Where's All The Good Ones?

Uncle Bubba is a man’s man. Yes, he believes that our purpose in life is to love God and your neighbor as yourself, and he is sensitive to the feelings of others, but there is a side to life that is inherent to an American man. This country was established by wild-eyed, independent thinking forefathers that were not afraid to jump on a horse and ride into battle. They settled matters with theirs fists or guns. We are a violent society by nature with peaceful hopes for our civilization and we value the right to bear arms and protect our property. Bubbie likes that. It’s a matter of freedom; it’s a matter of independence. As a friend of his points out, “I would never want to be mugged, but as a guy, I would love the opportunity to chase someone down and justifiably beat the crap out of somebody.”

Bubbie values honesty, integrity, hard work and the freedom to express oneself. He is kind and tries to be a friendly neighbor while minding his own business. He tries to be a courteous member of society whether driving in his ol’ pickup or checking out at the Piggly Wiggly. But a man by nature is competitive and aggressive and sees life as a hierarchical war.

There are some things in life worth fighting for and not just debating but actually picking up arms and physically fighting. That is the American spirit (not to be confused with the Holy Spirit). That is what we have always done and there is no reason to change as long as the motives are true.

Remember Your Big Brother

Uncle Bubba worries about the glossing over of current history and with it the lessons not yet learned. He says, “Because of the rapid pace of modern development we need to not only look at our history over the course of centuries to discern the repercussions of our choices, but look to recent times before it’s too late. When I say our history, I mean Man which transcends boarders and nations. We need to look at others successes and failures just as much as our own, because we are all of the entire human condition.

Anyway, here are some of the things that are eating away at the structure that makes our American nation. We are so concerned about our borders and we want to tighten up the holes so call in the National Guard. OK, it’s the department of the government that should be guarding our nation—it’s in their name--but if we couple that with the Patriot Act and the government’s collection of data, this really starts to resemble the former Soviet Union. We imagine our American soldiers patrolling the boarder with guns pointed towards Mexico and Canada, but once there, how easy is it for them to turn their guns toward us on the command of the Commander in Chief!

You see, I always felt uneasy about products like E-Pass, LoJack or OnStar; ya know, the car tracking devices. We don’t want microchips implanted in our bodies, but we’ll pay extra to have them in our vehicles for the sake of convenience. Do you know who is tracking your information on the other end? Me either, but the police have access to the information and they are a department of the government last I checked. Do you really want someone to know where you are every moment of the day? I don’t doubt that I sound paranoid to most, but that’s because this selling of insecurity is so mainstream anymore that heck; we’ve even reelected a lousy president because of it.

We’ve let the use of “security cameras” invade every nook of our public lives and are we all better off for it? Remember when the news used to report how invasive it was to our personal rights and everyone complained about it for a week or two, and then we got busy with other things and forgot about it. Now we are under surveillance at every turn and intersection, every store and parking lot, even walking down a sidewalk. Then what happened, with the use of facial recognition software everyday events became a police lineup. God forbid you go out for bagels and have physical characteristics of a criminal in their database; your life will be ruined trying to prove you’re not the dude.

You may say, “What’s the big deal? I’m not doing anything wrong.” Then why do you need to be tracked and scrutinized so closely? I thought this was a free country, meaning I can do what I want, when I want within the limits of the law and it’s nobody’s business but mine.

Well, you see now how just surfing the Internet can get you into a government database of potential trouble makers. Wanna educate yourself about the dangers of Al Qaeda, or learn about the Muslim religion? You’d better consider that accessing websites on topics such as these may one day bring the Feds through your door to take away your computer, all of your belongings, oh yeah, and you! Thanks to the Patriot Act you can be taken away to a place where no one will ever hear from you again. Does that sound like the former Soviet Union to you? Now DNA profiles will be added to the database. That’s the government potentially having a record of your genetic code. Man, that’s scary stuff.

It’s the erosion of our rights, our freedoms, our lives. We need protection from criminals and terror, but we need to be involved in the decisions that impact our lives. Just don’t become complacent and give up rights you will never get back. If I am right and we don’t take a few minutes everyday to consider the current past and the course of our future, and we are becoming very much like the former Soviet Union, or as some have said, the Roman Empire; remember this one thing, they eventually fell.”