The way things are today

[Scott.Thornton]

I was homeschooled, and I can tell you that the myth of homeschoolers havinga hard time socializing is bullcrap. Just dont isolate them and they will be fine.

My wife is a paraproffessional and we are already planning on the homeschool route.

 

[my-rifle]

Reagan was a far cry better than the system now. At least there was a plan and he knew where he was headed. The prosperity following his administration is proof of the concept. Even our modern day badasses are way too liberal. The old men I grew up with are now gone, but I know where they would stand on current events. There would not be any of this selective fire bull dealing with our enemies, it would be with or against us. Plain and simple, no halfway bull that we get now.

You weren't around for it. It was bad. The 80s were a terrible time to be a young person just starting out with cutbacks and layoffs everywhere.

Regardless. It looked like the end of the world, but it wasn't - just like today. You're young. You should be patient and prepare yourself with a good education and diverse work experience. Your time will come just as ours did.

 

[my-rifle]

That is great, but I don't see reference to you helping society via your own good genetic material. If I was only worried about me it would be a lot easier. Things get more difficult when you factor in offspring and raising them to not be bitter, and a positive member of society.

I wouldn't say "difficult", but rather more complicated. Difficult implies unpleasant, and having kids is the most fun I've ever had in my life, and that includes a four-year-long stint sky-diving back in the wild years of the 80s. Good for you deciding to raise them in a positive environment. These first few years are more important than any time of their lives, so providing a firm foundation is the best gift you can give your child. A good education is next. Me, I went to Catholic schools all the way through college, and now as a parent seeing the public school kids as well as the private school kids my child experiences I can say that I will sell body parts before I let a child of mine attend a state-run school.

I can understand the allure of home-school, but the home-schooling parent is not generally a degreed education professional, and so will not be as good at getting a child to understand concepts as a professional educator will be. I compare myself and my wife to my daughter's teachers. We try to teach her letters and such, and while it takes us a couple weeks to get our 3-year-old to understand the letter "B", her teachers get her to understand it in a day. Big difference. She comes home singing songs about the letter "D", and telling me all about words that start with "D". To me it's worth the $4500 per year.

 

[JWG223]

I am currently 29 years old, my wife is 27. We are expecting our first child on November 21, and we are looking foward to it more than most since we have lost once while in the womb. We were raised during a time economic prosperity with plenty all around. In the time since we have graduated high school and moved toward being married, and now living where we live, we have seen the economy falter, and the futures seems bleak at best. I do not think that there will be a huge disaster, but we have planned for that just in case. How do the people near my age group plan to keep the future generations positive during bad times? How do you plan on keeping our future motivated to move past the bull **** that seems to envelope everyday life now, and be a contributing member of society after people have finally pulled their heads out of their asses? We are God fearing folks, and thogh we don't attend church we have a strong faith and live by the good book. I just wonder what you are doing to prepare the future generation for success after the current generation is gone.

I'm 26 (and a half, fwiw).

I am saving as fast as I can to move to a better location (crime/school system/job/economy/environment), and buy land. After I buy land, I am going to save as fast as I can to put a house on it. I'm choosing a rural location near a city with a great track record in the above, as well as solid growth over the last decade. If I choose to have children, when I die, they can sell my property and do what THEIR heart tells them to do. If I don't, I will retire VERY well. My father has done the same for me, owning 10 acres in the center of Shreveport (by city-map, not "downtown") in a non-annexed "doughnut-hole" type area in which he owns the entire neighborhood near a golf-course. That is his way of leaving me something. I don't need it or want it, and will be sad to take possession of it one day, if that's what happens, but if I do, he knows I will sell it and use it to fund other dreams of mine.

That is my plan. Good, bad, indifferent.

Otherwise, I am not going back to school, no debt here and no desire to invest in a future that may not pan out. I do just fine with what degree I have, and don't want to while away my earning potentials PAYING to accrue more earning potential only to step out into a world with no earning potential.

 

[CEHollier]

Imagine a school system where students who studied, worked hard, and excelled were demonized. They were labeled as greedy and selfish. Their grades were taken from them and mixed in with the grades of all of the other children. Many of whom didn't even bother to crack a book. All of this is done in the name of equality. Every one passes and no one fails. How long would it be before the school was graduating children that could not spell, add, or subtract? This is the model of business the Obama administration is putting forth. It is doomed for failure.

 

[my-rifle]

Imagine a school system where students who studied, worked hard, and excelled were demonized. They were labeled as greedy and selfish. Their grades were taken from them and mixed in with the grades of all of the other children. Many of whom didn't even bother to crack a book. All of this is done in the name of equality. Every one passes and no one fails. How long would it be before the school

was graduating children that could not spell, add, or subtract? This is the model of business the Obama administration is putting forth. It is doomed for failure.

Public schools have been the dregs of the education system since they were created. Nothing new here.

 

[CEHollier]

Public schools have been the dregs of the education system since they were created. Nothing new here.

Did you even read my post? Your response tells me you missed the point completely.

 

[Charles1959]

I'm ignoring it.

I want a place off grid where lots of food grow with little input from me, where people leave me be, and regulations are low.

I dislike debt and keep $ saved, am working on mutable streams of income and not being dependent on any one or two things.

I'm tired of intrusiveness of gov't, corporations, and people. They suck and I'm done worrying about it.

Sounds a lot like what the "Freemen" in Montana were trying to accomplish. Our Government had other ideas for them.

 

[jjb5730]

I'm 28 and wife is 25...have two children Boy (3) and Girl (18 months) and have pondered the same questions and am watching intently at all of the responses here...I can tell you that at this point I am at an in between crossroads are from the responses so far...I have a degree, I have debt, but none that is so far unmanageable that I can uphold my 789 credit score...I live in Pierre Part, very rural, and grew up in an environment where my family made their living off the land, fishing, craw fishing, crabbing, etc. So I can hold my own and if needed can be self sufficient enough to provide shelter and food for my family. I don't have the money to stockpile supplies and food, and honestly see it as unnecessary because even the biggest preppers can't hold a lifetime supply(unless that lifetime ends when the supply does) and should learn to become self sufficient anyway. I don't live my life in fear of either situation whether it all goes to heck in a hand basket, or the economy comes back and flourishes..I feel like I am going to be fine either way, and I expect to raise my children accordingly.. I don't want them to go to one extreme or the other, but to more or less know how to handle either.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

 

[thatwhichisnt]

I'm 22. I used to have a negative almost end of the world view of the future (my lifetime).

You know, after a lot of though, we will be just fine. There will be ups and downs, but I think in the long run everything will be okay. We will progress into a better and stronger democratic society.

 

[SGT_Kramer]

Make your kids do push ups teach them strong christain values and how to appreciate the little things and life is good after that. These days if you raise your kids to be productive and not meth head loosers your doing great. As a parrent don't sweat stuff like that. You'll have plenty of here and now problems with kids without filling your head about tomorrows problems. If you have a job and provide for your family and still afford a toy now and then is it really that bad? Sounds like sweet life. Kids turn out better being raise poor anyhow!

 

[Charles1959]

I'm 22. I used to have a negative almost end of the world view of the future (my lifetime).

You know, after a lot of though, we will be just fine. There will be ups and downs, but I think in the long run everything will be okay. We will progress into a better and stronger democratic society.

Thatwhichisnt,
With all due respect sir, you are young and naive. Us older farts have seen our freedoms, a little at a time, be undermined. We have seen the mindset change from; "It's demeaning being on welfare and the school lunch program" to "You owe me welfare and free lunches". We have gone from being able to leave our doors unlocked and leaving our toys in the driveway and guns in our truck's gunrack, to having to lock everything up and put surveillance on them because our neighbors don't respect property rights. Americans have gone from being respected around the world to being disliked or despised in most of it. Our taxes are higher and our infrastructure is weaker. We have moved from being a nation of builders and manufacturers to a nation of consumers in which our political enemies are the ones manufacturing our goods for us. Our credit ranking in the world, along with the dollar being the standard by which every other currency is measured, is in very serious jeopardy. We have taken "God" out of every part of our public world and it is now politically incorrect to take a religious stance on anything. Race relations, from my perspective as a WASP, improved at a fairly steady rate until the current administration. Now if you don't like anything the current POTUS does, you are automatically deemed a racist. And we coddle those nations and nationalities that would do us harm. This country is now so very different than the one I grew up in.
Sir, Youth is naive. That is not an insult or a put down, it is a fact. Many of us conservatives on this forum started our youth with a much more idealistic view of the world than we have now, one in which we felt, much as you do now, "we will be just fine". This complacency is patriotic suicide. I believe the big political machines, regardless of party, are counting on the youth of America, who because of their age cannot possibly have a memory of how things used to be, to think that what we have now is fine and that we will be a stronger Democracy in the future. That is not the direction the United States of America is headed. Don't be satisfied with what you have, make it better!
Rant Over......
Charlie

 

[jdindadell]

Thatwhichisnt,
With all due respect sir, you are young and naive. Us older farts have seen our freedoms, a little at a time, be undermined. We have seen the mindset change from; "It's demeaning being on welfare and the school lunch program" to "You owe me welfare and free lunches". We have gone from being able to leave our doors unlocked and leaving our toys in the driveway and guns in our truck's gunrack, to having to lock everything up and put surveillance on them because our neighbors don't respect property rights. Americans have gone from being respected around the world to being disliked or despised in most of it. Our taxes are higher and our infrastructure is weaker. We have moved from being a nation of builders and manufacturers to a nation of consumers in which our political enemies are the ones manufacturing our goods for us. Our credit ranking in the world, along with the dollar being the standard by which every other currency is measured, is in very serious jeopardy. We have taken "God" out of every part of our public world and it is now politically incorrect to take a religious stance on anything. Race relations, from my perspective as a WASP, improved at a fairly steady rate until the current administration. Now if you don't like anything the current POTUS does, you are automatically deemed a racist. And we coddle those nations and nationalities that would do us harm. This country is now so very different than the one I grew up in.
Sir, Youth is naive. That is not an insult or a put down, it is a fact. Many of us conservatives on this forum started our youth with a much more idealistic view of the world than we have now, one in which we felt, much as you do now, "we will be just fine". This complacency is patriotic suicide. I believe the big political machines, regardless of party, are counting on the youth of America, who because of their age cannot possibly have a memory of how things used to be, to think that what we have now is fine and that we will be a stronger Democracy in the future. That is not the direction the United States of America is headed. Don't be satisfied with what you have, make it better!
Rant Over......
Charlie

Too long for a bumper sticker, but I still want this plastered on everything it could stick too. Get the word out, everyone needs to read the above post. The situation will only get better if we make it better.

I am 32, and have an 18mth old daughter. She already picks up her toys when she is finished with them, and also cleans up after other kids in her part time daycare. Never too young to start teaching them to be productive and responsible.

I own a small business (brick and mortar auto body shop) and pay taxes the likes of which most people could not imagine. I have put alot of thought into a "cure" for this country and all I can come up with is better education. Not just theory based stuff, but actual life lesson teaching. I went to good schools, mainly catholic, but my parents were the ones who taught me my street smarts. I grew up in the business I now own, and while it was rough on my family, I would not change any of it. I am truly thankful for the attention my parents placed on me, and that they held me to a standard I could not always achieve.

I have thought alot about parenting since my daughter was born, and reflected on my own experiences as a child, especially as my mother passed away a few weeks ago. I am proud to say that she was tireless in trying to make me a decent person, and I will respect and honor her memory by doing the same with my daughter. I just wish everyone else would do this with their children, and that the public schools would be put on a different track to success. I will try to keep a positive outlook, but I have a feeling their will be alot of "stormy waters" ahead...

 

[swagge1]

To the OP I suggest looking into the Louisiana Start Savings Program. Its a 529 college program with tax benefits. I'm 31 and have a 14 month old. We have already started saving for him using this program.
http://www.startsaving.la.gov/savings/index.jsp

 

[CEHollier]

Thatwhichisnt,
With all due respect sir, you are young and naive. Us older farts have seen our freedoms, a little at a time, be undermined. We have seen the mindset change from; "It's demeaning being on welfare and the school lunch program" to "You owe me welfare and free lunches". We have gone from being able to leave our doors unlocked and leaving our toys in the driveway and guns in our truck's gunrack, to having to lock everything up and put surveillance on them because our neighbors don't respect property rights. Americans have gone from being respected around the world to being disliked or despised in most of it. Our taxes are higher and our infrastructure is weaker. We have moved from being a nation of builders and manufacturers to a nation of consumers in which our political enemies are the ones manufacturing our goods for us. Our credit ranking in the world, along with the dollar being the standard by which every other currency is measured, is in very serious jeopardy. We have taken "God" out of every part of our public world and it is now politically incorrect to take a religious stance on anything. Race relations, from my perspective as a WASP, improved at a fairly steady rate until the current administration. Now if you don't like anything the current POTUS does, you are automatically deemed a racist. And we coddle those nations and nationalities that would do us harm. This country is now so very different than the one I grew up in.
Sir, Youth is naive. That is not an insult or a put down, it is a fact. Many of us conservatives on this forum started our youth with a much more idealistic view of the world than we have now, one in which we felt, much as you do now, "we will be just fine". This complacency is patriotic suicide. I believe the big political machines, regardless of party, are counting on the youth of America, who because of their age cannot possibly have a memory of how things used to be, to think that what we have now is fine and that we will be a stronger Democracy in the future. That is not the direction the United States of America is headed. Don't be satisfied with what you have, make it better!
Rant Over......
Charlie

You hit the nail on the head Charlie. I don't have a lot of time so I will pick one subject and it's impact on working Americans. Energy. Why is this administration blocking the Keystone pipeline from our friends in Canada? Why are they closing down coal fired electric plants? Why do they refuse to let us drill domestically? All of these things will make us less dependent for energy from the Middle East. They would create good paying jobs, taxes, and revenue from Federal Land. Instead this misguided administration wants a carbon tax that will raise energy costs in America. It will make our manufacturing companies less competitive and America will lose more jobs to offshore locations that don't have a carbon tax. Not to mention the tax will hit every American that uses electricity which is all of us. I know a lot of small business owners and none of them want to expand or hire because of the policies of this current administration. The last two years I have intentionally not grown our business. The crazy thing about it is our patient census has almost doubled. We need to hire a Tech but have not. Instead we work our butts off and make do. If you guys want to have a future where you can succeed and be successful elect leaders with your vision. I just don't see that with the ones we have now.

 

[PPBart]

Public schools have been the dregs of the education system since they were created. Nothing new here.

Nonsense! There are obviously a lot of public schools that should be bulldozed, but such a blanket statement is not true. My two daughters are grown and have their own careers and families now, but when they were kids we worried about their future, too. We tried private school once, weren't impressed with what they got for the (exorbitant) tuition. We finally moved back to Livingston Parish and enrolled the girls in Live Oak school, where I think they received an excellent education -- one went on the earn her PhD from an ivy league school and works now as a medical research scientist; the other has her masters in nursing and Nurse Practicioner certification. The success or failure of kids in education (and thereafter in life) is not just a function of the school system -- parents who encourage and demand success and who provide a home environment (even to the extent of relocating to highly-rated school districts) that supports the kids efforts are at least as important.

I do now worry about my grandkid's future. The oldest started college this fall and I think this upcoming election will have a tremendous effect on his future job prospects. At least we have provided for his tuition costs (as another poster suggested, thru the LASTART program) so he won't have to start out with student loan debt!

 

[JWG223]

Props to everyone helping their kids with college. Mine did the same, and it has helped me beyond belief to only graduate owing my dad a few thousand because he allowed me to buy toys with some of my stipend in college.

 

[rob52]

I have to add my two cents. Charles is correct in his statement.
I am 60 years old and vividly remember the consequenses of the Carter administration. What we face today makes his term look tame in comparrison.
I try to teach my children to be independant but more importantly to get involved. My son once told me he did not want to know what I know because ther was "bliss in ignorance." I would agree if his ignorance only affected him and his family but unfortunately the conditions in America affect the entire population.
This is not merely a phase we are going through and it will not self correct. The progressive movement has so infiltrated the United States that government now controls a majority of our daily lives. Sadly, because we choose not to study the issues and get involved, we don't even realize we are being led to slaughter. Our government has allowed America to be in bed with nations who depise our very existance. We have entered into agreements with the United Nations (agenda 21, found on the U.N website) that destroy family values, devalue personal property, destroy economic soundness, and limit our personal liberty. We have become so politically correct that the truth has now become a sideline. Same sex marriage and legalized abortions are normal even though they violate the moral fabric of our nation. We have become accustomed to terms like "separation of church and state", "hate crimes", "redistribution of wealth", and "paying your fair share" while not realizing the falacies of their intents. We have allowed our government to wage a quiet war on Christianity while promoting the rights of Islam and called it "tolerance." We have gotten so used to exsessive taxation that we don't realize that our largest single obligation is the the very government that claims to "want to help the middle class!"
What I would suggest to all young people is to read and study the Declaration of Independance and Constitution of the United States. I would suggest you get involved in grass roots efforts to return this nation back to the people.
At the same time we all must realize that any change that limits government will hurt. To elder Americans it would be easy to assume this is indeed our children and grandchildrens problem. To the younger generation it would be easy to say it will get better in time and continue to be self absorbed with personal goals. But to all I would suggest a simple study of history would show us our future. Look at Russia during Marxism, Germany during the third riecht, Italy under Musilini, Cuba under Castro, Venezuela under Chavez or the middle east under the Arab spring. I am sure there are and were a great many citizens in each of those states who were blinded by patriotic pride and feel good doctrines by their chosen leaders. I would rather learn from our founding fathers who were willing to give up their lives, liberties and possessions so they could pass to their offsping a Nation built on the principles of self government and moral clarity. Their vision of America was one of freedom and charity. They believed and set in place a government that allowed all to succeed by personal sweat and dilligence, not one that rewarded the lazy by penalizing the successful.
Only through knowledge and determination can America return to it's greatness. To assume someone else will provide these freedoms and hopes for the future is to surrender to corruption and the belief that there is "nothing I can do because it's always been that way."
I still have hopefully many years left in me to do what I can to promote the freedoms our founders gave us. I am past the point of accumulating material wealth in an effort to find happiness. My freedoms and liberty are important.
God bless America.

 

[CEHollier]

I have to add my two cents. Charles is correct in his statement.
I am 60 years old and vividly remember the consequenses of the Carter administration. What we face today makes his term look tame in comparrison.
I try to teach my children to be independant but more importantly to get involved. My son once told me he did not want to know what I know because ther was "bliss in ignorance." I would agree if his ignorance only affected him and his family but unfortunately the conditions in America affect the entire population.
This is not merely a phase we are going through and it will not self correct. The progressive movement has so infiltrated the United States that government now controls a majority of our daily lives. Sadly, because we choose not to study the issues and get involved, we don't even realize we are being led to slaughter. Our government has allowed America to be in bed with nations who depise our very existance. We have entered into agreements with the United Nations (agenda 21, found on the U.N website) that destroy family values, devalue personal property, destroy economic soundness, and limit our personal liberty. We have become so politically correct that the truth has now become a sideline. Same sex marriage and legalized abortions are normal even though they violate the moral fabric of our nation. We have become accustomed to terms like "separation of church and state", "hate crimes", "redistribution of wealth", and "paying your fair share" while not realizing the falacies of their intents. We have allowed our government to wage a quiet war on Christianity while promoting the rights of Islam and called it "tolerance." We have gotten so used to exsessive taxation that we don't realize that our largest single obligation is the the very government that claims to "want to help the middle class!"
What I would suggest to all young people is to read and study the Declaration of Independance and Constitution of the United States. I would suggest you get involved in grass roots efforts to return this nation back to the people.
At the same time we all must realize that any change that limits government will hurt. To elder Americans it would be easy to assume this is indeed our children and grandchildrens problem. To the younger generation it would be easy to say it will get better in time and continue to be self absorbed with personal goals. But to all I would suggest a simple study of history would show us our future. Look at Russia during Marxism, Germany during the third riecht, Italy under Musilini, Cuba under Castro, Venezuela under Chavez or the middle east under the Arab spring. I am sure there are and were a great many citizens in each of those states who were blinded by patriotic pride and feel good doctrines by their chosen leaders. I would rather learn from our founding fathers who were willing to give up their lives, liberties and possessions so they could pass to their offsping a Nation built on the principles of self government and moral clarity. Their vision of America was one of freedom and charity. They believed and set in place a government that allowed all to succeed by personal sweat and dilligence, not one that rewarded the lazy by penalizing the successful.
Only through knowledge and determination can America return to it's greatness. To assume someone else will provide these freedoms and hopes for the future is to surrender to corruption and the belief that there is "nothing I can do because it's always been that way."
I still have hopefully many years left in me to do what I can to promote the freedoms our founders gave us. I am past the point of accumulating material wealth in an effort to find happiness. My freedoms and liberty are important.
God bless America.

Are you psychic? Well spoken my friend.

Should Obama get a second tern and pass cap and trade legislation many companies which are barely surviving here will leave and set up shop overseas. All Americans electric bills will go up. As far as the poor go they will be subsidized by middle class American worker tax dollars. Not only will your energy bills go up but so will your taxes. Obama Care is just getting started up and some people's premiums are up 25-30% He lied and told us health care premiums would go down. Why should anything else the Democrats and Obama do be any different?

 

[2011Corvette]

I listened to a lot of people when I got married and we started our family. Some suggestions I took to heart and some I threw out the window.
One that I did follow was going to Church - EVERY SUNDAY. It is not easy at the beginning with small children but it has worked for our family. We don't miss and we make a practice of sitting in the front pew. We have since the kids were born.
They are now 24, 19, and 17. I am very proud of them and the way they are living there lives. They know right from wrong and I don't mind telling them what I think when I see something that is not right.
I thank God for them every day.