IPFS
CONNECTING THE DOTS
Frosty Wooldridge
More About: Politics: General Activism21st CENTURY AMERICA: MADE IN CHINA
In the past week, I took a shopping tour in Denver,
Colorado—my residence for the last four decades. Forty years ago, I walked into American
stores like Sears, J.C. Penny’s,
K-Mart and McDonald’s along with Ford, Chevy and Chrysler dealerships. I ate at Burger King, Dominos, Dairy Queen
and Howard Johnson’s.
As a teenager, I wore Converse All-Stars for playing
basketball. I pulled on my Wrangler or
Levi jeans every day for school. The
local shoe store kept my feet protected with American cowhide. Hanes and Fruit of the Loom provided my
T-shirts.
As I grew older, I owned a ’57 Chevy, 68 Camaro, 73 Mustang
and 79 Ford Pinto (Big mistake on the Pinto!).
I bought gas for .24 cents a gallon when I hit 16.
I shopped at Ace Hardware with creaky wood floors. I bought
screw drivers, drills and tools for my needs.
After college, I bought a Maytag washer and dryer. Sears and Penny’s carried everything I
needed. I bought dining room, kitchen
and bedroom furniture for my apartment.
What did everything I purchased carry in common?
Answer: “Made in America”! I depended on quality and excellence. I knew that I strengthened America, kept
Americans working and brought vibrancy to my country.
As a service brat, my father instilled in me the importance
of God and country. He drove it home to
me about responsible citizenship: personal responsibility and personal
accountability. During my early morning
paper route, I dismounted from my bicycle and stood at attention with my hand
over my heart when I heard the bugle for flag raising on the bases where I
lived across America—from Camp LeJeune, North Carolina to the Marine Corps
Supply Center, Albany, Georgia to the Marine base at Kaneohe, Hawaii on Oahu
. Also, San Diego, California; Paris
Island, South Carolina; Quantico, Virginia and more!
You might say that my love for my country runs deep, runs
wide and runs full. At the same time, as
a veteran world traveler across six continents and nearly 100 countries, I
witnessed the other side of the coin.
Most Americans do not possess an iota of the poverty,
misery, hunger, disease and hopelessness for several billion people on this
planet. Too many of the planet’s citizens live like those in Haiti. You never hear about anyone actually starving
to death in America, but each year, 18 million humans starve to death
worldwide—included in that number—10 million children. (Source: www.WorldHealthOrganization.com
)
That’s why I am acutely aware of America’s demise on multiple levels. How can anyone explain 15-22 million
Americans unemployed and 42.4 million Americans subsisting on food stamps? What about 13.4 million American children
living below the poverty level.
Another 1.5 million Americans remain homeless! Why do you suppose that’s happening to our
citizens on such a grand scale?
Here’s why!
We spend $12 billion a month rebuilding Iraq and Afghanistan
while our country slides down a frighteningly slippery slope! We spend unbelievable billions to send
572,000 of our military personnel to 700 bases around the world in 120
countries—to sit on their butts doing virtually nothing but burning time. For what?
Answer: I don’t know! Do you? Can anyone in Congress give us a
reasonable answer why we guard other countries’ borders but leave ours completely
wide open to millions crossing illegally?
Because of our $700 billion annual trade deficit to other countries for
making products that flood the USA markets, we suffer a $1.1 trillion debt to
China. We stand nostril-deep in $13 trillion national debt.
However, I digress!
When I took my shopping trip
around Denver, I visited Lowe’s and Home Depot.
As I wandered the aisles, I picked up drills, tool boxes, screw drivers
and paints. I picked up bird cages,
hummingbird feeders, American flags, snow blowers, garden hoses and 50 other
items.
What did they enjoy in common: “Made in China”
While I strolled the aisles of Wal-Mart, Target, L.L.Bean,
Eddie Bauer, Nordstrom’s, Sports Authority, Macy’s and a dozen other
stores, I discovered 90 percent of the
tags read, “Made in China”! Yes, a good
many other tags showed, “Made in Bangladesh” ; “Made in India” ; “Made in
Mexico” ; “Made in Japan” and several other countries.
I found scant few that read, “Made in America”!
Why would our own U.S. Congress and last four presidents set
our nation on such a path of eradicating, erasing and eliminating millions of
well-paying American manufacturing jobs
by shipping them off to other countries—to the detriment of our citizens?
Did someone elect congress-critters to offshore, outsource
and insource our jobs into the hands and to the benefit of other citizens of
other countries? Weren’t they elected
to represent American citizens’ interests?
President Barack Obama, since he won’t release his birth
certificate, we don’t know where he was “made”—so we may not be able to count
on him. But this new U.S. Congress needs
to work for Americans, for our best interests and for the future of our
country!
Let’s re-examine H-1B, H-2B, L-1 and other visas when over
1.2 million American IT workers cannot find a job in their field. Let’s examine why the USA only creates 95,000
new jobs monthly but imports 200,000 immigrants and green card holders into
this country every 30 days. Why? What
benefit? Who in Congress keeps doing
that to our citizens? Why not bring
manufacturing jobs back into our country and let China make and buy its own
products instead of turning the USA into a debt-laden morass?
Why not return “Made in America” as the most honored, most
quality and most logical method for bringing peace, prosperity and the American
Way of Life back to our citizens? As
my dad said, “Take responsibility and personal accountability in everything you
do in this life.”
Barack Obama and Congress need to listen to my dad. He makes sense!
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1 Comments in Response to 21st CENTURY AMERICA: MADE IN CHINA
Ah, your a little late dude. Where were you in 1993 when NAFTA was signed?
Maybe you were shining up that Pinto.
Your way too late there Frosty, but nice try. idiot