The dumbing of Americans started shortly after WWII with good intentions. Teachers, parents religious leaders, the PTA and School Boards across the country were counting the blessings of having won wars on two fronts. There was a huge sigh of relief; palpable to even those of us living abroad. We saw it through the movies, media, books, letters from home and even the Sears Catalog. What we could not see, however, was that we had chosen to go against nature. Unlike the gardener who dead-heads and trims the sick plant life to foster healthy growth; we Americans chose to do the opposite. To dead-head the smartest in the class in order to elevate the morons to equality. The result is that we drug the so called ADS (Attention Deficiency Syndrome) kids - who are really just bored to death as the teacher struggles to teach the lower half of the percentile. An impossible task and one which simply creates a frustrated teacher who will soon begin teaching to the blackboard, which further bores the smart ones into more daydreaming and angst. You can trace the easy acceptance of the first 'sample' drug from the friendly neighborhood dealer. You can trace the growing acceptance of cradle to grave philosophy, and you can certainly trace the growth of a bureaucratic regime now dominated by 'Robin Hood type do-gooders' from this point in time and the 'normal' curve. Was it a conspiracy from the far left? I doubt it. Did the far left recognize the opportunities for them to eventually take over? Absolutely! And in so doing, promote, preserve and encourage this continuing abomination against nature. My first year of schooling was in Riverheights, Utah. I was in the first row along with 7 other kids. The next row over were some 10 students in second grade. Third, fourth, fifth and sixth grade were in the remaining rows. One teacher taught us all. There was no tolerance for mischief and a stiff hard ruler was often used on deserving wrists. There was discipline in that schoolroom. It was 1941 and I was six years old. By 1942 I was in the Mexico City School; one kid of some 20 in the second grade. The same discipline as I had experienced in Utah. Tough, demanding, but oh! so rewarding when getting a good grade. There are fewer real pleasures in life than to be recognized for having done something well and there is no greater pleasure in life than that of self actualization. These were the greatest gifts I have ever received in life. To know that I could achieve more than I thought possible - at a very early age. Had I been tempted by the local drug dealer I would have laughed as I skipped away in wonderment at their stupidity in thinking that I could be a sucker to their lies. In '46 I was back in Riverheights and now finishing grade school. But things had changed. The teachers were explaining the 'normal curve' and how grading would be based on 'averages'. I did not understand this until one day I was knocked down in the playground by a fellow student who accused me of being responsible for his bad grades because I had raised the 'normal curve'. Years later my tires were slashed in the factory parking lot by fellow employees because I had made more than the 'normal' amount of parts on my turret lathe. It had only taken 15 years for the sickness to become a national plague. I begged my parents to take me back to Mexico where I had to repeat sixth grade before being admitted to a government school. I thrived in that school! The teachers were professionals. My biology teacher was a medical doctor and his office just a few blocks away. I earned his respect and would correct student papers in his office under his supervision. My shop teacher had his own carpentry shop, the math teacher an instructor at the military academy, our civics teacher a practicing attorney. There was no room for nonsense. Not one teacher in the school had graduated from a teacher's school. I came back to the States, joined the Navy, finished college with aid from the GI bill and have since become a satisfied person. I credit my success with the values I learned, through experience, and tough teachers, during that early period. A period in our history before the pressures to be normal went beyond persuasion, and have become law. You don' t believe it? The reality is that the wealth created by honest work is being taken from us, at gunpoint, for distribution to those who can't or won't, and whose vote is being bought by our own stolen wealth. And don't say that taxes are not collected at gunpoint. When the marshal comes to your door and takes you away to prison, a gun is what persuades the reluctant citizen to comply. We continue to dumb America by trying to lift those who simply don't have what it takes - mentally, physically, morally - through artificial means such as the normal curve and Redilin while we continue to push those with real potential down to the lowest common denominator. My daughter took an extensive set of exams, something like an expanded IQ test, and her score was way above average. She was counseled. The counselors showing her ways of how she could become normal! It has taken years for her overcome the stigma. We humans should not be so arrogant as to believe we know better than nature. If we continue on this insane road toward equalizing everybody, we will have created the kind of world that would put most reasonable people to sleep out of sheer boredom and so weaken our gene pool as to make us the easiest victims for whatever warlord that may come around. Easy pickings for a half-bright Saddam type anywhere, anytime. Is that what we want? Proof of the dumbing of Americans: The belief that work is something to be avoided; yet work, under the right conditions, is among the most rewarding of all human activities. The belief that a good chewing out will solve the problem; when in reality most people getting the chewing cause the chewing in order to get a dose of recognition. The belief that one must have the television on most of the time; where in fact if the same rules were applied to it as to drugs, it would be outlawed. The common belief that inventions are the result of necessity; when in fact most innovation happens just for the fun of it - as in the case of the airplane, electricity, steam power, Crazy Glue - people exploring the world of opportunities. The common belief that all good ideas come from the boss; the reality is that most new ideas come from the floor or from the outside in spite of the boss' reluctance. The mind-numbing belief that you must do it right the first time; when in fact progress is made from frequent falling down. Picture the champion skater or infant taking their first steps. The incredibly naïve belief that managers and supervisors motivate their employees; when the fact is that employees are motivated by themselves but begin to be demotivated by stupid rules and regulations designed for the lower half of the human spectrum. The greatest lie of all is that the acquisition of money is a guaranty for happiness; when the reality is that it is the quest, the striving, for whatever goal, that make the key elements for happiness. We should eliminate GDP (Gross Domestic Product) as the principal measurement to the nation's status with a GDH (Gross Domestic Happiness). And happiness is the result of individual strife against great odds to achieve worthwhile goals. The marshal's gun taking from those who do, and giving to those who don't simply does not cut the mustard. These are only a few of the15 fundamental cultural lies that go against Nature's laws. These are things we have created through the belief that we can do better. They are the lies that make the young kids go to the corner and wait for the pusher. They are the lies that allow smooth talking politicians to buy votes from people who would otherwise be forced to work their way through their problems. They are the lies that are slowly grinding away at the hard tool steel of what once was a civilization based on principles. We are tossing away the very principles that allowed us to win two wars and become the world's leader.

--

Wayne in the People's Republic of California; where ALL manufacturing will soon abandon ship and go to Mexico or China since it is impossible to do anything in this state except pay high energy bills, elect democrats (socialists). The dream state is becoming just another socialist experiment doomed to failure. My parachute is on! .