No One Asked Me But… (October 12, 2022)

By DR. LARRY MOSES

No one asked me but… On April 17, 2013, I wrote a column contending that commonsense was the most lacking item in America at that time. What I find most shocking is that the leaders of America did not immediately read and understand the need for a correction in their thinking. After watching the federal government operate for the last two years. I find it is time to once again call for the use of common sense in making decisions for the people of America.

Where is the common sense when you shut down oil production in America as you see gas prices continue to increase? Where is common sense when you send oil taken from America strategic reserves and send it to China, a country that is an avowed enemy of America?

How much sense does it make to arrest a person for hunting and fishing illegally but not for entering the country illegally? Many people demand that one not use the term illegal when speaking of immigrants.

This falls in line with the present tactic of declaring anything one might find as offensive as “hate speech”. Common sense would tell us that a person engaged in and illegal activity is illegal. This is not an act of hate it is a statement of fact. Apparently, a dealer of illegal drugs is now to be called an unlicensed pharmaceutical agent and one must not call a person engaged in burglary, a burglar. He is merely an uninvited guest who removes random articles of value. Looters are not looters, they are merely shoppers who are not required to pay for the merchandize they forcibly take. Common sense would tell us that changing term used for designative action does not change the results of the act.

It is only common sense that a government that requires a valid I.D. to fly on a commercial jet liner would require the producing of a valid I.D. to vote. In America, you cannot cash a check, buy an alcoholic drink, or check out a library book without confirming your identity. However, all you need to do to vote is sign a name in front of someone who does not know you. A little common sense should tell you that if those identification laws are necessary, voting for those who make the laws should be made by people who are legitimately identified.

How much common sense does it take to realize there is something ludicrous when a President demands a background check before a law-abiding American citizen can buy a handgun but not when he approves billions of dollars of military support weapons to dictators around the world? Many of the leaders of these countries could not pass the background check to buy a .38 Smith and Wesson revolver in Nevada.

Where has the common sense gone when the President, the Senate Majority leader, and the Speaker of the House argues for gun control legislation based on the killing of school children in Uvalde, Texas and then attack the Supreme Court Decision setting aside the Roe v. Wade decision that has led to the death of over six million American children. While I diametrically oppose abortion, this is not an abortion argument; it is an argument about common sense. The argument given is that the fetus is not a viable child and cannot live on its own. A person with common sense would then ask at what point the child is viable. When can a child live on its own, at one year, two years? How about the unemployed twenty-five-year old college graduate living in his parent’s basement covered by the parents insurance? If the fetus is not a child, why is a drunk driver who causes a miscarriage charged with manslaughter? This is a country that requires schools to get parent’s permission for children to go on a field trip or to administer the child an aspirin, but not to set them up to get an abortion. Where is the common sense in all of this?

Where has common sense gone when a seven-year old boy can be thrown out of school as a sexist for telling his teacher she is cute, but school districts all across the country host sexually explicit exploratory and diversity classes in their elementary schools?

We have those who believe that all students can and will learn using identical curriculum. They contend what is needed is a “one size fits all” standard and a standardized program to make all students reach that standard. Common sense would tell us not all children are created intellectually equal. Some are smarter than others. As much as I hate it, most people are smarter than I. Most have more musical or athletic talent than I. Some people are born with an intellectual advantage. This has nothing to do with race or environmental conditions, it is merely a biological fact of life.

Common sense tells me this does not mean they should not have an equal opportunity to reach their potential. However, Common sense also tells me it is a poorly thought out idea that equality requires all students to take the same route to maximize their potential. Some students need more help than others.

Some will never reach the heights of others. Common sense tells me this does not mean they are bad; it merely means they are different and their potential is different. Commonsense tells me the role of the educator is not to see that all students reach the same goal, it is to see that all children reach their maximum potential. That my friends, is merely common sense.

I believe I will establish a new country. The name of this new country will be Commonsenylvania. It will be a small country consisting of one-half acre. It will have a population of four; my wife, two cockatiels, and a parakeet. It will be a representative democracy. I will represent myself and my wife can represent the birds. We each will have, after producing a valid I.D., one vote on all decisions. The basic founding principle of Commonsenylvania is that all decision must be based on common sense.

Thought of the week…“I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible to any public office of trust or profit in the Republic.”
― H.L. Mencken