{"id":2379,"date":"2017-02-06T16:30:21","date_gmt":"2017-02-06T16:30:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.reggiemorrisey.com\/?p=2379"},"modified":"2017-02-06T16:30:21","modified_gmt":"2017-02-06T16:30:21","slug":"cliff-hanging-the-new-national-craze","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reggiemorrisey.com\/?p=2379","title":{"rendered":"Cliff-Hanging: The New, National Craze"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pl-2379\"  class=\"panel-layout\" ><div id=\"pg-2379-0\"  class=\"panel-grid panel-no-style\" ><div id=\"pgc-2379-0-0\"  class=\"panel-grid-cell\" ><div id=\"panel-2379-0-0-0\" class=\"so-panel widget widget_black-studio-tinymce widget_black_studio_tinymce panel-first-child panel-last-child\" data-index=\"0\" ><div class=\"textwidget\"><p>It seems half of Americans say&nbsp;they are already exhausted by the chaos produced by&nbsp;the 45<sup>th<\/sup> president with his&nbsp;head-spinning decrees, such as a&nbsp;ban on people of one religious group, his selection of unqualified people for cabinet posts hellbent on&nbsp;dismantling the departments they are to lead, and by Republican Party moves to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Trash everything from health care to&nbsp;financial reform.<\/li>\n<li>Ensure mentally ill people can have guns.<\/li>\n<li>End environmental protections, such as safeguards that prevent polluting of our nation\u2019s streams.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Yet, the other half of Americans do not know what all the protest by millions of people is about. Current events show that Republican campaign promises are being kept. You lost. Get over it. Case closed.<\/p>\n<p>How do we who are alarmed convey the source of our dread, foreboding, horror and worry? Sarcastic skits by talk show hosts and Saturday Night Live open some eyes. Not so warnings from experienced&nbsp;leaders and reports by the national press; since the 45<sup>th<\/sup> and his party have fomented so much distrust of them.<\/p>\n<p>Even on a recently aired TV game show <em>Family Feud<\/em>, when 100 people were asked how much they trust the government \u2013 on a scale of 1-to-10 - the majority said \u201c2.\u201d&nbsp; The majority do not trust their own government.<\/p>\n<p>Departures from accepted terms add to the malignant environment. Republicans now refer to their opposition, not to \u201cpublic schools\u201d but to more sinister \u201cgovernment schools.\u201d&nbsp;If the majority does not trust the government, how long will citizens support public schools over select religious schools or online, for-profit schools \u2013 the least-overseen sources of an education?<\/p>\n<p>In an August 22, 2016 article by Ronald Radosh, adjunct fellow at the Hudson Institute, he quoted the 45th president's top adviser Steve Bannon saying he was a Leninist. When asked to explain, he elaborated: \u201cLenin,\u201d he (Bannon) answered, \u201cwanted to destroy the state, and that\u2019s my goal too. I want to bring everything crashing down, and destroy all of today\u2019s establishment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It has taken the Tea Party about a dozen years to make Bannon's statement&nbsp;seemingly acceptable. And, ardent Bernie Sander's activists, such as actress Susan Sarandon in her talk of starting a revolution by any means, even a loss by Hillary Clinton, did the same in one primary cycle. The expressed desire to destroy the government&nbsp;should be troubling to patriotic Americans. But, not a ripple in sight.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Ever since the election, I\u2019ve puzzled over the voting decisions of people who appear to care about their children&nbsp;and do everything in their power for them. It doesn\u2019t jibe with voting for this president. &nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>My mind keeps returning to a surreal&nbsp;scenario; I picture a parent finding&nbsp;a crumpled school form in a kid\u2019s backpack at the end of the day. The form reads:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left; padding-left: 30px;\">Dear Elementary School Parent:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left; padding-left: 30px;\">The board is reviewing the application of a 70-year old man who wants to be a school bus driver for the district. He says he doesn\u2019t need a salary because he is unbelievably wealthy from a family business; so it would be more like a free service. We can\u2019t confirm his wealth because he did not produce any proof, and we heard a lot of his businesses went bankrupt. Still, if it is true he doesn\u2019t want any money from us, this is a potential budget-benefit.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left; padding-left: 30px;\">Facts to consider:<\/p>\n<ol style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<li>The man doesn\u2019t have a driver\u2019s license. Someone suggested we could have volunteers ride the bus with him to keep an eye on things until he does get a license. That would be a good idea, given our storms, potholes, traffic and deer darting out&nbsp;onto our roads.<\/li>\n<li>This man has been recorded&nbsp;making lewd and aggressive remarks about women. He scoffed, saying it was boys\u2019 talk; though he was nearly 60 years old when he made the remarks.<\/li>\n<li>The man shows he has a short fuse and tends to lash out at any board members questioning his prior experience. He relies&nbsp;on snide personal attacks to silence them.<\/li>\n<li>He says his firm response shows he can keep kid\u2019s in line - like the good old days. No more coddling, not even students with special needs. He\u2019ll take no guff and toughen them all up.<\/li>\n<li>He said he is leery of kids from different ethnic groups and religions who ride our buses and will toss them off the bus&nbsp;if he suspects the slightest trouble.<\/li>\n<li>He\u2019s beauty conscious. Says he can rank little girls from 1- to-10 to predict their future success.<\/li>\n<li>He says we should trust him.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p style=\"text-align: left; padding-left: 30px;\">Please fill out this form and return it to the school. Let us know: Do you trust this man to deliver your child back and forth to school safely <em>and<\/em> lower our expenses, or should we go with the facts and pass on this candidate? If it is a \u201cYes\u201d to hire him, would you volunteer to ride the bus and stop him from driving off the road?<\/p>\n<p>Obviously, putting such a man in the school bus driver\u2019s seat would pose a threat to children. Even a school board seriously entertaining his application would be a shock. The facts make hiring him a huge mistake. Right? So, what were people thinking when they supported and voted for an unqualified, ill-tempered, misogynistic and vindictive man to be president? I do not know. Unless they - like Bannon and the Tea Party and the revolutionary Ms. Sarandon&nbsp;- want to bring everything crashing down.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Who knew so many Americans were willing to drive us all off a cliff.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Reggie Morrisey<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><div id=\"pgc-2379-0-1\"  class=\"panel-grid-cell\" ><div id=\"panel-2379-0-1-0\" class=\"so-panel widget widget_black-studio-tinymce widget_black_studio_tinymce panel-first-child panel-last-child\" data-index=\"1\" ><div class=\"textwidget\"><p><div id=\"attachment_322\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.reggiemorrisey.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Painting_Eagle.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-322\" class=\"wp-image-322 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.reggiemorrisey.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Painting_Eagle.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"447\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.reggiemorrisey.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Painting_Eagle.jpg 640w, https:\/\/www.reggiemorrisey.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Painting_Eagle-300x210.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-322\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">\"View from Here\" by Ed Morrisey<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It seems half of Americans say&nbsp;they are already exhausted by the chaos produced by&nbsp;the 45th president with his&nbsp;head-spinning decrees, such as a&nbsp;ban on people of one religious group, his selection of unqualified people for cabinet posts hellbent on&nbsp;dismantling the departments they are to lead, and by Republican Party moves to:Trash everything from health care to&nbsp;financial [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reggiemorrisey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reggiemorrisey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reggiemorrisey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reggiemorrisey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reggiemorrisey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2379"}],"version-history":[{"count":28,"href":"https:\/\/www.reggiemorrisey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2379\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3102,"href":"https:\/\/www.reggiemorrisey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2379\/revisions\/3102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reggiemorrisey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reggiemorrisey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reggiemorrisey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}