Happy New Year!!

With this new year came reflection on my part. While this whole "Occupy" thing still doesn't cease to annoy me, I see that they are not the root of the problem. The source is an illness. An illness of the American spirit. People are becoming disillusioned with the politics of America, but not America itself. I read a book last year entitled The American Soul by Jacob Needleman. The first line of the book reads "America once was the hope of the world." Once? I would definitely have to disagree. I think it still is, and hopefully will remain that way.
The vision of America from its inception was a vision of hope. People came here in pursuit of hope, and they still do. Leaders such as John Winthrop and Ronald Reagan idolized America as a "shining city on a hill", a beacon of light for the lost. We have started losing sight of that vision of ourselves. We are to busy getting caught in the muck and mire of "politics as usual". America has to repair itself. I'm not saying one side is right and the other is wrong, or there is only one way to fix it. It has to be an effort on the part of every American. If we want to maintain the freedom and liberty we enjoy today, we must fight for it. Ronald Reagan said "Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the blood-stream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, opr one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States of America when men were free." So while I still do not support the Occupy movement in any way, they are using their rights in the manner those rights were set out to be used. They are standing up for something they believe in.

So with this new year, I hope we can all reflect inwards and decide what really matters at the end of the day. We can try to preserve the America that the Founding Fathers set out for us, but it will take an effort on the part of everybody.

That was my positive rant for today. I will go back to my criticism of the Occupy movement another day!

Stay tuned for the series "Why they ARE the one percent: A overview of some of the members of the Forbe's top earners list and why they are there"

Thanks for reading!
Abby