Rich Lowery on Cspan talking about nationalism and American culture, which he fumbled and mumbled about. Like a test - that which doesn't exist is hard to define cuz aint no such thing. Heidegger's principle: what is the ground. What is the basis of your belief on which everything else depends.
I was talking with Ben Myers about housing in England, cuz in the US, Republicans say that home ownership defines you. Liberals are renters, conservatives are home owners. The concept of permanency, and being innately invested in your own property. If you own it, you take care of it, preserve it, maintain and improve it. If you rent, you can do the same…or trash it til unlivable, and move someplace else.
But they miss the flaw in the ointment, the buzzing fly. Conservatism’s ground is small business ownership, similar to home ownership. And here’s the rub. Most people don’t own their own business. In fact, it’s organizationally impossible - we can’t all be olive oil salesman cuz who’d we sell to - other olive oil salesmen? So maybe ten people work for every one owner. Well, maybe a hundred, maybe thousands. But the overwhelming majority don’t work for themselves. And they haven’t the same feeling of belonging or ownership of “the company” cuz obviously, they don’t own it.
For example, a great little company I worked for - the largest seed & nursery in the world. A secretary there would answer the phones, and say “no, he’s no longer with the company; no, I can’t say anything more, that’s company policy.” Which sums up your life. People would just be disappeared from the rolls of the workforce. No particular reason, no discussion, just “he’s no longer with the company.” Rather smug; a sort of a pride and superiority - I’m here, I belong; you don’t. About a year or so later, the guy who owned the company sold it, and suddenly everyone’s out of a job. So it goes, and kinda hard to be smug.
Cuz y’see, if you don’t own the company, then you’re just a worker. And in a “right to work state” (funny use of double-speak) you have no rights about your work status. You can be fired without cause, anytime. Just “disappeared” from the rolls; and bye bye. Sure, they’d like you to think of it as "your company." To be available to work overtime whenever needed; to work seven days a week to harvest and process plants before the frost. Bundle up in insulated coveralls and heavy gloves, follow the tractor with the floodlights and work the freezing ground late into the dark night. Cuz the company needs to get this done; profit, and survival maybe, depends on it.
That’s all fine, I liked that company, liked working there, was a really cool place. But as John McCabe tells the joke in the movie “An eagle swoops down and swallows up a frog. And as the frog is working his way through the eagles insides, the birds soars away, higher and higher. Finally the frog gets all the way through to the end and is peeking out the eagle's asshole. He looks down, amazed and a little bit scared. Says to the eagle ‘how high up y’think we are?’ Eagle says ‘bout a mile, I guess.’ Frog says ‘you wouln’t shit me now, would you?’’
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