"Rise of the American Nitwit"

Remember it! Write it down! Record it! Someday you'll tell your great grandchildren you were present when elected officials, school administrators, and parents chose illiteracy and ignorance over literacy and intelligence.

Never in my 42 years have I witnessed Americans attack education with such venom, ferocity, and the macabre that they make Ted Bundy look like a stand up guy.

In Pennsylvania, Governor Corbett took a chainsaw to education and defunded higher education with such vicious precision--even Leather Face would have found it heart wrenching to watch.

But Governor Corbett is one of many elected officials that provide the wealthy and corporations with free-bees and tax breaks while stripping the middle class, working poor, and poor of much needed services all the while having the audacity to say we must all sacrifice. What are you sacrificing, Sir?

I said this before--education should never be laid on the operating table of budget cuts, pure and simple. Yet, education and social service programs are always the first to be devoured by elected officials with such apathy that it would've made Jeffrey Dahmer become a vegetarian.

As we continue to see the rise of the "American Nitwit" and the demise of the Republic's once love affair for scholarship, our nation continues to resemble the poor man's version of Europe's Dark Ages.


"Progressives will bring balance to the Republic."
Anthony P. Johnson

"The People vs. the People"

Only when the citizenry demands that elected officials be accountable can the government be effective in serving the will of the people.

Accountability and integrity in journalism can reign once more, but only when citizens break the "shackles of media mediocrity" by demanding that 24/7 news cycles report truthful, fair, and balanced news and zealously fact check elected officials who maliciously give erroneous information.

When citizens don't participate in the electoral process--a privilege that was obtained only after the sacrifice of millions of American lives--you not only dishonor the dead, but you also dishonor the living.

Because of political and social apathetic ideology, we've created a political cartoonist's version of a nation in which the government is the antagonist and the people are the protagonist. However, if you take a longer look in the mirror, you begin to see the government that many citizens despise is actually the "people" themselves. No matter how one may disagree with bloated, greedy, career-elected officials, they were elected through the Republic's political process that can be truly effective when able-bodied Americans can vote. And for those that can vote but are not registered to vote--register!

We still reside in a country where the "government of the people, by the people and for the people" is the foundation that stubbornly binds America to its people.



"Progressives will bring balance to the Republic"
Anthony P. Johnson

"The Cart Ahead of the Horse"

I'm curious as to why Mayor Nutter would hold his budget address and talk about "no new taxes" to Philadelphians when many of us are bracing for Governor Corbett's state budget address that is expected to cut or eliminate many programs that will directly affect Philadelphia to close Pennsylvania's $4,000,000,000 deficit.

Furthermore, the federal government will also soon unveil its budget that is filled with wholesale cuts to programs like LIHEAP, and AmeriCorps--programs that will undoubtedly affect Philadelphia.

Why couldn't Mayor Nutter simply table his budget--at least until Gov. Corbett had the opportunity to present his? Mr. Nutter has been mayor for more than 3 years. This election year, he'll probably be reelected; but alas, he continues to woefully lack effective leadership that Philadelphia requires to guide us through a modern day version of the Great Depression.


"Progressives will bring balance to the Republic."
Anthony P. Johnson

"Dangerous and Asinine"

Governor Scott Walker admitted to having considered planting "trouble makers" in the crowd of demonstrators to disrupt the peaceful rallies in support of unions held in and around the Wisconsin state capital.

So why has he not been made accountable for admittedly attempting to violate citizens' 1st Amendment rights?

Americans have focused their attention on the rallies, and the 14 Wisconsin Democrat state senators that refuse to return to work until Governor Walker acts like a servant for the people instead of a pint-sized wanna-be dictator.

But I firmly believe we must also address the fact that an elected official was contemplating perverting one of the most fundamental rights of every citizen in the Republic by implementing cowardly thugs and instigating what could have resulted in a full scale riot. In case Mr. Walker doesn't know, this isn't the 1960's, and he is not George Wallace--nor is he Mubarak or Khadafi for that matter. This dangerous and asinine behavior by Governor Walker should be met with vehement condemnation.

I find it extremely uncomfortable and troubling that an American public servant was weighing his options to physically endanger the lives of citizens and law enforcement to score political points. Any elected official participating in this type of behavior should be immediately removed from his post with the utmost zeal.



"Progressives will bring balance to the Republic."
Anthony P. Johnson

Open Letter to Tom Corbett, Governor

Tom Corbett, Governor
200 North Third Street
13th Floor
Harrisburg , PA 17101


Dear Governor,

Sir, as an educator and CEO of a small non-profit organization specializing in mentoring and non-traditional sports such as fencing and rugby located in Philadelphia, I am deeply concerned about the possible massive budget cuts that could be inflicted on social services such as:

• After School Programs
• Mentoring Programs
• GED Programs
• Physical Disabilities/Behavioral Health Programs
• Substance Abuse Rehabilitation Programs
• Senior Citizens Programs

In addition, Governor Corbett, I believe cutting funding from the Philadelphia School District would have catastrophic consequences in the communities, on the students, teachers, and some of the administrators who have dedicated their lives to providing youth and adolescents with a fundamentally effective education to become innovative leaders locally, nationally, and globally.

Sir, I know that these are perilous economic times in Pennsylvania and that tough and unpleasant decisions will have to be made to balance the state's budget. But I implore you to protect, maintain, and allow those of us in the field of social services to continue to cultivate these services so they can blossom and extend to everyone in need.


Respectfully,


Anthony P. Johnson, Founder
Dream Field Academy
647 East Raymond Street
Philadelphia, Pa 19120
Office: 215-744-2529
Cell: 215-715-0355
Email: johnsonanthony99@hotmail.com
Website: https://sites.google.com/site/dreamfieldacademy/

“Extreme Madness”

Governor Christ Christie is moving in the wrong direction, and in the process, he is attempting to make history in the great state of New Jersey. If he achieves his objective, it will have a catastrophic affect on citizens’ rights to organize for fairness in the workforce.

It’s clear that Governor Christie would rather focus his attention on breaking unions rather than take action as Camden, Trenton and Newark are ranked as 3 of the 25 “Most Dangerous Cities in America.” In addition, instead of addressing and implementing innovative initiatives to combat the 8.7% unemployment in New Jersey, a decrepit infrastructure, and massive layoffs of law enforcement and firefighters in Camden which happens to be ranked 2nd as the “Murder Capital of America,” he would rather use the governor’s office as the bully pulpit against unions. And to think some folk believe that Mr. Christie would be a great President. President of what?

Governor Christie is nothing more than a tool for big corporations that want unions disbanded the same way President Theodore Roosevelt waged a successful campaign in dismantling the trusts and monopolies by a handful wealthy men such as Morgan, Carnegie and Rockefeller. The Koch Brothers, the 21st century version of the robber barons, and their ilk seek revenge. Governor Christie and Governor Walker are two of the more than 20 Tea/Republican Governors that are gleefully willing to be their minions and do their bidding.

I believe unions should be balanced and some desperately must return to the fundamental philosophy of Samuel Gompers which is--employee relations could best be encouraged through an effective dialogue between management and workers. But when corporations and elected officials scheme to completely obliterate unions in America, well, that is the final descent into extreme madness. It would be like tossing the proverbial baby out with the bath water. Unfortunately, that is the current climate in our political system--extreme madness and tossing the baby out with the bath water.


"Progressives will bring balance to the Republic."
Anthony P. Johnson

“Waiting for Fictitious Heroes”

President Obama unveiled his 2012 budget plan to cut wasteful spending from the nation’s budget by more than a trillion dollars. Some of the cuts include:

• LIHEAP
• Pell Grants
• AmeriCorps

and other social service programs that assist middle class, working poor, and poor Americans. For the record, I completely disagree to any cuts to these excellent programs.

On the other side of the stale and moldy two-party political system, the Tea/Republican Party propose massive cuts from de-funding PBS, NPR, historically African American colleges and universities, the Department of Education, the IRS and the EPA just to name a few.

For the record, I support President Obama because I know he didn’t create this mess. Oh no! This debacle was procreated under President Ronald Reagan, and now Mr. Obama is attempting to fix this crisis, and he must now perform a much needed financial vasectomy to the national budget.

What we need now more than ever is an effective plan implemented to reverse the nation’s current trend because corporations, lobbyists, corrupt Supreme Courts Justices, weak, vacillating, and corrupt elected officials are taking America down a path that will place us in the history books right in front of the Roman Empire as a once great, empathetic and powerful nation that was destroyed by its greed, apathy and corruption.

We must also stop blaming each other for the political and social calamities that have enveloped the nation. You know what I’m talking about. Liberals blame Democrats, Democrats blame Progressives, Progressives blame Liberals, and this vicious cycle repeats itself. Stop! Why can’t we find a common goal(s) to focus and stay on message? We need to address our decimated infrastructure by:

• Ending Poverty
• Ending Homelessness
• Improving our Education System
• Protect the Environment and Social Security
• Ensure that “every” American has affordable and effective
healthcare
• Ending our involvement in wars around the world.
• Finance Reform

I thought that’s what Liberals, Independents, Democrats, and Progressives wanted for the Republic and its citizenry.

Conversely, we must stop waiting for Superman and/or any of the other fictitious superheroes to help us and instead be heroes of our own because the Republic is depending on us and our future is riding on it.


POWER TO THE GREAT CITIZENS OF WISCONSIN!


“Progressives will bring balance to the Republic.”
Anthony P. Johnson