The immortal lyrics quoted in the post title were written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards in 1968 and are the part of the main verse of the rock ‘n’ roll classic anthem of the same name. Sadly, radical conservatives, including tea partiers believe in the phase, “their way or the highway.” And they do not give a flying leap of what smoking piles of collateral damage to our system of government they leave littered behind them on the American landscape.
What the radical conservatives have overlooked is the next lines of this Rolling Stones’ classic, which say, “but if you try sometimes, well you just might find, you get what you need.”
Compromise, cooperation, and negotiation are the pure essence of a healthy and functioning democracy. Without them, our form of governing might as well be a monarchy, a dictatorship, or a totalitarian state.
At the moment, our democracy is fighting a dangerous pandemic of “selfishitis” (emphasis on the ‘shit’ part) brought on by infected conservative zealots and plutocrats. The nation’s founders did not come to immediate agreement on the wording of the Declaration of Independence nor the Bill of Rights. What in heaven’s name makes these ne’er-do-wells think they can bully through their devastating local or national legislation without any sort of compromise or cooperation?
I find the most recent actions of the radical conservatives in Wisconsin repugnant, because they have been defying a court order. In Michigan, controversial new laws have been written in a manner that prevents citizens of the state from being able to put new laws up for a referendum. These two actions alone should be cause for warning sirens and alarm bells to reverberate nationally.
Eliminate and/or skewer our system of checks and balances and our democracy becomes nothing but a sick and hollow joke. Unfortunately, the joke will be bad and it will be on all of us who let it happen without a challenge.
Call, email, write, or visit your legislator and let them know the nation’s pandemic of selfishitis among radical consevatives needs to be met with bold and decisive action on the part of reasonable people in elected office and it’s needed pronto.
Rick Brown
