Drinking Largely in 2010

I will forever be indebted to me high school English teacher, Mrs Southern (who sadly passed away this year) for assigning me to memorize an excerpt from Alexander Pope's An Essay on Criticism.  It seems a fitting end to 2009, and a fitting beginning to 2010 to reflect on Pope's words:

A little Learning is a dang'rous Thing;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian Spring:
There shallow Draughts intoxicate the Brain,
And drinking largely sobers us again.
Fir'd at first Sight with what the Muse imparts,
In fearless Youth we tempt the Heights of Arts,
While from the bounded Level of our Mind,
Short Views we take, nor see the lengths behind,
But more advanc'd, behold with strange Surprize
New, distant Scenes of endless Science rise!
So pleas'd at first, the towring Alps we try,
Mount o'er the Vales, and seem to tread the Sky;
Th' Eternal Snows appear already past,
And the first Clouds and Mountains seem the last:
But those attain'd, we tremble to survey
The growing Labours of the lengthen'd Way,
Th' increasing Prospect tires our wandering Eyes,
Hills peep o'er Hills, and Alps on Alps arise!

It has been 5 years since I took the picture at the top of this post (Wrangell-St. Elias National Park in Alaska), but it wasn't until today that I made the connection between the picture and the Pope poem.

I do not feel the need to give a lengthy analysis of the poem and the picture, as I am often wont to do.  I think they speak for themselves.  

So, to a 2010 of drinking largely and tasting the Pierian Spring--Salut.

Posted via email from The Invisible Sand

The Constitutional Guard

America needs a special set of talented, intelligent, selfless public servants right now. 1,070 of them to be exact. That number represents 2 people for every Member of the House of Representatives and 2 people for every Senator. Their purpose would be to stand as the Shadow Members of Congress, leading the monitoring effort of every bill, every vote, every taxpayer-funded junket, and hold them accountable in the public eye in their respective constituencies. And then, when that member breaks the public trust, violates major campaign promises, or otherwise sells out the people for a campaign contribution or a posh committee appointment, these noble Constitutional Guards would be ready to run and unseat the incumbent with a pledge to only serve one term.

The second guard would exist to make sure the first guard kept his or her commitment to serving only one term.

After serving a term and stepping down, the Constitutional Guard would make the seat open for potential longer-term occupants to vie against each other without the uphill battle of fighting incumbency.

I would envision each district's Constitutional Guard operation would have an active blog, YouTube Channel, Facebook profile, and Twitter. In real time, these public servants would keep the constituents of each district abreast of federal government intrusions into their lives, budget busting appropriations bills, and all of the other chicanery that takes place, unchecked, every single day in Washington, DC. The Constitutional Guard organization would be able to negotiate commitments with incumbent members of Congress, getting them to pledge not to raise taxes, pledging to vote only for balanced budgets, etc. Unlike current election pledges, these would come with teeth: You violate the pledge, and you will have a serious, credible opponent in your next re-election.

Establishing informal institutions like the Constitutional Guard has the merit of circumventing other proposed reform measures that would be Dead on Arrival thanks to the political elites' desire to protect their own interests. This plan requires no constitutional amendments, no legislation, nothing at all that isn't already available to the people under the current system. But this novel and unique approach, applied nationally, could radically transform American political institutions into ones that serve The People, advance liberty rather than encroach upon it, and keep the financial and political elites permanently in check.

This may be the last viable option we have to keep the Union from breaking apart in a wave of secessions. That tipping point is not far away. Either we rein in Congress or States will start considering their other options. Given those alternatives, I say it is worth trying to salvage the system we have.

Posted via email from skinnerlayne's posterous