes that will happen will come from what we do for ourselves.
Click here to email John
