Americans don't want tough choices

We are in trouble.

Last week on the front page of the New York Times was the following opening paragraph:

"With pressure mounting on the federal government to find new revenues, Congress is considering legalizing, and taxing, an activity it banned just four years ago: Internet gambling."

So it has come to this. Running craps tables to pay our bills as a nation. Of course states, like this one, turned to lotteries and casinos long ago. Now we, the people, have pushed our federal government into raising taxes through a "voluntary" system that will be on-line gambling.

This is not another harangue about the evils of gambling. It is a call for all of us to realize, sadly, that we are a nation in decline. That decline is the result of us not being grown up enough to appreciate and understand that tough choices need to be made and some will win and some will lose.

Clear evidence of this fact is the recent news that America ranks 12th among industrial countries in the number of young people 25 -34 who hold college degrees. In the 1990's the U.S. ranked third.

From health care to the environment to fiscal policies we want everything now, everything free and with no risks. If there is a risk or a requirement that we give up something for the greater good, we rear up and claim "injustice!"

The reason our elected leaders in Congress are looking at Internet gambling is that we the citizens have told them to not make hard choices on spending or tax policies. We have told them "make it all better" without pain and sacrifice. That's fantasyland.

Can you imagine a Congress passing legislation that would destroy millions of acres of pristine land, take homes through eminent domain and cost $130 billion all in the name of national defense? It happened in 1956, creating the Interstate Highway System. Equivalent to about $1 trillion in 2010 dollars, it would not pass today.

Here in Connecticut we can't even complete Route 11, or a bus route from New Britain to Hartford, or site a natural gas platform in Long Island Sound called Broadwater to help lower energy costs. Connecticut is one of the most expensive states when it comes to the purchase of energy. That is a key factor in why we can't attract manufacturing business to our state.

There are plenty of very good and sound reasons to oppose these projects. But what are the alternatives to solve the challenges that each of these projects was conceived to remedy?

Could we pass into law the mortgage deduction, Medicaid, Social Security or the Clean Water Act? How about the National Park System? I'm sure there would be some fight over that.

America, for all the talk and claptrap of "embracing our diverse culture" has become more Balkanized than ever. We have gone from "E pluribus unum" (Out of Many One) to "I've got mine, screw you."

It is common and comfortable to push blame onto our elective representatives. The fact is this is a representative democracy and our leaders got there because we put them there. Yes, even if you didn't vote for the candidate who won you are responsible because you and your candidate did not make good enough arguments to win the day. It's democracy and it's tough.

As we go to the polls on primary day Aug. 10 and then the Nov. 2 general election, we as citizens need to begin to think not about how my elected leader will help me. Rather how will he or she help us?

Certainly sounds Pollyannaish to say that, but is it anymore unreal than believing that online gambling is a worthwhile revenue source to help fund the greatest nation on Earth?

To paraphrase Gen. Russel Honore who took charge of the clean-up efforts after Katrina; our country is "stuck on stupid."

It's time for America to man up, set a common goal and get unstuck.

Ben Davol is a veteran of numerous local, state and federal political campaigns. Once a Republican organizer, he is now registered as unaffiliated.