Polk County Enterprise (Livingston, Tex.), Vol. 129, No. 50, Ed. 1 Sunday, June 26, 2011 Page: 4 of 20
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IMMI
PAGE 4A
OPINIONS
THE POLK COUNTY ENTERPRISE
SUNPAY, JUNE 26,2011
Happiness isn't
a requirement
The whole idea of a democ-
racy is accepting you’ll never
fully get your own way in
government. Yes. I know we
celebrate the imagined rug-
ged individual pulling on his
sole-proprietorship bootstraps
fully autonomous while enjoy-
ing socialized infrastructure
and tax subsidies - it’s what
makes America great....and
charmingly peculiar. But let-
ting consensus dictate means
all individuals at some point
are going to be let down. It’s
an inevitability: Death, taxes
and disappointment.
So you don’t like everything
President Obama has done?
No one should. We’re Ameri-
cans!
Disappointment is good.
The worst thing in a democ-
racy is for one person or a
group to be elated because all
their pet issues are satisfied
completely. Dictators are sat-
isfied. Unanimity is tyranny.
The very quotable Sir Winston
Churchill once said, “Democ-
racy is the worst form of gov-
ernment except all the others
that have been tried.”
And if we took a vote on that
- we wouldn’t all agree.
Our Founding Fathers get
painted with a brush known
as “hindsight bias.” Because
our government is stable with
the same constitution for over
200 years we think of our
founders as having planned it
so they must have seen it all
coming. People don’t concur
on the Founding Fathers’ be-
liefs and intentions nor did the
Founding Fathers themselves.
They were split between the
Jeffersonians, the Federal-
ists, the Anglophiles and the
Francophiles and even those
respective groups were not in
lockstep.
The Hamilton-Burr duel
was the climax of the conflict
' of the Democratic-Repub-
licans and Federalists. That
Founding Father, Alexander
Hamilton whose portrait is in
your pocket on the ten-dollar
bill, was killed as a result of
political acrimony starting at
the beginning of the country.
The only thing The Founders
agreed upon completely was
being alive during the 18th
tentury.
Modern politicians, like
those trying to appeal to the
tea party, will claim they un-
derstand the Founding Fathers'
intentions and how we’ve got-
ten away from them. Yes, there
was a perfect time in the past
and if we just change accord-
ingly we’ll be perfect again.
So if the Founding Fathers
fought with each other in vig-
orous debate (Thomas Jeffer-
son and John Adams also had
a falling out after the 1800
election) and none of us will
ever be 100 percent content
with our government as it is
the nature of democracy - why
ti
||
\A
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tv
TINA DUPUY
is the phrase “the pursuit of
happiness” in our Declaration
of Independence? Candidate
for the Republican presiden-
tial nomination, Herman Cain
mistakenly said “happiness"
is in the Constitution. It isn’t.
And the phrase is now a battle
cry for accumulating affluence
- or doing what we feel like.
Dr. Carol V. Hamilton wrote
in the History News Network,
“The Greek word for “happi-
ness" is eudaimonia. ...fits]
invoking Greek and Roman
ethics in which eudaimonia is
linked to arete, the Greek word
for ‘virtue’ or ‘excellence.’ In
the Nicomachean Ethics, Ar-
istotle wrote, ‘the happy man
lives well and does well; for
we have practically defined
happiness as a sort of good life
and good action.’ Happiness
is not. he argued, equivalent to
wealth, honor, or pleasure. It is
an end in itself, not the means
to an end.”
Meaning “happiness” as
Jefferson knew it when he
included the phrase meant
serving your community and
seeking the greater good. Hap-
piness to him was more altru-
ism than bankroll. Think of
soup kitchen coordinators as
pursuing happiness. Think of
social workers and foster par-
ents as pursuing happiness.
Think of firefighters, para-
medics and police officers as
pursuing happiness. Think of
your neighborhood council
members as pursuing happi-
ness. Think of PTA members
as pursuing happiness. Think
f of public defenders as pursu-
ing happiness. Think of free
clinic physicians as pursuing
happiness. Think of commu-
nity organizers and advocates
for the poor as pursuing happi-
ness. Think of church leaders
as pursuing happiness. Think
of civic nerds and all ‘those
annoying people who put you
on their community actions
mailing lists as pursuing hap-
piness.
That is “life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness.”
But that doesn’t mean there’s
no conflict and that we’re
happy. We’re not meant to be
happy. We’re in a democracy.
© Copyright 2011 TinaDupuy.
6
KeMewBel?:
-NO TALIBAN
AL QAIDA,
TeBRORIST
TRAIAIIAlG CAMPS
oft pARnec
WHlLe we’fte
GoNe.
-GOT |T?
loud
and
cieAft
Bril
3
J9
No illusions about country living
I’m wary about the idea, but
you never know.
President Obama has issued
an executive order to “promote
economic prosperity in rural
America” — just as I am about
to move back to my country
home just outside Pittsburgh,
which I have rented out for
more than a decade.
As it goes, rural America
has been struggling for some
time. With innovations in
farming technology, fewer
people are needed to grow and
harvest crops. Small towns are
shrinking all over.
In our service economy, the
few jobs that are available
are to be found in large metro
areas, where college-educated
people continue to flock.
Rural living is cheaper in
many ways, but high fuel costs
aren’t helping. The farther out
you live, the more you have to
drive to get places.
1 am wary of government
programs and intervention,
but government could assist
the development of better
roads and broadband lines that
could make rural areas more
attractive to employers and
residents alike.
And if that were to happen,
I’d have to warn folks that
country living isn’t all a bed of
roses.
■90
TOM PURCELL
1 was bom and raised in the
suburbs — smack in the middle
between city folk and country
folk.
While street-smart city kids
were raising their fists, we
suburban kids were taking
piano lessons.
While country kids were
rebuilding truck motors and
tending fields, we were doing
our algebra.
The only thing we knew was
that both city and country kids
could beat us up.
When I first moved to my
country house in 1995, I
dreamt of open fields and quiet.
I envisioned myself raising
bams with neighbor men, then
shooting the bull as the women
brought us sandwiches and
cold beer.
It didn't work out that way.
My neighbors became
suspicious of the writer fellow
who worked inside his house.
After all, I never owned
a gun. 1 drove a four-door
Japanese sedan, not a 4-by-4
tmck — though, trying to fit in,
1 did have a gun rack installed
in my sedan’s rear window.
And 1 hired other people to
work on my house, rather than
do the work myself.
My country neighbors were
convinced I was in the witness
protection program.
And while they shunned me,
my city and suburban friends
didn’t like to visit.
One evening. 1 made dinner
on the grill for an attractive
lady from the suburbs. 1 hoped
to impress her with the view
from my deck.
But as night descended, we
were quickly overcome by
bugs. During her flight into the
kitchen, my guest was hit in
the forehead by a large moth.
“It’s a bat!” she shouted.
1 reassured her it wasn’t a
bat, but to no avail.
In any event, after renting
my country house out for more
than a decade, I’m moving
back into it.
After living temporarily in
Washington, D.C., the past
eight months, 1 expect to
experience culture shock — and
hope to re-embrace the rugged
individualism and self-reliance
that is common in rural areas.
I’ll soon give driving
directions to delivery people
that include “make a left at the
compost pile, and if you see
the septic tank, you’ve gone
too far.”
I’ll tune my radio to country
songs and enjoy their country
humor: “My wife ran off with
my best friend. I sure miss
him.”
And I’ll keep a lookout for
government types, inspired
by Obama’s latest directive,
who knock on my door and
greet me with the nightmarish
words President Reagan
warned us about: “I’m from
the government and I’m here
to help.”
©2011 Tom Purcell. Tom
Purcell, a freelance writer
is also a humor columnist
for the Pittsburgh Tribune-
Review, and is nationally
syndicated exclusively by
Cagle Cartoons newspaper
syndicate. For more info
contact Cari Dawson Bartley
at 800 696 7561 or email
cari@cagle.com. Email Tom
at Purcell@caglecartoons.
Religion hot topic for 2012 races
Mitt Romney’s emergence
as the early front-runner for the
GOP presidential nomination,
along with Jon Huntsman’s
recent entry in the race, makes
certain that the 2012 campaign
will continue the trend of care-
fully weighing candidates’ re-
ligious beliefs.
Both men will be scrutinized
because of their affiliation with
the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-Day Saints and, in
Romney’s case, because he
has made religion a corner-
stone of his campaigns. When
he sought the presidency four
years ago, Romney famously
said, “Freedom requires reli-
gion just as religion requires
freedom.”
But even without the focus
on the two Mormon hopefuls,
the need for national candi-
dates to establish religious
credentials is growing. With
each election cycle, it is be-
coming increasingly important
for politicians to pledge their
faith in faith.
Basically, we’re entitled to
know everything about can-
didates for high office - right
down to whether Coca-Cola
is their preferred soft drink,
as Tim Pawlenty confirmed
recently; whether they have
a valid birth certificate, and
whether they’ve circulated
lewd photos of themselves on
Twitter.
Religious views are worth
examining, we’re told, insofar
as they might influence a can-
didate’s decisions. But is that
relevant? Let’s say candidate
PETER FUNT
A favors a woman’s right to
chose an abortion, while can-
didate B states that abortion
violates his religious princi-
ples. Does it matter where the
position originates?
A position is a position, re-
gardless of how it’s formed.
However, yielding to pressure
from religious organizations is
something different, and cer-
tainly cause for concern.
Evaluating Huntsman’s
candidacy, Paul Mero of the
Sutherland Institute, a con-
servative think tank in Utah,
wrote, “I, like many Ameri-
cans, care that our nation’s
highest leader is a person of
faith. It matters to me because
it becomes a point of common-
ality and a measuring stick for
me as to how I might better un-
derstand that person’s politics
and policies.”
That’s where the religious
litmus test comes in. Many of
the declared or potential candi-
dates appeared in Washington
earlier this month at a “strat-
egy briefing” sponsored by the
Faith & Freedom Coalition, an
organization headed by Ralph
Reed of the Christian Coali-
tion. They gathered to state
their support of the group’s po-
sitions on issues such as abor-
tion and same-sex marriage.
Back in 2008, as the cam-
paign heated up, candidates
appeared in a televised reli-
gious examination conducted
by Rev. Rick Warren, author
of “The Purpose-Driven Life.”
Among Warren’s questions to
Barack Obama and John Mc-
Cain: What does it mean to
you to be a follower of Jesus
Christ?
Both men were guarded but
answered dutifully. One won-
ders, however, if the reply,
“I’m not a follower,” would
have meant instant disqualifi-
cation - especially among Re-
publicans, where Christianity
has the strongest grip.
In a Quinnipiac poll, only
45 percent of Republicans sur-
veyed said they had a “favor-
able” opinion of the Mormon
Church. That would seem to
present a major problem for
both Huntsman and Romney.
Romney spoke of the matter
at great length in his campaign
four years ago. “There are
some who would have a presi-
dential candidate describe and
explain his church’s distinc-
tive doctrines,” he said. ‘To
do so would enable the very
religious test the founders pro-
hibited in the Constitution. No
candidate should become the
spokesman for his faith.”
Yet, Romney’s insistence
that “freedom requires reli-
gion,” diffused his argument
- particularly for those who
have witnessed the religious-
cloaked turmoil in many parts
of the world, as well as among
those with no religious be-
liefs.
Those worried about the
increasing role of religion in
politics should take note of the
plan by Texas Gov. Rick Perry,
a possible Republican presi-
dential candidate, to conduct a
“day of prayer” on Aug. 6, with
a strictly evangelical Christian
theme. Perry says he’s seek-
ing “spiritual solutions” to the
nation’s problems.
Many politicians pay lip ser-
vice to separation of church
and state, while kowtowing to
powerful religious groups and
bending over to answer ques-
tions about religion that really
should have no part in the elec-
tion process.
“It is apparently necessary
for me to state once again not
what kind of church I believe
in — for that should be impor-
tant only to me — but what
kind of America I believe in.”
So said John F. Kennedy, as he
sought to become the nation’s
first Catholic president.
Clearly, JFK would not have
imagined, nor favored, the in-
tense role that religion plays in
presidential politics some five
decades later.
Peter Funt is a writer and
public speaker and may be
reached at www.CandidC.am-
era.com.
©2011 Peter Funt.
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Reddell, Valerie. Polk County Enterprise (Livingston, Tex.), Vol. 129, No. 50, Ed. 1 Sunday, June 26, 2011, newspaper, June 26, 2011; Livingston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth658556/m1/4/?q=green+energy: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Livingston Municipal Library.