Remember this one? It was by John F. Kennedy. I have only shook the hand of one President and that was John F. Kennedy. I don't know if that was a big deal or not, but it seemed like one when we talked and I shook his hand. As I recall, there was no special security any where, but that is not the point of this blog. It is this call to serve your country.
I have blogged in the past about the concept of "one movers" and "two or three movers" and that has application here. For some reason when there is a call to serve your country, it is like asking a religious nut to go on some kind of missionary trip. To my way of thinking, it calls for "group think" which I have pointed out in the past can be so dangerous. "Group think" is like mob think where no one is really using their heads and can do the most awful things that they would never do as individuals. When ever you hear a call like John F. Kennedy made be cautious. Obama is going to make some kind of call for service and "group think" and many people are going to fall for it. I see that as a real problem.
Take this simple example. "We should save our country by cleaning up the trash on streets in our cities." Not a bad idea, but why don't individuals just stop throwing the trash on the streets in the first place. Or, why don't people, as individuals, pick up any trash that they see on the street and put it into the trash barrel? Why does it take being a part of some "group think" program where everyone wears the same cap or t-shirt so they can pick up the trash? What is wrong with us. Don't throw the trash along the streets in the first place.
Religion is the model for the "do-gooder" "group think". They go out and collect money from real working people and then give it to people they identify as needy. They get their jollies when that person looks them in the eye and tells them "thank you". It is not their money they are giving out, it is some one else's money. What is the logic in that except to feed the ego of the missionary?
Now to the real point of "what you can do for your country". It is not the Peace Corp". I have no idea of how that helped "our" country except to "program" a lot of young people into the liberal way of thinking and it did do that. If we want to really do what is best for our country, it would be the more difficult things that are "not" a part of "group think". It would be things like not getting knocked up in high school or out of wedlock. It would be finishing free high school and working hard in the more difficult subjects. It would be not taking drugs or shooting people as has been the case in Chicago. It would be living with in your means and not depending on government hand outs. And yes, it would mean not throwing trash on our streets.
I have been about as poor as a person can be here in the USA and I never had some missionary or do-gooder show me how to do anything. I never had one drill me a water well or show me how to grow a garden. I never had one show me how to build a house. Further, I don't know anyone who ever had a do-gooder do any thing for them except ask them for money. Given all the do-gooding that has been sent to Africa over the past 500 years, what has been the net results? Don't answer to quickly! Did you come up with anything? I did not think so.
We don't need a call for "group think" or "do-gooding", we need individual responsibility. This country is based on individual rights and responsibilities, not "group rights". If we go down the road of "group rights" over "individual rights", the end will be insight and that is what Obama is going to call for. Do the people whose homes were damaged by the storm "Sandy" have more rights than I do for my home that was destroyed by a tornado even if my home was the only one damaged in the county? We have to get back to individual rights and responsibility and be very cautious when Obama calls for "group think". Remember Germany in 1935, they had "group think" and see what happened!!! Let's be cats and not sheep!!
