2 July 2020: Back to the Basics
On my workbench, I continue to make progress with Peddler #1. I’m currently focused on the mechanism that causes the Peddler to wave, and of course, he needs to be painted. The motor is slightly jerky. I’ve got a replacement on its way to me.
Back to the Basics: Every once in a while we need to sit back and look at the basics of it all. Right now I’m trying to get my head around ‘what should the USA be’. I went back to the Declaration of Independence and learned that it says (in summary);
- All men are created equal. Apparently the definition of ‘men’ was ‘free, white, land-owning men. Women, slaves, and indentured servants were not considered equal’.
- All men are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.
- Among these rights are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
- To secure these rights governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.
- Whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it.
What I’m looking for is guidance on how the present should be. While I do find the summary of the Declaration of Independence interesting I am not finding the answer that I am looking for. Our country can not be governed by the Declaration of Independence.
Where I am with all of this at the moment is “follow the money”. You’ve all heard of this before…money is a major driver of action. Money, by itself, however, has no conscience, it has no values. Money is not a thinking entity…it is something that is measured.
So it seems that our present-day value systems are “what is legal?”. Our present-day value systems are made up of rules and laws that were formed in the past. In the past, we had different influences than we have today. Religion, for example, was more prominent in our value system. Also, it was not until the last 50 years (or so) that we began to live in the world, rather than in the USA. And then there is the Internet…instant international communication AND access to virtually all knowledge.
Also, our planet has never had so many passengers. We are overpopulated relative to our ability to understand and care for our spaceship.
So when someone says “Make America Great Again” what does it really mean? In my mind, it does NOT mean a return to the past. I think that is not possible. In my mind, it means understanding how the money flows and being a productive part of that flow. But also, we need to be respectful of each other (all colors, all sexes, all nationalities, everyone). And we need to be respectful of our spaceship and all aboard.
Unfortunately, humans are not naturally gentle, understanding, non-selfish. We humans are greedy. We are self-centered. And so more laws will be passed, and more time will flow, and human nature will remain unchanged and in the end, we will either come to a nice balance between laws and human nature…or we will fail as a species.
In the meantime, I’m trying to live honestly. I’m trying to be a positive force. It’s not perfect. There is always room for improvement.
Humans are so insignificant in the big picture.
