Law – DNC-Consulting

LIC and The Department of Veterans Affairs

What is LIC?

Low-Intensity Conflict (LIC) is the official name for when individuals or governments hire intermediaries to conduct violent operations from a secure position. LIC is a misnomer; those who have become victims of the barbaric cruelty of those practicing LIC find nothing “Low” about the experience. The conflict is intense, the actions brutal, and the practitioners remain cunning adversaries using and employing willing dupes to hide the true depths of moral decay inherent in the societal destructions and depravations the practitioners are enacting. Many confuse LIC in describing the actions of unbridled violence committed by ideologues under the banner of terrorism. The US Military Joint Chiefs of Staff define LIC as:

“A limited political-military struggle to achieve political, social, economic, or psychological objectives. It is often protracted and ranges from diplomatic, economic, and psychological pressures through terrorism and insurgency. Low-intensity conflict is generally confined to a geographic area and is often characterized by constraints on the weaponry, tactics, and levels of violence (Tinder 1990) [emphasis mine].”

Green (1997) adds a key ingredient to the description of LIC from Tinder (1990).

“… Non-international conflict is a refined term for what [was] formerly known as revolutions or civil wars, particularly when these have developed into major operations with the likelihood or reality of atrocities being committed against non-combatants. Whether civilians or those [rendered] hors de combat, a fact that is often more common in non-international … conflicts, especially when ideological, ethnic, or religious differences are in issue. It is for this reason that it must be borne in mind that the term low-intensity [conflict] has no relation to the severity or violence of the conflict” [emphasis mine].

Lt. Colonel Alan J. Tinder wrote a paper for the Air War College in 1990 titled: “Low-Intensity Conflict.” I have learned much from the Colonel and benchmarked this principle to more thoroughly understand LIC, recognize LIC, and detail LIC for others. The other compelling source is L. C. Green’s paper on “Low-Intensity Conflict and the Law.” I aim to synthesize this information into a manageable topic and aid understanding. Let me state emphatically that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) leadership’s actions are nothing short of LIC where employees and veterans/customers are concerned.

Regularly, the Department of Veterans Affairs – Office of Inspector General (VA-OIG) reports on a comprehensive healthcare inspection of a VHA facility, reports on employee morale in the VBA, or sum analysis of an employee or customer surveys, and include in the report a fairly descriptive, yet starkly utilitarian phrase, “reduce staff feelings of moral distress at work.” Generally, the efforts to reduce “moral distress” is left to an underling, an assistant, or a person for whom this is a secondary or collateral duty and is not considered important or relevant.

Do the actions of a leader represent complicity in creating moral distress fit the general definition of LIC? Absolutely. Consider that the leader sets the culture through actions, words, and behaviors, which originate in the thoughts and feelings of the leader. Correcting moral distress is pawned off on a junior staff member as a collateral duty, another method for displaying disrespect and communicating principles of abuse to employees. But there is no physical violence; how does this apply to LIC? Aren’t dead veterans’ examples enough of violent tendencies to justify the definition of LIC? The VA leader operates from a place of security, exemplifies the culture they deem acceptable, and then works through minions to achieve a “to achieve the political, social, economic, or psychological objective.”

Never forget these two critical points in the description of LIC:

“Often protracted and ranges from diplomatic, economic, and psychological pressures.”

“LIC has no relation to the severity or violence of the conflict.”

At the VA, the leadership calls their example politics; keeping your position or advancing is economical, and the psychological pressure to conform is palpable. All fundamental keys to conducting LIC against veterans, taxpayers, dependents, and non-conforming employees. Multiple times Congress has held hearings and listened to how the VA Leadership exacted revenge and retaliation upon those who reported problems to the VA-OIG, their elected congressional leaders, and other investigative parties. Feel free to peruse some of these hearings; you will hear victims relating physical, economic, and mental abuse, and the VA leadership never takes action. Elected officials never scrutinize and hold accountable those executing LIC, and the victims are victimized a second time.

Want another indicator that LIC is being practiced, the VA-OIG, after learning there are problems with moral distress at work, makes the following to slide the issues under the proverbial rub:

“The OIG’s review of the medical center … did not identify any substantial organizational risk factors.”

Signifying that even though the VA-OIG found moral distress is affecting and influencing employee behavior, the VA considers employee moral distress not an “organizational risk factor.” What does an employee who feels morally distressed do in performing their duties? Delay patients’ appointments, make mistakes on medication shipped, slow walk any responsibility to make things more complicated and take longer than they should. Does any of these actions sound familiar; they should, for this is the standard operating procedure for VA employees.

As reported previously, while I worked at the VA, I had intimate observations of what morally distressed employees do. When I wrote to the VA-OIG, I was informed that since I had my employment terminated, I could not be a whistleblower and get my job back. Plus, what I reported could not be actioned because it did not apply. How’s that for protecting the guilty? The VA Leadership is writing procedures and policies to target anyone and everyone who would report problems and seek help. An employee physically assaulted me; the camera mysteriously broke when I reported it, so no evidence was available. Who was at fault? Me; the assistant director promoted the attacker, and I got ostracized. The attacking employee took moral distress to new heights after this incident, and anyone who reported their behavior felt the wrath of the attacker and the VA leadership at the Albuquerque VAMC.

What is horrendous, this is not an isolated incident. What happened to me frequently repeats daily across every VA office. LIC is the overarching term, LIC is the behaviors named, and LIC is what the taxpayers are forced to pay for, all at the expense of veterans, dependents, and employees who see, know, and can do nothing. Repetitions of moral distress in employees, reported by the VA-OIG, are more than 20 just in 2022. The problem is cultural, and the elected officials desperately need to begin doing their second job, scrutinizing the executive branch and holding people accountable, including canceling the retirement packages of those practicing LIC.

Before someone tries to make this a Republican vs. Democrat issue, it is NOT political. LIC is never political, just as LIC is never religious, never racist, not sexist, or any other distinction. These distinctions are excuses, and the reasons do not justify the means for being violent. The leadership at the VA, and many other government agencies, have found that abusing the taxpayer pays well, provides protection, and allows them to exercise dominion to their heart’s content, all with the power of government to justify their deeds.

Do you realize that the VA-OIG has a metric for measuring moral distress, and the only time the VA-OIG reports moral distress among employees is when the results are higher than national averages? How scary is that to ponder? The problem is so prevalent that it only warrants reporting when it exceeds the norm. Thus, moral distress is declared less frequently when the average worsens. Official protection for LIC is provided by LIC, increasing, and the taxpayer is footing the bill.

I have read reports where the moral distress has worsened from year to year. The same leaders exacerbating the problem of employee moral distress are promoted and moved instead of reprimanded, punished, or fired. One of the VA-OIG reports is particularly heinous in hiding moral distress in employees.

“Selected employee survey responses demonstrated satisfaction with leadership and maintenance of an environment where staff felt respected and discrimination was not tolerated. Patient experience survey data implied general satisfaction with the outpatient care provided; however, leaders had opportunities to improve inpatient care satisfaction [emphasis mine].”

Mark Twain is oft quoted as stating, “There are lies, damn lies, and statistics.” How much more valid are these words when results are “selected,” “cherry-picked,” or allowed to “imply generalities?” Those who engage in LIC are criminals, they are comparable to terrorists, and they have infiltrated the bureaucratic halls of government. Employing government power, they form unholy unions with social media outlets and media companies to further silence and abuse, all while increasing protection.

Where does it end? How do we put paid to the tyranny?

It ends when ordinary people decide they have had enough. Ending the LIC-powered tyranny requires nothing more than elected officials scrutinizing the government and doing the jobs they swore to commit. No violence, problematic or arduous tasks, merely following established law and doing the jobs we elected them to accomplish. LIC is always destroyed when the citizens being oppressed stand up for their rights and demand the bullies, tyrants, and fiends cease and desist!

Thomas Paine, writing in “Common Sense,” discussed simplicity, stating:

“I draw my idea of the form of government from a principle in nature, which no art can overturn, viz. that the more simple anything is, the less liable it is to be disordered; and the easier repaired when disordered.”

The American government was established on simplicity, and the US Constitution is a simple document. Using Thomas Paine’s pattern, the disorder in the government is simple to correct; all we need are people insisting that the infection is terminated. Using the systems established in the US Constitution, the US government can be brought to heel, the rot removed, and justice can be delivered to those tyrants employing LIC for personal gain and political profit. LIC is happening in every government agency, and it is time for change to begin. Where are the politicians willing to do the job we elected them to perform?

Mark Twain provides the final word, “The government of my country snubs honest simplicity but fondles artistic villainy, and I think I might have developed into a very capable pickpocket if I had remained in the public service a year or two.” From artistic villainy to LIC is not an arduous shift, merely the extension of abuse of power to a larger audience. Learn, choose, and then make your voice known through elections and peaceful assembly for redress per the US Constitution and Bill of Rights.

© Copyright 2022 – M. Dave Salisbury
The author holds no claims for the art used herein, the pictures were obtained in the public domain, and the intellectual property belongs to those who created the images. Quoted materials remain the property of the original author.

Things Learned About Animals: Lesson 1

Mumble As a teenager, I worked on a dairy farm in Morrill, Maine, and later as a hired hand on a sheep ranch in Bluebell, Utah. Often growing up, my family had chickens, ducks, geese, goats, pigs, cats, and dogs. There are several lessons I feel we could learn from the animals. In discussing the animals, you are left to choose whether the lesson applies to you or not. I am not here to convince anyone, I merely relate what I have observed and the lessons I learned. If you can use the lesson to improve your life, I have achieved my goal. If you choose not to like the lesson for any reason, happily know you are not the audience intended, and move on smartly.

Animal Gender

Let me be perfectly clear, gender is an eternal construct, is established in the first building blocks of a body, and cannot be changed. Consider for a moment with me the steps in the gestation process of any animal. The egg is fertilized, and the fertilization process is self-explanatory, needing no additional discussion from me. After the egg is fertilized by sperm from a male, the egg from the female becomes a zygote. This clump of cells shortly gender is known, and the biological differences between a male and a female begin. Egg fertilization and development | Download Scientific Diagram

Males develop larger lungs, denser bones, and other chemical and biological differences. Females develop smaller lung capacity, less dense bones, and other chemical and biological differences. We had a female goat who liked to mount other female goats. While this was highly uncomfortable for the mounted female goat and generally produced fights between the females, we never worried about the goats becoming pregnant. Interestingly, after this female goat had been impregnated, this female stopped mounting other female goats and was a great mother of kids. Not speaking goat, I never understood why she mounted other females in what could have been considered her teenage years; one thing was sure, gender did not change because the goat was confused.

It never ceased to amaze me that one could reliably tell the males from the females almost immediately from birth. Due to their birth size, their growth, and their respective attitudes. In observing a group of kittens, the males would dominate the females for momma’s attention, the best places to nurse, and innately knew they were male. The females were smaller, leaner, and sometimes just as feisty and stubborn as the males; they knew they were different from the males.

Baby Cows and Calves Later while tending sheep, another interesting lesson was learned regarding gender. Ewes, female sheep, who had lost their lambs, knew somehow if a misgendered animal was placed before them and drove that animal away. That ewe knew she had birthed a male or female lamb, and any orphan trying to feed would not do; only orphans of the same gender, wearing the skins of their original lamb, were allowed to become a stepchild and be accepted if the ewe permitted them.

Another lesson learned watching a shepherd was the decisions of the ewes. I saw ewes stand next to a stillborn lamb until the shepherd collected that lamb for disposal. Crying, mourning, and sometimes choosing to end their life by not eating instead of adopting a motherless lamb. I am not anthropomorphizing an animal here, that mother losing her lamb cried, mourned, and entered a depression where the ewe chose to join her lamb in death, and regrettably it did not happen only once or twice. I do not know if the same happens for goats, cows, or other animals. I know it happens for mother cats and sheep as I have observed these animals and witnessed this event for myself.

On the topic of orphaned lambs, I noticed something important, lambs with mothers, even adopted mothers, were less daring, got into less hazardous situations, and generally were calmer socially. Orphan lambs were wild, got into trouble, did not come to eat without insistence, and several times did not learn from past mistakes, injured, and sometimes died. I do not know why orphaned lambs acted this way, and without anthropomorphizing, an animal cannot dictate well what I sense is the answer. I know for certain that ewes impart information to lambs, which is an essential aspect of the health and safety of the herd.

A mother goat, sheep, horse, cat, etc., knows their children, numbers their children, and looks after them. I witnessed a mother goat kicking the head of a kid who belonged to another goat but who was hungry and wanted food. Driving that kid off to find their mother relentlessly, and learned something of note. At first, I thought this was just an ornery goat thing, but then I saw a horse, a mother pig, a mother cat, and other animal mothers repeat the lesson learned about mothers knowing and numbering their children. A rare mother indeed will accept an animal orphan, and there is order in the animal kingdom!

Order in the Animal Kingdom

Animal Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family Genus Species - Várias Classes Consider with me a process all herd managers perform, the castration process. A bull castrated does not grow the female reproductive organs and becomes a cow. A castrated lamb does not change gender after castration; even if that lamb is provided hormones from female animals, that lamb is male. A neutered cat does not regrow new reproductive organs or change genders; from birth to death, the gender of that animal is cast, they do not change, and their instincts remain embedded in that animal.

Order is created and not disordered merely due to the loss of a few reproductive organs. Mothers choose to allow orphans to replace their children or become their children. Some animal fathers are part of their children’s lives; others grow merely with the input of their mothers. Regardless, great order is found and maintained in the animal kingdom over roles assigned by gender at birth.

Allow me to elaborate with some observations. A ewe whom the shepherd relied upon to adopt lambs refused to adopt a lamb. The shepherd tried everything, including rubbing the lamb in the still wet lamb’s skin, skinning the dead lamb and securing the dead lamb’s skin on the orphaned lamb, and even placing the mother into a pen with her head secured to give the lamb a chance to suckle. Nothing worked, and all of the methods had worked previously. Several days later, the ewe died unexpectedly, and the veterinarian determined that the mother ewe had had a disease and probably sensed this when refusing that orphan to suckle. Order is maintained in the herd, and the condition this ewe had contracted was not passed along to a new lamb. Sheep herd is walking. Animals on grassland. Good conditions for breeding livestock. Pasture in ...

Our gander had taken a spouse, and when the goose died sitting on a nest, the gander was exceedingly heartbroken—calling day and night for his spouse, all to no avail. After a time, the gander took to liking the ducks whose drake had flown the coop unexpectedly. Seeing as there was no drake and no female goose, the gander took to mourning his spouse but sleeping with the female ducks. But, the gander was violently opposed to any duck sitting on a nest, and my parents could not understand why. My parents captured some eggs that had not been smashed to pieces and tried to incubate the eggs. The animals born were not ducks or geese, and none survived long. There is order maintained in the animal kingdom, and the animals themselves know how to keep that order.

It never ceases to amaze me the order and respect animals have for order in the animal kingdom. In raising goats and cows, the information gained through smell was always interesting to me that allowed animals to act how and why they did. I could not smell the difference between herds, but the animals knew, and when herds of the same animals mingled, the order was still maintained, and herd integrity was sustained.

A goat and sheep hered we knew raised the sheep and the goats together; even though both species ate the grass differently and had to be moved more often, raising them together helped protect the herd. One day another herd was being driven through the area, and a couple of animals got into the pens. But, the goats and sheep raised together knew the outsider was not orderly and helped keep those animals away from their young and isolated from the whole herd. The smell is the only answer I have as the foreign herd was smelled by our herd and shunned. Even when new animals were introduced for the herd to grow, it took several days and several smelling sessions before those new animals were trusted by the rest of the herd.

In one Herculean effort, I heard a goat herder who tried to introduce a foreign billy into the goatherd due to the death of the former billy. The nanny goats would have nothing to do with the new billy, even when draped in the skin of the old billy goat. The goat herder tried everything, but until that billy had spent sufficient time with the nannies and smelled correctly, the billy was powerless to lead the herd and perform the duties he had been purchased to complete. Interestingly, a similar problem occurred for a cattle farmer when introducing a foreign bull. The cows refused his bull-like advances until the bull had spent time with the herd. While I do not know if these are isolated incidents, I merely know that order is essential in the animal kingdom.

Lessons for Humans to Consider:

1. Gender does not change merely because a person wants it. The disorder caused by trying to be a different gender has repercussions and consequences beyond that individual’s choice.
2. Humans and animals have will and agency, but order remains an essential characteristic of the world. I have heard that scientists have found great order when the observed chaos is understood. Through magnification, scientists have moved closer to how things move, and I find it incredible the order found that once was described as chaos.
3. Parents have a duty and role to play. However, their children also play a role, and the order found in families is a prerequisite to good societies. An animal analogy, the herd of sheep I moved and cared for as a hired hand was a collective society. They had rules, expectations, and those not choosing to follow the herd society regularly found themselves in danger when the weather changed, when a threat was near, and generally were the ones you could count on to be injured or die unexpectedly.
4. Diary cows, after milking, will run to the farthest fence in a field; if they find the fence strong, the whole herd will congregate, graze, and chew their cud knowing strong fences protect them. In a storm, trusting the fences, the dairy cows will huddle together and move as a unit to protect younger cows and warm each other. Dairy cows are not terribly different from humans, we push at barriers (laws), and if we find them sufficiently strong, we band together for protection into social circles and groups. Failure of laws finds society broken and easily conquered by external and internal threats.
5. Order in human societies remains an essential element in protecting, promoting, and providing social growth and development. Herds of animals, gaggles of geese, flocks of ducks, murder of ravens, etc., all depend upon the order in their society, or that society falls apart and, like iron filings to a magnet, has to reform into new organizations.

Knowledge Check! Are humans really so different from animals? Are human societies much different from the societies of animals? I ponder these questions regularly and am not surprised when social problems in humans are resolved by watching animal herds. Covering a bull in the skin of a horse does not make a bull into a horse. Castrating a bull does not morph the bull into a cow. We must understand better the order, the laws, and the social requirements for society. Animals and humans choose which society (country, town, city, etc.) they prefer. If they choose to belong to that society, they must obey or onboard that society’s rules and social expectations.

Rarely does the 80% of the herd get into trouble, but the 20% of the herd does not sway or influence into danger the other 80%. Right now, in human societies, there is a vocal 20% who insist that their reality must become the reality of the entire community. Do we sacrifice the safety and security of the 80% for the choices and lifestyles of the 20%? This is the question before us, and animal societies have provided the answer if we are willing to act accordingly.

Employers and Employees – The Battle is Waged: The Fight is Important

Employers throughout the world, including Disney, American Express, Wells Fargo, and thousands more, have begun to battle their employees. Unionized shops, the battle has been waged for 50 years and shows no sign of relenting. Only recently have other employers joined the fray, not to help employees but to rid themselves of employees. These businesses are fighting employees against their employees for the company’s culture and soul. Couched in many a buzzword, political stance, and archaic practices, the employers want to rid their workforces of those they despise, and the battle is legal!

Make no mistake, what the employers are doing is immoral, unethical, and disastrous to those employees unfavored, but the actions remain perfectly legal, and this is the point we must understand. Laws have been changed against the majority for the selectivization and advancement of the minority. The fight is important because you might be next and never know your termination has been affected, but not enforced until it is too late. This article intends to raise awareness, not cover every particle in the fight or catalog every avenue an employer might take to attack an employee. Imperative to know and remember, as long as the actions are against individuals, no laws are being broken, and the employer wins when they can make the situation untenable, and the employee on the out quits or is forced out under a miasma of quasi-legal terms, so it appears that employee was treated fairly.

Never forget, a lawyer’s job is to make the illegal appear legal, and the legal appear illegal, so a judge must decide. Add in judicial activism and legislation from the judicial bench, and the trouble becomes apparent quickly. Unfortunately, the lawyers’ training has shifted, and the legal mind’s quality has slipped under the weight of many of the topics discussed herein. The vicious cycle can only be broken when the collective beliefs of the majority are re-established, not to the demise of the minority but the growth of the entire society.

Culture and Politics

As long as people have banded together into organizations, societies, governments, etc., there has been the push and pull of politics. All of recorded history bears truth to this fact. People have beliefs. They express these beliefs through representatives who rise and fall in different leadership positions, and societies change according to the expressed beliefs through which a society is governed (law). Pick a governing style (Communism, Socialism, Representative, Direct or Indirect Representation, Monarchy, Theocracy, etc.), and you will find the collective beliefs of the people expressed in how long a leader remains in power or the stability of the society so governed. Politics happens and is best described as the push/pull of collective beliefs expressed by populations. Economies rise and fall based upon the collective beliefs, expressed in the stability of the society and the government leader’s length of time as leader.

History has shown when a governing leader is short-lived, it is generally because they refused to follow the collective beliefs of the population, giving rise to the credit ratings of stable governments and societies being higher than for those who are changing leadership every couple of weeks or months. Those leaders who can tread the waters of public opinion maintain their jobs and, many times in history, their heads by following the collective beliefs in the morals of the people. The US Dollar’s stability is one of the strongest reasons this currency is one of the world’s benchmark currencies. Politics did that, and politics are the push/pull collective beliefs expressed by the citizens to their government leaders. The process is messy and needs to be messy for a reason; only in the expression of two divergent points can a healthy middle ground be established, and society can grow.

Culture is not politics, but politics and politically minded people can influence it. If politics is a society’s expressed beliefs, then culture is the expressed moral convictions as lived by a community. For example, many institutions have been built on the law that coveting (envy) is wrong, but the practices of the people living build a culture that accepts graft, bribes, and other incentives that, while violating the law, are accepted. Make sense? The closer the culture is to following both the letter of the law and the living of the law provides for a stable and influential culture to invest resources into.

How does one change the collective beliefs of a society and the living practices of that society; first, you capture the children. Bad ideas do not go away, they are either replaced with good ideas, or the bad ideas go into hiding, awaiting the time they can make a new appearance. Everything modern society is facing has been faced previously, and the difference is that the seeds for the current dilemmas were planted more than 100-years ago, but the bad ideas first captured the children. Why have these bad ideas advanced so rapidly? The education of children in social customs, collectively shared beliefs, and individual duty, has been eroded and attacked mercilessly since “progressive education” (the refusal to teach children to read, write, and perform math) began in the late 1800s with Dewey, who called functional illiteracy “Progress!”

One of the first words plasticized, twisted, ripped apart, and then put together to fuel tyranny through modular language was the term progress. Unfortunately, language has continued to suffer relentless attacks since the late 1800s, and more words have suffered the same fate in the modularization of language. Consider with me the history of Tea. Tea plantations in India were ruled by the iron fist of laws drafted in America and marketed with women in distress to the consuming nations geographically distant to where the crops were grown. The tyranny of slavery is the same tyranny we face with modular language. Nobody realizes this because to mention this connection is frowned upon by those making money off the tyranny of language. The tyranny of modular language fueled the oppression of entire populations to fuel an empire. The language led to actions (afternoon tea) and a host of other practices, words, and social customs to fuel the demand for Tea. Unfortunately, the tyranny of modular language also fueled hot wars in China, more geographically distant suffering from the population consuming Tea.

Language – Plastic Terms

Diversity, what is it; what does it mean in practice versus meaning from a dictionary; what value does it have for a business? Equity, same problem, fewer answers, more confusion. Inclusion, same problem, confusion, chaos, and eventual destruction. These are, but a small sample of current buzzwords strung together and causing problems in businesses. There are entire word classes set apart for plasticization, which sound good to the ear, and that people love to rally behind, but these terms cover a hidden agenda. They have been weaponized to destroy, not lift and build—tyranny through modular language, plastic words.

American Express is a perfect example of how DE&I efforts (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) have been weaponized to pick away, through politics, the non-politically affiliated, those who show up to their employment and merely want to work their job. The University of Phoenix is another company long captured by, and suffering from, DE&I tyrants. Both American Express and the University of Phoenix began their DE&I journeys with the best of intentions. Still, the result remains the same, the minority classes bring politics anathema to good order and discipline into the company, initiating change cloaked in DE&I. The result has been the discouragement and disenfranchisement of employees. The DE&I champions crow and cheer for these people leaving as it injects more DE&I hiring, and the new employees realize that unless they are politically affiliated, read that as aligned to a militant tyrant in DE&I, they too will be out of work very shortly.

Language matters, and when terms are plasticized, the only result is destruction and tyranny. Consider the teachers in the Albuquerque Public Schools System or the employees of the State of New Mexico; both populations stress DE&I initiatives under various names but with the same purpose. Who are the enemies of DE&I; those who do not wear their politics on their sleeves, acting as emotionally charged smart bombs of the media. Even if a person holds some of the DE&I beliefs, if they are not militant in their beliefs, they are ostracized by their language, judged, and removed from employment.

When the patients rule the asylum, the problems for all patients in the asylum double and triple, not improve. The same result occurs when the vocal minorities of a population gain power that is not theirs, and they make no concerted efforts to rule fairly and justly. One of the truths about any revolution is that those who initiated the revolution rarely (if ever) get to enjoy the fruits of their rebellion as they are so focused on fixing what they perceive as injustices, they miss that they have become worse in action than those they deposed.

80-20 Rule

The 80/20 Rule is known by many monikers, but always it is the same rule, in different wrapping – 80% of a population will be controlled by 20%. In standard terms, the minority is setting the culture for the 80% to follow, and they hope you will never realize you are stronger without the vocal minority than with them. Take the recent changes at Disney. There is a vocal minority demanding change, couching the changes in diversity, equity, and inclusion, and the Disney business model is about to self-destruct. The same is true of American Express, where if you are male and white, you are not welcome. But, if you are one of the members of any number of protected classes, you are welcome. When politics interferes in professional pursuits, 80% will always suffer under the tyranny of the 20%. What happens when the vocal minority becomes the majority, they fang themselves to death, and nobody is left to care because that 80% majority has left them to their own devices.

It should go without saying, but I will make plain, I am not against diversity. I do believe that diversity for diversity’s sake is wrong, immoral, unethical, and anathema to good order in a society. Diversity of thought should be preeminent as the diversity of thought transcends skin color and lifestyle choices. Diversity of thinking includes the desire to see all succeed on merit, character, and individual action. I abhor in the strongest terms picking a person solely based on their gender, skin color, religious preferences, disability status, culture, or any variable that supersedes accomplishment, education, and learned skill set. The same is valid for inclusion and equity; when people cannot compete solely upon achievement, education, and intellectual skill sets, this creates an imbalance in the population.

Hence roadblocks to education must be removed, character-defining and building experiences should be shared and taught, and achievement recognized. What is missing from schools from K-12 and up; is accomplishment, education, and learned skill sets. What has replaced these; is DE&I, where the vocal minority is destroying with no thought for what replaces the institutions, societies, corporations, and more. Iconoclasm in its most destructive form has taken over employers, and these companies are committing suicide to pacify, tranquilize, and placate a small population at the expense of all.

Inherently, change is not bad but growing, productive, and useful change requires inputs from a diverse population. Inclusion is not inherently a bad thing, but the current demands for inclusion, only for the sake of inclusion, make the activities of the vocal minority lethal to the entire social body. Equity is a prerequisite for society to grow, develop, and be stable long-term. This is why societies built on slavery, or those muzzling 50% of the population, are inherently ripe for hostile takeovers.

The actions of the vocal minority in employment right now are precarious at best, suicidal at worst, and permanently immoral and unethical. The models they promote have no substance and enable unfair, unjust, and unequal systems. Worse, companies that flout their customer base, which is the largest stakeholder in any business, will find smaller profit margins and higher expenses as employee churn increases.

One truth that should give hope to the employees affected is that when the minority becomes the majority in a body and does not have any substance, they destroy themselves. C-Leaders, are you sure you want to take the company you have been placed in control over down this dangerous path? On my first day at American Express, new hires were introduced to the rich, proud, and stable company history and core values. How sad it is to witness how fast this company has fallen! Who will replace these companies? Will their replacements learn from the failures of the past?

Flashes – The Power of, Reliability of, and Majesty in, the Law

Exclamation Mark Frank Crane begins our discussion with an absolute flash of brilliance from the Eternal Semaphore:

“I am law. I am Nature’s way. By me comes order, unity. In my hand, I hold three gifts: health, happiness, success. I am more clever than the cleverest. I am as old as God. I am the secret of goodness; I am the horror of sin. I am the eternal path, and besides me, there is none else. Without me, men wander in the labyrinth of death.”

Do we understand what Frank Crane is trying to communicate? Nature is ruled by law, God executes actions according to law, and justice and mercy can be served without compromising either. Law is eternal, and nobody can escape the power and majesty of the law. Consider another truth when understanding the majesty of law:

“Give a man a chance, and you will often find him equal to the occasion.” – The Majesty of the Law (Short movie 1910).

What is the potential of a man; nobody but God knows for sure, but through obedience to the law, that man can become more than he ever thought possible. I am listening to M*A*S*H 4077, episode 18, from season 9. This is the episode where two buddies come in wounded, they enlisted together, they got injured, and the buddy discovers he has leukemia. In the same episode, Father Mulcahey is expecting a visit from a Cardinal. Two men were given a chance, faced with difficulty, who both rose to the magnitude of their stations. What is Nature’s way; law. R. W. Alger is quoted:

“Laws are silent assessors of God.”

Father Mulcahy 2 When the law is described, Leo J. Muir provides five words that are inseparably connected to describing what law is:

“Eternal; Immortal; Immutable; Irrevocable; Inexorable!”

Looking back to Rome, how was Rome able to achieve greatness; they wrote their laws down and posted them above everyone’s head to symbolize that no one is above the law. Writing down laws was nothing new, but holding everyone accountable to the law equally was unique in human history. On this single principle, Rome rose in glory and failed ignominiously; everyone was accountable to the law equally. Senator, pauper, soldier, general, no one could escape the equality under the law. How did Rome lose their empire; Ceasar held themselves above the law. At the second that law was to be applied unequally to the various classes of citizens in Rome, the fall of Rome was set in stone.

Flash forward a couple of thousand years, what do we find; the law is no longer the supreme entity governing civilized behavior. For the cost of a lawyer, all laws become rubberized, twistable, and not applicable to those with enough money. More than that, the tools of law, police officers, are not treated to the same laws they are enforcing, and the Monday morning quarterbacks strip them of their initiative, ability, and dignity. Gavel

The USA Today calls this Monday Morning Quarterbacking “transparency.” As a point of fact, USA Today credits their actions to George Floyd’s death. The officers involved in the George Floyd debacle followed standard and acceptable policing procedures. George Floyd died from the drug combination in his system and his own stupidity. Yet, the officers have been harassed into jail, their lives destroyed, their families ruined, all because the George Floyd inanity “looked bad” to the same media who hold themselves above the law. The same laws that magically did not apply to Michael Jackson, politicians like Hillary Clinton, or even the Bidens and Romneys. The media harps and complains when the rules are applied equally to them, and then harps and complain when the law equally applies to causes or people the media protects. What destroyed Rome was the failure to equally apply the law to all citizens regardless of job, title, and friendliness with reporters. H. W. Beecher sums the problem nicely:

“Expedients are for the hour, principles for the ages.”

Laplace also pitches some additional power for consideration:

“Truth and Justice are the immutable laws of social order.”

What is most often missing in modern society, any country globally; truth and justice are the laws of good social order. Calling upon Frank Crane again, we find more consideration upholding the majesty of law:

“Truth is the logic of the universe. It is the reasoning of destiny; it is the mind of God. And nothing that man can devise or discover can take its place.” The only constraints that you have on your income and advancement potential are those you place ...

What are the constraints upon a mans potential; look to the laws that man will obey. Going back to Rome, Julius Caesar was but one of the more notable of Rome’s emperors; what moral laws did he obey; not many. What social laws was he willing to follow; few to none. Is it any wonder he was stabbed? Modern society has the term “Arkancide,” it was invented to describe all the mysterious deaths, accidents, and happenstances that occur to people close to the Clinton political machine. True, nothing has ever been proven, and neither President Clinton nor Hillary Clinton has ever faced justice, and I am not casting aspersions. Merely noting there are a lot of incidents that need full and complete explanations, and transparency and accountability appear to be dodged by the Clintons at every turn.

Not that these two are the only politicians needing to face a judge and jury to explain and expound the whys and wherefores, merely noting they are definitely in the top ten of those needing to come clean about their actions while supposedly being “public servants.” Hence the point of laws and the power in obeying the law. When those who need to explain and expound come clean before the law, this concludes the speculation and truth and justice are meted to those needing it.

Image result for grace and truth came through jesus christ | Law quotes, Lovely quote, Words Think of the great questions in modern society where truth and justice would solidly end speculation. JFK’s murder, Epstein’s “suicide,” TWA Flight 800, Michael Jackson, OJ Simpson, etc. Yet, for all the world, the truth remains missing, and questions rightly remain. What is the power of law; the ability to publish the truth. Consider the wise words of Rousseau:

“Truth is the most precious of all blessings; it is the eye of reason.”

Radcliffe detailed the same semaphore a little differently:

“There is no progress in fundamental truth. We may grow in [the] knowledge of its meaning, and in the modes of its application, but its great principles will forever be the same.”

Both authors are semaphoring the same message and provide clarity of reason to denounce the falsehood that the US Constitution is a “living breathing document.” This constitutional republic’s foundational principles of the American experiment are not living or breathing but are alive only through our continuing growth of knowledge in how we apply the principles. Only those who would destroy the law talk of the principles as “living and breathing,” easily changed,” or “plasticized” into any shape to justify the application of law to let the guilty free and punish the innocent. Law Cartoon # 6402 - ANDERTOONS

Cast your mind upon the first amendment to the US Constitution, also the first of the rights discussed in the US Bill of Rights:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Why is this the first right in the US Bill of Rights; without this right being acknowledged by the government, the executors of government would have zero restraint before forcing people to believe what they choose them to believe. Communism in China requires the CCP member to carry their “little red book” close to their hearts. Mimicking and parroting the twisted ideals of Mao, who learned them from Marx. Equally as important is the final phrase, the “right of the people to PEACEABLY assemble and petition the government for a redress of grievances [emphasis mine].” Tell me, how often have riots been “peaceful petitions for grievances to be redressed” in any of the recent years? I repeat only for emphasis, when you block traffic, start fires, yell, scream, destroy property, etc., you are no longer “peaceably assembled” you are a terrorist group, and the total weight of the law should come down upon; you! Ravi Zacharias Quote: "Justice is the handmaiden of truth, and when truth dies, justice is ...

Consider all the “criminal justice reform,” “bail reform,” and other legislated and judicial chicanery foisted upon the American citizenry. Surely Colton and Joseph Parker are semaphoring an urgent message:

“Truth, like light, travels only in straight lines.”

“Falsehood is in a hurry; it may be at any moment detected and punished. Truth is calm, serene; its judgments on high; its king cometh out of the chambers of eternity.”

Leo J. Muir asks a question worthy of deep consideration, “Why this rigorous inflexibility of law?” The answer should be apparent, especially when considering Rome and comparing America’s growth and current deterioration, “The immutability of law is the assurance of progress and the guaranty of justice upon the Earth.” The US Constitution cannot be an easily plasticized document and still be a foundational bedrock of this constitutional republic. A stone cannot be like silly putty, a non-Newtonian fluid. Solid one moment, flexible another, shatterable, and resilient. Laws cannot be a law and be shapeable and moldable to a situation, for then it is no longer a law, but a good suggestion applicable only to specific situations and people. Is the point clear? truth : alcoholism

William Ernest Henley, in his immortal poem, “Invictus,” declares this immutable truth poignantly in the final stanza:

“It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishment the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.”

The entire poem Invictus is a declaration of the majesty of law, the power of law, and the reliability of law. Obedience of law does produce fruit or consequences for choices made, and in that choice and consequence cycle comes the justice and mercy of the law. Once, I was asked, when I step before the bar of God, for a final judgment, do I want a lawyer or an advocate? I do not want a lawyer, for a lawyer only plays with the law. I want an advocate who knows the law, is aware of my good and ill choices, and can plead my case as if my fate was worth the universe’s weight. How would you answer, and why? Do you understand the role of law better? What will you do right now to honor the law, even if in honoring the law you must loyally oppose those who are twisting the law for personal gain?

Knowledge Check! Let me be perfectly clear; I abhor the suffering the Ukrainian people are experiencing in the strongest language. I denounce the actions of Russia in creating violence. But, Zelensky is using the excuse of a Russian invasion to destroy the laws of Ukraine and create a dictatorship. These actions are as reprehensible to me as the invasion of Ukraine! Yet, if the American citizenry does not awake and arise, using the laws currently written, we too will see ourselves in a similar position. Where the laws of America are twisted out of shape and then used as a cudgel to beat the American spirit out of her people, and destroy the last bastion of freedom on Earth. The saving grace for America is her laws, and her citizenry needs to demand that all are equal under the law, for the innocent to escape and the guilty to be punished.

Let us now understand the role of law and thank “Whatever gods may be” for the immutable power of law!

Iconoclasts – Know the Enemy!

During the Summer of 2020, the world watched in horror as a group of people became unhinged. They destroyed statues, wreaking images and ripping apart the social fabric of nations, destroying years of history all for purely political reasons and personal satisfaction. These iconoclasts did not spring up suddenly; they were carefully groomed into existence. The anger they expressed had been carefully tindered, fed, and fueled into the raging inferno observed on the nightly news. Nothing is sacred to an iconoclast. Any image, including statues, paintings, murals, buildings, everything man has ever created for social, religious, or political expression, was on the table of destruction, and these ignorant savages were going to destroy it.

Please, do not delude yourself. The iconoclasts did not “suddenly come to themselves;” no, they are still out there, waiting for the next opportunity of convenience to become unhinged and destroy again. But, you say, it is peaceful now; surely these people deserve dignity and should be offered the grace of justice. No, a thousand times no, and a thousand times again, NO!

As a youth, I was told a story about an American Indian and a rattlesnake. The rattlesnake had been captured by an eagle, flown high into the mountains, and was dropped. The Indian was on a quest for enlightenment and happened upon the rattlesnake who begged for help and to be carried down to the desert so he would not die. At first, the Indian said no. He was wise. He knew the snake would bite him and told the snake no. But over time, the pitiful cries of the snake could be heard, and eventually, the Indian left his quest and carried the snake down to the desert below. Always with the most solemn promises from the snake to not bite him. As the boy removed the snake from his tunic upon arrival in the desert, the snake bit him in the chest. As the boy lay dying, he asked the snake why; the snake replied, “You knew what I was when you picked me up.”

A snake does not become a toothless grass eater or honors his promises merely because he is begging for his life, and a terrorist does not become a law-abiding citizen by wishing and hoping. The iconoclast is a terrorist, and a terrorist, at heart, has thrown off all compunction, all morals, all ties to society for the personal pleasure of watching it burn. The terrorist wants to promote terror, is a political monster, and destroys for pleasure. The iconoclast attacks and seeks to overthrow traditional or popular ideas and institutions. Terrorists use violence. The iconoclast uses violence—both delight in the mayhem they cause.The imposition of belief does not separate a terrorist and an iconoclast; in fact, the desire to force beliefs upon a population brings terrorists and iconoclasts more closely aligned. The only significant difference between an iconoclast and a terrorist is the weapons of choice. To a terrorist, the weapons are paid for through third parties who want to watch the destruction unfold (LIC). The iconoclast will use whatever weapon is available. Look at the toppling of statues, were they toppled using the proper equipment or whatever was available? The iconoclast is an opportunist who takes advantage of situations, whereas the terrorist, a political monster, will create incidents, not take advantage of incidents. Not that both are not committing acts of violence or spreading terror, but the terrorist wants to replace the system with one more their liking, and the iconoclast merely wants to see things destroyed.

The terrorist is different from an iconoclast in one other major way; the terrorist does not hide in society to pull down that society. The iconoclast, as an opportunist, will wait, plot, scheme, and take advantage of every opportunity to create mayhem through the destruction of icons, symbols, images and has no problem becoming president, a teacher, a preacher, or any other job where they can act as a slow poison on a social body. One of the best and most famous iconoclasts of the 19th century were Frances Fox Piven and Richard Andrew Cloward. These two failed at being terrorists but have integrated themselves so thoroughly into American Society that they have been able to blind minds as iconoclasts and accomplish goals they could not achieve as terrorists with Weather Underground.

Frances Fox Piven’s book, “Challenging Authority” How Ordinary People Change America,” outlines the complete plan of this iconoclast, and yes, a line of congruence does exist between Mein Kampf and this book and author. All tyrants will tell you their goals before they implement them. As a freedom-loving person, I find this book to be incredibly difficult to read, and when compared with the history from the 1960s to today, I remain sickened by the success of these iconoclasts. 02 May 1966, the publication “The Nation” prints an article written by Cloward and Piven called “The Weight of the Poor: A Strategy to End Poverty.” Don’t worry if you missed this article, “The Nation” celebrated the 50^th anniversary of this garbage. That the Cloward and Piven team were better iconoclasts than terrorists should not come as a surprise, frankly, nor should their drivel be published, but I digress.

Cloward and Piven’s iconoclastic theory was to force chaos on the body politic to keep impoverished people poor and angry, take advantage of their anger, and gain political power through riotings and disturbances. The theory also begged for a massive expansion of the welfare rolls to build an ever-larger class of permanently aggrieved people. Consider the elected officials who keep pushing for socialized medicine in America; they are iconoclasts, straight out of Cloward and Piven’s theories. Recently the media has discussed the need for a guaranteed income, paid for by the government through the forced taxation of others. This is another iconoclastic idea that finds roots in Cloward and Piven. Look at every single political talking point from criminal justice reform to immigration, and you will find an iconoclast tearing away at the icons and fabric of America for personal profit and individual enjoyment.

Lots of media ink has been spilt on homosexual rights, privileges, and changing the nuclear family and marriage laws. Would you be surprised to learn that those championing these talking points are iconoclasts taking their script from Cloward and Piven? Would the “Woke Agenda” shock you to know that those who pitch this idea are iconoclasts and take their cues from Cloward and Piven’s theories and writings? What about increasing the minimum wage; would you be interested in knowing that even a minimum wage is iconoclastic? Forget about those pitching for an increased minimum wage to $15 an hour being iconoclastic. The mere philosophy of having a minimum wage is iconoclastic and anathema to American history and the US Constitution.

Iconoclasts are a secret society, but the secret is open and in full view. The confusion these people generate helps them gain power, provides the fodder for their abhorrent behavior, and promotes them higher in power. Why is the government so intransigent; the iconoclasts acting as “good bureaucrats” make the government intransigent and are held in control by other iconoclasts. The iconoclasts tear down and destroy using plasticized terms like empathy, democracy, helping, support, dignity, and more. Criminal justice reform punishes the victims of crime. Welfare reform further strips those receiving welfare benefits of pride, honor, and the satisfaction that work provides, ever-widening the gulf between those who need and cannot obtain and those who receive welfare benefits. Immigration reform is labeled as dignity, but in reality is nothing more than spitting in the eye of those who followed the rules, sacrificed, and acted appropriately. The iconoclast always looks to how they can destroy something good and leave a void or replace it with something that perpetuates the further destruction of a society.

In a recent case, Pete Buttigieg took the money sent by Congress for roads and bridges, and designed plans to spend it on climate change and make roads less racist. A road cannot be racist, but those in control are iconoclasts, and if they can further frustrate the road and bridges problem, they can sit back and watch the daily commute of millions of people and laugh hysterically. The iconoclasts imposing this madness are called “innovators,” “innovation leaders,” and “forward-thinkers.” All words plasticized to erode further and eventually destroy the American government, trust in government, and continue the eating away of the social glue holding America together. Using laws to punish the innocent, protect the guilty, and make good and right evil, while evil is heralded as proper and transformative.

Iconoclasts did that, and we, the American people, need to know our enemy. We need to understand what we are seeing. You are not racist, homophobic, regressive, or any number of other names for asking questions or dissenting to the actions the iconoclasts are imposing. You need to know who and what the enemy is and does to thwart the enemy properly. It is good to stand for truth, justice, and the American way! It is expected that the iconoclasts and terrorists in our Constitutional Republic would want to damage and destroy. Not acceptable, but expected, because a Constitutional Republic, to ensure freedom for all, does not have natural freedom crushing antibodies in the system to rid the body politic of these types of people.

Would you like some weapons in your arsenal to fight iconoclasts; ask for proof. Remember, research does not provide proof of anything. Looking at the fruits of the ideas and asking about the evidence that what they are proposing is beneficial. For example, has the minimum wage been helpful; no, the minimum wage has not been beneficial. People made more money, but the government increased inflation, borrowed more money, and charged more money for taxes, increasing the cost of living and then increasing the minimum wage to “assist the poor.” Socialized medicine has this practice borne positive or negative results; the answer is resoundingly negative, and implementation of socialized medicine destroys too much! Immigration reform has any immigration reform improved the plight of Americans ever; again, a resoundingly negative response occurs. Crime went up, illegal immigration went up, social ills went up, moral decline, welfare rolls increased substantially, and much more happened.

Iconoclasts can only be fought when we:

1. 1. 1. 1. Stand together
        
        Learn
        
        Act in unity
        
        Never settle

What will you learn today that improves your tomorrow? How will you use this information? Does America die on your watch from the thousands of cuts the iconoclasts have made? Today, let us resolve that America does not die on our watch. No matter the difficulties, we must fight the iconoclasts!

Flashes – First World Nation Problems

Bobblehead Doll Since Russia invaded Ukraine, no longer is the truth able to hide; America has been pursuing easy things, making America weak! Several years ago, I was in a used book store and found “Flashes from the Eternal Semaphore” by Leo J. Muir. I count myself extremely blessed to have found and purchased this treasured book! Mr. Muir explains that a semaphore is a means of using flags to send messages, and people have been using flags to send messages for a lot of the earth’s recorded history. The author declared that regardless of religion, certain truths are timeless, ageless, and failure to learn and live these truths brings destruction to civilization.

The first flash/truth is that pursuing easy things makes people weak. Consider for a moment a German proverb, “The hard is the good.” Work is an eternal principle; it does not change if you believe, or do not believe in, God, god, or gods. The need to work, to pursue difficult tasks makes boys into Men, girls into Women, and at the end of life reflects honor and dignity in a life well-lived. Yet, what do we find daily as the life to pursue, playing games, rest, recreation, and all the waste this involves.

I know not the source, but as a kid, I heard someone complain that the hardest and most difficult job in the world is being a person of leisure. As a kid, I had worked my fingers to the bone every day, going to bed bone-weary and mind tired. To hear this man talk blew my mind, for I would have given anything to have less work to do. Yet, during periods of unemployment, I have wept in frustration for not having a job that tasked my mind and body. In employment right now, I often look around and ask what else is there to do, for I feel like I am cheating my employer. Some call this a work ethic, I call is being responsible, professional, and honest in my dealings with my fellow-man.

A friend informed me that most people do not think similarly, and I wonder why. My friend said it was a “First-World Nation Problem.” He explained that in first-world nations, you have to go a long distance to find anyone who works like I do and thinks work is necessary. Mr. Muir reminds us, “There is no immunity from the penalty of indolence and irresponsibility.” Think of that, too much idleness, too many video games, not enough personal responsibility builds weak people, and there is no social or personal immunity, no vaccination, from the consequences.

What’s worse, First-World nations are passing this malady around the globe. We are sick from the disease of not working, akin to catching polio, leprosy, or a fatal case of pneumonia; the disease can be treated, but the effects are life-changing. You cannot achieve for your ability is curtailed. We have forgotten that “There is NO excellence WITHOUT labor” [emphasis added]. I remember assignments from K-12 that left me physically drained from the mental exertions, and I remember lazing my way through lessons; in both situations, the grade I earned was of my own creation! Believe me, my parents were exercised to see my low grades, and I had my school and home work increased to new levels to achieve learning that one lesson, “There is NO excellence WITHOUT labor.”

What do we see today? Students are allowed to graduate who cannot read, do simple math, and write their names. We see lowering standards for scholastic performance in K-12, which produces a slug of a student who expects to graduate college. Woefully unprepared people who were abused and allowed to abuse themselves during K-12 due to their skin color, economic situation, or English as a second language. What teachers do you remember from school, those who allowed you to slide, or those who believed in you, challenged you, setting high standards, and then teaching you how to meet those high standards?

I told my friend, and dear reader, I am telling you, the principle of work should not be sacrificed to “Leave no child behind.” If a person sets out to leave no one behind, they get to know their charges, work their charges, set high standards, teach how to reach those high standards, and then urge them on to new growth opportunities. Why did the school boards lower standards; they believe in growing a class of citizenry that can be controlled! Since the late 1800s, this has been the government’s intentional actions in America. Some will use their weakened minds and claim this is the dastardly work of a single political party, but the reality is that both political parties are neck-deep in the responsibility they have shirked and promoted by lower standards, and they call this “helping.”

No, do not for one second believe that this is a “First-World nation problem,” it is a problem made by conspiring men (and women) for the overthrow and destruction of freedom. They have been carefully creating a class of people who can be counted on to be controlled for personal political gain. Independent people, strong-bodied and minded people, scare those who desire to be a ruling class. Consider Putin in Russia; he wanted to rule, he has planned, crafted, killed, lied, and cajoled to rule, and he is a strong person ruling a weak people who have gotten sick on the pursuit of easy things. 117 Best Hard Work Quotes That Everybody Must See

Look at Cuba and North Korea; the people have had to be beaten and starved to weaken them into submission and keep them dependent on a strong leader. Yet, how quickly could those strong people throw off their oppressive governments if they had even 1/100^th of the opportunities their poorest neighbors enjoy. What happens in countries oppressed, the leaders become weak pursuing easy things, the people get stronger, and then the government is backed against a wall, and either the people overthrow the government, or the government is killed. Then the cycle begins again until the population is consumed by a neighbor (Ukraine being consumed by Russia) or democracy and capitalism are tried and found to be valuable. But democracy is only powerful if the law is held sacrosanct! Capitalism is only useful and helpful when the society employing it has morals, values, and is educated.

26 WORK Quotes About Hardships And Cooperation At Workplace | Brainy Readers What is weakening every oppressive regime around the globe; is a failure to honor the rule of law. The leaders pursuing easy things become weak, and their choices inevitably lead them into problems with the law. Think back a couple of years to the Chinese baby food or dog food scandals. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) blamed mid-level leaders for their roles in the scandals, but were these people really to blame or merely useful tools to help deflect blame from the flagrant and profligate rule-breaking of someone higher?

Pursuing easy things makes people weak! There is no escaping the damage pursuing easy things does to an individual and a society. Yet, how big are the entertainment industries? How expansive has the lure of taking it easy become? How prevalent have games become? An entire new technological industry sprung up to feed the appetites of those pursuing games? For a truth, Muir quotes Franklin for the following flash, “Laziness travels slowly and is soon overtaken by poverty.” How expensive have cellular phones become? How soon do those phones wear out and need to be replaced? Worse, how many politicians, Hollywood “influencers,” and hundreds of other sources exemplify not working, hide behind a “work-life balance,” or employ social media to display a life of plenty and ease without working? The only way to keep the American dream alive is through hard work!

Knowledge Check! King Solomon provided the only instruction that offers a modicum of relief and is quoted as the final flash, “In all, they getting, get understanding.” I know many people’s childhood was full of abusive relationships. From parents to teachers, to peers and government officials, you have been robbed, plundered, and the abuse is real. For all that, you remain an eternal being suffering a mortal existence. Thus, you have the choice to get understanding. You possess the power to throw off the abusers. Learn to learn. Learn to read. Learn math. Learn how to write. You hold the power, choose to exercise that power, and you will bless your life and the lives of those around you!

Authoritarian Audacity – Consider This…

Bobblehead Doll Eliadis, Hill, and Howlett (2005) edited a book, “Designing Government,” used in many different academic institutions to teach courses on government in the United States. The book and the authors are well known in academic circles, so when I discuss the findings in the book, I am not pulling information from an unknown, hardly read, obscure source. I wanted this made clear from the beginning, for recently, several media sources have tried to declare that the cost of government is inconsequential and does not hinder a country’s economic forecasts significantly. As I continuously state, draw your own conclusions.

From pages 60 and 61 for “Designing Government,” we find the following statistics; the authors put them in chart and graph form, I have placed them in bullet form; this is the only change to the statistics made. Reported for Canada’s government in Canadian Dollars (1995).

- - 1973/74 – Economy-Wide cost of compliance costs $58 Billion
  - 1987 – Economy-Wide cost of compliance costs $78.7 Billion
  - 1993/94 – Economy-Wide cost of compliance costs $85.7 Billion
  - 1995/96 – Economy-Wide cost of compliance costs $83.4 Billion
  - From 1988 40% to a forecast of 47.2% in 1998, Regulatory costs of compliance increased.

According to the Canadian Federal Budget for Fiscal Year 1973-1974 as presented by Minister of Finance John Turner in the House of Commons on 19 February, 1973 Total Revenue was $22.997 Billion, Total Expenditures $25.208 Billion. With a deficit of $2.211 Billion. If the cost of compliance for federal regulation was $58 Billion, the entire Canadian Budget could have been funded twice without deficit spending, with funds left over. Tell me, what exactly is the number of “significant” for the cost of government? ?u=http2.bp.blogspot.com-BKwWSo412lIUngTRkmSYwIAAAAAAAARd8GqxDhvovmRgs1600salestaxcartoon.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Now, wait a minute, you say, this is just a single year. I could be gerrymandering and cherry-picking my data to make a point. I haven’t listed a point yet. But you’re correct. Let’s run another year just to see what else is out there.

According to the Canadian Federal Budget for Fiscal Year 1987-1988 as presented by Minister of Finance Michael Wilson in the House of Commons on 18 February, 1987 Total Revenue was $97.215 Billion, Total Expenditures $126.232 Billion. With a deficit of $29.017 Billion, the cost of regulation in that year alone was $78.7 Billion. Firstly, that is a lot of deficit spending in a little over a decade. Secondly, that is a lot of growth in government regulation costs in the same period. Thirdly, one is left to ask using historical records why both the cost of government and the deficit spending went up so significantly during the same period. Working Dollar

According to the academics, the answer is a little dry, “extreme forms of rhetorical hyperbole.” A simpler version of the answer is this, the politicians in power are staying in control by scaring the hell out of the electorate using extreme cases, fear-mongering, and the media to hype fear! But, don’t believe me, do not take my word for this at all. Watch the news, go backward using YouTube, watch the news, and look for the latest “Boogeyman.” In the 1980s, the boogeyman was the USSR. In the 1990s, the boogeyman changed, morphed, and all but disappeared, becoming local crime issues. 2000 began, and we had corporations become the boogeyman. Then 9/11 hit, and terrorism became the watchword. Then we had the southern border and wars, and then we had big tech, big pharma; fast forward to 2020, and we have COVID, the unvaccinated, and the list goes on. Rhetorical hyperbole in the extreme, drumming fear as the only constant 24/7/365 as the only reporting done by the “media.”

All the while, what is happening in government? What is the current cost of government regulation? Canada conveniently, like many other governments post-2000, hides their costs of regulation in hundred of pages of marketing materials and calls this a “plan,” a “budget,” and a “roadmap.” Finding simple facts like how much federal regulation costs my family and me into an arduous task. However, if you can decipher all the lines and arrive at an answer, feel free to leave it in the comments below. Apathy

The point is, the information is not accessible, transparent, or quickly locatable, even though you pay for the government to report this information to you. A perfect example of authoritarian audacity, and it is rampant in every single government across the globe. Hey United Kingdom, they say the Internal Revenue Service in the United States is bad at reporting financial data to taxpayers; you have the US beat! However, France and Italy have you beat! But China and Cuba have you guys beat except for Venezuela and Brazil. Canada and Australia are dark horses somewhere in this race; Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, and many more are on the list somewhere. The only easy place to find data is Switzerland and Iceland, and even there you still have to swim upstream against marketing and government bureaucratese!

Knowledge Check! Taxpayers, the point is simple, you are paying to be hoodwinked. You are paying to be lied to, manipulated, robbed, cheated, and left holding a bag full of blank checks and IOUs by the government officers elected, born into office, and who stole their way into power in your countries. The bills do not go away when governments fall; ask Russia how they are doing with the USSR’s bills and problems. Ask Venezuela how they are coping with the loss of their country and the accounts from their failed government.

Deficit spending countries, Canada, US, UK, Ireland, Spain, Greece, etc., you might want to pay a little attention here, cause when your economy finally fails, the bills come due, and who pays then? Not the politicians who wrote the blank checks. Not the special interests who benefited from the governments they sucked the money from. Certainly not the Hollywood stars and media elites who consider themselves above everyone else. The citizens pay, and they pay in blood, they pay in sweat equity, and they pay in treasury long after the principal and interest have compounded, and the debt creators have turned into worm fodder. Lemmings 1

Regulatory costs are always significant and exorbitant in time and treasure long after the wage earner is paid for being the putz that hinders and represents the government your taxpaying dollars support. Regulatory costs are never free! Regulatory costs are always triple, if not more, in dollars and cents than what a legislator thinks they will be. For example, when Obamacare was priced as costing $10 Trillion, the smart taxpayer tripled the cost before considering anything else about the legislation. The same is true for every other piece of legislation from the school board and the mayor’s office through the governor’s office to the federal level. Every price tag should be tripled before consideration simply because the various accounting offices always downplay the numbers as a human failing.

But you have got to be joking. Government cannot possibly cost that much money. Let’s test that theory, using the United States, 1996 dollars, and Social Regulation for FY 1997 as reported by the OMB under Executive Order 12291 and 12866 from the following link.

?u=http3.bp.blogspot.com-CIl2VSm-mmgTZ0wMvH5UGIAAAAAAAAB20QA9_IiyVhYss1600showme_board3.jpg&f=1&nofb=1 Total social regulation costs for 1997 were $198 billion. Please note that this total does not include costs of regulations that totaled less than $100 million or regulations from independent agencies. There is a possibility that some agencies might have underestimated the costs of their rules. Thus, the $198 Billion is a guess, and the end total is probably much higher. Moreover, the estimate of $198 Billion is based upon educated guesswork performed and accepted by academics, legislation, and other banking regulations. Not included in the costs of regulation are the simple transfer costs of money inside the banking system itself, as these are not considered as costs of regulation.

Did you catch that; certain costs are not considered because Congress allows them to be not considered. Thus, Congress can lie about regulation costs, fees, taxes, and other monetary adjustments. The only person who ever is accountable is the taxpayer left holding the statement for deficit spending. Then the agencies have the audacity to need specially trained personnel to fill out paperwork to meet obscure fraud and deception laws and charge these costs back to the taxpayer as costs other than costs for regulation. Best of all, tax paperwork is not considered a cost to regulation; paying taxes is not a regulatory cost. Why not; taxes cost businesses to operate and cannot be changed into different categories?

Tax Burden The point is elementary; those who think they have power, bureaucrats in government employ, consider themselves authoritarians. These authoritarians have presumed to possess the audacity to control how they spend your money because their bosses have allowed them leniency through laziness and disinterest. Through a lack of scrutiny, the bureaucrat has become fat on power and must be placed upon a diet if a government “of the people, by the people, and for the people” is to survive. Are you more aware of the problem? What will you do today and tomorrow to help fix the problem?

Do We Understand?

Bobblehead Doll One of my closely held beliefs is that we will be held accountable for the heritage left us by those who have fought and bled, and came before us. When I see the farrago that has become Afghanistan, the ineptitude of Vietnamese legacy, the current condition of the White House, politics in America, and the politicians refusing their jobs. I am always left asking, “What will our forefathers say?” With hundreds, possibly thousands of Americans abandoned in Afghanistan by the sitting US President, a complicit Congress, and the spineless Joint Chiefs of Staff, I cannot help but wonder what the President Generals of the United States will say to these people.

Before we hear from the US President’s, let us first clear our minds with the following from Mark Twain.

“The statesmen will invent cheap lies, blaming the nation that is attacked, and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities, and will diligently study them, and refuse to examine any refutations of them; and thus he will by and by convince himself the war is just and will thank God for the better sleep he enjoys after this process of grotesque self-deception.”

The fraudulent president, Joey, and his Joint Chiefs are in this position right now. They are deceived, they deceived themselves, and if America is not careful, their self-deception will mean enemies on Main Street. No hyperbole, no scaremongering, no warmongering; simply truth simply stated. Joey and his Joint Chiefs are blaming America for being in Afghanistan for too long, and the chaos in leaving is America’s fault. Their self-deception should not be our problem, our lie, or our “conscience-soothing falsity.” Angry Grizzly Bear

President (Colonel) Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt has the next word, and he declares and details our problem precisely:

“Political parties exist to secure responsible government and to execute the will of the people. From these great tasks, both of the old parties have turned aside. Instead of instruments to promote the general welfare, they have become the tools of corrupt interests which use them impartially to serve their selfish purposes. Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government, owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people. To destroy this invisible government, to dissolve the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of the day” [emphasis mine].

Do we understand the problem? Are we clear about the issues facing our nation? Is the mission clear? The current crop of politicians have purposefully turned from their roles, like dogs to their vomit, and refused the people who elected them for personal power and individual success. Well, what do you do when you catch your dog rolling in its vomit? What do you do when you find a toddler crayoning the walls after telling them no? Will the adults in the room, please stand? You are needed! photo_slideshow_max

President (Lieutenant) John F. Kennedy provides a caution pertinent to this discussion, and a word of timely caution is worth gold and silver to those who heed and follow its counsel:

“The very word ‘secrecy’ is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths, and secret proceedings. We decided long ago that the dangers of excessive and unwarranted concealment of pertinent facts far outweighed the dangers which are cited to justify it. Even today, there is little value in opposing the threat of a closed society by imitating its arbitrary restrictions. Even today, there is little value in ensuring our nation’s survival if our traditions do not survive with it. And there is a very grave danger that an announced need for increased security will be seized upon by those anxious to expand its meaning to the very limits of official censorship and concealment. That I do not intend to permit to the extent that it is in my control. …
For we are opposed worldwide by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy that relies primarily on covert means for expanding its sphere of influence–on infiltration instead of invasion, subversion instead of elections, intimidation instead of free choice, and on guerrillas by night instead of armies by day. It is a system that has conscripted vast human and material resources into building a tightly knit, highly efficient machine that combines military, diplomatic, intelligence, economic, scientific, and political operations. Its preparations are concealed, not published. Its mistakes are buried, not headlined. Its dissenters are silenced, not praised. No expenditure is questioned, no rumor is printed, no secret is revealed” [emphasis mine].

There are lots of questions about who has been pulling Joey’s strings. Who is president right now, as senile Joe is not in charge, Kamala is not in attendance, and Pelosi is silent and retiring shortly. The Afghanistan farrago is humiliating, devastating, and despicable; yet, none of the politicians are willing to be publicly outspoken, convening investigations and using their powers to lead and rescue Americans. Why? Congress has the War Powers Act; they can act independently of the US President and demand that the US Military enter Afghanistan, rescue US Passport holders, and destroy American hardware, munitions, and other war materials. Congress could depose the US President legally, through impeachment proceedings, and install a new president. Yet, nothing is happening. Why? Plato 2

President (General) George Washington provides guidance, counsel, and direction worthy of consideration in the following panacea of quotes:

- “The power under the Constitution will always be in the people. It is entrusted for certain defined purposes, and for a certain limited period, to representatives of their own choosing; and whenever it is executed contrary to their interest, or not agreeable to their wishes, their servants can, and undoubtedly will, be recalled.” … “Be Americans. Let there be no sectionalism, no North, South, East, or West. You are all dependent on one another and should be one in union. In one word, be a nation. Be Americans, and be true to yourselves.”
- “Religion and morality are the essential pillars of civil society.” … “It is impossible to govern the world without God. It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the Providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits and humbly implore his protection and favor.”

Herein is a call to action, from a general mustering both his troops and citizenry, calling all able-bodied people to learn two great truths. First, we are the owners of government and hold the reigns of power. Second, we cannot make the changes needed without the help of almighty God, regardless of the name we call Him. For too long, we have been divided on the first and not allowed to perform the second, and it is time to end the power that divides and separates. The Duty of Americans

While not a military president, his cunning mind is a powerhouse of wisdom that provides essential ideas and insight, and I am pleased to quote President John Adams. Again we find a panacea of quotes:

- “Every problem is an opportunity in disguise.” … “It should be your care, therefore, and mine, to elevate the minds of our children and exalt their courage; to accelerate and animate their industry and activity; to excite in them a habitual contempt of meanness, abhorrence of injustice and inhumanity, and an ambition to excel in every capacity, faculty, and virtue. If we suffer their minds to grovel and creep in infancy, they will grovel all their lives.”
- “Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.”

Are we allowing the suicide of the American Republic through the groveling in the infancy of our children’s minds? Look at K-12 education and how ideas from the late 1800s and early 1900s continue to shape your child’s classroom experiences — producing functionally illiterate products at state-run schools, abusing your child of their God-given potential, and robbing them of a lifetime of learning through labels, invented science, and drugging them into submission. Angry Wet Chicken

Yet, President Adams is correct; the problem of K-12 education is an opportunity in disguise. The opportunity to learn is an individual one; it is an opportunity for the community to step in and demand the politicians go away; it is an opportunity for citizens to awake and arise and refuse the cruel gruel of oppression and require the fruit of liberty be fed to their children.

There are two pieces of wisdom passed to us from President Thomas Jefferson also apt for this discussion:

- “Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of Liberty.”
- “If you want something you’ve never had, you must be willing to do something you’ve never done.”

Knowledge Check! With these thoughts, we come to the brief conclusion of this article, but not the conclusion of the need for learning, teaching, and action. The destruction of America has progressed sufficiently that none of us now living have experienced the tempestuous sea of liberty due to the calm lakes of despotism that has overtaken our land. Desire something you have never had, real liberty, and let’s be willing to do everything we need to possess this gift for ourselves and pass something better to our children!

SCOTUS – The Abortion Decision: Awake Society!

I have written about abortion previously. I have discussed the problems with legislating from the bench and the societal issues when judges take powers unto themselves. Today, the media is in shock and awe over the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) making an abortion decision not to strike down a law in Texas. Would it shock and dismay anyone if I explained that SCOTUS still got the decision wrong? From the pen of Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, we find why the current SCOTUS got the latest decision wrong.

“The law is the witness and external deposit of our moral life. Its history is the history of the moral development of the race.” ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

“The ultimate good desired is better reached by free trade in ideas [and] the best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market.” ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

The history of abortion on demand is fraught with legislative attempts that were superseded by judicial activism. By judges acting to legislate from the bench and cram new moral authority into American law, without the consent of the governed, problems in governance arose. The most egregious problem is the dependence upon judges to solve legitimate legislative issues, and therein lay both the destruction and the solution to the current dilemmas of American society.

What are moral issues?

A person smoking is a moral issue, not a legal issue. Abortion is a moral issue, not a legal issue. Moral issues deal solely with how a person chooses to live their lives, regardless of how another person thinks they should live their lives. Drunk driving is a legal issue as it places other members of society in danger when an intoxicated person operates a vehicle impaired. But, drinking is a moral issue, provided that person is of social/legal age to drink. Is the distinction clear? Provided the exercise of a person’s moral choices does not interfere with another person’s ability to pursue life, liberty, and happiness. The moral decisions of the first individual do not become legal issues of the second person.

The feminists of the day wanted to control women’s bodies and control how often men had sex with women. This was part of a larger social trend to see women gain more rights and privileges in society, a moral issue. The feminists used friendly judges to chip away at the social fabric until they obtained a legal decision that allowed for abortion on demand. Fundamentally, the decisions of the feminists to exert control of mass populations of females was a violation of those females’ moral agency as many of them did not join the feminists’ associations before becoming influenced by the consequences of the decisions made in the name of females everywhere.

Social Change Needed

The separation of moral agency and legal rights is thin but distinct; unfortunately, the line has become blurred through social influencing, social media, and judicial activism. Society has fallen into helicopter parenting, and the courtroom has become both the parent and the potential gold mine. Find the right case, find a friendly judge, and take the current case to the media to inflame a population and try the case socially before the case is conducted legally. The other side barely stands a chance anymore. Even if you lose the case in court, you win socially, which changes minds and hearts, leading to more changes to laws, just a smaller payday.

As a kid, if you took a decision to a parent and the first one told you no. Then you went to another parent for a second opinion; how much trouble were you in? In my family, you got punished by both parents, twice the beating for the same decision. My buddy, his parents were getting a divorce; he used this tactic to the fullest all the time as a weapon against his parents, as his parents used him (only child) as a weapon against each other. Only later did I fully appreciate the horror and tragedy my buddy was in during this time in his life. Worse, it has only been in the last couple of decades that I have realized how terrible this lesson has been for all of American society and what it has done to our courts and legal system.

The Opportunity

Freedom means being responsible for our own actions and their consequences. Our moral agency allows us the power to act and puts us in the driver’s seat to control our choices in our lives. But, we do not get to pick the consequences, when the consequences land, or the severity of the consequences. We can only control what we do with our choices. I prefer to have unfettered freedom than nanny-state control. Who controls the government in a nanny-state? Honestly, look to Cuba, China, Venezuela, the USSR, and ask who controls the nanny-state, as they strive to control every aspect of you?

In representative governments, we, the people, are responsible and control the government. We cannot abdicate this responsibility, and the government cannot seize power without our consent. Herein lays our golden ticket to the chocolate factory; their bounds are set, ours are not! The government can only go as far as we declare they can. After leaving American citizens to the ravages of the Taliban in Afghanistan, polluting our shores with an unsecured southern border, and all the other crises we are dealing with, it is time we started restricting the government of consent.

SCOTUS’ decision was still wrong because they should never have issued a decision in the first place. The decision SCOTUS should have given should have been a single sentence, “Abortion is a moral issue, not a legal issue, and we are removing the courts from this issue and returning it to the legislative bodies of the United States for further decisioning.” With that single sentence, all legal proceedings, legal determinations, and laws on abortion would have been halted, awaiting a legislative determination. Then, and only then, would a great injustice have been legally righted in America and the 50 individual states’ legislative bodies being empowered to choose as their citizens saw fit.

SCOTUS could then do the same for same-sex marriage and every other moral issue they have legislated from the bench over the last 200 years. This leads to a dramatic change in and correction of the judicial branch and honoring the legislative and executive branches of government. When judicial activism ends, people understand that liberty is more precious than gold and silver and then live their lives according to the dictates of their own consciousness, leaving others to do likewise. Our opportunity is to return to this manner of legal system, seize this golden ticket and return to sanity in freedom!

The Law and Ideas

Several days back, I came across some incredible quotes from Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. that started me thinking on several topics. I beg your attention as we discuss the fundamental truths of the following two quotes:

“The law is the witness and external deposit of our moral life. Its history is the history of the moral development of the race.” ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

I am not here to debate the law. However, in discussing these two quotes, predominantly since they originate from a Supreme Court Justice of the United States of America, we will discuss aspects of the law. The same goes for religion and philosophy; it is necessary to discuss aspects of both religion and philosophy to discuss the law. However, I am not here to debate either religion or philosophy.

The Law and Social Morals

2015, in a decision that shocked the American Nation, the Supreme Court decided Obergefell v. Hodges and same-sex marriage stopped being a state right’s issue and became a Federal issue, even though the Federal Government does not issue marriage licenses. Using the two quotes above, we find the truth of both in the actions of the court. The court decided that the Federal Government needed to “step into” a state’s right issue to prevent a kaleidoscope of legal decisions across the entire 50- and American Territories.

What is wrong with 50-different states exerting their rights? The SCOTUS decision states the following, “equal dignity in the eyes of the law.” Apparently, SCOTUS forgot to read and understand decisions from previous justices who faced a similar moral issue.

“I have no respect for the passion of equality, which seems to me merely idealizing envy – I don’t disparage envy, but I don’t accept it as legitimately my master.” ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

Same-sex marriage was all about envy, not rights, not liberties, not freedoms, envy! Envy couched in the language of “equality.” Love, devotion, sacrifice, family, all of it was smoke-screens and mirrors to hide envy. Those who engage in bedroom practices that were not in the mainstream wanted their relationship to be a “marriage.” With all the state and civil granted benefits involved. The simple solution to this moral dilemma was to remove the government’s self-appointed authority to regulate marriage. The day the state and local governments decided to regulate marriage was when citizens lost fundamental rights to keep the government out of their business. One of the most significant privacy abuses in the world occurs every time the government forces a couple to register (license) a marriage.

Worse, the government forces you to pay a tax to get married. By paying a licensing fee, the government taxes marriages, invades your privacy, and in doing so, provides you the ability to pay for the privilege of inviting the government into your bedroom. The moral development of the law to govern society hinges upon justices not legislating from the bench, judges who refuse judicial activism because the elected representatives of the government are moving too slow on an issue, and judges who remain dedicated to the limits of the law. Yet, the exact opposite has been allowed to occur by the elected representatives who abdicate their roles to the judicial branch, who refuse their duties as a co-equal branch of the government, and people who use the law for selfish ends and means.

What is more precious to you, government benefits, granted by the courts and purchased from taxpayers in another area, or privacy, freedom, and liberty? How you answer this question should be revealing to you and a reminder of your obligations as a legal citizen of these United States of America, a free Republic (if we can keep it). Freedom has a cost; the cost involves being involved in elections, voting smarter, watching and scrutinizing those elected, and monitoring the actions of judges and lawyers.

Privacy and Freedom – The Law and Ideas

From the US Bill of Rights and US Constitution as amended, we find that America’s founding fathers wanted an individual’s privacy held sacrosanct in American Law. Unfortunately, what do we see in the laws of America the exact opposite?

- - - Amendment I
      (Privacy of Beliefs)
      Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the government for a redress of grievances.
    - Amendment III
      (Privacy of the Home)
      No Soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.
    - Amendment IV
      (Privacy of the Person and Possessions)
      The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
    - Amendment IX
      (More General Protection for Privacy?)
      The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
    - Liberty Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment
      No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

One might ask, where is the marketplace for ideas. The answer begins inside the walls of your own home. Except, if you enter your thoughts on social media, the Department of Internal Revenue Service has empowered your employer to withhold employment to express your thoughts inside your own home or on your social media accounts. Worse, the government calls this a privilege of employment and a cost of doing business in a technological age. Hence the first two places where ideas are testing truth, and competing for market share, are social media and your home.

Where else would one expect to have the freedom to share ideas? Employment and religion are two other places where the government regulates and restricts ideas. How many churches faced IRS sanctions for allowing political speech inside their walls, every single one! What about employers; they limit the sharing of ideas on a host of topics under the language of diversity, inclusion, and risk. Due to fear from the potential of people to become violent, the insurance companies and IRS allow your liberties, privacy, and constitutional rights to be curtailed, culled, and clipped as an excuse to protect your safety at work.

As a final thought, consider the following:

“For my part, I think it is a less evil that some criminals should escape than that the government should play an ignoble part.” ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

Playing an ignoble part in the confiscation, curtail, and culling of rights, liberties, and freedoms, has been the improper role of government since President Wilson (D). He was allowed to do what he did by a complicit Congress and the K-12 educations of the populace. The reason functional illiteracy is so rampant, the government in the 1860s approved Dewey’s ideas to make students dumber, purposefully, to ensure the government could steal power unconstitutionally. By the end of the 1940s, the coup was complete, and you became the property of government to be used and abused as the government desired. Some Sunday thoughts to begin your next week with; unfortunately, the ideas must lead to action if America is to be saved!

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