“LEARN ENGLISH, RECITE THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS…”
by OPOVV, ©2014
(Apr. 7, 2014) — In “Days of Yore,” a man and a woman swore everlasting fidelity to one another for a myriad of reasons, not the least of which was producing offspring who would see them through their old age. They relied on their children to feed and protect them, just as they had for their youngsters.
When the majority of the people moved off the farm into the city, the whole equation of human existence was changed dramatically. When old folks’ homes were first introduced, they were in the vicinity of the church. The inhabitants were usually referred to as “pensioners” and were an invaluable source of history and story-telling, which was why they were located in close proximity to the schools run by churches. It was also a reminder to the young that, they too, will someday be old and frail and end up relying on others to comfort them in their old age.
When retirement homes became profitable, the private sector introduced assisted living complexes. Some of these retirement homes are quite remarkable in the services they offer, while others are run by people who you’d never invite into your home, and, consequently, are at the bottom of the barrel for attentiveness, cleanliness, and overall caring abilities. But, as they say, you get what you pay for. You take the worst-run “home” and staff it with responsible people, and you’ll end-up with a quality product. It’s not the quality of silverware or the carpet that makes a “home” enjoyable: it’s the people who run the joint.
Which is true for just about every employee on the planet: you hire losers and you get a lousy product. You hire get-up-and-go people at the same pay scale, you’ll get a quality product, from constructing a house to cleaning a vehicle at a car rental agency at an airport. “You get what you pay for” is not always true. What is true, however, is if you hire bums, you get about nothing.
Our military used to have standards. You took tests for mental and physical abilities, and when you took the Oath to the Constitution, it wasn’t just some lip service. But since the 1960’s the standards have been lowered decade after decade, so now we’re starting to see our military made up of non-citizens to be given citizenship at the end of their enlistment.
These non-citizens are mixed in with less-than-desirable recruits (Muslims), so we now have a military, in 2014, that is not stoked with the “citizen soldiers” of yesterday. I’m not saying all, mind you, but I am directing your attention to a trend.
We have embraced affirmative action as if it’s the panacea for all of our social woes. Big mistake, because what we’ve done is lowered the standards in order to achieve some sort of meaningless intellectual satisfaction. Look, we have a huge percentage of our Civil Service made up of minorities, but in order to fill the ranks, we’ve had to lower our standards from a 12th grade reading level to that of a functionally illiterate 3rd grader. Rather than actually spend the time and money on improving the quality of applicants, we’ve shot ourselves in the foot by doing a disservice to the very people who we’re supposed to be helping.
We give money to people for not working. We hand-out Food Stamps and Welfare checks and receive no labor in return. It’s time we end the free ride. If they want to eat, then they should be required to work for it. Sweep the streets. Learn English. Recite the Gettysburg Address. I’m sick and tired of carrying a bunch of deadweight. Start up the WPA and let’s start getting a reasonable return on our investments.
OPOVV