I don't like to put my political ideas on my blogs, but I wanted to make one small comment. I have heard many people say they will vote (or have voted) for Hillary Clinton because "her husband did such a good job when he was in office."
First of all, when he was in office, people were bitching and moaning about his decisions as much as we complain about the current president (maybe less, but I do recall a good amount of complaint and I was only a kid).
Second of all, Hillary Clinton is not Bill Clinton. They are not clones and she had little to nothing to do with his decisions. We saw how much he paid attention to his wife with the Monica Lewinsky fiasco.
I just don't want people to forget how the past was, and then say it was better or worse than it is now. I was thinking about George Orwell's Animal Farm and this quote is so applicable to right now that it's scary:
"As for the others, their life, so far as they knew, was as it had always been. They were generally hungry, they slept on straw, they drank from the pool, they laboured in the fields; in the winter they were troubled by the cold, and in the summer by the flies. Sometimes the older ones among them racked their dim memories and tried to determine whether in the early days of the Rebellion, when Jones's expulsion was still recent, things had been better or worse than now. They could not remember. There was nothing with which to compare their present lives: they had nothing to go upon except Squealer's lists of figures, which invariably demonstrated that everything was getting better and better."
If you haven't read the book, Squealer is the PR man (in this case, pig) for the politicians (can I say pigaticians, or is that too punny?). Anyway, the point is that we mustn't forget history and we must always strive to improve life now, as compared to what actually was - not as compared to what some double-talking politician or even our dim memory says it was.
Let me know your opinions on this. Are the American people becoming like the animals in Mr. Orwell's brilliant book?
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6 comments:
I think for the most part politics has always been somewhat like Animal Farm. Obviously it's more true in communist countries, but really...well, what is a government? Most people around these parts seem to think that it's "the people in charge of us."
But nobody's in charge of us. The government is in charge of the roads, defense, the money system, but not us. They're not walking around our bodies like little drones. :-) That's the major error of communism, too--that it tries to set up an organization that does that.
So really, the government so often has very little to do with how people's lives really are. No matter who you put "in charge", you're still going to have poor people, rich people, stupid people, smart people, and it's all going to generally keep on being Earth.
The government could make stupid decisions about money or roads or laws and have a bad effect on us, but I don't think any government is ever going to solve the problems of the average person, no matter how much propaganda anybody spouts. :-)
-Max
Thanks for the insight Max. I guess every time I read Animal Farm, I find something applicable to real life, which freaks me out a little. George Orwell is dead-on and it's a little sad that we haven't developed our lives and governments much since he wrote that book.
I hope that we are able to elect an official that will be able to take the past into account in order to make the people of America responsible for their own future. I guess that's what democracy is all about - but it seems that we've slipped into the mindset of "the ruled", rather than "the community that makes the decisions".
Anyway, thanks again, Max, for your thought-provoking comment. :)
Unfortunately, I think that Orwell accurately observed the people of his time and his observations still apply today. Personally I look at the current crop of politicians on both sides who are running for President and I don't see much difference between them and the people I've seen running in earlier races since I started paying attention. There is only one person I see as different and I don't think he has a hope in hell of getting nominated.
I am reminded of a quote from L. Ron Hubbard: "A people gets the government it deserves." A people who don't remember the past and who simply listen to the PR machine of the latest favorite are going to get ... exactly what they deserve. I think it is up to us to improve the people themselves, through education, personal contact, etc, until they come up to being able to make better decisions and demand a better quality of leader.
And let's do it quick before Orwell's other famous book, 1984, comes true.
Yeah, Orwell was pretty bright at seeing exactly where the world was and where it was headed. Pretty amazing actually.
Yeah, the ideals of democracy are great. The practical power of democracy, really, is the ability to adjust who's in charge of money, defense, and protection of rights (aka control of the reactive mind by threat of force) without a violent revolution. Occasionally, we also get a very inspiring leader who gives the country some direction and goal, and that's the best thing a leader can do in that sort of position, I think--create a game.
I'm sure we'll at least elect somebody better than the fellow now who's using the power of the government to harm and destroy things.
And yeah, I agree with you that people do rather tend to think of themselves as "the ruled" instead of "the community that makes the decisions." When even the smallest decision-making community is millions of people, it's very difficult for anybody to feel as though they are actually personally causing an effect.
-Max
Wow, two comments in a row. Thanks, both of you, for commenting!
Grahame - that's about how it is in every election. It's like none of the decent candidates end up being the ones we get to vote on in the main elections. I end up not liking any candidate that gets chosen and that really sucks for me. Our election system reminds me of a quote by someone or other: “Democracy assumes that over 50% of people are right over 50% of the time”. In my experience, usually over 50% of people are not right over 50% of the time. I’m not knocking democracy or saying that it’s bad – it’s sure better than some other options out there – but couldn’t we come up with a better system that still allows people to choose? I’m just throwing that out there because I don’t have any kind of system in mind, but there’s got to be a better way.
Max - you are absolutely right! That's what Kennedy did when he created the space program - created a game. Look how much everyone loves him!
Also, it is hard to feel you are part of a community when there are millions of people involved, but if you think about it, we are all part of the community and the more we take responsibility for it and get involved in it, the better of we, our children and our community will be.
Thanks for the invite. What a pleasure to be here.
Unfortunately I was NOT a kid during the tooth gnashing Billy Jeff debacle. [not that this current tooth gnashing Alfred E Neuman debacle has shown any whit Less a debacle.] And my fillings are Still spinning from both of them.
Both parties have abandoned not only Us, but the very concept of Themselves as Servants, rather than Masters; subject only to the leash commands of those who bought their offices/last can of Alpo.
This time I'm voting conscience, because it's been far too Long a time since I've voted For a candidate, rather than Against the other. Brian Wilson was fond of saying that with one party in charge we'd hit the brick wall at 90 MPH, and with the other, 100 MPH.
Along those lines whichever party comes in 2nd, will be leveraged into incorporating the politics of the faction that splintered off from their hoped for majority. And the harder they fall the farther they'll have to swing.
In the "Land of the Free" it now takes most folks till mid summer to stop working exclusively to support Govt, and its meddlings with Every aspect of our lives.
For me it's Ron, "get rid of it all" Paul. I contend that we wouldn't need Govt's help if they weren't so busy breaking our backs 'Helping' us to pay for it. And no, that's not a 'Wall Street' "Greed is good" thing.
Economists who've refused to let ideology corrupt their accountings have noted that under Reagan's tax cuts for the 'evil rich' charitable giving from the private sector skyrocketed. JFK did the same tax cutting thing when he was in office. It's not a party thing. It just works. [in conjunction with tightening import tariffs to slave labor countries and export of investment money to same, along with SEC fire axing of domestic monopolies]
Without the seed money from the Reagan cuts we wouldn't have had the mis-investment of it in the dot com decade, which was Not properly overseen by the SEC and subsequently imploded.
If, as Americans, we really Do believe in freedom, human dignity and self determination not just for ourselves but for every person on earth, then duty calls to lead by example. And setting that example entails becoming the richest, most envied corner of the globe, by trimming Govt back to it's Constitutionally prescribed bounds.
In my experience most folks Are generous and open hearted types who want to, and will, help the down trodden when they can, but under this socialist nonsense, that option is just NA to most.
The sheer Envy our resultant wealth and domestic tranquility will engender, virtually assures the toppling from within of totalitarian regimes world wide both leftist and rightist, as their peoples rise to demand the same.
We now live in a country where armed, badge carrying enforcement agents from the Department of Agriculture can inflict legal consequences on private farm owners for planting one too many sq. yards of any given grain, while news anchor Sam Donalson was receiving 180K in subsidies to Not grow mohair on his goat ranch.
While I may be carrying coals to Newcastle, Cong. Paul has vid on YouTube. If anyone here doesn't know him, 10 minutes of your time will at the very least serve as kindling to spark a merry confab.
As Thom Paine put it;
"Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated."
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