Wilson: Oh, Canada!

So let me get this straight. It is okay for a government to investigate non-profit entities for engaging in prohibited political activities if the entity is a “radical” environmental group, but it is not okay to investigate if it is a conservative non-profit like many of the ones swept up in the recent IRS debacle?

When I watch my dogs play, I sometimes see them engage in behavior that conveys to me that they have a sense of fair play. When I feed them a treat together, however, the smaller dog will try to get the treat by nosing the bigger dog out of the way. And he will repeat this same behavior even when he has a fresh treat just acquired, firmly in his mouth. That is, the next treat should go to the other dog while he’s eating his, but he drops the one he has to get the new treat. The larger dog will give way, and let the smaller dog get the second treat, and slowly move towards the dropped treat. If I don’t intervene, eventually the smaller dog will eat both treats. When this happens, I give the bigger dog a third treat, which the smaller dog goes after in the same way as before, but now there are two dropped treats. The smaller dog, wanting to eat just marginally less than getting more treats, will then see that if he finishes the treat in his mouth, there will still be one even though the bigger dog gets one. That ends the struggle for monopoly, but the little one will get the third treat as well. The larger dog will always give way, I think, because she realizes I will see to it that she gets something to eat. I’m sure something different would happen if the larger dog were to get seriously hungry….

I see similar things played out when children play. Everyone knows some children share, and some children have to be taught to share. Sharing seems to me to be a key to enlightened living, and an essential part of what I believe it means to be human. When I see a child who refuses adamantly to share, I think to myself that child is a “bad” child, and will grow up to be a “bad” adult. It seems to be a shameful existence to me, a waste. I suppose there are some parents who encourage their children not to share, but those bastards aside, it seems that the majority of children who turn out that way have either been untrainable, or neglected. He will grow up to be a Libertarian, or a Republican.. or worse. What? Wait! What am I saying? What could be worse than that? I guess it seemed to follow in a literary sense to say “or worse.”

When these children grow up to be adults, and their mental capabilities mature, they seem to acquire coping mechanisms to explain their refusal to “play nice.” It seems to me that what I perceive as a character flaw in these children become adults manifests itself later in life as materialism. As a group of what I see as malformed adults, they gravitate politically towards a philosophy that basically answers all questions with unabashed selfishness. When justification is required to get what they want, they will invariably start with their goal, and adapt logic to fit whatever it is, much as children do “..but mark’s parents don’t make HIM wash HIS hands!” Their goal always before them, their logic will change no matter how hypocritical it may seem, or how transparent their true motives become, though they will deny that they have ever been either hypocritical or dissembling. “I didn’t take the cookies out of the cookie jar – it must have been daddy!” “I didn’t rip her dress, but she said I was ugly, so even if I had, she deserved it!”

Among the smoke screens for these flaws.

Enlightened self interest.
Survival of the fittest.
Capitalism.
Free Competition.

Of course, with the idea that it’s “obvious” that more for the individual is better, often without even bothering to veil disdain for “losers.”

It seems to me that these bad adults have grown to use those coping mechanisms so often, that they fall into an easily characterized group of people who can be manipulated without too much trouble, to support the idea that selfishness is a noble and respected way to live… even when it is, statistically, they who are the victims of the philosophy they espouse. They identify with what they own, or have just purchased, and seem to derive self worth from it. Bragging seems to be a common characteristic, even when it makes them look foolish in social situations, since they can always find someone who engages in similar behaviors to validate them. They make a big deal out of loving their family, not really realizing how artificial and self-serving they sound. They will often champion something like Christianity, though they have no idea, nor do they want to have, what Jesus actually said, or what it meant… they use it as a thin veneer in cases where “morality” becomes an issue. Similarly, wrapping themselves in the flag is a cheap coat of paint and a deodorizer for what is nothing more than a steaming pile of shit.

And these – these are the people we discuss the “politics” of the day with.

How do you win an argument with a 6 year old?

You don’t.