Holiday Road

Everyone should have to take a vacation.

Listen closely. Everyone should have to take a vacation.
It should be required. Mandated by the federal government. The Nanny State should get it's tentacles right in there and make everyone take a vacation, by force if necessary.
Not just a trip to the grandmas, or a grudging weekend at the same lake you go to every year. Everyone should be required to take a vacation of at least a week, ideally in a new spot every year. It should be part of the bailout plan, and we should all get tax money of some kind to fund our trips.
To those who would cry out at the cruelty, the despotism of a government that forced its people to take--gasp!--vacations, hear me out for just a second. Because this just may be the answer to the economic problems facing the average hard-working employees who have not benefited from the handouts showered upon the money grubbing, paycheck-stealing CEOs at the top of the ladder.
Look at the things it would solve. Unemployment, for example. For years, businesses have subtly discouraged their employees from actually taking the time off owed to them. Required vacations would force these companies to hire a few more people. People who might buy products (remember, we need people to have money to buy products.)
Tourism would pick up. More hotels would be built, employing, again, more people. The transportation industry would gain. There would be more money available for road construction which would, in turn, mean more jobs.

Ok, full disclosure here. We just got back from a few days camping near Sleeping Bear Dunes in Michigan. It was our first get-away in two years, but because of our recently reduced circumstances, it was a vacation we almost didn't take.
But at the last minute, we decided that with a high schooler in the house who only has a few summers left at home, we just couldn't spend this one here. I worried about the money, of course, because it meant dipping into the disaster fund we have in case the car or any major appliance breaks down (and they're all on their last legs.)

What I didn't realize is that I needed--desperately needed--a vacation from worrying about money. For just a few days, I needed reality to be suspended. I needed to be in a different place, away from all the obsessive thoughts and recent unpleasantness of Kansas City. I needed to be able to say, "Yes, we can spend the money for everyone to go on the ferry to South Manitou, because we will never have this chance again."

Taking a trip is like life-giving water to my imagination, which has taken a decidedly unhealthy turn of late. In Michigan, and in our one day touring downtown Chicago, it was possible to imagine other ways of living, in a friendly (yes, Chicagoans are friendly) environment with a large body of water nearby and many more job options, one imagines.

And did this trip help our mental health? Well, my daughter kept saying how amazed she was to see me laughing. And I now have hope--honest hope--that we can come out of this without a default or bankruptcy. What does that tell you?

So, yeah, we should all be required to take a vacation. Stress-related health care costs will go down. Employment will go up. And maybe, just maybe, those of us not in top management will feel like humans again.

Let's put America back to work by getting them the hell away from work for a week. How about it Congressman Dennis Moore?