Patriotic – Page 2 – It seems to me . . .

The Anger Games

By Bob Beanblossom

3 October 2016

It seems to me that many of us are caught up in the anger games. Mudslinging is the big game in town. Fueled by the ”I’m right–you’re wrong certainty that we have spent years perfecting, personal attacks on the social media seem to predominate the posts, and are the most often shared. All sides of the political spectrum are more active bashing the opponent (and sometimes each other) than in describing and discussing critical issues that affect our country.

Hate expressed is often the characteristic response of a loser who has run out of legitimate arguments. There are enough vital issues out there that need to be addressed that we should have no problem finding them and bringing them to the table. It is asking a lot. We would have to move a bit beyond illustrated one-liners and actually research potentially fake postings and engage in some original research–as in reading well documented sources–to make this happen.

It is counter-culture to even suggest this at the moment, but I wonder if there is one clear-headed activist out there who would open a new venue in campaign talk by discussing important issues and solutions proposed by the candidates or from the masses?

Maybe the dearth of worthwhile discussion is simply because the prime candidates have not identified any issues and proposed any solutions worth discussing? It is a little late in the election cycle to discover this. Maybe We the People are so used to caustic blogging that we don’t consider the issues–only the personality that strikes our fancy.

I’m afraid that the major issues for the prime candidates revolve strictly around their primary goal and objectives: to get elected at any cost so that they can do as they please at any cost (to the taxpayer)–‘Me-ism’ at its finest. Or worst. They play to our lack of depth perception through the highly slanted polls and press. And, they do it well.

As a friend noted on the original Facebook posting of this article, ” ‘We’ have become the culture” that focuses on curb appeal rather than structure. Quoting my favorite cartoonist [Al Capp (1909-1979), creator of Li’l Abner]: “We have met the enemy and they are us.”

My friend summed up the driving attitude well: ” ‘I’ will be fine if ‘you’ change.” We are giving away America so that we can be rugged individualists, so that we can be ‘right’ at any cost. The cost will be great.

Thanks for your comments, Walt. Now for the solution.

Although it is difficult to find honest documentation written or compiled in the last several years, there is still good material available if we look. One place is at the original sources. Read the original instead of what someone wrote about it.

Our Founding Fathers had a very good concept of debate, earned the hard way as they came to consensus after consensus that led to the break with England, the formation of the United States, and that magnificent document we call the Constitution. They were many learned and highly opinionated men who, often forcefully, presented their viewpoints, then worked in common to achieve what none before them had ever done.

The First Amendment was one important link in that process–a monumental legacy to us. That Amendment as written–not as interpreted today–guaranteed citizens freedom of speech, NOT freedom of hearing, or freedom from getting their feelings hurt. As adopted, it guarantees that ideas and ideals could be freely brought to the table and discussed. Today, that is not the case. Interpretation, not content has changed. New Think has decided that that document is organic and changes with the tide, phase of the moon, and orders of those in charge. Our sensitive egos are protected from hearing–and seeing– things that may upset us. Taxpayer dollars fund porn in the name of art, the entertainment industry and social media is rampant with foul language and personal attacks, foreign interests at odds with our national interest wield serious political and financial clout, but the values that are actually written into the Constitution have been decreed as offensive and even ‘illegal.’

Other than this approach being patently wrong according to the rule of law–Constitutional Law–today’s willing partakers who have never read or heard unadulterated history don’t realize that under this relativistic system, what is ‘in’ today will be “out” tomorrow, and that one day they will be the oppressed instead of the oppressor.

The solution is simple and probably unachievable in today’s society: restore freedom of speech, bring real knowledge and clear thinking back to our educational and political systems, and be willing to achieve the greater good through reason and compromise–incremental improvement rather than wholesale destruction.

While I am idealistic, I am also realistic. I do not expect to see honest rational behavior from the populous, and therefore, not from the politicians. They will behave as we direct if we direct with the force of our united voice. Prove me wrong. Please.

Have You Ever Wondered . . . By Charlie Reese

By Charlie Reese

31 August 2016

It seems to me that here is yet another article that I find funny yet all too true. I have titled it in the absence of the original. Hope you find it worthwhile. I have modified the intro but not the content of his column.

This is Charley Reese’s final column. He was a journalist for the Orlando Sentinel and later a syndicated columnist. He was a journalist for over 50 years. Although he passed away on 21 May 2013, this column is being widely revived in this time of political unrest and division.

The article is politically neutral, neither anti-Republican nor anti-Democrat. Mr. Reese has hit the nail directly on the head, defining clearly who it is that in the final analysis must assume responsibility for the judgments made that impact each one of us every day. It’s a short but good read. It is worth the time to read and consider!

This is about as clear and easy to understand as it can be. Many will find it too long to read, and pass over it since it isn’t a video or have glitzy graphics. That’s part of our problem.

I believe that his message boils down to this: Be informed. Make value decisions. Select the best of the best if you can, the best of the worst if you cant, but in any case, VOTE! Hold the politicians responsible for their actions as you, too, are a responsible citizen.

HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED

By Charlie Reese

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.

Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?

Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes? You and I don’t propose a federal budget. The President does. You and I don’t have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does. You and I don’t write the tax code, Congress does. You and I don’t set fiscal policy, Congress does. You and I don’t control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one President, and nine Supreme Court justices equates to 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country. I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.

I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a President to do one cotton-picking thing. I don’t care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator’s responsibility to determine how he votes.

Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party. What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits.

The President can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it. The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes.

Who is the speaker of the House? Paul Ryan. He is the leader of the majority party. He and fellow House members, not the President, can approve any budget they want. If the President vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million cannot replace 545 people who stand convicted — by present facts — of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can’t think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist. If the tax code is unfair, it’s because they want it unfair. If the budget is in the red, it’s because they want it in the red.

If the Army & Marines are in Iraq and Afghanistan it’s because they want them in Iraq and Afghanistan . If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it’s because they want it that way.

There are no insoluble government problems. Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power.

Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like “the economy”, “inflation,” or “politics” that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do. Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible. They, and they alone, have the power.

They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses. Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees.

We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess. Charlie Reese is a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel Newspaper.

What you do with this article now that you have read it is up to you.

This might be funny if it weren’t so true. Be sure to read all the way to the end:

Tax his land, Tax his bed, Tax the table, At which he’s fed.

Tax his tractor, Tax his mule, Teach him taxes Are the rule.

Tax his work, Tax his pay, He works for peanuts anyway!

Tax his cow, Tax his goat, Tax his pants, Tax his coat.

Tax his ties, Tax his shirt, Tax his work, Tax his dirt.

Tax his tobacco, Tax his drink, Tax him if he Tries to think.

Tax his cigars, Tax his beers, If he cries Tax his tears.

Tax his car, Tax his gas, Find other ways to Tax all he has.

Then let him know That you won’t be done Till he has no dough.

When he screams and hollers; Then tax him some more,

Tax him till He’s good and sore.

Then tax his coffin, Tax his grave, Tax the sod in Which he’s laid . . .

Put these words Upon his tomb, Taxes drove me to my doom . . .’

When he’s gone, Do not relax, It’s time to apply The inheritance tax.

Accounts Receivable Tax Building Permit Tax,

CDL license Tax, Cigarette Tax, Corporate Income Tax,

Dog License Tax, Excise Taxes, Federal Income Tax,

Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA), Fishing License Tax,

Food License Tax, Fuel Permit Tax, Gasoline Tax (currently 44.75 cents per gallon),

Gross Receipts Tax, Hunting License Tax, Inheritance Tax,

Inventory Tax, IRS Interest Charges, IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax),

Liquor Tax, Luxury Taxes, Marriage License Tax,

Medicare Tax, Personal Property Tax, Property Tax, Real Estate Tax,

Service Charge Tax ‘Social Security Tax’ Road Usage Tax,

Recreational Vehicle Tax, Sales Tax, School Tax, State Income Tax,

State Unemployment Tax (SUTA), Telephone Federal Excise Tax,

Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax,

Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Taxes,

Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax,

Telephone Recurring and Nonrecurring Charges Tax,

Telephone State and Local Tax Telephone Usage Charge Tax,

Utility Taxes, Vehicle License Registration Tax, Vehicle Sales Tax,

Watercraft Registration Tax, Well Permit Tax,

Workers Compensation Tax.

STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY? Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago, and our nation was the most prosperous in the world. We had absolutely no national debt & had the largest middle class in the world. What in the heck happened?

Can you spell ‘politicians?’

I hope this goes around THE USA at least 545 times! YOU can help it get there!!!

GO AHEAD. . . BE AN AMERICAN. “In *God* We Trust”

The American President

It seems to me that it has been a long time since we have had a President in office who was more interested in serving America than in serving himself. There is a continuum that runs from Statesman to Self-service. Every President fits somewhere on that line.

The very best lean far to the Statesman end, putting the best interests of America ahead of all else. Recent Presidents group around the Self-serving end, pushing personal agendas, disregarding the will of the very citizens who elected them, and amassing great wealth in the process of exercising their power.

The very first Statesman was George Washington. He was followed by some great leaders, and some less so, but all American patriots and servants of will of the People. Not perfect, but all Americans. Perhaps the last two Statesmen were Kennedy and Raegan. You may want to add one or two, but they would be arguable, even given a span of almost three decades since Raegan left office.

The American President is not a figurehead. He is a working leader of our country and a strong influence in the free world. Potential Presidents may come to our attention through a combination of political machinery and media attention, but each one comes to office only by the vote of the American people.

Neither candidate for President in this election comes close to being a Statesman. One hoped that, once the primary cycle had ended and the race between the people’s choices began in earnest, the candidates would settle down to addressing the issues that plague our country. That has not happened. Neither candidate displays the slightest Presidential demeanor, the firm but calm determination of a great leader, or the problem solving capacity to work effectively in a two-party political system.

Third party hopefuls make bumps in the road, but they, too, offer no real solutions.

Still, in spite of the candidates’ shortcomings, they are the candidates we have selected. It is our obligation to select one to assume the awesome role of President of the United States. We must vote. We are not voting for saints, or for a candidate that thinks exactly as we do. That candidate does not exist. We are voting for the leader of the United States of America. Failure to do our part will help assure failure on their part as they realize that the will of the People is a myth.

Insofar as possible, hold the candidates to policies and proposed solutions. We hold the keys to the office, and until we exercise our citizenship, we have thrown that power away. Talk, blogs, posts mean very little. The vote is the key.

The Rule of Law

By Bob Beanblossom

5 July 2016

It seems to me that we conservatives are all for the Rule of Law–as long as we get our way. We are adamant in our support for the unchanging nature of the Constitution, the separation of powers, and checks and balances within the system. We abhor Executive Orders and Judicial activism that bypasses these Constitutional processes.

Yet, when the system produces a result that we disagree with, we are loud and often abusive, always claiming that the system is rigged, corrupt, and broken.

It may be all the above. But it is the system we claim to support. Perhaps we should be more attentive to our own position. Instead of claiming foul (which, again, it may be), we could work calmly and industriously to correct whatever problems exist. This takes a reasoned approach to our nations problems, not a bridge-burning, full-attack mode approach guaranteed to alienate even the most rational and moderate opponent.

Our bicameral legislature is charged with making laws. Major legislation seldom passes without bi-partisan coalitions, without some compromises.

The President, with built-in opportunities for Congress to override, is responsible for approving or rejecting those laws. Progress is much simpler if the goal is to enact worthwhile legislation rather than backing the President into a corner.

The courts decide the constitutionality and interpret the meaning of the laws as passed. Simple concepts and clear language with legislation based upon solid constitutional grounds stands the best chances of standing the test of the courts.

All questions that pass through that process have met the intent of the Founding Fathers. They understood that the system was not perfect, and so should we. Since that understanding did not cause them to throw up their hands in dismay, we too, should persevere. No position ‘wins’ all of its objectives.

Skews in results due to partisan politics, including within the Supreme Court, are part of the price of the system. Those biases call for renewed efforts by the opposing party to regroup, assure that their position is still that of those who elected them, develop coalitions based upon rational arguments, and win elections.

Obvious corruption is cause for similar action. Impeachment is a possibility if calm heads can build a coalition of honest lawmakers. Name calling, irrational ‘my way or no way’ rhetoric, and threats simply vilify the ‘good’ guys and give ammunition to the opposition. We prove that daily. If our position is right, we must be willing to preach it, teach it, and move forward in whatever incremental measures that our votes allow.

Every faction holds anchored positions that are out of sync with others. We forget that the ‘other side’ also holds some values in common with our belief system. The whole system is based upon a philosophy of compromise that yields progress. That was the reason that the two houses are constructed so differently. The very design attempts to give voice to as many diverse opinions as possible while still producing results.

While we need to keep our anchors set to hold our principles fast, we might consider that every anchor is secured to a line that leads to the ship that drifts in the wind and current while remaining securely attached to that anchor.

I certainly do not argue against reasoned debate. Each of the issues that confront our country affect the whole nation. It is reasonable that we have different opinions regarding the solutions for those problems. Sometimes we don’t even agree what the problems are. That is understandable. Debate we must, but with the goal of reaching a working consensus to solve a problem.

Paul, in I Corinthians 1:19-20, warns us of standing on our own wisdom: “For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath God not made foolish the wisdom of this world?” And, again, in 3:19: “For the wisdom of man is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.” Maybe we need the input of others with whom we may not agree. Understanding, also, that these issues should be matters of prayer.

Now is a critical time in our nation’s history. We are watching as our divided country–separated along so many we-they lines we can’t even keep up–is being reshaped by minorities who, if we made the system work, would have appropriate, but not controlling voices in the United States.

We–conservatives and liberals, Republicans and Democrats, need to decide if our sacrosanct positions are worth the loss of our nation. Or, whether, solving our national problems through mature, reasoned compromise with incremental improvements is a better route.

Well, that’s enough. This won’t be popular with any group, and with only a few individuals. Maybe–just maybe–a few reasoned voices may appear that will start a revolution. A revolution of reasonable government, representing the electorate, standing on rule of law and process as established by our Constitution and so wonderfully put by President Lincoln in his Gettysburg Address, who in summary said: “that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom–and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

Our National Anthem–Robert Surgenor

Our National Anthem

A video by Robert Surgenor

(link at bottom of page)

Posted 5 July 2016 by Bob Beanblossom

This is one of those productions that deserves to be not only a ‘go-to’ when we consider our National Anthem, but a ‘return-to’ as we reflect on our history as we look to the future.

Mr. Surgenor, the producer, has done us a great service by making this video available to us.

In it he quotes President George Washington: “The American Christians will die on their feet before they die on their knees.” Many loyal Americans have proven General Washington’s words true.

This is our heritage, written in the blood of our fathers, our grandfathers, and our children.

This is not revisionist history. This is not the lie of those who deny the foundations of our nation. This is the opening stanza of the United States: One Nation Under God, united in spite of the best efforts of a new breed of haters who are doing their best to destroy it.

As I do occasionally, I would ask that you watch this video, and share it with your children and grandchildren. It is our responsibility to teach the next generation the truth about the United States of America.

Click on the green title or link below to watch the video.

https://www.facebook.com/robert.surgenor.5/videos/10204458888057032/

We the People

It seems to me that “We the People” have forgotten who we are and where we came from.

Historical revisionism is multi-generational. Our own children and grandchildren are taught revisionist history by teachers and historians who only know the politically correct versions of American and world history. Many of them–and us– have never explored the original sources. They have read ‘about,’ but many have never read what the source actually said and did. They teach what they were taught.

“We the People” established this nation at great personal cost. They escaped persecution in Europe for their beliefs and an overwhelming desire for freedom, and soon found the English intent upon empire in the New World.

Our forefathers built this nation, to “establish justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense.”

Somewhere along the way we have become lazy and inattentive to those freedoms that our founding fathers and so many American fighting men and women paid for. We gave our authority to politicians who became arrogant elitists who now tell us what to do. We traded European domination for English tyranny for American Politicians. The revisionist Preamble now states:

“We the politicians of this government run this nation to pick and choose the laws we will enforce, stir up every group we can think of against every other, and dismantle our defense system against internal and external enemies.”

All the while “We the People” dispel our indignation in useless patter that is suspended as we transfer our short-sighted energy and attention to the next ball game or TV show.

The politicians learned well from Nero. We have not. If that one is lost on you, please take some to look up the history of Nero. He was crazy as a loon, but an astute politician, adept at distractions, and at switch and bait tactics. Crooked as could be, self centered and abusive to all who didn’t agree with him, he probably could have been elected President.

The Declaration of Independence Racist? Ha!

Dr. Freeman J. Weems III

13 June 2016

Occasionally I find some thoughts that I think are worth sharing with as many people as possible. Words that are timeless and foundational to our salvation or our American way of life.

This is such a paper. It goes beyond current discord within our country to address our heritage, the heritage that will keep us free and great and exceptional if only we learn from our elders.

Written by Dr. Freeman Weems of the First Baptist Church of Atoka, TN, it is worth reading and sharing with your children and grandchildren. Thanks, Pastor.

Louisiana Representative says The American Founding Is Bad Study

after study has demonstrated that rudimentary civic knowledge has plummeted in recent years.

Many states have therefore taken specific steps to help ensure that students have a familiarity with our most basic governing documents. In Louisiana, Rep. Valerie Hodges introduced such a bill. Following the lead of states like Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas, Florida, Michigan, and others, her bill stipulated that Louisiana students recite the famous fifty-six words that form the heart of the Declaration of Independence:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

State Rep. Barbara Norton vehemently objected to this bill. She avowed that those words from the Declaration were not true, and relied heavily on Dr. Martin Luther King as the basis of her argument. She believed that equality did not exist until Dr. King, and that words from the Declaration should not be part of student studies.

Rep. Norton’s response is disappointing on many levels, and it certainly demonstrates that Rep. Norton knows little of American history and even less about black history as it relates to the Declaration of Independence.

For example, she stressed the importance of Dr. King but apparently did not realize that in his famous “I Have A Dream” speech, as well as many of his sermons, he quoted extensively and favorably from the Declaration of Independence:
“When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” -“I Have A Dream” speech, Washington, 1963.

“It wouldn’t take us long to discover the substance of that dream. It is found in those majestic words of the Declaration of Independence—words lifted to cosmic proportions: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by God, Creator, with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.’ This is a dream. It’s a great dream. The first saying we notice in this dream is an amazing universalism. It doesn’t say “some men,” it says “all men.” It doesn’t say “all white men,” it says “all men,” which includes black men. It does not say “all Gentiles,” it says “all men,” which includes Jews. It doesn’t say “all Protestants,” it says “all men,” which includes Catholics. It doesn’t even say “all theists and believers,” it says “all men,” which includes humanists and agnostics. . . I still have a dream this morning that truth will reign supreme and all of God’s children will respect the dignity and worth of human personality. And when this day comes, the morning stars will sing together and the sons of God will shout for joy. “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” -July 4th, 1965, at Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, Georgia
By Rep. Norton denouncing the famous words from the Declaration, she might as well denounce Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, for it emphasized the same content she opposed.
But Dr. King wasn’t the first black civil rights activist to praise the Declaration of Independence. Frederick Douglass, who had himself been a slave, stated:

“The principles contained in that instrument [the Declaration of Independence] are saving principles. Stand by those principles, be true to them on all occasions, in all places, against all foes, and at whatever cost.”

And Henry Highland Garnet, who like Douglass was born in slavery and also escaped, became the first black man to officially speak at the U. S. Capitol. Following the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to abolish slavery in February 1865, the House asked Garnet to preach a sermon celebrating that momentous event. In his two-hour discourse, Garnet told listeners:

“The Declaration [of Independence] was a glorious document. Sages admired it, and the patriotic of every nation reverenced the God-like sentiments which it contained.”

Clearly, black civil rights advocates praised the sentiments contained in the Declaration of Independence. (Significantly, the Declaration was heavily relied upon by abolitionists to aid their cause, and the women’s rights movement based their documents directly on the Declaration of Independence.) It’s too bad that Rep. Norton wants to withhold from students a knowledge of the document that black leaders praised for almost two centuries.

Tag: Patriotic