Letter to a Friend

OK, buddy, time to explore politics: It may be the one place we differ, (And then again...)

I am an independent, FYI - Not with a capital I, but independent because I think American politics especially is grossly fucked up, inefficient, out of control and beyond ridiculous. I find most politicians interested in self preservation and self aggrandizement and little else, with a few worthy exceptions. I find few who really understand and care about what we should care about: If and when I do find someone like that, I'll support them. If they turn out to be not who they said they are and end up joining the Greater Miasma, I'll do all I can to tear them down again. I watch, play, and partake in politics only within this simple framework: I learn enough to understand what my genuine place within the system is; if I don't like that, I change it. If an issue or a person is important, I learn all I can about it or them so that I can make an informed decision; then I vote. If it or they are not important to me, I don't vote, because I believe that a vote in ignorance is worse than none at all. It comes down to this: If you want change, (Or to maintain status quo, for that matter), then work for it in some way shape or form; if you're not willing to do that, then shut the fuck up...

Socially, I'm very liberal. I believe that we are called to love and care for one another, regardless of political, social, economic, racial, or any other differences. I think that a government's privilege of existence is granted first and foremost to care for humankind: beyond that, they should butt the hell out. I don't believe it is ever government jobs to dictate morality. Ethics and morals are things I rarely see reflected in government, so how and why they feel they can or should tell me how those concepts work is beyond me. People, (AKA, families, communities, schools, faith and social groups) are the institutions wherein morals and ethics are taught and learned; the government needs to mind their own fucking business...

I'm very much pro-environment, in that I know that we've been steadily fucking up the earth for our gain pretty much since we became 'civilized', (And I use the term loosely). In my book, we do not have carte blanche to do or take anything and everything for profit; we should first and foremost sustain or better what we have - Anything less is condemning future generations, and if that ain't fundamentally wrongheaded I don't know what is. I have great faith not in technology, but in humankind's ability to create and foment change, for the better as well as for the worse - We need to focus much more on the former and much less on the latter.

I'm legally conservative, but not in the sense most folks apply to that label. What I mean by it is this: "The Law" should actually be a much narrower term than it is. Many things that become law should not be so, (See the paragraph above). Law should apply to basic common law and be based on common sense; it was never meant to be used as a political football. To me, true legal conservatism means "Small Law" in the sense that the original Republicans spoke of "Small Government". They need to be seriously reined in and reminded what they're really here for, pretty much across the board. I believe that this is yet another branch of government that has lost its way; they need to be powerfully reminded that they are here to assure consistent common sense, not to wield ridiculously broad ranged powers cantilevered directly from the Executive branch; remember the scales o' justice boys? That implies check and balance, not piling everything up on one side and wondering what the other folk are doing way up there...

I'm economically conservative in the most common sense use of the word. As the son of a Harvard/MIT Econ Prof who was raised during the Great Depression, I believe that you work hard, and for that, receive a fair wage and some security in exchange. American greed is manifest in the clusterfuck we have before us currently, (Wait for it, I saved best for last, I"m gettin' warmed up...) Nowhere does it say that it is right or even remotely OK for 1% to 2% of a population to have vast wealth while everyone else lags far, far behind. Anyone who knows of the age of the Robber Barons knows what that got us last time, (After all, it was called The Great Depression for a reason). I am a bit of a student of history, but you don't need to be to see that the current state of our nation is terribly, terribly close to that dark time. The euphemism, "Those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it," is ringin' pretty loud in my ears right now. Why did certain small U.S. and some European banks fare far better in this latest crisis? Because they weren't so wholeheartedly, outlandishly, completely fucking greedy as the ones that are eating the big one right now. Shoot, even some of the Robber Barons did good works with their money, (Granted, we have a few who are doing so here and now too), but the fact remains that outlandish greed and economic excess, repeated about every generation or so, is the primary cause for the mess we're in. It blows my mind that these companies who have progressively and repeatedly fucked their workers and ignored the people they supposedly serve come screaming to the government for help as soon as they see that they're startin' to circle the big drain... (And along that line, how smart do you need to be? I was in sub-prime mortgage banking and got out 2 years ago, in December of '06 because I could see it comin', and I ain't no Bernanke...) Economics is not the science of how to best fuck the most people over; it is, by definition, a branch of the social sciences, and deals with making, moving and using stuff and the management thereof: I say again, it is a branch of social science, meaning it should first and foremost be dealing with people and their needs, not with the needs of a few blowing the many off the face of the earth - Time for these fuckers to come down to reality as well.

Oh, and just on the odd chance you didn't intuit my take on all this current economic crisis via my rant, I say let them motherfuckers fail and hang the repercussions - They created it, they need to fix it - Necessity breeds innovation; I know of no greater necessity than one's ass hanging off the ledge to foment a good solution to that dilemma... I am frankly not scared at all - I am and always have been a very, very capable survivor - I will always find a way to care for me and my fellow humankind, so frankly, I feel not the slightest twinge of charitability toward these horses asses at all. I find this whole situation disgusting and at the same time maddening - It galls me to be stuck around such a bunch of completely mindless empty suits...


So, whataya think; am I nuts?