It is more than grammar, it is attitude

When I was growing up, when to use 'I' and when to use 'me' was drilled into me.  And whether you used 'I' or 'me', if you were talking about you and someone else, well, that someone else came first.

Somewhere around the Reagan years that began to change.  That was when the government started to become the enemy, and teachers, who are government employees began to lose respect.  And the one wage earner family began to disappear.  Working was no longer a choice for women, it became a necessity.  So after school the kids went to some kind of day care and then became latchkey kids.

Parents had less time to help with homework, or even make sure it was done. There was too much to do just to make sure food was prepared laundry was done, and all the other tasks associated with running a household were taken care of.  Many tried, but there are only so many hours in the day.

And another thing happened.  There was a shift in attitude, the every man for himself attitude.  A generation has grown up believing that they are entitled to have it all, not because they earned it, but because of how special they are.

So the next time you hear someone saying 'me and him', well that's where it came from. 

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What would you say?

OK, I copied this from the website for the Ed Shultz show.  I heard this when I was listening to the radio on my way to play some softball, and I found the idea intriguing.

You're downtown, in a major hotel. You step into the elevator at the lobby level. You press 7. The elevator stops at 2. The doors open. In step four tall men. Black suits. Crew Cuts. Earpieces. And behind them, The President of the United States. He's moving from a holding area on the 2nd floor, to his speech in the ballroom on the 10th floor. You're getting out on the 7th floor. The president smiles and reaches out to shake your hand.
And the question posed was this.  You got at most two minutes where you have the undivided attention of the President of the United States.  What do you ask him or tell him?

So I thought about for a while.  What would I say?  There is so much to say and two minutes are such a small amount of time.  So I settled on this.

Mr. President, when you took office, we were in deep shit.  The economy had been driven to ruin with a completely unnecessary war and massive deregulation, compounded by ignoring many of those regulations that remained.  It was a process begun by Ronald Reagan and continued by each successive administration.  The American people needed someone to kick ass and take names.  Instead they got a health care bill written to benefit the insurance companies instead of the people who elected you.  You backtracked on Guantanamo and the Patriot Act.  You have not reinstated the Glass-Steagall Act, and the loan modification program has been a dismal failure.  We needed FDR and you gave us Jimmy Carter.   Mr. President, if you intend to implement any meaningful change, you are running out of time.

So, there you have it, my elevator speech.