Don't get angry, get educated!

I have had several readers get upset with my USA assessment with the sinking ship analogy. They say that we have gone through things like this before, we have weathered war, cultural upheavals, and terror attacks. However, they are forgetting one question that they don't want to ask:

How is this time different from those before they used as examples of times the USA recovered?

Here is a partial list of the differences between then and now:

1. The Internet allows anyone, crack pot or level-headed, to spew their acrimony thus keeping people divided and talking about things that in the past weren't even discussed.

2. The complete break-down of the normal family infrastructure in favor of the "nuclear family" format this leads to children lacking discipline, character, and work-ethic

3. The huge explosion of the lottery-mentality where by people want to make it not by hard work, but by hitting it big on the lottery, legal lottery (malpractice and class-action suits), credit card lottery, stock market lottery, real estate lottery, etc.

4. The rising ratio of lawyers to citizens thereby guaranteeing a fresh crop of legal lottery practitioners.

5. The lowering standards of public education due to the involvement of the major teacher unions (UUP, AFT, and the wonderful NEA) that force lower and lower standards from both teachers and students. No wonder the USA student is getting whipped in the market place: Japan has 6 day school weeks, and Indian schools require math and science from all students regardless of gender, and China is, well you get the idea.

6. The capture of the mainstream media outlets by very liberal, socialistic mindsets thereby forcing most of the discussion to be skewed in favor of the above topics.

7. The movement of the 2 political parties towards the center-left leaving true conservatives and far-left out in the cold thereby forcing them to use the Internet to spew their ideas reaching a far larger audience than what would be normal.

8. The advancement of being PCness (political correctness) that prevents normal folks from calling a "spade a spade."

9. The control of the US government by big money via PACs and lobbyists.

10. Concluding, dwindling respect for personal responsibility and accountability. This in and of itself could sink this great country all by itself.

Feel better now? ;-)