Tioga Herald

Blog 0705

Recently, I spoke with a young man who had a good reasoning mind, but lacked wisdom.  Yet, he stubbornly clings to his ideas and is unwilling to discuss matters which would allow him to gain some wisdom.  This attitude is pervasive today, especially among those who have “found” the tea party as their “salvation.”  They are wrong.

This man used philosophy to validate why our government should ban abortions.  He used a philosophical approach to reason why it’s okay to send young men and women who have made it out of the womb off to get killed in war.  I don’t buy it.

But the real kicker was his insistence that our federal government is here to oppose “evil.”  He and I never got the chance to discuss this matter – only he mouthed his words and I never got a word in edgewise.

Here is his premise.  To support his argument, this young man (lacking wisdom) quoted George Washington with a statement our first president made about our government.  The young man claimed George Washington said the role of our government is to “fight evil.”

(Sounds to me like this man has watched too many cartoons and read too many super hero comic strips – and is living in a fantasy world).

Had this man given me a chance to speak (which I was not given that chance), I would have mentioned several things.  First of all, “evil” is subjective.  Sort of like:  one man’s junk is another man’s treasure.

With that in mind, let me address the issue of “evil.”  Today, John Edwards (whom I am told studied at the Center for Creative Leadership in North Carolina – a group with whom I also studied), Tim Mahoney, and several other good men who could have been destined for leadership in this nation have been eliminated from that path because they are considered “evil.”  These men maintained mistresses, so therefore are considered “evil.”  Emotional female logic (an oxymoron) has determined that these guys are “evil.”

Wait a minute.  Due to Martha’s inability to have children, George Washington regularly visited a mistress.  In fact, there are those who claim descent from the sperm of George Washington meeting the egg of his mistress.  (This is one of those little secrets maintained within the genealogical community?)  In fact, a little newspaper in upstate New York, The Sun-Bulletin of Binghamton, NY (before corporate conglomerate Gannett purchased it and merged it with The Evening Press), ran a story about one such descendant.

So this young “whippersnapper” (as I remember being called when I was this guy’s age) is validating our government taking a “moral” stand and is basing this on a man who would be considered “immoral” by self-righteous and judgmental people today!

My grandmother repeatedly said, “judge not lest ye be judged.”  In her younger age, she, too, was an emotional female jerk, supporting the “morality” stand of government by advocating in favor of Prohibition – along with other “ladies” in the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union.  By the time she reached her 70s, she recognized the fault in that movement – from the wisdom she gained over many years.

The leader of MADD, out of emotional distress over the loss of a child to a young drunk driver has used her emotions, not her wisdom, to impose upon our society a stupid drinking age – like an emotional witch.  Yet, I recall growing up in a dry town in upstate NY and watching the carnage of drunken OLDER PEOPLE as they killed younger people while driving home – because stupid ignorant idiots refused to allow drinking in my home town.

But the wisdom I learned from my grandmother and the wisdom I have gained from my own experiences is being ignored – brushed aside.

My stand against fascist values may be considered, by some, to be negative.  It is not – because it is a stand in favor of positive progressive ideas while defending myself in the process.  Fascist ultra-conservatives are bullies.  They insist on making their positions “normal” for society and therefore forcing many of us to conform to those ideas.  If, through fear and intimidation, these bullies can make their ideas pervasive in society, then where will those of us more positive ones who lack hatred be able to point out the wisdom which is lacking in society today?  If I seem negative because I take a defensive stand against those who would remove the peace and tranquility which could be a part of my life, then so be it.

Give millions of Americans like me the chance to seek “life, liberty, and happiness.”  In New Hampshire, they say, “live free or die.”  In colonial Virginia, Patrick Henry said, “give me liberty or give me death.”  Self-righteous judgmental moralists are attempting to remove my liberty and freedom, so I am going to lash out.  As it is positive in New Hampshire and it WAS positive in Virginia, what I say are positive things, not negative things.

“Judge not lest ye be judged.”