The following post is from someone I met on Twitter who calls himself "Old Marine". As we started sending messages back and forth, he reminded me of my father although I'm pretty sure that Old Marine and I are probably pretty close in age now. My dad was ex-military and as I have written before, I grew up in a military environment and knew many men just like him and like Old Marine.
They're opinionated and not too shy about sharing their opinions but I have always found them to be fair and prepared to listen to the opinions of others. They tend to embrace old-fashioned values like honour, duty and service and they also tend to be fiercely loyal to their country and its people.
I'm pretty sure that Old Marine and I are not going to agree on everything but I respect him and I asked him to share his post on my blog. I asked him because it is not a rant against the left particularly (although his conservative nature does show just a touch). I asked him to post today because I believe he has hit the nail on the head in identifying the true problem we face today. It's something I've written about and something more and more are speaking up about. It's the unwarranted sense of entitlement held by too many that has led to a serious erosion of our values and our work ethic.
Here's what Old Marine has to say about it.
The 2012 Election Will Not Turn America Around
by Old Marine
Under the best circumstances, even with a change in the House, Senate and of course the White House, and the implementation of real government reform, accompanied by massive rollbacks in government spending, I feel that things will not improve. There will still be that segment of American society who have been so indoctrinated (brainwashed) with the entitlement mentality that no matter what the government does to try to change it will not be enough. There will always remain those who will continue to use brainwashing in the form of “education” to continue their onslaught to bring America down.
This entitlement mentality has been so ingrained into various segments of society, which in my opinion, has caused the breakdown of social norms. All one has to do to see this breakdown is look at the news to see this crosses all segments of society.
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photo: thetelluwhat.blogspot.com |
Let’s look at Occupy Wall Street and it’s associated off shoots. Where in a civilized society, is it acceptable to have sex in public? Just where is it acceptable to interfere with other Americans who go about their normal everyday life, earning a living and providing for their families. I know, this has been discussed by many “talking heads” and the reason(s) for these various activities, but the main theme behind these Occupy movements is the sense of entitlement. They feel they are entitled to anything and everything, including, but not limited a college education, a home, and even a guaranteed job. How will changing “leadership” in D.C. change this entitlement mentality? How will this election change the number of organizations that are behind these “useful idiots”?
How will changing the “leadership” do anything about Hispanics who will riot over of something as simple as ‘displaying American flags as well as the wearing of “blatantly patriotic” jewelry and clothing’. How will changing the “leadership” do anything about an organization like La Raza Unida (“the Unified Race”), which is also known as the La Raza Unida Party. This organization that has been around since the 1960’s, and believe that they are entitled to that land that has been part of the United States since the 1800’s and now figure that this land belongs to them. Will a change in Washington, change this organization’s sense of entitlement?
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| photo: digitaltrends.com |
How many times have people seen on the various news outlets reports about the “riots” that take place on “Black Fridays”? How many people who were just doing their jobs have been injured, or maybe even died? How many thousands of dollars in property damage or retail items have been incurred? Why?
It is it to get the latest electronic gizmo, latest fashion or the latest named tennis shoes? If so, why not do what civilized people do, stand in line, wait your turn and accept the fact, that maybe there wasn’t enough stock ordered or someone got there before you. Instead, there are “mad” and sometimes violent rushes into the stores, maybe injuring people. In one known case a woman used pepper spray on other customers just to get an electronic game console. What will happen to her? Will she be charged with a misdemeanor? Slapped on the wrist, hell we may never know. What would have happened if a police officer used pepper spray to disperse a crowd? Oh, wait a minute, it did happen and remember the outrage? Did this woman think / feel that she was entitled to that game console or was it just the mob mentality, the breakdown of accepted social behavior? Will changing the people in D.C. change this?
Look at the recent Air Jordan tennis shoe release. The police were called to shopping centers in Indiana, Florida, Texas and Virginia and many other states to control crowds of hundreds lining up for the shoes. It some places the doors were torn off their hinges (see video in link); in other cases the police had to use pepper spray and call in riot squads. Most Americans may ask, “Why?” Is it because as one Houston resident said, “These shoes have always had a place of value in Black life” and they feel entitled to do whatever they need to do to get these shoes?
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| photo: slamxhype.com |
Needless to say, right on cue, the enablers, the so call activists come on the scene and blame Nike, Michael Jordan, the store and everyone else except Bush or the people themselves. One of these activists, Quanell X, “demanded” that Nike and Michael Jordon “lower the price of the shoes and meet customer demand.” The question that should have been asked is, “Why? What makes these activists “entitled” to demanding the setting of any price?” Do they feel “entitled” to determine how an industry does business? What will changing the leadership in Washington do? Will they pass laws saying that Nike and Michael Jordon have to lower prices or increase supply? Is this what our Founding Fathers intended for the government to do?
Let’s look at the corruption of what started off as a fairly benign and in some cases goofy activities, “flash mobs”. This corruption has according to a survey of 129 retailers conducted by the National Retail Foundation; nearly 95 percent said they were victimized by organized criminal activities in the past year and 85% in the past three years. I could go through a list of the various flash robberies but I will leave it to the reader to check these out. Why the “up tick’ in the past three years? Has the current leadership in Washington fostered this “entitlement mentality”? Will changing the “leadership” change something that has been taught and ingrained in the youth through society?
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| photo: CNN |
So as the Gunny sees it, even if Conservatives / Republicans do take over the House, the Senate and Obama is defeated, no matter which way the 2012 election goes, America will not turn around. Does anyone seriously believe that something that has been put in place over the past 60+ years will be changed by one election? Does anyone really believe that those who feel entitled will just quietly stand by or go quietly “into the night” and allow their entitlements to be taken away? Does anyone think that when “challenged” or criticized that they will not defend themselves? After all we have seen their “probing actions”, they have seen just what the authorities and the members of American society will do. Their enablers, the media and the left “talking heads” and politicians, will defend them and even resort to name calling, “racist”, the “Haves”, the “one percenters” or any other number of names.
Yet, this Gunny does see hope on the horizon, number of patriotic Americans are waking up and taking a closer look at what has and is happening to our great country. Yes, changing leadership in D.C. is a damn good start, but it will not solve the problems and it definitely will not bring America back to its “first principles”. To do this, it needs to begin in the home. The parents have to challenge the schools, the teachers, the books and most importantly the unions. The parents have to teach their children about the greatness of America. They have to show their children, lead by example, and the value of the freedoms that America has granted to them. Just as it has taken 60+ years for America to get to where we are today, I afraid it will take as long if not longer to get back to where we know America should be, and Glenn Beck has said, “there will be some tough times ahead” and I’m afraid that there may be some violent times ahead as well.
That’s how the Gunny sees it, how about you.
Semper Fi
If you have written an article and would like to have it considered as a guest post on A Bear's Rant, drop me a note. Your article doesn't have to agree with any of the issues raised in others posted here, although they can. All that is required is that they be factual, polite and relate to the type of content featured in this blog. All requests will be considered from both the left and the right of the political divide.
You can read more by Old Marine at http://rebuildingfreedom.org/ or follow him on Twitter @oldmarine
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