November 3, 2014
Another stumble or another opportunity?
Just another day before another set of elections in America.
I am going to start and end my soliloquy on positive notes today. The positive about the pending elections tomorrow (using a weak car/engine analogy) is that after all the sugar and trash that has been dumped in the fuel, after all the inferior replacement & stolen parts and after all of the absolutely horrible maintenance and mechanical work – America is still the best running thing in the world. America is still the target for hate, because we are number one. America is still the most reviled nation in the world, due in part to our freedoms and our wealth. We are still the top dog in any fight, and everyone knows it. Despite enormous and prolonged efforts by Americans to destroy America, it is still great!
So, on this eve of another very important election cycle in America, I find myself melancholy and even somewhat depressed. I don’t think it is a secret that I am conservative in my political persuasions. You may be wondering a bit, given the polls’ foreshadowing of a GOP victory for the midterms, why I would feel down? The very simple answer is because I see the whole process as a farce. I am sad, because I see it all as nothing more than GREAT advertising to sell (long-term lease?) another “x” number of years of one of the many seats of power and responsibility in our Nation to small groups and individuals who have nothing but their own interest in mind. I see too many clowns in suits warming up for the opera. {think of a singer warming up} “Me, me me… what do you want to hear?”
There are some of these politicians that are spending MILLIONS of dollars on giant tubes of lipstick to rub on their records. Lies are presented as tasty points and counterpoints. Some are trying to be magicians with distractions and smoke and mirrors keeping your eye while they take your wallet and watch. Then there are the environmentalists telling about we must save the endangered Red Herring which are swimming under bridges to nowhere in Death Valley. If it weren’t real, it would make for the absolutely best and most entertaining reality show EVER! BUT, it is real and it makes me sad. I see all of this plastered on TV, radio and web. There is so much stuff about the candidates’ positions as all being, “for the people.” Then you get the straight up, LIE TO YOUR FACE politicians who tell us things like, “I have never fully supported the policies of the Administration…” Yeah, not “fully”, just 97% of the time. I am sad because America wants this. America seems to think this is what it should be.
I debate with myself quite often and wring my hands periodically, all while wondering if the People care about our Nation and elections. Voting turnout seems to get smaller and smaller while our population gets larger and larger. Campaign costs get larger and larger while the productivity of those elected gets smaller and smaller. How can the People not see?? Seems like they took the blindfold off of old lady justice and put it on the American Citizenry. How do I rip it off and put it back where it belongs?
Here are a few policy positions that I want us, as a Nation, to work on:
Foreign Policy & National Defense
Each American should be aware that there are those in the world and in our Nation that want to eliminate America. They want to keep the land, riches etc. They just want to eliminate the barriers like our Constitution and those willing to defend it. You can’t argue with a zealot bent on your destruction. Reason with the ones you can reason with. You must neutralize the rest.
Campaign Reform
Take monetary gain out of Public Service. Getting comfortable and getting rich is not a “public service.” The ones who pop up and scream loudest on this have failed the political Whac-A-Mole test. Beat them about the head and shoulders until they go down.
Education
Make schools a place where learning how to learn is the goal. Foundational educational skills ought to be the ability to read and do simple math. “Truth” is subjective. The ability to seek, sort, digest and discern is the power.
Further, not everyone needs to prepare to be a doctor.
Along those lines, not everyone who decided to not be a doctor at age 16 needs to be left out of the adult education process. Change your mind once you “matured” a bit? Go back to school and learn to earn whatever you want. Educational opportunities should be lifelong, not the mandates.
Not everyone is equal. However, everyone should have equal opportunity to gain, demonstrate and utilize their skills and abilities to provide for themselves. A degree does not make you educated. A diploma is a sheet of paper.
Economics & Social Policy
There are a million forms of “work”. There are so very few that absolutely cannot contribute. Ensure that those who cannot are provided for. Further, ensure that those who can are made to by the consequences of their own choices.
Lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency or obligation on my part. The FEDGOV is not your mother. Go ask her for help. She won’t talk to you? Why? Go ask your neighbor. He won’t help you? Why? Go ask your church for help. Don’t have one? Why?
Artificial outcomes need to go away. Consequences are both good and bad and are dependent on the actions that precede them. Those actions are called choices.
Healthcare
If we sorted out the “Education”, “Economics” and “Social Policy” sections above this would not be a concern. I am conservative. I have been helping others for my entire professional life; very often at no cost to the people I helped. There are plenty of those out there that would do the same in medicine. Good gravy, get the FEDGOV out of any business other than providing for the common defense, and the other on the VERY LIMITED LIST in the Constitution.
Faith
Why reinvent the wheel? “Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged.” – Ronald Reagan
So, just a few hours to go before the 2014 Midterm elections (plus many State and local elections.) What will happen? Will we put our blindfolds on and stumble in again to the polls grabbing for the lever? Or, will we seize on an opportunity that is afforded so few in this world and taken for granted – even ignored – by some many in this country?
But, as promised, I will end this on a positive note. It’s gonna be ok. I know it will be. Even though our families, schools, governments and nations all seem to be completely lost in the dark; it will be ok. Regardless of how the votes are cast, lost or forged tomorrow, it will be ok. Why? The schools are not our savior. My government is not my savior. My Nation is not my savior. AND my temporary existence on this wretched planet is just that… temporary. Eternity is a much longer time and it is in a place called Heaven.
— R. A. Grier