I'm Tired

It has been a relatively quiet week, but I a tired, or more correctly weary to the bone.  The enthusiasm has been drained away, bit-by-bit until I sit here as an empty vessel, wondering why I think I make a contribution, or why I bother trying.

I listen to Republican’s making damning accusations of cover-up, political targeting, and government violations of the 1^st amendment.  By the way, these are all things that in an earlier time led to the resignation of a President.

I hear the President’s defenders rise up to explain he really didn’t know what was going on, and it’s not that big of a deal anyway.  If we want to be safe we need to give up some of our individual freedom for the greater good.

Both sides are talking, or blathering.  Neither side is willing to listen.  I am tired of the lack of politicians who listen.  Although I did find it funny that the first congressional district of SC, a historically Republican district, returned former Governor Mark Sanford back to the government dole by electing him as their Representative.  I guess the job market for disgraced Governors is tough in these economic times.  In his words “I stand before you as a human being most appreciative in whole new ways for the significance of family and friends.” It just seems to be one big carousel where the same people move through the same jobs and nothing changes.

I resent the loss of civility in our language and our society.  Where entertainers think nothing of using profanity to comment on whatever they are commenting on.  Not spontaneous, emotion-backed profanity, but scripted purpose-based profanity used because they think it cleaver and Avant-garde.  It isn’t, it is childish and shows a general disrespect for those they are speaking to.

I fear the destruction of an organization I’ve spent a good part of my life serving.  That, as has been the case in most wars, we will chew up and throw away the men, and woman too, who have carried the fight to the enemy, and the chosen few who were sponsored, sheltered and groomed for rank will look around one day and wonder why no one answers the phone.  They bemoan the experience and training of our force in one breath, and seemingly without thought order the next change that will destroy what little experience remains.

We have created a pool of Veterans, probably equal to what we did in Vietnam, and because of advances in medicine so many more came home.  Alas, so many are broken.  Shattered arms and legs are visible reminders, burns and scares you can see, but how do you see a spirit that is wounded, a heart that can’t love, or a terror that won’t recede?  Will our nation keep its promises to these men and women, or will they be shuffled around the VA bureaucracy until they give up?  As we fight about what the Government can afford, I am afraid they will lose to groups that have a stronger voice, like the illegal immigrant lobby.

I am tired of listening to children tell me how I should think without the ability to back up an opinion with anything but another opinion as if repeating themselves is proof they are right.  Listening to how our society must be changed, but unwilling to do the work to change the constitution, preferring the courts and  executive edicts.  I wish just once they would talk about how to change the constitution rather than just ignore it.

I’m tired.

Mother's Day, 2013

Rudyard Kipling is cited as having once said, “God could not be everywhere and therefore he made mothers.”  So to remember this day, I would like to pass along Mr. Kipling's poem on the off-chance not everyone has seen it.  I hope all the mothers in my little circle have a great day!

Mother o’ Mine

If I were hanged on the highest hill,

Mother o’ mine, O mother o’ mine!

I know whose love would follow me still,

Mother o’ mine, O mother o’ mine!

If I were drowned in the deepest sea,

Mother o’ mine, O mother o’ mine!

I know whose tears would come down to me,

Mother o’ mine, O mother o’ mine!

If I were damned of body and soul,

I know whose prayers would make me whole,

Mother o’ mine, O mother o’ mine!

The Evolution of Political Thought

Woodrow Wilson, a progressive Democrat and 28^th President of the US once said, “Liberty has never come from Government.  Liberty has always come for the subjects of it.  This history of liberty is a history of limitations of governmental power, not the increase of it.”

He also said, “The government, which was designed for the people, has got into the hands of the bosses and their employers, the special interests.  An invisible empire has been set up above the forms of democracy.”

As a good Democrat he also is quoted as saying, “I have long enjoyed the friendship and companionship of Republicans because I am by instinct a teacher, and would like to teach them something.”

So here we are almost 100 years later, you could say the Republicans have finally come to see the wisdom of Wilson’s words, and what are the Democrat’s saying now?

Hmmmmm,

“If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help... Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you've got a business - you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen.”  President Barrack Obama

And “There is probably a perverse pride in my administration... that we were going to do the right thing, even if short-term it was unpopular. And I think anybody who's occupied this office has to remember that success is determined by an intersection in policy and politics and that you can't be neglecting of marketing and P.R. and public opinion.”

Government should be transparent.  Transparency promotes accountability and provides information for citizens about what their Government is doing.  Information maintained by the Federal Government is a national asset. My Administration will take appropriate action, consistent with law and policy, to disclose information rapidly in forms that the public can readily find and use. Executive departments and agencies should harness new technologies to put information about their operations and decisions online and readily available to the public. Executive departments and agencies should also solicit public feedback to identify information of greatest use to the public.  White House Policy Memorandum signed by President Barrack Obama.  

Note: I would just like to note that transparency apparently does not include answering Congressional Inquiries on things like Fast and Furious and the 9/11 attacks in Libya.

And finally, on government, “Unfortunately, you've grown up hearing voices that incessantly warn of government as nothing more than some separate, sinister entity that's at the root of all our problems. Some of these same voices also do their best to gum up the works. They'll warn that tyranny always lurking just around the corner. You should reject these voices. Because what they suggest is that our brave, and creative, and unique experiment in self-rule is somehow just a sham with which we can't be trusted.” 

Again I would just like to point out as the President he promised greater transparency and I don’t see the administration fulfilling that promise, or the promise not to raise taxes on the middle class, or to reduce the federal deficit, or take care of veterans returning from war, so you must forgive me for being just a bit skeptical on the whole trust thing...

And There You Have It!

Who has ever heard of John B. Calhoun?  I was first introduced to his work my junior year in College as I studied Behavioral Psychology.  He, along with Edward T. Hall, helped define expected impacts to society when populations soared and overcrowding became an issue.  The conclusions Dr. Calhoun reached have stayed with me all these years, the fact they are based on his study of Norwegian rats only makes the findings more interesting.

As I watch the evolution of our society I am reminded of those studies from the 1940s and 50s. I wonder what he would have found if he had been able to subject his subjects to modern television programming like Bill Maher, or MSNBC, FOX, or Judge Whoever?

Advice

I am just recovering from a wonderful week of having three noisy, pre-school aged, Grandchildren visiting, along with their harried and concerned parents.  I’ve been considering what advice I would offer on how to bring up their children, and come to the conclusion I have none. 

What they are frustrated with, they must figure out for themselves.  Anything I would say has no value, because I am not in their situation and don’t live their life.  Children are, by their very nature, selfish and demanding; I think it is a survival instinct.  Having three so close in age is a non-stop challenge as they play off each other.  It intensifies in a non-linier manner.  At least the two oldest haven’t yet debated the pros and cons of dropping the third off the railing of the stairwell, as my sister and I did with Louise.

At the end of the day, the choices they make will shape the lives of those in their care.  I am confident they will make good ones and I can sleep comfortably, secure in the knowledge they will do better than average with them, and if you are hitting above average in the Major League you’re going to the All Star Game.

Thanks for letting us share a week in the life of the L--------s.