By Larry Oscar
As we get things going toward the next big election, things couldn’t heat up more for some Americans. It’s time that we took note of all we have seen in the past eight years and what our country needs to do to get our economy and American values back on track.
The recent situations in Ferguson, MO and Baltimore, MD should make every American sit up and take note. Both of these situations have resulted in the release of years of frustration by the citizens of these communities and many other communities throughout this country. As a city councilman in Baltimore put it, “The violence is wrong, but it is a reflection of the lack of educational and economic opportunity for the people who live in this community.” Very well put.
And just who caused the educational and economic opportunity to leave the community, and many more just like them throughout the entire country? Well let’s take a look at both the education issue and the job opportunity issue. For starters, the education system in this country has been going downhill since the late 1960’s. To be exact it was 1968 when the federal government and the big teacher unions took over. This is when the central planning liberals in Washington D.C. started telling us what we could do to discipline and teach our children in the individual states.
Big Government, Unions Have Ruined Education
And this is when the big teacher unions decided the union membership handouts were more important than the children’s education. So why should people in the cities like Baltimore be surprised? After all, my bet is almost 90% or more of the people who live there voted for the very politicians who supported Washington D.C. central planning and the big teacher unions. The irony is it was one of their favorite sons, Franklin Roosevelt, who warned them about government worker big unions. They didn’t listen did they?
How to Improve the Economy
Now let’s take a look a jobs. It’s actually very simple. If you want tomatoes what do you have to do? Obviously you have to grow healthy tomato plants. If you grow poorly watered or cared for tomato plants you will get very few and very small tomatoes. To get large juicy tomatoes you must grow healthy robust tomato plants. It’s the same for jobs. If you want good paying jobs you must grow strong and healthy businesses. And you must have a variety of healthy small businesses, as well as healthy large businesses.
For several years now our government has been making it harder and harder for small businesses to survive, and even giving large global businesses a financial incentive to leave the country. We have the highest corporate tax in the world. The current liberal philosophy toward business is that the large corporations are “evil,” and if you have a small business you didn’t create it.
Stop Blaming Others
To quote the Clown-in-Chief, “Someone else made that happen.”
My father was a simple man. He went to night school and studied drafting. He spent over 40 years at his craft, and he was an exceptional draftsman. Dad never once complained about what he got paid. He was always there to help me and his values were conservative. He taught me that almost 100% of the time my problems in life were looking back at me in the mirror every morning. Dad wouldn’t let me blame others.
You know what? He was right. Americans of all races, cultures, economic status, and faiths must accept the fact that they alone have voted for and got what we deserve. If we treat businesses like ATM machines, and continue to let our educational system decline, like it has been for the past 50 years, then we can’t expect our great country and the promise of the opportunity it used to hold, to continue. We are killing the goose who has been laying the golden eggs.
Envy of those who are successful must stop. It’s time for all Americans to look into the mirror. Don’t expect a superman in Washington to come and save the day. Our problems are of our own creation. We need pro business leadership. We need to honor and value the businesses of our nation and the people who built them with their own hands. We need to acknowledge and encourage individual achievement.
Free Handouts vs. Self Reliance
Instead of giving handouts and creating a government dependant class, we need to teach self reliance and standing on your own two feet. Our country should be a place where it is the easiest place in the world to start a business. We should not be a nation of regulation roadblocks to success.
Hey people. If you think economic opportunity is bad in Ferguson and Baltimore, you should have been in the former Soviet Union. Remember….your vote matters. Vote for someone who is pro business, and let’s gets some decent job growth.
Larry Oscar is a graduate from the University of Tulsa and holds a degree in electrical engineering. He is retired and lives with his wife on a lake in Oklahoma where he brews his own beer, sails, and is a member of numerous clubs and organizations.