THE TRUTH ABOUT OLD MEN - Chapter 8

CHAPTER EIGHT

Among my favorite delights as a school boy was the county fair. I would save my Coke bottles for months, redeeming the deposit for 2-cents per and have on hand, perhaps, $20 in order that I might invite a girl to the fair with me.

It was at the county fair I noticed that, from astride a horse on the merry-go-round, it looks as if the world is spinning around, while from the ground it looks as if the ride is spinning around.

Much later, I became a morning radio host and noticed that I sometimes felt as if I were on the back of a merry-go-round pony, watching the world spin around. Before that, it seemed that the Democratic Party was interested in the affairs of the little guy while the Republicans were interested in the profit to big business. As the world spun around and time went by, my perceptions matured. It began to seem as if the Republicans were interested in a Conservative interpretation of the Constitution, preserving the ethic of industry and self-reliance, while the Democrats were more interested in confiscating earned wealth for redistribution to those with greater need -- a patent recipe for Communism. I thought I had stepped off the merry-go-round when my point of view changed, but later I realized I had merely switched ponies.

Any old man is more insightful than any young radio host. In terms of clarity there is no substitute for time on the planet, and that is so because to reach the truth about democracy a man must think it over for about fifty years.

It was during the old man's college days that he was made to read "Walden Pond," and introduced to the notion that the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. The truth of the statement is so evident it's most remarkable characteristic is that no one ever mentioned it before Thoreau. It is not, however, the only great, enduring truth no one ever mentions about the mass of men. It's equally damning, but just as obvious, that the mass of men are profoundly lazy. They have no significant ambition above grazing in the pasture, much as a sheep might, for the duration of their lives. The mass of men may dream about great achievement and envy those who reach it, but will grab a fishing pole rather than a pick ax wherever there is bait to be had.

It is this propensity for sloth among citizens of all nations that defines global politics and assists the old man in his understanding of democracy and the free enterprise system. The fundamental construction of the human unit varies little from continent to continent. A man may develop certain superficial differences owing to the circumstance of his origin. For instance, the color of his skin may be effected over generations because of the place of origin from which his ancestors sprang and its proximity to the sun. But Africa or the ice caps, New York or The Netherlands, his devotion to industry will be determined by something much deeper than climate. And in all nations the lazy will vastly outnumber the industrious.

Pigs may vary in appearance from continent to continent, but at the county fair in younger days the old man noticed they all come running when the slop is poured no matter what their pecking order in the hierarchy of pigs. In fact, a human can hardly tell who’s in charge and who’s just hanging out.

Still, a pig grown up in the circus will behave differently than the typical farm porker. This is because of the milieu into which he is thrown as a young swine and not because of any fundamental difference pig to pig. Once the circus trainer demonstrates to a young pig in training that exquisite treats are possible for specific behavior, a small percentage of pigs in training will exhibit behavior designed to earn the treat. Others will not. In the final hour, a coral of pigs at the circus will produce distinguished pigs and, over time, result in a much different appearance when the lights go up than a coral from the farm would, despite the presence of potential performers in both corals.

The pigs on the farm have no incentive to perform. They are entirely equal to each other and while some may have their way in the barnyard, they will all bring the same price per pound at the market, regardless of their individual differences in life. It is the milieu into which the young porker is thrown at birth that inspires a certain percentage of swine to step forward and perform stunning acts of amusement. Without the belief that great rewards come with outstanding achievement even the most promising of porkers never get beyond jockeying for position at the trough.

The observations made at the county fair in the buds of an old man's youth assist him greatly in understanding how it happened that the United States of America came to be the greatest, most formidable and wealthiest society in the recorded history of humanity. While the text books he read in school suggested the abundance of natural resources were most responsible for the nation's singular status, fifty years of thinking over what he saw at the county fair conspire to produce, at last, the realization that this business about natural resources is so much slop in the trough. Now, it's clear the tantalizing lure of tasty treats produced by a system that rewards effort and achievement makes the real difference between the farm pigs and the circus pigs.

Following this observation, the prudent old man recognizes now is the time to keep his mouth shut about what he has learned. He cannot mention it without making the suggestion that the standard of imposed equality enjoyed by farm pigs produces a less able society than the "some pigs are better than other pigs" system used at the circus. It is dangerous to mention this because, on the farm or at the fair, the number of pigs who have the capacity to be stars in the circus is vastly smaller than the number of pigs who will benefit by imposed equality. The fact the old man uncovers after fifty years of thinking it over is that it is this small minority of gifted swine who distinguish the circus coral from the farm coral and without incentive to perform they are merely suffocated in a sea of mediocrity. It is a very short leap from that to the observation that once all the swine are voting at the polls, equality will trump freedom every time.

If it is true, the old man asks, that when put to a vote the overwhelming number of men will opt for a system founded on the principles of equality rather than freedom to perform, then how did the United States of America ever survive long enough as an incentive driven society to rise to the stature of world's greatest nation? And somewhere around the age of 60 the dust of muddy thinking clears and the old man realizes the founders of the USA never imagined a time when everyone would vote.

It was Thomas Jefferson's statement in the Declaration of Independence that "all men are created equal" that drives the modern model for American society. But the word "men" relies upon a liberal interpretation before it can be applied to females and property such as slaves. By keeping the right to vote restricted to the pigs interested in the freedom to be superior the US grew to super nation status. Once the right to vote was opened to all pigs the weight of those pigs more interested in equality began to alter the complexion of the society until now it is only a moment removed from a time when there is no circus pig to be seen for there are no treats to be had for all pigs are equal to all other pigs regardless of their performance.

And now the orange juice dribble cloaking the inside of my glass has become hardened and will require heavy-duty scrubbing. I take my heart medicine and turn on the TV. While the United States of America continues to sink into the same ocean of dysfunction that brought about the demise of the USSR and while the reason for it's decline is now clear in my mind, the news program I rely upon for the answer I have just developed alone begs me, instead, to focus on the missing woman in Mexico. And I wonder how much longer it will be before there is no one to pour slop into the communal trough.