The portion of blame is always the same

By Johnny D. Symon

February in Spain is the month for "chirigotas," a kind of parody festival performed by yokefellows of the general public. I've written all about this festival in a long-ago previous ed, where I enthused about it at reasonable length because I'm a great fan of well executed peoples' parody.

But this year, for me, feels a little different, and the parodies I've witnessed so far appear to contain an element of melancholy about them. Maybe the much mentioned and much dreaded crisis has smitten even the wildest of Spanish humorists. I personally do not believe that parody, hate, anger, and most especially melancholy, mix too well. For me, parody is best performed in a vacuum, unaffected by partisan climate.

The chirigotas have always in times past projected their feelings in song and costume, as troupes in self declared war against what they generally perceive to be high-minded political, and royal, nonsense. Hate or anger played no part, neither did the old enemy "spirit of partisanship." People from all walks of life, and all political leanings, coming together once a year just to make fun of dopes in high places, is what I find so attractive and appealing. It's fun, and so very effective and vibrant, the common messages each chirigota spins out, that I sometimes wish they'd all come together to do their thing during election time too. Maybe I'll be the one to export those guys Stateside next time around, and they can teach Americans how to form and perform their own, against both political camps. Or maybe by that time the world will be clean out of laughter and parody, who knows?

The Spain that I once knew and loved so much, and it's prime components, the Spanish people, are unrecognizable today. The hustle and bustle of towns and villages have become places of deathly silence, because most everyone is out of work and empty of pocket.

I used to smile each once and a while at certain times of the week, where in one southern town a Spanish cleaning lady was wont to peal into song spontaneously, and boy could that lady sing, she sang like a bird and her heart went with it. Today though her voice is silent, sure she's still working, but no, she ain't still singing. The Spanish salt has lost it's savor.

"How can Spanish salt of the earth lose it's flavor?" some of you may be asking yourselves, "Salt's simply salt. Right?" Yes indeed that's true, though all the same, it's flavor has lessened, as has the flavor of the salt of America, Europe, and elsewhere, and here below is the reason why:

"When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice:
but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn."
— Proverbs 29:2

But "when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn." My Spanish songstress ceased to sing because the wicked beareth rule, and the lady's in mourning. The streets are silent and the people are indoors because the wicked beareth rule, and they're all in mourning. The act of mourning in fact almost spans the globe, and all for the same reason.

Now here's a space where I can yet again hear some of you thinking, "But who or what of the wicked can be fingered as being those that cause us to mourn in the first place? For it's a "world economic crisis," right? Does that mean we can apportion the blame on bankers?" Why no, because the people did not elect bankers to run their nation, they elected politicians to do that. Therefore, in all Biblical fairness, politicians are the wicked rulers, and even if, when elected they'd then appointed bankers to rule over them, the blame according to the Bible would remain firmly in the lap of our elected leaders.

If mourning becomes our national portion, we need look no further than Proverbs 29:2 for the correct spiritual answer. The crosshairs of Spain's answer are fixed on it's present ruling government. They can be blamed 100% for the nation's ills. For after all, they've nestled down into the ruling seat of Spain for nigh on 5 years, though to be fair concerning America, the jury is in recess regarding Barack Obama, until he provides a few months of solid evidence for which to try him. England's Gordon Brown has already been tried and convicted in the courtroom of Proverbs 29:2.

Now politicians being politicians, are wont to apportion the blame for their nation's ills on everything else but themselves. The Spanish government have spent many months blaming America and American financial mechanisms and bankers, and George Bush too for the worsening state of their very own economy, until this week that is, when they began to blame Spanish banks for not dishing out credit to "pymes" (pequeña y mediana empresas; small to medium businesses.)

One journalist I saw on TV supported the government's broadside against the bankers through saying, "I thought our banks were given a huge amount of money from the government. So why are they not lending it out?" To my mind this was the stupidest comment I'd heard all week because it proved that both he and the present government have lost sight of what banks are all about. It's a typical socialist error, to believe that banks are welfare institutions and not private businesses working for their investors and shareholders.

Spanish banks are in fact amongst the world's most secure and well run systems, and if they hesitate to lend out dough they have sound reasons, here's one of them; Many small to medium Spanish businesses are perfume shops, cosmetics, and jewelry, those businesses thrive in a strong economic climate, but when the going gets tough, they're the first to lose custom. Therefore to lend money in that direction would be sheer folly, for banks, traditionally speaking, not politically speaking, have always been in the business of partnering in sound ventures and, traditionally speaking, they played an integral part in the Industrial Revolution.

I reckon that most of us have hearkened to so much political lies and rhetoric, and witnessed so many politicos pointing the finger of blame, right, left, and center, towards innocent parties, that we've lost sight of reality.

Before this crisis officially began, the Spanish government constantly patted themselves on the back for having a growing Federal surplus, then when the crisis hit, and the surplus became a large debt, they blamed America and all things therein, until this week that is, when Spanish bankers received their Dick Dastardly Award.

Western politicians have become the Tweedledees and Tweedledums of the 21st Century, political fudgekin push-me-pull-yous and spiritual yo-yos, collar-and-tie touchy-feelys, in a profession that's become so spiritually derelict and untrustworthy that I marvel each election time that anyone even considers leaving their home or business to vote for them.

Some time back I wrote about my choice for President, which was a Nano Supercomputer, and my view still holds, that in this day and age of technological miracles, politicians should go the way of steam locomotives ... they're outdated by modern technology, produce far too much methane, are completely unreliable, untrustworthy, and snatch 'n chew up a nation's resources, whereas a Nano Computer makes balanced judgments, does not steal and lie, neither would it receive or desire a monthly pay check.

I sat back in amazement last Tuesday morning as I listened to Spanish Minister for Industry, Miguel Sebastian, exhort Spaniards to buy more Spanish products, then almost in the same breath exclaimed that in fact Spain no longer has an automobile industry, neither does it have light bulb manufacturers and such like. All the parts come from elsewhere to be assembled in Spain. I thought, by his demeanor, that he seemed quite pleased with this, and wondered why, maybe it's because he was performing a Tweedle, newly promoting a form of Nationalism, while also clinging onto his failed Globalist Ideals.

And you know something? This political schizophrenia is shared world-wide. 21st Century politicians all embarked on a Globalist-minded fools errand, the collective dream of reviving the concept of building a tower to rise above their own Creator. I believe this dream has been decisively shattered, yet still those politicos have not fully come to terms with that reality. For you see, I welcome a reintroduction of "Made in" America, and being a free market laissez-faire capitalist, and principled realist, I also welcome the latest newcomer of "Made in Spain." But my idea is not half-hearted, containing residues of World Socialism, for to restore the "Made in" tag requires a Second Industrial Revolution, complementing our ever growing Technological Revolution;

New factories with new machinery, and new training for new workers, a complete ban on the import of Chinese trash, and a financial system centered within and solely for the Nation. No form of credit would be permitted nationally, but credit would be extended throughout the rest of the world, for credit, as the Bible states in Deuteronomy 15, is slavery. It also states that you don't write off foreign debt, which brings me round, yet again, to the subject of Foreign Aid, for as mentioned last week, I was brought up to understand that you only spend money to make money, therefore, logically speaking, if Foreign Aid is given, it would be dispatched with the understanding that, one way or another, it shall be paid back.

Now if this plan was executed and controlled by a Nano Supercomputer, it would prove a success story, and the best thing since sliced terrorist, however, since we have human corruptos in charge of national affairs, all plans imaginable will one way or another end in failure. A computer is infallible, it doesn't earn therefore it can't evade tax, it can't lie, therefore it won't blame others for a plan's shortcomings or falls.

In this day and age, sad to say, a computer is about the only thing you can trust. Plato once said that "Of all victories the first and greatest is for a man to conquer himself," but Sun Tzu expanded on that through saying, "If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat."

Therefore, and due to the above, I feel a moral coming on here, stating yet again that in order to know your enemy, you must first determine who your enemy really is, and if to some extent you've already in large degree conquered yourself, you can dismiss yourself as forming a part or portion with our growing knowledge of what constitutes the enemy of National Progress and Development.

Bankers can only work against National interests and serve the enemy if elected leaders permit them to, which leaves yet again our crosshairs to line up with the most likely of fudgers, who happen to be our very elect. Maybe it's about time we ordered them to stop apportioning blame to third parties, and take responsibility, full responsibility, for the wrongs as well as the rights, for that's how it's always worked in business and industry.

So here yet again is our lesson for the week. Why not write this on your palm, or mirror fashion on your forehead, so that each time you hear a novel new excuse from your elected leader, blaming others for some wrongdoing, go straight to the john and look in the mirror and be reminded that ...

"When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice:
but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn."
— Proverbs 29:2

© Johnny D. Symon