REQUIEM FOR A DREAM

A DREAM BECOMES REALITY AND THEN DIES.

Two hundred and fifty plus years ago a dream was born in the hearts of Americans that one day they would become free of the oppression of the tyrannical foot on their necks wielded by Great Britain.
This dream developed into a movement unrivaled by any people who had ever inhabited the planet.

After years of prayers, planning, and perseverance the days of Declaration and eventual victory were realized. A treaty was signed, a Constitution draw, and the great American experience was at last under way.

Many years passed through wars and trials but the experiment developed into the greatest nation the world had seen or will ever see. The world clamored to our shores for a taste of liberty, freedom, and opportunity. The melting pot was awash with honest hard working people whose only plea was for a chance. They were rewarded with the fruits of their labors by establishing great factories, small business and mom and pop store fronts. Workers in these enterprises were rewarded with salaries commensurate to their talents and not to the abilities of their negotiators.

But then, the dysfunctional years of the 1960s crept in like a slithering snake and slowing, insidiously, began to infect our country with a poison that was so subtle that even the most vigilant were unable to detect. However, before the destruction of our dream was complete the good and believing people of America began to feel the ever growing danger of complacency and reacted with dismay but very little constructive movement. The destruction continued and by the late seventies and early eighties the damage was seemingly irreversible.

There were a few years of hope for a resurgence of American exceptionalism in the eighties and early twenty first century, but the enemies of the USA were entrenched so solidly that to rout them seemed to be an impossible task. And so it seems still.

The reelection of Obama was, it seems, to be the finale. What was great is no more. What was holy is impure. And what was just is corrupt.

It is often said that good people are lazy. No, lazy people are not good. Those who stay home and allowed the evil elements of our society to rule are as guilty as the Christians and Jews of Nazi Germany who said nothing as Hitler destroyed lives and country. After the carnage of that maniacal vermin the cry was "never again," however, the cry has been forgotten.

And so the dream has become a nightmare and the great hope of society has become a "what if." A what if that has paused for a requiem.

VOTER FRAUD---REALLY?

To the many who say voter fraud is a myth or the incidents are so rare they don't rise to the level of serious discussion I offer an example that shows the buying or coercion of votes and voters is nothing new and has been in place since the genesis of our republic.

 In the book "Georgia A Short History" by E. Merton Coulter, published in 1933 and updated in 1947, the author states, in reference to the Gubernatorial election of 1894, that "The Republicans made no nominations as most of their votes were, as usual, for sale to the highest bidder." ......"The Democrats succeeded in buying the greater number and the price in this election was $1 apiece[votes]."

 The author of the aforementioned book also gives examples of emancipated black voters, who as a threat to a particular party were gotten drunk and locked in rooms so they could not vote. This was a standard device of Democrats, Republicans and upstart third parties.

 The exploitation of prospective voters, especially the uninformed and generally ignorant, is nothing new and is as alive today as it was in the past.

 The problem is universal and is not exclusive to any party and will continue as long as the greed for power is the fuel that drives the souls of mankind.

 " Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Lord Acton 1887

EDUCATION OR LACK OF IT STINKS

Am I the only one who is sick and tired of all the Bravo Sierra about how to improve education in our school systems? The answer to how to teach is so simple I am perplexed and disgusted at the many and sundry methods that don't work proposed by so called experts. Let's look at a few.

First, there is the spend more money solution. Balderdash. North Carolina is already spending approximately $11,000 per student and is accomplishing virtually nothing. If money were the answer then we would have the most brilliant and well education children in the world. But it is not so.

Second, add more days of instruction to the already too long school year. Nonsense. If the students were being taught now, we would not need more days.

Third, pay the teachers more so we could get the best. Nuts. Many of the teachers are intelligent and capable but aren't allowed to teach but were not taught how to present their lessons in an interesting and palatable manner.

Fourth, Give the educators more electronic tools. Screwy. We are gadget heavy now. Too much technology destroys the ability to think.

A few years ago I was working as a substitute teacher with a student teacher as my aid. As an aside, I asked the student teacher if it would be difficult to teach if she didn't have a computer, Smart Board, or other devices? Her answer: "difficult?", "I could not do it." Incidentally, she was very intelligent, just undereducated.

I asked another teacher if she preferred writing her own tests or using the ones in the teachers aids. Her reply: "I never write my own tests." How can an educator educate if they do not know their students better than an academic in some ivory tower writing tests and books without contact with the real world? One size does not fit all.

Fifth: "Green Stuff." We need to dump this environmental brainwashing that wastes major amounts of instructional time.

Sixth: Don't worry about Americanism, it's archaic. Hogwash. Our students and teachers are pathetically ignorant on the history of our country and the Constitution. Without understanding our heritage we as free Americans will be a historical bullet point and we will be relegated to servants of a tyrannical government.

I am presently conducting a survey in which I ask one question; "who is our current vice-president?" The result at this point is: 98% DO NOT know the answer.

I have mentioned six things that don't work. Now for the simple solutions. Teach teachers to teach, make sure they know their subject, fire those who don't perform, hold parents accountable (make it hurt if they are lazy), teach morality (don't give me that junk about it being unconstitutional), and enact discipline on students whose objective it is to cause others to fail.

Finally: The "Special Ed" students are getting good attention and help and the top IQ students can get it even with poor teachers, but the ones in the middle are getting the shaft and it's the fault of screwed up politically correct governments (federal, state, and local), liberal universities, lazy parents, undereducated teachers, and brain dead school boards just to name a few.