‘Just do exactly what we say to do; it’s for your own good, you know’

By David McElroy · June 28, 2012

When I was younger, one of my neighbors came over and said he had something important to talk about.

“I have good news,” he said as he waved a piece of paper. “I’ve just signed the neighborhood constitution. It’s going to keep you safe and free. You’re not going to have to worry about a thing, because I’m going to take care of you. Best of all, I’m protecting you against attacks from space aliens.”

I’d never considered the notion that I needed to worry about being attacked by space aliens, but the more I thought about it, well, it seemed like a good idea to have someone protect me from them. And Mr. Madison seemed so sincere, so I figured he must be right.

Not much changed at first. I went on living my life and kept to myself. Every now and then Mr. Madison would tell me that I needed to change something about my house or my yard, but it was no big deal. Mostly I was relieved because the aliens hadn’t attacked.

Mr. Madison couldn’t do all of the protecting and ordering himself, so he deputized members of his family to help out. He only appointed the best, of course, so they had my best interests at heart. That’s what they told me, anyway.

I had a rock fence on one side of my yard that I’d built myself, and I was pretty proud of it. But Mr. Madison’s son, Franklin, came along and told me that the rock fence wasn’t safe. He said I might be walking near it and it could suddenly fall. I reminded him that it had been standing for awhile and nothing had happened to it, but he said he understood more about these complicated things than I do, so I needed to comply.

I really hated to get rid of that fence, but I new that the Madisons knew more about things than I did. Besides, we had that neighborhood constitution that said he could tell me what to do, so I figured they were right. I tore down the stone wall and replaced it with a chain link fence, one sold by a nice man who Mr. Madison recommended.

After that, the Madisons started finding more things that needed to be changed. Another son, Lyndon, came over one day and said they had decided I was too poor to take care of myself properly, so they were going to start making my decisions about which doctor to go to and how much to pay him, but they were going to help out with the cost, too. I had been perfectly happy with my old doctor — the one who had always come to my house — but the Madisons know more than I do about these complicated things.

Not long ago, Mr. Madison came over and told me that he had decided I needed to buy a car. I was confused, because I don’t need a car. I live in the city, so I take buses where I want to go. I couldn’t afford to buy a car and I didn’t see why I needed one.

“You just do exactly what we say to do,” Mr. Madison said. “It’s for your own good, you know.”

Well, I didn’t like this one bit, so I reminded Mr. Madison of something in his neighborhood constitution that said I had the right to appeal his decision. I told him that’s what I wanted to do.

“That’s certainly your right, son,” he said in a kindly way. I could tell that he cares a lot about me.

Mr. Madison said his wife, Sandra, was the appeals judge. That seemed fair, because she could read the neighborhood constitution and she would certainly see that it didn’t say anything about making me buy anything.

This morning, Mr. Madison came over with Sandra to tell me her decision. And they had another man with them.

“You need to buy a car,” she said. “It’s part of our commitment to taking care of you. But here’s the good news. This is Mr. Sloan. He has a car lot and he’s going to sell you a car. So you don’t have to worry yourself about it. We’ve already decided everything.”

I still didn’t think I needed a car, so I wasn’t especially happy, but they had that piece of paper that said they could tell me what to do, so who was I to argue? I bought the car, but I haven’t used it yet.

All in all, this neighborhood constitution has been a great arrangement, even if there have been a few bumps along the way. Best of all, Mr. Madison has kept his biggest promise. I still haven’t been abducted by space aliens.

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We are ruled by the dumbest and most incompetent people among us — and we have a system which allows stupid and irresponsible people to force the costs of their idiocy onto smarter and wiser people. Can we get away with that? Yes, for quite some time. But we eventually reach a point at which the dumbest of the dumb — who are habitual liars and mentally ill fools — lead us to the disasters and destruction that some of us have seen coming for years. We are approaching that point. And yet most of the idiots around us still wave their rhetorical banners of support for the evil people who are leading us to ruin — and all of them point their fingers at someone else, never noticing that their own enthusiastic support of evil is to blame. When things finally fall apart, blame yourself for your blindness to the evil, not whoever happens to be in power when it happens.

I’ve been making some changes to the site lately and there are more changes coming in the days ahead, so don’t be surprised if you some small differences. This is not a wholesale redesign, but rather the addition of some features. Since they’re smarter than I am, I’ve put Oliver and Alex in charge of the technical work, which you can see in this action photo from the control room of our media complex. I recently added a series of landing pages for readers who randomly discover the site from an Internet search. I’ve also changed the YouTube link at the top of the page to go to the new YouTube channel for video essays that reflect things I’ve already published here. (Here’s a little bit about both of the YouTube channels I’m working on.) In addition, I’m trying to move away from using Instagram, so I’m experimenting with photo plug-ins that will eventually allow me to host the pictures — cats, dogs, sunsets, whatever — that I often take. So don’t be surprised to see more changes. Thanks for your patience. Let’s hope Alex and Oliver know what they’re doing.

I have no use for the theocratic and repressive government of Iran. The people who run the country are cruel at best and evil at worst. The Iranian people deserve freedom. But I have no personal quarrel with anybody in Iran. While I’m not thrilled about a future Iranian government having nuclear weapons, I’m just as concerned about nukes in the hands of politicians in Israel, Pakistan, India, China and Russia. I’m not even thrilled with the U.S., Britain and France having them, either, because I don’t trust any politicians to be responsible with such terrible weapons. All I can say with certainty is that American taxpayers have no business attacking Iran, especially since we’re being forced to pay for this attack in order to benefit the politicians of Israel — and nobody else. If Middle Eastern countries want to fight among themselves, that’s none of my business. It’s not the business of the U.S. government, either. I have no quarrel with anybody in Iran — and having the government which claims to represent me launch an unprovoked attack against a sovereign country will only make all Americans less safe in the near future. This attack is poorly conceived and morally unjustified. Remember that when the Iranians launch attacks that we will then condemn as “terrorism.” What the U.S. is doing right now looks like terrorism to me. And let’s not forget that the attack is the latest in a long line of unconstitutional wars by various U.S. presidents — who have no legal power to declare war on their own, according to the U.S. Constitution.

A child having a tantrum understands only one thing: Did I get my way or not? He doesn’t understand the issues involved. He doesn’t understand the reasons that went into a decision. He doesn’t understand any of the things that mature and reasonable adults have to understand in order to live healthy lives. By his reaction to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling to strike down his disastrous tariff scheme, Donald Trump shows himself to be — once more — a screaming child having a tantrum. Outside the world of mob bosses who expect to get their way every time, normal adults don’t act this way, but Trump isn’t normal. He’s an angry and vengeful man who has narcissistic personality disorder. And we are in danger as a result. Trump doesn’t understand the legal issues involved in this ruling. He doesn’t understand economics. He doesn’t understand rule of law. He doesn’t understand that he can ever be wrong. All he understands is that he didn’t get his way. And he is now a narcissistic and raging little boy who also happens to hold life-and-death power over most humans on this planet. He’s dangerous — and the system which gives him that power is even more dangerous.

Is it an attempt to blur the gender line between men and women? Or is it some weird tribute to the traditional Scottish kilt? It’s hard to say, but fashion designers keep pushing for men to wear skirts in the last few years. Both men and women in modern fashion seem oddly androgynous, as though it would be offensive for a man to look manly or for a woman to look feminine. A CNN article about the latest fashions from Paris caught my attention Monday and left me wondering about the ugly clothes the designers are hawking. If a man wants to wear a skirt — or a kilt — that’s OK with me, but I’ll stick with a traditional dark suit with a white shirt and tie. (Well, when I’m not wearing t-shirts and sweats, of course.) I always wonder who actually buys the outlandish garb from fashion designers anyway. I would be humiliated to be seen in any of this stuff, but I obviously have no sense of high fashion.

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