Thoughts on self rule

So, one of the advantages to the this crazy internet, and the beauty to blogging, is that I get to talk to a lot of people from other countries.  I’ve run into something incredibly odd.  Everyone I know thinks that at least half of the politicians in their country are corrupt.  Specifically, they distrust the one’s whose views oppose their own.  I saw this growing up a lot. The problem with this country was Democrats, because my parents were (and I suppose are) Republicans.  When I got older the problem with this country was not so Democrats but liberals. Then the problems was the “Homosexual Agenda”.  (I want to make a note here, about the brain rocking stupidity of the “homosexual agenda”.  I know several homosexuals.  Yet to meet one that has a agenda. Anyway…)

So, I get older and find out that Rush Limbaugh played as fast and loose with the truth as any liberal he purloined.  I meet people who championed liberal causes and are NOT in fact, baby banging, commie coddling, pot smoking, pretentious coffee shop intellectuals.  I find out there is some very hard evidence to back up the some of the claims of the liberals.   Further fact checking reveals, however, that Rush was right.  The politicians he held up for mockery are as deserving of jeers as he claimed.  But the liberals are also right when they complain about industrial cash flowing like a big green river into the hands of good God fearing conservatives.

Basically people wring their hands and say, “We would have a great country if it weren’t for those darn ___________”  Whatever. Liberals. Conservatives. Homosexuals.  Fundamentalists. Environmentalists. Multi-national corporations.    Now, where this really weirds me out is the fact that no matter what country a person I talk to is from, they say the exact same thing.  “Ah, if only the Bologna Salad Party was out of congress/parliament/office/dukedom then all things would be sweet and wonderful.  Corruption would stop, full employment would reign, and everyone would be above average.”

So I put forward a weird idea.  What if we are ALL right.  What if conservative politicians are every bit as evil and hypocritical as the liberals claim.  What if the liberals are really as freeloading and incompetent as the conservatives claim?  What if every charge that every competing group makes against these people is true.

In short, what if we really would have a great country if we just got rid of them all?  Seriously.  I can hear people whining, “No without politicians we would have no law.”  Um, really?  Why is that?  “The strong would rule the weak!”  Yeah, that would sure be different than now.  “We would have drugs running like water through the streets!”  Per capita, more people are hooked on cocaine now then in the 1890’s when it was in going into children’s cough syrup unlabeled.  All those laws sure fixed the problem.  “People would do whatever they wanted!”  Don’t they now? “No! They are held in check by the law.”  No, they’re not, people break the law all the time. “Well, more people would do more bad things!”  Really?  I always thought I wasn’t a murder because it didn’t appeal to me.  Who know all these years the only thing keeping me from smoking crack, selling drugs to school kids, beating my wife, and parking in the handicapped zone was not my conscience, but the law.  “Well, you and others might have the self discipline to live in such a society, but some people don’t!”  Indeed, they do not.  That some people would most likely be the 5 to 10% that are already repeat offenders.  I guess the law didn’t keep those people from doing evil anymore than it does me.  Some people choose to treat themselves and others with respect.  Some don’t.

Seriously, why do we need these politicians? They produce no valuable product; they sell no necessary service.  No one spends hours talking about how badly we need pickpockets, con artists, pimps, and thugs.  Unless they are REALLY good at it.  Then they become politicians or evangelists and suddenly the whole country will go down the crapper if we stop them from taking our money, stealing our hope, selling our lives, and beating up strangers.  I don’t get it.  Let be clear here.  I am in NO WAY advocating any destructive act toward the existing government.  I’m just saying, are we really sure that more laws, more authorities, more agencies, more programs, just plain more government is really what we want?  If laws haven’t fixed the problems we have, why would more laws fix them?  If the existing bureaucracy can’t “fix” us why would more?  Maybe the problems aren’t fixable.  Maybe they just part of the delightful mess of being people and we should just stop trying to fix them.  Just a thought.