Submitted Op-Ed from Steve Cikay: Let’s Sing a New Song

The following is a Op-Ed submitted to LevittownNow.com for publication. 

In February, 1964 I was living in a rowhouse off of Knights Road near the Liberty Bell racetrack. It was there I remember watching the Beatles from a black and white TV  set as they invaded America on the Ed Sullivan Show.

My family had just moved to Philadelphia from New Jersey after my father lost his job.  I also remembered from that time the recent tragedy of the death of our great President Kennedy. It was a sad time for both my family and the country. But suddenly those four young men in a rock band uplifted us all.  Our nation and our children were optimistic once again and on the road to  great new things.

Despite the divisiveness of the Vietnam War, another great President boldly tried to do great things and did them with the support of Congress. Soon we had a Civil Rights Act, a Voting Rights Act, Medicare and Medicaid bills, and funding bills for NASA: all passed by a Congress daring to dream a grand bold vision. That optimism from so many led to so many great things for our people, culminating in our country putting a man on the moon by the end of the decade.

Now sadly we have a Congress that does nothing. And some people even praise the Congress because it simply does nothing. Some Congressmen pat themselves on the back for reaching puny compromises about little things. Even our own Congressman Fitzpatrick praises himself for getting one bill passed in four years, And that bill allows old people to “safely” raid the value of their own home to pay bills so that nothing will be left to pass on to their children. Some grand accomplishment here in the 21^st century! What have we fallen to?

We need a new set of leaders in Congress who can work with the President to do the great things that need to be done for America. We can achieve greatness if we but come together and aim high for great things. We need to shake this pessimism and leave this valley of low expectations. We need to regain our optimism.

Maybe we need a new band to sing us great songs. And no, it’s not Justin Bieber’s voice we need to hear.

STEVE CICKAY NEWTOWN PA

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