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Hernando Today

A Nation Of Whiners? You Bet

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By JOHN HERBERT

From Where I Sit

Published: July 16, 2008

According to one of Sen. John McCain's campaign advisers, former Republican Sen. Phil Gramm, America has become "a nation of whiners."
McCain and presumed Democratic presidential nominee, Sen. Barack Obama, were predictably quick to disavow Sen. Gramm's assertion.
Thing is, Gramm is probably right.
After all, isn't there an old saying that "the squeaky wheel gets the oil?" And, brother, do we need oil! Cheap, domestic oil.
Just coming off an unexpectedly expensive month in New England, I wasn't hard-pressed to find the $4.20 gallon of gas. Other parts of the U.S. are already bracing for the $5 gallon while Congress just keeps talking energy and doing nothing about it.
If we're not whining about the prices of oil and gas, we can always complain about seemingly excessive home foreclosure rates. While much of the blame has been placed on mortgage companies' allegedly outrageous fees, the home buyers themselves should be condemned for even asking for something they knew they couldn't afford. Of course, hungry lenders should have just said "no" at the outset.
Maybe there's a double standard lurking somewhere, but we obviously didn't whine loudly enough when the Rev. Jesse Jackson, once a serious presidential contender himself, confided (into a "hot" mike) that Sen. Obama's private parts should be surgically removed without anesthesia.
The same Rev. Jackson was also one of those who pressed to silence a white shock jock, Don Imus, last year when he made allegedly insensitive racial remarks over the air waves. Imus apologized profusely, to little avail. Jackson apologized, and all was forgiven.
Double standards were also an issue in releasing convicted sex offender Debra Lafave from house arrest to continue her sentence under seven years of strings-attached probation. Legal experts agree the girl was too "pretty" to languish in prison for at least 20 years – a given if she had been a sex-offending male.
This was a silly prosecution, for starters. What 14-year-old boy hasn't dreamed of a young female with Playboy attributes?
If we Americans haven't been whining, we've been at least literally bellyaching about suspiciously salmonella-laden tomatoes this summer. McDonalds must be "lovin' it," as their commercials go.
The search for the source of the tummy bug, the worst outbreak in a decade, has now spread to jalapeno peppers. No matter which veggie ultimately bears the burden of the blame, we've learned at least that Montezuma's Revenge is not a myth.
Much more troubling for those in constitutional denial is a Florida court endorsing a new law allowing us to carry concealed weapons (handguns) to work. While I'm all for guns for hunters and home defenders, it's now at your own risk that you hassle your presumably-packing colleagues over that last parking space at work.
I'd whine, too, if I were a totally dedicated bird lover. A new law says we can't feed pelicans any longer. There go all those sunny hours I've idled away, happily tossing bait fish to the pelicans hovering around St. Pete's faux boardwalk.
Some "kid-sick" parents of New England campers are, if not whining, moaning that their young offspring have had their cell phones and laptops impounded when they arrive for a few weeks of roughing it in the woods. The deprived parents display withdrawal symptoms from not being able to maintain digital access to their camping children.
There was a time when I'd look forward to returning to nature for a few weeks without parental interference. A few weeks without cell phones (which hadn't been invented, yet) or even flush toilets. Still, I can't recall either my parents or me whining about any latter-day deprivations.

A regular columnist for Hernando Today, John Herbert lives in Spring Hill.

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