Having a Form of Godliness

Those of us born in the 1930s and 40s came along at the tail end of an era, a bright and special era, an era in which children were still taught to love their country, to admire its Founders, and to revere the Constitution. Many of us took those lessons to heart, but now we find ourselves increasingly at odds with an imposing and ever-growing army of powerful and influential people--people in the highest levels of government, people who manage the country’s largest news organizations, people who operate our nation’s most prestigious universities.

It seems as though a vast and increasing number of slick, fashionable and well educated people believe that patriotism is nothing but foolish sentimentality, that the Constitution is a burdensome and inconvenient impediment to progress, and that the 18th Century beliefs of the Founders are now hopelessly outdated.

Yet these same people insist that they are genuinely concerned for us, especially in these difficult times, and want only to make us all secure and happy. Mind you, they want to dismantle all the priceless safeguards to our liberties, but they want us to be secure and happy. In other words, instead of placing our trust in a written contract, the Constitution, they want us to place our trust solely in them and their word.

But to those of us in my generation, this kind of talk sounds dubious, dangerous and frightening. According to what we were taught in those little one- and two-room rural schools, this is just the kind of devious chicanery the Founders were hoping to steer their posterity clear of when they wrote the Constitution and the Bill of Rights in the first place. Of course, when we attended school our dedicated and self-sacrificing teachers didn’t have access to the latest educational theories put out by the federal government, so they admittedly were working under a severe and serious handicap.

Nevertheless, call me backward and old-fashioned if you must, but I’m not buying the clearly self-serving tripe these un-American radicals are dishing out. I don’t believe for one minute that their interest in our welfare is genuine. I believe it’s thoroughly counterfeit and utterly bogus, as well as insulting and disgusting. I believe it is nothing more than a clever and deadly pretense, a ruse, if you will, possessing only the crudest outward appearance of authentic concern and compassion. Their idea of charity is seizing your money through taxation and transferring it to someone else, someone who in their opinion is in greater need of it than you are. Is that compassion? No! Let’s call it what it is, it’s socialism! And socialism isn’t what this country’s about. It’s repugnant and alien to us. Strong, proud, self-reliant men and women don’t need or want socialism. A socialist is not, and can never be, a true American.

I don’t give a hoot what presidential candidates and senate majority leaders say. I couldn’t care less what big city newspaper editors and television commentators think. And I’m certainly not interested in what the distinguished head of the political science department at Harvard University believes. I think we’d be damned foolish to let go of any portion of the Constitution. Those Founders were an extremely wise group of men. Their theories of government are still valid and will continue to hold us in good stead. All we have to do is wholeheartedly return to those beliefs and ideals, and embrace once again that independent and self-sufficient spirit that made Americans and America great.

We The People

In re-sponse to the recent mortgage and credit crisis, our govern-ment has taken a series of dramatic steps. If one uses the Constitution and the political beliefs of the Founders as a measure of what comprises the legitimate powers of government, these steps are another serious and dangerous departure from time-honored and revered principles.

We all know there is corruption and incompetence in government. We all know there is unrestrained greed and depravity in many areas of business. But we also need to recognize that as citizens we too are failing to measure up to our full responsibilities. We too share much of the blame for what is going on around us.

In America the will of the people underlies our political system and its institutions. That is a fortunate thing, but when we neglect to forthrightly express our will, the government goes forward without our guidance. And a misguided government is a dysfunctional government--ponderous, pernicious and dreadful, as we all are now witnessing.

As citizens we are guilty of electing and re-electing, irrespective of party, presidents and members of congress who, in the absence of corrective input from us, have virtually set our political and economic systems ablaze. How much more apparent does it have to become? Is not the current man-made conflagration evidence enough of their malfeasance, negligence and incompetence? Must we experience further horrors at their hands to be convinced?

If our nation is to escape complete destruction, we, average Americans like you and me, must become involved--right now and in a big way! Our house is on fire and the arsonists are pretending to be the fire department. Their method of fighting a fire is to throw more fuel on it. They want to use the same combustibles that ignited it to put it out. What does that reveal, despite what they are telling us, about their true intentions?

Perhaps the supercilious and condescending elitists who rule in Washington believe we are all hopelessly stupid. Perhaps they arrogantly believe they can do much better without our input than with it. But anyone who has eyes can see they are leading us down a slippery and perilous path. Look around you. Who is going to bring this great country back on course if we don’t? We are all that is left. We are all that stands between these bloated putrescent politicians and total destruction.

If there is going to be meaningful change in America, if we as a nation are going to set a true course back to stability and safety, we can’t entrust such a vital job to career politicians. We the people must initiate it and carry through with it. The solution to the grave problems that presently beset us lies in our becoming better educated and informed, and in becoming much more involved in political affairs. If we as citizens and taxpayers don’t know what constitutes sound political and economic principles, how are we going to provide essential and worthwhile guidance to our elected officials? And how will we know if they are devising and implementing programs that truly are in our best interest?

It’s time we understood that not every clown jumping at the chance to serve is fit to serve. We need to do a much better job of monitoring and grading our leaders and screening candidates. We might begin by demanding simple honesty and some commonsense.

We elect these people to be public servants, which implies that they work for and answer to the public. However, a great many of them, once elected, come to see themselves not as humble servants but as superior beings, far wiser and more intelligent than the simple people who put them in office.

The hour has come. Time is short. Beginning today, and without delay, we must begin the crucial process of culling out these pompous jackasses and replacing them with a new generation of patriotic, pro-America leaders, leaders who love their country more than money, power and fame.

“Don’t interfere with anything in the Constitution. That must be maintained, for it is the only safeguard to our liberties.”
--Abraham Lincoln

The Arcane and Deadly Workings of Government

Note: Please be aware that certain key elements in the following brief explanation of the recent mortgage catastrophe and its causes may not make sense to you unless you're a seriously impaired career politician like the smiling man on the right.

Now that the fog of con-fusion has dissipated to a degree, we are learning that the origin of the mortgage debacle essentially comes down to one thing. Admittedly, there were other factors, but if you follow the problem upstream, this is what you find.

A number of years ago, in an effort to put lower-income families into homes they couldn’t actually afford, congress enacted a bill entitled the Community Reinvestment Act.

Whatever congress’ intentions may have been at the time, whether well meaning or not, this ill-conceived act induced a lot of banks, with the dubious assistance of co-culprits Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, into making a great many subprime loans. A subprime loan is a loan made to someone who really didn’t qualify. The loans went through anyway, however, because Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, at the behest of the federal government, were essentially guaranteeing them.

Then, as if this curious bill heavily laced with faulty economic theories was not dangerous enough in itself, something else happened that added to the problem and stoked the rising fever. Some of the banks swept up in this developing fiasco began doing innovative things on their own initiative. They began devising creative if not completely ethical ways of packaging and bundling these subprime loans and selling them off as investments to other unsuspecting banks. These shady shenanigans soon became standard operating procedure for several of the more unscrupulous banks and some of their employees began behaving almost as if they were on a mind-altering drug.

Yet surprisingly enough, even as the potential hazards inherent in all this risky wheeling and dealing were becoming more and more evident, congress did nothing, despite repeated and urgent warnings from within and from without.

So why did congress drag its feet? Perhaps members of congress simply decided that with so many of their constituents, from house flippers to bank presidents, believing they were getting rich in this unprecedented and astonishing housing boom, albeit an artificially created one, they ought not dispel the illusion but rather play things out a little longer. After all, when a party’s really rockin,’ why be a wet blanket? Right?

Now that the party’s over, however, and with the horrific results laid bare before us, we can see what congress REALLY did when it passed that poorly thought out and pestilent bill in the first place. In effect, that ill-advised act of congress injected into our nation’s economy what turned out to be a deadly virus, even though one of its intermediate manifestations was a delusional sense of euphoria in some of its eventual victims. Over the course of several years the harmful effects of that virus led to a massive accumulation of what we now are calling “toxic” debt, debt that ultimately proved to be so pernicious it poisoned the very heart of our nation’s economic system, killing some banks and lending institutions outright and leaving many others gravely ill.

And now to top off everything, we are being told that some of the banks that barely survived the ordeal, and were left crippled as a result, will be expertly and lovingly nursed back to health by the very government that poisoned them. And that, they say, will ultimately bring about a happy conclusion to this tragic tale.

I warned you this might not make sense.

A Season Gone But Not Lost

The first frosty breaths of fall are spilling down from the frigid north and filling our high desert valleys with cool sparkling air. And as they do, brightly colored leaves, one by one, or in wind-driven throngs, plaintively release their grip and tumble to the ground. They are yielding to the implacable cycles of nature; they are letting go of summer. And just as the leaves have no choice but to let go, so too are we compelled to do likewise. We must release the past, savoring our warm memories of a golden summer, a once-in-a-lifetime summer that never will return, and enter the future. But before we brace ourselves for the onslaught of winter, let us pause to enjoy the splendors of autumn, for it too holds rich promise. It is a time of crisp, clear days, days made for wearing comfortable old shoes and frayed sweatshirts while out walking with a loved one. It is a time to curl up in a warm blanket on a blustery afternoon for a well-deserved nap. It is a time to lovingly preserve the things harvested from a scrupulously maintained garden. And if we make good use of those precious autumn days, we will leave them behind with tender recollections of a season gone but not lost. And it will be time to begin making the most of what is certain to be a special winter.

Where Does The Buck Stop?

It is a frightening thing to contemplate, but it has become apparent in recent years that neither the Republicans nor the Democrats have the foresight, skill or courage to lead America. For quite sometime members of the two “contending” political parties, once elected, have failed to offer substantially different solutions to the problems facing our great nation. They are, to quote a homely old phrase, peas in a pod. They pretend to be different, but in reality their management styles, strategies, and ultimate goals are strikingly similar. What this leaves us with is essentially a one-party system masquerading as a two-party system. This unfortunate pretense is kept up for only one purpose, so that those running for office will have someone to sling mud at. The political sideshow is faithfully and carefully acted out during election years and the periods between to convince voters that there are still courageous fighters out there willing to wrestle with the forces of evil; namely, the other party. Unfortunately, when our “leaders” want only to while away their time producing and starring in senseless political dramas rather than assuming the role of statesman or stateswoman, bad things happen while they are thus engaged. For example, both Republicans and Democrats in congress sat by and watched as greedy and unscrupulous banks and mortgage companies created the worst economic catastrophe since the Wall Street Crash of 1929, even though both houses of congress have banking and financial services committees to monitor and oversee the activities of such institutions. Furthermore, our Republican President and his economic advisors, along with the Secretary of the Treasury and the Federal Reserve Board did the same thing. No one apparently saw this huge financial tidal wave approaching. No one apparently even had a hunch. Or if they did, no one possessed the economic savvy or political courage to step forward and do something about it before it evolved into a calamity. How could it be that a mounting financial debacle of this magnitude went unnoticed? Not surprisingly, there is not a single person in Washington willing to admit guilt. Rather, everyone there is scrambling around pointing fingers at each other. A tragic and costly economic misfortune has fallen upon the American people while our political “leaders” either slept or were intentionally looking away. And what is their response to all this now that it has happened? Arrogate to themselves vast powers not granted to them by the Constitution, and in the process replace, step by step, limited government with an all-reaching, all-powerful government. Only two conclusions can be drawn from such behavior. Either these people are a bunch of incompetent bunglers who don’t give a damn about principles, or they are a very crafty band of revolutionaries. Whatever the case may be, we can only guess where this latest ill-advised departure from sound political and economic principles will take us? Surely it will set another dangerous precedent, but will it save us? Temporarily, perhaps it will. But in the long run permitting the federal government to become heavily engaged in every aspect of our daily lives will prove unwise, just as our Founders knew and warned. The only real solution, as painful and inconvenient as it may seem, is for the people to wake up and gain control over themselves and their government, for although it apparently is not a widely known fact at this time, it must be remembered that in our unique and wisely formulated political system, the buck stops with us.

Gambling is Serious Business

Contrary to what casino moguls would have you believe, casinos are not built to provide friendly and innocuous amusement to the public; they are designed and built with one goal in mind, to induce the unwary into throwing away precious time and money to enrich those with craftier minds. Be assured that no casino mogul would ever dream of doing with his time and money what he is inviting you to do. He has better things to do. He’s an important man, an executive. In his opinion squandering time and money is only for fools. And that’s where you come in. Casino moguls don’t believe in luck or chance. They're only interested in a sure thing. They have learned that one of the surest ways of becoming rich is not to indulge in hopeless, long-shot gambling themselves but rather to provide that opportunity to someone else. And they also know that while you are mindlessly emptying your pockets, you must be made to believe that you are having the time of your life. That is why their television ads always show young, vibrant, well-dressed couples laughing like kids on a carnival ride. That is also why they have clubs you can join, with members receiving “free” tee shirts bearing the casino’s name, so you will feel like you are part of an elite group, a group that is known, loved and always welcomed by the casino. Of course you’re known, loved and always welcomed by the casino. You’re making its owner/owners wealthy! Of course they’re willing to throw you a few crumbs occasionally. Of course they want you to think you’re someone special. But what they won’t show you are the scores of lonely senior citizens on fixed incomes, oxygen bottles at their sides, disposing of what little cash they have in the vain hope of hitting the big one that will put them on easy street. Or the compulsive gambler who gets his or her adrenaline rush, his or her high, endlessly trying to win that once-in-a-lifetime jackpot that will remove all their money woes, when in fact their money woes are caused by their gambling addiction. No, they won’t show you that seamy, pathetic side of the casino environment. That would be bad for business. And gambling, to a casino executive, is serious business, not mere fun and frivolity, as it is portrayed to you. Make no mistake about it, casino moguls are cold, calculating entrepreneurs who waste neither time nor money in their single-minded pursuit of wealth. So take a lesson from them. Get serious, and don’t waste your time or money either.

The Right To Bear Arms

The first unalien-able right listed by Thomas Jefferson in the Decla-ration of Indepen-dence is the right to life. It is placed first in the hierarchy of man’s rights because no right is more important to mortal man than that one, for certainly when a man is deprived of life, all the other earthly rights he might have possessed are forever lost to him. But even if the right to life is recognized and acknowledged by a government, as our government has done, of what practical benefit is that recognition if the government nonetheless removes from a man’s grasp the very implements necessary to realistically preserve and defend the life he is said to be entitled to? Some might argue that it is enough that the police possess firearms to defend us. But where does a police officer’s right to employ a firearm in the defense of human life actually come from? Who bestows that special privilege upon him? Though it may be surprising to some, in America that privilege comes to a police officer through none other than the people themselves. Many years ago, during the formation of our governments, federal, state and local, we the people empowered our elected officials and representatives to give to any duly appointed police officer the right to use a gun in our behalf to defend the lives of others. At that time, a time that is now all but forgotten, the people granted to government the power to use lethal force to defend human life. They were able to grant that power to government because they possessed it themselves. It naturally resided within them--and always had and always will--by virtue of their unalienable right to life, their unalienable right to save themselves from death at the hands of a violent person or persons. What a great tragedy it would be, if we as citizens, or our government, ever forgot where our government’s just powers come from, if suddenly the government believed it could deny to its citizens their unalienable rights, rights that are not now, nor ever were, theirs to give or take. Remember, dear citizens, God gave you life; the government did not. It was God, your creator, who placed value upon it. So don’t let the government ever tell you that you do not have the right to defend your life by any means whatsoever, or that you must rely solely upon your local police department or other government agencies for your protection. That just isn’t so. If our government, the one created and handed down to us by our freedom-loving ancestors, the one that worked so well until about 60 years ago, can no longer control crime and the proliferation of guns among criminals; if that government cannot ensure and safeguard our right to life, what business does it have denying those of us who are law-abiding citizens the means of defending ourselves on equal terms against criminals? Is it not reasonable to suppose that whenever any government cannot protect its citizens from criminal elements within society that they may revert back to their unalienable right to life as justification for defending themselves? We don’t need the government’s permission to do that. With or without the government’s blessing we possess that right. As Thomas Jefferson wrote, we are “endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights.” Those rights, granted to us by God Himself, cannot be withheld, rescinded or nullified by mere human governments. All we need to possess those rights is the courage to claim them and the willingness to defend them.