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Discuss local politics here!
A Modest Proposal
Posted by:
Charles Harris on
April 28, 2007 at
11:28AM EST
Having been alive long enough to have seen some things pass in American society, I would now like to make a modest proposal to our elected officials. since the end of World War 2, it has become fashionable in the political life to give your electorate whatever they want. Seems that the way to get, and keep getting, elected (so that you do not have to work for a living, like the hoi polloi do), is to promise the electorate the moon, stars, and planets. I now propose a radical thought. Most of us have, in the course of our adult lives, had kids. What happens when you give your kids everything they want? Come on, you all know....... So here it is. Mabye, just mabye, it is time for a return to the principles that made this country great. Instead of giving us what we all want, you politicos should give us the things we have to have- and let us be responsible for our own wants! Example: Claiborne Pell and his bunch made it possible for everybody to get a college education, back in 1965 or so. Without speculating on whether it is a good idea for plumbers and garbagemen to have PhD's, follow this thought. if everybody has a college degree, pray tell- what is it worth? A bachelors' degree has become the new high school diploma- it MIGHT get you in the door, but little else. I remember, in 1966, my mother bought our first color TV. She paid $2000 for it. Now, Walmart is selling them for $99. Homeless people have them. You can get a good one in the classifieds for $25. The principle applies to government as well. If everybody can get the government to do for them what they ought to be doing for themselves, then what is government worth? I realize that I might be starting to sound like Herbert Hoover, here, but I have considered that our society has reached the point of no return. We EXPECT the government to give us what we want, and then we get mad when they hand us the bill! We need Policemen, Firemen, clean air and water, and Garbagemen (and other things that I might be missing for now). We don't need taxpayer supported swimming pools, taxpayer donations to private businesses, and other money-wasters. One of the reasons that we do not trust our politicians is because we don't trust ourselves. The major difference between us and our forebears is that they had the ability to exercise restraint and delay gratification. We do not. We want it NOW, and we've been getting it now since 1960 or so. Bad news, folks- there is no longer enough of the pie to go around. As a society, we need to start making some hard choices, to wit: Do we really need this? Do we really want this? What sort of legacy are we leaving, "to ourselves, and our posterity"? We must return to the exercise of self-control and restraint, and pass that legacy on to our children, otherwise things will NEVER get better.
(1) Comments
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Posted by: ScottL on May 9, 2008 5:25AM EST
I agree with the jest of what you say. However, if you take this to the extreme, you get a completely unregulated capitalist society ( other than the police, garbagemen, EPA for clean air and water). You know how that goes - just like we had in the beginning of the 20th Century before antitrust laws - the big companies get bigger and create monopolies and fix prices. It's all very well to think that free trade will be the panacea and everything will work out. Yet in China, they don't worry about copyright, environmental issues, health and safety in the workplace - so if you don't regulate some things, it's not a fair playing field. Furthermore, why do you let the government organise your garbage, but not your health care. Is garbage pickup essential and a health care system not?
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