I should explain why I have titled this posting "Uncommon sense," and not "common sense" the title of one of Tom Paine's pamphlets giving the reasons for American independence.
I have recently decided that "common" sense is just that--common. And there is nothing about it that is very wise or intelligent. A synonym might be "stupid sense," a conclusion that I have come to after observing the race for president, a rare opportunity to study just how stupid is a large segment of the American people.
After nearly eight years of suffering from the effects of the thrashing of nearly every value and ideal in our society by the present Republican administration, the race is basically tied between the Democratic candidates and the Republican, John McCain.
I recognize that this country is essentially a conservative nation, but I would think that the highly valued "common" sense would lead people to want to substitute the local dog catcher for president rather than any candidate from the Republican Party.
What does it take to send these Republicans packing? The ones who have destroyed our economy and bankrupted our nation? Sacrificed the blood of some of the finest of our young people in a stupid and senseless war? Curtailed the most important and sacred of our liberties? Put our children's children in debt to pay for the war? Driven us to the point of the most severe depression since the Great Depression? Allowed their friends to feed at the trough of greed and avarice with no bid contracts in Iraq and New Orleans, wasting billions of dollars? I could go on and on, but you get the idea.
I hold myself and others like me somewhat responsible for the stupidity of the American people. I was a teacher for over twenty years, but in the defense of teachers, let me say that we were victims of a long term plan to destroy public education and substitute privatization in the form of charter or private schools, with just enough public schools remaining to serve as a warehouse for exploitation. We simply didn't have much of a chance to educate the American people in light of the reduced budgets and increased class size.
I taught at a school that had over 40 students in each classroom. We knew that students could not learn in such an environment. Yet, teachers accepted each addition to their class, knowing that it was either take that additional student or two or take less money. Why didn't we strike? Why didn't we make it clear that no teaching can occur in such classrooms? Why don't we strike now, because it is continuing, especially in most urban schools?
Under-paid teachers should not have been forced to make such choices but we were and we did, and public education was short-changed and the haves have increased the population of the have-nots in our society. The gap between the rich and the poor has increased because the middle class is being destroyed by outsourcing good middle class jobs to third world countries, and yet, the people most affected by this destruction of the middle class, the blue collar workers, continue to support the Republicans. Talk about stupid.
By the way, 20 per cent of dumb Americans continue to believe that Obama is a Moslem. All it takes on the internet to create a fact is simply to state that it is a fact, and soon, it is going around the world attached to the e-mails of the stupidest of the stupid. The internet, rather than serving as a beacon for enlightenment, is becoming a haven for the worst among us.