I got a package, last week, from my friend, Ashley. In this package, there were a number of items, but one of those items was a book that has inspired me, now, to write today’s rant. The book was Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Somehow, with all the reading I’ve done in my life, this book managed to escape me until I got the box from Ashley. I was thrilled to receive it because I’m always glad to get a new book to read. I actually had no idea what the book was about. I just knew that it was a “classic” that I’d always heard about and meant to read. So…I sat down and began. By page 3, I was thoroughly engrossed. 48 hours later, I had finished this book which now rivals Great Expectations as the best collection of words that I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. It was a book that made me a different person for having read it. I actually came out of that little book with a different way of seeing things. That is how you know you’ve found a winner. When a book touches you in such a way that you get more than just entertainment from it – when you actually learn something about yourself or about life just from reading some words on a page – that’s art. It’s more than art, really, but I don’t know how to name it.

For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure of reading this novel, let me give you a brief rundown. It’s a pretty short book – about 200 pages. The basic premise of the story revolves around a future civilization in which the government has grown into a huge thing that controls almost every facet of daily life. Reading books, aside from a few manual-type books that have been approved, is illegal. The main character in the story is a “fireman,” named Montag, and his job is to go to homes where illegal books have been reported and burn them down. The meat of the story is about Montag’s learning to question why he does what he does. It’s a real “rage against the machine” kind of story. It’s beautifully written…and if you haven’t read it, you should. Ray Bradbury does a MUCH better job of telling this than I do, but I feel dutybound to publish this little book report/editorial. I hope someone out there goes to read this book because of it.

What makes the book special for me is that it addresses a lot of the things that are on my mind and burdening my soul right now. A huge theme in the story is a warning against large government or wide government “control” over personal lives. The core idea behind the new civilization represented in Farenheit 451 is that the government exists to take care of people and to make them happy. The populace has been robbed of its ability to pursue happiness because anything that would cause a person to be unhappy has been removed from them by the government. The people don’t have to question. They don’t have to think. They don’t have to operate outside of a confined, comfortable, and stable structure that has been set up for them. There is no poverty…but there is no passion. There is no free thought. There is no free speech. It is the picture of a people in a welfare state. The people depend upon what the structure and the media feed to them because any ability to go out and get what they need for themselves has been removed. People are left with no real purpose other than to fill up space and be comfortable. The very reason that books are illegal in this new world is that they cause people to question and they cause people to stir within themselves. This sort of thing is, of course, disruptive; therefore it’s against the greater good of the society.

The mistake that a lot of well-meaning Americans make, nowadays, is to persist in the belief that if we just “help” everyone out…then our nation and even our world will become a better place. If we just find homes for the homeless; if we just “care for” and “counsel” our delinquent youth; if we just make everything “level” in healthcare, in education, and in business; why, then everything would be the same for everyone. It would be fair. It would equal. It would be good. Right?

Sounds an awful lot like Communism to me…but that’s not a topic I’m feeling like getting into tonight. Well…not in name, anyway. Ha ha ha.

Many nations throughout our species’ brief run on this planet have tried to operate society through a government that acts as the universal philanthropist to its people. The problems that these nations always run into are much the same because people are people – always have been and always will be. Mankind yearns for the hunt, the struggle, and the win. We want to own. We want to conquer. We need to overcome tribulation. It’s part of what we are (not who we are…what we are. There is a distinct difference). It is in our instinct to work for the good things. It is part of our nature as humans to wish for ownership and independence. When the “mother” government takes that away from us, we die out.

Societies under that kind of governmental control cannot remain stable without overt oppression because the people under that control are not stable. See, the problem with removing bad and unhappy things from people’s lives is; if a person doesn’t ever have to deal with adversity, then that person will never learn to appreciate comfort and goodness. Life becomes absolutely meaningless and valueless. When there is no value on life, there is violence, depression, chaos, and lawlessness. You get the idea.

It is a wonderful and beautiful thought to believe that people could exist in equality with one another. The idea that we could all just pull our own weight, give our intellect and our spirit to the collective good – you know, one for all and all for one. Let’s be real, here, though – will that ever work? Of course it won’t. People want their names on their work. People want recognition for their successes. This is not pessimism or a lack of faith in humanity. It is an acceptance of the reality that men and women are individuals. Nothing should change that…and I don’t believe that anything could. We are all different, and so we will never be truly “equal,” because being equal requires that we all be the same (look it up in the dictionary. That’s what it means, folks). “Celebrating our differences” does not lend itself to making us equals in this world. What it does is give credit to the ego that each one of us possesses; it gives legitimacy to that universal and unique sense of self that every person has. No government can regulate that or legislate in reference to it. It does not work that way because people do not work that way. Period.

Phew, ok, I feel like I’m in sociology class, now. Do you? *grin*

My whole point in writing this particular rant was to put down and make concrete my own ideas about all this. I believe that Capitalistic Democracy, though admittedly not “equal” for all, is the only “fair” and “level” way to govern a group of humans. It celebrates individuality and the human spirit. It allows mankind the right, and – indeed – the necessity, to get out there, find a dream, work for it, win it, and take credit for it in the end. Occupation is self-defined. Knowledge is self-obtained. Choice is the ultimate value. Success and failure are self-responsibility. Capitalism isn’t evil. Some people are….but capitalism is not. Capitalism is the government that enables people to be responsible for themselves. I like that, and what I like even more is that the scenario presented in Farenheit 451 can never take place in a true Capitalistic Democracy. So…

I like America. I hope, with all my heart, that the rest of the Americans out there sharing this nation with me will realize that America won’t BE America anymore if we keep going the direction we’re headed. We, in America, are moving toward that civilization in Bradbury’s book, you know. The problem is that we’re moving toward it so slowly that we can’t see the movement unless we step back and look at our development as a people and a government from a larger perspective that spans a couple decades at a time.

Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not a hard-hearted right wing extremist. I’m all for charity. I’m all for helping those in need. I am not, however, in favor of my government legislating the extent to which I’ll be charitable to others or the extent to which others will charitable to me. I want to determine who and what causes I’ll give my labor and my money and my heart to. Federal charity is also not entirely a bad thing. Welfare needs serious reform, but I would not do away with it altogether (I’d chop the hell out of it, but – again – that’s not something I wanna get into tonight). It’s not “helping” that I have a problem with. What I don’t like is when “helping” becomes “carrying.” I don’t want to be carried. I want to carry myself. I sure as hell don’t want to carry other people. I want a government that will lead, stabilize, and defend. I do NOT want a government that will control, meddle, and manipulate.

Did I make that point? I can’t tell. I hope so, though, because I’m out of words. Good night, everyone. Read the book. It’s a good one. See how fired up I got? Give it a go and, by all means, write me and tell me what you got from it for yourself. The beauty of America is that…at least for now…we’re allowed to disagree with one another. *grin*

From the Pen of Aspen Lowood
November 17, 2000
6:54pm MST










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