An Immodest Proposal

AN IMMODEST PROPOSAL: GOVERNMENT SHOULD BE RESPONSIBLE FOR US ALL

By Domenick J. Maglio PhD. Traditional Realist

Jonathan Swift, in 1729 was too limited in his “Modest Proposal.” He wrote his satirical essay to increase the public’s awareness of the plight of poor Irish children to promote the need for government intervention.  His shocking method was to facetiously recommend that these burdensome children could be eaten, which would end the issue and provide an additional food source for the country.

Our government should have a grander goal of not only providing for children but for all citizens and non citizens. The Obama healthcare program is the perfect vehicle to open one’s eyes to the importance of government in protecting all of us. We have learned that most of us need direction to make good choices for the common good. One person living a self-destructive lifestyle is a burden to all. By government benevolently micromanaging our lives, we can all prosper.

Mayor Bloomberg has become the modern “Gunsmoke” sheriff bringing health and stability to 8 million people through the force of his bureaucratic pen. He is so concerned about the health of his citizens in New York City, he is mandating regulations that will end obesity and lung cancer. He has single handedly restricted the use of salt, popcorn, the size of fountain drinks, forced restaurants to list calories of the dishes on the menu, eliminated saturated fats and outlawed smoking while legalizing marijuana usage in public. The bureaucratic controlling of individual’s harmful choices will promote a healthier existence for each person and the entire society.

Individual freedom has been a curse to man’s march to perfection. The freedom of the individual that allows stupid people to live stupid lives can no longer be tolerated. We have access to cutting edge scientific knowledge that intellectual elites such as President Obama and Mayor Bloomberg can analyze to make decrees for the uninformed public. They should be applauded, not condemned for usurping liberties to micromanage our lives.

Our government has the ability to insure a successful future for each and every person. The collective good overrides the concept of individual rights. Protecting us from ourselves is the only way government can obtain a better new world.

Government mandates relieve people of annoying, everyday decisions. Bureaucrats will determine scientifically the proper foods to eat, the safest and least expensive cars to drive, the amount of exercise, electricity used, type of houses to occupy, programs to watch, books to read, healthy liquor to drink, tension free vacations, best recreational drugs and type of healthcare and best death protocol for each category in which a person falls.

Every want and need will be provided by government programs. They will be managed by bureaucrats who will nudge and direct us to a hassle-free existence that will maximize the benefit to others. This daily directed life style will relieve us of the personal responsibility of making choices. This eliminates any anxiety or ambition to better oneself, for striving, thinking and judging would be unnecessary and punished in a bureaucratically controlled society.

The more freedom and independent thought citizens possess, the more difficulty government has in controlling outcomes. Citizens running amuck doing their own thing makes it virtually impossible for central planners to govern.  Citizens, like children, have to be told what and how to do things for there to be manageable and equitable progress.

Citizens will no longer have to agonize over what is the best product to buy. A government controlled economy will stop producing gadgets of convenience for more essential items. There will be one or a few of the same types of products offered in the marketplace. There will be no motivation for the entrepreneurial spirit to exist. Decisions will not be made by catching the imagination of the masses but by political bureaucrat committees who will be guided by impressing their superiors and political considerations.

America can no longer leave its future to selfish, greedy businessmen who are motivated by profit. In a free market society millionaires and billionaires may strike it rich. These “gifted” people may be more talented and able than others but they do not deserve to be given a greater reward than the least able or motivated worker.

Instead society needs to celebrate these bureaucratic experts who are driven by the social welfare of others. These public servants need to respond to the dictates of the man in charge, the president. Only with his steady hand on all the levers of power and restricting individual freedom can our nation fulfill the promise of being responsible for the personal lives of all citizens.  The sacrificing of certain types of individual habits and even human lives for the sake of the majority will allow our government to make a seamless transition into a better future while using our resources to the fullest extent. The president’s personal involvement in the transformation of our concept of freedom should make all Americans sleep well.

People who do not comply with regulations or politically correct behavior and thinking are reconditioned in reeducation centers. There will be no justice but only mercy for those who yield to the power of the government. Those who refuse to conform have to be isolated. Only belligerent and political activists have to be exterminated. Everyone, even the most able, will be expected to subordinate his will to the dictates of the government. Everyone and everything belongs to the state. Any group that threatens the nation will be repressed by military might.

This is an immodest proposal for overwhelming government intrusion into the lives of the citizens in order to benefit a more powerful government ruling class.

“Democracy extends the sphere of individual freedom, socialism restricts it. Democracy attaches all possible value to each man; socialism makes each man a mere agent, a mere number. Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word: equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude.”
― Alexis de Tocqueville

My Parent is My BFF

MY PARENT IS MY BFF

By Domenick J. Maglio PhD., Traditional Realist

Almost every grandparent has experienced the joy of knowing the grandchild’s existence was derived from the incredible journey with their own children. They realize the grandchild is the latest link to the long line of ancestors that miraculously connects that child to his past and his future to his ancestors. The privilege of being granted grandchildren is an overwhelming blessing that draws grandparent and grandchild together in a special relationship of love.

Grandparents are granted the honor and privilege of being called grandpa and grandma without having to do anything besides being there. They have the benefit of appreciating every unique personality trait of their grandchildren without being responsible for the necessary daily training for a child’s healthy development.

Many modern parents, instead of being parents are prematurely playing the role of the friendly grandparent before they have earned this privilege and honor.  Almost all of today’s parents want to be liked by their children, which means their hands are tied in reprimanding the child for inappropriate behavior. They may be unaware but they are abdicating their parental responsibility because they are unwilling to lose the preferred status of “my child likes me and wants to tell me everything.”  This sentiment weakens the parent’s strength and resolve to teach the difference between right and wrong.

When a child states “my parent is my BFF, (my best friend forever), it should be seen as an indictment of the parent’s unwillingness to function as a parent and willingness to be the child’s cheerleader. Parents need to set limits by frequently using the taboo word “no.” Instead they are indulging and appeasing the child to gain his favor.

A child’s mother and father are the only two people in the world whose intimacy created this child. Parents are biologically positioned to possess the instincts to carry them through the crises that occur in the maturation of a youngster.  However, the significance of the sexual act has been minimized to a casual event by our current permissive culture. This has made it easier for parents to disregard their spiritual duty and enter into a non-committed relationship.  These immature young adults do not have the emotional or moral strength to enter into a committed relationship instead they want to remain perennial teenagers.

A man and a woman who conceive a child are bound morally by the birth of an offspring to assist her in becoming a good and contributing member to her family and community. It is much easier to accomplish this task in a sanctioned relationship rather than by two disconnected people trying to win the allegiance of the child.

In our modern culture too many parents feel that as long as they are good materialistic providers and are liked by the child they are assured of a successful future involvement with the child. Most are learning the hard way that this is not true. Too many children are failing to thrive because parents did not teach them morals, common sense, delayed gratification, appreciation and a host of other moral values. They should realize that if they prepare the child well, facing the future will make both the child and parent’s life easier and if they do not, the reverse is equally true.

America needs more parents who are willing to pay the price of being an adult with their children rather than today’s parents who lower themselves to the level of their child. These BFF parents have a high probability of being given a second chance at parenting when their unprepared child relinquishes her responsibility of raising the grandchildren to them.

The philosophy of being the child’s friend is not paying dividends. Fifty percent of college graduates are returning home after college. There has been a sharp increase in mental illness such as depression and anxiety on college campuses. One out of every four students is using psychiatric drugs.  Over fifty percent of our college graduates cannot find work, are underemployed or are not willing to start a job at the bottom rung. Our children are unprepared and too soft to face the harsh reality of becoming an adult.

Children need to be taught many more values and basic skills than being a good self- promoter and consumer to face the challenges of adulthood. Many modern parents want to believe that their child can receive emotional and social training in our public schools.

Even if our schools were doing an effective job teaching academics to our children, which they are not, teachers do not have sufficient power, time and personal knowledge of the child to be a parent surrogate.

Modern parents have to be honest with themselves about attempting to rush though the stages of the life cycle to be free from parental responsibilities. Providing the child with instant gratification will prompt most children to say, “I love you.”  Parents do this to get the momentary reward of being liked by their child. 

This self-serving and hollow response is very different than when a child matures into an adult starting to express gratitude and love for his parents for pushing him to be the best he can be. Only the child who has matured into an adult will comprehend that nagging and demanding were essential in making him what he is today. 

Parents being parents may or may not receive their delayed just rewards but those with integrity know they have given the child the strength and courage to be a person of excellence.

The success of most people’s lives can be partially traced to the training they received as a child. The best and most notable lessons taught by one’s parents usually do not leave the child with warm and fuzzy feelings. These experiences often ended with strong consequences that at the time did not conjure up a picture of  parents being their BFF.

Dr. Maglio is an author and owner/director of Wider Horizons School, a college prep program. You can visit Dr. Maglio at www.drmaglio.com.