I have been interested in elections and politics since I was in the 6th grade when Kennedy and Nixon ran against each other. For you younger people, that was John F. Kennedy a Democrat who was assassinated while in office and Richard M. Nixon, a Republican, who resigned office in disgrace after an incident called Watergate. Go to Google and look them up. I doubt much has been said in your history classes about these two. But! I digress a bit. I had a wonderful teacher in 6th grade. Mr. Waligurski made us read the Wall Street Journal every Friday. He made us aware of the stock market showing us the stock reports in those Friday issues. He made us aware of the Presidential elections. There was another 6th grade class in the room next to us. Mr. Waligurski and the other teacher (her name fails me) chose which candidate each class would be for. We learned to read and study up on our chosen candidate and then we had to debate each other’s class. It was exciting. I was for Kennedy, but my class was for Nixon. It was really hard to debate for a candidate I didn’t want, but I did it. We learned to listen to both sides. We learned to share our thoughts and ideas without anger or name-calling or meanness. It was very exciting.
I remember over the years my parents talking about Adlai Stevenson who ran for President against General Dwight D. Eisenhower. For you young ones who haven’t been told, Dwight D. Eisenhower was an admired General in the WWII European Theater of Operation. General Eisenhower won the election. Again, I suggest you Google him. You will learn much.
I lived in a small community for 13 years. During those years I became involved through some community organizations and eventually ended up running for position on the local Town Board. I lost the first time I ran, but I won the second time. What an exciting time that was. I wanted to be sure the people who lived in my town knew I was there for them. I didn’t care if they voted for me or not. It certainly was not going to be a lifetime commitment for me. I set a couple goals and planned to only serve a couple terms and hopefully reach the goals before leaving. Life took a terrible turn and I was not able to stay as long as I hoped. Moving to a new area became the thing we had to do after a series of events in our lives.
Now it is 3 years later. We are back to another election season. We have two men running for President who have their own hopes, dreams and goals. Do we honor either of them? Not really. We fight and argue about them with neither side wanting to consider the other at all. I am just as guilty. I really prefer the one, over the other and stand on why I feel that way. Should it divide friendships and families?? Absolutely not. But, we all have one failing. We are human beings and self- preservation stands above everything else.
In the last two weeks we have seen both parties hold their conventions. We heard and saw speeches given. We listened to defenses and offenses. We watched with some humor, some jaw dropping WTF moments, saw moments that brought tears to ones eyes and we saw two parties so totally different in beliefs try to imitate each other. The only thing missing was the empty chair routine in the DNC.
In the last two weeks I learned that I don’t want more of the same. I have a small investment I don’t want to lose. It is there to help me in my so-called golden years and hopefully there will be a bit to leave to my children.
I learned no one can say anything about anything without being accused of being racist. I learned that there are people who want everything handed to them without them putting out any effort to obtain it on their own. I have learned there are people who believe that the people that did work hard and make it on their own are selfish and need to give what they accomplished to the people who wont do it on their own. I listened to people being interviewed who feel that a way of life where they don’t have to be at all responsible for themselves is the way of life they want. I have learned if one commits a crime and has money they will pay little or no price for that crime, but someone without money committing the same crime will get many years in jail. I learned if you enter this country illegally it is ok. Because you live and work here you have the right to everything that those who took years, hard work and a lot of money to do it the legal way have. We are becoming a lawless country. Laws don’t count unless you are middle class or poor. Oh wait! I can’t say middle class. We really don’t have one anymore. I learned that children in school are not taught the history that made this country great. I learned that spanking a child (not beating) is a crime. I have learned that children can do whatever they want with no regard to consequences. This worries me because they are going to grow up only half educated and totally unruly. Doesn’t say much for the future of this world does it?
What I have learned of late makes me glad I am in my 60s and not in my 20s or 30s facing what may lie ahead for this country. I fear for my children and grandchildren. There was a time when I was growing up that there was hope, the ability to make dreams come true, a chance to own a home, go to college and do wonderful things. Sure, there were bumps in the road, but not the mountains we have to climb now. We weren’t going to be saddled with college bills so high we would have to decide between them and having a home because we couldn’t afford both. We weren’t faced with years of college to get a degree and then earn less in that occupation than someone earned even 5 years ago. We weren’t faced with rising medical costs so extreme that we have to choose between having health insurance and a place to live. The lowest priced policy I can obtain for myself is so high it would eat up over ½ the small amount of money I earn a month. I would have to work 24 hours a day to make enough money to have health care insurance. And it will only get worse. The cost of healthcare is rising daily. I have friends who are trying to decide if they can keep theirs or not. They might have to give up their home to keep healthcare. It is exactly as was predicted.
We live in a country that saw people leave their homes and families in Europe to come here to escape religious persecution, high taxation, poverty with no hope and many other reasons. They came here with a dream. A dream to be free, able to make their own choices, get educated, make something of themselves. Owning land and making that land produce was a dream of theirs. After settling in here and being oppressed by England they fought back. A group of men from a variety of walks of life got together and decided to make this a free Republic. They wrote a Declaration of Independence and a Constitution to live by. They elected our first President. His name was George Washington. This country lived by their words, prayed with the freedom to pray that we were guaranteed. No specific religion was ever mentioned. Just if you believe and wish to pray go for it. They guaranteed us certain inalienable rights to education, attend church without persecution, to live in our homes raising families and able to start businesses or work for companies, to be able to assemble and share ideas and hopes, to a speedy justice and so much more. FREEDOM people!! FREEDOM! We need to rid our government of those who wish to take that away from us. The statement was made yesterday that we have lost our freedoms with the past administration. I challenge the reader to tell me exactly what freedoms were lost. Did you lose the right to move about freely anywhere you wish to go without needing to carry ID and prove who you are everywhere you go? Have you lost your freedom to get an education? Have you lost your freedom to worship as you choose? Have you lost your freedom to do anything in this country? Tell me what freedoms you have lost.
The are those saying us women don’t have rights. That we women don’t get paid the same as a man. Well, I challenge that. In a factory all employees are paid the same for each job no matter whether they are male or female because a union sets the rates and there is nothing in union rules that says there are separate pay levels based on sex. In corporate America if a woman is not being paid the same as a man for the same job then shame on her. Jobs obtained in corporate America often come with contracts. If a woman signs a contract and is making less than a man for the same job then it is her own fault for allowing herself to sign that contract. In the course of the interviews pay is discussed. If a woman accepts an offer and didn’t check to see if it is on an equal with a man doing the same job then shame on her for agreeing to it. We are responsible to ourselves for what we get or don’t get. No, a secretary should not make the same amount as an executive and if she expects to she is dreaming. I am a woman. Each job I have had the salary was discussed and I was given the opportunity to counter the offer. If I felt it was to low and they wouldn’t come to an agreement that was equitable with me I wouldn’t take the job. We control our own destinies. When are people going to stop blaming others for their own short comings in taking charge of their own destinies. Grow a backbone and do it yourself. This is what people have done for the last 200 years. Grown a backbone and stood up for themselves. Suffragettes stood up for themselves and fought for the right to vote. In the 80s women stood up for themselves and got women even more rights and took control of their own lives. For you younger people this was your mothers and grandmothers who did this. Are you going to try to convince this writer that you don’t believe in what your mothers/grandmothers accomplished??
Women got the right to have an abortion. I think it has gotten out of control though. I go to the websites for abortion proponents and agencies. What makes me terribly sad is there is absolutely no mention of adoption!! What isn’t that choice given? I am seriously disturbed because couples have developed the habit of having sonograms to see what sex the child is and if it isn’t what they wanted they abort it. How horrible is that? They also abort if the there is a possibility the child wont be perfect. What if the tests were wrong?? This so reminds me of Hitler and his desire for the perfect race. Sometimes these “less than perfect” babies turn out to be some of the world’s geniuses. It isn’t just the body. It is the mind too. I have a funny shaped nose, small chin, skinny legs. I am less than perfect. Should I have been aborted?? The lack of respect for a human being in this country and world deserves the wrath of God. We need to regain the respect for the human being for this world to survive.
People strive to have that “perfect” child and then send them to schools that dumb them down. Teach to the test. No real education. Well, what did we just do to that “perfect” child?? The next generation that is going to run this country will have absolutely no clue what to do and how to do it. Without a proper education in American history, English, Math and Science there will be no innovation, no dreamers, no brains to keep things going. Within the next couple generations the majority of humans will not be able to survive. They wont know how to grow crops to eat, how to communicate well, how to run a business, how to teach because they wont know what to teach, how to build a house, how to do many of the things central to survival. Thousands of years of human beings growing and developing will all be for naught. It makes people like me so sad to think all we tried to accomplish and leave for our children and grandchildren will go away. No need to worry about someone pushing the big red button. No one will know how. I am sorry if I sound overly dramatic, but if you take a long serious look at what is happening in our schools today and talk to some of the kids coming from the schools listening to their answers you will see exactly what I am saying. Heck, when the movie Titanic came out two high school seniors were talking about the movie. Both said they loved the movie, but really wished they hadn’t sunk the ship. Hello??? Obviously there wasn’t much knowledge there about that one was there?? Watch Jay Leno talking to the people on the corners and see how many questions they don’t know the answer to. It is disgraceful. I don’t know the answers to all questions myself, but I sure know more than the people I see being interviewed on the street corners.
Ok. Enough for now. I hope someone reads this and feels the fear I fear for this country and for the human race. Maybe enough people will read this and decide to do something about it to help right things again.
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