THE WAY IT IS, THE WAY WE ARE!

THE WAY IT IS

James R. Fisher, Jr., Ph.D.
© January 1, 2010

REFERENCE:

Reaction to my friend's disgust with Congressional raises, among other things.

* * *

George,

I wrote this and accidentally deleted it. Perhaps God was telling me "let well enough alone!" Since I cannot sleep, however, I've given it another go. You know my intentions are always sincere and respectful. So, I'll try again.

* * *

This is not an attempt to defend Congress or to justify the raises they have given themselves, but to point out some realities that indicate "the way it is" has a lot to do with "the way we are."

* * *

You are right. We could and should vote Senators and Members of the House of Representatives out of office when they are not doing the people's business to the people's satisfaction.

Yet, in point of fact, following Pareto's formula, more than 80 percent of them are likely to be reelected every time. Moreover, it is nothing for a Congressman to be reelected to 15 to 20 two-year terms, or for Senators to be reelected for 3 to 5 six-year terms. In fact, it is the rule.

* * *

Politicians, as I've pointed out in another essay, are in the seductive business. That was as true of Lincoln as it is of Obama. It is the nature of the beast. Politicians know how to divide and conquer, and have since the days of the Founding Fathers. So, this is no new.

As for the generous raises Congress has voted itself, my wonder often is how we can get people to run for elected office at all:

(1) A person needs a war chest of considerable amount to run for Congress, which means that the devil is in the lobbyist who is always whispering in his ear, "do this, not that."

Then, too, there is the business of campaigning for reelection, which takes more time than doing the people's business under the best of circumstances.

(2) A person has to maintain a home in the District of Columbia and in his home state, which means that the income and perks of public office, which at first blush seem generous, finds few ordinary citizens without private incomes able to run for much less stay in office without extreme economic hardship.

(3) A person has to be in physical, emotional and mental health to sustain the energy it takes to maintain a presence in politics.

* * *

My quarrel has always been with the social termites - the lobbyists - that write, edit and proofread what eventually comes out of the mouths of Congressmen. Lobbyists are a shadow government that is behind the scenes in healthcare and, yes, social security as well. Lobbyists create pork and Congress barrels it through into law.

* * *

I could go on but I'd like to turn my attention to ordinary sorts such as you and me, private citizens in this Great Republic, and how we are complicit in this affair:

(1) We believe the myth of a corporate society and have followed that myth as self-fulfilling prophecy.

I can remember when Iowa farmers would not take government handouts because they knew it would reduce their power and control of farming as independent businessmen.

Look across Iowa, Illinois and Indiana today, and what do you see, but giant expensive windmills on the premises? This is meant to showing farming country is growing green, but the green it is growing is in the coffers of Co-ops!

Corpocracy has taken over farming and driven it into the ground. The army of the night for Co-ops is the lobbyist. Have no doubt that ADM right in your backyard has an army of lobbyists on Capital Hill every day writing the lines that puppets in Congress move lips and legislation to.

(2) From the private citizen, the manager of work to the workers on down no one expected that anything could go wrong as long as they respectfully behaved as safe hires.

Ordinary workers led by the nose by unions bled their places of employment dry by asking for more and giving less, as if they were simply working for a wage and weren't owners of what they did.

In the 1960s I worked in the field with among my customers giant automotive plants, and saw the industry fading long before it did.

(3) From the private citizen, the manager of work to the workers on down had no conception of what life would be like without the automotive, chemical or appliance manufacturing plant in their community. These plants employed husbands and wives, brother and sisters, aunts and uncles, and had been doing so for generations.

When I was a boy visiting my uncle (the professor) in Detroit, GM, Ford and Chrysler assemblyline working families had more impressive homes and lived better than most professionals, including doctors of medicine.

(4) No one from the private citizen on down thought anyone or anything could take the advantage away from them. After all, as GM goes so goes the country! No one disputed that.

Yet, traveling in Europe in the 1970s, I could see European streets and most highways were not built for American cars.

(5) Workers, whether in the public or private section, took comfort in not being self-aware, self-reliant, self-directed, or self-motivated. That was the company's job through its managers.

Workers were programmed to be passive and submissive, and as long as the pay was good, where's the problem?

Since WWII, we have forgotten our roots. We were competent because we relied on ourselves. As we have increasingly relied on others, we have become increasingly incompetent.

I have expressed this in my books as going from "unconscious incompetence" (Culture of Comfort) to "conscious incompetence" (Culture of Complacency) when we sought what had once been our domain, "conscious competence" (Culture of Contribution).

We didn't think the gravytrain would ever end, hadn't given it a thought what to do if it did disappear, quit taking risks and paying the price but became addicted to shortcuts, and couldn't conceive that workers had as much to do with the collapse of the American economy as their leaders.

Just one data point. The United States entered 2000 producing 32 percent of the world's gross domestic product. We leave 2009 producing 24 percent. No nation in modern history except the Soviet Union has had such a precipitous decline in relative power in a single decade. It should give us pause.

What to do about it?

What we have always done in crisis - pull together; look for what we have and build on it rather than looking for scapegoats to blame.

We are a good and resilient people that have had the luxury of never having to grow up. The positive side of this adolescent state is that we have had the energy of youth, but know we need the sobering reflection of age. To that end I wish you and all of us well.

Jim