Monday, November 26, 2018
A Brief Look Back to a Few Fundamentals
Where do we go from here?
We are born and raised. How we are raised, that is the
nurture following nature, has a great influence on our mental, physical, and
spiritual growth.
In our society, we grow up surrounded with existing
ideologies that until some time in our teens or even later we begin to think
for ourselves and to evaluate just what ideology suits us. Our first ideology is quite likely to lean
towards idealistic tenets, such as free college, free health, and well-paying
jobs for everyone.
Despite being brought up in a Christian environment, we toy
with the rejection of religion and God, and then turn our attention to
governance, again toying with the idea of rejection of our Republic in favor of
some form of collectivism, assuming that we would be one of the chosen few to
lead, as we think of ourselves as quite worthy of being elite.
Our envy of the rich is a great motivator to figure out how
we can do the same thing in life, and when we find it isn't going to happen for
us, we tend to stew upon the fate that seems to be imposed on us to be rather
ordinary, and then to find a niche in life that may or may not allow us to be
comfortable and secure. We may never lose that envy of the rich.
There are two basic ways to attain that position of wealth
if you don't inherit it: 1) to earn it by being talented, skilled, lucky and
dedicated to making money; and 2) to support requiring the government to give
it you, or at least some fair portion of the wealth of the nation to you. Of
course there is a 3rd way, to gain wealth, by becoming a crook, and we do have
our share of them at all levels of society.
At some point we get married and begin to raise a family,
which is a monumental change in perspective for most of us. We are obliged to
earn a living to support the family, unless we are so narcissistic that our own
way of life must prevail, whatever it is, or we just happen to be on a
bountiful track such as major sportsmen can have while they still perform well.
Later on we begin to reflect on what we have observed in our
lifetime. Many of us embrace the ideals of the nation: freedom; liberty; free
speech; freedom of religion; freedom to assemble; freedom to do business and contract;
the rule of law; and a fuller appreciation of our Constitution and its unique
checks and balances that forestall tyranny.
Many others see the Constitution as a straight jacket that
prevents them from attaining their version of a world view, and they work very
hard to force their ideas of change onto the nation. More often than not, they
realize that their changes would never be accepted through the Constitutional
process for change, because most of the population opposes the change, so they
try to subvert the Constitution by way of fiats from like-thinking judges,
presidents, governors, or mayors, or even within the private sector of powerful
corporations.
On the edges of our society lurk others who would like to
effect very radical changes; those who are from either the far left or the far
right. Many of the leftist changes from the past have been realized (as well as
some rightist changes), which has resulted in a large set of Entitlements to be
enacted amounting to nearly 70% of the tax revenue per year.
Out of the remaining 30% comes the operations of the
government, defense spending, health spending, environmental spending, and so
on. That such a division of revenue seems to be inviolate, causes the
government to go into debt when such events as war or the real threat of war
breaks out, or natural catastrophes occur costing billions and billions of
dollars. Some portion of these debts are due to waste, mismanagement, fraud, or
really bad decision-making at high levels of the government.
The fact is we are 20+
Trillion dollars in debt and it is growing daily from our spending decisions.
This is unsustainable, and a day of reckoning will come, if not in our time, in
the time of our children's future. Not everyone concerns themselves with that
far into the future, nor do they feel terribly obligated to find ways to
mitigate the oncoming disaster. It is business as usual, nott frugality.
Through the years we have been cursed with racism, and the
suppression of people of color. That has diminished over time, and it will
continue to do so. The government has legislated against prejudicial decisions
in common life, However, it must be said that many people have a hidden social
prejudice against people of color that will take many years to erase.
Today we are faced with a schism between those who believe
in God as the arbiter of all things, and those who believe that man is the
measure of all things. This schism has the potential to rent our nation apart. This
time it isn't geographical aspects that divides us, but rather it is between
one man and his neighbor all across the nation, almost 50-50, one side favoring
free-wheeling spending to solve all the problems of society right now (and
there are problems to be addressed!), and the other side favoring frugality and
prudence to solve problems at a much more measured pace.
It must be brought out that there are some problems that seem
to have no acceptable solutions. Abortion is one of them, as are all of the
LGBTQ matters that cause a furor, and so is the latent danger of Islam
subverting our nation. Envy of the rich and powerful exists, and there is no
rational or acceptable solution to that envy in sight, except to adopt the Christian
view against coveting. Seemingly, we will be forever in conflicts large and
small. (War or conflict seems to be the natural state of mankind. I forget who
said this.)
We each thread our own way through these matters, and most
of us want a measure of stability in the nation. We want to pass on to our
children a vibrant and healthy society, not a society torn by conflicts of many
dimensions.
Allegiance to the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the
Common Law appears to be the one sure set of stabilizers we have, each of which
can be modified, yes with difficulty, as the majority of our people must accept
the ideas behind the changes.
Where do we go from here?
We are born and raised. How we are raised, that is the
nurture following nature, has a great influence on our mental, physical, and
spiritual growth.
In our society, we grow up surrounded with existing
ideologies that until some time in our teens or even later we begin to think
for ourselves and to evaluate just what ideology suits us. Our first ideology is quite likely to lean
towards idealistic tenets, such as free college, free health, and well-paying
jobs for everyone.
Despite being brought up in a Christian environment, we toy
with the rejection of religion and God, and then turn our attention to
governance, again toying with the idea of rejection of our Republic in favor of
some form of collectivism, assuming that we would be one of the chosen few to
lead, as we think of ourselves as quite worthy of being elite.
Our envy of the rich is a great motivator to figure out how
we can do the same thing in life, and when we find it isn't going to happen for
us, we tend to stew upon the fate that seems to be imposed on us to be rather
ordinary, and then to find a niche in life that may or may not allow us to be
comfortable and secure. We may never lose that envy of the rich.
There are two basic ways to attain that position of wealth
if you don't inherit it: 1) to earn it by being talented, skilled, lucky and
dedicated to making money; and 2) to support requiring the government to give
it you, or at least some fair portion of the wealth of the nation to you. Of
course there is a 3rd way, to gain wealth, by becoming a crook, and we do have
our share of them at all levels of society.
At some point we get married and begin to raise a family,
which is a monumental change in perspective for most of us. We are obliged to
earn a living to support the family, unless we are so narcissistic that our own
way of life must prevail, whatever it is, or we just happen to be on a
bountiful track such as major sportsmen can have while they still perform well.
Later on we begin to reflect on what we have observed in our
lifetime. Many of us embrace the ideals of the nation: freedom; liberty; free
speech; freedom of religion; freedom to assemble; freedom to do business and contract;
the rule of law; and a fuller appreciation of our Constitution and its unique
checks and balances that forestall tyranny.
Many others see the Constitution as a straight jacket that
prevents them from attaining their version of a world view, and they work very
hard to force their ideas of change onto the nation. More often than not, they
realize that their changes would never be accepted through the Constitutional
process for change, because most of the population opposes the change, so they
try to subvert the Constitution by way of fiats from like-thinking judges,
presidents, governors, or mayors, or even within the private sector of powerful
corporations.
On the edges of our society lurk others who would like to
effect very radical changes; those who are from either the far left or the far
right. Many of the leftist changes from the past have been realized (as well as
some rightist changes), which has resulted in a large set of Entitlements to be
enacted amounting to nearly 70% of the tax revenue per year.
Out of the remaining 30% comes the operations of the
government, defense spending, health spending, environmental spending, and so
on. That such a division of revenue seems to be inviolate, causes the
government to go into debt when such events as war or the real threat of war
breaks out, or natural catastrophes occur costing billions and billions of
dollars. Some portion of these debts are due to waste, mismanagement, fraud, or
really bad decision-making at high levels of the government.
The fact is we are 20+
Trillion dollars in debt and it is growing daily from our spending decisions.
This is unsustainable, and a day of reckoning will come, if not in our time, in
the time of our children's future. Not everyone concerns themselves with that
far into the future, nor do they feel terribly obligated to find ways to
mitigate the oncoming disaster. It is business as usual, nott frugality.
Through the years we have been cursed with racism, and the
suppression of people of color. That has diminished over time, and it will
continue to do so. The government has legislated against prejudicial decisions
in common life, However, it must be said that many people have a hidden social
prejudice against people of color that will take many years to erase.
Today we are faced with a schism between those who believe
in God as the arbiter of all things, and those who believe that man is the
measure of all things. This schism has the potential to rent our nation apart. This
time it isn't geographical aspects that divides us, but rather it is between
one man and his neighbor all across the nation, almost 50-50, one side favoring
free-wheeling spending to solve all the problems of society right now (and
there are problems to be addressed!), and the other side favoring frugality and
prudence to solve problems at a much more measured pace.
It must be brought out that there are some problems that seem
to have no acceptable solutions. Abortion is one of them, as are all of the
LGBTQ matters that cause a furor, and so is the latent danger of Islam
subverting our nation. Envy of the rich and powerful exists, and there is no
rational or acceptable solution to that envy in sight, except to adopt the Christian
view against coveting. Seemingly, we will be forever in conflicts large and
small. (War or conflict seems to be the natural state of mankind. I forget who
said this.)
We each thread our own way through these matters, and most
of us want a measure of stability in the nation. We want to pass on to our
children a vibrant and healthy society, not a society torn by conflicts of many
dimensions.
Allegiance to the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the
Common Law appears to be the one sure set of stabilizers we have, each of which
can be modified, yes with difficulty, as the majority of our people must accept
the ideas behind the changes.
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