OPINION — GAG makes an appearance … Be nice

OPINION — EDITOR’S EXCUSE — An acquaintance of many years of the ever-young Editor has persuaded him to publish some short takes on life and politics in America circa 2023. This person — who identifies as Grumpy Aged Guy (GAG), aka great old guy (GOG, his generous take) — wants to remain as Overall Anonymous Identity (OAI) while he/it delivers his/its wisdom of the ages … uh… aged. The Editor proclaims that he is NOT GAG, nor GOG nor even OAI. Just Editor. Herewith:

Musings

One

We are a nation founded on the principal of equal justice under the law. While excursions from that premise have and will always occur, because of human failings, trust in that original premise has still served us well and separated America from most other countries of the world. If we allow our current government to continue its blatant disregard for fairness and to use our legal system for political gain, can we long survive?

Two

History is a subject that many schools and students consider useless. Aside from the age old advice that those that ignore history are bound to repeat it, they simply believe that with the internet instantly available, it no longer matters because they can always “Google it.”

What will these folks do when one of our world adversaries pulls the plug on our power grid or internet? Will they actually believe that the freedom we in the USA have enjoyed for some 250 years is automatic and will continue unabated? How will they even begin to cope?

Three

If Civics is being taught in schools today, it must be considered a one hour course for half of a semester. Stalin of the Soviet Union once called the uneducated masses “useful idiots,” being those that he could manipulate to do his bidding at will.

Watching some of the “person-on-the-street” interviews answering questions about our government, it is quite obvious that many of our younger population have no clue why the USA has been so successful to date. As a Democratic-Republic we have been able to maintain our freedoms by paying attention to what our leaders are doing and replacing those that don’t do our bidding. They work for us. Will that prevail when our own “useful idiots” take over?

Four

With “woke ideology” spreading through our corporations, social media, schools and government we have a situation where not only is the tail wagging the dog, but it may be the flea on the tail, that is wagging the dog. Some media outlets would have you believe that this movement is large and represents the future. I hope not.

Innovation is the result of free people finding solutions to the issues that impede our efforts to improve our way of life. Americans have chosen to financially reward our brightest and best for that innovation and it has worked beautifully throughout our history. How will mediocracy, driven by an effort to seek equal outcome of the masses, inspire that innovation?

Five

A nation without borders is simply a territory without the claim of any form of sovereignty. We are a nation of immigrants and have established rules of law and associated regulations for others who seek to join our great nation, so they may do so in an orderly and fair manner.

Our current government has chosen to ignore those rules of law and has allowed some 5 million people in the last few years to walk across our borders freely. An estimated one million of those have escaped our border patrols so we have no way of knowing who they may be. Given the world of terrorism that is displayed daily on our news sources, can we not assume that many of the so called “get-a-ways” have evil intentions for our nation?

Six

Margret Thatcher once said that the trouble with socialism is that you will eventually run out of other people’s money.

Apparently the “uber-left” does not understand that once mom and dad kicks them out of the homestead basement; that their student loans will eventually end and can no longer fund their protest marches; and their degrees in diversity, equity, and inclusion won’t result in a job that will allow them to buy the next iteration of I-phone or pizza, what will they do?

Remember that even bald GAGs have rights too, and so long until the next time … (Think green!)