I have got a butt load of notes that need to be transcribed from various meetings. So instead of being productive I’m blogging. Go figure.
We’ve got the State of the Union tonight, which is generally rotten theater and seldom reports anything that we didn’t already know. That’s a sad not on the state of our nation. I think that the speech itself is as boring as the next guy does, but I don’t share the cynical view of it that George Will does. I do agree with his thesis that when it comes to democracy, the people tend to get what they ask for. If the people in Palestine, Haiti, and Iraq didn’t elect the governments that ours had hoped they would there is nothing inherently wrong with this Administration, or our way of life.
Part of being a nation that has the freedom to elect a government, is electing one that maybe no one else much likes. If the United States is going to span the globe setting up democratic governments in places where they have never existed then we have to be willing to live with the results. If we want to control the results of elections, then we either have to corrupt the process (ala’ Chicago and Louisiana), or we have to run the nation ourselves (as in Post – WWII Japan).
And it is always amazing the difference of opinions on how the nation is doing when you read the two major newspapers in this town. Never is that more clear when than when each sets up how tonight’s speech should go. That bastion of high readership and ad sales, The Post, thinks our economy is pretty much built on a beach at low tide, with the high tide coming any minute. The Times on the other hand, you know – the paper that’s hard to find and looks as dull as grey paint, chooses to point out that our nation creates over 100K in new jobs every month and that more Americans have more money than ever before. I have a feeling that the reality is somewhere in between.
If we want to fix the nation’s problems we should do two things first and foremost. First we MUST defend our nation at all costs and across the entire planet. If a nation is determined to hurt us, we must hurt them first – and far worse than they can hurt us. If that means we look like bullies to the rest of the world, then so be it. We have to focus on what is right for our nation, the world can then follow our lead.
Second, and just as important, we have to get our education system fixed. Being a teacher should be more honored as a career choice than almost anything else. And teachers need to understand that as parents we want smart kids and we are watching how the teachers perform. If you can’t get the kids attention and make them want to learn, then you don’t need to be a teacher.
THE WOMAN and I are constantly amazed at what our kids don’t learn in school. They learn how to make babies in the fifth grade, but SDSM can’t tell you the difference between a country and a state. And she’s in one of the better schools in Northern Virginia.
I don’t care if a kid is college bound or not they deserve to learn the fundamental things needed to live. Our nation did a damn good job of teaching the 3 R’s up until about twenty years ago. I have no idea what caused the downward spiral, maybe it was the collapse of the neighborhood school, forced busing, or parents who quit forcing their kids to do better in school. Whatever it was, we have to find a way to change it.
Our kids being smarter than the average bear is part of what made us a great nation. Where in the hell did we lose sight of that?
Damn, that was a mouthful.
No more today. Promise.
