Hard times make strong men.
Strong men make good times.
Good times made weak men.
Weak men make hard times.

Man-baby, perpetual adolescent, weak problem-solving, ‘soft’ in both resolve and body, content in the nest they grew up in. That won’t make a Little Britches novel!

OK… we know not everyone fits a stereotype. But we know where there is smoke there is fire. The adults are supposed to attend the fire. If they let it smolder and stutter, that’s on us to no small degree. In fact the indictment has the “good time generation’s” name on it. As it should.

It is especially disturbing to me that the problems here, the lack of development, the soft problem-solving and lack of self-reliance, the characterization of a perpetual adolescent, THIS is exactly the kind of creature suited for and welcoming of a Nanny State. Older voters and minorities helped push Bernie back recently but the fact is, a Socialist government is exactly what would look attractive to people who need to be told what to do and cared for when they can’t quite get even that done. And so, perhaps it is cycle we have to accept. Perhaps we are doomed to Socialism and “hard times” which must run its course before strong men again are forged by hard times.

Another perspective of this statement might relate to the old saw, that of “necessity being the mother of invention”, and where is necessity found? Well certainly in the working class and even lower down the rung where poverty is a rule. Could it be that here in that strata is a sort of decomposition and rejuvenation of society. But what if that is interrupted.

The upper class, are they the men producing good times and week men. Was it always so. Or did they once recognize a responsibility and tend their garden better? Is it the middle class who scrape and climb and struggle until they reach a ledge and then say, “I don’t want my children to have to do that”? Likewise, maybe it is the poor and unskilled working class who once, when character and virtue were still taught and aspired to, even insisted upon, perhaps is was this class that was a source of rejuvenation of strength and forged temper of character born of experience.

And if so, what might it mean for society at large to find such a large proportion of our lower social strata to have their mooring to things once believed in and to things once aspired to ripped from under them? What if fathers were absent and mothers unschooled in important socializing nursery rhymes, so-to-speak, of character and virtue and accountability upon which we once cut our teeth more universally. Were this not once true Horatio Alger books of rags to riches reached on the back of “character” in the Gilded Age of 1860-1890 would never have been best sellers. What if the soil in that germinating pot were to become contaminated through lack of nutrients.

Maybe while people are staying in - these kind of discussions would a nice diversion. Can you imagine a young parent leading a discussion like this with their 13 year old where they were required to exercise some critical thinking synapses just to keep up. Do you remember how stimulating that was when you had a teacher challenge you in Jr High or when you were a Sophomore in High School? Funny, I can still tell you the names of those teachers. The other’s it’s quite hit or miss.