Nullification

The Broadway play “My Fair Lady”, based on George Bernard Shaw’s “Pygmalion,” one of the longest running shows on Broadway, featured a character, Eliza Doolittle, who was taught to be self-sufficient and successful by professor Higgins, but after she became successful and independent she realizes she no longer needs professor Higgins.  So is the attitude of stability in our lives as shown anytime when success breeds contempt.  Many hard working, taxpaying citizens who think that they might be able to relax in their old age, have given the sweat equity for government accomplishment, finds their government cares little for them at the very time they need it most.  Many cities and states are becoming depopulated by their most dependable citizens because they can no longer afford to be taxed out of health and home.  This is becoming particularly evident in New York state and California.  It is becoming obvious in most towns, even in the south, where decent law abiding citizens, who have supported the government and all the activities of social living (churches, clubs, civic organizations, etc) now see these citizens as just “road kill” only good for what they can get out of them.  Young politicians, elected by some quirk of fantasy, (have little regard for conservatism) are just busy “picking flowers” they did not plant. 

Former Illinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich, his brother and a former top fundraiser were among six men indicted Thursday on political corruption charges, the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago announced. The sweeping indictment comes four months after Blagojevich was arrested and charged with engaging in pay-to-play politics in a major federal complaint that accused the Democrat of trading state jobs, contracts and regulatory favors for campaign contributions.  The governor stated, “I would ask the good people of Illinois to wait for the trial and afford me the presumption of innocence that they would give to all their friends and neighbors."  The good people of Illinois, like the good people of any state and municipality, gasping in the success of these politicians, somewhere, somehow, buy their way into political office ( ncluding the present president of the USA) and then could care less about the promises made or the product provided. 

“WE THE PEOPLE”, the hard working, taxpaying citizens who ask nothing but decent government, are tired of the corrupt people and practices that are making our lives miserable as we are just trying to survive.  Political parties have become more important in the thinking of many voters then patriotic principles.  I am not a psychic or a prophet, but I have arrived at the place, in my old age, that I can tell the political party or partisan inclinations of anyone when I hear them talk for just a few minutes on the radio or TV.  Most just “puppet the party line” with little thought or sensitivity to the intelligence of what they are saying.  They go to the polls and vote simply because of the R or D after the name.  They are persuaded by “canned”, “assimilated”, “one-liner”, advertisements.  Joseph Kennedy, father of JFK, said once, “ there are three rules for success  in politics, the first rule is money, the second rule is money, the third rule is more money.”  So, to get elected is to be supported by those with money.  To stay elected is to please those with money.  In other words, to be successful in politics you must crawl into the pockets of the money elite.  It does not take long for the news to get around that  you can be bought.  The lobbyist, who out number the elected politicians, know the government we have.  WE HAVE THE BEST GOVERNMENT THAT MONEY CAN BUY.  Dr. Franklin perhaps said it all, “There is no kind of dishonesty into which otherwise good people more easily and frequently fall than that of defrauding the government.” 

One of my favorite writers, actor, etc, was Studs Terkel who died at the age of 96 in 2008.  Some pithy words from him are as follows: “When you become part of something, in some way, you count. It could be a march; it could be a rally, even a brief one. You're part of something, and you suddenly realize you count. To count is very important.”  The average citizen has become so nullified by power brokers, a perverted media, politically correct academics, and groveling corporations, and even small businesses who no longer believe in making numbers count but just count numbers. 

Like the election booth, the bottom line has become all important and all sufficient.  After the war, I was North Carolina's “Young Man of the Year”, and testified at a military legislative hearing in my dress military uniform with my white cane and other decorations.  A former president of the North Carolina Jaycees was with me as we approached one senator from a small, poor county, about some legislation.  The senator, very cordial, said to my friend (in front of this disabled veteran), “My daughter is in college and I really need to pay her tuition.”  My friend put some money into his pocket.  I asked later, “how much.” He said, “500 dollars,” that is the way you get things done up here.” 

There was a famous Broadway play, “The Best Little Whore House in Texas.”   The best whore house in North Carolina is on Jones street in Raleigh, the legislative building.  There, they sell themselves for money.  It has gone on for a very long time.  Several politicians are in prison now for corruption.  But, in every area of government if all that should be in prison, were in prison, government would be shut down.  I could show you a filing cabinet full of duplicate letters I have taken the time to dictate, paid for postage, and sent to agencies and people throughout government about matters of interest.  Even though they depend on votes, they seldom answer with anything other then a generic response.    ( generic response: a letter sent to anyone about anything saying absolutely nothing) 

One of my best friends, legislative assistant to a congressman, said, “Most constituent letters are ignored.  We did pay attention to one letter, one time, that was written on a brown paper bag.”  He said, “Our days are punctuated by working out in a gym and free buffets and cocktail parties given by lobbyists and opinion molding groups.”

 In his poem “God Give Us Men” the poet Gilbert Holland said:

GOD, give us men! A time like this demands
Strong minds, great hearts, true faith and ready hands;
Men whom the lust of office does not kill;
Men whom the spoils of office can not buy;
Men who possess opinions and a will;
Men who have honor; men who will not lie;
Men who can stand before a demagogue
And damn his treacherous flatteries without winking!
Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog
In public duty, and in private thinking;
For while the rabble, with their thumb-worn creeds,
Their large professions and their little deeds,
Mingle in selfish strife, lo! Freedom weeps,
Wrong rules the land and waiting Justice sleeps.

At the front of North Carolina's legislative building is a large mosaic of the North Carolina emblem with state motto, “esse quam videri,” which translates as “to be, rather than to seem.” A distinguished matron of North Carolina was walking across this emblem with a driver on a rainy day. Her foot slipped, she looked down at the great North Carolina emblem, and said to her driver, what does “esse quam videri” mean? He said “I think ma'am, it means slippery when wet.” This emblem stays wet because of North Carolinians who weep for the loss of freedom and decency in the old north state when pretending has become a science, not an art.