"Citizens" vs "Government": Which serves the "will" of the "people?"

 Violence recently visited our nation's Capitol.  Elected Officials responded with fear and outrage.  Some died.  Generally, the Media condemned the people who demonstrated anger with the Federal Government.

Does anyone else note the similarity and parallels of this event with the Boston Tea Party and other violent events in our country that proceeded the Revolution? 

For years, we have been surrounded by the attitude and claim that government exists to serve the people.  We even used to call our elected officials and other who get a paycheck from the Government as "Public Servants."  Not sure if that term survives in today's America, however. But is is curious how that concept was jettisoned universally in the wake of the demonstration of anger against what many today refer to as "the Washington Swamp."  Across the political spectrum, few deny that our elected officials no longer act and vote in a way that demonstrates that they represent those who live in the districts and states from which the were elected...ostensibly to represent the whole of those states and districts rather than serve their personal goals, wants, and desires.

No objective person believes that if Ms. Hillary had been elected anyone not "in the know" in Washington would ever have known about the weaponization of our security agencies, about the lying to the FISA court, and other self-serving motivations of those at the head of these Federal Agencies.  The hatred of a person coming to office that wasn't looking for or flattered by being offered a ":seat in the Washington 'club' " was not only natural but essential to the "swamp's" survival.  And survive they did,.

Perhaps, however, those who are members of and who value "the Swamp" might be wise to know that those who showed their anger can very well be described as a "small faction" of the electorate, but for each person who was protesting in anger there are 100 who could not attend and who are just as convinced that our government no longer serves or cares about us but instead exists to create power and financial security for themselves.  They act and speak as if none of us notice how our elected officials come into office with average self-worth, are paid salaries that barely cover the cost of living in D.C., yet retire with vast fortunes...the source of which is never explained or questioned.

For now, "the Swamp" abides.  But I wouldn't bet the farm on just how much longer its control will survive.  And the Media is seen as just as corrupt.  Tomorrow is another day.  As investment firms advertising always says (quickly, in small print or too fast to actually hear) "past performance is no guarantee of future performance."  I would add to that "or of survival." 

Spending money you don't have isn't "Ideology,"...it is FRAUD

 Life in general, and government in particular, exists with multiple beliefs and ideologies held by many.  Arguments and discussions are (or, at least used to be) commonplace throughout the world.  Where a practical democratic element exists, different ideologies come to power and then lose it on a fairly regular basis.

But some practices go beyond the pale...and for some reason no significant part of America's population wants to acknowledge this. Consider the following:

• As of January 23, 2021, at 8:05 am, the United States National Debt Budget deficit was above Twenty-Seven Trillion Eight Hundred Million ($27,800,000,000,000) Dollars;
• As of the same time, the United States National Debt deficit total was above Eighty-two Trillion Two Hundred Billion ($82,200,000,000,000) Dollars;
• United States Gross Annual Domestic Product output is just over Twenty-one Trillion, Two Hundred Billion ($21,200,000,000.000) Dollars.

We owe more than the value of what we produce in a year.  And the total unfunded liabilities are almost four times what we produce in a year.

Any organization other than our government would already be in bankruptcy.

This kind of Ponzi scheme is why Bernard Madoff is in jail right now.

If the Federal Congress had not exempted themselves from application of the RICO statutes when they were written and  passed into law, a majority of Congressmen and women would now have jail cells adjoining Madoff...which may explain why they did, in fact, exempt themselves.

Why do you all ignore this corruption?  Is it because, like many of Madoff's customers, YOUR check cleared?  ...because YOU are getting "stuff" that you don't have to pay for?

Perhaps it is time to start drafting a (apologies to the Catholics out there) "mea culpa" letter to your great grandchildren and beyond.  Perhaps you need to come up with a defense for your stealing their financial well-being.  And I wouldn't waste time with the "I didn't know" or the "I only did what I was told was ok" defenses...they didn't serve those tried in Nuremberg and they won't save your reputation here.  Want to make it right?  Each family just send a payment of Twenty-eight Thousand, fourteen ($28,014) to the Federal government right now (the amount will grow by tomorrow)

Oh...and you folks in New York, California and other states where the State is spending money they don't have had better check how much more you need to sent your Governor to balance their budget(s).

I have failed them too...but at least I spoke up, and voted based on candidates' recognition and willingness to stop this generational theft.

What will you say?

Hatred of People is an abhorrent display of the worst of human nature

 Do you "hate" anyone?

Why?

My Dad once, when I was discussing what my benefits would be if I tried to do a particular thing, responded that I should never consider "what I would make or accomplish" as a first question.  "What do you mean?" was my response.  He said, "first, ask what is the cost or the effort needed, then ask if you have the time, effort or the money and if you can afford to lose the time, effort or money.  If the answer is that you can't, then don't bother with the consideration of what you might gain...you can't afford it."

If one considers his or her "hates" it is likely that the "why" has very little to do with the soul or essence of the person, but is about fear of the effect on the hater of the beliefs or the actions of the person they claim to hate.  And the basis of the fear is immaterial; it can be behavior (speeding down your road) or politics (favoring policies you find threatening) or something else.

Hatred also reveals a mind out of control, under the influence of the "flight or fight" emotional response that drowns all trace of logic and inevitably leads to unfortunate consequences.

All homo sapiens are of "mixed" instincts and behaviors.  The worst of criminals or psychopaths has performed some (perhaps singular) act of kindness or goodness, while even those among us who we consider "saint-like" or "good" has some secret (again, perhaps merely a singular) act that is sinful or abhorrent.  All or nothing appellations are simply doomed to be inaccurate...and inaccuracy of judgement leads to bad decisions and unwanted consequences.

Also...hatred, when exhibited, demeans the hater and demeans and brings disrespect on his or her beliefs or arguments.  It is not attractive. And it is never productive.

Perhaps the next time you think, or say, "I hate him (or her)," it would be well to pause and consider what is causing you to be fearful or threatened.  Is it an actual act by the person?  Is it something they believe, or something or some action that they support?  Because that same person may also be in favor of any number of things that you also favor and see value in...if you hate the person, you are hating those things too.  That is illogical and flawed reasoning, so it would be well to think it through.

Hatred displaces logic and loses arguments on the merits.  When someone with whom we are arguing starts calling you names or resorts to swearing, that person has lost the argument and fear of that has directed him or her to insults rather than reason.  Hatred is just an extreme extension of the same.

Our lives on this earth are short enough.  Do any of us really have enough time to waste on "hating?"  Frankly, I pity those that "hate" and just refuse to spend time listening to or spending time with them. Many can argue, disagree, discuss and even if unconvinced can still respect each other and be civil...perhaps even be friends...even while honoring differences in our lives and minds, and those are the people I want to be around.  How about you?

America has become a corrupt nation that is unlikely to remain "Great" for long

 The Founding Fathers knew human nature.  They also knew history, particularly the history of the great empires of Greece and Rome.  While they didn't know that America would grow into the most successful, wealthy, and powerful nation in history, they did have hope that it would endure and provide the freedom for its citizens that they wished and had fought for themselves.

Our government was set up to limit its power and, while there was never any way to stop it's growth or accumulation of power at the expense of the rights of individual citizens, the did try to build in roadblocks in the path to such power.  They split the legislative branch into two with only one reflecting the number of citizens in each respective state while the other had the same number regardless of size.  Power was similarly divided between the Legislative branch and the Executive Branch, and a Supreme Court was created with the power to stop or reverse actions by either branch to act contrary to the Constitutional guarantees.  Terms of office were staggered, with 2, 4, and 6 year terms set to further complicate attempts to gain power at the expense of the people. 

Recognizing the danger of combining the power to rule with the "higher" authority of any one religion, they even stipulated that one's religion could not be a pre-requisite for holding office and that no particular religion could be made the country's "Official" religion, as was true in Great Britain.  Yet they also mandated that religious worship be the free guaranteed choice of any citizen, not to be interfered with by any government.

They tried.

Just as with those who built the Greek empire and, later, the Roman empire...they failed.

An objective study of history suggests that the evil that resides in the human species is not to be denied...particularly over time; a combination of narcissism and of greed ultimately defeats all bonds designed to insure honesty, moral standards and respecting all human beings as equal.  That is what destroyed Greece...and Rome, and what is clearly happening (one could claim that it has already happened) in the United States.

Do you disagree?

The downfall is gradual, happening in small incremental steps that go largely unnoticed...at least as to the (perhaps) unintended consequences.

First: Ownership of property...the basis for taxation...is eliminated and non-owners of property are given the vote.  It doesn't take a rocket scientist to recognize that when spending decisions are made by those elected by people who aren't paying taxes, no limits on conflagrate spending exist.  In our respective households, spending is controlled by those who earn the money to be spent if disaster is to be avoided.  No such limit survived at the Federal level.

But that was just the start.

• Shortly after the nation was formed (circa 1790),  each member of the House of Representative was elected by approximately one thousand one hundred (1,100) voters
• In 1909, each member of the House was elected by Twenty-three thousand nine hundred fifty-one (23,951) voters
• In 2016, each member of the House was elected by Two Hundred Ninety-Six Thousand (296,000) voters.

No thinking individual believes that today the wants and needs of any one of us matters to our Member of the United States House of Representatives.

Add to that the fact that there are no term limits for holding legislative elective office and the foundation for corruption, narcissism, and lack of interest in fulfilling the oath(s) of office is clear and unavoidable.

Second:  Freedom of Speech was redefined.  What originally was understood to be prohibition against prior restraint on speech, in no way restricting consequences of all speech, was inferred by the courts as a prohibition of consequences of speech. Further, the Press (now, media in general) was granted immunity from prosecution for libel when making false statement about "public" figures absent proof of Malice...and the courts have revealed themselves as being less than anxious to a finding of malice even when the average citizen would have no such hesitation.  That Freedom of Speech was also permitted to be used in the promotion of governmental systems antithetic to the existence of a Democratic Republic. Those who preferred a Socialist, Marxist, Fascist or Dictatorship to any democratic form of rule were, and remain, free to argue for such and if supported by the Press, free to promote such ideologies with lies, fictional claims and even physical attacks with no consequences.

Third: Freedom of Religion.  Already mentioned early on but expanding and clarifying the developments, the courts once again have defined Freedom OF Religion to mean Freedom FROM Religion in the public square;  evidence and the appearance of the Ten Commandments are legally removed and prohibited from public lands public buildings. The removal of the moral precepts contained therein from public view, the legal removal of daily prayer to start a school day and the prohibition of discussion of religious beliefs in schools, Universities, Colleges, Town Halls and Courtrooms has lead to a removal of absolute standards for civilized behavior in return for continually decreasing comparative standards of behavior allowed to be exhibited regardless of their lawlessness.  

Curiously, America's apparant desire to disrespect and remove any behavioral authority of the Christian religion does not interfere with the clear respect afforded the religious beliefs of Islam, which is the only religion of which I am aware that directs it's followers to kill those who speak in opposition to Islam, to strive for political power that, if attained is to be used to eliminate all other religions and install Islam law and standards as part of governmental rule.  The motivation for this attitude is murky and the logic totally escapes any analytical mind.

Fourth: Education.  Mentioned last, but likely the most influential element in the destruction of America, education at the start of the Twentieth Century was established for all and based on the Prussian Model.  It involved the teaching of basic civil skills (arithmatic, reading, writing and some history) and creating a mind-set that accepted regimented behavior.

In America, the regimentation portion of the curriculum was rendered inconsequential because of the need for all members of a family to work in order to survive and the constantly expressed corrective attitudes of parents when reviewing what their children had been "taught."  But the freedom of schools to explore different areas of learning was left in local control, and with teachers in short supply, that control quickly moved into the hands of teachers.  At the same time, those with socialist, Marxist, communist and fascist ideological beliefs found education to be an area of employment that did not prevent them expressing, albeit diplomatically, their beliefs regarding life and government.  By mid-century they were firmly in power of k-12 education and by the 1970s held firm control, as yet not declared, of a majority of Colleges and Universities.  As the Twenty-first Century dawned they began to reveal their ideologies, and "free" speech began to be denied to anyone espousing Democratic, Conservative or Moral Precepts that Leftist Activists found objectionable or disrespecting of their own views.

And so it is today.

Anarchist violence exists with approval in a number of our nation's cities.  Elected officials actually support those who commit the violence, encouraging contributions to bail out those who have destroyed the property of others, who have assaulted and even killed U.S.Citizens and been revealed to be non-citizens in the country illegally and with pre-existing felony convictions. We have elected people to public office who want to interfere and even eliminate law enforcement that protects the average citizen, even as those same elected individuals employ security forces, both private and public, to provide for their armed protection.

Does this sound like a country on a firm foundation, on track to continued success.

When questionable election activity cast doubt on the veracity of election results, and the highest court in the land refuses to examine the matter, does that sound to you like a country that will long exist in its present form?

The Devil Went Down to Georgia...

 This time he left the fiddle behand and brought Soros' bribe money and his army of minions whose souls he has already bought.  No fair competition this time; he intended to win and bring Venezuelan-style Socialist/Marxism to the United States.  Two wins in Georgia and he will have won.

Controlling the Senate, continuing to hold control over the Senate and with a Leftist President in the White House, He could taste the destruction of this annoying Republic.  That control would allow him to add to the Supreme Court justices that would see their roll as assistants to the Congress, pass limitations on personal freedom, legally eliminate Freedom of Expression through changed definitions, and never again have to return to the individual citizen the freedoms taken from them through the fear created by the COVIC-19 Pandemic.

1984 may not have happened on the stipulated year...but is is about to take place.  The Left (Biden never criticized the lawlessness in Portland or other cities, Harris actually stumped for funds to get law-breakers bail paid by supporters) approved of lawlessness by Antifa, BLM and Anarchists throughout the country as they destroyed the ability of citizens to peacefully enjoy their towns and their private property.

Under a Biden Administration, the Right to Protest will include the right to invade you businesses, your towns, your homes and even your (heretofore) private lives.  

Khrushchev was right; his goals were reached by our own hand, as narcissism outvoted the Constitution, wrong overcame morality, and equality became...not of opportunity...the guarantee of all living at the lowest common denominator of life.  Consequences will no longer be visited upon anyone...except, perhaps, for the sin of attempting to better yourselves without harming others.

Now we can know how the horror that a minority of Greek and of Roman citizens felt as they watched their civilizations crumble and fade away.

Perhaps THIS is why President Trump is hated/opposed by those on all sides...

 I haven't had the stamina to write for quite awhile.  In the face of such an atmosphere of hatred from the Left and derision on the right, as well as the Gubernatorial-declared self-imprisonment (clearly non-productive since COVID is increasing even in the fact of masks and confinement) life just seems to be an existence confined in a warlike maelstrom, ... mental, physical and emotional.  Some days I turn off the radio, television, computer, then close the door and pray that no one knocks...hoping to restore some sense of civil equilibrium.  But the next day the chaos still exists.  I keep asking, "WHY?"

Why the Left extremists hate President Trump is easy to define:  he denied Hillary her place as the first women President (although honesty would insist that her loss was her own doing),...and a Liberal one at that; he is the first elected President to come to Washington with no interest in, and has refused to join, the "good old boys politicians and bureaucrats club"; he fights back when attacked, 

The Media's hatred is also no mystery: he fights back when they attack him; he refuses to think they and their actions/comments are sacrosanct; he points out their "taking of sides" (well, actually just one side...opposing anything he says, things, or does) and lying.

But the opposition and disdain on the part of many Conservatives and the "clubhouse" Republicans has always been more of a mystery.  One would think that the fact that he has kept more of his campaign promises than all of the Presidents since FDR put together would elicit their support.  He has turned out to be much more "Republican-ish" than the Right expected when he ran for the nomination...being more pragmatic and only failing in the area of financial national planning...and with a singular exception all politicians on all sides of the fence have failed in THAT area.  So...WHY?

Finally, I think I may have a possible answer.  It came as I was muting still another insurance commercial and noticed with abhorrence the image of an ostrich with its head burried inb the sand.  No, I don't recall the advertiser but if I did I assure you that I would never consider buying their product.  

It was the "head in the sand" syndrome that suddenly struck me as being the "reason" for many on the Right to dislike and oppose Trump.  They prefer to see politics as having a "gentile" image and existence.  It is far from that, of course, and at some basic level they...and we...know that; it is a dirty business involving lying and compromise (always the enemy of doing the right thing and leading us to an even lower "common denominator" of human condition.  BUT they have always succeeded in denying or ignoring that side of their profession by using the language of diplomacy or ignoring lies and insults not made to their face.  It was a more "comfortable" view of their profession and their lives.

President Trump was and is not diplomatic.  He doesn't play "make believe." He responds to attacks even if those attacks come from a distance.  He destroyed...and continues to destroy...the illusion that politics was a "gentlemen's" game of high purpose.  Those who value their image more than their actions hate the fact that President Trump has confirmed what the American People have long suspected: that for the most part, politicians run a self-serving con game designed to enrich and grant themselves more and more power; that few ever intend to wilfully leave Washington, D.C., and return (horrors) to their "home" towns again...they like being "special" and being treated that way.  But President Trump has confirmed that ALL of Washington is a SWAMP infested with greed and criminal enterprises and that there are literally NO good guys or women that have been able to fight the ubiquitous corruption.

President Trump may not be able to defeat or eliminate this state of affairs.  As a matter of fact it is pretty certain that little will change after he leaves office.  But at least the American Public now know the Truth.

And I thank him for that...and for his efforts.

Chief Justice John Roberts is a "Player," not an "Umpire!"

 During his confirmation hearing, Judge Roberts spoke continually of "seeing" himself as an Umpire, calling legal balls and strikes, rather than a player affecting the outcome of the game.  That concept no longer seems applicable, given his actions in a number of his opinions since becoming Chief Justice.

To be fair, Justice Roberts never promised to "be" and umpire but continually referred to how he saw himself...at least during the period of his confirmation.  On that basis it isn't possible to say he testified falsely or even that he didn't mean his testimony to be truthful. 

But perhaps his testimony provides both a cautionary tale and evidence that we should parse the statements by and sentences of those who testify under oath very carefully.  Perhaps even more importantly, the questions posed should be written carefully so they might require answers that are transparently unequivocal.   

In Judge Robert's case the proper follow-up question should have been, "...and do you, yourself, testify that this is the manner in which you will perform, if confirmed, as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States of America, sir?"

That question was never asked.  It should have been.  And that points out one of the great failings of almost all politicians when on camera, in public view, or campaigning:  they don't listen.  If the listen, they hear what they want to hear and often they don't listen at all because they are already thinking about their own next question or statement.

Almost all politicians  end up like "fence-post turtles" (found from time to time in farming country) seen upside down on top of a fence post:  they sure didn't get there on their own,  they're totally useless, and they have no idea what to do next to help themselves or others.

What most Judges have in common is the tendency to forget they aren't God.  They are part of a system that should be honored.  In Judges' cases, they aren't superior to the other parts of Government and need to remember that they are (or SHOULD BE) limited to their assignment...and that is to point out truthfully and accurately failings in our Justice system and in written laws.  It is Congress and/or legislatures that have the responsibility to change or correct the laws under which we live, and not for any court to provide a "do-over" or a "correction." 

Our Supreme Court is "supreme" only over other courts.  It is NOT supreme to the legislature, even though it has the power to rule that a law passed by Congress violates our Constitution; it can stop the application of the law, but it CANNOT and should not ever CORRECT what it (the Court) sees as an error by the Legislature or Congress.  

The Supreme Court of the United States is empowered to LIMIT actions by the Chief Executive, the Congress, and of the States to act in ways contrary to the United States Constitutional requirements.  It is NOT empowered to REWRITE laws; that is for other branches of government.

It is profoundly unfortunate that Chief Justice Roberts and other members of the Court all to often seem to forget their own limitations in favor of a narcissistic temptations to act as (or in place of) God.

Our Founding Fathers hoped that they were creating a governing entity that divided power in such a way the abuse of power would be prevented.  Unfortunately, they apparently (falsely, as it turned out) presumed that elected officials would honor their oath(s) of office and if not, that the people would exercise the power to remove them.

The Founding Fathers did not foresee (and perhaps could not foresee) the elimination of moral conscience and the removal of God and the Ten Commandments from public life.  And so we have riots, looting, assaults, disrespect and disowning of "law and order" and the police that would provide that and a "silent" (so far) citizens wonder in the quiet of their homes where the U.S.A. into which they were born has gone, and if it will ever return.

And Chief Justice Roberts now bats clean-up calling his own balls and strikes with no umpire in sight.