We’ve all heard this expression and used it many times to describe situations requiring our prior knowledge/experience to adequately deal with and solve. We’ve seen something similar so draw on that memory to satisfy ourselves we can handle the current situation and fix it.
Someone famously said bad things happen when good men and women stand around doing nothing, or something like. I think the word used was evil – not bad. At any rate, bad and evil things have certainly been happening in America and around the world for many years if not decades and, true to the phrase, good people have been doing nothing! Could it be that en masse we’ve all suffered loss of common sense? Can we say – it’s usually common sense that keeps bad/evil things from happening, therefore we must have lost our’s somewhere along the way to have let things get this far out of control?
Take the border. Who would have thought we could leave it wide open and unsecured for years on end, never worrying about who might come in? Not so long ago this was unheard of and the idea of a secure border was upheld equally on both sides of the aisle. What happened? How did it get turned around?
Common sense tells us not to leave our front door open lest we find strangers, burglars or evil doers wandering through the house doing mischief! Some weakly argue how a great country with vast resources should be open and able to share with all who have need. Well, had they heard how if you hang a sign announcing FREE SOUP TODAY people will come from miles and a line will wrap round the block comprised of needy, not so needy and totally not needy? You’ll run out of soup before those who are really needy can get any! Common sense keeps us from making this mistake, from leaving front doors open and from allowing culturally non-assimilative peoples from setting up communities in the midst of our towns and cities, disrupting internal logistics and normal ebb and flow of daily life. Don’t think so? Take a look at Dearborn, Michigan!
Common sense dictates that, to serve in an elected body at any level, one should be of a certain age, sound mind AND be a citizen in good standing, meaning English literate, gainfully employed and not a felon. We might also add home-grown/assimilated by the local community or at least a long-standing member. If recent arrivers are non-native born with a foreign birth language or theological-cultural beliefs/roots that are not compatible with Judeo-Christian democratic- republic values, should they be eligible to run? If somehow they’ve gained eligibility to run for public office, should they be allowed to taint these representative bodies with their non-American influence? Doesn’t common sense tell us this isn’t healthy for representative bodies or their grassroot electorates/constituencies?
Some now sense racism! Xenophobia! Is that what I’m saying? Am I too nationalistic or isolationist by simply drawing a common sense conclusion concerning America’s survival? Can it be a good thing to encourage a multicultural polyglot society with subcultures vying for power and supremacy?
That’s attacking from without . . what about within? Is it good to challenge/ignore our constitution or definition of marriage or woman or the certainty of biological genitalia? Can it be good giving credence, authenticity or audience to psycho/ sexual misgivings of pre-pubescent children? Should universities be overwhelmingly liberal/leftist in their approach of educating, enlightening, capping the maturation process?
I just heard the phrase evil triumphing when good stands idle is generally attributed to either Edmund Burke or John Stuart Mill, among others. Most hold both as eminent thinkers and scholars and I think this particular sentiment fits right in with the common sense behind it: when someone does a bad or crazy thing and no one stops it, it will continue, eventually threatening the status quo of diffident noncaring individuals and the broader society they represent.
Ethnic diversity should be more than just a superficial manifestation of a society. Ideally every ethnicity or creed feels at home and comfortable in such a society with the demands of daily life and the opportunities they have. But by many people’s judgement an official language is more efficient/ effective than a lingua franca and, moreover, fundamental requirements/prereguisites for professions or vocations must still rely on innate skill, merit and achievement and not be swayed by color, ethnic or gender considerations.
Common sense demands we should want the very best and brightest to become our doctors, lawyers, teachers pilots, leaders and so on. They must project/exude the excellence and competency of their personal expertise, not just the sheen of their skin or attributes of their gender.
There was a time when common sense kept a 110lb female from becoming a firefighter or a warrior crawling thru mud or a player on a football team. That same time kept transgender males from competing in women’s sports, at least openly. There were exceptions which were unintentional or accidentally overlooked, not making it right but showing the logic be-hind common sense thinking was accurate and sensible.
Today we have lower-level judges blocking a President’s executive orders/actions on their own authority. Why aren’t they made to appeal to the highest court for constitutional authority? Why are we stymied in the face of this absurdity? Why is legacy media of little help and dubious purpose? Why is the Supreme Court so silent on so many issues? Why are all the wrongs perpetrated against President Trump being waylaid pending later review and consequence? Why are these treasonous, never-Trump, anti-American individuals of every stripe, back-ground and disposition still roaming free, continuing to levy their power/authority as they see fit?
As Yoda would say – my own common sense cannot, this abide! Nor should anyone else’s who claims to hold the slightest bit of this apparently rare-earth commodity, although philosopher Rene Descartes once quipped – it’s the most widely distributed stuff in the world!
And so it should be, if not so astoundingly absent from the body politic these last three decades! I will hold my own stores of the wonderful stuff collected, hoarded and honed these past 79yrs, to frenziedly call upon again and again as I meet/conquer the ongoing absurdities, nonsensicalities, insanities pummeling us, raining down across our cultural land scape from liberal aeries, dens, caves, lairs, dean’s offices, collegiate haunts and Kominterns of ivy-league denizens . . .
You’ve Been Reading Shaneview
I’m Al Shane
Leave a Reply