Sense of Sadness, Anxiety in Review of Last 8 Years

I am overwhelmed at this moment with a sense of sadness and anxiety and I would like to share my thoughts with those of you who are interested.

Four years ago our president asked, “Are you better off than you were 4 years ago?” Reflecting on that, I asked myself if I am better off today than 8 years ago. My reaction was “no.” I stopped to analyze this gut feeling. My personal economic situation has improved, I’m now on the city council and I’ve become a grandmother of two wonderful little boys.

Then I thought of my neighbors and my grandsons and the problems that I see for them and for me. And here are my concerns. . . .

Drugs are everywhere, destroying the lives of neighbors and loved ones. Gangs are terrorizing whole communities. Education has deteriorated to the extent that we are graduating illiterates. Violence threatens us all in our daily lives. Our children are unable to afford to own a house and never will because high rents ensure that they can never save enough to buy a home or, in some cases, even remain housed. Low-paying jobs with no benefits and little chance to work up to a better position discourage our young adults. High costs of child care leave little of a mother’s salary if she tries to help make ends meet.

In my work I am seeing an increasing number of “middle class” unfortunate older citizens trying to live invisibly in cars, with not enough money from Social Security to pay for rent or medicine. I am hampered in attempts to help them, as my referral calls to agencies that once were available are unanswered because no one’s there anymore.

My grandchildren are growing up in a world filled with violence, dangerous temptations and frustrations. How different it has become in these last few years.

There is one problem so shocking that it makes these problems seem simple to solve by comparison.

Our national debt will destroy this country within the next 10 to 15 years. Interest on the loan alone will consume our total national resources. Additionally, as a debtor nation we will be forced to listen to and obey the nations that hold our debts--and unable to escape from their whims. That will be the end of our country as the free nation that we know.

Our present administration’s policies have been insensitive to these crises and in some instances, directly responsible for them. Mr. Bush is expected to continue these policies in the future should he win.

Change is our only hope for survival.

CAROL NORMAN

City Council member,

Lawndale