Common Sense

"Irrationally held truths may be more harmful than reasoned errors."- T. H. Huxley

Common sense, the one thing your parents tried their damnest to drum into your thick, childish head when you were a young lad or lass, is seemingly in very short supply, if one can judge by the idiotic reality shows on the television these days.
Unfortunately, this lack of thinking rooted in the real world, also seems to be exceedingly prevalent in other aspects of the world these days. Politics, religion, even day-to-day living appear to be the victim of what can only be termed naked stupidity.
Take politics- I am a conservative, although I was much more liberal in my youth, and even today I have positions on issues that are not quite what the traditional conservative might hold to. In my mind, this is what is truly what an independent thinker would do, that is to weigh the issues and decide for themselves just what they would do.
But in this day of polarized politics, if you are republican, or democratic for that matter, you are expected to march in lockstep to "traditional" issue resolutions particular to the party in question. This is also known as being lazy. If, after careful thought on the issues, you truly believe that those positions reflect how you truly feel, then fine- vote on those positions with the party that reflects how you feel.
If, however, you find that you have differences with the positions of the parties, you need to do what I would call "damage Control" voting. This would be along the lines of " If he (or she) can't help me regarding these issues, which one will hurt me the LEAST?"
The good thing about our form of government, is that no branch of the government can completely take over the government entirely, despite the fear- mongering of some of the more liberal members of our society. Everybody in government values power, and noone wants any of their power to be rescinded, so they guard their personal power jealously- I just wish they could be as zealous about the welfare of the country as they are about their political asses.

Religion is another part of society that has little or no common sense when it comes right down to it. Witness the Muslim world today. Idiots, every one of them- but it is not limited to Muslims alone, oh no. The Christian world has much to reflect on also. Don't get me wrong, I believe in God, but I also believe that He is shaking His head sorrowfully, as he contemlates the utter stupidity of Man.
Obviously wars have been fought in the past over religion- you might think that Mankind had learned, but no, we arer apparently as ignorant as ever. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result. This is Insanity.
I could go on ad infinitum about Common Sense, and the remarkably sad lack in our lives regarding Common Sense, but the truly sad thing is that I know most people see this, and do nothing to change it. That, my friends, is Common Stupidity.