[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 75 (Friday, May 24, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S5654]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          COMMON SENSE, R.I.P.

 Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, Jeff Lyon had a brief observation 
under the title ``Common Sense, R.I.P.'' in the Chicago Tribune 
magazine, which I ask to be printed in the Congressional Record after 
my remarks.
  It comments on the death of 7-year-old pilot Jessica Dubroff, but its 
real commentary is on our society and what we have permitted.
  It is worth reading and reflecting upon.
  The article follows:

                          Common Sense, R.I.P.

                             (By Jeff Lyon)

       Despite what legions of editorial writers have said, the 
     real message in the death of 7-year-old pilot Jessica Dubroff 
     is not that we're pushing our kids too hard, which, it goes 
     without saying, we are.
       It's that everywhere you look, the perishable human 
     commodity known as common sense has died.
       Of course, it's absurd that the FAA lets tots fly planes. 
     But it's equally crazy that we can't get a ban to stick on 
     guns that can kill a dozen people in a microsecond. Or that 
     the government is allowed to spend more than it takes in for 
     years, even though any imbecile know what happens when you 
     charge up too much merchandise on your credit cards.
       An entire generation celebrates sexual promiscuity, then is 
     surprised when the harvest is AIDS, herpes, illegitimacy and 
     marital erosion. An industry that makes billions selling a 
     lethal, highly addictive drug like tobacco claims the stuff 
     is harmless in the face of overwhelming evidence to the 
     contrary and is allowed to get away with it.
       We pile people into public housing, take the dignity of 
     work away from them and are astonished when the result is a 
     permanent underclass. We put our schools on short rations, 
     then are shocked that our kids think like Beavis and 
     Butthead. We let the rankest, foulest programming spew out 
     over the airwaves and wonder why there is moral decay.
       There was a time when people recognized that certain 
     behaviors had consequences. It was a lesson that sank in the 
     first time you got sick after Mom warned against eating too 
     many potato chips.
       But that kind of wisdom has become another casualty of 
     modern life. Maybe moms and dads aren't dispensing it 
     anymore. Maybe moms and dads aren't even home anymore.
       Whatever the cause, as a society we've forgotten our 
     umbrella and now it's started to rain. Isn't it time we 
     reacquired the sense to go inside?

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