Friday, March 31, 2006

I, who know nothing whatsoever about such things, am posting about politics. Tread carefully.

I am not a political blogger. Politics, as a general rule, are boring to me. I am not interested in statistics, or Washington DC *, or lobbyists, or special interest groups, or really much of anything about politics. But I am wondering more and more if perhaps I had better start paying a little more attention to politics, because even though I am not a rocket scientist, there are things that even someone like me can't help but notice. And I don't like them. They are wrong, wrong, wrong.

Specifically, I do not like the fact that our country has become a repository for people who have no skills, don't intend to ever get any skills, and live off people who took the time and trouble to learn some skills. I do not like the fact that our country has become a repository for people who have no intention of learning the language, accepting the customs, or obeying the laws. I do not like the fact that our country, once a nation of hard-working people who valued education and honored the learned, has somehow morphed into a sissy cowardly thing that gives all its attention to those who least deserve it, gives most of the money to those who will benefit least by it, and pretty much ignores anyone who dares to continue to work hard in spite of the fact that nobody with authority seems to give a shit. I do not like the fact that even though our country prides itself on equality and tolerance, there are those who demand special favors, and they get them. They don't earn them, but they get them. I do not like the fact that our country is allowing these special favors, and bowing and scraping and all but cringing and Uriah Heeping, for anyone who openly declares hatred of this country, and who refuses to accommodate himself/herself to any country in which they have chosen to live. I do not like the fact that our schools cater to the lowest common denominator, discourage individual progress, and penalize the bright students by forcing them to endure day after day the monotony of a curriculum that favors the slow and pretty much instructs the bright to shut up and endure, because 'you're not as needy as these others.' I do not like the fact that schools get more money for improving, than for being good in the first place. I do not like the fact that ANYONE is allowed entry into this country without proof that they can and WILL earn their own way. I do not like the fact that people who sneak into our country illegally, are allowed to take advantage of things that our citizens must pay for. I do not like the fact that our country allows generation after generation of families to live off the government dole. I do not like the fact that anyone in any institution of learning or business or factory or classroom or university or neighborhood or church or synogogue or mosque or pentagram circle or house or condo or tent or cardboard box or mansion or, or, or. . . . (you get the picture) can demand and RECEIVE any kind of special favors because of their particular beliefs, over and above anything anyone else gets.

If I moved to another country, I would consider it my own responsibility to learn the language, the customs, and conventions, the holidays, and the regular accepted procedures of life in that country. I would never, in a million years, consider it the duty of that country to accommodate me in any way. Anything in my life that went contrary to the 'ways' of my new country, I would do at home. I would never expect everyone else to do things my way. It would be rude and presumptuous beyond description to expect anything like that. If my own particular ways were that important to me, I should not move elsewhere in the first place.

And yet, when anyone comes to our country, we don't require them to exert any effort whatsoever, to learn the ways, the language, the customs, or anything, really. We bend over backwards to accommodate them. Why do people move to other countries, if they won't and don't seem to even like it here, and refuse to change, and refuse to accept? I don't mean that people must put aside the ways of their old country, far from it. But why do people leave a country to come here, and then expect us to make everyithing seem exactly as it was in the old country?

I do not like the fact that our country has become a repository for people who don't work, who refuse to learn English, who demand exceptions and favors, who see nothing wrong in living off the public dole, and who show no respect or loyalty for us. I don't like it a bit. I am a big believer in helping people. My heart breaks for people in need, every day. I do all I can for anyone I know who needs help.

But yes, there is also an aspect of me that believes that those who don't work, don't deserve to eat, either. As an analogy, that means, those who don't put forth the effort, should get no results. Apply it to school, to the workforce, to anything you want. Unless a person is severely disabled, I resent any freebies they might demand and get. And if a person can get to the Social Security or the Unemployment offices, they can get to work.

I actually qualified for disability years ago. But as long as I am able to hobble to work, I will continue to do so. I would be ashamed to take money when I am still able to earn it myself. To accept that money, right now, would be taking advantage of the system. I can't do that.

Immigrant or native-born: I do not like the fact that some people take gross advantage of all the freedoms they have here. Yes, taking gross advantage IS one of those freedoms, but somehow, there is that part of me, rebel that I have always been, that thinks there is a huge difference between exerting one's freedoms, and being totally lacking in gratitude.

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch,
whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles.
From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!”
cries she With silent lips.
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Those who answer this invitation should be grateful, not hostile.

*unless Kevin Kline is there.