Political Dishonorable Mention

I haven't mentioned much of anything political in quite awhile, so I thought I'd take a swipe at our do-nothing members of Congress.

I'm sick of the fight over the debt ceiling and the GOP's steadfast aversion to raising revenue which allows the largest corporations, like G.E., to continue to pay no taxes and the oil companies and mega-farmers to receive government hand-outs (politely called "subsidies") although their profits are in the billions of dollars, while you and I, Mr. and Ms. Middle America give our hard earned "revenue" to the government so they can continue to bestow the handouts to the wealthiest among us.

I'm also pretty tired of hearing from the blind side (the GOP and Teapartiers) that there is no such thing as global warming or climate change as I sit here in the mid-south in record breaking triple digit temperatures for the second consecutive summer; while Oklahoma, Texas and Arizona are experiencing the worst drought since the Dust Bowl of the 1930's; and, according to the weather channel, 50-Million Americans are dealing with a record breaking heatwave. Our "leaders" (and I use the term quite loosely) are blind, ignorant and self-serving.

I think they need to take a sabbatical and explore what it means to be a public servant and I have just the place for them: Warren Wilson College

Warren Wilson College is in Ashville, North Carolina.
Photo: Warren-wilson.edu

I read about the college this morning at Earth911.com and immediately thought of our Congress.

Warren Wilson College uses a unique 'triad' curriculum to teach students to connect with the world around them (especially helpful for Congress, since they are completely out of touch with anything but their own greedy, self-serving agendas), solve problems (obviously a serious short-fall within our government), grasp ideas (we may be asking too much in this area) and be a team player (a completely foreign concept for the likes of Eric Cantor, Mitch McConnell and John Boehner). The curriculum promotes global perspectives and requires students to work on the campus farm 15-hours per week, and makes service to the community a central part of the educational experience. You'll notice that service is one word, not two, like self-service, which is the current Congressional assumption.

The college is also at the forefront of the "green" movement and is "almost completely self-sustaining," according to the article in Earth911.com. Perhaps our GOP Congress members could learn something (you know, that previously mentioned "grasp ideas" thing) about being responsible caretakers of our planet, instead of cultivating their greedy produce-more-oil-use-more-chemicals-to-hell-with-recyling mentality.

So, I say we get a petition started to sponsor a bill to require that our egocentric, narcissistic, self-serving Congress immediately devote at least one year at Warren Wilson College learning how to play well with others and respect our home. I fear, however, by the time our bill comes up for a vote, it will look more like a vacation in the Bahamas.