uglyAmericans
Americans:not who we used to be
Current mood: 
insubordinate
"The claims of these organizers of humanity raise another question which I have often asked them and which, so far as I know, they have never answered: If the natural tendencies of mankind are so bad that it is not safe to permit people to be free, how is it that the tendencies of these organizers are always good? Do not the legislators and their appointed agents also belong to the human race? Or do they believe that they themselves are made of a finer clay than the rest of mankind? The organizers maintain that society, when left undirected, rushes headlong to its inevitable destruction because the instincts of the people are so perverse. The legislators claim to stop this suicidal course and to give it a saner direction. Apparently, then, the legislators and the organizers have received from Heaven an intelligence and virtue that place them beyond and above mankind; if so, let them show their titles to this superiority. They would be the shepherds over us, their sheep. Certainly such an arrangement presupposes that they are naturally superior to the rest of us. And certainly we are fully justified in demanding from the legislators and organizers proof of this natural superiority."
– Frederic Bastiat (1801-1850)
Americans are no longer considered, by the world at large (small as it is), to be rugged individualists, fearless pioneers, or even "free." Thanks to the "ugly American" caricature, and the marauding tendencies of a sublimely self-interested oligarchy, we are now famous worldwide as a society of whiny, angry, finger pointing victims. Lawsuits are preferable to accountability, and semantic acrobatics equate tangible results. The fact is, as a nation collectively, we’re embarrassingly over weight, under educated, and miserably at lack in our excesses. The stoic traditions enforcing self-subjugation in the name of an imperialist "benevolence" empowered by fear have yet to meet their penultimate demise. I so wish them this "salvation" of which they insist upon and great awakening in their awaiting wave of fire.
When faced with the consequences of ignorance puritans are notoriously defensive.
Doesn’t it feel just a little dicey to be sitting in a coffee shop, complaining about losing inalienable rights to an oppressive government while living in the shadow of the Pueblo alongside people whose families were here long before we had a "Constitution" to protect? How do "we the (rest of the) people" begin to reclaim our individual sovereignty and create solidarity? Just like that. Humbly acknowledge the difficult truths. Then, with heartfelt gratitude and a deep sigh at the irony of it all, we can pass the turkey.
My ancestors were at war with each other. That doesn’t mean I have to be at war with myself. If we don’t choose to be at peace, free and bravely at home in our own skins, "visualizing" world peace is a ridiculous waste of time. Just as ridiculous as the idea that a government can provide anything that it doesn’t inherently possess, for instance, integrity, morality or personal security. Only "we the people" have the option to exercise those qualities on a moment-by-moment basis, one person at a time.
So, have an exceptionally extraordinary day. Vive le revolution.
"Ah,…You who judge humanity to be so small! You who wish to reform everything!
Why don’t you reform yourselves? That task would be sufficient enough."– Frederic Bastiat 1801-1850
French economist, statesman, and author during the years just before -and immediately following - the Revolution of February 1848. (see http://bastiat.org/en/the_law.html)
-LuLu Scott (Lokey)
posted by IS at Thursday, April 10, 2008
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