Democracy has Fallen, Can it Get Up?

Gentle reader,

If the USA is a democratic nation and democracy is so great then how come the government of the USA is doing things that its people did NOT ask for? Unless I am mistaken, the citizens of this great country did not ask for the following:

- A war in Iraq
- Their jobs being shipped to India and other countries
- A broken health care system
- Overpriced colleges
- Mostly non-existent public transportation
- Stagnant wages
- Both parents having to work in order to make ends meet
- Suspension of Habeas Corpus
- Half of their tax money being used for war
- Government snooping on their citizens
- The ability of the government to declare ANYONE an "enemy combatant" and send that person away to a concentration camp where they are tortured.
- Executives making insane amounts of money compared to their workers.
- Huge government debt, leading to a falling dollar and higher inflation.
- Social programs that are financially out of control such as medicare and social security.
- A crumbling infrastructure of roads and bridges

Part of the problem is that there really is little true choice in government - you get a bunch of rich guys in the pocket of corporations or another bunch of rich guys in the pocket of mostly the same corporations. A true and fair democracy would allow poor people to become president. When was the last time that happened? The ability to raise vast quantities of cash to pay for TV commercials biases things in favor of the people with deep pockets. The fact that dynasties of presidents occur (Bush, Kennedy, Clinton) is proof of the fact that the playing field is not level.

The system of government in the USA is clearly not working at this point and needs to be changed somehow.

The sad part is that as far as international opinion goes, the citizens of the USA are being tarred with the same brush as their government, even though they do not agree with most of what their government is doing. Most US citizens are as appalled and outraged by the actions of their government as anyone else. I have met precisely ZERO US citizens that are happy about the items mentioned at the beginning of this post. If you are reading this from a country outside the USA I would ask you to respect the fact that most Americans are not willing participants in their country's rapid downward slide into a state that resembles fascism more and more each day. They have been sold down the river by a government that seems to care only about money and power, and not about its own people. When I first came to the USA I was skeptical about the need for citizens to carry guns. Today, I am not so sure it's a bad idea.

Time for today's quote:

As nightfall does not come all at once, neither does oppression.
In both instances, there is a twilight when everything remains seemingly unchanged.
And it is in such a twilight that we all must be aware of
change in the air—however slight—lest we become unwilling victims of the darkness.
-Justice William O. Douglas

Until the next time, gentle reader, I remain,

your friend,

Buford Twain

A Few Things I Don't Get About America - On penis-chopping, and other oddities

Gentle reader,

I love America. However, there are a few things that make me wonder. As a non-native (but long-time resident) I'm calling 'em as I see 'em. Free speech is free speech, right?

First of all, let's get one out of the way that curiously, most people here in the US don't seem to think twice about. I am talking about circumcision, the extaordinarily savage practice of cutting off part of a baby's penis shortly after birth. I get the strange impression that most folks don't think that the baby feels the pain of this pointless operation. Let me assure you, babies feel pain. They are acutely aware of pain just like you or I. Also the oft-quoted excuse "they won't remember it" rings hollow to me. By that logic, is it OK to rape a woman because she is drunk and "won't remember it"? Also, there is little justification for the procedure on medical grounds. I won't belabor this point but allow me to address one common justification: "there is less chance that the baby will get penis cancer". Yeah, and if you chop off my arm I can guarantee you that I won't get cancer in that arm. If you chop off my head I guess it will reduce my chances of getting brain cancer too. I hope that 50 years from now, we will look back and laugh at this practice because it doesn't make any sense. By the way, it also causes desensitization of the head of the penis, which changes sex. For better or worse? Debatable (comments?) but usually nature gets things right and it seems presumptuous to try to change it for no particular reason. I'll leave you with one last thought on this one: how do you feel about female genital mutilation (or the removal of a chunk of the clitoris)? OK, why not apply this same reasoning to male circumcision?

Next, what's with the ritualistic recital of the pledge of allegiance in school? To a person born outside this country, this seems very curious and cult-like. I find mindless recital of anything to be an early indicator of problems ahead. Worship of a country or a flag seems like a type of brain-washing to me. Yeah, we are all living in America, that's great but let's all think for ourselves instead of behaving like mindless sheep.

Moving on, what is the deal with the nudity-phobia? It is strangely incongruous that extreme and senseless violence is shown on TV at all hours of the day, but we're not allowed to see a breast or an ass or a penis. Look folks, we all have these things under our clothing. We are not all just floating heads with nothing but pretty clothing from the neck down. Let's become slightly more comfortable with our bodies and not freak out quite so much. A friend of mine often regales me with a story from when he was at a beach somewhere in France . He was just walking along the beach, and many of the girls were topless. No big deal. Until somewhere from the side, a loud Texas-drawl shouts out "LOOK AT THEYEM TEEYATS!!". Yeah, get over it buddy.

OK, another thing that makes no sense to me: you have to be 21 to be able to get an alcoholic drink. If you're 18 years old it's OK to become a soldier and die in Iraq. But sorry, ya can't have a drink. Enough said on that.

Finally, why is it a big problem to be an atheist in the US? Live and let live. This country loves freedom, right? Then let people believe what they like, or nothing. If they are not hurting you, then leave them alone. It is plain to me that atheists don't feel comfortable admitting that they are atheists in the US. As Richard Dawkins points out, it's like being a gay person in America in the 1950's. That is just plain wrong. In the UK and most of Europe, it's just not a big deal and it shouldn't be in the USA either.

Time for today's quote:

No matter that patriotism is too often the refuge of scoundrels. Dissent, rebellion, and all-around hell-raising remain the true duty of patriots. -Barbara Ehrenreich

Until the next time gentle reader I remain, as always,

Your friend,

Buford Twain

Two Weeks Off a Year

Gentle reader,

Somehow, we need to get more leisure/vacation time. Aside from just feeling downright tired all the time, we are losing many ideas and are spending time doing all the wrong things while not having time to do the right things.

Have you ever noticed what happens when you take an extended vacation? I am not talking here about a hectic five day trip to DisneyWorld (TM). I am talking about taking a vacation where you do "nothing".

As you decompress, you start to forget the pressures and stress of your job. You become happier. Time takes on a different feeling. Your time is your own and not somebody else's. You are not as hurried, you can focus on things that YOU want to do, not that somebody else wants you to do.

And after a few days, you might start to notice something else.

If you are like me, after a few days, your brain may start to throw out ideas and thoughts that previously would have been suppressed, pushed to the back of your brain as being too impractical. Thoughts that are radical and "foolish". Big thoughts.

For example, how can I improve life for others? How can I work less and have more time to myself? How can I spend more time with my children? How can I do more of the things that make me happy?

Sometimes, I will get some ideas about how I can make a positive difference to the lives of others. For example, would it be possible for me to set up a network of buses that could carry people economically from the suburbs to their jobs downtown, so they wouldn't need to drive any more? Would it be practical for me to install a big wind turbine near my house, to generate electricity to help
slow down climate change and save money in the long run? How about doing some more writing and maybe even beginning that novel I have been meaning to write? What can I do to organize non-religious people to come together and
do projects for the benefit of others (e.g. helping the poor and elderly)? And so on.

All these thoughts I find far more important than working. And yet, after a week or so, I am forced to go back to work and those thoughts disappear, or are pushed back into the back of my brain, lying dormant.

If we had a more equal balance between work, and leisure, I think we would see many benefits because some of these ideas would be able to see the light of day, instead of becoming pipe dreams. And then I wonder to myself, how many millions, billions of fantastic ideas have died in someone's brain, just because they don't have enough time to do something about them?

Ultimately I suppose the key is to become independently wealthy. I am trying to do that, but it is tough and paradoxically, I find that this requires even MORE time than simply "working for a living". It seems to me like the 2 weeks off a
year rule was set up on purpose to make sure people stay docile, to make sure that they keep their noses to the grindstone and don't think of anything too radical, until they are too old and tired to really do anything beyond play
golf. We are cogs in a gigantic industrial machine that chews us up, and then spits us out. With just 2 weeks of vacation time a year life becomes just a gigantic treadmill, from school, to working, and ultimately to the grave, with precious few redeeming features beyond the joys of friends and family that one doesn't see often enough.

If you read this and you own a company, consider increasing the amount of vacation time you offer. Perhaps you won't immediately realize any financial benefits. But overall, happiness will increase. And isn't that what life is all about?

Time for today's quote:

A man needs a little madness, or else he never dares cut the rope and be free.
-Nikos Kazantzakis


Until the next time, gentle reader, I remain,

Your Friend,

Buford Twain

On Flag Burning

Gentle reader,

There is one thing that seems to have been overlooked by the folks who want to ban flag-burning.

To ban flag-burning is to deny certain rights to your own people.
These rights would then be afforded to everyone else in the world EXCEPT YOUR OWN CITIZENS.

If a flag-burning law were passed:

Citizens of the USA would NO LONGER HAVE THE RIGHT to burn a US flag.

Everyone else in the world would KEEP THEIR EXISTING RIGHT to burn a US flag.

As a British citizen, I could sit in my postage-stamp-sized yard in London (if I still had one) and have a little US-flag-bonfire without fear of major recrimination. Though I'm sure there would be complaints from the neighbors.

As a US citizen, if I tried to do the same, I could be arrested and imprisoned.

To me, that is LOSING FREEDOM.

You cannot legislate respect.

Not for a person.

Not for a country or for its small rectangular, colorful iconic symbol.

True respect, as opposed to mere lip-service, is earned.

It is given to those who deserve it.

The best way to minimize flag-burning is for a country to earn and keep the respect of all people, both inside and outside the country, not by legislation that takes away the freedom of the country's own citizens.


Moving on to the quote of the day...

I realize that all society rests upon force.
But all the great creative actions, all the decent human relations, occur during the intervals when force has not managed to come to the front. These intervals are what matter.
I want them to be as frequent and as lengthy as possible, and I call them "civilization".
-EM Forster

Until the next time, gentle reader, I remain as always,

Your friend,

Buford Twain

UK and USA: Compare and Contrast

Gentle Reader,

I thought I would write down some things I had noticed about living in the UK and USA.

I moved from England to the US about 20 years ago and have remained in the US the whole time since (about another 20 years) except for a 2 year stint in Italy.






Here are some of the reasons I left the UK:

* Different rules for different people - the worst case being the royal family and privileges awarded by virtue of birth. WTF?
* Constant grey skies. Maybe this is changing or will change soon with global warming?!
* The depressing feeling at times that "nothing is possible".
* Felt very crowded, especially London, where I used to live. Listen to the song "Waterloo Sunset" by the Kinks to get an idea what I mean.
* People often seem pessimistic ("mopey"), they spend a lot of time complaining, with not much "get up and go".
* I sometimes felt unsafe. I was mugged a couple of times.
* I was awarded a scholarship for study in the US that at the time paid about the same as my full-time working salary in the UK. So that decision was a no-brainer...

Here are some reasons I am glad I live in the USA:

* The feeling that "anything is possible"
* I can actually afford a reasonably sized house and back yard with a bit of space. (No, I don't live in California or NYC).
* The weather is usually interesting (lots of snow in winter, lots of sun in summer, storms in-between)
* Easier to find an interesting job (I am in IT)
* Americans like the British (it's the accent thing, which seems to more than outweigh our bad teeth, haha)
* The women are more attractive (!) I never thought I'd be so chauvenistic. But there you go, sometimes I surprise myself.
* People are generally very optimistic. They get things done and have a "can do" attitude.
* America helped to liberate Europe during WWII. Americans led the allied invastion of Normandy. Near where I live there is a memorial featuring a life-sized bronze replica of a man crouching behind one of those criss-crossy metal beam structures that the Germans placed all over the French beaches.
It brings a tear to my eye imagining the courage of the people who overcame such terrible odds as they made their way up those beaches against the relentless machine-gun fire.
* I feel more independent, less "babied" than in the UK
* The US seems less bureaucratic, less intrusive into my life
* The US seems to be more of a meritocracy - less emphasis on "pay scales", most jobs pay based on experience and aptitude.
* No annoying UK public school accent (in the UK, public school really means "private school", don't ask me why)
* Still plenty of wide open spaces


Here are some of the reasons I sometimes wish I were back in the UK:

* I have many UK-based friends - for some reason I found it much easier to make friends in the UK, maybe that's because you make friends easier when you are young?
* Weather is usually very mild, assuming you live somewhere vaguely in the South.
* Despite its reputation, the food is generally better in the UK (at least, you don't have to work quite as hard to get good food).
* The UK has reasonable public transportation (trains, buses).
* You can often get places by walking, The USA is too focused on use of the car.
* Healthcare for all, as opposed to healthcare tied to your job
* Better (different?) sense of humor. People are "quirkier"/funnier in general. Bit of a sweeping generalization there, but...
* More vacation days! The USA is pitiful in terms of vacation days (unless you work for the US federal government, interestingly)
* More of a safety net if you lose your job. I have lost my job in the US and it's genuinely frightening how quickly things can go downhill.
* Seems like the education system may be better in the UK (I have been gone a while though and it could have deteriorated by now). On the other hand, nothing of use is taught in school, to paraphrase Oscar Wilde.
* Geographically closer to the relatives on my side of the family who live in England and France.
* Pubs! As opposed to sports bars. You can have a conversation in a pub. Beer is better in the UK as well by the way.
* No George Bush. Oops, there goes my green card application.
* Far fewer religious fundamentalists, far more atheists and free-thinkers. By now you may have figured out that I am god-free.

Here are some of the reasons I may never return to the UK:
* Cost of housing has increased too much. My poor dollars ain't worth very much any more...
* Constant grey skies, feeling that "nothing is possible", crowds, the feeling that I am unsafe...

Before I get too misty-eyed, here is a quote for today:

History continues even though the graveyard is full of indispensable leaders. -Charles De Gaulle

And until the next time, gentle reader, I remain as always,

Your friend,

Buford Twain