Deer applaud because no rifles mean no hunting. 'Tis a young man's sport.
But Trump may be onto something. We need to raise the age of rights to 21. If we cannot trust them with rifles, why trust them with something far more powerful: the vote.
Voting should go back to 21. We lowered it to 18 out of guilt about conscripting soldiers to go to Vietnam. Then we ended the draft. Huh? Move it back to 21.
Reagan used highway funding to coerce states into raising the legal drinking age back to 21. His excuse was the reduction of drunk driving.
People still drive drunk, but the Mexican government thanks him because by denying them booze, Reagan helped the marijuana industry.
Then there is abortion. 21. People shouldn't be having sex before then anyway.
Then there is free speech. Aren't you tired of the Tide pod-eating generation yammering on and on about things they know nothing about? Children should be seen not heard. As the ancient philosopher Archieus Bunkerum said, stifle it.
Seriously, they have nothing to add to the conversation. They are little sheep -- I think the technical term is lambs -- I am not a farmer. We need a little silence from the lambs.
Of course, if we do all this, it will not stop another school massacre.
To do that, we need to make changes.
First, let kids drop out at 16 -- and quit laying the guilt trip on them. Not everyone is a scholar.
Second, get the federal government out of school. The money amounts to less than 10% of the budget and 90% of the headaches for administrators.
Broward County schools came up with a weird plan to quit arresting kids for crimes, which helped make the schools look improved -- on paper. That helped the schools get more money.
Meanwhile, police failed to arrest the shooter time after time until he eventually shot and killed 17 people.
Third, put principals in charge of the schools and get rid of the 50 state departments of education and that federal one. Sure, you will get a bad principal here and there, but one bad principal can screw up one school. One bad secretary of education can screw up all of them.
The real solution is to put God back in school, if only to remind children that they are a small part of a bigger universe.
The last thing we need to do is blame guns for this problem, because it is a people problem. Guns are just an excuse for us to avoid facing that.
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The media chose to go to war with Donald John Trump in 2017 rather than accept him as president.
The media chose poorly.
From Leslie Eastman's review at Legal Insurrection:
Surber, a recovering journalist with over 30 years of experience, has been cataloging the #FakeNews that has been regularly offered as serious analysis of President Donald Trump’s actions, policies, and opinions. He has brought his enormous collection together in the longest, most serious book he has yet written: Fake News Follies of 2017.Fake News Follies of 2017 is available on Kindle and in paperback.
Autographed copies are available. Email me at DonSurber@GMail.com for details. I am including a "director's cut." I will give you the original Chapter 1 that I cut because while the chapter was amusing, it really had nothing to do with the Fake News Follies of 2017.
Local control means better control because it is answerable to the people who are most affected by whatever they do. So let the principals run the schools. And have severe penalties for not keeping the kids safe! -- BJ54
ReplyDeleteAmen !
ReplyDeleteThe solution to the perceived injustice of drafting people at 18 but not allowing them to vote until they were 21 was to embrace the concept of the emancipated minor and give the vote to anyone serving in the military. It was far too sensible at the time, and far too sensible now.
ReplyDeleteI would go so far as to raise the voting age to 25 and require passing a test on the constitution, the history of the country and the payment of property taxes even if only on a car or a dog. Skin in the game is requisite for the republic to survive.
YES !! On all points !!
DeleteEven the despicable Obama went on & on about "Skin in the game".
We also need to add spouses into the Presidential Term Limit: the wife/ husband of an ex-president is just an end-run around the law.
I would go so far as to limit any family to a couple of generations hiatus from the Presidency - for the same reason.
I would take it a step further an re-instate the draft for ALL persons when they reach 18 yrs. of age, in at least a reserve capacity.
DeleteTeach some discipline, learn themelves a useful trade, critical thinking skills, with a healthy respect for firearms.
Create tomorrow's responsible,patriotic adults.
"The real solution is to put God back in school, if only to remind children that they are a small part of a bigger universe."
ReplyDeleteThe Supreme Court has ruled that God can be - and in fact is - in public schools.
As for abolishing State Education Departments, might as well in West Virginia. Teachers there have walked off the job.
Well, my theory is that kids today are taking about ten years longer to grow up, so on paper this makes sense. But come on, Big D, you and I both know kids these days are starting to drink at 10 and 12 years old. I say, abolish the drinking age entirely. Radical, I know.
ReplyDeletewe need a little silence from the lambs - nice one, retired newspaperman :)
ReplyDeleteIt'll never happen: the democrats need as many people who have never paid a bill, or a tax, as they can get to vote. I'm surprised they're not arguing to try and get the voting age lowered to 10.
ReplyDeleteThe draft thing is messed up now because it will include women next time, and society is NOT on board with that, but it will happen, so I expect a major, major problem if and when that has to happen again.
ReplyDeleteThe voting age never should have been dropped, but it sure paid dividends for the Democrats, didn't it? They weren't stupid. They knew what they were doing.
If a child is considered capable of choosing its gender, it should be considered capable of voting, smoking,marrying, and having a gun. Emancipate minors at birth! Let them buy their own formula!
ReplyDeleteRevert to limiting the voting franchise to actual property owners/taxpayers. - Elric
ReplyDeleteNo work, no eat.
ReplyDelete21 won't guarantee maturity. Let's raise it to 30.
ReplyDeleteRaising the voting age would require an amendment to the constitution.
ReplyDeleteOr federal courts finding emanations within penumbras in the living document that 18-20 years of age is still childhood and therefore international law dictates ignoring the plain meaning of the 26th amendment.
It's been done before.
Do not forget that young men have to register to draft at age 18. Also,many of our brave soldiers now and in the past have been under 21.
ReplyDelete