Week of 6.11.2017
The Spectator
founded 2004 by ron cruger
A place for intelligent writers
A place for intelligent readers
by Laramie Boyd
"Will It Ever Be The Same Again, Like It Used To Be?"
2017 Spectator Ron - The Spectator All Rights Reserved
C
Your comments about this column are welcome ~ e-mail Laramie at
Make no mistake. Many Americans, those who lived through WW II and the Korean and Vie t Nam conflicts
especially, are nervous, maybe frightened, about the state of affairs in their country today. Folks who are growing up since that
time are barely capable of understanding how different the country is from back then. For better or worse, and even that is debatable
to some, the United States of America is, in some ways, "On the eve of destruction."
Look at the headlines or listen to the news reports.
It's what the president did or didn't do right, how neither political party is offering possible solutions to the overwhelming number
of problems facing the country today, rather they offer only criticism and what the "other party" is either doing wrong or how they
are thinking wrong. And they don't use words like compromise or agreement or "let's try to solve some of the problems." Their tone
of dissatisfaction is hateful, mean, spiteful. They offer no well meant suggestions on how to bring America out of the snake pit it
is in, just partisan rhetoric, meaningless hate-mongering.
Is the recently elected president
shaking Washington up with ideas and proposals for programs that many simply don't understand or agree with? Are the methods he seems
to be using to "make America great again" unrelated to that goal? Does he have his own definition of "great", and citizens are having
a hard time making heads or tails out of it? Do his legislative proposals appear unrelated to, and disconnected to the "American dream"
of growing up in a safe neighborhood, going to school, getting a good job, and eventually, or sooner, getting married with someone
of the opposite sex, raising a family, buying a home and helping make a better life for our kids? Oh, and by the way, staying out
of trouble, obeying the law and parents, and expecting to answer for misdeeds along the way? And some who claim to love America want
to impeach this president because he says he wants to return the country to traditional values. Better yet, because he disagrees with
their agenda.
What does it mean, I ask after all, that you can call yourself whichever gender
you say you feel best as? Is that view in any Bible? In the constitution? Mark Lopez, director of the Pew Hispanic Research center
said, "If anyone wants to be Hispanic, they need only say so. There are no genetic tests; it's a self labeling thing." And Esther
Cepeda is quoted in The Desert Sun saying, "There are even some who are starting to consider whether racial identity can, or should
be, as changeable as gender identity", in her effort to prove that America is not facing a race war. It's hard to fathom what direction
America is headed in. A quote from a recent Hollywood movie "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou", I see as appropriate: "It don't make no
sense."
Undoubtedly there is a growing reluctance to stand up for moral values, a growing lack
of feeling accountable for wrong doings other than just saying "I'm sorry", and too there is a a leaning towards fostering entitlements.
There is a growing number of people across America who think that terrorists should have the same rights as good citizens. That
you should lose a lifetime of dedicated service on a job, or go to jail, simply because you express an opinion not in agreement with
a particular element of society, notwithstanding the 2nd amendment. That it's okay to break the law if you disagree with the law,
rather than changing the law, a case in point being cities or states harboring illegal immigrants, so-called sanctuary cities, and
soon sanctuary states? That it's okay to protest by robbing, committing arson, and shooting at policemen, in plain view, if you disagree
with a decision handed down by a court of law. That if there was a ban on bearing arms, only the government and criminals, who certainly
would not surrender their weapons, should be allowed to be armed. That convicts should be set free before their sentences are completed.
That traditional Christian words and decorations used at Christmas time should be illegal.
To
paraphrase an article in The Spectator of May 26, 2017: I can's imagine or understand what's happened to the United States, and much
of the chaos has taken place in the last 8 or 10 years, coincidentally within the time frame of the past two presidents? And those
who don't see the relationship, well, they are part of the problem. And if all this crap isn't enough to deal with, be on guard, as
you never know who you might find in a men's or women's restroom nowadays, it could be a man, or a woman. Honestly, I seriously doubt
the United States of America will ever be "great" again. Everywhere you look someone is being accused of lying, hacking, or leaking,
A line from a Merle Haggard song might be a solution: "I think I'll just stay home and drink."