We just had a national election and depending upon one’s political leanings, the feelings of everyone out there from big cities to wide open spaces range from glad to mad and maybe even sad.
As for me and right now, I’ve taken refuge in an easy chair from which I can look through a window and see a sky filled with both sun and dark clouds, trees sporting dashes of fall color, and two squirrels busily looking for still more food to stash away for winter meals.
All of it seems to come together to ease my brain into neutral, ready to take me wherever I choose.
For starters, the earth part of our existence continues to turn just as dependably as it always has. The human part, however, insists on churning but not so much on learning, with common sense and logic becoming increasingly difficult to find.
As optimism fades, hope gains favor as an effort. Believe in God? Yes, of course, except that this is our mess, not His. We either clean it up and survive or we don’t and won’t. At this point, we hardly know how bad it is or else we do know but don’t care or are too confused or escapist to suggest a fix.
The best starting point for those of us in the United States is to realize that democracy is our form of government. As such, it provides we, the people, the opportunity to choose our leaders who, in turn, regulate and protect us as we contribute to both our own and the common good. For that, we should thank George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and others whose vision was equally remarkable.
For all of democracy’s good points, however, it is fragile and can succeed only if handled with care. Our failure to know, teach, and act upon that lesson is the reason we find ourselves now traveling such a rough and dangerous road.
In that regard, two things come to mind. If we can’t define the true qualities of leadership, there’s no way we will ever know who to vote for. If there isn’t honesty, respect, and depth of knowledge at the top, there’s no way those qualities will ever seep into the minds and actions of those down below being governed.
Also, just as a democracy provides freedom, so does it require everyone to share in the responsibility for its success. Strictly speaking, a democracy affords protection and an environment for free enterprise to flourish. Since the government has no money of its own, taxes must be imposed to pay for those services.
Over time, however, we as a nation have increasingly looked to the government for financial help to pay for all kinds of goods and services significantly beyond which was originally intended and provided for. But if there isn’t enough tax money to pay for them, then it must be borrowed.
If so much is borrowed that it can’t be paid back, and we are fast arriving at that point, then the government has no choice but to declare bankruptcy and begin all over again what would be a long and likely painful process. It’s a terrible way to again prove that despite appearances to the contrary, nothing is free. That’s the serious danger our nation faces now.
No matter how simply explained, few are listening. Those who think only of themselves refuse to realize that whether in a luxury cabin or crowded together below deck, if the ship goes down, we all go down with it.
If democracy fails, so will the good life, the safe life, the long and satisfying kind of life we want not only for ourselves, but also for our kids and their kids.
In the meantime, we also must be keenly aware of the rest of the world, much of which is also churning and not learning.
Communism continues to dangle its dazzling promise of all for one and one for all with everybody living happily ever after. Except that promise can’t be fulfilled because human beings don’t operate that way.
Then there are dictators who claim to know what’s best for everybody and use force against anyone who doesn’t agree. Often raised in humble surroundings, they have great influence and gain the power to rule even when that over which they reign is falling apart — which it eventually does.
Add to that those deeply religious people whose fervor toward non-believers seems to have no reasonable limits, plus wars that continue to needlessly waste valuable resources and sacrifice thousands of lives.
We try to avoid such realities through rationalizations and the ever evasive “live in the moment” feel good backstop that ignores what happened yesterday and what could happen tomorrow.
Nothing good, however, will ever come of it. We will all end up increasingly worse until everybody understands what we need to do better, then commits themselves to making it happen.
For starters, all of us should get and repeatedly read copies of the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights, plus the Golden Rule, and the Ten Commandments.
Then we will be far better prepared to live up to what we have learned.
