My reply to Mr George Will's Aug 12 column on Wanting Peace by Preparing for War:

Imagine, instead, if the Big Three had not made plans to rule the post-WW II world, but instead supported the concept of ALL European and Asian nations being part of such plans.

Imagine Eisenhower's administration NOT ignoring the post-Russia death of Stalin period, during which time Kruschev and company were not interested in a Cold War. The Cold War existed for the precise purpose of helping the military-industrial-political complex take power in America, Constitution be damned. And that is exactly what has happened.

There is a large alphabet of govt. agencies, some we know about, some we doubt, that exist to keep Americans in their place, and keep up the facade that the Pursuit of Happiness is alive and well, that individual freedoms for ALL people should exist. They in fact exist to insure govt and corporate control of all facets of our lives. Ever ask yourself why your life hasn't improved, while at the same time corporate CEOs rake in millions in salaries, stock, and golden parachutes, all the while fixing nothing, changing nothing, hiding their profits off-shore, refusing to invest in USA infrastructure, hiding behind armies of tax and other lawyers?

Mr. Will picked a certain point in his perception of history and pontificated from there. It didn't have to be this way, and it shouldn't be this way. Genocide, poverty, hungry children, racial strife, disasters, crumbling infrastructure, horrible economy, lack of hope, and that's just in what used to be America.

Only Congress can declare war. They last did so on Dec 8, 1941. Since then, we've invaded:
Korea, Vietnam, Cuba, Grenada, Panama, Cambodia, Laos, Iraq, Kuwait, Afghanistan. We went after foreign leaders we didn't like in Latin America and Middle Europe, many of whom we removed from office after having funded them until they were no longer needed by us. Not so much as a peep out of Congress, who funded all of this anyway. We filled up our national and local cemeteries with our youth under mis-guided patriotism.

Mr. Will's commentary is one-sided and absent severe facts. But, this is what newspapers are supposed to do, help citizens think critically about those they put, and keep, in power.

The imbalances in our country these days, are staggering. I don't mind someone becoming wealthy, if they built a better mousetrap. More power to them.

If, however, they manipulated the law (the rules for all of us), then I have questions. Our tax code remains a dark maze that almost no one can figure out, except armies of tax lawyers. That's a clue right there, that lawyers choose to specialize in tax law.

How well off are we as a nation, when the richest one percent control the power to change our laws, control who our teachers and professors are, and the versions of what they teach, and how, from K-16 and beyond? This is NOT what we were taught, nor is it what we are teaching now, about how govt works.

The moderate mindset for a couple of decades now has been, " I got mine."

Our national infrastructure is crumbling.
State-wise, many of our states are operating in the red and are near bankruptcy (see Il).
Locally, is there a wealthy school district in the state? Safe school busses, good brick and mortars, well-paid teachers, non-hungry student bodies, well-supplied classrooms not funded out of teacher paychecks?

Imagine how much better off the country would be as a whole, if employee salaries were living-wage, and CEO salaries were set in the Real World, compensation for work actually performed?

Our housing market is making another bubble, already. Using the rule of thumb that one can afford a home costing three times one's salary, it appears few in-state daily working residents can afford to live here (SC), rent here, much much less buy here. All homes are grossly over-valued, due only to a shortage. No effort to build affordable housing seems near.

The greater Charleston median income is reported to be about $53k. Times 3 = $159k. That is the recommended housing cost, $159k. This paper doesn't even bother publishing the sales of homes under $200k. Reviewing the real estate listings in this paper reveals a handful, maybe, of homes available for under $200k. We read this week that about, what, 105k more homes are scheduled to be built? Who, exactly, is going to afford them? Folks making $12 hr, roughly the national poverty level, don't even have a bus system to get back and forth to work. If their job is in downtown Charleston, hip boots and wading gear are a requirement. Forget using a bicycle. Few paths, lanes, or bridge routes, and bikes don't pedal well when water is over the wheels.

The out of balance economic conditions in our country are right up near the top of the national priority list. Yet, we continue to wage war in Afghanistan (commander #17 just took over in June, year 17 of our involvement, with no end in sight). All that is in sight, are flag-draped coffins returning home. We don't address the national debt. We don't address fixing any part of our infrastructure: a national electrical grid from 1930; an interstate hwy. system from the 1950s; a non-existent national rail system that once functioned beautifully. We abhor education as a nation. We refuse to fund it properly. We let our homeless sleep under bridges, the better to be out of sight and thus out of mind. Our mentally ill roam the streets, and sometimes the only meal our children get, is from schools when they're in session. Yet we turn around and laud athletes for outrageous contracts, and sit back in shock as golden CEO parachutes billow down around us, the execs laughing all the way to rich get-aways.

We have a president not working with Congress or the media, instead content to issue Executive Orders, the act and mindset of a monarch and a dictator, a ruler, not a leader. We can fix all this, if we get involved, vote, and stop bickering at each other.

Imagine.

Imagine $10m being spent on what really matters.

At $80k per, 125 desperately needed new school busses for the state.

A homeless shelter or three, or five, around the state.

A domestic violence shelter or three, or five, around the state.

Marriage counseling before marriage to lower the domestic violence statistics.

Mental health counseling clinics, to help people before they solve their little problems, with guns.

Imagine.

Imagine an educational facility built to educate students academically and vocationally, because not all want to nor should, go to college, at least not right away. 

Imagine students taking all on-line courses at home, and venturing out to apprentice jobs in the afternoon, learning a trade and earning school credits.

Imagine students who want to play sports, signing up for local teams and paying their own way.

Imagine students who to play an instrument, signing up for local lessons and paying their own way.

Imagine no public funds wasted on a school library for a generation who cannot read and cares not a whit about wanting to do so. 

Imagine an entire student body of athletes not put at death risk through CTE and other injury possibilities, by banning football (heresy in the South). Imagine the savings to taxpayers of not having to build another Friday night stadium for four home games annually, not having to foot the light bill, the insurance bill, the medical bills, the traveling bills, the equipment bills.

Imagine this state climbing out of the bottom ten of national education rankings, and becoming a shining example of progress and forward-thinking actions.

Imagine.

Nah....what's worked/damaged our kids in the past and present, is just fine with us.

Dori Garcia Mata I suppose you as a parent might do things to try and make a better life for you children and family, the fact that they cross to work to feed and support their families to give them better education and opportunities, these things help people, citizens or not who want a better life NOT become thugs and criminals...most of these people are forced into crime (crossing illegally)...to eat, or escape oppressive conditions...and then they come here, work, contribute, have families, and someone decides its a good idea to rip them from their families....heartless is the only way I can say..taking babies, children from their parents. Saddening, sickening, empathy, is gone.(A Facebook post on whether or not a law exists to allow separation of children from parents, 18 Jun 2018).
My reply, same day:Dear Bleeding Heart Mata, I have plenty of empathy for those deserving. I too am against the splitting up of families. Like every other country, we too have entry processes, procedures, and laws to qualify for and follow, when requesting to come here. I guarantee you many many countries are not nearly as pleasant as we are when people cross THEIR border without their permission. NK will lock your butt up, quite probably torture you, and sentence you to years of hard labor. None of this mamby-pamby migrant camp crap. Look, I don't know how to differentiate between the truly needy seeking aslyum from war in their country, the only reason I can think of for granting asylum, and those seeking work. If people want to work in America, we have procedures for them to do that, by bringing legal documents, not forged ones, by applying, by waiting for OUR approval, and leaving, when their permit expires. They're certainly not taking up "the jobs Americans don't want", that is for sure. And, too many of them have come illegally, to do deliberate or accidental harm, then dash back across our border to avoid our punishment laws. I lived 20 yrs in the SW and witnessed our police officers being killed by illegals, our citizens killed and injured by drunk driving illegals, who also dashed back across into Mexico to avoid prosecution. I taught their children for 12 years, while they refused to learn English and become citizens, and falsified forms to enroll their children in our schools, thus putting huge unfunded budget requirements on our school districts and taxpayers I watched their gangs terrorize entire city sections, trafficking in drugs, sex, murder. I understand. Most are truly needy, some are flat out criminals and will never change. I say, again and again, we should secure our 1500m southern border with our troops, round up those who cross, and send them back immediately. No more water stations in the desert, no more sympathy or empathy. If we run background checks and find some who were here illegally before, those are the ones we arrest and confine. Those are the ones we tell Mexico to come get, at Mexico's expense, and send the incarceration bill to Mexico. Come here legally. Do no harm. Live in peace. It really isn't difficult. What Trump and the other idiot Sessions and the BP assholes are doing, is against all known basic human rights, and it needs to stop, now. Personally, i put far more blame on the adults deliberately bringing pregnant women, and all the children, across illegally. They caused this mess. Let us not forget Mexico, who is allowing all of this to occur. Our govt is simply making it worse. Comprende? If not, read this again. Geez.

Manage

I think that if you are happy with the conditions around you, meaning you have the means to do more than just get by on a daily basis, you stick with the worthless incumbent.

On the other hand, if you are fed up with:

• a crumbled state-wide road system in near-universal dis-repair and ineffectiveness;
• crumbling bridges, a too-high percentage of which already have been designated as must-replace, but no such work has yet to be started and nothing is scheduled in our future;
• a far too-old inventory of un-safe school busses, not being replaced nearly fast enough;
• tax give-aways to corporations just to settle here and pay minimum, non-living wage salaries;
• near-total lack of sound, Common Sense ethics from just about every employee in the State House, representative or not;
• political lobbyist families with un-due influence throughout the state;
• a dismal and rapidly getting-worse public school system, in which under-paid professionals continue to teach out of sheer dedication until they burn out and quit from lack of financial, professional, and community support;
• the good old boy back-room dealing in Columbia and across the state, where the same old insanity is guaranteed to continue with winks and backslaps and handshakes; people to whom politics is just a game, the end point of which is to be remembered as having done something with their lives, rather than simply serve two hard-working terms and then permanently step down.
• the lack of internal controls within the State House that have allowed far far too much power to be concentrated in the hands of just a few at the head of too many critical committees, thus blocking any and all method and manner of progress this state desperately needs;
• a traditional adherence to an ancient tax code, in which owner-occupied homes pay almost nothing to support schools and services, while dumping that responsibility increasingly on business owners large and small;
• the same people having the audacity to continue to run for re-election, as if professional politician was ever supposed to be a career, and then watching numbskull voters proceed to do just that, vote for the incumbent without caring;

then it is time for you not vote for this incumbent governor, who as an individual is no doubt a fine human being. Nothing will change, unless we the people, we Deplorables, get off our collective duffs, put down our devices, and start paying attention to those we elect to represent us, to make our lives better.

Because what we have put in state-wide offices to this point, has proven by mis-guided actions, decisions, behaviors, to be an un-mitigated disaster. It doesn't have to be this way. 

(insert your state's name, and see if this is still accurate, overall. I bet it is.)

Instead of having junior high and high school varsity sports programs for a very select few, here's a thought.

Eliminate all such programs. They're expensive and cater to a few.

Replace them with mandatory four high school years of physical fitness programs. Running, cycling, sit-ups, push-ups, pull-ups, weight lifting, nutrition information, and intramural competition for EVERYONE. And everyone showers afterwards. It's a concept.

Sports are advertised as being great for school morale, spirit, pride, personal growth and character development. If true, then why are they limited to a small handful in multiple sports in both sexes?

Any teenager wanting to play sports at a different level can join local club teams. Same attitude goes for learning to play a musical instrument, cheerleading, whatever.

Short and long-term benefits are all good. Healthy, happy people turning into healthy happy adults with probably fewer expensive health issues as they pass through life. Good for all of them and all of us.

A public comment received in the local Summerville, SC newspaper, in reference to a discussion about the apprpriateness of high school students walking out to support the MSD H.S. students of Parkland, FL:


"John Schwendler um sir i don’t know you but you have the wrong idea. us students are not completely self absorbed in our phones that we can’t care about each other. our phones are what keep us connected and informed. i don’t know if you know this but what you said is incorrect. you can’t stereotype of as a typical teenagers who only care about our phones. most of us care and are trying to make a difference even if it is a small one and you saying, “i’m glad the students are putting their phones down long enough to care about each other” is making us out to be children who only care about our technology. don’t put us down."

My response on Saturday Mar 17, 2018:

Allow me to cue you in to reality. Are you ready? My perception:

I subbed in a high school classroom this week, as I usually do. I asked students in each class, all day long, to stand up and name each of their classmates. No one could do it, not all of their classmates. And it's March, not August....something is wrong, if  students don't know everyone in their classes by now. Could you do this? I don't expect them to know everyone in school, just to clarify. Five days weekly with the same students in all their classes, and no one knows each other?

I can't get students to put away their phones. I have watched you walk into each other, walls, doors, door posts, food carts, custodians, custodian carts, all while your head and eyes were down locked on your little phones. You stand outside the front doors awaiting entrance, and you are on your phones, not talking with each other. Check your student agenda for cell phone usage rules, because every last one of you violates those rules daily. Trust me.

I do know enough about you, from covering at various schools, and having taught awhile myself, to know this much. You are the most self-absorbed, close-minded, non-inquisitive generation to come along in America, ever. The majority of you have few inter-personal skills, can't carry on a conversation, nor write a paragraph on any subject, with correct grammar and spelling. Most of you don't read, in fact you hate to. Most of you don't hold doors for each other as you pass in and out of bldgs and hallways. Most of you rarely say Excuse Me, Please, Thanks, or simply, Hi. There are reasons many students feel alone and bullied. See the last sentence.

You are commenting, about the way you currently live your life, because it is the only style you have known. To me, it is an empty, soul-less existence. Most of you care little about the world, and those around you. Almost none of you ask questions, other than " do we put our names on our papers?" Most of you didn't want to participate in a simple walk-out because "we'll get in trouble". Dare I stereotype all teenagers? Of course not, just as you should not stereotype all adults. But my comments are based upon two year's exposure to high school students in multiple local schools, and in middle schools in another state across the country where subbing also appealed to me, so that I wouldn't have to deal with rude students and idiotic parents.

I stopped subbing in middle schools here, because the students are extremely rude and disruptive. Those are the same reasons their teachers are leaving the profession in droves (look that word up).

Nearly every classroom I cover, has signs posted within: No Cell Phones! No student pays attention to that rule whatsoever. Has it ever once occurred to any of you, how much more you could be learning, and would have learned, had you put your stupid little phones away? Cluess, absolutely clueless.

Your generation is rising, quickly, to move into society and one day be the majority. I shudder to think what you will do with your opportunity to improve the world, nation, state, community. Call each other?

One last thought: sentences begin with capital letters, sweetie.