The Entire Country Seems to be in Chaos

It seems to be all over the country, and even spilling into other parts of the world. Shootings, violence, unrest, chaos, fighting, and just overall angry people. Police offer some help, but police are often targets in all of this as much as anyone is. And, police are not the "figures" they once were. They are not respected or even feared in situations of violence where they may otherwise provide some calm to things.

From schools to shopping malls and retail and grocery stores, to parades and festivals, inside of state fairs and during other events—you can't even call it a zoo anymore. Even zoos have much more order and calm than all of this that's going on.

It's also the level of anger that is increasingly alarming, and typically over things that would not normally cause anger at such levels. A simple overcooked hamburger or getting an order wrong at a fast-food restaurant could launch someone into a violent tirade, terrorizing other customers and staff in ways that are almost unimaginable.

It has simply gotten out of control and seems to be getting worse, and the question becomes why is it happening and how do we fix it? What's the solution to it all? How do we restore law and order at this point? How do we restore a sense of humanity and community? Where is all the anger coming from and why the intensity, especially over very small issues?

At some point it does have to end. Because if it doesn't and only gets worse, there may come a point where there is no going back to the way things were. Sometimes once a particular disease takes hold, there is no cure. There is only treatment for the symptoms.

There is one thought that I do have, and that's a political one. Unfortunately, it just is. We have been largely polarized as a people—and dare I say that's been something of a product of the democrat party and their constant campaign to divide people from all walks of life and pit them all against each other.

Whites vs. blacks, blacks vs. Asians, rich vs. poor, gay vs. straight, trans vs. binary. Everyone hates everyone.

And let's face it. Whites have become an extreme target as well. And white seems to check more boxes. Privileged. Rich. Part of the "establishment." Supremacists. Racists. And the list goes on.

The word entitlement comes to mind as well. Another culture bred from the democrat party over many years of so-called "advocating for the less fortunate." When you breed into the minds of people the idea that they are victims of everything, everything and everyone becomes an enemy. A target. And a reason to lash out.

A reason to be angry at the world and everyone and everything in it.

Whether it's about being underpaid or unappreciated—even if these things are just a perception—the culture of the idea has been firmly planted and is creating part of the chaos. You owe me something and therefore I have the right to demand this, that and the other thing. 

I made the comment more than once on social media like Twitter that listening to the democrat party anymore is like watching that now-famous episode of Oprah when she gave away those cars. "You are a victim, and you're a victim, and you're a victim. Everyone's a victim."

Rather than promote togetherness and strength through unification, targets are being promoted as something to lash back at and attack. 

You can't have a world like that and expect it to be peaceful. You can't live in a world like that and expect it to be successful. From employees not wanting to do the job they are asked to do, feeling entitled to simply take their money and run to people demanding reparations, tuitions to be paid, free healthcare and whatever else one can think of. Everyone feels entitled to something that frankly, they are not entitled to at all.

But that's been what's been infused into their mindsets. And there's no getting through anymore. There's no logical way to logically explain why they're wrong. 

As well, beyond what the democrats have done to incite all this unrest, it is also the breakdown of the American family that I think is fueling some of this. Kids are left without any real structure. They lack guidance and principled parenting. And in many inner cities especially, kids are taught victimhood like some kids in other circumstances might be taught to stay within the lines in a coloring book.

In many instances, the kids really don't have any parents at all.

Did some of this start with the doing away of corporal punishment? Another tenet of the democrat party and liberal ideology by the way. Did it start with "everyone gets a trophy?" Did it start with every normal childhood action being "treated" with a drug? 

Lack of fear of consequences is a very real thing in this country right now. But where did that come from?

I asked before, what's the solution? And I still want to know. Because right now the only thing being explored is the apparent cause, not the actual cause. Just like with the gun argument. Is it the gun? Or is it something else? I think it's something else, but few people want to explore what that something else is and simply want to address the weapon of expression rather than what weaponizes the expression.

It is a rather depressing time, if you ask me, watching what was once a great country falling on such hard times emotionally, mentally, as a culture, and getting worse day by day. When you lose your sense of personal pride, of patriotism, of unity, of opportunity—how do you get these things back? 

Because honestly, if you think about the struggles we have today, they pale in comparison to the struggles that our forefathers went through. Times were many times more difficult, many times more unfair, many times more trying than they are now. And yet, our unrest is as great as it has ever been as though our condition were much worse today than it was yesterday. Which is not true at all. We have it easier than we have ever had it. More people are free than were ever before. More opportunities exist than ever before. 

As a nation, we are so much more divided than we have ever been in our past history, and it is a deep-rooted problem without a solution right now. Not only is it depressing, I find it to be downright scary. Like watching someone die before your very eyes a slow and painful, cancer ridden death, I fear we are watching the death of our great nation in much the same way. The fear is whether or not the cancer has taken hold so badly that we can't stop what becomes the inevitable outcome.

Like the way I write or the things I write about? Follow me on Twitter at @jimbauer601 or follow me on my Facebook page.

Inner Cities CAN Be Rebuilt from Within

I live near East Saint Louis, Illinois and drive through the town often as it is a quick route to I-55 to get into downtown St. Louis, Missouri, and I also use Apex Recycling in East Saint Louis to turn in my aluminum cans. 

Years ago, when I lived in Wisconsin, I did a stint with a pest control company and my commercial route was largely in the inner-city portions of Milwaukee on the north side. When it comes to most inner cities, the observation is always the same.

Boarded up houses, garbage in the streets, run down, dilapidated buildings, high crime, and one other major thing stands out like a sore thumb.

There are no major businesses there.

In other words, little is ever invested in these communities. The unfortunate truth is that in America's inner cities, the primary source of their economy is largely derived from social welfare programs. And that's not a knock on the community. It's just that without much going on in terms of businesses offering meaningful employment within the community, it is harder for the economy to be sustained by much of anything else.

Beyond that, because of East Saint Louis' proximity to downtown St. Louis, and because it is a direct route to Busch Stadium where the Cardinal baseball team plays, and because many people bordering Missouri also work in St. Louis, there are potentially millions of dollars, if not tens of millions of dollars that pass through East Saint Louis every year.

Few people from outside of East Saint Louis will actually stop and patronize any businesses that may be there. And there are a lot of reasons for that. High crime being one of them. People simply won't feel safe.

Every time I have driven through any inner-city community, I have always felt that this can change. I have always felt, it doesn't have to be this way. And it often pains me that it is this way.

It is obvious that community leaders and elected officials have failed these cities in incalculable ways. Because when you get right down to it, they have the most opportunity to make the change that paves the way for greater success within the communities.

And really, it has to come from within first.

There is some thought that part of the reason more businesses aren't interested in making investments within certain communities is because of the current conditions that exist there. It's just not an attractive place to do business, and so they don't.

Why can't a big company like Proctor & Gamble build a factory smack dab in the middle of East Saint Louis, or some other inner city, that could provide a major boost to the people and the economy of East Saint Louis?

The thought is that they can, but there is reluctance to do so for other reasons. It's just not a place today that would provide a pool of resources that would be determined to be valuable to the business. At least, not in the short term.

It starts with the citizens.

And quite frankly, it has to start with the citizens. The people who live in these inner cities need to want to make their town successful. They have to want to make their communities a nice place to live, work, and for other people to visit.

If citizens rise up and say, "Enough is enough," change can happen. If the citizens are able to recognize their downfalls, and who or what is holding them back, change can happen.

Beyond that, I think if there were stronger leaders, and a certain culture of despair were dismissed and a strong change in attitude instilled that, "We can do it," were to permeate and define the culture, I think a lot of positive change could come from that.

There are many black athletes and black musicians, and even very successful black entrepreneurs who could not only become great ambassadors, but they also have the ability to make good and meaningful investments into the communities they could potentially serve.

Because that's the other part of the problem, isn't it? Even when an inner-city community produces success, that success is rarely returned back to the community. It simply leaves. If the goal is only to escape a community, it can never thrive.

Granted, restoring a community is not an easy thing to do. And even if it were to start today, it could take years for the results to have a major impact. Getting the community to come together and want the change, and to invest in the change is also not an easy thing to do.

Having churches and other community organizations come together and work to clear trash and debris would be a great place to start. Having wealthy people buy land and dilapidated buildings and tear them down and clear the parcels would be a great accomplishment as well. 

It could serve to at least restore faith within the community, and to have something to work towards. To have something to be proud of. And perhaps the businesses come. Perhaps more investments are made. Perhaps opportunities increase. Perhaps a massive cultural shift occurs.

Every community, I feel, should have the ability to serve itself in ways that make the community stronger and better. But it never necessarily happens by accident. It takes work. It takes pride. It takes commitment. It takes having an attitude that anything is possible. It takes leadership, and by that, I mean real leadership.

America's inner cities, as I see it, have enormous potential to be destinations, and places where people want to live and work and not just pass through. But to actually be enjoyed by all.

But again, the citizens have to take these cities back and be proactive about the restoration before any of that can actually happen. It literally takes a community to build a city as much as it takes a community to raze one.

The time is now to build.

Like the way I write or the things I write about? Follow me on Twitter at @jimbauer601 or check out my Facebook page to keep up with my latest writings wherever it is I write.

Racism Is Not Conservatism

I HAVE RECENTLY BEEN LAMBASTED ON SOCIAL MEDIA FOR MAKING THE FOLLOWING TWEET.

There's that word again. Racist. And in the way the libs so readily use it is part of the reason I believe racism does not exist anymore. If it did, the left would not have made the word so meaningless. https://t.co/DfyjhOmtWc

— Jim Bauer (@JimBauer601) March 1, 2018

Naturally, most of the lambasting has come from the left—which have, in their responses, taken my tweet completely out of context. Not surprising, really. But it is indeed a bit annoying.

The truth is that of course I am not so naïve to believe that there is no racism left in the world. Of course racism exists, and I cannot find anything about the wording in my tweet that really suggests other than that.

I was very clear when I said "in the way the libs so readily use it (the word racism) is part of the reason I believe racism does not exist anymore."

That is to say that liberals have simply redefined the word to mean "anyone who is a conservative or a republican is a racist based on the idea that he or she disagrees with a liberal position." That is, of course, not the definition of racism.

For anyone on the left who would like to have a lesson in what is the definition of racism, here it is.

"Racism is prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is superior."

Yes, I am against DACA. Yes, I am for secure borders. Yes, I am for legal and sensible immigration. Yes, I support Muslim bans until we know who we are letting enter our country. None of these positions make me a racist even if my positions impact another race. I simply want for our country to be safe, and I want for our citizens (legal citizens) to have the best opportunities for jobs, and do not want my tax dollars going into the hands of people who are not with our best interests in mind.

What makes the use of the word racism by liberals even more frustrating is that I actually advocate for especially the black community often. I have long said and written about how it pains me to drive through America's inner cities and want for them to have a better life and better opportunities. In part, a large part of the reason I advocate for American labor and protectionism to an extent is because I want to see many of those jobs opportunities afforded to the black community which would largely benefit—as it did in the past when manufacturing was more vibrant and robust.

Pre-Civil Rights movement notwithstanding. I cannot do anything to change that. I also was not alive during that era.

But, I fully support and would have supported desegregation, and would have opposed Jim Crowe laws vehemently. I would have been a fan of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and am a fan today of his message and his non-violent protest stance.

That does not make me a racist at all.

And even though I largely blame the black community today for many of its internal problems such as drug activity, gun violence, high crime, and children born out of wedlock—for their lack of action or based on the ineffective officials in their communities they elect—I am largely saying that of all people, it is the black community who has every bit of ability to pull themselves up from the bootstraps and succeed. I believe they have the power to do it and strongly believe that the government cannot and will not solve their problems for them.

And clearly government programs have proven ineffective.

It is not racist at all to point the finger and say, "You have the power to change your life if you seize the opportunity, and run hard with it." It is also not racist to say, "Until you realize what you are doing or not doing to affect your own outcome you will not succeed."

The point of my tweet was of course to simply point out that liberals have, as they do with so many words these days, redefined the word racism to the point that they have literally rendered the entire meaning of the word meaningless. And what boggles my mind a bit about that is that if you are a liberal and if you truly care about the impact of racism by its true definition, to redefine it in the way they have takes away from the real problems of racism in America.

And therefore, if no one knows what the word means anymore, how do you fix the problem? You don't know which bolt is loose on the tire if you catch my drift, and you may be trying to tighten the wrong one.

Look, I can be called whatever people want to call me. I know in my heart who I am and what I believe. But it does not mean I am any less frustrated by the label. In fact, it saddens me a bit. It saddens me because I do not like racism by its true definition anymore than any other common sense individual would not like it. I want to see racism eradicated as much as anyone. I want to see other races succeed as much as everyone. I want to be one America regardless of color or ethnicity as much as anyone.

We can't do that if the focus of what is racist is fuzzy and ill-defined.