On August 2nd - a Deadline Met?

For the last few weeks, the American public have been running around like...okay, look - most people have no idea what's going on with this debt ceiling issue.  The whole thing sounds boring, and frankly, it is boring.  It's got two words nobody likes:  debt, which is terrible, and ceiling, which sounds just like "sealing" which is a core component of the compound noun "sealing wax," which, as you'll recall from the Rolling Stone's song "19th Nervous Breakdown," has something to do with walruses and carpenters, and cabbages and kings, and I hate cabbage. 

I had no idea what a debt ceiling was until this all came up - turns out it's a lot like a credit limit, but instead of being arbitrarily imposed by the folks at Chase or CitiGroup, the US actually sets its own credit limit every year.  We try to use our credit rating as an indicator of our credit limit, but this is also boring, because we waaaant things and we want them NOW!  NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW! NOOOWWWWW!

Can't fight the Seeeether - SEETHER!

Some of the things we want are good, like roads and schools and space shuttles.  Some of the things we want are bad, but have an arguable necessity, like bombs and guns and transforming robot fighter planes that are powered by love and protoculture - argue them all you like, they're not going away this fiscal year.  Some things we buy just suck, like most public art projects ("see, it's a rainbow but it's made out of Metro cards, so it reflects the SHUT THE FUCK UP"), and all federal bailouts. 

While there are, as I'll often defer, probably good solid private sector solutions to meeting all this desire, the point is that public money and institutions that pay for them right this minute, and unless we want our cable cut off in the middle of Shark Week on Discovery, we'd better start robbing Peter to pay Paul.

But there may very well come a day when Peter wises up and buys a lock and a gun and a dog, and decides that we're just going to have to answer to Paul.  For those people attentive to the impending debt crisis, this is the part that has them running around like Homer Simpson in a giant mu-mu, frantically sweating and gibbering, wondering why he left that stupid bird in charge of the nuclear power plant.

Remember the 90's?  I'm just saying, 'cause I had that thing about Veruca Salt up there, and this is a 90's Simpsons episode, and you could argue about some sort of theme that would involve flannel and combat boots, so who wants to get rid of their cell phones, buy pagers, and drink some delicious Josta cola?  Anyone?  Anyone?

And verily: in the face of a government shut-down, we'd lose a lot of essential services upon which we depend:  in some places, power and water.  In all places, postage and most telecommunications.  Plus lots of other shit that I'm too lazy to detail.  And yes, doddering old man who talked my ear off today at the Gun Store, you probably would miss one or two Social Security checks. 

But do I worry?  I do not worry.  Do I get all angry?  I do not get all angry.  I have a remarkable sense of calm about these things because I have 5 gallons of water, a week's worth of non-perishable food, and enough hand, shot, and long-guns to either:

A - hunt the plentiful and nutritious vermin, varmints, and pets (ewww) in my neighborhood or

B - fight my way through the infected zombie hordes to the wild pastures and woods of Northern Michigan, where I will have to prove myself equal to the battle-scarred reclusive rednecks of copper country, who will eventually accept me into their paranoid ranks to hunt, fish, and trap our way to a new Heinlein-esque utopia of rough-and-ready men and creepily too-young women, of which I will eventually become the leader and slowly rebuild society under a TANSTAAFL flag. 

See?  This came out in 1997! 

My point being - Freedom means both free to and free from - it implies a degree of self-sufficiency, or at the very least, making preparations for self-sufficiency.  Society is this great big coddling mass that's easy and enjoyable, and cooperative effort has yielded up to us many comforts and technological advances that otherwise would have been difficult, if not impossible, to achieve, but remember:  you can say the exact same thing about all great empires of the past:  that they are the great empires of the past.

This empire too shall pass - never forget that.  Maybe not in this generation, or the next, or the next, but to paraphrase wiser scholars than myself, nothing lasts forever but the earth and sky.  What will you do in order to be ready?