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A Good Start In Life

Posted in Single Steps, tagged , , , on November 12, 2012| Leave a Comment »

How many times have you heard this— “children need a college education so they will have a good start in life.” How many times have you silently agreed to the notion that children need a “good education” so they can “make it” in “society?” How many of you are willing to take another look at these two universal constants of our current social rhetoric? Do you understand the difference between need and want?

As I said in my last post, there really is no such animal as “SOCIETY.” It is for this reason that arguments about society, and it’s condition, are always so unsatisfactory. We are all individuals, unique unto ourselves. We use the term society to refer to a collection of such individuals. This is a matter of verbal convenience—not a definition. Therefore, society = individuals.

And even though they use the term “society” for convenience’s sake, in their own minds, people only relate to the individual. For example, why else is there such objection to making broad, sweeping statements about Jews, blacks, women, Hispanics, republicans, democrats, etc., etc.? It is because such statements are an insult to the individual. They totally ignore the principle of the uniqueness of the individual and show no respect for or acknowledgement of it. Therefore, let us agree that the first basic function of society is to teach respect for the individual. Without this teaching, there is no society, there are only lots of individuals in a constant state of emotional anarchy.

Let us further agree that the first step in teaching respect for the individual is teaching respect for the self. The notion of “I” is, after all, the foundation on which all further understanding of the importance of the individual will be built. People who have no respect for themselves will assuredly not respect anyone else.

Taking this one step further we have–Respect for the self must be taught by the primary individuals in a person’s life—the parents. To any child, mom and dad are society, therefore, society = individuals = parents.  So how can parents(society) teach the principle of self-respect?

This one is easy. They can’t.

It is not possible to “teach” self-respect to children, you have to provide them with it the same way you provide them with shelter, warmth, food, etc.. You do this by loving them. You do this by spending time with them because you love them and you like spending time with them. In this way the individual child will absorb the notion that they “matter” and this is the basis for self-respect. All children need this. There is no educational “system” that can substitute for this. It is called nurturing.

You see, self respect is absorbed from one’s emotional environment, especially(but not exclusively) by the young. Society(parents) cannot “teach” respect like a course in algebra. Parents can teach little ones their numbers, letters, and colors. Parents can teach growing children about gardening, cooking, auto repair, hunting, and fishing and sewing. As parents take the time and trouble to teach them these skills their children will automatically absorb a sense of self-respect and this self-respect will, in turn, allow them to respect others. They need a sense of self-respect and they need to have consideration for others, otherwise, nothing else they acquire or achieve in their lives will have meaning. Nurturing is what will give children a good start in life. Education, which is only information of various kinds, will not do this.

So now let’s take a look at the chain of ideas we have just created.

Society = individuals = parents = nurturing = self-respect = respect for others = a healthy society.

You will notice that education does not appear in this equation at all. That is because children do not need an education. It is not a physical or emotional requirement in raising a stable individual(society). If one has no education they will certainly feel the lack of it. In other words, they will want some education. For a healthy child, education will provide a broader point of social view, they will learn about other ways of living and earning a living and hopefully, develop some respect for others.

All of our social woes stem from the fact that education is being used as a substitute for nurturing. As a result of this, we are raising entire generations with a syndrome that pediatricians would diagnose as “failure to thrive.”

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Keeping It Simple

Posted in Single Steps, tagged , , , , , on October 21, 2012| Leave a Comment »

My friends have asked me to keep things simple in my posts so I will be making a concerted effort to do just that.  This should be fairly easy because the causes of our national ills are really very simple indeed. However, the emotional reactions that will accompany the acknowledgment of these very simple causes will be profound and so readers will have to take a few moments to absorb them. I refer you now to the title of this blog–The Longest Journey Begins… The remainder of this old saying is… with but a single step. I will try to limit the ideas presented in each post to just one or at most, two, single connected steps.

Step one–the social and political dysfunction in America is being caused by our “educational” system which can be very accurately summed up under the more appropriate title of “bad parenting.”  Or perhaps “no parenting” will be more accurate still. That may look like quite a stretch to some of you, but think about it a minute. There really isn’t any such animal as “Society.” There are only individual people, you and I, and if we are not raising emotionally healthy individuals the country (society) is not healthy. Our current educational practices are not producing healthy individuals. (I develop this theme more fully in an earlier post–Great Expectations! http://wp.me/p1BaiG-N ) The cause for this is simple.

Human children need to spend the largest bulk of their time at home, under the direct supervision of their parents, especially during infancy and early adolescence. They will absorb the necessary basic functions of society in this setting only. Only here will they feel safe from social pressures they are not mature enough to deal with, only from mother or father will they absorb the feeling that they are being nurtured because they are loved as individuals and that their individual needs are being focused on. Only from their parents will adolescent children receive the sense of familial supervision and personal restraint they will need to develop an ethic of sexual responsibility in their approaching adulthood. The time constraints imposed by our public school system do not allow for this.

It is not possible to overstate the importance of direct parental supervision in the process of child rearing. It is equally not possible to miss seeing the results of ignoring this premise in today’s society. Calculate the amount of time an american child spends at school every day and add in an average 8 hours for sleeping. How much time is left? How much of this time is spent with mom or dad or both?

It is a very sad truth obvious in the entire Western world that most parents are using the howling kant about “EDUCATION” being so important as an excuse for not raising their own children. Children need to be educated they rant. We not only have kindergarten for five-year old infants but now we are having more and more “pre-k programs” to “give our children a more competitive edge in the educational system.” How many of you have heard this particular obscenity? Children do not need to feel competitive, that is an attribute of only certain areas of adult endeavor. In fact, most adults do not need to feel competitive. Children need to be nurtured by their parents. They need to feel loved and protected.They need to have their physical requirements met. Education is NOT a primary need of infancy. It will not give children a “good start” in life.

Archeologists have uncovered what appears to be evidence of whole societies that sacrificed their infant children to the god Moloch by burning them to death at his altars. Evidently it was thought that the society as a whole would be preserved in a prosperous state by this practice. Education has become the new “Moloch” of our world.

At this point, I am happy to state that there is an increasing trend among parents today to home school their own children. An excellent idea and a step in the right direction.

To sum up this post, of course our children will want an education, no one will deny that, it is the system we have created that needs to be revamped. In the first place, we need to stop braying about “THE IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATION” as if it were in itself a be all—end all, it is not.  Secondly, small, privately run schools within walking distance, and more of them, should replace the large public school systems currently ruining our future citizens and our pocketbooks. There would be no lack of teachers to run them. School hours should be limited to 3 hours a day. The attention span of most children runs about 10 to 12 minutes, anything over that is a waste of time so 3 hours a day is more than enough time to cover all the basic subjects, plus a break time. Lunch could wait till they got home so no kitchen facilities, personnel, or food budgets would be necessary. Now, take a moment to realize what an educational budget would amount to for a small school building (about the size of the average home)that did not require money for buses, their maintenance, gas, driver salaries, and insurance. Compare what it cost to replace your own roof with that of replacing the roof on your local grammar or high school. Are you getting the  picture now? Smaller is in every way better here.

Next, delete the multimillion dollar budgets for school sports programs, equipment, busing to and from games, insurance, maintenance, coaches salaries. building and upkeep for gymnasiums and playing fields.

I know, I know, but education is about reading, writing, and arithmetic, science and literature and cultural studies of other countries. Football, basketball, soccer, swimming, etc., etc., are not education, they are games, and as such have no place in education or the budgeting necessary for it.  We can and should be deleting this expense from our educational realities. Left to themselves, children make up their own games, always have, always will. Our towns and cities can no longer afford to be financing the farm teams of the NBA, the NFL, etc., etc.. Let these huge sports franchises donate to the locals out of their multibillion dollar budgets if they want players. If they can afford to pay multiple millions per season to just one of their “stars” they can afford to.

In my next post I will develop this theme in another few simple steps–The basic functions of society.

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Special Post

Posted in Single Steps, tagged on September 12, 2011| Leave a Comment »

I will be taking a small vacation. Next post will be September 30.

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Special Post

Posted in Single Steps, tagged , on August 30, 2011| Leave a Comment »

My post on the war against the poor will be postponed until next week.

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Heads Up—Special Post

Posted in Single Steps, tagged , , , , , , , on August 16, 2011| Leave a Comment »

I saw two segments on the evening news last night worthy of our consideration.

Starbucks CEO is getting up a campaign to block campaign donations in order (he claims) to teach Congress a lesson in responsible government. This is a lie and a move by the Lesbian Liberal Party to re-elect Barack Insane Obeyme in 2012. These women want him in there because he is basically, a fool. Remember how much press was given to the fact that the chief reason Obeyme was “elected” was the super spending provided by some mysterious backers? The LLP is running scared right now and the Starbucks ploy is an attempt to keep their campaign spending edge by getting unthinking conservative voters and backers to vent their anger at the system at the expense of their objectives which are getting rid of this posturing idiot.

Next item–

With the so-called repeal of the DADT legislation, it seems that now the Lesbian Liberal Party feels in a position to increase its efforts to castrate the american military, and has introduced legislation to reduce the military pension program to the level of corporate america’s thieving and controlling policies. This is the home nest of these vicious and unnatural women so it is not wonderful they feel more comfortable trying to reduce fighting men to that level. We would not be even hearing rumors of this obscenity if the LLP had not first made such noise about DADT in the name of “patriotism.” Now you can all see where the patriotism of these women is leading.

What we need now are conservative members of congress to introduce, instead of the military pension garbage, legislation that targets the retirement program of congress itself. Now would be a good time  to point out that these people retire at full salary and benefits after a career of doing nothing but talk. Our military veterans do a real job for us. Start talking this up people. Believe me it will help.

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Counted Blessings

Posted in Single Steps, tagged , , , , , , on July 17, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Let’s take a moment to bring in good things. Of course we cannot fix what is wrong with America if we don’t realize where we went off the tracks but for this post we will forget wrong things and count our blessings.

We still voice our opinions fairly freely, without fear of reprisal, mostly. At least I do. I hope I am not alone in this. I see people who are still afraid to do so, and I hope my example will lend them some courage.

We are not under some super secret military regime. In spite of what you might see in the X-File episodes. Our military intelligence people are doing a job that the average civilian will never be able to appreciate. This is not because they are power mad megalomaniacs, it is because it is not possible to distill eighty years of expertise into the twenty-five words or less answers that the average citizen expects.

The land itself is beautiful. From sea to shining sea. I have traveled a bit in North America and I can say this with some personal truth. It is also productive. We have the best farm land on the planet. We have precious and semi precious gems, gold, silver, minerals, wood and abundant water. We have a population that is free-born. This means a great deal even two hundred years after the death of feudalism.

We have some very nice neighbors. Canada and Mexico. Can you appreciate what it means to live in a ‘nice’ neighborhood?

We coöperate more with these neighbors governments than many other countries could or would have. Personally, I think that our government should make a point of praising these people for this effort instead of letting all the news headlines focus on bones of contention like immigration or drug traffic. I am sure that the Canadian and Mexican governments have a few bones to pick with us, all is not sweetness and light but still, we are on speaking terms. I am grateful for that and count it a great blessing.

Today is a beautiful summer day here in Maine. Highs near 80, a slight breeze, sunny, and peaceful. I plan to have a cold one(or two) under the trees.  I am very, very, grateful for being able to do this. I am thankful to everyone who has in any way contributed to my ability to do this without fear. I am not in fevered expectation of being overrun by Canadian forces intent on a military coup. Thank you Canada. Same for Mexico, thank you Mexico. I certainly hope that you both feel the same about America, although I am admitting that you may have more cause for concern than we do if you rely on the media for information.

One of the reasons I decided to publish this blog is to help stave off the assualt of the mindless, media fed yowling that is currently passing for politics in the U.S. I am an American citizen and I acknowledge the efforts and restraint of both our neighbors to the north and the south. I apologize for our media and their superficial coverage of certain story angles. I don’t believe everything I see or read in the media and I am sure that I am not alone in America in so doing. So I am casting my bread upon the waters of the internet today.

To listen to the American media we would think that every citizen in either country is parked at the border waiting to cross illegally, probably with masses of cocaine or grass for a grub stake. The highest ambition of these illegals is to live in idleness forever on the bliss of American welfare.

The truth is, the majority of Canadian and Mexican citizens stay home and mind their own business, as do we. The average citizens of all three countries are neighbors.

The media of all three countries are also neighbors after a fashion and it is this. They have the same vested interest —  selling their product. Which is emotionally contentious stories that will guarantee readership. I am posting this blog to offset the nonsense they generate in their money-making frenzy.

The title of todays post is counted blessings. Canada and Mexico are right up there at the top of my list. They have been good neighbors to us. Have we been as good to them?

To all my neighbors near and far, who live in peace and mind their own business—–

May you enjoy the summer days and count your blessings in peace.

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I have a dream too

Posted in Single Steps, tagged , , , , , , , , on July 8, 2011| Leave a Comment »

I am going to digress in this post from our discussion of the American Dream. In this post, I am going to share my own personal dream. This dream will naturally involve America because I live here, but it is my own. You see, I have a dream too.

I dream that our media, both electronic and printed, returns to the era of responsible journalism when facts were reported instead of rumors because it was (rightly) assumed that the reading public would form their own opinions from the facts presented. I dream that we can once again respect the owners, editors, and journalists who perform this function.

I dream that we return our educational “system” to the private sector. That any child will have a school close enough to walk to, run by a private individual or group thereof that the parents have personally vetted and approved. That these schools will be small enough to avoid overwhelming the small minds that attend them with too many personalities to deal with. Todays schools are much too large and people send their babies to spend most of their day dealing with strangers. You might as well take your little ones and your young adolescents to the mall and leave them there for eight or ten hours and expect them to return edified, instructed, and socially well-adjusted. I dream that Americans give up the notion that healthy, stable citizens will be easily produced by mass production methods.

I dream that parents will no longer allow their young daughters to assume that it is acceptable and really cool to dress and behave like street whores. Even if the latest hot teen idol appears to be getting rich from such behavior. I dream that the moms and dads of America will return to the time when protecting the innocence of their daughters and the vulnerabilities of their young sons was more important than so-called freedom of expression. I dream that Americans become so secure within themselves that they no longer apologize for banding together and stopping the wholesale sexual molestation of our children in the name of “freedom”. I dream that we, as a country, refuse to cower at the wails of “censorship” from such molesters. I dream that our young men and growing boys will be given the opportunity to treat women with respect instead of having to fight off the visual assaults of over exposed female flesh that today amount to the rape of entire generations of our sons. I dream that parents will privately talk to their growing girls and explain to them that covering themselves in public is not prudish, inhibited or puritan, but is a mark of respect for the needs of our men and is necessary if they as women wish to receive the same. And I dream that not a single popular television show, which the producers know that young people are watching, finds it necessary to show couples literally having sex in prime time. I dream that such things return to the privacy of the bedroom where they belong.

And lastly, I dream that America survives long enough to grow up. I have partially covered the topic of the infantile and adolescent tendencies in our political outlook. It is not perverted or even necessarily morally wrong for young people to lack foresight, tolerance, or fiscal maturity and America is still very, very young in the sociopolitical scheme of things on this world. I dream that Americans will learn to cut themselves just a little slack right now. Every growing youngster will make a few bad decisions and perhaps take up with one or two friends not really desirable. Young people and young countries have to learn from their mistakes. They have to learn that their own good intentions may be used against them by a less than honest person or friend. I dream that we are now mature enough to recognize special interest grand standing and the legislative immorality sponsored by special interest press releases, as such less than honest friends.  I dream that Americans take the media groups to task for their blatant misrepresentation of the facts. I dream that government by, for, and of the people is never destroyed by the loud noises of the few amongst the people and that this government, our government, shall stand.

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Independence Day

Posted in Single Steps, tagged , , , , , , , , on July 4, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Happy Independence Day everyone! In celebration of the holiday this post will be very short and sweet.

On this day Americans celebrate their hard-won independence from ‘tyranny and oppression’.  These were the catch phrases used during our war for independence from Britain. I am still hearing these phrases today. So for this post I am asking if todays’ definition of ‘tyranny and oppression’ is real or imagined.  Has it evolved from the original of 220 years ago?  The war for independence lasted about seven years and it was in the process of fomenting for at least fifteen years before that so we are talking a history of about 220 years. Quite a life span for a political catch phrase.

I have been monitoring the media for over forty years now and I have noticed that the people who yell the loudest about tyranny and oppression do so from a most superficial level. These people are the politically thin-skinned. Anyone who disagrees with them about the slightest thing in the slightest degree is an oppressive tyrant. If you are going to contribute on a public level this behavior is unacceptable. On a public level you can expect to be disagreed with quite frequently and if  this notion devastates your ego, you need to step out of the public arena. You are not grown up enough to be a player.

On a personal level, I expect to be disagreed with. I also expect to have the dissenter back up their view-point with logic and comprehensive, factual data, not selective facts, or rhetoric designed to inflame the ignorant and play on their emotional immaturity. I am neither ignorant nor immature and when these tactics are used on me and don’t work  I am called a—-

1.) tyrant

2.) dictator

3.) judgemental bigot

These are only the more polite names. I will leave out the others.

And yes, this does relate to the American Dream that we have been examining here. Evidently we have two distinct types of dreamers in this country, the adult, and the adolescent. When adolescents are confronted with the notion that their personal feelings have now to be integrated with those of the rest of society, they are very apt to whine— ‘but you don’t understand!’ (for this read–‘oppression’) For most in this age group, tough love tactics are the only effective ones. “Suck it up!” is the only answer to this whining and only time will provide the experience needed to ameliorate the sting of their newly  awakened sensibilities.

Adolescents are extremely sensitive about independence yet they still expect the authority figures in their immediate spheres to provide for all their physical, financial needs and as individual children with parents, this is acceptable expectation. Politically and publicly, we can no longer afford to baby these “teenagers.” It is not up to “The Government” to assure them that they will run no risks in life, that they will suffer no financial setbacks and that some one else will provide for all their medical needs as well as their old age retirement. As adults, these things are our very own personal responsibility.

As an adult, my American Dream is that I will be able to do all these things by my own honest efforts without government interference.

For the annual crop of political adolescents we are currently raising in America, the “UncleSamisobligedtoprovideformeDream” is the one we need a wake up call from. The adult American Dream is the one we seem to have started out with. What we need to examine now is how this has changed over time into the adolescent version currently causing us so much financial and social disharmony.

So for my next post, we will still be roaming in the American Dream world.

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Dream On

Posted in Single Steps, tagged , , , , , , , , on June 26, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Let’s discuss dreams a little more. The American Dream is, generally, a good thing but it needs a bit of tweaking to fit into todays’ phraseology. So let’s expand it a bit so that it will resonate with the rest of today’s global village residents.

In the first place, we as Americans need to acknowledge a most prominent fact. I will bold this for greater emphasis. WE DID NOT INVENT THE DESIRE FOR A BETTER LIFE! “The American Dream” is an exclusive phrase which blots out the entire rest of civilization and it needs to be expanded. Everyone else on planet Earth has been dealing with issues of injustice and/or political oppression for several millenia at least and America has an obligation to recognize these efforts. The North American continent was resettled a very short time ago in relation to the history of the rest of the world. We ‘huddled masses yearning to breathe free’ have now had more than two centuries to readjust our thinking processes and it is time to show it in our communications with the rest of the world. Doesn’t matter if you are Democrat or Republican, Independent or Green party.   We must make a point of acknowledging the history of others in our political pronouncements.

I am old enough to remember the protests and signs of the sixties in Europe that said “Yankees Go Home” and the resentment this generated in the american public. “We saved their butts in WWII and this is how they thank us'” was the prevailing attitude at that time. I remember thinking—“I really don’t blame them.”

America’s political verbiage after WWII showed not even the slightest recognition of any other country on this earth. We perceived ourselves as the saviour of the entire free world and had no hesitation in proclaiming it. Now I have had my issues with this country but I have never hated her. On the other hand neither have I swallowed her political infantilism whole and without chewing. We need to address this particular issue because the repercussions of this post-war self-centered arrogance remains a stumbling block in our foreign policy. America, for better or worse, is now a world leader and if we are to fulfill this position with any degree of competency We Must Change Our Political Syntax To Recognize The Historical Efforts Of Other Countries. If the British, French, Italians, Czech, Polish, Phillipino, Norwegian, and even German people had not made a concerted resistance effort the outcome of WWII would have been much different, America or no America. After all, we have been militarily immune from attack not because of our superior righteousness but because of the two or three thousand miles of ocean that guards both of our continental coastlines. It was only the advent of modern missile technology that made us seriously fear any sort of enemy attack and we, ourselves, invented and implemented that technology. The only nation on earth who has ever used nuclear weapons in an armed conflict is America. And according to the media we are the one people on earth who screech the loudest about WMD‘s. This gives the impression that America is a nation of certifiable cretins. It would behoove America to yell less about WMD’s since we are the ones that came up with the workable version and are the only ones who have ever used one on a perceived enemy. If we are to maintain credibility with our traditional allies and establish healthy relations with new ones we must publicly acknowledge these factors. Or at least stop soiling our political pants about them. The rest of the civilized world remembers very well who dropped the bombs on Japan. The bathroom humor of passing a loud fart and looking at the guy next to you and saying “Well!!!!” in a loud affronted voice is not going to deceive anyone here.

In conclusion, “The American Dream” is going to have to be revised to “The Planet Earth Dream”. And if we survive the next few decades this may even have to expand itself into  “The Interplanetary Dream”. That’s the wonderful thing about dreaming, it has practically no limits. And it frequently happens that the dreams of today turn out to be the realities of tomorrow. So go ahead and dream a little. I guess we can all stand it.

Next post—we will continue to explore the dream world.

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Great Expectations!

Posted in Single Steps, tagged , , , , on June 21, 2011| Leave a Comment »

So.  Let’s talk about “The American Dream”. Ours is a land where all men are created equal, a land with a government of, by, and for the people. A land of opportunity where everyone will have the freedom to dissent in their opinions openly and without fear of reprisal. The only land where just anyone at all can become PRESIDENT!  Just think of it!  No matter who they are (or even where they were born?) the electorate of America can put them in charge. How’s that for freedom for the huddled masses, eh?

Of course this also means that just anyone at all will automatically have the specialized knowledge of such highly complex issues as international finance, foreign policy, military intelligence, corporate and civil law, ecology, medicine, agriculture, national and local banking etc., etc. to make informed decisions. Whew! Not only that but they will have an entire four years to cure every perceived ill not only in this country but in the rest of the world as well. We certainly are the ‘land of opportunity!’

And of course all the rest of our elected law makers are voted into office using the same strict criteria for fitness for public office that we apply to all our presidents, that is–just anyone at all can do this.

The basic tenets of the American Dream I have in bold letters above were actually taught to me in grade and high school. Taught me by teachers, if you can believe it, people who went to college for at least four years. And they were so proud to do it. And what is more, it is continuing to be so taught to this very day. Even as a very young American I had enough native good sense to be amazed at the obtuseness of my teachers on these particular subjects and I was by no means alone. Every last bit of the anti-establishment mentality that came into its flower power heyday in the sixties was seeded by the type of injudicious  rantings you see above.

When you tell a group of growing youngsters that just any old body can be a senator, or a congressman, or best of all–The President!,  this will not be perceived by them as a great freedom of opportunity. Children have no such life experience as to make this association. What they will think is — ‘can’t be much of a job if just any one can do it.’  I know this was the impression my classmates and I were given. We had some lively discussions when the teacher wasn’t around. And I still see this reaction in a good portion of students today. As I said in my first blog, I don’t think young people are stupid.  They do not suffer this type of thing gladly. It brands the most important of our public offices with a minimum wage job mentality and all american school children are taught to despise minimum wage jobs and the substandard shmucks who perform them.  ‘Anyone can grow up to be president’ is equal to ‘do you want to flip burgers the rest of your life?’ This is the attitude we convey to our young people by not choosing our words more carefully. The American Dream is being slowly poisoned by uninspired semantics.

We have heard a lot of rhetoric about the declining quality of education these past few years. And just as much about resuscitating the American family and its’ values in order to keep the American Dream alive and healthy. Education and the American Dream are solidly linked together in our minds. Most of this rhetoric has come from the conservative right in our political system. These are the same people who for several generations now have regurgitated the kind of kant that produced much of our malaise in the first place. So now it is time not for dreams, but for a reality check. Our current crop of young people are providing us with one by dropping out of our schools because dreaming is an adult pass time. Growing children are not interested in dreams, they want to know what is real and useful in the world around them.  It is our job as a society to teach them these things. They will form their own dreams when they’re ready to do so. The American Dream is being systematically poisoned by succeeding generations of conservative but self-centered adults.

It is not true that just anyCaptainAmericaone can be president. Or a senator. Or a representative. We need to stop selling this fallacy to our future voting population— it makes them bilious when they grow up. Being elected a leader by your peers is a great honor and only certain personality types will be able to lead well and with grace. It also requires more than just an average type of education and better than average brains. Not just anyone can do this. We need to start teaching this in our school systems. It will provide some backbone to the American Dream if our children are taught to recognize and honor real leadership qualities. It will be a valid litmus test for our “values” as a whole if they as individuals have enough self-respect and self-confidence to do so.

By indoctrinating our young people with political hyperbole, by devaluing the many in preference to the publicly chosen few, and by focusing all accolades on these few we have not created a population of stable, intelligent citizens. We have by our own lack of perception destroyed the self-esteem of the average children who will constitute the bulk of our working population. Until we moderate the ranting of imbeciles in pursuit of the Great Expectations of the American Dream, until we begin to give ample respect to the average citizen in our scholastic rhetoric, we will never do such simple things as balance our national budget or wipe out the deficit. It is vital that we stop giving our children the idea that life not lived on the mountain tops of personal wealth or public acclaim is not worth while. That a moderate income is something to be despised. That simple everyday things are to be continually passed over in the expectation that something more exalted lays in the future.

It is more than high time that we stop abusing our children with totally unrealistic Great Expectations that the greatest majority of them will never, never  realize. They will still be good people, good Americans, and good parents if they never do get to be president. Or a movie star, or a neurosurgeon, or a rock star. Or have a six figure or over yearly income. If we don’t start reversing this ideological rubbish that came out of the slums  of Old Europe in our public schools where it is taught, we will not survive for another two generations.

We have a great deal more ground to cover on the subject of
dreams so the next post will be entitled—–

Dream On.

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How Shall We Define “Wrong”?

Posted in Single Steps, tagged , , , , , on June 14, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Wrong is such a large word. Such an all-encompassing word. A word we become acquainted with very early in our lives. Sitting happily in our high chairs at breakfast we probably, in the adventurous way of all babies, had the happier idea of not just eating our dry Fruit Loops but attempting to see if one of the little things would fit up our nose. It seemed about the right size. Of course the attempt brought an instant and emphatic NO! from mama. Our little baby hand was snatched and the offending Loop removed and lots of words issued out of mama none of which we understood. We did, however, understand the emotion conveyed by the tone of voice(loud/stern), the facial expression(scowl), and the action of having our baby will controverted by the act of a larger and stronger authority figure(mama).

In last weeks’ installment I posed the question—“how shall we define Wrong?”  Of course, I have been mulling this over for the past seven days in an attempt to whittle it down to an ingestible size for public consumption. Quite a task as you all may appreciate. One of the reasons this posting is late. The trouble is not so much that everyone has their own opinion of what defines ‘wrong’ as it is the conflicting applications of the term.

For instance–freedom of speech is guaranteed under the Constitution of the United States of America. Everyone agrees that this is a ‘right’ thing for us to have included in our rules of government. The right of honest and open dissent. OK so far? Let’s apply this to one of the major bones of contention today. Homosexuality. Never mind whether you personally are for or against this practice, that is not what we are discussing now. My point is this, a person has the constitutional right to disagree with it and to say that they do without being accused of hate crimes or “discrimination”.   In a few words, the homosexual lobbyists are calling freedom of speech ‘discrimination’ and making out that this is a ‘wrong’ thing. They uphold the principle of free speech only they want it censored to suit their egos. Especially, any prospective employer is to be penalized for not agreeing, both verbally and on paper.

When did we pass an amendment to the Constitution saying that employers were no longer Americans with the same freedoms guaranteed to the rest of us? There is definitely a conflict of application here. Freedom of Speech is defined as–freedom of speech and not as–speech that only agrees with me.

This same political maneuver is being used by a host of other so-called ‘minority’ groups. They yell “DISCRIMINATION” at anyone who doesn’t instantly agree with them on any subject whatsoever as if discrimination were a dirty word. In fact, it is not. It is the first public function of any intelligent adult to discriminate between what is actually, functionally good and what is only good if you don’t look too close. But the real issue here is this–any one of these groups which are nowadays  referred to as special interest, base their expectations and arguments on the freedoms guaranteed in the Constitution but in practise expect these same freedoms to be denied to all opposing opinions. Any one who disagrees with them is ‘wrong.’

So. How shall we define “WRONG” ? In two ways. The baby way, which  I illustrated in the opening paragraph above. It is a sad but true thing that many Americans are social/political/intellectual babies and will remain so. Their sense of ‘wrong’ will always be based on a purely emotional reaction to a scowl, a stern voice saying NO!, and a dim but persistent resentment of the authority figure(usually Republican government) that controverts their baby will by taking away their Fruit Loop.

Then there is the adult definition of wrong which is based on a reasoned analysis of any given issue.  For the adult, a thing is wrong because

a.) the logical premise is either false or fatally flawed(ObamaCare, censored Freedom of Speech)

b.) the certain outcome is physical illness and/or discomfort(just try snorting a Fruit Loop),  it is fiscally irresponsible (bouncing checks, ObamaCare), and it will cause harm to yourself or others(drug addiction, drunk driving).

I am sorry to disturb the many babies out there with a bit of adult truth but in the real, adult world you will occasionally be scowled at. You will hear stern voices and sometimes they will use the n- word. This is not “wrong.” It is not required of society to never make you feel like a baby if you insist on reasoning like one. Society is not going to hell in a handcart as so many people say. It functions just the way it should. The problem seems to be the generations we are raising to think that “no” is a hate word and not a reasoned response to stupid or even dangerous ideas; generations imbued with totally unrealistic expectations of the society in which they will have to live.

Which brings me to the subject of my next post.

Great Expectations!

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Did We Go Wrong?(or were we pushed?)

Posted in Single Steps, tagged , , , , , on June 5, 2011| Leave a Comment »

First, let’s get acquainted just a bit, so you will have some idea what to expect from this blog.

#1.) This is a forum for thinking adults, in which category I include anyone fifteen years or older. Yes, baby boomers, the young people of our world really do use their brains, perhaps more than the popular media will ever discover. Which leads me to point—-

#2.)It won’t have a mess of ‘teen screen’ graphics, videos, photos, slide shows, animations, in fact, none of the cheap visuals so popular with so many of all ages. These things stimulate the most superficial brain functions, not the core processor, if you will.  Which leads me to point—-

#3.) My experiment.  Which is this blog itself.

It is my personal belief that people generally, are not stupid. Especially young people. OK.  I’ll wait while you all have a good laugh here, but keep reading, and remember—you’re a people too. Done laughing now? So answer this–our history goes back more thousands of years than present academia will acknowledge. Some scholars are admitting that “modern” man has been around for at least thirty thousand years, probably much longer. Stupidity does not encourage that kind of survival. Especially on such a world as ours with its’ predators, diseases, poisonous life forms(plant, animal, insect, democrat), and natural disasters. Yet here we all are, alive and yelling. And no, I won’t apologize for the democrat crack. Who’s yelling the loudest about the sky falling these days, Chicken Little?

Now, there are many different factors that influence the ebb and flow of the interpersonal relationships collectively known as ‘society’, intimated in the above paragraph. See them?  We will be covering a few of them in the course of this blog.

So. The question of this installment. Did we go wrong? Well, let’s see.

1.) We’re still here.

2.)Most people, regardless of their culture or place of residence on planet earth, expect to arise in the morning. Literally. They expect to work, play, eat, and go peacefully to bed at night. More people will be doing this than not. Everywhere. For the majority of us, there is no immediate death threat of any kind hanging above our heads and we will go on in an everyday sort of way. Don’t believe me? Try this.

3.) Take one full hour out of your week. Shut off the TV, the cell phone, the pc, the land line, all the electronics. For one hour. If at all possible, spend this hour in the country. Or the park. Anywhere there is more green growth than black asphalt. Find a comfortable spot and sit quietly. You may take a friend if you wish but don’t talk. About anything. Just sit, watch and listen. For one hour.

We share this world with thousands of other creatures and if they are not panicking, you most probably don’t need to either. Animals live simpler lives than do humans with all their artificial standards and imaginary fears.  If there is a bad storm coming at sea the birds head inland and the fish head for deeper water. In floods or wild fires critters move toward safer ground. They know a real threat when they see one. Do you?

And just how is the above relevant to the question? Let’s apply this to the “HEALTHCARE CRISIS”. Probably perceived as one of the major threats to our society today. There is no such thing. Hill and Billy of Arkansas created this media monster to get into the White House. The term was invented during that particular presidential campaign. The Clinton’s were not doing so well until Hilary stage-managed the pitiful story of the one woman who ‘fell through the cracks’ of the medical establishment, which was very sad–really. I remember it quite well. So we are to never mind the hundreds of thousands or even millions of us who did not?

I want ya’ll to take a few moments to analyze any real threats you see and compare them to the media generated hysterics we are now living with.  Does this make any difference in your personal perception of  what is wrong with our society? Well,  did we “go wrong” or has our present social atmosphere been created by talking heads in order to garner a larger share of the news ratings?  It just seems to me that we really haven’t “gone wrong”—-we are just being told so relentlessly that we have, that no one is even questioning the process anymore.

And that, dear readers, leads me to the subject of the next post.

How shall we define “wrong?”

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