Opus 2019-107: Kicking the Can, part 1 of 2

From time to time I come across different writers criticizing politicians as refusing to deal with an issue and instead “kicking the can down the road.”  It refers to our so-called leaders refusing to take the bull by the horns and instead letting the problem go by assuming that future generations will deal with it.

We can look at such things as budget proposals that are going to balance the budget, at least until you look at the fine print.  Usually the balancing will happen four to eight years down the road when there has been another election.  What that means is never.

This is not a new problem.  I am reading Vindicating the Founders by Thomas G. West.  I am still in the early chapters and his first concern is over the issue of slavery.  I notice that he keeps referring to leaders of the day being against slavery but not willing to do anything about it.  Thomas Jefferson comes up frequently.  He is the one who penned the “all men are created equal” phrase that is so important.  At the same time he owned slaves and never made any attempt to free them even after his death.  His excuse seemed to be that he could not afford to set them free.

The thing that hit me was that the Founders kicked the can down the road.  They may have been forced to do so because there were three Southern states who would not have joined the new nation if slavery had been banned.  That was a political reality.  Northern states moved to do away with slavery but for the most part few who owned slaves and admitted it was wrong were willing to take the financial loss to do what was right.  In their defense they did outlaw the slave trade as soon as they could in 1808.

This curse still haunts us today.

To be continued...

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