Our country keeps getting more and more stupid as it embraces political correctness.

The Dixie School District voted to change its name to San Francisco Bay Area district because some say it conjures up images of the Confederacy and slavery. What kind of political pawns and pansies are these elected board trustees?

Those who oppose the change – good for them – say the school system was named for Mary Dixie, a Miwok Indian woman known by school founder James Miller in the 1840s.

Second-guessing the intentions of someone who died a century ago is falling into the left’s full court press to scour history and flush its traditions with it. If leaders really gave a hoot about slavery, maybe they should double-down on educating young junior and senior high girls how not to end up in the hands of sex traffickers living and breathing and on the prowl right here in our Valley. That’s a far more substantive issue than changing the name of a school district because some offended party might be reminded of something that actually happened in America’s past.

Just because one acknowledges something dark happened doesn’t mean we approved of it. Should we demand the name of Cesar Chavez to be stripped from every school, street or park because his organization beat up illegal aliens trying to come across the border? Negate the accomplishments of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson because they owned slaves? Omit every name of a Rebel general from history books for fighting to defend the slavery way of life? Shall we go full frontal assault on renaming every school with JFK’s name because he was a sexual predator in the workplace? Should the name of Lyndon B. Johnson be taken from the Houston space center because he exposed his – forgive the term – “Johnson” to reporters when asked why American troops were in Vietnam?

Where does this insane practice end?

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The same leftists are at work all across the country to attack people for wearing MAGA caps. It happened on April 5 when businessman Paloma Zuniga was in line to mail a package at a post office in San Diego and the butch woman ahead of her line said, “You should be ashamed of yourself for wearing that hat, you stupid [expletive].”

This was about the same week that a woman in Palo Alto verbally assailed an old man from wearing a red MAGA hat and calling him a Nazi. He was a Jew.

The Left continues to lose its mind. But you really can’t blame them if their only news source is radically biased CNN or MSNBC and their constant sniping on Trump. If those two networks went out of business tomorrow, our country would be in a far more civil place to live and learn the truth.

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I’m a big fan of the Andy Griffith Show and have been for decades. Mayberry is the type of laid back town a lot of decent folks would like to live. While it was shot in the early 1960s, Don Knotts once said it was modeled after the 1930s era.

In the “Alcohol and Old Lace” episode, Sheriff Andy Taylor and Deputy Barney Fife go to arrest a backwards bumpkin named Ben for operating a moonshine still. Andy tells Ben he’s being arrested because making moonshine is against the law. Ben tells Andy and Barney: “Sure it is against the federal law but you’re local law.” Andy replies, “Now Ben, it’s against the law, period.”

Contrast that devotion to law and order with California Democrats who have ordered local police to refrain from cooperating with federal authorities seeking to arrest and deport illegal aliens.

No wonder people are leaving California to seek life in Mayberry.

For the record, Andy and Barney ran Ben in.

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Speaking of lawbreakers, there’s a new survey that indicates 21 percent of cannabis users admit they’ve driven while high on pot.

DriversEd.com sent out the release last week. Survey data found that 58 percent of Americans believe that legalized recreational marijuana use would lead to increased danger on roads, and 91 percent of Americans believe marijuana can impair a driver’s driving ability. Meanwhile, 21% of U.S. drivers admit to having driven while high from marijuana.

Californians made a dumb decision to legalize recreational pot. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again – pot isn’t doing our society any favors.

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It’s a sad commentary on society when Ceres Police have to issue a social media post to explain how they’ve encountered “more and more people” carrying realistic looking toy /bb handguns concealed in their waist bands and car. The post went on to say while these toys and BB guns are not illegal, they could get you shot.

Obviously these types are brandished to intimidate others. Not only do they provide no defense, they can get you shot and it’s illegal to draw or exhibit an imitation firearm except in self-defense.

Police suggest that if you’re pulled over and you have one of these, don’t be stupid – keep your hands in plain sight, tell the officer where it’s located and follow the directions of the officer. Whatever you do, do not pull the fun out to show the officer it’s a replica.

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There seems to be an epidemic of social media postings where someone is looking for a missing daughter, sister or granddaughter.

My daughter shared two recent examples in the last week. The latest was a girl named Desirae Villarreal, 15, from Sanger. The photo posted shows her holding up a Taco Bell sauce packet labeled “Hot.” While it’s not a duck lips pose, it appears to have a subliminal message.

Whenever I see these posts I feel sorry for the girls. Many – if not most – typically don’t have a dad in the home and are running off with some irresponsible goon of a male who himself was just weaned from his mama. I’ve noticed that a lot of the girls who have “disappeared” have photos of themselves as doe-eyed sexualized objects with low-cut blouses hoping to illicit male attention she hasn’t been getting at home. Remember, her biological “sperm donor” – AKA father – abandoned her years ago.

What is happening to our teenage girls and boys in this country is appalling. A lot of it blames on the way kids are being raised. Or should I say not being raised.

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California State Assembly Republicans have released a list of 15 things lawmakers could do right now to soften the blow and make the Golden State more affordable. California has a $21 billion surplus, yet our state ranks 49th in the nation in affordability.

My own son just moved to Texas last week because he wants to own a house and California is impossible for him.

Don’t count on the Democrats coming onboard. Remember, common sense is rejected in Sacramento. What are the proposals? They are:

1. Eliminate sales tax on school supplies;

2. Increase the income ceiling on the middle class scholarship;

3. Stop the proposed increase in the state’s fee on new tires;

4. Provide clean water to all Californians without a new tax on water;

5. Reduce the vehicle license fee;

6. Get rid of the cell phone tax (and definitely don’t add one for texts);

7. Create a tax incentive for homeowners who rent rooms to a college student;

8. Eliminate the sales tax on college textbooks;

9. Lower professional license fees;

10. Increase support for caregivers of elderly or disabled Californians;

11. Help people save for their first home with a tax credit;

12. Increase the state’s renter tax credit;

13.  Reduce the state sales tax;

14. Forgive medical school loans for doctors who practice in underserved areas;

15. Create a tax credit to offset development fees that drive up the cost of housing.

California’s high taxes add up, making life in the Golden State more expensive than just about anywhere else. Republicans recognize that too many Californians are struggling to make ends meet and want to stop new taxes that add to the burden.

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Imagine you’re a state legislator in Sacramento and thinking of ways to help reduce waste. What to do, what to do? Take a stab at plastic bags or grocery can liners? Disposable baby diapers or drinking straws? You’d think it would be obvious. The powers that be took on drinking straws, telling us we’re responsible for waste at sea when it’s really the Chinese. Thanks for that, jerks.

Meanwhile an estimated 20 billion disposable diapers are added to landfills throughout the country each year, creating about 3.5 million tons of waste. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said disposable diapers introduce pathogens into the environment from the solid waste they contain. Studies indicate that diapers in landfills take up to 500 years to degrade, creating methane and other toxic gasses in the process, and their manufacture uses volatile chemicals that also end up in the eco-system. In addition, estimates indicate that up to 200,000 trees are lost each year to make disposable diapers for babies in the U.S. alone.

So where are these environmentally conscious millennials who are making babies? The ones who are worried about killing beef cattle to have hamburger are using disposable diapers? Are they too good for using cloth diapers that can be cleaned and washed over and over again like I did back in the 1980s?

Think about it. Target drinking straws? Why? Going after thermal image receipts instead of the vast waste in one in-store fast-food purchase?

Don’t get me wrong – I think government should let private business find a way to reduce waste than be told to do it. But some of the things Sacramento goes for seems trifle in comparison to the bigger fish.

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I have never been a big fan of George Carlin but the comedian had some profound things to say at times.

I heard this one and thought it was pretty good. “If you have ignorant selfish citizens, you’re gonna get selfish ignorant leaders.”

The voters of New York’s 14th Congressional District and Alexandria Orcasio Cortez came immediately to mind. While I do not think Josh Harder is ignorant or selfish, I don’t think very highly of District 10 voters in California either. I think they are very selfish in voting for big government and the freebies.

Remember, there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Somebody will pay for it. I fear there are way too many in this country wanting somebody else to pay so they seek it from the ones who are successful.

God knows “Medicare for All” Harder is one of those seeking a free lunch at someone else’s expense.

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There is a war on law and order in California. It’s waged by AB 392 and authored by Democrats.

Speaking out on the bill was Sacramento Deputy Julie Robertson. Her partner, Mark Stasyuk, was shot to death going to a disturbance call at a Rancho Cordova auto parts store in September. She said the bill would have caused her to retreat had she had no freedom to shoot the sorry excuse for a human being. At one point she had her chance to kill him by shooting him in the back but her thought was “If I were to shoot him in the back, I would be the next officer in the news being scrutinized for my actions despite the fact that he just murdered my partner, shot one of the store clerks and also shot me.” She wondered if sacrificing everything to protect the public was worth it given how the Democrats’ law would tie her hands. AB 392, she said, gave her three options: die, be criminally charged, or have innocent blood on her hands.

Good for her – she let those legislators have it, saying “My only intention is to protect and save lives. How is it I would be questioned and judged by the ones who live so distant from the dangers we inherently face each day?”

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Remember how lots of Democrats were consciously or subconsciously channeling JFK when they spoke? They’d jab at the air like Kennedy did and brush his wisp of hair back as he grinned. Now these young Democrats like Josh Harder and Beto O’Rourke bear the mannerisms of Barack Obama. I guess that’s the only Democrat president they can remember.

This column is the opinion of Jeff Benziger, and does not necessarily represent the opinion of The Ceres Courier or Morris Newspaper Corp. of CA. How do you feel about this? Let Jeff know at jeffb@cerescourier.com