Tag: Morals

Serial Betrayal – More Government Attacks Against Citizens

Angry Wet ChickenGovernment laws, rules, regulations, and the tyrannical thumb of bureaucrats upon the scale of justice mean citizens lose, not gain, freedoms.  Consider the oppression created by the European Union to “protect” wine industries but, in so doing, eradicated competition and locked-in prices to which the government takes through taxes, tariffs, and trade.  The cost, though, is to stop the majority of innovation, the role of technology, and the promotion of class warfare.

For example, in reviewing the history of wine, there are several events where a member of the royalty got into a particular product, and the upper classes adopted the same tastes, regardless of costs, and to the detriment of all citizens.  Tea, Port wine, Champagne, and so many other products through history repeat this process, and the government is used to protect the product, to the detriment and cost of all citizens.  Consider this for a moment; similar tactics would be considered protectionist, monopolistic, and highly illegal in any other industry.  Yet, because the government takes these actions, they are allowed to bend the rules, act in a manner disrupting all citizens, and worse, betray the foundational anchors of a society to trust their government.  When trust in government is destroyed, the government has no moral standing to represent its citizens.  Few understand this is a precious commodity, and even fewer, especially in government, will admit to honoring it.This we'll defend. | Defender, Army mom, American flag

A few examples are required to help drive home this truth; please note those specifically named politicians represent the problem, not the only people betraying and using government jargon and bureaucrats to hide and obfuscate the citizenry.  Ridding the body politic of these examples is a small step in the right direction, but the bureaucrats are the primary source of power; thus, reducing the size of government is the answer, not merely replacing the elected heads abusing their office for personal gain and political power.

Senator Mitt Romney finds himself on top of this list of characters not deserving of his office, and who, with his family, should be as investigated as Biden and Clinton.  Sen. Romney recently changed his mind about SCOTUS Nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson.  Because of a supposedly in-depth discussion, the senator now considers the nominee “mainstream.”  Senator, what does “mainstream” mean?  Why should a judge be “mainstream?”  Finally, which stream is “mainstream?”

I have made my mind up on this disastrous nominee based solely upon her non-qualification for a judicial appointment, let alone the ability to sit on the “Court of last resort.”  Her judicial activism, her refusal to use logic and common sense in her decisions, her flaccid legal mind, and her disastrous leaning toward pro-child pornography are just a few reasons she should NEVER sit on the Supreme Court of this the United States of America.  Good senator, your Yahoo! News article fluff piece does nothing to explain why you changed your mind.  If Judge Jackson was not qualified for a district judgeship, what has changed in the last few weeks to change your mind?  I smell serial betrayal of the citizenry and more mealy-mouthed yellow spinelessness that cost you the US Presidency!

Three state governors also help to elucidate the principle of serial betrayal and deserve removal (in shame) from public office and a transparent investigation.  New Mexico, Utah, and Michigan, your governors Michelle Lujan Grisham, Spencer J. Cox, and Gretchen Whitmer, respectively, are serial betrayers worthy of Benedict Arnold, Doña Marina, or Brutus.  Consider their actions, not their words, and you will find innumerable betrayals made for personal power, political gain, and the demonization of the citizens for the promotion of those who consider themselves elite.  From mask-wearing, mask mandates, government brutality against citizens, and the passing of laws to the destruction of the citizenry, these governors do not deserve janitor’s office, let alone commander-in-chief.

Under the rule of Grisham and through a disastrous legislature, New Mexico became what is termed an“Adult-use Cannabis” state, which means that for recreational use, cannabis can be sold and consumed by adults.  In a state teeming with homelessness, poverty, and already suffering from drug and alcohol abuse problems rampant in the citizenry, the legislature, cheered on by the governor, began to sell cannabis.  The excuse sold to the people, “The state needs to expand its revenue base.”  How does selling an addictive substance to a citizenry already near collapse from the weight of homelessness, illegal immigration, and government regulation improve the tax base?  Simple question, never asked by the cheering media nor answered by the betraying elected leaders proposing another sale of an addictive and harmful substance.Ziad K. Abdelnour Quote: "Trust is earned, respect is given, and loyalty is demonstrated ...

Governor Cox ruled that when the Utah Jazz began awarding scholarships based on race qualifications, as not racist, his colors were evident as a betrayer in deed, not merely by word.  Worse, look to the wording of his first action as governor, what is known as the Utah Compact on Racial Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion: A Declaration on Five Principles and Actions to Create Equal Opportunity.  First, we need to clarify that nothing in this declaration was needed as existing laws are regularly enforced already on the books.  Yet, this new declaration adds some pretty ambiguous wording that is not clarified and will make judicial activism worse, not better.  Leading to the first question, why was this signed into law by the governor who is expected to lead a state?

What does “economic inclusion” mean, and why should all Utahns or any citizens in a direct representative government agree this wording is essential?  What is a “racially equitable state?”  Utah and every other state in America’s union are already racially equitable, only made inequitable by the bureaucrats enforcing the government’s wishes.  Consider the housing projects created by the federal government, supported by state governments, where race is inequitable by design.  Tell me why the government doesn’t just end the housing programs and the racial division they created to have a class of people always ready to riot?25 Quotes on Friendship, Trust, Love and Betrayal

What are “cultures of inclusion?”  The US Constitution already declares in words of soberness, “All men are created equal.”  The Utah State Constitution declares in Section 1 the following:

“All men have the inherent and inalienable right to enjoy and defend their lives and liberties; to acquire, possess, and protect property; to worship according to the dictates of their consciences; to assemble peaceably, protest against wrongs, and petition for redress of grievances; to communicate freely their thoughts and opinions, being responsible for the abuse of that right.”

As a point of fact, Section four of the Utah State Constitution remains an even more powerful declaration, more easily understood, supporting equal rights, where equal rights promote a society of inclusion, where cultures of inclusion are grown and sustained.

Further in the declaration on racial equity, diversity, and inclusion, we find another phrase with no meaning and lots of availability for abuse, “… equal opportunity and access to education, employment, housing, and healthcare.”  The recent COVID-Farrago saw healthcare limited based upon race, and Governor Cox did nothing!  The recent COVID-Government sponsored pandemic also saw employment and housing decisions influenced unequally, opportunities to pursue life, liberty, and happiness were restricted, and Governors Cox, Grisham, and Whitmer were leading the pack in cheering and advancing unequal treatment under the law.  Why?  Why is equality something to be turned on and off based upon skin color, obeisance to government mandates, and the cudgel of government used against citizens who have the right to be left alone?Betrayal Sayings and Quotes ~ Best Quotes and Sayings

In reading the five actions you have committed Utahans to follow, Governor Cox, I am left in a mental swamp equivalent to the Okefenokee Swamp.  Racism in America, especially in Utah, only exists because the government is building a disgruntled class of people who can be depended upon to riot explosively anytime their government benefits are threatened.  This is not equality and does not promote life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, but you have insisted that all Utahans are racist by default.  I OBJECT!

Action item two declares the need to invest more in creating the perpetually aggrieved class.  More welfare, not less, breeds more discouragement, anger, and racial inequity.  Since the government has created racial problems and supports racial inequality through government action, why do we not reduce government to improve racial justice and inclusion?  The remaining action items do nothing to advance anything but more government top-down actions, which further promote racism as a government action!10 True Quotes About Being Betrayed

30 April 2020, the Michigan State Supreme Court stripped Governor Whitmer of her legal basis of powers for violating the citizen’s rights to representative government.  Yet, Gov. Whitmer was able to continue to abuse, despise, and detest through government actions the rights, liberties, and lives of Michigan’s electorate for the entirety of the government-mandated COVID-Pandemic.  Is there any more glaring example of treason and betrayal by an elected official, let alone a sitting governor, on a massive power grab?  Newsom and Cuomo cannot pale the hubris of this governor, Gov. Whitmer; you deserve to be named beside Benedict Arnold, Doña Marina, or Brutus as the greatest betrayers and traitors in history.

Serial betrayal of the electorate appears to be a game; how much can a politician get away with, remain in power, and be considered honorable?  Hollywood got something right in the Pirates of the Caribbean” movies when Captain Jack Sparrow said, “The deepest circle of hell is reserved for betrayers and mutineers.”  I believe in the rule of law and so wish you your day in court, in front of a jury of your peers, where justice may be served.  I am not your judge, juror, or executioner.  I am a concerned citizen who is fed up with the gamesmanship of politics!

Knowledge Check!America is a Constitutional Republic, a democracy, and a direct representative style of government; thus, I ask, who are you representing?  The demographics of Utah reflect that the governor is not representing the majority of his constituents.  The demographics of New Mexico and Michigan are similar but also reflect that the constituents are not being represented by the governments and governors currently executing the offices held.  On the mayoral level, too many mayors are learning how to deceive, mimic despicableness, and manipulate the media to play the games and achieve elected offices beyond their maximum level of incompetence.  Why is this happening, the gamesmanship of politicians?  The bureaucrats consider themselves to possess lifelong employment in a cushy and “influential” office; they have lists of media heads to call and whisper to and lists of donors and influential people schmooze.

The answer to solving these problems is a more informed electorate and smaller government!

© 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.

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Economic Warfare – Your Liberty, Rights, Freedoms are at Risk!

Bobblehead DollMany pundits have made the following statement, in one form or another, driving a car is the ultimate expression of freedom in America.  Yet, your freedom to drive a vehicle is endangered by the political left and the neo-socialists who want to steal and destroy your freedoms.  Mention economics, and most people’s eyes gloss over, brains disconnect, and they hope the pain will end shortly.  Please, fight this impulse.  I will attempt to make a highly complex topic simple and easily understood.  While I might not get all the specific details correct, I aim to communicate economics to a general audience that is free and empowered to further research the topics for themselves.  My links are reflected in the article for more information.

What is Money?

Money was discussed in a previous article and found here.  In simple terms, money is the tool used to transfer goods from one entity to another, showing a legal purchase was made to change ownership, hence opening the first crucial role of money, legally transferring ownership of goods and services from one person to another.  Unfortunately, legal ownership transference is where the government exercises its first controls, regulating cross-border commerce.  When the government went on a growth spurt in the 1930s, ballooning into the behemoth, we have right now, the government used the excuse of maintaining cross-border commerce to steal products grown by farmers, regulate prices, and set up means and methods to ensure the government was the only winner.TOP 25 QUOTES BY JOAN ROBINSON (of 54) | A-Z Quotes

The 1930 legal battles that wound up in the United States Supreme Court over price controls saw the citizen’s first attempt to reign in the government and failed miserably.  Worse, these first moves by the citizen were the first exchanges in an economic war that has raged ever since—money stores value.  Think of the money found when you do laundry.  You have no idea how long that money was lost, but the value of the money has not changed, you presume, and you celebrate finding the money.  Except, the value of that money has changed through inflation, and the government’s hidden tax (inflation) has robbed you of value.

Let’s say you found $20 in the laundry.  When you first lost that $20 bill, it had more value, e.g., you could purchase more with that money than you can now.  Sure, the value printed on the money still has $20 worth of goods or services, but the cost of those goods and services went up, restricting your ability to purchase.  Hence the economic warfare being waged by your government.  The government essentially said we would not worry about inflation.  Meaning they will devalue the money you hold for their own political purposes.Steve Keen Quote: "Economics is too important to leave to the economists." (12 wallpapers ...

An idea was floated by an economically challenged person to print a $5 trillion bill and use this to pay off the Chinese debt.  The problem is the devaluation of the money printed will capsize American citizens due to the hidden taxes of inflation.  Making that $5 trillion bill or bills would devalue the dollar and crash the American economy.  The stored value in the printed bill would not stand up to and be accepted, as a medium of stored value sufficient to pay the debts incurred.  Is the problem more clear; when money is printed, each dollar, pound, euro, etc., devalues the stored purchasing power of the money you currently hold in hand.Economics Funny Quotes. QuotesGram

Stored value is the second tool for waging economic warfare by the government against its citizens.  Consider all the money printed to pay for the supposed Coronavirus Tax Relief and Economic Impact Payments the world’s governments made to their citizens.  If you had $100,000 in savings when these monies were printed, your savings were devalued by the inflation rate, which is currently at a 40-year high in America.  The government is reporting inflation at 7.9%, so your $100,000 in savings lost the equivalent of $7900.  But, the government does not ever report inflation at the actual level, and the actual level of inflation is ranged between 8% and 45% depending upon the purpose or product you are trying to purchase.  Meaning your $100,000 could have a value of $92,000 to $55,000 in real value.  A hefty tax indeed!

Stored value, the number printed on different bill faces of currency, is static.  The actual value, e.g., the number of goods and services purchasable, is not fixed, and the government allows an annual inflation rate of 2% as “normal and acceptable.”  Thus, your $1 will have a purchasing power of $0.98, which is compounded year-over-year.  Thus, over a decade, that 2% inflation rate is now reducing your $1 to $0.80.  Multiply that for the $100,000 and a decade of saving, receiving interest that does not equal inflation to compensate means your money in your savings account has lost $20,000, just from the government allowing inflation at 2% annual growth.  Let’s say your bank is generous for savings account holders and provides a published interest rate of 3%, subtract the inflation taxes of 2%, and you are only earning 1% interest on your money.  Is this the bank’s fault or the government’s?Amartya Sen quote: Economic growth without investment in human development is unsustainable...

Do you see how the government is robbing you through economics?  Your 5% raise is only 3% once the inflation devaluation has been factored into your budget.  Play the lottery; the taxes alone might kill you, but the devaluation of the money reduces the actual purchasing power of your winnings.  If you do not understand the economic warfare being waged against you by your government, you will lose more than you ever gained in winning the lottery.  Yet another reason why lotteries are a tax on stupid people, for even when you win, you lose!

Cash has another problem beyond inflation, money supply.  The money supply is the technical term for ensuring banks can replace worn-out, ripped, and damaged money.  Money supply plays a role in how much money your local store has on hand to provide change and cashback to customers.  For employers who pay employees in cash, the money supply is a significant problem with extremely high costs.  The government regulates those costs and passes them onto consumers through banks and lending institutions.  Are you struggling to get a loan; this is another by-product of money supply woes.  Paying higher fees to change money to another currency for your trip is another money supply product.  Money supply remains another weapon of the government to affect economic warfare, and many people do not understand this principle, making the government’s policies more effective.Mahatma Gandhi quote: Economics that hurt the moral well-being of an individual or...

Have you noticed the decline in the availability of $10 dollar bills?  I asked for two $10.00 bills when I broke a $20.00 at a Walmart recently, I was denied because Walmart has instituted a policy to only accept $10.00 bills, not give them.  Albertson’s, Staples, the in-store bank in Walmart, and the local credit union, all have a similar policy.  What is the government doing forcing a reduction in $10.00 bills in circulation?  In researching this single policy, I can find no written information on this issue; yet the evidence is clear, there is a manual currency reduction in process and the government needs to explain why.

Before 1980, the basic money supply was measured as the sum of currency in circulation, e.g., cash, traveler’s checks, and checkable deposits.  Currency serves the medium-of-exchange function but denies people any interest earnings.  However, as discussed, interest earnings are not all they are cracked up to be due to inflation.  Cash under a mattress, lost in pockets of clothes, stuck in a book in your library is black money; it is as dead as yesterday’s fish and constantly devalued by inflation.  The money supply tries to regulate the cash on hand to lend as a tool to protect your money from inflation.  Except, the government constantly allows a 2% inflation rate, negating a lot of savings accounts and other interest-earning propositions.

Want a new car, consolidate your credit card debt, or try to buy a house; all of these loan products are an extension of the money supply and the regulation of money supply by the government.  Important to note that your credit cards and bank-issued or employer-issued debit cards are not affected by the money supply, and this is another reason why credit cards and debit cards are so dangerous.  These tools are agreements between you and the issuer, where money is transferred when the tool is used, and the consumer is responsible for all the fees the government insists upon to help pay for the money supply.Economy has frequently nothing whatever to... - Quote

Conclusion

In waging economic warfare, it remains imperative to know about economics, identifying what money is, its role, and the fiduciary controls the government exerts to attack its citizens.  Some may call my language inflammatory, but tell me, do the inflationary costs right now not feel like your taxes have skyrocketed?  Inflation is a hidden tax, a tax fully controlled by the government, and the value of your money decreases yearly because the government says 2% inflation is acceptable.  Who made this decision, an unconstitutional entity called the Federal Reserve Bank.  Since its inception, Congress has tried to obtain transparency and accountability from the Federal Reserve Bank to no avail.  Do you understand why I take umbrage with the Federal Reserve Bank?LIC

The governors of the Federal Reserve Bank decided your money could be taxed at 2% inflation annually as a normal condition of doing business.  These people set the interest rates you pay for your credit cards and are not paid for your savings accounts.  Looking into the history of interest rates since 1900, there is always volatility; the Federal Reserve’s actions have since the 1980s to not allow savings rates over 5%.  When adjusted for inflation, that’s a 3% interest rate for those trying to save money.  What does this mean; fewer people are saving money.  Look where those trying to beat the 3% have invested their money, the stock market, where volatility is a minute-to-minute occurrence, higher risks against less interest, where your money remains subject to taxes, fees hiding other taxes, government fingers, and inflation.

Your government did that to wage economic warfare against you, to empower them to steal your rights, freedoms, and liberties.  There is no other way to describe what is happening globally in all governments.  China plays games with the value of its currency to power trade deficits.  This, in turn, changes prices and increases costs.  These actions are taken to “compete,” when in reality, the activities cover massive debt problems in China.  If the CCP cannot keep the tap turned wide open on trade deficits, their money supply drys up, and debts come due in a bankrupting tsunami!Milton Friedman: The Most Quotable Economist - Capitalism.com - Create the Change

The European Union has never been fiscally sound because the various members of the European Union are taking advantage of the productive members to cover the costs of the fiscally useless members.  France cannot survive as a country without the European Union’s largesse; Greece, Portugal, and several other countries are all in the same boat.  Their governments did this intentionally as political games to stay in power.  When these countries run out of other people’s money, they will be forced to change socially, and the tsunami of debt to the World Bank and other nations will not be pretty.

Knowledge Check!Economics drives these problems mainly due to the lack of knowledge of the lines of congruence between economics and the psychology of governing.  The enemies of freedom understand economics, and this is why these tools have been so successful in waging war and stealing freedom, rights, and liberties through monetary policy.  Until we, the rightful owners of government, understand what is happening, we will all be at the whims of our enemies.

© 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.

Iconoclasts – Know the Enemy!

?u=http3.bp.blogspot.com-CIl2VSm-mmgTZ0wMvH5UGIAAAAAAAAB20QA9_IiyVhYss1600showme_board3.jpg&f=1&nofb=1During 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!GRE Word of the Day — Iconoclast. Today's GRE Word of the Day is… | by Team Bootcamp | Team ...

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.https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b273af0aa6f49c0a4cf0ff28917a

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 50th 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.Plato 3

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.President Adams

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.Patriotism

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.

Knowledge Check!Iconoclasts can only be fought when we:

                        1. Stand together
                        2. Learn
                        3. Act in unity
                        4. 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!

© 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.

Wants vs. Needs – Problems vs. Inconvenience

?u=http2.bp.blogspot.com-BKwWSo412lIUngTRkmSYwIAAAAAAAARd8GqxDhvovmRgs1600salestaxcartoon.jpg&f=1&nofb=1I recently encountered a highly emotionally driven individual who claimed to have a problem but could not identify whether they were experiencing a problem or inconvenience.  This person wanted but could not identify a need.  The heaped emotional hyperbole only added fuel to the fires of hostility.  From this encounter, this article is born.

Wants

Wants are things we wish for, desire strongly, and do almost anything to acquire.  First-world nations generally want material things, and in many parts of the world, food is wished-for in sufficient quantity to silence the hunger pains and provide a good night’s sleep.  Is coffee a want or a need?

Needs

Needs are items that are necessary, indispensable, and required for survival.  Many people claim they need coffee in the morning to “start their day,” but the need is the caffeine, not the coffee.  Coffee is a want as the preferred method for obtaining caffeine.  Lacking coffee, is this a problem or inconvenience?

Problems

Problems cause difficulties, presenting a puzzle requiring solving, people who are difficult to deal with, and personal matters requiring action, not merely words, represent problems.  For example, lacking coffee, the problem becomes how do I obtain sufficient caffeine to begin my day—a problem requiring solving to feel empowered to act.  A want, masquerading as a need, presenting as a problem, is merely an inconvenience in truth.

Inconvenience

Inconvenience is rooted in the word inconvenient, and something inconvenient is merely an annoyance or a disruption in the normal routine.  Walking to the coffee pot and not finding sufficient grounds to make a cup of coffee is an inconvenience as it disrupts a plan.

A simple analogy, but adequate to the purpose of helping to identify the differences between each item under investigation.  Wants are desires embodied; not getting those wants is inconvenient; plotting for a way to obtain that which is desired presents a problem or a puzzle for solving but cannot ever elevate a want to a need.  Needs are more critical problems requiring solving; not obtaining a need is not inconvenient; it is imperative, which if not resolved always leads to a negative consequence.

Exclamation MarkFor example, the Daily Signal is reporting, sourced from the Media Research Center, that the ratio for censoring by big tech is 53 to 1 Republicans to Democrats.  Does this present a problem or an inconvenience?  Is less censorship a want for Republicans or more censorship a need for Democrats?  Some people will erroneously claim, “It depends upon which side of the political aisle you reside.”

Why is this an erroneous claim; for the simple fact that censorship is a denial of liberty and freedom.  When one person is denied their rights and freedoms for political gain, everyone loses all their freedoms and liberties.  The Second Amendment cannot stand with the First Amendment.  Theft of the First Amendment for one person is a roadmap to stealing the First Amendment rights of all people.  The Third and Fourth Amendments to the US Constitution fall apart by removing the First and Second Amendments.  The legal framework of the Rule of Law is forever destroyed when the US Bill of Rights can be controlled by political operators for personal or political gain.  The importance of understanding the interconnectedness of the Rule of Law with morals, values, and the social contract cannot be understated.

What is the Social Contract?

The social contract is an agreement that all capable people living together in a society form with each other, declaring they will abide by a specific set of behaviors, ideals, and shared beliefs codified into law, which undergirds the “social fabric” of a society.  The social contract of the United States of America is found in the US Constitution and the US Bill of Rights, the first amendments to the US Constitution.  By choosing to be labeled an American, we agree to honor the rights of all people to pursue life, liberty, and happiness, so long as their pursuit does not inhibit another person from pursuing the same.President Adams

We understand that the pursuits of life, liberty, and happiness are a path, a journey, not a destination, and not a guarantee.  We respect those who achieve and emulate them to reach the same potential destination.  We Americans possess hope, born of struggle, that we can achieve liberty and happiness fairly and realize the consequences are ours alone to enjoy or curse based upon our decisions individually.

Let me pause here; currently in K-12 education, witnessed in Detroit, Chicago, Baltimore, Los Angeles, Seattle, and many other locations, the public education system is intentionally abusing children.  Stealing their potential by refusing to teach them, and in so doing is raising generations of people who will struggle their entire lives in captivity and ignorance.  These actions by teachers, administrators, and elected political officials are intentional and stand in direct opposition to the social contract.  However, the children, and their parents, retain the ability to choose a different path, even if it means trying to learn how to read, write, and figure independent from the school abuse.  Individual agency to pursue life, liberty, and happiness is the first and quintessential aspect of being an American!

Here’s the rub…

Despite government intervention, the government arbitrarily picks for political gain and personal advancement (through cheating) those which achieve without effort, and Americans inherently despise this aspect of government.  Consider the vitriol thrown at Hunter Biden, who has achieved, lived beyond his means, and benefitted from his family’s political connections.  The Pelosi’s, Kennedy’s, Clinton’s, Obama’s, Romney’s, and so many others who have achieved, living off the backs of pioneers, but have not contributed, breaks the social contract.  Theft, lying, and breach of honor in America are crimes, but when the criminals escape justice, this breeds contempt, copy cats, and empowers others into chasing the same path to a modicum of success through devious and nefarious means—rendering the social contract impotent, sundering any hope of success without government intervention, and placing millions of Americans into captivity.quote-mans-inhumanity

Look at the disgust America has for Big Technology firms.  While these firms have achieved and pioneered success, they have turned monopolistic, oligarchical, and thwarted their competitors, all for personal gain.  How are these companies pursuing keeping their gains?  They are employing the government authority.  They are using mergers to acquire intellectual property to protect their revenues, abusing the power of law, all of which harms competition.  This also breaks the social contract, sundering the social fabric of America and destroying the pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness of others.

The want of power is breeding a need for correction in America by the oppressed.  Look at the rising feelings of freedom as expressed in the #FreedomConvoy.  Other examples include the protests against the interminable government mandates, the continued spreading of information deemed by the government, and Big Tech as “misinformation.”  Presenting us with a question is this a problem or inconvenience; the answer is PROBLEM!  This means there is a solution to the problem and a path to fix the rips in the social fabric and mend the social contract in America.

What is the solution?

With a nod to The Lorax and Dr. Seuss:

“I, the Once-ler, felt sad
as I watched them all go.
BUT…
business is business!
And business must grow
regardless of crummies in tummies, you know.

I meant no harm.  I most truly did not.
But I had to grow bigger.  So bigger I got.
I biggered my factory.  I biggered my roads.
I biggered my wagons.  I biggered the loads
of the Thneeds, I shipped out.  I was shipping them forth
to the South!  To the East!  To the West!  To the North!
I went right on biggering… selling more Thneeds.
And I biggered by money, which everyone needs.”

Return to the Rule of Law, smaller government, and stricter adherence to a moral code.  Some will claim, also erroneously, this is not the solution or is only a solution in a “perfect” “utopian” world.  However, I counter with the following, “What has brought America to this precipice?”  The 1880s saw the rise of bureaucrats restricting the ability to read, as a means of controlling the population, born of fear, and as racist an action as enslaving people!  Post-WWI, repeated more severely Post-WWII, the rise in government as a means of “recovering from war.”

Father Mulcahy 4Trace through history, and every time the government has undertaken a path to grow, the industrial complex has more closely tied itself to biggering government as a path to pursue life, liberty, and happiness.  However, the growth of government has come at the expense of the electorate through increased laws and legislation, bureaucratic mandate, and larger standing police organizations.  All this while simultaneously reducing the quality of education, restricting the power to read, write, and figure, and calling the advances “progress.”  Restrictions on competition, merging to form larger military-industrial organizations, and increased costs have shut out citizens from politics, thus capturing the reigns of government to keep feeding the growing beast.

Recently Biden has begun pounding the war drums to escape the financial problems, social unrest, and other problems at home.  He is sending congressional representatives out to try and support protecting the national borders of Ukraine while removing and destroying the borders of the USA.  Why take this path of war and destruction; because it has always worked previously.  If Biden can get America focused on war, he can keep biggering the government without scrutiny and with the tacit approval of the electorate.

?u=http3.bp.blogspot.com-CIl2VSm-mmgTZ0wMvH5UGIAAAAAAAAB20QA9_IiyVhYss1600showme_board3.jpg&f=1&nofb=1Look at history, especially recent history, and you will find that the most nefarious, liberty stealing regulations, legislation, and bureaucratic mandates have come while America was focused on 9/11, Afghanistan, Iran, ISIS, and the list goes on and on.  The hellaciously destructive and misnamed “Patriot Act” was born from 9/11, when had we merely focused on enforcing the laws already on the books, Americans inside America would not have lost all constitutional rights within their own country.  The Patriot Act is but one example of the problems created by confusing wants and needs, mistaking a problem for an inconvenience, and using the cudgel of government authority to force behavior changes in the citizenry.

The 9/11 commission found hundreds of places where the bureaucrats enforcing government failed, but were any of these people held accountable?  Were any bureaucrats forced from their cushy jobs and made to pay restitution?  Of course not, because this would have made the American government at fault as a co-conspirator and facilitator of 9/11’s terror attacks.  So, the solution was to avoid culpability, shirk responsibility, and appease the bureaucrats at the expense of all citizens.Gravy Train

COVID-19 is another example of runaway liberty theft, rights reduction, and smoke and mirror charades.  The government seized power from the people, biggered itself, and broke the laws for convenience while the electorate was focused elsewhere.  How’s that bigger government working for you?  Are you tired of being authoritatively ruled, restricted in your pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness?  Do you understand the problem?  If so, what do you need?

COVID-19 is a viral disease, humanity has survived a lot of viral diseases, yet COVID is somehow different, or so we have been told.  Since COVID kills less than .01%, the response has to be the complete and total destruction of the Rule of Law, the restriction of rights, liberties, and the destruction of all we have held dear.  But none of those mandating will answer why or how COVID is different from any other viral disease humanity has survived.

The government needs to bigger itself, or it dies.  In competition with a bigger government, the citizens need to be “… secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects.”  The party winning in this competition must be the citizen, and the citizen must staunchly defend all encroachment to their privacy, rights, freedoms, and liberties under the Rule of Law.  We, the American Citizens, deserve a smaller and less expensive government; this is not a problem or inconvenience; it is a necessity!

LinkedIn ImageIf you believe in the potential of all to pursue life, liberty, and happiness, join me!  If you prefer the thumb of government and the boot of oppression, find me when you tire of being abused, cheated, used as cannon fodder for illicit wars, and robbed from, so a select few government employees and elected representatives can live off your sweat and tears.  This is the stark reality we are living in right now!  We must choose a side and then stand.  As Father Mulchay said, “You can’t miss when you have good material.”  We, those who stand fast in our liberty, cannot miss, we have good material (the US Constitution), and we can win the day!

© 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.

Identity Problems – A Frank Discussion

Several weeks back, I made the declaration that the more labels a person adopts, the harder it becomes to be a person and know who you are.  Multiple labels saddle a person with mental struggles that become physically exhausting.  Each label comes with social responsibilities, cultures, and expectations that cannot be shirked as long as a person has adopted that label.

For example, I am a dual-service disabled veteran.  Thus, I carry the cultures, expectations, and responsibilities of sailors and soldiers.  Consider what the expectations of a soldier are, and that image is part of the identity and societal responsibilities for being a veteran soldier.  Being disabled carries societal expectations, both mental and physical burdens.  Consider the Marines, and every Marine is a Marine for life!  You graduate basic training and earn the title Marine, and you will ALWAYS be a Marine!  Again, that title and label hold societal expectations voluntarily onboarded, and never will a Marine lose the attitude and social expectations of Marines.

The same is true of every single label a person voluntarily chooses for themselves.  The label will attract specific people into your social circles, but only as long as you willingly live the life expectations of that label.  Each label selected will form identities and mental challenges to meet the social expectations, a heavy burden indeed!

In a recent Tik Tok video, a person proudly declares more than 50-labels, preferred adjectives and pronouns, and identities. The video lasted more than 3 minutes, and I felt sorry for the exertion this person will face every minute they have these identities onboarded.  Another person watching this video declared that the subject claiming their labels was mentally ill; I agree with that sentiment.  Why; because the subject will never know who they are because of the noise of the labels, which includes the social pressures, the responsibilities, and the expectations.  I do not know the name of the person in the video, I would not share that video due to the privacy respect I have for others.

Who are you?

Even though current society in 2021 declares confusion between who and what a person chooses to be, not what are you.  For example, I do not like, nor do I onboard, the identity of disabled.  I am NOT disabled, handicapped, injured, and working on healing, but NOT disabled.  Consider the power of words for a moment.

The transitive verb “dis” means to show disrespect, insult, or criticize.  As a prefix, “dis” is defined as the opposite of something, depriving someone of something, excluding someone, or expelling someone.  Thus, a disabled person is either being disrespected, insulted, or criticized, deprived, excluded, expelled, or is the opposite of able.  Frankly, when we are made aware of the etymology of words, we are then more aware of why people choose to adopt or not adopt certain words and labels.  Do we understand this problem of labels just from an etymological perspective?

Regardless of plasticization, words hold power over the mind.  Words become identities, thoughts become things, and research supports that labels hurt mental processes and can permanently scar.  Yet, who and what a person chooses as their identities are not considered a problem in current society or a mental illness.  People’s choices reflect their identities to attract those in socially accepted circles.

Thus, who are you?  Who do you choose to be?  Are those identities sufficient?  While not as important as who a person is, the last question ranks a close second.  How many identities can you physically onboard and live successfully?  As a fan of simplicity and a follower of the KISS rules, as detailed by Murphy, the god of perversity, I keep it supremely simple to protect my energy levels and allow my identity to shine through.  Having only a few identities enables me to select social commitments, restrict the mental noise and exertions, and hold myself accountable to a few identities to grow as a person.

Returning to the Tik Tok video subject and their 50+ labels, identities, and preferred pronouns, we must ask, what is sufficient?  A follow-on video by this person reflected the physical exertions from conforming to identities and social pressures.  Worse, this person had onboarded several more labels and identities. They reflected the mental illness and physical drain caused by trying to live up to all the label responsibilities.  An extreme example; unfortunately, no; the pressures to onboard labels and identities have grown exponentially, mental problems are too significant to quantify, and they are growing.

Not just in America, the confusion about who a person is, the identities, and their inherent loads, have become a global phenomenon.  What are the mental health professionals doing; causing harm by not discussing the physical and mental exertions of onboarding too many identities.  It is up to the individual and parents of minor children to understand and help learn and teach simplicity in labels allows growth as a person, not more identities, but less.  Fewer identities provide freedom for growth, identity exploration and empower mental health, leading to improved physical health.

Identities

As a pre-teen, I struggled with the concept of my identity.  Religion was a curse, my family was worse, and I did not know who I was, thus strangling what I could do or become.  I got jealous of how my sister could get away with breaking the rules and thought I should be a girl.  I struggled with wanting to be a girl for several years as I learned who I was and what I wanted to be.  If this problem occurred right now, professionals would counsel me to adapt and change my body through drugs and surgery, compounding my identity problems.  Yet, what helped, was getting to know me!

I had several people help me form an identity I could be comfortable living with as I explored my options, fought to understand my role and purpose, and embraced my potential.  It took time, lots of time.  It required patience with myself, a moral code I could live in, and a desire to learn—all of which I had to develop from scratch.  My identity is forged in the fires of adversity, for the consequences of my choices during this time played a role in how I went to school, what I chose to learn, and where I found employment and socially accepted company.  Some of those consequences hang around even all these many years later.  Some consequences I have been able to live long enough to survive.

Worse, as I have learned more about myself, my identity has changed, bringing with it consequences of change.  Music, movies, humor, education, and more are part of an identity that forms a life.  Choices bring consequences; how we value those consequences (e.g., good/bad, profitable/unprofitable, etc.) will determine our eventual destiny towards understanding who we are, so we can become what we desire to see in the mirror.  More lessons I had to learn, then and only then, could the value of religion be discovered, the value of family understood, and honor and pride and commitment to self appreciated as an identity to live.  Crucial to this growth and development, I know when to cut social ties, drop music and movies into the trash, and I am imperfect in changing, but I have some lessons I would see others learn to avoid pitfalls.

      1. Commit to learning using the question, “Who am I?” as a core principle to discovery.
      2. Allow yourself time to think, ponder, and consider before committing to an identity. I always wanted to be a soldier, but I loved the ocean.  I did not understand the value of these paradoxical options, and by rushing headlong, I had to learn an identity after living that identity.  Arduous path; know first, then adopt an identity.  Let me try and simplify that with my favorite axiom,  learned as an Emergency Medical Technician, “Never take your body where your mind has not traveled first!”
      3. Comfort is key. If you are not comfortable, your conscience tells you something is wrong.  An identity should require physical strain and mental confusion.  Yes, you can delude yourself for a time/  Ultimately, your conscience, spirit, intellect, whatever you call your inner voice, will break through and tell you your identity is not mentally acceptable.  If your identity choice is not comfortable, it will affect your physical health negatively.
      4. Never stop learning; learning leads to change, and change is good!
      5. When in doubt, turn to lesson two, give yourself more time before committing to an identity.

I love hard rock, big hair bands, and southern rock.  Steel guitars, banging drums, and headbanging to an excellent beat are an identity with power.  But headbanging gives me incredible headaches.  Too much rock and roll, and I cannot think clearly, and the ability to control my thinking is paramount to me.  Do I adopt the headbanging identity or not; sometimes, I am all in for a solid rock fest.  Mostly, I listen to the inner voices and moderate my music.  See, lesson two continues to hold power and lesson four keeps me thinking how much longer will I affect my identity with an uncomfortable identity with physical pain.

Choose carefully, evaluate often, and allow yourself the freedom to grow by not onboarding labels without due consideration.  Please, consider your gender and biological sex as integral to your ultimate destiny and comfort.  Before you are comfortable in your skin, you have to be comfortable in your mind!  If you want to explore identities, explore, but explore smartly and be cognizant of the social responsibilities, expectations, and cultures inherent with an identity.  Observe those with those identities closely for the consequences of thier identity.

I cannot betray a confidence, but I have witnessed how traumatic experiences can be the impetus for forcing an identity change.  A close associate went to a party, had a mickey slipped into their drink, and woke to a new reality.  The consequences of other people’s identities can negatively impact your identity, especially if you do not know who you are!

I have never been comfortable with the hard rock, headbanging social aspects of rock and roll identities.  The illicit drug use, the promiscuous sexual encounters, and the extremes in living frankly scare the hell out of me!  But, I love the music, and I love much of the wardrobes in this identity, even though I will NOT wear makeup and cannot play a musical instrument.

Life is a journey; travel safely using the axiom, “Never take your body, or anyone else, anywhere your mind has not already traveled.”  Think, ponder, consider, and then act confidently.

© Copyright 2021 – 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.

Build People – Focus on Potential, a Leadership Task

ToolsWhile walking through Home Depot, my favorite aisles are those aisles with tools, power tools, hand tools, and so forth.  My mind always goes on imaginative wanderings, thinking about what those tools will go out into the world and do.  Will an inexperienced hand learn on those tools?  Will they build grand buildings?  Will they destroy?  What will those tools help accomplish?  The potential held in a tool is as much a mystery as looking at a babe in arms and thinking, what will that soul go forward and do?  I never become bored thinking about the potential held in a tool as part of the ongoing saga of humanity.

Without hands, a tool is useless; the tool cannot act independently.  Guns do not shoot themselves; hammers do not strike anything alone; thus, we can see that tools need someone to fulfill the measure of their creation.  For good or ill, the tool is only ever a force multiplier and requires intention through another party to act.  A critical point to understand is the person’s intention of holding the tool, who decides whether that tool will build or destroy, and the value to the owner.

Knowledge Check!But, this article is about people’s potential; why begin discussing tools?  To a leader, each person is a tool requiring training, delegation, trust, and motivation to achieve the measure of their creation.  Have you ever witnessed an unskilled manager use, or abuse, their people?  My first officer in the US Army National Guard was one of these unskilled managers.  The stories and experiences from this manager are legion, fraught with examples of what not to do and the hubris of a person placed into a position of power above their competence level.  I have long wondered, what did this officer’s boss think about this officer’s performance?

The first lesson in building people is this; everyone has someone they report to.  Do your people know who they report to, and are they comfortable talking to this person?  Consider the following:

“Leadership is solving problems.  The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them.  They have either lost confidence that you can help or concluded you do not care.  Either case is a failure of leadership.” – General Colin Powell

In more than nine years of Military Service, I can count on one hand the number of officers I trusted enough and were approachable sufficient to bring problems to, and I won’t even need the pinky and thumb.  In talking to friends and family about this issue, their experiences are similar.  Worse, the same problem exists with the non-commissioned officer corps.  In my professional pursuits outside military service, I have worked with precisely one boss to whom I felt comfortable bringing issues.

While I strive to be the leader I wish I could take problems to, there is a realization that to my teams, I am being measured, weighed, and if found wanting, will never know I failed to be the leader to whom I would bring problems.  Consider this for a moment.  A leader could be solving problems and thinking, “My people bring their problems to me QED: I am a good leader.”  While never realizing they are detestable and hated by their people.  All because their people only bring work-related problems, and then only rarely.  In the US Navy, I experienced this exact issue more than once, and the officers all thought they were “God’s gift to their people.” Massive egos, compensating for being vile and despicable.

Leaders, take note:

    1. What are the preferred names of the members of your teams?
    2. When was the last time you shared problems and asked for input from your followers?
    3. What are you learning daily, and who is teaching you?
    4. Do you know your followers sufficiently to advise?
    5. What quirks, talents, skills, or abilities do your people possess that you appreciate?

How you answer these questions determines more than your destiny as a leader and your team’s productivity in achieving business goals.  When I begin a new project and select tools, I review what I know about my tools.  My hammer has a loose head, but I will not change it out because it has the smoothness of age and is the best hammer for finishing work.  This wrench has scratches in the head and a chisel mark in the handle that is exactly 6” and is handy in a pinch.  Thus, when used on soft brass, the head will leave marks in the metal on which it is used.  All this and more is reviewed, strengths and weaknesses, quirks and peculiarities, all known before engaging in a new project.  When you know your tools, their potential is declared, and in communicating their potential, how and where they can be best used becomes common knowledge.

“Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character.  But if you must be without one, be without strategy.” – General Schwarzkopf

“Ninety-Nine present of leadership failures are failures of character.” – General Schwarzkopf

Several of the worst people I have ever worked for had the moral integrity of a used car salesperson.  They could not be trusted, except to be trusted to stab you in the back.  No honesty, never forthright, always acting for the downfall of anyone they deemed was competition, and constantly engaged in stealing glory while meting out the worst punishments.  While the experiences fulfilled another axiom from General Schwarzkopf, the education was brutal to suffer through.

“You learn far more from negative leadership than from positive leadership.  Because you learn how not to do it, and, therefore, you learn how to do it.” – General Schwarzkopf

These experiences alone would qualify me to write this article; however, through a multitude of academic classes and degrees, I have gained more fundamental qualifications to justify what I am about to declare.  If you think a title makes you a leader, you are the problem in your organization’s leadership!  In working with newly minted, freshly commissioned, officers in the US Army and the US Navy, I have learned through sad experience too many consider the rank and titles their “Golden Ticket” to being abusers of people through “leadership.”  One particular example stands out more clearly from the others.

While serving in the US Navy, my first Chief Engineer was book smart and common sense inept!  This man was more dangerous with tools in his hand, even though he could verbatim quote pages from maintenance manuals.  Shortly before I arrived on the ship, the Chief Engineer had started a fire on board the vessel in multiple engine and auxiliary rooms by applying shaft brakes to an operating shaft instead of to the shaft that had been locked out and tagged out.  The Chief Engineer then compounded his errors by blaming the engineers who had properly locked out/tagged out the shaft needing maintenance.  This was a major issue that proved cream rises and trash sinks, and this leader was absolute trash!

The bitter cherry on this crap sundae, the example of the Chief Engineer, was a symptom of a greater sickness and moral desert in the Engineering Department.  Chiefs were force-multiplying the Chief Engineers example, and the senior non-commissioned officers were force-multiplying the chiefs example.  Who suffered, the lowest enlisted, and the rest of the ship.  Maintenace was rarely done properly, watchstanding was hit or miss, and the example plagued the Engineering Department for years after the Chief Engineer was summarily dismissed.

The only redeeming factor from this experience, I learned the lessons of what negative leadership does well.  Leaders take note:

    1. If character problems lead to poor performance or behaviors detestable in your teams, look no further than the reflection in the mirror for both an answer and a root cause.
    2. Your followers will observe what you do more than what you say. How are you acting?
    3. Stop looking up, you are a leader, and your first vision should be to look sideways and make sure your people are on the same level before you look up.
    4. Before embracing new strategies, first review character!

The following is critical to building people and promoting potential:

“To be an effective leader, you have to have a manipulative streak – you have to figure out the people working for you and give each tasks that will take advantage of their strengths.” – General Schwarzkopf

Leadership is a balancing act between helping people take advantage of their strengths and training them to overcome individual weaknesses.  Yet, leaders often act like managers, never training, and always micro-managing to shave strengths preventing competition with the leader.  Which are the actions of neither a leader nor a manager, but a tyrant!  Petty authoritarians acting the role of tyrants produce more harm than war, poverty, and disease combined.

What actions are needed?  We conclude with the following:

“TRUE courage is being afraid, and going ahead and doing your job.” – General Schwarzkopf

The job of a leader begins with being a good follower; even if to be a good follower, you must be the loyal opposition standing like a rock doing the right thing in the face of adversity.  Moral integrity is critical to being a good leader and is foundational to building people.  Leaders take special note and act accordingly:

    1. What is your moral code?
    2. Why do you embrace those morals?
    3. Do you understand integrity is doing what is right, especially when you think nobody is watching? Do you have moral integrity?
    4. Do you know your identity, and are you comfortable with your identity?
    5. What character do you possess, and is that character tied to your morality and integrity?Exclamation Mark

When you are placed to influence people, build potential by first knowing, and then doing that which is the harder right, than the easier wrong.

© Copyright 2021 – 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.

The Biggest Lie in America – The Mouthpiece of Liars

Bobblehead DollSome would say the biggest lie in America is, “I’m from the government, and I am here to help you.”  While this is definitely a contender as a massive lie, there is one more insidious, and they have played the victim card for too long while being a festering wound on America’s soul.  Yes, the biggest lie in America is, “I’m from Hollywood, and I am here to entertain you.”  Maybe, this wasn’t a lie originally, as all good lies must contain an element of truth to keep people believing the lie; the truth is a glimmer of hope, people cling to hope, even when they know that the hope originates in a lie.

For example, Santa Claus is a lie, originating in the exploited actions of an actual person from history, and some have claimed modeled upon Jesus Christ.  Thus, you have hope, dressed in the shades and colors of a lie and sold as a good story to entertain.  Is the pattern clear?

Another example, the government is supposed to protect society; that’s it.  Yet, people have been sold a lie, mainly by Hollywood, that government is benevolent, benign, and trusting in government is natural.  Yet, even the founders of America knew never to trust the government, even as they tried to establish rules to control the government they were founding.  Do you know why the phrase, “In GOD we Trust,” is on the United States of America’s money; to sell the lie that the paper in your hand has value because everyone is supposed to trust God.  But, God did not print the money or cause the inflation that is crushing America and the world; the government did.

The history of Hollywood is replete with anti-Americanism.  From communist sympathizers who have purchased politicians to sway rules and end investigations to the pedophiles and perverts who relentlessly attack children, Hollywood continues to hide behind facades, lies, and charlatans to keep the “entertainment” money flowing.  Consider how long Weinstein was able to abuse people, cheat, and commit crimes.  How many presidents have bellied up to Hollywood to get elected or remain in power after leaving office?

The Clinton’s the Obama’s, how many Senators, Congressmen, princes from foreign lands, you name it, those who swim in Hollywood tend to rise from the waters stained and filthy rich.  Yet, Hollywood acts the victim, punishes real victims, and then playing the victim, has the gall to ask, “Are you not entertained?”

Russell Crowe’s film “Gladiator” uses Maximus Decimus Meridius to ask this question of Rome and her citizens.  Like Rome, maybe we need to ask ourselves the same question.  What price do we pay to be “entertained” by Hollywood?  Here are some of the costs collected from recent Hollywood enterprises. Are they the fees America should pay, or has Hollywood reached the extreme and, like any other business, needs to face the cold hard reality of an upset public?  You decide; I know my choice!

  1. Hollywood refuses to portray America as a Constitutional Republic. Always America is painted and slandered as a democracy.  Like any lie, those telling a lie know the truth and refuse to believe or accept the truth because the lie provides them power and resources.  Consider how anti-American sentiment continues to be spread by Hollywood.  While academics refuse to name Hollywood personally, the truth is obvious to anyone who wants to see Hollywood’s pernicious and deadly hand and the knife being wielded that is cutting America to pieces.
  2. Did you see the Hollywood documentary “An Open Secret?” Are you aware of the volume of child molestation, abuse, and conniving in Hollywood?  How the victims are always revictimized after trying to come forward?  How the industry actively works to hide the secret while pampering the abusers and protecting their own?  What we pay for “entertainment” helps keep the industry afloat and the victims silenced; is this not too high a cost for the morals of American Society?
  3. Has anyone noticed, does anyone care, that Hollywood continues to attack the nuclear family, and each attack is hidden behind the excuse “we are simply imitating societal decline.” Remember, to sell a lie, there must be elements of truth.  Are there certain aspects of society that imitate Hollywood and Hollywood then imitate as “art and free expression; yes, but that is not the majority of American society.  Fringe groups exist, and provided they remain non-violent, let them believe and live as they choose.  But, Hollywood wants everyone to think that the majority of American society is anti-nuclear families, anti-family, and anti-strong families in general, and research on the family supports the opposite of what Hollywood is pushing.

Let me hit pause for a moment; consider Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, two successful Hollywood stars, marry, actually love each other, aren’t running around cheating every other day on the other, and Hollywood cannot stand these two people being successfully married.  While not the first, and unfortunately not the last, this couple reflects the poison that is Hollywood.  Every successful couple, who wants to remain employed in Hollywood, gets destroyed by Hollywood, and the media is there chortling right alongside the destruction of the family.  The papers are replete with examples, and the attacks stretch back to the “Golden Age” of Hollywood circa 1930.

Worse, the retaliation against those who buck the system remains the most detestable and disgusting thing.  What props up the destruction of good people in Hollywood?  Fear that the Hollywood machine is going to come for you next.  Snakes feasting upon their own flesh is less despicable than what Hollywood does to everyone who tries to peel back the scab and expose the wound to sunshine disinfectant.

  1. Strong female and male characters are detested, destroyed, and denigrated, also called sexism. Consider John Wayne and the Hollywood-inspired hate and contempt he had to suffer.  Consider the problems Clint Eastwood regularly has to fight to make movies due to the colossal animosity directed his way.  There are lots of other examples of strong men and women and their destruction by envious Hollywood types.  If a person is not the current flavor of the month depravity, Hollywood will treat pets they despise better than their own who are strong-willed and capable.

Newspapers used to survive selling advertisements with the slogan, “If it bleeds, it leads.”  Hollywood is bleeding morality, and this story is not leading in newspapers globally.  Why; because the mouthpiece of Hollywood is the corporate media, who climbed into bed during the HUAC Committee hearings, and they have never left that incestuous relationship.  Hollywood feeds the media, the media feed Hollywood, and the world is treated to daily pots of trash called “reporting and analysis.”  What happens when you feed a person junk food all day, every day, for almost 100-years?  The American body is sick from the trash. This is also considered “entertainment,” but only for those holding the knives cutting morales, religion, and everything good and decent out of the societies who embrace Hollywood.

Under the US Constitution, the press was granted certain rights, acting as a force neutral and helping protect America from run-away government.  Instead, the press cottoned onto Hollywood and learned how to feed the circular logic that protects Hollywood from criminal charges by destroying all who oppose Hollywood.  Are you entertained?  Is your hard-earned money well spent at the movies whose actors, directors, producers, and affiliated staff use those funds to hinder, destroy, and criminally act?Apathy

America, Hollywood stopped entertaining us a long time ago.  The media was never supposed to entertain but inform and be neutral in their reporting.  I propose we, the consumers who have been abused, refuse the trash shoveled and imitate a stomach that has been abused enough; the next thing coming down, we throw it all back!

© Copyright 2021 – 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.

Do We Understand?

Bobblehead DollOne 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!

© 2021 M. Dave Salisbury
All Rights Reserved
The images used herein were obtained in the public domain; this author holds no copyright to the images displayed.

Revisiting No Neutrality – Today is a Day of Choosing, Tomorrow a Day of Action!

Why The Safe Path Is Dangerous - Tri-Peaks Life CoachingOn 01 July 2021, I first wrote an article regarding how there are no more safe paths, no more neutral zones, no more areas of peace to rest upon.  After the last 15-days, the world has witnessed this reality, and I revisit this topic to issue a plea.  Today, make a choice.  Tomorrow go to work implementing that choice.

In mentioning the following, I am not discussing religion but social history.  The Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-Day Saints holds sacred “The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of JESUS CHRIST” as holy scripture.  The book contains a record of a civilization ruled by kings; then, the king proposes a society ruled by judges where their own conscience and written laws govern every person.  Both systems of government worked well.  The reign of the judges ends in chaos when the chief judge is murdered, and the people break up into separate tribes.  That is a couple of hundred years of history boiled into a few brief words; however, the pattern holds true for several other societies not recorded in books considered holy scripture.  I find the following fascinating as a template for the current time the world finds itself facing.

Why do societies fail?

Image - John Wayne QuoteMost societies fail because leaders have violated the core fundamental principles those societies were built upon. The people have lost the way to hold the leaders accountable to the fundamental principles that originally built the society.  In modern societies, these principles are codified laws from founding national documents, and holding the leaders accountable would involve lawyers and judges, as well as time and other leaders committed to holding together the system to ensure those who broke the system are held liable and accountable before the law, and not a mob.

Pick an empire, Rome, Greece, Israel, Egypt, Nephite, etc., all of them suffer the same fate as they crested the height of their time and slid into failure and ruin.  The leaders failed the people.  The government decided they did not have to perform their only job, to look out for the safety and security of the people, and the people died, and the government fell into ruin.  What have we witnessed across the globe, governments not listening to their people, refusing their people, and denying rights and liberties to their people in the name of personal power, wealth, and highly temporary fame.Finest Hour

Australia and New Zealand, the COVID measures are so beyond the pale horrific, and totalitarian that the government is doing more harm than the disease the government proclaims to be fighting.  China has blatantly broken the treaty with Hong Kong.  Nobody outside of Hong Kong appears to care enough to issue strong demands, let alone support Hong Kong’s citizenry in reclaiming that which is their right by treaty.  North Korea continues to vacillate and sway to whatever music China plays in the hopes of catching scraps, as their people suffer and die from malnutrition, disease, and neglect.Patriotism

Head into the Middle East, and that powder keg is going to blow again real soon.  Terrorists in Afghanistan never stay in Afghanistan, and now with a pipeline to China, money, and weapons from America, and new ways and means to launder money, how soon before the Middle East becomes a free-fire zone, the European mainland becomes a terrorist free-for-all shootout to rival America’s Wild West, and Africa descends into more tyranny and villainy?The Duty of Americans

Where are the leaders of government?  Where are the government representatives?  Our globe has changed since 2000; the hoped-for peace from the end of the last century has turned into a blood bath of terror on a global scale fed by low-intensity conflict (LIC).  Just as major international conflicts dominated the previous century, this century is being dominated by small brushfire LIC conflicts.  Our modes of war must change, our governments must adapt, our societies must change, and we are 20+ years into the new century.  The government still thinks this is 1995, money is free, music is 1980s good, and the future is bright and happy!

The Decisions for Today

QuestionWhat do you want most?  What government is most important to you?  Is your government system sufficiently powerful enough a motivator to propel you to action to save it and pass it along to the next generation?  America has had leaders who have been quoted as saying something to the effect of, “The blood of current generations must renew the tree of liberty to remain free.”  What will you sacrifice for liberty today, for your children to experience freedom tomorrow?

LIC is here to stay.  LIC will be the “gentlemen’s war” of this century.  Where the wealthy pool resources and purchase mayhem and destruction for their pleasure.  If society does not change, all representative governments will be lost in the turmoil created by these “children having fun.”  Worse, those little fracases could become full-blown international conflicts with nuclear weapons very easily — all based on the WWI model of human ineptitude and our human weakness for killing ourselves.LIC 2

The decisions are yours, and yours alone to make.  Collectively, your choices will move you into one of two groups, those fighting for representative government and those opposed to representative government.  Truthfully, do not expect to experience peace; there are no safe paths, no routes through tulips and rainbows on gossamer wings of spun sugar plums.  The enemy is awake; the enemy has prepared a legion of useful idiots and ivory potentates to give orders.

But, the decisions must be made, and the sooner the decision is made and communicated, the easier life becomes, for then you know your purpose!

The Actions for Tomorrow

ToolsAct with haste, prepare with confidence, and move with speed.  Get loud!  Stand like a rock!  I was told standing is not an activity.  The person proclaiming that has never stood still and faced down an enemy, or they would know just how arduous standing can be!  Seek learning through study, discussion, questions, and faith.  Seeking learning through faith means that you will actively believe until you can prove otherwise, even if it means waiting patiently for a while to learn more.

I learned this principle in the US Army.  I fully did not expect to learn this lesson, but learn it I did.  I believed in the chain of command.  Basic Training and Advanced Individual Training did nothing to dissuade that the chain of command needed to be accepted, supported, and obeyed unquestioningly.  Then I got to my first duty station and began learning my role in the chain of command as an active participant.  First, I refused to believe, then I believed in faith, then I tested and learned, then I acted above and beyond my rank and got swatted down for breaking the chain of command.  Always the same counsel, you are a great soldier/sailor, but you make decisions above your paygrade, and this rubs higher ranking people wrong.  My response, how am I responsible for the choices and consequences of those higher in rank choosing to be offended?

Knowledge Check!Everyone is now in the same boat; the chains of command cannot be trusted.  We must each think and act for ourselves for the betterment and security of our country, families, homes, freedoms, and the next generation.  We must each choose to throw off the shackles of the past, learn the lessons of history not taught in school, and then act to save the best in our societies before the wolves of terrorism steal everything.  We each must become the sheepdogs of war!

© 2021 M. Dave Salisbury
All Rights Reserved
The images used herein were obtained in the public domain; this author holds no copyright to the images displayed.

Teaching the President Responsibility – I Never Thought I Would See the Day!

Angry Wet ChickenPresident Biden, you, and your administration disgust me!  I did not vote for you, but I was willing to support you as president back in January and show you respect.  Even though I continue to have reservations regarding the veracity of the 2020 Elections, the transparency of the election counts, and the skullduggery witnessed, I was willing to give you a chance.  Your actions in Afghanistan have sundered my cherub-like demeanor and turned the extended olive branch into a torch for your pyre!

Let me be perfectly clear, the blood of every soldier, sailor, airman, Marine, who has served, is serving, or will serve in Afghanistan is on your hands for your ineffective and wholly useless policy in that country!  Worse, the tears and blood of children being abused, murdered, raped, and assaulted are also on your hands.  You allowed a mostly peaceful situation to become an open and festering warzone, again, and it is all your fault!  You cannot blame Congress, you cannot hide behind the media, you cannot shirk accountability behind generals and pentagon officials, you are the Commander in Chief, and it is your sole responsibility to lead the armed forces of these United States.

Sure, we in the service swear an oath to the U.S. Constitution and the officers appointed over us, but the first officer we pledge obedience to is the U.S. President.  You, sir, need to learn responsibility for the men and women you lead.  I plan to teach you and every American who is privileged to read this article the power of the office and the responsibility of the office you hold.  How will I instruct you; through the U.S. Presidents who came before you!Angry Grizzly Bear

The power of Commander in Chief is derived from the U.S. Constitution:

“Article II Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution, the Commander in Chief clause, states that “[t]he President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States when called into the actual Service of the United States.”

Mr. President, you need to take two lessons from President General George Washington.

      1. “But lest some unlucky event should happen unfavorable to my reputation, I beg every gentleman may remember it in the room that I this day declare with the utmost sincerity, I do not think myself equal to the command I am honored with.”
      2. “In politics as in philosophy, my tenets are few and simple. The leading one of which, and indeed that which embraces most others, is, to be honest, and just ourselves and to exact it from others, meddling as little as possible in their affairs where our own are not involved. If this maxim were generally adopted, wars would cease, and our swords would soon be converted into reap hooks, and our harvests be more peaceful, abundant, and happy.”

Do you understand these two fundamental principles of being the Commander in Chief?  Humility is not a weakness but an inner strength to know and do what is right in exercising your command.  You were given the greatest honor possible, to lead men, and women, into battle, and you have pissed that honor away for trinkets not worth a mess of pottage!Plato 2

The second principle of being the Commander in Chief is demanding honesty, first from yourself, then from others.  Is the job too big for you? It’s no shame to admit you are in over your head.  It is no shame to realize you need help.  It is a crime to act like you have the brains and talent, lying to yourself, while the world burns like Rome and Nero fiddles!  Your counselors, administration, and vice president are all crooks, scoundrels, and fools, but you have the responsibility!  This is why honesty is so desperately needed and fundamentally critical.

President Jefferson provides the following principle for the Commander in Chief, and while President General George Washington embodied this principle, President Jefferson said it best:

“If we are to guard against ignorance and remain free, it is the responsibility of every American to be informed.”

Knowledge Check!Are you informed about the consequences of your decisions?  If so, why are you continuing to adhere to wrongheaded decisions that are destroying America, ruining Afghanistan, and allowing China to threaten her neighbors, bully her neighbors, and be the aggressor party in a prelude to war?  Do you not understand that your responsibility for the consequences of your decisions is eternal, and you owe the God of this land, even Jesus Christ, accounting for how you have led during your time in office?  The blood of innocent people is on your hands because you and your advisors have refused to listen, refused to act, and chosen the worst possible action when working to the detriment of everyone on this planet.  You are actively failing as a president; does this not matter to you?

Inherent in the law is the following axiom:

“Ignorance of the law is not an excuse for breaking the law.”

You need to understand this principle, for failure to be learned is not an excuse, ignorance of the law is not an excuse, and ignorance of the consequences is not an excuse.  You cannot blame your staff when standing before a judge and jury, nor can you evade responsibility and accountability. Honestly, the responsibility ultimately stops at your desk, the music ends, and you are left holding the bag full of whatever crap landed on your desk.The Duty of Americans

President Jefferson also provides the following axiom for a Commander in Chief, one which you have avoided your entire life, and it is time you were made to should this burden as an adult!

“A nation, as a society, forms a moral person, and every member of it is personally responsible for his society.”

What does this mean; allow me to explain using your example.  Your first, Second, and Third attempts at running for president were fraught with verbal gaffes where outright lies, bald-faced untruths, and plagiarized speech were put forth for the public as your ideas and ideals.  Thus making you a liar, a thief, and the worst sort of scoundrel possible, yet, through gerrymandering and a lot of money and your Jello-like spine, you have managed to stay in office long past your maximum level of incompetence.  What sort of moral society have you been promoting and living in?  Do you realize you are responsible for that moral decay you have been broadcasting from your senate office?  Do you know that your morals are now being stamped upon the military, and the military is going to find that your morals do not fit the honor, courage, and commitment needed to fulfill the mission?  The Uniform Code of Military Justice, which you now fall under as Commander in Chief, would find you guilty and in need of severe punishment.  How can a soldier, airmen, Marine, sailor, etc., go before the mast for UCMJ punishment with you as Commander in Chief and be found guilty of morals you exemplify daily?  By the way, this is the same problem your buddy Obama suffered from for eight damnable years when he occupied your chair!Patriotism

Speaking of eternal consequences, and being the Commander in Chief, President Lincoln has some choice words for you to learn.

      1. “In times like the present, men should utter nothing for which they would not willingly be responsible through time and eternity.”
      2. “You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.”
      3. “With this honor devolves upon you also a corresponding responsibility. As the country herein trusts you, so under GOD, it will sustain you, [or utterly reject you].”

Knowledge Check!As you have been weighed, measured, and found wanting, I will take a moment and explain to you what these three quotes mean for the Commander in Chief of the U.S. Armed Forces.  Firstly, watch your language.  You have not done very well with this in the past.  Your lies, half-truths, falsehoods, and plagiarized speech is beyond contempt, but the useless speeches you keep giving threatening to put legal and law-abiding citizens in prison for the sole crime of making a living is beyond detestable and shows a definitive lack of character.

Secondly, your words last for eternity.  I remember watching you as a child and thinking, “Putz!” Then cheering when the news broke that you had chucked your campaign for president.  How wonderful the Internet is for bringing back your words for your shame and discomfort, and how I enjoy watching your comments fall from your lips and condemn you for the liar and cheat you are.

Thirdly, those crimes are coming back in spades by trying to evade responsibility yesterday for being a liar and cheat, a thief, and a robber.  But, you have been placed into a position of honor for which you are not comfortable, for which you have not the strength, stamina, and mental fortitude to perform the necessary duties the role commands.  Who is making the decisions in the White House?  Why?

Dont Tread On MeFinally, we come to the absolute crux of the matter.  As Commander in Chief, the honor of commanding men and women in the military comes with a corresponding responsibility. The country loves her military and trusts you to treat them appropriately.  You did not do so in January and got a minor backlash.  You are not doing so in Afghanistan and will catch a much higher backlash as the media watches a repeat of Saigon in Kabul as the Embassy is evacuated.  Your buddy Obama has a dead Ambassador he has never answered for, which (historically) has always been a declaration of war.  What do you have?  An entire country laid to waste, the waste of millions of dollars in materials, millions of lives destroyed, and the wasted efforts of millions of people and multiple presidents.  You have betrayed the American people’s trust, and you will be held accountable, just like your good friend Mayor Lightfoot (with stickyfingers) is being held accountable in Chicago, only many, many magnitudes worse!

© 2021 M. Dave Salisbury
All Rights Reserved
The images used here were obtained in the public domain; this author holds no copyright to the images displayed.