From a far distance, say we were sitting on the moon, an observer would be looking at our earth and thinking, “Boy, it sure is pretty but not much happening.” We have all seen those NASA photos of the beautiful blue oceans and the white clouds. So, it could be said, that in the universal or natural scheme of things, things are pretty much the same. Our earth has spun, on its own axis, 365 full revolutions at a speed of approximately 1,000 miles per hour. So, that means we covered about 9,125,000 miles just spinning around, assuming you are hanging out somewhere near the equator. Of course, while we were spinning like a top, we were also making one big trip around the sun. Our elliptical orbit around the sun takes one year, as you know. Did you know that the speed at which the earth is moving around the sun is about 67,000 miles per hour? Now that’s really moving. And that a one year trip around the sun covers about 587 million miles (Note: keep this statistic in mind if your spouse says you never take me anywhere.) By the way, our solar system is also moving lickety split in our galaxy and our galaxy is moving at warp speed on a trip to where we are just not sure. But think of it this way. You’re a little kid, in the back seat of the car, and you ask Dad, “Are we there yet*?”
We don’t make this stuff up by the way, check out our facts at: http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ask_astro/answers/970401c.html
Right about now, if you are a typical reader, you are asking yourself, assuming you have not clicked off this page, just where in the heck is this essay going? How, on earth, is this essay going to tie into fiscal responsibility and debt and dopes in Washington DC? Well, let’s continue on and see if there is a connection.
Okay, so we all know now that we are moving, spinning and we are scooting around the sun at one pretty darn good clip. Our British friend, Mr. Newton, who developed his laws of motion long before we were blessed with the brilliance of men and women like Bush, McCain, Greenspan, Obama, Pelosi and Bernanke, observed that a body in motion stays in motion unless acted upon by an external force. This is all available for your reading enjoyment in a publication entitled Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica (aka Principia) dated 1687. We checked out amazon.com to see if it was available. It is. Costs a mere $13.42 and is eligible for free shipping if your order totals at least $25.00. Just go to: http://www.amazon.com/Principia-Mathematical-Principles-Natural-Philosophy/dp/1607962403/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1293716203&sr=8-2
So, back to our 2010 perspective. And here comes the tie in.
Congress is a body. A body politic. Say what you want, and we of course encourage you to do so vigorously and often, that body is in motion. It was in motion throughout 2010. It covered a lot of ground and produced at lot of paper and laws and bureaucrats and rules and encumbrances upon other bodies in motion. In other words, it was the external force that interfered with the motion of other bodies. And, we know only too well the painful consequences of that interference but let us recap quickly and succinctly: deficits = debt = destruction.
So, our perspective on 2010 is simply this. The body congress is in motion, was in motion all year, all 365 days, either directly or through its lingering bodies that it placed in motion. And so it will also be in 2011. And 2012. And so forth. Until it meets an external force!
* For our readers who want to have some real fun, ponder this quote from NASA: “Earth, along with the Solar System, is situated in the Milky Way galaxy, orbiting about 28,000 light years from the center of the galaxy. It is currently about 20 light years** above the galaxy's equatorial plane in the Orion spiral arm.”
** A light year in distance is about 6 trillion miles. By the way, trillions in currency have become chump change for the boys and girls in congress.
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