There are among us those citizens who feel as if this country is not worth their effort, sacrifice or contribution. They are full of anger, eager to deride the current leaders and blame them fully for our circumstances. They do not reason, but strike out at any who disagree with them, in whole or in part, with a fury that is itself unreasonable.
There are several topics which they discuss, a
litany if you will, of reasons they are so angry, so distrustful of their government. One of those is that we are giving up our rights in the government's attempt to win this war. They say that the National Security Agency is seizing your records (they are not), listening to your phone calls (they are not) or that the Department of Homeland Security is carting Americans off to detention camps (done to one person over whom the definition of "combatant" was argued all others of this and other nations having been captured fighting our soldiers on the battlefield).
Another is that American jobs are going overseas. They confuse the market realities with the government. It is natural that the makers of goods will seek to produce those goods as cheaply as possible and that is incompatible with paying unionized workers exhorbitant wages that render the product unable to compete with products from elsewhere. Minimum wage laws and the union contracts both work to make us less competitive in the world markets.
They are also angry about fuel prices. They should be angry at China for coming out of centuries of backwardness and moving forward. This rapid industrial advance has created a demand for petroleum in China. How can you supply billions of people and not affect the world oil market? That's rhetorical children, you can't do it.
Worse for our society is that these folks are intolerant of others with different ideas, like myself, particularly those founded in logic rather than emotion. Their reaction is like a spoiled child denied a privelege for the first time. They stamp their feet, pout, cry, shout and scream and call us names but they never look at the situation logically. What they do is to assume that they are above the necessity of logical thought and respectful discourse. I am tired of it. I no longer listen to them at all. That can't be good either, they might actually mention something of value to me.
