Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Rebuilding





As von Clausewitz said -- more or less --  everything in war is simple, but all the simple things are hard.

As the fireworks began banging in town Sunday, I was busy tearing out and rebuilding corrals. This is the kind of taxing physical work that is good for my body and leaves plenty of time for my mind to puzzle at and worry over ideas and principles.

As I toil away at the reconstruction job, my mind has a lot of time to ponder “big issues” and to try to puzzle out a best course forward. As I work, when the wind is right, I can hear the distance-muffled blasts of fireworks.

Traditionally in America, fireworks have been used to celebrate the birthday of our nation. As I listen to the banging -- particularly the racket of big, expensive, "grownup" fireworks in the evening -- I can’t help but wonder how many folks give the tiniest thought to July 4, 1776.

As Americans we’re surrounded by political and ideological polarization. A great many of the people who live here would be happy to destroy the nation in order to get what they want, and most of what those folks want is other people’s stuff, along with the right to punish people who don’t look or think exactly as they do.

A larger number of the people who live here really don’t care what happens, so long as they can continue their daily routine of consumption and complaining.

Quite often people exclaim that the country is heading down the wrong path, that things didn’t used to be this bad. Plaintively, they wonder who will fix things for them, and make everything wonderful and nice again. "Hope and Change" didn’t work, and "Make America Great Again" doesn’t seem to be faring any better.

I think a lot of folks have forgotten that it’s not up to the President of the government to fix America.

For those who really want to make things better, I’d suggest forgetting about greatness and concentrating on making America America again. With July 4 just around the corner, perhaps a review of America’s very first official document is in order.

Let me just give you a hint.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed...

I’d suggest reading the whole thing, and discussing it with friends and family.

But what do I know? I’m not a lettered expert, nor am I “from the government.”

And here's a refreshing bit of reality from some young punk reporter. It's worth a gander, particularly if you're wondering how to best stay informed.

9 comments:

  1. Thanks for the post.

    I stay informed, to the extent that I do, by reading the blogs of those who do a much better job of it than I.

    Paul L. Quandt

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    1. Thanks for stopping by, Paul. How do you assess the veracity and utility of the info you read? We bloggers are a bunch of Sophists, you know. Well, I am at any rate.

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  2. Stopped at a gas station in your town today. A family with West Coast plates were refueling. A ten year old boy was misbehaving. Sassing, slapping and biting on his mothers buttocks. The Father, who sounded like English wasn't his first language, ignored the behavior. What a difference in cultural values. Dare say a Nebraska child acting like that would quickly find himself around back getting a sound spanking. If necessary, the locals present would assist.

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    1. Makes you fear for the future of civilization. Unfortunately, there's no shortage of similar behavior amongst the natives here.

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  3. I wanna holler, "I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it any more!"

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    1. +1. I wonder if journalists (pronounced urinalists) ever watch that film?

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  4. There are a lot of people that truly care what happens to America. Don't count them out just yet. Some are working toward solutions.

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    1. And certainly a lot more young people than people of my generation. They'll save the world. Then they'll write the history and rightly savage the shit slinging simians who decided to have their cake and eat it too.

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  5. I have not yet begun to fight.

    Strike? Never!

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