As I was researching, both online and in my trusty dictionary, how to spell grandaddy, I began laughing to myself thinking things like: Get a life! Does anyone really care? If this is the biggest problem you have today, you are one lucky person! As it turns out, the spelling of the word grandaddy is not universally agreed upon so I am safe with either four d's or three.
This morning, on the radio, I heard a southern-state governor say that his state, drastically in the red, would be taking certain steps to reduce the deficit. One of the cost-cutting measures he touted was that, under his leadership, the state would not be filling a very large number of vacant jobs. I, thinking for certain that I must have misunderstood him, gave the statement no further thought. A few minutes later my SO came into the room and said, "Did you hear that interview with so-and-so, where he said his state would not be filling vacant jobs?"
Do politicians really believe the American public is so ignorant as to not see through this type of hype? How, in God's little green earth, can an elected official say, with a straight face, that he or she will save money by not filling vacant jobs.....and, oh by the way, we have not been paying any one in these positions anyway?
This condescending attitude is not much different than a recently overheard conversation where a local leader suggested that an important document be written no higher than an eight-grade reading level, using no 'big' words.
If we as a society are, indeed, this obtuse, moronic, and ignorant, then we'd all best get back to readin', ritin' and rhymitic in order to lift ourselves out of the grip of shallow, imbecilic density. Let's get those Dick and Jane readers back into the hands of each and every American....child and adult. Let's bring back the abacus and slide rule with its stylus. Better yet, let's give anyone who wants to run for elected office a basic skills test. Perhaps these are the people who can't read, write or cipher.
Maybe, just maybe, it's not us.......but them.
Ancora imparo
