Ah, the good old days.

I grew up in Elizabeth Township in Western Pennsylvania.  In sixty years I have lived all over the world and just recently returned to the area. You can hear the same story all over the country. No one used to lock their doors and people had respect for other people’s stuff. Honestly, I never had a key when I was growing up because we never needed one. You could walk the mile and a half to my grandmother’s place and walk right in also since even if the front door was locked, the doggie dog never was and you could quickly unlock the main door by sticking your hand right through it.

How did we get here?

As it was once famously said by a cartoon character “We have met the enemy and he is us.”

It starts in the home.

• Kids are given everything and then are shocked when they grow up and have to actually work for things. Its not fair.
• God is kicked out of school and all of our public places so we won’t offend anyone.
• The police are disrespected and so is the law… ever drive above the speed limit with your kids in the car?
• Family prayers are almost unheard of and attending any church is too much time away from the soccer fields and dance lessons.
• Equal opportunity has been transformed into everyone has a right to be whatever they want to do or be whether they work for it or not. and if they don’t get it, its because some one is a bigoted racist.

From my observation of living in so many places I can tell you that Elizabeth Township is still slightly behind many areas that have much higher rampant criminal behavior. But you are catching up quickly. You can buy all the guns you want, but until you become part of the community and work on real solutions to the root cause, you will not be safe. It all starts in the home. Then we take back the public discussion and add responsibility to the idea of rights. Finally, we thoughtfully elect people who represent the values and ideals that can return the governing structure to what matters most.

This has always been a land where freedom comes with an understanding that it is not free at all if no one is willing to work for it.

Mister Mac