Deny. Distract. Defer.

Need something done but don't have the will, energy or balls to do it? There's a simple solution. Do nothing.

This has become the new mantra of our nation. Instead of tackling the issues at hand with the necessary ferocity, we channel our energies into finding new ways not to get things done.

And why not? It's so much easier to ignore something than to actually do anything.

Global warming is going to destroy the world as we know it? No worries! I don't believe in global warming. Check that one off the list. Next!

Housing market crash? Oooh, sounds terrible. Did you hear they're building a mosque down at ground zero? Let's spend a few months fighting about that instead.

Need to tackle that nasty deficit? Sure, no problem! Just as soon as I give everyone a massive tax cut costing trillions of dollars.

Not getting stuff done has become so prevalent, members of congress should not hold hearings about it. Talk show hosts should dedicate entire shows to anything other than it. And journalists should absolutely not write about it.

This would go a long way towards ensuring we never get anything done. Which is pretty impressive, if you don't think about it.