Who Wants a Political Rant?

Mom,

The jobs are going to other countries. That's a fact. The blue-collar jobs are going to developing countries, and the engineering/technology jobs are going places with a better educated work force.

Do you really think the people who shop for everything at Wal Mart because it's cheap care whether that made-in-Bangladesh sweater was made by someone making 10 cents/hour? The same sweater made in the USA by a worker making a "whopping" $6/hour would cost probably twice as much.

And remember the most motivated kids in my high school? Ushma, Debanjan, Sundip, the Lee brothers… in short, the Asians and the Indians. Well schools all over the eastern hemisphere are turning out students who are better at EVERYTHING than we are. And they're not coming into the US and "stealing our jobs" anymore. They stayed at home, built up their economies, and are making it difficult for the US to keep up. It's a reality that we aren't the richest or most powerful nation in the world. We don't deserve to be. Our education system is crumbling, and it's the complacency and bickering everywhere from local school boards to the US government causing that problem. Those other countries care about their future. They care about their children's future. And they're actually doing something about it.

My generation (or maybe even the one before mine) could be the last that sees people from Europe and Asia coming to America, "the land of opportunity." Sure, things are better here than Mexico or Cuba, but does anyone really want to measure us against that ruler?

I know in my heart that you are not one of those people who doesn't care about the mess you leave behind for your grandchildren to clean up. Education is important NOW. The economy is important NOW. Health care is important NOW. Iraq is less important. In the grand scheme of things, even $4 gas is less important. Crackpot preachers are NOT IMPORTANT AT ALL.

Read the whole speech. Pretend it's John McCain or GWB or Ronald Reagan saying the words. Get past the messenger and read the message. If you must listen to right-wing talk radio, listen to the left, too. You don't have to agree with the spin, but at least you'll be exposed to more than one side's rhetoric and become more adept at recognizing it for what it is: propaganda.

Still to come if I'm still on my soap box tomorrow: health care and health insurance. Stay tuned.