QUICK THE SHIP IS SINKING! OR IS IT?

Everyone on-board is crying: "The ship is sinking!"

To be specific, the ship of state. And the cry is about the only thing both Democrats and Republicans can actually agree on. Polls show 85% of Americans are dissatisfied and/or angry about the economy; 54% blame both parties.

But lets catch our breath before jumping overboard.

After almost 200 years of Yankee bravado -- climaxed with our unconditional victory in WWII -- this recent sense of self-doubt has become a recurring habit. In the 50s it was the Soviet's "sputnik surprise" which made us feel we we're losing the technology race. In the 60s, riots in the streets sucked a lot of wind out of the national sails. Our oil crisis of the 70s and Japan's rise to super-poower in the 80s all took their toll.

Now, we're being told, China is ready to surpass us, leaving the US in the dustbin of history. [See the Egyptian, Persian, Greek, Roman and British empires for grim details]. With so many things gone so wrong so fast, what do frightened passengers do...? Well, of course, you blame the ship's captain...!

Now that we've done that in our November elections, here's the passengers' dilemma. Republican usually have great THEMES like "smaller government" and "individual liberty," backed up with iffy POLICIES like "deregulation" and "tax cuts." Democratic THEMES like "community" and "compassion" have less appeal, but are backed up by better POLICIES like Social Security and Medicare.

The helm right now is in neither party's hands. The passengers are both angry and scared. Up ahead, the waves are getting higher and the clouds heavier. Behind them, the calmer sunnier seas from which the ship of state has somehow drifted. The young on-board have no real experience with those better times and tides. However, the elders do!

Is it just possible that the elders -- you know, the grandparents and the good ol' boys from the local VFW, Kiwanis, Shriners -- can still pitch the ideas and values they lived by? Not cool, I grant, not always cutting-edge or pushing the envelope. But those earlier ideas and values helped get them through the Great Depression, WWII, the Cold War, and Watergate. The sorta stuff Hallmark Cards, Sunday sermons, and Fourth of July speeches still wax eloquent about.

This is not to suggest turning the ship of state backward. What has been has been. And yet, some of that very same cargo of ideas and values can still be found on-board. And used during the voyage ahead. Maybe some someone will have the vision to dig it out, re-polish it, and see if we can't save this ship.

I know, I know! There's this new vampire movie, play-off game, and concert waiting. Trouble is, at this rate of self-indulgence, we may never even get there....