Exceptionalism VS Elitism: American Greatness in Perspective

   

      A lot of hot air is being spewed at the United Nations General Assembly this week.  Leaders from around the world gather to perform on the global stage.  The geopolitical friction is almost palpable as countries representing every race, ethnicity, religion, and creed, descend upon the hall of the General Assembly.  Attending countries naturally feel at odds with the entire event.  For most, it must feel like being invited to the birthday party of a despised friend... showing up to save face but hanging out with the other likable friends and eating the free birthday cake.  Perhaps, Switzerland takes a pass on this analogy.  For Americans, however, who contribute well over 20 percent of the entire United Nations annual budget, the United Nations General Assembly looks more like a pot-luck dinner gone wrong.
      While the host (the U.S.) supplies filet mignon and his finest bottles of red wine, his guests (Rest of World) bring half-eaten Twinkies and stale Cheetos to share.  Furthermore, the host tells the guests how honored he is that they attended his shebang, how his filet mignon tastes just like Cheetos, and, in fact, that Cheetos and Twinkies really are the preferred pot-luck contribution to any fine-dining event.  After pumping up the greatness of Cheetos for some inordinate amount of time, he allows each guest the opportunity to speak on the greatness of Cheetos while also railing against the pretentiousness of filet mignon and fine red wine.  When his guests depart after the party has concluded, the host bows and reiterates how supreme Cheetos really are.
      That's what it feels like to be an American spectator during the United Nations General Assembly.  What a pompous charade.
      I don't know when Americans first started confusing elitism with exceptionalism, but it needs to end, now.  In recent history, politicians and White House leadership have tried to marginalize what it means to be exceptional.  Implying an egotism and self-interest not properly defined in the term, academically cheap and socially manipulative politicians have engineered a movement against the unique greatness of America. These folks would have you (and the rest of the world) believe that American exceptionalism means that we are better than other countries, and that this auspicious comparison creates undesirable geopolitical tension.  This form of exceptionalism (to them) suggests that we would prefer to go it alone and damn the rest of the world.
      Let me be clear (sound familiar), that is not exceptionalism.  That is actually elitism.  Elitism refers to pride in being a part of a favored group.  People we deem to be elitist usually exhibit errs of being too good to associate with people of other socio-economic groups.  Elitism discriminates on the possession and being of other members of their group.  Like a ritzy version of Gangs of New York, elitists still believe that they too are a part of a certain group.  They just don't want you in their group (unless you bring Twinkies and Cheetos to their elegant pot-luck dinner).

Elitism = Associated by what you have and don't have

      Instead of defining identity within a certain group, exceptionalism compares actions against the norm.  This implies that exceptional individuals, groups, and countries don't count themselves a part of any certain group (the way elitists do), they just insist on being distinguished from the acts of the status quo.  Through excellence in achievement and steadfast action, exceptional people (and countries) elevate expectations for conduct and governance.  They rise above the fray by commonly demonstrating uncommon behavior.  This is what it means to be above the norm.  This is the definitional truth of the term exceptionalism. 
      

Exceptionalism = Differentiated by what you do and don't do 

      During future United Nations General Assemblies, American leadership should confidently accept this important distinction.  As the single presiding superpower of the world, America naturally embodies the term exceptionalism.  Therfore, instead of handing out participation trophies to all of our birthday party friends and championing their pot-luck Twinkies and Cheetos, let's call it like it is.  Cool the hot air, speak softly and carry a big stick.  Remain exceptional.  Be great.  America. #AmericanExceptionalism #ExceptionalismISgreatness

   

   
      

Character Building: Dads Needed (Some Assembly Required)

      Old-fashioned character is hard to find these days.  It seems that the day has passed when American men of steel struck giant rivets into the weighty beams of towering skyscrapers.  Yesterday was the man who plowed his field by hand, protected his land from predators and trespassers, sowing his crop in faith and diligence, only to reap that which he'd rightfully sowed himself.  Once a man existed that believed in God, studied the bible, and prayed over his family at dinner time.  Not so long ago, sons knew fathers who were tough, character-rich men.
        Whether you follow NFL drama, National news sensationalism, or reality TV provocations, one thing is certain: America needs better character.  Roughly half of Americans actually pay into the federal tax system, while more than half of Americans receive some form of federal entitlement.  Over two-thirds of Americans are classified as obese distressing the fact that less than 10 percent of Americans can medically and physically qualify for military service.  More than a fourth of American children are born to single parent homes of which 80 percent of single parents are women.  Nearly a half of these mothers are divorced while another third of these women have never been married.  Alongside these statistics, cases of domestic violence, sexual assault, corruption, bigotry, and self-indulgence flood the news.  Hope for a stronger America seems desperate.
       Some will say that perception is reality.  In our case, reality is reality.  America's character issues haven't just magically conceived themselves from some behaviorally-twisted, psychologically perverse netherworld.  A scarcity of public leadership combined with increasing media liberalism fosters an ever-selfish culture of American men.  A legacy takes root.  Families lacking male leadership perpetuate America's tragic moral vacuum.
      Go ahead, feminists and progressives, complain about how politically incorrect and sexist that statement is.  This one is for dads and wannabe dads.  Learn how to be an uppercase "Dad."  America's character problem has little to do with public sentiment and everything to do with fundamentals at home.  Kids need Dads.  They need dominant male role models that exemplify physical strength and ethical fortitude.  For both sons and daughters, resilient men inspire the provision and protection that make them feel safe and confident.  A child's moral compass steadies on the course their patriarch sets.  It's simple, innate, and arguably ordained.  Men speak life or death into the hearts of their children.  Every word and deed an act of construction or destruction, character building starts with Dads.
       America is breaking but not broken.  Before public schools will improve or political corruption will wane, American Dads must lead the charge in renewing American character.  This is not a matter of race or religion, but responsibility.  Men, you have a responsibility to your children to build them strong and character-rich.  It's not complicated.  Institute faith in your homes, be masculine and hard-working, love your wife, and cherish your children.  You may not pound rivets into skyscrapers, but your ironclad ethic can build morally-rich children and restore old-fashioned character.  American character. 

Post 9/11: The 1% That Keep Us Safe

   

     September 11 comes again.  For many, the sensationalism fades.  After all, thirteen years at war can do that to a country.  Keeping perspective on an old injury without marginalizing the scars seems an increasingly difficult task.  Understanding our purpose has never been tougher.  Americans have changed.
    One year after Y2K, Americans reveled in the achievements of art, science, and entertainment.  Wikipedia debuted the first open-source, online encyclopedia.  'Gladiator' claimed an Academy Award for best motion picture.  Barry Bonds broke Mark McGwire's vaunted single-season home run record with 73 home runs.  And Apple introduced the very first iPod.  For all intents and purposes, 2001 proved a vintage year for the United States of America.
     This is important to note because children entering junior high school, today, may not fully understand the twist in this story.  An entire generation of Americans have entered this world without this one vivid memory: innocent Americans jumping from twisted metal and fiery blaze, a pair of gigantic skyscrapers collapsing, an ashen cloud of debris and human life suffocating greater New York City.  America humbled, this, the memory that brings instant nausea to pre-9/11 Americans.
      Yet, from this fateful day one decade and three years ago, a special 1% of America was called upon.  They were not techies, Hollywood stars, or professional athletes.  Nor were they investment bankers or business tycoons.  America doesn't tend to call the folks with the big bucks or the big mouths when they need really dangerous problems solved.  Instead, they call the less than 1% of the American population, whose solemn oath to the U.S. Constitution, places them on Presidential speed dial to avenge such hostilities.  This brave and modest minority, our U.S. Armed Service Members.
     Regardless of your race, religion, or political affiliation, these service members stand ever-ready to deliver the knockout punch for you.  Bound by their ever-abiding sense of duty, they will stand watch tonight.  They, the providers of your common defense, will protect the 99%.
     For those being born into the post-9/11 world, we owe them our story.  America has changed... it is always changing.  Remembering those Americans who paid ultimately the price for being envied an American, we cherish what it means to be American.  Honoring our service members, our top 1%, we demonstrate appreciation for that often trivialized and yet most sacred constitutional provision, the common defense.  We owe them our eternal gratitude.  #TheReal1%

   
     

Five Job Truths that Have Everything to Do with Federal Minimum Wage

 

     Like many of America's working class, I began my work history in a restaurant.  Unlike those who found work as a fry cook at McDonald's or a food server at Chili's, I was born into the restaurant.  It wasn't a matter of "if" I'd work for the restaurant, it was "when" and "how much."  As early as nine years-old (no exaggeration), I recall being added to my father's payroll to clean toilets.  Against all modern perception, I thought it was cool to be in third grade and already have a job!  This, of course, is what I thought prior to cleaning restaurant toilets.  I would have to spend a lifetime coming to grips with the notion...

Job truth #1: ... not all work is cool, but cool people have jobs.

     My old-school father believed that employees should earn their position and prove themselves trustworthy of more responsibility.  Therefore, each of his children followed the same career path in his restaurant.  When we were young, we were hired to clean toilets.  When we had mastered this job and proven ourselves trustworthy in that duty, we were promoted to dishwasher.  From there, we became bus boys, food runners, waiters, cooks, and bartenders.  The pinnacle of our restaurant career would come when our father would hand us the keys to the store and bestow upon us the sacrosanct title, "shift manager."  Our job progression taught us that...

Job truth #2: ...when you work hard, prove yourself trustworthy, and gain workplace skills, you can promote. 

     We learned that we could become more.  The more we learned and the harder we worked, the greater the responsibilities we were given.  We could achieve anything.  This work-thing didn't seem so complicated after all.  We were kids with no financial responsibilities... clean slates to impress ethics upon... ideologues before our time.  Yet, as we readied ourselves for college, the veil slowly lifting, we came to understand...

Job truth #3: ...that what you know is critical in determining how much you can earn.

     A free-market society thrives in the constant ebb-and-flow of supply and demand.  High supply and low demand jobs tend to offer minimum wages.  It is not difficult to hire a new fry cook.  It is a low-skill, entry-level job with no education requirement.  Most high school teens already demonstrate the necessary competency to work this job.  And what about professional athletes... they don't always need prior education and yet they get paid so much?  Professional sports tend to carry large demand for skills (hitting home runs) while only supplying a small number of employees (athletes) capable of meeting that demand.  The competition is tremendously stiff for a skill that society deems extremely necessary.  Microeconomics prevails.  Supply and demand sets wages.
     Therefore, your potential for income growth relies heavily on your ability to learn a high-demand skill.  Obtaining a college degree in Psychology, Golf Course Management, or Prehistoric Literature doesn't entitle you to a high-paying job.  If your education and accompanying skill set are not in high demand, expect to assume a low-wage, entry-level job.  It's all about what you know.  And even when you work your butt off, commit to arduous education in a lucrative field of employment, you still have to know...

Job truth #4: ...that high-paying, cool jobs go to the hard-working, well-qualified applicants that relentlessly work hard and prove themselves qualified. 

     Education and pedigree alone will not earn you a high-paying job.  The free market does not work off of charity.  It is driven by performance.  So, be a performer... a hard-working, ever-qualified performer... and make sure others know that.  You are your own best advocate.  Life in the real world requires continued education, relentless work ethic, and persistent pursuit of employment opportunities.  After all, living as a productive member of society in the U.S. continues to reinforce the most central and important socio-economic privilege of our country...

Job truth #5: ... that it's not about where you start, but where you end.

     The federal minimum wage dispute in America continues to overlook and condescend the achievements of the working class.  Mistaking minimum wage as an ultimate end for some Americans, blue politicians patronize hard-working Americans.  Instead of empowering working Americans with these five job truths, they convince them that they are only worth minimum wage.  It's a cheap parlor trick, smoke-and-mirrors, obvious straw man.  As real, hard-working Americans know, working folks don't champion minimum wage, they seek the American dream.      
     Brought up in a highly impoverished home, my father was the oldest of six children.  No luxury.  No inheritance.  No entitlement.  He worked dozens of jobs paying nothing more than minimum wage... onion fields, construction, restaurant service.  After completing three years of college, he returned home to tend to his brothers and sisters when his mother had passed away.  Despite not graduating from college, he worked countless restaurant management jobs.  After spending two decades shadowing other restaurant leaders, he ventured out on his own and began his own restaurant.  A self-made man who returned to college in his early 50's to finish what he'd started three and half decades earlier, he always knew that hard work was the gateway to the American Dream.  He never let his beginnings define him.  Instead, he remained steadfast in his vision of where he wanted to be.  A father, an entrepreneur, a life coach.
     So, if you want to earn more than federal minimum wage, then get off your duff and start living these five job truths!

2014 Mid-Term Elections: Why We Can't Get Tough on ISIS

   

     Radical Muslims marauding Iraq and Syria want to cut off your American head.  A fundamental Islamic terrorist group identified as ISIS (or ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, seeks to unify Sunni Muslims in conquest of critical Middle Eastern regions.  Amidst their furious pursuit of Middle Eastern dominance, these thugs brutally slay all dissenters... women, children, Arabs, Westerners.  Whatever you're thinking, it's much worse.  Search "what is ISIS" on the internet, and let your brain bleed as you come to know the depth of evil this group is capable of.
     Is this a big deal, though?  America is familiar with plenty of brutal terrorist groups, which daily vow to our destruction.  Terrorist groups across the Middle East, North Africa, East Africa, and Southeast Asia claim the lives of innocent people everyday.  Most Americans remain blissfully unaware of the country's on-going "War on Terror," which now spans nearly every region of the world.  Bluntly, there are and have been tons of bad dudes all over the world working for our demise since we stirred the hornet's nest in 2001.  What makes ISIS different?
     ISIS lays claim to their namesake, Iraq and Syria.  These countries represent political gambles by the Obama Administration... the evacuation of Iraq by U.S. troops in 2011 and the arming of Syrian rebels in opposition to President Bashar al-Assad in 2012.  Coincidentally, these two events prove devastatingly related.  The U.S. prematurely departs Iraq against the wishes of top military leadership, and then begins funneling military arms into a volatile Syria to support lesser known Syrian "opposition groups" of which ISIS plays a major role.  A short two years later, ISIS emerges in U.S. news as a terrorist power player exhibiting sophisticated military tactics and organization, financial assets nearing $1B, and ownership of half of Iraq.  What the crap!  I'm no conspiracy theorist, but this sounds like a serious foreign policy screw-up to me.
     Ahead of the 2014 mid-term elections, red and blue political machines alike operate in full damage-control mode.  Blues will hush the seriousness of ISIS with a few well-timed media shots of precision-guided bombs blowing up trucks in the Iraqi desert.  All the while, most foreign policy issues will simmer in the background.  Realistically, it's too far away from the average American home to make a difference at the ballot box.
     Wasting no social capital on controversial topics like the legitimacy of lunatic terrorists who cut off American journalists' heads and globally broadcast these evil acts, reds and blues bloviate about sexism, racism, minimum wage, pot legalization, evil rich people, leaked nude photos, and poor immigrant children.  The world burns and popular media mourns Joan Rivers.