Happy New Year!

Well, 2009 is behind us and what a year it was.  It was a year marked by sone of the most hateful politics in a very long time.  It was a year that many folks lost much of their retirements. Employers laid off many from their jobs, states have trouble balancing their budgets and deep cuts in human services and education will certainly plague us for some time to come.   Even though there is no inflation (says the government) prices of food, energy, clothing and utilities went up.  This makes for hardships for families and seniors.  There are few pay increases, no social security increases but the fat cat bankers and Wall Street management are getting even bigger bonuses than before the crash and on our tax dollars!  Health Care Reform basically went no where.  Let's hope something good comes out of the bill that has now gone to conference.

What will 2010 bring?  I am not too optimistic as I don't see the politics changing either on the local or national level.  This morning on Morning Joe I heard  Mike Barnicle say something to the effect of the people are crying out to Congress hear our voices but Congress is not listening.  He is so right!  People are trying to tell elected officials what they want and need but the powers that be, both on the local and national level are not listening.  Instead they continue to listen to lobbyists, special interests and big corporations who are paying big bucks to get them to listen.  I don't see that changing in 2010.
Since this will be an election year we need to elect people who are not afraid to think outside the box!  I have subscribed to the Smart Growth Network, http://www.smartgrowth.org.  According to their website they state their purpose as "helps create national, regional and local coalitions to support intelligent and sustainable growth."
I have also subscribed to Maine Can Do Better (www.mainecandobetter.org) From their website,

  "Like people throughout Maine, the partners of Maine Can Do Better believe in working together for the common good. We know that Maine's prosperity depends on the strength of our public structure -- our laws, our schools and universities, our public health and safety agencies, our roads and bridges, and our natural resources. Maine's core is the machinery that propels our economy, and must be responsibly managed and maintained to ensure the health and vitality of Maine communities, Maine families, and Maine people, now and into the future."

Both of these organizations have a vision for making the state, the country and the world a better place.  I invite you to subscribe to these also and put pressure on candidates to think differently about how things can be accomplished.  We need to hold them accountable.  We can no longer sit back and let government do things to us but we need to make them do things that we want and need.  We need to be more responsible citizens in 2010 than we were in 2009 and before.

In spite of the somewhat pessimistic posting I do wish all of you a Happy, Healthy and Blessed New Year.