The recent beheading of a woman in an Oklahoma food processing plant by recent Islam convert Alton Nolen will, I am sure, be categorized by the administration as "work place violence." Just as Nidal Hasan's jihad against the soldiers at Fort Hood in November of 2009, during which he killed 13 persons, was classified as "work place violence." I suppose if the Obama administration had been in power in September of 2001, the attacks on this country by radical Islamists that killed over 3000 Americans would have been labeled as "disgruntled airline passenger violence."
I have news for those who either choose to stick their heads in the sand and pretend that we are not at war with radical Islam, or those who think we have the terrorists "on the run." We are losing this war, and losing it badly. And it is not because we do not have the means to defeat this evil enemy, but because our will to fight has been choked out of us by political correctness. The United States government, as it is currently constituted, can not bring itself to even recognize the enemy when he attacks, let alone do what is necessary to thoroughly defeat him.
The Administration's posture on radical Islam is analogous to if President Roosevelt would have classified the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor as "vacation place violence," and stated that we were not at war with Japan, but just extremists in the Japanese culture. When the enemy is not recognized as a military combatant, nor are his attacks recognized as acts of war, then the war has already been lost. Under the Obama administration we have traveled to the edge of that precipice and are dangling perilously over the chasm of darkness that is defeat.
I am no fan of President Roosevelt. He advanced the cause of socialism in this country and mitigated liberty. But when it came to defending this country from its external enemies, he did what was necessary, and what he thought was prudent at the time. Even the interment of Japanese after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, as abhorrent as we today see that act, in the moment of dangerous times, President Roosevelt's actions came from his sense of duty to keep the nation safe, and not from some larger political strategy.
It is ironic that Franklin Roosevelt's domestic political strategy spawned the political correctness that is now destroying the very country he tried to save by taking the actions he did during World War II. And the political party that he loved so much has transformed itself into the very source of the virus that has enervated the will of a once strong and virile people to defend themselves properly against encroachment on their culture by an enemy that has not limited itself with the fear of offending, hatred of their own culture, and minority rights for those whose stated goal it is to destroy the very pillars of liberty and freedom.
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Monday, September 29, 2014
Global Warming: The Lefts Biggest Dichotomy
No political ideology, religious belief, or general ethos has a structure more supported by the timbers of dichotomy than Leftism. And no belief of the Leftist church is more illustrative of the preceding statement than man-made climate change. Never has there been such a large group of devotees whose object of devotion is the very definition of "much to do about nothing," as those who worship the idolatry of man's dominion over the climate, and the big government Leviathan that is employed by these global warming votarients to "solve" this non-existent danger to the earth.
Several recent studies, one by the government's own National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA), have postulated that any warming of the earth in the last hundred years has been the result of changes in wind patterns, and not man-made causes like sport utility vehicles. These findings, along with data that shows a substantial increase in CO2 admissions (which the global warming apostles say is the main cause of the planet's warming) in the last twenty years, while global temperatures have remained flat, shows the complete fantasy of the "science."
The global warming dichotomy is fueled by those who promulgate the idea that the same citizenry that can not be trusted to posses a firearm can undoubtedly save the planet. That a population that should not be held accountable for bad public behavior can be responsible for the warming of the earth. And the masses who are incapable of feeding, clothing, housing, and generally supporting themselves can heal a world scarred by man's progress.
The response of those who believe in the thoroughly discredited faith of global warming to new data they can not dispute, is to create yet another sacrament of their religion called "the pause." This is the term that Al Gore and his super-heated disciples have given to the last twenty year period when there has been no warming, even though twenty years ago they said twenty years hence there would be so much warming that no polar ice caps would remain by now. Just for the record, polar ice has actually grown by 43% over the last twenty years.
Global warming is congruous with the other extremists on the Left like extreme feminism, extreme equality, extreme environmentalism, extreme immigration, etc. It is not so much about the core issue, but about destroying capitalism and free markets. And if you do not think this is true, look at the signs present at the next Leftist protest and you will see and hear how evil capitalism caused the issue against which they are protesting. And the solution to any problem on the Left always involves some mitigation of the free market that built this great country.
Those trying to use global warming to destroy capitalism under the guise of "saving" the planet have engaged in one of the Lefts biggest dichotomies. Never has there been so much evidence against a thing, and still there are so many persons clinging to it like those who clung to the notion that the earth is flat long after it was proven to be round. That has always been the danger of the Left, i.e., the desire to believe that which has been proven wrong over time and with the overwhelming weight of blatant evidence staring them in the face.
Saturday, September 27, 2014
Eric Holder's Shameful Legacy
By now just about everyone knows that Attorney General Eric Holder was forced to resign as a result of a federal judge ordering the government to release documents related to the Holder gun running operation, known as Fast and Furious, to Judicial Watch per their request under the Freedom Of Information Act. The best efforts of the Obama administration to forestall the document release until after the election failed, and they must complete the task by October 22. Judicial Watch will still have remaining to them the Herculean task of holding the soon to be former attorney general accountable to the American people for his misdeeds and corruption in office.
Anyone who has not been in the captive custody of Islamic terrorists for the last 6 years is aware of the corruption and illegality with which Mr. Holder ran the Department of Justice during his tenure. Scandals like Fast and Furious, IRS targeting of conservative groups, selective non-enforcement of voter intimidation laws when committed by blacks, et al, ad infinitum, are by now household names. But one of the most egregiously criminal acts committed by the Holder Justice Department is something I only learned about this week. It is called Sue and Settle Collusion Law Suits.
The way that Sue and Settle works is that the Attorney Generals office encourages Leftist groups like the Sierra Club to sue the federal government for some perceived non-enforcement of a regulation they think should be more muscular. Assurances are given by the AG's office that they will immediately settle the lawsuit. The settlement procures tax payer money for the organization in the form of "legal fees," and a promise by the government to beef up enforcement of the regulation. The "beefing up" includes writing new regulations, read: new laws, without any input from the people's representatives in congress.
The resignation of Eric Holder is not a reason in my book for celebration among conservatives. There is reason to believe that his replacement is not exactly going to be John Ashcroft, but someone closer to Karl Marx. And the devil we know may be preferable to the devil we do not yet know. As perverse as that may sound. Because let us deal with the facts we know, even if the Republicans gain control of the Senate in November, I do not have much hope or confidence that they will refuse to confirm anyone President Obama nominates to fill the big floppy red shoes of Eric Holder.
The real shamefulness of the Holder legacy at the Department of Justice is not the man who is leaving, but the thousands of anti-American, Leftists being left in place. There are ten thousand lawyers and another one hundred and ten thousand support personnel working at the Department of Justice. Ninety percent of these "public servants" are dedicated to the "social justice" aims of Eric Holder and Barack Obama. Over the last six years Mr. Holder has unceremoniously severed department ties with any employee that does not subscribe to the most radical tenets of Leftism. And this is the most shameful legacy of Eric Holder that will haunt the halls of liberty for decades to come and be a force of oppression against the American people for at least as long.
Anyone who has not been in the captive custody of Islamic terrorists for the last 6 years is aware of the corruption and illegality with which Mr. Holder ran the Department of Justice during his tenure. Scandals like Fast and Furious, IRS targeting of conservative groups, selective non-enforcement of voter intimidation laws when committed by blacks, et al, ad infinitum, are by now household names. But one of the most egregiously criminal acts committed by the Holder Justice Department is something I only learned about this week. It is called Sue and Settle Collusion Law Suits.
The way that Sue and Settle works is that the Attorney Generals office encourages Leftist groups like the Sierra Club to sue the federal government for some perceived non-enforcement of a regulation they think should be more muscular. Assurances are given by the AG's office that they will immediately settle the lawsuit. The settlement procures tax payer money for the organization in the form of "legal fees," and a promise by the government to beef up enforcement of the regulation. The "beefing up" includes writing new regulations, read: new laws, without any input from the people's representatives in congress.
The resignation of Eric Holder is not a reason in my book for celebration among conservatives. There is reason to believe that his replacement is not exactly going to be John Ashcroft, but someone closer to Karl Marx. And the devil we know may be preferable to the devil we do not yet know. As perverse as that may sound. Because let us deal with the facts we know, even if the Republicans gain control of the Senate in November, I do not have much hope or confidence that they will refuse to confirm anyone President Obama nominates to fill the big floppy red shoes of Eric Holder.
The real shamefulness of the Holder legacy at the Department of Justice is not the man who is leaving, but the thousands of anti-American, Leftists being left in place. There are ten thousand lawyers and another one hundred and ten thousand support personnel working at the Department of Justice. Ninety percent of these "public servants" are dedicated to the "social justice" aims of Eric Holder and Barack Obama. Over the last six years Mr. Holder has unceremoniously severed department ties with any employee that does not subscribe to the most radical tenets of Leftism. And this is the most shameful legacy of Eric Holder that will haunt the halls of liberty for decades to come and be a force of oppression against the American people for at least as long.
Friday, September 26, 2014
The Coarseness Of Our Discourse
I have been very disappointed with the enervated state of public debate in this country. Whether that debate is engaged in by politicians, cable talking heads, or average citizens on social media, the devolution of debate from an intellectual pursuit to acrimony has accelerated over the last decade. During that period, as Leftist thought has grasped tighter around the throat of civilization, many citizens have been inculcated with the tools of invective and insult as a replacement for any critical thinking skills.
Respond to any Face Book post that contradicts the main thread and you will find yourself on the receiving end of the dulled intellect of those who can not process any reasoned challenge to their belief system. The well thought out beliefs of our Founders have been replaced by an almost rabid religious ideology bordering on extremism. I just finished reading Lynne Cheney's biography on James Madison. One thing that struck me about the Father of the Constitution was his ability to change his thinking on a subject when it made sense to do so.
In today's modern political climate, for instance, extreme conservatism has lead some to travel around the political circle to a location which occupies the opposite position of conservatism. The mode of travel for these misguided souls is modern Libertarianism. The modern practitioners of this political ideology do not believe in limited government, but no government. They do not believe in Rule of Law, but rule of their interpretation of law and their "right" to disobey any edict from government that does not comport.
Our debate has become populated with people speaking into the narrow chamber of ignorance. It is ignorance of the political system designed by our Founders, and the current disposition of that system. For instance, some say that congress is too powerful. But the road to tyranny is not paved with laws passed by congress, but rather the laws congress has passed to create the unaccountable bureaucracies that do make laws. It is because the federal government has become too powerful in the average citizen's life that some citizens think it should be completely neutered.
It is the coarseness of political thought encouraged by an ignorance of our founding that has lead some to vociferously defend a position of didactic weakness as it relates to our republican form of government so precious to the Founders. It is a mitigation of principle, and not the passionate devotion to a higher ideal, that coarsens debate. And it is exemplified by the all inclusive statement. The all inclusive statement says "All politicians are corrupt" or "All cops are thugs." These sorts of statements are meant to inflame passions, but little else. Their total inclusivity precludes real solutions because of the sweeping nature of their pronouncements.
In this great nation, formed by thoughtful debate, I feel we can reach a higher plain of public discourse than we have seen in recent times. We must throw off the cloak of anonymity afforded us by our modern age and return to civil discourse born of critical thought and reason. No great society has long existed on devotion to its emotions over discernment, and the visceral reaction of ideology over the continued thirst for knowledge.
Respond to any Face Book post that contradicts the main thread and you will find yourself on the receiving end of the dulled intellect of those who can not process any reasoned challenge to their belief system. The well thought out beliefs of our Founders have been replaced by an almost rabid religious ideology bordering on extremism. I just finished reading Lynne Cheney's biography on James Madison. One thing that struck me about the Father of the Constitution was his ability to change his thinking on a subject when it made sense to do so.
In today's modern political climate, for instance, extreme conservatism has lead some to travel around the political circle to a location which occupies the opposite position of conservatism. The mode of travel for these misguided souls is modern Libertarianism. The modern practitioners of this political ideology do not believe in limited government, but no government. They do not believe in Rule of Law, but rule of their interpretation of law and their "right" to disobey any edict from government that does not comport.
Our debate has become populated with people speaking into the narrow chamber of ignorance. It is ignorance of the political system designed by our Founders, and the current disposition of that system. For instance, some say that congress is too powerful. But the road to tyranny is not paved with laws passed by congress, but rather the laws congress has passed to create the unaccountable bureaucracies that do make laws. It is because the federal government has become too powerful in the average citizen's life that some citizens think it should be completely neutered.
It is the coarseness of political thought encouraged by an ignorance of our founding that has lead some to vociferously defend a position of didactic weakness as it relates to our republican form of government so precious to the Founders. It is a mitigation of principle, and not the passionate devotion to a higher ideal, that coarsens debate. And it is exemplified by the all inclusive statement. The all inclusive statement says "All politicians are corrupt" or "All cops are thugs." These sorts of statements are meant to inflame passions, but little else. Their total inclusivity precludes real solutions because of the sweeping nature of their pronouncements.
In this great nation, formed by thoughtful debate, I feel we can reach a higher plain of public discourse than we have seen in recent times. We must throw off the cloak of anonymity afforded us by our modern age and return to civil discourse born of critical thought and reason. No great society has long existed on devotion to its emotions over discernment, and the visceral reaction of ideology over the continued thirst for knowledge.
Thursday, September 25, 2014
Delusion: The Constant Companion Of The Republican Party
President Obama's decline in popularity polls, as irrelevant as they are, seem to have given some desperate Republicans the hint of a possible restoration of hope that their 6 years of acquiescence to the president had formerly extinguished. In addition to the president's falling poll numbers, Democrats running for re-election keeping their distance from Barack Obama like a healthy person from an Ebola patient, is given by Republicans as an additional sign of hope.
I hate to burst Republicans' bubble of delusion , but they seem to have forgotten that Mr. Obama is not running for any political office after January 20, 2017. He is politically immune. And as for Democrats who are running for re-election having an aversion to Obama cooties, a sitting president has very little sway with voters as his influence relates to House and Senate races. It is a well known electoral fact that even if voters say they are fed up with congress as a whole, they generally like their own representatives, especially if they voted for him or her.
Voters are about as unlikely to admit they voted for the wrong person as Al Gore is to admit to the fraud that is man-made climate change. Not that incumbents do not lose re-election sometimes, but the majority do not. This is the advantage of being an incumbent. And if Republicans seem intent on believing that President Obama's waning divinity is going to spell electoral victory for them in November's mid-terms, they may be surprised when they awake with a terrible election hangover on November 5.
But back to the party of the obtuse, Republicans. A glaring example of the establishment Republicans imperceptive stature was illustrated by comments I recently heard John Cornyn, Republican Senator from Texas, make with regards to his party taking control of the Senate. He actually said that the advantage to having both the Senate and the House in Republican hands would be that they could at least get something passed because President Obama can not veto every bill that comes to his desk. What would be more dull and witless than his statement is if he actually believes it.
First, there is no limit on presidential vetoes, and secondly Senator Cornyn's statement shows a complete lack of Republican understanding of Barack Obama. It is hard for me to grasp the idea that after almost six years in office and a solid year and half before that running for the presidency in 2008, that there are still some Republicans that do not understand the radical nature of Barack Obama. To actually believe that he would not veto every bill a Republican Senate sent him, and continue to enact his transformative change with executive orders and through the already established bureaucracies of the federal government, is not only foolish, but shows a dulling of the senses unlike any other.
President Obama is in the proverbial cat bird seat for the next 2 years and four months. He does not even have to pay lip service to those things which a politician running for election pretends to care about. He has unlimited power available to him through the Affordable Care Act and other lesser legislation that has been passed under his administration. And with the new authorities the recent legislation has given him, combined with the authority of executive actions, Republicans are whistling passed a political graveyard if they think gaining the Senate will make much of a difference. But then delusion seems lately to be the constant companion of the Republican Party that has been reduced to irrelevancy in just under six years.
I hate to burst Republicans' bubble of delusion , but they seem to have forgotten that Mr. Obama is not running for any political office after January 20, 2017. He is politically immune. And as for Democrats who are running for re-election having an aversion to Obama cooties, a sitting president has very little sway with voters as his influence relates to House and Senate races. It is a well known electoral fact that even if voters say they are fed up with congress as a whole, they generally like their own representatives, especially if they voted for him or her.
Voters are about as unlikely to admit they voted for the wrong person as Al Gore is to admit to the fraud that is man-made climate change. Not that incumbents do not lose re-election sometimes, but the majority do not. This is the advantage of being an incumbent. And if Republicans seem intent on believing that President Obama's waning divinity is going to spell electoral victory for them in November's mid-terms, they may be surprised when they awake with a terrible election hangover on November 5.
But back to the party of the obtuse, Republicans. A glaring example of the establishment Republicans imperceptive stature was illustrated by comments I recently heard John Cornyn, Republican Senator from Texas, make with regards to his party taking control of the Senate. He actually said that the advantage to having both the Senate and the House in Republican hands would be that they could at least get something passed because President Obama can not veto every bill that comes to his desk. What would be more dull and witless than his statement is if he actually believes it.
First, there is no limit on presidential vetoes, and secondly Senator Cornyn's statement shows a complete lack of Republican understanding of Barack Obama. It is hard for me to grasp the idea that after almost six years in office and a solid year and half before that running for the presidency in 2008, that there are still some Republicans that do not understand the radical nature of Barack Obama. To actually believe that he would not veto every bill a Republican Senate sent him, and continue to enact his transformative change with executive orders and through the already established bureaucracies of the federal government, is not only foolish, but shows a dulling of the senses unlike any other.
President Obama is in the proverbial cat bird seat for the next 2 years and four months. He does not even have to pay lip service to those things which a politician running for election pretends to care about. He has unlimited power available to him through the Affordable Care Act and other lesser legislation that has been passed under his administration. And with the new authorities the recent legislation has given him, combined with the authority of executive actions, Republicans are whistling passed a political graveyard if they think gaining the Senate will make much of a difference. But then delusion seems lately to be the constant companion of the Republican Party that has been reduced to irrelevancy in just under six years.
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
Government's Hand Maiden Accomplice
Panera's restaurant announced a new policy that places them firmly in the same institutional buffoonery as Subway, Waffle House, and several other companies that have publicly stated policies against law abiding citizens patronizing their businesses if they are carrying a firearm. I am today announcing that I have instituted my own policy that I will no longer spend my hard earned dollars at stores and restaurants with similar policies as the one announced by Panera's. Not because I carry a gun, but because I do not.
So under the delusional thinking of Panera's executives, an employee will tell a gunman when he enters that he will not be able to shoot anyone there because of their zero tolerance for firearms. Or after the gunmen has killed half a dozen people, injured dozens more, and they are bleeding on their bagels, the manager will approach the gunman and kindly say, "We have a 'no gun' policy, I am sorry but I will need to revoke your My Panera's card." Yeah, that should work just fine.
The obvious truth that politically correct executives fail to understand is that a business that allows firearms will have good and bad guys carrying them into their businesses. Those, like Panera's that do not allow firearms will only have bad guys carrying them into their businesses. That is why I will not frequent the latter establishments. I want to know that if there is a bad guy with a gun sitting across from me as I enjoy my bear claw and a cup of coffee, there will also be half a dozen good guys with guns scattered throughout the dining room as well.
Beyond the constitutional right of Americans to posses firearms, which is important regardless of any other facts, is the fact that over the last twenty years the number of guns in this country has grown enormously. Over that same time period, gun violence according to Department of Justice statistics, has dropped precipitously. The reduced number of homicides committed with handguns also includes suicides, which constitute a whopping two thirds of that statistic.
Companies like Panera's that are considering a "no gun" policy should make their decision based on facts, not political correctness. If they did, they would realize that the cities in this country, like Chicago, with the strictest gun control laws, also have the highest crime rates. Conversely, the areas of the country with the lowest crime rates are ones which respect the Second Amendment right of their citizens.
We live in interesting times indeed. A time when constitutional fidelity has been replaced by corporate oppression of the rights outlined in that document. A time when a bagel seller has the unmitigated audacity to claim perspicacity greater than that of the Founders of this great nation. A time when what is advanced as a matter of public safety actually endangers the public, and that which is in the best interest of the public defense becomes fodder of the corporate marketing of political correctness. And while the people's rights become evermore enervated by government, it is assisted in its nefarious task by its handmaiden accomplice, corporate America.
So under the delusional thinking of Panera's executives, an employee will tell a gunman when he enters that he will not be able to shoot anyone there because of their zero tolerance for firearms. Or after the gunmen has killed half a dozen people, injured dozens more, and they are bleeding on their bagels, the manager will approach the gunman and kindly say, "We have a 'no gun' policy, I am sorry but I will need to revoke your My Panera's card." Yeah, that should work just fine.
The obvious truth that politically correct executives fail to understand is that a business that allows firearms will have good and bad guys carrying them into their businesses. Those, like Panera's that do not allow firearms will only have bad guys carrying them into their businesses. That is why I will not frequent the latter establishments. I want to know that if there is a bad guy with a gun sitting across from me as I enjoy my bear claw and a cup of coffee, there will also be half a dozen good guys with guns scattered throughout the dining room as well.
Beyond the constitutional right of Americans to posses firearms, which is important regardless of any other facts, is the fact that over the last twenty years the number of guns in this country has grown enormously. Over that same time period, gun violence according to Department of Justice statistics, has dropped precipitously. The reduced number of homicides committed with handguns also includes suicides, which constitute a whopping two thirds of that statistic.
Companies like Panera's that are considering a "no gun" policy should make their decision based on facts, not political correctness. If they did, they would realize that the cities in this country, like Chicago, with the strictest gun control laws, also have the highest crime rates. Conversely, the areas of the country with the lowest crime rates are ones which respect the Second Amendment right of their citizens.
We live in interesting times indeed. A time when constitutional fidelity has been replaced by corporate oppression of the rights outlined in that document. A time when a bagel seller has the unmitigated audacity to claim perspicacity greater than that of the Founders of this great nation. A time when what is advanced as a matter of public safety actually endangers the public, and that which is in the best interest of the public defense becomes fodder of the corporate marketing of political correctness. And while the people's rights become evermore enervated by government, it is assisted in its nefarious task by its handmaiden accomplice, corporate America.
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Obama Outsources American Security
Senator Ted Cruz made a salient point recently when he asked if President Obama was going to require background checks for the Syrian rebels he is hell bent on arming with U.S. weapons. He sure as heck did not require background checks on the members of Mexican drug cartels that he armed via the Fast and Furious program, which resulted in the deaths of several U.S. border agents and hundreds of innocent Mexican citizens. But when it comes to American citizens exercising their God-given right, protected by the Constitution of the United States, to posses a firearm, background checks and ultimate confiscation is the goal of not only Mr. Obama, but the entire machine of the Left.
Beyond the obvious hypocrisy of the Obama administration's arming of Syrian rebels that most likely are just another viral strain of radical Islam, while trying their hardest to disarm law-abiding citizens, is the fact that the president is engaging in outsourcing American security to a group of individuals that have about as much in common with American interests as a mouse has in common with the interests of a cat. And if the preceding run on sentence did not make it clear enough, Barack Obama is arming the enemies of the United States, and what is more disturbing, is he has the support of many in the Republican party.
If ISIS is enough of a threat to dedicate U.S. arms, should we not employ the full force of our military, still the best in the world, to eradicating this enemy as quickly and thoroughly as we can? President Obama did not have a strategy just a little over a week ago, now he has one that is bound to fail. That is not just me talking, but many military experts currently serving and retired. The Obama air campaign rejects the logic of history that postulates no enemy has been completely defeated with only an air war.
ISIS is not a static number of individuals that can be whittled away by an air war of attrition. They are constantly growing, and considering that they were only hundreds strong a couple of years ago and now have numbers well over 30,000, their growth rate is alarming. But even more alarming than their growth rate is their maturation of sophistication, both organizationally and tactically. This growth was greatly accelerated in the last few months, coincidentally corresponding to the release of the Bergdahl Five.
Some have suggested (myself included) that ISIS has benefitted from the expertise of one or more of these former detainees. It certainly would not be the first time that Guantanamo Bay detainees were found on the battle field after being released. However, Politifacts has roundly dismissed this assertion, and have given it their "pants on fire" rating. Still the question is left begging how ISIS advanced so quickly, not only in size, but in their sophistication, in only 5 months. They not only have become a well oiled military unit, but have managed to gain sufficient oil holdings to make contracts to supply oil to some European countries at a fraction of market prices, which will wage an economic war that could be devastating for the United States.
For now the president and congress seem devoted to a strategy that is bound to fail, and cause more suffering, not only for the people of Iraq and Syria, but for the U.S. as well. As Napoleon once said, "When you endeavor to take Vienna, take Vienna." In other words Mr. President, do not outsource the destruction of ISIS to ISIS, or any other group whose values are more aligned with ISIS than the United States. This is a job we need to do ourselves or leave undone and take our chances.
Beyond the obvious hypocrisy of the Obama administration's arming of Syrian rebels that most likely are just another viral strain of radical Islam, while trying their hardest to disarm law-abiding citizens, is the fact that the president is engaging in outsourcing American security to a group of individuals that have about as much in common with American interests as a mouse has in common with the interests of a cat. And if the preceding run on sentence did not make it clear enough, Barack Obama is arming the enemies of the United States, and what is more disturbing, is he has the support of many in the Republican party.
If ISIS is enough of a threat to dedicate U.S. arms, should we not employ the full force of our military, still the best in the world, to eradicating this enemy as quickly and thoroughly as we can? President Obama did not have a strategy just a little over a week ago, now he has one that is bound to fail. That is not just me talking, but many military experts currently serving and retired. The Obama air campaign rejects the logic of history that postulates no enemy has been completely defeated with only an air war.
ISIS is not a static number of individuals that can be whittled away by an air war of attrition. They are constantly growing, and considering that they were only hundreds strong a couple of years ago and now have numbers well over 30,000, their growth rate is alarming. But even more alarming than their growth rate is their maturation of sophistication, both organizationally and tactically. This growth was greatly accelerated in the last few months, coincidentally corresponding to the release of the Bergdahl Five.
Some have suggested (myself included) that ISIS has benefitted from the expertise of one or more of these former detainees. It certainly would not be the first time that Guantanamo Bay detainees were found on the battle field after being released. However, Politifacts has roundly dismissed this assertion, and have given it their "pants on fire" rating. Still the question is left begging how ISIS advanced so quickly, not only in size, but in their sophistication, in only 5 months. They not only have become a well oiled military unit, but have managed to gain sufficient oil holdings to make contracts to supply oil to some European countries at a fraction of market prices, which will wage an economic war that could be devastating for the United States.
For now the president and congress seem devoted to a strategy that is bound to fail, and cause more suffering, not only for the people of Iraq and Syria, but for the U.S. as well. As Napoleon once said, "When you endeavor to take Vienna, take Vienna." In other words Mr. President, do not outsource the destruction of ISIS to ISIS, or any other group whose values are more aligned with ISIS than the United States. This is a job we need to do ourselves or leave undone and take our chances.
Monday, September 22, 2014
The Age Of Synthetic Emotions
We are living in the age of synthetic emotions, where condemnation is a result of the tyranny of the outraged, and apology is forced by the oppression of the offended. There is a desire in this society that is the bastard child of Karl Marx to not only control behavior, but emotions as well. In the Leftist Utopia it is not sufficiently adequate to worship in the holy place of voluntary oppression, one must practice the sacrament of proper and state approved emotions. To be outraged at that which is state approved to be outrageous, to be contrite for that which the state requires contrition, and to practice compassion in the only state-recommended way available to those living under the reign of synthesized emotions.
In the relatively short span of my time on this earth (52 years and counting) I have seen the Land of the Free be transformed into the Land of the Freeloading, and the Home of the Brave be mangled into the Home of the Constantly Offended. We have limited free speech, not by the force of government necessarily, but more by the force of a twisted and corrupted culture which requires apology for speaking ones mind. Instead of the virtue of true contrition for acts deserving of such, we have settled for the politically correct vapidity of public contriteness simply for offending with words those dedicated to being constantly offended.
The malleable minds of the masses have been trained by their Leftist masters to be outraged by an expectant mother smoking, yet be religiously devoted to that same mother's "right" to have her unborn child murdered in her womb. They have convinced a significant number of the formerly free that the criminality of government in the pursuit of "good intentions" is not worthy of outrage, but that the pursuit of legitimate wealth is. The Leftist succubus that has attached itself to the healthy body of American liberty has manufactured outrage for all that is decent, moral, and just, while selling the public the snake oil of "social justice."
The false compassion of wealth redistribution has been inculcated in a large swathe of the American public, especially the impressionable young. Leftist demigods have redefined the virtuous act of compassion to the venality of government largess fueled by the wealth of an ever decreasing pool of producers and at the expense of everyone's freedom. Compassion has been demoralized by the mitigation of one man freely giving some of his plenty to a man that has none, and the expansion of the authority of government to confiscate from the former and give to the latter. This system of forced compassion replaces magnanimity in the benefactor with resentment, and gratitude in the beneficiary with entitlement.
We will never solve our problems as a society until we break free of the prison of synthetic emotions and begin to value true and legitimate emotions that spring forth from the human heart, not from the edicts of government or a cancerous ideology. Children never mature into productive adults until they learn the appropriate nature of their emotions. Our nation, I fear, has become juvenile in our disposition of emotions that are promulgated more and more by government and media than by the very souls of a free, just, and moral populace.
In the relatively short span of my time on this earth (52 years and counting) I have seen the Land of the Free be transformed into the Land of the Freeloading, and the Home of the Brave be mangled into the Home of the Constantly Offended. We have limited free speech, not by the force of government necessarily, but more by the force of a twisted and corrupted culture which requires apology for speaking ones mind. Instead of the virtue of true contrition for acts deserving of such, we have settled for the politically correct vapidity of public contriteness simply for offending with words those dedicated to being constantly offended.
The malleable minds of the masses have been trained by their Leftist masters to be outraged by an expectant mother smoking, yet be religiously devoted to that same mother's "right" to have her unborn child murdered in her womb. They have convinced a significant number of the formerly free that the criminality of government in the pursuit of "good intentions" is not worthy of outrage, but that the pursuit of legitimate wealth is. The Leftist succubus that has attached itself to the healthy body of American liberty has manufactured outrage for all that is decent, moral, and just, while selling the public the snake oil of "social justice."
The false compassion of wealth redistribution has been inculcated in a large swathe of the American public, especially the impressionable young. Leftist demigods have redefined the virtuous act of compassion to the venality of government largess fueled by the wealth of an ever decreasing pool of producers and at the expense of everyone's freedom. Compassion has been demoralized by the mitigation of one man freely giving some of his plenty to a man that has none, and the expansion of the authority of government to confiscate from the former and give to the latter. This system of forced compassion replaces magnanimity in the benefactor with resentment, and gratitude in the beneficiary with entitlement.
We will never solve our problems as a society until we break free of the prison of synthetic emotions and begin to value true and legitimate emotions that spring forth from the human heart, not from the edicts of government or a cancerous ideology. Children never mature into productive adults until they learn the appropriate nature of their emotions. Our nation, I fear, has become juvenile in our disposition of emotions that are promulgated more and more by government and media than by the very souls of a free, just, and moral populace.
Saturday, September 20, 2014
The NFL Scandal And The False Enlightenment Of Progressivism
I have tried very hard to avoid news about the manufactured domestic violence problem of the National Football League, and I have tried even harder not to comment about it on this blog. But putting aside the behavior of two of the most prominent symbols of the spurious link between playing professional football and abusing one's wife and children, the "scandal" is illustrative of the degenerative effect that Leftism has had on our culture over the last 50 years, and their desire to draw conclusions on the whole based on the behavior of the few. And the obvious spousal abuse in the one instance and the less obvious child abuse in the other are not important, what has become important to too many in the media and elsewhere on both the Left and Right is the response to the behavior by the offenders' employers.
The current controversy swirling around the NFL like members of ISIS swirling around a western journalist with his head intact, has created fertile ground for the Left in sports media, as well as the rest of main stream Leftism in America, to harvest the fruits of the seeds they have planted over the last fifty years to replace individual responsibility with collective guilt. This collective guilt allows them to outlaw freedoms that have been taken for granted since our founding. To say that the media on both the Left and the Right have been flogging a dead horse on this issue would be an understatement, they have not only flogged it but skinned it, fileted it, and crushed its bones to be used for mulch.
The disturbing element of the reaction by the Left/Right media to this "scandal" is the ease with which we as a society have accepted that personal behavior in private life, as horrible as it may be, is the business of employers like the NFL. The Founders would be horrified by the notion of a connection between how a person relates to their spouse and children, and their job. Do we really want employers to be the guardians of morality, or worse yet, the government.? The Framers of the Constitution would have found this idea anathema to every principle for which they fought a revolution.
The reason that the Founders made no constitutional distinctions or "carve outs" for minors is because they understood that the disposition of children and their discipline laid within the realm of their parents, not the government, and certainly not their employers. As for spousal abuse, yes of course the full force of the law should be brought to bear on offenders, but that still is not within the purview of the offender's employer.
The NFL and its teams have two priorities, i.e. to win games and make money. They do not exist to serve the social engineering desires of the Left. The Left has successfully inculcated in many Americans that the privacy of personal life is rightly replaced by public scrutiny and intervention. So instead of a nation of individuals as the Founders intended, we have transformed into a nation of nosey nellies, ready at a moments notice to insert ourselves, in the form of government and employers, into the relationships and choices of our fellow citizens. If there is one thing the current NFL situation illustrates it is our willingness to voluntarily sprint down the road of tyranny, with the reckless abandon of ignorance clothed in the false enlightenment of progressivism.
The current controversy swirling around the NFL like members of ISIS swirling around a western journalist with his head intact, has created fertile ground for the Left in sports media, as well as the rest of main stream Leftism in America, to harvest the fruits of the seeds they have planted over the last fifty years to replace individual responsibility with collective guilt. This collective guilt allows them to outlaw freedoms that have been taken for granted since our founding. To say that the media on both the Left and the Right have been flogging a dead horse on this issue would be an understatement, they have not only flogged it but skinned it, fileted it, and crushed its bones to be used for mulch.
The disturbing element of the reaction by the Left/Right media to this "scandal" is the ease with which we as a society have accepted that personal behavior in private life, as horrible as it may be, is the business of employers like the NFL. The Founders would be horrified by the notion of a connection between how a person relates to their spouse and children, and their job. Do we really want employers to be the guardians of morality, or worse yet, the government.? The Framers of the Constitution would have found this idea anathema to every principle for which they fought a revolution.
The reason that the Founders made no constitutional distinctions or "carve outs" for minors is because they understood that the disposition of children and their discipline laid within the realm of their parents, not the government, and certainly not their employers. As for spousal abuse, yes of course the full force of the law should be brought to bear on offenders, but that still is not within the purview of the offender's employer.
The NFL and its teams have two priorities, i.e. to win games and make money. They do not exist to serve the social engineering desires of the Left. The Left has successfully inculcated in many Americans that the privacy of personal life is rightly replaced by public scrutiny and intervention. So instead of a nation of individuals as the Founders intended, we have transformed into a nation of nosey nellies, ready at a moments notice to insert ourselves, in the form of government and employers, into the relationships and choices of our fellow citizens. If there is one thing the current NFL situation illustrates it is our willingness to voluntarily sprint down the road of tyranny, with the reckless abandon of ignorance clothed in the false enlightenment of progressivism.
Friday, September 19, 2014
Republicans Give No Choice In This Current "Time Of Choosing"
Over this past Spring and Summer, Republicans and their mouth pieces in talk radio and elsewhere, were telling anyone who would listen how the mid-term election was going to result in a gain of seats in the House of Representatives for Republicans and control of the currently Democrat-controlled Senate of the United States. They not only said it was a possibility, but that it most probably was going to be an electoral "wave."
If the latest polling data can be trusted, the Republican "wave" has turned into a gentle ebb with the loss of a majority of the GOP's momentum less than two months before the election. By election day I fully expect that the "Republican wave" will transmogrify into the Democrats holding their majority in the Senate and possibly gaining seats in the House. Although I am not sure that Democrats will have quite enough voter support to wrestle control of the House away from the Republican majority.
So what happened? How did the Republicans squander a lead in the polls that could have comprised a wave of victory this November? The answer is simple; a complacent adherence to establishment party politics. The other more sublime reason is that the Republicans have virtually disappeared from the political scene in hopes that Democrats would implode from scandals and incompetence. The fact that Republicans have not learned from the 2012 presidential election that voters care little about positive results (Barack Obama being the only president in history to win re-election with an economy in worse shape than when he was inaugurated) is a sign that they are not only unskilled in politics, but obtuse in the face of overwhelming evidence.
What has hurt Republicans in addition to not having a positive agenda to proffer is their wet rag response to illegal immigration. Agreeing with Democrats that the "system is broken" instead of just needing strong political leadership to actually enforce its laws. They have ignored the will of the people, rejected the right thing to do, and turned away from a winning political strategy, all rolled up into the neat little package of illegal immigration and have actually sided with Democrats, against the will of the people to do the wrong thing and shoot themselves in the political foot.
There have been other issues where the Republicans, through their political complacency, have not distinguished themselves from Democrats. And as fed up with Democrats as American voters may be, they are not going to jump on board to creating a Republican wave without sufficient reason to do so given by a strongly articulated alternative by Republicans. It is what Ronald Reagan referred to in his epic speech from 1964, A Time For Choosing, where he outlined a way forward for the Republican Party as one of "bold colors" not "pale pastels." Apparently, and unfortunately, today's Republican Party has chosen to emulate the latter in a time when the country needs leadership with the political courage to embody the former.
If the latest polling data can be trusted, the Republican "wave" has turned into a gentle ebb with the loss of a majority of the GOP's momentum less than two months before the election. By election day I fully expect that the "Republican wave" will transmogrify into the Democrats holding their majority in the Senate and possibly gaining seats in the House. Although I am not sure that Democrats will have quite enough voter support to wrestle control of the House away from the Republican majority.
So what happened? How did the Republicans squander a lead in the polls that could have comprised a wave of victory this November? The answer is simple; a complacent adherence to establishment party politics. The other more sublime reason is that the Republicans have virtually disappeared from the political scene in hopes that Democrats would implode from scandals and incompetence. The fact that Republicans have not learned from the 2012 presidential election that voters care little about positive results (Barack Obama being the only president in history to win re-election with an economy in worse shape than when he was inaugurated) is a sign that they are not only unskilled in politics, but obtuse in the face of overwhelming evidence.
What has hurt Republicans in addition to not having a positive agenda to proffer is their wet rag response to illegal immigration. Agreeing with Democrats that the "system is broken" instead of just needing strong political leadership to actually enforce its laws. They have ignored the will of the people, rejected the right thing to do, and turned away from a winning political strategy, all rolled up into the neat little package of illegal immigration and have actually sided with Democrats, against the will of the people to do the wrong thing and shoot themselves in the political foot.
There have been other issues where the Republicans, through their political complacency, have not distinguished themselves from Democrats. And as fed up with Democrats as American voters may be, they are not going to jump on board to creating a Republican wave without sufficient reason to do so given by a strongly articulated alternative by Republicans. It is what Ronald Reagan referred to in his epic speech from 1964, A Time For Choosing, where he outlined a way forward for the Republican Party as one of "bold colors" not "pale pastels." Apparently, and unfortunately, today's Republican Party has chosen to emulate the latter in a time when the country needs leadership with the political courage to embody the former.
Thursday, September 18, 2014
Where Is Bart Stupak And His Gang Of Fakes?
Lost in all the hoopla about ISIS, Ray Rice, Barack Obama's golf game, the Benghazi hearings, etc., ad infinitum, was a report released this week by the Government Accountability Office that revealed through an extensive audit of ObamaCare that subsidy money was being spent on providing abortions to some policy holders. In fact, not just some, but up to 300,000 participants in the new health care debacle. This of course was not suppose to happen. More to the point it was promised by the administration that no tax payer subsidies would be used for abortions.
I am looking for, but not expecting to see, former Congressman Bart Stupak come out publicly to express his anger and rage over this development. Remember Mr. Stupak and his gang of pro-life Democrats who refused to vote for the Affordable Care Act until they were placated by the administration with the promise that the moratorium on tax payer funded abortions, made law by the longstanding Hyde Amendment, would be kept intact by the new health care law?
Well where is the Gang of Fakes? Or does their pro-life stance only have life when their political futures were threatened by their pro-life constituents whose votes they needed to gain re-election? The Obama administration's promise, written in disappearing ink, notwithstanding, Mr. Stupak and his band of on again off again pro-lifers have proven that their moral values will always take a back seat to party politics. And those party politics are forever, unlike their pro-life stance which is calculated only to propel them through the next election.
But we should not be too hard on old Bart and his Gang of Fakes, after all, insincerity and moral weakness is a Democrat tradition, especially when it comes to the Affordable Care Act. Tin foil hat guy Dennis Kucinich vehemently opposed ObamaCare (because it was not socialist enough for his Leftist sensibilities) until the president gave him a ride on Air Force One. How easily Democrats are bought off their principles! I did not agree with former congressman Kucinich's position on socialized health care for America, but gee whiz, at least if you are going to have principles stand by them and do not leave them ravaged by the side of the road while you are having a one-on-one with the president in his big plane.
Of course some astute political votarients may point out that Mr. Stupak was forced to retire from congress, many say because of his betrayal of his pro-life principles. But that does not preclude him from speaking out against this latest development, if he indeed believes abortion is wrong, and paying for it with tax payer dollars is almost as wrong. Whether current or former members of congress, the Stupak Gang of Fakes should be outraged that they were lied to by their own president on such a morally core issue. But alas, I see no outrage forthcoming from these Democrats who have moved forward and left the shattered pieces of their principles laying on the floor of the Oval Office, the eternal price they paid for the temporary nature of political expediency.
I am looking for, but not expecting to see, former Congressman Bart Stupak come out publicly to express his anger and rage over this development. Remember Mr. Stupak and his gang of pro-life Democrats who refused to vote for the Affordable Care Act until they were placated by the administration with the promise that the moratorium on tax payer funded abortions, made law by the longstanding Hyde Amendment, would be kept intact by the new health care law?
Well where is the Gang of Fakes? Or does their pro-life stance only have life when their political futures were threatened by their pro-life constituents whose votes they needed to gain re-election? The Obama administration's promise, written in disappearing ink, notwithstanding, Mr. Stupak and his band of on again off again pro-lifers have proven that their moral values will always take a back seat to party politics. And those party politics are forever, unlike their pro-life stance which is calculated only to propel them through the next election.
But we should not be too hard on old Bart and his Gang of Fakes, after all, insincerity and moral weakness is a Democrat tradition, especially when it comes to the Affordable Care Act. Tin foil hat guy Dennis Kucinich vehemently opposed ObamaCare (because it was not socialist enough for his Leftist sensibilities) until the president gave him a ride on Air Force One. How easily Democrats are bought off their principles! I did not agree with former congressman Kucinich's position on socialized health care for America, but gee whiz, at least if you are going to have principles stand by them and do not leave them ravaged by the side of the road while you are having a one-on-one with the president in his big plane.
Of course some astute political votarients may point out that Mr. Stupak was forced to retire from congress, many say because of his betrayal of his pro-life principles. But that does not preclude him from speaking out against this latest development, if he indeed believes abortion is wrong, and paying for it with tax payer dollars is almost as wrong. Whether current or former members of congress, the Stupak Gang of Fakes should be outraged that they were lied to by their own president on such a morally core issue. But alas, I see no outrage forthcoming from these Democrats who have moved forward and left the shattered pieces of their principles laying on the floor of the Oval Office, the eternal price they paid for the temporary nature of political expediency.
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
The Secret War Of ISIS
The phenomenal growth of ISIS, from a ragtag gang of not much more than street thugs, to an organized army with over 30,000 members that have gained control of over a third of Iraq proper, has been a spectacle to behold. The more spectacular aspect of the "radicalize or die" mentality that has overtaken much of the Middle East in the last 6 years is the ineptness and fecklessness of Barack Obama to properly deal with the threat when it was much more manageable, only a few short months ago.
ISIS now has a huge portfolio of oil holdings in the Middle East, which not only supplies it with the cash necessary to rain down terror on anyone they label as an infidel, but the power to fight an economic war against the United States. The oil arm of ISIS has contracted with many European countries to sell them oil at $15 a barrel, far below the $90+ a barrel it has recently traded for on the open market.
The collapsing of the oil market will have an economically devastating effect on the U.S. and its ability to defeat an enemy that grows not only in military might every day, but also in its influence throughout the financial markets. Mention of this unspoken war being waged by ISIS is nowhere to be found in the main stream media, but some in the investment community have begun to murmur about it.
Some may say, "Good, we need cheaper oil." But this large of a precipitous fall in oil prices could have a ripple effect throughout financial markets that could rival the collapse of 2008. The costs of exploration, drilling, and extraction have continued to rise, and will not fall with the artificial discounting of the barrel price. The U.S. oil industry could be severely curtailed because the costs of production will be so much greater than the price for which they can sell their product. Thousands of jobs would be loss and many smaller drillers would be forced out of business, causing a collapse of the stock market.
Of course the ability of ISIS to wage this economic war successfully against the United States is predicated upon their continued survival and growth. And that growth is dependent on the action, or inaction, of the United States government and its allies with regards to ISIS. If they are allowed to gain control of Iraq (the country with the fourth largest oil reserves in the world) through inaction or limited action by the Obama administration, we are in for a long and economically brutal campaign, matched only by their physical barbarism on and off the battlefield.
ISIS now has a huge portfolio of oil holdings in the Middle East, which not only supplies it with the cash necessary to rain down terror on anyone they label as an infidel, but the power to fight an economic war against the United States. The oil arm of ISIS has contracted with many European countries to sell them oil at $15 a barrel, far below the $90+ a barrel it has recently traded for on the open market.
The collapsing of the oil market will have an economically devastating effect on the U.S. and its ability to defeat an enemy that grows not only in military might every day, but also in its influence throughout the financial markets. Mention of this unspoken war being waged by ISIS is nowhere to be found in the main stream media, but some in the investment community have begun to murmur about it.
Some may say, "Good, we need cheaper oil." But this large of a precipitous fall in oil prices could have a ripple effect throughout financial markets that could rival the collapse of 2008. The costs of exploration, drilling, and extraction have continued to rise, and will not fall with the artificial discounting of the barrel price. The U.S. oil industry could be severely curtailed because the costs of production will be so much greater than the price for which they can sell their product. Thousands of jobs would be loss and many smaller drillers would be forced out of business, causing a collapse of the stock market.
Of course the ability of ISIS to wage this economic war successfully against the United States is predicated upon their continued survival and growth. And that growth is dependent on the action, or inaction, of the United States government and its allies with regards to ISIS. If they are allowed to gain control of Iraq (the country with the fourth largest oil reserves in the world) through inaction or limited action by the Obama administration, we are in for a long and economically brutal campaign, matched only by their physical barbarism on and off the battlefield.
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
The Sausage Of War
General Sherman once said that "war is hell." And it is. No one wants to see the sausage being made, especially the sausage of war. During World War II the public only saw grainy newsreel footage of the war effort. And even as recently as the Vietnam War, correspondents sent back home accounts of the war accompanied by film footage shot by one of half a dozen news organizations. Today, with the modernity of technology available, not only can news organizations send images of war around the world instantaneously, but so can any citizen of any country that has a smart phone.
These instant and ubiquitous images of the horrors of war are used by our enemies and enemies of our allies, to shape public opinion and cause a deliberate loss of political will to fight. The images are also used by enemies at home to transform a once stoic and fierce nation into a herd of docile and scared little sheep. These pacifists have used images of the innocent victims of war as a lever against the forces of good to vanquish the forces of evil because the emotional infantilism of a nation will not allow war containing death.
Israel's recent war against the terrorist organization Hamas in Gaza is a perfect example of my stated thesis. Even though Israel, in the words of one British commander, has done more to protect innocent lives than any military in history, they were still stopped short by the "world community" of defeating a brutal and evil enemy. The fact that Israel had a kill ratio of one civilian to every terrorist killed when the average for every other country has been four civilians for every terrorist killed, means nothing to a "world community" that has grown flaccid in its response to the barbarianism of modern day evil on this planet.
The limp-wristed response to the violent brutality of an ideology that seeks to impose oppression and tyranny not only on the Middle East, but the entire world, has come in part as a result of the promulgation of technology. A technology that not only brings the images of war into the living rooms of the average American, but into their very pockets on hand held mobile devices. The spectacle of beheadings, dead children, and innocent humans being shot as they lay in a row on the ground simply because they are not "of the one true religious faith," now follows its viewers through their daily lives and results in a weakness of the will to confront evil.
This weakness of will to confront evil in the individual translates to a dereliction of duty to destroy it by honorable forms of government that claim to protect liberty and freedom. Some who occupy powerful positions in such governments even use the images of the sausage of war being made to further their own radical agendas that are based on infecting citizens with weakness for war, thereby mitigating their passion for personal liberty and making them more amenable to oppression.
We must decide as a civilization whether the avoidance of the horrors of war in the present is such a desirable marker on the road to "a thousand years of darkness," or if we have the courage to "save this last best hope of man on earth" for future generations.
These instant and ubiquitous images of the horrors of war are used by our enemies and enemies of our allies, to shape public opinion and cause a deliberate loss of political will to fight. The images are also used by enemies at home to transform a once stoic and fierce nation into a herd of docile and scared little sheep. These pacifists have used images of the innocent victims of war as a lever against the forces of good to vanquish the forces of evil because the emotional infantilism of a nation will not allow war containing death.
Israel's recent war against the terrorist organization Hamas in Gaza is a perfect example of my stated thesis. Even though Israel, in the words of one British commander, has done more to protect innocent lives than any military in history, they were still stopped short by the "world community" of defeating a brutal and evil enemy. The fact that Israel had a kill ratio of one civilian to every terrorist killed when the average for every other country has been four civilians for every terrorist killed, means nothing to a "world community" that has grown flaccid in its response to the barbarianism of modern day evil on this planet.
The limp-wristed response to the violent brutality of an ideology that seeks to impose oppression and tyranny not only on the Middle East, but the entire world, has come in part as a result of the promulgation of technology. A technology that not only brings the images of war into the living rooms of the average American, but into their very pockets on hand held mobile devices. The spectacle of beheadings, dead children, and innocent humans being shot as they lay in a row on the ground simply because they are not "of the one true religious faith," now follows its viewers through their daily lives and results in a weakness of the will to confront evil.
This weakness of will to confront evil in the individual translates to a dereliction of duty to destroy it by honorable forms of government that claim to protect liberty and freedom. Some who occupy powerful positions in such governments even use the images of the sausage of war being made to further their own radical agendas that are based on infecting citizens with weakness for war, thereby mitigating their passion for personal liberty and making them more amenable to oppression.
We must decide as a civilization whether the avoidance of the horrors of war in the present is such a desirable marker on the road to "a thousand years of darkness," or if we have the courage to "save this last best hope of man on earth" for future generations.
Monday, September 15, 2014
The Shackled Mind Of Leftists
Last week during my vacation in the deep woods of South Eastern Ohio I had the opportunity to visit with a couple who are relatives of my camping partner, and were on their way to a wedding in New York. Anyone who conversed with this couple for only a minute or two on the subject of politics would clearly place them firmly and undoubtedly on the far Left of the political spectrum. The funny thing is, I do not think they would consider themselves as devotees of the Leftist religion they practice with the dedication of evangelists.
The ignorance of their true political faith does not make my shirttail relatives bad people, nor does it put them into a category by themselves. The most insidious aspect of Leftism, I believe, is the complete obtuseness with which many of its votarients practice the faith. And make no mistake, Leftism is a religious faith, not a political ideology. It has been one of the most destructive religious faiths of the last hundred years because it seeks and aims to mitigate not only the natural rights of man burned into this country's founding, but also the natural laws that govern all of life.
Of course my pseudo relatives are not the kind of dark and disturbed people that would knowingly engage in the hatefulness of oppression. And yet, when the anti-Semitism of the Left passes from the lips of these loving and decent people, it is enough to send the chill of history up my spine and wrap its icy fingers around my heart. It is a product of the Leftist faith to remove logic and reason from the minds of its practitioners and replace them with group-think and a soulless adherence to the tenets of big government.
The failure and illogic of big government is all around us every day. One recent example of which I read is the push by New York Democrat Senator Chuck Schumer to ban 10 different fire retardant chemicals used in the manufacturing of furniture. The chemicals supposedly have been shown to affect small children exposed to them over time, as well as fire fighters who extinguish fires when this furniture does burn. The point is that it was the same government that now wants to ban these chemicals that regulated furniture manufactures to use them in the first place. So if the Schumer proposal passes and becomes law, government will have to grow even bigger to ensure that chemicals are not being used in the manufacturing of furniture that were not being used until government stuck its nose in and force their use.
My aforementioned example of the ludicrous nature of big government would be completely missed by my shirttail relatives, not because of a lack of intelligence, but because of a lack of the natural curiosity present in the free mind that is not present in the intellectually shackled mind of the Left. The sadness of the Leftists who do not know they are Leftists is that they see their ideology, not as an ideology, but as a moral imperative for a "fair" and "just" society. The real and present damage that Leftism has done to our society is the suppression of free expression, speech, and even thought present in those who dare not place their personal liberty above the "common good" as defined by the very type of government that our Founders fought so hard to abate.
The ignorance of their true political faith does not make my shirttail relatives bad people, nor does it put them into a category by themselves. The most insidious aspect of Leftism, I believe, is the complete obtuseness with which many of its votarients practice the faith. And make no mistake, Leftism is a religious faith, not a political ideology. It has been one of the most destructive religious faiths of the last hundred years because it seeks and aims to mitigate not only the natural rights of man burned into this country's founding, but also the natural laws that govern all of life.
Of course my pseudo relatives are not the kind of dark and disturbed people that would knowingly engage in the hatefulness of oppression. And yet, when the anti-Semitism of the Left passes from the lips of these loving and decent people, it is enough to send the chill of history up my spine and wrap its icy fingers around my heart. It is a product of the Leftist faith to remove logic and reason from the minds of its practitioners and replace them with group-think and a soulless adherence to the tenets of big government.
The failure and illogic of big government is all around us every day. One recent example of which I read is the push by New York Democrat Senator Chuck Schumer to ban 10 different fire retardant chemicals used in the manufacturing of furniture. The chemicals supposedly have been shown to affect small children exposed to them over time, as well as fire fighters who extinguish fires when this furniture does burn. The point is that it was the same government that now wants to ban these chemicals that regulated furniture manufactures to use them in the first place. So if the Schumer proposal passes and becomes law, government will have to grow even bigger to ensure that chemicals are not being used in the manufacturing of furniture that were not being used until government stuck its nose in and force their use.
My aforementioned example of the ludicrous nature of big government would be completely missed by my shirttail relatives, not because of a lack of intelligence, but because of a lack of the natural curiosity present in the free mind that is not present in the intellectually shackled mind of the Left. The sadness of the Leftists who do not know they are Leftists is that they see their ideology, not as an ideology, but as a moral imperative for a "fair" and "just" society. The real and present damage that Leftism has done to our society is the suppression of free expression, speech, and even thought present in those who dare not place their personal liberty above the "common good" as defined by the very type of government that our Founders fought so hard to abate.
Sunday, September 7, 2014
On Vacation
I will be camping the week of September 8 through September 12 in an undisclosed location in the wilderness of Ohio. Therefore there will be no new posts from the mind of Damon during that period. But fear not, I will post again on Monday, September 15. In the mean time, feel free to roam through the archive of my 642 previous posts, there may be one or two you may have missed. Everyone have a great week, I know I will!
Saturday, September 6, 2014
Whatever Happened To Obamacare ?
There are those on the Right like talk show host Bill Bennett, who I respect a great deal, but who nonetheless fell for the trap set by Democrats at the end of 2013 that ObamaCare would fall of its own weight. I heard many "conservatives" at the time repeating this myth over and over as if they were trying to make it come true simply by the will of their over active hope glands. They believed it so much that it lead them not only to acquiesce to the Democrats, but to criticize any of their fellow conservatives like Ted Cruz who actually tried to take up arms against the oppressive law.
There are the moderates on the Right, who because of their own failure to employ their spine in the fight over ObamaCare, have now said that Republicans need to come up with an alternative plan. First of all that is like telling a victim of a crime that not only do they have to prove that a crime was committed, but that they need to inform the perpetrator of said crime how he could have perpetrated the crime more efficiently. Secondly, it is a little too late for an alternative plan now that ObamaCare has been in operation for a year, and for good or evil, is part of the fabric of American life.
The other assertion by these limp-wristed, can't-we-all-get-along, reach-across-the-aisle Republicans is that when the exemptions come to an end and the next wave of ObamaCare pain hits the American public, then they will swoop in with their plan and save the day. I fail to see how moderates who have not had the gonads in the past 6 years are all the sudden going to be bestowed with them by the gonad fairy in the next year or so.
The main problem with the Republican Party over the last 6 years is not that they have not had an alternative plan to the Affordable Care Act, it is that they are non-confrontational. They are so afraid to hurt someone's sensibilities that they refuse to defend their principles, or even the core principles of liberty. If one is going to be non-confrontational, one should not be in politics. The mothers milk of politics is confrontation. But the politically correct Left has the politically neutered Right shaking in their boots and running for the hills of moderation whenever they are criticized for advancing the cause of liberty.
So we now have come to the point that ObamaCare is the law of the land, and probably will stay that way for the long term. But it is ironic that the party that rammed it through congress on the edge of unconstitutionality is all but ignoring it now. And the party who allowed the former to saddle the American people with the oppressiveness of the law is using said law to convince their legions that just around the next corner they are going to get tough and do something to "repeal or replace" it. Meanwhile politicians in both parties get re-elected while the law becomes more criminally invasive in the lives of hard working Americans.
There are the moderates on the Right, who because of their own failure to employ their spine in the fight over ObamaCare, have now said that Republicans need to come up with an alternative plan. First of all that is like telling a victim of a crime that not only do they have to prove that a crime was committed, but that they need to inform the perpetrator of said crime how he could have perpetrated the crime more efficiently. Secondly, it is a little too late for an alternative plan now that ObamaCare has been in operation for a year, and for good or evil, is part of the fabric of American life.
The other assertion by these limp-wristed, can't-we-all-get-along, reach-across-the-aisle Republicans is that when the exemptions come to an end and the next wave of ObamaCare pain hits the American public, then they will swoop in with their plan and save the day. I fail to see how moderates who have not had the gonads in the past 6 years are all the sudden going to be bestowed with them by the gonad fairy in the next year or so.
The main problem with the Republican Party over the last 6 years is not that they have not had an alternative plan to the Affordable Care Act, it is that they are non-confrontational. They are so afraid to hurt someone's sensibilities that they refuse to defend their principles, or even the core principles of liberty. If one is going to be non-confrontational, one should not be in politics. The mothers milk of politics is confrontation. But the politically correct Left has the politically neutered Right shaking in their boots and running for the hills of moderation whenever they are criticized for advancing the cause of liberty.
So we now have come to the point that ObamaCare is the law of the land, and probably will stay that way for the long term. But it is ironic that the party that rammed it through congress on the edge of unconstitutionality is all but ignoring it now. And the party who allowed the former to saddle the American people with the oppressiveness of the law is using said law to convince their legions that just around the next corner they are going to get tough and do something to "repeal or replace" it. Meanwhile politicians in both parties get re-elected while the law becomes more criminally invasive in the lives of hard working Americans.
Friday, September 5, 2014
Protection By Ignorance Is Not A Strategy
Recently, a representative from the Federal Bureau of Investigations, during the course of an interview with Wolf Blitzer of CNN, said that it will be difficult to gather evidence and arrest those responsible for the recent beheadings of American journalists. Give this guy a gold star for stating the obvious. He actually lamented about the difficulty involved in conducting a criminal investigation in ISIS camps, as if he was talking about busting a car theft ring in an American city.
The idea that the Obama administration and the FBI are treating these murders as criminal acts, and not acts of war, is frightening in their apparent desire to put the terrorist genie back in the bottle and pretend that it is September 10, 2001. It is analogous to if after the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, 1941 President Roosevelt sent a couple of officers with an arrest warrant to Japanese Emperor Hirohito's palace to arrest him. Or mailed a summons to Adolf Hitler requesting that he appear before a judge in an American court to answer for his crimes.
The back asswards modus operandi of Barack Obama that informs him that keeping soldiers trained for war as far from the battle field as possible, while sending law enforcement authorities and lawyers to "bring justice" to those who commit acts of war against the United States, is as foolish as it is dangerous. If it were not so serious it would be laughable, like the buffoons and clowns that entertained between killings and blood baths in the Roman Coliseum.
I can say without fear of being wrong that there has never been a President of the United States that has held such a lack of commitment to the security of the country he serves than Barack Obama. And there has never been a president of this country more interested in shooting a round of golf than shooting the enemy. In the 8 years of his presidency, Ronald Regan played 8 rounds of golf, Barack Obama in only five and half years is approaching 150.
It is not only the president's lack of desire to engage the enemy after they have brutally attacked America (by lopping off the heads of two journalists) but it is the appalling lack of discipline and consistency within the White House. Even the president within the same speech changed the terms of retribution against the enemy ISIS from destroying them to simply managing them. As if they were a group of nine year olds on a little league baseball team.
The most appalling aspect of this president is that we now know that he knew about the threat from ISIS as far back as a year ago. He made a conscious decision to do nothing. That conscious decision, along with the fecklessness of the entire administration, has placed this country and the world in one of the most precarious positions in recent history. While it is Jimmy Carter who gets credit for giving radical Islam state sponsorship by handing over Iran on a silver crescent, it will be Barack Obama who receives credit for handing over the rest of the Middle East, and beyond to an evermore radicalized Islamic population. And for the most part, the American people have returned to their slumber chamber of ignorance that they inhabited prior to 911, falsely secure in their belief that that ignorance will protect them from having their heads lopped off in the middle of Any Street U.S.A.
The idea that the Obama administration and the FBI are treating these murders as criminal acts, and not acts of war, is frightening in their apparent desire to put the terrorist genie back in the bottle and pretend that it is September 10, 2001. It is analogous to if after the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, 1941 President Roosevelt sent a couple of officers with an arrest warrant to Japanese Emperor Hirohito's palace to arrest him. Or mailed a summons to Adolf Hitler requesting that he appear before a judge in an American court to answer for his crimes.
The back asswards modus operandi of Barack Obama that informs him that keeping soldiers trained for war as far from the battle field as possible, while sending law enforcement authorities and lawyers to "bring justice" to those who commit acts of war against the United States, is as foolish as it is dangerous. If it were not so serious it would be laughable, like the buffoons and clowns that entertained between killings and blood baths in the Roman Coliseum.
I can say without fear of being wrong that there has never been a President of the United States that has held such a lack of commitment to the security of the country he serves than Barack Obama. And there has never been a president of this country more interested in shooting a round of golf than shooting the enemy. In the 8 years of his presidency, Ronald Regan played 8 rounds of golf, Barack Obama in only five and half years is approaching 150.
It is not only the president's lack of desire to engage the enemy after they have brutally attacked America (by lopping off the heads of two journalists) but it is the appalling lack of discipline and consistency within the White House. Even the president within the same speech changed the terms of retribution against the enemy ISIS from destroying them to simply managing them. As if they were a group of nine year olds on a little league baseball team.
The most appalling aspect of this president is that we now know that he knew about the threat from ISIS as far back as a year ago. He made a conscious decision to do nothing. That conscious decision, along with the fecklessness of the entire administration, has placed this country and the world in one of the most precarious positions in recent history. While it is Jimmy Carter who gets credit for giving radical Islam state sponsorship by handing over Iran on a silver crescent, it will be Barack Obama who receives credit for handing over the rest of the Middle East, and beyond to an evermore radicalized Islamic population. And for the most part, the American people have returned to their slumber chamber of ignorance that they inhabited prior to 911, falsely secure in their belief that that ignorance will protect them from having their heads lopped off in the middle of Any Street U.S.A.
Thursday, September 4, 2014
The Thin Rope Of Liberty
Those that proffer socialism as a means of correcting the ills of capitalism often argue that the United States Constitution was written in such a different time, with different challenges, different populations that were mostly rural, that it no longer applies to American modernity. For these egalitarians, a document that claims God-given rights for the people, and limits the manmade authorities of government, is passé and out-of-date. They claim that a society based upon such notions as the Founders built a nation are inherently unfair and uncompassionate.
James Madison's original intent in creating the document that became the structure of the U.S. Constitution was to hold together the union by limiting the ability of the states to print money and pass laws to erase their debts, mostly incurred from the Revolutionary War. He feared that a system in which the states wielded too much power would devolve into anarchy, and that one which empowered a central government beyond its mandate to be the adhesive that kept the states united, would end in a monarchy.
Madison, the Father of our Constitution, even desired to give congress the power of veto over any and all state laws and regulations. That issue failed in the Constitutional Convention. It was only after the government began its operation under George Washington (influenced by the power-hungry Alexander Hamilton) and then John Adams (the man who had journalists and others arrested for speaking against the government), that Madison saw the overwhelming evidence for truly limited government. He and Jefferson formed the first political party which they called "Republican." (this was not the Republican Party of Lincoln but an earlier party with the same name).
It is interesting to note that during the Adams administration when the Alien and Sedition Act was passed and implemented, resulting in the arrest of journalists and others, that Madison and Jefferson pushed for resolutions in state legislatures to essentially nullify the act. It was then that Hamilton, second in command of the U.S. military under George Washington, openly desired to raise an army and use it against the people of the commonwealth of Virginia. The power grab by the federal government under John Adams was so substantial that Thomas Jefferson, his vice-president (back in that time the vice president was the man who came in second in a presidential election) worked anomalously to pass resolutions against the Alien and Sedition Act for fear that he too would be arrested.
So why have I gone into all this history? Well I guess it is because I hear many today say we are in the midst of a constitutional crisis with the extra-constitutional activities of the current administration. History informs us that from the beginning of this country there has been a struggle for power, not only between the Executive branch and the Legislative branch of the federal government, but between the federal government and the states.
The history puts into perspective our current constitutional crisis and informs us that throughout our history, from the very beginning to today, we have walked the tight rope of liberty stretched over the chasm of devolution by our constitution. Precariously we have spent the last 238 years in danger of falling off the thin rope of liberty and devolving into a form of government that enslaves the soul of man. That is why eternal vigilance truly is the price of liberty. I do not know if we will keep our balance through this current crisis, but I do know that through our history we have maintained our footing on that thin rope of liberty no matter what causes may have been aligned against us.
James Madison's original intent in creating the document that became the structure of the U.S. Constitution was to hold together the union by limiting the ability of the states to print money and pass laws to erase their debts, mostly incurred from the Revolutionary War. He feared that a system in which the states wielded too much power would devolve into anarchy, and that one which empowered a central government beyond its mandate to be the adhesive that kept the states united, would end in a monarchy.
Madison, the Father of our Constitution, even desired to give congress the power of veto over any and all state laws and regulations. That issue failed in the Constitutional Convention. It was only after the government began its operation under George Washington (influenced by the power-hungry Alexander Hamilton) and then John Adams (the man who had journalists and others arrested for speaking against the government), that Madison saw the overwhelming evidence for truly limited government. He and Jefferson formed the first political party which they called "Republican." (this was not the Republican Party of Lincoln but an earlier party with the same name).
It is interesting to note that during the Adams administration when the Alien and Sedition Act was passed and implemented, resulting in the arrest of journalists and others, that Madison and Jefferson pushed for resolutions in state legislatures to essentially nullify the act. It was then that Hamilton, second in command of the U.S. military under George Washington, openly desired to raise an army and use it against the people of the commonwealth of Virginia. The power grab by the federal government under John Adams was so substantial that Thomas Jefferson, his vice-president (back in that time the vice president was the man who came in second in a presidential election) worked anomalously to pass resolutions against the Alien and Sedition Act for fear that he too would be arrested.
So why have I gone into all this history? Well I guess it is because I hear many today say we are in the midst of a constitutional crisis with the extra-constitutional activities of the current administration. History informs us that from the beginning of this country there has been a struggle for power, not only between the Executive branch and the Legislative branch of the federal government, but between the federal government and the states.
The history puts into perspective our current constitutional crisis and informs us that throughout our history, from the very beginning to today, we have walked the tight rope of liberty stretched over the chasm of devolution by our constitution. Precariously we have spent the last 238 years in danger of falling off the thin rope of liberty and devolving into a form of government that enslaves the soul of man. That is why eternal vigilance truly is the price of liberty. I do not know if we will keep our balance through this current crisis, but I do know that through our history we have maintained our footing on that thin rope of liberty no matter what causes may have been aligned against us.
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
The Precipitous Downfall Of Black Culture
Unless one is involved in profiting handsomely from the race-baiting industry like Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Barack Obama, et al, it would be near impossible not to acknowledge that black Americans have enjoyed the swiftest reclamation of their civil rights in the last 50 years than any other minority throughout history. Just think about it, during my lifetime (I am 52 years of age) black Americans have gone from riding in the back of busses, drinking from black-only water fountains, and being generally treated as second-class citizens even by Hollywood Leftists, to having greater opportunity, not only than other minorities, but than the majority white population in this country.
Somehow with all these rights, privileges, and the crutch of Affirmative Action, blacks in America have traded a rich, and in many ways an unparalleled, contribution to our society for slavery to the Democrat Party and the ruination it has caused in their culture. The American black culture which gave us the ingenuity of George Washington Carver, the ground breaking music of jazz and blues which spawned rock-n-roll, the uplifting and inspirational words of Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., and the jurisprudence genius of Thurgood Marshall, has now deteriorated into a cacophony of racial sound pollution both in music and activism.
I am not saying that blacks do not make contributions every day in this country in medicine, law, literature, and a myriad other professions, only that as a culture American blacks have turned the innovation of George Washington Carver into the stale air of entitlement, the genius of jazz and blues into the sewage of cop-hating, misogynistic rap music, the uplifting words of the Reverend King into the divisive and victimizing words of self-serving community activists, and the thirst for justice of Thurgood Marshall into the "social justice" delivered by the hand of big government that chokes the liberty from every race that bears the yoke of its burden.
It has been a spectacular achievement by the Democrat Party over the last half century to transform a rich and spiritual culture into one in which self-victimization has replaced discrimination at the hands of whites, an eighty percent out-of-wedlock birth rate has replaced enviably intact families, and the striving of a people to prove their worth has been replaced by an entitlement to worth without the striving. Again, do not get me wrong, there are blacks in this country that contribute to the family of man every day. But as a culture they have had their sense of purpose and worth deliberately ripped from them by a greedy and self-serving political party that is populated with persons who have used the downfall in black culture they have caused to feed their ravenous hunger for power. In the process not only have they destroyed the black culture, but the soul of their once proud political party as well.
Somehow with all these rights, privileges, and the crutch of Affirmative Action, blacks in America have traded a rich, and in many ways an unparalleled, contribution to our society for slavery to the Democrat Party and the ruination it has caused in their culture. The American black culture which gave us the ingenuity of George Washington Carver, the ground breaking music of jazz and blues which spawned rock-n-roll, the uplifting and inspirational words of Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., and the jurisprudence genius of Thurgood Marshall, has now deteriorated into a cacophony of racial sound pollution both in music and activism.
I am not saying that blacks do not make contributions every day in this country in medicine, law, literature, and a myriad other professions, only that as a culture American blacks have turned the innovation of George Washington Carver into the stale air of entitlement, the genius of jazz and blues into the sewage of cop-hating, misogynistic rap music, the uplifting words of the Reverend King into the divisive and victimizing words of self-serving community activists, and the thirst for justice of Thurgood Marshall into the "social justice" delivered by the hand of big government that chokes the liberty from every race that bears the yoke of its burden.
It has been a spectacular achievement by the Democrat Party over the last half century to transform a rich and spiritual culture into one in which self-victimization has replaced discrimination at the hands of whites, an eighty percent out-of-wedlock birth rate has replaced enviably intact families, and the striving of a people to prove their worth has been replaced by an entitlement to worth without the striving. Again, do not get me wrong, there are blacks in this country that contribute to the family of man every day. But as a culture they have had their sense of purpose and worth deliberately ripped from them by a greedy and self-serving political party that is populated with persons who have used the downfall in black culture they have caused to feed their ravenous hunger for power. In the process not only have they destroyed the black culture, but the soul of their once proud political party as well.
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
A Real Tribute To Labor, Sans Organization
Sitting in my local Panera's on this Labor Day 2014 drinking hot, dark coffee and chowing down on an asiago cheese bagel that I paid as much for as the average person just a hundred years ago earned in a month, my thoughts have turned to what has made this prosperity possible. Labor. Not organized labor, but sweat-of-the-brow, working-60-hours-a-week, American-work-ethic-in-action, desire-to-make-a-better-mousetrap, labor. Not the corrupt, thuggish, bribery-practiced, slothful- enabling, rapacious-benefit-grabbing, wealth-depleting modus operandi of organized labor.
Labor Day, as a celebration of labor, is an oxymoron. With all the beer-swilling, hot dog-eating, leisure seeking going on, it is hardly what one would call "A tribute to labor." That is why I am working this day, work being the best way to honor those who came before us who sweated, bled, and even died performing grueling manual labor that most of us in modernity would abhor at even the thought.
The manufacturing base of this country, and hence its place in the world as the most prosperous society in history, would never have occurred had organized labor been a force from the beginning. Can you imagine Thomas Edison being required by the unions to pay his assistants union wages and benefits, and limit their work weeks to no more than 40 hours. His thousand unsuccessful attempts to invent the light bulb would have ended in personal bankruptcy and the world would still be lighting its way with candles and oil lamps.
And just think if organized labor would have been around in the early 1800s when the railroad industry in the United States came from behind the rest of the world, to within two decades having a more expansive rail system than all other countries combined. Had railroad workers been given a 15 minute break every hour and full medical and dental, and wages that were twice what the market would bear, the greatest rail system in the world, including the transcontinental, would never have been built.
Even more recently, if Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and the rest of the technology innovators would have had to build their businesses with the weight of the unions holding them down, I would most likely not be sitting here at a coffee shop, accessing something called the Internet on something called a laptop, and looking over at the kid next to me using something called a tablet. Their success and our benefit came at the hands of unbridled labor, unbridled by the shackles of organized labor and its overwhelming obsession with money and political power.
So even though it is a day late, I salute all those who labor for a living. May your backs and legs remain strong, your spirits remain buoyed, and your mousetrap (whatever it is) remain the best in the world.
Labor Day, as a celebration of labor, is an oxymoron. With all the beer-swilling, hot dog-eating, leisure seeking going on, it is hardly what one would call "A tribute to labor." That is why I am working this day, work being the best way to honor those who came before us who sweated, bled, and even died performing grueling manual labor that most of us in modernity would abhor at even the thought.
The manufacturing base of this country, and hence its place in the world as the most prosperous society in history, would never have occurred had organized labor been a force from the beginning. Can you imagine Thomas Edison being required by the unions to pay his assistants union wages and benefits, and limit their work weeks to no more than 40 hours. His thousand unsuccessful attempts to invent the light bulb would have ended in personal bankruptcy and the world would still be lighting its way with candles and oil lamps.
And just think if organized labor would have been around in the early 1800s when the railroad industry in the United States came from behind the rest of the world, to within two decades having a more expansive rail system than all other countries combined. Had railroad workers been given a 15 minute break every hour and full medical and dental, and wages that were twice what the market would bear, the greatest rail system in the world, including the transcontinental, would never have been built.
Even more recently, if Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and the rest of the technology innovators would have had to build their businesses with the weight of the unions holding them down, I would most likely not be sitting here at a coffee shop, accessing something called the Internet on something called a laptop, and looking over at the kid next to me using something called a tablet. Their success and our benefit came at the hands of unbridled labor, unbridled by the shackles of organized labor and its overwhelming obsession with money and political power.
So even though it is a day late, I salute all those who labor for a living. May your backs and legs remain strong, your spirits remain buoyed, and your mousetrap (whatever it is) remain the best in the world.
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