I'm going to miss America... I really will

I'll admit a free market economy has some shortcomings. Whenever you have a system in which there are no limits on human achievement, there will by necessity be some losers. In my America, now passing, one could dream almost anything, and it could become a reality with a lot of hard work, sacrifice, diligence, and maybe a little luck or some help from our friends. Immigrants could step off the boat with nothing but their clothes on their back and within a few years own a restaurant or dry cleaning shop or factory turning out almost anything you can imagine. In my youth, America produced half of all the manufactured goods for the entire world. And everyone in the world wanted to be here.

But if you weren't willing to work hard and sacrifice, then you didn't fare as well. We provided a baseline subsistence for everyone, so that no one ever starved to death, but for a nice home or automobile or vacation condo by the sea, you had to work.

All that is going now, and much quicker of course with Obama and the far left at the tiller. In my local high school, we long ago did away with cheer leaders... because that would single out a small group as "special", and being "special" is a very bad thing to be, because others might think they were "not special". So, the administration banned cheerleading. Now we are all mediocre. Across town, some sporting events have been eliminated, because things like races produce winners and losers, and we don't want anyone in our utopian society to be a loser.

A friend of mine owns a large local manufacturing plant that builds houses in flat sections and ships them all over the U.S. He hires kids right out of high school and trains them in the job. He recently remarked how his younger employees needed to be constantly congratulated on what a fine job they were doing... they were all graduates of our local public school system, which constantly praised everyone for performing at any level... good or bad... so that there would be no "losers" and everyone would be uniformly mediocre. Mediocrity was the name of the game, all hail and praise the wonderfully mediocre student, who could never "fail" and would never be one of the evil "special" people. So his new employees needed constant pats on the back just for showing up for work and doing the basic job they were supposed to be doing for their paycheck.

The future is clear, now. With the socialization of America, there will be no winners or losers, we will all be mediocre because there is no premium for superior performance and no need to break your back doing a good job for which you will be awarded no more praise than you get for doing a mediocre job.

To me, it's a sad parting. I loved the America where bold men and women took risks and worked hard and succeeded and were rewarded for their hard work. Now, the government is going to take away all of the "excess wealth" earned by America's brightest and best, and redistribute it to the lazy and shiftless losers at the bottom of the food chain.

Adios, America... it was really great to have known you.....