By Ray Simmons

BACK WHEN I was working for the government (1961 forward) I began seeing politics introduced into the working agenda. Early on, jobs assigned were well managed and the work-quality was a major concern. Everyone’s product was selectively reviewed for correctness and quantity was measured. Within a year or two I noticed things beginning to change; Civil Rights entered the picture. The difficulty of the tests used for the selection of potential employees was reduced because minority candidates were unable to pass the existing test in sufficient numbers to meet hiring quotas, which the public was told didn’t exist.

The initial move was to increase the total black worker percentage, then the cry was for more women, then more black women. Then better grade-levels for more minorities, etc. Frequently long-term white employees were assigned to review and correct as necessary the work of some struggling minority. After I got into a managerial position it was sometimes suggested that I nominate a minority for a progress award, or asked if I had a minority employee I might suggest for promotion. Such suggestions were pretty apparent and demoralizing. I watched as an efficiently run agency worked itself into an inefficient conglomeration of politically controlled mandates. I consider myself a better than average employee and I opted to accept an early retirement when it was offered; part of my reason was the politicization of management and the decline in the quality of the work product. I remember my grandmother telling me, “two wrongs don’t make a right, son, and you can’t redo yesterday.” I think she made good sense and that doesn’t make me a racist. I still think the best qualified applicant should be given the job and promotions should be based on merit, not on sex or skin color. I guess I’m just old fashioned.

FREE SPEECH: Apparently Vermont has done-away with free speech, at least for those working for their school system. Tiffany Riley, Principle of Windsor High School, Windsor, Vermont has been fired for commenting about the way BLM (Black Lives Matter) has been pushing their agenda. I suppose they think free speech only applies to one side of an issue and they get to choose which side. Also, a more important issue is the media’s (including social media) support of only progressive commentators; conservative comments may not be posted or discussed. I’m old enough to remember when college professors insisted that all sides of an issue be considered in the discourse. I’m still old-fashioned.

OBAMA’S ARMY? Do you recall President Obama saying he was creating his own army and that it would be as powerful as the American Army? Do you suppose BLM and Antifa could be arms of the army he created? And maybe the miniature wars being fought in many of our cities are Obama’s war against America? After all he promised his administration would transform the nation and that seems to be what Antifa and its associates are trying to do. If they succeed our We-The-People-Republic will become They-The-Elite-Masters. You won’t have to worry about voting, they will do the electing.

THE EDUCATIONAL PROBLEM: When I was a young kid in grammar-school there was talk about ‘progressive education’ and a man named John Dewey. He was supposedly doing great things for our educational system. He promised we would eventually have the best system in the world. At least that’s the way I understood what we were being told. But something must have gone wrong, because I understand we are way down on the totem-pole now. Instead of teaching about the origin of the greatest nation ever founded on this planet the teachers are presenting some story about some founding fathers who were brothers of Frankenstein’s monster. We had a pretty good system until we let the federal government get involved. But that’s the way bureaucracies work, once they are created they become permanent fixtures and production costs keep going up.

TOLERANCE: Grammar-school was also where I first learned about tolerance. It was almost presented like an eleventh commandment. We just had to be tolerant of other peoples’ differences. After all, as Christians we were not to be critical of our brothers, treat them like you would like to be treated regardless...just a bit of that turn-the-other-cheek thing. As it worked out we have about tolerated ourselves out of the picture. Now we are even tolerating the thugs who are burning down our cities. I think it’s about time we looked at the truth and said “Whoa now! Brother, stop or we’re gonna stop you!”    

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