What We Are Really Thinking?
By Thomas D. Segel
May 14, 2007
Earlier this week I was switching to different newscasts on television. Three times that evening the talking heads reported to me on the leading issue of the country. According to their polls Americans claim Iraq is their primary worry and the majority of our citizens are now against the war.
I found that statement hard to swallow for a couple of reasons. First of all, everyone should be against any war. However, most people know that once a country is engaged in war, it must be won. The second thing that bothered me was the statement that the war in Iraq was the primary concern of our people. I have a very wide circle of friends, associates, business leaders, relatives, and casual contacts. They are a mix of business oriented, education oriented, service oriented, and republican, democrat, conservative, and very liberal people. But, I have never heard any of them say the war in Iraq was the main concern of their lives.
So, as I often do when searching for answers, I went to my mailing list of several hundred people and asked them a question. With a lead-in about what I had heard on television I asked..."What concerns you most?" I was amazed at the response. My usual number of replies tallies up to about 7 to 10 percent of my mailing list. On this question, 23% of the readers responded.
Heading the list of concerns was the conduct of government officials as a body and Congress in particular. Forty percent of those answering the question cited these matters as their lead concern.
Of equal weight was another forty percent, who had concerns related to everyday living at the top of their list. These were things most of us refer to as bread and butter issues.
Finally, twenty percent of those writing replies had major concerns about the war. Iraq was a matter close to their hearts, but few reflected what is called and anti-war attitude.
Edward Wilbur is a retired Marine. He says, "I feel that one of my main concerns is the total lack of care or concern by members of Congress for anything other than what they can gain for themselves.
He continues saying "Their insatiable greed for money and power has become an obsession with them. The fact that they are hell bent on doing everything within their power to destroy the Republican Party and everybody connected with it is the only thing that they can focus on. The one thing (forgotten) is the fact they were elected by the people to do what the people of this county want.
Wilbur concludes with "Hopefully there is a power greater that will intervene before our nation is destroyed."
Another retired Marine is John Boring in Arizona. He too is focused on politicians, high gas prices and the flow of illegals across our borders. "And the treason-prone Congress that thinks it should be running the country instead of passing good laws and giving the President what he wants and needs to keep our troops safe and supplied."
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