Lt. Col. Michael Uecker, USAF ret, USAFA ’71 and also a STARRS Ambassador, wrote this letter to the editor of the Xenia Gazette and the Fairborn Daily Herald in Ohio. Write letters to the editor and if the newspapers publish them (and even if they don’t), send them to STARRS. Help get the word out!
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I am old enough to remember the failures of the War on Poverty in the 1960s and the Stagflation of the 1970s, as well as the success of the Reagan Boom of the 1980s.
In each case, it was clear that the leadership of the Nation was critical to the direction we pursued and the results we achieved. It was also clear that central planning and high taxes did not work.
It is truly amazing how quickly the United States went from winning the Cold War and observing the fall of the Soviet Union under the leadership of President Ronald Reagan, to being at each other’s throats over pronouns and having half the Nation believing socialism works.
To me it is evident that too many of us turned our collective backs on politics, turned our swords into plowshares, and allowed others to run things with the expectation that they would continue the course of policies that brought us peace and prosperity.
Little did we know that the radicals of the 60‘s and 70‘s would become the tenured professors and department chairs in the 80‘s and 90‘s, turning their attention to teaching Howard Zinn (Marxist) history, Critical Theory sociology, and Saul Alinsky tactics with the goal of “fundamentally changing our society.”
They now dictate who gets tenure in colleges and universities, and what is taught to our children by teachers at all levels.
A new generation now views some groups as oppressors and others as oppressed.
How does one engender energy, teamwork and unity when the seeds of distrust based on immutable characteristics are sown by the teachers and the media?
I can attest that the Air Force and the companies I worked for throughout my career were only successful to the extent they were meritocracies.
Michael E. Uecker
Fairborn, OH
Also by Mike:
The Air Force has abandoned its mission in pursuit of radical social justice
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