The Jeep: A War-Winning Machine

Let’s take a break from the dreary world of politics for a moment and turn our atten-tion to a brighter and more hopeful topic--Jeeps. Not Cherokees or Liberties, but real Jeeps--the ones you can remove the top from and lay the windshield down; the ones that put bugs in your teeth and mud in your eyes.

For many months now I have been scrupulously monitoring such network news luminaries as Brian Williams, Diane Sawyer and Katie Couric, and nary a word, pro or con, has crossed their lips concerning Jeeps. I don’t know about you, but this glaring omission makes me more than just a little suspicious. Why, I keep asking myself, are they withholding information about Jeeps? What do they expect to gain by pretending these beloved and sporty little vehicles don’t exist?

But let us not waste our time today becoming hopelessly mired in bottomless questions and fathomless mysteries. Let us, instead, be practical. Let us do what we, as honest Americans, can do. Let us begin filling that conspicuous and gaping void created by our illustrious colleagues in New York who labor mightily each day to bemuse and befuddle us.

The brawny and sprightly Jeep traces its noble origins to a portentous time when the industrialized nations of the world were arming madly for war--a conflagration that ultimately came to be called World War II. The U.S. Army, acutely aware of the mounting danger, put out a request for a light reconnaissance vehicle. Three automakers--Ford, Willys and Bantam--submitted prototypes for evaluation. Following a period of intense scrutiny and rigorous testing, the Willys design was adopted, and thus the diminutive but mighty Jeep was born. It’s arrival came not a moment too soon, for on December 7, 1941, the United States was suddenly and unequivocally swept into the unfolding global conflict.

In its first incarnation, the Jeep came in but one color--olive drab; nevertheless G.I.’s around the world fell instantly in love with it. It possessed a striking and rugged beauty few men could resist. It soon was the American fighting man’s most cherished and faithful companion.

The Jeep served gallantly on every front of the war and was an invaluable component of the Allies’ vast war effort. The need for them eventually grew so great, in fact, that Ford was called upon to assist Willys in their production. Following the war, General Eisenhower praised the Jeep as one of three implements without which the war could not have been won. This salute from a widely respected general secured forever the Jeep’s reputation as a war-winning machine.

Fortunately for the Jeep and all the rest of us, its career did not end when victory came. Indeed, it made a speedy and effortless transition to civilian life. It went directly to work assisting farmers and ranchers, geologists and miners, surveyors and road builders, campers and hunters. It could be found anyplace ruggedness, fidelity and pluck were required in a vehicle.

The first nonmilitary version of the Jeep, which appeared immediately following the war, was designated the CJ-2A. Since its debut, the civilian Jeep has undergone a number of alterations, upgrades and refinements, many decried by today’s purists. Nevertheless, the fundamental elements that comprised the heart and soul of those original olive drab beauties still reside in the Jeep’s latest variant--the Wrangler.

Of the nearly 650,000 Jeeps produced by Willys and Ford during World War II, only a handful remain today, each one a tangible link to a tumultuous period in our nation’s history, a time of feverish activity and great danger, a time when all Americans stood tall and united against the barbarous forces of tyranny.

So remember. Even though they don’t always get the attention they deserve, Jeeps do exist. And they continue to elicit respect, joy and wonderment in all of us who still can appreciate indomitable strength, unwavering steadiness and simple beauty.

Spreading the Wealth

A fallacy being perpet-uated by President Obama is that our nation’s wealth isn’t being spread around properly. (Remember his comment to “Joe the Plumber?”) Apparently the president thinks it is unfair that the people who are willing to work live more comfortably than those who are unwilling to work. Therefore, he believes the government should step in and even things out.

But the fact is, the nation’s wealth already is being spread around quite effectively. Each day working Americans earn a share of our country’s wealth, and each day they pass a portion of that wealth on to others. Not a day goes by that purchases aren’t made and services paid for. Even the rich, though despised and vilified by liberals, participate fully in this daily process. In fact, because they earn more, they generally spend more. Money is being briskly exchanged all the time in this country; it doesn’t just sit around idle.

So what is it that the president is objecting to? Quite simply, he is displeased about who controls the process. What displeases him is that the people who earn the wealth get to decide where it goes after they earn it. He doesn’t like that.

Here is what he would like to see happen instead. He wants all the nation’s wealth to flow unimpeded to the federal government so bureaucrats under his charge and control may distribute it as he sees fit. Why? Because he believes his judgment is superior to ours. Elitists, you see, always think they--and they alone--know what is right. And President Obama is an elitist, through and through.

But remember this: Our nation was founded on principles aimed at maximizing individual freedom while limiting the powers of government. What Barack Obama and others refer to as “spreading the wealth” is simply a ruse for taking power and control away from the people and consolidating it into the hands of government. This is contrary to our founding principles and therefore is WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!

Think about it. Only the shiftless and indolent are dissatisfied with the manner in which wealth is spread in this country. They complain that the nation’s wealth isn’t reaching them; but if they refuse to place themselves along the path of that wealth as it is flowing by, how do they realistically expect to acquire a share of it? All the rest of us know and understand that we must get out of bed in the morning and drive to a place where money can be earned--and spend the entire day there. Sure it’s inconvenient, but we don’t expect to draw water from the river unless we’re willing to go down to the river’s edge everyday and get our shoes muddy.

When it comes to his position on “spreading the wealth,” the president is brashly displaying his true colors, and they are not red, white and blue. How could any real American, least of all the president, believe it is in the best interest of our country to be encouraging those who refuse to work to harbor resentment towards those who are willing to work. And certainly the president, the nation’s highest political leader, shouldn’t be encouraging those who won’t work to believe that our economic system, the free enterprise system, is fundamentally unfair. That system is NOT unfair! It only seems that way to people who aren’t enterprising.

Bottom line: The president is pitting the working class against the nonworking class, and is promoting and lending respectability to a lie, solely for the purpose of gaining power. Barack Obama is not content with being president, he wants to be an emperor, a ruler unencumbered by restraints.

We can no longer afford to be complacent. If we don’t act fast and assert our Constitutional rights as free men and women, the president, you can be sure, will get his promotion.

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