MY COUNTRY, RIGHT OR WRON

When I was a lad, there was a moderately popular phrase by some notable: “My country, may she always be right, but right or wrong, my country.”

It spite of knowing that it was the right way to think, I was also puzzled. Even at that young age, I knew that if things were wrong you sometimes have to give them up. We are a nation of immigrants who, in spite of their love for the motherland gave it up for a better place to live. Mexicans, with a sprinkling of other Latinos have come across our boarders because their country was so wrong they could not survive. My maternal grandmother never gave up mourning for Poland even though in those days it was not a comfortable place for Jews. Now, as a result of the election, dismayed yahoos babble about moving to Belize or some such place because, to them this country has become intolerable. To them, I say farewell though I really don't care if they fare not at all well.

Let me say it up front, there are things wrong with our country that we had better fix pretty quick or we are faced with disaster. The two most recent are Hurricane Sandy and the absurd voting process (I should really say, “processes,” because we have fifty of them.) I'll start with the storm and see how far I get.

The mindless ones refuse to admit that climate change is transforming the planet. They find data oppressive so when confronted with facts supported by 95% of meteorologists they pay attention only to the 5% who don't agree. The mindless ones proudly declare that their opinion is better than the scientists. They don't understand that the 5% provide scientific challenges, which keep the others from going off half-cocked. And, faced with evidence, some of the objecting bacteriologists change their perspectives.

Among the mindless, there are those who think a bit; those agree that climate change occurs, but deny that human beings are in any way responsible. Since the industrial revolution, we have been pouring carbon dioxide into the heavens enough to cause the gods to cough. There is no doubt that it serves as a blanket that keeps the heat close to the earth's surface. Glaciers melt raising the level of oceans. Oh well, let's just move back a few feet, so sayeth the semi mindless.

Because the glaciers are melting, the oceans have risen about a foot over the last century. When Sandy arrived shoving water toward the land, it had a lot more to provide to mess up NYC and you know that it did. There is no doubt that storms have become worse; there is considerably more wreckage in their aftermath and recovery takes longer and is more expensive.

The mindless and the semi-mindless represent resistance to change. The wind blows down power lines, so let’s put them underground. Wait, it's too expensive and the storms are only a freak of nature. The surging water can be restrained by setting up “islands” which blunt the water's movement. Wait, it's expensive and it is only a theory. Never mind that those pre-eminent ocean controllers, the Dutch have mastered the art.

See, most of our major cities are coastal, thus vulnerable to violent hurricanes; we can expect more Sandys with their attendant downed power lines, water everywhere, shortages of gasoline, food and water and disruption of health care, police and fire protection.

In spite of the warnings, this country has sat on its hands because the mindless have “opinions.” Well, their “opinions” are only fantasies of the abominable snowman and Loch Ness Monster sort. We had better get busy . . . or else.

((Maybe next week I'll write about voting.)

There once was a mindless old man

Who really didn't ever give a damn

When water smashed ashore

Oh my, what a bore

I can swim, do you know if he can?