FROM DALE BAIN
ELMORE COUNTY
You know when something has been dead for so long, it begins to rot, smell, and decompose. Back in 1994, writer Philip K. Howard published a book entitled “The Death of Common Sense”. Well, today Common Sense has begun to rot, smell, and decompose. In this book he laid out truths in 1994, but have begun to decompose in 2022. Other current writers, (to include myself) have begun to smell this rot.
Today after a law is made, it is no longer questioned, even if common sense tells us the law no longer makes sense. Howard discussed the multitude of new found “rights” that we now have as Americans at the expense of everyone else. Today our process and regulations create the opportunity for “bad” people to still take advantage, and they are more able to cover their tracks. Legal rights have now taken away our ability to compromise. People feel that their “legal right” trumps the greater good. Things have come to a standstill and have begun to rot. People are afraid to make changes because somebodies rights will somehow be infringed upon. We have moved from a society that utilizes Natural Law to one of Social Contract to control the actions of humans. Human beings have no social order, and obedience to the state has to be justified. The idea that common sense no longer has a place in governing seems absurd, but when you review laws, policies and rights that are in place, it is not a stretch at all.
Howard argues that “democracy has become a passive caretaker to a huge legal monument.” Bureaucratic rigidity, costly and ineffective regulations, and overly complex procedural rules have superseded good judgment and common sense. For example: New York City’s building code required the installation of an unnecessary elevator at a cost of $100,000. An oil company spent $31 million to meet new EPA standards that turned out to have little or nothing to do with pollution. Howard argued regulators must have greater freedom to enforce rules with discretion and common sense, while others love the notion that government should be “self-executing” and dispassionate. This has resulted in a system that is not only inefficient but also “precludes the exercise of judgement” and produces serious consequences for the quality of public discourse in America. Rights are “as American as apple pie” and a quintessential part of our Constitution, they have taken on a new role in recent years. Today they are used not as they we originally intended – as protections against coercion by the state – but as “a new and often invisible form of subsidy.” It also invites a free-for-all as different groups entitlements begin to collide with each other and the rest of society.
Here are some of the common-sense items that I think are decomposing at a rapid rate. And really do smell after introduction.
*For the past several political administrations, the party in power suffered gigantic loses in the mid-term elections. Possibly not in 2022. For the fear of one man, the republican party is satisfied to sit and rot/smell thinking that they will succeed in the mid-terms without drastically battling the “No common sense” Democrats.
*The US Army is in the worst/serious decline since the 1970’s. Current Army leaders thought that discharging thousands of trained troops for not receiving a very questionable vaccination would be a bump in the road. Surprise- something smells in Washington. The recruiting command is in dire needs of troops to complete basic training to fill these slots. There are not enough volunteer soldiers to enlist, and when they do, they must undergo remedial training to even get ready for basic training. Even when they have been paid $50,000 enlistment bonuses. There are not enough Battalion commanders in the Reserve units, so the active Army has to assign trained officers to Reserve slots to keep the Reserve operating. As many as 40,000 trans-gender troops cannot be deployed for lack of medical support in remote areas of the world.
Lack of common sense has now decomposed to ignorant rot.
*Because of increasing lack of common sense to the point of asinine thinking, cities and counties are defunding their police, or even disbanding the police department altogether because they cannot fire rogue cops. To go along with these drastic actions, the President of the United States has called a CRIME SUMMIT, to try and discuss/beg people to do better and help cut crime in the police missing streets of this nation. Completely Decomposed!!
I very often say the following in today’s time, Common Sense has completely Decomposed, and American Workmanship has dissolved. We see hiring posters all over our nation, but when you go into businesses, there are no customers – so why do they need employees??
