Adrift in a Sea of Sharks

I've enjoyed a few political conversations over the last few weeks that have got me thinking about why things are the way they are. So join me on a bit of picture painting of the mind.

Imagine if you will a picture perfect flat ocean, reflecting the sunlight. Adrift on that ocean is a small raft with people on it. Some are red, some are blue, some are purple. Almost all of the people are standing on a large see-saw that is perched atop the raft, the ends of which both protrude far beyond the edges of the raft. The only way that the raft stays afloat is if the people standing on the see-saw, and the few that are sitting on the raft, managed to keep it balanced. The people on the see-saw, the reds on the right, the blues on the left and the purples in the middle are engaged in a high-stakes game of tug-o-war. It's a scary ride on this raft but it's been afloat for a very long time.

Swimming below and around the raft are sharks. Lots and lots of sharks. You'll recognize the names of these sharks, anarchy, monarchy, socialism, communism, fascism, totalitarianism, despotism, oligopolies, monopolies, etc. The people playing tug-o-war on the see-saw on the raft can only see the sharks they particularly fear. So, the blues only see evil corporations trying to take away the people's rights and freedoms. The reds only see evil big government sharks trying to control the populace. The purples have a better view point and can see all the sharks.

Because of their view point, the purples spend their lives running back and forth between the red side and the blue side desperately trying to keep the raft in balance. The purples are attacked from both sides of the see-saw as flip-floppers, accused of having no moral compass or not standing for anything.

In the last 150 years or so we've been witness to all the sharks circling in the water. We've seen the evils of socialism and communism in the old USSR, Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Communist China, the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. People being enslaved by their governments. Enslavements that only end with violent overthrow of those governments.

We've also seen the evils of corrupt capitalism with the monopolies of early 20th century America, people working for corporations, being paid in script that can only be spent at the company store, paying rent to the company for housing, child labor, etc.  In short, enslavement that was ended through organized labor movements, government intervention and sometimes, violent conflict.

The thing that the reds and blues on our raft seem to be missing is the monopolist and the communist both want the same thing, your freedom. Slowly but surely both will bleed away the blessings of freedom that our founders built into the structure of the nation.

  Both political parties are guilty. The freedoms stolen in the Patriot act signed under the Bush administration, and expanded during the Obama administration, passed with bi-partisan support in congress. Both parties feel perfectly at ease feeding the American public a line of horse hockey about giving up a little freedom for better security. We were warned about that. Well meaning people say really stupid things like "if you aren't doing anything wrong you don't have to worry about it."  The line between that position and "let me see your papers" is exceedingly short. If you're not doing anything wrong why should you worry about showing your papers to a government police agency? Anybody ready to sign up for that?

 The Supreme Court ruled against the government's mandate in the Hobby Lobby case. But, the European high court recently ruled that a French law requiring Muslim women to remove their head wear was acceptable because it improves security. There's that bug-a-boo again. Don't worry, it's just a little religious freedom for a little security, imagine how much safer you'll be if you comply. Here, just wear this arm band and all will be well.

One of the lessons I learned in business school is that free resources will be utilized until exhausted. That's true of the environment and people. Competition keeps corporations honest in the dealings with the people and limited regulation keep them honest with the resources they exhaust. But don't kid yourself, we can see the result of chummy business/government interactions in present day Russia.

And lest we forget, the supreme court issued another ruling this last month, particularly interesting to me, saying the government can't force part-time home health care workers to join the public sector unions. The suit was brought by a stay-at-home mom who draws a stipend from a government program to care for her disabled son. Prior to the ruling that stipend came with the requirement to pay dues to the union. Unions once represented the people who joined them. I think today they are part and parcel of the problem. They'll shack up with business or government or both for self-perpetuation. The days of unions being a voice against management are waning and the days of unions becoming the slave drivers of big government and/or big business are looming.

America is an exceptional place because the founders trusted the government to the people. They threw off the bonds of monarchy for the blessings of freedom. They understood the risks of extremism from either end of the spectrum and trusted the people to be smart enough to realize it as well. It's time for the people to take back their turf.

(NSA Sidebar: These opinions are mine alone. If anybody actually reads this rant it was only out of curiosity, like looking at a car accident on the highway. My family has nothing to do with my ramblings either, chances are they'll deny knowing me if you come calling. You already know my phone number so give me a call if you'd like to chat.)