The House is On Fire

Our house is on fire. Our baby is choking. Our pet is being attacked.

These are all common calls to 911. 911, which uncomfortably is the same number as September 11 if you think about it. In “most” of the United States we are admonished to “call 911” if there is a problem. We lost a cat recently most likely to a mountain lion that was seen right outside our back fence. I called Fish and Game and was told first the furlough days madated by the state budget cuts and then to leave a message, which was never answered by the way. At the end of the rather curt message, I was told, “If under lion attack, call 911”. I don’t know how to do this while kicking the lion away! This came, of course, at the END of the recorded message. I wondered, as I hung up, what it would look like calling fish and game as you pet cat is being torn apart in front of you, to wait through a five minute message and THEN be told to call 911.

I have done that before by the way when one of our cats got stuck in a tree. I called the fire department, right? I was told curtly, “We don’t do that anymore, your cat will come down sooner or later”. I suppose that might mean it would starve to death and sooner or later fall out of the tree.

I had called the fire department based on my childhood memories of watching kindly firemen come with ladders and save cats stuck in trees. “We don’t do that anymore”, is now the response.

Which brings us to Tennessee. A small town passed a 75 dollar fee on houses lying outside its city limits that convered the extra costs of firefighting. This fee was mandatory, and it was declared that failure to pay the fee would mean no fire fighting for that house. My first impression of this fee, what that it would be problematic in California with our large wildefires. If, for example, fire fighters refused to put out a rural homeowner's fire, what if it spread from there into areas that were covered by the city? We lose hundreds of houses in California every year to wild fires that are battled by thousands of firefighters who don’t have to decide who has paid the fee, they put the fires out IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST.

So, in this rural area of Tennessee, a 911 call is qualified by what fees you have paid. This is being tried in other areas, people have suggested that fees be paid for those who make false 911 calls for example, or fees assessed in outlying areas for emergency calls. These, so far, have been assessed AFTER the fact. In short, your house is on fire, we put it out, THEN charge you (or your insurance company), a fee.

It is VERY unusual that a fire department would stop in front of a burning house and refuse to put out the fire. That, in fact, is exactly what happened! To make it worse, at least three pets (puppies) burned to death in the fire, which totaled the house. Nice!

Now, “Atlas Shrugged” comes into play. This 1950s anti-communist novel has apparently become popular again with right wingers. I remember trying to read it in college, and giving up because of the far fetched premise and overdrawn conclusions.

A basic premise of “Atlas Shrugged” is that there is no common interest or common good. All good, the book argues comes from individualism. In fact, anything for the common, is Communistic or Socialist and crushes the individual and ruins society.

The book was written during the height of the Cold War when advocates of capitalism were castigating socialism and communism as the end of mankind. “Big Brother” was socialist government that crushed freedom.

Of course, history (with the marked exception of Communist China) has proven that communism does not work. Marx was wrong in most areas.

However, what has not been invalidated is the idea of a common good or common interest. How libertarians go from an analysis that Communism doesn’t work, to the conclusion that all common interests are wrong is beyond me.

This lunacy (to ge kind) manifests itself in what happened in Tennessee. A 911 call needs to be paid for by the individual in a pay as you, toll system. This works, the conservatives say, because if “finally” deals with those “freeloaders” who don’t (or can’t) pay for public services.

So, the guy in Tennessee watched, while calling on his cell phone and waving his wallet at the firefighters that he would pay (he claims he simply forgot to pay) as his house and pets burned. Apparently water was poured on his fence to keep his neighbor’s house safe (who paid the fee).

When I called Fish and Game about the mountain lion, I was assuming they probably wouldn’t come out. After all, seeing a mountain lion is a rare thing. But, I also sent an email to our neighborhood community watch, and let my neighbors know there might be a large predator in the area. In short, I acted in the Common Interest so others might be protected (or at least warned). And, Fish and Game will either move or kill the predator if they become a "public nuisance".

If I believed in the garbage of “Atlas Shrugged” I would have kept the incident quiet. It is none of my neighbor’s business. Individualism is supreme. I need to buy a gun, sit out in the dark, and shoot the lion if it returns,. I can stand alone by God. If the bullet strays into my neighbor’s house and kills somebody, tough luck….the individual is all that counts.

If you haven’t thought by this time that this whole thing is nuts you need help. “Atlas Shrugged” was panned in every college political science classroom I know, including the ones at Stanford I attended, as overdrawn fantasy. The fiction was used as an example of anarchy and the opposite of common interest. In short, it was an overdrawn exaggeration in defense of capitalism during the Cold War. Its conclusions were nonsense then and nonsense now.

When you call 911 you are using a system that was developed and funded for the common interest and protection. For the system to work, there is not time to determine if the victim has “paid his tax or fee”. The common interest is that the fire be put out, else the town or forest burn down. It is also in the common interest that the threat of the mountain lion be communicated to my neighbors and to Fish and Game. I cannot stand alone against the mountain lion, he doesn't care, all the pets in the neighborhood are at risk. I cannot do it alone.

This has been the case throughout human history. Cities establish police and fire departments (in fact in the West fire departments came before police), to protect the general welfare and safety. When San Francisco and Chicago burned, the tragedies spurred each city to establish larger and better funded fire departments, water systems; etc.

The response to a common interest disaster was a STRONGER common fire department system, not a weaker individualistic one. Can you imagine San Francisco in 1907 organizing an individual fire avoidance system based on each home or apartment having its own water bucket? Fire doesn’t care if you are a right wingnut, it burns without prejudice. It burns the rich and the poor. If the rich choses to only protect itself and builds on the high ground with its own fire supression, the conflageration will consume it nonetheless. If you watch the California wildfires, even the richest areas are in danger, fire doesn’t care how much money you have!

In economic hard times, take the Great Depression, fire department and police departments were maintained. They might have been cut back, or got smaller wages, but they were not put on a for fee basis. How does this make any sense, when hard times means fewer people can afford to pay additional fees or taxes? A city charges a fee to people who can’t afford to pay it, then allows a fire to burn a house, endangering others, because no fee was paid? Again, fire doesn’t discriminate, wingnuts do. The irony is the rich usually build high on the mountains or rises, and FIRE RISES!

Now, “Atlas Shrugged” dictates that this is just and good. Freeloaders are a big problem, and socialism rewarding laziness is a cornerstone of the wingnuts efforts to privatize everything. Remember, FIRE RISES!

Let’s apply this to infectious disease, say whooping cough for example. It was discovered that infectious disease could be controlled, in fact eliminated, if anti-viral drugs were developed and the entire population innoculated. If all children were mandated to get their “shots” before then attended school, outbreaks of whooping cough would stop.

In fact, that is exactly what happened. Poor children were covered by county health, the common interest dictated that all got their shots. Polio was eliminated in the United States in the same way.

Today, we read that whooping cough is making a comeback because county health systems have been cut back, poor children are not getting all their shots, and some parents who can afford to pay, are refusing on various grounds to get their children innoculated. The result is an outbreak of whooping cough. By the way, whooping cough can kill children.

Under the madness of “Atlas Shrugged” this is good. Anything is good that attacks freeloaders. Individual responsibility trumps the common interest. If a kid dies, the kid dies. The problem is, the sick child can make MY child sick...

What is really intersting is the fact that the Soviet Union is gone. Communism as a competing political system is over. However it is very interesting that China, still a communist country, is part of the “miracle of the capitalist global economy” that the free traders declare and almost worship. Many of these free traders are the same libertarians who worship “Atlas Shrugged”.

How in the world is this “thinking” possible? China is still a communist country politically, socially, and in a twisted sense, economically. China is also emerging as the leading economic force in the world.

Was “Atlas Shrugged” wrong? Does the common interest in fact triumph over organizations of individuals?

Of course it does. Your house is burning. It is in the common interest and benefit that you call 911 and the fire is put out. Your child is going to school. It is in the common interest and your self interest they get their shots so others don’t get sick. Your country’s economy is going downhill. It is in the common interest, and your interest, that government intervene to keep people from starving. And, it is in your self interest and the common interest that government seek ways to stimulate the economy for the general welfare. This is not socialism, it is common sense!

Evey other nation on earth practices these basis principles. In fact, “Atlas Shrugged” was even banned in some of them, (France) for the nonsense it is. I certainly don’t advocate censorship, which by the way China practices. However, I do advocate common (note the word) sense.

Fact: The common interest leads to the common defense. The United States was organized for the Public Welfare. Commonwealths were the first American colonies. We never have been a collection of individuals. "Atlas Shrugged" misses this completely.

I could go on and on. “Atlas Shrugged” was panned as nonsense when it was written and should be so ridiculed today. The fact that the Tea Parties espouse it speaks volumes about their thought (or lack of it ) processes.

The result of this madness is madness. Homes burn down while the fire department watches. Infectious diseases, absent for decades, begin to reappear. Homelessness explodes. Crime increases. Political candidates make ads beginning with “I am not a witch”.

America is in trouble. “Atlas Shrugged” is not the answer, it the REASON WHY WE ARE IN TROUBLE.

FDR was remarkable in teaching the American public that cooperation and teamwork is the way human society effectively functions. Rampant individualism leads to greed, avarice and ultimately destroys societies. In a world competitive eonomy, America deteriorating into individualistic anarchy is exactly what will lead to our defeat.

And, in the ultimate irony, the foolishness of “Atlas Shrugged” is actually contributing to Chinese Communism’s ultimate triumph! Maybe Marx was right after all!

China is our chief competitor, and collaborator in the world economy. China, regardless of its twentieth century Communism, has always personified teamwork and common interest. This is due to its large population. The individual is subservient to the group.

This is what we face as an economy today, and lapsing into rampant, unregulated individualism is NOT the answer. A team will whip a disoriented group of individuals everytime!

Teamwork, common interest efforts organized around the encouragement of individual achievement and innovation are the only way to survive and win. This means a balance of government regulations and leadership coupled with individual effort and innovation. It was a cornerstone of the "New Deal" and helped us win the Cold War.

What this means is using “Atlas Shrugged” as a guidebook will get us beat! The country knew that in 1957 when the book was published. Even the National Review dismissed it then. What is scary is the Tea Party is using it now as some kind of rallying point.

If your house is on fire, and the fire department refuses to put it out because you haven’t paid your fee, the shortcomings of “Atlas Shrugged” will be readily, and tragically, apparent.