Wednesday's wisdom....

Have you ever seen the film, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington?

My first viewing was as a very young woman.  It made such an impression on me - the incredibly deep passion that someone could feel for their country, and more importantly, the courage to stand up and do the right thing.

The past year has often found me in my kitchen, ranting at the news on TV and saying, "They should run that Mr. Smith movie again, you know, with Jimmy Stewart.  People need to remember how it should be."

 The Englishman and I sat and watched it again yesterday.

I really do think it should be on network television. Tonight.  Required viewing for every citizen who votes.

I also think that the President and every single member of Congress should have to sit and watch it. Twice.

And no, I don't think they need snacks brought into the chambers.

Seems to me, when I was growing up, if something needed to be done, people got together and did it. No committees.  No drafting of intricate documents, with attachments that had nothing to do with the primary need. People would volunteer or see that their local government was helping to care for their fellow citizens. It was just the right thing to do.

When my children were small, word was sent home from the school one day that there was a family who had escaped from Bosnia, forced to leave everything behind, and were staying temporarily with relatives in the town. The next morning there were piles of clothing, furniture, kitchen supplies and more brought to the school.  The items were loaded into several cars and delivered that afternoon. 

 People saw there was a need and they did something about it.

Now there's a real and urgent need for the people who have been affected by Hurricane Sandy.  It's time for the politicians from both parties to do what's right and pass a simple, clean bill to give all those affected the aid they desperately need.  No padding the bill with extra spending for things that have absolutely nothing to do with Sandy relief.

And maybe.....the media need to report the full story when they feed us information about what actually goes on in Washington. (Again, something addressed in the film.)

The film was made in 1939.  Sadly, the Englishman was right when he pointed out that nothing seems to have changed from how things worked in Washington then. 

Perhaps it's time for all our elected leaders to have the courage to do the right thing.    

To stop spending all their time thinking about the next election and paying back favors.

I've recently written to my members of Congress. I will write again.

And I'm going to suggest they watch Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.

(rant over....)