Mr. Sylvia Goes to Washington!

Ah, the rigors of travel and independence! I've been here in the nation's capital for little over a week and I'm finally adjusting to the new schedule. I admit, at first I was a little bit apprehensive and the realization that I really was on my own without family, car, and friends was intimidating. However, I feel that this trip is going to be a humbling and character-building experience for me. I miss my close circle of friends, I miss my family, my pets, but this trip is necessary in every way. I find that I tend to excel in situations where it's a sink-or-swim environment and this has definitely been one of those times. I did get lost on my first day and on the second day... and even on the third day. I'm sure when I head out tomorrow I'll get lost then, too. I don't have the luxury of a blackberry, but that doesn't matter. I'm getting to know parts of the city every time I go out and it helps that I find the touristy parts very beautiful and full of all sorts of history! I've been here a week and I haven't seen 5% of what I'd like to see.

I'll briefly recap my trip. The flight from Providence to Reagan was actually quite uneventful, and although I only saw a small part of Reagan Airport, it really was not that difficult to navigate... except I did end up walking down one whole wing of the building looking for my bags and had to retrace ALL of my steps in order to get them. I hailed a cab and within about 20 minutes I arrived at my apartment. I spent the next two and three days buying the necessary things I forgot (bedding!) and I met my housemates. They're all pretty unique folks, and each of us has our own room except that I share a room with one of them. He's currently moved his bed to the common room so we'll see how that works out. If I can get some solace then I'll welcome the change as long as he isn't uncomfortable.

So far, I enjoy my seminar course. The professor, Dr. Semiatin, has been teaching the course for decades and is one of the goofiest political wonks I've ever seen. He has connections in high places. I hear last semester he managed to get Justice Antonin Scalia to speak to the class for an hour. I wish I had been there! Sufficed to say, I think I'm going to meet some very powerful people in the next few months. It's exciting, and I look forward to our ventures into the various offices in Downtown DC. A Research Project was also assigned in addition to my internship and seminar, but I chose to drop the Research Project in favor of taking an elective called "Regulation  Deregulation", riveting I know. I was all gung-ho for the project until I realize that there were so many due dates and minor stipulations that I could not write about topics that held much interest to me. It isn't like me to refuse a challenge, but I want to enjoy my time down here because I don't know if I'll get the chance to return.

I begin my first internship day tomorrow morning and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't anxious. I want to impress, and I'm eager to see the sorts of things I'll be doing this semester. I'll tell you one thing; I'll be fairly pissed if they make me walk dogs. I have nothing but positive feelings, and wanting to see the Senator succeed (job opportunities?) only commits me more to the work ahead of me.

I managed to play tourist this past weekend but not nearly as much as I would've liked. The weather did not cooperate, and the tracks were undergoing maintenance so I did not feel like wasting my day underground in the station. I still need to take a day trip to Arlington, and I'd like to sit at the Lincoln Memorial again. Even though they had the whole reflecting pool torn up it was still a breath-taking sight. I can't put to words how wonderful it was to sit on those steps and watch the national mall unfold before my eyes. It was an amazing experience.

Note to self: Make time to Skype my dear friends. I still need to install that blasted program. Another time! Now, pictures!!

One day I will be there!

One of my personal, historical heroes.

I was happy to get this picture, far enough away (without the flash) as to not disturb anyone. I had a nice conversation with some folks in the area.

Bryan, if he reads this blog, should appreciate this photo.

This one, too.

This is the small lake to the side of the reflecting pool. The Wall is behind me some few hundred yards.

Quack!

Also, quack!!

I nearly died when I saw this. In 1861 Ulysses Grant was given a specially-forged sword from Galena, IL to commend his great command ability against the Confederates. This is that sword.

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Here is a close-up of the hilt. I'll have to check his memoirs, but I believe on the blade is a Thank You message to the General. He carried this sword with him throughout the war I believe, or at the very least took care of it.

This was the hat worn by William Tecumseh Sherman. You rocked, too.

Sherman's cavalry sword, I believe.

Neat collection of real (not reproduction) Nazi Officer stuff. It's quite the feeling to see it in person.

To be honest, I didn't realize I took this picture until I checked them out on the computer several hours later. I hope you can make out the caption on the video.

He's Dead, so Now What?

Around 11:30AM EST, the Libyan Transitional National Council confirmed that Gaddafi had been killed. A ruthless dictator from September of 1969 to September of 2011, Gaddafi’s regime has lasted longer than most of us have been breathing. He orchestrated the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing, which killed 270 people. In the eighties he systematically murdered political opponents at home, and sent out killing squads across the globe to exact his revenge. He has been the sponsor of terrorist groups and a friend to all those that have opposed the West and the United States. His was, in the words of Ronald Reagan, “the Mad Dog” of the Middle-East. Now he lies dead, killed by a combination of predator drone attacks on his convoy and Libyan rebels on the ground. The question we all need to ask and should have been asking is, “What now?” With an unemployment rate of over 30%, literacy hovering around 75%, and at least a third of that nation’s 6.5 million below the international poverty line, a lot of questions remain on the future for Libya.

Much hot air was made in the press about young students returning home to fight in the war against a dictator that had controlled their lives and the lives of their parents. Will those young people stay there? How many of them are secular? Can they work with the radical Muslim Brotherhood, a terrorist organization responsible for numerous atrocities? I ask my dedicated readers (those few brave souls!) to treat this event with a cautious eye. What comes from revolution is not always a pretty sight. In fact, the American example that we have all internalized is unique to human history. It does not take a life’s worth of studying to realize that in unstable, disorganized situations the most ruthless, pragmatic, and organized groups tend to seize control. It is impossible to say whether a truly free and democratic Libya will emerge from this chaos, or whether the country will simply stagnate into a pit of unending bloodshed. 

This brings me to my final and most pertinent point of all. Where are we in all of this? True, we managed to get a decent bang for the buck (something like 1.1 billion dollars in total as of September), but did we gain a friend in northern Africa? After all, where was the President when the Iranians took to the streets? A lost opportunity. What about in Syria? Another lost opportunity. We fed Hosni Mubarak to the dogs when he no longer seemed useful to us, and it’s doubtful that Egypt will be any better off now that he is imprisoned. Some months back, a young Libyan man being interviewed said, “We will not forget. We will not forget who helped us and who ignored us. We are watching.” What I think we are seeing in the Middle East is a disintegration of American dominance. My friends on the Left will cheer it as a blow to the Great Satan’s imperialism, but I see it as something more fundamental than that. What I see possibly emerging in the next few years is something even more violent, and even more anti-American. The loss of American power abroad forces us to turn our attention inward, leaving the rest of the world to fend for itself in an ever-more unstable, dangerous arena. Without America to keep order, there will be none.

Occupying? Really?

Well, I am now an officially published and I've received some tremendously positive (and a few negative) responses to my work which has been extremely critical of the so-called Occupy Wall Street Movement. Reposted below are two articles that I've submitted for publication.

Op-Ed: Occupy Wall Street and the American Spirit

I’ll come right out and say that I am flatly against the ‘Occupy Wall Street’ movement. Far from something that “opens the eyes” of its followers, I think that it is a destructive and selfish movement aimed at the perceived symptom without providing a real means of solving the problem. This group of self-avowed anarchists calling for the destruction of Capitalism and the start of a Revolution does not seem to realize that by calling for Big Government to come in and cancel their mortgages, their student loans, or to make the price of broccoli affordable (I’m not kidding you), they’re acting hypocritically.

What is the solution that this Leftist, Union-backed movement is looking for? To take 99.99% of the ‘Top 1%’s wealth? I don’t think even that would satisfy some of them. That still would not be enough money to fix the problems in this country. Do they really want to destroy capitalism? After all, the only thing capitalism ever did for you and me was make the United States an economic powerhouse at the turn of the 20^th century, enabling us to fight off two world wars and keep Communism in check. It was the dynamic spirit of America. To all those wannabe anarchist, communist types out there, I challenge you to go look and see what East Germany looked like after the Berlin Wall fell, and compare that to the capitalist West. Do you want that for America? Communism (and socialism) had a stagnating effect on the economy and forced everyone to conform to the Party’s rules. But! They did it all in the name of economic fairness for the little guy! Sounds great, right? Sign me up!

Who are the protestors? When I look at the gathering herd, I see a collection of the unemployed, I see union workers, I see students, and I see the last gasp of the aging 60’s generation grandma’s in their hemp hoodies all trying to stir the pot against those evil, fat-cat capitalist pigs. They’re all wearing nice consumer goods and carrying expensive cameras made by those ‘evil’ corporations, though aren’t they? For a spontaneous movement, they sure have a lot of pre-planned literature, printed signs, and robotic “I will not conform by conforming” chants.

Something that really struck me was an interview of a union worker, sporting his Union Tee, in which he proclaimed that it was immoral for his managers and big corporations to deny benefits and entitlements to union workers in the recent moves toward economic austerity. I nearly spit out my coffee with a fit of laughter.  This is the same person whose advocating that we steal the wealth of the ‘upper class’ and just give it to everyone else. I have an announcement to make: You’re not entitled to half (or more) of someone else’s hard-earned money. I’ll agree: There are many problems with the tax code, and a government that thinks it can spend, spend, spend without consequences to you and me. Do I even need to mention the fact that government employees enjoy higher salaries and better benefits at a much lower cost to that of their private sector counterparts? How many private sector workers can take a day off work, bring their kids with them, and sit out in a park for a few days? I know that my parents could not, nor would they. They have more respect than that.

There used to be a time when people believed in personal responsibility and hard work. I think that percentage of people is shrinking, especially in this entitled, over-credentialed generation of mine. No longer do you ask what you can do for your country, but what can Big Government Sugar-Daddy Barney Frank and Co. do for me? I think it’s a sign of ignorance when students go to expensive schools, racking up tens of thousands of dollars in debt to get a useless degree and then point the finger at everyone else but themselves when they find out that their double major in environmental studies and art history just does not stack up to the current jobs market.

These protestors aren’t the real victims; those people that were trying to get home from their jobs, return to their families and just get on with their busy days are. When you have to shut down a bridge because the whining mob cannot follow through with basic police instructions you begin to see the real tragedy here. What we’re witnessing is the decay of the American spirit. Rather than advocate that we pull ourselves up and help each other out, we’re instead witnessing a movement that scapegoats a smaller number of people, most of whom are simply trying to earn money for their families and their employees.

All of this is being goaded by Democrats and leftist politicians, some of whom are responsible for this whole mess. Frank-Dodd, anyone? Community Re-Investment Act? These people think that Government will save them, and that Government has to be their new parent. Far from bringing us together, this foolishness cleaves us. I find it crazy that in a modern, developed western nation some of our citizens are willing to give up vital, big-life choices like healthcare, education, and housing to government bureaucrats, while placing more attention on how many hundreds of cable channels they can watch on their televisions. It’s an inversion of the American spirit, and I only hope that there are enough good people willing to stand up against the encroachment of Government. Living in America gives you the chance to succeed; it cannot and should not be the guarantor of your success.
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I was absolutely hounded by one or two critics who insisted that their father (who was a fire fighter) did much more than merely polish the fire truck at the station. He was offended by my comments. My reply? I'm happy to be of service. Here's the second article.

Occupying What?

Certainly not occupations. So, by now the quaint protests at Stonehill have subsided, and those gathered with their nice handmade signs have retreated back to the comfort of their dorms to get back to the hard life of being a pampered student at Stonehill College. I still cannot fathom what it is that my fellow students (and folks in the nation at large) are protesting. I’ve heard the same tired 1960’s platitudes about ending greed, giving the poor 99% what they deserve, hosing the rich, etc., but nothing had any substance. Nobody likes to quote the statistic that the top 1% pays 40% of the taxes in this country. How much more do you want to take from them? How greedy are you? 

The wonderful thing about the Tea Party is that they brought themselves into the political discussion and co-opted politicians that espoused their views on economic policies. They actually had specific grievances that could be addressed by the political class in Washington. Right now, the Occupy Wall Street movement has no sense of direction, no leadership, and nothing to show for it except being a sinking money pit on the very citizens they proclaim to represent. 

What do I mean? The Boston Herald just reported that it’s had to spend an estimated 2 million dollars in security so far, and the protestors seem content to sit under their tents and pound away in their drum circles for hours at a time. The New York Daily News reported that in New York, the protestors have caused the taxpayers another 2 million dollars over their three-week protest binge. These costs will be dispersed to an already over-taxed citizenry from states that are strapped for cash as it is. On October 7^th, the Brookfield Office properties, which owns the Zuccotti Park, has issued complaints that it cannot ensure the safety and keep up the sanitary conditions in a park that is supposed to open to everyone. One can only wonder how the local small businesses feel about a bunch of grimy, unemployed college kids gumming up the areas around their store fronts? One Vietnamese businessman who runs a small food vendor operation has been closed for two weeks because of these morons. Did anyone happen to see the picture circulated in British newspapers of a protestor defecating on a police car? 

Despite proclamation by Vice President Joe that crime would skyrocket, President Obama’s latest attempt at Big Government Stimulus, the laughably-labeled ‘Jobs Bill’, was soundly defeated in the Senate. Those damned conservatives, always in bed with corporations! But… wait… I seem to remember hearing all throughout the election season back when King Hope-and-Change was all the rave that he received more money from Wall Street corporations than any other politicians in recent history. I’m also willing to bet money that my fellow students (and most of the protestors) support President Obama and either voted for him or plan to vote for him in the future. 

We pride ourselves on being an intelligent, active generation of young idealists looking to make the world a better place. Sadly, I’m beginning to doubt that many of us are very intelligent. A college student was interviewed just the other day by Charles Cooke, and when he was asked what he was protesting he replied, “I want them to forgive my college loans because I want them to forgive my loans.” Amazing logic there! Surely, that kid had nothing to do with his current predicament? He didn’t choose to go to an elite school in the North East, he didn’t choose to major in Intra-Cultural Feminists Studies and Interpretive Dance? Right. He just wants someone else to bankroll his life. It’s just whatever you want, man.

Someone else rattled off an interesting argument as to why he should be given a job. It went something like because he went to a prestigious school, racked up over 100 thousand dollars in personal debt, and graduated, that he was then assured and promised a job once he left school. That has to be one of the fallacies of the American education system. Too many over-credentialed people with degrees that are absolutely worthless in the real world are clamoring for jobs in an anemic market. So what do they do? They turn to government as the savior and demonize the corporations for their expensive education, their lack of a job, and the price of broccoli. I wonder how many Stonehill students are toiling for hours on end with degrees that will end up not helping them in the slightest.

Instead of attacking ‘corporations’ as greedy, maybe my fellow students should organize a separate protest against the administrators of Stonehill? Take a look at the rise in cost of college education and chart that with inflation over, say, the past twenty years and tell me who the real crooks are. Higher education is really nothing more than a sophisticated extortion racket, and is much more disingenuous than these “corporations” that so many people are railing against right now. 

-          -Lucas Sylvia