Used to be:

I felt valued as a customer. People solicited my business and prided themselves on backing up their product. Their reputation was important to them and they worked hard to support their community as well as their customers.


Used to be:

I felt that my government, be it local, state or national, WANTED my input. They read my letters, listened to my suggestions and worked hard at doing the best they could do to represent their people fairly. I believed they truly represented ALL of us, or at least the majority of all of us.


Used to be:

We had laws and we either followed them or we paid the consequences. We pretty much knew what the laws were and for the most part we obeyed them. We respected the law, the courts and the policemen that made sure we were being treated fairly. We paid our taxes, local, state and federal in a timely manner even if we grumbled as we did so. Sometimes we had to prove what we claimed was true and we dreaded the audit more than we feared having a root canal, so we were pretty careful about what we claimed.