Have you spoken to anyone recently?

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Being sequestered in my little world, I rarely get out. As such, I rarely converse. However, I keep bumping into conversations which remind me of one reason I do like academics. Though academics are not good at logic and reason, and though they usually know very little about history or politics despite their devotion to what they do not understand in the direction a lack of understanding would indicate, they can pronounce their words well, form complete sentences, and communicate well. To be honest though, that is rather weak. Actually, it is worse. Having all of the training to go forth and learn and then not doing so is far worse than simply not having the skills thus not using them. Still, speaking with academics lends to the notion that there might be intelligent people with whom one might converse. I am a picky bastage, but that is the way it goes. In one of the better recent conversations, I did hear a good horse, in this area, will go for around $1,200 and if feed is only needed in the winter will eat about 4 tons of hay.

I see in the news that the Republicans have garnered what many hail as a victory and others trumpet as a surrender. I have a foot in both camps, at least within the various regions of the conservative libertarian circles. My practical mind understands (believes) that Rep. Boehner probably got every bit that he possibly could barring shutting down the government. And while I actually favor a government shutdown, I have to hold my personal feelings aside and realize that a shutdown would have been a very possible political loss for conservatives. To say it would not be a gamble is to lie. Further, I look at the bits and pieces cut as a sort of gift to even be able to negotiate in the first place. Had Democrats crafted a bill and sent it through when they were in the total majority, not only would we not being seeing cuts, as anemic as they are, we would very likely have seen more spending than what was proposed before cuts were negotiated.

Does that change how I feel? No. I wanted hundreds of billions or trillions cut. I still do. What is worse, I doubt if such cuts are even possible, regardless of what the magic negro is being puppeteered to say at this point. I know I cannot blame a majority of one third of the the parties in power for finances. However, I also do not trust the minority majority. How much are they resisting cutting. Sure, there are the 50 or so we can count on, but the rest? How steeped in government money both politically and personally are most representatives and senators?

Politicians, like professional athletes, mob bosses, even teachers are groomed to fit a post. They do everything they can to carve out their little niche. They are helped by those who agree or believe that any investment will be returned. These people are not there to do you, me, or even their sponsor's will, those are hoops to the goal. The goals, if varied, include wealth, fame, power, and simply making it to the top of their field. Most will not make it through to the presidency, but they are close enough, getting much glory, gold, and power but with a much reduced glare of the limelight, should they choose that. It cannot be in these men that we place our hope. They are tools though, and if they can be guaranteed to not reach real power through grassroots activism, they may come in handy. It would be much like using a hammer that does not really want to hit the nail, of course.

The only real thing to have trust in is citizens. If elections have any reality to them, there is a hope that our votes will and have been counting. The problems with that, however, include suffrage and allowing voting by people who only take from the system, though often that is the same thing. Someone who is not paying in significant taxes, often any taxes, who can vote for politicians who will give to them anyway, endangers the whole system. Given that, the thing gets slim.

I suppose the only thing to hope, politically, is that when the cards crash to the ground, that the republic part of the government will be strong enough to bind and protect what is (including citizens as a part of the republican apparatus and by citizens I mean men) and enough local (national, really) capital to attempt to rebuild some of what we had to a point where we do not simply fall first to barbarism and then to nearly prehistoric sustenance living. Ah well, who knows.

By the way, I was looking at bikes recently. At the first bike shop I saw a few that looked good. I looked them over more closely. Then I about choked on my tongue. The model that caught my eye at that first place was... are you ready?... $4,500. You know, I cannot even imagine buying ANY manual piece of equipment for that price. Then again, I am not even sure I could buy a snowmobile or motorcycle for that price, but those at least are not manually operated. *sigh* Still, my friend said Wal-Mart carried bikes for $100. I thought he was kidding or mistaken so we went and looked. It is true. I looked around a bit and found a bike, dirt bike style so that I (think) I could ride it on gravel, on the side of roads, and maybe a bit off-road, if need be and yet it was large enough for me. I also looked at a more comfortable seat (those ball breakers just aren't quite my style). I also looked at a light system, several reflectors, tool and tube repair kits, mirrors, and a few other doodads. The price, sum total, would have been less than $200. Of course, I would like to see reviews of such a bike (Schwinn), see if there are recommendations regarding upgrades, whether the bike is just a rust bucket about to happen (or already happening just covered for the moment), and whether it can actually handle my weight and the simple dirt roads it might have to take. I have no plans for mountain biking, I will leave that to the young guns. I keep thinking, what in the world could possibly make one bike worth $4,500 and another quite similar bike be worth $160. Someone is way off.

Later.