Change You Won’t Believe

Special to the Star-Telegram

It is now humanly impossible to keep up with all the news delivered worldwide each day. In fact, the sheer volume of news in any developed country is probably why so many critical issues go unaddressed and unresolved. After all, looking at the news you’d think that one truly earth-shaking event, the bankruptcy of what for almost 80 years was the world’s most powerful manufacturing concern, was last year’s news.

Had GM been forced into bankruptcy 40 years ago it would have been the headline news for weeks on end, with months of follow-ups determining how such a corporate tragedy could have happened in the land of plenty. Coming only a month after the failure of a second great manufacturing firm such as Chrysler, it would have forced all Americans to reexamine what we once thought were America’s boundless opportunities. Yet today the failures in Detroit seem to have passed with few intelligent remarks, much less reflection.

Then again, since that distant past moment, two months ago, Iran has almost fallen into revolution, unemployment has risen, hostilities in the battle between the two political parties seem to have escalated, the government of Honduras was overthrown — and Michael Jackson died. That and one million other stories have crossed the major newswires worldwide in the past 60 days. No wonder it is so hard to focus.

We used to be able to prioritize our real needs, then address and resolve those issues. Now with information overload, it appears, we are incapable of properly governing our country.

I don’t mean to slight Michael Jackson’s once-formidable talent, nor do I dismiss his troubled personal life. But have we become so frivolous as a nation that any entertainer’s tragic and untimely death warranted more news coverage — day after day after day — than the real issues that will confront each of us now and in the all-too-near future? Apparently so. Most of us know more about the last two days of Jackson’s life than we know about the negotiations in which Washington forced GM and Chrysler into bankruptcy. You certainly know more about Jackson’s death that the names on the list of the 25 individuals who destroyed the world’s financial system. Of course, none of the 25 has died; they still work at the same jobs.

Let Them Eat Cowboys?

Not to be overly dramatic, but this should remind any thinking person of the declining days of the Roman Empire. Its citizens refused to deal with the decay and legitimate problems of their cities and empire, instead demanding more and more coliseums be built for their personal entertainment.

Well, we do have a new billion-dollar stadium for the Cowboys. And it has certainly received far more press coverage than the recently passed House Bill that proponents claim will save the planet from global warming. Yes, forces are gathering to reverse our 100-year history of citizens’ free travel to work and for leisure – and of that freedom’s benefits to our economy.

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