I’m reading Founding Mothers by Cokie Roberts. It is the story of ‘The Women Who Raised Our Nation’. I’ve learned many things about the Revolutionary War that I never read in history books. For example, I didn’t realize that it was common practice for wives and even children to accompany the generals (including George Washington) and troops to their camps.

One section of the book particularly caught my attention.

On June 10, 1780 newspaper readers in Philadelphia were called to action by “The Sentiments of an American Woman” written by Esther Reed. In her “Sentiments” Ms. Reed called on women to sacrifice some of the luxuries they enjoyed for the “armies which defend our lives, our possessions, our liberty.” Her idea was simple; women should “wear clothing more simple, hair dressed less elegant” and give the money they saved to the troops as “the offering of the ladies”. “Sentiments” became widely read in the colonies and an influential piece of writing at a time when politics was not considered to be the business of women.

If you had any doubt about whether our elected officials, either in Sacramento or Washington D.C. are capable of putting the best interests of America ahead of party politics, the present budget crisis in both capitols should confirm your doubts. Both parties would rather play politics than take action. By comparison, Nero was a decisive leader.

I’ve written here before that if America is to move forward it will take actions by Americans. The women of the Revolution were willing to make sacrifices to further the common good as were Americans who endured rationing during World War II. Americans today in large numbers won’t even make an effort to drive the speed limit to improve national security by reducing our dependency on foreign oil.

If we Americans are not willing to change our habits, we will have to place much of the blame on ourselves for how long the current financial crises lasts and for how much worse it gets before things turn around. If we Americans don’t take matters into our own hands, if we continue to look to the government for solutions, we will have to place much of the blame on ourselves for how this crisis plays out.

Common wisdom seems to indicate that this current downturn will eventually play itself out as have previous ones. No one seems to have the courage to say that our present situation may be unlike anything that has happened in the past, including the great depression. For one thing, most Americans have no savings to fall back on. There are more of us competing for fewer resources. We are much less self-sufficient as a nation now than we were in the 1930s. For example, how many people do you know who can grow their own food?

The women mentioned above organized themselves by city and by state and took action at the local level. A similar effort today is our best chance for turning our country in a positive direction.

We must be willing to change our habits and make sacrifices. We can drive less and at a slower rate. We can grow more of our own food. We can volunteer in our own communities. We can make an effort to buy more of our goods from local merchants. We can get involved and become part of the solution.

If we don’t, we are part and a large part at that, of the problem.