Can Governments Anywhere still Govern?
I saw several polls this week which generated the topic above. First was a poll showing Bill Clinton was twice as popular as any of the recent Presidents. Then came a poll which indicated that Obama was at his lowest support level. Then came a poll which showed Hilliary Clinton had some strong poll opposition. Then there are the endless polls which show Congressmen have such really low poll support and The Tea Party is at it’s lowest level. And so it goes, many people seem anti anyone in both parties. A strong majority is not for anyone.
The question naturally arises, well just what political leader in power has strong popular support anywhere among the American public, and in most cases their own country? In other words, for those who say Obama is a weak and ineffectual President, what current leader in power anywhere do they consider a strong, effective leader? Clearly, across the globe, there is widespread and intense opposition to just about any political leader. In countries where you ‘love’ the leader or face the consequences personally, the ‘democratic’ vote for the leader is quite impressive——North Korea, Russia, China, Iran, etc. Those elections are about as suspenseful and thrilling as American Corporate Board member elections. There is never a lot of debate or suspense there either. Many stockholders, like myself, don’t even bother to vote in these elections. Nor do I vote on that part of a general election ballot where it says in a non partisan way “vote for 6 judges” and there are a whole bunch of candidates. I don’t know a single thing about any of them. On what basis am I voting for a candidate? One would need to find a way to stand out someway. If you ever see the name Reginald Van Honschinvel III on the ballot you will realize I have decided to run in that race. Of course it might be more successful to run as Bozo.
Considering all of the above it is clear that people are dissatisfied with the direction things are going almost everywhere—except for the 1-5 percenters in all countries. Life for them is going pretty well, at least financially. In terms of personal contentment, that is another story. The ‘Donald Trumps’ of the world don’t seem to be of the zippidy-doo-Daa-Day, tip-toe-through-the tulips, contentment type. They pile their money higher and higher and yet most of them, if they really smiled or laughed, would probably fracture their faces in the process. Like who would really want to spend any time in the company of Trump, Limbaugh, Palin, Koch Brothers, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and so on. Not to worry, all of them would be more comfortable on a date with a large mirror.
If all these polls can be believed, and I believe they can, then more and more of us are becoming dissatisfied with life in general. How can this be when we are surrounded morning to night with endless gadgets designed to amuse, educate, and make life physically easier for us? Even the poorest can own many of these gadgets. Those of us who have it ‘made in the shade’, are well aware most others do not, and are suffering. My own nature, that of a self made semi-hermit, is designed to wall-off so much of the misery in which so many others wallow. Yet the truth is clear-enough, one cannot be completely contented when so many others, others who are essentially good people, cannot be contented.
Humans have a genetic ethical nature, and this potential probably varies like any other human characteristic. It is the development of this ethical potential which determines how contented we end up in life. When the least fortunate no longer count in our world, this attitude comes with a cost, and the cost is an inability to achieve much contentment in our own lives.
Genetics may not mean everything, but it means a lot. Our environment may not mean everything but it counts a lot. The place and era of our birth may not mean everything but it means a lot. The Golden Rule may not be obligatory, but it means almost everything---if any peace and prosperity for all are to be achieved. Responsible reproduction may not be a responsibility the human species has yet evolved to accept, but humans, like any other species, are now paying a price for overpopulating our globe, which does mean everything for civilized living. Our environment may not mean everything in the absence of overpopulation, but when overpopulation occurs and natural resources remain limited, well, the shit then hits the fan, and everybody, everywhere, is going to find themselves in the midst of a chaotic and merciless competition for these limited natural resources. It has always been Mother Nature who corrects overpopulation. Humans, at this point in the evolutionary process, have the intellect to understand overpopulation, but are blindsided personally by emotional and cultural tradition. No one is going to tell us how many kids we can have. Very well then, Mother Nature will deal the consequences. Most of us know that the Middle East has forever been a cauldron of revenge and violence, and when the violence erupts gas prices soar. But that doesn’t stop many of us from buying gas guzzlers and then becoming apoplectic when the price of gas goes up. Like who could have ever envisioned such a situation happening? Duh.
Governments are failing us now because the Golden Rule is rapidly being replaced by pure self serving politics and faith based inherited, or marriage adopted, religious fervor. Governments are failing because too few are willing to sacrifice in any manner for the good of all. After greedily borrowing ourselves into huge debt, no one is amendable to everyone paying off the debt on a graduated scale with the wealthy paying more than the poor. Instead, each political party is determined that the base of the other party is going to pay the piper. The wealthy now can control elections, corporations having now been elevated by the Supreme Court to the status of being people. The party that wins cannot implement their programs because the minority party can block most legislation. In other words, the losers demand they get their way or next to nothing will be passed. Thus, we now have a democracy in which neither party can govern. Not good. Perhaps we need a democracy in which the winning party gets their way on everything, and if the people don’t like the results then a different party can be voted in the next election, and then they get to do everything their way. An evolved checks and balances too often just freezes everything in place, creating a blueprint for disaster and endless frustration.
Most people seem to have this vague feeling things are not well almost everywhere. And most everyone feels hopeless and powerless. Below are some pertinent quotations:
"Incompetence is vanity and PR and people who talk about 'massaging' or positioning' or 'spin control'. It's a society that celebrates style over substance, image over reality, credentials over experience; a society that embraces the credo of the Philadelphia sheriff John Green---'Fake it till you make it'; a society devoted to consuming and acquiring, to self-fulfillment and self-indulgence, a society infatuated with money, power, sex, and drugs; a narcissistic, solipsistic, materialistic society saturated with advertising, dominated by entertainment, and living only for the here and now." Art Carey (American editor and author)
"But though the world roars and rages about us, we must secure our peace of mind, a quiet place of tranquility and of order and of purpose within our own selves. For it is doubt and uncertainty of purpose and confusion of values which unnerves men. Peace of mind comes to men only when having faced all the issues clearly and without flinching, they have made their decision and are resolved.....'You came into a great heritage made by the insight and the sweat and the blood of inspired and devoted and courageous men; thoughtlessly and in utmost self indulgence you have all but squandered this inheritance. Now only by the heroic virtues which made this inheritance can you restore it again.' It is written, 'You took the good things for granted. Now you must earn them again'. It is written, 'For every right that you cherish, you have a duty which you must fulfill. For every hope that you entertain, you have a task that you must perform. For every good that you wish to preserve, you will have to sacrifice your comfort and your ease. There is nothing for nothing any longer'......So here we are today. We are where we are because whenever we had a choice to make, we have chosen the alternative that required the least effort at the moment. There is organized mechanized evil loose in the world. But what has made possible its victories is the lazy, self-indulgent materialism, the amiable, lackadaisical, footless, confused complacency of the free nations of the world. They have dissipated, like wastrels and drunkards, the inheritance of freedom and order that came to them from hardworking, thrifty, faithful, believing and brave men. The disaster in the midst of which we are living is a disaster in the character of men. It is a catastrophe of the soul, of a whole generation which had forgotten, had lost, and had renounced the imperative and indispensable virtues of laborious, heroic, and honorable men." Walter Lippman. (American reporter, political commentator)
"We have built rockets and spaceships and shuttles; we have harnessed the atom, we have dazzled a generation with a display of our technological skills. But we still spend millions of dollars on aspirin and psychiatrists and tissues to wipe away the tears of anguish and uncertainty that result from our confusion and our emptiness....The closed circle of pure materialism is clear to us now---aspirations become wants, wants become needs, and self-gratification becomes a bottomless pit. All around us we have seen success in this world's terms become ultimate and desperate failures. Teenager and college students, raised in affluent surroundings and given all the material comforts our society can offer, commit suicide. Entertainer and sports figures achieve fame and wealth but find the world empty and dull without the solace of stimulation of drugs. Men and women rise to the top of their professions after years of struggling. But despite their apparent success, they are driven nearly mad by a frantic search for diversions, new mates, games, new experiences---anything to fill the diminishing interval between their existence and eternity---the way to serve yourself is to serve others; and that Aristotle was right, before them, when he said the only way to assure yourself happiness is to learn to give happiness." Mario Cuomo. (U.S. Governor)
"Only when the last tree had died
And the last river been poisoned
And the last fish been caught
Will we realize that we cannot eat money." Cree Indian saying
"We now communicate with everyone, and say absolutely nothing. We have reconstructed the Tower of Babel. and it is a television's antenna (and lots of other gadgets). A thousand voices producing a daily parody of democracy, in which everyone's opinion is afforded equal weight, regardless of substance or merit. Indeed, it can even be argued that opinions of real weight tend to sink with barely a trace in television's ocean of banalities." Ted Koppel (American broadcast journalist)
"Two nations; between whom there is no intercourse and no sympathy; who are as ignorant of each other's habits, thoughts, and feelings, as if they were dwellers in different zones, or inhabitants of different planets; who are formed by a different breeding, are fed by a different food, are ordered by different manners, and are not governed by the same laws. 'You speak of-- ' said Egremont, hesitantly, 'THE RICH AND THE POOR'." Benjamin Disraeli (British statesman)
"No nation can last, which has made a mob of itself, however generous at heart. It must discipline it's passions, and direct them or they will discipline it, one day, with scorpion-whips. Above all, a nation cannot last in a money-making job; it cannot with impunity,--it cannot with existence---go on despising literature, despising science, despising nature, despising compassion, and concentrating its soul on Pence." John Ruskin (British writer).
"In the history of mankind many republics have risen, have flourished for a less or greater time, and then have fallen because their citizens lost the power of governing themselves and thereby of governing their state; and in no way has this loss of power been so often and so clearly shown as in the tendency to turn the government into a government primarily for the benefit of one class instead of a government for the benefit of the people as a whole." Teddy Roosevelt (American President)
"HOW MANY TIMES CAN A MAN TURN HIS HEAD, AND PRETEND THAT HE JUST DOESN'T SEE?"
