Setting It Straight

AMID ALL THE SMUG, arrogant, banal provincialism among America's conservative country Christian senior citizens, there are points of light. There is therefore hope. I have some friends among these folk. The educated, progressive, open minded ones are my friends. Evolution and climate change deniers need not apply. Well, we all have our blind spots. To this very day, I tend to wax a bit recalcitrant about quantum mechanics. But...evolution? Gimme a break! Formally educated, progressive senior citizens are somewhat rare in my neck of the woods. The "informally educated" conservative seniors are the norm. At Harvard, everyone is required to study everything. When we educate ourselves, we tend to select learning which only reinforces what we already know. We learn less when we do not learn from others. A man at the senor center said: "rump's approval rating is down to thirty five percent, but heck, I'll bet ninety five of every hundred people survey were democrats. Roll your ryes. if you had a poll taking business, and your survey and polling company were your business, your livelihood, how likely is it that you would try to distort your own polling merely because you dislike a particular politician? Wouldn't be a very good way to run a business, would it? Guns don't kill people. Neither do any other inanimate objects. And yet, what American is not emotionally moved by the sight of the flag, the sound of the anthem? The Lincoln Memorial always removes a man's hat. We are influenced by inanimate objects, whether we choose to be. Guns don't kill people; they just passively assist. And no, America did not begin to decline when we turned away from God. We have not turned away from God, and America is not declining. At least, nothing so drastic that a little efficient allocation of resources wouldn't fix. Seniors should be old enough to understand all that.