Some say that if you put a live frog into boiling water, it will see the danger and jump right out. But if you put it into cold water and gradually increase the water temperature, the frog will become more and more comfortable and remain in the pan until it's too late. It will cook itself. According to experts, this tale isn't true, but it's a good analogy of what's going on today. It's my humble opinion that we are all becoming comfortable frogs and we're sitting in a pot labeled "Socialism." It sits on a burner with Uncle Sam's fingers on the control knob.
Here's why I say this. It's come to my attention that there are a number of new things on the horizon that will better enable the government to babysit us. I hesitate to say who "invented" these great ideas, but with each time-saving, money-saving, green-thinking concept we should all feel the knob turned a bit higher on the proverbial stove where we sit, comfortable frogs, all.
Let's consider the humble light bulb. It seems we can't even choose this little household item correctly, so in the future that issue is taken out of our hands and placed in the hands of the government. Now we can't find anything but mercury-filled CFL bulbs. If you break one, you better open a window, leave the room for 15 minutes, pick up all the particles, place it in a plastic bag and dispose of it by taking it to a recycling center, which could be a bit of a distance from where you live. Now, say you decide to just throw it away in the trash. In the future, you could be fined for doing so. But you'll likely do it anyhow, as will many other people. And then all that mercury goes into the atmosphere....well, you can just imagine.
But all this is beside the point. The government is watching out for us. I feel more comfortable just knowing this.
Now for the color black. It seems that in the future, cars in California can no longer be painted black. Black pulls more heat, so people will use their air conditioners more. Again, Big Brother will take care of all of us. I'm beginning to feel very comfortable.
Soon we won't have to worry about how hot or cold our house is. It's an established fact and in the stimulus plan that Google has been hired to manufacture a gadget that will be installed in all our homes. It will be sort of like a thermostat, but we won't have to worry about regulating it---the government will tell us how hot or cold our house should be. Talk about comfortable!
Can you hear the heat control knobs clicking? Is the flame high enough that you can see it over the edge of the pot?
Why is this happening? I have no answers, but I think lots of things tie in together. There's people who own multi-million dollar homes. They can buy these homes because they work all the time---24/7, 365. They're never home. Maybe there's kids. As those kids grow, they need more and more attention and guidance. They don't get it because no one's home. Literally. Dads and Moms need to work to afford the house, the boat, the cars. There's no time for kids...no time for marriages...no time for reflection...no time for anything. So it stands to reason that there's no time to contemplate how comfortable we're all getting. Comfortable and accepting.
What will we swallow next? The government wants to babysit us. They think they know what's best for us. Car colors, light bulbs, thermostats...what next? Watch for it, the next thing is on it's way.
But consider this. To the tune of well over a trillion dollars, we have had to "babysit," the mistakes of the very government that would like to turn us into a socialist nation. They can't work out their own problems, so we all had to pitch in and hand them our last dollar---for some of us, very literally. And soon, this same government will forgo the little things---bulbs, paint, thermostats---and tell you how much money it thinks you should be making. How nice it will be to know that my doctor, who's spent year of his life in school learning his profession will soon make about as much as my son who flips burgers down the street. That fact alone should inspire my son to become a doctor!
We're getting comfortable. Too comfortable. Light bulbs, paint, thermostats, what's next? I can envision all kinds of mandatory regulations and laws on hundreds of basic, everyday issues. All in the name of green-thinking and money-saving and time-saving and whatever other good "reason" the government can come up with. It all has a label: socialism.
We need a Boston Tea Party. Before we're all dead frogs.
