Saturday, January 12, 2019

Streaming conscious type post, 1.12.19



There is this mental block sometimes, and it is hard to post what is on my mind.  The thoughts are there, but breaking the logjam, and getting them into a post, sometimes seems more difficult than it should be.

So, I am going to note in real time what I am thinking, and then write it.

Just before I began this post, I had the idea for this kind of post.  Guess what?  I forgot
what I was thinking about just prior to that.  You see?  That is the problem.

I do remember what I was thinking about last night.  This was in regard to a previous post about money not being wealth.  That thought, about giving out money for nothing, spurred another thought:  I am receiving plenty of free stuff myself from Uncle "Sugar".

It may seem hypocritical of me to criticize giving away money when I receive it myself.

Yet, I have always been critical of Obamacare, even before it went into effect.  At first,
I obeyed the law, because I didn't want to pay the penalty for not doing so.  After a few
years, I get the cancer diagnosis, and now I rely upon this program for my health care.  Yes, I do need a lot of it now.  Whereas before, I was in relatively good health, and felt no
need for such a program.  The consequences of no Obamacare would mean that my health care now would be a matter of private charity, or a moot point as I would be dead.

As for the Social Security payments I receive, I figured I paid for them.  But that is not
quite so.  The program is not a forced savings program.  It is a transfer payment program.

The point here is that it may be hard to cut through the bee-ess, and get to the truth of
things.  You can fool yourself in so many ways.  Or politicians can fool you, if you allow
it.

It has been said elsewhere that it takes two people for a lie to succeed.  You have to be
willing on some level to be deceived in order for the liar to deceive you.

The mind is a tricky thing.  It is so easy to deceive yourself, and to be deceived.

The thought I had last night was that the moral thing to do would have been to not comply with the Obamacare.  But that also means noncompliance with Social Security.  This is not possible without running afoul of the government.  If you don't comply with the government's laws, you are subject to loss of liberty, property, and even your life.

As I complied, I got the benefits.  Seems like a carrot and stick way of manipulating
people.  You get the benefits if you comply, and the punishment if you resist.  I chose to
comply.

Does this make me a hypocrite, then?

I hope not.  I believe that you can comply with the law, but also protest it.  This is legal.  At least, it is legal for now.  At the rate this country is going, it won't be legal even to protest.

Our constitution was written so as to limit the power of the government.  The limited type
of government that I would prefer would have probably resulted in my being an object of
charity or in a graveyard.  Is this optimal?  No, not for me.  But it may be better policy
for the nation.  Or is it?  Is limited government better?

Something tells me that limited government is not going to last.  It hasn't lasted in this
country, as the trend is toward more and more powerful government.  Unless something
changes the trend, the eventual result will be no limits on government at all.

The reason for this may well require a book to discuss.

Since this is only a streaming concious type post, that would seem to be too ambitious a
project to undertake.  Undertake?  Sounds too much like a word I don't like to think right
now.

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