We're a labeled people. Look around and everything has a label. A lot has been made of Sarah Palin and Going Rogue. The only thing she did do was move outside of the Republican plan for her (remain silent) and articulate her viewpoints with all of the eloquence a Ms. Wasilla could expect to do. However, Sarah Palin is not the source of our problems, but a sympton. The roots go back more than 200 years.
In his farewell address to the nation, George Washington warned against the "spirit of the party." Ironically, most of what he warned us about was not only done later anyway, but as he imagined, we would regret it. Instead of listening to candidates for their own worth, we started evaluating them based on a simple dichotomy (federalist or anti-federalist, Democrat or Whig, Democrat or Republican). It got so bad that one of the candidates for mayor in Houston said he would simply go around and tell people he was conservative. Thanks for the detail pal.
It's almost as if our nation has become a nation of dichotomy. We choose between tastes great and less filling, boxers or briefs, cream or sugar, right or wrong, black or white. The complexities of life have all faded away until we are left nothing resembling what our forefathers wanted. They envisioned 535 separate individuals all trying to do what was best for their consitutents. Now, we have two groups trying to do what is best for the group. Even other countries with multiple parties have it wrong according to Washington. Force people to choose the person and not the donkey or elephant.
The problem has become so pervasive that some people in the schools go into dichomatic mode when evaluating children. If Johnny is acting up in class then maybe Johnny has ADHD. Well, either he has ADHD or he is bipolar. Remember, it MUST be one or the other. Thus, the wisdom is passed down, "if the drugs improve his behavior then we know our assessment was correct." Ah yes, give anyone a horse tranquilizer and their behavior is destined to improve. As I've always said, a sleeping student is a behaving student.
Naturally, we don't want to investigate whether the misbehavior is environmental in nature. That would break up that great dichotomy we have working. So, we continue in our life with competing dichotomies. This is why our lives as consumers have become easier as well. Why choose between 20 stores when two will do. Let's boil down our choice of computers down to Apple or PC. Companies consolidate because people seem just so overwhelmed by the choices. They are used to having it simplified for them. Even in the sports world, I get asked if I am a Texas fan or A&M fan. When I say neither they are left bewildered.
So, when we move back to the world of Palin we must remember it isn't a world that Palin or even John McCain has wrought. We brought this on ourselves. When political candidates are boiled down to resumes and physical profiles we have to expect this. Barack Obama was chosen much the same way in the beginning. We just lucked out in that he had substance behind him. Ask yourselves this question: is Sarah Palin really any dumber than George W. Bush or Rick Perry? Maybe that's a debate for a different day, and what do you know, this time we have a choice of three.
The biggest problem I have with the dull bulbs that have occupied the White House (Bush Jr, Reagan, et al) is that they have surrounded themselves with people that have been all too willing to get things done for their own ends. Reagan had more people in his administration indicted and convicted than any in U.S. history. Bush could rival that if Congress and the Justice Department really wanted to press the issue.
Being smart enough to know what you do not know is a big start. Hiring people that know and want what is best for the US at heart is the final step. Then, any simpleton can listen and follow sage advice. It's when that advice is jaded that we have serious problems.
You know, for a housewife/PTA president or even a small business owner in Wasilla, Sarah Palin would probably not be considered stupid. It was putting her (or trying to) in line for the White House behind an old guy with a bad heart that exposed her limitations.
I mean, hell, I consider myself pretty intelligent for the most part. Actually I probably consider myself a heck of lot smarter than Palin. I could at least list all the newspapers I read, and I have a house FULL of books. But would I consider myself smart enough to deal with world events and challenges, or the constant pressure of the White House?
No.
And here's where I am ultimately smarter than Palin: I can admit it.
An engineer, construction worker, and economist are stranded on an island with a can of beans. The engineer says if they tilt the can at an angle the the sun can melt the lid. The construction worker said they could throw the can against a rock and open it that way. The economist says, "no, I got it, let's ASSUME we have a can opener."
damn Carguy, that was no joke!
Economics, one of my favorite subjects. I was pretty good at it too. Got an "A" and a "B+" in college.
But that certainly only qualifies me to relay this joke........
Did you hear the one about the Economics professor who gave the SAME FINAL EXAM every year...he just CHANGED the ANSWERS.
I'm going to let a real economist field that one Alienhunter.
True, and dare I say it...the line can become blurry...
How about this for a subject.
I think this may be the latest tack from Fox News because my noer buddy is obsessed with it lately.
Are we experiencing inflation? He contends that because the dollar has been devalued that a left-handed person would insist that it's called inflation. And, of cousr, Obama's insanity is causing it all. He's an MBA dude so I can only counter with somewhat nebulous statements regarding 'old school economic theory', stagflation as an economic rarity, and the pressure of global markets impact on the status of the dollar. Any takers in the house...
Indeed, and brilliantly said. The question is what percentage of Americans (and not just teabaggers) could even come up with an approximate summary of that quote. People simply can't campaign like that. They have to call themselves conservative and their opponent socialist without the explanation of what those two positions entone. To put it another way, if you laid out both without calling it by their names how many would choose socialism and how many would choose unfettered capitalism.
I would defy any rightward person to dispute:
"To create conditions in which competition will be as effective as possible, to supplement it where it cannot be made effective, to provide the services which, in the words of Adam Smith, "though they may be in the highest degree advantageous to a great society, are, however, of such a nature, that the profit could never repay the expense to any individual or small number of individuals"--these tasks provide, indeed, a wide and unquestioned field for state activity. In no system that could be rationally defended would the state just do nothing. An effective competitive system needs an intelligently designed and continuously adjusted legal framework as much as any other. Even the most essential prerequisite of its proper functioning, the prevention of fraud and deception (including exploitation of ignorance), provides a great and by no means yet fully accomplished object of legislative activity."
- Friedrich A. Hayek -
yep, absoluuteely.
I contend that what the right is fighting for is not even conservatism (more Hayek). Conservatives have completely lost the substance of their 'beliefs' and are left only with the flavor. And the flavor tastes like sh*t!
Outstanding piece of work today Scott.
As they say, "we have identified the enemy and it is us."
Now, how do we fix this? We've got to do a better job in educating our young people. And yet, with parents less and less involved, that's more and more work on our educators.
When I was in school (the sixties) at least the teachers were given kids that were open vessels, ready to be taught. (Maybe not eager, but ready)Now, (and I hate how this is gonna sound) a lot of kids are "already broken" and the teacher has to first diagnose their individual problem BEFORE any teaching can commence. This disrupts the entire process and effects the "final product".
Maybe the only way we can "survive" as a people is to "limit the options at the salad bar".