People And Government @ MindSay

Thomas Jefferson is credited with saying “The government you elect is government you deserve.” H.L. Mencken said the same thing, but better: "People deserve the government they get, and they deserve to get it good and hard."

 

Not me, thanks...I want someone more intelligent than I am, who can choose a great cabinet.

I don't want a president I can sit down and have a beer with.

I don't want a president who is just like me. 

Below you will find a mishmash of a certain idea inherent in several state constitutions. The idea is that of the importance of adherence to "fundamental principles" and "social virtues" in the administration of good government, and the role of ALL people in this.


That no free government, nor the blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people, but by constant adherence to those (fundamental principles) of piety, justice, moderation, temperance, industry, and frugality, and all the social virtues; by frequent recurrence to fundamental principles; and by the recognition by all citizens that they have duties as well as rights, and that such rights cannot be enjoyed save in a society where law is respected and due process is observed.

The people ought, therefore, to have a particular regard to all those principles in the choice of their officers and representatives, and they have a right to require of their lawgivers and magistrates, an exact and constant observance of them, in the formation and execution of the laws necessary for the good administration of free government.

That free government rests, as does all progress, upon the broadest possible diffusion of knowledge, and that the Commonwealth should avail itself of those talents which nature has sown so liberally among its people by assuring the opportunity for their fullest development by an effective system of education throughout the Commonwealth.


I decided I'd expand upon what these things mean because these words have multiple meanings, and because some of the concepts are no longer common. I included quotes and definitions from 'round the 'net, from various sources....

*piety- This is the only concept that, unsurprisingly, doesn't appear in all versions.

In spiritual terminology, piety is a virtue. While different people may understand its meaning differently, it is generally used to refer either to religious devotion or to spirituality, or often, to a combination of both.

*justice- 1) Moral rightness; equity. (2) Honor and fairness. (3) Good reason. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.

*moderation- quality of being moderate and avoiding extremes. Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.

*temperance- the trait of avoiding excesses. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.

"If men of wisdom and knowledge, of moderation and temperance, of patience, fortitude and perseverance, of sobriety and true republican simplicity of manners, of zeal for the honour of the Supreme Being and the welfare of the commonwealth; if men possessed of these other excellent qualities are chosen to fill the seats of government, we may expect that our affairs will rest on a solid and permanent foundation." -- Samuel Adams, 1780 - letter to Elbridge Gerry

*industry- diligence: persevering determination to perform a task. Lose no time; be always employ'd in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.

*frugality- prudence in avoiding waste. Make no expence but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.

"[T]he importance of piety and religion; of industry and frugality; of prudence, economy, regularity and an even government; all ... are essential to the well-being of a family."  -- Samuel Adams, 1780 - letter to Thomas Wells.

10. No really they like living outside and their not really that hungry .

9.The government spends thousands of my tax dollars supporting corrupt contractors and questionable weapons systems, There is just not enough left over to feed people.

8.They should have known they'd get old and their job would be outsourced.What do they think a government is supposed to do? protect them

7.If we showed their gaskets returning wouldn't they be profiting off their own death

6.Well, my parents sent me to college and I didn't learn anything

5.There not my children and aren't they gonna die sometime anyway!

4.America is the land of opportunity

3. Give all my money to the who? My Bible doesn't say that!

2.Hell no, I'm not my brothers Keeper

1.America is the greatest country in the world, it's just the people in it I dislike.

Somewhere beneath this city's heat
In the eyes of strangers who pass me by
Life is cruel and so unkind
Oh, oh the Spirit of '76...

And so I find myself in the land of the birthplace of this nation and thinking about the world as I see it. Once upon a time so very long in a place such as this, there was a group of revolutionaries who declared themselves free of the bondage of an evil king who lived in a castle in a far away land. And first amongst these revolutionaries was a great knight who proved through his bravery and his deeds that he was somehow different than the mere mortals that he came to lead. And with the knight’s help the forces of evil were forever banished from this land and so for the most part, they lived happily ever after...

"Tis a fine tale, but this is not what has been swirling about through my brain whilst I spent time in this historic area of this country. What has been on my mind is "We the people..." Three words are what popped to the surface whilst I was on holiday. It amazes me that many in this country have forgotten those three words. "We the people" implies that everyone is working together for a common goal; it implies that there is some sort of cooperation and teamwork. It implies that there is unity in the governing of the country...

And yet in my opinion, most people believe in the three words "I the person..." It is so wonderful, in a sarcastic way, that many people expect something for nothing in this country. It is amazing that many feel that they are entitled to many great rewards just because they feel that they deserve them. It is wonderful that so many wish to have so much handed to them without anything given in return. This nation has become a nation of spoiled brats who want more and more and yet are not willing to do anything in return for the stuff they are given...

Things like universal healthcare sound like wonderful concepts and could be easily implemented, but who will pay for the program? How many will willing pay more than half of their incomes to the government to fund a program such as this? It truly is a shame that some people are financially wiped out by medical expenses, but that is the price that one must pay for living so long. Science has extended the lifespan of the race, but there is a price to pay for it that many wish to magically make go away. There are ramifications to every action and people must accept that...

This brings me to Social Security and all the glories that socialism has brought to this land. For those of you who do not know, Social Security was never intended to be retirement income; it was only intended as a supplement to one's retirement so that the retiree would not starve to death. And now many expect it to provide for all of their living expenses in retirement even if they happened to retire early. There was a time when "We the people..." meant something in this land and the aged were taken care of by their children, but those days are long gone for everyone has a life of their own and they cannot be burdened with the care of their parents. There was a time when people made sacrifices to their lives to provide for their families, but in the land of "I the person..." this concept is long dead...

So in my personal strange fashion, I have devised a plan to make everyone in this country happy and everyone who wishes to receive their stuff will be able to do so. And I offer this plan free of charge with no strings attached and it is as follows: All moneys that everyone receives through any means will be given to the government. The government will take this money and use it to pay for all the social programs, all the maintenance to the infrastructure, all the protection of this land from invaders, and all other programs that the people of this land wish to have. When all the bills are paid, the remaining funds (if there are any) will be equally distributed to all the legal citizens of this great land. Anyone who is found to have more than their allotted share of money will have all their money confiscated and then redistributed to the people. This is a fair plan that will ensure that everyone gets all the stuff that they want...

And so I shall cease my journey down the long path of sarcasm and I shall return to my more regular self whence I have the opportunity to once again write all that needs to written...

This is the Word of the AntiCrust...

Praise be ye who Read the Word for ye are Blessed amongst humans...

I figured I'd post an analysis of the totalitarian themes in V for Vendetta, which I recently did. It seems to be a pretty relevant issue, considering the state of affairs in Pakistan.

When V for Vendetta come out, it really rubbed the "Religious Right" that this movie's hero was, in fact, a terrorist. Not only that, a homosexual who owned a copy of a Koran, and two lesbians were portrayed as harmless victims. The radically conservative mind could not get past it. When would a terrorist be a hero? Does it make any sense?

Many see the acts of V as those of a terrorist because he acted alone, but  in the entire film he was the only one acting in the interests of the people. He was acting for the most part alone, but only in body. In mind and spirit, the people were ready, and they turned up in scores when it was time to play their part. The government no longer responded to the needs of the people.

"People should not be afraid of their governments, Governments should be afraid of their people" is V's mentality, and it should be a natural fear. At the end of the day, every person that makes up a government should worry about their job security. They should wonder if they did their job well enough to deserve another day in office. Unfortunately, this fear, even in our own supposedly Democratic society, has gone missing.

In V for Vendetta, there are numerous examples of totalitarian/authoritarian characteristics worked in. In the beginning, we see a  man on TV named Lewis Prothero, a pill popping man that is like a combination of a some sort of Military Captain, Jerry Falwell, and Rush Limbaugh that spews hate on the TV (like so many Conservative pundits today). The blatant media control, like after V blows up the Statue of Justice and the government releases the statement that it was planned for demolition, and near the end of the movie where the government increases the media coverage of events that would remind the people of why they "need the government"-- all of which is a characteristic (or at least a step towards) a totalitarian state.

Maybe this is why several of the Religious Rights' mouth piece called this film Anti-Christian. Maybe they didn't see themselves in the attitudes of the Conservative government mouthpiece, Lewis Prothero. Or maybe it was a little too close for comfort. His quote in the beginning about America comes to mind...

"Did you like that? USA... Ulcered Sphincter of Ass-erica, I mean what else can you say? Here was a country that had everything, absolutely everything. And now, 20 years later, is what? The world's biggest leper colony. Why? Godlessness. Let me say that again... Godlessness. It wasn't the war they started. It wasn't the plague they created. It was Judgement. No one escapes their past. No one escapes Judgement. You think he's not up there? You think he's not watching over this country? How else can you explain it? He tested us, but we came through. We did what we had to do. Islington. Enfield. I was there, I saw it all. Immigrants, Muslims, homosexuals, terrorists. Disease-ridden degenerates. They had to go. Strength through unity. Unity through faith. I'm a God-fearing Englishman and I'm goddamn proud of it!"

That really isn't a far cry from Jerry Falwell saying this, while Pat Robertson nodded in agreement, of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks: "I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen.'" Or Pat Robertson himself talking about the Muslim religion like it was terrorism. I believe he called Mohammed a terrorist.... then apologized after the backlash, as usual.

The only difference is that in this fictional movie, the extremely Religious zealot leader actually put these words and thoughts to action. Confusing religion and politics is dangerous, which brings up the importance of the separation of Church and State, which James Madison fully understood, and which fascist leaders tend to take advantage of. Adolf Hitler for example, and in V for Vendetta, Adam Sutler. In a fascist state, like Nazi Germany and the one in V, the leader is seen as an upholder of Religion, regardless of the contradictions.

Attacks on the country (revealed to the viewer to be by the country itself), are used to basically shut down the society, to enforce control over the citizens that otherwise wouldn't have been tolerated. Between the wars, disease, and famine, the government took advantage of that fear and helplessness and made decisions that made themselves more essential to their people than any government should ever be. This sort of thing can be used, as the Communist terrorist threat, to gain authoritarian control.

"STRENGTH THROUGH UNITY, UNITY THROUGH FAITH"
"ENGLAND PREVAILS!"

These are a couple of the nationalistic mottoes spoken throughout the film. According to Umberto Eco, and George Orwell, it is typical of fascist governments to use language against the population, whether in the form of slogans, or what Orwell coined as "newpeak". The above slogans remind one of the Orwellian "War is peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength". This is fairly typically of fascism, according to Umberto Eco's Eternal Fascism, who said that Fascist schoolbooks used an impoverished vocabulary and an elementary syntax, with the goal of limiting critical, complex reasoning. The truth is that language is easy to use against people, and our own government knows it, and readily employs the tactics on the average individual. They do this in how they name legislation, how they create military/government lingo, etc.... like the Patriot Act, No Child Left Behind, or Enhanced Interrogation Techniques. They all sound rosy by the titles, but the reality isn't necessarily as rosy. Enhanced Interrogation Techniques, for example, are ways to torture people without calling it torture.

Some other things in the movie seen in totalitarian societies were secret detention facilities where people who had been picked up for being dissidents or just different in an unsatisfactory way were taken and tortured, even executed. A paramilitary force called the Fingermen, similar to the brownshirts and blackshirts of History, enforce the strict curfew and law. People were being nabbed off the street, labeled as terrorists for protesting, and executed for what would be considered parody in the United States. There was blacklisting/censoring... certain music, art, literature, film and religious texts... anything that could be considered anything other than harmless, non-threatening low culture seems to have been banned by the Ministry of Objectionable Material.

Surveillance systems, including cameras, and wiretapping were in place. They even did random audio sweeps to determine what people were talking about in their homes. This is something that authoritarian governments most likely would do if they had the technology. Wiretapping was common in the past, and Closed Circuit TV is becoming it's replacement in many societies.

All in all, they did a good job creating a believable fascist government while simultaneously fitting in relevant topical issues to warn us all of the devices our governments use to oppress us in our own societies. Which, in a way, explains the enormous success that it was.