The Death if Common Sense

A LONDON TIMES OBITUARY: (Adapted and paraphrased)
This is interesting and sadly true.
Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.
He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:
- Knowing when to come in out of the rain;
- Why the early bird gets the worm;
- Life isn't always fair; get used to it; and maybe it is your fault.
- Personal responsibility
- The world doesn't care about your self-esteem.
- If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.
- No honest work is beneath your dignity.
- Don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.
- Having as many times as you want to get the right answer bears no resemblance to anything in real life.
- In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
- It’s not what’s someone else is doing to you. It’s what you’re not doing.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you can earn), in the economic realm, you cannot legislate the poor independence by legislating the wealthy out of it. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it. Government cannot give to the people what it does not first take away from the people. What one man receives without working for, another man must work for without receiving. He endorsed reliable strategies like: adults, not children, are in charge.

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened the condition of Common Sense.

He lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Common Sense was depressed as the churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims. Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault; when illegal aliens marched in the streets for rights they did not earn; when governments failed to enforce the laws they enacted.

Common Sense was disheartened when fellow citizens gave precedence to the interests of foreigners. Common sense wondered what happened to enlightened self-interest when citizens succumbed to an all too common American mindset: short on vision, mired in denial and unable to comprehend nature’s limits.

Common Sense was finally weakened by the failure of Americans to recognize, as the eminent demographer, Joel Cohen, put it, “…the world [and the U.S.] cannot easily and comfortably accommodate an unlimited number of people at any desirable level of material, mental and civic well-being.”

Common Sense recalled the beautiful quotation from John Stuart Mill, “There is room in the world, no doubt, and even in old countries [in 1848], for a great increase in population, supposing the arts of life to go on improving, and capital to increase. But even if innocuous, I confess I see very little reason for desiring it. The density of population necessary to enable mankind to obtain, in the greatest degree, all the advantages both of cooperation and of social intercourse, has, in all the populous countries been attained. A population may be too crowded, though all be amply supplied with food and raiment. It is not good for man to be kept perforce at all times in the presence of his own species. A world, from which solitude is extirpated, is a poor ideal.”

Now more than 150 years later, Common Sense realized that the supply of food, clothing, and shelter is threatened in many corners of the world and in the niches and crannies of the U.S. economy. He saw that the need to stabilize world and U.S. populations is now urgent. He knew that population-driven economic growth is ultimately unsustainable.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot, spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement; when criminals were allowed to testify against those charged with their apprehension; and when politicians reached new heights of hypocrisy, perfidy, mendacity, and corruption.

Common Sense was preceded in death, by his parents, Truth and Trust, by his wife, Discretion, by his daughter, Responsibility, and by his three sons, Reason, Loyalty, and Lawfulness.

He is survived by his 6 stepbrothers: I Know My Rights; I Want It Now; Someone Else Is To Blame; Amnesty Now; Open Borders; and I'm A Victim. Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone. If you still remember him, pass this on. If not, join the majority and do nothing.