Peggy Noonan is right, America “isn’t a country anyone should be playing games with,” but that is exactly what our politicians are doing.  They are playing the same game that has been played out unabated over the past 40 years and if “everyone over 50” in this country feels like a refugee, then it is about time!  I feel no sympathy for those who have had stewardship over this great country and have failed us on so many fronts.  See, I am a married (can’t just assume this in today’s culture) 36 year old father of 4 who has been tasked with cleaning up the cultural and governmental mess those over 50 have helped create for us.  While campaigning for Congress during the last election cycle I spoke to many of the older generation who were getting involved in politics for the first time, openly admitting they were too selfish and apathetic through most of their adult lives.  Tragically, I ran into quite a few who are still mired in self-interest and really do not care what happens as long as the current debates do not affect their Social Security or Medicare.  My wife and I have already accepted the fact that we and our children will have to make sacrifices if we want America to ever resemble the America of our grandparents… we are not naïve to the fact that they had their problems too, but nothing like this.  The issues of spending and debt are minuscule compared to what it will take to turn America back to a more “wholesome” time.  The wholesomeness I long for, like many of my generation, is one where personal responsibility trumps personal appetites, where work is celebrated for its intrinsic worth, where mutual respect and common decency are the norm, not the exception, where faith is still the cornerstone of moral behavior regardless of the god one worships and where our kids can go out and play in the street without us worrying about them being “distorted or disturbed” by our modern “assaultive culture.”  Instead of longing for a better America, I hope those over 50 will take responsibility for their part in this mess and start doing something to make it better.

Here is Peggy Noonan’s article http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304203304576446401596600060.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Corruption. The best form of government, among other things, is the one that best limits and punishes corruption.  When individuals go unpunished for using fraud and deceit to violate the rights of others, then our basic rights to Life, Liberty and Property are in jeopardy.  If the purpose of our government is to protect individual rights, then it is corruption that must be stopped.  Noted for the impact it had on America at the time of its release in 1906, The Jungle, written by the late journalist and politician, Upton Sinclair, was instrumental in influencing the enactment of a number of key laws which eventually led to the establishment of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).  If anyone ever wants to complain about the regulatory train wreck the U.S. has become over the past hundred years, thank unscrupulous capitalists for driving the train.  For it was not just the work of socialist, or left leaning thinkers like Sinclair, it was the unethical and oppressive acts by leaders in business and government who enraged the public and gave politicians an excuse to enlarge their power through regulatory control.  We need to look no further than the recent enactment of a myriad of new laws and regulatory power that has been granted to federal agencies because of the abuses by business people and politicians that led to the housing meltdown and subsequent recession.  The only losers in this scenario are the American people and the honest business people who now have to comply with more laws and red-tape because of the misdeeds of others.  It’s twisted really.  The fact that we are made to suffer economic distress because of some greedy executive and his politician friends, then being harmed further through laws that neither the greedy executive nor the politician will follow is truly upside down… especially when we are told by the same politicians that the purpose of these laws is to protect our rights.  This is corruption and it is going unpunished in America.  The fox is guarding the hen house and it is time the American people remove the fox.  The Jungle is a novel based on Mr. Sinclair’s firsthand account of what he witnessed while investigating the meatpacking industry in the Chicago stockyards in the early 20th Century.  It paints a vivid picture of the horrendous working and living conditions of the meatpacking workers and describes the corruption among the industry leaders and politicians who are responsible for the abuse.  He blames private ownership and free market capitalism for creating the socio-political environment that allows such abuses and argues that common ownership, or socialism would exalt the working poor and make such abuses impossible.  Simply put, his argument is that capitalism based on private ownership leads to social inequality and oppression, whereas socialism, based on common ownership creates equality and freedom.  It’s an interesting argument, but not a conclusion that is well supported by the story.  The compelling story in The Jungle is that corruption wrought by individuals and protected by institutions (politicians) leads to the trampling and usurpation of individual freedom and causes the horrific abuses which occurred in the meatpacking industry.  The conclusion should have been that removing corruption is the cure to saving the working poor, not socialism.  The meatpacking owners and bosses were supported in their misdeeds by complicit politicians, policeman and other people of power and influence who benefited from their acts.  Its corruption, not the form of government that is the cause of human suffering and the best government is that which inhibits and best eliminates corruption from amongst us.  I believe our constitutional republic is best equipped to do this, but we must have elected officials who are up to the task.  We also must have business leaders who are committed to adhering to high moral standards and acting with integrity and not making it part of their standard business practice to do unethical acts and then lobby politicians to protect them or facilitate their fraud.  This means that we must have an electorate that is engaged and knowledgeable, who require it of themselves and their elected officials at all levels to act ethically and be accountable for their actions.  One of our founding fathers, Samuel Adams once said, “Neither the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt.”  It was to this end that The Jungle should have been written, to address the problem of corruption within the best system equipped to do so, not promote a socialist system which would invite more corruption and abuse and which lacks the internal controls to remedy the situation.  I believe most people in America are good and do their best to act ethically… even among our business leaders and politicians, but there are still far too many cases of inside dealing, good ol’ boy networks, public manipulation, fraud, etc. that are in our power to stop.  Think about it next time you buy stock in a company or vote. We have the ability to shape our nation to represent what we believe, but we have to take an active role in doing so.

I am not a movie buff or full of DC Comics knowledge, but thought Green Lantern was very entertaining. Excellent special effects, subtle romance with a jealousy twist, classic good vs. evil, interesting aliens and quick to the point action sequences that were not over-done or drawn out. Generally, my wife and I are fans of comic book adaptations to the big screen, so we are not hard to please. Definitely not fit for kids under 14. There’s a bit of language and the action sequences are too intense and a bit gory… like the doctor who takes a needle to his eye or the researcher who has her head pancaked in a window. Overall, I would give it a B+ and thought it was a fun movie for our date night!