I believe that's true for just about everyone. I am who I am because my parents are who they are. It's a chain that goes all the way up my family tree. It can go one of two ways. Either you are exactly like your parents, or you look at them at some point in your life, despise who they are, and determine to be the opposite. I believe this is true if you had good parents, or bad parents.
Me, for example. I had good parents, though they don't agree with me politically. They were always there for me, they were strong in the face of adversity, they were my foundation. I can attribute my strength to them. They imparted some of this knowledge verbally, through lessons, and some I got from watching them.
When my brother and I were born, my Dad's parents opened a checking account for each of us. They started it with $25 and let my parents put in as they could. My Dad got laid off from his job (they went on strike) in the late 1960's (I believe 1967-68). At that time, $25 would buy a week's worth of groceries. (My how inflation has affected us, huh?) Times got tough, but they didn't ask for money. They didn't run to the government for help. They did have to take that $25 out of our accounts to feed us. When times got better, they replaced it.
I was taken to church as a child, until about the 4th grade. We had lived out in the country for a couple years by then, and they decided it was just too far to drive to keep going to the same church. Their generation didn't "church shop" like we do now. But I had that base.
I got to see my mother's strength and faith when she went through breast cancer. I got to use it myself when just 5 years later, and again 7 years after that, I got to go through breast cancer. I got to see how their faith carried them through my illness.
I suppose the opposite is true as well. My Mom's dad was an alcoholic. Mom doesn't drink at all. My Dad went through the depression. He may have been a very small child, but he learned lessons. He was born in 1932. He was of the generation that reused, re purposed, etc., and didn't just go out and buy another one. He learned how to make knives from his Dad. He taught me how to knit, as well as how to read directions. He told me if you know how to read directions, you can teach yourself anything.
If I were going to destroy this country, I would destroy the family unit. I would make sure that they don't have dinner around the table at night. Possibly by requiring that the man of the house need 2 jobs to support his family. Possibly by making it more profitable for there to not even be a man in the house. I would make sure free money was available so the single mother didn't need a job. I would make it more profitable to depend on the government for handouts than to have a small job. If you don't see a parent get up and go to work, you will have no work ethic yourself. If you don't have a 2 parent family unit, you will think it's fine to not be there for your children. What do they call that? Baby mama's? Women that you just father children with, who then split their government check with you for the privilege of not having to go to work?
I would take the stigma away that taking a handout is wrong. I would make it common place. How many people during the Great Depression sold apples on the corner so they could feed their families? How many people now take whatever job they can find in order to feed their families? Or do most just say whatever and take that government check? They actually feel as if the government owes it to them. They don't pay taxes, why do they figure the government owes them a living? I pay taxes. I don't get all of it back, either. Some years I get a little back, some years I break even and sometimes I owe just a bit. I don't consider myself rich, by any means. If you are getting everything you have from the government, from the party that says everything will be free under me, but the other guy wants to take it all away, which guy are you going to vote for? I believe if you don't pay taxes, you shouldn't vote. You've heard of no taxation without representation? I say no representation without taxation. I don't remember which founding father said it, but he had it right. As soon as the people figure out they can vote someone in who will give them free stuff, our country is doomed (extremely paraphrased).
I am who I am because my parents are who they are. They are of a different era than me. I've seen a lot of changes over my short life (to them, 48 years is nothing). I can't believe the changes they've seen over their lifetimes. They are resistant to change, though. They still believe that the Democrat party is what it was during John F. Kennedy. They're starting to wake up though.
I have to wonder though: They realize that Republicans of today are closer to Democrats of Kennedy's era and that the Democrats have wandered really far to the left. They don't have a total grasp of what left and right are, but they understand the general idea. When you sit and ask them questions, they are conservative. But my dad was so busy working in a factory (which kills his soul) to feed his family and give them something better than what he had, that he didn't notice policy. He fell for the party line that the Democrats were for the common man and the Republicans were for big business. He doesn't get conservatism vs liberalism. But I wonder if everything has slid to the left, does that make Libertarians more like Republicans used to be?
In that respect (the questioning of policies) I suppose you could say I learned from my parent's mistakes. I see that they fell for the party line, and that I voted the R behind the name for too many years. I fell asleep, too. Because I have been awakened, I suppose I should thank Obama. My parents didn't vote for him. They left the presidential spot unchecked. I explained to them that by not voting they were voting. I think a lot of Republicans felt that way, too. They didn't vote for McCain in the primaries, because they recognized he was progressive light, so come time to vote, they just left it blank. I pray that it doesn't happen this time. Republicans are establishment (most of them). The Establishment is called that because they want everything to stay the same. That's why you hear all this talk of term limits when the Democrats have the majority, but term limits don't get voted in when the Republicans have the majority. They don't really want it, because it means they won't hold that office as long. They really want term limits for only the Democrats. And Democrats would be for term limits for only Republicans. I believe in a 2-party system. Without it, you have fascism. Even if they were all conservative. But I also believe in honesty. If a candidate is a moderate, run as a moderate. Don't wrap all your speeches in conservatism, when we know as soon as you're elected, you will go back to being a Moderate. If you believe in socialistic policies, run as a socialist. There are socialists in America's population, if there are enough, you'll get elected. But don't be a socialist and run as a Democrat. Don't couch all your rhetoric in Moderate clothes and phrases, knowing when you get in, you'll turn this country into Amerika.
I am who I am because my parents are who they are. If the things I said about destroying America hold true, the opposite should save her. Reinforce the family unit. Ease some of the regulations on businesses, so they will hire instead of holding on to all of their money in order to not give it away. A business will not expand if it has an uncertain future. If it knows taxes are going down, and they have to give less to the government, they will expand. Thus they have to hire. Don't force them to pay "living wages" because they will just pass it on to the consumer, not the worker. If goods go up in price, it won't matter that you make more. My Dad tells a story of the depression when his dad worked on the river and his mom was raising him alone. They only had 19 cents, enough for a loaf of bread. What can you get for 19 cents now? Bread costs over $2. Dad said he got .75 an hour. That means it's about 15 minutes work to get a loaf of bread. That would mean everyone should make about $12 an hour now. Really? You think McDonald's is going to pay someone $12 an hour to flip burgers? They put NO love into that burger, they're just there because they want to buy gasoline, party money, etc. If they had any pride in a job, my burger wouldn't come out the drive-through looking like it does.
Why is it that it's more profitable to be a single parent in today's society? Did you know that some people are unionizing baby sitter's? There is a minimum you have to pay them, and it's per hour. If you have a small job that barely feeds your family to start with, and in order to go to that job, you have to hire a sitter, why bother? You can sit at home, be with your kids and get a check from the government. I believe Welfare ought to have a time limit, and be small enough to make it more profitable to work. It was designed as a safety net, not a way of life. And there is no longer a stigma attached to getting a welfare check. As a matter of fact, it's a badge of honor to be able to scam the government out of more money than you deserve. I've heard of people having 7 kids, only claiming 4 so their sister who has none can claim the other 3. Or women who just go out and get pregnant with whoever, and numerous whoevers, so they can get those checks. The men who aren't even in their lives get a cut. Maybe there should be a limit of how many kids you get paid to have. Maybe there should be a better verification method to determine if you are actually the parent of the child you're claiming. They make me fill out a form every year in order to keep being my handicapped son's legal guardian. Why do they not investigate these people who get governmental money for the kids they have?
It used to be that if you didn't own land, you didn't vote. Now they would say that's racist, because most blacks and Hispanics don't own, but rent. Why is that? Because they don't (the majority) work, but get government checks. Maybe you should have to show your previous year's tax form in order to vote. If you got everything back, or even more than you put in, you don't vote. Yes, that would affect me sometimes, but I'm for it. I know I wouldn't abuse the right to vote, by voting for the guy who makes me money, but others would. I would take away the fact that you are cool if you scam the government. I would be "fair" (there's that word again) and research every case, not just the ones that appear to not be racist. Can't make minorities prove they aren't doing anything wrong, but you sure can ride the backs of white people. Why is it I have to prove everything, but they take their word for it?
I would also stop class/race/whatever warfare. Take race and sex off of any forms. That includes college entrance forms, job applications, etc. What difference does it make? If you are going by a quota system, meaning that if the population of America is 18% black, you have to have that many in your employment or college, you're racist. Have a set bar and if you don't get over it, you don't get in. Period. No matter race. If that means there are more Orientals in the colleges than any other race, so be it. If that means you don't have as many of some other race, so be it. Work harder. If you lower the bar to let someone in, you're racist. How would that look if they did it for white people? Well, we need more white people in this job, but the requirements are just too high. Let's take the best of the white people, and who cares if this black person is better qualified? You see how it feels when the tables are turned? Not so good, huh? We stopped slavery. We don't need to be made slaves now, 150 years later, in order to know who it must have felt. Face it, you don't know what it feels like either, 150 years later. Except that the Democrat party keeps minorities down so they can say they'll make it better if you vote for them. They had control of both house and Senate and Presidency for the first 2 years of Obama's administration. Did it get better, or worse? And by the way, did you know that not one single Democrat voted for blacks to have the right to vote? And when it passed, it was Democrats who wouldn't let the blacks vote in primaries, making it private events, so that they blacks couldn't determine who ran? They had to pick from among those that the whites allowed them to vote for. They couldn't have a black man in office.
And if you think for one minute that Obama is the first black president, you're wrong. He's half white. If he had lost, they would have called us all racist for not voting for him, so they picked someone who was more palatable, being half white. Why is it they don't call us all racist for voting him in because he's half white? Why did they run Herman Cain out of the running? They can't stand a black man who thinks for himself. Just like the bull about there being no black conservatives.
I am who I am because my parents are who they are. I'm independent and outspoken and politically correct doesn't sit well with me.
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