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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The Longest Journey Begins... 
Independence Day
Posted in Single Steps, tagged adolescent issues, conservative commentary,, history, Independence Day, oppression, politics, Single Steps, the American Dream, tyranny 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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