Grandpa Might Have Known Ayn Rand
April 3rd, 2009
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People wanted "change." They wanted "hope." They wanted "transparency." They wanted a "new direction." At least that's what they've all
said were the reasons they voted the way they did.
My grandfather always cautioned me "Be very careful what you wish for. . . . . " I wish he were still around to see what fools we've become. If he
weren't already dead, this would certainly kill him. Oops! Better be "careful." I wouldn't want to see him die twice!
We have "new" elected officials with "new" agendas and "new" directions. We are bombarded daily with reminders of the "historic" significance
of this particular Administration in spite of the numerous fuck-ups being perpetrated on the country (and the world.)
I truly hope we're all happy with the "new" officials, agendas and directions.
We now have new government controls, new government takeovers and new government spending. (Can you spell "Government Motors"?) We
are heading down a new direction clearly marked "Socialism, This Way!" And our freedoms are heading in the direction of the toilet. How long
will it be before the government tells us what we can drive or where we can go?
They already tell us, through "political correctness", what we can't say. How long before the government tells us what we can't think?
It is becoming more and more obvious to me that people wanted the change -wanted the new direction- so they wouldn't have to take
responsibility for their own actions or even their own lives. They want the government to be mom and dad, supporter and provider. They want
the government to soften the "slings and arrows of outrageous fortune". "Please, Uncle Sam, forgive our total irresponsibility and immaturity."
They want the government to tell us: "It's okay. It really wasn't your fault." Even though we instinctively know it was -and is- our fault.
Added to this sad state of affairs is the undeniable fact that our government does NOTHING well. What's our exit strategy in the "war on
poverty?" that's been waged for the past forty-plus years? When can we expect to see improvement -after spending billions on top of billions of
dollars on our ever-worsening public education systems?
No… Government is the essence of inefficiency and waste. It is productivity's arch-enemy. It is the albatross around improvement's neck. It is
of NO comfort to me to hear that "the government has it under control" - especially when the government has proven time and time again that it
can't control itself.
Ayn Rand in Atlas Shrugged eloquently states "When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion - when you see that in order
to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing - when you see money flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in
favors - when you see that men get richer by graft and pull than by work, and your laws don't protect you against them, but protect them against
you - when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice - you may know that your society is doomed."
My grandfather would have concluded "….you might ACTUALLY GET it."