News Snipet 'Blog

Jack I love it! Thats about as accurate as you could get I find. Seriously, the government wont help us. I think people are getting fed up too. For example, at neolibs.com yeah we tear into the Republican admin because theyre in power and its easy to. I would say nowadays, that its not what party you support, its who you can tolerate the most. If democrats were in power, you wouldnt have as much anger from neolibs, but you wouldnt have happiness, to say the least.

And I dont consider myself a belligerent man, but there is nothing wrong with protecting one's self and family. I love non violent means and achieving solutions by peaceful means etc. However, some others out there, they do not.

Does it matter if I vote for senator in MA- Kennedy is obviously going to win. Will I vote for my candidate for governor, Christy Mihos, the only candidate who knows how this (twisted) state runs because he has actually worked for it? Yes, I will vote for him and watch him lose and get his 10% or whatever. And this is the only vote I actually care about in the upcoming midterms! We have two HORRIBLE candidates for governor, two people who have not once been upfront with the Commonwealth. I seriously might move out of this state, I cant stand it anymore!
Also are there senators I would love to see gone that prob will be gone? Yes. Will it ultimately matter? No. Do I lack respect for Dennis Hastert? Yes. Is Nancy Pelosi the solution? God, no. Would I like to see Joe Lieberman win? Yes and no. Its funny how the left wanted this man gone from existence, when, if they paused for a moment and took a gander at his voting record, he is prob one of the most principled liberals there are.

What a mess! Who can clean this up?

 

Hi CH and Helen!

First of all the first thing noticeable about my post is a tone of pessimism. I am not a pessimistic person, and therefore it sounds a bit out of my character. I wrote it the way I did for a reason. When one places faith and trust in the wrong thing, when it fails, one is at the very least disappointed--at the most, devastated. I remembered being very derisive and critical of people like Alec Baldwin who declared that if President Bush was elected he was going to leave America. In retrospect, I realize that I was wrong in my initial reaction and judgment, because this man (who I believe overall is a GOOD man) had so much vested in his view of government and its purpose that the election of one official would put his world on its ear and he would flee to other parts. That is so tremendously sad, but it is a feeling that many people have--from both sides of the aisle and IT...IS...WRONG.

Put on top of that, I hear a young man like you, CH, who I know to be an outstanding individual and the personal anguish you are experiencing given the state of affairs, and it moved me to the full understanding and realization that I have come to.

Bear with me, this is going to be a long one...

Throughout history man has looked to government as a solution to problems. While a form of government can solve some, many it can't. The more and more we reluctant we became as individuals to involve ourselves in the plight of our fellow man, the more we wanted some secondary agency available to us to do the things that we found distasteful or burdensome. We looked around us and saw the poor and instead of taking the money out of our pockets and giving it to them or teaching them to overcome their poverty, we established an agency that would take money from a wide variety of people so we would have to give less of our own. I did a daily devotional about the guy at church who was always worried about what others were or weren't doing while failing to realize that he himself did nothing. So, in our efforts to shirk more and more of our personal responsibility, we created a government that could take care of it for us--throw a little money at the problem, and it would go away, right! But the problem never went away, it just continued (and continues) to get bigger until the problems became generational--vicious cycles that existed because we failed in our personal responsibility toward others.

Turning our backs on our responsibility and the teachings of "let each esteem others greater than self", instead of placing faith and trust in the one who empowers us (God) and allowing him to work through us to the good of our fellow man, we turned to an organization of fallible men as a solution to our problems and vested what remained of our resources and character into a flawed machine. That machine, like anything human, was shiny and new to begin with, and performed great things, but the older it got the more it broke down, the more money it took to keep it going and the less it did what it was supposed to. When it passed its apex, it became more expensive to maintain than it would have if we had never built it to begin with--the job it was doing costing far more what we as individuals could do--but unable to because of the burdensome maintenance of that broken down machine.

Eventually the machine we created to serve us enslaved us--we find ourselves serving, and the burden is great.

At this point in our nation's history, the machine can only disappoint--both sides. That's the reason when you come to my site you see me complain about the left and their pro-socialism/communism positions. You go to Neo-libs or other sites and they are complaining about the right and their "fascism" or capitalistic greed. If you notice, neither side, left nor right is happy with the machine because we both have ultimately become slaves to it.

That is the reason we, the people, are going to have to place our faith and trust is anything OTHER than the machine and stop looking toward it as a means of salvation. We need to drop our "slave" mentality that tells us that "the master will take care of us niggahs". We have to put our energy and hope into things that will make a difference to ourselves and the vicinity close by--ever expanding our sphere of influence to empower other INDIVIDUALS. We have become weak as a people, our sense of self-reliance or spiritual strength has been weakened or destroyed. That is the reason that senseless and selfish violence pervades our society, irresponsibility of behavior is rampant and hatred flows in our streets.

What I'm getting at CH, is that you, me, Helen, and any like-minded should discard the stress and discomfort caused by the machine--a situation beyond our control, and vest what energy, faith and hope we have in things that are real. If Hillary is elected in 2008 it doesn't matter, if Hitler himself were to rise up and walk the streets of Washington winning the presidency by landslide we'll smile and go about the business we should have been doing in the first place--a people uncontrolled by their circumstances, fully actuated by what is inside, not without.

Well, I must bring my rambling to an end. I realize some of this may sound fanciful, but it is a reality that we all need to awake to in the morning. It is the only way that individuals can truly make a difference.

Kindest regards,

-Jack

 

You're absolutely right that we've put too much faith in "the machine," but your argument for doing nothing doesn't sit well with me.

YES, people need to look within and do good in their neighborhoods first, YES people need to be accountable for their actions and not throw stones from their glass houses... BUT if we let this "machine" go unchecked it will simply destroy us.

This is why people get so adamant about "getting out the vote," even if people vote foolishly, such as for George Bush. It is essential to register your opinion if democracy is to work. What's the difference between the slave saying "master knows best," or saying "master don't know nothing" if he's going to act the same either way?

Humans need leaders; always have. That is what is most sorely lacking in our world today. We need people to energize other people in a positive way - even when it's downright frightening. Look at the emancipation proclamation. Many slaves did not want to be free because "master knows best." Most freed slaves were destitute when they were finally freed, but they would rather "die as free men than live as slaves." Without that proclamation, things would have continued status quo for decades, at least. It took a great leader to say "enough."

It starts with personal responsibility - that is absolutely right. What makes the world turn, however, is the power of ALL the responsible people working in unison. Especially now that the world is so crowded (more people alive now than have ever lived throughout history) we need to find a common voice. This should be the job of government. "The machine" has little to do with this goal, unfortunately, but the only way we're going to get there is by active participation.

 

Hi Smorg,

GREAT feedback. I think what I mean to communicate is the difference between duty and dedication. We have a duty to vote--even an obligation, and we do our best with that, but we have to realize that the only way in history that the machine has been stopped is through revolution and I do not advocate that or see it happening in my lifetime. That means that we have to DEDICATE our lives to something different, refocus that energy in a direction it will do good.

The machine has every capability of destroying us, and it is doing it incrementally. As individuals we can't fight this, and as I pointed out, the Americans as a group have not hurt enough to rise up enmass and do something about it.

I compare it to an old car that I had some years back--the car was a tremendous one, but as it got older and older, the more things just wore out and broke on it. Soon it became more expensive and a bigger liability to me to keep than to buy a new and reliable one. We have to stop investing in this current government of ours and hold fast to our core principles.

You make a great point about leaders--we have bosses, not leaders. The only thing that makes one WANT to follow a leader if he has thier best interest in mind. A true leader puts his followers first. We don't have that today--or if we do, the cases are so isolated we rarely hear of them.

I AM advocating that one do their civic duty, and do all that they can to bring about change in our government, however, I don't believe that we should be personally defeated when the results are inevitable. These cycles have existed since the dawn of time, and it is the way of the world--we can either be swept away by these circumstances or we can help ourselves and others to rise above them.

The United States needs good young men like you and CH to stoke the fires of liberty. Keep the fires burning, Smorg!

-Jack

 

I jokingly told my parents a couple of months ago, "I cant wait for a revolt of the government because I will be front and center." They laughed. But any sort of revolt would be so easily suppressed and it definitely isnt the answer. I mean, the people vote these people in. So we might as well beat ourselves over the head with sticks.

One thing is important- people need to realize the mistakes by their own, ideologically speaking, realize that the party and people they are loyal to have not made things better, and slowly I think things can turn around. I can see this kind of happening b/c of Bush-a lot of conservatives are MAD. I wish more liberals would get MAD about Clinton- he made so many bad moves as president. But since the economy was a raging bull during his later years and things were well at home, he is championed. Which is kind of unprincipled because all around the world, things weren't. Those sanctions against Iraq- I mean, how inhumane were they? Kosovo? Horrible. Sudan?

I can certainly say that I have yet to approve of a presidency in my lifetime. But I am only 25 at least. So its not all that bad. Yet.