Things Have Changed--Paradise Lost

In 1967 I was teaching at a small school on the banks of the Mississippi River in south Louisiana. I lived on the east bank of the river and the school was on the west bank. So each day I would ride the ferry back and forth (no bridge in that area at that time. In September the days were hot and after a long day in the classroom it was time to relax on the short trip home. I would stop at the little store on the west bank side and get a couple of cold beers for the trip across the river. It was a car ferry and in those days you could get out of your car on the trip across (you cannot leave your auto now---things have changed!). I would pop open one of those cold cans and enjoy it as I crossed the river with the wind blowing in my face, often standing next to a state trooper----things have changed. What would happen if I did that now---do you have to guess!! Things have changed. I mention these seemingly small things to point to something much bigger and far more dangerous than me sipping on a cold one while crossing the Mississippi. One by one our freedoms are being taken away in the name of public safety and political correctness. Far, far too many to speak of in this short piece. It was at the end of that school year that I took my first trip to the interior of Mexico (a car trip). I was single and full of life---it was an unbelievable experience. One of the first things I realized upon crossing the border and driving into the countryside was the unexpected freedom I experienced---what was the speed limit, it didn't matter (not that I drove excessively fast) I just didn't have to look over my shoulder should I drive a few miles over the limit. Yes, and the coke cans and an occasional beer can---out the window(boy is that bad by today's standards). It felt good, very good!!! I was free---free from the restraints of what was becoming a repressive society. And that was in the 1960's, if I would have known what was coming to this country I would have found a way to stay in Mexico. Yes, we have a great country, but it is becoming an old country. We are one of the oldest democracies in the world. It is known by those who study such things that the older a government becomes the more repressive it becomes----laws are continually being passed for public safety and political correctness. Our elected leaders think they must pass more and more laws each time they are in session----they always find a reason to pass this or that law for the good of all of us, when in reality its always for the good of some special group and at the expense of another. This is just the way it is. Eventually the system becomes so corrupt and repressive that the common man can stand it no more and their is revolution. It has happened over and over again though-out history. Yes, thing have changed so I say to you---THINGS NEED CHANGING!!!!!