Thank you Art Miller for the chuckle this morning when reading the Defuniak Herald. It sums it up perfectly. 
Tweedledave and Tweedledan
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GUEST COLUMN: What if Alice found herself in Waltonland?
Once upon a time, on a warm summer day, a girl named Alice came to the seaside to play in the sand and splash in the warm water.
After hours of slow driving on narrow roads with thousands of other cars, she finally saw the beautiful blue water, and cried out with excitement, “Daddy, there it is, there it is! It’s the water!” Daddy said, “Yes, my dear, but be patient. I have to find a place to park.” Several hours later, Alice, with pail and shovel in hand, made her way to the beach.
They saw a man with a green hat and Alice said to him, “Which way should we go?”
The Green Hatter said, “Anywhere you want.”
Alice said, “Can I go there and build a sandcastle?”
He said, “Yes, little girl, you can go there, but you can’t.”
She said, “I don’t understand. What does that mean?”
The Green Hatter said, “It’s simple. Maybe you can and maybe you can’t. It all depends.”
Alice said, “I see, but I don’t see. I really want to build a sandcastle and splash in the water.”
The Green Hatter said, “There are places you can go and places you can’t. It’s just that simple.”
Alice was confused. She asked the Green Hatter to explain.
He said, “For many years, some of the sand was for all people, and some of the sand was for certain people, but all of the people could go anywhere. Everyone knew where they could build sandcastles and where they couldn’t. Then one day Tweedledave and Tweedledan told everyone things had changed, and it was OK for anyone to go anywhere. They marched up and down the beach, holding hands, and singing songs. Tweedledave told everyone, ‘Even though you can’t, you can. The rules say you can’t, but you can because the rules aren’t the rules. And if they are, then they shouldn’t be. That’s logic.’”
The Five Cheshire Cats from the North insisted they should make the rules, even if they couldn’t, and even if they weren’t sure what rules to make.
Then everyone got angry and called each other names. The Green Hatters were confused. There were fights, and then they went to the man in the long black robe. Black Robe thought about the sand problem and said, “It could be yes and it could be no, I do not know. But whatever it is, you won’t know until I think about it, and it takes a long time for me to think about it, so I’ll let you know when I’m done thinking about it.”
In the meantime, many people from far away, who wear expensive clothes and drive big cars, were called in to say whose sand you can build sandcastles on and whose you can’t. This will take many years, and lots of money, to figure out.
Alice said to the Green Hatter, “Why are things so confusing here?” He said, “Oh, you can’t help that. We’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.”
“How do you know I’m mad?” said Alice. “You must be,” said the Green Hatter, “or else you wouldn’t have come here.”
Art Miller is a resident of Miramar Beach.
Once upon a time, on a warm summer day, a girl named Alice came to the seaside to play in the sand and splash in the warm water.
After hours of slow driving on narrow roads with thousands of other cars, she finally saw the beautiful blue water, and cried out with excitement, “Daddy, there it is, there it is! It’s the water!” Daddy said, “Yes, my dear, but be patient. I have to find a place to park.” Several hours later, Alice, with pail and shovel in hand, made her way to the beach.
They saw a man with a green hat and Alice said to him, “Which way should we go?”
The Green Hatter said, “Anywhere you want.”
Alice said, “Can I go there and build a sandcastle?”
He said, “Yes, little girl, you can go there, but you can’t.”
She said, “I don’t understand. What does that mean?”
The Green Hatter said, “It’s simple. Maybe you can and maybe you can’t. It all depends.”
Alice said, “I see, but I don’t see. I really want to build a sandcastle and splash in the water.”
The Green Hatter said, “There are places you can go and places you can’t. It’s just that simple.”
Alice was confused. She asked the Green Hatter to explain.
He said, “For many years, some of the sand was for all people, and some of the sand was for certain people, but all of the people could go anywhere. Everyone knew where they could build sandcastles and where they couldn’t. Then one day Tweedledave and Tweedledan told everyone things had changed, and it was OK for anyone to go anywhere. They marched up and down the beach, holding hands, and singing songs. Tweedledave told everyone, ‘Even though you can’t, you can. The rules say you can’t, but you can because the rules aren’t the rules. And if they are, then they shouldn’t be. That’s logic.’”
The Five Cheshire Cats from the North insisted they should make the rules, even if they couldn’t, and even if they weren’t sure what rules to make.
Then everyone got angry and called each other names. The Green Hatters were confused. There were fights, and then they went to the man in the long black robe. Black Robe thought about the sand problem and said, “It could be yes and it could be no, I do not know. But whatever it is, you won’t know until I think about it, and it takes a long time for me to think about it, so I’ll let you know when I’m done thinking about it.”
In the meantime, many people from far away, who wear expensive clothes and drive big cars, were called in to say whose sand you can build sandcastles on and whose you can’t. This will take many years, and lots of money, to figure out.
Alice said to the Green Hatter, “Why are things so confusing here?” He said, “Oh, you can’t help that. We’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.”
“How do you know I’m mad?” said Alice. “You must be,” said the Green Hatter, “or else you wouldn’t have come here.”
Art Miller is a resident of Miramar Beach.
Last edited by a moderator:
FWIW, I didn’t actually post the text. A “moderator” did by editing my post.
I usually request text to be posted. Or a summary. Posting just a link no good for those of us behind a firewall. Thank you.
Thanks for doing that if you’re the one that did. I just didn’t want to infringe on any copyrights.
I asked about the text. People usually post at least part of the article, or what they posted it for. That really helps those of us at work where we can't reach all sites. Most political stuff or community info is covered under fair use and sites tend to be cool as long as a link is included.
The real tragedy is that Alice doesn’t get to build her sandcastle.
It’s sad you guys don’t see that. The beach is for all to enjoy and poor Alice will never be able to build her sandcastle without customary use.
It’s sad you guys don’t see that. The beach is for all to enjoy and poor Alice will never be able to build her sandcastle without customary use.
Alice will not even see the beach while driving in Waltonland except for a few glimpses. At this point it is not about blame because the expansive and exclusive buildings are there. Exclusion is already part of Sowal in terms of the beach from the buildings and the signs or barriers. The question now is the decision of the man in the long black robe and is about a fair and equal distribution of resources. Should money and power be allowed more exclusive use of the resource or should The People have an already limited but even more limited access to the resource? The decision by the man in the long black robe will be epic. Do the laws of humans cancel out the laws of nature. Life began or was created in those blue waters. Is that not ancient or customary enough? I agree that human purpose should also be about respectful behavior but that is not really what this lawsuit is about. Does politics have a role in Alice's pursuit of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. You bet ya!
Finally, we agree. Customary use IS INDEED a fairy tale.
You see, by law, the question in America can never be about "a fair and equal distribution of resources." We are a compassionate nation of capitalism and democratic republic form of government. The social do gooder concept that everything must be distributed equally, well...
It's a fairy tale.
Fortunately, our laws are written and enacted through legitimate process of checks and balances. Laws of nature are baked into the cake. To think that self authored emotional "laws of nature" may arbitrarily cancel rule of man (laws) is inaccurate. To advocate so...
It's a fairy tale.
The foundation of our constitution indeed provides for "life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness". The foundation of those is property rights. The bedrock of property rights is the right of exclusion. It has nothing to do with whether the property is sand, clay, dirt, concrete, steel, water, or "other". To distort that foundation is political manipulation. In fact....
It's a fairy tale.
There was a post texted to me today from a local social page, author and page unknown to me:
"By the way, who is really being greedy? Those who paid for their property and want to preserve it, or those who want to take it for free from someone else through government force?"
To answer with anything but the truth.....
It's a fairy tale.
Reggie, the very intent of our Constitution is to allow for The People to have fair, equal and reasonable access to resources as they pursue life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Why do you conclude that it was "never" the intent? Many arguments in law center around the intent of the law. Maybe you and I disagree about the intent but you must be aware that The People will eventually "complain" about an unequal distribution of resources. I don't know you but it just seems like you believe that only your opinion of the intent matters. We do live in a Representative Democracy where people have a voice. Unfortunately our voice is reduced down to one of two political ideals. Neither political ideal will represent The People 100% of the time neither should it. If you believe the foundation of our Constitution is somehow rooted in exclusion it might mean that you have disconnected from The People. You will find that happiness at the expense of others is not so fulfilling.
Hope generally comes from many sources and the Constitution is just one source. Removing The People's hope is not a good idea. Exclusion does not fit many (if any) definitions of hope.
Hope generally comes from many sources and the Constitution is just one source. Removing The People's hope is not a good idea. Exclusion does not fit many (if any) definitions of hope.
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