By Mark DeVolder
Los Alamos
I was saddened by the Presidential Debate.
Per Ken Burns’ Jazz series of videos, Duke Ellington was given a great deal of encouragement by his mother Daisy. Ellington was once asked how he felt about his treatment as a black American. Ellington responded, “I used the energy it takes to pout and wrote some blues.”
Therefore, I wrote some words:
After World War II, America was not war-torn like Europe and America was strong. However, America incurred a huge national debt for the war which was never repaid. America melted down aluminum aircraft, made aluminum pots and pans and aluminum siding for houses. America helped to rebuild Europe with the Marshall Plan.
After World War II, the Soviet Union had the largest standing army in the world. The Cold War began and America as well as the Soviet Union began to build missiles with nuclear warheads. Then there was another war. American school children began to “duck and cover” under desks at school. Folks in Hollywood got accused of being communists and their careers were abruptly destroyed. Then came Sputnik. Americans built freeways and people flocked to the suburbs in their American automobiles.
After World War II, the Japanese wanted to know why they lost the war. They found out about US Military Standards and about Edwards Deming and statistical quality control. During World War II, the German chemical industry was destroyed. After the war, the German chemical industry came roaring back.
In the 1960s we were headed for the moon. We borrowed lots of money and never paid it back. We began to use credit cards for convenience and also started accumulating credit card debt. We had another war. We borrowed even more money and never paid it back. Automobiles began to pour in from foreign countries. President Johnson wanted to build a Great Society. It was on a very small scale and it was great until the money ran out. Environmentalists began to make their concerns known.
America built sports stadiums and enjoyed Super Bowl Sunday. Meanwhile, municipal infrastructure throughout America began to deteriorate. Americans enjoyed their lifestyle. People in Asia wanted the same lifestyle too and worked for it. Americans babbled about personal computers, High Tech Industry, personal computers and dot coms. Then things collapsed financially.
The Japanese began to manufacture lots of computer memory chips. As time went on the Japanese invested in real estate and ran into problems. America was no longer competitive. Workers in industrial plants in Pennsylvania would go on strike as they saw fit. Industrial plants in the “rust belt” closed – 434 in Pennsylvania alone. Industrialists in northeastern America begged the government for money while industry moved to the southern part of America. People in America began to believe that they were entitled to everything. China began importing all kinds of products and more American industry was idled. A nuclear reactor in Pennsylvania ran amuck. Eventually, a nuclear reactor in the Soviet Union ran amuck too.
As industry vanished, it left the American banking system as one of the major contributors to the IRS. Democrats and Republicans borrowed more money and never paid it back. We had another war on our hands. We borrowed even more money.
Electronic items became more numerous and became smaller. Americans needed to have the newest, fastest and greatest consumer products. We spent more money and imported more items because we could no longer make things ourselves. We talked through computers and forgot how to be civil because we no longer talked face to face. We forgot the meaning of the following: courtesy, compromise, respect and responsibility.
Eventually, we had a COVID-19 Pandemic. We forgot all the lessons of the Spanish Flu Epidemic of 1918 where millions died. Leaders said, “Who’s afraid of the big, bad wolf – COVID-19. Tens of thousands of Americans died, many people died in Italy and world-wide for that matter. Microbiologists had learn quite a bit about viruses but they still had (and still have) much to learn. People in America with a rudimentary education or a significant amount of education made fun of experts like Doctor Fauci because he didn’t have all the answers. There were supply chain problems (because we didn’t make things ourselves) and supermarket shelves were emptied. Americans were back to “duck and cover” with viruses.
Then along comes Joe Biden who is wearing a mask. The economy is not doing so well. Democrats are griping about conservatives and Republicans are griping about liberals. So we borrow more money and everyone gets a little piece of the pie. Then everything starts getting expensive. People all over the world drive automobiles and live in houses. Forests all over the world are cut down to make pallets to ship consumer products. Animals and fish are gobbled up by hungry consumers. The issue of climate change surfaces. Tornadoes and hurricanes adversely impact American cities. So we borrow and spend more money. We borrow so much money that things become financially shaky.
Now the political battlefields in this proud American nation are presented with a Presidential Election. As a people, we are divided. As President Lincoln said, “A house divided cannot stand.” The 434 shut-down industrial plants in Pennsylvania (a Presidential Election swing state) remain shut down. No one seems to be talking about the upcoming hurricane season. I know one thing. If hurricanes and tornadoes flatten American cities in August or September 2024, it will be President Joe Biden to the rescue. He is after all, our President. And, we will borrow more money and we will never pay it back.
