Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Here's The Thing

Right now things are crazy.  There is a clear and present danger to one particular right enumerated in the Bill of Rights.  But on top of my concern about that particular right, there's a layer of annoyance.

I sort of get why this has happened the way it has - guns and ammo are physical things.  They are possessions that can be physically taken from someone.  But major portions of the U.S. Constitution, including the Bill of Rights, have been ignored and violated repeatedly over the last few years.  Except for the occasional court case like Hobby Lobby, the battle for the religious rights abrogated by this administration and its supporters barely merits a peep anymore.  And no one seems to notice the steady extension of power that is being given to agencies like Homeland Security - an agency I don't think should ever have been created in the first place. 

We are fortunate that Barack Obama is lazy.  If he had the drive of a Hitler, this would have already cascaded into a full fledged tyranny.  But the problem isn't just with this administration.  We have a Congress full of people who are far more concerned about maintaining their comfortable positions and power and in pandering than than they are concerned about the Constitution they swore to uphold.

This administration is blatant.  But it was preceded by ones that meant well, but set the table for this.

All of which is underpinned by two generations who have had an easy life compared to the generations who came before.  The "Me Generation" has been rolled into the "Gimme Generation", creating millions content  to just be fat, dumb, and happy.  They have little concept of what true want or lack of freedom means, and having no interest in history, slide through life with equally little concept of what their decisions mean.

The ability to think analytically and to sustain a rational, fact-based debate is virtually invisible.  What I hear would not pass muster for a high school debating team, and yet it drives policy.

So, what do we do now?  Let's say the administration backs down on this.  But this is just a piece of what's wrong.  Where do we go from here?

4 comments:

  1. invisible or non-existent?

    All these little socialists, communists, OWS thugs that we have raised the last couple of generations.... they don't need any debates. That's not how they do things.... they riot, loot, make it impossible for others to work and get ahead....

    The present federal government being the prime example. It just does things as it wants to. No discussion, and the voters be damned.... along with the constitution.

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    1. I really don't try to debate anyone anymore. They just get angry and ugly. And I spend too much time pulling them back from straw man arguments and correcting invalid dichotomies.

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  2. I think we truly need a 3rd party... True conservatives, and run the idjits out of DC. AND I'd like to see a reduction in the days, something like what Texas does. Make em citizen legislators again.

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    1. Yes. I agree. Yes, it impacts elections. But parties have changed before.

      And the ability to make it your lifetime, full time job with serious perks needs to end.

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