Politics :-(
When I was a youngster, believing in Tarzan, Bamba the jungle boy, Superman, and Rudolf the Rednosed reindeer, I always resented it when adults or more worldly adolescents tried to baffle me with facts trying to make me see that my beliefs were fairy tales and figments of my imagination.
As real world experiences intruded on my fantasies I laid aside my beliefs in illusion, relegating them to idle time enjoyment, novel reading and dreams and such.
I had no interest in politicians or politics in general. But even so, as a 17 year old I came up against real world concreteness. Having slacked of in my education responsibilities, my grades disallowed my chances of getting into college. What to do, what to do? JFK caught my attention; a smooth talking (I liked the Massachusetts accent) Navy war hero who's "ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country," caught my attention. In my still fertile flights of fancy I imagined myself as a war hero of the John Wayne, Audi Murphy, Lee Marvin, Jimmy Stewart, well you get the picture. I followed Kennedy's advice, my imagination of heroism and joined the Navy. I volunteered for duty in Vietnam; patriotism and all that. Our president and the government as well as Hollywood would never lead me astray.
A thirty caliber jolt of reality changed my view of war and politicians for the next 53 years.
My view of politicians, especially of the federal ilk, is that they beguile the masses with promises that even they know are undoable or downright lies. But the populace eats it up like mana from heaven. Then 4 or 8 years later they employ the same illogical thinking and gobble up the promise of hope and change once more.
Bernie Sanders promises more socialism, a friend with whom I banter differing political viewpoints with says we already have socialism, i.e. Social security, public education, national security, infrastructure, (roads and bridges) libraries.
My reply:
Our government spends more on pork than on alleviating conditions for the poor and indigent.
The gov't giveth and the gov't taketh away.
Social security is in a shambles, bordering on bankruptcy.
Gov't support (interference) in public education has been counter productive at best.
National security; our armed forces haven't won a war since WWII ( unless you count Grenada.). The government uses the men and women in the military as pawns in a chess game, sacrificing them and still losing.
Our infrastructure is crumbling, (highways, bridges.)
Libraries are begging for money from their patrons because government support is dwindling.
We are trillions of dollars in debt.
More government in not the answer.
As real world experiences intruded on my fantasies I laid aside my beliefs in illusion, relegating them to idle time enjoyment, novel reading and dreams and such.
I had no interest in politicians or politics in general. But even so, as a 17 year old I came up against real world concreteness. Having slacked of in my education responsibilities, my grades disallowed my chances of getting into college. What to do, what to do? JFK caught my attention; a smooth talking (I liked the Massachusetts accent) Navy war hero who's "ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country," caught my attention. In my still fertile flights of fancy I imagined myself as a war hero of the John Wayne, Audi Murphy, Lee Marvin, Jimmy Stewart, well you get the picture. I followed Kennedy's advice, my imagination of heroism and joined the Navy. I volunteered for duty in Vietnam; patriotism and all that. Our president and the government as well as Hollywood would never lead me astray.
A thirty caliber jolt of reality changed my view of war and politicians for the next 53 years.
My view of politicians, especially of the federal ilk, is that they beguile the masses with promises that even they know are undoable or downright lies. But the populace eats it up like mana from heaven. Then 4 or 8 years later they employ the same illogical thinking and gobble up the promise of hope and change once more.
Bernie Sanders promises more socialism, a friend with whom I banter differing political viewpoints with says we already have socialism, i.e. Social security, public education, national security, infrastructure, (roads and bridges) libraries.
My reply:
Our government spends more on pork than on alleviating conditions for the poor and indigent.
The gov't giveth and the gov't taketh away.
Social security is in a shambles, bordering on bankruptcy.
Gov't support (interference) in public education has been counter productive at best.
National security; our armed forces haven't won a war since WWII ( unless you count Grenada.). The government uses the men and women in the military as pawns in a chess game, sacrificing them and still losing.
Our infrastructure is crumbling, (highways, bridges.)
Libraries are begging for money from their patrons because government support is dwindling.
We are trillions of dollars in debt.
More government in not the answer.
posted by rel at 9:51 AM
2 Comments:
I came across a website that is focused on discussing the value of traditional college degrees in the American educational system.
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