Bluegrass Times

“Jonas’s community is a perfect society. There is no pain or hunger, everyone is provided for, and there are no problems. A set of Rules governs everything from the formation of families, to the standards for behavior…Jonas discovers that the community has not only removed sadness and pain but has also removed joy and love.” - "The Giver Study Guide" by Andrew Clausen

Does this sound familiar? We have established government programs to ensure that nobody goes hungry (regardless of employment status). We have an epidemic of great proportions brought on by prescription drugs meant to ease our mental and physical pain. There is an underlying set of rules established pertaining to what people can say or do without suffering negative societal consequences. And, we are now in a place where daily life as we know it will be altered or shut down in order to avoid anyone suffering from illness. 

While the intentions of these measures may have been benign- who wouldn’t want to feed the hungry, ease pain, speak kindly, and protect our health- the consequences have been devastating. We have more jobs available than we have people willing to work. Why would people want to spend hours at a job when they can sit home and collect a check? We have a record number of deaths from drug overdoses, not to mention the broken families, crime, and homelessness that results from drug use. These past few years, there has been a rash of celebrities, athletes, and business owners being canceled due to their political leanings or beliefs.  And, now, two years into the pandemic, we are once again seeing schools shut down and businesses implement draconian measures to make sure a virus with an incredibly high recovery rate. 

The word utopia means “no place” because it is an unattainable reality. When it has been attempted, it ends up being dystopian because, it turns out that human beings don’t like being told how to live and and what to feel. One only needs to spend some time on social media to realize that, in the process of trying to remove sadness and pain from our society, we have also, to a certain extent, removed joy and love. Family and friends have not spoken for months over masks and vaccines. Children have turned away from parents because of politics or social issues. Perfect strangers spew hatred at each other over trivial issues. 

Our founding fathers knew that human beings had a bent toward greed, pride, and selfishness. That is why they so painstakingly crafted our founding documents. It was John Adams who said, “We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion…Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” These wise men did not intend for the government to create a “more perfect union”. That responsibility lies solely on the citizens of said union. We the people, not the government, need to step up and fulfill our role. Only then will we ease each other’s burdens in a way that does not destroy our freedom and the fabric of our society.

Beanie Geoghegan is the director of the Kentucky Chapter for No Left Turn in Education.