Less than one hundred years ago there was no safety net.  You either survived or you didn’t.  People and families were responsible for their children and each other.  The government was not what the socialists/far left agenda wants to transform it in to.  People were forced to work hard and drive themselves.  Yes there needed to be protections against unfair labor practices but even with the creation of unions for example, there were no excuses.  People worked hard.  That’s the only way to be successful.  Today we have created and are creating a society of weak, dependent people.  That’s the plan on how the left intends to hold on to power.  Give people just enough to remain dependent.  I will address this in an upcoming post.

When I was in grammar school we used a machine that taught us how to read.  The words scrolled across the screen, the earlier words fading to black.  You either kept up or you didn’t.  If you didn’t or couldn’t you were sent for in-school tutoring to improve your reading and comprehension.  The entire class didn’t slow down, because a few students couldn’t keep up.  Standardized testing was a fact of life and you were asked to raise your standards to get the top grade, not eliminate the test.  Not every child was wonderful and not every child was coddled.  We fought our own battles, literally and figuratively and are stronger both physically and emotionally for it.  That’s called life.

Life is a competition from day one, like it or not.  Who is the prettiest or handsomest?  Who is the most talented?  Who is prom king or queen?  We can all appreciate the feel good stories when someone is singled out for their differences and made to feel special.  There’s nothing wrong with that and is in fact commendable.  But not everyone falls into this category.  Years ago parents held their kids accountable for their bad grades or poor behavior.  Today parents blame the school board or faculty.

Whenever I watch the latest iteration of Family Feud, (I love Steve Harvey but Richard Dawson was pretty cool.  By todays standards, he would of course been considered a predator).  Back then, the first contestant in fast money had only 15 seconds to answer the five questions and the second was allowed 20 seconds.  Today it’s 20 and 25.  Have contestants become dumber?  Or was it just too difficult?  Even weather has been dumbed down.  Forty years ago, a Blizzard rarely occurred because by definition, a blizzard only occurred when the temperature was below 20F (-6.7C) and snowfall rates of 3 inches per hour for 3 consecutive hours. If the storm didn’t meet these two criteria, no matter how terrible the conditions, it was a snowstorm.  Now there are blizzards every year despite not meeting those criteria.  Perhaps it helps the climate change scientists, so as to make it seem like weather has become more extreme.  It hasn’t.  I say this not because I am a climate change denier, to the contrary, I just happen to love weather and follow it closely.  That’s why when Hurricane Sandy hit I was outside waiting to feel her wrath.  It never came.  What happened, at least in NYC is the sewers backed up due to poor infrastructure and terrible flooding occurred as a result.  But there was no rain and the wind could barely move me.  Weak Hurricane, barely a Cat 1.  The “Great Storm” of 1693 caused severe damage and loss of life on Long Island.  A hurricane that destroyed the Battery occurred on August 19, 1788.  More on climate change in an upcoming post.

When you ask less of people and “dumb down” the world around us, it forces people to become more dependent rather than less dependent.  People need a challenge.  Not an insurmountable challenge but one that creates exceptionalism, not mediocrity.  Dependency should never be a goal and the safety net should always be for a limited period of time.  The only way that the USA will be assured a happy and prosperous future is to expect much from people.  Raise the Bar, not lower it.  Dumbing down is about making people feel better about themselves.  It’s about making everyone equal.  But people aren’t equal in terms of their accomplishments.  That’s why awards and medals were invented; to recognize outstanding achievement.  Our kids are lagging behind in math and science because of this everyone wins mentality.  This needs to end now.