There are those of us who believe that the fact that we don't have an oppressive government (relatively speaking) is the reason why it's possible to earn big bucks in this country, or used to be. In our lifetimes (yours and mine) we have seen the power of government increase as the opportunity for making big bucks decreased for the average guy. Of course correlation does not prove cause and effect, but it kind of makes you wonder. Even though our country has lost ground in our lifetimes, it's apparently still way ahead of whoever is in second place, which is why immigrants continue to flock to our shores. Most of them probably don't make the connection between big government and small paychecks, and many of our own people don't either.
They have always had oppressive governments in the Middle East (relatively speaking). Trying to teach those people about democracy is like trying to teach a bull to dance, it doesn't work and it just aggravates the bull. Lest you accuse me of racism, let me qualify that. It's not that those people are genetically incapable of understanding democracy, it's just that it's not in their cultural heritage so they have no historical frame of reference. Another problem is that the former colonial powers established arbitrary borders that didn't take tribal rivalries into account. Those tribal rivalries are probably one reason the colonial powers were able to take over the region in the first place. Upon gaining independence, you'd think they would have just trashed the borders and started all over again, and maybe we should get out of the way and let them do it.
Speaking of arbitrary borders, I think that's a big reason why Israel and the Palestinians are still going at it. I believe those borders were established by your precious United Nations, although they have been modified over the years by periodic warfare. What those people need is two separate and distinct countries that are located out of mortar and rocket range of each other.
Has it been established that the plane in the Ukraine was actually shot down by the pro-Russian separatists? Last I heard they were denying it.
I'm sure I told you about our local Indians before. Briefly, back in the 1980s, a series of court decisions and out-of-court settlements granted certain special privileges to Native American Indians in Michigan. This inspired a number of people, who previously had not known that they were Indians, to trace their ancestry and discover that they were indeed Indians. (If you're 1/8 Indian, you're an Indian, the other 7/8 doesn't count.) Most of them had French last names, which is not surprising since the French, who have been in the area since the 17th Century, were a lot friendlier with the Indians than the English, who came later.
I got a little carried away with my rant about the gays and colored people taking over the country. Truth be known, they have only taken over sports, television, the big cities, and the federal government. None of this has had a serious material impact on my neighborhood, unless you count Indians as colored people, which is a bit of a stretch because most of them don't look any different than anybody else. If they ever do get his far, I would be moving north rather than south but, with any kind of luck, I'll be dead by then.
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