I just re-read “1984” by George Orwell, who wrote it in 1949. It’s depressing, to put it mildly, although a few sentences, and even a paragraph or two make sense, and allowed me to see a few things a bit more clearly. You can’t read too many books! I read 30-40 a year, and even that isn’t enough I suspect!
From page 129 (mine is a paperback) comes this sentence or two: “They could be made to accept the most flagrant violations of reality, because they never fully grasped the enormity of what was demanded of them, and were not sufficiently interested in public events to notice what was happening. By lack of understanding, they remained sane. They simply swallowed everything, and what they swallowed did them no harm, because it left no residue behind, just as a grain of corn will pass indigested through the body of a bird.
Isn’t that a perfect description of 95% of Americans, who are literally ’know nothings,’ and don’t even care? If that were not true, how could Obama ever have been elected? Currently, the vaporous news speak are swallowing every morsel of the George Zimmerman murder trial in Florida. When he is probably found innocent, watch for the black riots, maybe everywhere in the US, but certainly in Florida. Who cares about it? The average American is so fascinated by football, and watching commercial loaded commercial TV, that as Orwell put it, they swallow every Democrat-Obama utterance, and never even give it a thought.
From page 157: “The essential act of war is destruction, not necessarily of human lives, but of the products of human labor. War is a way of shattering to pieces, pouring into the stratosphere, or sinking into the depths of the sea, materials which might otherwise be used to make the masses too comfortable, and hence, in the long run, too intelligent. Even when weapons of war are not actually destroyed, their manufacture is still a convenient way of expending labor power without producing anything that can be consumed. A floating fortress, (B-17, Flying Fortress?) for example, has locked up in it the labor that would build several cargo ships. Ultimately, it is scrapped as obsolete, never having brought any material benefit to anybody, and with further enormous labors, another floating fortress is built. In principle, the war effort is always so planned as to eat up any surplus that might exist after meeting the bare needs of the population.” From page 158: “It does not matter whether the war is actually happening, and, since no decisive victory is possible, it does not matter whether the war is going well or badly. All that is needed is that a state of war should exist.
Isn’t it totally true that spending endlessly on war and war materials, saps the value of the dollar, and is so damned stupid as to be ludicrous? As I write this, the cost so far of Iraq and Afghanistan is $1.5 trillion dollars, all wasted, and dollars which are debased as a result of this spending, which is a universal tax on everyone. The military-industrial complex has bled us dry, and continues to do so. The total waste of the materials used to make ammunition, planes, bombs, tanks, etc is a total waste of natural resources, and pollutes the planet.
From page 216: “The choice for mankind, lay between fredom and happiness, and for the great bulk of mankind, happiness was better.”
America has shrugged off freedom, for the welfare state, if a single phrase could sum it all up. Millions more on food stamps, two years worth of unemployment payoffs, millions going on fake disability, rather than working or even looking for work. Millions in public housing, which must be demolished after a few decades, so deteriorated it has become due to endless violence and wanton abuse. There are several states now, which have more on welfare, than are actually working. They are: California, New Mexico, Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, Illinois, Ohio, Kentucky, New York, and Maine. Why work, when you can get paid for not working for two years? The welfare state, which so many gleefully indulge in, and partake of, saps intelligence, energy, and ability to care for ones self. The welfare recipients might as well say, “Let government feed us, care for us and cure us. Let government rule us and decide for us, and support us. What’s freedom anyway?”
Immigration
It wasn’t always that way. The current “Immigration Bill,” which passed the Senate, is a true disaster. A similar bill, which passed and became law in 1986, also promised to seal the border with 700 miles of impenetrable fence. It was never built, and if this bill passes the House, and Obama signs it, that fence won’t be built either. Why is Congress so anxious to give citizenship to illegals? Because they will vote Democrat, of course. Turn the clock back 175 years or so, when lots of Germans, Irish, Swedes, Norwegians, Italians, etc were coming here. They longed for the freedom and opportunities which America offered. They knew they would have to work hard, learn the language, and prove themselves, before they could become a citizen. Citizenship tests were given in English, not in their native language, and there was no welfare of any kind, public housing, unemployment payoffs, or handouts of any kind, from either states or the then very small federal government. If you weren’t healthy, you were sent back to your native land, and no one sneaked in across our border. Italians who legally got here, and lost their papers were called “WOPS,” which simply means ’without papers.’ There were sweat shops, no minimum wage, and no government entity checked to be sure working conditions were clean or safe. 12 hour days or more were common, and the Lower East Side slums of New York were legend.
We all know second generation Americans, whose parents came here, worked, sweated, and groveled. They made it and loved America. They didn’t want two citizenships, and learned English. We’re so proud of those Europeans who gritted their teeth, flexed their muscles, and made it. We’re not proud (at least I’m not) of illegals who sneak across the border from Mexico, never learn our language or ways, and strive to make America into another Mexico, rather than making them selves Americans. Tens of thousands are patiently waiting to come here legally, while millions of illegals are here, and idiotic Congress is trying to make them citizens with nothing to offer, no waiting, no legality, no learning English,, and no qualifying of any kind, other than they are illegally here and bypassing all those who have been legally waiting for years. Yuk!
P.S. Edward Snowden, in my opinion is a hero. Without Snowden’s releases, we would not know of the NSA’s foul actions. We wouldn’t know that our every conversation, writing, and maybe even thought eventually, is stored, and catalogued by “Big Brother,” as Orwell’s 1984 described huge government.