Omaha's Flaws

Idealism and Compassion Are Obstacles

Preface: this article was prompted by various discussions with people concerned about what Omaha should focus on for improvement of the citadel.

---

Omaha is doing well compared to most cities by avoiding many mistakes, yet Omaha has serious flaws.

For future generations, Omaha must work to become a family-friendly city but poor test scores, drug abuse, mental illness, panhandling, and homelessness continue to increase creating a quiet exodus of families. Yet Omaha residents only attempt to address these matters with more government money, and compassion: both can be self-serving. We must change to solve these problems.

A saying goes: give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. This wisdom is lost on those who give money to panhandlers. Emotions make you want to give money to the panhandler, but such giving only encourages more panhandling, and does not generate lifelong prosperity. The lesson here is compassion is not a cardinal virtue and contributes to dependency. The four cardinal virtues are prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance. Focus on the cardinal virtues must come first.

To add these problems, most people have yet to come to full terms with the impact of the digital world and how it conflicts with our values in the tangible world. This includes respecting the history buried in our cemeteries, the property taxes we pay, the challenges of social media, and changing ways we have civil discourse. In many ways, Omaha has become more partisan, arrogant, and a closed society, instead of having a cosmopolitan view of the world. Idealism overrides pragmatism and realism.

The majority of Omaha residents will not see a property tax bill, but nearly all the government programs serving all residents of Omaha will be paid for by Omaha property owners. This is not just unfair but leaves many homes in disrepair or ugly as the owners do not have the funds to paint their homes and take down derelict trees. They can only dream about installing a swimming pool. The children and their families in such houses suffer the consequences.

But Omaha’s character does not like conflict or discussion on substantial issues. For example, the Regional Metropolitan Transit Authority is funded with property taxes but gives rides away for free when it barely covers half the City. Why this injustice? Where are the protests? I guess property owners are merely government ATM machines for kleptocracy.

Between homelessness and property taxes, there is a solution to both. The answer is as old as Nebraska. The answer is sod houses. You may laugh but I am not being facetious. I have advocated this position before. Sod houses are cheap, and affordable, and do not need a paint job. And the property taxes on sod houses would be minimal. Doing crafts helps alleviate mental illness and building a sod house can be a do-it-yourself project. There are values and virtues to learn in building sod houses. With sod houses will Omaha learn how complex the problems are and where the solutions need to be.

Nouns are people, places and things, but in a digital world, the idea of place and thing have been vastly altered causing immense problems which most people cannot see.

You are familiar with parables and perhaps Aesop's Fables. The story of the Man, Boy and Donkey has been a classic about trying to please everyone as well as being judged by others. (Here is the link https://fablesofaesop.com/the-man-the-boy-and-the-donkey.html ).

Those who remember the story forget: the donkey dies because of the judgment and expectations of others. In ancient times, a donkey had great value in traveling and moving items. Today, few own a donkey and if they do, they are not likely to use it to go to market as in the story. At the same time, many do not go to a “market” and therefore they do not encounter people on the way, because they shop privately on the internet from home and have items delivered. Can you see this is a unique problem?

Compassion has become a form of masturbation in urban areas. Neither helps posterity. What is needed is self-improvement of the human condition but for this to happen, the reality of the conflict between the digital and tangible world must be brought to focus. But the digital world has made people focus on emotions (how you feel) instead of the tangible (something I can see change in). Compassion is so keyed to personal emotions, it is alcohol to get drunk on because it is done for the sake of emotion, not piety or logic.