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I recently heard a talk radio interview with a D.C.-based operative. This operative is usually on the right side of issues, but something struck me during the interview. The discussion revolved around the “transportation crisis” hitting our nation’s capital. Another crisis?! Shocker. There are certainly pressing matters to address—our debt is at an all time high, and we have done nothing to quell limitless spending; Obamacare is ravaging our economy and driving a wedge between doctors and patients; and we are embroiled in several real predicaments at home and abroad. But the current “crises” often discussed by cable TV talking heads and Beltway elites are nothing but manufactured storms of political convenience. Take the numerous debt ceiling discussions that have taken place over the past couple of years. There have been so many shutdown showdowns that I don’t even care to go back and count the number. Politicians would draw a line in the sand, hold a months-long stare off on their respective sides of the line, then wipe away the line with their feet and move along, no substantive change resulting from their charade. While the lack of adequate transportation funding is indeed a real issue, of course it’s not a shortage of revenue that plights us, it’s the squandering of existing funding on unnecessary projects. It’s been a problem coming for a long time, with few caring to even give it a passing glance. Yet, D.C. politicians and the hucksters who sell their crises-in-a-bottle are trying to convince us that this new ordeal is the most important issue of our time. Just like the last crisis and the one before it. We don’t need to send politicians to Washington to fix our crises. We need statesmen who won’t create them in the first place. The best time to start a family budget is not after filing for bankruptcy, nor is it prudent to buy car insurance after you have a fender bender. We need to roll up our sleeves and fix the problems plaguing our nation’s long-term survival, not become distracted by the manufactured crisis de jour. -Justin Owen Enjoy the Beacon blog? Help us keep it going with a tax-deductible gift.