Civil War? Governor Jerry Brown
Governor Moonbeam out in California is having some trouble handling his state’s budget woes. Well that’s no surprise. He didn’t exactly show any promise in matters governmental during his first two incarnations as governor. After all – he’s the guy who decided it would be nifty to allow California government-worker unions to have collective bargaining rights, and most aware people understand how that worked out. Californians, in case you don’t know, practice at being unaware.
Anyways …. Moonbeam says that the debate happening in California is reflective of the mood across the country, calling it a “regime crisis.” There’s an odd choice of words. He believes that “the legitimacy of our very democratic institutions is in question” and that our nation hasn’t been this divided since the Civil War.
We are hearing a lot of this “the nation hasn’t been this divided since the Civil War” nonsense lately. But do you mind if I go off on a slight diversion? The civil war is now – not in the mid-1800s. A civil war is a battle between factions (usually two) for control of the government. What we call the Civil War was not a battle for control of the government. It was a battle to prevent states from leaving the union. The South, for a variety of reasons (some legitimate, some definitely not), felt picked-upon and wanted to go. The North thought differently and fought to maintain the union. So there’s your little history lesson for the day, which I’m sure they don’t teach you in a government school.
But back to this quote by Jerry Brown … if he believes that there are two factions in this country who are fighting for control of our government, then aren’t we in fact having our civil war now? If so, who, exactly, are these two sides at battle with one another? I could (and would) categorize the two sides in several different ways.
•The moochers vs. the producers •The independent class vs. the dependent class. •Achievers vs. non-achievers. •Winners vs. losers The left would break it down differently. They just say it’s a battle between the fortunate and the less-fortunate. The premise here being that wealth is a matter of luck, not a matter of preparation, hard work and good decision-making.
But let’s try to break it down a bit more:
Faction A
The producers
The entrepreneurs
The job creators
The private business owners
People who seek freedom over government-provided security
People who want less government spending
People who want limited government
People who want lower taxes
People who believe in private property rights
People who do not want to live their lives for the sake of others
People who believe that they own themselves
Self-reliant Americans
Informed Americans
Faction B
The moochers
Some (not all) Government employees
Welfare brood mares
Some (not all) government school teachers
Government worker unions
Liberals who preach social justice & wealth envy
The young people who don’t know what they don’t know
The “Entertainment Tonight” and “People Magazine” crowd
The government educated who were taught to know and love government
Seniors actively participating in the gimme gimme game
People with an inflated idea of their “rights”
Understand this … Faction B generally survives and thrives at the expense of Faction A. In the beginning there were a lot more As than Bs out there .. but that is changing fast. But somewhere along the way, some entity (the federal government) enabled people who wished to abandon any real work ethic and become wards of the state. People less driven started to recognize the government as their keeper and personal responsibility be damned. At the same time, the government realized what power and control they were able to wield over these lazy, security-seeking Americans. So they pushed it ever further. More and more people stepped forward eager to surrender their freedoms in exchange for the embrace of government. Soon it just became the norm that generations were raised with the belief that our federal government existed to do things for them – to loot for them, to provide for them – and that they were morally justified in doing so.
So now we have these two factions fighting for control of the same government. You can read the battle reports every day in the newspapers (for those who can read) or just watch and hear about it on your cable TV news programs.
All wars eventually come to an end. Which side do you want to see running this nation? It’s no secret that if Faction B wins … I’ve got my escape plan and yes, it does involve suitcases.
