05 July 2009

Humpty Dumpty Sat on a Wall



"Don't you think you'd be safer down on the ground?"

"What tremendously easy riddles you ask!" Humpty Dumpty growled out. "Of course I don't think so! Why, if ever I did fall off - which there's no chance of - but if I did ---" Here he pursed up his lips, and looked so solemn and grand that Alice could hardly help laughing. "If I did fall," he went on, "the King has promised me - ah, you may turn pale, if you like! You didn't think I was going to say that, did you? The King has promised me - with his very own mouth - to - to ---"

"To send all his horses and all his men," Alice interrupted...


Some have wondered why I have a quote from Alice's Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll on the sidebar of my blog. We all know the story, as does Alice. While walking through the woods and meeting all sorts of strange characters, Alice happens upon an egg sitting precariously on top of high wall and has the discussion we see above.

It's a fascinating encounter. Humpty Dumpty obviously knows that he's doing something dangerous. Despite his protest that "there's no chance" of him falling off, he tells us that he has a promise from the King Himself that he'll send all his horses and all his men... to presumably put him back together again. And we know... that all the kings horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty back together again.

It's not so much the end result that should concern us - that Humpty lay in pieces - but in the trust that he has in the King and His promises. Since the King has promised him therefore Humpty goes on to live his life in a dangerous, self-destructive way. He no longer has to take personal responsibility for his actions. The King's promises will protect him.

The lack of personal responsibility resounds all around us with headlines such as "Why Do We Overeat? Author Blames Fat, Sugar, Salt", or McDonald Sued for Making Kids Fat, and why we're blessed with warnings on coffee cups telling us that the coffee may be hot and pictures on hairdryers with a line drawn through water. Duh, you think?!

Self-destructive behavior is rampant whether we realize it or not. Do we really need government to save us? Are we as naive as Humpty Dumpty that the King Himself will come to our defense? Perhaps.

President Obama has surrounded himself with czars.
There's a drug czar, a U.S. border czar, an urban czar, a regulatory czar, a stimulus accountability czar, an Iran czar, a Middle East czar, and a czar for both Afghanistan and Pakistan, which in Washington-speak has been lumped together into a policy area called Af-Pak.

There are upward of 20 such top officials, all with lengthy official titles but known in the media as czars, and next week there will be one more, when Obama appoints a czar for cyber-security who will be charged with improving the security of computer networks.


And let's not forget our newest czar... the domestic violence czar. No, she won't be beating on Obama when she's upset, rather she is there to remind us that domestic violence is a serious issue. Great, we don't know that it's a serious issue that we need to create a new government job to "remind us"?

Why is Obama establishing jobs for people whose jobs are already being done by others? A drug czar... aren't the police and ATF dealing with that? What about the border czar? Can we say... border patrol? What the heck is an "urban czar"? Iran/Middle East/Afghanistan/Pakistan czars... I'm sorry, I thought that was the State Department's territory. I'm sure I'm not the only one confused, but wait there's also the health czar... I wonder if they'll start regulating what we are allowed to eat. Oh, my mistake - government already does that.

Don't worry everyone - government is here to save us from ourselves through the duplication of high paying government jobs and the destruction of personal responsibility. Don't worry about eating unhealthy foods... government will prevent restaurants from serving you transfats rather than you having to think about what you're putting in your mouth. Government is here to make your life smooth without bumps and without thinking or taking responsibility for your actions. Don't worry about a thing... I have the King's Word Himself that He'll take care of you.

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