The following entry is from Common Sense Anew:


"As parents, we can have no joy, knowing that this government is not sufficiently lasting to ensure any thing which we may bequeath to posterity: And by a plain method of argument, as we are running the next generation into debt, we ought to do the work of it, otherwise we use them meanly and pitifully."

Thomas Paine

Problem Solving
As we look across this great nation of ours, there can be no denying that we have many problems that are really starting to pile up. Our national debt is over 8.5 trillion dollars. The cost of living continues to outpace the growth of income for many Americans. Our education system is far from the best and leaves many of our children unprepared for the world. Crime plagues society. Corruption has reached those who are supposed to stop and prevent it. We have skyrocketing poverty, an inadequate health care system—the list goes on and on.

What have we done to solve these problems? We discuss them, come up with programs, and even raise money. Yet most remain stagnant or worsen. With all of the programs we have created and all of the money we have thrown at these problems, you would think more would be solved by now. I can't believe every program is flawed or that we haven't put enough money towards solving our problems. We are missing something. In order to move forward we must figure out why we can't solve problems. Maybe that is the key to solving all our problems.

We need to start looking a little deeper. We deal with problems on the surface, but fail to deal with the roots—like a cheap weed killer that kills on the surface, but below the root is strong and preparing to reappear. We manage our problems instead of actually solving them. Our problems are becoming unmanageable. If we don't start solving them, I can't see how we'll be able to hold things together for the next generation, and even if we do, what a cruel thing to leave such a burden on our children.