The Bodies Politic

Look at your hand; What do you see? A hand? Or do you see the amazing piece of machinery that it is? The amazing combination of electro-chemical connections for manipulation and negative feedback control, coupled with bio-engineered structure to allow finite movement?

But it is nothing more than a hand, so commonplace in your world that you don't really even think about it unless you TRY.

Each of us is made up of this stuff called nerves, bones, muscles, organs, etc etc. And yet we manage to get through our days without contemplating the most mundane yet important aspects of existance, Like breathing, or our hearts pumping blood. Each is a VITAL component in a massive system of components. Eliminate one and the whole thing would shut down, or at least limp along greatly impaired.

And that is exactly what a country is. A system of components that affect all the others to greater or lesser degrees.

Take the people. People make up the muscles of the country, literally. Without the people, you could have a structure but it would be nothing more than a skeleton hanging on a hook. It may even have a brain but without the muscles to move it, incomplete.

Information networks make up the nervous system. You can have lots of information but if the information is fouled or manipulated, the reactions will be false. Imagine if you will, putting your hand on a hot burner on the stove. IF you nervous system is fouled up, you may sense a feeling of cold, or just pressure. You won't receive the information "HOT!" and in result, Burn the hell out of your hand, possibly even to the point of loss.

Blood: What makes up the life blood of a country. How do you measure its quantity, flow, use, etc. Could you use currency as 'blood'? Why not. Muscles require blood to bring them the essentials to work correctly. Nutrients, oxygen, etc. It also removes the wastes. Money purchases the essentials a person needs and pays for the removal of wastes and excess. Money/blood will be a good analogy. But what happens when the blood becomes tainted, or thinned out. What happens when the white blood cell count is outrageously out off proportion to the red cell count? Or the plasma levels are far too high in relation to the actual cell count? What happens when a muscle has its supply cut off (for whatever reason)? (pins and needles comes to mind but thats temporary, what happens when its 'permanent')

In a living organism, there are systems that function autonomously 24/7. They are not regulated by thoughts (laws) but by system needs. Blood is manufactured by the bones (the system) for use of the entire system. If the manufacturing process gets off kilter, the remaining systems get off kilter as well. Infusions may help, or they may even aggravate the problem.

Isn't that what we are seeing in our economy? Infusions intended to help, but actually causing problems unintended.

What about our information network. Our nervous system. Seems that information flowing along the spine is changing polarity between points. while the subsystems are functioning in limp mode.

And the skeleton has taken on a quite a bit of phosphorous instead of calcium. Its hard and bulky but is becoming quite brittle.

Of course, the brain is suffering from some serious chemical imbalances due to the polarity shifts in the information network. And there is probably an embolism growing somewhere in that mess.

To boot, many of the systems are on life support just to maintain the network complete. There are still functioning muscle groups but there are also many muscles that are healthy but surrounded by infected ones. They carry the load of the whole group. When they complain of the strain, the remainder of the group cries in agony.


This country is sick, possibly even terminally so.

So how does one little muscle save the whole conglomeration? Any ideas. I am at a loss. Do we maintain our health in hopes of a transplant into a healthy body? Are there any healthy bodies on this planet?


One wonders.


Look at your role in your network. At this point that is the only thing where we can do anything of effect. Look at those around you, feel them out. If you find infection, how do you isolate it from the healthy. Is there someway to regenerate it? Is it worth it?

I figure we need to stop looking at politics as war, but as medicine. Even so, there are 'wars' within a body on a daily basis. (just as our country has its wars) We need to heal ourselves FIRST, before we can heal our country.

But I don't know if there is any hope of removing the disease that ails us.