For all the pundits who prognosticate on the upcoming midterm elections, perhaps it’s time to look a bit further — to 2012. Aha, you say, the presidential election cycle. No, not that…
It is compelling to read the forecasts of the Aztecs — yes, the same people who built the impressive pyramids in Mexico’s interior. They claim the world will end on December 21, 2012. Some historians look at this as a cultural date set in stone, so to speak, a date that reflects the very incisive elements of a civilization that predated present-day America by centuries.
When Native Americans hunted for food and scalped their enemies, the Aztecs built monumental structures that dovetailed so closely with astronomy that their calendar was more precise than any set by any other people on earth.
Do a little research. You will come away slack-jawed at their ingenuity and ability to scan the stars and build their temples to coincide with the sun. Odd, isn’t it, so many cultures around the world worship “up”? Earthlings look to the sky for an entity responsible for creation.
Yet, in retrospect, some scientists claim that the date of 12-21-12 (see the similarity among the numbers?) is not a designation for Doomsday, but something far different.
If, in fact, these scientists are correct, that ominous date heralds the beginning of a new era. Given the history of the past 60 years and the exponential increase in populations dependent upon government for basic needs, then one would hope that the change cited would be a massive swing in the pendulum toward self-reliance.
You remember that, don’t you? The ability to take care of one’s self. It’s dormant in a large part of society, but if sparked by actual need, it can right itself and sail into the future — paving the way for a better life for all of us.
When you teach a child to read, you open countless doors of opportunity. When you teach a man to work, you give him an identity and pride that no amount of aid can equal. Giving a person something robs the very real impetus to achieve. When you remove incentive, you weaken the species.
It is not lost on a lot of us that the year 2012 coincides with a major presidential election cycle in the United States. If ever we were in need of a sea change in attitudes and control, it is now.
History, again, is the best teacher. Nowhere on earth and at no time in history has socialism ever worked. Look at Russia. When the Bolsheviks took over in 1917, the first thing they did was to take all the intelligencia and remove them from society — crippling any chance of societal gain. Farmers were taken to Siberia and city dwellers were placed on farms. Food production nearly came to an end.
Years later, when hunger was rampant, those who worked the land were given small plots of their own where they could raise their own food. What happened was predictable, in purely economic terms. The harvests from the small plots outstripped those of the government farms to such a degree that even the most hardened Communist had to see the difference.
Did the system change? Hardly. The government boot remained on the necks of the people for decades. No competition fostered sad examples such as warehouses of size 9 brown shoes. No choice. No opportunity. No incentive. No progress.
When Lyndon Baines Johnson launched the War on Poverty, he began the only real war that America has lost. Contrary to those who criticize the war in Viet Nam, no American unit ever lost a battle there. It was pure politics that withdrew the troops and left the South Vietnamese people to be slaughtered by the North Viet Nam Communist troops.
Do we have fewer poor? We have more. Do we have intact families among the poor? No. Do we respect the institution of marriage and decry practices held in dim view for millennia? We do not.
It is time for us to expect — yes, and pray for — a sea change in our political system and a reinstitution of personal responsibility. The growing numbers of government-dependent Americans needs to come to a screeching halt.
Schools need to be in local control. Many government programs need to end. When the average government worker makes more than a worker in the civilian sector, there is something terribly awry in the wage system. Common sense needs to be the rule of the day.
We, as a people, need to relegate “Political Correctness” to the ash heap. No amount of justification can defend it. There is right and there is wrong. To err is human, and I — for one — am tired of watching liars parse their language and sincere people ridiculed for honest opinions.
Don’t despair and abandon the fight. There is light at the end of the tunnel and it emanates from a lamp held by a grand lady on Ellis Island. Freedom lights the way. Creeping socialism threatens that light, but it can be fueled once again by a simple ballot.
Do not allow those who seek “basic fairness” (what a crock!) for all. Equality for all is not only not achievable, but also unneeded. Take away incentive and a people become serfs. This nation was not built by a people that sat on its corporate backside. It was built on work, and it’s time we put work first.
To take a play on words from 1970s California — of all places — remember the call of Santa Monica: “Surf’s up!” Twist this a bit and you have the warning for our time: “Serfs up?” I hope not. Think about it.