Where has Common Sense Gone?

 It seems that we have lost a lot of common sense in our culture. Things we know are not real are accepted as real.  Things we know cannot go on forever are accepted because we like the fruits while it lasts.  We tend to overlook truth because the lie is better and we just want it.

 We want that Social Security check even though we know we have never deposited enough to warrant that size of check we get every month.

 We want a family but we want so many other things that we have to have mom and dad working to take care of all our wants and not sacrifice anything.  But in the process we sacrifice a lot in a quality family life.  Sure we have the SUV, the big screen color
TV and all the premium cable channels.  But we also have chaos in our lives because of the demands of work and living needs like going to the grocery store, etc. drain the joy out of  family life. 

We demand the government to provide health care because we can’t afford it on our own.  Again not realizing what we are saying….  By some magic if we collect from the people and provide we can afford! If the government collects from someone else and gives to me everything is ok. 

We want, no demand that our health insurance pay for three nights in the hospital for the delivery of a baby, not realizing that we are really saying to the government;  “Please make a law the will require me to pay the extra health care premium to assure me the three days in the hospital.  And while you are at it, make everybody else pay as well.”  We pretend that the big bad insurance company will pay and not us. 

If we just had a new law on gun control everything would be better.  Again a new law does not change bad choices.  Everybody that is over the age of 55 knows that he probably grew up in a home or know a home of one his friends where guns were stored with easy access by everyone.  Restricting access does nothing to go to the root of the problem, it just masks the problem and we don’t face it. 

The President, I think has introduced a little common sense to the process.  He and the Vice President came out and said that energy conservation is nice and will help, but that alone will not solve our energy problems.  The truth, not the feel good “turn of the lights and we will be all better”  approach. 

The non-common sense approach says the drilling in the Artic Wildlife reserve will despoil this pristine area for all mankind.  The common sense approach says the drilling in a small part of this vast reserve will not spoil the whole.  To put it in perspective, if the Artic Wildlife Reserve were a Wal-Mart parking lot, we would be drilling on one parking space. 

Common sense tells you that we must privatize some or all of the Social Security to make it work.  The head in the sand approach is to do nothing. 

Thomas Sowell has said the we replace things that we know work with things that “sound good.”  Oh, if we just had a hate crimes bill all would be better.  If we had a campaign reform bill all would be good.  If we don’t cut the taxes of the rich we can take care of poverty.   Lack of money does not cause poverty, poor decisions that let to the lack of money is the cause of poverty… money does not give us wisdom to make the right choices.   A liberal columnist recently wrote that if we just don’t cut taxes on the rich we can eliminate poverty as we know it over the next decade.  He further reports that over 2,000 children are born into poverty every day.  That represents 2,000 bad choices.  More money won’t correct bad choices, it will encourage it. 

Down deep in the dark of the night we know the truth.  Let’s face it and quit whistling past the graveyard… for that grave yard may be our society as we know it.