I’ve had two big thoughts so far this morning. and by big, I mean, that I thought about for a few minutes and decided to share:
Remember when Dial had the slogan “aren’t you glad you used dial? don’t you wish everyone did?” for their deodorant soap? I wonder if american’s didn’t use deodorant as much back then, or if they were seriously concerned about smelling bad.
and
I wonder when we started to, as a culture, worry so much that people were going to take advantage of us. I was listening to a radio report this morning about congress voting on the REAL ID act, which includes elimination of the right of habeas corpus for immigrants before deportation (removing their rights to have a court review of their case and immigration status, which is a check on the INS). They said “there are a few terrible criminals who will take advantage of this.” A few? what about a few? After all the chest puffing about the minority using filibusters in the senate to disregard the rule of the majority with judicial nominations, now they’re worried about a few bad eggs screwing things up? so they’ll take away the rights of the many to CATER to the few?
It drives me crazy when people think that others are inherently Out To Get Them. Or to Scam the System. Really, I think there are a lot fewer inherently evil people out there than people think. And I think that the huge number of people who are afraid the system CAN be scammed is really an indication of how untrustworthy “The System” is, and not an indication that the system needs more intrusive power. And it burns my britches to think about the kind of country we want and have historically portrayed ourselves to be: that welcoming, inclusive, fair country where anyone could pull themselves up by their bootstraps, the great melting pot but also a great equalizer — and now we’re afraid of a couple of people taking advantage of us? Who cares! It’s no skin off of our backs, we’re a GREAT NATION! Remember?
