AN EXAMINATION OF FREEDOM FROM THE INSIDE OUT

From the outside, your freedoms look pretty good, and that's because they are nicely packaged.  You know how that works; it's all about the wrapper these days.  And they're broadly outlined in a Constitution that was written back in horse and buggy days and now are applied to a high tech society.  But, that old Constitution looks good and is revered by many and held in the same esteem as the Bible. Rights, or freedoms, even sound good when you hear them read aloud, like the right to keep and bear arms.  Right, arms.  Is that, uh, a single shot musket, or a submachine gun?  How about the right to free expression, like speech and press?  Try that one on for size and see how it fits.  Freely express you thoughts and see what happens, even if that right is protected by some vague law.  And, you how the right to worship as you please.  Uh, huh?  Put a big metal statue of a bull in your yard and start worshiping that in public and see what happens to you.  Here's the upshot of it all:  All rights, or freedoms, are relative and not absolute.  You don't have an absolute right to do anything but die. Wait!  That's not right either.  If you blow your brains out in a fit of depression, you could be prosecuted for first degree murder . . . were you still alive to be prosecuted.

These things are somewhat reasonable, but it gets worse than that.  You have the right to move about freely, right?  Well, just partly right.  If you travel and drive a car, you must have a registered car with insurance and a license to drive it, and if you cross state lines, you might be subject to checkpoints which determine if your vehicle is mechanically correct, like it's equipped with air pollution equipment not required in your state.  Weights and measure change from state to state, and so do traffic regulations you must abide by.  What this means is, you're nowhere near being free as a bird.  You have a right to ownership of property, but that too is subjective.  You can title it in you name, outright own it (owe no money on it), and still be subject to a bevy of restrictions as to what kind of buildings you may have, how they are constructed, and lots of other petty requirements.  And if you don't do these things, they fine the crap out of you.  And even once it's built, the government will assume they're in partnership with you and demand taxes on it.  Yeah, sometimes big taxes.

I could go on and on about living in America, but the more I point out to you about freedoms, the more you'll see how restricted these rights really are.  Did the thought ever cross your mind that you are the government's meal ticket?  They extract money from other sources, but you're the main target.  Government is notorious for being unfair about taxation, leave big loopholes for the rich, let the poorer classes off easy on income tax, and stick it to the moderate wage earner big time.  And the U.S. government isn't the main culprit here; it's the states and localities digging into your pocket these days through property taxes and various other levies.  And there's a great propaganda machine in place here that convinces you that all of this is fair, it's just the ticket you must buy to ride this great train to freedom.  In effect, what it is, dear citizen, is a ripoff.  Your freedoms are strictly limited, the government does little to protect you against even worse corporate ripoffs, and that makes you the turkey.

Does that sound to you like a well functioning democracy?  Uh, no, but don't worry about it.  This country hasn't been a democracy for a long time.  It's a system run by and for the vested interests, the top tier of society, and it's a ripoff for almost everyone else.  And apparently, you like it that way, or are willing to tolerate it.  The good news is that this won't last forever or even for much longer.  It won't end with a revolution of the oppressed masses, but it will eventually die from bloat . . . you know, greed.  This is what has brought down most great empires, rot from within.  If you start sniffing the air, you'll smell it.  It's already here, and that means it's just a matter of time before the beast finally dies.

GLOOM AND DOOM, OR JUST KEEN OBSERVATION?

There's always money to be made as a prophet of gloom and doom, and you have to take that stuff with a grain of salt.  Still, few people want to believe the worst can really happen, and that means not many are prepared for it when it comes.  Some gloom-and-doomers tried to warn us about the financial collapse of 2007-8, but it happened and pretty much caught us flat-footed.  We're still trying to dig out from under that big pile of political poop . . . and that's what it was - a government that badly mismanaged that dismal affair.  But all the blame should've fall on them alone because we're all to blame for it.  Greed caused it, fed by a lusty public wanting more and more and more.  Houses were selling like hotcakes, business was booming, and almost everyone thought it would last forever. The hard times fell on us, took the air out of our sails, left us adrift for a while . . . while government and business leaders tried to figure out ways to get us back up and running again.  But did they want to return to a time when some sanity ruled, when things were good but not fantastic?  Nope.  They wanted it all again, and the measure of success they set for us has been too high and unrealistic.

Well, the gloom-and-doomers are at it again, this time with some really dire warnings about what's to come.  Some of these people aren't just hawkers of books of prophecy; they're legitimate specialists who should know the system, and they're pointing to some indicators that show the direction we're headed.  I'm not an economic wizard by a long shot, but I do know something about politics and government.  At the cost of sounding like just another all hell's fixing to break loose pessimist, I've got to agree with some of what I'm reading about an impending depression, one that might last  a while.  And in doing so, all I'll be accomplishing is throwing in just one more voice of warning. Damn few people will listen, or care.  Too many of us live in a world of the right now, immediate gratification . . . and we're still too greedy, want too much.

With that aside, I'll take aim at the let's-go-with-the-flow folks who just won't listen and will suffer the most when and if there's another serious economic downturn.  By that, I mean just your average American who's trying to survive in a world of ups and downs . . . and without much planning for the future.  There's a problem with planning for another economic downturn, like . . . just what do I plan for?  And even if I believe it's going to happen, what can I do about it?  The answers to those two questions are easy, but they're most certainly bitter pills to swallow.

As for what you can plan for, my suggestion is to go down the middle.  I'm not at all convinced there'll be a big, long-lasting depression like we saw many years hence in the 1930s.  On the other hand, I see some hard times ahead, due mostly to the government's inadequacy to deal with it.  Not much is going to change in regard to a sharply divided nation when it comes to liberal vs. conservatives.  Elections will be close with winners barely getting public approval and leaving us with lots of dissatisfied losers.  Congress will not break out of gridlock, regardless of who wins the elections this fall and in two years.  It won't matter much who becomes the President when Obama leaves office, but what little difference it makes could be for the worse.  I think Obama's unpopularity will hurt the Democrats some, but few people really love Republicans either.  In fact, public approval of Congress is around 15 percent.  15 percent!  That means 85 percent of folks, me included, don't think much of how they've handled things.  Can that get worse?  Not much, but the economic situation we face might . . . if Congress calls the shots.  Obama's approval is at least three times higher, if that tells you anything, but he's no financial wizard either.

By going down the middle, I'm suggesting that things will get worse . . . bad enough to cause some difficulties for almost any family, especially middle income folks.  Maybe you've noticed this about government, but when things get bad for the basic wage earner, the crowd who really pays most of the taxes in this country, their solution to shortfalls in revenues is to increase taxes.  Atta boy, big brother and little bro.  Take more from those already suffering, drive us into deeper water and cause more anger and despair.  And they won't back off because they are the most greedy of the greedy. Too many people look to government for jobs, and they'll scratch and claw for every dime they can raise through taxation.  That means those of us who actually tote the load will have an even bigger load, and that means we cut back on other things.

I don't know where everyone else plans to do, but my plan is to simply spend less money.  You won't get any help from government here because they want you to spend, and spend a lot.  The more you spend, the more they make off various taxes.  I plan to be observant, pay close attention to what's going on, and they try to act accordingly.  I've already started the process, just so I'll be used to it when the times comes to hunker down, do the turtle thing and pull back into my shell.  Nothing I do can save me from a wholesale meltdown, and it won't save most other people either.  But should we go into a moderate depression, I'll survive.  I no longer have credit cards, don't owe any bank or lender except my house and car payment . . . and I'm closing in on getting those paid off.  By the time Obama leaves office, I won't have a car payment.  I don't buy clothes, don't have a recreational budget of any kind, don't take vacations, travel, or even go out much.  In short, I'm not buying anything that isn't essential.  Will I be ready when and if the hard times come?  Not completely, but I'll be in a lot better shape than most people.

I'll write more about living on less later on, just in case anyone is interested.  And I've got a queasy feeling that we damn sure need to pay attention.

CAN YOU TRUST YOUR DOCTOR? THINK AGAIN

Whatever happened to the grumpy old sawbones who fussed at us about our living habits, made house calls, made judgment calls without the help of expensive testing, and gave medical advice without being asked for it?  You could actually reach him at home without getting cut off by an answering service, and he returned your calls.  Have you had that happen lately?  Not likely.  We don't have doctors like that these days.  Doctors now are better businessmen than they were back when people my age were growing up, and even then, the doctor was likely the richest man in town.  Are doctors better trained now?  Do they do a better job of taking care of people's medical needs?  Nope.  They're a lot more independent, and they're most certainly a lot more expensive.  In short, health care in America has been hijacked by commercial interests, and not all of that is the doctor's fault.  He must work within a system that is run by people who do not have your best interests at heart - corporate owned and run hospitals, insurance companies, drug companies, and the sellers of medical supplies and equipment.

An elderly man here in my home town had a problem with a painful shoulder and was told he needed surgery.  He also had a breathing disorder caused by a lung condition, and the doctor he'd been seeing for that told him to avoid the surgery, that he might not survive it.  But the doctor doing the surgery on the shoulder assured him that he'd be fine, that there was nothing to worry about.  He had the surgery and died two days later, of respiratory distress.  He trusted the wrong doctor, and now he's dead.  This is not an isolated case.  It happens all the time in this country.

Our health care system is one that pumps the patient for every dollar they can get out of them.  They say that all the tests are necessary because they need the information, that it saves lives.  I think they're probably right about that, but lots of tests are unnecessary.  People who work in the system these days have all these wonderful high tech things to use, and they are very expensive, and they need to do things to recover the money.  It's like going to a car mechanic theses days.  You get the bill, and it says $50 for parts, another $250 for labor, and another $200 for diagnostics.  Right.  Cars are too high tech these days for a mechanic to know what's wrong without diagnostics.  But people are pretty much the same as they were fifty years ago, or a hundred  years ago.  Today's doctors are dependent on high tech diagnostics, can't do the things a doctor of fifty years ago could do.  Doesn't know enough, that's my take on it.  What he knows about is fancy equipment, etc.  He knows less about people, a lot less, and that makes him less trustworthy.  So you might as well accept the high tech diagnostics because they're more dependable than the man himself.  More trust in high tech machines and medicines and stuff, and less trust in the doctor.  Is that what we're facing these days?  Well, in some cases, that's exactly what's happening.

And the moral is:  Don't be easily talked into anything.  Seek second opinions if you have doubts, any doubt at all.  There's lots of doctors out there, and finding a good one isn't all that hard.  ALWAYS BE SUSPICIOUS of anything medical practitioners tell you . . . unless you have found that right doctor.  

HOW IMPORTANT ARE ROOTS?

Everyone knows that roots are important to plants of all kinds, but are they important to people?  Oh, I'd say very much so, and for the same reasons most plants can't survive without them.  Take a tree, for instance.  I've studied trees some and was amazed at how complex they are.  In fact, the tree might well be the most dynamic living thing on this planet, and we pretty much take them for granted.  That's stupid on our parts because we can't survive without them, and that's because they are a part of our roots system - that part we're unaware of. 

We usually think of roots as our family background, our social status, our homes and jobs and other things that provide our basis of security.  Foundation, that's the word we most think of when it comes to roots, and that should include our environment and not just our physical setting.  I won't go into all the scientific reassons we can't live without trees.  My expertise in that are is shallow, but it's deep enough for me to know they are part of our root system.  And we are much like the trees, even from a nutritional viewpoint.  Some tree have roots that reach deep into the earth to obtain the nutrition they need, but others have shallow roots.  Would it surprise you to know that many desert plants don't have deep roots?  Take the creosote plant, for example.  It has shallow roots that spread along the ground so that it can catch as much mositure as possible from the infrequent rains that fall.  In doing that, it pushes out other plants that would compete with it for the water or other nutrients.

We're very much like the creosote plant, that little desert bush, in that we do the same.  Most of us have shallow roots that spread, and since there's just so much space available, that means we're in competition with others to get what we need to survive.  To do more than survive, meaning we want to actually prosper, we need to spread more, and that means pushing someone else aside.  It's the way of nature, I suppose, that survival of the fittest thing.  I realize that's the way it is, but I still don't like it.  Perhaps we do prosper by controlling as much space as possible, taking what we need at other's expense, but does that really make us prosperous?

I'm sure you can see where I'm going with this.  If in time we don't learn to conserve, to take just what we need, we'll end up in a situation where there's nothing left for us.  We're doing that because people are a much worse blight on the earth than is that little creosote bush.  It's greedy to a point, but our greed doesn't seem to have a point where enough is enough.  Think about that, and then take a look at what's going on around you.  Better yet, walk out into the desert and find a nice healthy creosote bush.  It looks pretty good, but there's quite a bit of bare ground around it.  It's healthy for the time being but in time that bare ground around it could be its doom.  Say, for instance, a rancher comes along who wants to graze cattle there, and he thinks the creosote bush is his enemy.  He wants
grass, not an ugly little bush cows don't eat.  Get the point?