“The Beautiful Water Lilies”

We went to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, here in KC MO, to see its exhibit of
“Monet's Water Lilies”.  These 3 panels were placed side-by-side in a panoramic display. What the reader may find interesting is that I am blue/green color blind.  So, how did these master pieces appear to someone color blind?

I listened to people describe Monet’s works; I watched people snoop close each canvas to better understand and appreciate Monet’s’ works, and I watched museum staff guard these rare paintings. Folks were discussing purples, greens, blues, etc.  They were speaking about motion on a still canvas, etc.

Standing far to the back of the auditorium seemed a better vantage point.  I could only see various shades of brown, some blue and swirls of white paint. I did recognize the symmetry and some motion from left to right.  When I walked close to a panel, it was a smear of brown or s a blob of white on blue.  That was as close as I could appreciate this great artist; the French Master, who painted and re-painted his panels of  lilies for thirteen years.

What was deeply bothering me, as I stood among Monet admirers, was the decline of our nation.  Each person there was free to ingest as much as possible about his water lilies- - set on canvas, still.  But not one of us could forecast what an ominous, treacherous pathway wending ahead for the United States of America. 

As of July 20, 2011, this great county is 14.5 trillion dollars in debt.  Elected officials continue at an unsustainable spending pace.  A reliable financial commentator analyzed how the daily cost has grown to run the huge, gigantic federal government. His data was presented on The O’Reilly Factor:

·         During the Clinton administration the daily cost was $ 787 Million;

·         During the G.W. Bush administration the daily cost has jumped to $ 1.6 Billion;

·         Today, the Obama administration the daily cost has sky rocketed to $5.1 Billion!

The two political parties see the problem differently; each looks at the same statistics, the same root problems, and the day-to-day governmental function. One party is deeply committed to having the federal government take care of and regulate the needs of each person. The other party is focused on reducing government size, taxing less, and let people chose their own destiny:

ü  The Democratic Party believes the federal government should take wealth, in the form of taxes, from individuals, companies, corporations and entrepreneurs.  It wants the federal government to redistribute wealth among all less fortunate.( NOTE: The philosophy of redistribution of wealth among a population is Karl Marx Communism; it is not capitalism.)

ü  The Republican Party believes that businesses have a right to earn profit in America’s regulated economy.  Ours is not a free economy, but the fewer regulations, the more flexible the final product. Republicans focus on a limited federal government; the role of each citizen is based on individual choices. (NOTE: The philosophy of growth through competition is capitalism, not imperialism, i.e. Adam Smith’s “Wealth of Nations”)

Winston Churchill faced similar perils during his administration from World War I though World War II. And he purposely wrote, “Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery..."

Of course, my enjoyment and perception of “The Beautiful Water Lilies” was quite different from so many other voyeurs.