Double Down

Let me begin this column with a disclaimer: a member of my family has been actively involved in the pharmaceutical industry for more than a quarter century. Given my personal background, I want to address the senseless murders that occurred in Tucson. Jared Loughner is mentally ill, a nut, a loon, crazy, and overwhelmed by bats in his diminished belfry. While the progressive lefties rush to their various podiums and microphones to blame the rhetoric of Tea Partiers, talk radio and anyone else that they choose to demonize, the fault is Loughner’s and the failed social policies of the twisted left.

In harsher times people who were diagnosed as potentially dangerous to the community or themselves were institutionalized in order to remove them from the general population. Along comes do-gooder social policy that emphasizes “mainstreaming” people with mental disabilities by means of behavior modification medicines. At some level I agree with that policy because as long as progressive statists control the social discourse, I know that I may be assigned to a re-education camp by some well-meaning federal czar because of the metaphorical incendiary language that I use from time to time. The flaw in the feel good argument for medication rather than incarceration is the assumption that the deranged individual will be diagnosed correctly and will diligently take his medications. Clearly it seems that it is more humane to require a pill or two per day as opposed to a lifetime of semi-vegetation in a cell block.

The fact that Loughner was allowed to roam freely even though many people were aware of his twisted anti-social proclivities is indeed an indictment of liberal social policies. Progressive statists engage in continual legislation that purports to protect society from every imaginable harm yet their misdirected priorities incrementally increase our exposure to danger. They allow the Jared Loughners to move about unfettered. They subject us to a multitude of devastating side effects by their reliance on drugs as a means of control. Progressive statists appear to have a compulsive need to overlook the foibles of those who have demonstrated an unwillingness to conform to social norms, and at the same time, they continue to squeeze and limit the freedoms and opportunities for the rest of us. It’s as if they believe the circus should be solely populated by the freaks and clowns.

Progressive statists will renew their efforts to limit our ownership of firearms. They will seek to restrict our speech, and they will move to increase regulation on broadcasting and the internet. Meanwhile the crazy loons will continue to float freely as our liberties are assaulted again. As an individualist, a Libertarian, I am suspicious of any effort to broadly define what proper behavior is for the body politic. On the other hand, Natural Law and God’s Law establish parameters of civil interaction that do not require additional tweaking by an overzealous state apparatus. As an individual who cherishes my personal freedom, I resent and abhor any attempt by the state to legislate or regulate in response to the civil outliers. The anomaly, the aberrant and the deranged should not represent the standard for constructing our social and legal contract. The event in Tucson was a horrifying one, but it cannot be used as an impetus for further erosion of our liberties.   

Comment:  earl4sos@gmail.com or  www.littlestuff-minoosha.blogspot.com

Party 3.0

With the advent of the “Tea Party” movement there is evidence of angst within certain political circles. Recently I have noted conservative bloggers and commentators warning that an effort to form a third party would be disastrous for the Republic. They argue that a movement coalescing into a party as a result of massive discontent with “politics as usual” would inevitably lead to an electoral victory for the progressive statists because the Constitutionalist/ Conservative majority would be divided. Perhaps.


As I approach my sixty-fourth birthday, I can count the scars and see the scorch marks all over my body as a result of my life-long reliance on Republican PROFESSIONAL POLITICIANS to do the right thing…respect the limits of the Constitution. To expect ANY professional politician to honor the limits of Constitutional governance is, in my view, misplaced, naïve and stupid. Too often in the past four decades or so, I have witnessed political newcomers rail against the encroachment of big unresponsive government, only to watch them become more comfortable and, in fact, enable the incremental growth of government and its power over us. They transform from hard-charging challengers into defenders of the status quo. Their rhetoric changes from promoting the principle for the reduction of government influence to “I’ve offered amendments to minimize the damage.” They become (literally and figuratively) fat and comfortable as they pursue their lifetime careers from local to state to national arenas while proclaiming their devotion to limited government. They vote to put levies on the ballot so that “the people can get involved,” when in reality they have conspired with their cohorts to increase spending, and they do not have the courage to stop the spending or oppose the levy. The longer they seek office the smaller their reservoir of courage becomes. Their job-preservation instincts overwhelm their notions of servant hood. They plead, they beg, they grovel, and they barter for your votes so that they can “continue the fight for fiscal integrity.” Meanwhile, the budget grows faster than the GDP. Public employee unions become more rigidly embedded in the system. Taxes and fees are necessarily increased to finance the profligacy of our beloved guardians of Constitutional government.

With the socialist/progressive element of American politics, I know what I am getting. They’ll lie and misrepresent their intentions, and distort the outcomes of their ludicrous policies and actions. They’ll promise Nirvana and deliver nothing. They’ll confiscate my property and severely circumscribe my freedom. They’ll demean me, denounce me and, perhaps, destroy me. But I know who they are. I can resist them and fight them for every inch of Liberty’s turf. My “friends,” on the other hand will lull me into subservience with sweet utterances such as “rights, low taxes, common sense, and spending cuts” as they become complicit in the inexorable growth of the big “Nanny” state. It was a Republican who initiated the EPA and OSHA. It was a Republican who enacted wage and price controls. It was a Republican who started the massive federal land grab to set aside millions of acres and remove them from private development. It was a Republican who proposed a massive unfunded expansion of Medicare and increased the federal role in public education. I know who my enemies are, but it’s my friends who have betrayed me…time and time again. Screw it. Screw them. I would rather go down fighting, kicking and screaming…and be right. I will no longer be led and misled by PROFESSIONAL POLITICIANS who artfully claim to be my friends. I will be betrayed no more. I am now a Libertarian, and I want my country back!

Comment or email:  cnpearl@woh.rr.com

Stars and Stripes

Stars and Stripes:


Do you watch American Idol? Is it in your “can’t miss” category of weekly scheduling? What about Dancing with the Stars? Watch the Daily Show? Are you familiar with Lindy Lohan’s complete rap sheet or the daily challenges for Brittany Spears? Obviously these are rhetorical questions that beg the question: How pervasive is the cult of celebrity in the United States? Anyone who has an opinion can express it without fear of having the government prohibiting free non-threatening expression. That’s chiseled in the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Many of the pop culture stars have opinions, and they share them freely and frequently. What puzzles me is that so many people view the celebrity statements as serious and worthy of consideration. Just because someone has attained a level of “stardom,” doesn’t necessarily mean that their opinions are notable. If the celeb has done something that merits our attention and has “walked the walk,” then perhaps their pronouncements should be considered. Otherwise having a high “Q” rating or positive name identification does not translate into knowledge about public policy. When a star has earned her/his stripes, then I’ll listen. A final example is celebrity assuming more credibility than it deserves is the Wednesday morning headline on the “Drudge Report” suggesting that Scott Brown may/should run for president. Give me a break; he hasn’t yet gotten a key to the Capitol men’s room. One of the big problems with a professional political class (like Mandarin eunuchs) is the assumption that the politico will be seeking the next higher office. Service? What service?


Crockpots and Skillets:

As I have struggled with my newly formed political I.D., I’ve been searching for a metaphor that accurately and picturesquely describes my sense of the two-party duopoly.

I believe that our country is firmly on the path toward tyranny. The power of government at all levels is growing. In my view it’s an ominous evolution that will stifle the human spirit. The progressives and their cohorts are cooking my goose in a skillet. Hot and fast with a splattering of grease. Unfortunately, some people get burned, but every cook drops an egg once in a while. The “conservatives,” on the other hand, use a crockpot to heat my honker. A little expansion of Medicare RX here, a tiny bit of eroded rights there, a smaller tax increase over there, just a pinch of further regulation, and Viola’ add a spoon full of sugar (rhetoric) and the dinner will go down.

Progressives/statists have no boundaries. They want to control it all (except themselves). They surge forward, gobbling up power as fast as they can. Conservatives (picture tweed jacket, bow tie and horned-rim glasses) say, “Government should not overreach, there are limits, and to prove it, we will draw those limits with this pencil.” Libertarians say, “Wait a minute! Drawing with a pencil is worthless; you’ll continue to move the line. Go back to the Constitution, and stay within the boundaries. If you want to move the line, then amend it.” Skillets and crockpots…either way your goose gets cooked.


Comment or email: cnpearl@woh.rr.com