Sitting on my couch in the dark after having turned off the television I was aware of a nervous tension in my body. I had just watched the Glenn Beck show and was troubled by the truth of what he says day after day. It seems I am more aware of my thoughts these days, by that I mean that I stand back in an almost literal sense and observe my thoughts and emotions. It was late and I was aware of the silence. I was aware of the noise of my ceiling fan IN that silence. Why this anxiety? I guess it’s just the troubling truth that our nation is in crisis and so many seem to be in denial of that reality. Then it occurred to me that I cannot change the road we are on as a nation, after all, I have a hard enough time just trying to stick to a healthy diet and exercising. I can only practically work within my own sphere of influence to change the things I can. In reality that’s all any of us can do, isn’t it? I remind myself that it is important to be aware of the bigger picture and stir myself from complacency, but also remember that it’s most productive to work on the man in the mirror. It is important to speak the truth and speak out about things that are troubling and need solutions, but it is also important to remind ourselves of the good in our lives. It is important to remember the many blessings we have and not dwell constantly on the bad and painful things we have endured both as individuals and as a nation. We should not “rewrite our history and traditions” but examine them and learn from them with our eyes wide open. Without mistakes, pain and suffering there would be no joy, growth or learning. Right now, at this very moment a child is being abused somewhere, a woman is being raped, someone is being robbed or murdered – things of an up close, personal, and individually traumatic nature. On a broader scale it bothers me that the President blatantly lies day after day seeking to gain unlimited and centralized power by undermining the “flawed” Constitution and imposing “social justice” by any means necessary which to my mind is nothing more than a pretext for tyranny. It amazes me that so many seem mesmerized by equivocal statements and speeches filled with glaring contradictions from one day to the next and smothered in hypocrisy are so willing and eager to hand over not only their own liberty, but also everyone else’s to a snake oil salesman. How gullible must one be to buy into the collective salvation being sold. “Workers of the world unite” is not an empty slogan, but a dangerous ideology. Equal justice and social justice are very different ideas. Governmental redistribution of wealth is not charity, it is theft. It bothers me that so many, maybe thirty to forty percent of the population, have bought into the progressive ideology of egomaniacal Pied Pipers, but what can I do other than speak the truth as I see it and try to keep a sense of peace within myself by remembering the many blessings in my life and remaining centered and aware of who I am. This progressive ideology seems somehow to have become well ensconced in our educational system and is, I believe, in lock step with political science and journalism schools across the country as well as much of the main stream media who seem more interested in promoting an agenda than reporting or teaching truth, but it’s disastrous and dangerous effects on the societies of many countries are well documented and easy to find. However the Obama administration’s agenda is labeled – progressivism, Marxism, socialism, communism, fascism, or even plain old ordinary liberalism, it does not work. It is an ideology that encourages people to believe that they are victims and therefore not responsible for their own lives, an endless blame game that teaches people to look without rather than within for meaning and success. In my view it is in almost direct opposition to what I believe to be true – that we are largely responsible for our own lives and that we are ultimately responsible for the consequences of our own decisions. There is abundance in the world, both material and spiritual, but for most of us the material abundance isn’t handed to us on a plate, we have to earn it, and our meaning and spiritual truth comes from within and is available to all who seek it. Our true worth comes from who we are and not what we have. Progressivism breeds a society of mindless, dependent weaklings. The evidence of its failure both historically and currently is overwhelming. A bloated government sucks the life out of a people and an economy. Capitalism, not socialism brings prosperity. In what world would a rational person espouse the virtues of Margaret Sanger or Mao Tse-Tung? In what world does a unionized utopia exist? Progressives seek to supplant the “capitalist” masters with “academic” masters. They would have you believe that your rights are enumerated and dictated by the the government, they are not. Your rights come from the same place your spirituality does. The promises of progressives, whether they have an “R” or a “D” by their name, are empty. Those making them know they are empty. We are no longer a republic, we are an oligarchy and those in “the club” are counting on and even fostering the ignorance of the masses who support them in order to perpetuate an endless party of privilege for itself. Nancy Pelosi comes to mind with her own private airline at the taxpayers expense, – John Murtha with his own private airport. How does Barney Frank retain his seat after contributing so much to the financial collapse unless his constituents are either brainwashed or ignorant? How does Harold Raines run Fannie and Freedie into the ground and walk away with ninety million instead of going to jail? I could go on and on. We send our soldiers to die for the special interests of a few under the guise of freedom. We maintain a military presence in far corners of the world, but we don’t secure our own borders for political games and special interest groups. We enforce the law, except for when we don’t. Our justice is equal, except for when it isn’t. Our leaders speak the truth, except for when they don’t. Our government is transparent except for when it isn’t. A handful of people have decided that it is the American taxpayers job to impose “American values” and “freedom” on cultures that are not ready for, do not want, or are unwilling to fight for them. When we do fight we do so with our hands tied behind our backs. How many American soldiers have thrown their lives away for political correctness. A handful of people have decided that it is “our” job to police the world at the taxpayers expense with an enormously bloated and wasteful military that has a budget that dwarfs that of any other nation. How is it moral to borrow money from China to give to foreign nations and send the bill to people who aren’t even born yet? How can this be viewed as anything other than selling our own children into slavery? How can so many lap up empty words unless they are in a daze of ignorance or delusion? I guess you have to be a progressive in a position of power to push it or a lemming to smoke it. It’s something I can’t seem to get my head around. I am often sadly amused by commentators who seem to have no limits as to how far they are willing to twist logic and play word games to justify irrational positions not only to others, but to themselves as well. Present many, (especially those who have been indoctrinated on the left, but the same goes for many on the right), with a fact that challenges their ideology) and they become unhinged. Often they look as if their head is about to explode. It seems to me that their ego is so threatened by a contradictory viewpoint that they would rather pidgeonhole someone as a racist or some other convenient label rather than consider the facts or merits of someone else’s thoughts or beliefs. Often they seem to be so busy spinning that they are incapable of honest discourse, the distraction game and the Uncle Tom game are two of their favorites. Today about 30,000 children will die from starvation. Today a “good Muslim” will justify beating the hell out of his wife for speaking to someone she wasn’t supposed to and millions of the followers of this enlightened religion will give their tacit approval. If we are nice to the terrorist he’ll stop trying to kill us. (Maybe if we got the hell out of their countries they’d stop trying so hard!) Somewhere a politician is taking a kick-back. Somewhere a speech-writer or press secretary is trying to figure out some way to sell a lie or distract you from the truth. How much did we spend today for the illusion of security by making a little old lady from Miami take off her shoes so she could fly to San Francisco and visit her sick relative while a thousand Mexicans walked freely across the southern border. Our national debt with unfunded liabilities is over a hundred trillion dollars and we continue to borrow money to pay for flat-screen televisions for people who would not hesitate to kill a child. What can I do about it? I can seek the truth, I can stand on solid principles, I can point out injustice and dishonesty where I find it, I can help a neighbor, I can let my brother know that I love him, I can strive to be a better person and I can try to live my own life in the best way I can. There is power in that. Believing that the government is going to take care of anyone is a denial of reality. The government can’t even build a road it seems without a five hundred page document, twenty agencies and a thousand lawyers being involved. How can any rational person believe the government can manage health-care, much less the entire economy without rampant abuse and theft. Those who promote such ideas are either leeches who benefit from the theft or are from a planet whose language I do not speak. It takes months to “stop” an oil leak, yet there are those who promote the idea if we just give the government enough power, laws and regulations we will be able to adjust the temperature of the earth fifty years from now. Even if we were able to enforce these so-called “beneficial” rules and regulations on our own companies and citizens how would we get other nations seeking economic development to comply? How has the environmental movement “helped” the environment, by forcing oil companies to drill in deep water? How does a guy who worked to get Mark Rich pardoned wind up as attorney general? The questions keep rolling through my mind and I haven’t even mentioned the Fed. I’m beginning to REALLY ramble now, I hope you’ll forgive me if you’ve read this far. One thing I’m pretty sure of, the spending will stop. One way or another it will stop. I guess my point is this: it is foolish to embrace the ideology of Barack Obama, it is worth the effort to try and remove him from power by shining a light on the “bs”, it’s important not to get distracted or resort to violence, and it’s important to work on ourselves and let those we love know that we love them.
All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.
— Gandalf, J.R.R. Tolkien
I’m Alright
Life Less Ordinary