It's a Thankless Job Thing

Dear America,

With the so-called man-made "War on Women" going on around us -- this week may just be all about mom-ism.

As a mom, my Monday has already been flooded with things to do that have pretty much nothing to do with me really......oh ...and lookie there, it's now Tuesday. waaaaahhhhh

But this is what happens in a mom-pom world, isn't it.  Sometimes, the very thing you want to do most gets set aside for another day because you are in need somewhere else.  And so it begins; the day bounces from one thing to another in a rhythm we can play in our sleep.  ughhhhhhhhh

And how that's for immediately running off with the wrong impression -- foot, mouth, have you met?  

In motherhood -- in all of it's gloriousness, in all of it's messiness, in all of it's self-less loving acts of kindness -- we become defined by what we do for our family and how they, in turn, turn-out (whether it be for a family of one or within the higher realm of '19&Counting').  And in reality, it's beautiful -- even on really bad days, the days when "you want to eat them and not because they are yummy."  (just a quote and a nod to a cuz there...go B!)

Indeed.   It's a thankless job; no really, it is.

Especially if you go by how the Left wants us all to think about full-time moms -- and especially if they be filthy rich.

Hilary Rosen, you're up:

"Guess what, his wife [Mitt's] has actually never worked a day in her life. She’s never really dealt with the kinds of economic issues that a majority of the women in this country are facing in terms of how do we feed our kids, how do we send them to school and how do we — why do we worry about their future.”

right, rosen.  and we have no idea just how much money we have in the check book either.  Is this envy talking again or just the all too familiar all-round feminist disrespect run amuck?  Which is it, the money, or the lack of ambition outside the home?

And if you care for more fabulous feedback on this left-winged narrative that keeps on giving back to motherhood far and wide -- all the way back to the middle ages, like the fifties -- read this from Redstate...it's really good.

So speaking of moms, I had to call mine over the weekend...to vent...to chat....to hear her laugh about something silly... when something that she said continued to sit with me for the rest of the day (which is often the case).

She was simply tired of all of us getting "chopped up" --  you know --  sorted and sub-divided by demographics, predominately by the democrats -- pretty much getting us down to a process 'by color' or 'by special care'.   As if we all come with a different set of needs.

and yes, dirty laundry does come to mind, doesn't it.


In a Politico article, Rosen and Romney were tweeting apparently -- when Rosen summed it up, going something like this:

"I admire Ann for getting in the mix," Rosen told me tonight, via email. "But she didn't answer my follow up tweet to her! Which I thought was respectful and sincere."

Rosen's tweet read as follows: "I am raising children too. But u do know that most young american women have to earn a living AND raise their kids don't u?"

this is Rosen with respect?  seriously?

ah Rosen, you do know that the Romney's finished their undergraduate work at BYU while living in a basement apartment -- at around 75 bucks a month -- when their first born son joined the family.

and Romney worked up the ladder, as they say -- he didn't just create Bain Capital out of thin air and all of a sudden they were on easy street making millions of dollars a year.

and you know, it's not like the little mrs. just gave up getting her degree -- she went back to school after the couple moved to Boston, attending night school (Harvard, thank you), and ultimately graduated with a Liberal Arts Degree.

and while we're on the subject -- it wasn't like Ann had it easy, what with having Multiple Sclerosis and Breast Cancer get in the way AND all the while raising FIVE boys. honestly...anyone who raises five boys, and turns out boys like that! should get an award, hardly a diss.

Where is the respect of the path that simply says, I CHOOSE to be a full-time mom?   Does Rosen have any idea how many women choose this path no matter how much money the husband makes?

Because a budget is a budget is a budget.  Home Economics 101 plus 2.0.

So Ann Romney can't relate to real economics because she has money now?   really? how old-fashioned is that?!

You would think the opposite would be true.  She has seen days without.  She has lived through the days of watching the pennies, feeding the family, clothing the kids, going to the emergency room, tithing to the church, giving to charity, keeping the family spending within a budget -- and moreover, has successfully managed those days with a bank account and five beautiful boys to show for it.

How is it possible in this day and age, that someone like a Rosen can dismiss any intelligence behind the apron whatsoever?   I am just so disgusted by this kind of continuing knee-jerk reaction!  Hello, feminists, you do know you share the planet with other kinds of moms, right?

As a woman -- is my value to society only defined by my career outside the home now?  Is that it?

Because maybe that is our problem.

Is there no longer a value  in putting our whole heart and soul and good energy into raising good children?   Because if you look around, our children define America's future outlook....and ah, from what I see...we seem to be experiencing some technical difficulties. but  maybe that's just me.  [feminists never want to talk about the stark ugly realities of the traditional family roles a'changin', do they...they never want to look at how it has changed the early childhood experience -- the lack of security, the latch-key kid traumas, the abundant and unchaperoned free time...shall I go on....]

And what about other kinds of moms -- what about "moms who have never worked a day in their life" on the dole?  If you go to one extreme, Rosen, then it is only fair to swing the other way.   So is the welfare mom's understanding of home economics better or worse than that of Ann Romney?   For again, a budget is a budget is a budget.   [Not to mention, what about night school?  for there are all kinds of ways, with free tuition and all...of course, provided by the government, childcare included...but I digress]

From the way you tell it, I would gather from your argument that you believe these women -- those not working outside the home and getting something for nothing and surviving by simply receiving federal funding from tax contributions from those of us who work  -- have a clearer understanding based upon their economic needs -- or that you just can't bring yourself to honestly talk about it.

It's a different kind of dependence, isn't it  -- based not upon a husband and built up around the traditional family unit, per se -- it's Dependence 2.0...upon the government.  Is it because they generally "need" more, they know more than Ann?

The question is:  isn't that an attribute equally as loathsome to you?  Women bearing children and becoming moms when they are in no position to care for them?

And even -- do I dare say -- doing so enthusiastically, as if it was their business?

And doing so -- do I dare add -- while paying very little attention to whether their kids even attend school, or get good grades, or understand right from wrong, and thereby missing the very opportunity of giving them the gift to life -- the very foundation required to grow up into adulthood and be a productive partner in society.

You see, Rosen, if you can generalize about the filthy rich, with emphasis upon the women who have "never worked outside the home", then we can surely do the same for the filthy poor.  And therein lies the rub.  Ouch.  [hold up -- let me get you a band-aid]

oh that's right. you're a mom, too.  you probably have your own.

I guess the thing is -- where is the respect, Rosen?

As a conservative mom -- I RESPECT your right, even as a lefty, to raise your children anyway you want to -- whether or not it's in union with a husband (or partner), whether or not you choose to work in your own career or not, whether or not you and your partner make thousands, to hundreds of thousands, to millions, to billions.  It's a free world and a free market, and you are entitled to support your family anyway you wish.

AS AM I.  I have a right -- just as Ann has a right -- to be a mom anyway we want to and to do so with the full respect of others.

SO I ask you again -- is it  the ENVY talking or just the all-round feminist diss beating the shaman drum?

so just what is your problem, Rosen...I just don't get you at all.  you think you know better than Ann because you are a mom with a career?

just because -- as Bill Maher put it -- you know how to show up and answer to a boss?

you take away from all of Ann's life and work experiences --  at home and in charity, as First Lady of Massachusetts before and after, in sickness and in health, five accomplished boys later, and glean absolutely no use for her?

I would bet you have no idea how much it costs to feed five big boys...tweet Ann again...bet she can tell you, as I would only be guessing.

table for one.. ms. narrow-mindedness, right this way...

I have no problem with who works, and who doesn't, in the home AS LONG AS it doesn't adversely affect me, my neighbor, my community, and my country.  As long as we are all moms to the very best of our abilities and choose to do so with our best intentions, for not only our own but for our whole community, we should not have any issues with each other. And I would think  -- as a fellow mom, as a family with TWO moms, as a woman -- that you would agree and we would meet at the heart. [how lucky are you really...getting the extra mom to help you...but again, we quickly digress don't we]

We can learn a lot from moms -- especially from our own; and that's my point.

And thus this brings us face to face with our country's first intentions.  America was consummated in union with our Declaration of Independence and Constitution.

Our founders created a government out of all things INDEPENDENT -- all things SELF-RELIANT -- all things FUNDAMENTAL beginning with the power of one and ending with our personal power to duplicate our success.

One Nation Under God, Indivisible.

Being chopped and sorted by color, by need, by extenuating circumstances or disadvantage is tearing us apart.

America was made to come together as one body -- with the sum of it's parts creating a better, stronger, more resilient, tolerant, fully assimilated whole.

Man, Woman, child, adult, black, white, brown, old, young, gay and straight -- our duties and responsibilities, our rights and privileges, were designed to be all the same.  Over time, we've worn the instructions so thin, it's faded, and we have lost all sight of even the basics.

that's my story today, on behalf of  the Monday lost and the Tuesday found -- and I'm stickin' to it.

Make it a Good Day, G


if you ask me, hilary, me thinks it's the traditional family unit -- with traditional roles -- that you hate.  so let's get real, shall we...or then again, maybe it's the money....the coveting...the envy...that stands in your own way.  hard to tell, really.  but keep talking and maybe we can all learn a thing or two in the end.

if you have any more time: this is a funny.  8 Things You Should Never Say to a Mom...

Dear America,

One of the main points of  Paul Ryan's GOP rebuttal [of the president's SOTU address] -- and what continues to be the mantra of the entire conservative nation  -- is, what do we do NOW in order to RETURN to an environment that "CREATES the conditions to upward mobility."

What do we have to do now -- not in the future --

not drafted over the course of ten years...amounting to merely 400 B's and only attending to discretionary funds (less than 15% of total budget),

not by manipulating ghost budgets and foreshadowing future economic conditions (which, let's face it, if those kinds of super natural predictions existed, we could all buy an island and retire, right?),

and certainly not by "freezing" where we are at now -- how stupid is that idea? especially considering we are currently facing another year of trillion dollar deficits (1.5 T to be exact, see CBO 1-26-11)


but above all, not by ignoring the true culprits of the unfathomable crime in the first place -- the slush fund entitlements.

We are at 14 TRILLION right now, by the end of the year, at 15.5 TRILLION...we can't continue on this trajectory, we simply can't do it, which is why they say it is UNSUSTAINABLE!

Paul Ryan gave us sweet and to the point ten minutes outlining some of the incredible ideas our founders held dear and why; and more important, he didn't sugar coat and pansy his way around the unsustainable debt, the yearly deficits, that every futuristic timetable known to man has come to recognize, shuddering in undeniable regret and disbelief; America's fall from grace and sound principles has created the very conditions to a fierce, traumatic,  downward spiral -- a kind of spiral that, in the right now, is showing enough velocity to take but only a matter of years into the not-so-distant future to come to a horrible, and oh so final, demise.

This isn't fear mongering; this is the truth.

This nation was built upon the rock of ages; learned men, who became known as our founders, came to the table crafting and creating and defining what it is, we as a people, should elevate to our highest value, and likewise, painstakingly made known, in no uncertain terms, what would happen if we don't.

As long as we stayed true to our core beliefs, and held tight to our common values, and came together in a principled, respectable, honorable manner in all of our daily affairs -- as long as we could remain true to our good, and not to the downright ugly -- we could create the conditions of upward mobility, in direct and equal proportion for our efforts -- and all would be well.

America would grow, expand, blossom and bear fruit --and now returning to the very idea of a blog just a few days ago -- UNapologetically -- our blessings would multiply.

"[budget debates] are also about

the purpose of government...

the principles that guide us...

and to show you...

in the spirit of our Declaration of Independence, 

and in the words of our Constitution, 

they have to do with the importance of limited government

and the blessing of self-government." 

Paul Ryan

..."the blessing of self-government." wow.

of course, G's easy -- he had me at hello -- but I'm not sure if I have heard anything more beautiful while making so much sense.

Can we just sit for a moment and get a grip around this?

THIS phrase defines who we are supposed to be as individuals, blessed to be living in this nation, at this time, in this moment AND our inherent responsibility and duty to her, this nation, America.

And now, it becomes painfully clear, we have neither aligned ourselves personally, or collectively, to either of these principles for quite some time.

ouch.

If we stayed true, we wouldn't be in this position today.

Imagine what our world would be like if we simply followed our personal dreams living within our means under a selfless, limited government who only saw fit to manage us with the bare minimum in mind, remaining true to the limited government mandate handed down by our forefathers.  Can you imagine that?

And now, get a grip around the fact that we did this to ourselves, whether it was unabashedly -- or unwittingly!

This is just one example of our government in action today :
(besides the one the president recited in his SOTU address...the one about the salmon departments...his timing was spot on and very funny) -- 

but just yesterday the government made this big announcement of how it was discontinuing a knee-jerk reaction of the Bush Administration which produced the colorized terror alert chart.  The Bush Administration thought, in the short term, a simple system illustrating the height of perceived terror attacks would bring a level of control to the people -- quantifying it, packaging it, making it look like something manageable, or something.  When in fact, all in all, it didn't seem to do much of anything really.

But what does this government report, something to this affect: 'we've been looking at it for more than a year...we will begin phasing it out over the next 90 days...and we will replace it with something better."

If only they were talking about the health care law.

...repeal and replace...repeal and replace...oops but I digress.
 
digress alert, digress alert...
stop...it isn't safe...go back..

So it would be funny stuff if it weren't so true -- but in reality, it has taken somebody, within this administration, probably someone making oooh, I don't know, let's go with the latest upper echelon averages, say, $173,596/year, an entire year to figure out that the purpose of the current Terror Alert System can no longer be found -- but we're gonna replace it  anyway, with one of our systems instead.

Now, given we already have the tools in place under "the emergency broadcast system" of the FCC -- why are we even spending our energy -- over the course of a year! -- to even discuss it????

and this phasing out thing... over 90 days -- what does that mean? -- first the red goes, then the orange...then...?

I like where Stossel is coming from these days -- and Rand Paul -- just start; start cutting, and by all means cease and desist clinging to any relevance in 'freezing' -- as that dog just ain't gonna hunt no more, no more.

I remember when I was a wee little girl skipping to the tulips in the seventies, we had lessons on recycling, being good to mother earth, conserving our resources, being kind to our neighbor, only paying for what we could afford, listening to our parents (with genuine love and respect, too), not letting the water run when we brushed our teeth, wearing the same tennis shoes everyday until we grew out of them, having to at least try my spinach until the day I began to really like it, spending pocket change for a 45  (Elton John's Good Bye Yellow Brick Road) and thinking it was gold...point is, we knew then many of the things we know now... we were all talking about saving energy, making more fuel efficient cars, getting off our addiction to oil (especially exported) even then!  forty years ago. we've been on this road a long, long time.

The thing is, today, my epiphany came with the idea, that all this talk about green this, green that, is so yesterday's energy.   THIS talk is nothing new at all -- and there are ample parts of this world, full on countries, make that continents, who don't give a hoot if they pollute -- still!  And have no plans to change.

Now conservation is commendable and essential all the live long day.  No doubt about it.  It is cool.  It is smart.  It is responsible.  It is what all of us should do right now.

Conservation, based on sound principles and universal truths, is never on the wrong side of the argument...
but especially right now.  TODAY.

And just what has grown twenty five percent in the last four years?  Where is the gluttony?  Oh the irony given the recent focus on obesity, no?

What we have left
of this beautiful America
we must conserve, and rapidly.

The future is now, not divined over the course of ten year averages while hoping the creeks don't rise.
It is now.

Right now, today, we must return to a limited federal government and immediately alleviate wasteful spending from every ridiculous department saved or created in the last ten years. And not stop there.

Chop entire bodies of bureaucrats, right now, today -- slash the department of education, slash the department of energy, and remove most czars along with all of their people, overhead, and paper clips right out from underneath the high speed-rail dreams that carried them in.

Stop all government special favors and subsidies and earmarks.

Privatize, re-organize and/or limit Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid -- for like the president said, "the rules have changed."

Close down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for fraud, and pose incredible fines upon the bums that abused their power, recklessly mis-managing a condominium of bureaucracy for years, while punishing the American taxpayer all along the way.

Close down military bases around the globe (without a second thought, at least half, to start), and bring our troops home to work along our borders -- to protect America, for America's best interests, as clearly defined by our Constitution.

All travel should be curtailed until further notice -- any of you guys ever heard of a thing called Skype or GOtoMeeting.com?

All catered lunches should be paid for out of pocket.

All un-used office buildings should be sold.

And to the issue to raise, or not to raise, the Debt Ceiling: This is no longer a question --  NO.

No new taxes.  No new spending (i.e. investing).
You -- the federal government -- are cut off (and make no mistake, you are cut off at the knees, the Chicago way, if you get my drift). For we, the people, are creating the very conditions for upward mobility of the common man, right here, right now.


Cease all discussions about "yesterday's health care law"  -- and begin to lay the groundwork to commence true TORT reform; regain the competitive spirit of the health care industry by extending the insurance company territory to the entire United States,  and thus correcting the mass market failure of limiting the industry to the border line, slashing the monopoly affect right off it's feet, so that we may more fully create the conditions for fair market value and practice of a commodity long overdue...while the health care bill is just the beginning...

A country who's sole purpose is to create the conditions of upward mobility -- who wouldn't want to live in a country like that?

A limited government is perfect in every way -- add to that the 'blessing of self-government' -- oh my, true blue liberty runs amuck. crazy I tell you, just crazy.  make no mistake, it's crazy good.

"A people who values it's privileges

above it's principles 

soon loses both." 

Dwight D. Eisenhower

This is no time for sissy speak; we must act, confidently, and go in the direction of full stop and reverse...

...not over ten years, not tomorrow, not in five minutes, not even in a minute...but right now.

Make it a Good Day, G

love love love Doris Day...and she's playing on G-TV, just a click away on Dear America today, not tomorrow, right now, today, and only for today, don't miss her ...Day,   Doris Day.

Dear America,

We can take the kid out of the socialism but we can't take the socialism out of the kid.

We are the product of our parents -- mostly the biological ones -- up until we reach such an age of independence that is...guessing around thirteen...when we slowly meld into the wide, wide world of all others that grow on us, influence us, shift us and mold us into an adult and ultimately carry with us to the end of our days.

Sure, the daughter of a conservative -- who responsibly cared for her every need all the days of her life -- could ultimately blow out of the house and freely leap into some kind of liberal paradigm -- perhaps even go so far as to raise her own children in a commune, live off the land, sing songs, and pretend the rest of the world does not exist -- at least figure they got it all wrong -- holding tight to her new found enlightenment that the rest of us are simply out of touch with the real thing, man -- that peace, love and Woodstock is where it's at -- leaving every shred of evidence of the contrary behind.  It can happen.


ah the rise of the Utopian generation (again... every century has one or two), if everyone could just share everything -- not even to have one more thing more than another -- than the whole world would get along just fine...

Even if this conservative gave the opportunity for his so-called conservative girl to be able to live on a hill overlooking the valley with a pool in the backyard and horses she could ride.  Perhaps, this little girl went through some emotional valleys, feeling a distance from a father who was seriously working all the time -- he may have been reserved when it came to expressing his love for his family -- or it may be that he was just too busy, traveling the globe for reasons of purpose and pleasure, whisking even her mother away at times, leaving her to a babysitter with the rest of her three siblings in the big house on a golden hill in the best neighborhood money could buy. 

Oh, the cruelty, of having pretty much everything you ever needed from a provider who in his day knew no better...  He was just working; doing what he felt he needed to do to earn a living and provide for his family -- and a very good living indeed.  He was just acting as a father to the best of his abilities;  and for the way it was back then, that was defined as how well you kept a job -- usually the same job for thirty or forty years -- and the ability to pay for the needs of your family and accumulate wealth from it.

Yes, admittedly, she was of an age where most women were told to 'just find a nice boy and get married.'  And when she found such a man, everyone was happy in the big house on the golden hill -- that is everyone except her, the end.

America has seen a lot of that in her day -- this girl wasn't the only woman in the world held to the standard that the best place for the woman is in the home, taking care of the children, leaving the bringing home of the bacon to the man of the house. 

But that was then.  This is now, man.

Here we are; America 2010; having a generation or two since the days where women were expected to grow up to be teachers, nurses or better yet, just find a doctor, honey, and get married and make me some grandchildren.

Oh yes, but that poor girl -- that one who was raised right and to the best of her father's abilities -- that poor dear...

Even if this conservative, who she grew to loathe and resent, provided the ability for her to get a college education and even, dare we say, go abroad for schooling at the age of sixteen, allowing her to get a feel for just how wonderful and perfect the Europeans do it...yes, their natural openness and freedom of expression, their beautiful landmarks and countryside, revealing in every nook and cranny a society of culture... refinement yet so chic; dated, yet so cutting edge; heavy heart and history, yet modern and forward thinking and always and often ahead of their time.  Now THEY are people who know where it's at, man.

The thing is, raising children, it's complicated -- and yet again

Raising children to become active, responsible, accountable, charitable, successful, solvent, kind, compassionate, enlightened, learned, appreciative, grounded, honest, good, productive, motivated, ambitious, hard working, happy people just takes work. 

It does not happen naturally or without effort or without our absolute attention -- it takes work.  And by example, even a girl with everything can grow up and take a look back and come away with nothing, even if only in her own mind.

In the macro sense, America has had plenty of time now to grow up -- to expand our horizons, spread our wings, get a taste for the good life and the not so much.  WE have liberated ourselves from a past that only kept us back!  We have seen the light and see that those founding fathers of ours man  -- boy do they have it all wrong...what were they thinkin? 

"A government of laws and not of men"

John Adams

(why, John, do you know something we don't know pray tell?)

"Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. 

It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."
John again.

(got that right, man)

"If men were angels, no government would be necessary"
James Madison

(his version of utopia, I'm sure,
but knowing full and well it can't be done
-- man is human and to err not so divine)

"Dependence begets subservience and venality,
suffocates the germ of virtue,
and prepares fit tools for the designs of ambition" 

Thomas Jefferson

(now that is heavy, man)

"Do not separate text from historical background. 

If you do, you will have perverted and subverted the Constitution,

which can only end in a distorted,

bastardized form of illegitimate government."

back to James

"It is much easier to suppress the first desire
than to satisfy those that follow."

Benjamin Franklin

(bend over once...bend over a thousand times)

"It is the working man who is happy,
it is the idle man who is the miserable man" 

Ben again.

"Tell me and I forget.  Teach me and I remember. 
Involve me and I learn."

yet another Ben

"The U.S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness,
only the pursuit of it.

YOU have to catch up with it yourself."

 oh Ben, talk to me...

It is ONLY in America where we have created a system where everyone is raised under the same principles and values set forth by our founding fathers based simply on a limited government and with respect to all that is required to be in community with one another and instill order and freedom for all . 

The age of learned men and reason came to conclusions about how best to raise it's citizens upon thousands of years of teachings, natural laws already divined by the grace of God that were UNIVERSALLY accepted and believed by every citizen, but holding to ONE key ingredient -- the ability for INDIVIDUAL MAN to continue to be of good nature -- virtuous and kind, simple and hardworking, and promote the wherewithal to keep it going one generation after the next.

In this age where "a learned blockhead is a greater blockhead than an ignorant one" (Ben again, and speaking frank), even a PhD does not give someone enough common sense to live by and grow the next generation -- as evident by all the talking heads today.

Hypothetically if we threw out all books and taught our children just one, let it be The 5000 Year Leap by W. Cleon Skousen.

Back to the opening line and considering that our own American President was raised by self proclaimed socialists... continued to broaden his family's liberal belief system with a Harvard education (studying Constitutional Law, go figure) ...ultimately teaching others what he learned based on his allegiance to both his parental influences, Utopian ideals, communing with anti-American radicals along the way, and attaching himself more firmly to all paths of social engineering and regulation than to the paths furthering greater independence and principles of freedom...now sits in the highest office of the land --  just how far back is he willing to take us?

The irony really!  You know, being that the very idea of the redistribution of wealth was considered ARCHAIC! in the hearts and minds of Franklin, Madison, Jefferson, Adams, Washington... you know, based on civilizations past -- based on human nature and the laws that bind, naturally.

Isn't it fair then to question our dear young President of his intentions?  A president who by all appearances and actions thus far, clings to an age old wisdom now clearly obsolete --  an unobtainable ideal that isn't even fiscally possible let alone socially acceptable -- by American standards that is. Just how can a society based on unlimited freedom and prosperity for all NOT make any sense to a learned man of such high education and well rounded background?

Unless, he's not exactly well rounded.
Unless, you are missing something. 
Unless, you look upon the work and the efforts of our forefathers with doubt -- ignorant to the deeper message that they teach us -- or that which they stood for, fought for, gave over ever ounce of their being to create the American dream for, that extra-ordinary something that only comes along once in every five thousand years or so.

It was all for you -- you silly girl --

so that you
could sit here today
forgetting any and all value
to that which came before you
before you got here. 

and now that you're here -- you know, that place where you have everything -- you can look out from your ivory tower with every freedom in the world, man, and every need taken care of, effortlessly and without strain... it's so cool... and resent him -- a father who just did the best he could in the day in the life of your childhood

-- leaving you
with the very foundation, with all capabilities and opportunities, for you to go out and make a life for yourself, any way you like it.

It was all for you.
No need to say thank you; but, counting your blessings wouldn't hurt... gotta start somewhere.

Make it a Good Day, G

Dear America,

The emphasis in the good old days was everything local; we had no other choice. 

All we had was each other and our families providing for everything we needed in the small world of our own village.  It could take days to travel to the city, weeks before mail arrived, months between sugar shipments, and years of toil before real wealth could be accumulated -- maybe even generations.

Locals only, wasn't all about being cool, it was a way of life.

You would think a liberal would like that, no?  Everything from local vegetables from the farmer's market to local hemp clothiers to local energy from the sun to local preferences of a community over those of a lifestyle miles away and separated by climate, priorities and different needs; the less is more approach was the foundation of the creation of our Federal Government through the brilliance of our founding fathers.

Most of the powers were limited to the federal government, establishing the greatest liberty of the creation of law and order to the states, and the ultimate responsibility to its citizens to be of sound character. The thing is, it started at the local level with all good intentions on keeping it there. 

I love the idea of buying local. 

Matter of fact, every Christmas season, the Cedros neighborhood district -- a unique array of shops catering to the funky, artsy, imported, collectibles, and specialty boutiques here in Solana Beach -- hang banners to remind locals to stay closer to home for holiday trinkets and jingles; through the localized efforts to ban together to support one another in business, the shops come together in unison tooting their own horn and advertising their local wares.

While they are always there, the little nudge during the holidays brings attention to the ease and availability within walking distance or a five minute drive -- not to mention the added flavor of a stroll through the neighborhood, running into people you know, amidst the twinkly lights and smells of gingerbread cookies welcoming your noses and pocketbooks over the threshold and under their spell. 

Everything can be found within the confines of the neighborhood, why go anywhere else.

This may be an oversimplification, but that was exactly what the founders had in mind; keep the attention to details at the local level.

A gem of an idea can be found in Ron Paul's, The Revolution, A Manifesto:

"Our peculiar security is in possession of a written Constitution, " Jefferson advised us. "Let us not make it a blank paper by construction."

If the powers at be believe they have the power to believe the Constitution is nothing more than a blank piece of paper, a blank slate -- then by interpretation is would be nothing more than a blank check -- and certainly it would no more protect a free society than destroy it.

What do we have today, all but every special interest group -- every particular community need and every specific racial conquest -- all masquerading around Washington seeking special attention under the unlawful and tempestuous nature of our highest crime...having fallen victim to a single phrase within our nation's framework -- "general welfare."

How is it conceivably possible to have the same needs and concerns in Solana Beach as in New York, NY as in Flagstaff, AZ as in St. Paul, MN as in Cleveland, OH as in Miami, FL as in Savannah, GA as in Salt Lake City, UT as in Boulder, CO as in Napa Valley, CA as in Chicago, IL? 

Let me answer that for you, it is just not possible.

Sure, we as a nation had to band together to settle some minor details, things like slavery for instance.  The country could not productively, and with clean conscience effectively operate, with the south wanting it and the north abhorring it.  It had to come to an end, but how -- and just how would they all come to an agreement in the Constitution when the opinion was so polarized at the time?

It's complicated; it came slowly and in bits and pieces.  First, it limited importing slaves within a certain time frame altogether; second, counting a slave as "3/5ths" of a person -- a compromise was reached with giving the south authorization to have their slaves returned from the north -- but in the end, our country's foundation was passed.

Now, with good question we can ask ourselves, why wasn't slavery just simply abolished in plain and direct language? 

We can answer that with another 'it is just not possible'; to pass something where half say yea and the other half say nay could have been enough to abort the whole thing ; in order to adopt the Constitution, exceptions had to be made --

but in the end, I believe these guys new exactly what they were doing. 

With the south's giving in a bit, counting slaves as something "less than human" ultimately gave the north more power through the apportioning of seats to change the damage over time, and still allowed for a rule of law to take it's rightful place. 

Had slavery been written and allowed for by the Constitution, even for a "limited" time, issues would surely have arisen down the road -- for calling for a change, at some designated time into the future, falls to the duty of man to correct.  Not to mention we all know from past experience just how difficult it is to rescind or eliminate legislation once it is passed -- the temptation for some to keep slavery forever probably stood far too great a concern to take a chance.

But in the end, we all know now that it took a battle for the unalienable rights to be written in blood and stone.

What we have going on right now is a battle between the Conservative and the Statist; as illuminated through the work of Mark Levine in Liberty and Tyranny.  Here's a few highlights,

"For the Statist, liberty is not a blessing but the enemy.  It is not possible to achieve Utopia if individuals are free to go their own way."

"The Statist, however, misuses equality to pursue uniform economic and social concerns."

"President Barack Obama made this point when lecturing the Weslyn University graduating class of 2008 during his campaign: '[O]ur individual salvation depends on collective salvation.' But salvation is not government's to give."

"The Statist wants Americans to see themselves as backward, foolishly holding to their quaint notions of individual liberty, private property, family and faith, long diminished or jettisoned in other countries."

Yes indeed. Freaky, isn't it?

The modern society is wreaking havoc upon the limitations set in place through the remarkable and timeless and priceless document recognized as the rule of law in America -- our Constitution.

With conversations of right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness turning into congressional debates over simply the 'right to life' -- entitlements, health care, cap & trade become just a few of the un-enumerated rights misunderstood by the government -- becoming the overbearing, bureaucratic nightmare our founding fathers fiercely fought against.

It has been barely a year under the progressive statist in the Oval Office; Mr. Levine's book nails every American principle under "liberal assault on Constitution-based values, an attack that had steadily snowballed since President Roosevelt's New Deal of the 1930's and resulted in a federal government that is a massive, unaccountable conglomerate, the time for re-enforcing the intellectual and practical case for conservatism is now."

To be a real liberal, you would have to be against the conglomerate wouldn't you, no matter who it is?  Or does the conglomerate of a different color (having nothing to do with race) heralding particular social and economic change trump the usual anti-business and anything corporate America mindset?

To be a real liberal, you would have to be against the modern horrific cement monument of a thing we simply call the mall.  To be a real liberal, you would have to be even against the SUV to get you there --and for that matter the entire operation of GM, GE or anything having to do with the GDP.

To be a real liberal, you would have to ride your bike or walk wouldn't you, in order to call upon the local fish market, the local farmers market, the local bookstore, the local doctor, the local church -- oh scratch that last one, don't need it and it's not on the list.

But the thing is, as business conglomerates go, a government monopoly is a government monopoly is a government monopoly; the only difference is you are taking real money from real people and giving it to those who don't deserve it...and might as well consider the abolition of slavery null and void.

From the back cover of Mark Levine's book:

"We all declare for liberty; but in using the same word we do not all mean the same thing. With some the word liberty may mean for each man to do as he pleases with himself, and the product of his labor; while with others, the same word may mean for some men to do as they please with other men, and the product of other men's labor.  Here are two, not only different, but incompatible things, called by the same name -- liberty.  And it follows that each of the things is, by the respective parties, called by two and incompatible names -- liberty and tyranny."

Abraham Lincoln

And James Madison gives us this to add,

"Liberty may be endangered by the abuse of liberty, but also by the abuse of power."

I like going to the Cedros district to shop; I prefer it actually. 

If we truly take care of the life and times within our circle, our communities, our own neck of the woods, and demonstrate a life starting from the individual and that which is inside us, radiating such a life from a place of honor, integrity and life force from the center out, our world would transform.

Our local businesses would thrive and grow; and from a position of prosperity and well being, we are more inclined to share and give back to those in need all on our own.  It is a natural progression.

As we give back and help rebuild the lives around us, communities blossom, businesses expand, and a nation is built not from oppression, taxation, regulation and fear -- but as a natural progression of building wealth, sharing what we have, and living from a place of value right from the start, from the inside out. 

This is what makes a truly prosperous nation --  a nation grounded with a homegrown, moral compass all on it's own, not one that is forced upon the people from a government corrupted by it's own loss of good judgement, fiscal responsibility and abuse of power. 

It is by good example we set forth as parents to teach our children well, so that they can teach their children well and so on and so on; creating a country linking the states, linking the cities, linking the neighborhoods, linking families who show moral courage, holding steadfast to the principles that have taught us well, making our family the best it can be in order to preserve the America we know and love -- which in all of it's simplicity, is precisely what the framers had in mind. 

The individual is where it begins and ends; an entity that through the means of conglomeration and cooperation has the power to create a nation as good as United States of America -- and hopefully has the strength to keep it.

You could almost say the Fed had nothing to do with it; but that would be an exaggeration, or is it?

Make it a Good Day, G

"Society has always seemed to demand

a little more from human beings than it will get in practice."

George Orwell