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March 28, 2024 7:53 am
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No One Asked Me But… (April 4, 2018)

By DR. LARRY MOSES

No one asked me but… We have mass shootings and blame gun ownership.
We have inner city communities where it is unsafe to walk the streets and blame illegal immigration.
We had an election for the leadership of the country that gave us a choice between egomaniacal philanderer or a serial criminal who put the nation at risk as Secretary of State and blames white women for the fact that a reality TV star is in the White House because they are dominated by their husbands.
We have a porn star who extorts a presidential candidate over a consensual sexual incident and she becomes the victim.

We have the owner of a number of legal brothels running to represent this community in the state House of Representatives and expects that this will not be an issue.

These are all symptoms of a sick society.
These problems will not be solved by passing laws. They can only be solved by resetting the nation’s moral compass.

We have raised a generation of people who have been taught it is all about them personally. If it feels good they should be allowed to do it no matter how it affects those around them. Things have become more important than people. The mantra has become “I should have everything I want and I want everything anyone else has.”

We are a nation that measures success by the toys one has rather than the content of one’s character.
In most nations around the world, poverty is determined by a lack of food, clothing and shelter. In America, poverty is measured by the level of internet service, cell phone coverage, size of the color TV, the size of the house the TV is in, the make of car one drives, and the college one can afford.

One of the worst thing that happened in American society was organized youth sports. Prior to that time, youngsters learned many valuable lessons on the playgrounds of America. This is where one learned that some people have better skills, are stronger, or smarter than others. It is where I learned I was rewarded for the quality of my performance not just for showing up. Those people who worked harder or had more natural talent excelled and rose above me. It was here I learned that if I didn’t perform, I wasn’t rewarded.

I also learned that the kid who owned the ball and bat probably had an advantage and, therefore, it would be wise to work to get in that position.
I also learned that the strongest usually got to decide the close calls and that encouraged me to become stronger.
The most important thing I learned was success was not only found in the results, it was also found in the effort.

With organized sports came the adult protector. Everyone must be rewarded so participation trophies were instituted. There was no longer a need to strive to excel; one merely needed to exist. Games were played without scores, there were no winners or losers. Children never learned the disappointment of falling short.

Growing up I learned there were those who had more talent, were smarter, and stronger. Bob McCauley got to be quarterback. I got to be a defensive middle guard. While the quarterback was a much more desirable position and he received a lot more acclaim, I learned that those facts did not diminish the fact that I was a pretty good middle guard.

There were Marines who shot better than I did but that in no way diminished the fact that I was a marksman.

Unfortunately, we do not carry that principle over to American society in general. We have a welfare system that makes it possible for people to be rewarded for merely existing. It is a system that rewards individuals for waking up in the morning. In fact, if they decided to become a participant in society, they are penalized economically. We have adults who believe that they are entitled to benefits they have not earned.

This is not an attack on the very small percent of people who are disabled and need all the help we as a society can give them. This is an attack on a society that has systematically created a culture of acceptable under-performance.

We have people working a 40-hour work week that would improve their economic status by staying home and collecting welfare benefits. The answer is not the raising of minimum wage, for the government will merely raise welfare benefits to match. The answer is to get people off the welfare rolls and into the work force. We can then cut the taxes spent on the welfare state allowing people to keep more of their income to improve their status.

It is time to start instilling personal responsibility in our youngsters. We need to stop making excuses for failure and give incentives for success. We need to understand what we reward is what is repeated.
The American education system is the greatest example of this. Failing schools receive the most money, most staffing, and the greatest attention. A five-star school can bet that they will soon lose staff and funding which will be transferred to a one or two-star school. The worst thing that can happen to a school in CCSD is to become successful. Fortunately, we have leaders who are willing to be successful anyway.

No one asked me but… California Governor Jerry “Moonbeam” Brown has declared the state of California a sanctuary state. He believes the state does not have to obey federal immigration laws and is not obligated to help federal agents deport “illegal immigrant criminals”.

He bases this on a “state’s rights” argument that he deplored during the civil rights movement of the 1960’s. He feels that the federal immigration and drug laws do not apply to individual states. He is willing to imitate Gov. George Wallace of Alabama defending state’s rights in the protection of segregation in the 1960’s.

Recently the leaders of various California cities and counties have begun to challenge whether state sanctuary laws must be followed on the local level. Governor “Moonbeam” is screaming like a scalded dog. While he is suing the federal government to make sure that feds cannot punish his state for not complying with federal law, he is threatening to punish the local governments for not complying with state law. There seems to be an inconsistent message here.

Thought of the week…. The dwarf standing on the shoulders of a giant can see further than the giant, this in no way diminishes the size of the giant.

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