Is There A Liberal Over Reach In Motion?

Today I was at my nephew's first birthday. A more serene kid I can't think of. I call him the Dalai Lama. He sure ain't his uncle who didn't sit for three hours.

My cousin was there too. We got to talking. Thinking. She's 25 or something. In talking about her age group, she feels people are moving away from the liberal message. In fact, you get the sense the liberal-conservative dichotomy is a dead-end when it comes to progressing.

Ideology notwithstanding, we both agreed it's a mystery how we've allowed the bulk of our liberties and responsibilities to be off loaded onto a bureaucrat. It's not like our civil servants are geniuses. She made the point that even if they were, doing "what's right for people" and other value judgments are abstract by their nature. It's impossible to rid of our vices; let alone manage them.

As long as everyone is "protected" and "covered" the ends justify the means. That's the end point: One size fits all. Never mind we're all different. Conform for the betterment of society. The greater good, dude. The greater good. You do care for the meek, right? Right.

Years ago, my friend and I went to France and Italy (to watch the Milan derby). I hate flying and so I sat nervously like John Lithgow (you know the scene in the Twilight Zone) on the plane. My pal, sat and observed everything that went on around us. Being of sound engineering mind, he nudged me and pointed to the guys on the runway all looking important. "It's all an illusion of safety," he said. "Thanks, prick," I replied. "Do you realize just a thin sheet of metal lies beneath us?" Some pal. 

Sometimes I wonder if all these social programs are just that; an illusion. All we've done, it feels anyway, is defer our frailties. And now, to make matters worse,demographics suggest we can no longer pay for lavish services. But we're fucked now. Even if we try to make adjustments, like a warm gun, we've grown used to the state. It's a safety blanket from the big, bad, brutal world waiting to eat us all up.

***

So what exactly is going on?

When I look around, all I see is liberal over reach. There's a backlash to it. That's why they feel overwhelmed. Too weak and disjointed to mount a counter-strike.

It's too late anyway. Something will replace it. Liberalism will only then reinvent itself. And the cycle shall begin again. Dunno if it'll happen in my lifetime though.