Are Folks Still Rioting Where You Live?
Although I don't pay much attention to the "news" anymore, and thus tend to be mostly out-of-touch regarding the latest "important events", I did happen to notice some webpage headlines describing a big, destructive riot in Chicago just a few days ago.
Good grief, people; when is this madness going to end?
We live in the southeastern part of the USA, in central Georgia to be specific, and while things have been mostly quiet and peaceful here, (due, I would suspect, to a significant portion of the population carrying firearms), Atlanta is just 80 miles or so up the road. As you may or may not know, Atlanta had some violence due to a man being shot and killed after he fired a taser at a policeman's head, (a fine example of suicide by cop, IMHO). The idiotic mayor and equally idiotic DA responded by pouring some symbolic gasoline on the fires, so now peace is being maintained in that city by the presence of federal troops. (Some things never change, eh?)
Just like in Atlanta, and Seattle, and Portland, the mayor of Chicago is a moronic political hack, unable to respond intelligently to the threat of a violent armed mob destroying her city.
What lessons can we learn from all this stupidity?
1. Freedom, Democracy, and indeed civilization itself are fragile things, and can only be maintained by an educated populace. The massive ignorance displayed by huge portions of our citizenry can possibly be blamed on the breakdown of our education system, but I believe there are other factors at work that have a greater influence. Perhaps even the success of our country ultimately ensured its demise?
2. People are people. While it's easy and perhaps comforting to a paleface such as myself to blame the rioting on people of a certain physical disposition, it could be argued that a significant portion of the violence has been instigated by pale folk like me. (For example, the burning of the Wendy's restaurant in Atlanta at the beginning of the riot was supposedly caused by a white woman.)
3. With all due apologies to Lord Woodhouselee, the misattributed quote is beginning to sound true:
"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the majority discovers it can vote itself largess out of the public treasury. After that, the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits with the result the democracy collapses because of the loose fiscal policy ensuing, always to be followed by a dictatorship, then a monarchy."
So given this colossal mess, what is a grumpy old man supposed to do?
I've never been one to put much faith in the vote I cast at the polling booth, but would rather rely on my feet to express my preferences and determine my fate. As it happens, we are already in the final stages of a planned move to the Philippines, so all this madness does is encourage us in our choice.
Unless future generations can reverse the nasty cultural rot plaguing us, I'm afraid America is on an express ride to mediocrity, poverty, and totalitarian rule. This is obviously not a future I want for my children, nor would wish for anyone.
Comments
Post a Comment