Once upon a time, we wanted the best, and to be the best. I remember all watching all those television specials about how Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy tasked American school, universities and industries to produce the best workers, engineers, scientists and products the world had ever knew. Eisenhower initiated the Interstate Highway System and JFK pointed us toward the moon. Nixon established the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and even Ronald Reagan saw the value in our space program.
Then..it happened. I'm not sure exactly when and where it began, but eventually it all changed. Ivy League graduates have always been held in suspicion, but it was at least considered a good thing to earn a college degree, That changed. If you so mush as graduated from Community College, Sarah Palin says you are "un-American". We don't want the best health care system in the world. We don't want high-speed rail and, by golly, we don't want to develop new energy technology.
Earlier this year, a tea bagger told me "I don't want to join the rest of the world". Is that it? Do some people really believe that it is better to be left behind if that's what it takes to be "exceptional" in the world? Is having a nation that is poorly education, ill-informed and in poor health an acceptable price for "freedom"? Looking at the incoming Republican House and the ghouls' gallery of new Republican governors, it appears to be the case. Fortunately, California dd not follow the rest of the country. But I have to be honest, I feel like I am in the survivors camp in an episode of the "Walking Dead".