What Now? Mengerink Family

SOUTH WHITLEY, Ind. (WANE)  What's the state of our country? We asked that question last year in our series, "Saving America: 28 Ideas in 28 Days." With the election just days away, we revisited the Mengerinks, a South Whitley family, to find out how they feel now.

When we talked with Chris and Molly Mengerink last fall, they were concerned about the economy, the national debt, and the cost of higher education. Little has changed.

"It's not much better than it was," said Chris. "From a family perspective I think we're still 'How do we pay for college? How do we provide for our children so that they have a good start in life?'"

Chris and Molly worry about the future for their daughters Cozette and Maya, so they're watching this election and the candidates closely.

"I truly don't think that I have a strong feeling as to whether or not either one of them is truly the right person for the job," Molly explained. "I think they're both very good at saying all the right things without entirely knowing why that's the right thing to say or how they would actually fulfill those promises that they're making."  

It’s the unknown, they said, that's most alarming.

"My line of work puts me around a lot of different companies - and a lot of them are hesitant right now to grow themselves. They're not sure what's in the future. They're scared. What does Obamacare mean? What taxes are or are not coming? So that makes a lot of them hesitate to bring on new people," Chris said.

The Mengerinks said they certainly don’t have the solutions to the problems Americans are facing and they know things won’t change overnight. Still, they don't believe enough is being done to address the big issues.

In our first report that aired in November 2011, we asked them if they had faith in the bipartisan group the president had formed with the intent of fixing the deficit.

"I don't think they have a clear concept of exactly how the deficit came to be," Molly said last fall. "I would say that the way they're throwing these solutions - these somewhat half-hearted solutions at it - I would say I don't have complete faith that this exact group can do it."

Chris echoed those sentiments a year later. "You look at the committee Obama put together with Republicans and Democrats to put a solution together - what happened? Nothing. They couldn't get along. They couldn't just come together and say, 'Sorry, guys. This is the middle road that we have to go down together and if it means some people get a little more taxed and some people get a little less money given to them, then that's the way is has to be.' But unfortunately I don't see them saying that or doing that. And in 20 years, it'll be broken still."

Molly said she thinks we need to encourage people to be more self-sufficient, to work hard, and to go back to the basics.

"Sort of recognizing that success isn't a bad thing. Opportunities for us to achieve our own successes. I don't expect the government to give me that golden plate of money and that job on it and all of that. Sort of going back to the 'We can do it. We can build it.' You know, the old-school success of the country would be a really nice change of pace."