I'm afraid Novice must go...

...nothing against the Novices, (I was once one myself) but under my plan, they wouldn't have to work too hard to upgrade to General...

Daren, I think you've made some points that a lot of us with General/Advanced/Extra licenses should heed, specifically ATTITUDE. There was a time when those with the higher classes of license were a tremendous resource to those with Novice/Technician licenses. Often providing encouragement, advice, mentoring and even tutoring, these were the "Elmers", and they seem to be a dying breed.

Nowadays, it seems that we are a house divided, and the animosities are rising to unhealthy levels. I'll be blunt here, this bothers me one heckuva lot more than numbers games or pontificating about the merits of one mode over another, CW Holy Wars, and so on...

On the one hand I see a group of new hams, mostly products of the information age. These people are savvy in the ways of technologies that didn't exist even ten years ago. The best of this group want to see amateur radio continue to grow and develop into something that is just as meaningful and relevant in the 21st century as in the 20th. The worst of this bunch, well quite frankly they sound to me like typical lazy americans after instant gratification.

On the other hand I see a group of mostly older hams, who have invested considerable time and energy into their hobby. The best of them take it beyond a mere hobby, serving with MARS stations, ARES/RACES, and so forth. Ask and economist worth his sheepskin and they'll tell you, if you reduce the price of a good to zero, it will be consumed until its marginal utility is zero. Though they might not put it in these terms many of them fear that "dumbing down" the amateur radio service will allow the quality of the service to become degraded to the point that we are no better off than we would be on CB. Whether or not these fears are mis-placed is another discussion. Of course, the worst of THIS bunch are a pretty egotistical and self-important lot, who would rather be in charge of a fruitless effort than swallow a little pride and do some selfless work for a worthy cause.

A house divided will fall.

Some of the old timers need a reality check, that's for sure. The words "...because we've always done it that way" are a sure sign of trouble. You simply cannot hold this line forever. You ought to appreciate history well enough to know that. You can either make things happen, watch things happen, or wonder what happened. Your choice.

But by the same token, a few of you "kill the code" fanatics need to cool your jets and grow up a bit. I question the work ethic of a few of you as well. If you want to change this part of the world, bring something to the table. It doesn't have to be CW, but being able to make it to the highest level of the latest version of DOOM or HERETIC really doesn't make you any more techno-savvy than someone with a 30 wpm fist. It makes you a product of your time, nothing more.

I'd like to be able to rewind the world a little bit and what kind of h#!!raisers some of these geezers were when they were young...and I'd also like to be able to fast-forward the planet for a bit and see how some of the younger people of today are going to react to change when it's their turn to be the older generation.

I'll close with a question. Can anybody tell me who won the original holy wars?

End of sermon. Amen.