Freelance
Teen columnist
ERICK VEGA
letters@tucsoncitizen.com
I’m not a fan of teenage poetry or really of teenage writing in general.
It annoys me when kids my age try to write their “deep,” philosophical and often so very tragic thoughts and expect anybody to take them seriously.
I do not exempt myself from this category. Looking back at some of the things I’ve written for school or for publication, I almost gag at the cliché-filled pages and the unoriginal takes on age-old topics.
But what bothers me most is the drawn-out, pedantic dialogue of amateur writers (such as me) who, in their efforts to sound like an authority on the topic, employ six-syllable synonyms of common words; the more obscure the better.
So with this disclaimer, I offer a 400-word essay on politics in the United States.
“Brevity can never, in the nature of things, do justice to all the facts of a complex situation” (Aldous Huxley, Brave New World Revisited).
With this idea fresh in my mind, I will do my best to write succinctly and honestly such that even if someone does not agree with my interpretation of the situation, he or she can at least see the validity of my argument.
Whereas the fundamental function of an economy such as our own is to create needs faster than it can satisfy them, the true function of our government (whether we admit it) is to satisfy our needs as fast as it can.
It sounds like a very socialistic definition of government, and in some ways it is. The founding fathers likely did not intend our government to satisfy all our needs, but in the year of instant gratification we demand change.
The economy goes sour, we want the government to fix it; pirates attack, we want the government to stop them; a virus is loose, we want the government to kill it.
“But Erick, there’s no way we could fix the economy, or stop the pirates or kill the virus on our own.”
This is true, and it’d be unfair for me or anyone to ask of any civilian to fix it all on their own; we simply haven’t the resources. However, the link goes further than that.
We want our mail delivered on time, our electricity always available and our phone lines always connected. And if this isn’t happening, we want someone to complain to. Who better than the judicial branch?
We want health care, and we want protection from malpractice. We want cheap goods and an ever-present bull market.
The age of personal accountability has ended. The age of the everyday lawsuit has arrived.
Nor is the other end of the spectrum flawless. Laizzes faire did much to allow for exploitation of workers for many decades. Laizzes faire allows for Ponzi schemes and economic bubbles. Allowing the people to help the poor and the downtrodden has also left many hungry and destitute.
Neither the Republican nor the Democratic platform can in its purest states appease everyone. They can’t eliminate poverty or create economic prosperity.
Ideologies don’t run countries; people do. One can try to rule solely by ideology, and many have and many have failed.
Why people are allowing compromise to die a slow, painful, pride-induced death is beyond me.
Teen columnist Erick Vega is a senior at Flowing Wells High School.
E-mail: somekidvega@hotmail.com