Published: April 29, 2008 07:42 pm         

THE WAY I SEE IT: Why is America at risk?

I have an irritating, life-long habit of talking to strangers, and reflecting upon what they say. It has caused me to contemplate issues I may never have otherwise considered. It has inspired countless columns and theses. Along the way, it has helped me to offend an incalculable number of people. The most prominent of those I have offended is my own brother in California. He is a confirmed introvert, and my extrovert mannerisms drive him to distraction. Unfortunately, neither of us has the will, or the ability, to change.

A case in point is a recent encounter I had with an attorney. He took the seat next to me one evening and promptly engaged me in conversation. We rambled on for a while and then he asked me what I thought was the greatest problem facing America today. While the choices are many, I did not feel that it was the economy, home foreclosures, global warming, corporate greed or even gasoline prices. I responded that America's worst problem was the abject failure of our public school system.

I didn't mean just the inability of young people to add and subtract in their heads. And don't even think about asking them about the decimal equivalents of fractions. You should see the looks on the faces of clerks when I calculate my exact change before their cash registers come up with the answer. I didn't mean the universal inability to read, spell and speak coherently. I meant the ingrained inability to reason. Prior generations were taught how to think. Today, students are told what to think. That is dangerous.

If one cannot reason, he will stand for nothing. If he stands for nothing, he will fall for anything. In the words of the fictional character Elmer Gantry, "If the Lord did not want them shorn, He would not have made them sheep." Today, those "sheeple" stand knee-deep in snow while they protest global warming. They drive their SUVs to protest demonstrations to scream about gas prices. If they really want to cut gas prices, they should demand that the taxes that almost double the price of each gallon be rescinded. They should demand we drill in ANWAR and offshore, and build new refineries. We can't drill in the Gulf of Mexico, while Cuba and China can! I have been to those countries and have seen, firsthand, just how environmentally irresponsible they are.

A truly educated people would know that we cannot balance the federal budget unless we end out-of-control federal spending. They would know that any household that regularly spends 120 percent of its annual income quickly ends up in bankruptcy. They would have no doubts that a global enemy that sends thousands of radicals into the streets to shout "Death to America" poses a grave threat. An educated American public would know how to judge our elected officials by their actions, rather than their campaign promises.

We take pride in 50 percent graduation rates, and ignore the half that fails. We accept the idea that the answer is to make the classes easier. We even buy into the notion that we should pay students to attend classes. We face a global war perpetrated by religious fanatics and we blame ourselves. Ignorance is not bliss. Ignorance is a death wish.

Robert Evans Burnette is a Crossville Chronicle columnist. His column appears on Wednesdays.