What May Be Coming

I must admit ahead of time that what I have to say may be one of the many things one just can’t say in public. Sort of like mentioning to a man that his pants are still unzipped, or to a woman that her skirt is caught in back in the band of her underpants.
I’m sure this will give you an idea of how unacceptable what I have to say may be. But I still think the time has come for me to say it.

There are three major forces in this country that do not work: Democracy, Free Enterprise, and “Freedom and Liberty,” George Bush’s favorite, but least dispensed value. All thinking human beings need to start talking about these concepts, what has happened to them, and what can be done about them. I’ve talked to myself about these matters, and I’m no expert, so I’m calling on those of you who care to join in with me, as well as with others in the hope that we can contribute to saving this nation.

First, we have to admit that there are all kinds of people, with all kinds of mental capacities, all kinds of education (or lack thereof), and all kinds of motivation. One of the most motivational forces in this country at this time is religion, especially Christianity. We would like to think of its values as all-encompassing, because many of its values are also shared by many other beliefs, including those of agnostics and atheists. Christianity in this country at this time, especially that of the evangelicals, however, has gone completely out of control. It is their belief that the faiths and beliefs of others are meaningless and unacceptable, and that they must be converted or dissed.

To digress for a moment, the human mind is influenced by a number of things. First is the IQ with which we are born. This is followed by the education or lack thereof. And this in turn includes values learned through experience or religious training. (I attended a very good religious school for three years, and was then nearly thrown out because I refused to join the church. I am now an atheist, though I share many of the values I learned at that school.)

There are human characteristics which, fortunately for animals, do not seem to apply to any other animal. Starting with the least harmful, they include inability to reason, sloth, and stupidity. At the very top is Unmitigated Evil. Evil in the form of street gangs is fairly far down on the list because their opportunities are also fairly far down on the list.
Evil is at its most unmitigated, however, when it is used for purposes of personal greed and accumulation of powers in order to control other humans. And that brings me back to why Democracy is not working, and to the unzipped zipper.

In this world full of information (understood or not) as used by media and all the way up to the Presidency to further their own interests, it is easy for the people who are barely able to qualify as voters to be led to the choices they make without being able to reason them out. There are many humans on this level, and they are VALUABLE, because they represent sheer numbers. We need to find a way to serve everyone without USING them.

Next on the list is Free Enterprise. Here, once again, we have an area in which EVIL thrives. We live on a planet which we are increasingly rapidly laying bare. The human population is growing out of hand, and the natural resources are being depleted by humans. Pristine resources, created by the God so many revere, once depleted, will never be pristine again. Yet many humans would rather use them up than control our numbers and accommodate our lifestyles to the animals and natural beauty which are being sacrificed on the altar of greed. In addition, as technology grows and diminishes the numbers of individuals required to serve it, more and more jobs in the bottom pay levels are being replaced, leaving those people nowhere to go for a living or a sense of being needed or pride in accomplishment.

And finally we come to Freedom and Liberty, Bush’s favorite boast about his administration. He has set out, as he has said, by the will of God, to bring Freedom, Liberty, and Democracy to the rest of the world. And his Crusade, symbolized by his “farewell” to his office as president, grows increasingly urgent and transparent with possible hints as to what else he has in mind as the “War President” before he leaves.