An American Paradox

I do a lot of reading and research on political stuff. I spend too much time reading, writing and ranting, but I love my job. We at the Inkwell have been tracking the thoughts of the American people for a couple of months and we have found a paradox.

Huh? A paradox? Yeah, something contradictory or an enigma. I know there is a wealth of that type of stuff out there. But the one that impressed me and the others of the Inkwell 3 was in a political nature. I know, get to the point!

About 66% of the American people see the country sliding in the wrong direction. They have lost all confidence in their President and their Congress. Approval ratings are in the toilet; the Pres is at 24% approval and the Congress really sucks their approval rating is at 11%. The news that people see daily is crammed with stories of sexual depravity, war deaths, crime and bitter international conflicts.

But with all the bad news most people, 56%, say they are satisfied with their lives. This leads to the question, why? If they have no faith in the leaders, but they are happy with their lives, how does this come about? I think this can only be answered by the individual. There is no one size fits all type of answer. Some of it is probably that the economy seems to be performing good. On the other side of that consumer prices are up, gas is up and going higher, wages are stagnant, even with the new minimum wage law. So where is this paradox going?

I say it will go south. The next time all this is analyzed it may not be as cheerful as it was this month. It is a day to day thing for the people. There is no good explanation, that is why it is called a paradox or an enigma.

Only time will tell if this optimism will continue--fascinating stuff none the less.

CHUQ