World "Shift"

I am terrified of where the world is going.  Although I agree that advancements in technology have its advantages, especially in medicine, the fact that we are growing farther apart as a society, scares me.  How can we encourage tolerance, understanding and peaceful coexistance when we don't even spend the time to get to know and understand our neighbors?

I'm really disappointed in the education system in most areas today.  This year, especially, I have grown more aware of how little the schools actually expect from the students.  My son coasted through this school year, and there are so many projects that I felt he should have put more work in, but when I would make suggestions on how he could make it better, he would respond with "the teacher didn't tell me I had to do that much" or something to that effect.  It's very disappointing.

Urban/Suburban/Rural Life

Being a military "brat" at a very early age where I moved around with my parents, then enjoying my father's retirement years in a small rural town and now moving around with my husband who is a service member, I feel I've experienced a wide range of urbanization in the United States.

I have to agree that the closer you get to the bigger cities, the less likely people are to interact with each other, strangers that is, face to face.  I've lived in this area for seven years and I still have a difficult time excusing what I feel is rudeness, when someone walks around me in an aisle in the store and doesn't say "excuse me" or "hi, how's it going?".  In the less populated areas, everywhere I've lived, people will make more eye contact, smile more and even say small phrases like, "How's it going?"  I wish it weren't this way.  I think those who are trying to create space around them, in the more densely populated areas, are actually pushing people away.

Who Has the Power?

There's several theories out there as far as who really rules in a democracy: the elites, the interest groups, the miltiary, or the people.  In our complex society, I can certainly understand why all four theories could hold water. I hate to say it, but I think the power elite is more like what our government has turned into.  According to C. Wright Mills, the power elite mainly consists of white protestant men who are from wealthy families.  These men have had very similiar back grounds from the same prestigious college educations, to the same country clubs and fraternities, and the same government committees.  As far as what they want, that too, is very similiar.  Furthermore, according to Mills, the people really do not have that much power over what can happen.  We see it all the time, the wealthy business leaders contribute to the campaign funds or to the interest groups, and those running for elected office take that money and then work towards the interest of those who pay the most for the campaign.

I by no means think that's the end all of how it works.  I have personally seen how the little people can make change if they are consistent.  And so I do encourage everyone to try to be involved and to vote.  But as for what I agree with the most, would be the power elite theory.

Is Wal-Mart Good for America?

I think this questions is similiar to the age-old questions, "What came first the chicken or the egg?"  The reason why I say this is because Wal-mart's ways have caused our country to spiral down into a lesser level of living.  Wal-mart buys nearly 80% of it's items from overseas, mainly China, because the merchandise from overseas suppliers, when sold here in the US yields a profit of anywhere from 50-80% on average where items that are manufactured here in the States, only yields a profit of about 18-20%.  With that kind of profit, who can blame Wal-mart!  But we also have to look at the jobs that the overseas suppliers are replacing.  Many US suppliers have been shut down which has resulted in thousands of job lay-offs in the US. In order to make such a big profit for the share holders of Wal-mart, Wal-mart pays it's employees nearly half what the US manufacturer's paid and offered even less benefits such as pensions and health insurance.  As a result, those very people who are paying less for cheap merchandise from overseas suppliers through Wal-mart, are also earning considerably less than they would if they could work for US-ran companies that make the merchandise that is being basically bought out by overseas cheap labor.

I wouldn't say Wal-mart is bad for this country.  But it certainly has cause a ripple effect that I don't think Sam Walton anticipated.