Someone ought to write a manual for the average person. In it should be some chapters on submitting to the system.
Throughout human history we have benefitted from centralization of power. In return for the "benefits" we have submitted to the authority of some "higher" power.
Over time, we have experienced an increasingly complicated system, until today* virtually every aspect of living (work, play, travel, foodstuffs, etc.) is controlled for the 'benefit of society'.
The idea of a house on Walden Pond is almost impossible to imagine in a society where zoning laws, lobby groups, and the like would stifle the freedom to build such a simple structure (especially if the pond contained rare wildlife). The ordinary person attempts to get by, while ignoring the fetters worn in the name of 'benefits of society'.
Many attempt to 'play the system' while legislators create ever more circuitous regulations. Such a 'tennis match', leading to a Gordian knot of do's and don'ts is inevitable in our world, and is leading to an almost incomprehensible jumble.
Meanwhile, the average Joe and Josephine attempt to put food, shelter, and creature comforts ahead of working the system ~ somewhat unsuccessfully.
We are constantly reminded of the confused bureaucracy by an onslaught of media-hype, driven by pseudo-experts in various fields, giving their analysis of each new turn in the already too complex road we attempt to travel.
Woe to the business-person who tries to create a new product or service without first hiring at least one accountant and a legal expert.
Even farmers must become expert in international trade laws, marketing boards, and the like, before putting plough to ground.
The realist will say "It has to be this way these days. We would have chaos otherwise."
At what price do we avoid chaos?
In Canada, a fairly enlightened nation, over half of the productivity of the average person is spent in support of government and its system. We are told that it is necessary to increase taxes to decrease the national debt.
At this point, it seems, I ran out of gas for this rant. Sad to think that in the interim, nothing has improved. Perhaps I am the only one who noticed there was a problem? More likely the problem, when noticed, is much too difficult to correct.
* written sometime in 1987 likely
It was my dream to live the simple life by Walden pond... I did my best.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is far too difficult to fix now that one half of the population works to employ the other half as administrators of absurd rules.