One measure of Freedom.

[leagle2]

Preface: In colonial times the farmers in outlying areas, 2 days after the election, would travel to the county seat to hear the election returns. "Return Day" became a community celebration with music, parades and the roasting of an ox. Flash forward a couple hundred years. Sussex County, Delaware (my home) is the only place in America that still observes Return Day (it is usually reported on one of the national TV broadcasts) including roasting an ox (a steer now).

Story: My wife passed this on to me. A lady that works with my wife escaped from Cuba along with her husband and child. She was a nurse and he was a police officer. They made their way to Mexico, sought asylum in the USA, which was granted, and they are now citizens. They were incredulous at their first Return Day to see the steer roasting and people lined up to get roast beef sandwiches. Apparently, only a very few people (communist party officials)can get beef in Cuba. They were so impressed that they took pictures and sent them to family back in Cuba. In their family Return Day is now known as "the day of the cow".

 

[Sean the Nailer]

Re: One measure of Freedom.

Interesting perspective. Each has a different angle, eh?

 

[Mo_Zam_Beek]

Re: One measure of Freedom.

And in this country, Return Day has been re-named "Free Shit Army Wins Again".




Good luck

 

[SilentStalkr]

Re: One measure of Freedom.

^^^Word. Why don't we just grant everyone amnesty and go ahead and give up all of our rights while we are at it. I have no problem with those people that come here legally and pay taxes and all of that crap but for those that have made it over, cheat the system, and get tax returns despite paying anything into it, etc. really piss me off. There are people from Mexico getting $15,000 tax refunds sent to them based off of TAX ID numbers alone. They are not even legal citizens yet the IRS gives them billions of dollars every year. A new crew caught up to some of these people and asked them what they were doing with the money and if the kids they claimed here lived in the US. They said the kids were not in the US and that they were sending the money home. Wow, just wow. If I tried something like that then I would be thrown in jail with a quickness. Hell, $15K is half of a lot of people's yearly salary. Its absolutely ridiculous and is getting worse. Anyways nice story. I am glad some people can do it correctly.

 

[Greg Langelius *]

Re: One measure of Freedom.

As the current reality ventures farther and farther away from reasonability; the consequent incongruities just have to add up to beyond any reasonable expectation of reconcilliation. I.e. The taller the house of cards grows, the more certain becomes its fall.

The surest way for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.

Conversely; once evil triumphs the surest way to hasten its fall is to continue doing nothing and allow it to self destruct. When we remove ourselves from evil's opposition, it's only remaining prey becomes itself.

So; while evil's triumph may be the inevitible consequence of good's inaction, it's just as certain that evil unopposed inevitibly carries the seeds of its own destruction.

For example, I suppose I could oppose a sociopath and bring them to their knees (this scenario presupposes a personal capability not in evidence, but for argument's sake...). My own incarceration would almost certainly follow.

Not especially productive, for me...

However, I could also, far more easily, simply grin and trust in the surety that assholes always end up annoying others (and soon...), and leave it for the next guy to settle his hash. That sort of reasoning...

I suspect it might even pay to help it along its way. Surely brings the consequence, whatever it may be, to its head faster.

For example, the current 'fiscal cliff'. I don't know what the chosen solution will turn out to be, but I reckon whatever it turns out to be, it's going be a farce and a disaster. Hence, the cliff looms closer. At this point, the plunge is inevitible. The question becomes, what's more likely to bring a realistic solution in a useful timeframe; helping hasten the fall, or postponing it?

I.e., bite the bullet, wait and listen for the 'clang', and be ready and waiting, lean but mean, when the pieces are getting picked up.

Greg