I spend a lot of time watching news on cable television and on the Internet from a whole host of sources. It is interesting, not only for the value of the information provided, but to watch the machinations of those with extreme points of view laboring to convince us (and probably themselves, as well) of the validity of their beliefs and the absurdity or threat by others that might challenge their preconceived notions of the world. As far as I am concerned, for any extremist or radical philosophy to take root and thrive, there has to be a certain prevailing level of ignorance on the part of the “true believer,” regardless of their political, social and economic points of view. Nothing is more conducive to enlightenment than the fresh air of an open mind. However, that does require a certain amount of laborious endeavor which, sad to say, is the antithesis of a frightening portion of the American minds.
The current crop of Republicans has provided us with a vast array of those suffering from a terminal case of calcified cranial tissue, not the least of whom are the likes of Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Lou Dobbs, Mark Sanford, John Ensign, Eric Cantor, Michele Bachmann, etc. I am certain one could add up their IQ’s and come up with a combined total that would comfortably encompass two arithmetic digits. However, they sure do stir up a lot of heat generated by ignorance on overload. They do the Grand Old Party a disservice. What happened to the likes of Dwight D. Eisenhower, John Foster Dulles, Charles Percy, Everett Dirksen and men of their stature who were revered and trusted to guide us by a sense of what they believed to be right and noble?
At the other extreme, we have the so-called “progressives” who, I am reasonably certain, see themselves as the anointed ones carrying the banner of true enlightenment so eagerly sought by an unsuspecting world. I find it all rather incredulous at the extremes to which they go to avoid, at any cost, the mere mention of any shortcomings by those deemed the leaders of the movement. To entertain the remotest notion of critically evaluating those in power in terms of their character, their agenda and their commitment to the American people is downright treasonous. God forbid! (Oops, I mean deity forbid.) Gotta be politically correct!
Aiding all of these marginal intellects, we have a news media serving both extremes. They fawn and fall all over their political heroes, trying to convince us they are doing their job as impartial and critical journalists. Do I detect the hint of a foul odor in all this? Investigative journalists dedicated to keeping government honest are now; I am sure, an endangered species bordering on extinction. We are the poorer for it.
Where and when did we go wrong? What became of the Americans who rebuilt the countries we destroyed by war because the objective of ending the war had been achieved? What was paramount then was to look to the future. There was nothing to be gained by leaving in ruins what had been wrought by war. We demonstrated to the world that we were not only the most resourceful people in the world but we were, also, the most forgiving, generous and caring people the world had ever seen. When did we abandon all that had made us great, good and decent? It certainly didn’t take long for us to squander that legacy, did it?
Did it start with the movie “Greed?” Did it start when organized religion let us down? Why did we simply walk away from the moral compass we had every right to expect from religion, rather than demanding the same degree of accountability we had come to expect from other social institutions? Somewhere in all that, we decided we were just as capable of defining a virtuous life as the Deity. Instead, we boarded the bullet train to social, moral and economic depravity. We entrusted our immortal souls to the barons of Wall Street, international corporations and our insatiable appetites for every kind of material and hedonistic pleasures imaginable. How many of you remember two of the great mantras of the sixties, “Do your own thing,” and “I owe it to myself; I am worth it.” From that humble beginning, we embarked on one the greatest gluttonous binges in the history of the world. As we reveled in a world of cheap goods from overseas that we didn‘t need, we evolved into one massive heard of sheep passively waiting to be led to the slaughter and didn’t have a clue as to what was coming.
We remained impervious to the moral implications of wars that had nothing to do with our national security. We waved the flag and sent innocent men and women off to their premature deaths for no legitimate reason, save the lacing of the pockets of corporations, big business and vast wealth, whose sons and daughters remain safe, secure at home, and attend the finest universities money can buy.
We remained passive while those we had elected to public office permitted the total dismantling of all regulations and oversight placed on financial institutions during the Great Depression, which we now lament since they became “too big to fail.” We didn’t learn the lessons of history very well, did we?
We were delirious with joy at the vast amounts of money we were making from our investment portfolios based on the dismantling and shipment of our industrial base overseas. We carried that same state of delirium over to the shipment of jobs abroad to cheaper labor markets. Now that unemployment is skyrocketing through the roof, we find we have no industrial base to support a swelling and idle workforce desperate for jobs.
Easy credit and cheap money were the order of the day. We threw caution to the winds as we moved into more residential space than we could comfortably occupy. They were adorned with vaulted ceilings and grand staircases that served no functional need and wasted precious resources, but oh, how they impressed the neighbors and phony “guests” crossing the threshold!
We threw all regard and concern for others to the wind, and now find the only notion of reality we can identify with is what is served up to us on television under the guise of entertainment.
What has become of us? When did we lose any regard for such admonitions as “feed the hungry,” “clothe the naked,” shelter the homeless,” “comfort the sick,” and the other clarion calls to the finer aspects of our humanitarian nature? You may recall, those virtues used to be advocated by something called “religion.”
Are we so hooked on the visceral pleasures of life that we have lost sight of the fact that, like it or not, we have a spiritual side that requires an equal amount of care and nurturing?
The so-called “establishment” in Washington, D.C. seems to be impervious to what they have inflicted on the people of this country. They still accept bribes from those who destroy all that has been created in just over 200 years. They go to the comfort of their mansions in Georgetown, McLean, Chevy Chase, etc, savoring the good life while those they profess to “serve,” are thrown out of their homes, lose their jobs and watch their families suffer because of no money, no access to healthcare and no road to recovery on the horizon. At the end of the day, about all we get is a bunch of hollow rhetoric.
The news of the day seems to be more concerned with “strategizing” about the prospects for the next election cycle, whether the timing of the next ration of economic crumbs will better serve the political establishment now or in six months, etc., as if the human suffering on which all their ambitions rest means nothing. Now I ask you, is that sick or is that sick? I cannot remotely imagine Franklin D. Roosevelt, as he struggled with the greatest economic calamity in our history, pausing to assess the political pros and cons of a contemplated action, before making the tough decisions called for at the moment. Rather, I would like to think he had the fortitude to simply do what had to be done “because it was the right thing to do.” Where has that level of concern for our fellow man (generic use of the term) gone?
The concept of suffering by millions of Americans today is vastly different in Beverly Hills than it is in Stockton. It is vastly different in Wilmette than it is in Gary. It is vastly different in Grosse Point than it is in Lansing. It is vastly different to a select few of those we label as “privileged” to the millions who are hurting and suffering. America, take heed.
The passivity of the masses will only continue for so long. It is in our nature to put the needs of our families and loved ones above the social seduction practiced by those who continue to rape and plunder those who have built the foundations upon which this nation rests.
One of the most ominous bits of news I have heard in recent history is the fact that stores are running out of ammunition. There is no doubt that we are very much a gun culture. If you look at the footage taken at gun shows, it is readily apparent that what is on display has less to do with hunting game and much more to do with killing human beings and destroying property. That is scary. The ones buying those methods of destruction are, also, skilled in how to use them.
It is no joke that, when people cannot earn a living, they will eventually take it by whatever means they have at their disposal. Complacency by those who feed on the poor and disenfranchised do so at their own peril. Those who serve as their minions share in that peril, as well.
The old footage of people taken during the Great Depression, where they are standing in orderly lines waiting for a handout to stave off the pangs of hunger, my find, in today’s world, that same example of orderliness and a respect for the law is only a distant image. Today, it may well be survival of the fittest, or more aptly put, “The law of the jungle.”
When did we opt for strategy in favor of decency? When did it become more important to study and assess the various probabilities of a given result in times of urgency before taking action? When did doing something just because it was the right thing to do fall out of vogue?
We seem to have arrived at a state of almost complete denial of the destruction we have brought down on this earth and those who inhabit it. We have beaten down the least among us to the point they can no longer resist the forces of power, corruption and degradation that has been unleashed against them. God’s most perfect creation, the human being, has been reduced to a consumable resource on the balance sheets of corporations, government and the military elite. We seem to honestly believe that it will never happen to us. Are we so greedy that we actually subscribe to the notion that all of the ominous predictions about the destruction of our civilized way of life and the end of Planet Earth as a viable place of habitation can never accrue to our collective detriment?
We are at a point where we have no alternative but to do all we can to restore the strength and integrity of our economic, political and social base. Corporations are the antithesis of that effort. Their insatiable greed, power and influence must be curtailed. The sheer size and power of the military-industrial complex has become a sinkhole for money that is starving our more pressing social and economic needs. (It is estimated the Defense Department now has over 600 corporations under contract, among them Blackwater and KBR). We must rebuild an industrial base that will provide stable and meaningful opportunities for working Americans. If we don’t reign in our penchant for easy credit, cheap goods and the pursuit of “fun” as our national preoccupation, we will surely have placed ourselves on a downward trajectory to total and complete disintegration as one of the greatest nations of all time. If other western industrialized countries can thrive and prosper by providing a safety net for their populations in terms of health care and other social programs, plus maintaining a reasonable military establishment, I fail to see why we can’t do the same in the interest of our long-term economic health.
We must subscribe, once again, to the fact that so much of our lives have to be predicated on a foundation of simply doing what is right, the strategic consequences be damned. Morality is absolute, not situational. Because of an all-consuming selfishness, the consequences of which are rarely learned and almost never heeded, our individual and collective survival may be lost to the absence of a basic human decency once the hallmark of the American people.
Cowboy Bob
November 18, 2009
The current crop of Republicans has provided us with a vast array of those suffering from a terminal case of calcified cranial tissue, not the least of whom are the likes of Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Lou Dobbs, Mark Sanford, John Ensign, Eric Cantor, Michele Bachmann, etc. I am certain one could add up their IQ’s and come up with a combined total that would comfortably encompass two arithmetic digits. However, they sure do stir up a lot of heat generated by ignorance on overload. They do the Grand Old Party a disservice. What happened to the likes of Dwight D. Eisenhower, John Foster Dulles, Charles Percy, Everett Dirksen and men of their stature who were revered and trusted to guide us by a sense of what they believed to be right and noble?
At the other extreme, we have the so-called “progressives” who, I am reasonably certain, see themselves as the anointed ones carrying the banner of true enlightenment so eagerly sought by an unsuspecting world. I find it all rather incredulous at the extremes to which they go to avoid, at any cost, the mere mention of any shortcomings by those deemed the leaders of the movement. To entertain the remotest notion of critically evaluating those in power in terms of their character, their agenda and their commitment to the American people is downright treasonous. God forbid! (Oops, I mean deity forbid.) Gotta be politically correct!
Aiding all of these marginal intellects, we have a news media serving both extremes. They fawn and fall all over their political heroes, trying to convince us they are doing their job as impartial and critical journalists. Do I detect the hint of a foul odor in all this? Investigative journalists dedicated to keeping government honest are now; I am sure, an endangered species bordering on extinction. We are the poorer for it.
Where and when did we go wrong? What became of the Americans who rebuilt the countries we destroyed by war because the objective of ending the war had been achieved? What was paramount then was to look to the future. There was nothing to be gained by leaving in ruins what had been wrought by war. We demonstrated to the world that we were not only the most resourceful people in the world but we were, also, the most forgiving, generous and caring people the world had ever seen. When did we abandon all that had made us great, good and decent? It certainly didn’t take long for us to squander that legacy, did it?
Did it start with the movie “Greed?” Did it start when organized religion let us down? Why did we simply walk away from the moral compass we had every right to expect from religion, rather than demanding the same degree of accountability we had come to expect from other social institutions? Somewhere in all that, we decided we were just as capable of defining a virtuous life as the Deity. Instead, we boarded the bullet train to social, moral and economic depravity. We entrusted our immortal souls to the barons of Wall Street, international corporations and our insatiable appetites for every kind of material and hedonistic pleasures imaginable. How many of you remember two of the great mantras of the sixties, “Do your own thing,” and “I owe it to myself; I am worth it.” From that humble beginning, we embarked on one the greatest gluttonous binges in the history of the world. As we reveled in a world of cheap goods from overseas that we didn‘t need, we evolved into one massive heard of sheep passively waiting to be led to the slaughter and didn’t have a clue as to what was coming.
We remained impervious to the moral implications of wars that had nothing to do with our national security. We waved the flag and sent innocent men and women off to their premature deaths for no legitimate reason, save the lacing of the pockets of corporations, big business and vast wealth, whose sons and daughters remain safe, secure at home, and attend the finest universities money can buy.
We remained passive while those we had elected to public office permitted the total dismantling of all regulations and oversight placed on financial institutions during the Great Depression, which we now lament since they became “too big to fail.” We didn’t learn the lessons of history very well, did we?
We were delirious with joy at the vast amounts of money we were making from our investment portfolios based on the dismantling and shipment of our industrial base overseas. We carried that same state of delirium over to the shipment of jobs abroad to cheaper labor markets. Now that unemployment is skyrocketing through the roof, we find we have no industrial base to support a swelling and idle workforce desperate for jobs.
Easy credit and cheap money were the order of the day. We threw caution to the winds as we moved into more residential space than we could comfortably occupy. They were adorned with vaulted ceilings and grand staircases that served no functional need and wasted precious resources, but oh, how they impressed the neighbors and phony “guests” crossing the threshold!
We threw all regard and concern for others to the wind, and now find the only notion of reality we can identify with is what is served up to us on television under the guise of entertainment.
What has become of us? When did we lose any regard for such admonitions as “feed the hungry,” “clothe the naked,” shelter the homeless,” “comfort the sick,” and the other clarion calls to the finer aspects of our humanitarian nature? You may recall, those virtues used to be advocated by something called “religion.”
Are we so hooked on the visceral pleasures of life that we have lost sight of the fact that, like it or not, we have a spiritual side that requires an equal amount of care and nurturing?
The so-called “establishment” in Washington, D.C. seems to be impervious to what they have inflicted on the people of this country. They still accept bribes from those who destroy all that has been created in just over 200 years. They go to the comfort of their mansions in Georgetown, McLean, Chevy Chase, etc, savoring the good life while those they profess to “serve,” are thrown out of their homes, lose their jobs and watch their families suffer because of no money, no access to healthcare and no road to recovery on the horizon. At the end of the day, about all we get is a bunch of hollow rhetoric.
The news of the day seems to be more concerned with “strategizing” about the prospects for the next election cycle, whether the timing of the next ration of economic crumbs will better serve the political establishment now or in six months, etc., as if the human suffering on which all their ambitions rest means nothing. Now I ask you, is that sick or is that sick? I cannot remotely imagine Franklin D. Roosevelt, as he struggled with the greatest economic calamity in our history, pausing to assess the political pros and cons of a contemplated action, before making the tough decisions called for at the moment. Rather, I would like to think he had the fortitude to simply do what had to be done “because it was the right thing to do.” Where has that level of concern for our fellow man (generic use of the term) gone?
The concept of suffering by millions of Americans today is vastly different in Beverly Hills than it is in Stockton. It is vastly different in Wilmette than it is in Gary. It is vastly different in Grosse Point than it is in Lansing. It is vastly different to a select few of those we label as “privileged” to the millions who are hurting and suffering. America, take heed.
The passivity of the masses will only continue for so long. It is in our nature to put the needs of our families and loved ones above the social seduction practiced by those who continue to rape and plunder those who have built the foundations upon which this nation rests.
One of the most ominous bits of news I have heard in recent history is the fact that stores are running out of ammunition. There is no doubt that we are very much a gun culture. If you look at the footage taken at gun shows, it is readily apparent that what is on display has less to do with hunting game and much more to do with killing human beings and destroying property. That is scary. The ones buying those methods of destruction are, also, skilled in how to use them.
It is no joke that, when people cannot earn a living, they will eventually take it by whatever means they have at their disposal. Complacency by those who feed on the poor and disenfranchised do so at their own peril. Those who serve as their minions share in that peril, as well.
The old footage of people taken during the Great Depression, where they are standing in orderly lines waiting for a handout to stave off the pangs of hunger, my find, in today’s world, that same example of orderliness and a respect for the law is only a distant image. Today, it may well be survival of the fittest, or more aptly put, “The law of the jungle.”
When did we opt for strategy in favor of decency? When did it become more important to study and assess the various probabilities of a given result in times of urgency before taking action? When did doing something just because it was the right thing to do fall out of vogue?
We seem to have arrived at a state of almost complete denial of the destruction we have brought down on this earth and those who inhabit it. We have beaten down the least among us to the point they can no longer resist the forces of power, corruption and degradation that has been unleashed against them. God’s most perfect creation, the human being, has been reduced to a consumable resource on the balance sheets of corporations, government and the military elite. We seem to honestly believe that it will never happen to us. Are we so greedy that we actually subscribe to the notion that all of the ominous predictions about the destruction of our civilized way of life and the end of Planet Earth as a viable place of habitation can never accrue to our collective detriment?
We are at a point where we have no alternative but to do all we can to restore the strength and integrity of our economic, political and social base. Corporations are the antithesis of that effort. Their insatiable greed, power and influence must be curtailed. The sheer size and power of the military-industrial complex has become a sinkhole for money that is starving our more pressing social and economic needs. (It is estimated the Defense Department now has over 600 corporations under contract, among them Blackwater and KBR). We must rebuild an industrial base that will provide stable and meaningful opportunities for working Americans. If we don’t reign in our penchant for easy credit, cheap goods and the pursuit of “fun” as our national preoccupation, we will surely have placed ourselves on a downward trajectory to total and complete disintegration as one of the greatest nations of all time. If other western industrialized countries can thrive and prosper by providing a safety net for their populations in terms of health care and other social programs, plus maintaining a reasonable military establishment, I fail to see why we can’t do the same in the interest of our long-term economic health.
We must subscribe, once again, to the fact that so much of our lives have to be predicated on a foundation of simply doing what is right, the strategic consequences be damned. Morality is absolute, not situational. Because of an all-consuming selfishness, the consequences of which are rarely learned and almost never heeded, our individual and collective survival may be lost to the absence of a basic human decency once the hallmark of the American people.
Cowboy Bob
November 18, 2009
1 comment:
I believe the average American can read the writing on the wall but prefer to live in a fantasy world. Watching hours of mindless television or following your favorite pop star is like a sedative to the brain. Wake up, get informed, and get involved! America is not the same nation she was 35 or 40 years ago. It will take average citizens speaking out to help our nation through these tough times. We have to be strong like our forefathers in the past.
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