It’s been an interesting day. Last night, just before bed I was cruising blogs and came across a reposted article about how much more difficult it is to work your way through college these days, if no other reason than that college is so much more expensive now than in the past. There was also an assertion that greedy baby boomers (especially the wealthy) don’t subsidize education as it was done in the past. Based on the comments already left by two other respondents (names changed) to the posting, I wrote:
@Amy . Who gets to decide what’s fair?
@Carol . I’m not retired. I probably will never retire. My choice. And, I agree with your comments about the Boomers. After 40 years of Democratic control of the House, voted in by the Boomers, I couldn’t wait for the Republicans to take over. What a joke they have turned out to be.
All of it goes to show why the Founding Fathers had no intention of having but a very few (enumerated) items controlled by the federal government. People make mistakes. Generations of people make generational mistakes and the governments of those people are nothing more than a reflection of those voters. That being said, like minded people should be able to gather together in one state or another and live the way they choose. Californians should not set the agenda for residents of Colorado. Floridians should not have an influence, let alone a vote, on how people should live in Washington State. If you don’t like the mindset of your neighbors, then move to a place that caters to people who think as you think. Therefore, the federal government should not be so big, so bloated and so powerful that they are able to socially engineer us into being, doing and having the exact same thing no matter where you live in the country. That plan has never worked anywhere in the history of the world! And, it’s been tried countless times.
So yeah, I get a little cranky when I hear about anyone whining about what somebody else got and how they didn’t get theirs. If you don’t like what you’re getting from those who control your taxes, your educational opportunities, your jobs, your health care, your environment, your fuel/energy prices and everything else in your life, then DUMP ALL FEDERAL PROGRAMS, SPENDING AND CONTROL beyond the very few things enumerated in the Constitution and start gathering as like minded people in one corner of the country or the other under a state, county and municipal system that reflects the mindset of you and those with whom you have chosen to associate. But don’t keep voting for the same idiots or their protégés who do nothing more than perpetuate the “status quo”.
By the way, if you are not willing to do any of the above until someone else does it for you or until someone else funds it or until someone else, through federal support, guarantees food, housing, health care, day care, transportation or a job with a guaranteed salary that you can’t get fired from for lack of performance, then you should probably move to some other country where those things are guaranteed. Clearly you lack the American Spirit of self reliance, hard work, courage, risk, reward, pioneering and problem solving.
A friend of mine has an answering machine message that says, ” If you’re part of the problem, hang up and don’t call back. If you’re part of the solution, leave a message.” That seems like an appropriate sign off here.
Carols responded: “Amen to states rights”
Amy responded (unedited) :
“America definitely wasn’t founded on self reliance, courage, risk, and reward etc.. Lets not forget all of the slaves, natives, women and immigrants who were treated like shit (irish, jews, italians, japanese, chinese, etc) who actually did the leg work. America was built on their blood sweat and tears and our forefathers just reaped the benefit because they were aristocratic christian land owning white males… History is a hell of an indicator of present behavior in politicians. There are so many other factors at play in determining the haves and have nots in this country and most of isn’t because of meritocracy thats a myth and an illusion. See the glass ceiling and the 20% rule etc etc”
My first thought was, “Boy oh boy is the country in big trouble”. However, my immediate quip was, “Where did you go to school?”, followed by:
“You, making a list of the atrocities, injustices and bigotries of the past and trying to pass that off as a fair representation of the history of this country is like me making a list of all of yesterdays driving infractions and concluding that ALL drivers broke the law yesterday. Though undoubtedly every driving law on the books was broken yesterday, the vast majority of drivers didn’t break any law. In fact, not even all those who did violate traffic law yesterday, break the law everyday. Drill down a little further and you will discover that not even all of those caught speeding (for example), would be found guilty of such in court, for the simple reason that some of the speeding took place under the extraordinary circumstances of an emergency. It’s called the greater good defense and considered a justifiable action.
Despite what you’re being taught in our schools these days, this is a great country with great opportunity for ANYONE who is willing to pay the price. Granted, it is becoming more and more difficult due to more and more taxation and regulation. But far more injurious to your future than that, is what you apparently believe about the past. Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t, or that it’s too late or that you’re not the right kind, color, gender or creed to make your dreams come true. Those who want you to believe such things are trying to convince you of something that will disadvantage you, usually for their own benefit. Don’t let them. Don’t believe for a minute that the prosperity of your future will be derived from the redistribution of someone else’s accumulation. Politicians who want you to give them the power to take from others so that they can give to you will eventually take it all for themselves and leave you with even less than you had before. Even a cursory review of history with the slightest degree intellectual integrity will evidence that.
One more thing; I’m tempted to encourage you look at the glass of history as half full instead of half empty. But that would be dishonest. The truth is that compared to today, the glass of history is 94% full. It is accurate to say that there were indeed injustices of all kinds back in the day. But by any “fair” observation, there was more good than bad, more good actors than bad actors in nearly every case. But remember also that there were different standards. It could be said that their glasses held a quart, our glasses hold a liter. If you pour 100% of their quart into our liter it will only fill our container up to 94% full. In other words, we have different standards today than did our ancestors. Even their best would fall short by todays expectations. The real question is, what is our capacity? How close are we coming to completely filling our glass of achievement given our greater opportunities and capacity? Don’t let anyone make the false comparison of historical vs. present day (using a different standard) and convince you that you got shorted and now somebody owes you. Self reliance and faith in God is what made this country great, not government/institutional reliance. Don’t trust anyone who tells you different.”
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