28 April 2014
There are several things on my mind today which I will go into, and which I will probably have to delve further into as the week progresses. They are things which are ripping our American society apart and are antithetical to our continuation as a nation. We are no longer truly tolerant, we no longer respect private property and privacy in general, we believe things should be given to us because someone else has it, and others through government taxation should fund our way of life.
When I say we are no longer truly tolerant, what I mean is we cannot seem to agree to disagree. We are coming to the point where if someone disagrees with our point of view about something they are evil and should be ostracized or made to disappear. There seems to be no room for people to actually engage in a thoughtful debate with respect for the other people involved in the discussion. There was once a time, in my remembrance, where disagreement about issues didn't mean we were total enemies. The vilification of people with opposing views has made real discussion almost impossible.
We also seem to be too enamored with worrying about what someone else is doing on their property or in their private life. If truth be told, I don't want to know your sexual orientation as a first step in getting to know you. Tell me your name and let's have a discussion and find out about each other that way. I don't need to know what your religious affiliation is or even if you have one unless that is the basis of our first contact. We will learn those things from each other over time during the process of building a friendship.
What you do on your property isn't my business unless it is causing physical harm to other people or affecting the surrounding property. I should be concerned about taking care of my little corner of the world in a manner which conforms to my belief system and ensuring my own integrity before worrying about anything else.
There is also this overwhelming sense of entitlement. Somewhere the idea that equality of opportunity must lead to equality of outcome came to be expected; which just isn't the case. I can put 100 people in a room, give them the same training and access to information, and there will be 100 different results. This is because we all have different skill sets and ways of doing things. Some people are faster, some slower, some smarter, some who couldn't find there way to the bathroom with arrows on the floor pointing the way. We are different and will have different outcomes no matter what.
This next item stems from the previous, you should not use government to take from those who are successful just because you think it isn't fair they should have more. Someone in their family, if not they themselves, somehow acquired that wealth. What you should be doing is looking at how they managed to gain the wealth, and find a way with that knowledge, to do it for yourself.
Just a few things on my mind this morning. Would love to hear your thoughts.
