In the course of my lifetime I have watched America devolve from a nation of hardy self-reliant individualists into
a nation of namby-pamby hyper-sensitive crybabies. Most of whom are unable to think, speak, or act, without detailed instructions from some high and mighty authority figure – who is also expected to hold their hand, wipe their nose, and give them a great big kiss when they fall down and scrape their knees. It’s a disgusting spectacle brought about largely by 30 plus years of elevating feeling over reasoning – one effect of which is that fear has been confused with sensible prudence.
The warning label, overwrought and omnipresent, is one striking example of how ridiculous this confusion has become. They’re everywhere, and as they have proliferated, they’ve grown ever larger and longer. Not long ago, I bought a new water heater. I think it had a white enamel surface, but the encrustment of warning labels and disclaimers stuck all over it made it difficult to be sure. It took me 20 minutes to find the instructions for turning it on. Every bottle of pills is plastered with novel-length caveats, all of which are printed in fly-spec sized type. Paint thinner cans carry solemn cautions against drinking the stuff. And, the helpful advice on chain saws suggest that operating them while intoxicated is probably not a good idea.
What a difference from the days when I was growing up. Ammunition and fireworks could be bought at gas stations – without a special permit – by anyone. Hitch-hiking was thought of as a low-cost mode of travel, instead of a reliable method of suicide. Chloroflurocarbon, cholesterol, and carcinogenic were words seldom encountered outside of textbooks, and the information on labels was brief and useful. People were expected to mind their own business, and were widely assumed to have enough sense to come in out of the rain, all by themselves. I see now that this was a golden age, perhaps never to be repeated.
Democracy requires an informed citizenry, fervent in defense of their liberty, and responsible in the course of their actions. When they fail in this, Big Brother, in one form or another, will step in to fill the vacuum. And once Big Brother moves in, moving him out is a pretty tough job.
Maybe a landslide election of conservitive Republicans will begin the process. But, it won’t be if more Americans don’t wake up to the fact that politics is not a spectator sport – of no great significance to them personally. Politics is not a game. It is the way the rules of the game are decided. And, the contending parties have very different notions of what the rules should be. Leftist Democrats are not the party of the poor and middle class. They are the party of centralized control, and they will not be content until every single human activity is under their management. Conservitive Republicans are not the party of the rich and powerful. The rich and powerful don’t need their help. Conservitive Republicans are the party of the individual. They won’t bleed for you, and they won’t give you a handout, but they will leave you alone – and that’s worth more than chump change party favors and sympathy can ever make up for.
WARNING: Freedom must be exercised regularly, and mixed thoroughly with responsibly, to ensure best results.