WHAT DO YOU WANT?

One of the most asked question is, "What do you want?"  The questioner might not phrase it that way, but that's what they mean.  And the sad fact of life is that you (or I) can't answer the question.  We might try and end up listing some things we'd really like to have.  I want a lot of money, a good job, a nice home, country club membership, a sports car, or even tickets to the Superbowl.  Perhaps the question should be rephrased:  "What do you really want?"  At that point you might say something like satisfaction, or more freedom and independence, or discovery and adventure, or even just a peaceful existence.  Money can't buy that and anything you can acquire from money can't buy it either.  These are things you have to hunt down, maybe even take chances to get.  In other words, you have to be brave in the face of adversity.

Money isn't the root of all evil.  Money is just a tool to create evil . . . or to have some of the intrinsic things worthwhile to you.  Used wisely, money is a way to achieve happiness, satisfaction, a peaceful existence free of major strife.  And you don't need a lot of it to get there.  It's when we get greedy that brings us down.  Whether or not you realize it, you live in a world full of strife . . . and more.  It's a beautiful world in a physical sense, but the societies living upon it are often ugly.  American society is ugly, even butt ugly.  A circus procession looks different if you're not the lead elephant, it has been said, and that's true.  From the top of the social ladder, America looks pretty good, even beautiful.  If you're just half way up the ladder, no so good.  And if you're down near the first few steps, it looks butt ugly.  More than half the people living in this country are either bottom rung or beneath the half way up the ladder mark.  Sometimes is is no fault of their own, but sometimes it is.  Different people have different ambitions, but it often comes back to the question:  "What do you want?"  Based on what statistics and evaluation tells us, the answer is, "Not much, just give me what you can."

The various level of social strata in this country can be divided into upper class (very small), middle class (shrinking), and lower class (growing by leaps and bounds).  A further breakdown would be upper upper class (less than one percent), lower upper class (perhaps five percent), upper middle class (white collar), lower middle class (working class), upper lower class (working class), and lower lower class (nonworking class).  When asked to place themselves somewhere in this scale, most people choose a class one step higher than they really occupy.  Economic downturns most dramatically damage the middle class and upper lower class, and that's where the government takes most of the money from taxes.  And you live in a business world looking to ship those dwindling jobs out of the country.  More and more companies are announcing moves to Mexico, and the government does little to discourage this.  I'm not sure they can do anything, given the state of affairs currently existing.

And now, as if things weren't already bad enough, there's been a right wing coup in America. Disgusted with the status quo, Americans elected a morally bankrupt liar to the highest office in the land.  He's busy picking staff, cabinet members, etc., and there's no good news coming from that. Liberals will fight back, but they've never been good at being an obstructionist group. The country won't recover from this for quite some time, and the results could be disastrous.  I don't expect outright disaster, but there's going to be a lot of turmoil in the economic system.  Here's the question again:  "What do you want?"

We'll all react in different ways, but my way is to answer the question with a single word:  "Out."

I know there's no Garden of Eden out there, no Shangri La, no perfect place.  Life should be about more than survival; it should be about actually having a life.  I have one goal, to live out my life as free as possible - free of oppressive taxation, free from burdensome utility, insurance, and regulatory costs, and free of other high costs of living.  Mexico offers that, and that's where my sights are set.  I want out, and that's not asking for a lot.