wizemanbob In reply to Prowl71 [2016-03-24 11:56:24 +0000 UTC]

Thanks. Yeah, it's really maddening that we're heading down this rabbit hole when we already know the results. Especially when people point out a problem, then suggest more of what caused the problem as the solution. "Well, this restriction is leading to an increase in people feeling restricted. To fix this, we suggest increasing the restriction." "We've found that, by making this thing criminal, a larger criminal element has been discovered than we had at first believed. By increasing the criminality of this instance, we should be able to cut back on crime."

I get that people shouldn't have sex with their donkeys in a bathtub on Sundays. But do we really need that specific law when we already have laws against bestiality? If we have laws against, say, sex without consent and we have laws stipulating requirements on whether a person is able to give consent based on mental function, do we really need laws against having sex with the mentally disabled who already, by law, can't give consent? It's already non-consenting sex, which is illegal. If it's illegal to poison a drink, do you really need a law making it illegal to put cyanide specifically into a drink?

We made this federation as an experiment on how close to anarchy a people could function without collapsing. Interestingly, the further we've gotten from that root, the closer we've come to collapse. We were incredibly successful at first. After the Civil War, when laws surrounding slavery were removed in place of a simple ban on the practice, we went through a period of prosperity unrivaled by any other empire in the history of humanity. After World War II, we started 'socializing' the US. Taking practices we were already practicing more heavily and effectively than anywhere else and shaping them into law. Instead of building up the people and helping us flourish, it's done the opposite. More people live in poverty than ever before—though the standards in which an American lives as a pauper is better than the upper and middle classes do in much of the rest of the world.

We aren't the place we were when America was founded. We are a decadent, decaying, dysfunctional distortion of that dream we once declared as ours. Rome is burning. And some people are suggesting we put the flames out with gasoline and matches. It really is unfortunate, but we need a new revolution. If not a war, then a movement returning us to the values we once espoused: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. Those who prefer Safety over Liberty deserve neither.

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wizemanbob In reply to Teague-Drydan [2015-05-30 04:52:13 +0000 UTC]

It's actually to the tune of a song. Though which song, I can't remember right now. Something rag-timey, I think. Or metal. Possibly a mix of the two. I'm really bad with music. I'll remember the song at some point when there's no way I can mention it. That's life, right?

Funny thing, though. Just about the only editing I did on this was switching a couple of the verses around. Apparently, I can write coherently when I'm angry enough. Lincoln would be proud. Well, except I didn't burn this afterward.

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Teague-Drydan In reply to wizemanbob [2015-05-30 13:59:50 +0000 UTC]

That is life.  If you think of it & are able to, let me know?

That's not bad.  Quite a few of my older poems were that way as well.  Strong emotions definitely have a way of clarifying things, poetically speaking at least.

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