The Audacity of Dope

Hat tip Steve, who is dead on in his assessment.

The conservative media (what little there is of it) in this country is like the way apprenticeships used to run. When I started my apprenticeship, there were 184 machinists in the group. You moved up when someone died or retired. A couple of months into my apprenticeship, they changed the program so it was merit based- if you could demonstrate you had solid skills, you moved up to the next level. I made my skills and passed each level in record time, my brain was pretty flexible and the work came naturally to me.

Had they not eliminated the old system, I’d still be there, waiting for someone to die to get my master’s certificate. As it was, I got it in four and I was out of there like a wet watermelon seed squeezed between someone’s fingers.