The Franklin test

By Johnny D. Symon

I've given Spanish politics a wide berth recently, a very wide berth, mainly I guess because I was more than disappointed with last March's election result. Disappointed in the Spanish people that is, they fell hook, line, and sinker into the PSOE's pre-election lies and deception trap, for while strong economic data proved that the Spanish economy was on its deathbed, the PSOE Loon Regime not only denied reality, they withheld their own figures to this effect until after election day. As it so happens I had predicted they would do this just before the election.

Nevertheless those belated economic figures, albeit regarded by many in the know as the writing on the wall, had their very own creators deny reality. Spain's President, Zapatonto (Robert Mugabe's poor twin brother,) insisted that there was "no crisis" and his "Economy" Minister, Cod-roe Sorbet, followed suit. Then finally at the beginning of this month, and shortly before new figures appeared that found the government's Federal Surplus transmute into a huge deficit, or debt, as non-politicos would call it, Zapatonto finally broke wind to admit that I was right all along, or leastwise those who were his hardest and most ardent critics.

In an ed entitled "When will they ever learn?" (October 24, 2005) I wrote;

"The PP (Conservative Party) leader, Mariano Rajoy, summed up Zapatero and his government at the beginning of last week by stating, "The government is dividing the Spanish people. Zapatero has no vision for the future and is attempting to take Spain back to the past." For me Rajoy's outburst contained the most accurate view of Zappo's first year in office so far. Already there's widespread unrest, which now includes the civil service. Prices are going through the roof and unemployment is rising fast. I predict a re-run of what occurred back in the 80's ...

Many nonresident foreigners, and that includes many Americans, were lured over to Southern Spain due to low property prices and low taxes. The Socialist government, headed by Felipe Gonzalez (who, as a matter of interest, lives close to yours truly), waited until the time was ripe and, in less than one year, pumped up taxes and charges by almost 2000 percent — that was in the year of 1988. Shortly thereafter the big hike the market collapsed, property prices reached rock bottom and many people went bankrupt. The only winner in this situation was the Socialist government. Only when Jose Maria Aznar became President did recovery begin ... Now we're back to square one — when will they ever learn?"

And that question still remains on the answering books ... "When will they ever learn?" And learning is really the crux of the matter. For in order to learn anything in this world, we all must reckon on learning's most important component, and that is "memory."

"Plato accounts for memory in the "Theaetetus"
by the image of the seal ring which impresses
wax; the character and duration of the impression
depends upon the size, purity, and hardness
of the wax."

And as a basic and descriptive picture of that which is memory, Plato has made a good start. But education is an integral part of understanding the world around us.

I've never met a Spaniard who accurately understands Spain's political history, though worse still, I've equally yet to find a Spaniard who has even the remotest understanding of what an economy is, or indeed is meant to be. I realized years ago that the average Spanish voter gets confused over the difference between what a politician says, and what reality is teaching him.

Way back in 1977, at the so-called birth of Spanish Democracy, on the eve of Spain's first general election, a Spanish opinion poll asked a cross-section of the average español who they intended to vote for, and the average answer went like this; "I'll vote for those I'm told to vote for." Interestingly enough this mindset is a politicians dream, because if the average voter world-wide ignored political history, and ignored pure and unadulterated economic facts, and only voted through the advice of politicians, true democracy at its most evil and intense nature can indeed be attainable.

"If you think education is expensive,
try ignorance."
— D Bok

A few weeks ago at a press conference, Zapatonto told the media that the state of the economy is "a matter of opinion." Then earlier this week Zappo told Mariano Rajoy that there was no need to take measures to mend the economy because "the economy will take care of itself!" And you know something? Zappo's "economic philosophy" mirrors the view strongly held by the world's greatest economic guru, or is it googoogol? Robert Mugabe. Rob's the little joker who recently issued a new currency and removed three naughts from the bank notes in the process, thus denying the existence of the fiery beast of inflation.

And I reckon there's a moral to all of this, and it entails the proper use of memory and education. Hans Gross once said;

"If I observe that on a certain day every week there regularly appear many well-dressed people and no working men on the street, if I am ignorant of the fact that Sunday is the cause of the appearance of the one and the disappearance of the other, I shall try in vain to find out how it happens that the working people are crowded out by the well-dressed ones or conversely ..."

What Hans describes above can be regarded as a lesson in the realm of politics also, for if I ask the average American student to reel off the names of America's former Presidents, quite a few will be top of the class, but if I then ask for a detailed description of each President's performance and a final summary on it, I'd most times find myself in the grip of a proverbial tenterhook.

So here's my big plan for this week. Why don't some of you good people consider joining me on it? Enquire of your kids the answers to the following;

How can the life and work of the great Benjamin Franklin be seen in the life and work of Bill Clinton and George Bush? Do they share his heart on liberty and the right to own property? Was his idea for America shared by others? And if so, name them and describe the reasons why. If Benjamin Franklin was preparing for election and then set off around the globe to cure the world's ills, would he be suitable or unsuitable to correct the ills of the American economy and culture? Bearing in mind that both are in exceedingly dire straits.

Is globalism a type of "world patriotism"? And if so, would it harmonize or cancel out patriotism for the United States and its people? Can one be patriotic for your nation of birth and patriotic also for the rest of the world? And if the answer is yes, then is world patriotism an act of treachery? If you love the world, can you be trusted with running a sovereign and independent nation?

Let's consider a little scenario. If say you find your house burning down, and trapped inside are your very own wife and kids. Then as you start toward the house, you glance over to see yet another house in flames across the way, you stop, turn toward the other house and help them put out the fire, thus ignoring the welfare of your family and property, would that be a noble act or the act of a louse?

Again a few weeks back, over in Spain, and in-spite of an overwhelmingly bad economy, President Zapatonto announced that he intended to be "at the head of the fight against world poverty!" Mariano Rajoy responded by stating; "You were elected to look after Spain and its people." And you know something? Mariano was right because the Bible bears him out on it. National leaders are meant to be just that. National leaders. Though nowadays they believe that they're not appointed by their Creator via the vote of the people, they're appointed by and on behalf of the world, to rule it and all that is therein. That's why Barack Obama's international voyage of world welfare should prove that he's unfit to be President of the United States.

In fact, John McCain is equally unfit for office for you see, it's not only the Bible they contradict, they also fail to match up to the Franklin test.

© Johnny D. Symon