What is There to Hope for?

So much going on in my head. Raging debates with myself and anybody else who will listen. My poor wife is a captive audience. She gets to hear the raw ideas and the initial angry reactions. They need to be vented here.

What is the subject I am talking about? I chose the title because I am asking myself many times a day "what is there to hope for, for the rest of my life (not very much longer), for my children's life (a whole lot of living ahead) and for my grand children (whose lives have barely begun)?"

Where shall we start? Politics? Environment? Wars? Local Issues? Religion? Any of the currently debated sub-issues under those headings can quickly make me throw up, throw in the towel, explode in fury, or disappear into the woods. With the last option really being my favorite. But it does not answer the question.

Shall I hope that our current president or a new one will stop making war all over the world? Or give us all decent healthcare? Or come up with a budget that is sustainable and funds only projects which will help all of us to live decent lives? Or swing into real action on any one of his promises, like alternate energy development, cleaning up the lobbyist situation, get money out of politics, make the Supreme Court into a true institution of justice rather than an enforcer of one or the other political party, make all the Departments in his government be true to their charters, keep religion in all forms out of government ...

I have been made to believe that I as a citizen have an influence over how the people I elect will act on my behalf. The truth is, they act on behalf of who pays them the most money. I was lead to believe that political campaigns are about real issues and open debate not about who can pay for the most advertising that is either presenting an outright lie or totally misleading or plainly promising something the candidate has no intention to ever fulfill, if it is not all about the opponent's horrible record, horrible private life, horrible gaffes and horrible flip-flops.

Vote for the lesser of two evils? Evil is evil. War is war, greed is greed, lies are lies. Who do I turn to? Hope? Hope for What?

Where are the Solutions?

Again we are in Pledge-Campaign-Promise-Politicking-Mode and Common Sense seems to have vanished from the scene. Every party and every candidate is promising what they have been promising for eons, just with a few variations and with a lot less options. Less taxes, more taxes, balancing the budget, and so forth. My favorite is "Listening to the Voters" -- when did that happen the last time? Most of the campaign time and money is spent on besmearing the OTHER, never mind on 'solutions.'

That is what I am really missing, Common Sense Solutions. Vague phrases are not solutions. Headlines are not solutions. Touting numbers that no one can verify or even understand is not a solution. Does that mean - worst scenario - that nobody has any solutions? That is what I believe. I am sure there are people who have answers but if they state them out loud they will be disappeared, one way or another. Nobody wants to say or hear the truth. Why are we fighting wars costing trillions? Why can we not tax people making obscene, unspendable amounts of money? Why can we not mandate greener living? Why can we not feed everybody?

The SYSTEM is so screwed up, my solution would be to drop it and start anew. Like untying a knot, you have to start with one loose end. We can do that with proper leadership. Who is out there to lead us?