There Was a Time

My life has been interesting.  There was a time I was a social liberal, but at that time I always thought it was about doing the right thing.  I joined the military for the sense of adventure and because I felt an obligation to give back to a country, which afforded me the opportunity. I was a distinct minority even then.

I thought things like social security and welfare were good ideas, as long as we could afford them within the fiscal realities of the nation.  But over time I’ve come to realize they are only tools used by the politicians to gain and increase control of the populations so they can enrich themselves.  Today, we see the two political parties dueling with each other, again so they can continue to enrich themselves.

If we look at welfare with an unjaded view what do we see?  With over 60-years of experience have we eliminated poverty, or just made poverty more expensive?  With over 60-years of Medicare and Medicaid have we made medicine more accessible for the poor or simply more expensive?  Meanwhile, we enrich those who’ve found ways to make their fortunes from the government dollars.

There was a time when a liberal saw the possibilities of the world and could argue for their advancement and support.  Today’s liberals have no great ideas that don’t involve the surrender of our personal liberties.  They no longer believe in personal responsibility or individual ability as the keys to success, they cry out for reparations and government largess from those who would spend someone else’s fortune to make right the perception of social injustice, as defined by some academic theory originated by someone with an advanced degree in some social science or gender studies program. 

Over the course of my life, I’ve seen the greed of men and women destroy good ideas for the sake of individual gain.  I’ve seen profiteering from conflict lead our politicians into rash action which has cost thousands of lives as we take personal liberties away in the name of safety.  And when someone comes into the power elite from the outside both sides band together to vilify him so the threat to their wealth and power is stalemated.  

We no longer have young who can think for themselves, and perhaps we never did.  For thinking requires wisdom, not just the illusion of knowing it all.  

There was a time before everything was a meme when men and women had great ideas and some of those great ideas made us a nation unlike any other.  Now we just sink into the realm of bickering where our politicians argue for sound bites and neither side proposes real ideas, they just argue about the stupidity of the other side.  A time where the flow of information is controlled and the exchange of ideas is nonexistent.