This republican primary season has me questioning the America I grew up in vs the America that Newt and Mitt see.
More beyond the pretty squiggly mark...
I grew up respecting my teachers, knowing that if I got into trouble at school, it would be 4 times rougher at home. Teachers taught the material and tested us at the end of chapters to see if we were paying attention and learning the material they taught. If they noticed you were having trouble with the material, they worked with you during class times or study hall, to help you learn what they were teaching. NO standardized test at the end of a grading period or school year. You were promoted because you passed the requirements to go onto the next grade, otherwise you repeated the grade. Bad teachers were eventually found out and moved on, where as good teachers were recognized for their efforts. Just like any job, if you screw up enough times, they find ways to send you on to another place of employment. I am pretty sure teacher burn-out was rare. Oh, there were kids that would know be diagnosed with ADHD now, but we just called them the wigglers, the teachers gave these kids extra things to do and their parents helped them learn to control their impulses. Few kids were given medications. Pretty sure I just pissed off those people with a real medical condition. I also remember being shoved outside twice a day for recess and after lunch to play and work off some of that excess energy that all kids have.
If you weren't college bound or didn't want to go to college, there were programs available for you to study, for instance, auto mechanics, building trades, cosmetology, and not a big one today, secretarial skills. If you wanted to be a plumber or electrician or work in HVAC, you started working for a company as an apprentice and worked your way thru the on-the-job training until you could pass the skills to get your certification. This usually took a number of years. People could find pretty decent paying jobs working in factories making things that were sold to other Americans. These jobs paid enough to buy a house, send your kids to college if they wanted to or had the smarts to go. The company offered a pension plan and health insurance to take care of their workers. Workers were considered ASSETS in those days, just not expenses in a ledger. A ledger, a paper book that would be called a spreadsheet today!!! You took your vacation traveling with the family to historic sites or to grandma's house. Work didn't call you to attend meetings while you were on vacation, because you were actually ON VACATION.
Going to college didn't cost an arm and a leg and a kidney like it does today. I remember my parents paying my tuition bill of a whopping $465 PER QUARTER for me to go to school, that was a FULL LOAD of classes. Otherwise, if memory serves, it was close to $45 a credit if you didn't take a full load of 12 credits. At that price, I got a pretty decent bachelors degree from a pretty decent state college for under $7,000 plus books and one year of living in the dorms. Oh, and I worked a part time job to pay for my sorority dues and fun expenses.
The America I remember was one where if you worked hard, you could live a comfortable life. Not Mitt Romney rich but you could pay your bills, expect some respect for your choice of profession, was kind to your neighbors, didn't talk about your religion unless you worked for a church, kept your racism in check and were called a Male Chauvinist Pig if you put down women. Women were still fighting for respect but we were getting there. Medical choices were not for government over-sight because it was none of the governments business. Oh and there was actual sex education in the schools, oh yea, 9th grade health class..
Let's explore my 9th grade health class experience in Southern Ohio. The health teacher was in her first year of teaching, and I remember that because she graduated from the local high school 8 years prior with one of my older siblings. The class was segregated for the week, with the male gym teacher teaching the boys, and our young teacher getting the silly 9th grade girls. First we discussed all the lady parts and how they worked. Tubes and all. Then we had the period discussion. Nothing like making girls squirm in their seats. We then had to discuss the male parts and how they worked. All of this was done with anatomy type charts and pictures, nothing at all sexy. There was an entire hour of discussion on BIRTH CONTROL. A banana was used to show how a condom worked. She had examples of an I.U.D., a sponge, a diaphragm, and the birth control pills. The rhythm method was also discussed. Nothing was left out. It was a pretty clinical discussion with very embarrassed 9th grade girls, and boys, I guess, because few of us compared notes!!
In 10th grade, our parents had to sign a permission slip for us to watch the birthing movie in biology class. My mother gave her full permission, thinking that seeing an actual birth and all the blood and pain that went with it would be a good deterrent to getting pregnant. And it worked. Was frightening enough to scare me off. Well, until I went to college anyway.
Back to what I think is wrong with the America that Mitt and Newt see. They live in a constant state of fear, if you ask me, fear that people that aren't like them will rise up and realize that since the mid-1980's the rich and powerful have been getting all the spoils and that those of us down here in the trenches have been getting less and less of a paycheck, of a fair shake, of control of our own destines. To go to college today costs as much or more than a 3 bedroom 2 bath home in most major cities. They are afraid that we will finally realize that having connections means more today then it did when I was growing up. They are constantly telling us the government is bad, but yet they want to work for the government. I think they have forgotten that we tax payers are their BOSSES, not their underlings. They work for us. And they want us to be just as scared, painting a picture of an America that makes us think that if they don't have control of our lives, that we should just lay down and let the terrorists take over. I am sorry, Mr. Gingrich and Mr. Romney, but I don't have your vision.
And in case you are wondering, I graduated from high school in 1980, so the America I remember was the 1970's. The decade that brought us Disco, the Bee Gees, the Beatles breaking up, gas rationing, President Nixon resigning in disgrace, and Presidential campaigns that weren't financed by big corporate entities that were essentially buying our government or writing our legislation. That was the birth of that movement. The birth of the scared men that built up the conservative movement because the protests against the Vietnam War and the Women's Liberation movement. A decade past the Civil Rights Act being passed. The decade after the late 1960's of free love and anti-establishment.
I have a personal belief that these men, and they were mostly men except for Phyllis Schafly, the woman who hated the fact that other women wanted to be paid equally for the same job as men. She believed that women should stay home and raise children. Poor Phyllis, she really went after the gay movement, and then her son came out of the closet. I think these people were those kids that were the bullies in school, you know the ones, that were nasty and mean to the littler kids on the playground but the minute someone fought back, went crying to the teacher. That is Newt Gingrich. Mitt, well Mr. Romney grew up with money, had all the privledges that came with that and with a sense of superiority that some Mormons seem to have, no offense to nice Mormons everywhere. Yes he had to make his own way, but it is much easier when you have a father that not only was a CEO of a car company, but also a Governor and a candidate for President of the US. It is much easier when you already have the way paved for you. If you don't believe me, look at George W. Bush. 'nough said.
So, again, I don't see their America, but I fear if they get their way, their vision will be our nightmare. I love my country but I fear for it daily with these jokers. It is bad enough that we have the anti-government government workers in Congress, and yes, hate to burst their bubbles, but they are government workers, and their kind in state legislatures and governorships all over the country, but to put one in charge of the nuclear codes.. NO THANK YOU.
Thanks for listening.. Rants of a Liberal.