The Death of Common Sense

 

Defensive Concepts

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Common sense is dead. I'm not sure when it passed or how. Whatever happened

apparently also took Common Sense's cousin Personal Responsibility with it. Their death

alone is bad enough, however those two attributes keep other things at bay, like Greed

and Herd Mentality.Think I'm wrong? Let me lay some examples out for you.

    Look at the number of frivolous lawsuits filed in this country. Some are done by

people who, for whatever motivation, want to monkey wrench the court system. Others

are filed by nitwits, or their heirs, to go after the deep pockets of a large company. Does

McDonald's come to mind? What about the firearms industry? I recently read where the

victims of the so called "Beltway Sniper" are suing the manufacturer of the rifle used in

the shootings. I am going to presume for a moment that the rifle is not under some old

curse which drives it's owner mad and forces him to kill. We are now blaming inanimate

objects for evil acts. By doing this we are relieving the guilty of some of their

responsibilty in these actions. The old "If he hadn't had a (fill in the blank) none of this

would have happened" thinking. Why are alot of these lawsuits being filed? Money, and

occasionally a disguised political agenda, plain and simple. As if cash (after the attorney

gets his cut) will ease the grief of losing a loved one.  I'm not saying that something

shouldn't be done. Something should, to the shooters in this example, and at one time in

this country they would have been toast already. A speedy trial and, if found guilty, a

quick execution.  My question is who's next? Black and Decker because someone took

off an appendage with one of their saws? How about Kenmore when someone burns their

hand on the stove? How about Budweiser or Sam Adams for drunk driving deaths? If it

worked against the tobacco companies these three ought to be a snap.

    Imagine back one hundred fifty years in this country. The federal government is giving

away homesteads in the vast tracts of land in the west. All you have to do is go, stake

your claim and make it work as a farm. Simple right? Well, you get out there and it's hard

work. Tragedy strikes when someone in your family, dad, mom, child, whoever dies. It

could be from an Indian attack, wild animals, or just a hard winter. What do you do? Sue

the Indians? Nah, we took everything they had already. How about God for sending the

hard winter or the bear or cougar? Wait, what about the government that gave us the

land? After all, if the government hadn't made the land available we wouldn't have gone

and if we wouldn't have gone then poor Fred would still be with us. It must be their fault

right? This didn't happen folks. People understood that bad things happen, they took

responsibility for what they could, sucked it up and drove on.

    Personal responsibility and common sense also encourage things like individualism.

Friends, there are times when we must come together as a group. Military combat units,

professional sports teams, law enforcement tactical teams come to my mind. However,

much of the time and in most circumstances, thinking for yourself is a good thing. I was

talking with someone recently about the current situation in the Middle East. I said that,

based on the news reports I'd read, I am more concerned about North Korea than Saddam

Hussein. I got a look like I'd grown a second head. Hussein seems like a bad actor who

might need to be removed from power. Does he have weapons of mass destruction? If

anybody knows they sure aren't saying. All I hear is double talk from the spokesmen for

the inspection teams. On the other hand, we know North Korea has nukes. My question

was why don't we deal with that problem and why all the saber rattling over in Iraq?

These are uncomfortable questions for those who A) have an agenda or B) don't want the

burden of thinking for themselves.

     One other point, when Common Sense dies Freedom goes with it. Those who allow

themselves to be led and told what to think are not citizens, they are servants. Without

Common Sense there is no critical thinking. When that goes out the window you will buy

anything. Think I'm wrong? A lot of revolutions have been violent, many despots have

come to power by violence. They did not, however, do it by themselves. They had to have

some help. Some were in the loop, Trotsky, Goering, and Goebbels come to mind. There

were a whole bunch that were to use Lenin's words "useful idiots". The Brown Shirts, the

communist mass and assorted other thugs gave mass and muscle to power hungry

bastards who would have been chewed up and spat out otherwise. How did they become

this way? Common Sense died, that's how.