Here are some
random thoughts from a muddled mind as we venture into another year, this one
to be called 2014.
What exactly does it mean when we use the word
tolerance? There are so few
examples of it today. Was the head
duck showing tolerance? Were those
condemning him also showing a bit of tolerance? Many who are blasting congress and the president for not
being willing to work together have no concept of tolerance either. Many today are quite willing to say
that it is wonderful to be an American because we are free and we allow for
differences of opinion. But we
aren’t free if we compare our current society to that of 1820, and we stab and
wound anyone whose thoughts differ from our own.
To allow for someone to be different, to give others an opportunity
to have different values, to have or not have religious beliefs and give the
same opportunity to others would be a start toward tolerance. One only needs to glance at a few
bumper stickers to understand a vast emptiness in the land of the free when it
comes to tolerating those that might be “different.”
An over abundance of government has helped create this lack,
a tremendous explosion of “Nanny-ism” adds to our intolerance daily, and
extremism in politics plays an essential role as well. Laws are written with a background of
“we know what is best for you,” while those in some pulpits scream racism at
the least little opportunity, and children are punished for pointing fingers
during playtime and going, “bang-bang.”
Our entire concept as a nation came about because of
intolerance, our original laws and rules were formulated to include tolerance,
to be inclusive, to allow for differences of opinion, thought, belief.
What a boring and miserable life this would be if we were
all alike.
---
Back in the old
days, some fifty or so years ago, when I had already reached my majority and
was sure that I knew a lot about life, politics, government, and on and on, I
used a mantra to determine whether or not I was willing to support some
proposed government program. It
was simple, concise, and complete within itself. Whatever the program was, I asked, “Is this really a
function of government?”
It worked for me during the late 1950s, through much of the
1960s, and then seemed to fail miserably.
Government programs became a way of life for hundreds of thousands of
people, now numbering in the millions.
The programs did not offer a hand up, they offered a hand out. The idea of personal responsibility was
taken out of the equation by the government itself.
As the years rolled on, the government programs became more
and more intrusive, delving into personal and business lives until we now have
our own government spying on us and seemingly acting with a touch of pride in
the ability to do so.
A compassionate government would be a good government, but
an overbearing one, delving into every facet of life, is just that:
overbearing. We were offered
“Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness” some two hundred forty years ago
and we find that our lives are threatened by a government that says it has the
right to kill citizens with drones, our liberty has been thwarted by programs
such as NSA, TSA, and IRS, and we no longer need to pursue happiness, it will
be provided by an all consuming federal government.
While some of the major news outlets are currently consumed
by the fact that the roll out of Obamacare was a fiasco no one is looking at
the program itself. Yes, my
darling daughter, the web site is fouled and those that built it are short
sighted, but it’s the program that is wrong. A national health policy? Is this a function of federal government? A national education policy? A national policy on gas mileage? A national policy on child seats? A national policy on highway
construction? The government is
currently pursuing the option of being in control of all water and water rights
and water policy nationwide.
Why, one might ask, do we even have 50 states? Washington and those in current
leadership, Reid, Pelosi, Obama, Holder, want control over every single aspect
of our lives, conception to burial, and what is most feared by those that
sincerely believe in liberty, there are enough people currently being coddled
in social welfare programs, to have the electoral power to maintain the effort.
---
Two things have
happened recently, at first glance totally unrelated, that might help us
understand these first few years of the 21st Century. The botched roll-out of Obamacare on the one hand and our
decision at this household to return to land line telephone service, both
reminiscent on earlier times.
As a nation we have become completely dependent on what is
commonly called modern technology giving it a level of trust that is
undeserved. We are willing to
drive into country we’ve never been in putting our lives in the hands of a gps
unit, willing to give our personal information over a communications device
that is devoid of a security level that would protect that information, and
feeling that we have been somehow cheated when these pieces of flawed technology
fail to operate as promised.
Why are we surprised that the government can’t create a
massive health care system? Why
are we dismayed when Joe Jerk steals our identity? Why am I lost in the forest when a battery fails in my
fail-safe gps unit? We paid one
hundred dollars for a hand held telephone that fails as often as it performs,
but not according to the advertising. And, we’re surprised and upset?
We have not reached the level of the Twenty Third Century
(think Star Trek), where technology is all but fool proof. Right now, all we have is we, the
fools, have proven the technology has not reached a level of perfection the
advertising promises. Putting one’s
entire life into the hands of a piece of technology that hasn’t proven itself
reliable or safe is mostly stupid.
That’s a strong word, but if you take the time to analyze
what we are doing, it has to be the right word. One massive sun flare and our satellites are out of
business, and if our entire communications system, world wide, is based on
satellites --- oops. If your
defense against having personal information available to those that shouldn’t
have it is based on you believing that it’s safe … oops. If you’re going hunting, camping,
traipsing in woods you’ve never been in, and you have a gps but no maps or
compass … oops. And, if you’re the president and you …
never mind, his entire administration is an oops.
A reality check came to us when Patty and I realized that we
had no means of communication without a device that could fail and did
regularly. It’s almost impossible
to get a real land line telephone today, and I’m old enough to remember when
that old black telephone, with or without a dial, seldom if ever failed. A fool might run into a pole and take
out service, but that ‘phone didn’t fail.
You simply can’t say that about today’s technology.
I’m not willing to put that much trust in today’s tech
wonders. Twenty five years from
now, maybe. When a device has not
proven itself trustworthy to a high percentage level and is replaced by a “new
and better” model, that model is based on what has already not been
proven. That’s a bad little
circular equation that can only lead to big problems.
The president’s complete faith in modern technology has
destroyed his reputation and the health care insurance of millions of people,
and it came just from poor planning and less than adequate technicians. Think what might happen if a major sun
storm would wipe out our satellite systems.
Have a great day, read good books and stay regular.
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