The Feehery Theory

Turn, Turn, Turn

It was the Byrds who transformed this Biblical passage into a top hit in the mid-1960’s:

 

To everything - turn, turn, turn

There is a season - turn, turn, turn

And a time for every purpose under heaven

A time to be born, a time to die

A time to plant, a time to reap

A time to kill, a time to heal

A time to laugh, a time to weep

To everything - turn, turn, turn

There is a season - turn, turn, turn

And a time for every purpose under heaven

A time to build up, a time to break down

A time to dance, a time to mourn

A time to cast away stones

A time to gather stones together

To everything - turn, turn, turn

There is a season - turn, turn, turn

And a time for every purpose under heaven

A time of war, a time of peace

A time of love, a time of hate

A time you may embrace

A time to refrain from embracing

To everything - turn, turn, turn

There is a season - turn, turn, turn

And a time for every purpose under heaven

A time to gain, a time to lose

A time to rend, a time to sew

A time to love, a time to hate

A time of peace, I swear it's not too late!

 

It was Pete Seeger, the folk singer, who first adapted this song from the Book of Ecclesiastes.  King Solomon has been credited with being the oldest songwriter in history to get a number one hit on the Billboard Chart.

I have always been intrigued by the sentiment behind this song, not only in life, but also in politics.

There is a time for war and a time for peace, a time for life and time for death, a time to rend and a time to sew.

In a political sense, there is also a time to reform government and a time to reform the private sector.

We have been going through an excruciating time in our nation’s history.

Fighting two highly limited but extraordinarily expensive wars, a deep and dangerous financial crisis, social upheaval, despondency and drug addiction in rural and urban America, and scandal in the political and financial worlds.

We have seen more in the last 10 years than previous generations saw in their lifetimes.

What we haven’t seen is wholesale reform of our government.

Given the financial crisis facing the country, and the political scandals that have rocked Congressional funding, we haven’t really seen much change in how our government operates.

Sure, we have seen more laws coming out of the Congress to govern how the people act.  But we haven’t seen much coming of the Congress governing how the bureaucrats act.

President Obama promised to be the change we all can believe in.  But from a government funding perspective, the change hasn’t led to less government power or more government accountability.  Rather it has led to more government expansion, more government power and less accountability for the bureaucrats.

What we need is a season of reform.  Sometime the private sector grows out of control and requires greater scrutiny and regulations.  And sometimes the government grows out of control and requires the same.

Now is the season of government reform.  The President hasn’t delivered it.  We need a President who will.