There is an answer.
I'm pretty sure there is.
At least I think there is.
Well, maybe there is.
And maybe there isn't.
.
I'm searching the Internet for it. Spending time reading and checking up on people who have answers (or at least think they do).
.
I'm even downloading free books from the web. (Feels like the authors are being screwed out of their royalties. But I don't think Plato will mind.) Tom Jefferson, Ben Franklin and John Q. Adams might. Teddy Roosevelt was always ready to share. So was that other Roosevelt. Samuel Clemens shared when he wasn't writing porn. (Anything for a laugh, Mark?) Yeah, I know, it isn't easy being eccentric in this day and age. Lots and lots of American authors. Dreiser, Faulkner, Hemmingway, and on and on.
.
You see, Wild Thing and I were sitting at the table watching various "news" channels (various, 'cause I'm like most men. Can't stand ads, so I surf when they come on). The news was all bad or tasteless or both. (I was particularly irritated with the a**hole governator of New Mexico. The clown who has grown a beard now in hopes of hiding his avarice from the public. (He can't hide the blubber, though. It shows.) Oh, if y'all wanted Barracks Obama to win the Presidency, you can forget it. Bill Richardson picking him ought to be the kiss of death to his election this time around. At least it is in this house. (New post about about the carpetbagger coming soon. Stay tuned.)
.
What we heard and saw on the boob tube seemed to be part of a chaos that has descended on the United States with almost the speed of light.
Prices spiralling up and up.
Food prices up, too. In the greatest agricultural country that has ever existed.
Gasoline prices soaring enough to make people stay at home when they would have liked to ride out in their shiny cars.
Medical costs rising with such rapidity that Health Insurance companies were rewriting what and what not their companies would pay for medicines and treatments. In the country that invented modern medical care.
Bread prices shot up at incredible leaps. In the country that can grow enough wheat to feed the entire world.
.
We heard and saw the grief caused by the loss of jobs throughout the country. 80,000 here. 22,000 there. 36,00 there. And on and on.
.
We saw the war on the middle class (once defined as the backbone of America) set in and decimate the people. We saw them start to die in their income less homes. And on the streets. We watched the fire in their eyes be extinguished by hopelessness.
.
We saw the silent invasion force demanding equal rights with American citizens, although they had no right to the things Americans had fought and died for. We saw them burn our flag, cheer for the alien drug smugglers and spit on our country. And we noted that the governments sworn to protect American citizens did nothing.
.
What happened to our America? The America that respected the laws, the patriotism, the honor that was part and parcel of our land. The America described in the old black and white film "Pride of the Marines". (Yes, you can still rent it.)
.
There are articles being written now about the money 150 million Americans will need when they retire. They worry about the cost of health care, the effect of inflation on their nest eggs and not being able to maintain a reasonable standard of living for the rest of their lives. Only 60% work for an employer who has any kind of retirement plan. And less than 53% are enrolled in these few plans. What happened to the unions? The teams that forced employers to offer retirement benefits to employees? And got them real raises? And health insurance? Our government happened to them. Our government and greedy business men and women happpened to them. The union busters seem to have won. Have a read:
There's more at: http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3574/blue_collar_bare_cupboards/
.
So what? There is not one single politician running for the most powerful job in the world, who has addressed the various effects tearing apart the "Great Experiment". Not one.
It's as if they can't see the problems staring them in the face. Or perhaps haven't enough people on their staffs who can see what must happen in the near future.
.
Chaos, and the very real threat of internicine warfare are knocking on your door, America.
A bit of reading herewith:
Unhealthiest States 2008 - AOL Money & Finance
Most Dangerous States 2008 - AOL Money & Finance
Worst Places to Retire - AOL Money & Finance
http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/3535/context/cover/
There will be more about the Chaos Theory in future posts. But I betcha the next post will give you some laughs. I sure need them.
9 comments:
It's terribly discouraging, isn't it? Not like we have found a better frontier to move to though. Maybe that's what we need - new and unsullied frontiers to keep repeating the experiment over and over again until human nature changes its spots.
Sheesh, thank God for the cute little pussy cat at the top!
It's first thing in the morning over here - you've made me want to pull the covers back over my head now.
(Depressed of Douglas puts the kettle on for her morning cuppa..)
I was surprised to see NM ranked as the third most dangerous state. I know ABQ is pretty dangerous, and I'm thinking if you took our largest city's stats out of the equation we'd fare MUCH better. Which doesn't help you all that much, Cat.
I chased up a number of your links and have to marvel at all the doom and gloom being thrust upon us these days. Even considering all the problems we have, there's not another place in the world where I'd rather be. Most, if not all, transitions tend to be painful, and the transition from a manufacturing economy to a services economy is no less so. Doing a little reading about the social problems in the late 19th/early 20th century points out this fact. Lots of folks were bemoaning "paradise lost" when we moved from an agrarian economy to the manufacturing economy. It's the same story today, innit? All that's different is the fact that it's you and me that are involved, and not our grandparents.
I thought we were the bread basket for the wheat. And modern medicine.
I understand your rant and even agree with most of it.
I think a lot of unions have outlived their usefulness though.At least up here they have.
Both countries seem to have people that think they are entitled without doing anything. Too much socialist thinking.
Lin, the nature of mankind (despite what one may think) is CHANGE. When I was younger, (ahem) I was all for change. I wanted a world that no longer fought wars, that moved into space and found new planets to settle and every human being was happy.
So much for youth's wishes.
The ugly facts of mankind's idiocy have reared their ugly heads. All we can hope to do is slow the change down. You know, the more vicous wars, the greed factor, the I don't care about you factor. Sigh.
Shrink, I apologize. I sure didn't want you ducking under the covers. (Figured your neighbor could do that for you. Too you? Whichever.)
Here, let me pour you a cuppa.
Buck, it definitely is not just Abq. I read reports regularly talking about the Mexican drug gangs having shoot outs all along our southern border. Raiding Columbus again and shooting Americans. Our liberal press doesn't want Americans to know about it, so they often either bury it inside their pages or simply ignore it.
An odd thing about the worries over moving from an agrarian economy to a manufacturing economy is that many of the worries, although overly feared, came true in a way we didn't expect. I.E., better killing machines, less being helpful for your neighbors, pollution and more selfishness.
It will take a smarter person than any of the candidates I see running for Prez to solve our problems satisfactorily.
Geeze. That probably means I will have to vote against someone, rather than for someone.
Moose, you are definitely right about people feeling they are entitled to be supported by the worker ants.
There's a pretty good book you can prolly get from your library called "The Nanny Society" which takes up this issue.
Thanks for the laugh - I was going to write "thanks for giving such pleasure" but thought that that might be misinterpreted.
Have I got a good memory or what, when was the last time someone told me "thanks for giving such pleasure" its more a case of "are you finished, I want to sleep". :)
Post a Comment