Seen This Movie Before

By Semperpapa

As I am forced to watch the losers who are "occupying Wall Street" and all the other copycats around the country, cannot avoid it as the media is basking in their moronic actions, I am forced to go back in time, about 30+ years ago.

It actually has been some time that these thoughts have been rearing their ugly heads in my mind, screaming messages of alarm that even my optimistic disposition has had to notice.

I was born and raised in Italy, definitely a beautiful place to visit on a historically charged vacation, but an even better place to be from.
To be sure, I want to insure you that I am not bashing Italy, but having had to live in that country until the age of 20, going through high school there and having to deal with the bureaucracy there and the social mentality, it was a breath of fresh air and a great sense of hope that I felt when I was allowed to migrate to the United States.

As an immigrant, I have a personal unique prospective on America for two specific reasons.
The first one is the age I was when I migrated. I was not a small child who only has a child memory of that past life. I had to deal with the public schools there and, once graduated from high school, with the mind-blowing unemployment that affected my age group.
Basically, there was no jobs available for young people just out of school. At the time, all males would be called up for the Military draft (on a humorous note, however bad the postal service was in the country at the time, it was amazing how the notification of draft would show up in your mail box two days after your 18th birthday!).
One way to delay the draft was to attend the University, which I did as I was waiting for my migration papers to come through.

The second reason is that it is very understandable for someone who comes from an impoverish third world country to be amazed by the unlimited opportunities of a country like the United States, but even I, who came from an industrialized country, saw immediately the difference in the two systems.

Here is the connection with what we are witnessing today.
30+ years ago in Italy, there was a pronounced class distinction that drove people's behavior. One one side there was the majority of young people like me, who was going to attend the University and after maybe 5-6 years graduate with a degree that was not even worth the paper it was printed on in view of landing a job, especially in Sicily where I was.
This created a situation where young people in their late 20s and early 30s would still live at home with their parents, unable to even considering starting a family and a life n their own.
All pivoted on the chance that at some point some connection could be made with some "important" person who would get you that coveted position, hopefully on a government payroll, which meant a job for life. And there was always the option of migrating somewhere else.

On the other side was the minority of those who were considered of a "lower class" who would not attend the University and instead join the manual labor force: construction workers, plumbers, electricians, mechanics, truck drivers.

For the common "upper class" person, it was a sign of social status to be able to call one of those in the "lower class" to get something fixed in the home or the car. The mentality was that a well-to-do person would not have to know how to use a tool. But everyone was a college graduate, even if broke and functionally useless without mom and dad.

Coming to America and finding a totally different mind set was, like I said already, a major breath of fresh air. I have always enjoyed working with my hands, so the ability of taking care of things around the house or on the car on my own was attractive to me, and still is.

And here comes my concern. What I have been witnessing in the last few years is a societal march toward the same mind set I escaped from 30+ years ago.
Every one is pushing for college education as if that is the only way to succeed in life. I have seen some reports that estimate that by year 2020, our country will have a shortfall of labor of about 10 million jobs in the manufacturing and construction sectors. All the various disciplines will be affected: machinists, electricians, framers, etc.

It used to be that the average American could change the oil in his/her car, do minor repairs and build things that made life easier. Today we don't even change our own flat tires.
We have college graduates with the stupidest degrees, all feel-good majors that have absolutely no real life application. So the solution to land a job is most likely to end up working for the government or know someone who knows someone who gets you into some job.
Sounds familiar? Sure does, I have seen this movie before and do not like the end today any more than I liked it then.

Do not mistake my words for a rebuke of college education. I am a college graduate and all for it and I am all for the personal improvement in the field of knowledge, but it has to be useful knowledge and not indoctrination.
Fields like Engineering will lead to good paying jobs. Vocational training, like machinist and other manufacturing fields, will also lead to good jobs, especially if the current trend of cheap imports from abroad is reversed. I think it will, as the country may like the low prices for certain items, but it is also growing tired of subsidizing the enemies of our country.

What I see, and I have written amply in the past, is a conspiracy on the part of academia to undermine the social structure of America. The institution of higher learning are filled with progressive elements that have access to the minds of young people and are destroying a whole generation.
I watch the protester and feel afraid for America. They have been indoctrinated into hating the country, into hypocritical behavior. They protest corporations and banks, while dispersing their unhinged messages via tools from large corporations, wearing brand clothing.
They demand free college education, living wages regardless of employment, $20/hour minimum wage and open borders. And of course they demand the forgiveness of all debt, especially their student loans, the thousands of dollars in debt they accumulated as they were majoring in "Conflict Management Among Amoebas" or something like it at Yale or Harvard.
They demand to land a six figure salary job as soon as they graduate from college, because they are the elite, they are the chosen ones.

These protesters are instigated by the same people who have indoctrinated them, the same college professors who have never had to actually make a living or have had to deal with hiring someone. One element I find suspiciously missing among the protester is the message against the colleges: they protest the banks, but they do not protest tuition increases. They want their student loans forgiven, but they do not protest the exorbitant salaries of colleges' administrators which fuels the tuition increases. I find it a telling detail.

Regardless of this, though, I remain optimistic. The majority of the American people understand the reality of the economy. We pay our bills and we take responsibility for our actions. The difference can be found in the fact that the progressive minority yells the loudest and have the open support of the political leadership, to the point of justifying violence.
We, the silent majority, will return the country to a rational, sane place in due time. What it will take is that we stop being so silent and we get informed about the issues that afflict our society.
We really do not have a choice in the matter, because there is no other country we can escape to if America fails.

And there is one major component to my optimism: our Military. A large part of the new generation is composed of men and women who have served in the Military, with combat tours, and who know personally what sacrifice really is. They have lived it and they will bring that experience to the work force, to our social landscape.

So, get informed and speak your mind. Put pressure on the most elitists members of our society, the politicians and make them understand that we want America to remain the the beacon of freedom and opportunities for all those who are willing to play according to the rules.

Personally, I do not want to see that movie again!

Just my thoughts!