How proud are you?

I am not too proud of a major portion of my country; draw your own conclusions. 

Our Democratic Republic has undergone major changes. Six years ago Obama vowed to change our country. The country had already gone through decades of change. I am older and look back to bad and good. Some changes that took place over the years are; racism, respect for law, government efficiency, people power, patriotism, work ethics.

Racism is outlawed. Schools were desegregated by Federal Force in Little Rock Arkansas. Laws were passed to provide justice for minorities, only to be misconstrued against the majority. Maybe this is not so good. It is common to meet qualified minorities in the work place and this is good.

Laws are bent and over implemented or regulated. Red light cameras can split seconds beyond reaction times of drivers, but can provide justice against the reckless and irresponsible that cause crashes and death. Many agencies ignore property rights, local ordinances, while complex tax codes encourage cheating. Overzealous bureaucracies engage in political enforcements. 

Governments have taken on bureaucracies that are so large they over-run the purposes of implementation. Long practiced municipal employees who are related to an office holders are favored. The IRS investigators with political zeal can easily do the opposite of their intended purpose. Enforcement offices sometimes stretch their judgment concerning the  intent of the legislation in their purview. The human factor cannot be overcome.

People power has gotten an extreme boost from television cameras. Demonstrations and town hall meeting shout-outs are almost common place. Demonstrations can pose risk to life and property. The cost of the out-of –control demonstrations cost directly to property owners and the tax payer impacts are overlooked.

Patriotism at the voting booth is the sounding board of groups that want benefits regardless of cost to the tax payers. Voters only come out to vote when their union or neighborhood has a point of view. This can be bad or good. But the in between voting is ignored. Statistics reflect a lack of good citizenship. Quietly forced workplace political contributions have a poor record of spending, as well as gorging the coffers of political pact activism. Our vote is at best in the sixty percentile for Presidential Elections. Weak participation shows what we don’t care about, or we like the political handouts. However we all stand for the pledge of allegiance and the national anthem.

Workers find it easy to loaf or kill time on the job. Some are easy to spot and others waste time out of sight. Office workers love to discuss their football pools on the clock regardless of workloads. Witness delicatessens and coffee stops where employees have driven from their work location to take a break, using the company or government vehicle. Does anyone remember the brown bag or thermos containers? 

Religious leaders avoid political immoralities from their pulpits. Cruise the parking lots of religious facilities and see the bumper slogans. Some moral and some not so moral.