WBOB Original Reads

There's a monster on the loose...

3/25/2014

George Goner

I had a conversation with my producer here at WBOB recently about whether resorting to government intervention to solve a serious problem is ever a good idea. I said yes, in certain extreme circumstances. He said no. I found myself agreeing with every one of his points, and ended by suggesting we get back to the subject of radio before I lost our debate even more convincingly. But now I realize I left out one powerful argument for my point of view. Here it is, in a nutshell:

The government today is a giant elephant running amok in a three ring circus. Not Republican or Democrat, just a plain old, non-partisan, Industrial/Military berserk elephant. It's going to move in one direction or another sooner or later, and when it does, it's going to step on somebody. All we can do is coax the beast into the direction we want it to go. It's all a matter of personal preference, and feeding it what it wants. Usually its preferred diet is green, but every so often, it feeds on blood.

Forget about taming the elephant, or reducing its size. A rampaging monster does not willingly agree to eat less, because size is an advantage. We can only encourage it to act in our best interest. To mix metaphors, it's like luring Godzilla to a different section of Tokyo than the one containing our home and business, because at the end of the day he has to wreck something.

Can we influence the government toward positive action? Only if such action is presented, in a convincing manner, as being in the beast's best interests.

Everything on God's earth gets old and grows tired. Elephant or dragon, eventually it dies. All empires fall, from Rome to the Soviet Union. Sad to say, however, the beast at large in our United States, draining our lives and capital, won't be going anywhere for a long time. It is young and hungry, nearly at the height of its power. We will all be numbered, drone-patrolled, and documented. Stay out of the beast's way.

Or, if you're brave, give it that nudge in the direction you prefer.
President Eisenhower tried to warn us back in the 1950's. In the 1970's, Steppenwolf wrote a song that said, "There's a monster on the loose, got our heads into a noose..." And the noose grows tighter.
We have no one to blame. We, the American people, created this monster in a laboratory of the soul dedicated to profit and loss. Each of us must decide, in our own hearts and consciences, how best to deal with the consequences of our creation.