We live in a pluralistic society.  It seems so many people won’t agree that there is a right or wrong way to do things. Society can’t exist without recognizing the contrasting nature of on and off, right and wrong and that some things fall outside of those extremes and are open to personal style or opinion.

I’ve heard so many people denounce another person’s arguments with “you are misinformed”, as if the person in possession of the greatest amount of data is somehow superior.  Our current president has spoken this way about his own electorate (or at leas the part that doesn’t agree with him)  If you can’t separate that data and glean facts from chafe all the data you can accumulate is worthless.  Many people don’t even make an effort to collect data and let other people spoon feed them; that much is true, but its not simply enough to be informed, we must be properly informed.

I see our society becoming less intellectual, more base and more savage with every year that passes in my life.  There was a time in this country that the poor were more often than not poor due to lack of education, yet they had a moral integrity and work ethic that was unsurpassed.  Now we see a poorer class that many times parallels the entitlement class.  The entitlement class survives on handouts and will go to amazing lengths to maximize the handouts they receive. (the welfare mother who keeps having children to get a larger check, the person who doesn’t look for a job so they can stay on unemployment, the litigious people in society who job the system to get an easy living, etc.).  Yet on the opposite end of the spectrum we have the so called “upper class” in this country.  Somewhere along the line the gentry of our society has changed from being the bold, ethical, well educated people who improved society to those who make the most money and have the best toys.  Aren’t these two classes the same though?  The “lower” class is a slave of handouts and the “upper” class is a slave of participating in some game that brings no true meaning to its life.

Americans for the most part are disengaged and are unappreciative of their voting power and freedoms, there is no doubt about this due to the numbers of people who go to the polls every year.  Even if everyone would go to the polls there is a hidden danger in the type of engagement that Americans can exercise though.  Our country is a Republic and our government perseveres through representation, but when those who are represented figure out that they can, by mob rule sway policy to increase their own position our gov’t becomes a Democracy, then Democracy always fails.  We see this frequently when you have a disengaged populace and a few engaged special interest groups.  Many of the labor unions sway voting members to vote to increase their own position at the expense of the rest of the populace.  It’s sad that this happens because there is a place for the labor union to protect the basic rights of workers when the government hasn’t the power to police them, yet once again where are the people wise enough to enact this control in society?

It seems mankind rarely takes the middle road of informed decision.  It seems that throughout history mankind has to achieve a pinball effect with regards to decisions, bouncing from one extreme to another, feeling every smack and wallop along the path.

Socialism deserves scorn.  Socialism is a wreck of a societal experiment that simply can’t work because it goes against some of the best common sense man has ever realized; that no one should have to work who doesn’t get something in return, or if they do work for no return it should be of their own accord.  This is one of the most basic premises of our Bill of Rights, a document of which has no equal in the political world and fashioned the greatness of our country.

Socialism is the bane of capitalism.  Capitalism properly orchestrated can achieve many of the dreams of the Bill of Rights, but the problem isn’t just one of socialism, because capitalism in and of itself has no higher motivating factor other than greed.  The problem is a deeper one and its present wherever humankind stoops to base motives.  The problem is present where men act like animals and let their sensual desires control them and consume them.  Right now this country is completely controlled by greed, misdirected ambition, irresponsibility and lusts of all manner and degree.

If our society wishes to first recognize there is a high road, then take it, perhaps then we can regain some of what Ronald Reagan referred to as a “City Upon a Hill”, but wait, before we fully attribute that ideal to Reagan, we should look a bit further and realize that Reagan was borrowing a much wiser person’s statements:

Matthew 5:14 – “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden”

There is nothing wrong with being that shining city on a hill…. nothing at all, but it is something that won’t be achieved through litigation, greed, irresponsibility or entitlement and the problem is that right now America is still a city on a hill, but its not shining anymore.  The stench of corruption and the whoredom in the streets is in plain sight for the entire world to see and its quite despicable.

Can we restore America’s greatness without destroying her culture?  We recognize the question; can we restore America to past grandeur without changing it to the point that its unrecognizable? I’d say the question is probably asked because those who ask it think the damage is too great to be undone.

I would say, yes we can restore America and we can do it without changing our culture.  However its worth noting that America has many subcultures, and the prevalent one must be destroyed if America ever has any hope of surviving.  The culture that has grown from the late 70′s till now isn’t America’s true culture.  I see the culture of America as having been formed in the mid 1800s, after the Civil War, during the Depression, it was during the hard times, times that built character that our country’s culture was truly formed…. there are people throughout this world who have been touched by our country’s benevolence and love, who remember that culture, many of us profit from the things that culture produced on a daily basis… but this more recent culture of excess, ignorance and irresponsibility is fairly new, certainly not a culture worth keeping and it must be destroyed to restore America.

I love my country and I do believe it has the resources, mentality and power to bring about good in the world, but that is only because at one time its citizenry followed a higher calling and recognized a higher power that guided them in their lives.  Our leaders need to surround themselves with wise people… not people with knowledge, but people who understand the world and why we are here, that is the definition of wisdom.  Only then will our country right itself.  You and I and everyone should surround ourselves with wise people who can lead us and give us advice that we can use to direct our own paths… but look at how many people surround themselves with fools on a daily basis (everytime a person spends hours of their day inertly watching television are they not in essence surrounding themselves with fools, considering the substance of television nowadays?)

“He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed.” Proverbs 13:20

I don’t think any political ideal or social ideal can change society for the better.  The only thing I’ve ever seen that can truly change society for the better is love.  Yes capitalism can change society in and of itself… it can make our lives easier but if it isn’t tempered with self control and love you see the product of that capitalism become fat, lazy and irresponsible.

A public school servant here in our county school system once said “we were so worried about giving our children what we didn’t have we didn’t give them what we had”

That statement is a perfect description of what is wrong with America right now.  The current generation thinks life is about accumulating toys, sad because generations past didn’t have mountains of toys when they were actually children and they did just fine.  Now we start our children off young with a room for their toys, how can we expect them to do anything besides devote their lives to stockpiling them when they get older?  We don’t teach our children the basic ways to live, how to take care of themselves.  We Americans show our children how to job the system to make it take care of us.  America was built on the backs of the poor, the rich and the struggling who all had a common thread throughout their lives, they were inventive and they had a pioneer spirit.  They didn’t need anyone to take care of them physically.  They took care of themselves and the rest was left up to God.  Where is that spirit here in the year of our Lord, 2010?

And why do you worry about material things? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not struggle and work to create material things. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor had garments like one of these. If that is how God clothes the flowers in the field, which is only on Earth for a short time, imagine how much grander you’ll be clothed, O you of little faith? – Matthew 6:28-30 (paraphrased)

The capitalist dream produces a system where the masses work long hours for a paycheck, let the state raise their kids, eat food that is horrible for them because they don’t have the initiative to provide good food for themselves and plop in front of a TV that massages the mush between their ears for hours a day are missing out on the dream their forefathers had.  Life is more than corporate slogans and ad campaigns, life is more than American Idol and Big Macs, life is more than going to a warehouse to buy something that should be in a country store and honestly you shouldn’t be able to go to your local town and get anything you want whenever you want it.  Yes the capitalist dream gives us all the leisure time and wants we desire (when we aren’t working long hours) but what is it all for?

On the other hand the socialistic dream produces some assisted living a government can steal from the masses and spoonfeed to everyone as it sees fit, life is more than a collection of uppity pinheads trying to tell you what you can and can’t do.  Life is full of mistakes and uncertainty and the mountains of insurance bills and lawyer fees we pay will never change it.  Our lives should not be led by people who are on the same plane that we are on.  We should be free.

We can restore America but we need to realize that the American tradition isn’t set it stone but some of the ideals our forefathers had were timeless.  The larger issue is the pluralism that has steer our passions into fighting for a Capitalist cause or a Socialist cause that ultimately make us a slave to the same master.  Even though we should respect our forefathers and give them honor for discovering the American ideal, we must take it a step further and look beyond the words they wrote and discover where those ideals came from.  We are beings that were created for a purpose, we were created with a higher calling.  We were obviously designed in the likeness of something that was higher than an animal.  Because of this origin we are not robots and we aren’t slaves to our instincts or base desires.  We have been granted life, we should be free and we should be able to pursue our happiness… since we all begin on a level playing field and end on a level playing field what right has any man or group of men to tell us otherwise?  The only one who could ever be above this or outside of this system is our creator, God.

America has had its ups and downs in its short and tumultuous history… we must change our path, but I don’t care if the new path we take leads us away from debt, irresponsibility, Walmart, MacDonalds, Lehman Brothers or Fannie Mae, Medicare and Obama’s Healthcare plan…. those are the extremes in that pinball machine I spoke of earlier.  That is a culture that deserves to be destroyed.  America has destroyed other cultures before.  We destroyed a culture of Southern Antebellum elitism, we destroyed a culture of segregation, we destroyed a culture of robber baronism.  I hope our future path takes us to places that are tempered by an understanding of who we are, why we are here and what we should be doing… I hope that the extremes we have experienced in the past can be lessened… I hope that we can weigh our decisions better and remove the animalistic nature thats crept into our society and create a culture that glorifies our creator and extends a helping hand to our fellow man.  When we reach that point we will have found a culture that is worth being proud of.

There is an entire industry devoted to scare tactics and lobbying for the express purpose of perpetuity.  We see it every day with politicians in America such as Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson who live off of extortion on the false premise of racism or hate in workplaces, industries and businesses.  These men are jackals who prey on honest people so they don’t have to do an honest days work.  The climate change movement is no different, the only catch is climate change hasn’t been made legitimate yet.  Racism and hate have been codifed into law and have an intrinsic economic value to them, which is why the Rainbow Push tries to capitalize on them, the point of Copenhagen is to demonize excess CO2 to the point that legislation can be enacted that makes regulation profitable.  There is no man-made climate change.  CO2 is a gas that is crucial to life!

There are billions and billions of dollars at stake here.  The jobs of countless individuals who have devoted their lives to falsehood are at stake.  Do you think these people will go down without a fight?  The freezing temperatures, the hacked data from Climategate, the tens of thousands of scientists who deny man-made global warming have no effect on the fanaticism of the zealots protesting outside.  Just look at the cheerleaders protesting outside and that will tell you nearly all you need to know.  The people protesting outside aren’t family men and women.  They aren’t blue collar people who eat the dust of the earth so other people can live.  The people outside don’t believe in free markets, the bill of rights and governments without oppression.  The people protesting outside are idealists who have a complete disconnect with reality.  Pick a dystopian movie such as Equilibrium, 1984, Gattica… pick a dystopian book such as Animal Farm… or look at the history of Nazi Germany, the British occupation before 1776 and you’ll see the same people.  Mindless people who have been brainwashed by an ideal that isn’t based in reality.  They worship at the altar of lies of manmade utopia.  Though the real problem is with the proetestors, the real issue is with the scientists who knowingly misrepresent the data.  The real issue is with the politicians who see a profit to be made.  The real issue is with leaders who are willing to destroy entire economies and destroy lives in the process.  The major problem is with American politicians who would pass legislation such as cap and trade, knowing full well its effect on US GDP, the pocket book of working American families and the hardships it will place on our energy industry which we all use and benefit from.  These are the scum of the Earth, those who are simply “false” in all their actions.  The protesting zealots can be forgiven for their ignorance, but the ones who disregard the freedom and enterprise of their fellow man, who actually have the power to change lives are the true terror in this equation. 

The Copenhagen Climate Summit is stupid because at the root of the matter the world is experiencing tyranny to a large degree.  America, which once was a bastion of free market principles, free enterprise and free expression now has oppressive taxation, worthless representation and no voice of accountability in the mass media.   Poor people don’t care about the climate (nor should they, survival and human life is much more important)… if these leaders had any sense they would be encouraging freedom and free market principles which would raise the standard of living for people in all these represented countries and then when those people weren’t breaking their backs working or just scraping by… in their leisure time they could worry about luxuries such as hybrid cars, tankless water heaters, more energy efficient houses and all that jazz… as I said before, poor people could care less about the environment and I don’t blame them.  You want to make the world more green… start with freedom, which leads to greenbacks, which leads to a “greener” planet.  You cannot force people to live in the past to try and advance the future, it simply does not work.  But we aren’t stupid, the Copenhagen Climate summit is stupid, so there must be another reason and it can be found in the tyranny of the “leaders” who are in attendance there.

Poor people don’t care about the climate (nor should they, survival and human life is much more important)… if these idiots had any sense they be encourage freedom and free market principles which would raise the standard of living for people in all these represented countries and then when those people weren’t breaking their backs working or just scraping by… in their leisure time they could worry about luxuries such as hybrid cars, tankless water heaters, more energy efficient houses and all that jazz… as I said before, poor people could care less about the environment and I don’t blame them.  You want to make the world more green… start with freedom, which leads to greenbacks, which leads to a “greener” planet.

Accountability is a vital part of any scenario’s success.  Take these scenarios for example:

Christian men are currently in a fight against divorce, being responsible fathers and staying away from substance abuse and pornography.  Sounds pretty bad huh?  Its not like the Christian man is any different as far as temptation is concerned than those who don’t choose to live by the virtues of Christ.  The difference is that Christian men try to set themselves apart from some things things those who aren’t Christian deem “appropriate”.  Pastors and leaders in the Church have found that accountability is one of the most powerful concepts there is that can keep men true to Christ and Christ’s way of life.  Accountability is a frequent topic in study groups, small groups and Christian literature and this is for a good reason; it works.  Accountability forces men to have a personal connection, to have communication and it keeps them honest.

Sports have always stressed accountability.  Football and basketball coaches, soccer coaches and every other sport in between consider accountability to your teammates as an utmost necessity.  If you don’t recognize your teammates as an integral piece in your formula for success you cannot win the big games.  All for one and one for all might have been the three musketeers chant but its very relevant in sports.  Many times assists are looked at as favorably as three pointers in basketball and the man who makes good blocks is just as important as the running back in football.

Human resource officers and other business leaders frequently tout the importance of accountability in the workplace.  Whether you are a lineman watching out for your buddy while he works on high power electrical lines, a miner always making sure your co-workers make it out of the mine, or an accountant making sure you follow IRS guidelines to assure your client is keeping the most assets they can, accountability is of utmost importance in the workplace.

The military is perhaps one of the greatest voices of accountability.  Who has a greater level of accountability than the soldier who fights with his fellow soldier on the front line day in and day out?  The Marines never leave their own behind.  The military chain of command when exercised properly is a beauty to behold and the underlying accountability in the execution of a breech exercise is frightening in its efficiency.

With the importance of accountability firmly established, why is it some of the most important people in our nation get a pass on accountability?  Our congress which is bound by the Constitution of the United States of America, should ultimately be accountable to the people whom it represents, yet time and time again we see that these men and women, our representatives, cast votes that are totally unaccountable.  Our Presidents who make countless promises during their election campaigning can go about their merry way and never have to worry about being held accountable to the statements they made.  Who are they being accountable to if not us?  Are they being accountable to their own ideals, campaign supporters money, lobbyists, possibly foreign interests?  The list can go on and on and it is obvious with continually accelerating taxes, more regulations and less life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness that accountability to “we the people” is simply not there!

Who is to blame in this?  I believe its the mainstream media that is the great equalizer in this equation.  Does the media understand it is the double-edged sword that can swing both ways?  The media can swing to the left or the right and it should frequently do so.  The media should attack opponents of accountability but for the most part we see in these dark times that the media is the most un-accountable group there is.  The media seems to be completely biased towards one point of view.  There is no accountability to uphold the truth, it seems that the media mainly wants to uphold an agenda.  Accountability cannot come solely from the people.  We can vote people in and out but accountability must keep them true to their words when they finally fill into the voting assembly.  The media is the great equalizer because they can identify the lack or sustenance of accountability, but even then there must be a deeper accountability that is fashioned by ethics and morality and that must have a solid basis.

Accountability is really what the Bill of Rights was all about.  We were accountable to our fellow man, we were accountable to God and our representatives were accountable to us…. but what we see happening in this country is that a new Bill of Indulgences has been penned that has replaced the sacred documents of our forefathers where we are accountable to no-one, everyone owes us something and we are the creator of our own reality.  This is a sad path we are going down and without accountability in all levels of our society there is no way we can persist.

Why can’t we have an AMERICAN group of soldiers?  GI Joe has always been about OUR troops, blowing up everybody else…. why does the global peacekeeping force have to get involved?  Whats so wrong with our boys and girls putting a half nelson on the global opposition.  Maybe Michelle Obama should have been in the movie at some point saying “with this global task force this is the first time I’ve ever been proud of my country”.  Sniff, sniff, gimme a break!

Somebody give me some money and I’ll make a real movie… I’m sick of this junk!  I’d make a GI JOE that has AMERICANS, shooting lots of LASER BEAMs, BLOWING UP LOTS OF STUFF, the good ole fashioned way with lots of sweat, blood and superior incendiary and conventional firepower!  Oh yeah, Cobra Commander would sound like a screaming MANIAC instead of Darth Vader too!  After the Joes wiped out the Commies and the Nazis they’d drive back to base in their DETROIT made off-road trucks, sit down and watch some BASEBALL and eat some APPLE PIE… do you get the picture?  

There were flashes of brilliance in the movie…. Scarlet’s crossbow was pretty cool, Destro before he became Destro was pretty cool, the Nighhawk looked nice but for the most part this movie was garbage.  I’ve went off on this movie in front of some folks and they’ve said “its about entertainment”….. nope this was about marketing.  Market this cliche ridden waste of an hour to as many countries as possible!

They should have really played up the stereotypes of the Joes…. Matthew McWhateverhisnameis could have been “Rock and Roll” the wildman from Texas, Jesse Ventura could have been “Gung Ho”, Tom Berenger could have been ”Duke”, maybe have Chuck Norris as “Hawk”, you know they should have gotten guys that might have been soldiers in the process… and what’s up with all this namby pamby taekwando, sissy, flying-through-the-air fighting?  It was bad enough when the robots were doing kung fu in transformers (50 foot tall robots that weigh a zillion pounds doing kung fu!?!?!), but now the elite fighting people of the world are doing it… cmon!  Why aren’t the Joes doing Krav Maga or using the Marines CBQ fighting system?  I want to see soldiers knocking out spleens and crushing in temples… not watching some ballet that features wanna-be dance kung fu wimps trying to see how high they can make their kicks go!

And the major issue I have with the movie….. OOOOOOHHHH we have some stone cold killers that kill at a whim…. OOOOHHH thats so scary!  Storm Shadow walks in and blasts some guy in the particle accelerator (that looks more like a disco tech to me!) and I guess we are supposed to think he is the baddest guy on the planet.  And COBRA COMMANDER…. some scroungy looking guy showed him his crappy lab and nano-tech ideas in some hovel in East Africa so he decides to become a complete fruitcake… can you say PLOT HOLE!

Why does Cobra Commander talk like Darth Vader when he puts on his metal skull-looking face mask anyway?  Are they trying to cash in on the Star Wars craze or something?  Why does every bad guy have to have a low voice anyway… the cartoon Cobra Commander was much better… he went freakin crazy at the drop of a hat and was screaming like a maniac all the time… fact was he was a MANIAC… thats a lot more scary then somebody in a metal skull mask that has a fake low voice. 

So I give GI Joe The Rise of Cobra two thumbs down.  This movie couldn’t figure out if it wanted to seem realistic or be campy… the director should have watched Ironman or the original Spiderman…. maybe something would have rubbed off.

Thanksgiving is a great holiday and there IS a lot to be thankful for.  I thought I’d take a minute out of the day to come up with a short list.

Our Universe – its huge and awesome and it works in a way that allows us to live… if the sun weren’t aligned the way it was we’d be screwed, if planets and comets didn’t go on their paths we’d be screwed, but they all do work and don’t let some knucklehead scientists make you think we have any control over what they are doing because we don’t!

Our Planet – Earth is the only planet like it.  We’ve never found intelligent life anywhere else.  Earth is amazing with its climate, its temperature, its water and its beauty.  Appreciate how amazing this place is.  Isn’t it nice that the sun comes up in the morning and goes down at night?  Aren’t you glad you don’t have to worry about making it do that?  You don’t have to set that each day like you do your alarm clock…. pretty nice huh?  What about rain…. its nice that it rains on the plants so they’ll make oxygen and let you breath…. pretty cool huh?

The United States – the US is still a wonderful country, no matter how your college professors, media, Hollywood or anyone else makes you feel about it…. our country has a great history filled with strife and pain but also filled with awesome stories of perseverance and hope.  We have abundant natural resources, plenty of space to stretch out, we have the Grand Canyon, the Rocky Mountains, Mammoth Cave.  We have all the different dialects, sub-cultures, music, food and everything else that makes us unique.  We have lots of American success stories, we’ve produced some pretty cool people like Ronald Reagan, Elvis Presley, Roy Rogers, Mark Twain, Teddy Roosevelt, Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, we’ve made the Colt pistol, Remington firearms, the snuggie, Chuck Norris, Clint Eastwood, the Duke, bluegrass music, the cheeseburger, the Chevy Camaro, Ford trucks, basketball, football, the nuclear bomb and all kinds of other cool things.

The Constitution of the United States of America – We have a unique constitution.  Before it was created the world had never seen anything like it.  Our country was built on freedom of thought, freedom of expression… with no fear of oppression.  Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness…. religious freedom, freedom of speech, freedom of thought all with goodwill towards our fellow man.  The Bill of Rights has no parallel.  A lot of people died so you wouldn’t have to live under oppression and most of us aren’t worth spit compared to our ancestors that built this country.  How about we turn off the danged TV, read to our kids, raise them with some danged values and make our dead ancestors proud.  It’d be a shame if all the great folks before us died in vain.

Our Armed Forces – whether you agree with where they are at or who sent them there they are doing a job many of us don’t have the cahones to do.  They are serving and doing what they think is right.  They have freed countries from oppression and they have justly killed people who act like cowards…. killing innocents and hiding among children as human shields.  As Americans we’ve went places that no one had the resources to go.  Americans defended France, defended the UK, we’ve defended Bosnians, Serbians, Vietnamese, Iraqis and Afghanis.  War is hell and a lot of bad things have happened in the process but good has come from it as well.  In the middle of it are the young men and women who serve their countrymen and the risk of losing their life.  Don’t EVER bad-mouth them.  Always thank them for their service and their sacrifice.

Our Leaders – we have many leaders who deserve our thanks and we should be thankful for them.  Whether its a sergeant we served under, a teacher who taught us, a police officer who caught us before it was too late, a parent who raised us right…. whoever it was we should be thankful for our leaders, that there are people willing to devote their time to enrich someone’s life other than their own.

Things may be rough for you right now… you might be close to losing your home, or you may have lost it…. might be between jobs… or you may be okay, heck in this country you might be receiving a bonus right now?  In America you’ll have the chance to work hard and probably get it back if you are struggling right now and if you are doing okay you might be able to keep some of it.  You don’t have to worry about the secret police hauling you off because of your political views , you don’t have to worry about some soldiers shacking up in your house and eating your food or getting to know your wife personally like some soldiers in some war-torn countries do.  You don’t have to worry about the government telling you your female baby has to die like the Chinese tell mothers and fathers every day.  You don’t have to worry about famine, disease (H1N1 is nothing compared to the African AIDs epidemic, or malaria outbreaks, or yellow fever outbreaks), you don’t have to worry about civil unrest, or oppression.  Yeah taxes are getting a little oppressive, most politicians are completely and utterly worthless, but normally when that stuff starts to happen America has a way of resetting itself.  We live in a pretty darn good place.  You can come and go as you please, you can own a gun to oppose a corrupt gov’t if needs be, you can plant a garden…. you don’t have to be rationed food in some line, you can speak your mind, you can do all kinds of things if you set your mind to it and work hard.

Be thankful…. turn off Facebook, turn off your computer and laugh with your family this weekend.  Enjoy the food you’ll prepare and buy…. eat it and cherish the times the good Lord has given you with your loved ones.  You never know when you’ll get more…. evil men might take control of this country…. freedom might disappear to the sound of thunderous applause… but right now, act like those Pilgrims that gave thanks after surviving a harsh winter.  Find something to be thankful for and find someone to give thanks to.  Enjoy life because you only get one go at it.

so this will be my prayer on Thanksgiving day… I hope you’ll pray it too.

Lord God in heaven, thank you for giving us life, thank you for giving us the ability to love, giving us the ability to make art, thank you for song and dance and all the other things you have put in us that separate us from the rest of your creation.  Thank you God for giving us relative peace in a time of conflict.  Thank you for giving places where we can live and work that are free from crime, hatred and oppression.  Thank you for our families, our parents, our leaders and the people that work hard every day and never complain.  Let us always try to be better people, let us try to follow Christ and love others as we would want to be loved.  Be with those of us who can’t be around the Thanksgiving table.  Be with those who are trying to free other people in this world from oppression in Afghanistan and Iraq… let us be ambassadors in this world, let us be unafraid of those who seek to terrify others.  Lord be with our country and let us be responsible.  Let us be good stewards of your Earth, let us be good stewards with the possessions you have given us.  Let us be liberal with joy, love and peace and let us be conservative in our obedience to you.  Let us stand up and be strong men and women and do our duty as children, parents, grandparents, family and neighbors.  Let us give no one a reason to hate us.  Let us be respectable.  Once again Lord thank you for giving us life.

We are currently experiencing a massive government failure.  Our government is seeking to misrepresent the people whom it serves and it is greatly overstepping the boundaries our forefathers put in place.

The government is overstepping its boundaries in several key areas:

1. Economic legislation
2. Blurring the definition of the role of government
3. Circumventing the system of checks and balances
4. Misrepresentation

Economic Legislation

Our economic system is based upon free market principles and it has thrived because government has stayed out of its way.  Capitalism works.  Michael Moore can make as many asinine movies as he wants about the evils of capitalism but the truth is that capitalism has given us the standard of living we experience today and it has given us many of the freedoms we experience today.  Capitalism is a just economic system.  It doesn’t bother itself with bribes, intrusion or special interests.  Capitalism only bothers itself with supply, demand and competition.  It can be demonstrated time and time again that  excess comes into play in places where the government has intruded and circumvented the capitalist system.  Every time government injects money or restricts money through legislation the free market has to compensate somehow.  Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is a wonderful example of an intrusion that has created injustice where the free market system would have otherwise been just.  In a free market economy, people who had no business buying homes would never have been able to buy homes.  This is perfectly just and fair.  They could have waited to buy homes, our constitution never says owning a home is a right.  Why is this?  A right that is perpetuated that is NOT an inalienable right will become an injustice to someone.   Because of government intrusion into a private market the entire free market system was circumvented.  The free market was forced to loan money to people who could not pay it back.  Due to demand being over-inflated home prices inflated and then when what was going out didn’t equal what was going in and everything crashed.  Now those who were responsible are penalized by a faltering economy.  Those who were irresponsible are “bailed out” and the system is worse off than before.  Any fool can see why this happened if they bother to look.  President Clinton ushered in legislation that forced lenders to lend to people who were incapable of owning a home.  This legislation was an affront to the Bill of Rights.   Barney Frank and Chris Dodd played a large part in irresponsibly managing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  These are the facts and many people don’t realize that the government is currently trying to perpetuate and resurrect this unjust, irresponsible market intrusion.  This is an example of economic legislation that feeds massive government failure.

Blurring the Definition of the role of Government

Our government is not supposed to own businesses.  This is a tenant of fascism.  If a government owns or has a large decision making position in business it will ultimately lead to corruption in that business or cronyism.  This is common sense.  The government will eventually seek to make its business more powerful or more profitable, or the individuals who are in the private areas of that business will learn that they can manipulate government with their position.  We see this every day in Washington DC with lobbyists.  A wonderful example is that of ADM (Archer Daniel’s Midland) who has been able to get their corn syrup into practically all of our food stuffs.  They have done this through lobbying congress to place stiff tariffs on sugar imports and coercing the FDA to deal in a lax manner on the harmful effects of their corn syrup.  The corn growers lobby is huge and this is all perpetuated under the guise of “helping our farmers” but as you can see from our enormous obesity rate its decreased the quality of our food network and hurt our nation by forcing us to receive an inferior product to benefit a select group of people and a private business.

Lobbying is the more tame part of the equation though.  The real damage is done by the recent actions our government has taken in acquiring GM.  This is a massive blurring in the definition of government.  Our government now owns a major manufacturing network.  This is an infringement upon the free automotive market, it is a massive labor union power grab, and honestly if you look at the path to oppression, the government now has an entire manufacturing system with which it could produce its own weapons of war with.  If the government were to become oppressive it would need to have its own army that answers to it and it would need to make its own weapons (because no private contractor would serve it).  The government now has half of that equation.

The worst blurring of the role of government would be in the realm of healthcare.  The nation is in an uproar because the government, an entity which has proven it’s inempt, irresponsible and corrupt, wants to control the nations well-being.  This is a horrible intrusion into the public sector.  Government should never have a say in our well-being and our constitution does not guarantee our well-being, nor should it.  Our Bill of Rights guarantees us life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  A government run healthcare system would necessarily remove liberty in making healthcare choices, it could possibly remove life for the elderly or for those with terminal illnesses because their financial burden would be too large of a cost and it would certainly remove the pursuit of happiness.  There is no guarantee that we won’t be sick in the constitution and honestly there is no way to enforce that guarantee.  Anyone who says they can accomplish this would be a liar.

Circumventing the system of checks and balances

Our executive branch is currently circumventing our governments system of checks and balances.  With the creation of over 30 “czar” positions the executive branch has made it possible to usher in people into positions of power who have not been vetted and who do not represent the people of the United States of America.  These people do not serve you, they only serve the executive branch.  This is a horrible affront to our constitution and our way of life.  Van Jones resignation was a small victory in the battle against this new corruption of our government.  The mainstream media who is not doing its job of whistleblowing didn’t tell the public about Van Jones.  They didn’t show that he had radical views that were extremely biased towards one group of people.  They didn’t show that he had an idealistic agenda.  They also didn’t show how he was put in charge of billions of dollars which weren’t being audited and they didn’t show that he was filtering them into campaign and agenda based lobbyist groups to further achieve has idealistic goals.  The sad truth is that we have over 30 more czars to terminate.

The federal reserve is also another entity that circumvents our checks and balances.  The Fed answers to no private citizen or government entity.  It can print paper that it calls money and you are forced to bear the responsibility for it.  Most people don’ t have a clue how the Fed works and most don’t know what it is, but if they could understand it they would immediately see the evil that it produces upon the world.  The economic destruction caused by playing with “fake money” is almost inconceivable.  It could be said that the Fed has caused wars with its money printing measures.  The Fed needs to be audited because there is no system of checks and balances in place to make it accountable to the American people.  If you want an example of this look at the latest news.  Ben Bernanke was reinstated as the Fed Chairman.  Absolutely no auditing measures are in place to see if he has wisely controlled our money system but our executive branch can tell us that he has done a good job.  Has Chairman Bernanke done a good job?  Considering our national debt has tripled, our unemployment is in double digits our debt continues to become a large part of our GDP and we are no longer the most competitive nation in the world (Switzerland is), and the UN wants to create another world currency besides our dollar…. I’ll let you make the decision if Bernanke is doing a good job or not.  His Federal Reserve plays a major role in all the preceding issues.

Misrepresentation

The uproar over public-option healthcare should make it quite clear to congressman that the people are not in favor of this government intrusion into their lives, liberty and pursuit of happiness, yet we see that the executive branch and the leaders of congress say they are going to use their sway and majority and pass it anyway.  What is the legislative branch for if it doesn’t represent the people!  What a bunch of miserable failures they are.  They sit in their fancy building every day with healthcare that has 10x more options than most Americans.  They can vote their own pay raises and they have a pension that serves them for life on the backs of the taxpayers.  These people have become twisted and corrupt and need to be removed because they have forgotten their primary role; to represent the people.  If they are voting against the desires of the majority of their constituents than who are they representing?

The conclusion

When government becomes oppressive to the people or it misrepresents the people it has failed and that is what we are witnessing.  Government could stop our recession.  Government could loosen our bonds and make us economically sound again but it will not do it.  Our government serves special interests and ideologues instead of the majority of the American people.  If the government were to cut the corporate income tax in half there would be an immediate surge in the stock market and in private investment and growth.  If the government would enact tort reform doctors would not have to pay ridiculous malpractice insurance rates and the cost saving would trickle down to the consumer.  If the government would stop perpetuating illegal immigration that burden would be removed from our healthcare system and our education system.  If the government would remove itself from our lives we could have happiness, we could have life and we could have liberty.   Some of you are crying out when you read these words what about the little guy?  Here is the truth of the matter…. giving people handouts does not produce responsibility.  If you have a calling to help those people, do it!  By all means help them.  I think it is all our individual responsibility to help people.  It is not the governments responsibility to help them though.  The government doesn’t have the moral capacity to help people.  If you doubt this an need a real world example think back on the Katrina disaster.  A whole city that had a history of having government handouts were sitting on their collective rear end waiting for the government to come save them.  A young man commandeered a bus that the government should have been using itself and he got several people out of there before the levees broke.  The government tried to penalize him for those actions afterwards.  This is a wonderful real world example of what handouts from the government produce.  They produce more irresponsible behavior from those who participate in them.  If the government would quit taxing and legislating us into oblivion maybe two things would happen.  We would have enough income to be able to share it with others.  Those who were irresponsible would have to become responsible or they would die.  And if we, with our new freedom and could more adequately help those on a personal basis that we saw falling through the cracks.

Friends we are witnessing a massive government failure.  Its time to start realizing this and start doing something about it.  Our founding fathers never want our nation to become this and the only way out of this isn’t with increased government.  The way out of this is with lessened government and a return to the individual spirit that founded this nation.

Full Text HR 1207
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h111-1207

Full Text S 604
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=s111-604

Contact Mitch McConnell
http://mcconnell.senate.gov/contact_form.cfm

Contact Jim Bunning
http://bunning.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.ContactForm

Contact Brett Guthrie
https://forms.house.gov/guthrie/contact-form.shtml

Cap & Trade (TAX!)

The House is set to vote on Cap and Trade legislation tonight.  Cap and Trade is nothing more than a tax on every man, woman and child in this country that uses electricity, and even if you don’t you will be adversely effected through the rising cost of products.  Cap and Trade is legislation that seeks to tax power providers (especially coal power) for the amount of carbon they put in the atmosphere.  Tell me what will offset that cost?

1.  Your electrical bills will rise – some estimates are $1500 – $3000 /yearly per American family, President Obama himself stated that their will be substantial price increases
2.  The chain reaction of higher energy costs will filter throughout the economy – manufacturers will have to account for lost revenue, distributors will then eventually retailers will and you’ll see all products increase
3.  GDP will surely suffer
4.  The US will NOT be on a level playing field of the global economy…. China, India, Russia and the EU will not have to follow these regulations, they will prosper while the US will flounder
5.  Spain has tried this type of regulation of carbon… they are currently at 18% un-employment due to it
6.  NASA just released a report that manmade carbon probably doesn’t effect the climate
7.  Many respected scientists have recanted and are denying global warming, they are in fact stating a global cooling trend

This regulation will be a crushing blow to the US’s already struggling economy.  Obama stressed transparency but the bill is being rammed through congress.  Its over 1000 pages and a 400 page ammendment was added at 3AM this morning.  Tell me how many congressmen are going to read 400 pages an hour and figure all this out.  Who knows what is in this thing?  The American people deserve time to see this, figure it out and stop it!  What is the point of all this you ask?  The point is to trick the American people into paying a “behind the scenes” tax which will pay for all the corruption and uncontrolled spending that George Bush, President Obama and prior and current congresses have recently forced upon the American people.  We are being attacked for their horrible decisions.  Its time to fight back and let our congress people know we will vote AGAINST them if they pass this knee-capping to our economy and our disposable income.

The bill is HR 2454.  I would link to it but Govtrack is crashed right now… probably because the American people are outraged and they are contacting their congressmen at the speed of light (we hope so).

Contact Mitch McConnell
http://mcconnell.senate.gov/contact_form.cfm

Contact Jim Bunning
http://bunning.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.ContactForm

Contact Brett Guthrie
https://forms.house.gov/guthrie/contact-form.shtml

“Tankman” as many of us know him is who I want to talk about.  What kind of courage do you have to have to stand down a tank, or an entire battalion of them?  What was that man thinking while he stood there and as he swung his hands in defiance?  He was obviously to his last resort.  He knew what was going on in the square and he knew that his life was worth loosing for the dream that is freedom.  How is it we forget this dream and how is it we are so apt to loose it?  I admire those who want to live free.  I believe our freedom is granted to us by God above.  God gave us minds to think and hands and feet to act.  Those minds, hands and feet were not meant to be chained.  We are made in the image of God and we aren’t meant to be under bondage, whether that bondage is political, economical or societal.  Christ in his perfection showed us the proper way to act towards one another and in the Golden Rule (You should love your neighbor as yourself – Matthew chapter 22:39-40), freedom is realized.  In freedom we can help our fellow man, in freedom we can help our own family.  In freedom we are able to produce and benefit ourselves and the person whom we contract with, everyone wins!   Our own countries forefathers were oppressed by tyrants, by monarchs, by people who wanted to think for them, act for them and take their produce and give nothing in return.  Do we understand our blessings and do we understand the beauty of freedom and its price?

Why do Americans want to return to an unjust, oppressive, un-Godly system?  Why are we right now allowing people who man our government to steal our freedoms?  Why are we allowing oppressive taxation, oppressive regulation on commerce and watching politicians who live for no other reason to acquire power continue write laws that oppress us, denigrate us and marginalize us?

I’m very excited that today is the anniversary of the Tienanmen Square Massacre, because today we can reflect on the events of the past and realize that the groundwork for oppression is being lain in Washington D.C.   Tienanmen  clearly shows us the fruit of that groundwork.  Our forefathers had a dream and it was based upon God’s dream.  Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is a noble dream and it is one that we can all be proud of.  The Chinese in 1989 in Tienanmen Square based all their dreams on the American experiment and even went so far to put a mock statue of Liberty in the Square.  That dream wasn’t America’s dream… it was passed down from above.  Our children need to revel in this dream and scoff at instructors who would insist America is a hateful, shameful country.  We who are parents should teach our rich history to our children and revel in it daily.  This is an honorable country.  We don’t have to be nationalistic about it, yet we must be patriotic!  Those who participated in the protest in 1989 are either dead, silent, in jail or have lost hope.  That is the product of having a government who thinks and acts for you.  The populace of China cannot use Google, they can’t use Yahoo.  The government of China blocks bloggers, websites, search engines, Twitter, Youtube…. anything it can block to keep its populace from catching even the most fleeting glimpse of freedom.  They understand that ignorance is bliss.  This seems like something you’d watch in a Hollywood movie or read about in Farenheit 451, Brave New World or 1984…. but it exists and its happening right now!

Let us all remember the dream of our forefathers.  Let us share our rich history with our companions and families and most of all never let those who seek to oppress us, destroy our God-given right to freedom.

For those who don’t believe in a dream of freedom, where does it come from?  It can’t come from the animal kingdom, because there is no higher calling there, only reproduction and survival.  It can’t come from mankind because there is no perfect man or no perfect council and what we’ve seen time and time again throughout the course of history is that when any man or council has the power at their disposal to make absolute decisions they become absolutely corrupted.  The idea of freedom and the inalienable rights must come from God.  Some would suggest that Christ’s followers were participants in oppression, saying that slaves were present in the Bible but I would suggest that the evidence shows otherwise.  Slavery is an institution of those who don’t understand freedom and its been around as long as men chose to act agaisnt God’s will for mankind.  St. Paul in a letter to a friend Philemon told him to consider a runaway slave who came to Paul a brother in Christ, which in effect would make him free. (The book of Philemon).  God has no heart for oppression, neither should mankind.  The very fact that we are living, breathing, free-thinking entities is proof to me that God values freedom.  We aren’t mindless robots that have to do some task.  Why should mankind inflict oppression on their fellow man if the creator of mankind didn’t during his creation?

So today on the anniversary of the massacre let us reflect on that solitary man who stood in defiance of a country.  That man knew his creator had planted a seed of freedom in him from his birth and no man made institution of government or weapon of war would stop him from realizing his God-instilled potential.  We can only pray that in the coming years of the collapse or re-birth of our Republic that we will have half the courage and realization that man had.  Let us never stop realizing the dream of freedom that our creator, God wants us all to have.

Read this and perhaps it might make more sense:

“You are the salt of the Earth.  If the salt loses that which makes it salty, how can it be made salty again?  Its no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under the feet of mankind”.

Bonus points and a gold star for someone who could tell me where the above quote came from….

Life is very busy now, but for some folks it doesn’t seem to be busy at all.  They seem to be the epitome of the tried and true wisdom phrase “idle hands are the devil’s workshop”.  The press needs to get a life.  The panic they have caused in the last several months has been tremendous and it does effect people’s lives negatively.  The whole world thinks a pandemic of proportions of the bubonic plague is about to destroy millions of lives when in fact the yearly “flu season” is much, much more deadly.

Thank you press for your irresponsibility.  Thanks alot for your sensationalism that lended to millions of Americans who were nearing retirement to lose 50% of their 401K by sensationalizing the economic collapse of America.  Thanks for blowing everything single trivial thing out of proportion and keeping everything that is truly important under wraps.

You need to get a life press.  At one time you were the source of information in our wonderful country.  You built up our quality of life and you were a Patriot’s propagandist.  Now you are a windbag full of hot air that caters to the ignorant masses who seem more interested in entitlements than facts, truth and constitutional principles.

Lets look at a couple things the press has dropped the ball on in the last couple of months….

Swine Flu (1 person in the US has died out of 350,000,000… doesn’t sound like a pandemic to me?  100′s to 1000′s die every year of “regular” flu during “flu-season”) yet the press is having a field day with this.  How about some facts to inform the public instead of sensationalism to scare them.  Isn’t this the next “bird-flu” press onslaught?  I bet the makers of FluMist and Tamuflu sure do love the press!

Tea Party Hypocrisy – multiple media outlets have cast insults at the Tea Party Movement, saying it was run by large conservative organizations (it isn’t), that its filled with hatred and bigotry (it has nothing to do with that), that the only people who are there are nuts (if you call small business owners, parents, children, joe six pack nuts… well… and that its nothing but an anti-Obama party (its not… its bi-partisan and GOP and DNC candidates are attacked with equality, we can’t help it that Obama is more tax and spend than other groups, those are simply the facts).  Any fool that took a notepad, pen and a camera to a tea party can see this.  Why doesn’t the press?

Miss USA Controversy – when asked by an openly gay activist judge, Perez Hilton,  what she thought about gay marriage, Carrie Prejean said she believed in traditional marriage between a man and a woman.  The way its been done since the dawn of time, yet Perez, the rest of the judges and the press seem to think thats a little too outlandish.  Nevermind facts like history and 6000+ years of tradition….. Carrie got runner up… isn’t that an affront to the 1st Ammendment, if thats the only reason she lost?  Why hasn’t the press taken up the issue with President Obama since he has repeatedly stated his views are the same as Carrie Prejean’s?

Obama and his 100 Day Love Affair – Seriously press, where have you dropped the ball bigger than this?  Our president currently presides over record breaking unemployment, reduction in GDP, nationalized banks, nationalized financial institutions, government controlled auto industrys, misleading information on his tax cuts, a joke of federal budget reduction, the largest budget deficit in US history, blatant partisanship, uncontrolled earmarks, lax spending oversight, shady appointments, potential foreign relations disasters in Pakistan, Iran, North Korea and Russia….. do I really need to go on?  And you are still asking him about the new puppy he bought and what Michelle is wearing to the next Wednesday night cocktail party?

Give me a break press.  You need to get a life, get off your collective rear and start performing journalism…. or just stay there and maybe the blogosphere will do it for you.  We do it better anyway because we aren’t a bunch of sold out, unthinking activists.  We are just normal every day Joes and Janes with real jobs, real families and we want this country to be responsible and succeed.

Rant off….