The Single Biggest Threat?

Recently during a nuclear summit held in Washington, President Obama said: "The central focus of this nuclear summit is the fact that the single biggest threat to U.S. security, both short term, medium term and long term, would be the possibility of a terrorist organization obtaining a nuclear weapon."

Although I heartily agree that the threat of terrorists obtaining a nuclear device and employing it against a major U.S. city is a very serious one, it certainly is not the most immediate or dire threat facing the U.S. at this time. The single biggest threat facing America right now is the one from within. It is the large and growing number of high-level office holders in Washington, including President Obama, who no longer believe in the U.S. Constitution or the system of government it underpins.

Make no mistake about it, these insidious betrayers, who have clandestinely infiltrated our nation’s very heart and core, constitute America’s deadliest enemies.

We need to remember that a nation is strong, and therefore enjoys a greater level of security, when a majority of its citizens believe strongly in the principles upon which it was founded. The true believers in any political and economic ideology, be it capitalism, socialism, communism or terrorism, are always deeply committed to its continuing success and everlasting survival. On the other hand, when a people and their leaders begin to doubt their own political and economic doctrines, they seriously weaken that nation, making it more vulnerable to destructive influences from within and without.

America was established and built on individual liberty, free enterprise and limited government, principles that once were held in high esteem by all Americans. It prospered and became a mighty nation, the mightiest on earth, by following this unique and formerly vaunted body of tenets.

But now many, including the president, congressional leaders and federal justices, are losing faith in these cherished values that were instilled in us by our wise and courageous forebears. These perverse defectors want to turn us away from our traditional American values that have held us in good stead for so many years and embrace instead the bitter and toxic ideals of collectivism. If they succeed in making these ill-advised changes, they very quickly will turn America into a third-rate nation.

And that, my friends, not international terrorism, is the most critical danger currently facing America. Our highest leaders in Washington, men and women in whom we have entrusted our very lives and futures, are intentionally and maliciously undermining our nation’s strength, and placing us at a potentially fatal disadvantage in a cruel and highly competitive world where only the brave, the diligent and the sturdy survive and prosper.

Let us resolve today to reaffirm our nation’s traditional values, and to put our personal and political houses back in order. And I promise you that if we will do that, no enemy, foreign or domestic, will ever subdue or enslave us.

What Real Freedom Entails

Allow me pose a few questions. How does our government expect to stimulate the econ-omy when it is doing everything within and beyond its power to kill individual initiative? Doesn’t it see that its actions will stymie rather than stimulate the economy? Does our government really believe that our citi-zens will remain bold, aggressive, enterpris-ing and industrious once it has gained the power to arbitrarily transfer much of what they earn and possess to someone else? Is our government really so stupid that it cannot see that these actions will greatly diminish a citizen’s incentive to work hard and make prudent choices?

Ask yourselves this: What drives people to work hard and plan prudently if it is not the hope of improving their condition? And what guarantee will they have that their condition will improve once they have lost the power to use their earnings and accumulated belongings as they see fit?

Are we gullible enough to fall for this nonsense? (I could have employed the barnyard term for “nonsense,” but out of a respect for my readers I chose not to.)

Just because a growing number of misguided fools in Washington think socialism has merit is no reason for us, the sensible working class, to buy into it. In fact, for what it’s worth, I would say their interest in pursuing it is reason enough for staying completely clear of it. After all, does any creature on the planet possess faultier judgment than a politician?

America was largely developed by the people, not by the government. Let us never forget that. The astonishing level of prosperity we have achieved and enjoyed over the years is the result of individual effort and sacrifice. It was not achieved through government control and planning. Ordinary people, all across America, were free to rise or fall based upon their personal abilities and determination. The majority, to one degree or another, survived and prospered. They endured the many uncertainties and hardships associated with pursuing their aspirations and dreams because they believed they, not their timid and idle neighbors, would reap the benefits of their efforts. This demanding process not only produced good and useful citizens, but it made America a great nation as well.

However, if we wish to remain great and to continue flourishing, it is absolutely vital that we remain free. Our citizens must be permitted to retain control over their own lives and destinies, as the founders intended. This will necessitate a dramatic reduction in both the size and power of government, which conversely will place more responsibility upon the shoulders of individual citizens, who no longer will have the luxury of ducking their civic and moral obligations. But that’s what real freedom entails, folks.

As for those among us who refuse to work, I guess they will just have to live off scraps and like it.

Better To Perish Than To Live As Slaves

Some may disagree with what I am about to say, but the fact is, all people, wherever they may reside in the world, have chosen the govern-ment they live under. And it is not a choice made once and for all. Even small choices made over time may substantially alter or destabilize the most firmly established and well balanced govern-ments. Each day citizens may either resist changes to their existing political apparatus, sometimes strongly, or they may simply go along with them. In any event, they are making conscious choices, choices that will lead to a definite outcome.

Consider Germany in the 1930s. During hard economic times and a period of political and social unrest, the people of Germany stood at a crossroads. With a number of alternatives before them, they chose Nazism. Some actively chose it; others, the vast majority, chose it simply by giving in to it. Nevertheless, as a result of these collective choices, the German people opened the way for a charismatic figure, Adolf Hitler, to seize absolute control of their government. And once he had that control firmly vested in his hands, he wasted no time cajoling and bullying the largely decent citizens of Germany down a dangerous and desperate path, a path that ultimately led them to their downfall.

But let us return to the here and now, to the America of 2010. At this very moment, we, the current generation of Americans, are choosing by design or by default the government our children and grandchildren will live under. And it is this government that will determine to a very great extent the level of success, prosperity and personal fulfillment they will experience in their lives.

Though we obviously are not the Germans of the 1930s, there is no reason to suppose that we are any less susceptible to the blandishments of amoral and smooth-talking politicians, especially during difficult and uncertain times.

From a book entitled “As a Man Thinketh,” by James Allen, comes this unusual and thought-provoking quote: “It has been usual for men to think and to say, ‘Many are slaves because one man is an oppressor; let us hate the oppressor.’ Now, however, there is among an increasing few a tendency to reverse this judgment, and to say, ‘One man is an oppressor because many are slaves; let us despise the slaves.’”

I believe strongly that we in America are retreating steadily from our traditional values of independence and self reliance, and are adopting instead the mentality of slaves. More and more we yearn not for liberty, as our ancestors did, but for a life devoid of any real responsibility, a life where thinking for one’s self is largely unnecessary. But have we ever stopped to realize that by exhibiting this despicable behavior we may be inviting an oppressor to step in?

Americans, it is time to wake up! It is time to stop drifting with the current. It is time to begin resisting not only the slave-making policies of our government but our own wishful and impractical thinking. We must forthwith refrain from giving our government any indication whatsoever that we are composed of the material from which slaves can be made. We must let our representatives in Washington know, in no uncertain terms, that we still are proud and defiant Americans, Americans willing to fight for our precious liberties, the ones God granted to us and that were secured for us in our nation’s founding document, the Constitution.

Winston Churchill, no stranger to fighting tyrants, once said: “If you will not fight for right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory is sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.”

Let us hesitate no longer. The time to make a crucial decision has arrived. Let us this very day, this very moment, resolve to resist oppression and choose liberty, as those who went before us did.


"They tell us Sir, that we are weak -- unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs, and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak, if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature has placed in our power." -- Patrick Henry

The Magic of Modern Politics

Everyone knows that the key to a magician’s so-called magic is distract-ing the audience. The magician cleverly draws the audience’s attention elsewhere during the critical moment when the deception is carried out.

Today many of our politicians employ techniques very similar to those used by the world’s greatest magicians. With the full aid and cooperation of the news media, they distract us by vociferously hyping problems--some real, some imaginary--while effectuating the magical disappearance of our God-given rights and freedoms.

They tell us, for example, that the globe is warming and that immediate and extreme measures must be taken to prevent it. Or they engineer a financial meltdown and then rush into law a series of stimulus packages that further weaken and undermine our once powerful and vibrant economy. More recently they have been attempting an unconstitutional takeover of our nation’s health care industry.

Make no mistake about it, each one of these contrived or trumped up “emergencies” is designed for one purpose only--to direct our attention away from their tyrannical ambitions. By creating uncertainty and fear, they convince us that the enactment of questionable and dangerous legislation is absolutely necessary to save our nation and the world.

But ask yourselves this, what are politicians gaining for themselves as they go about forging what they insist will be a better world? Answer: They are gaining control, ever more control. They are steadily removing control from our hands, the people’s hands, and consolidating it into their own.

That, my friends, is the “magic” of modern politics--the magic that currently is being performed daily with great success by such accomplished illusionists as Barack Obama, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi.

While they are distracting us with frightful tales of distant and imaginary catastrophes, and the amateurish antics of lesser bogeymen, these arch villains are looting our nation and its citizens on a scale never before imagined. And what is worse, they are insolently stomping upon and stealing our cherished American freedoms, the freedoms our ancestors gave their blood for.

Don’t let yourselves be taken in any longer by these cunning and ruthless con artists. Get your head someplace where you can see the whole picture.

And by all means do it before it’s too late to take meaningful action!

Make Do

Here in Nevada, as in other states, our annual operating expenses have exceeded our projected tax revenue. I am told we have an $880 million shortfall to overcome.

Realistically there are only three ways to solve this problem: 1) raise taxes, 2) cut expenses, or 3) a combination of the two.

Already some individuals have voiced strong opposition to making cuts. They contend that doing so will undermine and compromise vital services. Perhaps it is only my imagination or a coincidence, but it seems me that some of the loudest cries of protest are coming from the administrators of agencies slated for cuts.

Certainly no one wants to see the level of any truly necessary public service diminished or curtailed. However, we all know that some fat exists in every public agency, fat that accumulated here and there when times were good. No department of government, at any level, is administered so efficiently and economically that waste cannot be found and cut.

With that in mind, I offer the following thoughts to those who oversee and administer departments within our state and local governments.

Stop grumbling and show us why someone once believed you were qualified for the job you now hold. Look to the future, not backwards. Acquire a new perspective. Become an innovator and a motivator. Be the kind of person who can get a lot accomplished with a little. Anyone can manage an organization when there is no shortage of funds or personnel, but only a few, a very talented and select few, can achieve great things when resources are scarce. By complaining, you are merely showing us that you are not one of those special people.

No one is happy with the predicament we currently are in, and there are plenty of theories regarding whose fault it is. But your job, for the time being, at least, is to make do with what you’re given until we can work through these difficult financial times.

If you can do that, you’re worthy of your salary. If you can’t, please stop trying to occupy a space that you obviously don’t have the professional stature to fill.

Photo: Heath E. Morrison, Washoe County School Superintendent

An Overbearing Majority

Suddenly the Presi-dent says he’s will-ing to be-gin work-ing with Republi-cans. At least that’s what he says. We’ll see.

Maybe the public outrage finally became clear enough and loud enough that he decided to begin accepting input from all Americans, as well as all their elected representatives.

Though I may not be as well educated as our President, I thought that listening to all sides was the way it was supposed to be. I find it surprising that a man could rise to the highest elected office in the land and not be privy to that cherished and time-honored principle of fair play.

In America our system of government permits those in the minority to be heard. We are willing to listen to and consider what they have to say. Even the beliefs and views of Republicans must be taken into account when shaping public policy.

But our President was unwilling to do that until the public demanded it. What does that say about the man who currently resides in the White House?

Anytime an effort is made to limit the number of voices that may be heard in a society despotism is being advanced and democracy is being thwarted.

Do we really want a chief executive who has displayed a willingness to stifle open debate, a bedrock principle of democracy? Do we want men and women like that serving in the U.S. Congress?

I don’t think so. We’re Americans, not Russians or Chinese. Here in America, we the people like to be consulted when major changes are being contemplated. And we want our representatives in Congress to be permitted to represent us--fully and openly. Should not the voice of any and every duly elected representative be heard, including Republicans? Do they not, after all, represent American citizens?

Barack Obama and his cohorts in Congress were trying to rush health care reform into law before any significant objections could be made. That was wrong. It is not the way we Americans conduct our political business.

Hopefully the recent and despicable activities of Barack Obama, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi have once again reminded Americans that what James Madison called an “overbearing majority” can be every bit as dangerous as an overbearing king.

And I hope too that we have been shaken back into the firm knowledge that we are the ultimate watchdogs of our government, and that we must remain ever on the job.

A Precious Resource

A baby is born some-where in America. In this case, we will say it is a girl.

When she arrives, there is no warm or enthusi-astic welcome. She hears no comforting words. Her needs are largely ignored.

As she grows, she receives no positive attention. She receives no sincere help or encouragement. She is made to feel as though she is nothing but trouble, a tiresome burden.

In due time this baby girl reaches maturity and has a child of her own. In attempting to rear this child, the new mother has only her own hollow and discouraging experiences to draw upon, leaving her with little to offer her helpless and needy child.

Another valuable and promising human being is about to be wasted. Another small but indispensable element of society is about to be lost.

Do we not see that this must stop?

Every child in America is precious, a resource we can ill afford to toss aside. Each one must be lovingly nurtured and properly cared for. Each one must be developed to his or her fullest and highest potential. If we fail to do this, one day we will have only dysfunctional people in this country. And dysfunctional people can’t run a great nation. We already as seeing ample evidence of that.

Clearly the job of cultivating and developing a child falls primarily and naturally to its parents and its extended family. No one is in a better position to help a child, nor is anyone better suited for the task.

If you are a parent, a grandparent, an aunt, an uncle, or even a neighbor, start looking for ways you can help make a child’s life brighter and more hopeful.

We must see to it that every child in this country is placed upon a path aimed at making him or her a confident and capable human being, a human being that will be an asset to society rather than a liability.