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Oct. 26, 2005 Our president, today talking to a group of military wives, misspoke the name of an American icon, Ms. Rosa Parks. He forgot that there was an "s" in her name. Then he told us more of our men and women will be dying to make Iraq a free country. He even reminded us that something happened on 9/11/01, as he always does. And we eat it all up because, well, we are a pretty stupid people. I am not saying all Americans are stupid, it just seems more of us are in charge of things or seem to be getting farther in life than the laws of nature would expect. Are we truly a nation of idiots? Are we so dumb as to let almost every aspect of our lives be dictated by catering to the weak among us? Take, for example, the daily newspaper. Once the reigning source of news it is now relegated to those of us that actually do not mind yesterdays headlines and want some time to enjoy a good read. But what has really happened to our newspapers is that they cater to the 8th grade reader in our adults who cannot understand that being the manager of a fast food joint gets paid less than a waiter at mid-class restaurant, at least for hours worked versus actual income. But back to our clown prince of the Americas (there are three folks), we have the classic case of a spoon-fed, talentless and not very well-spoken leader standing on the hand of the puppeteers and, with an "awe shucks" kind of demeanor, caters to those of us that think it is more important that you watch a football game than read a book. So what happens with the next administration, if there is one? Do those running roughshod over our country feel full from their feast on power or will we get another clown prince to pretend he is a leader as long as we are afraid to go outside anymore? The sad fact is that true leaders, those that were born for it, either never come forward out of pride or cannot tolerate the ugly side of politics long enough to reach the levels of Congress or the presidency. George W. Bush just happened to have the same name as his father and that carried a lot of weight once his father had not been president for eight years. Then we had the joke that was Monicagate and V.P. Gore basically offering the same promises Bush did in 2000. I am hoping that 2006 will actually find a major shift from the politics we have had to deal with in this country: One side that takes it while they can and another side that thought we had already got everything we needed so they stand for nothing new, really. My biggest hope is that a sea change forces Americans to wake up and realize that leadership is not ideology, it is making the best decisions and making sure it works. The clown prince has played half of Americans for a fool. Let's hope next time the other half makes them regret it. ------------ About the author: Nicholas Olson is a long-time journalist who has been a columnist at his college newspaper and is currently a military journalist. Email: nicholasjolson@yahoo.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
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