(I wrote this as a comment over at Mike Flynn's, then decided to share my Great Wisdom -- cough, cough, cough -- with y'all.)
The older I get, the less I believe the great mass of mankind can be reasoned, schooled, propagandized or even tricked into self-government; and while most of them are god-fearing in church, law-abiding when the policeman is around and hard-working when the boss is watching, on their own they are solipsists of the first water. The extent we enjoy civil peace is precisely the extent to which our neighbors are convinced it's too much effort to bother us.
--I still think we are severally and each better off with less "government" (in the sense of control by external Authority) rather than more; but neither more nor less or even steady-on is as much of a boon as is often supposed by the various boosters of each.
(Y'get what y'get and if you don't want to live around bastards, either change your expectations or go live where there are fewer of them, if you can find such a place. Changing the political system or the Leaders won't help and you -- plus or minus some army -- aren't gonna kick 'em outta bastardy by persuasion, sweet reason or main force.)
BUILDING A 1:1 BALUN
4 years ago
8 comments:
Recommend bacon. Or a mix of orange sherbet with creamy vanilla ice cream.
Fact is, our .gov is more like a lawn than anything. You still have to fertilize it and mow it and maintain it, and sometiumes it seems more trouble than it's worth, and a lot of the time it's nasty and repulsive, but there it is, right out front. Not something you can fix once and it's good forever, but a constant drain on resources both physical and emotional. "leaving it be" is how it gets full of weeds and crap.
...Except I find the weeds in my lawn mostly fascinating. Government is more like moles, boring from within (and quite often from without -- vide C-SPAN).
Weeds are great when thats what you aim for. When you're aiming for "Lawn: Mk1, regulation height" the weeds are not so good. Have to agree all around on the moles, though.
How delightfully cynical!
Are people the product of their society, or is society the sum of its individuals? IF one had nothing but "good" people, would their society be - and STAY - "good"? Or if, as the progressives and Puritans thought, one could make a "good" society, would it make "good" people?
Or does the bell curve always apply?
There is a lot more 'silent majority' folks out here than there is on the web. Don't dismiss the people with their eyes and ears open but don't comment on a blog.
Most of us are old, gonna lose it all, and armed. Got nuthin' ta lose.
I think the bell curve always applies -- as does the necessity of "Making it too much trouble to bother us."
Good fences make good neighbors.
It doesn't take long watching a group of social primates to realize that rubbernecking, gossip, nosiness, and meddling are built into us at a very deep level.
What is to be done about that, I have no clue. It's not like we have the option to try civilization with parrots or rats instead.
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