Friday, October 26, 2012

The Problem is Not the Solution

The reason for jobs, is not to create more high-paying jobs, by allowing (nurturing) the problem to grow worse -- but to eliminate those problems, and the need for those jobs to deal with them.  Otherwise, those workers, perpetuate those problems to perpetuate their lifetime jobs.

Of course that happens only in government, because if it happened in the private sector, that enterprise would soon go out of business -- and be eliminated, because right-thinking people will not pay just to compound their problems and difficulties -- unless they've been indoctrinated to believe, there is no other way.  So it is no coincidence, that government problems always seem to get worse -- but if allowed to revert back to the private sector, would largely just disappear.

Chief among most people's concerns at this time, is the predictable growing out of control health care problem -- and the dire future promised for all those who hope to live in the future.  The solution is not more money to pay for it -- and more jobs because more money is available, but the change in the very nature of life at those times -- to an increasing health, freedom and independence from the reliance on the health care system in lieu of personal and individual responsibility -- that cannot be replaced by that abdication of such primary responsibilities.

And that is that one has to first ensure their own safety before blaming the failure of extraordinary efforts to revive them after they have placed themselves (knowingly) in harm's way -- as when a person gets drunk before and while driving, or doing any other life-critical tasks -- including the reckless abandon by which some think that others are primarily responsible for their well-being -- no matter what.

This is done all the time when bicyclist deliberately put themselves at the mercy of cars -- while demanding their rights as equally-entitled vehicles on the road.  But there are many others on the other side of that spectrum, who think that becoming morbidly obese and/or inactive and voluntarily disabled, entitles them to more rights than the able-bodied, and in fact, it is the task of the able-bodied, to make up whatever deficiencies a misguided few believe, requires even more sacrifice from others to make them whole.

Jobs of that sort, detract from society, well-being and the general prosperity -- because people think that the objective of society is to consume as many resources as possible, as well as many other lives in the process.  Lives of that sort and orientation, face peril at every juncture, in an unrelenting no-win situation.  It is the dysfunctional personality becoming a culture -- eventually consuming all the resources available to it, while productivity, has long ago become a distant memory of another time and place in history.

But whenever there is such a monumental and apparent challenge to the future of any species, race or country, a few rise to the occasion and offer another fate that is a break from the future that dooms them.  Rarely do people choose wisely willingly; they have to be forced to -- or feel that their dysfunctional choices are working -- well enough to continue that pattern of tradition.

For Hawaii, that turning point is when the young have to leave -- and be replaced by more rich, senior citizens from all over the world -- which then accelerates that trend into a stampede.  There is just no longer the question of remaining -- unless one is the 1% who can afford to live there comfortably.  And 1% of the world population, is 65 million people -- who could live anywhere they want to -- if they are enticed to do so.

They're not like the poor people who can come to Hawaii just on vacations -- driving up real estate and home prices to the spectacular levels the real estate industry lusts for -- to the havoc of everyone else, and normal lives.  In this way, the promotion and advocacy of real estate tourism to the exclusion of all other gainful activity, ensures an unfavorable distortion of life in the foreseeable future -- if we merely continue the disastrous status quo in every way we have come to do.

One must choose change -- not to continue down a disastrous path, thinking that hoping for change, is all that is necessary to achieve it.

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Who Won the Debate?

The radical difference between the two visions of life in the future, can be summed up in the words, "enabling" and "empowering." The first is a dependent-codependent relationship (government) that enables one to get worse, and everyone else is required to "support" them in doing so, while the new vision for the future, and the only one that is viable and sustainable, is that people make "themselves" better -- and there are no restrictions and limits to doing so -- as their own primary caregivers -- and not demanding that unlimited care only from others, and the expectations that they must pay for whatever life they believe they are "entitled" to.

The first obviously requires coercion, achieved through deception and all the other manipulations Biden was employing to "control" the debate -- while Ryan merely presented his "alternative" view of why things weren't working and a new plan that does. Everybody should be aware that Social Security and Medicare have become victims of their own success -- allowing many more people to achieve longer (more) lives, but now what is needed, is a "qualitative" shift to better -- and not simply more -- at any cost, because surely, what is the point, if the only jobs available, are becoming caregivers for an expanding population that can be sustained in a persistent vegetative state indefinitely. There's just not enough (free) money to go around.

The two individuals represent and personify those differences -- one being the distinctly 20th century personality, while the new, is obviously the 21st century personality emerging, and becoming more visible as a true "alternative," rather than the meaningless alternative protests of the 20th century, hoping to be revived in the "Occupy" movements that are only a return to the old -- and not the new.  That's why these participants invariably seem confused as to why they are there, and what program and discipline they have, other than presenting their absurd demands that they should occupy society's prime real estate at no cost because they have defecated and urinated on it to establish their "territorial" rights to them.

Such people have no viable alternatives -- or they would be living them, and not merely protesting what everybody else ought to be doing, before first, and primarily, living in those realities.   That is the only thing that has ever made a difference.

Monday, October 08, 2012

Crossroads to the Future

There are two visions for life in the future -- (1) that people get worse irreversibly and irrecoverably, or (2) they get better as long as they live.

Those of the first view, will obviously say that such a thing is not possible -- as they are living proof that people can only get worse -- and not that they are simply good examples of people who have chosen their path poorly.  Far more difficult and arduous, are those who have taken the road to betterment and improvement -- because they have to travel it alone.
The far easier path is to become less able -- because then one needs more assistance in life, until ultimately, one needs assistance just to get through their day.  The present course of society, is to fund and enable that deterioration and dysfunction, because only then, is one showered with assistants, and support(ive) services, until one is convinced, that is the road to success -- their utter failure to provide anything for oneself -- as the mark of a "compassionate" society.  

That is the difference between an enabling society, and an empowering one.  The enabling society, merely helps those who are worse off, and so, people inevitably do -- to gain those advantages, but it is ultimately at the cost, that they really do become less capable of doing anything for themselves.  Thus, they become entirely beholden to whomever offers them more assistance, until finally, they are at the complete mercy of it.

The other path is not even spoken of anymore, except in the disparaging thought that one could be so foolish as to think they could, or should ever wish to be truly independent and capable of fending for themselves, and making it on their own.  All kinds of fears, inducements, insurance and guarantees are offered to them to "get in line," and do what everybody else is doing -- unquestioningly.
This crossroad is summed up in the question, "At what point does one begin to age?," which implies that one is in irreversible decline -- and the future never gets brighter or better.  One is already "washed up," and incapable of living their lives competently on their own, but become more dependent on the aid of the government, to continue a miserable and marginal existence because they are no longer capable of minimally caring for themselves -- and even their own personal needs and hygiene.  Many in that condition, no longer are aware that it makes a difference -- but they can be kept alive in that condition indefinitely.

Thoughtful people will ask, "Is that a viable (meaningful) future for humanity?"  Or is that future so bleak, that the impossible question can arise, "Could there be another, better way?"  What do all those "retiring" people and people in "retirement" or "disability," have to do that is more important, than to make their lives better?  That begins of course, with one's own health and well-being -- on the most fundamental level of doing anything, and subsequently, everything -- and that makes a difference, so that one gets better, or simply worse by never improving -- but only repeating, those behaviors that maintain the diminishing status quo -- that demands more money, energy, and time, to get decreasing returns and results.
That most accept that way and their fate, is not surprising, but they should not be allowed to drown out the few who think that life in a very different way is not only equally possible, but more plausible.  But obviously, the solutions offered so far, merely feed into the despair that there can ever be real improvement -- because they don't make any more difference than fooling oneself that it does.

People often say, that they haven't been "so busy" since they retired, while obviously showing signs of aging (neglect) -- rather than one would think they would do once they had all the time for doing so -- to regain their own health and vitality because they are no longer forced to do what they didn't enjoy doing, with all its deleterious health effects -- such as standing up all day, or dealing with constant stressful situations and difficult people.  They then have the time and (adequate) income to do what is best to improve their own health and well-being.

So few people think that way that it is appropriate to ask, "Why? What is it they do, that is more important to do? -- particularly at that critical juncture of their life?"  Because by then, most people don't think it makes any difference what they do and think anymore, and they just have to do what everybody else is doing -- as a senior citizen.  Is that necessarily a person in the twilight of their years, or is that the beginning of living one's own best life? -- as is now possible?

It is not the young against the old, but the old against the new, that prevents the revisioning of life in all the possibilities of a new understanding and insight into this meaning and significance of life.