I don’t understand your optimism. Modern Americans are not like past ones. Too many of them have been conditioned by the media to demand a government paycheck or subsidy. Whole farms states, populated with otherwise personally responsible people, live on subsidies. In addition, there have been two generations who have lived in the credit card era, a shocking cultural transformation from the time when I was a younger person instilled with thrift.
There is a litmus test for when you will recognize that a U-turn is in progress: Republicans will honestly be calling for severe cuts in Federal outlays, and not just nibbling.
I have one thing to say about that: don’t hold your breath.
My 5th grader has been dumbed down tremendously by government provided skewls. Get a bad grade? Take the test again. Want a good score on Standards of Learning? Test the kids all year long on the same stuff they will see on SOLs. Homework? If she gets 30 minutes a night then that’s something. When I ask her to think through something she claims that the teachers don’t force them to do it in a way that requires effort. Year after year of learning about the Virginia native population and topography but you can forget math, financial basics or civics.
It’s like this everywhere. Meanwhile all the Indian and Paki families have their kids at Kumon on the weekends to max out the learning potential so they can get ahead.
Health care reform today is all about getting someone else to pay for their health care, not lowering actual costs.
Who wins this battle may well determine our economic future.
It is likely a good indication of the actual proportion of takers verses producers.