5 posts from 2006

If you could get someone in your life to start a blog, who would it be and why?

My friend Patti so I could know what the hell she's up to from however many thousands of miles it is between Oregon and Sussex.

I keep coming back to the same thoughts. In the West (and in many other parts of the world), our lives are heavily constrained by the state. Now, in theory, in a modern democracy, politicians are the servants of the electorate. Public Servant is a term used to describe politicians and civil servants (that phrase is fairly descriptive in itself). Now, these days, I would tend to say that the relationship has been reversed to a great extent.

The state (our elected representatives plus the civil service) have become a system designed to control us. This is for our own good. I don't agree with the libertarians who believe that the state is a malign entity designed to remove our liberty. I believe that those who are part of the state 'machinery' (I'm beginning to sound like an old fashioned communist here), in the main, sincerely believe that they are improving the lives of their fellows (or trying to).

Politicians do appear to be aware of the problem - as electoral turnouts drop, we hear politicians bemoan the disconnect between the electorate and government. Given the distance that now exists between electorate and elected, can it be a surprise to anyone that the average person feels no value in voting?

So, past 40 now. Not a big deal. I always thought that I would mellow with age. I seem to have gotten angrier as I got older. When I was 21 I was a pretentious young leftie who felt that Marxism would save the world and those who didn't agree must be just, ooooooh, so stupid.

Now, I find myself disgusted by socialism and revolted by capitalism. Religion isn't the opium of the people (except perhaps to certain members of the Church of England); religion is a poison. I despair of the human race ever growing up sometimes. How can we still be acting like children?

No matter how angry I am, though, my own life is all that I could want. I have a wonderful wife and child. I enjoy my work and I have wonderful friends. I might be an atheistic anarchist but I'm a happy one :) Definitely older, not sure about wiser.

We're going meta today: What questions would you'd like to see become QoTDs?

  Don't you sometimes wonder if it's worth all this? I mean what you're fighting for.

Hmmm, First vox post.

Colour me peeved. Owen woke up at 5am. This isn't unusual. I guess we need to start using the stair gate again though - Em found him crying outside the kitchen door.

In the randomness that ensued, we forgot about our dental checkups this morning. End result we get a charge we can't really afford for a service we didn't get. Sigh.