Townhall.com
D. W. Wilber
Match 20, 2018

As a young boy I was infused with a love of country by my parents and older brothers, all of whom had at one point or another served this nation in the military, as I eventually did myself. I was taught that the United States offered the best hope for the world, that the struggle would be hard, but our enemies would all eventually be vanquished because the United States stood for something good.

As the years have passed my love of country never faded, but my trust in our government and elected officials has indeed dimmed.

Witnessing what has been taking place over the last fifty years, but in particular the past almost ten years, has convinced me that our once great country stands on the precipice, either stepping forward and off the edge into oblivion, or taking a step back to a safer and a more sensible time.

There are those who will argue that going backwards is the wrong thing to do. I would argue otherwise. Were things so bad in America in the ‘50s and’60s? Certainly opportunities have opened up for women to pursue any career where once most were relegated to running the household.A noble endeavor by the way, and nothing for a woman to be ashamed of if that’s her choice to do.

And for minorities in America, the struggles of the past are still fresh in their collective memories, but the racism of the past has indeed been in the past for some time now. Contrary to what the self-serving politicians will tell you, the vast majority of Americans long ago discarded any racial prejudices and bigotry. People nowadays judge someone based on their behavior and character, not the color of their skin or ethnicity.

For the last fifty or sixty years now our youth have been under an intense indoctrination program in our public schools and universities. American history is no longer taught, but instead a revisionist history of this country is force fed down our children’s throats by “educators” whose own anti-American biases are obvious to any person educated in an American school before schools became nothing more than ‘leftist indoctrination centers’.

Teachers and school administrators now focus on the mistakes America has made throughout our nation’s history – and there have certainly been many – and little mention is made anymore of the great achievements made by Americans of historical note. In fact, individual achievements are ignored and any faults one might have had become the point of any lesson.

I once wrote a column where I lamented the fact that “boys don’t play soldier anymore,” how America’s military heroes were no longer recognized. Appreciation for their courage and bravery on the field of battle in defense of America has been replaced with lessons about the struggles of transgender individuals. Nowadays standing up and demanding the right to use whatever bathroom one wants has become ‘heroic’ and the new battle cry for the social engineers.

I remember a time when if you looked out on any high school parking lot you saw pick-up trucks with a rifle rack hanging in the back window, and a shotgun or .22 rifle clearly visible. After all, ‘Firearms Safety and Marksmanship’ were actually subjects taught in school!No one feared that a student was going to go out to their truck and bring their rifle in and start killing their classmates.

And why is that? One answer is that schools maintained discipline.There were no “Student Courts” where those being educated became the sole arbiter in disciplinary matters involving other students. The inmates didn’t begin to start running the asylum until school administrators abdicated control of schools to the mobs.

Police officers once were another noble profession who were respected members of the community. As in all professions certainly there have been and will be bad ones. But most do a thankless job under difficult circumstances. Nowadays one sees police officers being attacked and killed with regularity, instead of respected and looked up to.

There was a great upheaval taking place when I was in high school. The Vietnam War played heavily on the minds of those of us who were nearing draft age. But the thought of running off to Canada to avoid the draft – as some did - never crossed my mind. It was still a time of patriotism and serving one’s country in a time of need. Many of us still believed in the words of President John F. Kennedy when he challenged us to “ask not what your country can do for you, but rather what you can do for your country.”

My how times have changed.Today the challenge seems to be “how much can I get for free from the government?”; “Can I be bought with an ‘ObamaPhone’?”; “What government entitlements will they hand out to me next?”

Indeed, as a nation we have been led down the primrose path by politicians who will offer us anything that they think will buy our vote. Whether it’s really good for us or in the interests of our country, or not.And why do they offer us these little ‘trinkets’? For only one reason, to preserve their place in political office.

Some of the loudest politicians screaming for President Trump’s impeachment are those who had nothing when they came into office, but after twenty or so years on a congressional salary they now live in multi-million dollar mansions.

Are they screaming so loudly because they feel threatened by what a potential ‘housecleaning’ of our government might reveal? If I were a betting man that’s where I’d be putting my money. I think the time is long past for this country to institute term limits and return our government to the hands of the people. A true ‘citizen legislature,’ not a career for the corrupt.

Considering what appears to be a government that is awash in corruption, the America that I love and grew up in no longer exists. Unless we do something about it America will only be found in the documents our founders created that rest inside climate-controlled mounts within the National Archives.

Link

Added: I pick essays to post mostly on the potential to provoke interesting discussion, about which there are frequent surprises, not necessarily whether I agree with the ideas or viewpoints. This one, however, I agree with whole heartedly.

For me, it's a hard sell that term limits will do anything but slow their America hating progress or make them act faster. I believe, like any job, their needs to be structure ingrained, for them, very detailed so that we and they, know what they can do in office, what we will allow them to do, and at any time they do not perform service to their Country, based on the Constitution, instant and permanant recall and replacement occurs. None of their daily duties should be based on being politically opposite to another party. Best case senario, never elect another democrat. I could give a damn which party defines them, they have duties to the Country. I would like clear and precise details of their duties. Stray in any wrong direction for any wrong reasons, boot their asses now. Because a couple more decades of democrat destruction, we cannot sustain.

In my whole life I have never been as free as God and the founders intended. With a few exceptions, I can thank Lucifer and Democrats for that.

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Are they screaming so loudly because they feel threatened by what a potential ‘housecleaning’ of our government might reveal? If I were a betting man that’s where I’d be putting my money. I think the time is long past for this country to institute term limits and return our government to the hands of the people. A true ‘citizen legislature,’ not a career for the corrupt.

Considering what appears to be a government that is awash in corruption, the America that I love and grew up in no longer exists. Unless we do something about it America will only be found in the documents our founders created that rest inside climate-controlled mounts within the National Archives.

I whole heartedly agree as well.

Term limits will help, but won't be enough. As we are seeing, the 'Deep State' is much more than our elected officials. The ‘housecleaning’ of our government must include the permanent bureaucracy as well.

Furthermore, it goes back to education rather than indoctrination which means getting the government out of schooling.

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Furthermore, it goes back to education rather than indoctrination which means getting the government out of schooling.

We see the opposite happening and more overtly; especially after the Florida shootings.

This is one part of the essay I don’t subscribe to.

If those seeking office have the spirit of the founding documents internalized, term limits are unnecessary. If they don’t, having term limits doesn’t help, exactly what we are seeing right now.

Whackyland has had term limits for decades. How has that worked out?

The root of the problem was alluded to Sunday night in the discussion between Mark Levin and Larry Arnn. Progressives don’t believe in the founding principles of individual liberty, yearning for everyone to be compelled to adhere to the collective. It’s fundamental, not merely differences of degree.

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For the last fifty or sixty years now our youth have been under an intense indoctrination program in our public schools and universities. American history is no longer taught, but instead a revisionist history of this country is force fed down our children’s throats by “educators” whose own anti-American biases are obvious to any person educated in an American school before schools became nothing more than ‘leftist indoctrination centers’.

Teachers and school administrators now focus on the mistakes America has made throughout our nation’s history – and there have certainly been many – and little mention is made anymore of the great achievements made by Americans of historical note. In fact, individual achievements are ignored and any faults one might have had become the point of any lesson.

It's a phenomenon that began with Horace Mann and the progressive movement beginning in the early 20th century.

Anyone familiar with free-market economics would argue that private schools meet the needs of their customers better than public schools. So what happened to make education different from any other good produced in the market? In short, what happened was that the story told by the reformers was not true.

Read more here:
https://mises.org/library/comm...compulsory-education

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This is one part of the essay I don’t subscribe to.

If those seeking office have the spirit of the founding documents internalized, term limits are unnecessary. If they don’t, having term limits doesn’t help, exactly what we are seeing right now.

The original Constitution did not place term limits on any of the 3 branches of government. After the death of FDR, a majority of Americans decided that 4 presidential terms was too much.

Congress proposed the 22nd amendment by two-thirds of both the House and Senate on March 21, 1947. Ratification by the requisite 36 of the then-48 states was completed on February 27, 1951.

Would you advocate for repeal of the 22nd amendment?

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The root of the problem was alluded to Sunday night in the discussion between Mark Levin and Larry Arnn. Progressives don’t believe in the founding principles of individual liberty, yearning for everyone to be compelled to adhere to the collective. It’s fundamental, not merely differences of degree.

Yes... it's fundamental.
We are raising our children (in public schools) to adhere to the collective.

I know exactly the day that I wanted to move to the US

It was July 20, 1969 and I was watching Armstrong walk on the moon

I had been a space fan since Gemini, sucking in everything I could read about it and as I was watching the moon walk with my mom and dad I said 'thats what I want to do' and my dad said that Canada didn't have a space program. So that clinched it for me.

I had to move to the US. When I finally came here in 1991, living here was what I expected. The major difference between Canada and the northeastern US (Massachusetts and NH) was the color of the money. But it was the attitude that was different.

Americans were willing to take risks, take a chance on something. There wasn't any shame in trying something and failing. Canadians on the other hand were risk-averse - lets wait until we know something works before we jump into it with one foot.

I always admired the can-do free spirit America.

Unfortunately I think in large part that it is gone. The last 15 years have taken a toll and I see us as a country more polarized, more pissed off, more up tight, less free and less adventurous than ever.

I have a copy of the Constitution and Bill of Rights on my wall. Unfortunately I'm not sure what they mean any more.

We have a Department of Justice, an FBI and an IRS that work tirelessly to abuse American's and apparently they can do it with impunity. We have politicians who commit treason, lie and subvert, and in one case directly lead to the deaths of American and nothing happens.

I still love this country, but its not the country I moved to. I love the country. I hate the government.

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Originally posted by chellim1:

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This is one part of the essay I don’t subscribe to.

If those seeking office have the spirit of the founding documents internalized, term limits are unnecessary. If they don’t, having term limits doesn’t help, exactly what we are seeing right now.

The original Constitution did not place term limits on any of the 3 branches of government. After the death of FDR, a majority of Americans decided that 4 presidential terms was too much.

Congress proposed the 22nd amendment by two-thirds of both the House and Senate on March 21, 1947. Ratification by the requisite 36 of the then-48 states was completed on February 27, 1951.

Would you advocate for repeal of the 22nd amendment?

quote:

The root of the problem was alluded to Sunday night in the discussion between Mark Levin and Larry Arnn. Progressives don’t believe in the founding principles of individual liberty, yearning for everyone to be compelled to adhere to the collective. It’s fundamental, not merely differences of degree.

Yes... it's fundamental.
We are raising our children (in public schools) to adhere to the collective.

What I see in this reply post to your immediately preceding post is different than what is seen in that post. How does that happen?

Anyway, I’ve not really thought about it in the context of the Presidency.

Presidents are typically elected much later in life, older, with reduced remaining life spans usually. The demands of office are or can be crushing. Look how Presidents age in even two terms. Roosevelt barely made it through 3 terms, and was only 63 at death. There is only one President at a time, and of course, he is chosen by the entire country.

The situation is different with respect to legislative members, state and federal. They are only one of many, and can start at a much younger age.

All term limits has done in Whackyland is start hustling for the next office earlier. It takes time to learn how the various government apparatuses work, how to legislate effectively. There is no up or out, merely shuffling available slots amongst the loyal.

If an individual gets too big for his britches, his constituents can limit his term. Otherwise, let him roll. I realize this isn't always very efficient, especially having spent much of my adult life in a solid minority of voters at all levels. For some years, there was not a single elected office holder I had voted for...... very frustrating. Still, that was the people’s choice, not mine alone. OTOH, since term limits have been in effect, they have now pretty much established a strangle hold on elective offices in the state.

Term limits would get rid of Maxine Waters and Sheila Jackson Lee but also would have eliminated the Congressman here, Lamarr Smith, who just retired after 30 years in Congress, pretty popular, widely admired here. Why should these people be unable to vote for a representative of their choice?

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Why should these people be unable to vote for a representative of their choice?

Yes, I understand that argument.
We already have term limits, available to us every two years, when we go to the voting booth.
However, we may have to throw the good out with the bad because the odds of an incumbent being defeated are extremely slim given the advantages of incumbency in name recognition and fundraising ability.

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Originally posted by darthfuster:

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Furthermore, it goes back to education rather than indoctrination which means getting the government out of schooling.

We see the opposite happening and more overtly; especially after the Florida shootings.

Having raised my children in Silicon Valley, and having taught college here for 20 years, I can say first hand that liberal (defacto anti-American) forces control public education here.

I have a WWII documentary, they interview an older German lady who comments along the same lines, the Nazi's used public schools to indoctrinate children from day one. With various comments from my grandchildren, I am not sure America today is much different.

I strongly disagree with Term Limits. I think that is an incredibly naive idea. Here is my reasoning:

IF a politician is controlled by special interests, it would be no problem at all for the same special interests to put forth a succession of new crooks, and back them into office. Since each new crook is unknown, it is actually harder to identify them and oppose them.

By contrast, a long-serving politician has a voting RECORD of what they will ACTUALLY DO. If we oppose them, we can limit their term by voting them out. But if they are actually doing what we want them to do, we can keep them and have a high confidence that they will keep doing it.

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Originally posted by Scoutmaster:

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Originally posted by darthfuster:

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Furthermore, it goes back to education rather than indoctrination which means getting the government out of schooling.

We see the opposite happening and more overtly; especially after the Florida shootings.

Having raised my children in Silicon Valley, and having taught college here for 20 years, I can say first hand that liberal (defacto anti-American) forces control public education here.

I have a WWII documentary, they interview an older German lady who comments along the same lines, the Nazi's used public schools to indoctrinate children from day one. With various comments from my grandchildren, I am not sure America today is much different.

While at first the idea of America today not being much different than Germany in its early transition is alarming, we must understand that human nature never changes and evil as an intelligent force never rests. I say intelligent evil because I believe it is not a nebulous conglomeration of bad people. I believe it is a centralized entity with a destructive design. As such evil can corrupt even the highest moral societies given enough time and if the population is progressively enticed to immorality. In short, if it can happen in Germany, it can happen here and in the same ways to the same degree or worse. All that is needed is enough emotion.

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Originally posted by darthfuster:
In my whole life I have never been as free as God and the founders intended. With a few exceptions, I can thank Lucifer and Democrats for that.

Yeah, pretty much my belief as well!

As more and more stories of political corruption come out, and they will, we will truly learn just how screwed we, and the country are.

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Term limits would get rid of Maxine Waters and Sheila Jackson Lee but also would have eliminated the Congressman here, Lamarr Smith, who just retired after 30 years in Congress, pretty popular, widely admired here. Why should these people be unable to vote for a representative of their choice?

So we should continue to have dozens/hundreds/thousands of people in elected positions that are there purely to benefit/enrich themselves and their co-criminals because one truly good guy would not get re-elected?

I cannot begin to believe that one such good guy can off set the damage done by all those crooks/incompetents who populate our government, federal, state and local.