Beyond the land of the free
So we’re again celebrating Independence Day. Hooray for the U.S. of A !
America still shines as freedom’s home. At least we know our government in Washington, growing like a weed, operates more freely than ever.
So I’ll dress funny and wave my flag as Aquia Harbour’s best kids parade past. Yes, I’m still proud as punch to be an American and a Stafford County booster.
But as for the citizen’s independence nowadays, my cheers catch in my throat.
Take flying. Once you could stroll up to the ticket counter and then to the gate and then get right on the plane. Those happy days ended with the shoe bomber. I’m grateful he didn’t plant that bomb in his shorts instead.
And surely you’ve seen how filing your income tax return has become such a festering indignity. I stopped doing my own Form 1040 when IRS made Schedule D impossible to understand.
Now it seems I’ll never be permitted to sell my home unless some bureaucrat certifies it is indeed energy efficient. Gee, once there was just a termite inspection.
Yes, the good old days are history (according to humorist P.J. O’Rourke), due to people who “go around saying how unsafe this fun thing is and how unheal thy that fun thing is and how unfair, unjust, uncaring, insensitive....every thing that fun is.”
Loads of things I grew up with were fun. “Free, white and 21” was an expression of pride. Got my drivers license at 14. Drove without seatbelts, bought smokes for two bits a pack and a gallon of gas for little more. We were invincible. We had the atom bomb and had won the war. Much later, burning leaves was a happy ritual each fall.
Then came the professional scaredy-cats. They warned that the world would soon get too cold and we’d starve. Not. The book “Silent Spring” made lots of gullible people worry too much about the food we eat and how malaria-destroying DDT might hurt birds. So we saved the birds, killed the African kids. Folks began hating pesticides. PETA nutcases started burning down labs that used rats. The silly organic food movement grew beyond belief.
So it’s unfair to blame it all on Obama. He inherited the mess, you see. If you had to deal with the likes of Pelosi, Rev. Wright and even Joe Biden every day, think you could get anything done? Whatever.
The recession is bad pain, no gain. But having weathered others, I claim that an occasional bad dip is part of our capitalistic society.
Will this be the last one? I mean, our society, not the recession. I hate the thought. So I’m going to do something: Cheer for local champion Paul Milde in his campaign to unleash Stafford’s small businesses from the looming BPOL tax, and for Bill Howell and Bob McDonnell. They’ll help save us from (gasp!) socialism.
Who knows? It won’t be long before Barney Frank and his ilk are bounced, BPOL killed, and Obama’s era fades.Just like Sarah Palin’s.
Wave that flag!
America still shines as freedom’s home. At least we know our government in Washington, growing like a weed, operates more freely than ever.
So I’ll dress funny and wave my flag as Aquia Harbour’s best kids parade past. Yes, I’m still proud as punch to be an American and a Stafford County booster.
But as for the citizen’s independence nowadays, my cheers catch in my throat.
Take flying. Once you could stroll up to the ticket counter and then to the gate and then get right on the plane. Those happy days ended with the shoe bomber. I’m grateful he didn’t plant that bomb in his shorts instead.
And surely you’ve seen how filing your income tax return has become such a festering indignity. I stopped doing my own Form 1040 when IRS made Schedule D impossible to understand.
Now it seems I’ll never be permitted to sell my home unless some bureaucrat certifies it is indeed energy efficient. Gee, once there was just a termite inspection.
Yes, the good old days are history (according to humorist P.J. O’Rourke), due to people who “go around saying how unsafe this fun thing is and how unheal thy that fun thing is and how unfair, unjust, uncaring, insensitive....every thing that fun is.”
Loads of things I grew up with were fun. “Free, white and 21” was an expression of pride. Got my drivers license at 14. Drove without seatbelts, bought smokes for two bits a pack and a gallon of gas for little more. We were invincible. We had the atom bomb and had won the war. Much later, burning leaves was a happy ritual each fall.
Then came the professional scaredy-cats. They warned that the world would soon get too cold and we’d starve. Not. The book “Silent Spring” made lots of gullible people worry too much about the food we eat and how malaria-destroying DDT might hurt birds. So we saved the birds, killed the African kids. Folks began hating pesticides. PETA nutcases started burning down labs that used rats. The silly organic food movement grew beyond belief.
So it’s unfair to blame it all on Obama. He inherited the mess, you see. If you had to deal with the likes of Pelosi, Rev. Wright and even Joe Biden every day, think you could get anything done? Whatever.
The recession is bad pain, no gain. But having weathered others, I claim that an occasional bad dip is part of our capitalistic society.
Will this be the last one? I mean, our society, not the recession. I hate the thought. So I’m going to do something: Cheer for local champion Paul Milde in his campaign to unleash Stafford’s small businesses from the looming BPOL tax, and for Bill Howell and Bob McDonnell. They’ll help save us from (gasp!) socialism.
Who knows? It won’t be long before Barney Frank and his ilk are bounced, BPOL killed, and Obama’s era fades.Just like Sarah Palin’s.
Wave that flag!
posted by Ben Blankenship at
12:28 PM
