February 17, 2007

Circling the Wagons - Let's Shrug

In appreciating the value of small working groups over larger one, one of the proofs in the pudding is that the 'circle the wagons effect' takes place when a large group realizes that it is out of favor with the masters. In order to attempt to restore some sort of favor, they begin trimming expenses and sideline all work outside the main focus of the group. Often, those channels hold the bright lights of the organizational future, working out their philosophy of how this point of view makes sense with the change the future brings. Cut off their resource and tell them to march in line, and you lose their willingness to be part of the groupthink. Thus the group itself stagnates and benefits the few ideologues in the inner circle as people are cleaved to allow the streamlining of said organization. If you are one of the first to go, be thankful you didn't waste your time stuck on a lame horse.

Unfortunately - the political system is that lame horse and there is no where for anybody to go. People who have traditionally actively paid attention to politics, have had their sight coopted by the one party-two face system for so long that we forget the mechanism of what the formation document, the declaration of independence, really says. If we nullified all the laws of federal, state and local grubbermints that violated the reading of the organic constitution tomorrow, then perhaps we could see what was left and redefine the size of government necessary to fit the roles that are defined. At that point, we may wish to tinker with the definitions. What we have today makes it impossible to know, for instance, what local standards a traveler is held to, or even which jurisdiction he travels in.

This actually seems to be an up/down war on the ability to travel. The control of the means of transport will only get tighter, if carbon taxes are spread into the transport system. Defining mobility in terms of the area generally covered within ones means should allow you to calculate your personal range. Range costs depends on the type of vehicle, distance from work and the ability to service the costs, with the grub taking up a large portion of the actual cost by maintaining roads. But how much energy would be saved by laying new rail on 100% of the right of way in this country? How would that disrupt current economic flow - and why reward inept management in the rail system with a new toy of control?

The next time i think to read Atlas Shrugged (coming soon for the third time), i plan to sketch thoughts about a screenplay - 1300 pages in two hours. The railroad system is an integral part of the story, so mebbe there will be some cues that can be applied currently to enable a modern fable to be extracted and produced in theme rather than form and thus duplicating function. As a way of thinking howdtside the box, let's cast the celebrity net into the roles of Rand's lead characters, I'll start with a minor key role - Ruppert Murdoch as Jim Taggert, media maven. Please - one nomination per customer, until the thread weakens, then we'll cast the rest by en masse suggestion.

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