Given the fractured state of our social, political and economic structure in this country, I find it rather difficult to maintain a focused and coherent perspective on the total sum of the parts. I am beginning to doubt the mantra “One nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all.” It seems more like a non-system in total disarray with every vested interest pursing its own agenda at the expense of the common good. It is like watching a bunch of wild dogs fighting over one bone. There is a lot of growling and barking, some blood-letting and nothing ever resolved to the satisfaction of the entire pack.
People ask me what I am. What in the hell does that mean? I could apply any number of different parameters to that question and never come up with a definitive answer. If that isn’t confusing enough, we have myriad assaults on our senses as they all compete to get our attention and sell us on their respective points of view. As if any of them are motivated by honorable intentions or possess an objective perspective on anything.
What has happened to that one common thread that used to unite us? Where is that overriding rule of the game that taught us to play the game by “disagreeing without being disagreeable?” What happened to real compromise? It seems to me that what we are engaged in is a constant test of wills and an attempt to sell each other on one or several sets of values that cater to what someone else is pushing, our particular take on the matter be damned.
The result of all this disarray is chaos spawned by settling only for what we can get for ourselves and not what is best for the greatest number. Watching this charade is rather like watching a cock fight in Tijuana. We are fractured and fractionated, and there are no rules of the game. Anything goes; whatever the traffic will bear so long as the focus remains on me rather than us. There is no moral compass to guide us. Deception, lying and pilfering in all of their various forms are accepted as just part of playing the game. Sadly, to our collective detriment, we pay a supreme price for that perspective. We may not always suffer individually, but the collective “we” usually pays dearly for our myopic view of the world and our sense of entitlement. I can’t see where this attitude does any of us any good.
If we are to live in harmony with each other, pursuing a common good with the goal of a nation of plenty that we can all share in, there simply has to be a set of guiding principles that keep us focused on the finer aspects of our human nature. I don’t see much of that around these days.
We have a political, social and economic system that is totally corrupt. Any differences in the major political parties are an illusion. Both feed from the same sullied hands that buy their allegiance. Labels not withstanding, the final objective is to win at any cost with the greatest gain to me or those I represent. The common good be damned. We have Republicans, Conservative Republicans, Liberal Republicans laced with those who don’t know what kind of Republican they are. We have Democrats, Liberal Democrats, Blue Dog Democrats and Progressives. We have Libertarians, Socialists, Independents and, the latest horde of lunatics to appear on the national scene, the Tea Party. All seem hell bent on destroying what little semblance of civility we have among us. They stop at nothing to marginalize and demonize any point-of-view that even remotely looks like it might be a potential threat to their absolute and narrow system of beliefs.
The corporate agenda dominates every aspect of our lives, the most egregious of which is the sellout by the news media that were, originally, intended to serve the people. I get tired of the barrage of lies, half truths and the endless attempts to shape our values, our appetites and the bias they serve up to us.
Have you noticed how all of them seem to have “God” on their side in one form or another? The conservative mind set uses God to justify the most selfish and self-serving agenda among us. They don’t give one hoot in hell about the less fortunate. Let them starve. If God had wanted them to be more than they are, He would have made them conservative!
Liberals more than mildly annoy me, as well. They seem to be the self-appointed intellectual and compassionate among us. They champion the downtrodden with no regard for the law, individual responsibility or the rightful owners of the national treasury. Have you noticed how those coming across our Southern Border are usually referred to as just “immigrants,” not “illegal immigrants”. It is as if they don’t say the word, it won’t apply. I have to confess that I hold tenaciously to the notion that this country was, and still should be, based on a system of laws. The same laws that apply to the rest of us and the millions of “legal” immigrants who came to our shores and made it by respecting and abiding by the same set of laws that applied to all of us. The so-called “Dream Act,” is touted as the panacea for lifting all of these people out of the doldrums by giving them a free college education. They hold before us examples of those lucky few who have risen to the heights of professional achievement and reverence, as if there is a hidden but superior gene pool among them that is lacking in the broader tapestry of this country. Is this the same consideration that is going to be offered to the poverty-stricken of West Virginia and other poor parts of this country? Is that same consideration going to be offered to the Native Americans who have been marginalized and isolated for so long we seem to automatically assume that “God” ordained that they live out their lives on reservations, sequestered in some of the most remote and barren lands in the entire nation? Personally, if any segment of our population should get preferential treatment, I would start with those still seen in the eyes of many as little more than irrelevant savages.
The “Dream Act?” I see it as nothing more than a scam to create a massively huge voting block for the liberals of this country, to be underwritten not by the affluent, but by the working people whose hope is ebbing and whose means to a livelihood is shrinking. Meanwhile, the prodigy of their masters happily go to Ivy League Universities and Colleges, learn how to savor the bounty of a two-class system, steal with impunity, take ownership of the institutions of government that rightfully belong to the people and buy off the judicial system so they can control the outcome of their avaricious and evil deeds.
I can respect almost any point-of-view. Although I may not agree with it, I can accept it as long as it is honest. I just don’t see much of that around anymore. I have a profound reverence for people who go to the trouble of learning and practicing the rather arduous art and science of learning how to “think.” I have nothing but contempt for those who simply choose to opt out and believe whatever they want to believe. Intellectual laziness is their stock in trade. They are the most dangerous and, sadly, seem to be the most vocal among us in today’s discourse. That scares the hell out of me.
The most brutal dictatorships in the history of the world were built on a solid foundation of cherished self-ignorance, unquestioned beliefs, emotionalism, mob hysteria, demonizing the opposition, denigrating the less fortunate and rationalizing the most vile forms of human behavior so long as it was in keeping with the objectives of those in power and easily assimilated into the mind set of those to be controlled. I see signs of that all around us today. It happened before and it can happen again.
Do we not owe it to ourselves and to the nations of the world to open our eyes and see all that surrounds us for what it really is? Is it not time to recommit ourselves to reigniting that beacon within us which once inspired the entire world that there are indeed finer angels within us, and they are there to raise us to ever more noble heights that reside within our human potential?
Not only do I think we can; we have an obligation to nurture it and to make it happen. Despite all of the shouting to the effect that one religion or one philosophy has a monopoly on God, I believe that the essence of God dwells within the human spirit, and that essence is billions of times more powerful than anything we could ever possibly imagine. It best serves us all when it is shared by the many, not when it is held hostage by the few.
Nobody is the winner in a pissing contest.
Cowboy Bob
The Sagebrush Philosopher
October 1, 2011
No comments:
Post a Comment