Wednesday, March 18, 2009

We need more Ben Franklin and less Benny Hill


A fundamental problem in America today is that voters are not properly educated in how government works and what the expected duties of a citizen ought to be. This was the original rationale for limiting the franchise to wealthy land owners & businessmen. It was felt that since they had the most to lose, and had access to the best educations, that they would vote the most responsibly. Benjamin Franklin was a proponent of tax-payer supported public schooling specifically so that the following generation of Americans would be well enough educated to prosper within, as well as offer the proper support to, the new republic. To this end, he was instrumental in establishing the Academy of Philadelphia which later became The University of Pennsylvania.

Resistance to universal male suffrage was only overcome when public-schooling (including comprehensive civics lessons) became available to all, convincing the elites that they were in no danger of having their property voted away from them by ignorant mobs armed with voter registrations.

The situation has changed.

To my knowledge, civics is no longer taught as a separate subject and very little of it, if any, seems to be taught in social studies classes. A quick check with their board of education website revealed that New York State has a serious-looking civics curriculum, but it is apparently being taught with all the gusto and enthusiasm of their geography curriculum. (I know two Master’s degree holders -ONE IN EDUCATION - that can’t find any non-North American countries on a map.) As a result of our educational system’s incompetence (and an accompanying lack of parental interest) children have been raised to think that voting is like a season of American Idol and therefore has no real importance or consequences. This is why we had so many jackasses willing to vote for bumper-stickers, catchy slogans and pretty logos while getting caught up in the excitement of making history by electing a black man as president. Never mind that he’s a socialist with dangerous radical associations and little government experience. Just imagine what fun they had playing "citizen."

"Whoo-Hoo! This is just like the Sanjaya phenomenon!!! How exciting!!!”

Forget about Wright, Ayers, Acorn, the proposal of a National Civilian Security Force, the tyranny of cap & trade, etc. If it hasn’t been reported on The Daily Show w/ Jon Stewart, it means nothing.

Look what an apathetic and ignorant electorate has gotten us:

As far as the brown shirts-er, I mean the “civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded" as the military... well, even though I haven’t heard any talk about it lately, I’m keeping my eyes peeled. After all, every good dictator needs a secret police force, and the fact that Obama even spoke of the concept during the campaign should have raised a gigantic red flag - er, no pun intended. (At least, given Obama's affinity for pretty logos, I'm sure his secret police will have very snappy uniforms to wear while they goose-step around chanting nonsense about carbon credits and crawl all over our homes and vehicles to write us energy tickets.) Maybe he won’t be able to secure the money for his secret police after all, but in light of recent events, money apparently has no meaning to him or the Congress.
And if they continue to print it at the rate they are, it will have no value either. (Google a newspaper article called "Start the Presses" from the New York Post dated about 11/26/08 it’ll make you sick.) The only reason we haven't seen runaway inflation yet is because the banks are being so tight-fisted with credit and none of this money has entered into circulation. Maybe the banks know something Obama doesn't? Is this possible?

Just this week (3/16/09), Obama met with leaders of various veterans’ organizations to discuss their disapproval of his proposal that veterans surrender their free medical benefits in exchange for private insurance. The President would not even discuss the philosophy of a nation’s responsibility towards those who have been injured in its defense. He and his chief of staff preferred to focus on the funding angle. How much would the government save by robbing our soldiers of this benefit? About $550 million. Pocket change in comparison to the recent expenditures we have seen. $550 million is one eighth of what ACORN is going to get from the stimulus bill! In addition to completely warped priorities, this administration is demonstrating a total lack of respect for the military. What effect, do you suppose, will this have on recruitment? Be afraid.

On a somewhat humorous note, The President and the Congress are sitting with egg on their faces. They have spent the past few days thumping their chests about AIG bonuses and how they are going to abrogate the contracts under which they were paid out. Now it turns out that those very contracts are protected…BY LANGUAGE IN THE STIMULUS BILL THAT THEY JUST PASSED…WITHOUT READING!!!

See what happens when you don’t read what you sign??

But don’t worry; the President is working very carefully and diligently to….pick out a family dog.
Shades of Nero?

So let us look forward to the change we can believe in:

1) Cold dark homes resulting from ridiculously expensive energy
2) Runaway inflation with no corresponding wage increases
3) Lots of fat happy welfare cases
4) A Civilian Nat'l Security Force to enforce the redistribution of wealth.
5) Reduced military recruitment due to lack of interest in a soldier’s medical care.

Two final thoughts:

“You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.”
-Abraham Lincoln

"Because of its susceptibility to corruption, liberty must make an alliance with virtue to resist the allure of power."
-Old Whig Tenet

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