I never quite knew how to take them, being young and stupid, and, therefore, "knowing" that my teachers and professors had nothing to offer me by way of real world knowledge...and there was the matter of the fact bumper stickers come with no inflection.
What an idiot I was.
Though I get it now, the negative inflection I had of it then feels as though my mind was foreshadowing the political disease of Tea Party neo-conservatism. A phrase that changes the meaning by way of temporal and spatial disparities.
How stupid could all of us have been to take that bait, even in the wake of such massive and sweeping cultural change. How could we have abandoned our educators to freely in the name of "saving this country?"
I would never entertain the delusion that my educators were perfect celestial beings sent down to impart their secret wisdom. Sure enough, I had my share of arrogant jerk wads, a-holes, and over-steppers. I had many wonderful ones, too, who helped make me who I am: an imperfect, liberal leaning, hot-button hating, public radio listening Hipster with an Olivetti or five.
And if more people like them were in charge, then--yes--I do believe many of this world's problems would be solved.
How arrogant can one be to think that fixing things is something that can't be done by common folk like you and me: people pulling down 40K, working through the night, trying to help out children. What does a politician have that we don't--money?
And we buy for that?
England has its monarchy; we have our Plutocracy. We believed in Bush because he had the cash to make us believe. Obama didn't have the same cash, but free labor counts for something, too.
If there was one credo we could all get behind, it is this: a problem solver--a real fixer can come from anywhere.
Remember that Occupy and Fast Food walk-outs were not devised by a Washington genius. It was Joe and Jane Somebody. The common person is an extraordinary thing.
That's all from Elliott at the Kitchen Table with a Boston Lager.
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