What are we teaching our children and grandchildren?

From Russia we learned that a bully can lash out and murder a lot of folks but not be punished. I mean, really. Banning the importation and sale of certain assault rifles made in Russia is going to stop them from supplying folks who are shooting down planes? We just taught out kids that it is OK to be a bully.

In the Middle East, we taught them how to be a victim when you commit violence against your neighbor. “I hit them with rockets and missiles, and now they are attacking us. That isn’t fair.” Another case of someone or something being a bully while claiming to be a victim.

Along our southern border, we have learned it is OK to cross into another country and expect to become a citizen after breaking a law, or many laws.

We’ve taught them it is OK to tell a lie about the cause of an event where four Americans died. It was just a videotape, after all.

We’ve taught them it is OK to “max out” our credit and ask for more, even when we know we’ll never afford to pay it back.

We’ve taught them that when there are tough decisions to make, we can run and hide on a golf course or maybe someplace else to raise money for friends.

We’ve taught them we can use people who work for us to spy on our friends and neighbors.

We’ve taught them it is OK to have other folks who work for us to question the sincerity of others with respect to their beliefs about government and politics. If they don’t conform to what we think they should, they won’t be able to operate at all.

We’ve been teaching them that government can supply all they need by taking it from others who have what we think is too much.

Our kids and grandkids are also learning they can’t be in their own homes and defend themselves because guns are illegal in many places. We decide how the Second Amendment is going to be defined.

We’ve been teaching them it is OK to lie and cheat to achieve the goals of whatever agenda we have.

Now, I’m just a little upset. There are many more who don’t like what we are teaching our kids and grandkids.

So take these thoughts as you will.

In another instance, we’ve been selling health insurance that is not adequate and telling those who don’t buy it that they are breaking the law.

We were sold another lie that we had a “health care system” when we’ve never had a system. We attempted to create one, and it is as broken as if we had eliminated health insurance all together.

I’m tired of all of this. The lies. The broken promises. The little boys and girls fighting in the House and Senate or state Assembly and Senate.

Is it too much to ask that we return to being a nation of laws?

Is it too much to ask that our borders are secure?

Is it too much to ask to have our leaders tell the truth?

Oh – that is what the problem is, after all. Lack of leadership.

Can we get some soon?

Can we start teaching our kids and grandkids what we learned?

I pray we can.

Darryl Manzer grew up in the Pico Canyon oil town of Mentryville in the 1960s and attended Hart High School. After a career in the U.S. Navy he returned to live in the Santa Clarita Valley. He can be reached at dmanzer@scvhistory.com and his commentaries are archived at DManzer.com. Watch his walking tour of Mentryville [here].