Lincoln said in his address at Gettysburg said, we are engaged in a great civil war testing whether this nation or any nation shall long endure. He was talking about government of the people, for the people and by the people. I wonder what he would feel about our government today, one of the dollar, for the dollar, by the dollar. We have a Congress that is paid from $175,000 to $225,000 a year, and millions are spent to get them elected. Which I think, seems to leave them obligated to adjust their votes in favor of the money that gets them elected
As an example, most homes today have T.V. and those who have been around as long as I have will remember when they first became popular. Back then I believe that there were laws that regulated what was shown, what could be advertised, and the amount of time that could be used for advertising. The thought at that time was that the air belonged to the people. There weren’t any monthly T.V. bills then, except maybe to the store that sold them.
Today practically every one has a bill just to get connected and for most of the people living out in the country it is big enough to be a budget concern. Now we are not only paying more we are getting less because adds seem to be taking up more of the time, in every show. Lately (and I don’t believe it’s because of my aging ears) all the talking heads and even in some of the adds, they are speaking much faster so there’s more time for adds each hour. I don’t see this example as being for the people. I’m not sure we ever lived up to the plans of our forefathers, but I’m sure that in my 90 years there were times I was much prouder to be an American.
Larry Carey
Warwick