Revolution of Sanity in America: The Terror Within

Saturday, January 8, 2011

The Terror Within

Upon arriving home from work, the headline on my MSN homepage informed me that Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, a moderate, and members of her staff, along with a federal judge, were shot during a "Congress on Your Corner" meeting in Tucson, Arizona. My first reaction was to pen a vituperous rant blaming the lunatic fringe of the Republican Party. Fox News stated that an examination of the gunman's Twitter and Facebook sites reveled ramblings that expressed discontent with ratification and interpretation of the Constitution as well as the fact that US currency is no longer backed by gold or silver. Sounds like Beck and Palin. I threw the draft in the wastebasket.

Today's tragedy is an example of the price we pay for our democracy. Hopefully this action will end, once and for all, Palin's political aspirations, dissuade the most intelligent minions of Beck, and accelerate the Revolution of Sanity in America. My prayers and condolences go out to the families and friends of these casualties of our noble struggle.

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Coming of Age

As a teenager during the late sixties and early seventies, with the Counterculture and multitude of movements for social change and vocal opposition to the war in Viet Nam, I developed an affinity for politics. I grew up in Orange County, California; my grandparents were part of the silent majority. I fondly remember the Snickers bars with Barry Goldwater stickers pasted on them that were passed out by our neighbors during Halloween. The prevailing sentiment was that Democrats or Liberals, as they were often referred to, wanted to tax the hard working folks and spend it recklessly on social programs for the lazy, undeserving citizenry. Republicans wanted to keep the world safe for democracy and preserve justice and the American way. It was that simple.

My interest in politics took me to an eastern university. I discovered the logical flaws in the political philosophy of Karl Marx. Marx presupposed that human nature could be altered within the constructs of a political system; that man maturated in such a system and left to his own devices would act in the interests of the society, the greater good, and "ignore" his complex, self-centered, instinctual nature.

I found solace in Peter Drucker who affirmed that America is "The Last Best Hope." He explained that democracy is a compromise between groups of men within the society and that man exercises his self-interests through the groups he supports or associates with. No group dominates and no group has all of its interests sated within the constructs of the political system; a balance of power on all levels, in society as well as government. It was a little more complex.

But what happens if one group gets all the power and its interests are detrimental to all the other groups? The current Republican administration bears little resemblance to the one I knew as a boy. The Bush Administration is marked by huge tax cuts and obscene deficit spending for the benefit of the rich, no social programs here. Even Pat Robertson acknowledges that America went to war for oil and not democracy. Bush's arrogance in misleading the American people is especially appalling. The hard working folks of today and tomorrow are going to see huge tax increases coupled with further cuts in social programs. And the American way, a fixture of the Republican ethos, may be a thing of the past. It is frightening.

For democracy to work, the citizenry must be educated and informed. Briefly I worked as a substitute teacher at the high school level. Whether they agreed or disagreed, only two of my students had a cursory understanding of the elements in this letter.

And, that is outrageous.

FROM POOR RICHARD'S ALMANAC

1734

Would you live with ease,
Do what you ought, and not what you please.

Principiis obsta.
[Latin: Resist the first advances]

Better slip with foot than tongue.

You cannot pluck roses without fear of thorns,
Nor enjoy a fair wife without danger of horns.

Without justice, courage is weak.

Where carcasses are, eagles will gather,
And where good laws are, much people flock thither.

Blame-all and Praise-all are two blockheads.

No man e’er was glorious, who was not laborious.

What pains our Justice takes his faults to hide,
With half that pains sure he might cure ’em quite.

In success be moderate.

Take this remark from Richard poor and lame,
Whatever’s begun in anger ends in shame.

What one relishes, nourishes.

Fools multiply folly.

1735

Look before, or you’ll find yourself behind.

Bad Commentators spoil the best of books,
So God sends meat (they say) the devil Cooks.

Approve not of him who commends all you say.

By diligence and patience, the mouse bit in two the cable.

Full of courtesie, full of craft.

A little House well filled, a little Field well tilled, and a little Wife well willed, are great Riches.

Some are weatherwise, some are otherwise.

*** Dyrro lynn y ddoeth e fydd ddoethach. [Welsh: Who gives drink to the wise, he is wiser.

The poor man must walk to get meat for his stomach, the rich man to get a stomach to his meat.

Necessity never made a good bargain.

Weighty Questions ask for deliberate Answers.

Be slow in chusing a Friend, slower in changing.

Pain wastes the Body, Pleasures the Understanding.

The cunning man steals a horse, the wise man lets him alone.

Humility makes great men twice honourable.

A Ship under sail and a big-bellied Woman,
Are the handsomest two things that can be seen common.

Keep thy shop, & thy shop will keep thee.

The King’s cheese is half wasted in parings: But no matter, ’tis made of the peoples milk.

What’s given shines,
What’s received is rusty.

Sloth and Silence are a Fool’s Virtues.

Poverty wants some things, Luxury many things, Avarice all things.

A Lie stands on 1 leg, Truth on 2.

There’s small Revenge in Words, but Words may be greatly revenged.

A man is never so ridiculous by those Qualities that are his own as by those that he affects to have.

Deny Self for Self’s sake.

It is better to take many Injuries than to give one.

Opportunity is the great Bawd.

Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy wealthy and wise.

To be humble to Superiors is Duty, to Equals Courtesy, to Inferiors Nobleness.

An old young man, will be a young old man.

The Sun never repents of the good he does, nor does he ever demand a recompence.

Are you angry that others disappoint you? remember you cannot depend upon yourself.

One Mend-fault is worth two Findfaults, but one Findfault is better than two Makefaults.

1736

If you know how to spend less than you get, you have the Philosophers-Stone.

Diligence is the Mother of Good-Luck.

He that lives upon Hope, dies farting.

Do not do that which you would not have known.

Wealth is not his that has it, but his that enjoys it.

Tis easy to see, hard to foresee.

Admiration is the Daughter of Ignorance.

He that buys by the penny, maintains not only himself, but other people.

He that can have Patience, can have what he will.

The absent are never without fault, nor the present without excuse.