I've been thinking lately that the common prospect of what’s going on in Washington and in light of the recent mass election is although pretty typical on the surface, carries some serious undertones.
I don’t know about you, but I’m personally offended at all the hub-bub going on about the Christmas bomber. If you follow the news even casually you’ll hear debates and arguments about how the FBI should have defined him as an enemy combatant rather than reading him his rights and placing him in civilin court. The crux of the concern isn’t about whether or not he’d get the “right trial” its so that they could “more appropriately interrogate him”. Which of course means, so they can torture him.
Im disheartened to see so many people do not even hear the word torture anymore. Like with all other harsh concepts the speakers having thrown a hand full of more words, or syllables at a hard concept they have diluted it into something that isn’t even heard anymore. No longer do you hear “enhanced interrogations” even though it sounds better than “torture” but its still too much. The recent senator elect Brown here in mass, was clear and outspoken about needing to get this guy “properly interrogated” as if torture was the only way you can talk to someone who has committed a crime. Never mind innocent until proven guilty.
And its not that I think that Mr, light-my-balls-on-fire isn’t guilty, it’s the principal of the matter. If you have a standard for truth and justice, an approach to what you believe is the right way to prosecute a crime against a government or its people, well then that principal shouldn’t waver depending on geography, or religion or political popularity. It’s a principal, it never changes, it remains a cornerstone to a belief. That all men are created equal and that “In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial,” There’s no exceptions to that, it doesn’t say, that the bill of rights was written for only the superior peoples of the United States. It was written for all men as a set of ideals, and principals as an example to the world on how governments should act to its people and for its people. This ideal makes it a human right not just a citizens right. Which is why we fail so miserably in the eyes of the world.
The slippery slope here of course, is that who determines what a terrorist type crime against the United states or its people is? Technically all crime is against the US or its people, so one could conjure; and as its clearly manifested in this debate, and in the debate of the guy who shot of the Ft Hood community center. That anyone that the government wishes to remove from public trial, and place into a military tribunal, free to torture, and detain forever can do so and nothing and no one will ever stop them. In fact, it wont even be discussed.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Ask Why To Those Who Give You What
So I was surfing through some channels the other day, and there was one of those in depth commentaries on the “landmark healthcare bill” and why the public support is so lax. What floored me was when one reporter turned to the so called political expert and asks the two “most relevant questions”
“are the democrats just doing a bad job of selling the bill?” Or “are the people just fatigued from the process?” How about an alternate suggestion , what about; “maybe we the people know whats in the bill, and know the bill sucks for us the people”, and that's why we don't like it. Maybe; “we don't feel like supporting the insurance industry anymore”, or maybe “we as a majority want a public option, and maybe just maybe we want to see action BEFORE 2014?” I guess you didn't think of those questions did ya? Of course not.
Some 59% of the American people want a single payer or public option but it was quite literally the very first good idea that was killed in every version of the bill. The reason of course is that this option is the only, repeat ONLY portion of the healthcare bill that would actually force the insurance companies to lower their prices and therefore profits. Its the only model in witch any real change is possible. I challenge anyone to educate me where an industry for any reason has ever passed down cost savings to its customers. Why we somehow asked to believe that making the healthcare system more efficient and cheaper as a whole will trickle down to us makes my temporal lobe shudder. Did we already forget “Reaganomics”? And as my mother so eloquently put it to me the other night. “fuck trickle down”
“Oh its working in Massachusetts” bullshit. Nothing is working here. What we have here is a government mandate that if you cant afford insurance, then you will be fined until you get insurance. So just because you haven't got the money, they will take more money from you for not having the money to get the thing you would love to have if you had the money. And for those who qualify by not having enough money will be subsidized by the government so they can buy insurance. Brilliant isn't it? Well, guess what, now most people have had insurance for about 2 years now and surprise, premiums HAVE NOT GONE DOWN at all. Add to that the surprise that almost everyone they brought into the system with this new law, cant afford insurance on their own so their subsidized.
So the premiums haven't gone down, treatment is still expensive and reactive, and they didn't think that the people who didn't have insurance actually couldn't afford it. Maybe they thought people didnt get insurance because they like to live dangerously. Well way to think ahead assholes, the state is going bankrupt supporting this program and it doesn't have the money to carry all of these subsidies for all of these poor people, out of work people or otherwise broke people. Its borrowing money from the feds to keep the program going while we wait for the insurance companies to “trickle down” their pricing premiums which isn't going to happen because THEY DONT HAVE TOO. Not to mention, now instead of a 2 month wait to see your doctor its a 4 month wait. So people still go to the emergency room for preventive critical care, and people are still without insurance.
But guess what, the senate just passed the same fucking system for the rest of the country. The big difference between what we're running here in Assachusetts and the fed bill is that the feds are going to tax the shit out of us until 2014 to preload the coffers to finance the subsides when the time comes because they know they cant afford it as its not a self sustaining cost model. Good luck with that, how many of you assholes will be retired by then I wonder.
So those 30 million (out of 70 million who need it) Americans they brag about getting on the insurance plans will now be going to your doctor too. After all, before we started this shit there weren't enough doctors to treat us all, and now with the same supply and increased demand will be even worse. Which is genius to the insurance companies because they know; if you're making your premiums, and you cant get in to see a doctor, then you're not filing claims, and if you're not filing claims then they are not paying out. Which of course means; multimillion dollar bonuses, private jets and gold plated silverware. Who are the winners in healthcare reform again?
Around July of next year when the congressmen start up their campaigns for reelection they will sing and tote this bill as a huge victory for us common men, because they in their infinite wisdom and benevolent stewardship have managed to “contain healthcare inflation”, and “expand coverage” But it will be a lie. If Obama stands on his word that he wont sign anything without a public option then they will blame him for killing healthcare reform. But your smart right? You can see that this so called reform is just profiteering for the insurance lobbies who at date have 6 lobbyists for every 1 congressmen. You can see that there is no reform, and the so called bill is 1200 pages of weasel words and loopholes, spending programs for home states, and pork and fat and special interest crap that makes it just about worthless. The only positive note ive heard in this bill is the pre-existing condition clause. But with it not taking effect until 2014, fortunately only another 200 thousand or so people will die waiting.
And now their so tired of doing their jobs that they just want to get something, anything passed so they can move on and say they accomplished something. Because actually producing something thats good for the country is just too hard. Poor babies, fuck you. You know whats hard? Having to choose food over getting that thing that's growing out of the side of your neck looked at. And yes we're tired of hearing about this shit drone on too. After all we knew it was over and we had lost when you killed the public option. Liberman, good god what a failure of a human being. I myself am tired of hearing about it, but personally when I get tired of combat I give in and give people what they want, not give up.
So why do we keep reelecting these assholes? Pretty simple really; Come summer of 2010 we will either forget that they participated in fucking us over, believe their bullshit spin about why they fucked us over, or not believe that they fucked us over at all because we're simply to dumb/naive/ignorant to understand the real effect of the causes they propagate or get distracted like a 6 year old watching a clown magician at his shitty birthday party. “look swift boat captain....(dont notice Bush lied to you about why he invaded a country) evil boat captain! his medals are lies!.. (what happened to mission accomplished?) ehhh.. hurts my brain to even think about.
Im tired of hearing that the recession is over as well. Every time I hear “the recession is over” I think of Bush standing in front of that mission accomplished sign after we took Baghdad. The recession ain't fucking over, its just begun. The problem of course is the terminology. As far as economists define it, a “recession” is 2 consecutive quarters of economic contraction. (eg shrinking of the gross domestic product) But that's only one of many indicators of how the economy is actually doing. Sure wall street now is making money again, but whats that mean to us? Not a fucking thing. Layoffs are still happening every month and unemployment is still going up. Cost of living is still going up, propagated with states and local municipality's closing budget gaps by raising taxes on us people who cant afford to spend more for anything including xmass.
Price of food, still going up, utilities still going up, wages (if you're fortunate enough to even have a job) are either still flat, or going down. Interest rates on debt is going up like crazy and lenders are still not lending. But hey they have the cash to pay back the fed to free up those regulations on executive compensation. Foreclosures still going up, suicide going up, poverty going up, bankruptcy going up, crimes of desperation (like bank-robbery) going up and yet you turn on the news and you see a party on wall street and confetti about how the recession is over and we can start spending money on shit we dont need and cant afford.....again.
The reality is that this economic problem that we're living in is gonna stay with us for a while. Obama is right, it comes down to creating new jobs. In the last year companies have streamlined and stripped down so much, that they have realized that they can operate just as well on less fat. They will not be adding fat back onto their payrolls ever as they will of course choose to remain lean and profitable. New industry and new jobs will have to be invented and Joe-Sixpack-Union-Dude will have no place in this new economy. The new plants and factories will be in union-free states like Tennessee and South Dakota, where putting bolts on a car isn't worth 65$ an hour where the guy who actually has the skills to repair said car makes 12$. If the lenders were lending the cash would be available to build or expand factories, invest in research to develop those new products that would lead to those new jobs.
So just with this scratch in the surface, any hope that this quagmire will end in the next year or two is foolish to say the least. But hey, go spend! Buy more shit made by kids in other countries, give jobs to the guys who operate the cargo ships, the dock workers, the cashiers as wall-mart. Spend while interest rates are at record highs, while you're thinking of trading in that 3 bdrm home for a 2bd bedroom walkup before you get foreclosed on. Spend you'll get another unemployment check next month, and after all the recession is over! Whoo hoo!
We as a society are on the precipice of change that can end in only one of two ways. We've been on this edge for about 20 years now, and the lemmings have piled up behind us and now we're gonigt o have to push back or jump. Will it end in a revolution or total placation of society I wonder. There's really no middle. We're either going to get so fed up with the lies, the bullshit, the greed and the shitty magic show that we'll say fuck it and go to war against the leaders, vote them out of office, let the corrupt institutions fail, and withhold our precious dollars to pay off our debt and live within our means.
or will we bow down broken and whipped because that's what we're accustomed to. Chained to our debt and compounding interest as financial slaves that dictates the terms and conditions to every facet of our lives, distracted with shiny objects, banner ads and bite sized talking points tweeted to us 140 characters at a time until we dilute our rational thinking into something more obedient to those who wish to control us for profit. Bobble heads and forgiving to our incompetent representatives who's existence is hypocrisy. Afraid to speak up less have our tongues cut out or shouted down by the special interests and fear mongers who fight to maintain the status quoe.
I used to believe that the internet would bring upon the dawn of information and enlightenment, and that the availability of truth and information would over compensate for all the spin and lies that permeated the limited distribution channels of media at the time. Boy was I ever wrong. We as a society are so numbed by the static and pop ups, banner ads and flashy this and that, that most of the time we dont even pay attention to the cereal box as we eat our fruit loops anymore. We dont hear the message because it takes to long, or we were to distracted by multi tasking that what ever message there was is just another bleep in the background of the electronica.
Would my message be heard if it were tweeted to you? The world, life, politics, economics, and relationships are far to complicated to be understood with a sound bite. To think for yourself you must consume information, in depth and with contrast. You must question authority with practical skepticism and ask why to those who give you what.
“are the democrats just doing a bad job of selling the bill?” Or “are the people just fatigued from the process?” How about an alternate suggestion , what about; “maybe we the people know whats in the bill, and know the bill sucks for us the people”, and that's why we don't like it. Maybe; “we don't feel like supporting the insurance industry anymore”, or maybe “we as a majority want a public option, and maybe just maybe we want to see action BEFORE 2014?” I guess you didn't think of those questions did ya? Of course not.
Some 59% of the American people want a single payer or public option but it was quite literally the very first good idea that was killed in every version of the bill. The reason of course is that this option is the only, repeat ONLY portion of the healthcare bill that would actually force the insurance companies to lower their prices and therefore profits. Its the only model in witch any real change is possible. I challenge anyone to educate me where an industry for any reason has ever passed down cost savings to its customers. Why we somehow asked to believe that making the healthcare system more efficient and cheaper as a whole will trickle down to us makes my temporal lobe shudder. Did we already forget “Reaganomics”? And as my mother so eloquently put it to me the other night. “fuck trickle down”
“Oh its working in Massachusetts” bullshit. Nothing is working here. What we have here is a government mandate that if you cant afford insurance, then you will be fined until you get insurance. So just because you haven't got the money, they will take more money from you for not having the money to get the thing you would love to have if you had the money. And for those who qualify by not having enough money will be subsidized by the government so they can buy insurance. Brilliant isn't it? Well, guess what, now most people have had insurance for about 2 years now and surprise, premiums HAVE NOT GONE DOWN at all. Add to that the surprise that almost everyone they brought into the system with this new law, cant afford insurance on their own so their subsidized.
So the premiums haven't gone down, treatment is still expensive and reactive, and they didn't think that the people who didn't have insurance actually couldn't afford it. Maybe they thought people didnt get insurance because they like to live dangerously. Well way to think ahead assholes, the state is going bankrupt supporting this program and it doesn't have the money to carry all of these subsidies for all of these poor people, out of work people or otherwise broke people. Its borrowing money from the feds to keep the program going while we wait for the insurance companies to “trickle down” their pricing premiums which isn't going to happen because THEY DONT HAVE TOO. Not to mention, now instead of a 2 month wait to see your doctor its a 4 month wait. So people still go to the emergency room for preventive critical care, and people are still without insurance.
But guess what, the senate just passed the same fucking system for the rest of the country. The big difference between what we're running here in Assachusetts and the fed bill is that the feds are going to tax the shit out of us until 2014 to preload the coffers to finance the subsides when the time comes because they know they cant afford it as its not a self sustaining cost model. Good luck with that, how many of you assholes will be retired by then I wonder.
So those 30 million (out of 70 million who need it) Americans they brag about getting on the insurance plans will now be going to your doctor too. After all, before we started this shit there weren't enough doctors to treat us all, and now with the same supply and increased demand will be even worse. Which is genius to the insurance companies because they know; if you're making your premiums, and you cant get in to see a doctor, then you're not filing claims, and if you're not filing claims then they are not paying out. Which of course means; multimillion dollar bonuses, private jets and gold plated silverware. Who are the winners in healthcare reform again?
Around July of next year when the congressmen start up their campaigns for reelection they will sing and tote this bill as a huge victory for us common men, because they in their infinite wisdom and benevolent stewardship have managed to “contain healthcare inflation”, and “expand coverage” But it will be a lie. If Obama stands on his word that he wont sign anything without a public option then they will blame him for killing healthcare reform. But your smart right? You can see that this so called reform is just profiteering for the insurance lobbies who at date have 6 lobbyists for every 1 congressmen. You can see that there is no reform, and the so called bill is 1200 pages of weasel words and loopholes, spending programs for home states, and pork and fat and special interest crap that makes it just about worthless. The only positive note ive heard in this bill is the pre-existing condition clause. But with it not taking effect until 2014, fortunately only another 200 thousand or so people will die waiting.
And now their so tired of doing their jobs that they just want to get something, anything passed so they can move on and say they accomplished something. Because actually producing something thats good for the country is just too hard. Poor babies, fuck you. You know whats hard? Having to choose food over getting that thing that's growing out of the side of your neck looked at. And yes we're tired of hearing about this shit drone on too. After all we knew it was over and we had lost when you killed the public option. Liberman, good god what a failure of a human being. I myself am tired of hearing about it, but personally when I get tired of combat I give in and give people what they want, not give up.
So why do we keep reelecting these assholes? Pretty simple really; Come summer of 2010 we will either forget that they participated in fucking us over, believe their bullshit spin about why they fucked us over, or not believe that they fucked us over at all because we're simply to dumb/naive/ignorant to understand the real effect of the causes they propagate or get distracted like a 6 year old watching a clown magician at his shitty birthday party. “look swift boat captain....(dont notice Bush lied to you about why he invaded a country) evil boat captain! his medals are lies!.. (what happened to mission accomplished?) ehhh.. hurts my brain to even think about.
Im tired of hearing that the recession is over as well. Every time I hear “the recession is over” I think of Bush standing in front of that mission accomplished sign after we took Baghdad. The recession ain't fucking over, its just begun. The problem of course is the terminology. As far as economists define it, a “recession” is 2 consecutive quarters of economic contraction. (eg shrinking of the gross domestic product) But that's only one of many indicators of how the economy is actually doing. Sure wall street now is making money again, but whats that mean to us? Not a fucking thing. Layoffs are still happening every month and unemployment is still going up. Cost of living is still going up, propagated with states and local municipality's closing budget gaps by raising taxes on us people who cant afford to spend more for anything including xmass.
Price of food, still going up, utilities still going up, wages (if you're fortunate enough to even have a job) are either still flat, or going down. Interest rates on debt is going up like crazy and lenders are still not lending. But hey they have the cash to pay back the fed to free up those regulations on executive compensation. Foreclosures still going up, suicide going up, poverty going up, bankruptcy going up, crimes of desperation (like bank-robbery) going up and yet you turn on the news and you see a party on wall street and confetti about how the recession is over and we can start spending money on shit we dont need and cant afford.....again.
The reality is that this economic problem that we're living in is gonna stay with us for a while. Obama is right, it comes down to creating new jobs. In the last year companies have streamlined and stripped down so much, that they have realized that they can operate just as well on less fat. They will not be adding fat back onto their payrolls ever as they will of course choose to remain lean and profitable. New industry and new jobs will have to be invented and Joe-Sixpack-Union-Dude will have no place in this new economy. The new plants and factories will be in union-free states like Tennessee and South Dakota, where putting bolts on a car isn't worth 65$ an hour where the guy who actually has the skills to repair said car makes 12$. If the lenders were lending the cash would be available to build or expand factories, invest in research to develop those new products that would lead to those new jobs.
So just with this scratch in the surface, any hope that this quagmire will end in the next year or two is foolish to say the least. But hey, go spend! Buy more shit made by kids in other countries, give jobs to the guys who operate the cargo ships, the dock workers, the cashiers as wall-mart. Spend while interest rates are at record highs, while you're thinking of trading in that 3 bdrm home for a 2bd bedroom walkup before you get foreclosed on. Spend you'll get another unemployment check next month, and after all the recession is over! Whoo hoo!
We as a society are on the precipice of change that can end in only one of two ways. We've been on this edge for about 20 years now, and the lemmings have piled up behind us and now we're gonigt o have to push back or jump. Will it end in a revolution or total placation of society I wonder. There's really no middle. We're either going to get so fed up with the lies, the bullshit, the greed and the shitty magic show that we'll say fuck it and go to war against the leaders, vote them out of office, let the corrupt institutions fail, and withhold our precious dollars to pay off our debt and live within our means.
or will we bow down broken and whipped because that's what we're accustomed to. Chained to our debt and compounding interest as financial slaves that dictates the terms and conditions to every facet of our lives, distracted with shiny objects, banner ads and bite sized talking points tweeted to us 140 characters at a time until we dilute our rational thinking into something more obedient to those who wish to control us for profit. Bobble heads and forgiving to our incompetent representatives who's existence is hypocrisy. Afraid to speak up less have our tongues cut out or shouted down by the special interests and fear mongers who fight to maintain the status quoe.
I used to believe that the internet would bring upon the dawn of information and enlightenment, and that the availability of truth and information would over compensate for all the spin and lies that permeated the limited distribution channels of media at the time. Boy was I ever wrong. We as a society are so numbed by the static and pop ups, banner ads and flashy this and that, that most of the time we dont even pay attention to the cereal box as we eat our fruit loops anymore. We dont hear the message because it takes to long, or we were to distracted by multi tasking that what ever message there was is just another bleep in the background of the electronica.
Would my message be heard if it were tweeted to you? The world, life, politics, economics, and relationships are far to complicated to be understood with a sound bite. To think for yourself you must consume information, in depth and with contrast. You must question authority with practical skepticism and ask why to those who give you what.
My soul must be Iron
Wow this has been a real bad week for us Americans I tell you. Though what hurts me more than the total failure of healthcare reform has got to be the sneaking in an extension of the Patriot Act yet again. What you didnt heart about it? Well, surprise it was tacked on to the ass end of the defense appropriations bill and approved quietly because our congressional representatives do not believe in constitutional protections, civil rights, or civil liberty. We're at war our soldiers dieing, our captives tortured, our phones bugged, our email searched, our blogs indexed, our liberties worn down to a smooth numb like a river stone. Yet we move forward heads down, every news channel riveted on what Tiger woods does with his penis, not looking around trying like hell not to upset the status quoe or offend thy neighbor, even when thy neighbor steals our paper. Im just so damn disappointed I cant even write about it.
Much like the so called healthcare reform. If we as a people learn nothing else from this experience we're so patiently watching unfold before us like the fledgling magician at a kids party, is this one simple lesson. Our elected “leaders” (and I use the term as loose as a goose” have no interest in responding to anything that we want, or that is in our best interest. They don't like us, they don't care about us, they find us a nuisance that they have to manage and provide the perception of appeasement so we'll wander off back to where we came for sedated with crumbs and empty promises, carefully crafted rhetoric polished like a shining diamond and just as worthless.
How many more examples do we need to finally believe that they, as an organization are a complete failure and do nothing to enrich our lives but only act in their own self interest, that of their lobbyists, and of course their post-congressional carriers as consultants to whatever. 90% of the unites states blindly believe in god with not a single shred of evidence ever presented yet time and time again on national television we swallow bold face lies, ½ truths, fear mongering and quantifiable actions that effect our very own every day lives in the negative and never once do anything about it including turning our backs on these people and voting them out of office, calling them on their shit or god for bid, holding them accountable for their failures. Is personal responsibility such a diluted and obscure trait in society today that we cant even manage to hold our elected officials accountable for their actions?
Now that's a scary prospect. What has come of our society that our own inherent conditioning to blame an intangible for injustice and corruption is so absolute than when you actually do have a proven and unmistakable cause for a negative effect we can not bring ourselves to hold them accountable either? It would definitely explain how bush got reelected, it would also explain how mass murderers escape the death chamber because mommy didn't breast feed you and daddy kicked your ass. I speak of this often in my personal life about those who have betrayed me and how Ive cast them out of my sphere of love and light and I get a lot of shit for it. My value system dictates that I care not for intentions, motivations or justification for how you behave in life. I measure each individual I interact with or comes to my attention solely on their actions. Nothing more, and I really am that simple.
You can be a total asshole for 25 years, and one day you wake up and start being kind, generous or simply not an asshole, I will take you at new direction and respond to you appropriately. That's not to say I wont remember that you were an asshole for 25 years and take my time with buying into the new you. But I will give you the benefit of the doubt and say to myself.. “self, he did alright by them today, maybe he's not such a bad dude anymore....” But when you go and pull some shit, treat someone like shit, be mean and disrespectful, the badge wears on. I will keep my distance and hold you accountable for your choices. Because your actions are choices.
I dont believe your feelings make you do anything, I dont believe habits are permanent, I dont believe freewill is ever forfeit. Each and every day you choose to be the person you are though the actions you take throughout the day. Its completely up to you whether or not those actions are a positive force on the world, or a negative. Once you come to understand that its a choice to call someone a hurtful name, steal their bicycle or wear them down with negative energy, then you become aware of your own influence in the world. You adopt a sense of personal responsibility and through that, a morality of what behavior you find acceptable in yourself, and conversely in others. The fortitude in which you hold yourself to this morality, most importantly when its hard is what defines your character. Existing as a person of character who lives with code of morality is living with integrity. The greatest gift you can ever give yourself is integrity, as its one of the very few things that no one can ever corrupt or take from you.
Those without it will fear you for it, threaten you and otherwise challenge you. They will try to tarnish your armor of integrity not because you're wrong or you're misguided but because it reveals to them their own personal short comings and generates within them a foreboding sense of shame. This of course is a very uncomfortable sensation especially when experienced though the subconscious. Motivating people to make choices that in hindsight even to themselves inspires regret and self reflection. Had they a sense of personal responsibility, that would take this as a lesson and grow from it, and then themselves begin to develop a morality. But it takes great strength to look yourself in the eye and find yourself wanting. Courage and perseverance to not flinch, but rather make an alternate choice, a harder choice now a little more self aware at the ability to fail on the road less traveled.
Many perceive me to be a pessimist, but I retain that I'm the greatest optimist. For when I look at the world around me I see with naked eyes, evil, corruption, hate, greed and anger and do not flinch. I do not hide from the sour truths that I experience and endure breathing in its foul stench and washing its bitter taste across my pallet to fully experience it for what it is. I chew it with vigor to understand its texture and substance adding its subtle nuance and prominent flavors to my mental database of experience thereby expanding my wisdom. I will choke on its subsistence until I swallow and then as this honest morsel of life passes to my gullet I see the opportunity in the choices that we made that created this putrid beef and hope that the next time the circumstance present themselves, different choices will be made, people will change and the next empiricism will be more tolerable than the last.
Much like the so called healthcare reform. If we as a people learn nothing else from this experience we're so patiently watching unfold before us like the fledgling magician at a kids party, is this one simple lesson. Our elected “leaders” (and I use the term as loose as a goose” have no interest in responding to anything that we want, or that is in our best interest. They don't like us, they don't care about us, they find us a nuisance that they have to manage and provide the perception of appeasement so we'll wander off back to where we came for sedated with crumbs and empty promises, carefully crafted rhetoric polished like a shining diamond and just as worthless.
How many more examples do we need to finally believe that they, as an organization are a complete failure and do nothing to enrich our lives but only act in their own self interest, that of their lobbyists, and of course their post-congressional carriers as consultants to whatever. 90% of the unites states blindly believe in god with not a single shred of evidence ever presented yet time and time again on national television we swallow bold face lies, ½ truths, fear mongering and quantifiable actions that effect our very own every day lives in the negative and never once do anything about it including turning our backs on these people and voting them out of office, calling them on their shit or god for bid, holding them accountable for their failures. Is personal responsibility such a diluted and obscure trait in society today that we cant even manage to hold our elected officials accountable for their actions?
Now that's a scary prospect. What has come of our society that our own inherent conditioning to blame an intangible for injustice and corruption is so absolute than when you actually do have a proven and unmistakable cause for a negative effect we can not bring ourselves to hold them accountable either? It would definitely explain how bush got reelected, it would also explain how mass murderers escape the death chamber because mommy didn't breast feed you and daddy kicked your ass. I speak of this often in my personal life about those who have betrayed me and how Ive cast them out of my sphere of love and light and I get a lot of shit for it. My value system dictates that I care not for intentions, motivations or justification for how you behave in life. I measure each individual I interact with or comes to my attention solely on their actions. Nothing more, and I really am that simple.
You can be a total asshole for 25 years, and one day you wake up and start being kind, generous or simply not an asshole, I will take you at new direction and respond to you appropriately. That's not to say I wont remember that you were an asshole for 25 years and take my time with buying into the new you. But I will give you the benefit of the doubt and say to myself.. “self, he did alright by them today, maybe he's not such a bad dude anymore....” But when you go and pull some shit, treat someone like shit, be mean and disrespectful, the badge wears on. I will keep my distance and hold you accountable for your choices. Because your actions are choices.
I dont believe your feelings make you do anything, I dont believe habits are permanent, I dont believe freewill is ever forfeit. Each and every day you choose to be the person you are though the actions you take throughout the day. Its completely up to you whether or not those actions are a positive force on the world, or a negative. Once you come to understand that its a choice to call someone a hurtful name, steal their bicycle or wear them down with negative energy, then you become aware of your own influence in the world. You adopt a sense of personal responsibility and through that, a morality of what behavior you find acceptable in yourself, and conversely in others. The fortitude in which you hold yourself to this morality, most importantly when its hard is what defines your character. Existing as a person of character who lives with code of morality is living with integrity. The greatest gift you can ever give yourself is integrity, as its one of the very few things that no one can ever corrupt or take from you.
Those without it will fear you for it, threaten you and otherwise challenge you. They will try to tarnish your armor of integrity not because you're wrong or you're misguided but because it reveals to them their own personal short comings and generates within them a foreboding sense of shame. This of course is a very uncomfortable sensation especially when experienced though the subconscious. Motivating people to make choices that in hindsight even to themselves inspires regret and self reflection. Had they a sense of personal responsibility, that would take this as a lesson and grow from it, and then themselves begin to develop a morality. But it takes great strength to look yourself in the eye and find yourself wanting. Courage and perseverance to not flinch, but rather make an alternate choice, a harder choice now a little more self aware at the ability to fail on the road less traveled.
Many perceive me to be a pessimist, but I retain that I'm the greatest optimist. For when I look at the world around me I see with naked eyes, evil, corruption, hate, greed and anger and do not flinch. I do not hide from the sour truths that I experience and endure breathing in its foul stench and washing its bitter taste across my pallet to fully experience it for what it is. I chew it with vigor to understand its texture and substance adding its subtle nuance and prominent flavors to my mental database of experience thereby expanding my wisdom. I will choke on its subsistence until I swallow and then as this honest morsel of life passes to my gullet I see the opportunity in the choices that we made that created this putrid beef and hope that the next time the circumstance present themselves, different choices will be made, people will change and the next empiricism will be more tolerable than the last.
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