“Blinded by the Wrong Light….

From the Other Side of the Edge….
Blinded by the Wrong Light….
By Joe Facinoli

The wide and wonderful, political and cultural diversity in this country should be celebrated. The abuse, misuse, and overuse of it,…..should not.

With so many people, from so many different and varied groups, desperately seeking some sort of Light, some source of fulfillment, of hope and opportunity, or motivation, it has become far too easy for them to find, accept, and ultimately settle for and believe in, …..the “truth as we say it is” pretenders.

Enter the Light Salesmen. The Pushers. The Preachers of Prosperity and Goodness for All. The Empty Suits with the easy way, and the easy fix. The “step right up, you’re the next winner”, silver tongued Purveyors of all things possible, for all comers, at no cost, with guaranteed happiness for everyone.

Enter Socialism. And Victimhood and Entitlement, along with Overzealous Evangelism, and Arrogant Condescension, all masquerading as intelligence, competence, and experience.

Exit reality, fairness, righteousness, even sanity, and finally, democracy and individual freedom.

That’s been the pattern. The frog in the boiling water pattern.

So easy to fall for in the beginning, so temptingly treacherous later on, when hard but seemingly rewarding choices are forced to be made, and then so unfailingly fatal, when those decisions become irreversible, and all the promises come due.

Socialism has failed everywhere it has been tried. From the Middle Ages, to the Soviet Union, to the pilgrims and colonists in North America, who quickly found that survival of the fittest always trumps looking out for the well being of a lazy neighbor.

It’s against human nature. People are born to be competitive, and not naturally nurturing to those who don’t try, nor work as hard as they need to.

Competitiveness is what makes them get up in the morning, and move through the drudge of their days, and their lives. The possibility of succeeding, and getting ahead of the world a little bit, and out of the pit they found themselves in, soon after they could walk.

But it is enticing,….a “chicken in every pot”, whether you worked that hard for it, or not. A sharing of the wealth, especially the other guy’s wealth. That’s pretty cool, getting what pittance you make, PLUS a piece of that snobby upper class clown, down the street. Gimme some o’ dat!!

But what happens when everyone figures out the system, and finds that it’s simply foolish to work very hard, or much at all, since they’re just going to have to give most of it up later, anyway (probably, to that lazy neighbor down the street).

As Margaret Thatcher said: “The problem with Socialism, is that eventually you will run out of other people’s money”.

Enough said. But even so, there are still way too many Liberals, led by our President and his acolytes, who continue to think that this is a good idea, even when they don’t really know what they’re pushing, nor espousing, nor anything at all, really.

However, there are other, more subtle paths towards Karl Marx’s playground. And in this country, those start with everyone who doesn’t succeed at something, usually after one try, crying “Victim, victim, I’m a victim!!”, and demanding their fair share, on the spot.

Excuse me?? Where is that written down? You, or your family, or someone in your family’s history had a problem, even a very big and cruel one, and you expect us to make that all good and right in twenty minutes??? Please!

EARN your way, or at least make an attempt, and other people will be more receptive to your plight, or situation, and fairness might even kick in, with a little luck, and even without government intervention.

But no, we have developed and nurtured our “Entitlement Culture”, maybe as a way of relieving some guilt or something, but we have. And for far, far, and way too many, this has become their Light, and their way of life. Blindingly so.

When too many of us habitually live well beyond our means, sometimes very meager means, sometimes wasting very large means, it’s a piece of cake for the “fantasy world” to get a foothold.

That world of “money cures all”, and “greed is good”, and “I wanna get paid”, and “Where’s mine??!!”. So, we throw money at the problems and social issues, instead of solving them. Bad idea, …..bad government, …..and very bad social policy.

As that very smart lady said earlier, there’s only so much money to be had.

Trumped up egos, beliefs in phantom traditions and standards from a past that’s never quite remembered like it really happened, the arrogance and delusions of religious conservatism, or the free association religious liberals (excuse me,…..progressives), as in: “the way that it’s supposed to be (which is really just someone of today, voicing their opinion and/or prejudices), all are feeders from, or casualties of, this False Light.

All of these followers (sometimes very enthusiastic and convincing ones, to be sure), who fit any of these categories, are merely modern Snake Oil salesmen, who have fallen prey to the age old way of thinking that there just must be an easier way to get what they want, than by the hard work and righteous way.

Their False Light is just too coaxing, too convincing, too Blinding, for them to try anything else. So much so, that they feel compelled to drag others, even all others, along with them.

Usually born of some bitterness, or anger or frustration, or a perceived societal injustice, their “plight”, wherever it came from, always makes it clear to them that not only do they deserve a better fate, but that no one else should be in line ahead of them for it.

One more quote fits here. A somewhat obscure movie quote, from of all places: Terminator 2. In it, John Connor’s mom, Sarah Connor (John was to be the future leader of all humanity, after a century long fight with “the machines”, …..you gotta see it to fully understand), had a saying. At first glance, it won’t make the religious among us very happy, but actually, it fits right into much that the Bible, Torah, and other important scriptures teach: “There is no Fate, but that which we make for ourselves.”

No false Light there. Only a mantra that surely works for all, and hopefully, might even get that fat cat clown and his lazy neighbor together, to see the true Light, …….that of Democracy and Freedom.

Joe Facinoli

( You can reach Joe, at joefacinoli@gmail.com )

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