From: B645ZAW@UTARLG.UTA.EDU (STEPHEN TICE)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.misc
Subject: Re: United We Stand, America  (was "... Deliver")
Date: 26 Sep 92 19:45:00 GMT

{ alt.politics.elections,talk.politics.misc }
{ Re: United We Stand And Deliver, 25 Sep.  }

nelson_p@apollo.hp.com (Peter Nelson) opinion...
|

First off, I'm glad you read the _U.W.S_ book. At least with
me, that gives you a right to criticize constructively. And I do
agree with many, many of your points, and there are many items
in the book I disagree with as well -- which I'll seek compromise
on.

This matter of responsibility must be dealt with.

 
|In article <1992Sep25> joec@fid.morgan.com (Joe Collins) writes:
|>

|>we all and I mean all, share the pain somehow.
|
|No we don't!  Your premise is wrong.


|...The people who are responsible for this mess are the ones
|who year after year have been calling for bigger government
|and porkbarrel spending (definitely not me).   Those are the
|people who should pay...


Yes they should pay directly. Indirectly, you (and I) are also
responsible as well -- we willingly paid taxes which fed the hog.

You'll say you had no choice since the law forcibly requires
contribution. Fact is, you chose to live in a way that fed the
power system, which you nonetheless speak out against -- to your
credit. Please answer this, Which is more powerful -- writing
letters and making speeches -- or sending money?? The answer I
think is both, so you've only succeeded in negating your own
contributions at best.

Even at that, you and I still remain *responsible* in the same
way that a conscript is in war. Just because the Nazis or
Communists order you to shoot innocents under pain of death --
doesn't mean your hands aren't blood stained when you pull the
trigger.

Your taxes feed the madness -- just as Ross Perot's investments
in government securities do -- and just as accepting government
hand-outs do (for those who are on the dole). Notice how big-
government is involved in each. And no I don't think Ross Perot
is any smarter than the rest of us. He has his blind sides too,
just as you and I (see note).

But you have to be responsible PETER, unless you just want to
gripe. And you have to take responsibility, and give responsi-
bility when you offer change. Recognizing that as tax-payers
*we are responsible*, and as critics *we are responsible for
offering solutions*, then we can reasonably demand change with
some hope of making a difference.

I suggest, an effective way to counter the political corruption
is to pluralize. Even Gore Vidal understands that and he's
spiritually diametric to me. Something similar has also been said
before -- power corrupts. So distributing power counters that
all too human tendency.

Ross Perot is just one of many of US who sees *part* of the the
truth of this. We =do= own the country, and even moreso it's our
income that courses through the veins of the government body. The
head of the body (the political class) has become intoxicated
with the power of our collective sustenance. Intoxicated and
Addicted. Though we chopped it off, any group put up there
instead will become just as addicted -- including the LP. It's
just a matter of time.

So the answer I think is to pluralize governance, and distribute
power as much as possible, and limit "exposure" time in office.
AND MORE IMPORTANTLY -- to work towards enabling each person and
family to become as independent as possible. This echoes much of
what we see in the UWSA movement, and is not so different from
your own views. Nor is it so different from Perot's. Fact is
we're trying to express the truth from our own limited perspective.

That said political power is like smack, no one can control the
addiction. So it doesn't matter who the democrat or republican
candidate is or what they stand for -- they're pushers hooked on
their own drugs -- and delusional of their own self importance --
just like on crack. And they've crippled us by their abuses. Why
keep comimg back for more when there's an alternative, even if it
is a crutch.

Perot is a crutch. I'll compromise on paying more taxes as long
as spending is coming down -- but only for several years -- and
only for necessary expenditures while borrowing is cut. That
should be long enough to see if the will is really there to go
through the pain needed to regain independence. As the therapy
progresses, eventually ya still gotta put down the crutch. Thankless
damn job -- being merely a crutch to stable us as we hobble back
toward freedom, and responsibility, and eventually that crutch
gets cast aside. And the Joy of Freedom overwhelms... for a time.


   |
-- J --
   |     Stephen D. Tice   "Love the Sinner and Hate the sin."
   |     Arlington Texas


note: Ross's blind spot. He doesn't see that to get rid of drugs,
we'd also have to free ourselves of the addictions of overspending
and the addiction of several hours each day of junk entertainment.
It's useless to criminalize a victim.