((Forgive me. I wrote this really late so I'm sure my thought process won't lend for fluid reading.))
In a society so pressed for self preservation we have lost sight of the search for true intellectual knowledge. This nation is on the fast track to disaster if we continue to neglect seeking out truth. We are guided by our heart not by our head. We vote for the comfortable immediacy of action rather than vote for the laws that take the long term into consideration. Unfortunately, the right to vote for which we hold so high in esteem has come to haunt us proving to us that regardless of whether or not a person truly understands the issues at hand, they can place a vote and determine where our nation is headed. Our Constitution for which was once so consecrated unto our nation, proof that we had taken our own destinies into our own hands away from a ruler on another shore, is now being slowly stripped away from us, teased from our fingers as if it were just notional.
John Adams insatiable thirst for knowledge and understanding lead him in collecting over 3,000 books in his personal library; the majority he no doubt had read for himself. A lawyer by trade and seminary graduate, this founding father and former U.S. president, helped shape our Constitution. Benjamin Franklin having two years of education as a child and then being forced to work in his fathers tallow shop reached the heights of American social service success primarily due to absorbing himself during every spare moment in books of every important nature. Only when he was in Britain for some time did he achieve a degree at Oxford and Princeton. Later he was awarded two honorary Masters degrees one of which was from Harvard and a doctorate from Univ. of St Andrews. Men like this were the corner stones of our great nation. They fought and some even died by the hands of British assassins to give us what we have today and yet there are those who take complete advantage of it. A lack of knowledge, understanding and valuing of our nation and its welfare is to blame. The programs that our government has for us such as Medicaid, Welfare and other social services are but provisions for those who need them in order to regain their livelihoods. They are not meant for people to live off of for their entire lives or even several years. Special few are entitled for the entirety of their lives.
With John Adams and Benjamin Franklin as my examples I have been reading on my own so many of the books they and their contemporaries used to educate themselves on affairs in subjects such as politics, social reform, philosophy and even theology. Greek philosophy, Scottish social and theological literature, French political philosophy and even more modern staples such as The Communist Manifesto are on my reading list. It is important to understand not only how and why you believe something, but also understand the theories of those who believe the opposite. How are you to prove a point or create a thought amongst those in opposition if you know nothing about their own philosophies? CNN, CBS and even FOX News certainly aren't bi-partisan and they certainly won't do you much good when you're trying to balance out the details.
Plato put it best, and I'm paraphrasing, "If you think you're too smart to be involved in politics, you are doomed to be ruled by those who are dumber than you." Good example? The republicans shouldn't complain too much about our current public servant because at the time of the last presidential elections they didn't have one single strong candidate who could combat the allure of a seemingly young family man, African American to boot. He was well spoken, well educated despite his lacking congressional servitude, campaigned on a dream (one in which his opponent didn't have) and projected a determination that tired America was thankful to coalesce with. John McCain had NO chance against President Obama and the republicans knew it. Even Sarah Palin couldn't lure enough right-wing votes. They knew he stood for everything they didn't believe in. Even Hillary Clinton loathes the man and that's saying a lot coming from a woman as far left-winged as she is. Three years later, here we are in a nation that is more severely depressed than we left it after President Bush. We have a president who racked up three times more debt in the last three years than President Bush did in his 8 years in office. Wait, didn't President Obama use Bush's debt as a campaign strategy? Anyway, that's old potatoes. As our President slowly but surely keeps shooting himself in the foot over and over again with things he said in the past but now suddenly has an reverse in opinion on, Republicans have finally found someone they believe can take back the Oval Office and rebuild the walls of this crumbling nation. Point-in-case? Do your research, think it over and act on it.
Either way, here I am rambling to you near the stroke of midnight about the collapse of civilization when I only meant to encourage you to pick up a damn book and read for heavens sake.
I'll leave you with this. There are three levels of knowledge. 1. Knowing it. 2. Understanding it. 3. Valuing it. I have a feeling that the majority of U.S. citizens haven't even accomplished No.1. However, knowing facts doesn't mean you understand them. Once you know something, try to understand why it works the way it does and why it came about that way. Then ultimately after employing that knowledge where you know it works best, try to begin to value it. Once the last level of knowledge is complete, feel free to go to the polls. ;) Ciao!
origamiaround
ellievsbear
kaledo-art
prguitarman
dededos
izzy806
turnnoffyourmind
vaporwave
