Kindergarten Socialists

Remember the first day of school when you were a kid.  It was exciting.  Not only did you get to see all your friends after the summer, and meet the new kids in town, you got to go shopping for new school clothes and supplies.

We always made a trip to Fletcher's in Gruver for new clothes and shoes.  Fletcher's had a window display with a water faucet hanging with fishing line from the ceiling.  Water flowed from the faucet into a bucket on the floor.  We never could figure out how they did that.  I also remember how embarrassed mom and Judy were when one of the Lindsey boys came running to his mom crying, holding a mannequin arm.

Being Texans, we got Levis or Wranglers.  My favorite shoes were Trax.  They made you run faster and jump higher.  Talk about false advertising!  I remember picking them out of a big bin.  And digging for the match when the one shoe in my size was not still attached to its mate.  Also finding someone's old shoes in the pile.  I just thought they wore the new ones and didn't need the old pair anymore.  Later as a shoe store manager, I hated finding old worn shoes in our bins or in a box.  It meant someone had stolen from us.

For a boy anyway, clothes shopping was torture.  But we loved going to Spearman to the TG&Y to buy school supplies.  Looking back, I know we were on a tight budget, but it always seemed like we got what we wanted.  In my case, it was pencils with Dallas Cowboy logos on them, and most importantly, a pencil sharpener inside a plastic Cowboys football helmet.  

Most kids today don't get those choices.  Even many public schools today are requiring school uniforms.  Parents accept the idea because it takes the pressure off.  Don't have to give in to the peer pressure and buy high dollar brand names. Everyone wears the same styles and colors.  No one has to feel bad because they don't have the latest fad.


School supplies aren't yours anymore.  They all go to the teacher to be passed out to the entire class.  Since mom knows you won't necessarily get what you take to class, she buys the boring yellow pencils and square pink erasers and red, green, yellow, and blue notebooks.  No more Dallas Cowboys or Smurfs or Spongebobs today.  Everyone has the same blaaah stuff.

Socialism starts early.  Gets us accustomed to giving up choices.

Do Dyslexics Support the Right to Arm Bears?

I was going to put a photograph that I received in an e-mail above this post, but I can't find it!  It was of a yard sign that said something like:  My neighbor wants to take away MY right to bear arms.  Out of respect for his beliefs, if you attempt to rob or harm him, I pledge to take no action on his behalf.

One of my favorite authors is Edward Abbey.  Being a writer and former U.S. National Parks Service employee, you would think he would be the average tree-hugging progressive.  Reading his books, it's not hard to get a clear picture of where he stands on most issues.  "Leave me alone!!!!"  Probably with a few more colorful adjectives thrown in.  Desert Solitaire is one of my favorite books.  In it, he proposes doing away with all vehicle access in national parks.  If you have been to Yellowstone or the Grand Canyon during peak tourist season, you might think Abbey has a really good idea.  His point was that you can't really experience the wonder of the Grand Canyon from your air-conditioned car.  And I think he is right.  Now parks are having everyone park at the entrance of the Grand Canyon and ride a shuttle to the popular points.  It's not what Abbey meant (seeing the park afoot or on a bicycle), but it has alleviated the traffic that rivaled that of Dallas at rush hour.

That's not what this was going to be about.  Not sure where that came from.  One of my all time favorite quotes came from Edward Abbey - "If guns are outlawed, only the government will have guns."  That's scary to think about.  History shows that the first step to a dictatorship is to disarm the average citizen.  Progressives have been trying for my entire life, and probably longer, to take the right to bear arms from Americans.  That darn Second Amendment!  Whew, thank you founding fathers!  

I truly believe that this goal is part of the health care takeover.  Because of the Constitution, progressives can't take away firearms by law.  But make it a health issue, and maybe then they can get it through. 

My sister reminded me of a childhood experiment that she, Bobby, and I conducted.  We had moved into a new house.  In the garage, we found a toolbox with a chisel, the head of a shop hammer, and a handful of .22 shells.  Being curious kids, we wanted to see what was inside a bullet.  So, I held the bullet between my thumb and forefinger and held the chisel with my other hand on the bullet.  Bobby then tapped on the chisel to open the bullet.  We never got one open, just flattened a bunch of them.  My mom caught us and saw what were doing.  She told us to "Be careful!"  That was probably a good response.  If she had panicked, we probably would not have given up as quickly as we did.  Looking back, maybe we did need some federal government oversight!  

So, it's easy to see that the wise government employee is only trying to protect us and our children from our own stupidity or curiosity (the two seem to go together, huh?).  After taking away our guns, it is much easier to take our cars, knives, bats, or anything else that could possibly hurt us.  I picture a future where we all walk around in people-sized hamster balls.  That would keep us all safe, from everything but our government.