"Across the Field"

Because these columns are read all over the United States and the planet, I am aware that most of you are not Ohio State football fans. In fact, I would wager that a significant number of you loathe the Buckeyes. Bear with me as I use their recent troubles to illustrate how our nation stepped into the mess where we currently find ourselves. Those of you who follow college sports are probably aware that the OSU football team had to suspend five of its star players for 5 games this season and another 3 players for two games because they accepted illegal benefits as a result of their celebrity status. In addition, their highly successful coach for the past ten years was forced to resign. One of the five five-game suspendees decided to bolt for the NFL rather than face further sanctions for his misdeeds. He was the quarterback.

All of the suspended players were to be juniors or seniors this season. As a consequence, the Buckeye football program finds itself floundering with a 3-2 record after the first five games, and even when winning have looked bad. It’s the worst Ohio State team in the last twenty years. Certainly the suspended players are all talented athletes, but Ohio State prides itself on its ability to “reload” rather than rebuilding. The underclassmen that remain are talented athletes too and should have the athletic ability to play Big Ten (Twelve) football at a high level. The new head coach (interim) was an assistant under the previous regime, and as a former player with the Buckeyes should have a “handle” on the traditions and policies to continue the caliber of play OSU teams have routinely experienced.

The lengthy preamble to this column is intended to create an example of how our nation and our troubles came about. Any coach will tell you that talent and skill are important attributes for players, but leadership and team unity are absolutely vital for a winning program. The eight stars for the Buckeyes (actually seven because the quarterback skipped town) should be the leaders and the mortar for building team cohesion. Their transgressions, however, undermined their capacity for leadership because the other team members can no longer trust their judgment or rely on their sense of priorities. They have demonstrated that their personal preferences trump their responsibilities to the team. As a consequence, a talented group of athletes appear to be navigating the football season with no rudder and no compass. Those who should be leading and uniting have forfeited their status, and the remaining players are struggling to define their new roles within the system.

Our federal government and our national psyche are similar to the OSU program. Because of their venality, profligacy and inattention to the national good, our political leaders have lost their credibility and forfeited their stature as trusted leaders. They stumble around the national field and fumble opportunities to right the ship of state. When they attempt something grand to gain our approval, they throw an interception or miss the wide-open chance to score. When they attempt to tackle a vexing issue, they do so half-heartedly while allowing the problem to gain even more territory. Failure after failure causes the political class to stop throwing the long ball. They begin to diagram plays so as not to lose rather than designing them to win.

The fans and the citizens become increasingly frustrated with the ineffective activities taking place on the field. The clamor for change grows louder, and boos echo throughout the national stadium. The wrath of the people unsettles the team and the politicians even more as they grope for an antidote for the current mess. All, the team, the politicians and nation, overlook the obvious. In the midst of chaos simplicity works best. Reduce the playbook to what can work. Fall back on tried and true principles and do them well. Eliminate the superfluous and the “feel-good” gaudy. Stick to the basics. Block and tackle with power and intensity. Look to people of character to lead by example, and bring the team together around them. Do the simple and do it well. Restore the playbook to its original size and master the fundamental tasks. Kick butt and win games.

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Press One

Do you ever get frustrated when you are negotiating one of those automated phone systems and the first command is “Press 1 for English?” Our nation has been truly blessed by the people who love liberty who have come to our shores seeking a better life. They have come here from every corner of the globe and represent many cultures, customs, faiths, languages and dialects. They all share a thirst for freedom and the desire to work diligently to achieve prosperity. We welcome them because their passion for America and their various backgrounds add texture and nuance to our nation.

When the eager immigrants enter the United States they typically gravitate to locales where they can find clusters of people from their former countries or regions. These enclaves occasionally develop into subsets or colorful neighborhoods within some major cities. The old world cultures, foods and pageantry are continued but with a distinctly American hue. Outside the neighborhood however, most of the newcomers assimilate … become part of their new land. Each generation becomes more homogenized as many of the old traditions and routines are left behind. This has been the saga of people who have come to our land until recently. The entitlement mentality of the leftist statists has corrupted a rich, rich history of immigrants becoming fully American while retaining much of what they left behind. The statists encourage the Balkanization of our nation by promoting that new arrivals be granted total equality in service in their old languages. If you recall, the world united to challenge God by building the Tower of Babel. He divided them into many groups by scrambling their languages and making it impossible for them to understand one another. So, if we desire to fracture our nation more severely than it is today, the promotion of native languages in everyday discourse will do it. Our country will become a cacophony of words, insults and demands, and we will not comprehend what one another really means.

Unity of purpose, unity under the law and unity of language will cement us together. If certain segments of our population obstinately cling to the old ways and the old language, assimilation will not happen, suspicion and distrust will flourish. There is a measure of respect that those who seek to maintain their roots have earned, but if they refuse to integrate into the language and mainstream of their new nation, they have forfeited the privileges that are available for the remainder of the population. The resident established citizenry should not be forced by government to yield to the tyranny of a new minority. Either join us or leave us. Enjoy your history in your home, but conform to the traditional marketplace when on the streets. Spanish is the chosen language of the politically correct diversity crowd. They claim to want to open the doors of opportunity for Spanish speaking immigrants and/or citizens, but are driving wedges among many of our people and communities. It’s a bogus benefit because it continues to isolate those who do not learn English and assimilate. What about the multitude of Cubans, who came to our shores, retained many aspects of their culture, learned English and thrived? Why shouldn’t the newer entrants be encouraged to follow a similar path?

Liberals, progressives and statists are dividers…not unifiers. They define the nation’s landscape in “either/or” terms: rich or poor, black or white, producer or looter, Spanish or English. With them it’s always a struggle against some mythical oppressor as they expand the power of the true oppressor…the government. The statists seek to divide the country into isolated islands of discontent, and they and their monstrous government will deliver the prescriptions for the disaffected. The insistence (now written into law) that Spanish be an equal player as a language for national discourse is an example of their divisive tactics. Hungarian, Chinese, French, Norwegian, German and Vietnamese have all been overlooked as semi-official co-languages. This oversight should suggest to reasonable people that the choice of Spanish versus all the other choices available is a political one…not an earnest attempt to enhance communication. Unity for a nation during stressful times is necessary. Unanimity is rare, but if unity prevails, the people have a better chance to overcome the difficulty. Unity is made more difficult to achieve when the law and the political class engage in divisive behavior. “Press 1” if you want to stop this folly of statist control, or “Press 2” to fold the tent and begin anew.

Comment:   cearlwriting@hotmail.com       or      www.littlestuff-minoosha.blogspot.com

Warning-Track Power

This title is taken from a term in baseball. A hitter is determined to have “warning-track power” when he can hit long fly outs but lacks the power or the bat speed to drive the ball over the fence for a homerun. In some respects our current Tea Party, Liberty or Restoration movement resembles a player with warning-track power. We have the activity, the people and the influence to force candidates to sing our song for the primaries and for most of the general election. After they assume their offices, however, our power shortage becomes apparent. Their singing transforms into lip service, and the business of governing goes on as before. The movement has to develop the power and the speed to hit “homers” rather than long flies.

The occasional benefit of warning-track power is that one can hit a sacrifice fly and drive in a run from third base. Those are small victories that are produced by making an out. To save the country and to win the game will require massive rallies and some homeruns. In earlier columns I have written about the need for restoration groups to form alliances. Without combining our power and playing team ball, we will be relegated to long outs on the warning track. They’ll represent a lot noise, ooh’s and ahh’s from the crowd, but will be outs. We have to get to first, followed by second and third to score. Someone has to be available to get the hit to drive in the winning runs. That takes teamwork. Teamwork requires teams…not small clusters on power trips.

One benefit of this baseball metaphor is that it does allow for metaphorical opposition…the lefties, progressives, statists. They must not be merely defeated. They must be crushed and driven from the field. That goal cannot be achieved by a number of little groups each going its own way. That strategy may work for school board and local offices, but it will not be effective for state legislative, statewide officers or federal positions. The weakness with a focused concentration on local races is that by the time the candidates have become “experienced” enough, they have been morphed into political careerists.

Any top-flight baseball game requires someone to monitor the players to make certain that the rules are strictly followed. The umpires in our game are the “moderates.” They set the rules, and they control the game. Too often our players have sided with the officials in vain hopes that they would call the game in our favor. RINO’s are masters of deception. They talk the talk, but never attempt the walk. They look good, smell good and sound good, but they suffer from a massive principle deficit. In the world of baseball officiating they would have beautiful mechanics and an abysmal and inconsistent strike zone. Any player with any real knowledge of the game would detest the RINO umpires because their subjectivity makes a travesty of the game. So, our team is, in essence, playing against two opponents. One clearly attempts to thwart every move we make, and the other pretends to be neutral but stacks the deck and the calls against us.

There are two solutions for warning-track power: more strength or increased bat speed. Developing more strength is obvious. Restoration groups must either recruit more activists or form strategic alliances with other organizations. The bat speed metaphor can be realized by one group maintaining an intense level of activity. One group must do the work of two or more. While this stratagem may succeed in the short run, the long term prognosis is not good because of fatigue and burn out.

The malady of warning-track power cannot be overcome by a single group. Liberty organizations must double their efforts and combine their resources. If we are going to strike for freedom, we must keep our eyes on the ball, and be willing to sacrifice if the time is right. If we all pitch in and work in unison, we can steal a victory and bring it home. Politics is a foul business, but we can make it better if we work together. We can score, and we will.

Comment:   cearlwriting@hotmail.com      or   www.littlestuff-minoosha.blogspot.com

Fly United

Last Saturday I attended a function that was intended to bring together Tea Party, patriot, 912 and liberty groups from north central Ohio. The title for the gathering was “Finding Common Ground” wherein all the groups would coalesce on major themes and goals for restoring our nation to its Constitutional roots. Kudos to the organizers for attempting to bring the discontented together in order to develop a common strategy. I was honored to be a part of the program, but I must admit that I when I left the meeting hall, I was euphoric …and disturbed.

First, the good news. Patriots from several counties were there, and they represented the leaders of their respective organizations. The speakers examined a number of areas of interest to constitutionalists across the board. The hall was a great venue. The food was delicious, and the parking was great…unfortunately.

Now the bad news. More freedom-loving groups should have been represented. More counties and communities should have had representatives in attendance. More of the members, the followers and the simply curious should have been there to acquire some insight into the breath and the depth of the “restoration” movement. That is why I labeled the great parking situation as unfortunate. Success could have been defined by running out of good parking.

Our speakers shared a number of items that are on the plates of those who desire constitutional government. Some of those included the Right to Life (clearly identified in the Constitution), the end to the progressive-corporate-government cabal to manipulate the reins of power, and the importance of free market capitalism for the preservation of liberty. Others addressed the just-passed Senate Bill 5 by the Legislature of Ohio, and proposed amendments for the Constitution of the State of Ohio.

Because I own this keyboard and because I spoke there on Saturday, I’ll give you a brief synopsis of my intended speech (I say intended because I generally do not use notes when I speak). As the lead off major speaker, I believed my role was to identify the ONE ISSUE that unites all of us. Given my passion and my writing history, I chose to emphasize Liberty as the singular element that should unite all patriots. We will NEVER recoup a truly constitutional republic until we recognize that the underlying principle is individual liberty. We should be aware that true freedom for all may sometimes allow some to engage in behavior that we may personally find objectionable, but as long as that behavior does not threaten or harm our lives, our well-being or our property, then (federally speaking) the government has no business regulating, legalizing or controlling it. As an individual, God has granted you a mind, a heart and a soul. He wishes for you to commit them to Him, but to do so willingly because He’s also granted you free will. It follows, therefore, for the government to oversee our lives and to attempt to coerce us to live by God’s plan (or Allah’s, or Buddha’s, or Confucius’…or Fred’s plan) violates God’s desire for us to make conscious and willing decisions for His way. For those who are secularists no theological justification is necessary, but the right to control one’s own destiny without harming others is the bedrock element of liberty. Any constraint beyond the bedrock violates the principles of freedom unless the individual voluntarily agrees to subordinate free choice for community purposes. Any use of force to compel others to do something against their will (as long as they are clearly not harming others) is sinful, immoral, unethical and wrong. Liberty is absolute, and must be protected and defended.

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