<p>…words we live by.</p>
<p>“For the modern barbarians, money is the measure of all things,”…</p>
<p>Sums up this “civilization” succinctly.</p>
<p>…words we “try” to live by. If we Americans truly lived by them, the US of A would not be in the pig’s sty we have today. (I guess that some pigs are, and will always be, just more equal than others.)</p>
<p>I was referring to Acton’s quote. Why would we “try” to live by them? We live by then by default due to our weak natures…nothing to be proud of.</p>
<p>What are you referring to?</p>
<p>I certainly agree that it often comes off as a pigsty! Worshiping the Almighty Dollar has proved less than ideal…</p>
<p><em>thinking</em> I’m not smart enough for this thread.</p>
<p>O tempora O mores</p>
<p>I was referring to Acton’s quote too. Maybe we are talking at cross purposes. I cited Acton because his observation is really the only thing we need to know when we are talking about politics. Few of us, IMHO, live by his words. By “live”, I mean to heed his words and act on them so that power does not grow and become absolute power.</p>
<p>The original genius of American politics was the creation of a system of checks and balances where the People, as well as the States, hedged in the powers and rights delegated to the general/national government. Power checked power. Now, almost all power is in the hands of the few. Who are these few? They are 425 Congressmen, 100 Senators, 1 President and 9 Supreme Court Justices. In the end, they are the ones who have created the pig sty in which we are now drowning. </p>
<p>And who is checking them? Who has stopped them from creating the ungodly debt from which we can never recover? Who has stopped them from creating the Leviathan? Who can stop them now? The People? The States? Doubt it. Maybe they can slow down the Welfare/Warfare State a little bit, but this overgrown monster won’t be stopped, can’t be stopped by them. It has too many dependents. It will stop, however, like all overgrown things made by humans: when the money is gone, when the food that feeds the beast stops. Well, the money will be gone soon. With it, the overgrown, over extended empire will collapse. And then, we pick up the pieces and start again, wiser and stronger in heart and mind…I hope. </p>
<p>“Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely.”</p>
<p>Oh, dumb me, I see what you meant.</p>
<p>Pessimist much, Toombs? ;)</p>
<p>I’m neither a pessimist nor an optimist, leanid. I strive to understand our past and anticipate our future. In this regard, I hope for the best and prepare for the worst. I assume that many of us on CC attempt the same. One of the main reasons, I think, some of us send our children to BS’s is that these schools give them that hope and that preparation…we hope.</p>
<p>This thread, however much it may be speaking the truth, is getting way too dark, way too “guns and ammo,” way too survival gardens, way too bomb shelter and social anarchy for me.</p>
<p>Yes, I agree: things are dark, as least economically, in the US of A. (I just read where BU econ. prof L. J. Kotlikoff has concluded that, based upon his analysis of the Cong. Business Office data, the US government is now facing a “fiscal gap” of…gulp…$202 trillion.) Still, I think that we need to figure out where we are, even if the times are dark. To live any other way assures us that we are, and shall remain, in the dark. </p>
<p>As for a future filled with darkness, guns, ammo, social anarchy, cats living with dogs, etc., who knows? Maybe so; maybe not. I tend to think that things will be much brighter after the US works thru its economic mess. But again, who knows what the future holds? To help us speculate, however, knowing history helps (which is, sadly, dark at times). As Mark Twain said, “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme.”</p>