Solving problems without partisanship
I generated this article in response to the following comment on an article on liberal hypocrisy I wrote years ago when I sided with conservatives only:
“So you believe that liberals over 40 are ignorant, fair enough. But are you sure that you haven't missed something? In order to make that assertion you must be convinced that you have attained wisdom. You cannot have wisdom without humility.”
Part of the humility I've painfully acquired as I became wiser came from a realization that some of my earlier political opinions were utterly simplistic, such as how I once believed that liberals are ignorant (or stupid or evil) and conservatives were informed (or smart, enlightened, and principled). As you could see from reading articles I later wrote, I no longer believe that. I strongly side with liberals on some issues and conservatives on others, yet I think both are dead wrong on some of the most polarizing issues that divide them.
For example, I later revealed something we're all dying to know: how to give more to those who receive governmental benefits while lessening the burden on taxpayers. That seems too good to be true, but it isn't, as I proved in that article. After President Obama won reelection in 2012, I listened in bemusement and horror as myriad conservative talk show hosts struggled unsuccessfully to think of a plausible way Republicans could reliably win presidential elections in an era in which voters prefer the party that promises them the most stuff. That's the Democrats, also known as the Santa Claus party.
In another article, I gave an example of how an essential government service (snowplowing roads) could be provided at no cost to taxpayers, yet it could be performed better, faster, and more often. I will later add more articles in that series giving practical ways for government to shrink without hurting anyone.
The problem is that most Americans view the world through partisan lenses that serve as blinders limiting their ideology to the tenets and talking points of the two major political parties, both of which care more about themselves than us. Together, they've succeeded in trashing our economy, but they're not through yet; they will ultimately destroy it.
Our government is almost certainly bound to collapse. Currently, it is feeding off us like a giant bloodsucking leech in a desperate last-ditch effort to remain in power as long as possible. Part of its strategy to do that is to pit groups of Americans against one another. Divide and conquer, ya dig?
Read my article Why Americans should detest Democrats and Republicans, and how we can stop them from ruining our nation and then ask yourself this question: if another country did as much damage to us as our leaders (Democrat and Republican) have done, what would we do to them? Bomb them into the Stone Age.
Past Republican victories largely resulted from them selling a fantasy: that they stood for smaller government. That's hogwash, as I proved in other articles; they had their own crazy ways of ensuring the expansion of our government, burdening it with crushing debt and progressively eroding freedom. At best, they were marginally less rapacious than Democrats, but when voters focus more on stuff than freedom, guess who is more likely to win presidential elections? If you need help answering that, ask loser Romney.
Had Romney won, happy days would not be here again because he isn't a proponent of significantly smaller government. You can bet your last dollar that no presidential candidate ever will be.
Let's face it: we're stuck with big government. The question is: how can we peacefully coexist with it? I have the answer, but my readership is primarily limited to people with high IQs who love to read and think. Trouble is, thinking is increasingly rare; most folks don't think for themselves or carefully consider the merits of original thoughts from others; instead, they mindlessly echo the thoughts of others as manifested in partisanship but also how they choose to live their lives and seek happiness.
We're born into a world filled with a smorgasbord of exciting possibilities, yet few people give two seconds of thought about how they could have more satisfaction, less stress, more free time, more freedom, better health, loads more fun, and even more stuff. It is possible. I know how and would have an incentive to accelerate my writings on those topics if I attracted more than a few brainiacs as readers.
Bill O'Reilly says he cares about “the folks.” Really? Then which of the countless hot people on his program and other Fox News shows have ever significantly helped any viewer? Would he ever invite me or someone like me on his show? No. Instead he prefers to repeatedly give us the same old hot people with hidebound ideas, none of which could solve our problems even if candidates espousing them won elections. Like the supposedly free-thinking Left, Fox News has declared war on original ideas and those who generate them. They aren't smart enough to throw off the shackles of system justification and the innate human tendency to ridicule good new ideas.
For optimal happiness and prosperity, we need to continue to grow and evolve. Eric Hoffer (who was an “intellectual giant” according to Thomas Sowell and one of my professors, who raved about his intellect) said, “In times of change learners inherit the earth; while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.”
Most of us are beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists. Conservatives often yearn for Reagan or a clone of him. Liberals seem to think that taxpayers can be endlessly bled and insulted for not paying their fair share; they also think that local, state, and federal leaders can write millions more laws and regulations on top of the millions we already have without it affecting their freedom. Dream on.
Americans are being screwed from the Left and from the Right. We're caught in a trap in which we can pick our poison but never an antidote. I call that nuts. What do you call it?
“The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.”
— F. Scott Fitzgerald
Reference: Imagining dialogue can boost critical thinking: Excerpt: “Examining an issue as a debate or dialogue between two sides helps people apply deeper, more sophisticated reasoning …”
