Ruminations of Old White Men
I am using an outline provided online by a fellow old white man. We as a group are where society ought to be looking to for wisdom. Unfortunately, society may be depending on us to fade into the sands of time…
1) It seems the “liberal” definition of UNITY is “agree with me, or else”. Where is the big tent in the current political framework and where is the freakish obeisance to one very unstable and compromised person and whatever crazy and compromised thing he comes up with? [This is a lousy first punch.]
2) How is mandating that biological males be allowed in women’s sports, locker rooms, bathrooms, etc. empowering to women? (Why no outcry from the feminists?) True there. You should have started with this one.
3) Why do those who clamor loudest for open borders seem to live nowhere near them? Do you mean conceptual borders or physical borders? We suffer far more from the lack of respect for and adherence to knowledge-based processes and legitimate social commitments. The Greek model was that if you control the land, you control everything that happens on that land. That grants license to a lot of bad and stupid behavior, lording over the people in particular. You would be better off looking to the communal model of the early Christians — you know, after Pentecost, what does it say that they did? They held all things in common in an environment of mutual respect. It worked marvelously well until the Romans embraced it and corrupted it to preserve their empire for awhile.
My personal observation is that there is not so much concern by old white men for lawlessness as jealousy of immigrants who come here and thrive — perhaps even pass up the entitled ones economically and otherwise. Many of them really understand commerce. Many of them applied themselves in school and gained needed credentials. They are doing well. They have authority — men and women. They enjoy the rewards of commerce and initiative. Deal with it! Buy from them. Sell to them. Get off your high horse.
4) Why are the most vocal proponents of “The Green New Deal” those who will be least impacted by rising energy and food costs? (Ask someone who lives paycheck to paycheck what they think about paying more for the essentials so the planet will possibly be a few tenths of a degree cooler in a hundred years.) Read this: https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy12osti/51946.pdf. If you don’t, which I understand you probably won’t, I will summarize: The US Department of Energy published a scientific report in 2013 demonstrating that viable renewable energy sources in the United States can provide 128 times as much energy as the entire electrical grid based on 2010 levels. Now, wouldn’t that be cheap? Wouldn’t that be nice? If you have a problem with the study, please be sure to apply the science in doing so — no ‘anon’ stuff. Here is the thing: Read it and learn. It could happen.
By the way, your argument against high costs has to do with something not mentioned: China. Think about it. They did exactly what we asked of them and we have massive assortment of inexpensive product — just look at your tags. Do you really want to upset that applecart? Also, they buy more and more ag products. Don’t you want farmers to be able to meet that need?
5) I was taught in basic econ that increasing the minimum wage usually negatively impacts those for whom it was supposed to help (lower employment for entry level and part time workers — particularly in small businesses). Small businesses are already on life support due to the pandemic shutdowns, etc. Now they want to double the federal minimum wage? Ouch! It is a matter of shifting consumption to the bulk of the population. What will they do with the money? They will spend it! That is a basic econ thing. There needs to be a way of supporting small businesses in the adaptation process. There is ten times as much money in the world as required to run the global economy for a year. The rich folks are just sitting on it — literally in some cases in third and fourth and fifth homes in the mountains. Nothing wrong with that except all of those normally empty houses — and other artifacts of overconsumption — don’t do the economy much good.
6) Now that climate change is back in the media — notice that the “medieval warm period” (with no industrialization) is conveniently never mentioned or is explained away. The “science” of climate change is highly politicized and very selectively presented with significant censoring of scientists/studies that disagree with the “theory” of human-induced global warming. Funny how in the 1970’s and 80’s extreme weather used to be blamed on global cooling. The is foof. The climate is always changing, and we need to adapt to it and not exacerbate conditions in our short time frame. Let’s leave our children and their children with a world of free energy that comes to live in harmony with all of the cycles of nature. Ancestors of ours did this — or else they died off. This kind of behavior is embedded in religion and social norms worldwide.
7) I am not a constitutional scholar, but it seems a little weird that a citizen who currently holds no public office can be impeached. Can’t congress could find something more useful to do with their time and our money?” Nothing better. You aren’t concerned about insurrection? You are playing with monarchy here. Weirdly, most monarchies started with a great warrior and an amazing family that was able to rule for generations, with a downward drift duke to inbreeding and lethargy. The ones you seem to want to enthrone are already bottom-feeders. “Let’s storm the Capitol, I will be right there with you!” Some of his followers actually believed him, maybe hoping to meet up with him on the battlements. “The joke’s on you, suckers! I was back with my munchies watching it all on TV. Punks — why didn’t you pull it off for me?”
Apart from this, the next guy you decide to adore might be that much smarter and pull it off — with his or her supporters shifting from tories to aristocrats. Fealty is to be rewarded in such things. There would be a lot of knights of the realm, of course. Do you think lords and ladies, dukes and duchesses — where do you think this leads?
We need to make a clear constitutional statement here: Insurrection, you are out! What I am saying is, old white men need to become constitutional scholars — and quick!