I have one lamp by which my feet are guided

Have you ever wondered what tomorrow would hold? I used to wish that I could see into the future. Now I’m glad I can’t.

To semi-quote and partially paraphrase Patrick Henry, “I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging of the future but by the past. And judging by the past, I wish to know what there has been in the conduct of the” American Congress “to justify those hopes with which gentlemen have been pleased to solace themselves.” The members of congress pat themselves on the back and congratulate themselves on taking care of us, the poor dumb average citizen. When protests have risen at the grass roots level, they have insulted the citizens as being uncivil and refused to listen to our petitions.

The lamp that is currently guiding my path tells me that the representatives and senators who have made a career of helping themselves at our expense have sold their souls to different lobby groups in order to maintain their base of power. We have gone to war to protect the oil interest and allowed them to pollute our environment instead of developing alternative fuels. We have given in to the banking industry and bailed them out after they performed in a fiscally irresponsible manner and jeopardized the financial security of our country. We offered bail outs to the automobile industry when they made poor business decisions and failed to recognize the need to manufacture vehicles with greater fuel efficiency.

The list goes on and on.

I will have a furlough day next Tuesday and next year I’ll have ten furlough days because of the economic situation. I didn’t create the economic mess, and I guarantee you that the government has not heard my concerns regarding it. I know that I’ll have less money, costs will go higher and elected officials will continue to fight each other rather than problem solve and find a solution to the problem.

I can’t see the future. The only light shining from my lamp is one of hope that we can replace elected officials with some who are reasonable and understand that they are in Washington to serve us and not political lobby groups.