Cusp of Collapse

The mass media have not adequately covered the increasing numbers of flash mobs and their assaults on innocent victims. All across the globe from the bullet-riddled Arab Spring to Great Britain to Madison, Wisconsin plus Cleveland, Philadelphia and more, violent mobs are terrorizing neighborhoods, cities and entire nations. I am old enough to remember the turbulent ‘60’s here in the United States. Violent anti-Vietnam war demonstrations and racially-charged uprisings seemed to occur with alarming regularity. The assassinations of JFK, MLK and RFK had the effect of pouring gasoline on the glowing embers of discontent. The intervening half-century of statist growth has nourished the sense that government provides the essentials of life, but government provision requires confiscation from others and therein lays the tension that we note today.

We are balanced on the cusp of collapse…social collapse, financial collapse, and moral collapse. Our insatiable hedonistic appetites have allowed government to consistently over-promise and under-deliver. Our unquenchable desire for Nanny State solutions to our self-created problems have conditioned us to look to the government for remedies despite its pathetic record of incompetency and inefficiency. Our fruitless quest to escape personal responsibility has motivated us to transfer our freedom and our accountability to a bloated bureaucratic system that consistently worsens the problems and limits our liberty. Profligate spending by governments at all levels, by addle-headed citizens who MUST have it all, and union demands for owning the pie of prosperity have all been major contributors to our decline. Mythical magical “hate crimes” have mysteriously appeared in the pantheon of actionable behavior as police, prosecutors and juries have suddenly acquired the ability to read minds and totally comprehend aberrant human behavior then apply additional penalties to an already heinous crime. Diversity and multiculturalism are celebrated as the means for division rather than inclusion and integration. Governments grow larger, and our personal freedoms are fewer. Government’s means and justifications for observing and tracking citizens are proliferating. Chaos reigns, and confidence wanes.

With evidence of collapse on so many levels all around us it is difficult to focus our energies and our problem-solving skills on one particular area of concern. Each time we laser in on a perplexing issue, another one pops up to seize our attention. It’s like playing whack-a-mole when each swing is critical and dare not be off target. At some point our heads feel as if they’re mounted on swivels as the numerous moles continue to surface all around us. If you’re a regular reader of this column, you’re aware that the major premise of my writing (preaching) is that the fundamental issue that underlies all the chaos, all the madness and all the danger is the notion of our individual liberty. My greatest fear as we attempt to grasp the vexing problems that confront us is that the breakdown of society will lead to greater government control and further loss of our freedom. As the nation disintegrates, the people will clamor for order and predictability, and the governments at all levels will deliver. Remarkably, the people will turn to the greatest single cause of the chaos for remedies…..just as they….and we have done for our entire human history. It was the Nation of Israel who turned their backs on God that led to their Egyptian captivity, and they molded the golden calf after He led them out because they believed they had been abandoned in the Wilderness. We are just like them. When times get tougher, we’ll go back to the golden calf of government while forgetting how He has liberated us. We might forfeit our freedom for false security of despotic tyranny.

Liberty is the common denominator underlying each cusp-positioned, collapse-directed element of our national structure. Free people who can live their lives as they choose without harming others or their property will voluntarily seek a harmonious social order or withdraw into hermit status. Free people who do not have to support an overspending monstrosity of government will use the wealth developed by their labor, their skills and their creativity to invest, to innovate and to improve their communities. People who are free may be less inclined to beat the system or to outwit the “man.” The pressure to engage in immoral behavior to escape the strictures of an overbearing state apparatus and an “uptight” populace may lead to more awareness of the value of upright living.

Is liberty the cure-all for everything that ails us? Of course not, but it is the basic component and catalyst for forging a new beginning. Each person’s value will be determined by his or her contribution to the liberty of others. If you examine the Founding and Framing documents and the discussions that surround them, you will discover that liberty…the quest for liberty, the thirst for liberty…preceded independence, nation formation and political structure. Liberty was the foundation then, and if we wish to rebuild, restore or renew our nation, it must be the cornerstone again. Unless you believe the notion that freedom is much too quaint for the 21^st Century….then we are doomed.

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

    

Baseline Bamboozle

For several years I was an umpire for baseball and softball games. We had two clearly defined baselines and two more subjectively defined base paths. To compound the issue, the foul line is in reality a fair line. So, let’s discuss government and clarity of language regarding the term “baseline.” A baseline as defined by the federal government is not as firm or as permanent as a 3” line of white chalk that runs from home plate to first base or from third base to home plate. The government’s baseline is repositioned every year, and, on occasion, is moved more than once per year.

Our inspired leaders of the federal government have apparently determined that the budgeting process is too difficult and acrimonious. To expedite the process they have implemented the baseline budgeting system wherein each item in the budget automatically qualifies for a nearly 8% increase from the previous year. Through the magic of compounding, a simple annual increase of 8% will result in a given line item appropriation nearly doubling after 10 years. This increase continues without regard for the efficacy or necessity of the program. Baseline budgeting is the fiscal version of the “In-laws from Hell” who come to your peaceful home to visit but refuse to leave. In baseline budgeting terms the words “merit and value” are alien concepts. Since the “Control Act of 1974” our elected public officials have allowed this fiscally irresponsible and politically unaccountable method of budgeting drive our nation toward the cliff of financial and economic disaster.

Clearly thirty-seven years of a failed mechanism that is unresponsive to economic conditions or to actual requirements for government sustainability is long enough. The GOP House majority should make baseline budgeting a sensible target for elimination…..not tweaking, eliminating. If an agency, program or department cannot justify and detail budget items on an annual basis, they do not warrant any funding….let alone an automatic 8% increase. If the Members of Congress believe that requiring justification for every agency or program would be too time consuming for the budgeting process, then obviously the government and the budget are too large. No one, I repeat, no one….no Corporation, no household has the benefit of an “automatic pilot” annual increase in funding. To the contrary most of our citizens and companies must struggle year after year in an unfriendly taxation environment and coping with an overburdening regulatory situation. Government should not ever enjoy an imperial status that far exceeds the circumstances of the people.

The baseline budgeting system immunizes government and government beneficiaries from all of the many intervening disruptions those of us in the private sector regularly encounter. It creates an artificial justification for additional and usually excessive government spending. An historical and efficiency analysis of many government programs or agencies would discover that their effectiveness and usefulness are of minimal value. Yet…the money train continues running as their budgets escalate with no consideration of the programs’ value or need. That’s no way to run a railroad, but our elected officials are too lazy and uninspired to thoughtfully examine each line item and appropriation, so they set them on automatic pilot. Most of us are either personally or anecdotally familiar with the public agency that scrambles to spend its excess at the end of a budget cycle in order to qualify for the increased funding of the next budget. Those types of fiscal and mental gymnastics are a direct result of the baseline budgeting madness.  Thus, the two primary motivations for implementing such a stupid and irresponsible system are: cowardly politicians and big-government advocates…..neither of which serve the best interests of the nation, our fiscal security or individual freedom. In essence, the baseline budgeting system guarantees that the cost and size of government will routinely grow without any justification….feeble or valid.

There are thirteen congressional committees that deal with various appropriations throughout the federal government. The chairs of those august committees are euphemistically described as the “Cardinals” because of their power to impact our lives through the appropriations process. It seems however, that they are opposed to reducing expenditures and budgets because their power may be diminished. Baseline budgeting has given the “Cardinals” the cover to allow for automatic increases in spending and power, and it also offers the flexibility to insert individual expenditures to bolster the reelection chances for members (baseline plus pork). The additional targeted expenditures merge into the baseline to ratchet the base upward for the next budgetary cycle. The pork spending is added to the automatic increases to form a new “minimum” for the following budget. But that’s not all…..

President Obama’s politically-laden stimulus spending was dispersed through various departments and agencies. In every case the additional funding through borrowed stimulus funds increased the baseline for the affected department, agency or program. In effect, our excessive indebted spending has been radically increased with no inherent mechanism for reducing it. Fiscally, this is a tragic and deadly consequence of Washington’s spending addiction, but even more troubling is the failure of the GOP House to address this travesty. They promised to repeal ObamaCare, and they have not. They haven’t even attempted to defund it. All of the facets of the Healthcare monstrosity are integrated into the baseline budgeting system. Also, we have not heard anyone from Congressional leadership suggest that the budget-busting 1974 Act should be repealed. Why not? Are they contented with this system and the growing power over our lives that it promotes?

Bottom line: If the GOP House leadership were absolutely serious about reining in our spending explosion, they would seek to repeal The Control Act of 1974 and defund Obamacare and other budget-busting programs, agencies and departments. The power of the purse should be used to change the direction of our country….not on a glide path, but with a “180” directional shift. Government bureaucracies should be put on notice that the gravy train has been sidetracked, and the Constitution of the United States is the new sheriff in town. Duty calls, Congress, please stop ducking your responsibility.

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

Channeling Nero

One of the great myths of Roman times is the one that claims Nero fiddled while Rome was burning. The Great Fire of Rome occurred in 64 A.D., the tenth year of Nero’s reign, and many historians believe that Nero started the conflagration because he wanted more land for a new palace. Nero ascended to the throne when he was seventeen, and in many respects was a hedonistic tyrant who took great pleasure in torturing Christians for sport. It seems to me that, in many respects, our career politicians in the United States are channeling Nero. They have adopted many of his imperial attitudes while claiming to represent the people.

Nero’s insatiable appetite for constructing grand buildings as monuments to his greatness can be seen as a parallel to our present day imperial politicians. Every state capitol and our nation’s capitol seem to be swarming with cranes, concrete trucks and other evidences of the building trades. These new edifices are often named for recent stars on the political stage that become immortalized even when their careers may not warrant acclaim. The building frenzy represents more than merely recognizing colleagues. It is an unmistakable symbol of the growing power and influence of the government. Just like Nero our political elites erect buildings to house the too-powerful bureaucracy and to memorialize their over-rated lives.

The hostility that our governments at all levels often exhibit against the Christian faith can be considered a mild version of Nero’s barbarism. The legislative bodies and the courts are particularly aggressive in their attempts to limit overt Christian expression from the public square. While they couch their pronouncements in language that speaks of neutrality and openness, the actual implementation of the ordinances, laws and rulings overwhelmingly deny Christian speech the same levels of tolerance as those enjoyed by other faiths. There appears to be an “overcompensation” attitude at work among the political class. Certainly, Christianity was a favored practice of faith in the early years of the republic and enjoyed a prominent role in public discourse. Even if religious preferences have changed in the United States, those who claim Christianity as their beacon of hope and faith continue to represent the majority of citizens. Dismissing them and their professions of faith from the public square is morally, constitutionally and politically wrong and unwise.

Nero was the last Emperor of his era. His suicide at age 31 in 68 A.D. foretold the coming collapse of the Roman Empire by illustrating the decay that had consumed the leaders of the Republic. Nero’s obsession with debauchery in some way reflects the expectations of our present class of political leadership. They enjoy better than average incomes, numerous beneficial perquisites, preferred treatment from the public and few demands for responsible behavior. Many of our political or bureaucratic leaders fail to fully pay their taxes or comply with other laws … laws that if a normal citizen were to violate them would result in hefty fines or perhaps prison. The notion of an imperial government has drifted down the centuries from fallen Rome to a staggering America.    

All governments if left unchecked drift into tyranny. They cannot resist the temptation to control the citizens’ lives and limit their options. Nero advanced his tyrannical schemes through terror whereas the United States’ government has implemented its tyrannical agenda through kindness or compassion. By convincing the electorate that massive regulation and control is “for our own good,” the government has massively increased its power and severely limited our liberty. Even now, when the oppressive nature of Big Government has become readily apparent, many citizens embrace the development because they seek “security” from either terrorists or the marketplace. For some inexplicable reason they are willing to place their trust and their lives in the hands of a government that has demonstrated time and again that it is incompetent and unreliable.

As we wrote above, many historians believe Nero started the Great Fire of Rome in 64 A.D., and the mythology accuses him of fiddling as the city turned to cinders. Today, our politicians are fiddling around by proposing solutions that don’t solve anything such as cutting $3-4 trillion in spending over the next ten years while adding from $10 trillion to $15 trillion to the debt during that same time period. If $14.5 trillion in debt represents a critical mass, why wouldn’t $25 trillion be more devastating to our national fiscal health? They are fiddling as the nation burns, and to extend the metaphor further, their irresponsibility is what has caused the problem in the beginning. Our illustrious career politicians have ignited the flames and are diddling and fiddling as we burn. When the Spaniards attacked Rome, Nero killed himself at the tender age of 31, but our self-serving political leaders have chosen to kill our nation instead. Despite his many flaws and warped character, Nero’s solution was the more honorable one.

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