Tom Ault
Jefferson City
Dear Editor:
I think of myself as a typical law-abiding citizen of this great United States of America. It has always been my point of pride to be a part of such a fantastic country. During the last 18 years, it has been my good fortune to visit several countries as well as some of the Caribbean Islands where I met a lot of happy people living with much less than our poorest citizens. Those trips made me realize how truly fortunate we really are.
Like many folks, in their early married lives, I lived below the average income group but was always happy, upbeat, and not envious of those who had more. Through hard work and sometimes going without, I eventually reached my goal of attaining that middle-class status.
Too many folks only see that they do not have. Envy is their only mindset. It was my desire to get ahead and I worked very hard to achieve that. My family forwent vacations. We had enjoyable, but lean Christmas and birthday celebrations, but we had something much more important. Our God and love.
We had neighbors and friends. We had a wonderful place of worship. We had schools that taught us right from wrong along with math, spelling and reading skills. We had decency!
Today our government is run by folks who apparently have forgotten those things. Our leaders broadcast to the world all of our plans and secrets. When we will leave, where we will be next, and our strategy. They wonder why the plans did not work as hoped for! They are so busy being transparent that they have lost sight of common sense. Why does our "new" leadership think it is necessary to teach sex but forget math, to teach hatred but forget love. Why do our news dispatchers pound us with the same bad stories day in and day out while leaving out the good news they could talk about. Are our leadership and news media undermining the decency and beauty of our United States of America in hope of creating a Socialist government?
We must stop this childish behavior! We must be strong and wise instead of weak and foolish! Are we being led to our downfall by wolves who hope to be the monarchs, while we are lowered to peasantry?