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The ramblings of an overactive brain... watch for the book, coming eventually! |
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Sounds very happy and cheerful and upbeat, don’t you think? Sunny side, I mean. I can promise you some of my posts will be lighthearted. Some will be sarcastic. You might find some stream-of-consciousness introspection. I love to ponder the mysteries of the world and ask the kind of questions for which there either are no answers or are far too many opinions to lead to any sensible conclusions. And you can be sure I’ll be speaking out about my take on the state of the union. I’ll try to do that in a non-partisan way: I pride myself on being an independent thinker and voter, and judge each candidate and issue on his, her, or its own merit, or lack thereof. As random as it sounds, there is method in my madness. I’m gathering material for more books I plan to write on politics and a variety of other day-to-day issues. Here’s one of those head-scratching, what were they thinking? things that occasionally keeps my brain wide awake in the middle of the night. From the beginning of the present administration and the present session of congress, those on the right have not pulled any punches about their agenda. They have clearly stated that it is their intention to destroy President Obama and his administration. Evidently, that ‘united we stand, divided we fall’ business doesn’t ring true for them. They would rather take down the entire country than admit defeat. At least, that’s how it appears sometime. I love little tidbits that slip through the radar and get a single mention on the news before vanishing forever. Here’s one I keep thinking about, but can neither prove or refute. A few months before the 2008 presidential election, one of the talking heads on cable news said that the plan of the extreme conservative right was to gain and keep total control of the government—forever! It sounds a bit far-fetched to me, but from the way they’re behaving recently and based on the clearly stated goal for this session of congress... who knows? They have pretty much demonstrated that they will not even do things that are absolutely necessary for the well-being of the country and the people who inhabit it: rebuilding bridges that are beginning to crumble and can kill people; replacing dirt levees with more modern versions to keep half the country from being under twenty feet of water—permanently—when the 100+ year old dirt versions are washed away in the next flood or hurricane; and a variety of other equally urgent issues. Just think about it. What would we be left with if this became a one-party government that controlled everything in our lives. I don’t care which party would end up in that position; either way, it’s a totalitarian regime. If you think things are tough now, what might it be like if the extremists on either side were the only ones who had a say in anything. And, while you’re pondering that, think about which people would hold all the power and most of the wealth? Who would make the rules? Then, assuming you’ve achieved more than a sixth- or eighth-grade education and remember anything about the history of the world, think about any other totalitarian governments that exist now or have existed in the past. Is that what we really want? If you are one of those who want to abolish all taxes and completely get rid of the government, you might want to look very carefully at the possible consequences. No more emergency services: your house is burning down? Well, call a few friends and ask them to come on over, bring their garden hoses, and help you put it out. Did a truck slam into your car at high speed on the highway? Don’t call the cops or the EMS folks. Don’t even waste your battery trying to call 911. All gone, and the people who used to answer emergency calls will be out fighting with you for the few menial jobs that may be available. Do you think the snow plows will clear your streets more quickly? Sorry... those are provided by city and/or state governments. No government? Your problem entirely. What you are hoping for is anarchy, where there is no law and there is no one left to enforce any laws that may remain. Each of us would be on our own. I’m not suggesting that this is necessarily where we’re heading, but—whichever side you’re on, and whatever you think you’d like—just do some research first and then, as an informed citizen, decide what you’d prefer. If enough people choose anarchy, there aren’t enough guns or bullets in the world to protect us from each other. Life could become a fight to the death... one mob or gang fighting another for survival and for dominance. We’ve seen similar situations in a lot of places around the world, only it’s usually one tribe or religious sect against the others. While doing your research, haul out the dictionary too. Look up the differences between democracy, in the strictest (or maybe utopian) sense of the word, republic, and oligarchy. With ninety percent of the wealth in our country controlled by the top ten percent, that doesn’t mean very much left over for the rest of us to share. We already seem to be a two-class society. In the the-rest-of-us part, we are becoming more and more tribal and make heroes of killers because they hold the same beliefs we do, evidently without understanding that if we can kill them because their opinions are different from ours, ‘they’—the enemy—probably assume they have the same rights and could be gunning for you soon. Part of what triggered this particular rant was learning recently that the guy who crashed his airplane into a building with an IRS office—a terrorist attack, if ever there was one—is now considered by some to be a hero, a martyr to be honored. I worked for a major oil company many years ago and understood some of the things that went on behind the scenes, including how effective upper management was at suppressing discoveries that could have quadrupled gas mileage back in the 1980s. The oil company fully understood how much any such inventions would cut into their profits and not a single oil company or automobile manufacturer wanted to have anything to do with it. The people I worked with, from clerical help to middle management, loved their work (as did I) but didn’t care for what they knew about some of the company’s—or industry’s—policies. We were all simply trying to make a living, sometimes in jobs we loved, sometimes because we had to work and took what we could get. The fact that we didn’t approve of the policies of the people at the top didn’t change our need for a roof over our heads, enough money to pay the bills, and the absolute necessity of keeping food in our bellies for basic survival. Did we deserve to die? Are you willing to die (assuming you’re one of the fortunate ones that has a job) if your boss is a greedy, unethical S.O.B. but you stay on anyhow, because you know you very possibly will not be able to find another job in a failed economy? Would you tell the domestic terrorists to bring it on, to crash their planes into the building where you work, because they’re big-time angry at the people who make the policies? In other words, are you willing to be a martyr for the good of your tribe to stop the greed and unethical behavior of people in offices a few miles or few hundred or thousand miles from your office? I’ll leave it to you to think how you would feel in any of a hundred situations. What if your spouse or kid had been in the building that Timothy McVey blew up? Would you cheer him on and say it’s too bad he didn’t kill more people? Would you feel differently if he had killed your family members? I am not espousing a particular point of view, only suggesting that you think about some deep stuff before suggesting that we should do away with government and taxes; before cheering on domestic terrorists; or, at least, not letting either side brain-wash you into adopting their beliefs and arguments without learning at least a bit about the other side, and/or the possible outcomes if one side or the other gets to make all the rules. Just think... Please just think... |
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