NOT GUNS: IT IS MORAL ACCOUNTABILITY

NOT GUNS: IT IS MORAL ACCOUNTABLITY

By Domenick J. Maglio Ph.D. Traditional Realist

Here we go again. There is a massacre in a gun-free-zone and the media lights up with gun control. They say if we make all guns illegal these horrendous events will never occur again. This assessment is based on juvenile feelings not on logical and rational thought processes. Individuals use trucks, bombs, knives, chemicals and many other methods to kill innocent people. 

The incident on Valentines Day in a Parkland Florida high school clearly demonstrated you can make our schools fortresses but cannot prevent a tragedy. There was a policeman at the gate, identification procedures to enter the buildings, security drills, high walls with a series of gates, which did not protect these students and teachers from a shooter. Furthermore, this student was known throughout the school and was negatively labeled by them. They felt he was “a little bit off” and would be the one most likely to become a school shooter. He was expelled and banned from the school while being identified as a threat by school authorities that stated he was no longer allowed on school property. 

Mister Nikolas Cruz, a nineteen year-old Hispanic was known by the local mental health establishment and whose brother is institutionalized for mental illness. He was on psychotropic medication for his sociopathic thoughts and behavior. His presence on social media was available for law enforcement and mental health officials to review. It should have been sufficient evidence to authorities that this individual was a ticking time bomb and should be Baker Acted. He had planned to pull the fire alarm that would open the gates and give him a greater death toll. Yet he “legally” obtained an AR-15 gun and other paraphernalia to accomplish his objectives. 

Mr. Cruz had all of the classic signs of “threat to self and others”, which would be enough to institutionalize him. The reality is our society has turned a blind eye to dangerous individuals that present a significant threat to our communities. We are emptying our prisons and have closed most of our lock-up mental institutions. Our schools have either transferred dangerous students or expelled them without follow up. 

By placing dangerous people on our streets under the guise of non-judgmental tolerance, we have lost control of our local community and national safety. Authorities keep on telling us to report dangerous people. “If you see something, say something.” The problem is there is no follow up or consequences by these same authorities. Although Mr. Cruz posted on YouTube that he was “going to be a professional school shooter,” and a person close to him reported similar things to the FBI, nothing was done to investigate him. The FBI director, Christopher Rey, apologized to the families of these victims for not following proper protocol. Yet no one was reprimanded and the head of the FBI did not have the honor to resign so there was no accountability in this tragedy. 

The ball is being dropped not only in government but also in most businesses and professions even though authority figures constantly request that all concerns of poor service, defective products and inappropriate behavior should be reported. In these cases like in almost all others, there is no follow-up to serious threats or severe consequences for performing their duties improperly. We experience these derelictions of duty throughout our day but realize our complaints do not matter. 

Accountability has practically vanished in every aspect of our culture. Consequences that are alluded to in the home, schools, businesses, law enforcement and our judicial system have been minimized to token ones or ignored. Parents are resigned to their children’s lying, being involved with violent video games and uncensored social media with little effort to stop it. Promises are made and then forgotten. “Our word” in our culture has become worthless. People say they are going to guarantee their workmanship or product, then avoid answering any concerns.

We buy expensive insurance and find out the company uses every excuse not to fulfill their obligations. Government agencies, large or small businesses, families and individuals no longer stand by their stated mission with integrity or dignity. Everyone seems to believe that screwing the other guy is the only way to get ahead. 

In other words we have become an immoral people. The lack of consequences at home, school, the community and in all levels of government will only be altered if we are willing to get tougher. Parents have to again demand and receive proper behavior from their children. Moderate spanking, honest school assessment, reprimanding and firing workers, institutionalizing dangerous, unbalanced people and sociopathic criminals are the only ways to reestablish the reality that following moral values is best and is the only long term method of living a fulfilling, safe and satisfying life. 

Big government cannot replace the family to provide enough protection for our communities and nation when families are irresponsible. When parents neglect their responsibilities, a police state will emerge that will further repress our freedom and spirit. Without morality being practiced we will continue to confront horrible and unpredictable manmade catastrophes. Regardless, if we eliminate all guns and provide every person in this nation with his own police officer random acts of violence will continue to increase. 

When the souls of people have been corrupted by evil any and everyone is vulnerable to these evil acts.

Domenick Maglio, PhD. is a columnist carried by various newspapers, an author of several books and owner/director of Wider Horizons School, a college prep program. Dr. Maglio is an author of weekly newspaper articles, INVASION WITHIN  and a new just published book, entitled, IN CHARGE PARENTING In a PC World. You can visit Dr. Maglio at www.drmaglio.blogspot.com.

VICES OF THE PAST ARE TODAY'S VIRTUES

VICES OF THE PAST ARE TODAY’S VIRTUES

By Domenick J. Maglio Ph.D. Traditional Realist

The shift in our culture from traditional to progressive has become profound in a relatively short span of time. The vices of the past have been dressed up with convoluted rationalizations to make them appeal to selfish interests rather than those of family and community. This originated in the “me generation” movement where the individual’s interests gained supremacy over all others.

We all belong to a social unit called the family. When we neglect our parental responsibilities of consistently and forcefully teaching moral values to our children, we are weakening our family, community and nation. We are creating parasites. The moral fiber of the nation withers when the family is no longer viable.

Expecting freedom without responsibility is creating selfish and reckless individuals. The vocal child who argues to use a machine before he has learned to follow directions is bound to hurt himself or break the machine. Too many young adults have great wants with no self-discipline.  They are not being taught this by permissive parents, which has led to our inability to wait in our instant gratification world.

When youngsters are given money in their pocket without earning it they will often spend it to their own detriment.  To feel good and be cool they often take the drug or computer game route. Once they have entered the world of drugs or addiction to video games their performance in school falls and the probability of dropping out increases. These modern casualties who imitate celebrities such as gangsta rappers, self important sport stars, singers or actors have greased the shift in values from being productive members of society to self-involved slackers.

Being “parents in charge” of the family is currently seen as barbaric according to progressive child rearing experts.  The modern child should be on an equal footing with parental power. Most modern parents have gladly accepted this philosophy as it has freed them from past responsibilities and duties of parenthood.  Today’s children are raising themselves with assistance from misguided, out-of-control peers who are the role models for most naïve youngsters.  When parents do not prepare their offspring to face the reality of temptation unsurprisingly these youngsters become negatively addicted.

Children are hearing and witnessing that a man is not necessary to participate as a father in raising a child. A man is only a “sperm donor” although is on the hook financially. In other words men are no longer responsible for raising the child. The feminist movement has given women the right to decide if they do not want the child they are carrying. They say unwanted children should be allowed to be killed to resolve any inconvenience to their personal life. Women can be free to be indiscriminate sexual playmates with no responsibility to their live fetus, partner or family’s reputation.  These objectified undisciplined, self-centered and promiscuous females have become feminist heroines and the loving mothers become sad, boring losers in the progressive perspective.

More importantly, it does not seem to matter in our current culture the number of harmful acts to self and others an arrogant person has done in his life. These ‘self-celebrities” are fascinating to their peers for their moody, unpredictable life style. They are a protected class that is not supposed to be ostracized. As the family and community cohesiveness fades unknown and unconnected people’s actions, good and bad have less significance.  Stating you are going to do something at a certain day and time and not doing it has become a common practice with no stigma.

Instead of humility and keeping one’s word being virtues, they are now seen as ridiculous acts. A self-promoter paints a vivid picture of what he wants to portray to others rather than what he actually has accomplished. Sophisticated marketing distortions or lies pay great dividends while allowing others to note your own accomplishments rarely happens in this anonymous world.  Creative lying has become a virtue while much of the truth has become a boring humdrum narrative.

The switch back to historical virtues can only happen by exposing the real negative consequences of living a self-centered, immoral life. More parents need to emphasize to their children and everyone else they can live the positives of traditional virtues without the side effects of losing their conscience and soul. On the other hand, as often as possible elders should emphasize that cheating and taking advantage of others results is a pathetic life style.

God-fearing people realize an inerasable history of destruction of other people’s lives is not worth gaining wealth and fame. Mentally dysfunctional con artists and deviants bring on their own tragic lifestyles. These negative incidents are the inevitable outcome of evil choices, while the blessings of living a virtuous life are no accident.

Domenick Maglio, PhD. is a columnist carried by various newspapers, an author of several books and owner/director of Wider Horizons School, a college prep program. Dr. Maglio is an author of weekly newspaper articles, INVASION WITHIN  and a new just published book, entitled, IN CHARGE PARENTING In a PC World. You can visit Dr. Maglio at www.drmaglio.blogspot.com.

CAPITALISM WORKS ONLY WITH CREATIVE DESTRUCTION

CAPITALISM WORKS ONLY WITH CREATIVE DESTRUCTION

By Domenick J. Maglio Ph.D. Traditional Realist

On November 2016, the day after Donald Trump became president, Nobel prize recipient, Paul Krugman stated, “it really does look like President Trump and the markets are plunging…the question is when markets will recover a first-pass, I think the answer is never.” Although he was the preeminent anti-Trump economist, he was one of many doomsday prognosticators who unleashed their “insightful knowledge” by agreeing that Trump’s economic policy would be a disaster. Instead of the economy unraveling it has reached the heights that no one was able or willing to predict: so much for economics as a scientific field of study.

The deregulation of the economy, significant corporate tax reduction that brought back billions of offshore dollars and the realization that President Trump’s future economic policies will continue to strengthen the United States’ financial power has created positive momentum for all American businesses. The progressives whok were again predicting that private businesses would selfishly keep the money for their shareholders and their own self-interest were wrong. The surprise for them was that large numbers of businesses voluntarily started to institute raises and bonuses for their employees.

The difference is that progressives have a distorted view of capitalism. They view big business as the selfish enemies of the people and government.  They see themselves as the protector of the non-productive and even illegal immigrants. These elites fail to understand that without productive citizens there would be little tax money to collect and distribute to their primary voting base and lobbyists. Without these funds they cannot gain favor with the electorate and win elections.

The last administration’s attempt to control the private sector by picking winners and losers, pay to play, increasing regulation and selectively enforcing the law had crippled the US economy. It remained at a 2% level for 8 years.  This direct attempt to interfere with the invisible hand of the free market turned us further from a capitalist economy to an anti capitalistic one named “crony capitalism.” This translates into the administration’s use of tax revenue and power influence to “save” certain corporations and not bail out others. This symbiotic relationship between huge corporations and a centralized government that employs government regulations and does not administer the corporate laws justly is a breeding ground for corruption. These are ingredients for creating a fascist state.

Entrepreneurs are innovators who develop new technologies and production methods that replace the old with better ideas and products. Some of these include developing distributing systems like UPS and Amazon or advanced technology in fiber optics, microchips, satellites or a host of other business arenas.  Replacing the old with the new necessitates a world of incessant change. The government should not direct this change for political purposes but allow and encourage the indirect process of consumers freely selecting the best products at the right price is the most efficient means of economic development. Competition in the marketplace ultimately should determine who flourishes and who self-destructs.

New innovative devices or means of production lead to better products at a reasonable price. When the best product is surpassed by a better one the challenged company either innovates and improves or goes out of business. There should not be government interference in this process since the changes will be political rather than economically motivated. Millions of consumers should have the ultimate decision making power through studying the products and choosing what they consider the best of many. The results of many millions of purchases should be the factor that determines the viability of the item, not a government bureaucracy.

The products that are bypassed by the consumers either develop a better product to compete with the other companies or lose their market share and eventually go out of business. This creative destruction process allows a capitalist economy to be super efficient, which creates vast capital for any nation’s economy. The economic pie grows giving each of us a bigger slice of personal assets while the need for physical human labor decreases.

The creation of national wealth has been accomplished by capitalist societies and has been squandered by redistributing (robbing) individual assets through taxes. Cuba, Venezuela, North Korea, Laos, Zimbabwe, Soviet Union and others ruled by centrally controlled governments and have been ruined by corrupt rulers at the top. These nations have experienced the total deterioration of their economy. The lack of allowing capitalist market forces such as creative destruction to operate unrestricted by political considerations has resulted in out-of-control disastrous economies. Political dictators cannot efficiently and effectively micromanage the complexities of a modern international economy.

Domenick Maglio, PhD. is a columnist carried by various newspapers, an author of several books and owner/director of Wider Horizons School, a college prep program. Dr. Maglio is an author of weekly newspaper articles, INVASION WITHIN  and a new just published book, entitled, IN CHARGE PARENTING In a PC World. You can visit Dr. Maglio at www.drmaglio.blogspot.com.

THE SUBJECT THAT SEPARATES THE DISCIPLINED FROM THE LESS MATURE STUDENT

THE SUBJECT THAT SEPARATES THE DISCIPLINED FROM THE LESS MATURE STUDENT

By Domenick J. Maglio Ph.D Traditional Realist

There is one subject in education that the further you advance knowledge, the more is demanded of the student. It is an area you are attracted to or you avoid like the plague. At the beginning of school some students gravitate to language arts and others to math activities. In the higher elementary grades more disciplined study is demanded in math to develop a strong foundation in this area. Mathematics builds on itself and requires more attention to detail to arrive at the exact answer. The precision in mathematics makes it more demanding of the student and creates a more mathematical mind.

Addition, subtraction and multiplication facts have to be memorized for immediate recall. This presents a student with the first significant challenge to memorize a block of facts. The student either learns it or does not. There are no excuses for not learning the material. The student’s determination to spend time and concentrate on memorizing the material demonstrates to the child it takes pure effort to gain certain types of knowledge. Some students apply themselves willingly and easily to memorize the facts.  Others could care less and have to be prompted and bribed to even start the process. These students regrettably fight each step of the way to their own detriment. Some will win the battle and lose the war where many schools allow the student to count on his fingers instead of putting the information into his mind’s memory bank.

This reluctance to get tasks done that are not attractive to the student is troubling for the student’s future learning. There are many subjects in our schools such as grammar, spelling, history or science that seem to an immature youngster to be boring and unimportant but are building blocks of knowledge and skills. Not everything can or should be sugar packaged to the interest of every student. They have learned to “take their medicine” and do the things they do not want to do to become educated strong student. This certainly will be the case in higher education.

Many modern students are addicted to doing only what they want instantly. It is the age of instant gratification. The Internet and social media often enhance their ability to self promote and express themselves to show what they want to be not what they really are. Social media consumes a large portion of time, thought process and has even become a lifestyle for much of our youth. This leaves little time to do things that have to be mastered to be a well-educated person.

Our school grade inflation has been the opium for students and their parents to feel their child is doing well academically. The reality is too many are well below the level of competent students in this country and foreign nations. The giving of high grades to students who have not earned them is stifling learning. Students need to compete with themselves and others to be challenged to produce quality work. The poor academic achievement of modern American students is being compared negatively with past generations and current foreign students.

When students take comprehensive achievement and college entrance exams their deficit is exposed to the parents often for the first time. In too many cases they have to take remedial courses without any college credit or are unable to remain in the college program they chose. Too many students are delusional about their ability and prospect of success in college.

The one subject that is usually the litmus test for student success in higher education is mathematics. It is nothing more than logic that builds on itself. It is almost impossible to be a consistently good student in math without a solid foundation.

The student has to be precise, checking his own work after showing every step of the process including the type of units to arrive at a correct answer. It is a learned skill that requires focus and discipline in solving the problem. This activity is learned by reading the lessons thoroughly several times to fully understand the concept that is being shown. This procedure is necessary to develop the mental set needed to become a proficient math student.

Math is the area of study that separates the conscientious student from a casual, passive or “just get by” student. The subject of math cannot be faked. It is right or wrong. There is no subjective middle ground no matter how the material is presented.

Mastering math to an adequate level of proficiency is essential for earning almost any higher degree. It is a difficult subject for many students as it takes self-discipline to overcome obstacles and appreciate the positive logical thinking patterns that math teaches. Learning to think logically is necessary in higher education. More importantly it is a fundamental thinking skill that should be used in any career and is necessary to cultivate wisdom in one’s life. Math is a challenge for most students that can and should be conquered for the future success of the student.

Domenick Maglio, PhD. is a columnist carried by various newspapers, an author of several books and owner/director of Wider Horizons School, a college prep program. Dr. Maglio is an author of weekly newspaper articles, INVASION WITHIN  and a new just published book, entitled, IN CHARGE PARENTING In a PC World. You can visit Dr. Maglio at www.drmaglio.blogspot.com.