"That guy"...

[santahog]

Remember the story a couple of weeks ago about the guy in south Alabama who took the kid and holed up in the conex's he buried in his yard?
I look at "that guy" and see so many guys I've met over the years.. They get hurt in their body, then "alone" in their head, (generally from facing having to be a burden to those around them, maybe that they don't even respect) then drive everybody else away, then turn mean, so that the only contact they have with people is stupid kids who torment them, like they do dogs in a fence as they walk to and from school..
"Sooner or later"..
Sooner or later, the dog gets out of the fence and bites a kid.
Sooner or later, the guy takes revenge on the notions of perceived (real or imagined) wrongs that have been perpetrated "against" him, and destroys what's left of his increasingly small world.. 
I look around and see things that we talk about every day here that have "changed" (that had no business in changing, let alone "our permission"), leaving us in a world that is just wrong at every level, and antithetical to everything most all of us have accepted as right, true and of most basic value to our posterity and the world around us.
Many of us here are well on our way to terminal bitterness over all this crap, and who here could blame them?? I feel the pull of that hole every time I look at the decay that used to be that which we all fought for, (and still do).
Without Jesus, I don't see how any one of us can keep from, eventually, turning into "that guy".. 
(And even then, it's tough..)

Observation du jour..

[tombogan03884]

One difference is that "that guy" is alone, he is stuck in his own head with no higher agenda than his own anger and frustration.
Every one he meets craps on him, or thinks he's crazy and he perceives that as being the the expression of the whole world .
Maybe he is crazy.
But maybe if he had gained access to the wider world through other forms of contact than just face to face such as internet forums he would realize as we do here that while we may disagree on methods, there are a butt load of people who all see the same things, there are major problems with modern American society .
I say "American society" because I don't give a crap about the rest of the world, America was founded as an island of personal liberty and responsibility in a world of elitism and subjugation .
It should remain so.
How it's done in other countries should have no relevance to Americans .
Any one who has read many of my posts knows that I don't think spirituality or emotion have any place in the management of the nation .
My mind just doesn't work that way.
It's a fine way to run your family, but the nation needs to operate on principles of historic precedent, seeking answers from what works rather than what any particular belief system wishes worked .
If it is unfair to a few, but protects the founding principles of the Constitution, so be it.
The founders of the nation were pragmatists who new life is not fair, no matter what you do some one gets the short end of the stick.
They did not write the Constitution to provide perfect fairness for all, simply to f*ck over as few as possible.

[JLawson]

Any one who has read many of my posts knows that I don't think spirituality or emotion have any place in the management of the nation.  My mind just doesn't work that way.  It's a fine way to run your family, but the nation needs to operate on principles of historic precedent, seeking answers from what works rather than what any particular belief system wishes worked.

I think this may be fine in abstract discussion, but impossible in practice.  Mankind, both the governors as well as the governed, are emotional creatures... we have no choice.  If we live, we feel - happiness, pleasure, anger, sadness, fear, hostility, etc.  It is impossible to separate emotion from consciousness.  They are inextricably linked, one can not be disentangled from the other.  So the very notion of "what works" must be based on our perception of relative merits.  And that perception is derived from an alchemy of circumstance, experience, and mood.

We would not tolerate, for example, a government that decided who could live and who must die based on age, sex, disability, health, intelligence, strength, or productivity.  And this stance is not based on a calculated analysis of the economic or societal benefits relative to those particular characteristics.  It is based on our spiritual and emotional belief that all are created equal and have an unalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  In the absence of compassion, those who are too old, too sick, too weak, or otherwise incapable of adequate productivity would be euthanized in deference to a more reasoned use of limited resources.

That's not how we do things.

[tombogan03884]

I kind of went off on a tangent in my previous post, but JLawson's comment on my tangent let's me try to clarify something I have been trying to express for awhile .
Church, and State have separate functions .
The function of Govt is to maintain a society where industry (hard work) is rewarded, Where laws are  equally enforced, with trade and business allowed to thrive or fail based on market demand in a more or less natural, and predictable manner while maintaining a low enough tax burden to attract investment.
Govt needs to be heartless in both enforcement of laws necessary in promoting business, and in getting the most value for the least expenditure of tax dollars.
They supply the pool, whether you swim or drown is your problem to solve with knowledge, and work.
Good Govt must ignore social issues, the "Poor" are no concern of Govt, they can either work and rise, or die .
In either case until they become tax payers they are no concern of good Govt, the same with health care .
These issues are where charitable organizations and churches of all denominations take their place in society.
Caring for the needy, distraught and ill is the whole purpose of a church.
You wonder why religion is dying in America ?
It is because the Churches have become just as lazy and shiftless as the rest of the "welfare culture".
They sit on their butts passing their responsibilities on to a Govt that is happy to seep into more vacant space.
The churches don't realize that by abrogating their responsibilities they are committing suicide by eliminating the reason for people to have faith in them.
It is the job of a good Govt to be coldly calculating, and down right stingy.
Good works, charity, and acts of kindness are the job of society lead by the churches, not of Govt.

[crusader rabbit]

We would not tolerate, for example, a government that decided who could live and who must die based on age, sex, disability, health, intelligence, strength, or productivity. And this stance is not based on a calculated analysis of the economic or societal benefits relative to those particular characteristics.  It is based on our spiritual and emotional belief that all are created equal and have an unalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  In the absence of compassion, those who are too old, too sick, too weak, or otherwise incapable of adequate productivity would be euthanized in deference to a more reasoned use of limited resources.

That's not how we do things.
From JLawson

I don't want to sound mean here, but have you not been paying attention?  That is exactly what, to quote Sara Palin, the death panels do.  That's what Odamna Care is all about.  That's what our society has devolved into.  We are making decisions on who get to live and who gets to die based upon the parameters you call out.

It used to be "not how we do things."  Now, it's just the way it is.

And that's what has so many of us so very pissed off!

I weep for my nation,

Crusader Rabbit

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