Vietnam – DNC-Consulting

Year End (2021) – An After Action Report

Between Christmas and New Year 2019, I accepted an offer to write more frequently for a group that, at the time, was calling itself “No More BS.” What an amazing opportunity the challenge to write more regularly became, and how much I have come to enjoy writing. Like all things in life, the challenge came with a cost; I had exhausted myself mentally, I was spent by October. Physically my body could not answer the call of my mind, and my mind was screaming at me to stop. Let’s talk about drivers and BS, for the importance to American society success is found in ending the BS.

Little Joey Biden and his Afghanistan Debacle are still unfolding, and I fully admit this turn of events from August 2021 has left me numb. When America left Hanoi (April 1975) and Vietnam fell, many Americans, especially veterans, felt defeated in ways hard to describe. Who knew that in such a short space of time (less than 50 years), America would repeat Hanoi (August 2021) by a couple of magnitudes? Some very cynical veterans I know suspected the politicization of Afghanistan would lead to a repeat of history; but, I can honestly say I never expected Biden to act in such a disastrous and self-defeating manner.

Leaving Americans, allies, and stakeholders on the ground, holding the bag of responsibility, remains the quintessential yellow-spine craven move of the new century. One of the greatest insults from my time in the US Military was the corporatization of the military officer corps. Disconnecting responsibility and accountability, honoring weak-kneed drivel to the detriment of the professional NCOs and the soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines has been utterly unacceptable. Why; because every corporatized military in history has failed! Now, America has Afghanistan and Vietnam, and the government leaders refuse to acknowledge they are the problem, and the sitting president rewards pubescent behavior. Sickening!

The military, to be effective, must be out of sync with the society they protect. A sacrifice principle is required from those who love country more than themselves and voluntarily wear their country’s uniform. Yet, the politics and political leaders refuse to allow the military to act at home and abroad, so we repeat history. May I ask, how many more Vietnam’s and Afghanistan’s does America need to relive before accepting that personal sacrifice is quintessential to a strong military? Mr. President, Little Joey, when does the BS end, and the motivation to lead return from bureaucratic hands to professional officers and NCOs? For I warn you, what you have right now is a mob, and you desperately need a military!

But, Afghanistan, in all its depravity, is not the only outrage from this year where BS needs to end. Consider something with me, the power of jury trials. High-profile trials have been occurring and continue through this holiday season and end-of-year celebrations. How incredibly grateful I am for the rule of Constitutional Law that provides for a jury by peers. More often than not, juries get the law right and hand down fair verdicts. Yet, the Corporate Media refuses to accept that jury trials are the best method for handling problems in a constitutional society. I have seen the media meltdowns repeatedly when juries hand down verdicts the media have tried and failed to influence.

Now ask yourself, dear reader, why does the media try cases before all the facts have been presented? Power, the answer remains ever simple, the media have become what they consider as THE single greatest power in American society. The self-delusion is a steaming hot pile of BS dished up for public consumption 24/7/365, and the media refuses to eat the BS they are serving. Considering themselves better than common citizens, above the law, the media companies have decided they can arbitrate, decide, and deserve to be listened to and obeyed. Well, jury trials work, and it is time more journalists are introduced to the concept through defending themselves in a court of law.

Worse than the corporatization of the US Military has been the continual erosion of the rule of law. The Uniform Code of Military Justice is regularly abused for the benefit of the powerful and the destruction of the weak. When the law is cheapened, joked about, and castigated, the trust in civil society is broken, and the military is but a smaller example of what is occurring in American society as a whole. When warriors are not judged by their deeds, but upon their political connections, the society hiring warriors, training warriors, and sending them into harm’s way will quickly find the warriors are gone. Their replacements are not worth the honor and trust. Leading to society being taken over and destroyed.

Feel free to disagree, but Rome remains the quintessential example in history of what happens when a republic fails to accept social consequences, infects its society from within, and then picks fights with neighbors. Rome had the greatest military in recorded history, and it fell ingloriously all because the military, a microcosm of the society as a whole, decided politics was more important than the rule of law. Popularity became more important than law and obedience to the rule of law. Who taught Rome to fall; who brought the Roman Legions to their knees? Look no further than their politically elected leaders who spent their time and the people’s money in riotous living, perversions, and trying to evade responsibility for their actions. Tell me, are we not seeing the same exact abuses in current society that is witnessed on the pages of history with Rome falling?

What is the only difference between Rome’s fall and any other government with elected political leaders? Advanced weaponry to include nuclear weapons. What is the only safeguard in republican and democratic societies strong enough to save those societies from repeating Rome’s example; learning history and obeying the rule of law. Of the two, learning history is more important, which is why learning history was the second casualty in the fight to overthrow the rule of law. The first casualty was teaching students how to read.

The abuse of children remains an utter abomination, and rightly so. But until the political leaders can be made to accept they are facilitating abusers of children masquerading as K-12 School Districts and teachers, the abuse of children, the wasting of precious resources, and the sacrifice of innocence will continue and worsen. In Virginia’s gubernatorial election this past November, the central theme was public education. Virginia, as your newly elected officials come into power, are you willing to watch those elected and demand they obey the electorate’s will and change education in your commonwealth?

Over the holiday, I watched heart-wrenching videos of parents who almost lost their child to suicide because the teachers groomed the child into transgenderism, all without the parent’s knowledge. Worse, the parents were abused by the government when the teachers involved called “Child Protection Services (CPS).” Tell me, when bureaucrats join together for the abuse of those they are duly sworn and duty-bound to protect, who is at fault; the elected leaders! What did the elected leaders do when the parents complained; they joined forces to continue abusing the child and the parents. The exact opposite of what they were hired to do, scrutinize the government employees and protect the electorate from abusive government operations, practices, and people.

Unfortunately, some of you think this is only happening in California, Virginia, New York, or some distant city/county/state. No, the truth of the matter is this is occurring in your child’s school district right now. Your children, grandchildren, cousins, and neighbors are all being abused and harmed, and the rot is at your doors. Don’t take my word for it; investigate for yourself. Go to local school board meetings and ask to see the curriculum your child is being exposed to, and you will find the truth, and the truth will first abhor, then anger, and then motivate you.

I hope the motivation will be sufficient to inspire action to become more informed, pay closer attention to local political races, and stop allowing incumbents a free pass to officiate in the destruction of America. One of the frequent conversations in my home is, “What are my plans after I complete the Ph.D. degree I am chasing?” The temptation is real to run for political office, either mayor or school board, sheriff, or judge; I want to get into this fight to defend the America I love. Most people think the battle for America’s soul is being fought in the US Senate or House of Representatives when the reality is the fight for America’s soul is being fought and lost in local elections, and it is time to find strong candidates who are willing to run for office and fight this fight locally.

The biggest lesson I have learned in writing this year, a degree doesn’t represent smarts or capability; those come by working in the trenches for something more important than self. The US Navy taught me endurance in the face of insurmountable odds and enemy shenanigans, and the US Army taught me to think and have grit and determination. I know I am not perfect; I am not the “picture perfect politician.” I prefer blue jeans and button-downs to suits and ties, but I know people, and I prefer real people to the fake effrontery currently holding the reigns of political power.

Writing this past year, I have faced my demons, and while I still fight those demons, I know the need to engage is real, helping others promotes healing, and teaching provides the opportunity to learn more perfectly. I know the power of citizens motivated to protect hearth and home, and I celebrate freedom. I would see my neighbors armed with knowledge, possessing the motivation to speak out and act according to beliefs and win the American heritage left us. I believe in America, and I know that when Americans are left alone, they use the power of freedom to change the world; all we need is to shrink the government, and America will begin to blossom again.

Shrinking the government begins locally. The local government protects against county and state government abuses. The state government protects against federal violations. The federal government protects borders and provides for the common trade of goods across state lines. Limiting government is not a bad idea at all; in fact, it is the only good idea that can help save America. Join me!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

© 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.

The Consent of the Governed – A Further Discussion

Question The Virginia Declaration of Rights prefixed the Virginia Colony’s constitution and was written by a reluctant statesman and largest landowner, George Mason. In sixteen statements on government and the rights of man, we find the consent of the governed and the need for controls on government pertinent to our day and time. For this article, we are focused upon the first three articles in the Declaration of Rights and the fundamental principles of liberty that must be refreshed and revisited often to maintain a government of the people, by the people, for the people, and where the consent of the governed is respected.

1. 1. “All men are by nature equally free and independent, have certain inherent rights, … namely the enjoyment of life and liberty, possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.”

This first declaration is important for several reasons. The first is that it places responsibility upon the individual made free to maintain their rights by exercising those rights responsibly and in a manner that the government expects. How the government is expected to behave is modeled on how people in society behave. Hence, freedom is a double-edged sword; want to keep your liberties, the way you act is how the government will act. The Duty of Americans

1. 1. “All power is vested in, and consequently derived from, the people; that magistrates are their trustees and servants and at all times amenable to them.”

Have you ever had a bureaucrat treat you like you are scum; well, maybe it is time we reminded them of this principle! The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is regularly documented on this blog as abusing, killing, and harming veteran patients. I use this principle as the backbone of logic to try and reprimand Congress and the VA into improving their behavior. I document the behavior of the US Postal Service, the different state Departments of Motor Vehicles, and other government agencies for abusing the taxpayers and acting like feudal lords instead of public servants.

Amenable is described as agreeable, ready to consent, willing to accept a suggestion, or submit to authority. How many times has a bureaucrat treated you in an amenable manner? Heck, having worked with them as a fellow employee, I can affirm they are not amenable to their bosses, let alone the customers. There is a cultural problem in the bureaucratic mind, rejecting all authority as they are protected by labor unions and a quagmire of laws! Do you think this should be changed for the benefit of the public good? Plato 2

1. 1. “Government is or ought to be instituted for the common benefit, protection, and security of the people. … A majority of the community hath an indubitable, unalienable, and indefeasible right to reform, alter, or abolish it, in such manner as shall be judged most conducive to the public weal.”

I realize the language here is a bit old-fashioned. All right, a LOT old-fashioned. Let’s break this down.

- - - Indubitable: Anything that is so plain that doubt cannot be admitted is indubitable. For example, water is wet. If I throw water on you, you will get wet.
    - Unalienable: Also known in legal documents as inalienable. Describing something that cannot be separated from a whole, given away, taken by another, or discharged without destroying the whole.
    - Indefeasible: Anything that cannot be voided, annulled, or defeated; something permanent. This is mostly a legal term.
    - Public Weal: A way of saying public good, the public well being, or the prosperity of the general public, not just the special interests, select citizens, etc., but all citizens.

Mr. Mason is declaring here in the third article that governments can be reigned in, changed, abolished, and remade if the majority of the citizens demand it and if the changes are beneficial for the public good and prosperity. Consider this for a moment; since Jan/Feb 2020, America, and the world, has witnessed runaway totalitarian government hysteria over a viral infection with a 98%+ survival rate. As a scientific fact, the annual flu is more dangerous than COVID-19 globally; yet, the flu does not shut down a business, close schools, and ruin economies. Since the start of COVID, there has not been any Flu-related deaths or Flu-related illness at all. Doesn’t this raise some serious concerns in the COVID-Mandates and measures? quote-mans-inhumanity

Using the pattern outlined by Mr. Mason, the people being represented can withhold their consent to be governed, reject the current government, or eliminate the current government and start a new government if the changes are more beneficial to the public good. I find this pattern interesting both in a philosophical and academic sense and in a practical sense. Long have I argued that the officers of government should have a fear of the ballot box and the people they are responsible for representing. The insanity we are experiencing because the politicians have gerrymandered the congressional districts to protect their election results is not ethical or moral and is barely legal.

“No free government, or the blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people, but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue, and by frequent recurrence to fundamental principles” [emphasis mine].

- - - - Justice: Decency to all as a behavior of equality and commitment to moral rightness.
      - Moderation: This is all about not going to extremes, being restrained, knowing the boundaries and staying within limits, and being reasonable and approachable.
      - Temperance: While primarily used in drinking alcohol, this also applies to any behaviors where self-restraint, moderation, and expressions or observance of temperate behaviors are required.
      - Frugality: Besides being a good steward of other people’s resources, being frugal requires being sparing, prudent, economical, thrifty, and reserved.
      - Virtue: Requires moral excellence, modesty, personal dignity, goodness, and conformity to a standard of righteousness.

Knowledge Check! The Eagles sing a song called “Lyin’ Eyes,” in which truth is revealed:

“There ain’t no way to hide your lyin’ eyes!”

Look to the politicians. I do not care about your political affiliation. Take an honest look at them, their deeds, and their faces; can you see their lying eyes? Use the pattern discussed above; are the politicians in public office right now frugal with your hard-earned tax dollars? Do they practice virtue in public and private? What about moderation and temperance? Do they perform their jobs with justice and moderation? If so, do they deserve your vote to stay in office? If not, do they earn your vote to remain in office? Scared Eyes!

Better, would you trust them to watch your children in your home while you went out to dinner with your significant other? Your consent to be governed is expressed firstly in the ballot box, next in the actions you take, and then in your investment in trusting that person to continue under supervision. Too many local politicians have set up permanent camps because Federal politics is so amazingly in-your-face atrocious and attention-grabbing. But, your local school board wields considerable power that affects you more directly, and they get away with abysmal behavior while the focus is on State and Federal elections and politics.

Local judges have set up horrible empires of inefficiency, dastardly inefficient and unjust, almost criminal courtrooms, while the attention is focused elsewhere. Mayors, County Supervisors, City Councils, and the list goes on and on of political empires designed to do serious and lasting harm, steal your consent to be governed, and ruin America, all because the focus is on the more noticed elections at the state and federal levels. Modesty

America, tell me, is the government you witness daily the government you deserve? What about the other representative governments across the globe? Australia, has your government overstepped its legal authority and demonstrated enough contempt for the consent of the governed? China, has your government punished you sufficiently to consider a change of government? Hong Kong, you are being punished for agreeing to a treaty that was full of pie-crust promises, and your productivity has been propping the unjust communist regime since you joined the mainland. Have you had enough yet?

Look I weep for Venezuela, Cuba, Brazil, Hong Kong, Vietnam, and so many other countries where the people’s voice was twisted, distorted, stolen, or outright silenced to implant a government that does not represent the people. But, the principles remain the same; your consent to be governed remains the tinder upon which your money is exchanged. Your consent to be governed remains the trust used to keep unjust regimes and totalitarian officers in office. Your consent to be governed is the straw that will break the camels back and force changes to government. If the last century has taught us anything, when the people have had enough, collectively stand, and refuse their consent to be governed, blessed change will come, and governments crumble and blow away like dust in heavy winds!

Let us withhold our consent to be governed until the government starts listening to us, not the special interests, their own capacious egos, and monied influencers!

NO MORE BS: Hope, Faith, Confidence, and Your Money

Life Valued Imagine you are going about your daily duties and visit the grocery store. Where for a specific amount of confidence and hope, you complete an exchange for a product groceries. Another trip sees you investing hope and faith in retirement using confidence to help protect against the vagaries of the future. April 15^th is fast approaching, where confidence in the government is measured through tax revenue, and government officials then spend your confidence on various projects where you hope the investment will be rewarded by improved roads, better economic conditions, and safety inside defensible and sovereign boundaries.

What is Hope?

Hope, according to Webster, is a feeling of trust, as an extension of an expectation, and desire, that something will occur. For example, I hope for my diet to work, as I desire to lose weight, an expectation that exercise will aid in losing weight, and trust that my weight will reduce over time. Does this make sense?

Wasting Time I ask, because too often, when hope is mentioned, people immediately tie religious expectations and connotations to the word, then plasticize hope into being something it is not. Hope is not an end goal but the journey to an expectation born of desire and bounded by trust in a system that supports a person’s hope.

What is Faith?

As detailed by Webster, Faith is both an expression of religion’s doctrines and complete trust or an expression of confidence. Faith is the launch process of hope. Going back to my desire and expectation to lose weight, I have trust that the doctor was correct in ordering me to lose weight. Hence, my conviction in the doctor’s words is an expression of faith, and my action is putting faith and hope to work actually to lose weight.

Never Give Up! Complete trust is observable all around us daily, from inserting the key into the car ignition to start a car to the hours spent working where we trade our time (a precious resource) for a tangible item (paycheck) and in so many other ways and means. Consider grocery shopping; we make selections using our best judgment, with complete trust that the products purchased will not make us sick from food-borne illness or the ignorant or malicious actions of other people. Why does spitting in a police officer’s cup of coffee make us mad; because it breaks that complete trust that the same will not happen to us.

What is Confidence?

Detective 4 Confidence is a unique term, and Webster spends an inordinate amount of time trying to capture the power of, and reality is confidence. Confidence is “a feeling of self-assurance arising from one’s appreciation of one’s own abilities or qualities; firm trust, a specific feeling regarding the truth of something, a feeling or belief upon the reliance of someone or something.” The key to confidence is your own self-assurance. For example, you are assured through past transactions that your employer is not kiting paychecks. Your confidence in receiving a salary drives you to be motivated and return to work each day. When that trust is broken, you will leave and find new employment. Hence, people do not work for companies, but for managers and leaders, they like.

Confidence is a reality when many people all have trust in the same thing, which creates societies, social standards, and governments. Confidence in the government is expressed using the government’s monetary system to trade for products and services you would not have if you had less confidence in the government system. Firm trust in the “value of the US Dollar (insert your own currency here)” leads to gains and losses in economic values. Consider the events of the Christmas Holiday, which is fast approaching. The individual expresses confidence, faith, and hope in holiday shopping. The government uses the data of the volume of trades of confidence as a measuring stick in how well they are doing in government to improve a person’s return on investment. Shopkeepers, stores, and others selling products and services represent a two-way street of faith, hope, and confidence as they trade with customers and with other suppliers, government, and stakeholders in conducting business.

Resilience Confidence is never an unconscious decision! One cannot have firm trust, faith, or hope, in something without being consciously aware and possessing experience and knowledge in that someone or something. Hence, confidence is the conscious use of trust as a destination in the journey of hope, launched by faith.

What is spent when money exchanges hands?

Confidence, faith, and hope. But, you claim, “That was my money.” Really, what value does your money have? The answer is nothing! If I give you a piece of cloth/paper stamped with a 20 symbol on it, you interpret this as a $20 bill, having the value of 20 dollars, pounds, euros, etc. That which we call money is nothing but faith, hope, and confidence in a governing system where products and services are exchanged for time and faith and hope through our individual confidence in the government. But the reality is that the piece of paper/cloth is nothing, has no value, and can do nothing without the express faith, hope, and confidence of the one trading services or products for that value statement.

Dane-Geld By removing the Gold Standard from money, we stopped trading in a fungible and tactile substance (Gold, Silver, Grain, Salt, Animal Hides, etc.). We began trading in a measured system of confidence as provided by the government. Your “money” is nothing but your faith and trust in the government sponsoring your system of confidence be that confidence called a US Dollar, a Rial, a Pound Sterling, a Euro, etc., you deal in nothing but confidence. Raw products with tradable value, grain, precious metals, oil, etc., are all injected into the monetary system through investment and speculation markets, not the individual farmer, rancher, miner, etc. Who receive their wages not through trading their products but by trading their efforts and time with their confidence in an employer-supported by a functioning government system.

Your Money!

I love this phrase! Rather, I like asking the question, “What does ‘Your Money’ mean to you personally?” The answers never cease to amaze and horrify me. I asked a 20-something this question and was told it was what they spent on college. So, I wondered does your education and academic success provide the value of the investment of money? To which, the 20-something had no coherent answer. Let me be clear, the value of an academic gamble is not found in the money made with an employer but in the power of changing how you think and approach the world. Educational costs have far exceeded the value of the academic experience. The connection between the value and cost of education is warped and twisted, and the only people winning are governments, unions, and the controllers of educational experiences.

Detective 4 If I hold a piece of paper/cloth with 100 stamped upon it, I could claim I have money. Except, I do not have money; I have a bit of cloth/paper with ink declaring that piece of cloth/paper had value, but only if I trust that government. Consider the trouble Venezuela is currently in, the thin ice of economic problems Mexico, Greece, France, and so many other countries exist presently. The confidence in those government systems is shaken. The value of that currency is weak compared to other currencies. If a blacksmith in Ohio produces a sword, and similarly skilled blacksmiths create the same sword in Saudi Arabia, China, Vietnam, Peru, and Cuba, why does the value of that sword change? Are the sweat and efforts of the blacksmiths different; no! Does the value of experience change; no! Did the cost of gaining that knowledge, experience, and talent change; no! Is the steel cost to mine different; only because the governments’ currencies are different. Does the value of the sword adequately represent the value of the currency exchanged; more than likely, No!

What is “Your Money?” For when we lose confidence in the government, the value of the currency slips, which leads to expressions of fear, a lack of faith, and a refusal of the citizens to hope and trust. Recently, I had a statement arrive declaring I had XX thousand dollars in a retirement account. Is the value of those funds found in the report received; no! The value of those “retirement funds” is located in the government system’s future, invested with faith, on a journey of hope to the time that I can remove those funds without being taxed to death. If the value of the dollar goes down, those retirement funds are useless. If the dollar’s value goes up, more faith, hope, and confidence are being invested in the government operations over time.

A “Liberty FIRST Culture” understands their money relationships to government, is engaged in preventing government abuse as that leads to lower values of currency, and the lower the value of a currency, the more expensive products and services become. Kate, the blacksmith from the (2001) movie “Knight’s Tale,” is absolutely correct, “Each drop of sweat has a price!” But the price of that sweat is not always competitive with the currency used to remunerate that effort, all because of hope, faith, and confidence in the government managing the currency. Think about that the next time you are asked to vote!

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