INSTEAD OF WHINING, LOOK FOR ANSWERS

KENNETT, Mo. -- It must be a part of our human DNA, or perhaps it's only the heat, humidity and pollen count.

Whatever the reason, what can be called the American Angst is never very far from the editorial pages of your daily newspaper or those so-called intellectuals on television talk show. We are being bombarded by dire predictions, doomsday warnings and far-out statements about the condition of our nation's health.

It's little wonder one of the most disturbing, as well as escalating, diseases of the mind is depression, an illness that has rapidly become more obvious among even our youngest children, who, if memory serves, should be enjoying the bliss of childhood rather than worrying about whatever it is that has sent them into a morbidity tailspin.

I'm not saying we're all mentally unbalanced. All I want to convey is that Americans in the Year of Our Lord 2001 should be the happiest, contented, emotionally sound residents on Planet Earth.

Oh, I wish we were.

But if you even glance at an editorial page or some of the higher-numbered channels on your TV set, you'll probably be greeted with some of the strangest statements, arguments and declarations that until the moment of reading or listening had never entered your mind.

It seems that every idiot with a cracked idea has been given the unbelievable luxury of expressing himself while inflicting his convoluted views on the rest of mankind.

It's relatively easy to see why the British despised Thomas Paine, the nearly forgotten genius of the Revolutionary War period, since he was advocating a cause that would end the presence of King George's troops in the New World. British monarchy called Paine's views treason, and had it been able to get its hands on the transplanted English printer, it would have subjected him to instant mortality.

Today it's relatively easy to categorize the Paine wannabes by their outrageous statements, claims and muddled thoughts. In fact, the more outrageous their words, the more they are encouraged by their sponsors.

If one reads or hears a statement such as appeared only recently "America would be well-served by herding all of President Bush's critics into some Godforsaken state such as Missouri and keeping them through the next presidential election" you can be pretty sure you have just reached the severely mentally ill of journalistic idiocy.

If, on the other hand, you hear predictions of the imminent doom that awaits our country during the Bush administration, such as was televised just the other day, you can pretty well figure you have reached the other end of the mental ward.

Political psychosis is no respecter of ideology. It's an equal opportunity affliction.

I'm sorry to say, but Missouri has its fair share of these ideological idiots. Thank goodness, for the most part they appear to be less radical that those who haunt the nation as a whole.

The tragedy of our home-state psychosis is that many of our native loony-tunes don't know what they're talking about, suggesting remedies to problems that either don't exist or are so obviously anti-constitutional as to be dead on arrival.

But ignorance is no less dangerous than sheer stupidity.

Our homegrown dunderheads often complain about the high cost of government, whether it's municipal, county or state. But, in case you haven't noticed, one seldom reads complaints from the poor. They are, for the most part, our most silent society. Maybe they're too busy trying to exist to join in the Great Bellyache Brigade.

So are the forgotten wounded in our VA hospitals, the aged in our Medicaid-funded nursing homes and the lost souls whose most recent memory is of a Thanksgiving dinner that took place in 1938.

From these, there's seldom a whisper, much less an indictment of our wicked state or federal government. I'm sure there will be some crackpot who will explain their silence away by noting they're simply not a part of the intellectual elite who will guide our nation once we awaken to the speaker's wisdom and sound judgment.

The problem with this modern complaint mode is that it prevents the vast bulk of society from pursuing intelligent, worthwhile programs that would serve the best interest of the rest of us, sometimes referred to as the silent majority.

The results of these restraints are lethargy, indifference and ignorance.

Hey, if you notice, the results are already obvious, even quite prevalent among us. We don't vote, we don't discuss and we make no effort to learn the details of how or where we are governed. We're so busy listening to the critics that we have no time to reach our own conclusions. God forbid we should have to think for ourselves once in awhile.

The restraints prevent us from looking at problems that are just over the hill, but which deep down we know will plague us later or will demand resolution from the next generations. Just don't make us think about the way to give Missourians the kind of highways they need, Americans the kind of workable Social Security system that should already be in place or the real needs of an educational system that will tech our children the subjects essential for their success.

The typically critical Missourian will tell you we lack the resources for reaching these goals.

Sometime, tell this average Missouri that his or her state receives $1,242 more dollars per capita from Washington than he or she sends to the nation's capital in the form of federal taxes. Believe me, it's true.

Let's begin concentrating on what works, not what some screaming ideological idiot says meets his or her agenda.

~Jack Stapleton is the editor of Missouri News and Editorial Service.