Wolf Howling: common sense

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

A Eulogy For Common Sense

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has
been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his
birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be
remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as: Knowing when to
come in out of the rain; Why the early bird gets the worm; Life isn't always
fair; and maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more
than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in
charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but
overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy
supended for carrying a water pistol to school and a teacher fired for reprimanding
an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job
that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children.

It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent
to administer sun lotion or an Aspirin to a student; but could not inform
parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses; as the
criminals received better treatment than their victims, and as more and more people weere given special rights as victims of society.

Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar
in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to
realise that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her
lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death, by his parents, Truth and Trust, by his
wife, Discretion, by his daughter, Responsibility, and by his son, Reason.

He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers;
I Know My Rights
I Want It Now
Someone Else Is To Blame
I'm A Victim

RIP, Common Sense, RIP

- Sent by a friend from across the pond

Experiential Learning, California & Civil War

An anonymous commenter wrote this insightful observation a few days ago:

Here's one of the more common errors of The Right. The Left does not lack for intellect. What it lacks is wisdom. "Common Sense". They do not learn from any mistakes. Not their own, and not from those of others.

As the commenter went on to explain, that is why you see the left so wedded to socialism, despite its unblemished track record of failure. I think there is a lot of truth to his or her observation. And I thought of it again today when I saw an article on legislation about to be approved in The People's Democratic Republic of California,

California is a state that the left has pretty much destroyed over the past three decades. The state now stands $20 billion in the hole and on the edge of bankruptcy. The state is hemorrhaging business and residents, fleeing our nations most oppressive legislation and some of its worst taxation. It is, as George Will described it recently, a unionacracy - a state run by and for the public employee unions. One would think, given that the Sword of Damocles is hanging by a final, frayed thread over the state, that the legislature would learn from their past mistakes - that they would adopt austere fiscal restraint and start furiously cutting regulations and taxes to create a better environment for business. Right . . .

California, long a trendsetter for eco-friendly living, is breaking ground again this week. It's set, as early as today, to adopt the nation's first statewide green building code, which environmentalists say is not tough enough, and is also considering paying residents to cut their energy use. . . .

Just amazing. This isn't merely ignoring past mistakes, its full head buried in the sand acting outrageously crazy ignoring past mistakes.

I don't particularly care if California goes into bankruptcy, that union contracts are broken and a receivership takes over the purse strings. I don't care if California can't even get junk bond ratings for its bond issues over the next decade. But on the flip side, should Obama and friends opt to send our tax dollars to underwrite this failed far left experiment in modern socialism in order to protect Democrats from the consequences of their outrageous acts, then its time for a full on blood in the streets second civil war.