A Gray Day

A light mist falls across the land, and the heavens are hidden by the gray of the low hanging clouds.  A day like this that draws you to a fire, where the warmth of a dancing flame will comfort not only your body, but your spirit as well.  In the solitude of vacant house, filled only with the mechanical reminders of a modern society there is time to consider life and our society.

For example, why are some so myopic as to see only that which is right in front, while others look so far ahead they miss the beauty that looks them in the eye?  Is there truly a balance to be found, or can we only see as we've been shown to see?

The NAACP used to say a mind is a terrible thing to waste.  I've not heard this for quite a while, so perhaps it is no longer fashionable to encourage the expansion of your mind. Do High Schools and Colleges actually encourage individual thought and critical thinking, or have they become institutions for indoctrination of what the educators want to pass on?  It strikes me that so many use our institutions as surrogate babysitters, not expecting their children to grow beyond what they themselves are.  A lesson from the distant past reminds me this was not always the case, and may not be true for all today, but for far too many it is.

John Adams said, "I am a soldier, so my son can be a farmer, so his son can be a poet." This captures what I have always believed to be the American ideal.  Each generation strives to make life better for their children.  With the growth of government, and the expectation that government will decide what is best, I wonder, is that possible today?

We see great inequity across the - land taxes are not equal for all, why is that?  Surely not because the Presidents and Congresses for the past 70 years have taken an increasingly larger role in using their powers to engineer what they believe to be the perfect society.  Today the darling of the left, the honorable Junior Senator from Massachusetts uses the distrust of large business and banks as her rally cry for change.  "You didn't build your business" is the lynchpin for her crusade to alter the rules of commerce to suit her view of big government.  Most who hear her will believe she is looking out for their interests, but shouldn't we understand that those who gain this stage seek only one thing, the power that comes with federal office and the possibility of more power from the next higher office. 

Take Senator Reid, D-NV, who has never worked for anyone other than government, yet in his 45 years of elected office has become one of the most powerful, and most financially comfortable of the Washington political elite.  As they say about politics, "It's good work if you can find it!"  The same can be said of the Clinton's, who have parlayed their political insider status into significant personal wealth, which is conveniently sheltered in a foundation.  I specifically point these four out, not because they are unique, for they are not, but because at one time or another they have claimed to understand the needs of the common American middle class working person, while accusing their opponents of being "fat cats" out to protect the rich. I find their approach at best hypocritical and self-serving, but as we've seen recently the academic elite tend not to think too highly of the average voter, believing they know what is best for them, and why shouldn't they be justly compensated for their leadership?

Which brings us full circle, to the grayness of the day.