Reader’s Question

And I Answer


One of the main advantages of writing a blog is that of being able to put your thoughts and opinions out there in the ether of the internet for public consumption. If I’m crazy or stupid, my readers are definitely the first to know it; and the feedback which I get allows me to follow along behind in a close second place.

What most people don’t understand is how hard it is to develop what I call a “voice” in writing style—a personality delivered in words that is consistent with what is going on in my head when I think about a given subject.

My friend Tripp, whom is responsible for my initial dive into the blogosphere back in late 2004, says that he can almost hear me talking when he reads my writing—so apparently I’ve succeeded when it comes to the literary “voice” department.

I guess that I’ll have to leave it to YOU to decide if you agree or otherwise like what you hear and see…

What I do know is that I enjoy writing about obvious public wrongdoings, government stupidity, and the insanity of the lamestream mainstream media. Almost daily I offer a challenge to the so called “professionals” to come by and compete with my intellectual and logical skills delivered in my commentary.

Thus far it has been a truly a rare occasion when a reader challenged me with a genuine thought provoking question. Usually I can just publish their ravings and point out the flaws in the comment and then sit back and enjoy the resulting ridicule.

A couple of days ago I was pleasantly surprised when reader/commenter named Jake Mathieson offered this challenge relating to my one of my earlier postings:

"Oops...I forgot that it's supposed to be the GOVERNMENT, not GOD, that is responsible for the success of our population."

Read a bit of your blog and I am curious as to your opinion on how America's sense of responsibility has changed. I hold that we have lost much of our sense of personal responsibility for our government and that the very vocabulary we use to discuss our government reinforces that lack of responsibility. What would you say that and to the following?”

We the People” has almost complete lost any meaning beyond rhetoric. People I speak with nearly always refer to “the government did this” or ”the government that”. Not WE did this or WE did that. “We the People” carries implicit responsibility. As a group, have we always felt powerless or is this a recent development? Have we always been powerless and simply know it now? I am repeatedly struck by a sense of paralysis that cuts across party and philisophical lines. Americans do not believe that our government is capable of executing/creating a plan with honesty, efficiency and fiscal responsiblility . Truth or convenient excuse? Is our machine of governance so choked with its own preservation that it can't get anything of true substance accomplished without a national/global tragedy first?

I think it is interesting that we changed our country's motto from "e pluribus unum " (one from many) to "In God We Trust". One motto is about diverse peoples building a common people though strength of will, morals and purpose. The other is about doing what you are doing, guided by morals, and hanging tough until someone shows to lift your fat from the fire. Do changes like this effect the sense of national responsibility by altering the perception of who bears the ultimate responsibility? How much easier is it to handle if we dump the blame on God? How easy it is to be the victim. Are entire paradigms of thought/thinking built on small changes like this?

This seems like a decent jumping off point, answer if you will.

Jake

First I’d like to thank Mr. Mathieson for tendering his question in such an eloquent, civil tone. I usually only get head nodding agreement in my comments, else I receive venom spewing irrational insanity which I have to edit and delete to prevent offending my Mother and my other gentle readers.

Jake asks an interesting series of questions, and in the process he has caused me to focus on a topic that I often dance around yet never quite strike a full blow to here on my blog…so here goes…Jake.

First of all, I’m a firm believer in what is known as “Civil Liberties”, the right of a person to determine their plight and destiny in life. The only problem is that in the past two hundred years or so the concept of “civil liberties” has been transformed or morphed into what is now known as “Civil Rights.”

You know about civil rights, don’t you?

You know Civil Rights…

You know CIVIL Rights…

Of course you know…CIVIL RIGHTS…

Those so-called Civil Rights, the ones that are always talked about on the radio, TV, and written about in the newspapers every single day.

Yes, THOSE “Civil Rights,” those rights and freedoms limited granted to the individual not by God or whatever or whoever they believe their creator is, but instead delivered by government via the LAW—usually at the expense of other citizens.

Jake writes that “I hold that we have lost much of our sense of personal responsibility for our government and that the very vocabulary we use to discuss our government reinforces that lack of responsibility.”

Jake is damn right, and I wrote about this very subject (vocabulary) some time ago in a posting called “When Words Have No Meaning…Meanings Have No Words.

Things like calling “tax and spend” policy an INVESTMENT. Things like calling "cutting taxes" an EXPENSE to government.

Isn’t that wonderful, when the government takes my money under threat of going to jail, and then the government INVESTS my money into someone else’s pocket that didn’t actually do anything to earn it, except possibly vote for a given political candidate.

Or maybe they didn’t vote—that’s a real problem too.

In answer to Jake’s question regarding the personal responsibility shared by our citizens, my answer is quite simple. Jake, wouldn’t you agree that over half of our population has no voice because THEY DON’T VOTE, they just sit around and complain about the results of their inaction?

Further, the half of the voting aged population that does manage to show up at the polls on election day treat politics like they’re going to watch a high school or college football game. They don’t have a clue what is going on out on the field, they just cheer for the players wearing a certain color jersey and look at the scoreboard (other wise known as the "opinion polls" and the lamestream media) to see who’s behind.

In the case of politics, these colored jerseys represent the Democratic and Republican party. Of course there are a few wild eyed Green Jerseys running around on the field—lets call them the Ralph Nader party and the Libitarians, but they can’t possibly make much difference because they are so outnumbered. I guess the singular exception in recent years would be H. Ross Perot’s elimination of a second term for George HW Bush and the corination of The Philanderer In Chief Bill Clinton’s first term.

Getting back to the original point of personal responsibility for the actions of our government, you’re damn right that I feel responsible, and right now much of what is happening in Atlanta, Georgia and Washington DC makes my face red and chaps my ass cheeks.

I’m not embarrassed to be an American any more than I’m not proud to be a white southern American male, but gosh darn it if it doesn’t seem that once I walk out of the voting booth and get my guy/gal elected, all deals are off.

I’m a “walk softly and carry a big stick” sort of guy when it comes to international politics, and I’m damn tired of all of the limp wrested pansy assed America haters doing their soul searching in public and blaming our military for everything from hurricanes to hemmoroids.

A bigger, stronger military kicking in the skulls of idiots like the Iranian president and that little dog eating troll running Korea would make the world a better place.

And while we're at it, I'd make a strong case for bombing the top off of the UN building in NY City, then forcibly moving everyone that survives and insists on retaining their status as a "diplomad" to some place like Haiti where they can see first hand what true poverty and government corruption looks like.

Finally jake asks: ”As a group, have we always felt powerless or is this a recent development? Have we always been powerless and simply know it now? I am repeatedly struck by a sense of paralysis that cuts across party and philisophical lines. Americans do not believe that our government is capable of executing/creating a plan with honesty, efficiency and fiscal responsiblility . Truth or convenient excuse? Is our machine of governance so choked with its own preservation that it can't get anything of true substance accomplished without a national/global tragedy first?”

Jake, I have two words that will clear the corrupt, self serving log jam in Washington DC and every single state capital in our great nation.

TERM LIMITS


Two terms in a given office in a row, and a maximum of three terms lifetime.

Get elected, serve your constituants (not the "special interests") then get the hell out.

It’s just that simple.

And while we're at it, and since you're asking, I have a couple of other suggestions that would greatly improve our political landscape.

Major Improvement #1. If you are running for political office, or you’re holding a political office, and you take more than $50 from any one individual or corporation, I would have your crooked ass thrown UNDER the jail. For a year. Your cellmate would be a big, hairy, hulking, sweaty man named Bubba that thinks that you have a pretty mouth.

Major Improvement #2. If you are on the government dole…you know, taking welfare or WIC or any other form of support, including things like earned income credit, YOU CAN’T VOTE. When you stand up and get your lazy useless ass off of the sofa and into a JOB, and your tax burden exceeds your tax refund, then, and only then will you be allowed to cast a vote in an election.

Major Improvement #3. Once you finally legally get to enter a polling place, you would have to take a TEST, and if you don’t know the name of your senators and congresspersons, and possibly who the vice president and secretary of state is, then YOU CAN’T VOTE.

After all, how the hell can you be trusted to elect a new member of congress if you don’t know the names of the candidates and who is already sitting in office in the first place?

Most people don't know shit about who they're voting for, they just look for the big old "D" or "R" behind the names and then clumsily "hang their chads" on the candidate. I, personally, don't want people like that near a ballot box.

And don't get me started on STUPID PEOPLE--they not only shouldn't be allowed to vote, but they should be forbidden from REPRODUCING, but I don't see getting that law passed any time in the near future.

Well, at least an insensitive Redneck can dream, can't he?

There's probably a few other things I could say to piss a few more people off, but...

Jake, I guess that about wraps up this evenings rant, and I sincerely hope that I've come close to answering your questions.

Feel free to contact me if I’ve left any issues unresolved, and until then..keep on keeping on.