Descent into Chaos  

Our descent into chaos started in my opinion with these words spoken by Ronald Reagan in his inaugural address of 1981: “In this current crises government is not part of the problem, government is the problem. “He was referring to the ongoing inflation that had plagued the country for several years. A simple answer for a complex problem, which by the way, had already begun to ease.

But the phrase struck a chord: “Government is the problem.” How easy it is to blame all of one’s woes on this entity we call government. Even if that government is in itself our responsibility.

This simple phrase was then adopted as a battle cry for the conservatives, especially the talking heads that never had to try and run such a complex organization. Rush Limbaugh made a fortune by screaming this daily from behind his little desk, never of course having to do the hard work of governing. And then of course for the feckless political wanna-bees who saw a winning message for their campaigns. Easy to say, easy to believe and utterly false. Elect me ’cause government is your problem. I’ll go down there and do nothing but make it worse and then you can re-elect me cause it’s like I told ya — Government is a mess.

What a beautiful, self-perpetuating nightmare from whence our current Chaos evolved, culminated in the election of a pathological liar surrounded by sycophants: Nero fiddled while Rome burned.

How much harder it is to fix things. How much easier to destroy them. You will get the government you deserve and if you elect the destroyers, who will pick up the pieces? Why, oligarchs and dictators in waiting, of course!

This is true at all levels of government by the way. Having served in local government for 8 years I can say of the dozens of people I served with only one was a destroyer, a maker of chaos. And even just that one made running the organization twice as hard. In congress now that number is probably half of congress. Don’t be surprised when nothing works. And then who will the destroyer blame.

Why, Government of course!

Stan Brooks
On the world road based out of Charlottesville area

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