The Broken Trust

It's late.. I'm not sure just what time it really is but I know when my mind starts wandering back to yesteryear with its green Chevrolet, tractors, cotton, DDT, Sunday school and getting stars on the board for each verse you can recite, home work, early television, falling madly in love every few weeks, few faces recalled, most name forgotten, but no matter whatever else was going on my younger years there was always a drum beat and it had to do with values… The idea of right and wrong… How one behaved, rudeness, impoliteness, respect, behavior that allowed people to live together. No one got killed no one got robbed… Things moved slowly. People moved slowly….I recall little vignettes where doctors were shown respect, along with policeman, and yes, even politicians, and certainly older people. We thought they knew more than younger people. They were guides. They were our mentors. Something happened. Not with one "big bang' but slowly over time.

But…and it’s a big "but"…change began...Slowly and only here and there, groups of young people, in the late sixties began to question our leaders and the decisions they were making. (Don't trust anyone over thirty was the cry.) Trust was the operative word. The society as a whole had not seen this. It was not part of the upbringing to question leaders. Did we, in our silence, break the trust?

More subgroups began to appear who didn't feel or see themselves as part of these historical social norms.

Society's 'good guys', (our leaders) began to get caught crossing social, ethical, legal, and moral boundaries.

Leaping forward fifty years we have become a nation of special interest subgroups. Each vying for special treatment…each feeling entitled. Not simply entitled under the law for equal and fair treatment but entitled to whatever demand of their specific interest group. Whether it's rights to citizenship, being taken care of with shelter, food, education, medical care, or simply money to spend. All the things the average citizens work for every day.

The average politician know these groups. They use these group to sustain their position of power. If President Obama had lost anyone of these major subgroups he would not have become president. Same thing is true with Harry Reid this past election. That is how powerfully political these groups are. They are catered to by all levels of government.

In the Art of War by Sun Tu, he says. "Know who you are fighting and know where the battle is taking place." Know this is a war we are in…Know the enemy look like us…Know that the battle is taking place on our soil but not with guns and bullets. Chapter one ended November 2 and we fought and won with idea, values, and beliefs. Chapter two will take place in the next election cycle and "they" will be better prepared. It was their arrogance that beat them this time out. This mistake will not be repeated. They will organize and they will carefully prepare. Clearly they see us as the enemy.

Leadership in surprise places. England has a new young Prime Minister who was elected by promising to cut the national debt. England is as near to a socialist country as you can come without being a socialist country. This new young prime minister, hold on to your hats, has turned to the public for ideas of cutting the country's debt. He said that the people of the country have to pay the government cost so they should tell him what and where he should cut back on government spending. The web site he created has already had a 100,000 hits and a 100,000 cost cutting ideas.

Unless I missed something, I don't think Governor Barbour has asked any of us for cost cutting ideas. I know our state and federal elected folks haven't asked us for any cost cutting ideas. "Go figure."

I wonder how the leader in England came up with the idea that the people who pay the bill should have some say in how the money is being spent. Certainly such a radical idea would never occur to our President or our leaders in state or federal legislators.

I wonder if there is some way we might take it upon ourselves to explain or maybe even show our leadership that we have suggestions as to the various things we don't want to pay for and the various budget cuts they could consider making. They seem to spend their time looking at the 'Big Picture' without understanding that every voter's complaint has to do with them limiting our freedoms, our rights, and spending our money. Not their money. Not government's money but taxpayers money. That doesn't seem to be a hard concept to get but it must be. Government takes money from us in many different ways and always refers to it as their money. This is a hard concept for me to get. You know, I keep forgetting we gave (give) them the right to do it... and do it…and do it over again…


It is morally, ethically, and constitutionally wrong for our elected officials not to listen to the citizens of this country. To spend voters hard earned money in ways that seem wasteful, unproductive, and all the while growing inept government with each stroke of the pen. They feel it right and that they are entitled to do this…..

OK, lets plagiarize the Prime Minister's idea and setup a national web site where everyone can make a suggestion as to where government costs could be cut. Not a place for ranting but simple ideas that can be understood in a few sentences….(Also, each state could do a state web site.) Who wants to do this?


We would like to suggest some 'good reads' that have a bearing on where we are and what got us here. Seldom do we suggest books but these two are very important and a key to what some of the major underlying problems are...

CREATING A NEW CIVILIZATION by Toffler. This is a older book so you can see the changes over your lifetime. (Easy quick read.)

THE BELL CURVE by Murray. Older book and again you can see the change already in your life time. (Harder read and takes time. Very important to see this trend in motion.)

Ron

Docnick37@gmail.com

http://theoxfordteaparty.blogspot.com/