BY SHARON MARTIN

An article in the AARP Bulletin expressed outrage that people who earn a million dollars a year get unemployment benefits when they are laid off.

Wait a second! Didn’t they pay unemployment premiums?

The cause for outrage would be that people who paid insurance premiums couldn’t collect for any made-up reason, including that they are too rich.

The folks at Fox are outraged about the war on Christmas. What war? Where was their outrage about the made-up war on weapons of mass destruction?

Dr. Paul Kengor, from The Center for Vision and Values, wrote a long article crying foul that Sen. Marco Rubio was asked a question about his faith. Kengor is angry that Christian politicians are under attack.

Really? How do you think it would go over if a candidate admitted being an atheist?

Seriously, folks, there are enough reasons for outrage. We don’t need to invent them.

For starters, we should all be angry that our Congress invented the fiscal cliff. Here are men and women more concerned about keeping their jobs than they are about doing their jobs – the will of the American people.

Another cause for fury: the mere thought that the debt ceiling is negotiable. If you incur the debt, you pay it; that’s the honorable thing to do.

We should be indignant at how our education system is undermined. It starts with funding inequities – rich neighborhoods get more property-tax funds for their schools than poor neighborhoods, perpetuating the cycle of poverty.

We cut funding to the bone for public education in general then decree that a lot of what’s left be spent on programs that benefit the job creators, testing companies and for-profit schools. When these unsound policies fail to get the promised results, we badmouth the teachers.

The list could go on – uninsured workers, homeless veterans – but outrage, alone, is useless. We need solutions.

If something spikes the outrage meter, it’s time for action. It begins with letters, e-mails, and phone calls to let our representatives know how we feel. If that doesn’t get results, then we organize and take to the streets.

If we were protesting inaction on the fiscal cliff instead of Christmas shopping, that would get somebody’s attention.

It’s time to quit crying and get busy. Enough with the outrage! There’s work to be done.

– Sharon Martin lives in Oilton, OK and is a regular contributor to The Oklahoma Observer