So, what if I wrote a book? What if I wrote it, got it published, and no one read it? Would it be like the tree falling in the forest with nobody around?
How do I get you to hear me, to listen?
I could start by writing about something interesting. But what is interesting to everyone? How about themselves. No one doesn't like to read about themselves. The most important person in everyone's life is them. It may sound selfish, but it is certainly true.
So how can I write about everyone else? Because I am everyone else. I am the "Average American", if there is even such a creature.
I was born the middle child in a middle-class family, I live in the middle of the country, aproaching middle age, and middle income. My annual salary is almost exactly the median income for a family of 5 in America. There is nothing outstanding about me at all.
So why do I think anyone would want to read my thoughts about anything? Am I that arrogant? The short answer is yes. Ask anyone that knows me. The long answer is that, of course people will want to hear what I have to say. Not because I say it in a way that is remarkable or poetic. Not because I have any fresh or clear insight on any subjects. I pretty much try to read the works of many people a lot smarter than myself, and then form my own opinions based on my interpretation of their ideas.
I may be right, I may be wrong, but I am not stupid. And neither are you. In spite of the fact that you may have paid money for something you could have read for free.
The fact of the matter is, I am you, and you are me. We are all living in this country, this world, together. We all affect, in some way, each other's lives. Most of us are not elite, pampered, entitled idealogues. One percent of Americans are wealthy, one percent are poor. The rest of us are in the middle, and we need to stick together.
Don't be fooled by what the elitists and manipulators on the right or the left are trying to sell you. Make your own decisions. Make up your own mind.
This book will discuss several issues that are important to me, not for the specifics, but for the overarching theme. For instance, I don't care if that Fluke chick wants to have sex with as many guys as she can before she graduates from Georgetown Law school, I just think she should pay for it herself. It is sort of the theme of American life today that we should be allowed to act in any way we see fit, with no consequences whatsoever for our actions.
This is not how I see America, or Americans. I don't care if Miss Fluke wants to spend the rest of her life in a prolonged adolescent state of denial. She will, at some point, graduate, get a job, probably at some prestigious Washington D.C. law firm, and live to regret the fact that she was one of the prime players in a movement that will force her to pay even more of her salary in order to ensure that irresponsible people have the right to be irresponsible with their own lives, just as she wants to be with hers. The difference is that she, as one of the priveleged few, has the ability to act without consequences. There is a light at the end of her tunnel. For most of us, that light is receding faster than we can approach it.
America, as I see it, is not a place, it is an idea. It is the idea that intelligent people, when given the choice, will make intelligent decisions. When that choice is obscured, whether through political, cultural, or religious means, people no longer have free will. Given the choice between A and A, is it any wonder we will all choose A?
How do I get you to hear me, to listen?
I could start by writing about something interesting. But what is interesting to everyone? How about themselves. No one doesn't like to read about themselves. The most important person in everyone's life is them. It may sound selfish, but it is certainly true.
So how can I write about everyone else? Because I am everyone else. I am the "Average American", if there is even such a creature.
I was born the middle child in a middle-class family, I live in the middle of the country, aproaching middle age, and middle income. My annual salary is almost exactly the median income for a family of 5 in America. There is nothing outstanding about me at all.
So why do I think anyone would want to read my thoughts about anything? Am I that arrogant? The short answer is yes. Ask anyone that knows me. The long answer is that, of course people will want to hear what I have to say. Not because I say it in a way that is remarkable or poetic. Not because I have any fresh or clear insight on any subjects. I pretty much try to read the works of many people a lot smarter than myself, and then form my own opinions based on my interpretation of their ideas.
I may be right, I may be wrong, but I am not stupid. And neither are you. In spite of the fact that you may have paid money for something you could have read for free.
The fact of the matter is, I am you, and you are me. We are all living in this country, this world, together. We all affect, in some way, each other's lives. Most of us are not elite, pampered, entitled idealogues. One percent of Americans are wealthy, one percent are poor. The rest of us are in the middle, and we need to stick together.
Don't be fooled by what the elitists and manipulators on the right or the left are trying to sell you. Make your own decisions. Make up your own mind.
This book will discuss several issues that are important to me, not for the specifics, but for the overarching theme. For instance, I don't care if that Fluke chick wants to have sex with as many guys as she can before she graduates from Georgetown Law school, I just think she should pay for it herself. It is sort of the theme of American life today that we should be allowed to act in any way we see fit, with no consequences whatsoever for our actions.
This is not how I see America, or Americans. I don't care if Miss Fluke wants to spend the rest of her life in a prolonged adolescent state of denial. She will, at some point, graduate, get a job, probably at some prestigious Washington D.C. law firm, and live to regret the fact that she was one of the prime players in a movement that will force her to pay even more of her salary in order to ensure that irresponsible people have the right to be irresponsible with their own lives, just as she wants to be with hers. The difference is that she, as one of the priveleged few, has the ability to act without consequences. There is a light at the end of her tunnel. For most of us, that light is receding faster than we can approach it.
America, as I see it, is not a place, it is an idea. It is the idea that intelligent people, when given the choice, will make intelligent decisions. When that choice is obscured, whether through political, cultural, or religious means, people no longer have free will. Given the choice between A and A, is it any wonder we will all choose A?
