A Nation's Surrendered Standing

We're Not Worthy!

In November of 2008, more people voted for Barack Obama than voted for John McCain, of that there is no question. Well, there may be, but that is an entirely different subject. For now, we'll simply deal with the people who voted for themselves and not for their nation.

Many of the people who cast those Obama votes in 2008 now regret their decisions, wondering what they could possibly had been thinking. In short, they were duped by not only the man's handlers, but by an allegedly unbiased press, which provided an inordinate amount of cover for a completely unproven candidate.

That leaves the people who still enthusiastically support Obama, the only man to occupy (pardon the pun) the White House since Jimmy Carter that leaves the latter in a somewhat positive light. Carter must be dancing with delight at the eventual legacy of Barack Obama, which would, by default, include him among Obama's continued supporters for selfish motives.

While Obama has worked overtime since inauguration day to weaken our standing around the globe -- from apologizing for our "arrogance" to bowing in obsequiousness to foreign leaders who once respected American superiority -- it is still the people who pray for his continued reign and rejoice at the "work" he has already done who are most culpable in our slow death as a nation. Whether it be powerful political allies of the president -- depending on the continued wave of privilege -- or the lowest among our society, at least economically, who crave the continued flow of "free stuff", our fellow citizens have sold us out.

Our collective morality is continually mocked as hokey, quaint, or just plain stupid. We're told that we're being hypocritical when -- as sinners -- we demand that others adhere to a higher standard. What the left fails to grasp is that we fully understand our own frailties while constantly seeking to atone for them. They decide that sin is a normal function of life since they also mock God. While it is perfectly within their right to do so, even at their own peril, what is tragic is that that view is catching hold in our country.

Success in America is also slandered while it was once the station virtually everyone sought to achieve. And this president is stoking the very flames of envy and false entitlement that are the hallmarks of the absence of morality. There was a day in America when it was considered shameful to depend on others. Charity at that time was for the unfortunate. Normal folk would accept it in only the most dire of circumstances, even then placing as condition of acceptance the promise to repay the kindness. Today, it is demanded with not so much as a "thank you" offered.

Virtue is vanquished regularly, with politicians blatantly lying without fear of consequence. Lying to get ahead has become so pervasive in our society that ordinary people lie to each other with absolutely no remorse. The practice has woven itself into the very fabric of our souls like a rogue thread, and the stigma of discovery has been rendered impotent. Culprits routinely shrug and retort, "Well, what did you expect?".

Our people have not only accepted the increasing role of government in our every day lives, we have craved it. We have begged for it. And we have embraced it. Once upon a time unemployment insurance lasted twenty six weeks, and then the checks stopped. After that, the alternative to finding a job was to apply for welfare, which was once properly stigmatized. People out of work actually worked to find a job in twenty six weeks to avoid such shame. Now we have two years of checks flowing to people who "can't find work", and government is seeking to extend that even more.

We are rapidly descending into a third world scenario where wealth is held by the rulers and doled out to the hungry masses, all because we allowed ourselves to be lured by the alleged magnanimity of a government that was designed to serve us, not to provide for us. But we permitted those we elected to stay too long, and they got very comfortable with the opulent trappings of their place in society, a place that was implicitly intended to be temporary.

We surrendered it all; the freedoms of a young nation and the blessing of liberty bestowed by our creator at the hands of our Founding Fathers. As Thomas Jefferson once said, "A government big enough to give you everything you need is a government big enough to take everything you have". I believe ours is almost at that size.

As for our standing in the world, there is not one nation that respects or fears us the way they did just forty years ago. We have had presidents in office whose very presence kept hostile and impotent foreign leaders from voicing their hatred and contempt for us. Today, most of the planet's bad actors are thumbing their noses at us and laughing. That is because we elected an utter neophyte to be our "leader" based on a manufactured brilliance of the candidate and a desire to finally elect a black president. (At least ESPN can't fire me).

China brazenly mocks us, Iran openly taunts us, and Mexico continues its march across our borders, all the while our federal government sues its own states to prevent them from enforcing American laws regarding immigration. As if that wasn't bad enough, our own Department of Homeland Security increasingly hints that we, the people, are becoming more the focus of their work.



In other words, we're not dead yet. There is still hope, ironically, that our great nation can be saved. We have eleven short months to decide our fate, and the clock is ticking. It is up to all of you, and me. I know which way I want to go.

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For Anyone Who Remembers America

As a general rule, this is aimed at the reader who has chronologically passed the half-century mark, but is also for the offspring of the target audience whom were raised properly, as Americans. Certainly the erosion of national pride has affected even the youth who were fed it, as my kids were, but they still get it even while not clinging as fiercely as we have.

There was a time when we were taught the magnificence of our nation, and when we were grateful for having been born here. It wasn't a hard lesson to learn, and was not drummed into our heads. Back then we were observant enough to hear the words, peruse our surroundings, and come to the conclusions at which we ultimately arrived. We were damned lucky and loved our country for what it represented, not because we were afraid of those we elected. Essentially, it was true love and not duty.

People my age - and of my political persuasion - traversed the sixties much as a fictional space pilot would avoid an alien asteroid belt in the television shows and subsequent movies we enjoyed, or as they would speed away from the shock wave of some super nova. We made it through danger in the nick of time and with seemingly inconceivable fortune, and we have huddled ever since, teaching our children the ways of our forebears.

For decades it seemed easy, with no real pressure from the opposition. Ours was still the dominant doctrine, though the subversives gained steam, and we never envisioned that our roles would ever reverse. We were vigilant and observant, but never actually worried that we'd be fighting for our lives while looking up at the enemy.

They relied on violence to achieve their goals and subterfuge for their prominence and we assumed they would be rejected by our peers for their tactics. We were mistaken. Now, as we try to fight our way back, I fear that we may suffer heavy casualties, as ours is the way of Gandhi; peaceful protest. While many on our side possess the skills and the willingness to respond in kind, the opposition has succeeded in painting us into a corner. Physically, we could crush them, but we dare not for fear of appearances.

(In case the irony is lost on the reader, the very same tactic has effectively neutered our superior military prowess world wide. Coincidence?)

When the Boy Scouts can be seriously vilified in the press, America has a problem. When American kids in an American school can be suspended for wearing the American flag on their clothing, America has a problem. When school kids singing our National Anthem can be silenced by police at the Lincoln Memorial, America has a problem. (Yes, I am aware of the codes for the American flag being used on clothing and merchandise, but let's look at the context.)

What have we done, people? We have left the front door wide open and have welcomed the home invasion cretins to help themselves to our property. Far worse, we have allowed our patriotism to become criminal or, at the least, offensive in our own home. We have encouraged bad behavior to the point that it has become the norm, and decent people immoral.

Perhaps our worst sin has been to allow the enemies of America to infiltrate our politics and ultimately seize control of this great land. We have become serfs to the Lords we escaped centuries ago, meekly succumbing to the whims of the people who we allegedly hired to "represent" us. The hired hands now run the farm.

The opportunity to restore our freedom is a small porthole that is rapidly closing, and November is the vehicle we must drive through it in order prevent our complete subjugation. Thus far, our Founders' vision is solvent, but not if we passively allow it to expire, along with American liberty.

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Not Under My Roof

Any rebellious teen has certainly heard those words from their parents. When pushing the limits of authority by demanding rights that do not exist, the authoritarian correctly reminds the offending plaintiff that as long as he pays the bills, he makes the rules. The remedy is that of which every soon-to-be adult dreams; leaving the confines of a perceived totalitarianism in pursuit of their own domain, where they make their own rules.

Then it happens, and reality sets in...sure, it's good to be king of your castle, but as every kid eventually learns, adults cannot "do whatever they want". There are stringent responsibilities that require discipline. If managed properly and diligently, life can be good, but if neglected, life has a way of crushing the indecisive.

It is this rite of passage that we have all passed through that has me the most perplexed in light of the masses clamoring for a "nanny state". My only explanation is that our youth has been conditioned to fail and, therefore, beg for the expansive umbrella of "government care", somehow convinced that they can finally both be adults and "do what they want" without the worries of personal responsibility.

What they fail to realize is the simple truth of trading one cage for another. And the irony lies in the fact that the "cage" of their youth was guarded by parents who truly loved them and tried to guide them in the best ways possible and in their best interests, while the newer, larger cage which they willingly enter is administered by people who care not a whit about their well being but only about their votes and their tax dollars.

As the federal government expands its authority, it is already obvious that control of our lives is the ultimate goal. If they are going to pay for our health care, for example, they will tell us how to be healthy. This includes what we eat, drink and smoke. It also includes what we wear in certain weather conditions. As long as they are "paying the bills" we will be compelled to live by their rules.

So soon there will be no escape from an iron grip of any kind, be it the strict rules laid down by parents or the same by the government. We shall remain perpetual children subject to the declarations of others. The dreams of freedom will be shattered and along with them, the hopes we all once cherished and anticipated. Is this what we have fought, struggled and bled for?

The human spirit has historically been strong, and - I personally believe - the American spirit has been exemplary, but one must wonder what the tensile strength is and when it will succumb to the massive weight of the oppressive machinations of those who were once viewed as "public servants". How long can the will of people resist the relentless assault? Every person has his breaking point.

I pray that people wake up soon, and I also pray that they make their children acutely aware of the greatness America once represented. I would also suggest that those with adolescents begin asking their children - who may be on the cusp of rebellion - and their teens who are likely in the throes of the same, how they would like to abide by the same strict regulations for the rest of their lives.

Perhaps that cold "slap" in the face would wake up the youth to the attack currently under way on their desired and deserved freedom. It's an idea. Maybe if they're tired enough of hearing "not under my roof" they will launch a genuine rebellion and save themselves. And all of us.

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Remaking America In New Orleans' Image

Mention Hurricane Katrina and the first thoughts evoked in many peoples minds will be how the government failed the people; more specifically, how President Bush failed them. They will not think first of the warnings issued by government at all levels, nor will they recall their own failure to heed those warnings. Why? The answer is simple; they heard the warnings and waited for their instructions from their "leaders". The instructions were clear, however, and they were to get out of the city fast, but most of the inhabitants of New Orleans were so accustomed to being cared for on every level that they sat back and waited for someone, anyone from the government, to come for them.

New Orleans was but a spec on the landscape of the entire nation, and was not anything more than an anomaly at the time. Other Gulf Coast cities dealt with the ravages of Katrina fairly well and have since moved forward, while many of the citizens of New Orleans still languish in the aftermath of the storm, still waiting for help. Still dependent on the government.

Apply this mentality to the nation as a whole, as we are beginning to witness through the financial crises that have befallen us, coupled with the mantra of our new president-elect, and we have the makings of a gigantic New Orleans. Everyone is now demanding a helping hand from the very people who caused this financial storm, unlike the culpability of Katrina which lay largely in the hands of God and, to a much lesser degree, Ray Nagin and Kathleen Blanco.

Bear in mind that Nagin was re-elected by the people he damaged so, while Blanco has been supplanted. But the people of the U.S. just elected Barack Obama, who has been promoting an agenda bearing a striking resemblance to the atmosphere that created the havoc in New Orleans, that being, that government will take care of everything. Personal responsibility is being vilified as we speak as a cruel outlook on the "misfortunes" of others, while it is all of us who stand to lose in this economic meltdown.

All of us dream of a protective blanket and a world in which we have no cares, but we are all born to fly free, and the constraints of protection and security are alien to us, in the end. Even birds nudge their hatchlings out of the nest. A prison cell is the most secure place in the world, particularly an American cell, where the incarcerated has nothing for which to want; except freedom.

I do not fret over the "red state" areas of the country save for one reason; it is those people who will be forced to deal with the marching zombies exiting the large cities when the experiment of re-engineering America fails. When people realize that they have traded their souls for the comfort of an omnipotent government, only to be sadly disappointed in the end, they may well end up as trophies on a dark-wood panelled den in flyover country.

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Dems Loving Embrace Cracks Ribs

As an admitted partisan cynic, I have long railed against the ever increasingly constrictive actions of the people we send to Congress to be our public servants. They are ostensibly placed in these positions at our behest and for our behalf, but even the policeman must arrest those he "serves". It is only in science fiction movies that the servants eventually impose totalitarian rule over the masters for their own good. Such a thing could never happen to us, right?

I'm not so sure. Consider legislation that has come to pass in the last decade and a half, and things take on a different hue. In other words, while you glance at the trees on the way out, once in the clearing, look back and see how big the forest has become. While they grew up around you from saplings, you had no idea of what they had become, nor how quickly they had grown.

It began with protecting the children on their bicycles, and then on any other vehicle that children employ. Helmets were first, then knee pads and elbow pads. To be fair, I'm not aware of laws requiring protection for extremities, but the helmet law is paramount. Then, expanding to encompass adults, came the seat belt laws. Then cellphone laws. All were designed to save lives. While it is inarguable that safety is always a good thing, did we really need government intervention and the accompanying punitive power of legislation to get us to protect our kids and ourselves?

Laws were something the Founding Fathers envisioned as protection of citizens from the acts of other citizens behaving in unlawful manner. We were never told that government would one day protect us from ourselves, but now the government is overreaching yet again. How far will they go? Unless a few more trees have populated the forest since last I glanced back, I maintain that they can only go as far as we permit. Yes, I still, perhaps naively, do believe that.

We have been subjected to smoking laws - smoking is still legal - we have been subjected to nutrition laws - eating is still legal - and we are now seeing the federal government attempting to delve into our retirement accounts; for our own good.

Who's to say that once the government becomes the administrator of your retirement account that they won't impose restrictions on your access to your own money? For example: you need to borrow money from your 401k for a child's wedding. The government, as administrator, is concerned about your health and ability to repay the loan. (Repay the loan to yourself. This is key.) They insist that before you can access your own money, you must sign a pledge to quit smoking, or stop eating fast food, or enroll in the neighborhood gym.

Some will ask why this is bad, since any of these acts can only make you healthier. It is a valid question, but anyone asking it has already given up the ideal of personal freedom and cannot comprehend the inherent danger in imposed and coersive behavior requirements. I cannot discern the intent of those who seek to impose these rules upon us.

My position has long been that the intent of liberal politicians was nefarious in nature, but in retrospect, I could have been wrong. It is entirely possible that they are as young children who enthusiastically kill the small family pet out of unbridled and misunderstood love. What really matters, ultimately, is that the puppy dies.

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