How Ozzie & Harriet killed America, aka the Rise & Fall of the American Empire.
Since the arrival of the first colonists in the New World, the history of America and it’s citizens has been written in hard work. This continued
generation after generation until our ‘Greatest Generation’, the generation that grew up during the Great Depression and then fought and won World
War II. Until this point, the ‘American Dream’ did not exist. There was no expectation that each generation would have it better than the one
before it.
This changed with our ‘Greatest Generation’, the generation of
Ozzie &
Harriet, as they vowed that their kids would never see the type of hardship that they had seen growing up, and that their kids would know a
better world than they had been left to clean up during the rise of the Axis Powers. So they spoiled their kids, the Baby Boomers. They sold them on
this new idea now known as ‘The American Dream’. They protected them from the Boogey Man known as Communism.
What they created was a generation that felt it was entitled to a better life, and that they should not have to work hard to attain it. Before the
Boomers, our economy was built first on agriculture, and then on industry. We created something, something tangible. We made things. And it was
hard work.
But as the Greatest Generation began to retire from the workplace in the 70’s and 80’s, our economy went from an industrial economy to a service
economy. We went from making things to shuffling papers around. It was easier. While those who lost the manufacturing jobs to outsourcing
complained, those who shuffled the papers did nothing to stop it. They were entitled to a better, easier life after all.
Americans used to be some of the most disciplined people on Earth. That discipline started when they were children. But the Boomers equated
discipline with abuse, and instead of just coming down on those who actually abused their children, they made any and all types of physical discipline
‘abuse’. This mindset has carried on with their progeny, as it is now expected that you ‘reason’ with your two year old when he/she throws a
fit. This is about as productive as throwing a designer dress on a crack whore, and expecting her to be magically transformed into a lady.
We used to be a nation that thrived on difficult challenges, now we cringe from anything that appears ‘hard’. We do like to whine about it,
though. Our education system is falling apart, but do we fix it? No, we just complain about it, and continuously take money away from it. It’s
too hard. Our healthcare system is falling apart, but do we fix it? No, not really. (The Healthcare Reform Act is a joke and fixed nothing.)
Instead we just complain about it, and tell ourselves that Universal Healthcare doesn’t work anywhere else, so it can’t
possibly work
here… instead of doing the ‘American’ thing, and make it work here. We no longer demand better, we just lower our expectations… It's too
hard.
Ozzie & Harriet killed America… and
Ward & June Cleaver helped them do it…