Curtis Klingle

Get Off Your Bottom

A few weeks ago, I wrote a column titled, “Excessive Tolerance.” The Editor informed me that he received positive feedback from the community, and I was personally thanked by a few folks for bringing the problem to light. I am grateful for the accolades mind you, but I am disappointed that once the excitement subsided any previously created fervor simply died on the vine.

We humans are such fickle creatures. Like a leaf tumbling about on a blustery winter day, we blow wherever the winds of our emotions might carry us, occasionally lighting for a moment upon some personal concern or special interest, but never lingering long, at least not long enough to make a difference. If we want change, we are the ones to make it happen. Government employees are not going to do it for us. Government is inherently lazy and self-absorbed, contrary to what the politicians declare. I, like you have heard the supercilious declarations made by these anomalies of our species, “I am here for you.” Or, how about, “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” And let’s not forget my personal favorites, those who portray themselves as some sort of messiah for the people. Ugh. It all amounts to narcissistic drivel, and like Narcissus, we can only hope that they too fall headlong into the lake while gazing at their reflection and meet a similar demise. Good riddance. 

In order to effect change, action must be taken. Our community needs swift and consistent action to put pressure on those in political leadership positions to change the laws regarding drugs and drug paraphernalia. On a local level, ordinances can be enacted to prohibit or at the very least inhibit the proliferation of smoke shops and stores that cater to the drug crowd. As I previously wrote, there are now four within the tiny jurisdiction of Madisonville. That is four more than we should have!  

I know this is a reiteration from the previous article, but I believe it is necessary; boycotting any store that sells the crap is highly effective. I wrote about the efficacious actions of a single angry grandmother. One person with a sign in the bed of her pickup did more to stop the sale of paraphernalia than all those lawyers could (or would) do in Austin. Imagine what just a handful of folks could do in Madisonville. Your legislators will gladly enact knee jerk reaction laws all day long at the whim of special interest groups. Your local peace officers know all too well because we are bombarded with new laws every two years, most of which we could have done without. A witticism by Mark Twain comes to mind, “No man’s life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session.” Conversely, something that really needs to be addressed will drag on for years. But, if you and I apply enough pressure, there is the distinct possibility that we could elicit one of those knee jerk reactions they are so apt at and get the laws changed. Those in government service are more than happy to walk up to the public food trough day in and day out and consume our taxes. I have been in government service nearly my entire adult life and have witnessed the sloth and waste which takes place, and it is disgraceful. I recall a line from the film, “Beetlejuice,” in which the character Otho jokingly states, “If you commit suicide, you become a civil servant in the afterlife.” With the lack of exuberance with which many public servants exhibit, I cannot help but deduce that most of them are in fact deceased already, but that is a digression. Or is it…

Law enforcement officers here are doing all they can to stop drug, as well as paraphernalia trafficking. We are battling it in virtually all jurisdictions. Remember the laws as they are written greatly inhibit what we can do. I absolutely detest smoke shops, abhor the businesses, as well as their proprietors. I equate these parasites to the mountebanks, snake oil salesmen, and the carpet baggers of old. If they are selling the stuff, it is obvious that they care nothing for our community. I personally would like to see them all go out of business and be forced to fold their tents and move on.  

And yet another reiteration, we, us, you and I, are the only ones that will affect change. It takes a concerted effort to get the torpid beast that the government is, moving. “One man that has a mind and knows it, can always beat ten men who haven’t and don’t. George Bernard Shaw. The ignition material to affect change is your voice. I suggest that we initiate combustion of the posterior of government’s anatomy, which is just a more politically correct way of saying, “light a fire up its backside,” and see what happens.

C. Klingle