See Hear Now!
A Child wants what he can see.
(Russian Proverb)
The above Russian Proverb may provoke a knowing smile from most of us because, of course, it’s true. Rather than trying to deconstruct the Russian Proverb with a bunch of child psychobabble, suffice to say, the truth of the Proverb is that children lack the wisdom of experience to judge whether or not what is set before their eyes is in their best interest to have. My Grandmother instructed me long ago about the same general subject but in a different manner, to wit: The difference between an adult and a kid is that an adult can walk down the street with $20.00 in his pocket and return home with the $20.00 still secure for another day while a kid will spend the $20.00 at the first opportunity. Ah yes, the eternal wisdom of Grandmothers. I think an adjunct that is equally true can be added to the Russian Proverb and it goes like this: A child believes what he can hear. Of course, you deep thinkers will immediately understand that the Russians who quoted the Proverb over and over to their fellow Russians were not really commenting on children’s lack of wisdom, they were making a judgment about the dumb adults who still behave as children. The latest manufactured “crisis”, The Broken Private Run Health Care System, is the very reason that the Russian Proverb comes to mind because the Government takeover of health care is being promoted as yet another entitlement of the people and this new entitlement is a created vision that has been set before our naive eyes that induces childlike want. When we talk about entitlements, it is vital that we all understand, once and for all, that the Government has no money to provide for the entitlements it seeks to provide. Money can only be created by the productive people of society (see my piece, “Stimulus”) and was created in antiquity as a means to facilitate commerce, not as a means to facilitate politics. The Government can only take money from people and redistribute it in a manner to its political liking. A perfect example of the political judgments Government makes with other people’s money is the $787 Billion Stimulus that has most of it’s impact in time for the 2010 elections, and you wonder why I’m cynical, but I digress. I am reminded of my Grandmother’s lecture about walking down the street with money in your pocket when I consider Government entitlements like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Welfare, etc. What these Government Programs represent is our collective inability to “walk down the street” with our money remaining in our pockets to secure for the rainy day of required medical care, retirement, and the like. Because of our inability to be “adults”, and manage our own money and our own living affairs, we allow the Government to take our money to do with it what we are unable to do, that is, to provide for our welfare. The truth is we seem to be increasingly satisfied with being less and less free and in charge of our own destinies as time rolls by and even more content to scuffle like hungry dogs for the largess scraps secured by the Government from other people’s tables. Amazing. I’m always surprised how easy it is for the Government, or other policy activists, to create a vision to set before our eyes and cause our childlike instincts to want it. We never seem to understand that the promoters are the ones who are creating the vision for our eyes to behold and the rhetoric for our ears to hear and are thereby creating the “want” and the “belief” that only they can satisfy. If you think I’m again being too cynical, I refer you to my piece, “Prepare To Be Nudged”, which discussed the science behind creation of “Choice Architecture” to influence human judgment. Creating “Choice Architecture” is the deliberate imposition of structure in an environment to induce people to make a second party (in this case, Government) shaped choice. It is our elected Government that now has scientific experts hard at work to create “Choice Architecture” after “Choice Architecture” in order for the citizens to make the necessary choices about Cap and Trade, Stimulus, Health Care, etc. and will result in our elected Government having nearly complete control over our lives, fortunes and destines. Those wacky Russians and their goofy proverbs.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Gracious Tyranny
Gracious Tyranny
I really like my car. I can get into my Detroit Clunker any time I want to, turn the key, endow life to my belch-fire eight engine, grasp the ergonomically correct shifter knob, authoritatively yank the transmission into drive, lead foot the pedal, and head out to anyplace my prerogative dictates. Does this sound somewhat familiar? Of course it does. We all do it as many time as we wish, sometimes, many times in a single day. And when we head out, we traverse on endless ribbons of concrete and asphalt that go to any one of the greatest or least of places within any part and parcel of this vast country, and we go without impediment of any sort, save our ability and desire to do so. It has been said that the private automobile and the web of highways and byways are the ultimate practical enabler of personal freedom because if a place where you are located becomes undesirable or oppressive, well now, you just load up the old freedom machine and take off to a more friendlier place and time. And if the authorities don’t like the thought of your unauthorized rearrangement, well, they can just smell your departing exhaust. Getting into our private vehicles and going to wherever we want to go is such a commonplace occurrence in this country that we hardly ever think about the importance of the personal privilege that this represents in regards to our practical individual freedom and liberty. I am now going to ask for your indulgence as we use the above ordinary account of your personal automobile usage as a surrogate to illustrate the thought processes, rationale and justification that the “progressives, socialists, liberals, et al”, that have now gained prominence in our Governance and national life, would employ if they selected personal automobile usage as a “crisis” that required fixing at the national level. The surrogate example of your personal automobile usage “fixing” is intended to illustrate the same thought process, rationale and justifications that are now being employed by our Federal Government to “fix” your personal health care, usage of the environment, real and personal property rights, cap and trade, legal and illegal immigration, financial meltdown, failing economy, unemployment, ad infinitum. Be advised, there will be even more urgent “crisis” to be identified later on that require national “fixing”, as fortuitous situations warrant. In all fairness I hasten to point out that the “Progressive” movement started in the 1900s, and now fully employed in our Government, is not a wholly evil movement regardless of what Mr. Glenn Beck alludes to in his book, “Glenn Beck’s Common Sense.” The Progressive movement is responsible for child labor laws, woman suffrage, and a rather impressive list of worthwhile accomplishments that enhances our personal freedom as well as promoting civil justice for all. However, like all good things when taken to the extreme, they can injure and cure with equal vitality, but I digress. Let’s say that a Governmental Educated Idiot (or Idiot Savant), perhaps even one of the current 24 National Czars, commissioned a select panel of “experts” to study the cost effectiveness and social morality of our current personal transportation system. Select portions of the expert study began to trickle out which showed the costs that our personal automobiles were incurring on the environment and economy were staggering, notwithstanding the social injustice that was being done to those unable to afford a personal automobile equal to that of the more affluent of our society. The study clearly shows that the estimated costs being incurred were beyond anything approaching a cost effective way of transporting people about and the social unfairness of the current personal transportation system was a disgrace to an enlightened and civilized people. A series of recommendations began to surface from the Government that not only highlighted the cost effectiveness of public transportation over the current private transportation system but also how a national regulated transportation system would slash the appalling carnage on our nation’s streets and road that are now exceeding 43,000 a year. This tragic loss of life on our highways is a loss we can no longer endure as a Nation and the Government must act on behalf of the people to fix this inexcusable loss of life and treasure due to the inefficiency and unrestrained nature of the current personal transportation system. The study also pointed out that those who now drive on the nation’s roads have not had any kind of uniform national training to ensure safe driving across state lines and this situation will be addressed by a national public transportation system that will have uniform trained and licensed operators of public transportation vehicles and systems to safeguard all citizens. Of course, in order for the new Public Transportation System to become effective, private transportation must be suppressed through “true cost” taxation on private automobiles and supporting infrastructure along with other fair and appropriate Governmental means to supplant a Private Transportation System with a viable National Public Transportation System. I could go on and on, but there is no point of further burdening you with more conjured Governmental scenarios that should be frightening to a freedom loving people because they are as real as today’s news. One salient that should be remembered at all costs, the mortal enemy of liberalism is personal freedom, and this is why we are slowly coming under the sway of what I call Gracious Tyranny, i.e., it’s a Tyranny because an Oligarchy of an elite few are perverting the democratic process to assert complete control of the nation’s society and culture, for the Gracious good of us all, of course.
I really like my car. I can get into my Detroit Clunker any time I want to, turn the key, endow life to my belch-fire eight engine, grasp the ergonomically correct shifter knob, authoritatively yank the transmission into drive, lead foot the pedal, and head out to anyplace my prerogative dictates. Does this sound somewhat familiar? Of course it does. We all do it as many time as we wish, sometimes, many times in a single day. And when we head out, we traverse on endless ribbons of concrete and asphalt that go to any one of the greatest or least of places within any part and parcel of this vast country, and we go without impediment of any sort, save our ability and desire to do so. It has been said that the private automobile and the web of highways and byways are the ultimate practical enabler of personal freedom because if a place where you are located becomes undesirable or oppressive, well now, you just load up the old freedom machine and take off to a more friendlier place and time. And if the authorities don’t like the thought of your unauthorized rearrangement, well, they can just smell your departing exhaust. Getting into our private vehicles and going to wherever we want to go is such a commonplace occurrence in this country that we hardly ever think about the importance of the personal privilege that this represents in regards to our practical individual freedom and liberty. I am now going to ask for your indulgence as we use the above ordinary account of your personal automobile usage as a surrogate to illustrate the thought processes, rationale and justification that the “progressives, socialists, liberals, et al”, that have now gained prominence in our Governance and national life, would employ if they selected personal automobile usage as a “crisis” that required fixing at the national level. The surrogate example of your personal automobile usage “fixing” is intended to illustrate the same thought process, rationale and justifications that are now being employed by our Federal Government to “fix” your personal health care, usage of the environment, real and personal property rights, cap and trade, legal and illegal immigration, financial meltdown, failing economy, unemployment, ad infinitum. Be advised, there will be even more urgent “crisis” to be identified later on that require national “fixing”, as fortuitous situations warrant. In all fairness I hasten to point out that the “Progressive” movement started in the 1900s, and now fully employed in our Government, is not a wholly evil movement regardless of what Mr. Glenn Beck alludes to in his book, “Glenn Beck’s Common Sense.” The Progressive movement is responsible for child labor laws, woman suffrage, and a rather impressive list of worthwhile accomplishments that enhances our personal freedom as well as promoting civil justice for all. However, like all good things when taken to the extreme, they can injure and cure with equal vitality, but I digress. Let’s say that a Governmental Educated Idiot (or Idiot Savant), perhaps even one of the current 24 National Czars, commissioned a select panel of “experts” to study the cost effectiveness and social morality of our current personal transportation system. Select portions of the expert study began to trickle out which showed the costs that our personal automobiles were incurring on the environment and economy were staggering, notwithstanding the social injustice that was being done to those unable to afford a personal automobile equal to that of the more affluent of our society. The study clearly shows that the estimated costs being incurred were beyond anything approaching a cost effective way of transporting people about and the social unfairness of the current personal transportation system was a disgrace to an enlightened and civilized people. A series of recommendations began to surface from the Government that not only highlighted the cost effectiveness of public transportation over the current private transportation system but also how a national regulated transportation system would slash the appalling carnage on our nation’s streets and road that are now exceeding 43,000 a year. This tragic loss of life on our highways is a loss we can no longer endure as a Nation and the Government must act on behalf of the people to fix this inexcusable loss of life and treasure due to the inefficiency and unrestrained nature of the current personal transportation system. The study also pointed out that those who now drive on the nation’s roads have not had any kind of uniform national training to ensure safe driving across state lines and this situation will be addressed by a national public transportation system that will have uniform trained and licensed operators of public transportation vehicles and systems to safeguard all citizens. Of course, in order for the new Public Transportation System to become effective, private transportation must be suppressed through “true cost” taxation on private automobiles and supporting infrastructure along with other fair and appropriate Governmental means to supplant a Private Transportation System with a viable National Public Transportation System. I could go on and on, but there is no point of further burdening you with more conjured Governmental scenarios that should be frightening to a freedom loving people because they are as real as today’s news. One salient that should be remembered at all costs, the mortal enemy of liberalism is personal freedom, and this is why we are slowly coming under the sway of what I call Gracious Tyranny, i.e., it’s a Tyranny because an Oligarchy of an elite few are perverting the democratic process to assert complete control of the nation’s society and culture, for the Gracious good of us all, of course.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Bad Moon
Bad Moon Rising
I see the bad moon arising,
I see trouble on the way,
I see earthquakes and lightin’,
I see bad times today.
John Fogerty
The Southern Poverty Law Center, USA Today, CBS, Associated Press, Digital Journal, Cleveland Leader and Politics Daily all report that Militias in the USA are surging. Why is this happening? What motivates good and peaceful Americans to think that the only remaining way to protect the American Constitution and liberty is to become a member of a local Militia? Before we search for the answer, I respectfully request you revisit my piece “God and Guns” posted be me some time ago. You may recall that I advanced the idea that the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution was not really about the right to keep and bear arms. The amendment was enacted to ensure that the people had the right to form and maintain citizen Militias and in order for a Militia to be viable, the citizens must have the right to keep and bear arms, after all, that’s what the 2nd Amendment said in plain language. In other words, the citizens of the United States of America have a Constitutional right to form and maintain citizen Militias and the right to keep and bear arms only makes a Militia viable. Let’s revisit what James Madison said in the Federalist Paper #47 about Militias, to wit: “Besides the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation, the existence of subordinate governments, to which the people are attached and by which the militia officers are appointed, forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition, more insurmountable than any which a simple government of any form can admit of.” Perhaps the colloquial language used in bygone days is somewhat confusing today and the meaning of what Mr. Madison was saying prohibits understanding in today’s world. I believe what Mr. Madison said was that armed citizens organized into Militias was the final safeguard against a usurping Government. And I again urge you not to buy into the hooey that the National Guard is the people’s Militia. The National Guard is an adjunct to the standing United States Army and citizen Militias are Ad Hoc organizations formed from the citizens at large to address a specific threat, two very distinct and different organizations. During times of national peril in days past, citizen Militias were formed and equipped by the citizens themselves and then inducted into the United States Army to meet a current national threat. After the national threat was attended to, the Militia went home, disbanded, and the citizens went back to farming and the like. The Founding Fathers said over and over again that they were deathly afraid of standing armies and the citizen Militias were a protection from the nefarious use of a permanent standing army. The National Guard is funded, equipped, and is part of the United States Army Chain of Command and so it can in no way resemble a citizen’s Militia and in truth is part of the standing army that the founding fathers were so afraid of. The National Guard is not a Militia, period. How diabolical it is that the US Government has went to such great lengths to foster the notion that the National Guard is a Militia, i.e., why are they so afraid of citizen Militias that has been guaranteed by the Constitution? I will wager the entire stimulus package amount that if you are part of a local Militia and went public about it, you would be labeled a cult or something worse, prosecuted forthwith, and the Federal man would come and take you far away. I guess a Constitutional guarantee nowadays is only worth the paper it’s written on. But wait, I believe that we have just discovered what it is that people are getting all riled up about enough to seek out and join a local clandestine Militia. Here are a few things that people are upset about: the Constitution has been systematically disregarded and rewritten without the benefit of the Constitutional amendment process, citizens find they are unable to affect their own government, an unprecedented move by the Federal Government to usurp not only citizen Constitutional rights but local governments as well in a headlong rush to gain complete control over the country at large. The current Universal Health Care plan just might be the “straw that breaks the camel’s back”, and oh Lord, I see a Bad Moon Arising.
I see the bad moon arising,
I see trouble on the way,
I see earthquakes and lightin’,
I see bad times today.
John Fogerty
The Southern Poverty Law Center, USA Today, CBS, Associated Press, Digital Journal, Cleveland Leader and Politics Daily all report that Militias in the USA are surging. Why is this happening? What motivates good and peaceful Americans to think that the only remaining way to protect the American Constitution and liberty is to become a member of a local Militia? Before we search for the answer, I respectfully request you revisit my piece “God and Guns” posted be me some time ago. You may recall that I advanced the idea that the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution was not really about the right to keep and bear arms. The amendment was enacted to ensure that the people had the right to form and maintain citizen Militias and in order for a Militia to be viable, the citizens must have the right to keep and bear arms, after all, that’s what the 2nd Amendment said in plain language. In other words, the citizens of the United States of America have a Constitutional right to form and maintain citizen Militias and the right to keep and bear arms only makes a Militia viable. Let’s revisit what James Madison said in the Federalist Paper #47 about Militias, to wit: “Besides the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation, the existence of subordinate governments, to which the people are attached and by which the militia officers are appointed, forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition, more insurmountable than any which a simple government of any form can admit of.” Perhaps the colloquial language used in bygone days is somewhat confusing today and the meaning of what Mr. Madison was saying prohibits understanding in today’s world. I believe what Mr. Madison said was that armed citizens organized into Militias was the final safeguard against a usurping Government. And I again urge you not to buy into the hooey that the National Guard is the people’s Militia. The National Guard is an adjunct to the standing United States Army and citizen Militias are Ad Hoc organizations formed from the citizens at large to address a specific threat, two very distinct and different organizations. During times of national peril in days past, citizen Militias were formed and equipped by the citizens themselves and then inducted into the United States Army to meet a current national threat. After the national threat was attended to, the Militia went home, disbanded, and the citizens went back to farming and the like. The Founding Fathers said over and over again that they were deathly afraid of standing armies and the citizen Militias were a protection from the nefarious use of a permanent standing army. The National Guard is funded, equipped, and is part of the United States Army Chain of Command and so it can in no way resemble a citizen’s Militia and in truth is part of the standing army that the founding fathers were so afraid of. The National Guard is not a Militia, period. How diabolical it is that the US Government has went to such great lengths to foster the notion that the National Guard is a Militia, i.e., why are they so afraid of citizen Militias that has been guaranteed by the Constitution? I will wager the entire stimulus package amount that if you are part of a local Militia and went public about it, you would be labeled a cult or something worse, prosecuted forthwith, and the Federal man would come and take you far away. I guess a Constitutional guarantee nowadays is only worth the paper it’s written on. But wait, I believe that we have just discovered what it is that people are getting all riled up about enough to seek out and join a local clandestine Militia. Here are a few things that people are upset about: the Constitution has been systematically disregarded and rewritten without the benefit of the Constitutional amendment process, citizens find they are unable to affect their own government, an unprecedented move by the Federal Government to usurp not only citizen Constitutional rights but local governments as well in a headlong rush to gain complete control over the country at large. The current Universal Health Care plan just might be the “straw that breaks the camel’s back”, and oh Lord, I see a Bad Moon Arising.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Rabbits and Squirrels
Rabbits and Squirrels
Some time ago, when I was more intellectually active, I recall being engaged in an absorbing discussion concerning the meaning of life and why hair on your arm doesn’t grow any longer, when one of my peers looked me straight in the eye and asked, “Do you know why there are more rabbits than squirrels?” This seemingly non sequitur question, that came out of the blue and stopped the more serious give and take about “palming the ball” during dribbling in professional basketball, caused a mostly vacant stare aimed at the Einstein who had asked the question. The answer to this dumbfounder wasn’t long in coming. With somewhat watery eyes and slightly slurred speech, the Einstein answered his own question thusly: “because, have you ever tried doing it in a tree?” The answer, of course, highlighted the importance of the practical aspects of life to the discussion participants in general and so had an obscure link to the current discussions about the meaning of life in particular. More importantly, the citizen who asked and answered the question seemed to derive a great deal of intellectual satisfaction from the exchange. To this day, I don’t know why this exchange could generate even a small amount of intellectual satisfaction from anyone, but I digress. This obscure bit of personal history popped into my nomadic musings the other day while trying to understand the esoteric explanations of the proposed Universal Health Care plan by the proponents of the plan and their supporters. The only reason that my brain forced an involuntary recall about the mating habits of Rabbits and Squirrels during the current inane health care discussions must be because of the intellectual satisfaction being displayed by both sides of the proposal when they make their points about the plan. Again, I don’t know why anyone could derive even a small amount of intellectual satisfaction from the current discussions, which reflect, in so many ways, the meaning of life discussions held so long ago by my intellectual peers. But wait, you know what? The difficulty of doing it in a tree versus the straightforwardness of doing it on the ground being an explanation of why there are more rabbits than squirrels can also go a long way in understanding what is going on in the current dustup over Universal Health Care. The only reason that the rabbits and squirrels explanation makes any practical sense at all is because you must juxtapose the difficulty humans would have “doing it in a tree” with that of the perfectly adapted squirrel, who can instead, do it in a tree with considerable ease. In the same manner, the Government proposal for Universal Health Care being advanced fails the practical test because the Government wants it’s citizens to juxtapose their personal health care with a Government run health care system. Ah yes, therein lies the problem. Most free citizens instinctively know that Governments cannot make personal health care decisions because Government is a political entity and therefore can only make political decisions, not personal health care decisions. So it is patently impossible for a free citizen to juxtapose their personal health care requirements with the political decisions that would be made by a Government running a Universal Health Care system. This is exactly why the current Universal Health Care proposal being advanced by the Government makes no sense to free citizens. The juxtapose health care impossibility results in the complete frustration of the still free citizens in trying to reconcile what the Government is trying to do with their personal health requirements without really knowing what is going on and why the Government proposal is so wrong other than the Government simply hungers for the power that a Government run health care system would bring. Of course, the result of this frustration being that voices and blood pressures continue to raise in direct proportion to the continuing Government advocacy of this plan. Hum, I wonder why there really are more rabbits than squirrels?
Some time ago, when I was more intellectually active, I recall being engaged in an absorbing discussion concerning the meaning of life and why hair on your arm doesn’t grow any longer, when one of my peers looked me straight in the eye and asked, “Do you know why there are more rabbits than squirrels?” This seemingly non sequitur question, that came out of the blue and stopped the more serious give and take about “palming the ball” during dribbling in professional basketball, caused a mostly vacant stare aimed at the Einstein who had asked the question. The answer to this dumbfounder wasn’t long in coming. With somewhat watery eyes and slightly slurred speech, the Einstein answered his own question thusly: “because, have you ever tried doing it in a tree?” The answer, of course, highlighted the importance of the practical aspects of life to the discussion participants in general and so had an obscure link to the current discussions about the meaning of life in particular. More importantly, the citizen who asked and answered the question seemed to derive a great deal of intellectual satisfaction from the exchange. To this day, I don’t know why this exchange could generate even a small amount of intellectual satisfaction from anyone, but I digress. This obscure bit of personal history popped into my nomadic musings the other day while trying to understand the esoteric explanations of the proposed Universal Health Care plan by the proponents of the plan and their supporters. The only reason that my brain forced an involuntary recall about the mating habits of Rabbits and Squirrels during the current inane health care discussions must be because of the intellectual satisfaction being displayed by both sides of the proposal when they make their points about the plan. Again, I don’t know why anyone could derive even a small amount of intellectual satisfaction from the current discussions, which reflect, in so many ways, the meaning of life discussions held so long ago by my intellectual peers. But wait, you know what? The difficulty of doing it in a tree versus the straightforwardness of doing it on the ground being an explanation of why there are more rabbits than squirrels can also go a long way in understanding what is going on in the current dustup over Universal Health Care. The only reason that the rabbits and squirrels explanation makes any practical sense at all is because you must juxtapose the difficulty humans would have “doing it in a tree” with that of the perfectly adapted squirrel, who can instead, do it in a tree with considerable ease. In the same manner, the Government proposal for Universal Health Care being advanced fails the practical test because the Government wants it’s citizens to juxtapose their personal health care with a Government run health care system. Ah yes, therein lies the problem. Most free citizens instinctively know that Governments cannot make personal health care decisions because Government is a political entity and therefore can only make political decisions, not personal health care decisions. So it is patently impossible for a free citizen to juxtapose their personal health care requirements with the political decisions that would be made by a Government running a Universal Health Care system. This is exactly why the current Universal Health Care proposal being advanced by the Government makes no sense to free citizens. The juxtapose health care impossibility results in the complete frustration of the still free citizens in trying to reconcile what the Government is trying to do with their personal health requirements without really knowing what is going on and why the Government proposal is so wrong other than the Government simply hungers for the power that a Government run health care system would bring. Of course, the result of this frustration being that voices and blood pressures continue to raise in direct proportion to the continuing Government advocacy of this plan. Hum, I wonder why there really are more rabbits than squirrels?
Monday, August 3, 2009
Waltzing Lady Liberty
Waltzing Lady Liberty
When Bill Maher recently declared that America was a “stupid country”, my sprit soared, because Maher’s assertion that our country is stupid is like the Devil declaring that the righteous are wicked. My sprit soared because Maher’s contemptuous contention is a fortuitous counterpoint that shines a rare bright light on what is “smart” about our country, i.e., it is the ultimate confirmation that the country must be heading in the right direction because it is analogous to when an enemy speaks ill of you. You have commanded the ultimate confirmation of your rectitude from an impeccable source. I’m not saying that Maher is an enemy of America, I’m only saying that Maher is just another unofficial mouth-piece for many of our self-assured elite of this country, and he, and others of his kind, gives meaning and dimention to the wise words spoke by Heraclitus so long ago (circa 540-480 B.C.), to wit: “Much learning does not teach understanding”. I don’t know why Maher and his brethren have so little understanding of America that would cause them to declare that America is “stupid” but perhaps it’s because of their long association with the disconnected segment of our society that continuously reinforce their insular beliefs by an elite groupthink mentality. It really matters little because his specious remark has given us an opportunity to rediscover what is “smart” about America. America is really smart because with each passing day, race matters less and less, just as it has always been. America continues to be a “melting pot” of a just and enlightened people that really cares little about color or race, Americans care about freedom, character and responsibility and we fought a great war to enforce that principle. America is really smart because liberty has real meaning here because you are in actuality free to succeed or fail because of equal opportunity for all. America is really smart because it is a Democratic Republic that gives meaning to freedom by maintaining a free marketplace open to all. America is really smart because you can worship any God or no God if you so choose and you can educate yourself or remain ignorant of modern ways if you are of a mind to do so. America is really smart because we are a mostly civil society that practices patience when others are uncivil. America is really smart because people like Bill Maher can say stupid things with no fear. I could fill many pages about why America is smart and I hope you will take the time to reflect on the many ways that America is, indeed, “smart.” In the meantime, lets all, Bill Maher included, keep on Waltzing Lady Liberty, it’s the smart thing to do.
When Bill Maher recently declared that America was a “stupid country”, my sprit soared, because Maher’s assertion that our country is stupid is like the Devil declaring that the righteous are wicked. My sprit soared because Maher’s contemptuous contention is a fortuitous counterpoint that shines a rare bright light on what is “smart” about our country, i.e., it is the ultimate confirmation that the country must be heading in the right direction because it is analogous to when an enemy speaks ill of you. You have commanded the ultimate confirmation of your rectitude from an impeccable source. I’m not saying that Maher is an enemy of America, I’m only saying that Maher is just another unofficial mouth-piece for many of our self-assured elite of this country, and he, and others of his kind, gives meaning and dimention to the wise words spoke by Heraclitus so long ago (circa 540-480 B.C.), to wit: “Much learning does not teach understanding”. I don’t know why Maher and his brethren have so little understanding of America that would cause them to declare that America is “stupid” but perhaps it’s because of their long association with the disconnected segment of our society that continuously reinforce their insular beliefs by an elite groupthink mentality. It really matters little because his specious remark has given us an opportunity to rediscover what is “smart” about America. America is really smart because with each passing day, race matters less and less, just as it has always been. America continues to be a “melting pot” of a just and enlightened people that really cares little about color or race, Americans care about freedom, character and responsibility and we fought a great war to enforce that principle. America is really smart because liberty has real meaning here because you are in actuality free to succeed or fail because of equal opportunity for all. America is really smart because it is a Democratic Republic that gives meaning to freedom by maintaining a free marketplace open to all. America is really smart because you can worship any God or no God if you so choose and you can educate yourself or remain ignorant of modern ways if you are of a mind to do so. America is really smart because we are a mostly civil society that practices patience when others are uncivil. America is really smart because people like Bill Maher can say stupid things with no fear. I could fill many pages about why America is smart and I hope you will take the time to reflect on the many ways that America is, indeed, “smart.” In the meantime, lets all, Bill Maher included, keep on Waltzing Lady Liberty, it’s the smart thing to do.
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