A Flashback Friday Presentation from August 15, 2021
Some have a strong belief that we are all formed at birth, and we have been apportioned our share of talent, wit, and intelligence; Period, full stop. How boring. Everything predetermined. It may be true that without stimulation, encouragement, and opportunity, areas of potential may never develop. Take politics for an example.
Sigh…I’ll never be Senator Carreras…my upbringing focused on things other than politics. In fact, in my home, with a few rare exceptions ( Jacob Javits, the Roosevelts, and Nelson Rockefeller), being called a politician was down there with being a pimp.
If I had walked in on a post-dinner conversation at my home and told my parents that I intended to follow a career in politics, I would rapidly come to rue my idiocy. My father especially would have been proud for me to select seaman, marine engineer, carpenter, even bridge officer. But Politician? He would have reacted with true Latin temper at his son’s stupidity. No Carreras had ever fouled the family name in such a manner. Pirates, sure, sharp dealing merchants? of course ! – politicians? Never.
On the other hand, my mother would have been less verbal but no less disapproving. For her, a simple, “Oh, Louis!” said in that drawn-out manner that said it all would have sufficed. I would have crept away to someplace damp and dark in my shame.
So it’s more than what we get apportioned. It’s how we are encouraged, or in this case, discouraged.
Questions?
But does it all have to be bad? Getting the proper guidance, rewards, and occasional punishments for poor behavior shapes behavior. Perhaps the problem with our politicians are us? We reward them for the wrong things and rarely correct their poor behavior. Discouraging entry into politics because we fail to manage political behavior puts us at risk. Because, of course, only the venal will then participate.
As Plato put it: “One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.”
Sound familiar?
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Yes, “Perhaps the problem with our politicians are us?” Plato was right — and not just about that. In my involuntary diatribe today I tried to make the point that the stuffed head propped up on that senile old man is the puppet of evil. He’s bad enough, but what’s behind him? It’s OK. He’s in Russia now time-traveling with VP and ending wars all five minutes.
Yes, our politicians are our responsibility, like children. If we don’t teach them the boundaries and hold them to our expectations, they’ll get completely out of hand and ruin a perfectly good country.
Loke poorly behaved children, the worst part is the clean-up afterward.
I am already dreading that part.