Change coming from the people

Piney and She Who Must Be Obeyed came in from the garden with a bunch of just-harvested onions for a part of supper. It was a week since ringing in the New Year and having wonderful family visits for Christmas; the house was tranquil, the two dogs asleep, and the two "ancient persons" were happy and contented as they gave thanks at supper.

It was a time for rejoicing for all Americans! The economy was swiftly turning up, jobs were appearing, and the Republican primary seemed to be picking the only sane person offering him or herself as candidate.

But a more important thing than the primary was taking place. The American military was finally giving up on its 1918 footslogger tactics and pointing toward a drone-dominated protective face to the world. The moves following the 9/11 scare were being vacated and a strong country was in motion... what's more, the age of "the great lie to the unwary American public" was again fading... those who stole, particularly politicians of both parties who stole, were being stopped and pursued.

And changes were coming to American education too. The weakly noncompetitive position of the past decade, which has left us with science and math achievement that is the laughing stock of the world (including its higher institutes of learning), is being confronted and can be cured. It is becoming clear to the powers that it is not teachers at fault so much as parents losing control of the offspring’s learning that makes them poor students. This is coupled with the steady awareness that parents reading to their small children is the single biggest influence on their children's academic successes. The antiquated textbooks, which have been carried to and from school in heavy backpacks, are being replaced by light small devices, holding if needed a thousand records of the ages or all the math and science and wisdom since Galileo! Advances in technology, medicine and astronomy take us to unimagined levels of knowledge and possibilities and our current student generation is privileged to benefit from these understandings.

Hopefully, the American public, Democratic, Republican, independent, naive, thoughtful or uneducated can know that the economic and social troubles of this country are their responsibilities and failings and result from their non-participation in thought and progress, and not choices of single Presidents or parties.

Since our American abandonment of the kings of England 236 years ago and our establishment of a new form of government supported by the wise, the mediocre, and unfortunately the stupid and uncaring, America has had the semblance of a happy place, in spite of all obstacles. That happy place is returning as the people themselves agitate and demand change, that change of the people, not Presidents. There is no magic in the Oval Office, no matter who is there. It is occupied by just a man (and perhaps someday or time by a woman!).

It is, Piney thought as he closed his column, our own inventive, strong and happy ways that must continue and lead the country.

Happy 2012!

A writer, Bill Cobbs divides his time between Florida and Southwest Virginia.