Some Thoughts on the State of America

I've been thinking a lot about the whole health care situation. Really, I've had the government as a whole on my mind. And usually this has been accompanied by crankiness. I hate what they are doing and it feels as if everything is upside down. The thought that keeps recurring is "They are trying to destroy this country." But what I hadn't really done until this morning (and really I've only just begun), is think about why this disturbs me so much. I leaned back in my chair and tried to put my finger on it.

Once, when I was in college, I watched Goodfellas. I hated it. There was something about that movie that just gave me the creeps. Thinking back, I hated how gangsters treated weaker people like garbage; they could do whatever they liked because they had the power. I felt the injustice of it all. Also, I feared the brazen lawlessness. And, truth be told, I wanted those people to suffer and die because they had violated what it means to be civilized human beings and because their existence was a threat to decency.

I think that the reason I have such hatred for what Congress and President Obama are doing is because they show so little regard for the law and for other people. My impression of them is that they are operating on the basis of power, without concern for law or truth. And so I despise them because they are a threat to civilization and basic human decency. Also, I fear them because without law, the future becomes arbitrary. When a society ceases to respect rules, security can only come from having power.

Taking a broader view, however, Obama and this particular Congress, much though I dislike them, are not the problem, they are the symptom. The problem is that this society seems not to respect the law anymore. Our government doesn't respect its own law, the Constitution. Judges aren't bound by the law, but bind others with it. We don't take our own immigration law seriously. Politicians are not help to account for ethics violations. Elections are swayed by fraud and lawyers while common sense reforms like required photo ID are rejected. Our society seems like it is becoming arbitrary. Getting and keeping power becomes exceedingly important, because your own rights are not safe when the other folks are in power.

And so that's it. I'm so concerned about the health care debate because I feel vulnerable to arbitrary power. I no longer trust the government to respect the limits of the law. They might decide to do absolutely anything. Interestingly, this is the exact reason that the War for Independence broke out 233 years ago.

(I'm leaving out something big, or rather, someone. A bit more later.)