Posted on by Californiacontrarian

Uniforms, Haircuts, and Shoeshines

When I was in the Navy, I was fortunate to have wonderful commanding officers, except for one. Without actually mentioning his name, he was Italian and we nicknamed him the “Italian Loafer.” On more than one occasion he was on my case because my haircut was not to his liking  or because one of my shirt buttons was not being buttoned to his liking. Needless to say, he and I were not best buds! However, one of my friends put everything in its proper perspective when he told me the following:

“Those that can lead, lead, and they face the significant and the real issues head on, while those that can’t, revert to uniforms, haircuts, and shoeshines.”
I happened to recall the Italian Loafer and my friends sage advice the other day as I was reading about what the California legislature is doing this year. As I am sure most of you are aware there are some significant present day issues in California, and in a spring issue of U.S. News and World Report, California was deemed to be the worst state as far as quality of life. Yet the legislature appears to be off on a tangent dealing with what Alan West calls, “progressive socialism.” After Trump’s tax cuts, two California Assemblymen introduced a constitutional amendment to tax 50% of any corporate profits resulting from these tax cuts. In the state that State Business Tax Climate Index ranked as 48th, instead of focusing on the real and the significant problem of California’s high taxes, they wanted to further punish California businesses  (? “uniforms, haircuts, and shoeshines”).
Homelessness is a major problem here in California. In Los Angeles homelessness has increased by 75% in the last 6 years, and in San Francisco there is rampant drug use combined with needles and feces on the streets. This is obviously a real and a significant problem, yet the California legislators are now spending their time with a bill to ban plastic straws, unless the customer specifically asks for one (? “uniforms, haircuts, and shoeshines”).
The schools in California rank at the bottom on test scores, and the infrastructure is not maintained because gas taxes have been used for social purposes. These are both very real and very significant issues, yet the legislature is busy with a bill to make the bottles tops on plastic water bottles non-detachable from the bottle itself (? uniforms, haircuts, and shoeshines”).
California has the highest poverty rate in America and approximately 33% of America’s welfare recipients live in California. This is a real and a significant problem, yet the Sacramento politicians are spending their time formulating a bill to mandate warning labels on polyester clothing because of micro fibers that make their way into the ocean. A significant problem? Yes, but something that deserves to take up time in the California Legislature? No! (? uniforms, haircuts, and shoeshines”)
The more I think about it, compared to the California Legislature, perhaps the Italian Loafer was not so bad after all!

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