AMERICA: Dream isn't dead - yet

I guess I must have gotten lost somewhere along the path of life, because I certainly can't understand how our society has come to signify popularity and stardom as a sign of the ability to govern, without much consideration for the known stands on issues. Please do not jump to conclusions and think that I am throwing sticks at California’s governor. I think he has shown unexpected bravery for trying ideas which may or may not work, because he knows something unusual is the only thing which MIGHT. 

It just seems to me that most of our present politicians look for things they can brag about more than what might work, and we applaud the brag regardless of outcome. Everyone likes to control everything, whether they own it or not. The best example of this is probably planning and zoning With its passage we simply gave up our personal right to own real property. It used to be realized that ownership was control, and if you didn't control it, you certainly couldn't believe that you owned it. This was, in the old days, called a free society.

Of course your neighbor also owned his house and had the same rights. I have known MANY wonderful people who lived in houses which couldn't consider passing the most lax inspection that most of us could even imagine today. Is this REALLY progress? I think not. In today’s economy, there are many homeless families who would give all they have for the right to have a cardboard house to live in and an undersized lot to plant a few vegetables in, and maybe even a few old boards and a piece of scrap wire to raise a rabbit in. 

We may be better to elect some old farmers, loggers and construction workers to write our laws (yes, I am talking about people who hve spent their lives working and figuring out how to make things work). Maybe, if that time is still possible, we could really pledge our allegiance to the REPUBLIC for which it stands, and we could again be free to work for,  and even to claim, the great American Dream.

WALTER G. MERRITT

Tensed