It's a good life...

I was watching an old, black-and-white “Twilight Zone” show yesterday. It was the one where Bill Mumy was a little kid with enormous psychic powers. With a thought, he could turn you into a monster, just for fun. And if you displeased him, he would make you disappear, forever, without a trace, no explanation. As more and more people disappeared, I got the feeling that eventually, Billy would be the only one left.

The title of the episode was “It’s a Good Life.” That referred to what everyone said out loud, out of fear of making Billy unhappy. It’s not that Billy was a bad boy; it’s just that he was spoiled. He always got his own way. Everyone and everything that opposed him was made to disappear. A spoiled brat, he couldn’t understand that other people matter too. As a child, he could never understand the fear he inspired in those around him. He actually thought everyone tried to please him because they wanted to, not because they were afraid. He didn’t understand that when life or death exists at the whim of a single person, that person is a dictator. It doesn’t matter whether they are good or evil – no one is really happy living in a dictatorship, except maybe the dictator.

Then CNN came on and explained that the President had signed into law a bill giving him the power to imprison anyone, anytime, for any reason - no trial, no lawyers, no evidence. He promises to only use it against those who threaten him, I mean us. We are to trust that he will not abuse that power. He has only our best interests at heart. He promises to return our constitutional rights just as soon as the crisis is past.

This country is supposed to be founded on certain basic individual freedoms. I can’t believe that people are putting up with this. Is it because you just don’t care? Or are you afraid you’ll disappear? When will you reach the breaking point? At what point will you say, “Enough!”? Will there be anyone else left when you do?

I know I'm only a little bear, but surely things can be better.




 

A note to daddy...

According to all the studies, for the first time in over a century, this generation is expected to have poorer schooling, make less money, and have a shorter life span than the preceding generation. All this has come about due to government regulation changes during the last six years. Okay, so the clock has run out and everything is downhill from here. Well, too bad – who cares about a bunch of whiney…Wait a minute – this generation? That means me! It sounds like the current crop of short-sighted politicians are trying to ruin my life and then kill me off.

Although that should come as no surprise to anyone who has more than two brain cells to rub together, frankly, I’m taking this personally. You were in charge before I got here. How can you be so stupid? It’s not unlike the idiots who dumped pollutants into the ground water, rivers, oceans, and air until lakes caught fire and acid rained from the sky, or the bozos who had sex with everyone under the sun, spreading every kind of disease imaginable so that now, nobody can have sex with anybody, in spite of the big blue pill that makes it possible for old people to creep us young people out completely.

Let’s face it – there’s not going to be any social security left for us by the time we get there, we won’t be able to afford the drugs you now take for granted, and only the very rich and pampered will be able to live anyway. Maybe you’re doing me a favor. Maybe dying young will be a good thing.

But, since there seems to be zero likelihood that you’re going to look out for future generations, do you know what I want? I want to grow up and become so wealthy that I can afford the kind of world that YOU are voting into existence – I want to be so rich that voting Republican makes sense – that’s what I want. Then let’s see just how much I attention I pay to which nursing home you go into.

Come on people, I know I'm only a little bear, but surely things can be better.

 

We The People

I was watching a show on the history of Democracy and was floored to discover that we don’t have one. So, apparently our policy is to make sure everyone else in the world has democracy, even though we don’t actually trust it to work for us. After all this hoopla about spreading Democracy with a capital D at the end of a gun barrel (you will be free no matter how many of you have to die to make it so), you’d think someone would have noticed that we’re not practicing what we’re preaching.

So, it turns out that we live in a Republic. How could I have missed it? It’s even in the national pledge of allegiance: “…The United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands…” Sure does explain a lot though, doesn’t it? Like how our fearless leaders in Washington can do so much that seems to go against Democratic Principles, the whole time saying they’re trying to preserve the country. Once you drop the idea that we’re a democracy, the whole thing makes a lot more sense.

Some folks have been saying that we’re currently under an Autocracy, since only one party seems to have any say in matters – you know, like in the old USSR, Iran, Iraq, etc. I’m not sure I agree with that, although they do make a good point. Of course, we are limited in our choices, since cheats from one party look an awful lot like the crooks in the other. But I think there’s still a chance, however slim, for the populace to elect someone different. Every once in a while, someone comes along that captures the public’s imagination, and they get elected despite all obstacles. Then it’s up to us to give them a chance to do what we sent them to Washington to do.

Who knows, maybe it’s time We trusted The People enough to try a little democracy ourselves. One person, one vote: we could start by electing the President directly. It would be easy to do – we could use internet voting (public libraries can stand in for anyone who doesn’t have their own computer). We have the ability, we have the tools, but the question is, do we have the guts? I know I'm only a little bear, but surely things can be better.