Dear Congressman Coble:
Your old friend and my mother, "Hutch" Helen LaVack is no longer able to speak with you. If she were here, I think she would have already expressed some of the concerns I would like to share. So this letter I write for her as well.
What has become of the Republican Party? I have at times voted Republican but can no longer give the party my support. It is going further and further to the radical right. "Tea baggers", gun nuts, and now mobs shouting down fellow citizens and their Representatives at meetings to discuss health care reform; it is sad to see a once great party in such a sorry state. Comparing a sitting US president to Hitler frankly disgusts me. I did not vote George W. Bush and disagreed with a lot of what he did but he was still my President and deserved my respect. The Republican Party seems to have forgotten what loyal opposition means. Of course it is okay for citizens to disagree with President Obama. That's why we have a Republican Party! But fear mongering and spreading hysteria are no way to deal with all the complex issues our nation faces. What is the answer?
The answer lies with you, sir. You and other good and honorable Republicans need to regain control of the party and stamp out this kind of politics. It is bad for your party and worse for the country as a whole.
Sincerely,
Your old friend -Paul D. LaVack
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Not Smart...
We as a country are not smart enough to see all the trouble we are getting into. We are too busy being entertained by sports, television and so called “news”. Look at CNN right now. What is news worthy? “Michael Jackson’s mom gets custody of kids”, a story on a flight attendant and seven-year-old leading cops on a chase are happening on July 30, 2009. This is all front page news! Let’s not worry about two on going and militarily un-winnable wars, an over heating planet, the sewer that once was our oceans, exploitation via globalization and a collapsing healthcare system. The list of real and news worthy problems could go on and on but we get Sara Palin! Why? We have gotten this dumb! Entertainment and theatre now pass for news.
I think by design, our education system only worsens over time. There is little to no room for anything involving creativity or critical thinking. It is all about science and math and passing standardized tests. Want to learn about your own body (real sex ed) learn about credit or how to write complete sentences that hopefully make up a paragraph- forget it schools no longer have time for it. Why should we think for ourselves when there is television? We hear sound bites about healthcare reform. Very few of us have any in depth knowledge about what is being decided in our name, much less who is doing the real deciding. It is time to face the fact that we live in an oligarchy and have for some time. I see less and less real differences between the two mainstream political parties. The same people pay both democrats and republicans. Neither really wants true healthcare reform, and an end to the insanity in Iraq and Afghanistan or truly pluralistic democracy. There are a few differences on social issues but these are window dressing on an otherwise one party state. To have a true democracy takes a well-educated population and real choices. We are lacking in both. Few see past the spectacle of election year politics, sound bites and distractions that pass for democratic government. What lies behind the scenes are those with large checkbooks, blinded by sheer greed thinking only for themselves TODAY. This illusion needs non-thinkers sitting in front of their TV’s being spoon-fed the illusion of democracy. Look up “Inverted Totalitarianism” on your favorite search engine. It is a pretty grim but an all too likely path we are going to take. All that is needed is enough stupid people.
The Internet provides a small glimmer of hope. If enough people read stuff like this and start to think, things may turn out different. But who want to read when there are reruns of Beverly Hills 90210 on You tube?
I think by design, our education system only worsens over time. There is little to no room for anything involving creativity or critical thinking. It is all about science and math and passing standardized tests. Want to learn about your own body (real sex ed) learn about credit or how to write complete sentences that hopefully make up a paragraph- forget it schools no longer have time for it. Why should we think for ourselves when there is television? We hear sound bites about healthcare reform. Very few of us have any in depth knowledge about what is being decided in our name, much less who is doing the real deciding. It is time to face the fact that we live in an oligarchy and have for some time. I see less and less real differences between the two mainstream political parties. The same people pay both democrats and republicans. Neither really wants true healthcare reform, and an end to the insanity in Iraq and Afghanistan or truly pluralistic democracy. There are a few differences on social issues but these are window dressing on an otherwise one party state. To have a true democracy takes a well-educated population and real choices. We are lacking in both. Few see past the spectacle of election year politics, sound bites and distractions that pass for democratic government. What lies behind the scenes are those with large checkbooks, blinded by sheer greed thinking only for themselves TODAY. This illusion needs non-thinkers sitting in front of their TV’s being spoon-fed the illusion of democracy. Look up “Inverted Totalitarianism” on your favorite search engine. It is a pretty grim but an all too likely path we are going to take. All that is needed is enough stupid people.
The Internet provides a small glimmer of hope. If enough people read stuff like this and start to think, things may turn out different. But who want to read when there are reruns of Beverly Hills 90210 on You tube?
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