It's Fundamental Change Absent the Fundamentals Thing

Dear America,


happy wednesday.

returning home from my part time gig last night -- the one that feels like the more and more I show up for it, the more it feels like a full time gig (but we'll save that conversation for another day) -- I managed to catch the most fascinating five minutes with Greta Van Susteren I have seen in quite some time; she was interviewing a representative from California, Kevin McCarthy.

Basically, she was trying to get down to the bottom of the "problem with Congress."  Why isn't anything getting done?  Why does Congress insist on playing politics?  that sort of thing...

and let's just say I was stunned by the rather quiet storm of his response; not sure if it simply was his candidness in the moment, or the combined effect alongside his calm, balanced demeanor -- but he laid it all out there without skipping a beat or mincing words: the president never gets beyond the talking phase (and more than that, gives the impression that the organizer-in-chief may in fact prefer it...the bureaucratic stranglehold works).

GO HERE to read the transcript or watch the ten minute spot; however, I highly recommend that you watch it for the full effect -- if you get past the first two minutes, you're virtually home free, easily settling in until the very end.

"you never get to an agreement with him...he never finishes,"  

said of the president, per Kevin McCarthy.

well I'll be... color me surprised.

He never wants to get to a bi-partisan decision because it would not serve his purpose -- otherwise, the smartest president who ever lived would make it so.  The president is covertly resorting to Alinsky rules in everything he does -- making the making of chaos job one; making governing through the policy of 'divide and conquer' job two; making the overt use of ridicule, discrediting the opposition at the very core, job three.

Almost sounding like he is giving the president the benefit of the doubt, believing that the common ground we all share is still attainable --  Kevin McCarthy seems remarkably unable to recognize a deeper, more sinister problem:  the impure, unconscionable, root intention of the president's "fundamental transformation"  of this country.


Here is a splendid explanation [of the actions -- or better still, in-actions -- of a president] via Tibor Machan, featured in an interview from about thirty days ago on The Daily Bell [this guy is one of my favorite people in the whole world -- I could listen to what he has to say for forever and a day].   But be forewarned, this is a round-about explanation, so hold on tight:

Daily Bell: All good points, but let's back up. How has it come to this?
Tibor Machan: Those who are government activists don't proclaim it. They disguise what they're after. They have to do so in this country because traditionally American citizens have not been well disposed to government activism, even though there's quite a lot of it. And often they come to believe it is necessary, that their wisdom is supreme, just as did heads of state for centuries. So, in fact, the so-called progressives are utterly reactionary!
Daily Bell: You've referred to what they do as "nudging."
Tibor Machan: It's not my term. The influential pragmatist Professor Cass Sunstein, who is now President Obama's regulation czar, wrote a book called Nudge with Richard H. Thaler. The full title was Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness (Yale UP, 2004).
Daily Bell: Can you give us a little summary?
Tibor Machan: It has to do with the old chestnut of boiling the frog slowly. You find the same strategy advanced by the Fabian Society in Britain. The idea is that you don't want to use brute force to move people toward a society based on government activism. Instead, you want to nudge people, to move them in tiny increments so they do not find it worth their while to object, or at least not forcefully.
Nudging can take place in numerous ways but a lot of it has to do with creating social norms that people will feel they have to conform to. Recycling might be seen as part of this nudging. Regardless of how you feel about recycling and environmentalism in general, recycling is seen within the public dialogue as a general "good." Thus, people will conform to the demands of recycling because they see it as a "good citizen" thing to do. They won't complain or protest that they have been imposed upon. (Just last week the feds banned over-the-counter inhalers on these grounds!)

skipping down a wee bit,

Daily Bell: So to sum up, we're in a situation – in America and the West generally – where those who believe in governmental activism are gradually trumping those who are trying to wield private morality on behalf of non-governmental civil society. Is that a fair statement?
Tibor Machan: It is certainly fair to say this in an ongoing argument. Whether or not the "gradually trumping" part is correct, only time can tell.

Granted, the interview itself begins and ends more focused upon the aspect of weighing the objective reality and ability of deciding our own morality against the government making such declarations for us. But this 'nudging' thing seems to explain a lot of things; for it seems to be the go-to tool --  not only against 'we the people' as a whole, but also, with great calculation, against the proper balance and decision making process within Congress.

Not only that -- as we have grown to witness in the last couple of weeks -- the president has "decided" he won't wait for congress; he has "decided" in his own way; and moreover, he has "decided" that he will move ahead with making gains on his so-called jobs bill totally circumventing congress through the excessive use of regulations, executive order, and czars, blatantly crossing the soft but diabolical and tyrannical line.

Oh Kevin, and you think this guy can't make any decisions...did you hear the president?  

He said, referring to YOU, 'Congress',  "if they won't act, I will."

Before I move on too much further -- please read the entire interview with Tibor Machan.  Go HERE.

The thing is, there has been a great breakdown in communication around here -- in America.  Unbeknownst to most of us, we seem to have been knee deep in living a lie for nearly the last fifty years.  It can be explained by the Occupy Wall Street movement -- and can be further demonstrated and explained by the growing numbers of Tea Party activists who are choosing to fight back. [of course, not necessarily in that order] 

The government would have us believe that the root of the problem is capitalism; this is evidently what "the kids today"  have been learning all this time, anyway.  But honestly, it couldn't be any further from the truth.

and right on cue -- the way the universe works and all -- allow me to share a two minute video:




Thank you "Uncle Ted," and in turn, a place called "dauckster's posterous"

take that, Phil Donahue.

and finally, from James Madison:

"...It may be a reflection on human nature, that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself..."  Federalist Paper #51, read in it's entirety here.

So now to the big finish -- and I'll be real quick about it.
Much like our Congress in motion, wasn't G thing on some kind of vicious circle this morning...

Make it a Good Day, G

It's a Rule of Conduct Thing

Dear America,

we are acting in a "supporting role" only; whatever you think is happening in Libya, make no mistake, "American forces are not facing the hostilities that would require the president to seek such congressional consent under the War Powers Resolution."  see the rest of the post from the Washington Post, here

that, and it is merely Kinetic Military Action.

You can change the name; you can redefine it; we all know what war looks like, sounds like, smells like,  by now.

This is what our Founders envisioned:

"Peace, Commerce, and Honest

Friendship with All Nations -- 

entangling alliances with NONE."

  Thomas Jefferson

and especially, keeping our neutrality in full force was the primary objective.

The only time to take up arms against another country, was in instances where they engaged in hostilities against US.   Under such terms, Libya's War most certainly does not apply.  And at the tune of spending millions of dollars every day, nearing the ONE Billion dollar mark, me thinks this supporting role is misguided, over budget, and against America's best interests.

And then we have, from George Washington, a reminder of the delicate balance of what I like to call, the Frenemy Treaty.  He gives us this (pillaged from The 5000 Year Leap, by W.Cleon Skousen):

"In the execution of such a plan nothing is more essential than that permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular nations and passionate attachments for others should be excluded, and that in place of them just and amicable feelings toward all should be cultivated.  The nation which indulges toward another an habitual hatred or an habitual fondness is in some degree a slave.  It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest."

and continuing this thought even further:

"So, likewise, a passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils.  Sympathy for the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest exists, and infusing into one the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter without adequate inducement or justification.  It leads to concessions to the favorite nation of privileges denied to others, which is apt doubly to injure the nation making the concessions, by unnecessarily parting with what ought to be retained, and by exciting jealousy, ill will, and disposition to retaliate in the parties from whom equal privileges are withheld."

wow. talk to me, George.

how we have strayed, how we have strayed.

But you would think, of all people, the anti-war (especially the one that was not the good war), anti-imperialist president, like Barack Hussein Obama, would take these words and founders intentions to heart and then some,  and be able to communicate such throughout his administration in thought, word, and deed.

I mean, after all, he is the president in receipt of a Nobel Peace Prize, based upon perception alone; he had two weeks under his belt as president when nominated for such a feat.   Just where is the follow through on that?   And if in fact Obama's actions do not deliver on such a promise -- would not the rescinding of such a prize ensue?

How awkward is this?  Or is this just me, being G?

The entanglement in Iraq, or the dis-entanglement thereof, is still, completely, engaged -- the entanglement in Afghanistan (THE GOOD WAR, he said) is becoming totally frayed, with mission creep getting the best of us, while we sit very much confused deciding just when enough is enough  -- and in Libya, after nearly 90 days now, beginning with a so-called mandate to take down an evil dictator (but without the mandate to do whatever it takes to do so) creating an entanglement that keeps making an even bigger knot, with the mission unknown leading the way and with rebel leaders still very much undefined -- to Yemen, the new drone dropping zone, equaling perhaps the un-war in Pakistan, where relations have never been at their worst -- to Syria, only begging for equal protections and attention under the Law of Entanglement as defined by the Obama Doctrine (and clearly, confused, in that he is running on several doctrines at once).  Take a breath, gretch...

Washington unveiled this rule of thumb:

"The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign relations, is in extending our commercial relations to have with them as little political connection as possible.  So far as we have already formed engagements, let them be fulfilled with perfect faith.  Here let us stop."

Washington did his best to warn us of making the mistake of becoming associated with causes not our own in a very big way; making it clear -- whatever action we take in the direction of preserving another nation's best interests over our own, through "artificial ties" and allegiances, to meet the demand of a current age, would be just plain wrong.

"Hence, therefore, it must be unwise in us to implicate ourselves, by artificial ties, in the ordinary combinations and collisions of her friendships and enmities...Why, by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rivalship, interests, humor, or caprice?"   

Yes, why?
It's a simple question.

Of course, maybe even George wasn't expecting things to get so complicated.

And then again, maybe this is exactly what he thought would happen.

The thing is, I really like the part defined by the extending of "as little a political connection as possible."

With a step back, politics has played too big a part in supporting roles all around the globe; and with that comes, a nation appearing nearly completely bi-polar half the time, running entirely dependent upon which way the bough breaks.  We have engaged and disengaged, become entangled and dis-entangled, on the fly and as the political winds blow.  We have spent good money on good wars, bad wars, and wars only defined as "military kinetic action."

We have spent good money after bad politics; dirty money on good intentions; and have allowed America's compassion to dictate the day, or take it away.  It is almost as if, the more you know about the way things were first intended, the more you grow in disgust in the way things have ever since been.

But isn't it the POLITICS of the engagement, no matter foreign or domestic, that gets in the way of true progress in everything!?

No longer can we figure out, on our own, what is really the RIGHT answer, without checking it with our political ideology first.  No longer can we decide, emphatically and on our own, that is wrong and here are all the reasons why, without making sure it does not cross with the partisan bias already firm in place.  No longer do we run on "right is right, even when nobody is doing it; while, wrong is wrong, even when everybody's doing it."

With any given amount of deeper study upon the words and intentions of our Founding Fathers (reminding me of Father's Day come Sunday), it takes about two seconds to figure out we have gone astray; and not only astray, but have grown ignorant, misguided, and shamefully unaware of exactly what makes this country tick and why.

Our alliances can be made oh so simple from this day forward, if only we "here let us stop;" for with certain, would not our politics then, be in there most pure form?  To find our way back to Universal, Natural Law, as according to our founders, gives us the best hope in correcting our course, without politics so much involved.

In short, our attention to the best interests of this fair land should remain the only preservation we must be vitally concerned.   Especially now.

I am trying to catch the last two weeks of Glenn Beck, in his final days of disengagement from his Fox audience...and something he said made me wince in shame, for the proficiency level of our children has become a startling example of just how far off base this nation has become.  Students at, or above, Proficiency Standards, in the 4th grade are at 20%; in 8th grade, at 17%; in 12th grade, at 12%.  (while this easily qualifies for throwing in my bad word of choice running for the week...unfukeenbelievable)

If these numbers don't shock a nation back into submission back to our Founder's best intentions -- in principles, values and goals, especially with regard to entanglements, both foreign and domestic --  then I don't know what will.

It is hard work being a responsible parent these days; and yet, call me crazy,  adding the element of politics into the fray, only makes things all the more convoluted, implicating ourselves with artificial ties which serve no purpose, complicating a relationship to God, Country, and Ourselves, in ways unnecessary and totally unwarranted.

Making a child's education just part of political controversy -- instead of building upon the benefits and best intentions of everything our founders set forth, giving way to all that a truly free market can bear, and thereby making way for a world of possibility and prosperity for all -- becomes so very apparent; both foreign and domestic, we can see exactly what veering from the path has done.   and it ain't pretty.

A closer look at this nation's birth, and the definition set forth by being a Republic, is genius.  EVERYTHING that our forefathers set forth was all about creating a more perfect union in every way -- I have no doubt in my mind.

America IS exceptional in every way -- and no country, on the whole entire earth, is like ours --  NONE.  We do not think we are exceptional just like the German's think, just like the Venezuelan's think, just like Iranian's think, and just like our president believes -- WE REALLY REALLY are.  All things considered, and playing the game of which one of these things doesn't belong?  We don't; we, the people, of The United States of America belong in the category of whole 'nother level of Divine Providence.  Don't believe me, then read this: 

Read The 5000 Year Leap and take a leap a faith in your country for once and for all.  Read it with your children; teach them what the progressives have swiped clean from our history books.  Engage in becoming re-engaged and fully entangled into the heart and soul of who we are as Americans -- not by party -- not by policy -- not by the throws of political power infiltrating our true spirit.

We are all Americans first and foremost; and if there is any part of you that does not comprehend, understand, or respect that part of you, then you need to leave, or, learn more about who you are, from a place of truth and reason, not politics.  And taking this one step further and applying a phrase we seem to understand, while also following the Obama Doctrine way, please accept this task on the ground as a moral imperative, as the budding arm of the apparent civilian military force that you are [confused? go back to G from just yesterday].

Here's to our founding fathers today and always; may we realize the waywardness of our entanglements large and small, here and over there, foreign and domestic, and recognize our power to change our world back to the way we were.  It is not too late.

This baby goes out to fathers everywhere -- be good, do good, and all else shall be added unto you; and to my own papa, I love you and thank my lucky stars for you everyday.

Make it a Good Day, G

hysterical, really... we are 'not engaged in any hostilities in Libya'...and 'ATM's steal jobs'... and 'shovel ready um ah not exactly shovel ready as we expected'...and 'if it were me, I would resign'...
...and what a week it has been for this president of many words.

happy friday.