LEAVE IT
TO PEEVER
Outdated
– Bumper sticker of the week: Religion ruled the Dark
Ages.
– Quote of the week: "A few tax increases would ease
this pressure, but, as we know, Americans have become allergic to paying for
the civilization in which their children will live." Caught in the Middle, Richard Longworth
– Some things that are badly outdated:
¥ We should be far less dependent on oil at this point in our
history. Oil is not a renewable resource. We use it a whole lot faster than
Mother Nature can produce it. We have the technology to move away from oil, but
not the political will. Exxon-Mobil will have all our money long before we
convert to solar, wind, and battery power.
¥ Township governmental bodies are no longer necessary and
county governmental bodies should merge. Illinois has 102 counties. We should
have around 25. Townships should come in at zero. This is all a serious waste
of taxpayer dollars. Everyone is cutting back but the government. It's about
time ...
¥ The Blue Laws are ridiculously outdated and incredibly naive.
The Blue Laws are a remaining tribute to Sunday, the traditional day of rest
among Christians. Capitalism and the pursuit of the almighty dollar have pretty
much done in the day. Not selling alcohol on Sunday, or waiting until noon,
needs to be done away with. It doesn't help anything. Not selling cars on
Sunday is another stupid idea whose time is up. The Blue Laws were stupid when
they were created, and have only grown more so over the years.
¥ The Chamber of Commerce is an organization that is out of
touch with most of its membership and needs to be done away with. If looked at
closely, one would see that the national Chamber hardly supports anything that
would help a small business owner. In fact, they hardly support anything that
would help humanity.
¥ GREDA. Well, it just needs to go away.
¥ Most social and fraternal clubs will disappear over the
coming years. The Moose, the Elks, Lions, Jaycees, Rotary, Legion, VFW, Knights
of Columbus, Masons, all have served their purpose and will become extinct.
Most of these groups have done some useful things, but charity work and
socialization can be done much more efficiently and less costly today. The
Boomers, by and large, are not going to continue supporting these groups indefinitely.
Most will disappear within the next 25 years. And AARP had better be very
careful.
¥ Nuclear weapons are unnecessary and a threat to our survival.
Why would human beings want such a terrible thing to exist? It is only a matter
of time before one is used against us. We try to keep us safe by outlawing
smoking, wearing seat belts, and not jaywalking. Why nuclear weapons? They
should be turned into plowshares, or whatever.
¥ Creationism is Dark Age wisdom. Denying evolution is just
plain stupid. For anyone to be thinking this way in the 21st century is
evidence that evolution is not quite over.
¥ If anyone thinks abstinence is going to work when it comes to
not having sex and not getting pregnant, think back. You should know better.
¥ The Electoral College needs to go the way of the dinosaur. It
may have served a purpose when there were 12 states or so, but its usefulness
vanished years ago. The person receiving the most votes should win. If it's
good enough for the rest of the world, it should be good enough for us.
Besides, what would happen if a brother of one of the presidential candidates,
say one who was governor of one of the states, withheld his stateÕs vote until
the very end, declaring his state in his brotherÕs column, and putting him over
the hill in the electoral college, despite losing the popular vote by 500,000.
That would be tragic, wouldn't it?
¥ I hear them saying retirement is an outdated concept, but I'm
here to tell you, don't listen. By age 62, or 65, or 66, you have worked
plenty. With our longevity going up and up, pretty soon we'll be retired for a
third of our lifetime. Money will be the only issue – having enough of it
– but then, I also think it is an outdated idea that the rich should have
it all. A revolution inspired by the elderly has just made it onto my bucket
list.