Jenie Wishes

--Maybe I shouldn't mention this, but someone arrived at Jenius Central from a Google search for "venereal diseases that cause lips to look misaligned."

I don't know what to think about that...


Let's say that a Magic Being--a Jenie--offers Me--The Jenius--three wishes. But said Jenie tells Me that I can only use those three wishes to make changes in Our government. Seems the Jenie is some sort of retired bureaucrat-cum-lobbyist with connections to 29th century science. (Arthur Clarke's Third Law spells this scenario out for you.)

Having gotten past My disappointment on so pointless an offer (in less than a fortnight, so I'm feeling chipper), here are My three wishes:

1) I wish government workers didn't "settle" for government work, but chose it as a result of vision. From ex-governors who couldn't cut it as lawyers or are egomaniacal semi-doctors or are pampered rich girls to the average Juan and Julia in a dead-end cubicle, far too many of Our government workers are there because they have to be somewhere, right? The only passion they feel is for 5:00 p.m. and their Christmas bonus. The "eight hours a day for 30 years" mentality is seen as a life plan, when it fact it's simply calling quits on Life and burdening the rest of Us with their indifferent incompetence. And for those who switch "careers" to "make a difference," they confuse ego with talent and burden Us with their overbearing incompetence.

2) I wish government understood its limits. When your government acts like a drunken sadist in search of victims on which to inflict more pain (see Washington D.C. for recent examples), a whiff of insight into what a democratic government truly is would go far into righting the reckless Ship of State. The same can be said when the captain is mealy-mouthed and spineless, for where the drunken sadist will crash the Ship, the wimp will simply run it aground. A government has only a few basic functions: protection (laws, defense); communication of said laws and implementing plans for stability and growth. But even these functions are curtailed by two additional factors: what the government is allowed to do and what the majority additionally decides. That Our government is acting like it owns Us is the result of watching Big Bully-Boob from up north and playing "stupid monkey see, stupid monkey do." A government that understands its limits is one that will be aimed at its true functions, not one that plays fast and loose to favor a few and endanger the majority.

3) I wish the people saw government as "Us" and not "Them." It ultimately comes down to this simple precept: We are The People, therefore We are The Government. And doesn't it seem funny to you that of all three wishes, only this one doesn't require a Jenie--or a Jenius--to make come true?


The Jenius Has Spoken.