Don
columnist: donspoliticalblog

I wish I could still talk to my father. He and his generation experienced so much in their lifetime, that is the experience that is missing from our generation and from our leadership in general. The Great Depression of the twenty's and thirties was at least 100 times worse than we have faced. Dad and his fellow blue collar workers traveled great distances to find a scrap of employment. While white collar workers were jumping out of windows my dad was building Coulee Dam. There was no bailout for them nor was there any welfare for he and my mother to fall back on. It changed people for life, as I have stated in earlier blogs, he never trusted the banks again until he was well into his 50's.

Most people survived this period or should I say endured this era. The same generation went into World War II within a few years of the depression. Talk about having it rough, they fought their way through Europe and the Pacific Islands only to come home for three years and then off to Korea. Did I mention that many of the older ones were involved in World War I before the depression? When people of knowledge mention the Greatest Generation, they are referring to these men and women who through their grit and determination went on to build the greatest nation the world has ever seen. The strongest economy, the strongest military and the most resilient people that ever populated a continent. It has taken our generation just 40 years to destroy all that they had built.

I blame my father's bunch for making life too easy for us. They didn't want their children to suffer as they did. Commendable yes, smart no. We weren't prepared to face the world as they were. We didn't have the grit nor the backbone and we constantly proved it by just throwing money at whatever problems that may come up. There were no cures for economic problems, that would have been too cruel to those who failed to measure up. If we didn't take care of them who would? We have in this generation created a welfare state that has destroyed the work ethic of America. Now we are expanding that welfare State by a bail out here and a bail out there, to the point that no one is taking responsibility for their own actions.

Life's tough sometimes and that means the tough have to step up and take charge. We must learn the word no, it seems to have escaped from our vocabulary and is the missing element in our world today. If we continue down this path we will by the end of the next decade be totally at the mercy of stronger nations. We mock the civil rights in China, yet they are the ones who through grit and determination will be the conquers of the future. Yes they are cruel masters of their own people, yet they have built a strong nation both economically and militarily. They have responded our criticism with disdain, they have seen what our ways have done to weaken or resolve and ability to lead the world. I do not suggest that we become like China, I do propose we start becoming more conservative in our response to critical matters. Throwing money at everything has proven to be the wrong way. We can start by teaching our children that life is not always a bowl of cherries and sometimes they will lose. We have created a generation of people who think it's okay to lose and just turn the other cheek and everything will be fine. Where has this approach gotten us so far? We sure as heck won't ever be known as the Greatest Generation as it stands now.

And that's my opinion,
Don