Humans can be incredibly resilient creatures, on average. Given many of the things some of us have to endure, it is amazing that the human race doesn't simply give up. Wars, illness, accident, catastrophic events orchestrated by mother nature, all are things we have little or no control over. When we are faced with adversity and there is no solution but to deal with the situation ourselves, we rise to the situation and cope. But... if there is something or someone we can look to for a solution to our problem first, we become lazy. We let someone else take over. Parents, siblings, friends, government, really anyone will do.
What does this tell us?
It tells us we are all screwed.
Do you know anyone anymore who takes responsibility and action when faced with a problem, without looking for a solution elsewhere first? It is much easier to wallow in self pity and to whine that 'there should be a law,' or 'that shouldn't be allowed,' or 'why me,' or the ubiquitous 'it's not my fault.'
Well, it's not my fault either.
The fact that 'it,' whatever that might be at any given moment, isn't my fault, doesn't seem to stop various do-gooders from trying to get me to 'help.' And if I might not wish to help voluntarily, I will be encouraged (forced) to help by taxes collected from me via enabling legislation to make me help.
Do we really need more laws, more taxation, more control over our lives?
I have worked very hard to keep myself and my family out of the poorhouse. I don't have the energy or the inclination to provide that same service for everyone else. Money already extorted from us all via taxes is squandered in ways that none of us could possibly catalogue. Do you know where all the money goes that is collected by our several levels of government? I don't.
At a rare 'dinner' out yesterday (Pizza for three, two small salads, coke, root beer and Dr. Pepper,) my son wondered why approximately $7.00 of the over $50.00 cost was tax. Why, indeed.
What do we get for all the taxes we pay? Is the world better off today than it was in the 1950s when I grew up? Well, we certainly have more of everything: more crime, more corruption, more violence, more fraud. And things are certainly bigger: jails and bureaucracies. Hmmm... I wonder if things would improve if we put politicians and bureaucrats in prison and let criminals run our bureaucracies. I suspect that, at the very least, things wouldn't be any worse than they are now.
Something to think about.
Over 200 years ago a rag tag colonial federation started a war with the oppressive government that was controlling it, with a "Boston Tea Party". There needs to be a "Throw your congressman in the Potomac River" party. I'll sell the cement shoes.
ReplyDeleteThe more people expect government to run their lives for them, the more it will...right into the ground.
Six feet under it, in fact!
I've oft advocated inviting these politicians to a cruise on a ship, then sending out an attack sub after them and have them sink the damn boat. Then the sub's crew could run the country.
Hadn't thought about the Mafia. Hell, that might work better!