Winter wonderland; winter of discontent
Having a snow-covered back yard provides a constant
delight of pure white covering a multitude of less-than-sightly weeds, brown
patches and odd items that never found proper homes in sheds. Snow can be many
things to many people: lots of it in the right places becomes a literal
playground for snowmobilers; for skinny, energetic folks on their Nordic skis;
and provides the means for the generously-girthed to “shoosh” down picturesque
ski runs.
Among the rewarding aspects of the latter form of
snow-play is the view of other snow-covered mountains: from Sisters (a few
miles to Mt. Bachelor), to Mt. Hood (100 miles distant on a clear day), to a
rare glimpse of Mt. Shasta about 150 miles to the south. It’s fascinating to
consider that, at that distance, the curvature of the Earth translates to
literally thousands of feet of Mt. Shasta’s slopes dropping below the 8,000
foot wooded slopes between Bachelor and Shasta.
You see, if the Earth was flat, you could stand at
9,000 feet (Bachelor), look over 8,000 foot hills and see all of Shasta down to
perhaps six thousand feet. What you actually see are the tops of Shasta and
Shastina down to about the 10,000-foot level. These views can only be had by
skiers, aircraft passengers and pilots, and occasional hang-gliders that pay to
ride up the lift, spread their wings and catch a stiff wind. For them, it’s a
mighty chilly glide to the bottom but magnificent all the way.
Back in these here flatlands one can find apparently
limitless discontent in all segments of the body politic. The arrival of the
New Year has traditionally inspired great celebrations and hopes for better
times. Better times are certainly deserved by all people in general, and
Americans in particular. One can understand discontent settling into the psyche
of those who watched their hopes dashed over the November election, but those
who won seem nearly inconsolable in victory and lash out at the opposition.
The two competing visions are truly incompatible and
require the force and power of the state to implement their policies. There
would be so much less contention and acrimony if the role, footprint, and
powerful sway of government at the state and federal levels, were a far smaller
part of our lives, incomes and businesses.
There really is not much that Americans can’t do for
themselves and, indeed, observers of the America of the 1800s found a
remarkable people that sought little from their government. One French writer,
Alexis de Tocqueville, published his observations in “Democracy in America”
(1835, 1840). He found, for instance, that the citizens of the newly formed
United States of America were a people unlike any other in their eagerness,
energy and organizational abilities to respond to, and remedy, all manner of
societal situations – without the need for imposition, interference or help
from far-off governmental institutions.
He also found cause for concern over the qualities of
individualism and equality that could be taken advantage of by tyrannical
forces in spite of the democratically formed representative government. From
Wikipedia: “Tocqueville
worried that if despotism were to take root in a modern democracy, it would be a
much more dangerous version than the oppression under the Roman emperors or
tyrants of the past who could only exert a pernicious influence on a small
group of people at a time. In contrast, a despotism under a democracy could see
‘a multitude of men,’ uniformly alike, equal, ‘constantly circling for petty
pleasures,’ unaware of fellow citizens, and subject to the will of a powerful
state which exerted an ‘immense protective power’. Tocqueville compared a
potentially despotic democratic government to a protective parent who wants to
keep its citizens as ‘perpetual children,’ and which doesn't break men's wills
but rather guides it, and presides over people in the same way as a shepherd
looking after a ‘flock of timid animals.’”
Those of us who resist being turned into a “flock of
timid animals” or “perpetual children” seeking succor from our governmental
“protective parent” now find ourselves on the receiving end of calumny,
character assassination, ad hominem attacks and vilification – as in the
incessant bashing of the Tea Party. Fiscal restraint, Constitutional liberties,
economic freedom. Radical! You readers who share the conservative beliefs of
the overwhelming majority of Tehama County voters are not personally so
treated; however, you can observe just such attacks upon this columnist and the
Tea Party, as the local liberal suspects have been doing for many years on this
page.
Their intolerance has been on display in missives
beneath dignifying with my written response. They demonstrate a palpably virulent
desire to have me, the only weekly conservative voice in the north state,
silenced, apparently to satisfy their tribal anathema towards those with whom
they disagree. They have three other writers that reliably take the liberal
side when an issue warrants choosing, but this one little conservative voice
offends them to the point of name-calling, insult and ridicule. We can’t, in
their political world, agree to disagree, or disagree without being
disagreeable. I offer this New Years suggestion: set aside the acrimony,
liberals, please.
Social Security retirement deficits of $36 bn (2010),
$48 bn (2011) and $48 bn (2012) total $132 bn (OMB), not far off of the $150 bn
figure I used 2 columns ago. Within six months, it will pass $150 billion
cumulative deficit between taxes and payments. Also, calling interest on the
trust fund “income” is like saying pixie dust is a condiment for rainbow stew.
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