Moderates United

I have to say I think I am one of the bravest people I know.  Every night I don’t drink my body does really unpleasant things to me, things that have nothing to do with detox, and everything to do with things I can’t remember.  I think sometimes I have imagined things, but bodies don’t lie.

I see very unpleasant images in my dreams sometimes, but I have reached a point where no demon frightens me, no monster can make me run, and finally the weapons I use against them are working.

There was something close to a psychosis waiting for me in that bag of tricks I pulled out of the dark.  I have managed it with persistence, courage, and not inconsiderable emotional intelligence and skill.  I still have miles to go, but I think it has finally been forced to reveal itself fully, and it did not kill me.

I’m likely a bit crazy for posting this, but it seems to comfort me somehow, and small comforts are always a blessing.

I am winning.  That is the bottom line.  I am winning because I did not quit, and I did not let the horse buck me.

I will add that I don’t see me ever changing my political views. They were won at too hard a cost.  I reasoned everything through from first principles and based on a pretty comprehensive view of history.  I have evolved on the Iraq War, for the very simple reason that we have, now, precisely what we fought to prevent; and even if our brave troops go in there and clean house, we can never trust that people like Obama and Clinton will not go right back out and lose yet another war for reasons which are unclear, but certainly ignoble, unprincipled, and unworthy of the sacrifices made.

Let us defend our borders, and let us do what we can to figure out who the traitors were on 9/11.

Just watched it.  Enjoyed it.  I have long listed Mary Poppins as one of my favorite movies.  I don’t know how many times I’ve seen it, but I have the dialogue memorized.

I have several things I could say, but what I will say is that I get Travers/Goffs grumpiness quite well.  I do the same things.  I am getting better–I’ve improved immensely in the last year–but deep unhappiness will make you irritable.  Everything hurts and it makes you impatient and grumpy.

And I do look for the negatives.  I always have.  It is a necessary protective instinct when living in dangerous places.  It is simply maladaptive in places which are or could be safe.

As I say, I am making rapid progress, now.

I have no idea who if anyone cares, but it has long been enough for me to send my bottles out into the ocean without worrying about their final destination.

Not really: it’s not in my DNA.  But wise people choose their battles, and I realized about 15 minutes ago an important reality: my obsession with the state of the world–which far, far, far exceeds that of 99% of our population I suspect–is a defense mechanism.  Specifically, it exists to prevent a full ego individuation from a state of fusion that is a primal artifact of early trauma and parental narcissism.

Letting it all go is my last important task prior to calling Phase One–climbing out of the hole–done.  If we are going to hell in a hand basket, I am going to look for positives in the hand basket.

I have more or less been willing the world to be rational, which is more or less the equivalent of an emotional isometric against the entirety of the planet: it neither moves nor notices, but I get quite tired.

That, I quit.  No more.

And I think I mean it.

Morality is nothing more or less than the capacity to judge OUR OWN behavior by some consistent standard.  It may consist in general principles or absolute rules, but the judging of ourselves is the most important part.

Our sense of our selves, our characters, are formed through decisions made either in conformity to or contrary to our sense of right and wrong.  If we hew to our standards we earn self respect, and if we fail in this, we justly view ourselves with distaste or even contempt.

The solution to self loathing is not to abandon morality, but to GROW.  That is what a standard makes possible: a way of measuring beneficial changes in our personalities and selves.

There is of course pathological and chronic self judging, but I would argue that is actually a species of vanity, and not honest self rejection.  It is that, or it is the result of a deep emotional wound which needs healing.  But even in that healing process, one must in my view have an ideal, something that is aimed for.

I think my development of my own code has been absolutely necessary for my own healing.  It is both simple and useful.  It consists in the three logical steps of defining an ideal, defining principles most likely to tend toward that ideal, and creating a decision making process.  I have covered these things before, but it may not hurt to cover it again.

The ideal is to continually develop and refine my capacity both to live happily on my own, and to savor and share the joy of others.

The principles are 1) Reject Self Pity; 2) Persevere; and 3) Be curious.

The decisions which are judgments of self or others must be 1) Local; 2) Necessary; and 3) Understood as necessarily imperfect.

This is a code which in my view walks the line well between moral absolutism and moral relativism.  It is adaptable, but eminently practical.  I just summarized it in three sentences, but the possible permutations are endless.  As I mentioned in my essay on this, I consciously incorporated the ideas of  Complexity Theory, and defined the ideal as an Emergent Property of the operations of my principles.  Within this world, at issue is not who you ARE, but who you are tending to become.  And there is no room for ontological judgment, because I reject moral ontology, even if I recognize in practice that something like it can persistently tend to exist in some people.

I would oppose this code to that which stipulates that the only sin is judgement itself.  The only sinners are the “intolerant”, which is defined as anyone who continues to grant moral superiority to any behavior or person.

This is an innately destructive creed, both of social harmony, and of individual felicity and happiness.  The “virtue” of supporting gay marriage is nothing like traditional virtues of hard work, honesty, kindness shared with all, familial fidelity, charity and the like.

When I put myself in the head of typical contemporary college student, they have no way to esteem and look for the positive, at least consistently.  It may be that Asians dominate, relative to their numbers in this country, institutions of allegedly higher learning.  This is because they work harder than most of us.  But you can’t say that.  You can’t hold them out as examples we should all emulate.

Rather, college students seem to wander around looking for something or someone to object to, someone to heap their own intolerance on, someone to execrate and destroy socially.

This is the problem I have with the Supreme Court decision.  I am happy for gay people who feel a genuine sense of liberation.  At the same time, I mourn with traditional Christians who feel that the religion which provides their sense of meaning, sense of purpose, and feeling of comfort is being taken from them, and that there is nothing they can do about it.

I have defined Liberalism as follows:

Liberalism is the idea that since none of us can be
presumed to possess absolute truth, that all of us be free to believe and
say what we want, provided we injure no one else in so doing, and that the
role of government is to protect those rights. Constitutionally, the right to
regulate areas of moral ambiguity were intended to rest with the States.
This would include abortion, drug regulation, euthanasia, prostitution, and
the provision of social services.

Within this framework, I would argue that the use of the word “marriage” to describe the legal institution of civil union between gay men and women should have properly been left to the sundry States.

It is not an open and shut case that gay unions are intrinsically equal to those of heterosexuals, particularly where children are concerned.  This is simply stipulated, and anyone attempting to discover whether or not any differences may exist is socially ostracized, unless they reach the correct conclusion.

This is not morality, in my view.  This is not seeking the maximum felicity for ALL concerned, at least not in a concerted, honest, exploratory way.

What it is evidence of, in my view, is a loss of actual moral moorings.  The principle of the intolerance solely of alleged intolerance is not and can never be a positive morality.  It cannot lead to happiness, and indeed precisely to the extent that it tends naturally and quickly to devolve to looking for the flaws in everything and everyone, it becomes an agent of fear, shrinking, and social isolation.  The people practicing it can never rest, and the people subjected to it must constantly self censor themselves.  Self evidently, this world is devoid of humor, and the social growth it enables.

Such is our shared future, if we do not change paths. I am not permitted to say that the successful got that way because they had a plan and worked hard, but I am permitted to judge them for their success.  That is just ugly.  Such ideas, deployed far enough, will easily ruin our nation.

I don’t recall if I have invoked this metaphor, or seen it evoked by anyone else, but it is obvious once it occurs.

In the same sense that ecosystems as a rule do better with a relatively high degree of diversity, so too do both businesses and the economy as a whole.  What we want are a wide array of small, medium, large, and giant corporations existing in very complex arrays subject to constant change.  Just like in the wild.

Unchecked giant corporations are like weeds that reduce complexity, and weaken the overall health of the ecosystem/economy.

A nascent sense of this is in my view what underlies the Buy Local movement.  But most of the hipsters with the Keep “…” Weird lack sufficient nuance to grasp that they do in fact like Capitalism, and business: they just don’t like big business, which is not at all the same as business.  Every hip bar and bookstore is a Capitalist institution, which exists for profit–which is to say nothing less or more than that they want to recompensed for the work they do and the products they make available, which is the only real alternative to slavery.

The health of our political order depends in no small measure on the health of our economy, which is ENTIRELY dependent on business activity.  There is no other source of income that is sustainable.  All government employees are paid with money taken from corporations and people who work for corporations.  This is true even if the money is borrowed or printed, although there is an added time delay that makes this less obvious.

There must always be a transfer of wealth from business people to the government for it to function, and this wealth is in motion.  It can change countries, cease its profit making activities and it is always exhausted after a time if it stays put.  A misunderstanding of this basic fact is what has doomed Greece and Venezuela, and many other nations.

There will never be a shortage of people promising free stuff.  And if enough people listen, that democracy dies.  It is really that simple.  It dies for the same reason that overfarmed or overforaged ecosystems die: there is not enough food left to sustain life, and a collapse happens as a series of related microdisasters.  Some plant dies which some animal depends on, so that animal dies out, and the animals that lived on it die out too.  It is exactly the same in economies.  Exactly.

Excessive taxation–which I would define as over 25% on anything–and overregulation are the forces which cause the mass extinctions we call depressions.  Well, that and of course the business cycles that fractional reserve banking enables.  That we might compare to a periodic flood or drought.  But that takes me beyond the point I wanted to make.

I predicted both consolidation among health insurance providers, and increased rates for everyone who was actually paying for their own insurance already.  We are seeing both.  The purchase of Humana may not be the end.

The goal, for companies like Aetna and United, was to increase their relative monopolies.  That is why they supported Obamacare.  That, and the fact that everyone was automatically upgraded to Cadillac plans whether they wanted them or could afford them or not.

People who automatically assume that because corporate profits and power are rhetorically opposed, that they are opposed in fact.  Wall Street wrote the Wall Street Reform Act.  And insurers–at least the giants–almost certainly had a role in shaping Obamacare.

The principle difference between Fascism and full blown Socialism is that the illusion is maintained that there is a gap between the private sector and the public.  The reality is the same: de facto government control of everything, and rule by oligarchy.  But the outward appearance can be different.

Keynes pointed this out very clearly and very openly in his General Theory, which remains a Fascist masterpiece.

We do not need to migrate to Single Payer for the government to control health insurance.  It is sufficient that they control the insurers, and that they are few, and not subject to competition.

No one who desires the public or other good in this life can be spared the work of thinking, if they are to do their actual, honest best.  We are surrounded by lies, but that does not mean that the truth cannot be found.  That is why I write my treatises.  I would not revise anything in my Obamacare piece, even though I wrote it 3 years ago.

All of this is simple, readily explained, and readily comprehensible.  We are simply surrounded by fools, greedy opportunists, and aspiring tyrants.

Video about a charismatic and passionate preacher who decides there is no Hell: https://youtu.be/iTPVfJEATcE

I thought it worth my time.

http://www.infowars.com/obama-removes-tpps-anti-slavery-clause-then-attacks-confederate-flag-as-symbol-of-slavery/

I found this interesting. Obama directly supports modern-day slavery in reality, but gins up a controversy where none existed to distract the world from it.

This whole issue revolves around what the Confederate Flag REALLY symbolizes, which is secession.  In my view Jade Helm is precisely an effort to build the military capability and tactics to prevent Texas, which is the most obvious candidate, having talked about it often, and having the unique history of having been the Lone Star State, from seceding.

The legality of secession has never been tested in court.  As I mentioned some time ago, Jefferson Davis was never tried for treason because it was feared he might be acquitted, and the entire Civil War rendered an illegal usurpation of power/invasion of a sovereign nation by the Union.

This July 4th, if you read the Declaration of Independence, you will find the following:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. 

I don’t think one has to ponder too long or too hard to find in there justification for secession.

And it is worth noting again the historical fact that the Civil War did little to better the lot of average black people.  They were not “freed” in any real sense.  They lived poor lives, subject to the rage of white Southerners, were disarmed by law, and suffered continuing miseries that in large measure continue TODAY, although of course the path was created in the 1950’s for them to achieve full equality with whites, had they chosen not to reject white culture and instead throw in their lot with schemers and thieves.

Granted, that is the sort of thing one ought not to say.  It gets you in trouble.  But am I wrong?  The demographic fact is irrefutable that two parent homes, education, and hard work raise everyone to the middle class, a safe neighborhood, and a good school by American standards. And the political and economic fact is clear that the War on Poverty failed miserably. It’s only lasting contribution has been the destruction of the nuclear family and the principle of self reliance.

It is because we can’t say this that the suffering of blacks continues.  I care enough about them to speak the truth.  There are not many like me.  Most prefer convenient and cowardly lies.

Who is the real friend?  The one who silently accepts your self destruction, or the one who provides both compassion and understanding, and challenge and intervention, when it is needed?

We seem to be devolving to a world where words are considered real, and reality is not.  This is quite dangerous.  This is the world Orwell described, and one which existed in pure form in his own time, still exists in Cuba and other places, and which may yet overtake this nation.

I am realizing that I have a sort of internal thermostat that seeks out negativity whenever I start feeling too good.

This is one of the main places I place that negativity.

Ergo, I am going to try and either blog less, or blog more positively.

It’s funny, though: I just took a Personality Strengths inventory–the Martin Seligman thing–and my top two are Bravery and Creativity, followed closely by Spirituality.  Dead last is Self Regulation.  They got that right.

I will add too that I don’t think Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is bullshit either.  Learned Optimism is one of the best books I ever read, and I have often used his tools dealing with Explanatory Style (Permanence, Pervasiveness, and Personalization) with success.

Finally, I will note that my seeming need to save the world seems to stem from a primitive fusion when I was quite young between me and the world, which seemed dangerous to me.  Some unconscious part of me has been unable to fully separate from this fusion until recently, perhaps as recently as today.  It is a terrible burden waking up every day carrying the weight of the world, and feeling like I have to do something to change it, even when that something is confined to writing a blog I don’t even know if anybody reads.  This completes another cycle I have been through before, but every iteration is a bit different, and my sincerity a bit more sincere (to quote an old Sales Manager).

I need to live in my  house, in my skin, and let the world carry on its operation for a time without feeling it is or even could be my job to change its course.  I have plans, and they will get done quicker if I do this.

I always have more to say, so I’m sure I won’t remain silent, but if I do post less, that is the reason.

We are really seeing the perfection of propaganda in the sliming of Donald Trump.  I will say a few obvious things, because our entire nation appears to have gone dark–the media, in any event, and those who follow it.

First and most obviously, there is a huge difference between opposing immigration and opposing illegal immigration.  My ancestors and his ancestors came here legally.  The government received us with open arms, and our ancestors and ourselves are productive citizens who pay taxes and take nothing from the government we didn’t put in first.

Second, there can be ZERO doubt that illegal aliens, and their legal children, are putting a strain on American employment and wages. I do work periodically in Texas and Arizona and have talked particularly with electricians down there, and wages have dropped roughly $5/hour in the past 10 years due solely to competition from people with green cards, and new immigrants.  We have many tens of millions of un-and underemployed who were born here.  We owe our fidelity first to our fellow country men and women, not to people who were born elsewhere.

Third, Mexico itself has very draconian laws criminalizing severely illegal immigrants in its own country.  If you are a Guatamalan, or El Salvadoran, or Honduran and they catch you there, they lock you up in jail for several years, and then deport you.

Four, it is not our fault that Mexico has a shit economy.  Every chance they have gotten for 100 years they have voted for the person promising them free stuff.  Corruption is endemic.  Most crime is not reported because the police either don’t care, or because they participated in it.  That is not our fault.  It is not our role in the world to provide a refuge to every person on the planet suffering abuse.  We can and have provided refuge for many tens or even hundreds of millions over the past two centuries, but we have limits.

There is nothing wrong with loyalty to ones countrymen and women that is stronger than that to people born elsewhere.  It is a common virtue practiced in Mexico and the rest of Latin America, and no doubt around the world.  Speaking common sense has become a thought crime, and that alone should cause all of us considerable angst.  I do wonder sometimes if the kids at our indoctrination factories might one day revolt en masse at the integration propaganda they are being subjected to, and start doing black-face pantomines that their black friends still find funny, but it seems doubtful.

Absent major changes, it seems our future is a continued shrinking of our public domain, of our actual mutual respect, of actual social and emotional skill, and of actual connection.

Again, I have ideas I am working on to do what I can to address this.  I will do what I can to remain positive.

Edit: I often follow the news not very carefully.  He apparently said Mexicans were bringing drugs and rapists.  Well, most drugs that come from out of the country come from Mexico.  I have been arguing now for some time that we should legalize everything, and put the drugs lords out of business, and end the drug wars.

As far as rapists, the thing with completely unregulated immigration is that there will be criminals among them, and it is clear that Obama has caught and released a lot of these people.  Our laws are not being enforced when they are politically inconvenient.  There is no display of principle or caring for protecting the innocent from the guilty.

Trump is obviously brash and crass, but he is saying things many people are thinking–with considerable justification in my view–but few have the balls to actually say.  Yes, our press is effective at personal attack and vilification, and most large corporations can be counted on to fold immediately under any pressure, now, but of what use is freedom if we live in fear?  Fear is the product of Political Correctness, and it is the intended product.

And I will note that it is applied equally to minorities.  Blacks who vote Republican, or gays who say that gay couples shouldn’t raise children face the same fate as whites saying things that people have been conditioned to view as unacceptable.  They are attacked and ostracized.  That is not civil society, and that is categorically illiberal.