Letters to the Editor - Feb. 5, 2014
Common Sense
While glancing through some old news articles, I happened upon this compelling obituary once published in the London Times. It reads:
Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common,Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as: (1) knowing when to come in out of the rain; (2) why the early bird gets the worm; (3) life isn’t always fair; and (4) maybe it was my fault.
Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don’t spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge). His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition. Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children.
It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.
Common Sense lost the will to live, as the churches became businesses and criminals received better treatment than their victims.
Common Sense took a beating when you couldn’t defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.
Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.
Common Sense was preceded in death, by his parents, Truth and Trust; by his wife, Discretion; by his daughter, Responsibility; and by his son, Reason.
His 5 raucous stepbrothers survive him: (1) I Know My Rights (2) I Want It Now (3) Someone Else Is To Blame (4) I’m A Victim and (5) Pay Me for Doing Nothing
Not many attended Common Sense’s funeral because so few realized he was gone.
If you still remember him, share what you’ve just read. If not, join the majority and do nothing.
Kathleen Hassan,
Trout Creek
Honey or money
Capital cancerism is symptomatic of the Reagan-devolution era: unregulated capitalism is the concern, true democracy is the cure. Capitalism: the possession and concentration of private wealth and its resulting power and influence. Cancer: to eat and/or penetrate its host. Pray tell, what is the difference?
The last time tax revenues were as discriminatory as they now are, was pre-“Great Depression Era.” And when F.D.R. said “we have nothing to fear but fear itself,” he was referring to the inevitable war between the people commons and sociopathic royalist capitalism. And when F.D.R. went toe to toe with what he referred to as the Royalist B-----ds, he knew exactly what he was talking about, as he was one of them by birth.
His administration’s “New Deal” in defense of the people’s commons ushered in the beginning of vast social economic advancements benefitting the general welfare of the common peoples and as well a healing process for the democratic body politic. And America consequently developed a middleclass society that peoples worldwide aspired to.
In 1980, the royalist installed Mr. Reagan as president, who told us government is not the answer to our problems – government is the problem. So the war was officially launched against government of, by and for the people, we the people of these United States. Democracy, freedom, justice, equality and liberty are such sweet words, they run together like honey but until practiced in reality, it’s really just about the money. In the U.S., corporations are legally bound to provide shareholder profit above all else - environment and people be after thought. “Of the 100 largest economies in the world, over half are corporations which makes them financially and/or politically more influential than most countries.”
The Plutocratic Royalist began immediate methodical dismantling of we the peoples commons and/or general welfare, in the name of capitalist profit maximization. While simultaneously disrespecting and/or degrading worldwide environmental integrity for profit.
Illegitimate invasion and occupation, education, healthcare, incarceration, the peoples common political and judicial systems have all been rendered counterproductive by profilization. And rather then share the wealth extracted from the peoples commons, the plutocratic multinational corporatocracy has used that wealth to further in debt the common peoples. U.S. student loans, credit card debt, home and/or property mortgages, ect. The common peoples of America are now 40+ trillion in debt; more people now live in poverty than at any other time in American history. And this debt speaks directly to America’s wage and wealth inequality.
Fraudulent unethical banksters too big to fail and/or jail, as my grandmother would say, “blow it out your Diddy bag.” Corporations are not people, and their ill-gotten fortunes are not speech. Our ancestors rebelled against capitalist tyranny for our future well-being and now it is past time we do the same for the well-being of future generations of our own descendants.
Post script – the wealthiest 85 people on earth own nearly half of the world’s wealth, while half of the world’s population scratch to survive on less than two dollars per day, if they are lucky. How proud can we be? Sustainability equity and justice, to meet the needs of current generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
The word “consume” originally meant to destroy, squander, use up. That means a consumer society is a society of destroyers and squanderers. No thank you.
John F. Middlemiss, Sr.
Trout Creek