Jingoistic Nationalism

As far back as I can remember—and that is way, way back—I have never relished the idea of moving with the crowd. That is probably why I am a shrew, or at least the basis for it. My wife claims I just hate authority; I don’t think it is that simple. And even if it is true that my repulsion at joining the gang keeps me from complying and succumbing—and thus defying authority—it isn’t always a good thing. Sometimes the crowd is the right way to go. We humans were designed to comply with consensus; there is innate wisdom in groupthink, at least that is supposed to be true, assuming that groupthink is organic and not influenced by an individual or smaller group (like government) with its own self-serving agenda.

That is the operative word here: self-serving. It took me most of my life to realize that governments and the people who make them up are not serving the people who voted for them. I used to think that happened only once in a while, but otherwise there was usually good intention behind it—but nowadays, the ol’ “They’re doing the best they can” or “They didn’t have all of the information” argument seems to be the way to go if you don’t like what you see. Poppycock. Now I know better.