Where has the middle class gone?

I have told many people that the next great war/revolution in the United States won't be against somebody outside the country, but from inside. We are facing a class war right here at home. The way that our society is progressing to is the system of serfs and lords from days gone by. The large corporations and political organizations have budgets that many 3rd world countries would kill for. I knew we were in that hand-basket heading for the flames when corporations were given the same legal status as people. Corporations are just that - CORPORATIONS! They are collections of people, not people themselves. I think every person should have the right to voice their opinions to their government representatives, but isn't it sort of double dipping to let the collection of people have a voice too? Lobby influence outside of congressional hearings is bad enough from citizen groups but it should be illegal from business groups.  The old phrase "the rich get richer and the poor get poorer" isn't a saying anymore it is the SOP of the world. The mechanism that allows the 3rd world countries to develop and our country to fall away is education. The feudal lords kept their serfs in line by keeping them ignorant and it still works today.

I heard somebody use the phrase "land of the free and the home of the dumb***" to describe what is happening to our country. The way that education has been handled in this country in the last few years really makes me wonder how close to the mark this is. We are teaching to the test and it is getting worse all the time. We now have to teach "critical thinking" in college because high school graduates have none. If you don't know what that is you may recognize it by its more common name - common sense. We no longer teach our children how to solve problems, just to pass a test. We don't prepare them for the real world, just to pass a test. When they do get out in the real world, they have no tools to enter the work force unless they can find a job taking tests. The new way that we want to hobble our teachers is to connect their pay to the results of these tests, effectively smothering any sort of creative thinking that may find its way into the schools. As much as the conservative talking heads love to bring up Nazi Germany, this is the perfect example of controlling a population. If they don't know any better, they won't complain about the corporations taking over.

Before we get to the part where I start talking about the "United Corporations of America", I want to state that I am not anti-capitalism or anti-democracy. I am for balance in all things and the purest form of each is self destructive. If you really look at it, pure democracy more resembles the communes of the 60's than our current form of government. By the same token, complete capitalism is a corporate dictatorship. We need both to balance the big picture. Both extremes only work with a completely honest and pure society and that doesn't exist. What looks good on paper may only be good on paper. If our country had more people with "critical thinking" skills, they would see the need for balance and provide it. Our country had it's greatest boom when those in charge had these skills and the population could tell because they had them too. We must invest in returning our country to the top end of the education scale or we will end up at the bottom of all the scales.

Not Everybody or Everything is Black and White

Why does everything in the world today have to be black and white? Nobody is willing to consider any opinion or point of view that isn't theirs. If you're not on the left then you must be on the right. If you not conservative you must be liberal. If your not Republican you must be Democrat. I can't believe that I am the only person in the world that isn't just one thing. The majority of life has a full spectrum of color beyond the black and white. Let's look at some things of great color that people only want to see in black and white.

Should evolution or intelligent design (creationism) be taught in schools? Why can't both? Why can't both sides be wrong and right? An all knowing intelligent designer created the universe and then, in a gift of universal free will, decided to give His creation the power to evolve and change or even improve themselves. If there is a loving deity as promoted by many religions, why wouldn't He bless his creation with the ability to improve themselves and their situation in His universe? What about the on going argument over global warming? Why can't there be global warming and it be a natural cycle? Since man is looking at a relative small piece of the planet's timeline, why can't this climate change be part of a normal cycle that happens every few 100,000 years? Why does science have to have the attitude that "if I am right you have to be wrong"?

This also applies to politics and business. Companies are constantly trying to convince us that the only product that can do what we need is theirs: "If we don't make it, it must be crap!". In politics it is even more dangerous and takes on a tribal or territorial feel: "If you aren't for a particular party then you don't exist!". When are they going to figure out that one size does NOT fit all! I agree with some conservative views and some liberal views so what party do I fit in? If you only have parties on the far ends of the spectrum then you aren't representing the majority of the people that are in the middle. On the road of life, we have politicians in both ditches and the rest of use wondering down the middle of the road.

I don't claim to have the solution for all the worlds ills or I would be charging for you to read this little rant. I do have a simple but crazy idea: listen to each other with an open mind. Realize that the only mistakes that you make in life are the ones you don't learn from. Make the lessons that you learn work by never making those mistakes again. Most importantly, learn that not being right isn't the same as being wrong if it helps someone get to the right answer. So proudly walk down the white line of your road of life and remember that it is the safest place if you don't want to fall in the ditch.