Tuesday, August 19, 2008
"That's Above My Pay Grade"
"That's above my pay grade." What!?!
A man who is running for president of this great nation tries to pull the old private's trick? You've got to be kidding me!
He wants to be president of the most powerful nation on earth? He wants to be leader of the free world? Nothing, I repeat, NOTHING is above his pay grade! Sheesh!
If you are such a spineless, indecisive wimp of a politician that you won't even hazard an opinion about when life begins, you can't expect to be taken seriously about anything. How can an intelligent man who claims to be a Christian be so wishy-washy about such an istemibaly important issue?
I suppose, he did ensure that he will get his campaign donation from Planned Parenthood and other anti-life organizations. Still, he came across as the shallow, vapid consumate politician that he truly is.
They say beauty is only skin deep, but I guess ignorance goes clean to the bone.
A man who is running for president of this great nation tries to pull the old private's trick? You've got to be kidding me!
He wants to be president of the most powerful nation on earth? He wants to be leader of the free world? Nothing, I repeat, NOTHING is above his pay grade! Sheesh!
If you are such a spineless, indecisive wimp of a politician that you won't even hazard an opinion about when life begins, you can't expect to be taken seriously about anything. How can an intelligent man who claims to be a Christian be so wishy-washy about such an istemibaly important issue?
I suppose, he did ensure that he will get his campaign donation from Planned Parenthood and other anti-life organizations. Still, he came across as the shallow, vapid consumate politician that he truly is.
They say beauty is only skin deep, but I guess ignorance goes clean to the bone.
Labels: abortion, Barak Obama, presidential campaign
Friday, August 01, 2008
Exclude the Heedless from Elections
Our local newspaper, the Daily Post Athenian, was kind enough, or crazy enough to print another one of my letters to the editor. It even appeared in the weekend edition. Sheesh!
It seems to have had the intended affect. Most everyone I work with is upset with me. Oh, the fun never stops!
*************************************************************************************
To the Editor:
All right, it's time for someone to say it and it might as well be me. We have entirely too many people voting!
I once firmly believed that as long as American citizens vote, the good old U.S. of A. would ultimately be just fine. Yet, as I approach a half-century of age, I've watched American citizens over and over again choose leaders who have anything but the best interests of our nation at heart. What most do have is a great desire to be elected and then re-elected and then retire with full pension and benefits. Most will tell any story, make any promise and then do just enough to keep themselves employed. Is that all their fault? Not really. Just look who put them in office.
Today, we have people balloting for someone to be inaugurated into the most powerful position in the world who have never so much as read the Declaration of Independence or the U.S. Constitution. They can't name their congressmen or senators. They couldn't pick the vice president, or perhaps even the president, out of a lineup. They haven't the slightest understanding of the Electoral College or, worse, don't even know it exists. They have no inkling of how a bill becomes a law or even a cursory knowledge of how our trinitarian federal government functions. They know nothing of our system of "checks and balances." They even think we're a democracy. (No, we're actually a republic.) Yet, these same voters can name all the contestants on "American Idol."
They've taken their children to Disney World four times, the ocean six times, but haven't yet found the time to take them to Arlington. They take their munchkins to every new movie that comes out, but have never watched an hour of the History Channel with them. They turn them over to the government and say, "Here, bring my child back educated." And, oh, what an education they get! They are taught all about birth control (at least the state's version). They're taught we're no better than apes, that there is no God and that the government is our "friend."
I recently asked several people if they visited any veterans' graves on Memorial Day. One 25-year-old replied, "Why would I wanna do that? They're dead." I responded, "What a typical 25-year-old answer." He only chuckled unknowingly. Oh, the apathy!
Do any thinking Americans really believe our country can survive forever with a citizenry that couldn't care less about the price that was paid to preserve our liberty? So many have no idea the blood, sweat, toil and tears required to bequeath us the daily blessings most take for granted. No, freedom did not come cheaply or easily and keeping it will require more of the same sacrifice.
There was a time in our nation when to vote you had to be a white, propertied male at least 21 years of age. Sometimes you had to pass a test and/or pay a fee, even at that. You were generally required to be literate and have some knowledge of your responsibility as a citizen. (On second thought, maybe it's not so much that "too many" people are voting as much as it is the "too many" know too little.)
I'm certainly not suggesting that we return to anything of that nature. Yet, if we believe that the uneducated, illiterate, woefully and willingly ignorant masses of today's electorate would have produced the republic we place our hand over our hearts and pledge our allegiance to today (well, most of us anyway), we are beyond deluded.
Naturalized citizens must pass a test to obtain the privilege of voting. Why not native citizens? What is it about being born on a certain piece of dirt (something over which we have no control) that qualifies us to make decisions that will affect us now and our posterity for generations?
Sadly, our nation is in a politically-correct stupor. We don't want to hurt anyone's feelings by telling them, "You don't qualify." Even if they actually don't qualify. We do our darnedest to recruit every potential voter, but never consider if that voter has any idea about, or interest in, the operation of our republic. We fear hurting someone's feelings more than the damage that clueless wonder may do to our country's waning integrity. Sheesh!
When I hear the opinions of the inane and enslaved proletariat, I say a silent prayer that they don't vote. When some confess they don't vote, I'm downright gleeful. Thank God for small miracles!
This is not elitism. Every law-abiding American adult, regardless of creed, religion, color or financial status, should be entitled to vote as protected in the Constitution. Yet, bear in mind, there is no guaranteed "right to vote" in our Constitution. (You don't believe me? Just try to find it.) There is only protection against our government restricting us, for the wrong reasons, from exercising that privilege. Yes, voting is a privilege.
Look, I seriously am not aiming to offend anyone. Frankly though, I am offended at the millions who when given, yes "given," the Godsend of choosing our national, state and local leaders shun the time and effort required to become informed citizens. I am offended at those who are "given" the prerogative to vote and yet, unappreciatively, don't love this great nation. It's heartrending that the American electorate is inexorably trapped in this downward spiral of lethargy and oblivion.
Sadly and lastly, if you cared enough to read this regrettably inadequate argument for excluding the heedless from involvement in our elections, you are likely one who, in my never to be humble opinion, qualifies. The rest? Well, they never got past the funny papers.
It seems to have had the intended affect. Most everyone I work with is upset with me. Oh, the fun never stops!
*************************************************************************************
To the Editor:
All right, it's time for someone to say it and it might as well be me. We have entirely too many people voting!
I once firmly believed that as long as American citizens vote, the good old U.S. of A. would ultimately be just fine. Yet, as I approach a half-century of age, I've watched American citizens over and over again choose leaders who have anything but the best interests of our nation at heart. What most do have is a great desire to be elected and then re-elected and then retire with full pension and benefits. Most will tell any story, make any promise and then do just enough to keep themselves employed. Is that all their fault? Not really. Just look who put them in office.
Today, we have people balloting for someone to be inaugurated into the most powerful position in the world who have never so much as read the Declaration of Independence or the U.S. Constitution. They can't name their congressmen or senators. They couldn't pick the vice president, or perhaps even the president, out of a lineup. They haven't the slightest understanding of the Electoral College or, worse, don't even know it exists. They have no inkling of how a bill becomes a law or even a cursory knowledge of how our trinitarian federal government functions. They know nothing of our system of "checks and balances." They even think we're a democracy. (No, we're actually a republic.) Yet, these same voters can name all the contestants on "American Idol."
They've taken their children to Disney World four times, the ocean six times, but haven't yet found the time to take them to Arlington. They take their munchkins to every new movie that comes out, but have never watched an hour of the History Channel with them. They turn them over to the government and say, "Here, bring my child back educated." And, oh, what an education they get! They are taught all about birth control (at least the state's version). They're taught we're no better than apes, that there is no God and that the government is our "friend."
I recently asked several people if they visited any veterans' graves on Memorial Day. One 25-year-old replied, "Why would I wanna do that? They're dead." I responded, "What a typical 25-year-old answer." He only chuckled unknowingly. Oh, the apathy!
Do any thinking Americans really believe our country can survive forever with a citizenry that couldn't care less about the price that was paid to preserve our liberty? So many have no idea the blood, sweat, toil and tears required to bequeath us the daily blessings most take for granted. No, freedom did not come cheaply or easily and keeping it will require more of the same sacrifice.
There was a time in our nation when to vote you had to be a white, propertied male at least 21 years of age. Sometimes you had to pass a test and/or pay a fee, even at that. You were generally required to be literate and have some knowledge of your responsibility as a citizen. (On second thought, maybe it's not so much that "too many" people are voting as much as it is the "too many" know too little.)
I'm certainly not suggesting that we return to anything of that nature. Yet, if we believe that the uneducated, illiterate, woefully and willingly ignorant masses of today's electorate would have produced the republic we place our hand over our hearts and pledge our allegiance to today (well, most of us anyway), we are beyond deluded.
Naturalized citizens must pass a test to obtain the privilege of voting. Why not native citizens? What is it about being born on a certain piece of dirt (something over which we have no control) that qualifies us to make decisions that will affect us now and our posterity for generations?
Sadly, our nation is in a politically-correct stupor. We don't want to hurt anyone's feelings by telling them, "You don't qualify." Even if they actually don't qualify. We do our darnedest to recruit every potential voter, but never consider if that voter has any idea about, or interest in, the operation of our republic. We fear hurting someone's feelings more than the damage that clueless wonder may do to our country's waning integrity. Sheesh!
When I hear the opinions of the inane and enslaved proletariat, I say a silent prayer that they don't vote. When some confess they don't vote, I'm downright gleeful. Thank God for small miracles!
This is not elitism. Every law-abiding American adult, regardless of creed, religion, color or financial status, should be entitled to vote as protected in the Constitution. Yet, bear in mind, there is no guaranteed "right to vote" in our Constitution. (You don't believe me? Just try to find it.) There is only protection against our government restricting us, for the wrong reasons, from exercising that privilege. Yes, voting is a privilege.
Look, I seriously am not aiming to offend anyone. Frankly though, I am offended at the millions who when given, yes "given," the Godsend of choosing our national, state and local leaders shun the time and effort required to become informed citizens. I am offended at those who are "given" the prerogative to vote and yet, unappreciatively, don't love this great nation. It's heartrending that the American electorate is inexorably trapped in this downward spiral of lethargy and oblivion.
Sadly and lastly, if you cared enough to read this regrettably inadequate argument for excluding the heedless from involvement in our elections, you are likely one who, in my never to be humble opinion, qualifies. The rest? Well, they never got past the funny papers.
Labels: Arlington National Cemetery, Declaration of Independence, Disney World, election, Electoral College, ignorance, patriotism, politics, U.S. Constitution, voting
