NO STINKING POLITICAL PARTIES

We Don’t Need No Stinking Political Parties

Those of you who are aware of or have read the seminal book, The 5000 Year Leap, http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-5000-Year-Leap/W-Cleon-Skousen/e/9780880801485/?itm=1&USRI=5000+year+leap will recall one of the main principals the Founding Fathers all agreed upon was that fundamental Government was about political power, not political parties. They reasoned that complete political power exercised by Government on one extreme is called Tyranny while the other extreme is Government with no political power or control at all is called Anarchy. Both of these Governmental extremes were the historical norm up to the time of the American Revolution and these historical Governmental extremes always ended in abject failure and much human misery. The founding fathers all agreed that the new American way was to be an exceptional way that would enable People’s Law to occupy the political middle and therefore strike a careful and enduring Governmental balance between Anarchy and Tyranny. In order to do this, the framers of the Constitution knew that political power cabals (political parties) representing this political view or that political view would by necessity be excluded from the drafting process, because if People’s Law was to occupy the political middle, then all of the people would have to agree on all of the political principals that would be codified within the new American Constitution. Indeed, it took over 60 ballots for all of the framers, in secret conference, to finally come to a consensus on the Constitution. Note that I said a consensus, because the Founders believed that majority rule was an invitation to Tyranny and for People’s Law to be viable, consensus, not a majority, will always be necessary. Even the consensus obtained on the new Constitution was based upon a condition that the citizens at large would have an opportunity to make amendments immediately after signing in order for the states to ratify the new Constitution. This was agreed upon because the Constitution was drafted in secret, and if there was to be a political middle, then the people would be required to have an input in order for the middle to truly represent the People’s Law. Input indeed. The people, via the states, submitted 189 amendments that would eventually be codified into our precious 10 Bill of Rights along with the 11th and 12th amendments to protect them.
Political Parties are about power and political power is always used to force political views upon others, either by majority rule or by contrivance. So in a strict sense, Political Parties are basically un-American, because a Political Party can never foster a political consensus among all of the people because Political Parties are by their nature created to represent one or another particular political viewpoint. In order to obtain and maintain power, Political Parties have a perpetual finger waving into the political winds so that they can discover which way the popular political winds are blowing. They do this in order to determine what the voting public will respond to so that the Party can fashion a Platform that will get the most votes and therefore get more power. How Political Parties operate proves the point that Political Parties are about power, not about maintenance of People’s Law in order to conserve an enduring political middle. And political party platforms are little more than advertising sheets that try to entice people to vote for the party not unlike the endless auto dealer advertisements of urgent “Sales” of new and better belchfire 8 super cars. Go to http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/platforms.php and you can read all of the political party platforms from 1840 until today. And so I say again, We Don’t Need No Stinking Political Parties and I think the American people are being to agree, because as of today, more people consider themselves Independents rather than being affiliated with one of the Political Parties. There really is hope for the good guys, uh, that would be us.

THE ECONOMIC ENDGAME

The Economic Endgame

I may not be the sharpest arrow in the quiver, but sometimes things become so obvious that even a dumbbutt like me can finally see organization and purpose in today’s carefully constructed economic chaos. In other words, I believe I can finally see some method to the madness that marks the Government handling of the Country’s Economic System. I’m sure most of us are confused, perplexed and downright scared about how the Government seems to be spending us into third and fourth world status by continuing to spend like there is no tomorrow. And it’s not just the spending, but what the spending is doing. For example, the $787 Billion “Stimulus”, the trillions in bailouts that are seemingly without end and always ends up with the Government either becoming a part of free enterprise business or a complete takeover of free enterprise, like the case of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Government generated duplicitous notion that the Health Care system is broken and only a Government takeover can fix the system when the truth is we have the best health care system the world has ever seen but it costs too much and the Government takeover will only increase healthcare costs, Cap and Trade that will put the Government in charge of our energy industry, and on and on. I know that there is a notion out there that the current administration is simply incompetent and inexperienced and that is the reason why we are heading inexplicably down a road to utter ruin. Au contraire, mon frere’! There really is method to their madness and the method has the hand of “create a choice architecture” Cass Sunstein in it and the madness has the mind of Barack Obama all over it. The “choice architecture” that ole Professor Sunstein is cooking up is starting to surface within the opinion making sphere nowadays. The “Choice architecture” will take the form of a new buzz that will occupy talking heads and the Intelligentsia debating over the new age relevance of “Democratic Capitalism” versus “State Directed Capitalism”. Remember those two terms, “Democratic Capitalism” (current free market driven capitalism) and “State Directed Capitalism” (ala Communist China). Yes, that’s right, the world Intelligentsia is beginning to make the case that “Democratic Capitalism” is so yesterday and cannot possibly complete with the roaring success that modern China is experiencing with “State Directed Capitalism” (Orwell must be grinning from ear to ear with the double-speak that the words State Directed Capitalism represents). So what does out of control Government spending and the Government taking over “failing” free enterprise business (that are failing because of Government intervention and regulation) has to do with Democratic Capitalism? When the world and US Intelligentsia finally conclude that State Directed Capitalism is the only “HOPE” in today’s modern world environment because the evidence is overwhelming that Democratic Capitalism is failing left and right and so the obvious conclusion is that there is a need for a “CHANGE” to a new way. And the new way is State Directed Capitalism. With this “choice architecture” now in place, the American people will surely make the correct decision and embrace enlightened State Directed Capitalism as the way out of today’s economic malaise. So what is the endgame other than the obvious Federal Government taking control over all aspects of American life? The United States of American cannot be apart of the coming One World Government while Democratic Capitalism is running amuck so State Directed Capitalism will be one more step to finally get to the final Utopian One World Government. Are you beginning to see the light, Brother and Sisters?

SCARE CONTINUUM

The Scare Continuum

We are all hapless residents bouncing along within the Scare Continuum as Scare Inc. goes full throttle with the latest “environmental catastrophe”. Scare Inc. is now running at top speed with the BP Oil spill providing all of the nitro-laced fuel necessary to spew out hyperbole at a rate that surly exceeds the rate of the spilling oil that the undersea camera faithfully records for all to see within the Scare Continuum. If we only had a BS camera that could faithfully record all of maneuvering to find oil-covered birds, tar balls fouling befuddled Granny’s pristine beach, finding just the right stretch of oil covered water suitable for a fearless reporter to dive headlong into, pretty little girls with bouncing curls and limp beach toys hanging down staring wistfully at destroyed sugar white beaches, primordial marsh flora drenched in the “Toxic” stuff that stupid humans use to willfully destroy the beautiful blue Planet. If only we had that BS camera operating right alongside that Scare Inc. camera, then perhaps we could get a “fair and balanced” account about what is really happening. But wait, there is such a thing as a BS camera and it is the exclusive property of the Fourth Estate. Oh no! The Fourth Estate is a charter member of Scare Inc. and fourth estate natural law dictates you can’t operate both cameras at the same time. Fourth Estate natural law being that law that requires profit regardless how obtained, (you know like industry profiteering from war). Perhaps ideology advancement might be part of the natural law that rules the Fourth Estate nowadays, I’m just saying. Suffice to say, The Scare Continuum is a very broad river that offers many opportunities for all willing to add content to the swelling confluence. Maybe even the Government sees opportunity to not let a good “crisis” go to waste and can advance treasured policy to obtain even more power and influence by encouraging Scare Inc. to pour it on. Because I’m not a member of Scare Inc., I have a few observations that might be useful in understanding the BP oil spill. Make no mistake, the oil spill is not a good thing other than for those wanting to profit (politically, competitively and howeverwise) from the misfortune. No doubt primary blame is BP’s alone and the free market will punish the crap out of them for their mismanagement. Profit that was to go to investors will now be required to mitigate damage and the loss of profit could well wreck the Company. This is how the free market works. There is more fundamental blame if anyone is interested in spreading blame. The United States is sitting on a sea of oil but cannot drill for it or use it because of Government restrictions. Such restrictions drive up the price of oil (greeniks nirvana) and drive those producing our required fuel to go into ever more risky environments, such as deep water to obtain our necessary oil. As far as the environmental “disaster, catastrophe, (take your pick)” is concerned, petroleum is a natural occurring organic compound that seeps constantly into the oceans naturally and there are many microbes out there bulking up on the oil bonanza. Indeed, the Ixtoc 1 oil spill in Campeche Sound 30 years ago gushed 3.3 million barrels into the sea for nearly 10 months. The environment scientists predicted all life would die as a result, but to their astonishment and embarrassment, the Sound recovered completely in little over 2 years. I bet you didn’t hear much about that from the Government or Fourth Estate.

POLITBURO

Politburo, American Style

Politburo. A decidily unamerican word most of us are familiar with due to cold war politics. Most of us became familiar with the word while trying to understand the workings of the then Soviet Union and it’s Communistic Government. A little history. A Politburo was first established in 1917 during the Bolshevik Revolution in order to provide political leadership during the transformation of Russia from a Republic into a Oligarchy based on the political theories of Karl Marx. The first Politburo was disolved after the coup was completed by the Bolshevics. So what does the Soviet Union Politburo have to do with todays America? Well, if you recall, the candidate Barak Obama promised to “transform” America. Remember that? And you probaly thought the “transformation” being promised was a transformation from corrupt politics as usual into a transparent and pluralistic Government that truly represented all of the people. Is that what you thought the charismatic Barak Obama was promising? Well just like the Bolshevics needed a means to provide political leadership for the country while they transformed Russia, President Obama also needs a means to provide direct political leadership without all of that messy voting in congress thing while he transforms America. Volila, an American style Politburo that can directly implement policy while the country is being transformed into something that is most definitely not American and definitely unconstitutional. Here is the list of the current Czars that make up President Obama’s Politburo:


1. Technology Czar: Aneesh Chopra.
2. Drug Czar: Gil Kerlikowske.3. Copyright Czar: Not appointed yet.4. Energy Czar: Carol M. Browner.5. Car Czar: Ed Montgomery. 6. Terrorism/WMD Czar: Gary Samore. 7. Health Care Czar: Nancy-Ann DeParle.8. Education Czar: Not appointed yet.9. Economic Czar: Paul Volcker. 10. Mortgage Czar: Not appointed yet.
11. Urban Affairs/Housing Czar: Adolfo Carrion. 12. Guantanomo closure Czar: Danny Fried. 13. Great lakes Czar: Cameron Davis.14. Stimulus accountability Czar: Earl Devaney. 15. Cyberspace Czar: Not appointed yet. 16. Border Czar: Alan Bersin (Former US attorney).17. Intelligence Czar: Admiral Dennis Blair.18. Regulatory Czar: Cass Sunstein. 19. Pay Czar: Kenneth Feinberg 20. Iran Czar: Not appointed yet.21. Tarp Czar: Herb Allison. 22. Middle-East peace Czar: George Mitchell. 23. Science Czar: John Holdren.24. Green jobs Czar: Van Jones.25. Afghanistan Czar: Richard Holbrooke. 26. Sudan Czar: J. Scott Gration. 27. Mideast policy Czar: Dennis Ross. 28. Information Czar: Vivek Kundra. 29. AIDS Czar: Jeffrey Crowley. 30. Faith-based Czar: Joshua Dubois.
31. Climate Czar: Todd Stern.

See an Updated List Here :
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-320934



If I were a really cynical person, I could be convinced that the Military equal Civilian National Security Force that President Obama has talked about creating will provide the necessary “Brown Shirts” to help force the transformation that the Politburo is directing. I’m just saying.
Note: See DOD Directive 1404.10 and House bill HR675 that seems to be setting the requirement to build the Civilian National Security Force.

1984

26 May 2010. Indianapolis, Indiana....
It certainly took a long time for 1984 to get here.

IMPERIAL RELIGION

Imperial Religion


I am very aware that commenting on religion carries much risk. People lose all perspective when theology is discussed because of deeply held beliefs supported by faith alone. For much of mankind’s existence, divine intervention in the affairs of man is a universal belief regardless of race, creed, nationality or circumstance. And because of this universal divine belief, anything relating to the practice of one’s religion carries with it a divine imperative that at once makes it impossible for a secular perspective to exist on the same level as divinity inspired faith. This reality alone makes religion a contentious subject. However, I really don’t want to discuss virtues of theology when discussing today’s religion, I just want to point out an a curious circumstance that is common to both of the world’s most organized religions, the Catholic Church and Islam. For centuries, the Catholic Church has existed as a divine inspired state that knows no national boundaries and throughout history has employed politics to advance the church’s wealth, power and authority by a well-organized Holy See incarnated as the very voice of God. Indeed, the secular meddling in nations affairs by the Catholic Church was largely responsible for the Reformation that continues to diminish the Global authority and power of the Holy See today. The salient point being that the Catholic Church is a global organization that employs church politics to advance its wealth, power and authority by using religion as a tactical vehicle to do so. The Holy See is the governmental administration that merges Christian Theology with secular requirements in order to advance the Church whenever and wherever possible. That the Church was just another global organization trying to expand its power and authority became apparent to me as I was trying to understand the position of the Catholic Church with regards to illegal immigration into the USA. The Church’s political position on this matter coincides with the One World Government movement because the Church is a global political entity and unrestricted movement of people across national borders will quite naturally increase the Church’s global reach and authority. Let me hasten to make it as clear as possible, the Catholic Church uses Christian Theology to promote its global ambitions, it does not authorize the use of physical force or terrorism to advance it’s religion. Nevertheless, it is called Imperialism when a Country endeavors to extend their power and authority over other people and when an organized religion, such as the Catholic Church and Islam, also endeavor to exert global control, it is also Imperialism, albeit Religious Imperialism. Islam is another globally organized religion but does not utilize an easily recognizable vertically organized administration structure like the Holy See to rule its church. Islam is organized in a less recognizable horizontal structure that unites an infinite number of local religious organizations by theology alone and lets each local Mosque administer its own local church, however, each local Mosque can also issue orders that all Muslims everywhere are required to obey. The way in which Islam is organized also is its inherent organizational strength because there is no central authority, like the Holy See, to present an easy target for those wishing to pressure Islam in general to cease it’s imperialistic ways. And here is the biggest problem. Islam is comfortable with using force, including terrorism, to advance its religion and those who use force, like terrorism, cannot be linked to any central authority because each local organization acts independently. This means that all of Islam can support terrorism without being directly connected to those who are perpetrating the violent acts in the name of Islam and do so without being held accountable by the world at large. They do this because Islam decrees all people of the world must become Muslims, either voluntarily or by force if necessary, and if there is no central authority to direct terrorism in the name of Islam, then how do you stop Islam from its Imperial ways? In other words, there is no way to stop terrorism being done in the name of Islam short of attacking the whole of Islam, and no one is willing to do such a thing, because no doubt, most all of Muslims do not endorse terror to advance Islam, but what difference does it make when Islam itself justifies the use of force to promote it’s Religious Imperialism? The fact is that all Muslims are united by theology to support Islam and Islam says all of the world’s people must become Muslims and if some use force to that end, then so be it because most Muslims are not directly involved with the violent acts themselves. However, it is important to note that names are important and there is an ongoing struggle to even name terrorism being done in the name of Islam. This inability to even attach a name to terrorism being done in the name of Islam makes combating terrorism even more difficult. I believe you can attach a correct name to what is going on and the name is Imperial Islam.

WAR NUEVO

War Nuevo

Someone once said, “War is the last act of diplomacy”. I invite you to reread the previous and consider what it truly means. It very well could mean that all nations, and groups of people, are constantly engaged in diplomacy as each nation and interest group rightfully attends to its self-interests within the world body, particularly in today’s modern and connected world, because nations and people nowadays cannot exist completely isolated from one another. So if a nation or a people cannot exist totally isolated from other nations and peoples, diplomacy is the time honored and civilized way of finding ways to cooperate with one another in such a way that each nation and people will reasonably address their self-interest and thus avoid using overt force to press the issue. Of course, war is the final negotiating tactic that uses force to pressure a reluctant party to accept terms that it would not otherwise agree to without the use of overt force. War is indeed the last act of diplomacy that can force a settlement that would not otherwise be forthcoming and can take many forms. War can be conducted militarily, economically, politically, and as many other ways as the creative human mind can conceive. For example, Nazi Germany came to believe that its people were the master race because “survival of the fittest” had enabled evolution to select them as the master race. Needless to say, nations and peoples of the world would not negotiate in good faith about how they would become subservient to the master race so Germany would be required to use more pervasive forms of diplomacy, namely war, to force acceptance of their self-interest. Now because Germany lacked the economic and political clout to force acceptance of its master race position, military power was the only remaining option available if it was to proceed to subject the rest of the world to its master race position. Well, we all know how that turned out, and Germany’s final negotiating position in its diplomacy effort to subject the world to its master race thing failed. There is another type of war becoming more common today due to being enabled by modern technology, global communications and the surging “One World” political movement by the intellectual cabal entrenched everywhere. This type of war is not really new because it has been used throughout human history with limited success, but nevertheless, it appears to be enjoying new success in Man’s never ending struggle to dominate one another. The war I am referring to is what I call the “Population” war. This war is currently being used by Imperial Islam to force its negotiating position that all of the world peoples must become Muslims. This war is being waged throughout the world at large and Europe is about to be conquered by Imperial Islam by sending waves of child bearing Muslims immigrants into Europe to overwhelm the local population and culture. It’s about all over except the shouting. China has been successful in using this type of war by sending waves of Han Chinese immigrants into Tibet and now Tibet is China. Closer to home, Mexico and others are sending wave upon wave of immigrants into the United States in a population war to overwhelm the local population and convert our culture. Soon there will be little distinction between the Mexico border and the United States border. By all accounts, this Nuevo Population War is a war that most of the world is not fighting because they still don’t recognize that this is a war. Most nations and people are still trying to establish negotiating positions within their diplomacy while Imperial Islam, China and Mexico are using population war to advance their self-interests in their final acts of diplomacy. I invite you to consider what is now happening at the border of Arizona and Mexico. Can there be any doubt that this is a population war being waged by Mexico and others and to the utter dismay of citizens, this war is being aided and abetted by the current crop of Intelligentsia within Government that secretly welcomes the war as a way to advance the “One World” Government agenda and to gain political advantage. God, I hate war.

WHAT TO DO, WHAT TO DO

I’m Just Saying

Perhaps you have been troubled and frustrated over the years by the realization that the Federal Government seems to go its own way with little regard to whomever it is that occupies the Presidency or rules the Congress. Of course, there are always exceptions to generalizations such as this and in this case the Regan years were somewhat a welcome relief from an ever expanding and duplicitous Federal Government. However, even the Regan years did not bring about any fundamental reform of the Federal Government that would make our Government compliant with Constitutional requirements, and in fact, Government continued to expand, albeit more slowly that before, even under the stewardship of Ronald Regan. So what is going on here? I invite you to consider the possibility that it matters little who is sent to Washington nowadays because it is impossible for any well meaning and reform minded representatives of the people to address the fundamental problem preventing Federal Government reform. The reality is that over the past 100 years, the Progressives have very carefully, and patiently, implemented “institutional” changes that defy reform. There are several reasons why this is so, and here are just a few of those reasons. Most of the institutional changes, like Social Security, have citizen vesting as a strategy to ensure perpetuity. For example, once Social Security became law, you were required to participate and part of your income, including what your employer pays on your behalf, goes to fund the program. Voila, you are now vested in the program and cannot afford to have the program reduced or discontinued. Here is another reason. Constitutional amendments, like the 16th (federal income tax) and the 17th (direct election of US Senators), provide the foundation for Government expansion and power and cannot be easily repealed. Another reason is the Progressive inspired lawsuits that have resulted in Supreme Court decisions that have usurped the Constitution instead of defending and upholding it. Indeed, it has become so bad that one only requires the Commerce Clause to justify anything. For example, the new law authorizing the Federal Government to “manage” all of the country’s waters will be justified by the Commerce Clause because if a migratory bird happens to land upon your pond, that construes that interstate commerce is being affected and so empowers the Federal Government to exercise power over all waters. This is no more a joke as is the Environmental Agency having power to control all commerce by regulating CO2 (CO2 is what you breathe out). I bet you didn’t realize that your breathing was affecting interstate commerce. The Commerce Clause will also be the means to enable the Supreme Court to judge that Obama Heath Care is Constitutional, just as the Civil Rights act was. Another reason is the explosion of US Governmental Departments and Agencies that adopt rules and regulations that have the force of law. For example, go to http://www.usa.gov/Agencies/Federal/All_Agencies/index.shtml and you will find hundreds and hundreds of Departments and Agencies reaching into and controlling every aspect of citizen life. Your Senators and Representatives have little or no control over these Departments and Agencies, other than the purse. Good luck with that.
There are probably more reasons to prove the point but the reality is the current situation prevents any meaningful reform to be taken by well meaning people regardless of stature or standing. So when you hear soaring rhetoric by patriots bent on reforming Government by being sent to Washington, be hopeful, but be a realist too. They can do little, no matter how well intentioned, to effect reform. Indeed, any action taken by our Representatives is truly like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic in the hope that by moving the deck chairs around, somehow the Grand Ship can be prevented from going down. What to do? The only thing that seems viable is for the several states to call a Constitutional Convention and remove the offending institutional changes built up over the years. I’m just saying.

THE DARK SIDE OF KNOWLEDGE, REDUX

The Dark Side of Knowledge, Redux

I hope that you have had a chance to read my previous offering entitled “The Dark Side of Knowledge”, posted on 3/13/20009, where the misuse of knowledge for nefarious, and often times destructive purposes, was examined in detail. Upon much reflection, I believe that this subject deserves even greater examination because it’s importance in the affairs of civilized mankind cannot be overstated. In particular, it has occurred to me that throughout the history of civilization the most egregious harm done to man and country alike has most likely occurred whenever the intelligentsia has obtained the reins of political power. Of course, when we speak of the “Intelligentsia” in the political arena, we mean those intellectuals who have come together as an elite group for political or ideological purposes. You have a textbook example of an intelligentsia coming into political power today within the current administration of Barack Hussein Obama. Now just as it is incorrect to say that all Italians are great tenor singers just because most of the greatest tenors are Italians, it is also incorrect to say that all political intellectuals are autocrats just because throughout history most of the worst despots were intellectuals. To prove the point, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Winston Churchill and William F. Buckley were all worthy intellectuals who never used their obtained knowledge for tyrannical purposes. Why some intellectuals become part of a political intelligentsia that uses their superior knowledge to rule over their fellow man has always been a phenomenon worthy of serious investigation. I say that because you would think that those who have been privileged by their intellect to obtain far more knowledge than their fellow man would by the strength of their intellect be humbled, not emboldened, by the experience. So why do some intellectuals gather together into an elite group in order to impose their will upon others? I’m sure that the answer must lie somewhere between psychobabble and common sense but I’m also sure that if we knew the answer it would provide little practical benefit for us working stiffs trying to elect worthy leaders for our Republic. It certainly didn’t work out very well for the last election cycle, did it? But of course there is this old saw about “knowledge is power” and whether one is a dumb butt or an Einstein, power is a mistress all want to be intimate with. We all want power for many reasons and not all of the reasons for wanting power are for evil or selfish purposes. So I believe that the intelligentsia in charge today within our Government is not necessarily an evil or tyrannical group of intellectuals just because they are busy obtaining power in order to effect complete control over their fellow citizens. Rather, I believe that the cabal intellectuals are intoxicated with a shared abundance of knowledge that promotes an imperial benevolence towards their, less endowed with the benefit of superior knowledge, fellow man. The imperial benevolence I speak of is a result of a communal intellectual conviction that the less endowed citizens need guidance toward a more utopian society, for the good of all, of course. Therein lies the problem. Free American citizens really don’t guide very well, that is, free people are hard to herd so it takes a great deal of power to herd them towards a place they don’t want to go. The other problem for the intelligentsia is that the American form of Government accommodates the nature of man thereby enabling the very freedom that the intelligentsia must somehow overcome with the application of power. And now we come to the Voila moment. The intelligentsia must somehow change the American form of government that enables personal freedom into a form of government that promotes the application of power and restricts personal freedom in order that government will have necessary central control to direct society, as the intelligentsia requires. The changing of American government is now in full swing as the current intelligentsia is replacing free enterprise with central government control in all aspects of American society with regulations, executive directives, and the like, without bothering with Constitutional requirements. Voila, socialism. Socialist type of governance is the model for power politics because socialistic ideals must always try to change the nature of man by the application of power in order to accommodate the lofty ideals of utopian society that Socialism always promises. Because the nature of man is a free man, if you try to change the nature of man then you will not have a free man. This is why knowledge intoxicated intellectuals are always drawn to Socialism because Socialism is the tried and proven way to obtain and exercise the power necessary to impose their will upon their fellow citizens. Say goodbye to personal freedom. So whenever you head towards the election booth to mark your ballot, don’t forget that the American form of Government is a citizen government and not for the professional intellectuals that always make up a tyrannical Intelligentsia. I’m just saying.

REALITY GOVERNMENT

Just a reminder to all of us who might have forgotten a basic tenet of Government, any and all Governments. Government is a political organization, so therefore, Governments can only make political decisions. Translated that means, if you let the Government make healthcare decisions for you, those decisions will be political decisions, not personal healthcare decisions. If the Government takes care of your retirement, decisions concerning your retirement will be political decisions, not personal retirement requirements. If the Government runs industry or business, decisions made will be political decisions, not business decisions. If you need an example of how this works, investigate how the USSR worked in its final days.

21 MARCH 2010

21 March 2010

21 March 2010 is another date that shall live in infamy. Just like Judas when he sold his eternal soul for thirty pieces of silver, Americans on 21 March 2010, completely sold their heritage of liberty and self-governing soul for an escape from personal responsibility and moral dignity. And just what is the “thirty pieces of silver” that we are exchanging our priceless liberty for? Why the “thirty pieces of silver” is the promise by the Intelligentsia and professional politicians that Big Mamma Government will sweep you and yours into her loving and benevolent arms and pay for and arrange for all of your personal health care needs forever and ever. I am reluctant to finally say that I have little remaining respect for my fellow Americans who have become the ultimate Flim Flam marks because we keep on believing that we can get something of value for nothing of value. What a sorry legacy we have become of a once proud and free people that paid in blood and treasure for the inalienable rights of freedom that was to be passed on to our children. We have been slowly changing from the self-assured freedom loving people we once were into self-serving entitlement craving wimps forever crying over life’s “unfair” demands and expecting Big Mamma Government to fulfill all of our needs and wants. But of course this is not the first step that Americans have taken in their headlong rush away from land of the free and home of the brave that our forefathers brought forth. Oh no, we are now rushing into an elite controlled social utopia that the Intelligentsia is manipulating for the good of us all, of course. Good luck with that America. The first meaning step that was taken was the implementation of the Social Security Act (Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance, OASDI) in 1935. That program was to be budget neutral and has morphed from the original OASDI that included unemployment benefits into these additional programs:
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.
Health Insurance for Aged and Disabled (Medicare).
Grants to States for Medical Assistance Program (Medicaid).
State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).
Supplemental Security Income (SSI).
The cost for the Social Security Program is now conservatively estimated to be $19 Trillion dollars and counting with the new Obama Care to add to that obscene number as it is implemented in the next 10 years. Indeed, as of today, the Social Security program will be funded by Government IOUs (borrowed money) and general tax dollars instead of being budget neutral as originally promised. So if you think the CBO cost estimate for the 21 March 2010 Healthcare program will be $950 Billion and reduce the Budget deficit in the out years, there is absolutely no hope for you in your naivety. Money is important because money can only come from the citizen’s labor and wherewithal, and when the Government takes most of your hard earned money to pay for “taking care of you”, there can be no meaningful freedom or liberty. Way to go America.

LITTLE ROUND GREEN THINGS

Little Round Green Things

Once upon a time in the fabled land called Hoosierdom, there lived a worthy man of modest means and a gracious woman of venerable demeanor. Fortune neither smiled nor ignored this husband and wife as they faithfully followed the rhythm of everyday life within their cloistered and cherished home. Part and parcel of that rhythm of living was the hurrying home after a full day of labor for the both of them so that they could escape the dehumanizing effects of the commercial world by taking full measure of the domestic tranquility that their Indiana home afforded. As was his habit upon arriving at his conjugal sanctuary, the Lord of the Manor would find sweet rest and spiritual renewal while lying prone upon his majestic Lazy Boy recliner. A nodding light slumber was the usual result of his repose while his strong right hand firmly clutched the television remote in a death grip that would ensure the familiar feeling of security that the electronic device always faithfully produced. Meanwhile, the Lady of the Citadel usually fortified her calming time with a generous glass of chilled white wine while his worship was gently rejuvenating upon his throne. On just such an ordinary day as this, when the sweet and perfumed Indiana countryside was wafting gently past opened windows, there was a old familiar stirring within the Madam of the Manor as she looking longingly at the Potentate of the Palace reclining in masculine splendor upon the Lazy Boy. She answered the stirring within her by coming to the side of her soul mate, and thereupon, she began to gently stroke and whisper promises of love to the old dog resting there halfway between sleep and awareness. What the Madam could not have known was that the old dog was experiencing a vision while simultaneously responding to the urgings of his one and only. Now, it is well known that men are prone to unusual dreams and visions, but a vision of Lady Gaga beckoning him to engage in worldly delights is a little beyond the pale. So, in a state of blathering Simi conscientiousness, the man responded to his loving wife by sputtering, “Lady Gaga, Lady Gaga, I’m coming, I’m coming”. This response to the call of love that the Lady of the House had offered caused a major disruption in the force. In fact, the words “Lady Gaga” muttered by the hapless man transformed the Lady of the Citadel forthwith into the Dominatrix of the Domicile. Where gentle love had once reigned, there was now a sudden desire for hurtful revenge. With billions and billions of neurons urgently firing away in the brain of the Dominatrix, a satisfying revenge was settled upon. Off to the kitchen she went, and with purpose strong, the Mistress of the House began to prepare dinner. When all was ready, she called to her shipmate to come and take his exalted place at the head of the table. The man stirred and rose to take his dinner with his loving wife. The man at once noticed that there was a strange smell mixing with and overpowering the delightful aroma of the Indiana countryside. It was a foul smell and he soon discovered from whence the dreadful aroma originated from. It was right there in front of him. It was right there on the dinner plate that his wife had placed before him. There they were, little round green things. They were just sitting there like the spawn of the Devil and producing a scent that surely originated from the depths of hell and fanned into resisting nostrils by the switching of old Scratch’s tail. The man looked at his wife. His wife was smiling with an unusual sweetness that alerted the man at once that he had done something very wrong. Men know this because they are always doing something wrong that they did not know was wrong and men have forever relied upon their wives to sweetly notify them that they have indeed mussed up big time. Well, a man has to do what a man has to do, and with a fork reluctantly sequestered in his stabbing hand, he speared one of the little round green things and put it in his mouth. Oh the humanity! The taste was equal to the smell as his grinders crushed the little round green thing and released a taste so disgusting that the man nearly hurled onto the dinner table. After the man had eaten all of the little round green things placed before him by his wife, he knew he would be forgiven for whatever he had done even though he knew not what it was that he had done. So men, when you wife places Brussels sprouts before you, go ahead and take your medicine. This is so because Brussels sprouts were only created to punish man for his transgressions against women and the universe cannot be make right again until the little round green things have went down the pie hole.

BLESSED MUSIC

Ah, Blessed Music


One day God was in an especially good mood. Perhaps the reason God was in such excellent sprits was due to some sort of transcendent encounter with another of his kind. You know, perhaps the Almighty’s luxurious disposition was due to a little afternoon delight with Miss or Mrs. Almostasbig (sorry Ladies). I’m just saying. But the important thing here is that regardless of the reason, Mr. Big had an attitude adjustment, and because of that attitude adjustment, Mankind has been forever blessed. Let me further explain. While God’s sprit was meandering aimlessly about the Universe, savoring the afterglow of his afternoon delight, he happened upon Earth and looked down. What he saw when he looked upon the Earth threatened to disturb his well-earned repose, and he was much troubled as a result. What He saw when he looked upon the Earth was grubby humans fighting in the dust for the attention of a particularly fetching maiden who was nonchalantly looking on with satisfying regard at the spirited goings on. And by so doing, the Maiden was contributing to the nasty mayhem as much as the actual competitors. God was appalled that something so important as a little afternoon delight should be decided by the ability to kick the butt of another for the privilege. And I have it on very good authority that He was none too pleased by the Maiden’s attitude either because it was obvious that she was enjoying being fought over while watching her brethren beat the crap out of each other during their combat in the dirt. After contemplating what he was seeing, the Almighty pointed his finger at the Earth and caused a mind expansion of the visceral humans. Where there had been nothing but pointless rage driven by pointed instincts before, a syncopated rhythm began to emerge. There was now measured beats pounding in the human’s brains in time to the liberated emotion of love (or lust), you make the call. Sweet notes soon began to merge in time with the newly discovered sensuous rhythms and the sweating Humans unclenched their fists and sheathed their teeth. The struggling humans began to make music to the object of their desire. Even though the Maiden still preferred a primordial struggle for her favors, the beauty of the music being beamed her way by the hapless combatants nevertheless moved her. She responded by taking both to her breast. God immediately saw that he had more work to do in Human relations but that was a job for another time and another place. When God saw that the newly found music was replacing the ugly competition with love and beauty, he was much pleased. In fact, He was so pleased that he rushed to be with Miss or Mrs. Almostasbig again in order to reprise the luxurious disposition that the original afternooner had begat. So there you have it. Man has been forever blessed by the beautiful music that God in his infinite wisdom caused with a pointing of his finger so that the sprit of Man could ascend to a higher plane of existence. It has been said that music is the most elegant expression of emotion ever endowed upon humans and I couldn’t agree more. We are blessed.

DUPLICITOUS GOVERNMENT

Duplicitous Government

By now most of you have become aware that Athem Blue Cross of California (A part of the Wellpoint (WLP) insurance giant) is threatening to raise premium rates for California INDIVIDUAL policyholders some 39% (Indiana was also notified of a similar rate increase). Make note that the initial rate increase is for individual policyholders, not group policyholders. This is a very important distinction in the continuing political battle for Government healthcare, and we will see why later. Let me ask you something. Do you think that the Athem Blue Cross rate increase at this particular time is incredibly stupid? Really? Do you really think a for profit business like Wellpoint would raise rates some 39% while the Government threatens to take over the healthcare of all Americans and this “fortuitous” rate increase would dramatically prove to one and all that healthcare costs are completely out of control and in need of Government takeover? Do you really think that the Grand Pooh-bahs of these insurance conglomerates, who annually receive millions of dollars in bonus payments, could actually be that stupid? Of course there’re not. So what is really happening here? The fact is that the three largest Insurance Conglomerates, United Health Group (UNH), Aetna (AET), and Wellpoint (WLP) all have a major role in Government healthcare regardless how it finally comes down on our heads. At the very least, 50 million new healthcare customers will be forced by the Government to carry Health Insurance offered by these Companies. But wait, there’s more. These Companies (behind those famous closed doors) all had a major role in crafting the healthcare bill now before Congress and they stand to make untold profits under Government controlled healthcare without the constraints that competition imposes on the free market place. Brothers and Sisters, are you beginning to see the light? It is far easier to payoff politicians in the Government than to do business under the uncertainty of competition within the free marketplace. After all, payoffs are only a business expense while competition is a business uncertainty. So why make this announcement of a 39% rate increase at his particular time? It seems obvious to me that a Cass Sunstein “choice architecture” is being formulated here that can “nudge” the dumb-butt American people to make the correct choice on this healthcare matter. The threatened rate increase is one of the prime components for the “choice architecture” that will offer a contrived choice for the American people to determine which is better, (a) out-of-control healthcare costs by the money-grubbing, unscrupulous Insurance Companies and fat-cat wall street moneymakers (just dramatized by the unwarranted and massive 39% rate increase) or (b), Big Mama Government that is only concerned about healthcare for all citizens regardless of economic status, because after all, Big Mama Government is in the people caring business, unlike the healthcare industry that is only concerned about making obscene profits off of people’s sickness and misery, right? Besides, this is American and as an American you can always vote out the Government if you are unhappy with Government healthcare but you can’t vote out the money grubbing healthcare industry, right? This “choice architecture” will be presented to the public on C-Span television during the so called “Summit” meeting with the stupid Republicans on the healthcare bill, that, by the way, is now being rewritten behind even more closed doors. The insurance conglomerates have already been convinced that it is in their best interests to make a very large rate increase announcement at this time to support the “choice architecture.” You don’t think this is happening? Let me give you a similar local example. Some time ago, Indianapolis wanted a large trash-burning incinerator to satisfy the EPA and to reduce costs of landfills. The people said no thanks. City Government hurried out and surveyed multiple landfill sites within upscale neighborhoods and said that the new landfills would be required to take care of the trash in the coming years. Of course, the citizens went ballistic about landfills in their backyards and the City Government rebutted that a large incinerator would rescind the need for the new landfills. Voila, incinerator voted in with astonishing ease by the successful implementation of a “Choice architecture.” Come on now, don’t be surprised, if there is one thing we all should have learned by now is that all Governments speak with forked-tongue, i.e., that is in modern Americanspeak, they are duplicitous when dealing with the unwashed masses. Just keep in mind the timeless and universal maxim, to wit: All politicians lie, some just lie more than others.

RULE 12 POLITICS

Rule 12 Politics

I encourage you to use a “benchmark” when trying to make sense of the various political arguments bombarding us in our new, and improved, Information Technology environment we now live in. I know it is difficult to distinguish between pure political argument and regular news in today’s “spin doctors, leaks, trial balloons, misinformation campaigns, and other devious (creating choice architecture to nudge us to make the “correct” decision) news and propaganda environment, but I believe the benchmark I’m proposing can help resolve the matter. The benchmark comes from Saul Alinsky’s political cookbook, “Rules for Radicals” and is his Rule 12 for radicals striving to force change upon the world. But before we get to the actual Rule 12, listen to what Mr. Alinsky said in the forward of his book, Rules for Radicals, “What follows is for those who want to change the world from what it is to what they believe it should be.” Remember I have said that the US Constitution was designed to form a Government that accommodates the nature of man while socialism seeks to change the nature of man to accommodate the lofty ideas (“from what it is to what they believe it should be”) of today’s Intelligentsia. Well, Mr. Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals is the proven way to force the change that the Socialists want to force upon us, and if you study Community Organizing as it was practiced by Barack Hussein Obama in Chicago, you will quickly determine that all 12 Rules for Radicals were followed with Robot like efficiency. Indeed, the politics of President Barack Hussein Obama has been characterized as Community Organizing on a national scale. Some have even suggested that he wants to Community Organize the entire Planet. But I digress. Here is your Rule 12 benchmark.
“Rule 12. Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it. Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions. (This is cruel, but very effective. Direct personalized criticism and ridicule works.)”
You will note that there is nothing in Rule 12 that addresses what is good for the country or the citizens therein, only how too destroy your opposition so that rational argument cannot proceed. Indeed, I believe Rule 12 can be greatly simplified and be more succinct, to whit: Destroy the Individual. So there is your benchmark to use in order to determine if what you are hearing is rational argument or is Rule 12 in operation. You make the call, but it certainly helps when you are aware of the rules of the game, don’t you think?

THE 17TH AMENDMENT

The 17th Amendment,
and the rise of Special Interests

There is a date other than 7 December 1941 that will live in infamy. The other date is 8 April 1913; the date that the Seventeenth Amendment was ratified. On that date the Congress and states changed Article 1, Section 3 of the Constitution that required each State Legislature to select two Senators for representation in the United States Senate. The Amendment requires instead that each Senator be elected by popular vote of the people rather than be selected by their respective State Legislators, to wit, “The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each state, elected by the people thereof, for six years, and each Senator shall have one vote”…….. The 16th, 17th, 18th (Prohibition) and 19th (Woman right to vote) Amendments were conceived during the dawn of the “Progressive” movement that was gaining influence at the time and you will of course recall that the 16th Amendment allowed the Congress to lay and collect taxes on incomes. The Progressive movement morphed into the Liberal and then back into the Progressive movement of today and these two terms are just words that in truth mean Socialism and Socialism means that force is required to change people’s actions for the good of all. And Brothers and Sisters, as I have said on many occasions before: Taxes Are Power and the 16th is the single most important enabler of the power requirement that can force change. This Amendment was the legal basis for enacting legislation that began the collection of payroll taxes in 1937 for the Social Security Program. The 16th Amendment eventually enabled Franklin D. Roosevelt to sign into law the Payroll Withholding Tax Act in 1943, another date that infamy should lay claim to. But I digress. The importance of the original Constitutional requirement for Senator selection cannot be overstated because the Article 1, Section 3 requirement was carefully crafted to complement the Bicameral organization of the legislative branch of Government and support the concept of a Republic, not an unbridled Democracy. I really don't think I command enough of the reader’s respect to provide the reason for this, but perhaps one of the Country’s founding fathers could. I'm referring to James Madison and in the Federalist Paper No 10 he explained the reason for the Bicameral design, to wit: “Before taking effect, legislation would have to be ratified by two independent power sources: the people’s representatives in the House and the State legislatures’ agents in the Senate.” This requirement would not only provide the means to ensure the concept of Federalism but would thwart the influence of special interests because of the requirement of satisfying two separate constituencies. Mr. Madison further explained the concept in Federalist Paper No 51: “In republican government, the legislative authority, necessarily predominate. The remedy for this inconvenience is, to divide the legislature into different branches; and to render them by different modes of election, and different principals of action, as little connected with each other, as the nature of their common functions and their common dependencies on the society, will admit.” You may be surprised to learn that the original method of Senator selection was so important that it was one of the few principals that enjoyed nearly unanimous approval by the founding fathers. Because of the Seventeenth Amendment, the authority of each State has been greatly reduced and due to the power of incumbency, each Senator has become a Potentate instead of a State Agent in a Senate that is coming to resemble the Senate of Rome in its last days. Also, because the Senators are now elected, special interests have a corruption avenue equal to that in the House of Representatives to funnel money and power to ensure election and satisfy plain old greed in exchange for favors in the legislative process. Indeed, the current financial catastrophe we find ourselves in can be traced directly to the influence of special interests in causing the Gramm-Leach-Blily (GLB) act in 1999 to become law. That law was enacted in spite of repeated warnings by knowledgeable and responsible people that its enactment would produce a financial crisis of Biblical proportions. The GLB act repealed part of the Glass-Steagall act of 1933 that was enacted to prevent the same kind of financial crisis that produced the great depression. The GLB act removed most all restrictions and separations between commercial banks and all other investment and financial entities. Viola, financial crisis circa 2008, and all because special interests have gained a foothold that the founding fathers tried with all of their wisdom to prevent. I could even make the case that Article 1, Section 3, of the Constitution addressed the most fundamental special interest problem indigenous to a mature society. The special interest that I'm referring to is the special interest of the Cities versus the rest of the country. The cities always attract the most intellectual and financial capital and this concentration of wealth always demands more and more resources from the rest of the country. The ever-increasing demands of the Cities always causes a schism to develop between the whole of the people because one cannot exist without the other yet the cities keep making demands that would cause the rest of the country to fall into ruin (much like Rome in its final days). The cities can do this because they have the greater population concentration and can easily overwhelm the rest of the country with superior political power especially within a non-constitutional “one man, one vote” system that the Supreme Court pulled out the air. I refer you to the USA Today 2004 Presidential Election map down to the county level (commonly referred to as the “Red/Blue map) that clearly shows the cities (population areas) voting one way and the rest of the country another. The requirement that Senators be agents of the State instead of being directly elected by the people addressed the City/Country schism in a remarkable and effective way and supports the concept of a Republic rather than an unbridled Democracy. I invite you to consider other areas that the 17th Amendment ratification may have influenced, but suffice to say, the consequences of the 17th Amendment are far reaching and quite possibly damaging to our Republic as well.

CONVENTIONAL WISDOM

Conventional Wisdom

Well it appears that we have Conventional Wisdom, Urban Legends and Contemporary Legends loose in the land nowadays. What is common and different between these three forms of informal mass beliefs or understandings? A common characteristic is that they must have a verisimilar quality in order for them to become acceptable to the general population. The differences are that conventional wisdom is a widely held belief that is generally accepted by the population at large and may or may not be true. Urban and Contemporary legends are the stuff of folklore, myths, rumors and misinformation. Eggheads prefer the term contemporary rather than urban when describing these legends; otherwise, they are the same. Here is a prime example of either conventional wisdom or contemporary legend. You make the call because I really don’t know.
“Conservatives are mean, stupid, greedy, stingy, evil, racist, bigots, ad infinitum.” Quite a list of really bad stuff, don’t you think? Pick any two. The two I will pick is meanness and stingy. I wonder if there is any scientific proof that conservatives are mean and stingy while liberals are caring and generous? It turns out there is. There have been endless studies done on this subject and I recommend that you read the Arthur C. Brooks book, Who Really Cares?, to get a definitive and formal answer (www.arthurbrooks.net/whoreallycares/about.html). I will quote from Michael Shermer’s book, The Mind of the Market, in relaying what the Syracuse University professor (Brooks) has researched and published in his book, Who Really Cares?
“When it comes to charitable giving and volunteering, numerous quantitative measures debunk the myth of “bleeding heart liberals” and “heartless conservatives.” The opposite, in fact, appears to be true. Conservatives donate 30 percent more money than liberals (even when controlled for income), give more blood,, and log more volunteer hours. And it isn’t because they have expendable income that conservatives are more generous. The working poor give a substantially higher percentage of their incomes to charity than those on public assistance of comparable income. In other words, poverty is not a barrier to charity, but welfare is. “For many people”, Professor Brooks explains, “the desire to donate other people’s money displaces the act of giving one’s own.”
I don’t think I could define a liberal or progressive any better than the good Professor has in the above statement. As a side note, I can only speculate why liberals and progressives try to advance conventional wisdom that hold that Conservatives are mean, stupid, greedy, stingy, evil, racist, bigots and probably other accusations I have not listed. I can only wonder why.

VERNACULAR

Vernacular

Conventional wisdom has it that your brain calcifies as you get older and you become ever more resistant to change as time continues to ramble onward to places unknown. In addition, advancing age dictates that you only learn new things under duress. Huh? The only old people I know that fits the above descriptions are people who had a closed mind throughout their life in the first place. I think most of us still enjoy learning new things and certainly relish the excitement of an adventure. Of course, it may well be that the only thing still agile enough to execute the adventure is the mind, but it works for me. I’m sure it works for you too. Right? Well I’m open to new things, but I must tell you that I draw the line when “they” feel the necessity of creating new words to describe what is happening in the new and improved, modern America. For example, when the authorities arrested the latest airline terrorist, now identified in the vernacular as the “crotch bomber”, they asked him a few questions and then “mirandarized” him. For the uninitiated, in 1966 the US Supreme court created a new right out of thin air when they decreed that US citizens had an enforceable constitutional right, under the Fifth Amendment, to be informed of their constitutional “right” to remain silent during any civil or criminal proceeding, including when being arrested for criminal activity. This new right is now called your Miranda Rights. The Miranda Right was created by case law involving Ernesto Miranda v. Arizona after the Supreme Court ruled that a citizen had to be informed that he had a right to be silent during any civil or criminal legal process. The Fifth Amendment sentence that is the basis for this right is, “nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself.” The Fifth Amendment is part of the Bill of Rights, and this particular right was promulgated in order to protect citizens from being forced to be a witness against oneself by using testimony that was obtained by torture or coercion. What I’m resistant to here is the use of the word, “mirandarized.” I object to this bastardized word because whenever you create a new word, and it comes into general usage, it automatically acquires authenticity regardless how you feel about case law creating a new “Constitutional” right without the Constitution being amended. As a side note, you can readily see that when the Government put the 9/11 Mastermind, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, into the civil court system, he became a de facto US citizen with Constitutional rights. These de facto rights make it illegal to present evidence that was obtained as a result of using coercion or torture. Bear in mind that water boarding has now been legally defined as torture, and as a result, the terrorist could walk from the court a free man. But wait, there’s more. After they “mirandarized” the crotch bomber, and informed him he had a right to be silent, he was also informed that he had a right to be represented and was provided with Government paid for lawyers. These lawyers, who are paid for by you and me, told the crotch bomber to shut up forthwith. (I wish that God would point his finger at lawyers and cause them all to become sterile.) The crotch bomber has now been “lawyeredup.” I think I’m going to throw up because I’m too old to understand these new and improved, modern bastardized words.

Executive Summary

Executive Summary

I would be willing to wager your cut of the stimulus package that you, and most Americans nowadays, have been brushing up on their Constitution and related founding documents. I know I have been re-reading the stuff we were forced to read in high school Government class because I feel the need to understand how our Country rose to so much greatness in the first place. So by re-reading the founding documents, perhaps I can better understand what the founding fathers had in mind when they birthed our Country, and by so doing, then maybe I can better understand what is happening to our Country today as our greatness is going by the way of fat Sam. One thing for sure, now that I have lived many good years on this beautiful blue planet, when I re-read the Federalist Papers, Declaration of Independence and Constitution, I have done so with a much better understanding and appreciation as an run-down adult than I was ever able to do as a fearless hormone enriched teenager. One of the more important things that struck me while going back over these founding documents, as a run-down adult and veteran of endless corporate presentations, was that, in truth, the Federalist Papers is the real Constitution while the signed Constitution is only the Executive Summary of the real Constitution. This stunning realization is a real revelation because an Executive Summary, as we all know, condenses enormous amount of information, justification, rational and reasoning into the fewest possible words so that the entirety of the subject can be more easily understood without all of the minutia getting in the way of the salient ideas. This revelation can go a long way in understanding why well-meaning people squabble over loose construction or strict construction (living document versus verbatim construal) when interpreting the meaning of the signed Constitution in today’s modern world. I say this because if you rely on the Executive Summary (signed Constitution) to understand the entirety of the Constitution, then the real meaning of the words become subject to interpretation because of a lack of reliance about the rational and real intent of the authors. Apparently the learned members of the Supreme Court either don’t understand the significance of the Federalist Papers or they choose to just ignore the real constitution (Federalist Papers) as irrelevant because the papers are rarely used as a foundation for court rulings. As a matter of fact, most of the references about the Federalist Papers by the Court over the years have been to treat them as historical, but non-relevant documents, suitable for academic study and little else. I believe this to be a monumental mistake. This country has been blessed many times over by the wisdom of the founders, and to ignore that wisdom is not only unwise, it is arrogant as well. Never before in the history of civilization have a people been privy to the reasoning and honest rational that is the basis of their Government and to ignore or not use that knowledge (the Federalist Papers) as a basis for legal adjudication seems to me to be a gross violation of the oath to support and defend the Constitution. For example, Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton and others were well educated and were all students of the history of Governments as well as being knowledgeable with all of the Governmental philosophers, including the philosopher, Marcus Cicero. It was Cicero who advanced the idea in 44BC that man is a creature of nature (God, evolution, or whatever you feel comfortable with) and therefore the nature of man is bound to us all by this reality. Therefore if one were to construct an enduring, just and enlightened Government, that Government would have to accommodate the nature of Man. This fundamental idea is the basis of the Constitution that the Federalist Papers has described over and over with countless references to God and nature having endowed man with certain unalienable rights that must remain sacrosanct if Government is to just and endure. For modern rational thought about how man came to his natural state I recommend “The mind of the Market” by Michael Shermer and my own book, “The Grace of Being”. The Grace of Being tried to give a rational (not a divine or holy imperative) as to how man may have come to be and why his nature is as it is. By the way, both of these books support the American form of Government that accommodates the nature of man for rational, not divine, reasons. Therefore, understanding the constant references to God (substitute Nature, Evolution, spontaneous genesis or whatever you feel comfortable with, for God here) as the endower of unalienable rights goes a long way to interpreting the Constitution as it was intended to be and as the Federalist Papers so clearly delineates. Knowing that the true basis of the U.S. Constitution accommodates the nature of man also makes it understandable why Socialism can never be an enduring or just kind of Government. Socialism always seeks to change the nature of man rather than accommodate man’s nature as it is. This is why all forms of Socialism rely on force to try and change the nature of man to accommodate the lofty ideas of Socialistic Government and so is always doomed to eventual failure. This also makes it understandable why those who seek power always support a Socialistic type of Government because they can hide behind Government in their use of force to obtain the power they seek.

PERFECT STORM

Perfect Storm

Good morning, good afternoon, good evening Mr. and Mrs. America and all the ships at sea. The tireless and intrepid researchers, investigators, deep thinkers, loafers and slackers of Bangingthedrum, uh, that would be me, hasten to sound the alarm of impending misfortune that is about to befall the hard working citizens of the US of A. If you are one of the few, the brave, that have read the previous offerings of Bangingthedrum, you will recall that I warned that an ill wind was gathering strength and would soon blow in from the insatiable Federal Government bent on socializing the land of the free and the home of the brave. The ominous wind this old sailor was sensing could well threaten the safety of the ship of state because as the wind gains strength, the result will be a angry sea of disenfranchised citizens that could well founder our good ship. The ill wind of which I speak, heralds the impending call for a National Sales tax either in the form of a VAT or a consumption tax taken at the cash register, or both. I believe that a perfect storm is about to coalesce around the issue of unsustainable federal debt brought about by the deliberate actions of the Federal Government itself. Yes that’s correct, all of the misfortune that is befalling the hapless citizens of this great Country today was planned in advance and is continuing in a disingenuous program of socialization that will finally be realized when the Federal Government completely centralizes all power in Washington. The perfect storm that will allow this to happen will be the unsustainable federal debt, illegal immigration, heath-care for all, saving the planet from global warming, and the failing economy. This Government contrived perfect storm will enable the final Washington power grab because only the Federal Government can quell the storm by giving all of the power necessary to do so to the federal government. Recall that I have tried on many occasions to say that Taxes Are Power, and you can’t make happen what you want to happen without the power of taxes, and because 70% of our economy is now consumption, a national consumption tax is the last remaining tax of any meaningful size that can be levied to fix the perfect storm. Here is what I predict will be used as justification for this new tax. Recently it was announced that 47% of the citizens were paying no Federal Income tax at all. This situation will be denounced as unfair to the hard-working citizens of this country because all citizens must share the burden to be fair and so a National Sales tax, that will tax all, will correct this abominable situation and fairly spread the burden. Never mind that it was the Federal Government that, by design, caused 47% to pay no taxes in the first place. Brothers and Sisters, are you beginning to see the light? But wait, there’s more! The national sales tax will also equally tax illegal aliens along with legal citizens, and so it naturally follows that if illegal aliens are working, paying taxes, raising families, then there should be a path to legal citizenship because it the fair and humane thing to do. Do you see how wonderful a contrived perfect storm can be? I leave it to your imagination to connect the remaining perfect storm issues to the national sales tax solution. However, I will say that I support a National Sales tax because it is much fairer than the special interest monstrosity the current individual income withholding tax has become. I must hasten to add, that I support the National Sales Tax only on the condition that the Federal Income Withholding Tax law must be repealed and if a VAT is instituted that corporate tax be abolished. Of course, that will never happen. What will happen is that they will decrease the withholding tax rates and corporate rates to make it seem fair when they propose the National Sales Tax and VAT, but they will keep all taxes for eventual increases as they see fit. I fear that this National Sales Tax might well be the final injustice served up by the Intelligentsia supporting a usurping Federal Government and the result could well be that the citizens will finally rise up as one to right the ship by descending on Washington and finally throwing the rascals out.
There is a far easier way to correct the situation, that is, if the states were not spineless vassals of the Federal Government. The states could call a convention of the states and declare that they (the states) were no longer going to obey the Federal Government because the Federal Government has completely usurped the freedom of the people and ignored the requirements of the Constitution. This can be done because it was the states that granted limited power, under the Constitution, to the Federal Government and not a Federal Government that granted power to the states. In other words, the Federal Government exists at the pleasure and convenience of the several States, and because the Federal Government has broken the Constitutional contract, the states reserve the right to revoke the Federal Government privilege.

P.T. Barnum and Adam Smith

P.T. Barnum and Adam Smith

Conventional wisdom, it can be said without reservation, is almost always wrong and misleading. Now, before you take me to task about the above statement, make certain that you do not confuse Conventional Wisdom with Common Sense because Common Sense is the truthful knowledge obtained by the wisdom of experience and shared by people in general, e.g., stick your finger into a flame and you will get burned. Conversely, conventional wisdom is usually conjured up and promoted by experts in order to shape the way people think. For example, advertising scholar James B. Twitchell tells us that Listerine did not make mouthwash as much as it made halitosis, i.e., bad breath as a problem was not conventional wisdom until Listerine created conventional wisdom by advertising that halitosis (bad breath) was a social faux pas that could be overcome by using Listerine mouthwash. By creating the now conventional wisdom that breath that smells bad is a surefire way to ensure loneliness, the Listerine Company increased its yearly revenues from $115K to more than $8 million in just seven years. There are endless examples of conventional wisdom that has been proven false, like: The Earth is flat, Doctors told us that smoking was not really dangerous as he took your BP with a smoldering Camel dangling from the corner of his mouth, Stomach ulcers are caused by stress (caused mostly by a bacterial infection), margarine is healthier than butter, Lobotomies are the best way to treat mental illness, etc. A current conventional wisdom being promoted by a variety of experts in Government and elsewhere is that global climate warming is bad and is being caused by human activity. The point being, conventional wisdom can be created to promote a desired viewpoint, and is done so in order to prevent the truth of the matter from being disclosed by rational discourse and factual discovery. And this leads us to Phineas Taylor Barnum (P.T. Barnum) and Adam Smith (author of “The Wealth of Nations”). Conventional wisdom has it that P.T. Barnum was a flamboyant rascal who Flimflammed and cheated people out of their hard earned money. Nothing could be further from the actual truth. P.T. was a sought after business lecturer, author and entrepreneur who’s book, “The Art of Money Getting” is must reading for anyone wanting to be successful in business. The Editor of the New York Independent wrote, “Mr. Barnum’s whole career has been a very transparent one. He has never befooled the public to its injury, and, though his name has come to be looked upon as a synonym for humbuggery, there never was a public man who was less of one.” Conventional wisdom has it that Adam Smith’s seminal work, “The Wealth of Nations”, is a charming but old-fashioned work concerning economics but hopelessly out of touch with modern times and thinking. Well for once, convention wisdom has it correct. The Wealth of Nations work is out of touch with modern times where centralized Government control of the economy replaces free marketplace control of the economy and Governmental Socialistic control is the modern thinking replacing free and independent people making uncontrolled economic and social decisions. P.T. Barnum’s book, “The Art of Getting Money” and his life is the “how to” guide to implement Adam Smith’s ideas in The Wealth of Nations. Adam Smith was a Scottish Moral Philosopher and his influential work, The Wealth of Nations (published in 1776), has made him the father of modern economics. Much evidence exists that the Wealth of Nations was being read by, and was influencing, most of the framers of the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution. Indeed, the miracle of economic and personal freedom that the United States has brought to the world can be traced directly to the principals outlined in The Wealth of Nations. All of this brings me to the salient idea I want to make, conventional wisdom aside. Even though “The Wealth of Nations” and the United States Constitution were conceived and written well over 200 years ago, they will never be out of date. They will never be out of date and require constant interpretation because The Wealth of Nations and the US Constitution both codify the desire for peace, freedom and personal prosperity and these things will never be out of date. And finally, both the Constitution and The Wealth of Nations were conceived and written to fit the requirements of human nature. Therein lies the most basic difference between a free marketplace and free enterprise enabled by democracy and the Neo-Socialism being resurrected today from the trash-heap of historically bad ideas. Democracy and free enterprise don’t seek to change the nature of man, only fit the best governing and economic system to his nature. Socialism, on the other hand, seeks to change the nature of man to fit the idealistic notions of well meaning people and in order to do so always requires force and coercion. I can think of no better example of the socialistic need for force and coercion than that of the over 2,000 pages of requirements contained within the Socialistic Universal Healthcare law now before the congress.

THE TRUTH

The Truth, the Whole Truth, and Nothing But the Truth,
So Help you God.

It’s a matter of faith that we all believe that truth in all matters is the best course of action for the righteous as well as the secular. However, as the gray hair keeps gaining an ever-greater share of our mane that adorns our wrinkling domes, we have come to understand that there are times when the truth must be used, shall I say, judicially. Knowing how much of the truth to use in a given situation is one of the more important things that makes us quintessential Human. I am going to provide an example of the truth that will absolutely enrage some people, cause some people to question the premise that is giving rise to this truth, and yet others will try to assimilate this particular truth and become introspective and confused about the matter. Are you ready?
As source material, I am going to make liberal use of the book, Freakonomics, by the celebrated and much respected economics author, Steven D. Levitt, as well as data available from the public domain and available to all. Think back to the early 1990s. Crime was on the accent and the prediction by all of the criminologists, social and political scientists, and other such experts was that law-abiding citizens had better be prepared because by 1995 crime in the good old US of A would overtake us all and make us prisoners in our own homes. However, what happened was quite different. Instead of crime continuing to go up, it began to fall. And the fall was dramatic. By the year 2000, the murder rate had fallen to its lowest level in 50 years. What’s more, the rate of every other sort of crime was also falling in equal amounts. And this just in, the FBI announced that the overall crime rate is still falling as of 2009. So what happened to reverse the crime rate when all conventual’s wisdom indicated that criminal activity would soar like an eagle? Like most Monday morning quarterbacks, the experts scrambled to bring forth logical reasons why this had happened and to spin the data so that their reputations would not suffer. Some of the logical reasons were, the expanding economy in the 1990s, proliferation of gun control laws, the proliferation of right to carry gun laws, progressive policing strategies, more police, cell phones, and on and on. The truth is many of these things had little to do with the falling crime rate. For example, adding more police always reduces crime but any reduction is minuscule at best. Of all of these reasons, cell phone proliferation has probably contributed the most to the apprehension of criminals, not enlightened police work, and the increased apprehension rate will somewhat effect a reduction of criminal activity by removing more criminals from the street. So what really did happen to cause the crime rate to start falling and continue to fall? OK now, get a firm grip on your outrage because the truth in the matter is that Roe v. Wade is what caused the most significant effect on the crime drop. When Norma McCorvey went and got pregnant again, she wanted an abortion because she did not want the child and she could not care for the child. Norma was a poor, uneducated, unskilled, alcoholic, drug-using 21-year-old woman who had already given up two children for adoption, and when she got pregnant again, she wanted an abortion. Problem was that it was 1970 and she lived in Texas and Texas law said it was illegal to have an abortion. The rest is history as Norma McCorvey had her name disguised as Jane Roe as her case went to the Supreme Court and in 1973 the Court held that it is a Constitutional right of a woman to have an abortion upon demand. Mr. Levitt states that decades of studies all indicate when a child is born into an adverse family environment, such as being unwanted and uncared for, that child is the most likely of all to become a criminal. So beginning in 1973, and as a result of abortion on demand, poor, unmarried, drug using, etc. teenage mothers began to have abortions in great numbers. These aborted children, had they instead had been born, would have become part of an ever-increasing pool of unwanted children who, in most likelihood, would have grow up to become potential criminals and contributed to the predicted surging crime wave of the 1990s. Of course, that did not happen. What happened instead was the unwanted children were not brought into the world, and by so doing; the biggest pool of potential criminals was eliminated. So by the time the 1990s rolled around, these aborted children that would be coming into criminal age (late teens) were not here, and as a result, criminal activity has been on the decrease ever since. The unemotional evidence is very strong that this is the truth of the matter. So, know the truth and the truth shall set you free? Well, as for myself, I really don’t know.

EXPERTS

EXPERTS: Wisdom’s Antidote

French Prime Minster, Georges Clemenceau, is credited to have said, “War is too important a matter to entrust to military men.” The more popular paraphrase of the quote is, “War is too important to be left to the Generals.” I think I can distill millions of words about what the quote means by saying the quote relates to the problem of relying on experts, or savants, to make decisions or judgments that instead requires wisdom concerning the whole of the matter rather than specialized knowledge. All to often, activists, government, and those competing for power, uses experts to prevent full and rational discourse on a matter by insisting that only their supporting expert(s) has the definitive knowledge of the subject. A case in point; Global Warming alarmists have lined up their experts to support their position that Man is causing climate warming and insist that the science of Global Warming is settled and anyone one who believes otherwise is just a contrarian at best or an uneducated denier at worse. The truth of the matter is that climate is dynamic and responds to a whole range of physical factors, including man’s puny activities, and is just as likely to be heading for another ice age as our current warming period winds down. In other words, the science of climate change is far from being settled and listening to experts on both sides does little to bring wisdom to bear on the subject. So why are so many influential people and practically all of the world’s Governments supporting the notion that man’s activities are causing a catastrophic warming of the earth’s climate? Fellow traveler, do you recall the Snail Darter?
The Snail Darter is a small (3 inch) river fish that was discovered by environmental activist and biologist, David Etnier, in the Little Tennessee river in 1973. When Professor Etnier saw the small fish he cried, “Eureka”, because he knew he had found the means to stop construction of the Tellico Dam on the Little Tennessee River. By invoking the National Environmental Policy Act, the lawsuit to stop construction of the dam could allege that the dam would alter the habitat of the river to such an extent that the Snail Darter would be extirpated (wiped-out) and if that happened, it would violate the Environmental Policy law. Of course you can plainly see that the Snail Darter was not really the concern of the Environmentilists, it was stopping construction of the Tellico Dam that was the real objective. In a like manner, World Governments, Socialists and One world activists had their “Eureka” Snail Darter moment when they discovered the Man caused climate warming issue because they could use the climate warming issue as a means to obtain power by using Cap and Trade to control vast areas of their respective economies. Once they had the additional power afforded by saving the Earth from man made Global warming, their real objective of enhancing centralised government power to promote a Socialistic agenda could be well adavanced. Don’t believe me? Listen to what happened when President Hugo Chavez addressed the UN Climate Change Summitt at Copenhagen recently. President Chavez was reported to say, “there was a silent and terrible ghost in the room and that ghost was called Capitalism”, he went on to further say, “Capitialism is the road to hell…lets fight against Capitalism.” When President Chavez said those things about Capitalism the room erupted in a standing ovation and the applause was deafening. Care to advance an opinion as to what the real agenda of the Climate Change Summitt was? There are probably many and varied objectives of the attendees but you can rest assured that none of the objectives had anything to do with global warming.
This is what you get when you rely on experts to define an issue. An expert has expertise in a very narrow area and is more interested in promoting his expertise than rational discussion of all of the factors affecting the issue. Those who nefariously use experts to further their objectives and agenda will more than likely engage the public’s emotions, the best emotion to use being fear, because emotion is the best enemy of rational argument. Sound familiar? So with apologies to Monsieur Clemenceau, Decisions are too important to entrust to experts.

Morality

Morality Tis Better On Thee Than Me
It’s the Holiday season and I got to thinking about the message of Love that Jesus brought to the world. Not only did Christianity make Agape Love part of the social fabric of our culture, the spiritual message promoted a kind of National honesty and culturally instilled set of ethics that enabled business and social intercourse to proceed with an inherent ease that was the envy of the world. Needless to say, science, rationalism, progressive philosophy, and a general coarsening of social and personal behavior, brought about by an entitlement mentality, greed, and all of the other deadly sins, have all combined to make things like morality and ethics seem “old fashioned” and not at all relevant to modern life. Morality has gotten all mixed up with economics at its most basic levels and prompted Steven Levitt to address morality and economics in his book, Freakonomics, to wit: “Morality, it could be argued, represents the way that people would like the world to work—whereas economics represents how it actually does work”. The reason why morality and economics are intertwined is because Government, and everyone else, uses incentives to motivate people’s behavior for one reason or another and these incentives influence morality and economics. The classic example of morality and economics getting caught up together is the Daycare Center that began using a negative monetary incentive to address the problem of late pickup by parents. The Daycare Center imposed a $5.00 fine on parents who were up to 15 minutes late. As a result of the “negative” incentive, late pickups surged because it was easier to pay the $5.00 fine than deal with the hassle of being on time. When there was no fine imposed, morality drove the parents to pickup on time because of a desire not to impose on their friends at the Daycare Center, i.e., when the $5.00 fine was imposed, a trivial monetary value was substituted for a Morality value which relieved the parents of any moral or ethic incentive. Needless to say, if the fine imposed would have been, say, $50.00, the outcome would have been much different. So what is this thing called Morality and what are its foundations? Jonathon Haidt at www.moralfoundations.org has it all figured out, to wit:
The Foundations of Morality
1) Harm/care, related to our long evolution as mammals with attachment systems and an ability to feel (and dislike) the pain of others. This foundation underlies virtues of kindness, gentleness, and nurturance.2) Fairness/reciprocity, related to the evolutionary process of reciprocal altruism. This foundation generates ideas of justice, rights, and autonomy.3) Ingroup/loyalty, related to our long history as tribal creatures able to form shifting coalitions. This foundation underlies virtues of patriotism and self-sacrifice for the group. It is active anytime people feel that it's "one for all, and all for one." 4) Authority/respect, shaped by our long primate history of hierarchical social interactions. This foundation underlies virtues of leadership and followership, including deference to legitimate authority and respect for traditions.5) Purity/sanctity, shaped by the psychology of disgust and contamination. This foundation underlies religious notions of striving to live in an elevated, less carnal, more noble way. It underlies the widespread idea that the body is a temple which can be desecrated by immoral activities and contaminants (an idea not unique to religious traditions).
As you can see, most of the foundations of morality are based upon the evolutionary values instilled by the necessity of survival. These values are becoming less and less relevant in the modern world where the struggle to survive is being mitigated by science, technology and social governance. So if you ever wondered why morality and ethics seems to be going the way of your last week’s paycheck, it may well be because science and technology, married to the ideal of socialism, is rewriting what morality and ethics are. I guess our progeny will discover what this neo-morality will be. So cherish Christianity’s message of Love as it is repeated this Christmas and perhaps the morality and ethics it portended, through the foundations listed above, will fall on fresh ears and remain relevant. But if not, then I guess its “Back To The Future” of dog eat dog. Sure is beginning to look that way, don’t you think?

Urban Fortification of Socialism

2000 Census Population Density USA Today 2004 Election Red/Blue Map

I invite you to look very closely at the above two maps. They are profound in their similarity. The left map is the official 2000 Census Population Density Map where the red color indicates where the highest population density is located. Of course, the concentration of red also indicates where the great cities are due to the greater population within the respective counties and so clearly indicates where the great urban centers are located. The map on the right is the USA Today 2004 election results, also down to the county level. Red represents Republican votes and in general indicates a more conservative political area. The Blue represents Democratic votes and in general indicates a more liberal political area. Now, try to overlay each map in your mind. I think you will find that the red high-density areas (urban areas) on the population density map closely correspond to the democratic, or politically liberal, areas of the 2004 red/blue map. The political importance of these maps is profound in that it clearly shows that the urbanization of America is providing an irresistible fortification of socialistic tendencies due to liberal or “progressive” thought within the body politic by virtue of the greater population and thus greater political power of the urban areas. Indeed, those who demand that the US Constitution be treated as a “living document” to support progressive or socialist dogma may well have a viable argument due to the phenomena of urbanization. Think about it. The country was mostly rural when the Constitution was ratified and rural living peoples are very self-sufficient and fearlessly independent. The Constitution, in general, codifies self-sufficiency and independence of the individual as a way to ensure personal liberty and thus prevent tyranny from gaining a foothold in Government. When people congregate into urban areas, dependence upon one another is more important than self-sufficiency, and personal independence must be moderated in order to foster social conditions that will enhance the opportunity for all to live in peace and harmony with one another. In other words, urban living promotes a more socialistic environment by the necessity of interdependence, not independence, of city dwellers. This socialistic force due to urbanization is irresistible much like a trade wind that blows due to environmental factors, i.e., a socialistic wind is blowing due to urbanization factors and it will continue to blow stronger and stronger unless a way is found to reverse urbanization, and that is not likely. Indeed, the census bureau reports that the 2000 census indicated that 81% of America’s population is now living within urban areas while the remaining 19% of the population is living in the rural areas of the country. But wait, there’s more. Just this week the United Nations announced that the World population is now 50% rural and 50% urban. What does it mean? Every good sailor will tell you that it is folly to try and change the wind because the wind will blow to wherever the wind will blow. Every good sailor will also tell you that you can set your sail to the wind and go to where you want to go regardless of the way the wind blows. Somehow we must find a way to maintain personal freedom and liberty within a more and more socialistic environment that the urbanization of America is causing. It’s time for the intellectual sailors of this country to set freedom’s sail to the prevailing socialist wind so that personal liberty will still be the destination of our progeny.

Tin Cup Man

Tin Cup Man

There once was a Tiger called Woods,
Who hit it as hard as he could,
His smile would just shine,
As he played double-time,
On many more courses than he should.

Ain't Got No Horse

Ain’t Got No Horse



I heard a story about an old Indian traveling across the desert with all of his worldly possessions being dragged behind an old broken-down pony and his Squaw laboriously walking alongside. An old prospector happened upon the itinerant pair, and after they each had exchanged perfunctory salutations, the prospector, with a slightly bewildered smile, asked the dignified Indian seated upon his Pony why he was riding while his Squaw was walking. The old Indian slowly looked at the prospector and then responded with a patient and tolerant voice; “She ain’t got no horse.”
This story came to mind as I was watching and listening to our august Senators debate the proposed Government run Health Care law now before the Senate. The politicians were actually debating the merits of an amendment that would allow for more health screening procedures for women. I’ll just pause here for a moment to let what I just said fully sink in. OK, now that you have had a little time to consider what was being debated, I’ll restate what I said the Senators were discussing in order to illuminate the glaring and apparently overlooked salient of the matter. Today pompous politicians were deciding how much health screening women would receive under the proposed Government Healthcare Program. That’s correct; politicians were deciding what level of healthcare women would receive, i.e., women will not be discussing with their primary healthcare provider what level of healthcare screening they personally needed, wanted or would pay for. Fellow “free” citizens, when you give the Government the responsibility for your personal healthcare you will no longer be riding the horse on your healthcare journey, you will be walking alongside the Government who will be riding the horse and will be dictating where you are going, healthcare wise, that is. The salient about this matter is; Government can only make political decisions. Governments can’t and won’t make personal decisions for you. If you allow the Government to take over your healthcare, your healthcare will be subjected to and rendered with all of the political considerations that the Government must make because Government is a political entity. Government cannot be a personal healthcare provider. So as time rolls by, Government Healthcare will be less and less about your personal healthcare and more and more about what is politically expedient and most politically advantageous to do. Don’t believe me? Look what has happened to the Social Security Program. What started out as a safety net for old age security has morphed into a political machine that promotes social causes, social engineering, and all for Government power and political advantage. Your social security taxes (taxes are power) go less and less for your old age safety net, and more and more for general social welfare.
In short Citizens, if you keep giving away your freedoms and power to the Government, “you ain’t got no horse.”