Troubling Thoughts by "The Geek"

with respect to SNL's Deep Thoughts by Jack Handy ....

i'm a bit worried. On things i would normally be in favor of, i see great potential for abuse and a trending toward a slippery slope that i'm not sure we really want to go down in the long run no matter how advantageous it might be to us in the short-term benefits-wise.

For example i believe that a president (any president) should be able to put people in positions of responsibility that he trusts and knows will be effective; however, i am not sure that i can support the call to eliminate the filibuster either. The slippery slope of "majority" rule running roughshod over the minority is one that personally worries me greatly. One of the reasons a republic was selected as our means of governance was to protect against tyrannical despotism and unfettered popular democracy both. The personal freedom each of us has to think, say, and do as we believe right even when no one else does was so important that it merited its own resolute and permanent section of our founding documents within the Bill of Rights.

For this American NOTHING ELSE and I DO MEAN NOTHING ELSE is as important to a person then their personal freedom of thought, speech, action .... NOTHING. Everything we do to try and improve on our way of life and how we will try to govern ourselves MUST take this into consideration and in no way abridge upon its sacredness to the individual -- or as the attributed quote to "Gray Grantham" from the movie "The Pelican Brief" so distinctly put it ... we must protect to the greatest extent possible the "rights of the individual above all else".

in the same vein i am greatly troubled by the current trend especially among religious leaders that we should "forget" those things we DO NOT have in common and come together for the good of all by focusing only on those things we DO share in common. To me this appeal strikes my heart as being akin to ... stand by for the SHOCKER ... communism where every one is treated the same and everyone has the same ideas and acceptable thought. To ask for example a Seventh-day Baptist to ignore the differences between themselves and Southern Baptists or Lutherans and come together and concentrate only on what they share in common (or vice versa) is to deny the validity of those differences and in actuality eliminate those differences despite the fact being that those DIFFERENCES are what makes a Seventh-day Baptist who and what they are just as it makes the Lutheran or Presbyterian different and in effect what they are. At what cost do we value our sincerely held differences of opinion? How much does our individuality really mean to us ... if, in order to have peace among our neighbors, we must agree to be the same as everyone else then our principles truly do not mean what we think they mean -- in fact if we sell our individuality and principles for such a cheap price as "convenience" or "security" or even "temporary peace" then they really are not principles worth having are they.

I believe that Sir Winston Churchill said it best in his speech to his alma mater, The Harrow School, in 1941 when he spoke thusly:

"Never give in--never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy. "

Our individuality of thought, word and deed is without doubt the MOST PRECIOUS of all rights granted to man by HIS CREATOR. Nothing else should ever get in the way or be allowed to weaken that right.

In closing i will submit that the opinions expressed herein are my own and that they are not necessarily those of the management and staff of blogspot.com or of anyone else. I am reminded of the words written and sung by Billy Joel ... "You may be right ... i may be crazy. But it just may be a lunatic you're looking for."

As always rebuttal opinions are graciously accepted here at The "Geek Files" ... you have 10 seconds to respond.