LEAVE IT TO PEEVER

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– 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– Some things that are badly outdated: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• The Blue Laws are ridiculously outdated and incredibly naive.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 state’s vote until the very end, declaring his state in his brother’s 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.