First Things First

You may suspect, as I do, that our nation and society are in a transformational period. Our brain-dead regulators and politicians will not allow us to capitalize on our natural resources, thus condemning us to the avarice and whims of other nations and commercial entities. Our political class and their sleazy financial cohorts operate under the deadly notion that merely printing money and tossing into the wind will stabilize our precarious fiscal condition. We have a constant barrage of information about whether our president is lazy, stupid, a socialist or a Marxist. Well, in my view, the answer is “yes.” Our departments and agencies are tightening the regulatory screws on our citizens and our businesses resulting in a more constricted area for personal decision making. Given this why would I want to write about a goofy preacher from Florida? The reason is that his rights and my rights are the same although we may choose to exercise them differently. If his rights are illegally, unconstitutionally and unfairly limited, my rights may be the next to be curtailed by the strong arm of government.

As a born-again Christian, I am not especially fond of the Qur’an…primarily those verses that label me as a target for the sword of Islam. As a Christian, I am hurt and offended when someone chooses to burn a Bible. As a Christian who has 18 Bibles in my bookshelf representing 11 translations or interpretations, I understand that the Word of God is not so much what we find on a replaceable printed book, but what is irreplaceably imbedded in our hearts and minds. If the printed form of the Word rather than the meaning of the Word were the holy aspect, we would not need Wycliffe Bible Translators because the original Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic could not be tampered with or altered. This is my long-winded explanation for expressing how puzzling I find it that: a) Terry Jones chose to burn the Koran, and b) Muslims have bunched their panties into a bloodthirsty wad. In my view, Jones is a buffoon, and Islamic fanatics are dangerous.

So Florida Pastor Terry Jones travels to Dearborn, Michigan, to protest outside a mosque. It seems strange that he bypassed us here in Toledo because we have a sizable, quite visible mosque alongside    I-75. He might have saved gasoline and time if he had stopped here. For those of you who recall that Dearborn represents Henry Ford, Ford Motor Company and Greenfield Village, things have changed there. Muslims represent approximately 30% of the population in Dearborn and obviously 100% of the political and intimidation power. As a result of their influence, Jones was jailed after a hastily assembled trial found him and his motley horde of 10 followers “as likely to create a ‘breach of the peace’ in light of his plans to protest outside the Islamic Center of America.” Jones and his sidekick, Wayne Sapp, were taken into custody following their refusal to post a $1.00 bond. The size of the bond should provide a clue about the seriousness of the charge. Pastor Jones’ First Amendment right for free speech was summarily denied because of local Dearborn officials fears that hordes of Muslims would burn, kill and rampage much as they had done at various places around the globe when Jones torched their holy book.

There appear to be two gross miscalculations by the tyrannical political leadership in Dearborn. First, they apparently believe that politically correct behavior trumps the Constitution with the borders of the United States of America. Second, for some reason the political leadership of Dearborn assumed that the Muslim citizens of Dearborn would react to Mr. Jones’ presence in a manner similar to outbursts in Pakistan, Jordan and Indonesia. The actions of the public officials were a blatant violation of Terry Jones’ rights and an egregious insult to the Muslim citizens of Dearborn. The Dearborn politicos stepped in it with both feet. Constitutional rights are an endangered species in modern America, and the Dearborn fiasco illustrated it perfectly.

As an afterthought: Some pundits have suggested that Jones’ protest was a provocation and was justifiably prevented. They cite the “shouting fire in a crowded theater” justification for curtailing potentially unpopular speech. I am becoming sick of this “straw-man” argument because the Supreme Court decision is based on “falsely shouting fire in a crowded theater.” In others words…an intentionally false statement made for the express purpose for creating chaos and harm may in some instances be restricted. Terry Jones was protesting based on his faith. If panic occurred, it was not his faith but the extreme reactions of his audience that would be the igniting element. If the Dearborn officials truly believed that Jones’ appearance would lead to violence, then their obligation would have been to restrain the 30% of their city who were most likely to become violent and deadly. In Dearborn’s defense…it’s the nature of government to screw things up.

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A Letter

Dear Officeholder (substitute title and name),

As a citizen I wish to thank you for your willingness to step forward and serve in public office. It must be challenging to voluntarily place oneself under intense scrutiny in order to run for political office. I do take your role as a leader very seriously, so please bear with me as I share with you some of my concerns and criticisms.

When you chose to serve in public office and ran for election, there was an implicit understanding that you would give your very best effort to confront and resolve many of the problems facing us today. One of the basic elements of problem-solving is to stop the problem from becoming worse when attempting to resolve the issue. In my view, you and your colleagues have failed in that regard. Despite all the rhetoric about “directions” and “paths,” our difficulties continue to grow more ominous. High-sounding language and back-room deals do NOT stop the bleeding. Commitment to principle and devotion to YOUR OATH of office will staunch the flow. Our troubles have been caused by two primary factors: political leaders who try to please everyone and public “servants” who ignore the Constitution of the United States.

When our political leaders maintain fidelity to the Constitution, they do not wander into the thickets of irresponsible spending and denial of individual liberty. Every time a public servant strays outside the constitutional limitations the citizens either lose freedom, money or property. Government does not produce anything of value. Government is merely a redistribution mechanism, and indeed, an inefficient one at that. Our brilliant Founders recognized that for a nation to prosper the people must enjoy the maximum freedom allowable for a civil society. You and your colleagues have either unconsciously or intentionally undermined the beautifully balanced system anticipated and designed by the Framers of our country.

Many people who enter public life want to do “good.” When they drift beyond the parameters of the Constitution, the “good” often becomes chaotic and counter-productive. Your oath, if taken seriously, compels you to OBEY the Constitution…not to forage far and wide while looking for social ills to heal. Government has proven to be an incredibly flawed instrument, and for anyone to assume that government is the best vehicle for correcting deficiencies in the social structure is wishful and delusional thinking.

Perhaps I am wrongly casting you among those who have grossly abused their power and their oaths. If so, I apologize, but I do beseech you to stand firm…to speak loudly and forcefully…to resist EVERY usurpation of our liberties and every violation of the Constitution. Even if you are not actively engaged in the undermining of our Constitutional government, you cannot comply with or ignore those who are. Your sworn duty, before God and the citizens, is to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States. Meekly allowing others to run roughshod over our freedoms while confiscating our hard-earned wealth without bellowing in protest means that you are failing…failing to do your sworn duty.

If you believe that all the extra-constitutional legislation and regulation is justifiable, or if you accept that some of the unconstitutional governance is acceptable, then do the honorable thing and resign from office. If, however, you share my dismay with the unconscionable perversion of our Constitution, then fight with fury…fight with fervor. The stakes are too high for comity and collegiality to rule the day. When your time on earth has ended, do you want your legacy to be one of a smiling, pleasant public servant who watched the nation crumble? Dear public servant, please climb out of your comfort zone and take the hill. Your constituents need you to defend our liberties and our futures. Do it now.

Finally, (Mr./Ms.)____, are you willing to endorse and actively support legislation that eliminates the officeholder immunity provisions of the law and would make public “servants” legally liable for violation of their oaths or the Constitution? I eagerly await your response. If you do not reply, I must assume that you favor unconstitutional tyranny rather than true public service. Our land of freedom is at stake. It is time for YOU to step forward and FIGHT.

Sincerely,

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Dancing with Despair

This column begins with the tale of two readers. The first asked me to write a letter to our political officeholders that could be copied and sent to those at all levels of government. I told him that I would do that for today, but my second reader and friend asked me if I were feeling alright because my recent columns seemed to be rather despairing. So, I’ve decided to address the issue of my apparent disillusionment before I compose the universal letter of condemnation. I am fighting an oppressive sense of despair about the state of our nation.

As many of you may know, I was an activist with the Republican Party for more than 40 years. I was a central committee person, executive committee member, YR officer and organizer, TAR adviser, campaign manager, campaign consultant, contributor to candidates, state and national parties, Senate and House campaign committees, attendee at National Conventions, state conventions, attended a two-week training session for future party leaders, served as a candidate for office and as a State Representative. In other words, my GOP bona fides are ironclad. It is with sadness that I note that what we are currently witnessing in Washington and in the states around the country is symbolic of why I left the party in 2004. Our nation, I believe, is on the brink. Our liberty becomes increasingly imperiled. Our property rights are being trashed or ignored. Our fiscal integrity has been compromised beyond recovery in my lifetime…or perhaps forever. So, what is the GOP doing? Offering plans for a 25-year glide path…assuming Congress will follow anything for more than two years running. They have not attempted to defund the largest grab of our U.S. economy in history. They are measured and professional…and too damn political…as they march around in self importance doing nothing of real significance. Listen up, Republicans. Climb out of your foxholes and TAKE THE HILL. General George Patton would never have said “we’ll work out the best deal we can with Hitler before we give him more ammo.” But…that’s what they’re doing with Obama and the debt limit. TAKE THE HILL.

Some of my best friends are Democrats. I pray for them daily. To have your wagon hitched to such a deceitful, despicable star must be the perfect recipe for cognitive dissonance. Republicans claim to recognize the problems and nibble at them, but Democrats create the problems and deny that they exist. If they aren’t deceitful, they are certainly certifiably delusional.

A couple of years ago I joined the Libertarian Party because the principles of “minimum government and maximum freedom” appealed to me. During my lifetime I had witnessed the massive growth of government at ALL levels. Big government is not only extremely costly, but as it grows it crowds our individual liberty and restricts our God-given rights. I joined the Libertarians because I was certain that they had not been tainted or corrupted by holding power for long periods of time. Libertarians believe their principles. They do not have a statement of principles that merely provides window dressing for the quadrennial convention. The Libertarian Party was a refreshing landing place for my disgust with the old two parties. Many of the people I encountered during my year-long statewide campaign last year stated that they, too, shared those principles. “I may be a Republican, but I’m mostly Libertarian,” they would say to me. Even the most famous and revered Libertarian in the land clings to the GOP banner despite the fact that they demean and belittle him incessantly. My decision was based on the fact that I would rather die on the sword of principle than live in a world of co-option and compromise.

While I’m in the ranting mode, I will not allow my Libertarian friends to escape criticism. The fact that we hold no offices of note, by definition, makes us political rookies…sometimes naïve and stupid. To succeed we must get beyond the “good showing,” ten per cent mentality. To many of you Tea Party types who CLAIM to be upset with the status quo…when are you going to put your efforts, your time and your money where your mouths are? For the first rounds you have become a despised and loathed tool of the GOP. They’ll use you and abuse you. They already have. You have told me that “Libertarians can’t win,” and you are dead-solid correct as long as YOU support the party that hates you and distrusts you. People like me who want a constitutional government that honors our personal liberty will continue to lose as long as you and your friends and neighbors support the two old parties, but when you do that…..we ALL lose. America loses.

So, where do you stand? Are your reactions the same as the GOP? Engaging in handwringing and lip service while our country either fades away or collapses in a heap?  Try this little quiz. The key is LIBERTY.   www.theadvocates.org/quiz

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Taxing Madness

The Obamacare legislation that the U.S. House of Representatives neglected to defund is laden with many new taxes and fees. President Obama has called for the repeal of the Bush-era tax rates, and for Congress to increase taxes on the rich. In Obama-speak, rich is someone who earns more than $200 thousand per year or $250 thousand for a couple. Tanning salons, pottery sheds, independent pizza shops, 4-pump gas stations and ice cream trucks may conceivably qualify as “rich” under the new lexicon. I do not know what you believe, but I think that we are already over taxed. The marketplace informs us that a value of a product or service is determined by its appeal. Deep within my skeptical core I know that I do not receive reasonable value for my tax “investments.” In fact, I would characterize most of the programs and initiatives supported by taxation as rip-offs and scams. We all know that Social Security is a vast Ponzi scheme, and many other government programs are overfunded today with massive funding increases due later on down the road. Think of bonds issued by many local and state governments…the payments continue as the bridges and roadways crumble. If government were competing in the marketplace, it would fail. We would have an opportunity to attend a massive liquidation sale as the hard assets of the various agencies, departments, bureaus and directorates were offered to the highest bidder (OK, so I’m dreaming…sue me).

Many of those agencies and bureaus are increasing fees for some of their services and transactions which, in effect, raise taxes on those various functions for those who use those services. The U.S. Congress and the profligate administration make the Sheriff of Nottingham look like a warm and fuzzy kind of guy when it comes to tax assessment and tax collection. As the government grows, as its regulation, rules and laws increase it embarks on a frenzied search for more revenue to pay for its regulatory excesses. True, they can and do borrow trillions of dollars, but they require vast sums of our hard earned dollars just to pay the interest on the debt. Their irresponsible management of the nation and our communities coupled with heavy borrowing…weakens the value of the dollar, and thus, leading to inflation which becomes a pernicious method of increasing our taxes through bracket creep. Our cost of living increases under the weak dollar, inflationary regime thus adding additional strains to our budgets. The result is that taxpaying citizens must do more with less while government does less and takes more. This is not a formula for prosperity. This is not a formula for serenity. This cycle makes King George III’s tea tax seem like small potatoes.

In the past three years Tea Party or Tea Party-type organizations have sprung up all over the nation as every-day citizens have joined together to combat the growing power, excessive spending and irresponsible borrowing by the government. Each local group has its own identity and priorities thus lending an air of confusion and disunity when an incident or issue requires action. In addition, the effectiveness of the Tea Party citizen groups is limited because of government abuse at so many levels and in so many arenas. It is somewhat like trying to fill a bucket with water while trying to catch a mist. While the Tea Parties and disgruntled citizens may have the power to retard the growth of government, I suspect that their impact will be minimal. The crisis for our nation is approaching much too quickly for the Tea Party-effect to be truly meaningful.

The answer for dealing with an oppressive, tyrannical government may be more chaotic and disruptive than many of us have assumed. It doesn’t seem feasible for us to send new legislators, congresspersons or administrators to government positions quickly enough to reverse the harm that has already been done to our country. The bureaucracy is infested with leftists who will drag their feet and resist any attempt to roll back their power and authority. Politicians by their nature want to be liked, and because the looters and the lefties have historically been louder and more forceful than the producers, it will be extremely difficult to capture the ears and the interest of enough politicians to assure success. The tipping point may have been reached, and the only remedies available may be for individual states to leave the union and form new like-minded alliances or federations. Dissolution of the federal government remains a possibility as it continues on its deadly path toward economic destruction. On the other hand, as long as the power rests in Washington the leviathan will fight for its survival even if it requires destroying the states, the economy and what remains of the nation. Government will confiscate every asset available to protect itself. The people will pay…again.

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Slurping and Sucking

Government inefficiency is so prevalent that it is nearly impossible to get hard numbers about the nation’s economy. Suffice it to say that the federal government’s share of the United States’ Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is somewhere between 25% and 28%. In other words, for every productive minute, hour, product or service that is generated in our country, government consumes, at a minimum, one fourth of the total. From Fortune 50 companies to corner lemonade stands the productivity of America’s people is being sucked away by an overbearing monstrosity that is growing larger every day. Not included in that obscene number is the amount of productivity and money we must place as individuals and corporations toward complying with Government’s myriad laws, rules and regulations.

Ross Perot became somewhat famous for describing that “giant sucking sound” of American jobs going to Mexico. Today that giant sucking sound is Big Brother and Nanny State draining the efforts, creativity and resources of our most productive citizens. As our energies and talents swirl down the sinkhole of government interference and barriers, our spirits are beaten, and our dreams are trashed by red tape  and bureaucratic resistance. Some might argue that government’s consumption of such a large portion of our work and our products is justified because the state (all government) provides so many benefits that our people require. The difficulty with that particular line of thinking is that the state defines what we need. Just because some legislator or government agency believes that it is a jolly idea if all citizens drove turbo-powered Huffy bicycles, it doesn’t necessarily follow that we want them.

Let’s shift for a moment from the macro view of government’s slurping our resources to a micro consideration. You rise in the morning, and before you have worked a full day or built anything of value, you begin at 25% in the hole. Put another way, you work eight hours for six…or twelve hours or the value of nine. If you produce something for the marketplace, everything will have to be priced twenty-five per cent higher in order for government to collect its cut. A somewhat hidden factor is that as government gobbles up more and more of our productivity, we must work longer and harder just to stay even. Some of our fellow citizens have decided not to participate in the race against government consumption. No, they haven’t gone Galt, but many of them have gone to the government because they claim they cannot continue to keep up with the economic pace required for people to prosper. Thus, those of us who continue to produce now have the added burden of supporting the dropouts. That sucks. If you’ve ever seen a combine harvesting grain, it provides an illustration of the government’s voracious appetite for our productivity….and there are the producers scurrying ahead of the machine, gleaning what little they can before the harvester swallows them.

In modern times the United States has had its most productive and prosperous times when the government’s share of the GDP was limited to 18% to 20%. To achieve those numbers today, government consumption will have to be reduced by 20% to 25% of its present rate of resource absorption. Try to imagine how productive, how energized we would be if government were reduced to 15% of GDP. Even better…how would our economy react to a government that confiscated a mere 10% of all the production, creativity, talent and human energy in the nation? Our economy would take off like a rocket from Cape Canaveral. Government does not produce. It consumes. Government sucks up the labor and products of the producers. Government that over burdens it’s people is immoral. Government that forces productive citizens to support chose who choose not to compete is immoral. Government that attempts to regulate and dominate the lives of its citizens by limiting their individual liberty is immoral. Government that makes outrageous claims on the time, labor and productivity of its citizens is immoral. Government that undermines the property rights of its citizens through lawmaking and rule making is immoral. Any government that seeks to limit the personal freedom, the opportunities, and creative self-expression of its people has surrendered its moral authority. A moral government serves the people. An immoral one controls them.

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