Mercenaries vs Hessians

In today's Keepin It Real, Cam Marston laments the significant changes happening to the things that he once believed were fixed in place. Attitudes and beliefs once firmly held are vanishing. Even predictable things like football rankings have been deeply shaken. 

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To say that our world is undergoing a remarkable paradigm shift today is a ridiculous understatement. Each morning I look over the headlines prepared to be blown away by how formerly predictable things are now upside down or simply gone.

On the political front, an economist at a meeting a few years back told us it was coming. Political parties flip flop on key issues, he said, suddenly deciding that their power would be enhanced if they adopted the other party’s position. He drew a four quadrant chart, showing how the parties were moving to replace each other on key positions. The Economist Magazine years ago wrote that the Republican’s belief in balanced budgets and free trade would help the world by creating tighter alliances and enhanced dependance between countries to provide goods and services. Today, the Republicans are the party of the tariff and are working to eliminate treaties and alliances. The Democrats are now the ones trying to protect alliances and reduce tariffs. A complete flip flop. How does one abandon deeply held economic principles so quickly?

It used to be that the Republicans were the party that championed character and integrity and honesty and truthfulness. They told Nixon they would no longer support him and encouraged him to resign when they learned he had willfully broken the law. They thrashed Bill Clinton when they learned of his affairs, saying he was morally unfit for the Presidency. Today? It’s hard to imagine a leader with more dubious character and lack of ethics. His transgression list is a mile long. And today’s Republicans? Not a word from them about it. They’re good with it. The party of character and integrity is gone. How does one so quickly abandon character and integrity?

We all once believed that playing time on the college football field was earned through quietly paying your dues and waiting your turn. We believed that the players on the field had earned their way onto the field and along the way they had developed a loyalty and appreciation for their school. We cheered for them because they had worked hard and waited in line and would love their alma mater just like so many of us do. Today? That’s gone. Each game is the mercenaries versus the hessians. I wonder if they even know what team’s jersey they wear and if they’ve ever been in a classroom at their school. I watch the games but I get sick when the announcer says a player is on his third school in three years. I watch but I don’t like it like I used to.

The final paradigm shift is that the mighty Alabama Crimson Tide lost their season opener and is ranked 21^st in the second week of the season. Free trade gone. The republican’s loss of ethics. No longer paying your dues to get playing time on the field. None of that compares the paradigm shift of the Tide being ranked 21^st in week two. That’s the one that gets me. That’s the one that tells me things have gone squirrely. I bury my head in my hands and worry about what’s next. It can’t be worse than this.

I’m Cam Marston and I’m just trying to Keep It Real.