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The beginning of the End


Thales

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This is my first topic/post in Look out so please forgive me.

 

 

What I believe is wrong with the world:

Subtitled: A relatively short diatribe.

 

 

It seems to me that in the recent past(I am only 25 years old) most of the conspiracy theories on government and its overreaches have been diseminated and dominated by a hard Right fringe. This is not limited to "right" or "left". Oswald, for example, springs to mind as atleast someone that fits into the "left wing conspiracy nut" narative. But in reference to government, it is the right that has historically been associated with distrust of big Government. Understandably they are the ones most likely to be concerned about governmental corruption and its effects on liberty because they have been bred with an innate sense of fear towards centralized governmental power. Traditionally, liberals on the other hand have atleast been able to see the positive benefits that government can bring to society, even if this sometimes means a certain ammount of waste and bureaucracy must be stomached.

 

I have of late, however, felt that we are now entering a crucial phase in the still ongoing experiment that is Democracy. I do not want to pigeon hole anyone. But Lee and Russ, I've just listened to your podcast and would like to say that I really appreciate your thoughts, you both strike me as somewhat liberal guys. Hell, your entire age cohort(generally speaking: Baby Boomers) took it upon yourselves to bring about both the civil rights reforms and the peace/love movement of the sixties. But the change I believe we all sense has shifted the distrust of Government/Capitalism(what I would generally call: Power) away from a right leaning or left leaning base to encompasse a much broader spectrum of the population. Most people aren't able to see root causes, but they can atleast sense when something is deeply wrong.

 

It doesn't take a reverand or rabbi to see images of a holiday shopper macing people for an xbox or a Cop pepper spraying some "punk" college kids for sitting on the wrong piece of grass, to make a gut "Moral" judgement that something has gone terribly wrong with our society. Whether you believe consumerism or poorly washed hippies are our biggest problems today I believe it is hard to justify treating each other so "Un-Civily". Whether you are religious or not(and I am distinctly not), I think we should all be able to agree with Jesus of Nazarath; "Treat others as you would like to be treated".

 

It is because of this utter lack of respect for ones fellow man that I believe we face such monumental problems today. From my point of view, a big part of the problems in our society is the fact that we have lost our sense of a moral compass. We have gotten to a point where it is acceptable by a majority of our population, to steal form each other, mistreat each other, and generally hate each other for simply having a slightly different viewpoint on any given subject. We are now taught not to love our brother, but to fear him. To bring it to the most simplistic levels, I think that the majority of Americans today would see no problem with keeping the extra money that a Cashier at a department store or fast food joint gave us inadvertantly when making change. Or for example, if in a rush, a clerk at the grocery store forgets to ring up an item or two, thats just the cost of doing business right? Part of this is the narative that corporations make so much money that its no big deal. Its like finding a 20 Dollar Bill. No ones really gets hurt right? Someone else would have picked it up anyways... It is not a gigantic leap from this mentality... Something for nothing, your mistake is my gain, that leads to much larger problems like mortgage fraud and insider trading in Congress. I mean hell, if Representative Bo Diddly from Sasafras makes 20 grand on an inverse ETF by dragging his feet on a bill why can't I? But it is this systemic, society wide corruption the lies at the root of all of our problems.

 

In short: YOU have a moral responsibility to tell the guy at Wendy's if he gives you your food without charging you. YOU have a moral responsibility to vote in the best interests of the American people and not drag your feet as a member of congress. And as someone doing "God's Work'" YOU have a moral-fucking-responsibility if not to "Humanity" or "America", then atleast to a shareholder that may want to own your stock for more than a year or two. Because, my friend, there are too many lamp posts and pitchfork weilding vilagers for YOU to be beholden to no one.

 

 

I apoligize if this is disjointed/lacks correctness in regard to spelling or gramar. Like everyone, I feel strongly about current events and wrote it as a stream of consciousness. I wrote the title before any of the body and so if you find yourself scratching your head as to the connection I would simply say that I believe the "end" is what we are facing if we don't address the societal problems mentioned in the above text.

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Wow.

 

I happen to be with political people at the moment. I go between insider and outsider status regularly.

 

Here is a thought - American political regionalism ended with TV but is re-emergent with the Internet. The regionalism we now are familliar with is urban vs rural. But there are much more pronounced differences between groups like Midwestern progressives, New England liberals, Southern conservatives and Western libertarians.

 

Our biggest problem in political discourse is the McDonalds/Burger King brand war between Democrats and Republicans. They both sell "fast food" politics.

 

A concerted effort to dismantle the electoral college would end the two party hegemony over political power and regionalism would re emerge which would be healthy IMO

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Wow.

 

I happen to be with political people at the moment. I go between insider and outsider status regularly.

 

Here is a thought - American political regionalism ended with TV but is re-emergent with the Internet. The regionalism we now are familliar with is urban vs rural. But there are much more pronounced differences between groups like Midwestern progressives, New England liberals, Southern conservatives and Western libertarians.

 

Our biggest problem in political discourse is the McDonalds/Burger King brand war between Democrats and Republicans. They both sell "fast food" politics.

 

A concerted effort to dismantle the electoral college would end the two party hegemony over political power and regionalism would re emerge which would be healthy IMO

 

 

We can't get the current types of folks who are in Congress to do this, or to do anything useful, for that matter. We need to find the best citizens in our communities, beg them to run for Congress, and support them financially and morally and in every other way.

 

And we must make sure that they pledge not to accept one cent from Special Interests groups.

 

The ballot we are handed at election time is generally a choice of voting for one criminal or another. And the way Congress is currently structured, the job consists of 1)fund raising, 2) fund raising, and 3) saying the catchy phrases to their constituents that market researchers tell them will result in the most votes. This is not what we want to have continue.

 

Nor do we want to have continue the wars between R's and D's where people argue about which party's politicians are worst. No one can praise or defend their own side though, because none of these people are praiseworthy. So political discussion consists of putting down the side one dislikes the most. It is no surprise that not a lot of constructive things result from such "discussions."

 

Another problem is propaganda. Propaganda works. That's why Special Interests pay so much for it. Because it's worth it. People constantly vote against their own best interests because they believe the propaganda on their radio or TeeVee. There are people who are a total waste of oxygen, who get paid big bucks because they give good propaganda-- i.e. they stir people up into a rage against the party of which they are not members.

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