I can only sadly agree with you that a great many people in this country count the state of their financial security as the only measure of the condition of their lives.

The fact that they believe they will continue to have the same job tomorrow, that it will pay at least as much as it did today, and they will be able to make their debt payments is all that counts for them.

Unfortunately, they aren't an anonymous "they". I meet them at family get-togethers, church picnics, watercooler chats at the office, etc. I talk to them, reason with them, and ultimately change none of their minds.

It is so much easier to live in the selfish world of our imagination than to confront what our lives mean in the larger context of society.

In that broader context, it is important to stand for morality, honesty, virtue. It is required to make personal sacrifices for the good of individuals that we know and for the greater group of people we don't know personally, but which we call "the country".

It is necessary to "bite the bullet" in personal relationships, to give, to not demand our own way. It is necessary to give up some stubbornness for the good of our marriages quit complaining, say thank-you, do for our spouse sometimes (stuff like that), to give up some personal pleasure for the good of our children pass on watching "must-see-TV" to help them with their homework, show them how to enjoy sunsets (stuff like that), to change our ways for the good of the community don't litter, drive courteously, be polite, vote (stuff like that).

It is selfishness only that makes people desire pleasure at the expense of decency. It is rationalizing selfishness in themselves that allows them to excuse it in others. That's why they justify the President's behavior so easily.

It is the desire to be lazy that allows people to know facts about an overblown budget and overwhelming national debt, yet excuse every Congress from spending more and more and lying about it.

I speak here of beneficiaries of government largess. Retirement is a fairly recent concept, social security even newer; welfare bears no resemblance to its origins.

Medicare and Medicaid, arts, humanities and research grants of dubious merit, excessive retirement benefits for government employees, farm subsidies self-discipline would relieve the necessity for much of the endless redistribution of wealth that passes for "entitlements" in this country.

I disagree with you that the problem is to get people to read and believe facts. Most of them have heard the facts, but since it doesn't fit with their notions of "me, myself, and I first, last, and only," they deny the truth rather than themselves.

If I knew how to issue the wake-up call, though, I would.