Shameful

It is shameful that...

• Our great nation can't seem to find decent, capable,  ethical people of integrity and patriotism to run for the highest office in the land.
• The Washington Posts calls one of the most violent terrorist of our time an "austere religious scholar."
• State legislatures and city councils seek to nullify federal laws.
• Chicago teachers reject a 16% pay raise, while active duty military will receive 3.1%, the largest in decades.
• School boards are "convinced" by teacher union money to eliminate or curtail their competition: charter schools.
• Candidates for elected office pander in the worst possible ways.
• The NFL and NBA, once stalwart examples of American culture and competitive spirit, are now bastions of PC and foreign influence.
• People with no military experience presume to dictate to the men and women in uniform.
• Politicians appropriate cultures of which they do not belong.
• So-called social justice warriors believe that race, ethnicity, and gender identification provide shields of immunity for their illegal, unethical, and prejudiced actions.
• Candidates for public office who lost elections persist in proclaiming they actually won.
• Rich politicians take more and more from hard working American citizens.
• Illegal aliens are treated better than veterans.
• Colleges and universities deny legal rights to anyone merely accused of sexual assault, rather than refer the allegations to law enforcement.
• The media, once the lighthouses of truth, have sunk to being biased arms of the political parties.
• The American flag is scorned by some of her people.
• Colleges and universities no longer educate; they indoctrinate.
• Members of Congress amass fortunes while elected.
• California works at breakneck speed to irreparably damage the worlds 5th largest economy. 
• Hypocritical politicians dare to dictate to free American citizens.
• Government issued photo identification is required to buy beer, but not to vote.
• People will take out their smartphones to record someone in life threatening danger, rather than running to their aid.
• California raises taxes on gasoline and spends the money on everything but roads.
• The predominant answers from progressives is to dictate behavior and attempt to remove the rights of citizens.
• Congress spends money the nation doesn't have, while exempting themselves from the laws forced on the citizens.
• An elected official says, "a lot of people [are] more concerned about being precisely, factually, and semantically correct than about being morally right."
• All too many people accept the tripe filling social media platforms as verified facts.
• Most folks do not understand that the 1st Amendment means the government can not abridge free speech; private entities can.
• Elected individuals refuse to accept responsibility for their words and actions.
• Narcissism, illustrated by social media comments and selfie mania, has gripped the country.
• Federal, state, and local benefits are paid out to non-citizens. 
• Professional (entertainer) athletes are paid obscene amounts of money.
• California passes a law authorizing college student-athletes to be paid...on top of the enormous scholarships they receive.
• A candidate for president says, "...we choose about truth, not facts..." as if they are mutually exclusive.
• Public discourse and debate have been lowered to gutter level profanity.
• There are no term limits for Members of Congress.
• Law enforcement officers are derided by elected individuals.
• Failed candidates for president seek public acclaim long after the election they lost.
• Junior military enlisted are paid so little they qualify for food stamps.
• Free speech is trampled upon and limited by elected individuals.
• Texting and social media posting has replaced person-to-person conversations.
• Obesity is rampant in America.    

The next two years

After the 2016 election, the GOP controlled both chambers of Congress and the White House.  Expectation was high on the right.  After two years and the disastrous midterm, what can be pointed to as major accomplishments?

Not much.

And now the Dems have the lower chamber, with media expectations running high for the left.  Sad to say, apart from all the ballyhoo, in two years' time the nation will most likely be no better off.

Politicians on both side make wide sweeping promises, then regularly fail to fulfill them.  All the claptrap uttered during campaigns plays to the party bases, drumming up excitement and expectations.  But no single member of the House or senator can wave a magic wand and make the campaign promises reality.  And collectively the members of Congress have but one common goal: reelection.  

As long as reelection is the primary goal of members of Congress, the country will suffer.

The elected use public monies as a slush fund, handing out benefits in order to buy votes.  So increases the unimaginable national debt.

State and local officials rig districts and voting to benefit the reelection frenzy.  So increases the division within the country.

Political party entities manipulate social media to skew self-serving messages and narratives for the perpetual election cycles.  So increases segments of our population that are inflamed by false stories.

The politically aligned media aid and abet the perpetual election cycles, pumping out opinion masquerading as journalism.  So increases the misinformation and disinformation bombarding the electorate.

Colleges and universities, pursuing naked political reelection objectives, indoctrinate young, new voters, camouflaging it as higher education.  So increases ignorance within the electorate.

Ignorant social activists, fueled by false stories, indoctrination, misinformation, disinformation, and inflamed and divided by manipulated social media and the general media, ardently push to reelect candidates, based solely on physical characteristics, ethnicity, or heritage.  So increases the number of wholly unqualified elected officials.

So increases, to levels of near certainty, that the next two years will be no more productive than the previous two.

An approach: change the Constitution so that every single member of Congress terms out at the end of his/her current term of office.  Include in the change foolproof, unassailable term limits for all future member of Congress.

It will be a start.

Maybe then the following two year will see major problems in our country attacked and resolved for the good of ALL of the people.     

          

Mandatory National Service

Published views advocating national service of various types have surfaced, including from General McChrystal, Eric Navarro, and Karen Whitney.  They are on the right path, but don't take the concept far enough.  

The nation needs to implement mandatory national service for all able bodied citizens.  Underscoring the last word, mandatory national service and its ensuing benefits must be available only to citizens of the United States of America.

At age 18 or 60 days subsequent to graduation from high school, whichever occurs last, all able bodied citizens will be required to serve a period of three consecutive years of mandatory national service.  All forms of national service will include introductory in residence training, aka "boot camp."  This introductory training is described later. 

National service will include serving in one of the existing programs, some of which will be converted from volunteer status, for example:

• Armed Forces
• Peace Corps
• Greatly expanded Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA)
• US Army Corps of Engineers
• National Park Service
• Fish and Wildlife Service
• Bureau of Land Management
• US Forest Service
• US Geological Survey
• National Resource Conservation
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency
• US Bureau of Reclamation
• Americorps
• Volunteer Generation Fund per Serve America Act
• Americorps National Civilian Community Corps
• Volunteers in Service to America
• Federal Emergency Management Agency Corps
• Note: State and local governments may choose to opt in, by providing state and locally funded positions ccomparable to those listed above.

Every component of the national service will include the following ancillary elements during introductory training, which will be conducted at residential sites (as done by the military during basic training):

• Personal financial management training.
• Consumer skills training, such as house buying, car buying, comparison shopping, credit card management, Internet security, etc.
• Citizenship skills training, such as applying for employment, resume construction, job interview skills, filing tax returns, voting, etc.
• Remedial English language arts, math, and writing for those identified by entry level evaluation during introductory training.
• Administration of interest inventories to help our citizens identify for which fields of employment they are best suited. 
• Applying for college or trade schools.
• GED certificates for those who have not graduated from high school.
• Internships with applicable businesses.  

Only upon successful completion of a three consecutive year stint in national service will citizens be eligible for:

• Federal student financial aid,  
• Federal grants of any kind,
• Federal unemployment insurance,
• Federal health care subsidies,
• Federal employment,
• Federal home loans, 
• Election/appointment to federal office, or
• Any of the 2,302 forms of assistance listed in the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance.   

In addition to the above direct benefits, other indirect benefits of mandatory national service include:

• Identifying as American citizens.
• Earning federal benefits.
• Earning employment experience.
• Learning workplace teamwork.
• Leadership.
• Exposure to individuals from outside of ones immediate environment.
• Contributing to the nation, leading to developing citizenship. 
• Gaining three years of crucial maturity before entering higher education, trade schools, or the employment market.
• Exposure to different parts of the country.
• Exposure to various fields of employment.
• Development and enhancement of adult social skills.
• Learning which fields of employment may suit the citizens best.
• Learning to manage personal finances.
• Reduction of student debt.
• Preparation for higher education or trade school.

This program employs our youth as soon as they have completed or departed high school, provides skills often noted as missing in the entry level workforce, enhances academic skills where needed, directly contributes to the welfare of the nation, builds effective citizenship, and breaks from the current approach.  Federal benefits will be earned, rather than simply provided, and citizens will identify as Americans.  

Trump insults our nation

Egad!  

Trump insults our nation.  Almost every time he tweets or opens his mouth.

A list of the insults, aimed at individuals and groups, would be far to long to repeat here.  But the accumulated impact is a massive insult to the nation.

One seeking the presidency of the United States should, above all else, be serious.  By words and actions, the candidate must demonstrate he/she understands the enormity of the position they seek.

Clearly, Trump does not.

With the verbal eloquence of a recalcitrant child, demeanor of either a bully or horrible Las Vegas lounge comic, and social media persona of an immature teenager, he has most assuredly made a mockery of the office.

Histrionic to the extreme, his utterances, tweets, and boasts demonstrate absolute unsuitability for the presidency.  One example makes the point.

Stipulating that the DNC unquestionably chose to have Mr. Khan speak as a provocateur, Trump's scurrilous response was unacceptable.

A response was not in fact required.  

If compelled to respond, Trump could have simply said, "Like all Americans, I honor all Gold Star families."   But he did not.  He chose to insult the Khans multiple times.

Again, a extremely long list of other examples could fill volumes.

Bottom line: Mr. Trump insults the nation and its people and is unworthy of their votes.

Footnote:  To be completely clear on the matter, Ms. Clinton is equally unworthy of our votes.    
 

Common politeness and decency

A favorite neighbor and I were chatting this morning, as friends and neighbors do.  He and his wife embody America, as they and one of their sons work at a company founded by her grandfather.  Hardworking, family oriented, lovers of our great nation.

After talking baseball (we'd been to a game together on Sunday, in which our local team lost) and the inevitable politics, our discussion switched to events in our neighborhood, small town, and nation.  Specifically, people seeming to "go off" on one another for even the slightest of reasons.  

Why, we wondered aloud, is this happening more and more?

Recently another neighbor yelled and created a scene about something that could have been dealt with quietly and politely.  Sure, the underlying matter was an aggravation, as workmen were spewing concrete dust into the air, rather than using the right systems and procedures to control the contaminants.  Instead of calmly informing the workers, our neighbor just "went off," as the saying goes.

We then recounted other similar examples, including some that have made headlines.  People condemning and demanding of others, for a full spectrum of perceived slights.  Politeness and decency are becoming lost in this age of social media insults hurled without thought.  No longer are reason and courtesy the best approaches.

The ability of people to either grin and bear it or politely state their positions appear absent in our current divisive, hyper-charged environment fueled by inflammatory rhetoric from political candidates, activists, university professors, talk show hosts, and other cretins who are provided the proverbial electronic microphone by a compliant and biased media.

We are inundated by hate filled messaging.  And if hate isn't present, there are those intent on fomenting it.  Of course, the media is right there to fan the flames in order to sell more and get better ratings.  So it is no surprise, really, when example after example of folks losing it come to the surface.

From the road rage incident in which a woman runs over and kills a motorcyclist, to an argument at a ballgame that leads to a fight leaving a man permanently disabled, to the school child who attacks the teacher, our nation seems to be woefully off track.

Common politeness and decency are now the exceptions, rather than the (expected) norms.  Can it be traced to the proliferation of near perpetual election campaigning based upon the division born of identity politics?  Can it be traced to talk shows, radio, television, and social media stirring up problems in the name of pseudo-journalism?

I don't have any answers, but these two questions may point in the right direction.      

Predictably

At a recent gathering, the older veterans' comments were predictably negative about the state of affairs in our country.  Equally predictable were words -- harsh, angry, condemning, frustrated, emotional -- about the choices in this presidential election.  "What fools!" from a retired Navy Captain captured it best.

It was a decidedly an anti-Clinton group, to no one's surprise I am sure.  As a retired Marine Colonel observed, when she falsely claimed to have landed under sniper fire in Bosnia, she insulted all those who have and do wear the uniforms of our nation's military.  This alone, in his mind, disqualifies her.

But make no mistake, Trump faired no better.  His scurrilous and despicable comments to and about a Gold Star Family enraged these veterans.  They were livid!  

The outrage across the nation at Trump was most eloquently captured in an op-ed written by the retired soldier who was Captain Khan's commanding officer at the time of his death.  As only a commanding officer can do, he put the entire matter in proper perspective.

But whether it is Clinton's hubris or Trump's maniacal attacks, their comments expose their unfitness for the office they seek. 

Predictably, it will likely occur that these episodes will be just others in the litany of episodes to come this election season.  One candidate continues to lie, obfuscate, and misrepresent, displaying a total absence of character.  The other candidate continues to insult, belittle, and attack just about every element of our great nation, displaying a total absence of judgment.

Predictably, however, one of these two fools, borrowing the retired Navy Captain's apt description, will be elected.

Predictably, the nation will bemoan that day.

Our country will survive

Five months to go until the 2016 elections.  It hardly seems possible the political choices could be any more dismal.

For differing and similar reasons, the presumptive major party candidates for the office of the presidency are simply unworthy of the position they seek.

This leaves our nation facing a quandary for which no clear palatable, reasonable, or (dare it be said) sane alternative presents itself.

Legions of woefully uninformed, ignorant, greedy, and/or inept voters will certainly cast their ballots for one of these two.  Unless some cataclysmic event arises, one of them will be elected to serve as the next President of the United States of America.

At this point, one could start forecasting all the doom and gloom that will befall our nation.  It matters not which individual is elected, because the strident supporters from the other side can provide long lists of reasonable and unreasonable predictions.  Perhaps some of the gloom and doom, regardless of who is elected, will come to pass.  But it isn't reason to flee the country.   

A singular strength of our nation is its ability to survive.  It has survived the Civil War, multiple world wars, political scandals, slavery, economic recessions, the Great Depression, housing booms and busts, civil unrest, riots, 9/11, reconstruction, impeachments, Vietnam, high unemployment, the Dust Bowl, assassinations, Watergate, and countless other challenges.  It has survived its previous exceptionally poor choices for president.  

It has survived.

We cannot accurately predict what form survival will take in response to this new challenge, but survive the country will.  

There may be pain involved, but at the other end, our country will be better for its survival. 

We will endure the next months of hyperbole, insults, shrill voices, unfounded claims, stilted polls, expenditure of outrageous sums of money, ridiculous pronouncements, outright lies, clever misrepresentations, and perhaps even legal upheaval.  Then the election will be done.

Take a deep breath, exhale slowly, and remember that our country has survived worse and will survive this.