American Mediocrity

By Jeff Simpson 

While we as a Nation have had some dark times, one of the shining times in our nation is when President Kennedy challenged our Country in 1961. 

We have had our failures, but so have others, even if they do not admit them. And they may be less public.
To be sure, we are behind, and will be behind for some time in manned flight. But we do not intend to stay behind, and in this decade, we shall make up and move ahead.
The growth of our science and education will be enriched by new knowledge of our universe and environment, by new techniques of learning and mapping and observation, by new tools and computers for industry, medicine, the home as well as the school. Technical institutions, such as Rice, will reap the harvest of these gains.
And finally, the space effort itself, while still in its infancy, has already created a great number of new companies, and tens of thousands of new jobs. Space and related industries are generating new demands in investment and skilled personnel, and this city and this State, and this region, will share greatly in this growth. What was once the furthest outpost on the old frontier of the West will be the furthest outpost on the new frontier of science and space. Houston, your City of Houston, with its Manned Spacecraft Center, will become the heart of a large scientific and engineering community. During the next 5 years the National Aeronautics and Space Administration expects to double the number of scientists and engineers in this area, to increase its outlays for salaries and expenses to $60 million a year; to invest some $200 million in plant and laboratory facilities; and to direct or contract for new space efforts over $1 billion from this Center in this City.
To be sure, all this costs us all a good deal of money. This year¹s space budget is three times what it was in January 1961, and it is greater than the space budget of the previous eight years combined. That budget now stands at $5,400 million a year--a staggering sum, though somewhat less than we pay for cigarettes and cigars every year. Space expenditures will soon rise some more, from 40 cents per person per week to more than 50 cents a week for every man, woman and child in the United Stated, for we have given this program a high national priority--even though I realize that this is in some measure an act of faith and vision, for we do not now know what benefits await us.

President Kennedy, pulled the Nation together for a greater vision and a goal that everyone bought into.   This led to many technological advancements and much progress as a nation, and true national pride and acceptance. 

Fast Forward the clock 56 some years later and our President makes this speech:

The Donald does not necessarily want to go to the moon but instead wants to create a Space Force.  A Space Force, with no actual details, plans or even interest in doing anything but giving an unintelligible speech with no thought, interest or actual intent.   

What happens when we go from a President wanting to be an inclusive, advanced nation to one that  wants to punish anyone who criticizes him?

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE, INCLUDING THE HATERS AND THE FAKE NEWS MEDIA! 2019 WILL BE A FANTASTIC YEAR FOR THOSE NOT SUFFERING FROM TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME. JUST CALM DOWN AND ENJOY THE RIDE, GREAT THINGS ARE HAPPENING FOR OUR COUNTRY!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 1, 2019

Now that our media has been labeled #fakenews , and the media that is left spends their time chasing The Donald around like a lost puppy, you may have missed this:

BEIJING — China’s burgeoning space program achieved a first on Thursday: a landing on the so-called dark side of the moon.
The United States, the then-Soviet Union and more recently China have all sent spacecraft to the near side of the moon, which faces Earth, but this is the first-ever landing on the other side.
The China National Space Administration said the 10:26 a.m. landing of the Chang'e-4 lunar explorer has “opened up a new chapter in human lunar exploration.
 

We are not getting beat in the race anymore, we have dropped out of it completely. 

 We used to aspire to greatness.... now we aspire to piss off liberals. 

The first step to solving any problem is to recognize there is one.....

There is most definitely a problem that needs solving! 

Let's hope we recognize and solve it before it is too late! 

Time To Close The Leadership Gap In WI!

By Jeff Simpson  Cross posted at Purple Wisconsin! 

May 25, 1961,  President John F. Kennedy addressed the Joint Session of Congress and called upon the people of America to do great things.   Listen to it here!   President Kennedy stood in front of Congress and the Country to ask for everyone to band together, spend a massive amount of money(Up to $9 Billion dollars) and not just send a manned space flight to the moon, but also a Rover nuclear rocket, weather satellites and other space projects.  
Then more than a year later, President Kennedy gave his famous "We choose to go to the moon" speech in front of 35000 people at the Rice Football Stadium :
"Its hazards are hostile to us all. Its conquest deserves the best of all mankind, and its opportunity for peaceful cooperation may never come again. But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas? We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too."
President Kennedy realzied we are all in this together and called upon the country to work together and accomplish great things.  Which we did!   In 1969, Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon.   Proving we can accomplish great things when we work for a common goal.
President Kennedy showed us that leadership is pulling people together.  In Wisconsin, we have the exact opposite.  Our Governor has lived by a credo and philosophy of "divide and conquer".   Scott Walker tipped his hand early on, when he shared his philosophy with his number one donor.
While President Kennedy called upon the country to unite to be stronger in his signature speech, Governor Walker gave us the exact opposite with his signature speech. 
This is — you know, I told my cabinet, I had a dinner the Sunday, or excuse me, the Monday right after the 6th. Came home from the Super Bowl where the Packers won, and that Monday night I had all of my cabinet over to the residence for dinner. Talked about what we were gonna do, how we were gonna do it. We’d already kinda built plans up, but it was kind of the last hurrah before we dropped the bomb. And I stood up and I pulled out a picture of Ronald Reagan, and I said, you know, this may seem a little melodramatic, but 30 years ago, Ronald Reagan, whose 100th birthday we just celebrated the day before, had one of the most defining moments of his political career, not just his presidency, when he fired the air-traffic controllers. And, uh, I said, to me that moment was more important than just for labor relations or even the federal budget, that was the first crack in the Berlin Wall and the fall of Communism because from that point forward, the Soviets and the Communists knew that Ronald Reagan wasn’t a pushover. And, uh, I said this may not have as broad of world implications, but in Wisconsin’s history — little did I know how big it would be nationally — in Wisconsin’s history, I said this is our moment, this is our time to change the course of history. And this is why it’s so important that they were all there. I had a cabinet meeting this morning and I reminded them of that and I said for those of you who thought I was being melodramatic you now know it was purely putting it in the right context.
President Kennedy talked in terms of what we could build together and Governor Walker talks about "dropping a bomb" on public workers.  Even his supporters readily acknowledge that divisiveness is his one talent:   Walker's tenure as governor has been among the more dramatic, divisive and consequential in state history.  Scott Walker even leads the nation in most negative advertising in this election cycle.
While this starts with Scott Walker, it does not end there.  With the electoral success, that the divide and conquer strategy has brought, it is now ingrained in the Wisconsin republican philosophy.   Wisconsin was recently rated as having the most negative ads in the current election cycle.   Go to MaryBurke.com and you will see a republican controlled website with nothing but negative attacks on Mr. Walkers opponent.  Even the latest Scott Walker TV Ad -  "wedding dress'  - while it is demeaning to women, it portrays the Democrat as stupid, dumb, illogical and foolish.   It also portrays a rift between the Bride and the mother of the bride.
In Scott Walker's Wisconsin, no one is allowed to get along!

President Kennedy saw how much potential we had as a country and asked us to do great things. Scott Walker has seen success by dividing us so his biggest campaign promise, is one that is a proven failure but fires up part of his base.    We did not know if we could truly land a person on the moon, or if we could be first, but working together we accomplished it.  

We do know however, that drug testing to receive desperately needed benefits, is proven to be costly and ineffective.   It does not stop Scott Walker from making his re-election campaign about making the poor pee in a cup.  It is a program that has failed in Florida and Tennessee, yet he wants to bring it here.  Is the least common denominator truly what Mr. Walker thinks of the people of Wisconsin?

Pitting public workers against private workers, poor against the wealthy, employed against the unemployed, Native Americans against immigrants, police officers against fire men and women,  public schools against private schools, single parents against two parent families, donors against non donors, democrats against republicans, neighbors against neighbors,  people who signed the recall against people who didn't, and the list goes on... There is plenty of hate to go around and someone ready to grab the scraps that are left over when the dust settles.

It is pretty widely accepted, that Scott Walker has bigger plans, than just being the Governor of Wisconsin.  

The people of Wisconsin deserve better than a Governor who works so hard to divide us.  The people of America will demand more! 

When we ask for great things we get great things, that is leadership at its finest.  When we ask for drama and divisiveness, we get drama and divisiveness which shows weakness and pettiness. 

If our politicians can not see that, then it is time to elect new politicians! 

Let's move forward as a state - together!