“I’ve Got My Principles”

Yep, bet you never thought you’d hear that one here at Hansi’s Hallucinations. But “I’ve got my principles.” And by the way, my principles are far more superior than yours! And one of my more easier to adhere to principles is: Never pass up an opportunity for ridicule when the situation is ripe.

I love bywords. Nifty phrases that are supposed sum up a situation and are loaded with meaning but are more often than not just bullshit. And “I’ve got my principles” is certainly one of ’em. I hear that phrase mostly from ultra right wing politicians and pundits. The meaning of course is “My views are being driven from a higher power, and I could never compromise on that.” REAL MEANING: “I’m so intransigent and selfish, that I wanna of cram my values down your throat. And, I’m gonna do anything in my power to accomplish those means.” No? Well, I’ve got my principles, and they’re pretty high right now, and (looking down upon yours) they seem far more loftier than anything you may come up with.

“Hansi….You be really fried this morning.” Perhaps, but here’s something I just don’t understand. Everybody has principles, good or bad, they are what drive us in our actions (hopefully). Why are some principles better than others, and therefore worthy of blind allegiance? My Uncle Hermann had his principles and stuck to them till the end of his life. What a guy! Oh yeah, I forgot. Uncle Hermann was an SS officer in the German Army during WW II. And before he could get into the SS, had to prove that he had five generations of pure Aryan blood in his family.** Damn those be some big principles. No Jews allowed: we’ve got our principles don’t cha know. Well Uncle Hermann was a Nazi till the end when he died in 2001.

Here’s another mind blower. During WWII, my mother who immigrated from Germany in the late twenties, had to send her soon to be husband ( My Father) off to war to defend American principles. He had to fight her brother Hermann who was busily defending his German (actually Third Reich) principles. What a dilemma for Mom. Family be fightin’ family. Well we know who’s principles were far more superior to whose. Wonder if that’s why Dad would always get pissed off when Mom wanted to sent off a Care Package to my cousins in post-war Germany?  BTW…I’m sure glad Daddy made it back from the war in one piece so he could finally marry Mom and get busy cranking out a little Hansi.

Boy, this whole thing of having principles is causing me to go through some real mental gymnastics. But I think when it comes to principles, if they’re not based upon Love and Compassion, but are rather an excuse to be intransigent and selfish. Then screw you and your principles. If you claim to be a big Christian, but ignore Jesus’ sermon on the mount. Then screw you and your principles. If your principles are just a guise to attempt some major social engineering at the expense of  devastating the Country. Then fuck You and fuck your principles.

“Boy Hansi, you were a total potty mouth there for a while”. Well, maybe so. But I’ve got my principles!

**You got to just love the Germans…I certainly do. My wife is busily tracing the genealogy of her family. She’s having trouble getting past a stubborn Irish great grandfather. Just too much conflicting information, and inaccurate records; she’s come to a dead end. But My German genealogy. Auch du liber! No problem. Ya know that five generations of Aryan blood law the Nazi’s had. Well, the Germans kept all those records after the war. There wasn’t a piece of paper the Germans didn’t save, catalog and in a love for order, stash away. Order above all!  So it was no problem for my Sister to look up all that stuff over there. Thanks Uncle Hermann.