Monday, September 15, 2008

If This Train's Going To Hell, Get the Best Seats

Ok, yeah, it's all going to hell. Greed. The usual suspects. Left screaming at right; right screaming at left. Chains rattling. Doors Creaking! Piggy banks breaking! BoogeyMan at the back door!

BOO!!

Here's the thing: if you've been around awhile, you've seen this before. In 1974, the economic chickens of a long war without raising taxes to pay for it came a roostin'. Oh what shall we do?

We stayed home. We watched TV with friends on Saturday night with lots of snacks. We played in the parks. We rode our bikes. We went to free concerts. We staged free concerts. Our Dads worked on the cars of our friends. Our friends painted the houses of our Dads. We slowed down.

It was drab. It was glorious. WE made do.

America only changes when her back is against the wall and now is such a time. WE took out the loans. WE bought the SUVs. WE voted for the (insert your favorite demon here)s!

It can be terrible for the ambitious social mavens to have to dance to a folk singer instead of a rock band, or listen to a recording instead of going to an opera, or cook with neighbors instead of being served by strangers...

But it can also be the best times of your life. Go out and see what you can find.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds like you are becoming a libertarian :)

Anonymous said...

Thank you -- a big thank you -- for your moving account of rocket scientists and hillbillies. (Jon Taplin's Blog: http://jtaplin.wordpress.com/2008/09/10/redneck-pride/#comment-12299)

I posted a substantial excerpt at Tower of Babel blog, where I'm a contributing author:

http://en.towerofbabel.com/blog/2008/09/17/rocket-scientists-and-hillbillies/

Keep up the good work.

Regards,
Karl Jones

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