Another Day, Another Dollar...
Welcome to the anniversary of the dropping of the first Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima, back in 1945.
I had to begin with that, because the song "You dropped a bomb on me" starts playing in my head whenever I hear about another wasteful government program.
I'm sure you're like most people when it comes to waste, right?
You don't waste things such as food, utilities, and your time.
I mean who, in their right mind turns on the faucet, and then goes out to run some errands?
(aside from possibly some of my "sub-cultured neighbors")
And unless you're a rotten cook (or really despised that take out) you usually don't go tossing dinner in the garbage.
Well, there ARE people that do just that.
Trouble is, they do it SO DAMN WELL.
(Just look around ANY blighted section of ANY city...look at all the trash, and I don't mean those with TWO LEGS)
Be nice to harness that wasteful behavior and put it to good PRODUCTIVE use.
Imagine the feats this nation could pull off IF that were the case.
Every day, many of you out there head off to your place of employment for the sole purpose of making your financial ends meet. And wasting that money is NOT on your short list. You've got scads of things that hard-earned money can be used for, and NONE of them have the word "waste" in it, right?
Today's world is a far cry from that of decades past, especially when it comes to wasting things.
Now, we DID go through a time in the 60s and 70s when we were told to not toss trash along the highways (remember the commercial with the American Indian crying when a bag of crap was tossed at his feet?), and our parents ALWAYS reminded us to finish our dinner (even the veggies) because "There are children starving in Africa that would LOVE to eat as well as you do".
So...what happened to all that anyway?
Here we are, almost ten years into the 21st century, and we're either right back where we started...or worse off.
And leading this cavalcade of moronic behavior is none other than our very own FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.
But you know what the WORSE aspect of all this is?
The FEDS are talking out of BOTH sides of their damn mouths.
On the ONE hand, they say we "need" to "green up" the Earth...ASAP, and they've got tons of notions they want implemented.
Now I deal with RESPECTING the EARTH. After all, this planet is allowing us all to LIVE here, isn't it?
But there is a point at which even I will draw that line in the sand.
On the OTHER hand, the FEDS are WASTING TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS on useless projects, ideas, and programs designed only for ONE thing...CONTROL.
Somehow, the government doesn't want all this "free thinking" around.
Excuse me, but didn't all that "free thinking" lead to breakthroughs in the realms of SCIENCE, MATHEMATICS, along with leaps in the technological arena. I mean...It thought that's what EVOLUTION was supposed to be all about. We are supposed to be MOVING...F O R W A R D.
You'd never know it, though.
For some strange reason, the government "feels" that none of us are no longer to do anything for ourselves.
Now while that works damn well for a LOT of people living in MY neighborhood (thanks to entitlements and freebie programs), it doesn't sit all that well with the MAJORITY of the populace.
Being an American MEANS we enjoy FREEDOM, and not as it's doled out by ANY government.
Every one of us is FREE...to SUCCEED...OR FAIL.
If we become "too free" and hurt others along the way...well, that's why we elect people to enact LAWS to keep that FROM happening.
We are free to speak our minds, as long as we speak from FACT, and not from fiction or to be injurious.
We are free to THINK for ourselves.
We are free to BELIEVE in whatever "higher being" exists.
We are free to PROGRESS, as a people.
Trouble is, that progress is coming with an ever-increasing price tag these days.
And we have the government to thank for it.
We have allowed the (civil) SERVANTS to take over the manor and the estate, while "we" wind up caring for the property.
Gee, that doesn't appear quite right, does it?
How many business owners go and TURN THE COMPANY over to the workers on the floor, anyway?
(I would wager not all that many)
Many of us feel that the LAST thing we need is more government INTRUSION in our lives. Our dear "Uncle Sam" is already in our pockets more than that mooching cousin that won't go away, and that's not including all the other "uncles" we have at various other levels of government wanting to avail themselves of that "hard-earned" money I spoke of earlier.
I wish the future were so bright, I'd have to wear shades, but I'm just not seeing that happen...not for the immediate future,anyway.
What I can see is something like what used to be in the series MAX HEADROOM...with the "corporate wars", with "government" being only the CEOs of big business, while the people are living in non-functioning minivans, huddled beside burning piles of refuse..watching TVs, dying to be nothing more than ENTERTAINED!!!
Or perhaps the vision of BLADE RUNNER might work for you. This is a world where it's practically always raining, thanks to everyone in big business screwing up the atmosphere, with the "elite" living above the mess, while the rest of us, crowded like sardines in a can wander about darkened streets. In BOTH scenarios, "big government" is never really mentioned...it's all about big BUSINESS, instead.
Even in ROBOCOP, we see everything owned and run by the big, bad OCP in "new" Detroit (where things aren't a helluva lot better in their future than today).
Personally, I was never one for anarchy, which is only one step BENEATH democracy (according to Plato).
It's too easy to slip into that mindset.
I much prefer working through a problem, rather than devolving into animalistic tendencies, torn from the pages of Lord of the Flies!
Right now, however, we've got too many problems on our collective plates that need looking at.
Cash for Clunkers is NOT one of them...and neither is (socialized) Health Care.
Granted, we DO need OVERSIGHT in the Health Care field, but TOTAL CONTROL is not oversight (which is he REAL job of the FEDS).
Ditto for the car companies.
In the end, it does all come down to WASTE.
Wasting money (we, as a nation, really don't have), wasting resources such as food and water, or wasting time deciding what to DO about all this...is NOT the answer, and the manner in which the government is seeking to remedy these issues is not the answer, either.
It begins in the home...OUR home...YOUR home.
Today can be the start of that change. Or a conviction to continue it.
Or, it can be JUST another day...with you making another dollar.
Just don't WASTE that dollar...you might need it soon enough.
Stay safe out there, America.