At the risk of having the men in the white coats coming to take me away to the funny farm, I have to admit Obama was right. He was right about tire gauges and tune ups. He was right in a speech in Indiana, where he told s 12 year old girl, “…..He was running for President because America is not what it use to be….”

First let us talk about tire gauges and inflating your tires and tune ups. He is right, inflating your tires to the proper pressure will save you gas if you don’t have a head wind, side wind or any other type of air resistance or resistance from the road. Some cars even have sensors to let you know your tires need air. I think everybody who drives a vehicle has enough common sense to check the tires. If you don’t, then Obama is your man.

When it comes to tune ups, again he is right. A properly tune car will increase your gas milage, maybe as much as 2-3 miles per gallon, IF you own a car that was made before the middle 1980’s. These cars had spark plugs, distributors and need to be tuned up. The cars today are controlled by computers, most have platinum spark plugs that will last for a 100,000 miles or longer so a tune up, well Obama again shows that he doesn’t know what he’s talking about when it comes to our energy needs. He is so “smart”, he forgot to mention the air filter, it should be changed periodically.

Now a truer statement by Obama has never been made, “….AMERICA IS NOT WHAT IT USE TO BE”.  This statement is so true, this is not the America I knew. I knew an America where teachers were respected, you called them Mr., Mrs. Or Miss. You said, “Yes Mam or Sir, No Mam or Sir”. If you misbehaved, you got to know the “board” of education applied to the seat of knowledge by the Principle, then you had to face your parents, or in my case my Mother. You studied in school, you had recess in grades 1 – 6, you ran around & played. You got upset when it rained & couldn’t go outside. You did your homework before watching T.V., going out to play or anything else. When you were outside, you were home when your parents told you to be home.

In the America I knew, the flag, the President and the military were respected. The flag was raised and lower every day, if it touched the ground it was retired. A new flag took its place. It was not used as a bandana, a towel, or anything else. It was the flag of the United States and only that. The President was respected for the office he had been elected to hold. We may not have been happy with who was elected, but he was our President and was respected for that accomplishment. We would have never called the President by anything but, “The President” or “Mr.” The military was respected. They would wear their uniforms to the movies or in town. We would always greet them, called them by their military name; Marine, Soldier, Sailor or Airman or maybe even sir. They would kind of walk a little taller. However, today some of us still say hello to our military and they still kind of walk a little taller.

In my America, the family could go to a movie, watch T.V. and not worry about what was seen. Hell, us kids could go to a movie on Friday or Saturday and not worry about anything happening to us. In fact, we use to “hitch hike”, before we got cars, the 3 miles to the movies. The worst thing we ever saw on the screen was usually a “B” movie with girls in bikinis or fake blood and gore. We raised a little hell, but when ask to behave or calm down by the usher, who may have been a few years older, a junior or senior in high school no less. We did!

In the America I knew, there were gays, but they kept it to themselves, didn’t bother anyone. Marriage was honorable, although there were a few divorces, but it wasn’t a thing to be proud of. In some cases if a girl got pregnant, the boy usually would marry her, or the families would work out something. It was not something to be proud of or brag about. We knew about sex, but didn’t discuss it in mixed company, it was called respect for the girls. I can’t say for sure, but I bet the girls did the same. The movies and T.V. shows, we knew that when the husband and wife went into the bedroom and closed the door, what was going on, unless they had a scene in the bedroom, then they were in separate beds.

In the America I knew, people worked hard, took care of their families, were polite, were willing to help each other, college was a privilege not a right. Yes Obama, this is not the America of the past. In the America I knew the government was smaller, the people didn’t want food stamps or welfare, it fact, if some one was receiving assistance, we didn’t know about. In the America I knew, we went to church, said a prayer in school, before ball games and no one complained, these prayers didn’t address any religion, just a belief in God. We had respect for each other. We didn’t shoot each other, hell we were raised with guns. In the America I knew, there were no excuses for some killing someone, except if it was a true accident. If you broke the law, the law punished you, there were no excuses, like, “He was raised by a single parent.” I was raised by a single parent, I served 14 years in the military, got out and went to college, have a good job, I think I turned out pretty good.