Historical
See other Historical Articles
Title: Old America versus the rotten new
Source:
Lew Rockwell
URL Source: https://www.lewrockwell.com/2017/07/paul-craig-roberts/old-america/
Published: Jul 14, 2017
Author: Paul Craig Roberts
Post Date: 2017-07-14 08:57:55 by Deckard
Keywords: None
Views: 20071
Comments: 64
He had lugged the 50 lb. bag of Milorganite into the garden in order to discover, as on many prior occasions, that he had nothing with which to open it. He blamed this on the war on terror and the TSA. As a youth he, as did every boy, had a pocket knife. Always. It was expected. There was no school rule against pocket knives. Once for a period they even all had switchblades. You could get them for 99 cents, a large amount in those days, enough to buy a case of 24 Coca-Colas. The switchblades met with school and parental disapproval as they smacked of New York gangs. But before teachers and parents came up with a policy, the boys had abandoned the switchblades. The knives had weak springs. Fascinated with the speed with which the knives opened with a satisfying click and locked the blade into place, the boys quickly wore out the springs on their switchblades. Unlike their trusty pocket knives, the switchblades quickly became useless. He no longer carried a pocket knife. He had learned long ago that things that go into pockets become habitual. He would forget to take the knife out when he rushed to catch his flight, just as he always forgot to put the knife in his pocket when he went to work in the garden. There would be a scene at the airport, confiscation of the knife, which had been his grandfather’s, and TSA questioning. They might want him to be strip searched. He could miss his flight. Such a large expensive organization as TSA needs justification, and so whereas the TSA officers might be reasonable, he could not count on it. Under the law, he could be accused and prosecuted. One never knew. He could remember the air shuttle between Washington and New York. The planes flew on the hour. You could show up 10 minutes before takeoff and be seated. If one airplane wasn’t enough, they would provide a second. There was no security, no delays. He didn’t like being drawn back into memories of the past. It made him acutely aware how difficult just simple things had become over the course of his life, like carrying a pocket knife. A couple of weeks ago he had been on vacation at a gated mountain resort. He enjoyed hiking along the streams and visiting the waterfalls. He had managed to rent at the airport a sports sedan and was looking forward to a morning workout at the exercise center and then a semi-spirited drive along mountain roads outside the resort. As he was changing into his workout clothes, the telephone rang. As he rushed to stay on schedule his billfold with driving license did not make the clothes change. He discovered this at the exercise center. It was 10 minutes back to his cabin and then 10 minutes back in the direction of the exit gate. Why had he agreed to a telephone interview? If he went back for his license, his drive would be rushed and not enjoyable. He could go without his license, but suppose something happened, such as a collision with a deer. Would the police accept a reasonable story and the car rental papers for ID, or would he be hauled to jail, a long flight away from his lawyer? The days of reasonable police, he thought, were bygone days. The morning was shot. The only thing to do was to vent his frustration in exercise and return to his cabin for the telephone interview. Even the innocence of words had been lost. There were many words that could no longer be used. They had been banished down the memory hole. A professor friend had told him that he was subjected to a dressing down by a dean because he had used the word “girl” in class. “Girl” is now considered offensive to women. In restaurants in the South, waitresses called the men “honey.” “What will it be, honey?” The men called the waitresses “darling.” He wondered about that today. Perhaps in small towns. Since the advent of interstate highways, small towns had passed out of his experience. He wondered if they still had restaurants or just fast food franchises. It got worse. The floodgates of memory had opened. He was given his first firearm at age 10. It was a single barrel .410 shotgun. When he was 12 he was given a .22 pistol. Many of his friends had guns. The countryside was nearby and many urban families had farm relatives. He remembered, too, that all the kids were subjected to corporal punishment. Today a parent who spanked a kid or provided one with a firearm would be arrested, likely prosecuted, and the kid put into foster care where there was a risk of being leased out to a pedophile group. He could remember riding his horse into the town three miles from his grandparents’ farm with a real pistol strapped to his side and a rifle in the scabbard when he was 12 or 13. No one said a thing. Today a SWAT team would be on the scene. He would be lucky not to be shot dead and never know the fate of his grandparents, who would be guilty of all sorts of offenses, including failure to supervise a minor. That reminded him of what he had recently read in a newspaper. On a cul-de-sac devoid of car traffic a mother sat in a chair outside the house while her child played in the front lawn. A busybody neighbor, trained to report parental malfeasance, whose view of the mother was blocked by shrubbery, saw an unsupervised child at play and called the police. When the police arrived, they arrested the mother on the basis of the unverified report from the neighbor. The mother was taken to jail. The newspaper did not say what had happened to the child, whether the kid was taken to foster care and whether the husband had to rush home from his job and ply lawyers with money to help put his family back together. These kinds of horrors inflicted on families by public authorities often have worst consequences than the predations of criminals. He wondered if parents and children would be safer if the police were disbanded and outlawed. Yet, society had accepted these abuses as justified. What, he thought, would have been the public reaction when he was a kid? The policemen would have been fired, the chief disciplined, and the mayor would have lost the next election. It would not have been possible for them to become heroes by destroying a family. The busybody neighbor would have become a pariah in the community. Just the other day he had seen a grandmother at the supermarket with tattoos and face piercings. A grandmother? How had this come about? At the mountain resort pool and exercise center it wasn’t just the men. He had seen young women who were covered in tattoos. A friend told him that some women not only had face and tongue piercings, but also navel, labia, and clitoris piercings. Piercings were what he remembered from boyhood days of looking through stacks of National Geographic magazines from the 1940s and 1950s. Articles explained with words and photographs facial piercing practices by tribes in “darkest Africa.” Now they were the practices of upper-class women who played in resorts. He recalled his father’s first rule of business: “Never hire anyone with a tattoo.” Tattoos were what sailors did who got drunk in Asian ports. They demonstrated poor judgment and a lack of self-restraint. If anyone sober got a tattoo, it indicated a lack of self-respect. If an employee did not respect himself, he would not respect the job. His father would have a hard time assembling a workforce today. A couple of years ago a college classmate told him that their noble old fraternity had been suspended by the college president. A black female student claimed that racial slurs had been shouted at her from an open window. The fraternity was able to show that all the windows had been painted shut for years, probably dating back to when the house was air conditioned. But the college president wasn’t going to dispute a black female’s word on the basis of evidence. It could mean protests, charges of racism, broken windows, newspaper and trustee inquiries. Bad PR for the college. It was safer to hand the fraternity a bit of injustice. Recently, he had arrived at the supermarket in a cloudburst. There were a dozen parking spaces by the entrance, but they were marked “Handicapped Parking $500 Fine.” He remembered when the handicapped said that they wanted to be treated like everyone else. Now they had privileges. He wondered about those signs. Did they give offense? “Handicapped” was one of those discarded words. They hadn’t got around to replacing the signs. He remembered, too, when males did not use four-letter words in front of parents or females. Now the young woman could out-cuss his male generation. More memories. If you scraped a car while street parking, you were expected to leave a note with the name and telephone number and expect to pay for the repair. He had once told some young people this and they laughed at the joke. Something had happened. He had been brought up to be a citizen in a world that no longer existed. At least there still were gardens. He put away his thoughts and went to get his knife.
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
Comments (1-24) not displayed.
.
.
.
#25. To: redleghunter (#24)
We were expected to eat 3 squares a day. My mother considered it her duty. If they fed today's couch potato kids what we ate back then, they'd all weigh 500 pounds when they graduated high school. Yet every kid I knew was whip thin. At most, a few had an extra 20 pounds. And maybe for every 5-6 grades in school, you'd have an actual obese kid, like 300 pounds. We had an obesity rate of under 0.5% back then, at least where I grew up. And almost no one had allergies other than hay fever and a few rare cases of asthma.
There was also a game we played in the summer called "Round up." We would split all kids from 6 to teen age into two teams. Usually there were 7-10 kids per team. One team would hide throughout the neighborhood and nearby woods. The other had to find us and "capture" each team member. In order to be caught the fiding team not only had to find you but chase you down, grab your arm and say "round up, round up one two three. Once caught you went on the stairs "in jail." The game would not end until all were caught and put in jail. If the jail was unguarded a team member could come out of hiding and free the other team members. This took hours to play and was great exercise.
He's probably a champion on Xbox and has some lovely tattoos though...
Very similar to our "capture the flag". Each team had a flag that the other team tried to capture. You hid and when you could move without being caught you looked for the other team's flag. If you found it you hollered and your team won. If captured (tagged) you were out and went to the designated place.
Don't know about the X-Box,but he has no visable tattoos and wears shirts he cut the sleeves off of to show his muscles,and shorts. He doesn't even smoke,drink,or do drugs. Probably because he has been playing football all his life. He ends up being the designated driver when he goes out with his friends at night. Kind of a weird guy. Worked for my friend at a local garage for a while. Not really the stereotypical bully despite just graduating from high school,being a starter on the football team,and being 6'7" and around 300 lbs. Kind of quiet and smiles a lot. I have came to the conclusion that he's not as stupid as "read at a 3rd grade level" implies,but intellectually lazy. Probably teetering on the border between "low" and "normal" intelligence. When he was working for my friend he seemed to be able to follow simple instructions and actually learn the stuff he wanted to learn. I think he just learned at a early age that if he just said he couldn't understand something and smile,people would leave him alone and not make him do it. He IS trainable as well as wanting to pull in a big paycheck,so I am pretty sure he will end up doing ok for himself in a year or two. He's not going to be going on SS disability for being learning disabled like a BUNCH of people do these days. A couple of times I saw him doing things "the hard/slow way" and had to go over and show him how to do it the easy and quick way. I am a little undecided about why this was. It could be because he was sandbagging to get more hours/more pay,or it could have been because he was never required to do much thinking until getting out of school in June. He seemed to take direction cheerfully after I explained to him how he was doing it wrong,why it was wrong to do it that way,and showed him a easier and more efficient way to do it,but I caught him half-assing it again later on. Since he was working cheap and I haven't been able to find anyone else willing to do temporary yard work,I really didn't have much room to bitch at him for it. In the entire history of the world,the only nations that had to build walls to keep their own citizens from leaving were those with leftist governments.
He should move somewhere that he can get a decent factory job.
He can't even read and you expect him to learn Chinese? In the entire history of the world,the only nations that had to build walls to keep their own citizens from leaving were those with leftist governments.
R R R
"...you forgot the collusion-wing that has been the NWO RINO-Bush- Rockefeller Elites. THAT part of the Leviathon and "The Swamp" has been hiding in the reeds in plain sight. I deem IT even MORE diabolic than the RATS -- simply because they do sport the (R) label. It's given them immunity and impunity TO collude and collaborate. At least with Dems, what you see is what you get." In my defense, I did attribute the BLAME 2 "...the Progressive DemonRATZ/RINOZ", fwiw...I despise what Sen. Grahamnesty has become...and McStain, and Romney...they R all Progressives from what I've surmised. 2*B cont....MUD "Devolve Power Outta the Federal Leviathan and Back to the States, "Peters, Boots, and Baer: ALL three supported HILLARY! All three are part of THE ongoing Coup." Bret Baer?! C'mon now, buddy...I dropped cable a few years back, but I never saw that bias on his Sunday morning show. Is Baer one of the BadGuys?! "Devolve Power Outta the Federal Leviathan and Back to the States, BTW...nobody said "draining the swamp" would be EZ...MUD
"Devolve Power Outta the Federal Leviathan and Back to the States, True dat...MUD "Devolve Power Outta the Federal Leviathan and Back to the States, (Compliments of the Linux FortuneBuilderZ program.) Ain't THAT the Truth?! Now, moreso than EVER B4...MUD "Devolve Power Outta the Federal Leviathan and Back to the States, Mud -- you recall the very first GOP debate, right? It was Kelly, Wallace AND Bret Baer plotting then operating the plan to bait Trump right from the get go (Kelly fired the initial salvo at Trump, the one that began the Trump-hates-women" memo.... Anyhoo, Baer FOX's trio that evening were ALL in on The Conspiracy. Yes, including Baer. I also seem to recall Baer admitting that they were fully prepared to toss Trump off the stage in what they hoped would be Trump losing his cool. IMO, Baer IS "one of the bad guys." His style is never over the top blatantly anti-Trump, yet is was obviously still there. He's a weasel. I know it's disappointing, but Trump alone has torn the mask off of many in show-biz as well as within the GOP and the Media.
Trump is not even close to being "presidential stature." You are looking for non-objective questioning by the press. Maybe Trump should have been interviewed by you or some other choir boy?
Nope, sure ain't. Especially when Trump appointed snakes like Tillerson and other Globalists to his cabinet. Looks like even Sessions was part of that swamp. Recusing himself immediately of his duties as AG just The Swamp decided to use "RUSSIA!!" as the fake battering ram with which to hammer Trump has been THE key to this BS meme remaining alive politically as well as thru the Fake Media. Trump was right when he recently explained that had he known Jeff Sessions would hang him out to dry on the subject, he'd have NEVER appointed him AG.
Yeah... as if it's difficult to bait that thin-skinned, egotistical ignoramus...
Buck, at one time you were pretty savvy, politically. That's no longer the case. "Presidential stature" -- what does that even mean? Are you telling me the Commie-Muzzie racist who openly hated America demonstrated "presidential stature." Dubya Bush? Billy-Bob Bubba? Jimmy Carter? ONLY Ronald Reagan, JFK, and Ike demonstrated a so-called "presidential stature" in my life-time. You are looking for non-objective questioning by the press. You can't be serious. The "Press" is nothing but a mercenary army of lying propagandists who hate America. They are compensated by Globalists, Anarchists, Marxists, Luciferians, and anti-Christians. So...When did you lose touch with reality? Maybe Trump should have been interviewed by you or some other choir boy? You're not really interested in the truth at all, are you?
You know, you buy into any "Tom, Dick or Harry" that the GOP nominates as your leader. Don't you ever wash your dirty, filthy hands?
Yeah -- as if that trio of dishonest saboteurs and EVERY person on that stage hasn't an over-sized ego. Since when does a network plot and plan to bait particular candidates with lies and BS? In YOUR world, which, "The End justifies the Means," eh, Willie? (Btw, Trump, an "ignoramus"?? HA! The guy is PRESIDENT. He beat 17 Globalist puppets, a globalist-run Media Cabal, and his own treasonous Party.) HERE is the difference between Donald Trump and the other empty suited puppets: ONLY Donald Trump was willing to lay everything he owns on the line nd sacrifice ALL in order to help America BE America again (and NOT some subservient Globalist plantation.) YOU may love being part of the Global-First plantation (which we all know is your fantasy Willie), but Donald Trump and the rest of us REJECT it.
Geez, it's sad to see how far you've fallen. Who are you REALLY blaming, Buck? Yes, the axe you're grinding -- what's it really about?
Roger that!
You really wreak of modern world mental conditioning of what it means to be a "conservative." You have few standards other than Clinton's Harvard teacher, Dr. Tribe.
Educate me. Define "Conservative" AND "conservative" (with a little "c") within *your* understanding of the paradigm. That you pay much attention to Lawrence Tribe is interesting.
There is no "paradigm." You are a fully conditioned GOP dolt that has stated his reverence for Trump to lead America as a conservative. Yet, you can not state a specific action other than Trump's campaign rhetoric.
Bucky doesn't like the idea of a wall. Bucky thinks we should obey the un he's a globalist unlike trump. Bucky thinks trump shouldn't have appointed gorsuch. Bucky likes obozocare. Bucky was mad when trump withdrew from Paris billshit. Bucky is mad trump called out NATO allies for not paying fair share. Bucky thinks Russia got trump elected. Bucky is mad trump already brought down defecit 108 billion. Bucky is kinda dumb. He did used to make good points. I think bucky might really be Yukon. His account was hacked.
Let's focus. You're now parroting the OCD of the Marxist-Globalist media and Dem/GOPe puppets. Your definition of "conservative" -- STILL waiting....IF your are actually capable of defining it, Buck.
HA!! "Hacked"?? heh-heh... Bucky can't answer a simple challenge and define "conservative" if you've noticed. Turns out that Bucky -- like Willie Green and a couple others have been closet Liberal--Leftists. OR they've "evolved"/DEVOLVED in old age. Sad.
Yes, he used to....
Where do you dig this shit out? From your ass and through your lips and hands?
You want to to do the TRUMP dance in publick? What if he grabs your vagina?
You wouldn't know "conservative" no matter how it is described based on Constitutional constraints. All you have within your airhead is: trump, Trump and more TRUMP. Asshole, you are leading America into fascism.
Can't define "conservative", huh? Didn't think so.
I see ONE person who is OCD over "TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP" -- and it ain't me.
Oh so you agree with Trump on those issues. Where is the disagreement? Your love of the faggot agenda?
He didn't beat anybody... He was the scum that was leftover when everybody voted for "None of the Above"
Willie is just mad because Trump doesn't eat aborted babies like Obama and watermelon Willie do.
He was the scum that was leftover when everybody voted for "None of the Above" Chyeah, right. While Trump was filling stadiums and arenas to the brim, SRO, and lined up HOURS in advance to hear and see him, YOU were watching Comrade Bernie on C-Span in your nightie and lipstick. OR...was it Hitlery's miniscule astroturfed crowd of lunatics?
Totally agree with that...DemRATZ and RINOZ have been exposed to the World as the "Propagandists 4 Progressivism" that they have been all along...MUD "Devolve Power Outta the Federal Leviathan and Back to the States, Yep... [to Bucky] "So...When did you lose touch with reality?" Approximately at the beginning of the New Millenium...Bucky's been a LeftyLooney 4 quite awhile now...MUD "Devolve Power Outta the Federal Leviathan and Back to the States, Baseball and woods exploration all day long after breakfast.
#26. To: Liberator, TooConservative (#18)
#27. To: sneakypete, Deckard (#22)
The guy I had up here today doing yardwork for me for minimum wage is a recent HS graduate that is 19,and reads at a 3rd grade level. Doesn't own a computer and has never used a computer because he can't read and has a hard time thinking. No doubt due to lack of practice.
#28. To: redleghunter (#26)
"Round up."
#29. To: Tooconservative (#27)
He's probably a champion on Xbox and has some lovely tattoos though...
#30. To: sneakypete (#29)
#31. To: Tooconservative (#30)
He should move somewhere that he can get a decent factory job.
#32. To: sneakypete (#31)
#33. To: Liberator (#16)
(Edited)
Localities, and Individuals as Prescribed in the US Constitution."
#34. To: Liberator (#16)
Localities, and Individuals as Prescribed in the US Constitution."
#35. To: Liberator (#16)
Localities, and Individuals as Prescribed in the US Constitution."
#36. To: Liberator (#16)
Localities, and Individuals as Prescribed in the US Constitution."
#37. To: Liberator (#16)
-- Mark Twain
Localities, and Individuals as Prescribed in the US Constitution."
#38. To: Mudboy Slim (#34)
Bret Baer?! C'mon now, buddy...I dropped cable a few years back, but I never saw that bias on his Sunday morning show. Is Baer one of the BadGuys?!
#39. To: Liberator (#38)
#40. To: Mudboy Slim (#35)
BTW...nobody said "draining the swamp" would be EZ...
#41. To: Liberator (#38)
It was Kelly, Wallace AND Bret Baer plotting then operating the plan to bait Trump right from the get go
#42. To: buckeroo (#39)
(Edited)
Trump is not even close to being "presidential stature."
#43. To: Liberator (#42)
#44. To: Willie Green (#41)
(Edited)
Yeah... as if it's difficult to bait that thin-skinned, egotistical ignoramus...
#45. To: buckeroo (#43)
#46. To: Mudboy Slim (#35)
"Devolve Power Outta the Federal Leviathan and Back to the States, Localities, and Individuals as Prescribed in the US Constitution."
#47. To: Liberator (#45)
#48. To: buckeroo (#47)
#49. To: Liberator (#48)
#50. To: buckeroo (#49)
#51. To: buckeroo (#49)
#52. To: A K A Stone, buckeroo (#50)
(Edited)
I think bucky might really be Yukon. His account was hacked.
#53. To: A K A Stone, buckeroo (#50)
Bucky is kinda dumb. He did used to make good points.
#54. To: A K A Stone (#50)
#55. To: Liberator (#51)
Let's focus.
#56. To: Liberator (#52)
can't answer a simple challenge and define "conservative" if you've noticed.
#57. To: buckeroo (#56)
#58. To: buckeroo (#56)
You wouldn't know "conservative" no matter how it is described based on Constitutional constraints. All you have within your airhead is: trump, Trump and more TRUMP.
#59. To: buckeroo (#54)
#60. To: Liberator (#44)
He beat 17 Globalist puppets, a globalist-run Media Cabal, and his own treasonous Party.)
#61. To: Willie Green (#60)
#62. To: Willie Green (#60)
He didn't beat anybody...
#63. To: Liberator (#38)
"Trump alone has torn the mask off of many in show-biz as well as within the GOP and the Media."
Localities, and Individuals as Prescribed in the US Constitution."
#64. To: Liberator, buckeroo (#42)
"The "Press" is nothing but a mercenary army of lying propagandists who hate America. They are compensated by Globalists, Anarchists, Marxists, Luciferians, and anti-Christians.
Localities, and Individuals as Prescribed in the US Constitution."
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Mail] [Sign-in] [Setup] [Help] [Register]