REFLECTION OF AMERICA THAT WAS

 

 

 

 

Joyce Morrison
May 13, 2007
NewsWithViews.com

Have you ever thought you lived in the world of Norman Rockwell only to find the picture had changed to a Picasso modern abstract?

Below I-80 in Illinois, we have the mental picture of living where the corn grows tall and we have four seasons -- each with its own individual beauty. Above I-80 is Chicago.

There was a time when almost everyone was moral - if they were not, they were called �sinners� and people cared enough to go to the altar and pray for them. You were not accused of being intolerant. You knew the difference between right and wrong.

School teachers were role models. Their lives were open books and they lived accordingly. They dressed in a manner that was respectful - and the students treated them with respect. Parents upheld the teacher and children knew what real discipline meant.

Kids didn�t dare say they were bored. Moms were very creative at finding work to be done. The only store where you could buy �junk� was the Five and Dime store. There wasn�t a huge selection and kids didn�t have money to waste so they learned to save the pennies they earned. Today�s young people think they are �due� everything they want - including cell phones, computers, I pods and cars�.and the parents work two jobs to provide these �necessities.�

There was once only one car per family and gasoline was 25 cents a gallon. It was too expensive to drive the car unnecessarily. It was a simpler time because our homes were not cluttered with things we don�t need. Having three cars in the driveway was reserved for the very wealthy and there were very few who were affluent.

Parents didn�t have to worry about predators on the internet seducing their children. The word Killology was not in their vocabulary. Young people knew the responsibility of having a gun and the violent episodes we experience today would have been unthinkable.

There was a day - long ago - when Senator Dick Durbin was pro-life and somewhat conservative when he served as a Congressman from Illinois, but �Durbin was ranked as the most liberal U.S. Senator in the nation by National Journal, a non-partisan magazine that covers the Beltway,� according to an article by Dan Proft in the Madison County Reporter. Shame on you Dick Durbin for becoming a Picasso in turmoil when you could have been a tranquil Norman Rockwell.

We the people of Illinois elected another extreme liberal to join Senator Dick Durbin. We have sent Senator Barack Hussein Obama to Washington, D.C. where he has become an instant celebrity worthy of becoming the President of this nation. However, no one seems to be able to cite his achievements.

I recently re-read Aldous Huxley�s �Brave New World,� written in 1932. Strangely, it is on target to what we are seeing around us today. There were no babies born from humans, but they were grown in bottles where their intelligence was controlled. They were ranked as Alpha, Beta, Delta and Epsilon. The Alpha and Betas were the intelligent group while the Delta and Epsilons were �dumbed� down with the goal to make them happy in their menial jobs of service to the superior Alpha and Beta groups.

When I read this, I immediately thought, �That is exactly what we are doing with the �School to Work� program.� In some states it is called �Education to Careers,� or a similar name.

We dumb down those who will be working at menial jobs. These students would be comparable to the Delta and Epsilons in Brave New World. Another group of students are being prepared to go into the more intellectual fields that the Alpha and Beta groups were bred to do.

In Brave New World, the people lived in what could be compared to �Smart Growth� communities. There were wilderness areas where only a few heathens lived. This is very similar to Sustainable Development as proposed by the United Nation�s Agenda 21 and adopted in 1992 as our model for �human habitat� in the United States.

In order to stay happy and not have a moral conscience, the people in Brave New World took pills. No one was to be in touch with their real feelings. Immediately I thought of today�s designer drugs such as Prozac.

When I look at the problems we face in the once conservative state of Illinois, where at one time Norman Rockwell could easily find subject matter for his paintings, the modern Cubism art of Picasso appears with no form. There is no longer a comfortable, tangible picture.

If the Gross Receipts Tax or other tax reforms are enacted in Illinois, many individuals and businesses will be bankrupt. Illinois was hit hard when the rate freeze on electricity ended causing electric rates in many cases to triple. Foreclosures are becoming epidemic among homeowners. The price of gasoline to commute to work has soared with a promise to keep rising. There is an attack on Second Amendment rights. Legislation that would destroy the family unit appears to be popular. And there is a huge amount of corruption in the education system while demands are made for more and more tax dollars to dumb down the students.

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The government cries for more and more money but never cuts spending. This is only a sampling of the problems we are facing, not only in Illinois, but across the nation.

The public does not seem to know what to do but complain about the problems and re-elect the same officials who have caused these problems in the first place. When people become informed and begin to unify and cry out en masse, we will begin to see change. Until then, we are in deep trouble.

� 2007 Joyce Morrison - All Rights Reserved