What should drive us as a people, a society, a country? Who among us does not feel warm and fuzzy when we're referred to as compassionate; who doesn't want to feel themselves compassionate? Is there anyone out there who doesn't want to be correct? Those are lynchpins of humanity.
Compassion for those who are not as well off, possibly for those not as capable, surely for those without the same opportunity or innate abilities.
Correctness for ourselves, for who wants to be wrong, incorrect.
Correctness, in philosophy, in engineering, in science, has driven the advancement of humanity.
It also drives each of our egos; to be correct is the epitome of self-satisfaction.
Both of those qualities are bred into, ingrained into us by parents, taught us by teachers, shamed and exampled into and for us by friends, peers, and associates.
Then there's common sense.
I'm not sure it can be taught, particularly when much of what is taught in our schools and voiced on mass media is contrary to the concept.
Common sense (or, when used attributively as an adjective, commonsense, common-sense, or commonsensical: credit to Wikipedia), based on a strict construction of the term, consists of what people in common would agree upon: that which they "sense" as their common natural understanding, that which is part of the grain and fiber of their society.
It seems to me that common sense, unlike compassion and correctness (particularly in the current common usage of 'political correctness) is, or has become, a kind of ethereal term: it's lighter than air and floats away when faced with the all-too-human concepts of compassion and correctness.
So which is most correct as a tool to move us forward in this (as all times have been) demanding time in which we live? It was common sense that fired this country's craving for freedom and independence, at least Thomas Paine's version of common sense.
Then it was clearly enunciated in Paine's popular pamphlet that fired men's souls.
It was first published anonymously on January 10, 1776, during the American Revolution, Common Sense, signed "Written by an Englishman", became an immediate success.
At that time, it had the largest sale and circulation of any book in American history.
Possibly there's something that resonates with hard working, self sufficient, Americans when it comes to common sense.
And when you take a look at Americans-all races, all religions, all ages-and maybe at all men across the earth, there seems a commonality of common sense.
What's right, what's wrong, is generally the tenant of every religion, even the non-religious, every cast and class of humans.
However, man (and I use the term in sense of humankind) will be man, and man will have his way.
Might doesn't necessarily make right, although strength has imposed its will on humans, at least since recorded history, and 'common sense' says for long before man was scratching or placing his hand print on cave walls.
Throughout history man has wavered from compassion and political correctness, and even common sense, because he had the power to do so.
Power corrupts, absolute power corrupted and continues to corrupt absolutely.
And, as naturally as you can't stack water, power has wormed its way into government, religion, and every organized political division of man.
That, beyond compassion, correctness, and common sense, is human nature, and must be among the basic's of same that man must learn to overcome.
Man is a hunter-gatherer, but if you look at the physical construction of man, he's a predator as well, and as a predator his speed, strength, and most of all in the case of man as a predator, his cunning is what has made him prevail.
All prey animals have their eyes in the sides of their heads.
Why? So they can see the predator who's slinking through the grass to make a meal of them.
Where are man's eyes? In the front of his head, just as are those of the great cats, of bears, of wolves, providing binocular vision and depth perception.
As basic as the fact meat is part of his diet, is the fact he's designed to be a predator.
It's a concept that seems alien to much of current America, the same group of Americans who say, "all you have to do is change the way you think.
" That seems so basic, so simple, and I believe, the fact is, it's as simple as moving your eyes to the side of your head.
Have we overcome those basic instincts, so obviously part of our makeup no matter if you believe in the Biblical or evolutionary man, or something in between.
Man was, and to a great extent, still is, a predator, and always will be, and perhaps that's what's made him rise above the rest of the animal kingdom.
Is he changing in an evolutionary sense? Becoming less of a carnivore and more of a herbivore, or at least more omnivorous? Hard to tell.
He doesn't have the vision, sense of hearing, or sense of smell of many other predators, however he does possess better vision than many, and certainly greater intelligence, including the ability to hunt in a coordinated pack.
So where does compassion and political correctness fit in the mix? I think, that to answer this question, you have to delve deeper into the human psyche, and, unfortunately for many of us, into common sense.
It's long been my belief, a hard earned one by the way, that you can't help others until you first help yourself.
That should be one of the basic concepts of Americanism, and of humankind, and is certainly one of the basic precepts of free enterprise as an economic form of government.
It's only common sense to know that you can't share a crop of tomatoes with your neighbor unless you've worked hard and grown more tomatoes than you need to sustain yourself, otherwise you won't be around to grow more tomatoes next year.
That's about as simple a concept as there is when it comes to common sense, and to free enterprise as an economic system, and a concept that I think should be at the basis of all "common sense" in this and all societies.
It's a concept that created the most successful country in the history of the world, and one that's being destroyed by compassion and correctness, at least in the modern concept of political correctness.
It's a concept that recognizes that you can't share until you've produced more than you require: a concept so simple that it's far to often overlooked by those in government, and by those who have an "I deserve it" complex.
This begs the example of Aesop's fable: the ant and the grasshopper.
Where does government fit into all this? The brilliance of the Bill of Rights and America's Constitution was, in addition to the concern for basic human rights...
and needs and motivations...
was the combining of thirteen colonies with disparate populations, religions, races and backgrounds, and yes, even aspirations.
One thing all had in common was a belief that they were being preyed upon, taken advantage of, by a distant powerful force over which they had no control-the English throne.
Americans didn't want then, and I believe don't want now, a distant government (even only as far as Washington D.
C.
) to control what they do on a local level, a government who takes more of their crop of tomatoes than they require to sustain, and yes, to better themselves.
The original concept of the constitution was a limited federal government, a government whose powers were limited to those specifically granted in the constitution.
Government has gone far beyond that, and in doing so, has begun to take a far greater share of your tomatoes than you need to sustain and better yourself.
And compassion, and those who I refer to as compassionistas, have somehow misconstrued compassion to mean not what share of my tomatoes can I afford to give to my fellows in need, but rather what share of someone else's tomatoes can I vote to give away, or take.
Compassion is a human emotion prompted by the pain of others.
More vigorous than empathy, the feeling commonly gives rise to an active desire to alleviate another's suffering.
It is often, though not inevitably, the key component in what manifests in the social context as altruism.
Compassion is a deep awareness of and sympathy for another's suffering.
Compassion is the humane quality of understanding the suffering of others and wanting to do something about it, again credit to Wifipedia.
That's all good stuff.
Compassionistas, however, want to do something about it with your tomatoes, not theirs.
It becomes very easy to give away the fruits of someone else's labor, merely the marking of a ballot and you feel warm and fuzzy, and that is the cancer eating at the very core of what made this country the most desirable in the world.
One of my favorite Thomas Jefferson quotes: "Do not bite at the bait of pleasure till you know there is no hook beneath it.
" Trust me, you can't vote yourself into prosperity, into wealth, you must work for it, earn it.
Even most of those who inherit it can't hang onto it, unless they've paid their dues in the trenches of free enterprise.
We're being eaten, internally as if by a cancer, by our own compassion, but not compassion in its true altruistic sense, but rather a false compassion that reaches into the pockets of someone else.
And greed: in this case the reaching into the pockets of someone else with your vote, for your own benefit.
It's destructive.
I'll quote from a poem I've written, one which I hope will be set to music by a friend who I think understands the concept, who grows his own tomatoes.
"Hard work makes a man; hand out, palm up forsakes a man.
" Pride is also a basic tenant of the free enterprise system; and its pride in what you create, not what you take.
And political correctness? I, as an author and student of history, am amused by a society where in a portion of it continually evokes a "do as I say, not as I do," philosophy.
One of the best examples of that is the use of the N word.
And you can see, I, too, fall into the morass of political correctness for I have not spelled it out.
In my reading of journals and biographies of the mountain men, I find that they referred to each other as "N" no matter their color, race, or ethnic background, a term that went far beyond a racial slur.
If the blacks of today don't want the term used (and I don't use it), then they should clean up their own nest.
Walk onto any basketball court in a black neighborhood, and you'll find it's the predominate noun, verb, and adverb used in the lexicon of the game, and common every day street use in any black community.
I once wrote a novel based around the Indian gambling business in America, and was called by the publisher who said, "You can't use the derogatory term Indian in this book.
" I must admit I smiled before I replied, "So what do you suggest I call the Bureau of Indian Affairs?" She said, to her credit, "I get it.
" And the term, which Native Americans use, including in their prodigious efforts in advertising Indian casinos, stayed in the novel.
An attempt at compassion and political correctness on the part of the publisher? Yes.
An obvious lapse in common sense.
Obvious is too polite a word.
When applied to everyday life in America, the example of political correctness surfaces in the most obvious way in the lines awaiting security at our airports.
When an eighty year old woman in a wheelchair is pulled out of line to be "wanded" when behind her is an 18 to 40 year old man with a beard, a Che Guevara t-shirt, and a bad attitude, and he's waved through without concern.
Common sense is lost on our government and on many of the compassionistas in our society.
All of us are asked for our driver's license when stopped for a minor traffic offense, but our federal government, in contradiction to their own federal laws, say it's illegal to ask for proof of citizenship.
All I can say to most of what's coming out of D.
C.
these days is "duh.
" If this country is to survive as the "go to" country in the world, the most economically successful country in the world, the country who's able to give more than any other country in the world, then each and every one of us must be left to grow our own tomatoes, otherwise none of us will be able to share.
It's as basic as breath, as water, as sustenance.
And the federal government should confine itself to those responsibilities specifically granted in the Constitution.
When government steps into free enterprise, to take a share of the tomatoes, and distribute them to others, but the very nature of government, it costs a share of those tomatoes.
Every dollar sent to Washington comes back as less than a dollar, and most times far less, and is consumed by a class of Americans who produce nothing.
Goods and services don't come from a government agency, only something LESS than they received.
And the Obama health care debacle creates 159 new government agencies which will massage your money and return far less than the taxes necessary to support them...
but then they seem so compassionate in nature.
Hogwash, they'll be destructive, as every government agency that exceeds the authority granted in the Constitution has been destructive.
Can we share? Of course we can, and have, and in fact have protected the whole world from time to time, and rebuilt most of it more than once.
It seems that the only thing that can destroy us is to allow ourselves to be eaten from the inside, and that is happening and will continue to happen...
so long as we, as voters, continue to allow it.
It's too simple a concept for most of us, if not for Thomas Jefferson.
"You can't, as a government, give to one man without taking from another.
" I fear that voting oneself, not earning for oneself, a piece of the success of America has become pervasive in this country, and I don't just mean the welfare recipient.
Every boy, at one time or another, wants to grow up to be a fireman or a policeman.
Almost every time I'm on a golf course and go out as a single, as I like to do as I meet and chat with lots of new folks, I'm paired with someone retired from fire or police departments, and all too often they are retired on total disability.
And they are out driving me by fifty yards, with those totally disabled backs.
Lying, cheating, and stealing from their fellow citizens, claiming total disability so they get 100% of their pay as retirement.
Sorry, but that's as wrong as voting yourself any larger share of the pie than your fellow Americans.
Do I respect firemen and policemen? Of course I do, the honest ones.
Am I concerned that many of them, and those retired from other government jobs are setting a bad example for today's youth, you bet I am.
In fact, I'm sickened by it, and until the majority of you out there become so, we'll continue our downward spiral.
A friend of mine, a resident of California, recently found out that if he went back to work for eight months for the government, he could double his retirement from $5,000 a month to $10,000 a month, and did so-I'm proud to say he, at least, didn't claim a bad back when he retired in order to get far more than his already exorbitant share of our collective crop of tomatoes.
Does that make the rest of us want to share a portion of our tomato crop, or what ever else we produce in goods and services, with our fellows? I don't think so, and if that smacks of sarcasm it's because it was meant to.
It's time the rest of us stood up against our government, which has become the cancer eating at our free enterprise system, at our way of life, at our very being and continuation as a free, independent people.
It's time we stood up with our vote, before we have to stand up in more rebellious ways...
again.
It's time we awoke.
It's time we relied upon common sense and understood that compassion is only a part of the formula, and one that follows and shouldn't and can't lead, and that political correctness is a sham that only obviates the obvious.
It's time we enlightened ourselves, take the time to pause from trying to feed our families and earn an honest dollar and take the country back from those who'd usurp it by excessive compassion and political correctness.
And I have great faith in the American people and believe they will do just that, before we lose what our forefathers fought and died for.
Another of my favorite Thomas Jefferson quotes: "Enlighten the people, generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like spirits at the dawn of day.
" It's time we enlightened ourselves.