Category Archives: Food for Thought

May 23, 2013 · 9:02 am

The duty of a wise people

George Washington captured my imagination and heart as a child, with his humility, his love for the land, his willingness to take on public duties when all he truly wanted to do was return to his farming at his home, Mount Vernon.  In the darkest days of the Revolutionary War,  his army in rags and struggling to survive a cold winter encamped at Valley Forge, PA from December 1778 to June 1779, General Washington, didn’t toss up his hands and say, “they don’t pay me enough to put up with this misery!”  He didn’t  pack up his gear and head south for the winter.  He suffered right beside his troops and spent many hours writing letters (excellent site here), often pleading for funds to arm, feed and clothe his ragtag army.  In those dark days, he still took the time to handle mundane and routine personal business matters, keep in touch with his wife and family, while dealing with some of the toughest challenges of leadership.  He tackled starting an army from scratch, with no experts and limited military experience, he forged ahead, always placing the highest importance on principles over expediency.   He paid attention to not only the big problems, but he made time to deal with the little problems too.   George Washington didn’t wait for someone else to solve his problems.

He had learned early in life to think for himself.  He didn’t have a fancy education or access to as many books as most ordinary public schools contain today.  What he did have was character honed by the strength of his convictions.  Early in life he copied out by hand (no cut and paste option back then)  “rules” to live by that had been used by Jesuit tutors for generations, as Richard Brookhiser explains in his book, “Rules of Civility: The 110 Precepts That Guided Our First President in War and Peace” (here).   What is so lacking today is what George Washington used to guide his life- a belief in ideals.  There’s a quote that I had taped up from the time I was a teenager that helped guide me and to this day challenges me to never lose sight of the values I believe in, “Ideals are like stars; you will not succeed in touching them with your hands.  but like the seafaring man on the deserts of waters; you choose them as your guides, and following them you will reach your destiny.” – Carl Schurz.   George Washington helped me build my character, by setting an example worth following.  Some Jesuit teachings helped him find his.  Our children need to be taught to find some worthy ideals to emulate. George  Washington believed so much in our American future that when he finally did return home, he changed the orientation of his home from east to west, believing America’s future lay, not in it’s English past, but in the uncharted America that lay westward.  He inspired a fledgling nation then and he still inspires many of us today.

George Washington was so revered by the American people that, had he chosen to grasp those reins of power, he could easily have become America’s first “king”.  He reluctantly took on the first executive task to try and unite a new nation, serving two terms and then peacefully handing over power to another President, with very different political views and the leader of  a rival political party.  Washington never joined a party, but his views aligned with the Federalist Party.  In his farewell address (full text here), he warned of  the dangers of factions and partisan politics.  The entire speech runs well over 7,000 words and offers up memorable quotes on a wide range of issues vital to a free people committed to popular government and preserving our Republic. Every American should take the time to read this speech sometime.  Here are a few paragraphs on the danger of factions and political parties:

“I have already intimated to you the danger of parties in the State, with particular reference to the founding of them on geographical discriminations. Let me now take a more comprehensive view, and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party generally.

This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. It exists under different shapes in all governments, more or less stifled, controlled, or repressed; but, in those of the popular form, it is seen in its greatest rankness, and is truly their worst enemy.

The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty.

Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight), the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it.

It serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which finds a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions. Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another.

There is an opinion that parties in free countries are useful checks upon the administration of the government and serve to keep alive the spirit of liberty. This within certain limits is probably true; and in governments of a monarchical cast, patriotism may look with indulgence, if not with favor, upon the spirit of party. But in those of the popular character, in governments purely elective, it is a spirit not to be encouraged. From their natural tendency, it is certain there will always be enough of that spirit for every salutary purpose. And there being constant danger of excess, the effort ought to be by force of public opinion, to mitigate and assuage it. A fire not to be quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance to prevent its bursting into a flame, lest, instead of warming, it should consume.

It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking in a free country should inspire caution in those entrusted with its administration, to confine themselves within their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding in the exercise of the powers of one department to encroach upon another. The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of government, a real despotism. A just estimate of that love of power, and proneness to abuse it, which predominates in the human heart, is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position. The necessity of reciprocal checks in the exercise of political power, by dividing and distributing it into different depositaries, and constituting each the guardian of the public weal against invasions by the others, has been evinced by experiments ancient and modern; some of them in our country and under our own eyes. To preserve them must be as necessary as to institute them. If, in the opinion of the people, the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way which the Constitution designates. But let there be no change by usurpation; for though this, in one instance, may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed. The precedent must always greatly overbalance in permanent evil any partial or transient benefit, which the use can at any time yield.”

We should listen to his wise counsel whispering to us on the winds of time.

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Filed under American Character, American History, Food for Thought, Politics

May 22, 2013 · 9:54 pm

Lessons From The Village

In the past week the Obama scandals seem to be multiplying faster than rabbits.  Benghazi blazed back to life, the IRS scandal hadn’t even crested, when the AP and FOX news reporters phones and emails being monitored by the Obama Justice Department hit (here, here, here).  Then, the Oklahoma tornado pretty much sidelined all other news since yesterday and the White House got a slight reprieve from the media barrage.  Obviously, these scandals will pick up steam and more will assuredly come to light as the abuses of unchecked power of bureaucrats in the executive branch swell beyond the administration’s ability to spin (LIE)  them away as right-wing conspiracy witch hunts.  Some of those witch hunters should invest in sturdier brooms to sweep this bunch of dirtballs out the door, but sadly way too many Republicans in Washington get too caught up in the partisan politics rather than scrupulously following the law and keeping this about upholding the Constitution rather than setting the stage for the 2014 election cycle.  Upholding the rule of law should be the paramount concern.  The truth should matter.

The partisan divide, where both political factions spend more time trying to take down the other side than they do trying to actually govern in a positive way, leaves us stuck with a country fractured and bleeding and having fewer and fewer shared values to patch our wounds.  The distrust of President Obama propelled gun and ammunition sales off the charts.  The reports of Homeland Security and other federal agencies stockpiling ammo, makes one wonder if this distrust cuts both ways.  Comments by Obama officials about radical right-wingers, potentially dangerous soldiers and Christians demonstrates that the distrust runs both ways and makes one wonder where this will all lead.  Then the recent reports about the military targeting Christians as potential extremists hinted at a planned purging of the US military officer corps, had me wondering if we’re in for a drastic attempt at politicizing and radicalizing our armed forces, where far-left kooks set the policies.

To survive, our country needs to find it’s way back to some shared values and if we can’t do that our Republic will not survive as the great beacon of hope it has been.   For me, the Constitution always served as the keystone of my American value system. Being from PA, well, we are big on the “keystone” rhetorical device, lol.  As a child growing up in a rural village (yes, I know more about village life than the official “it takes a village” expert of America), the turmoil of the 60s and 70s pretty much passed us by.  We did have some hippies move into some old farmsteads and try the back to nature living.  I remember one communal group bringing their kids to our vacation Bible school and I had a few of their children in my preschool class ( I got the youngest group – because no one wanted to deal with all that crying and constant having to use the bathroom).  We weren’t sure what to make of folks living in a commune and they sure seemed uneasy about us.  What happens when people distrust each other is the misunderstandings, exaggerations and fabrications about the other group multiply and spread.  I remember hearing fantastic stories about the orgies, drugs and nefarious doings of this particular group.  After talking to several of these mothers over many months, I realized that they were a Christian group trying to live a simple life in the country.  They named their children Biblical names.  And after getting to know them, I realized these fantastic stories weren’t remotely true.  Even more dramatic was when we had the first black families move into our area – once again more distrust, wild stories, etc., because they came from inner-city Philadelphia (those dreaded “city” people) and it was several families living together and oh my, they were “black” (which to some locals made them as threatening as the whole Soviet Army).  These children rode on our bus and I wanted to learn about our new neighbors, so I talked to them and found out that they weren’t threatening in the least.  The one certain thing I knew was they were scared to death at first getting on a bus with all white kids.  Life in a village taught me (as I’ve repeatedly said) that getting to know people matters more than all the “I heard” or “I have it on good authority” or “everyone says” in the world.

Our leaders need to start agreeing on some simple common values to build trust in our institutions again and also in each other.  If we continue to let partisan politicos send us rampaging about one hot button issue after another, we’re doomed.  We can’t continue to play dangerous, divisive political games where we pit various groups of Americans against each other for political advantage.  The village expert of America, Hillary Clinton, perfected this evil vast, right-wing conspiracy hysteria and we now have a Homeland Security department profiling former servicemen and tea party types as “dangerous”.  We’ve got some right-wing talk radio types who fuel the conspiracy theories about the federal government.  It’s way past time for average Americans to stop letting themselves be played like this.  It’s hurting our country!  We’ve got to agree on some common values – like respect for the rule of law, the belief that everyone counts in America, the belief that the strong must protect the weak, advocate for being a good neighbor in both word and deed.  These are simple values that should not be controversial, regardless of your race, ethnicity or religious views.  If we spent half as much time teaching our children to treat other people with respect and basic manners, as we do with all this politicized diversity claptrap, green agenda and endless causes, we might make some progress at restoring order to our classrooms.  Really, treating other people with respect and taking the time to get to know people – how controversial is that?

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May 15, 2013 · 2:41 pm

American Propaganda Masters (ignore that man behind the curtain)

The numerous scandals brewing finally woke up a hypnotized mainstream media, but I want to talk about something else.  During the Clinton impeachment drama, their spinmeisters hit the media – print and TV (lacking only to dominate talk-radio) with a relentless wave of media manipulation efforts.  They floated deceptive language and phrases to try and confuse the American public into accepting that lying under oath was no big deal depending if the testimony pertained to personal sexual behavior.  Along with the “it’s just about sex, sex, sex” line, they also used the “vast, right-wing conspiracy” as a diversionary tactic to convince the American people that Bill Clinton was a “victim”.  Rehashing this old scandal  is meant to illuminate a problem in America, that trickles down from the highest reaches of our government.  Americans, by and large, take their personal liberty and the many blessings of living in a free society for granted.

The mass media manipulations (propaganda) will hit full-force as another corrupt administration tries to survive a series of scandals.  The DNC, the Clinton political machine and President Obama with his army of far-left kooks and Chicago-type political operatives will feverishly work to contain these scandals.  The Republican partisans will mobilize to capitalize on these scandals and make as much political hay as possible.  Seeking the  truth will not be the ultimate objective of either side’s efforts.  Political objectives will fuel both sides.  Even during President Reagan’s second-term, Iran-Contra marred his legacy and it pained me to see some of his cabinet testify using slippery language and, in my view, lie.  Both political parties fall prey to lying way too often.

President Clinton’s poll numbers were touted by the Clinton mouthpieces endlessly during the impeachment saga to neutralize and derail the impeachment efforts.  He governed using a finger-to-the-wind approach rather than from firm principled footing.  To this day much of our news, from all political angles, is presented with polling data as the benchmark on issues.  From impeachment to the present-day gay marriage – issues are sold to the American public, not on the merits of the issue, but on polling data.  Once over 50% of the public can be cited as “supporting” that viewpoint, the media accepts that polling data as a reflection of the “will of the people“.  What we’re being duped into believing is that if you can deceive, trick, and use mass media manipulation techniques (propaganda) effectively, then the end polling results are a true representation of the mainstream public’s position.

The merits of issues should be debated and argued, but to accept the end result of mass media manipulation campaigns, rather than demanding straight facts and the truth,  jeopardizes the very foundation of our liberties.  Polls reflect nothing more than the effectiveness of the propaganda efforts in America these days.   It’s reached the point where reporters talk about the administration’s “narrative” without raising an eyebrow or murmuring even a few probing questions.  We should demand the truth and facts, not settle for some slickly packaged “narrative”.  An administration that can utter explanations such as the white girlfriend that President Obama talked about in his autobiography was a “composite” of white girlfriends, with no media alarm bells being sounded, highlights how bereft of principles both this administration and the media are.  We can’t  trust a mainstream media that is so blinded by partisan politics.  And the Frank Luntz type of  finding the “pulse” of America by how people “react” to certain phrases in speeches provides nothing more than data to be utilized by political propagandists.  We need to try to get the American people to THINK about issues, which requires some time spent studying the issues and pondering the merits of both sides of an argument – not gauging superficial “reacting” on a second-by-second basis.

We need some calm, reasonable voices to remind people to put the partisan politics aside and demand to get to the ground truth facts, wherever they fall.  Polling numbers reflect nothing more than the barometer of political polarization efforts being fueled by partisan political operatives.   Polls do not reflect anything vital and we should demand that those in the media stop relying on polls as the determining factor on issues of great public import.  Polls are about how people “FEEL‘”, not about what people “THINK”  and hopefully we can get Americans to react less and think more.  An informed opinion rests on taking the time to gather as many facts as possible, making a free press a vital link in the process.   Maybe if we’re lucky our press will go back to demanding, “the facts” and let the political chips fall where they may.

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April 26, 2013 · 12:29 am

Time to spare

President Obama delivered a speech yesterday at a memorial service in Waco, TX  for the first responders who perished in the fertilizer plant explosion last week. (here) His speech writers prepared a warm, cozy speech with all the high notes of honoring the fallen, offering hope for the living and fleshed out with lots of examples of individual courage, but somehow his speech just didn’t sound like it came from the heart.  President Obama waxing on about the virtues of “small town America”  rubbed me the wrong way, because frankly I don’t think he respects “small town America” and from his unscripted remarks in the past it’s obvious that he holds these very people in complete contempt.  Good manners dictate just praising him for making the effort to show up to offer his condolences, but in the back of my mind, I was remembering, “they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”  Guess we can add “clinging to past insults” as part of this Pennsylvanian’s backwoods mentality too.

Just what are these “small town values” his speech writers thought would sound the proper chord for this solemn occasion in Waco?  Perhaps, one of the most important values that shines in small towns is the belief in civic duty, where good citizenship still carries a great deal of clout.  Now, President Obama places his faith in more governmental programs to solve social problems, while when you travel to these tiny nooks and hollows, far away from urban and suburban America, vestiges of the self-reliant American spirit still flourish.  The people of West. TX, like so many other “small town” locales, rely on volunteers in their own community for many of their services and civic needs.  It’s a place where the fire department is strictly a volunteer undertaking, as 12 of those who perished in this fertilizer explosion last week were volunteer firefighters.  The President starts his civic duty definition with what the government owes you, but to rebuild the American team requires nurturing the seeds of democracy that still bravely take root in these tiny enclaves all across our great nation.  Those seeds are the seeds of individual commitment to the American ideals of being a good citizen, knowing that our strength comes not from having the fanciest ‘”infrastructure”, but from building good character in our citizenry.   It’s about what the people can do for themselves and their community, not about what “government” can do.

As a child, I marveled at how many people stopped by our home bearing everything from fresh garden produce to hams and bottles of whiskey at Christmas time as thank-you gifts to my Dad for “favors” he did for them (of course the whiskey sat gathering dust at our home, as my parents weren’t drinkers).  My Dad made helping people part of his daily life, with no mention of it and certainly no desire for anything in return.  Often, neighbors or friends of friends would call my mother when a loved one died at home.  My mother, being a registered nurse, made her the go-to person to call to prepare the deceased for the undertaker.  Day or night, my mother would go and bathe the deceased, to spare the immediate family from having to deal with that.  My mother explained the importance of treating the deceased with as much respect as you treat the living.  Just comparing my mother’s values to that horrific disregard for human life on trial in that abortionist, Kermit Gosnell, trial in Philadelphia, well, it could easily be summed up as the difference between good and evil.  My parents believed in good citizenship in practice, not from the political soapbox.

When my father passed away a couple attended the service and they expressed their great admiration for my father and told my siblings and my mother about how many times my father helped them with things around their house,  This couple were newcomers to our community and I assumed my mother knew them, as I had years before moved away from home.  Later as my family sat discussing the services, one of my sisters asked my mother about this couple.  My mother said she had no idea who they were and she thought one of us might know who they were.  My Dad’s brand of quietly doing “favors” for people could sure put us on the right path to rebuilding the American team and his “small town values” still serve as my personal model on how to treat other people.  Often when I queried why he did so much for other people, his usual response was, “Well it didn’t cost me much except a little time and everyone has a little time to spare.”

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April 11, 2013 · 10:07 am

Take Me To The Moon (or beyond)

Who am I to question renowned cosmologist. Stephen Hawking…………. but…….. sometimes what he says seems to be influenced by what he “believes” more than what he scientifically “knows”.  Yesterday, ABC’s news site ran this alarmist headline, “Hawking: Humans Will Not Survive Another 1,000 Years ‘Without Escaping’ Earth” .   This piece quotes Hawking as saying that he does not think humans will survive another 1,000 years without “escaping beyond our fragile planet”.  Now, within that little statement lies a wealth of questions – is our planet really “fragile”?  Here’s a news story from 2009 quoting a Caltech team that thinks the earth might be habitable for another 2.3 billion years.  So, somewhere between these extremes might lie the answer, let’s say humans have a billion years (give or take a few), well, a lot can happen in even one century – unimaginable things.  In 1900, if we had been sitting around the kitchen table eating dinner (my favorite location for family discussions), do you think any of us would have ever dreamed that by the year 2000 we would have gone to the moon, had personal computers to share information, tackled a wide array of deadly diseases, among an almost endless list of inventions, discoveries and innovations that dramatically changed our daily lives?

I’ll mention a situation from my childhood, yes, back to those rural PA backwoods again.  Palmerton, PA, located in NE PA was home to a smelting factory belonging to the NJ Zinc Company.  Before you even reached Palmerton, the barren mountains where all of the trees had died, alerted you to the pollution, minutes before you actually saw the smokestacks billowing pollutants into the air.  Now, I am not one of those green types, but when even weeds and grass won’t grow in people’s yards, that should be a clue that something is amiss.  Over a decade ago, I drove through Palmerton and due to a lot of scientific know-how, a reforestation program appears to be working – the mountains are green again.  Here’s a detailed report from the Fish and Wildlife Service.  While way too many people on both sides of the political aisle automatically jump to their side on all issues, perhaps, we should view each situation on its merits.  Yes, the right always cringes whenever we hear about the EPA (because of so many overreaches by politically-motivated folks), but sometimes it’s important to put limits on industrial waste.  This one little example demonstrates that people can make both good and bad impacts on our “fragile” earth.  As a child, I “believed” those mountains were dead forever and when I saw the new growth decades later, it struck me as another example that with determination and an innovative spirit, people can accomplish things that seemed impossible only a few years before.

I often think that many times what people say they “think” really is more about what they “believe”.  He’s  a “believer” in global warming – Hawking was warning about the dangers of global warming back in 2006 – here’s a USA Today story.    His language, to flow with the politically-motivated, semantical tap dance, now uses the all inclusive, so you’re never wrong, “climate change”, but it still seems more about political beliefs rather than scientific facts to me.  I’ll stick to my faith in the human spirit, which knows no bonds, beyond those which we accept as insurmountable obstacles.  And yes, if at some point 1,000 or 2.3 billion years from now, earth is in its death throes, I “believe” that people will have acquired a means to find us another habitable planet to move to – such is the indomitable human spirit:-)

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February 3, 2013 · 8:38 pm

The Most Interesting Career: Housewife

Interesting column by Selwyn Duke:  “The Most Interesting Career: Housewife”.  Naturally, I quite agree, because the 18 years I spent as a homemaker were pretty darned interesting

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2013/02/the_most_interesting_career_housewife.html.

 

 

 

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January 8, 2013 · 11:09 am

A Quiet Reflection

I came across this prayer, which fits my mood.  Whenever I am waiting for anything to happen, I get very impatient.    I remember when my husband deployed to war, I was always conflicted with feelings of wanting it to move faster, while dreading the terrible consequences  and at the same time yearning that one day war would no longer be.  Such is the hope of all military families.  Such a mixed bag of emotions.  Anyway, I thought this was a nice prayer.  Y’all have a nice day:)

A Prayer For Patience
Teach me Thy patience; still with Thee
In closer, dearer company;
In work that keeps faith sweet and strong;
In trust that triumphs over wrong;
In hope that sends a shining ray
Far down the future’s broadening way;
In peace that only Thou cast give —
With Thee, O Master, let me live!

– Washington Gladden

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December 26, 2012 · 10:25 pm

Survival: The Mind-set

Reading Gladius Maximus’ excellent essay, “Gimme A Knife”, brought to the fore some thoughts on this subject of survival.  Since getting hooked on my Kindle a few years back, I frequently download obscure free books on a range of topics(mostly history, but some literature and the occasional odd title that catches my fancy), in addition to the many I buy.    To save you the inconvenience, I’ll add this off-topic comment: don’t download free public domain books from Barnes and Noble.  The formatting is awful and each one starts with a message from Google, stating each book has been carefully scanned to preserve it.  How each page ends up with many words containing symbols in lieu of letters, I know not, but save yourself the aggravation of reading this mess.  Amazon’s public domain books far surpass Barnes and Noble’s.

Now, back to the topic, a few months ago,  I read my  amazon.com freebie,  Willa Cather’s, My Antonia  (available free here or here).  This novel exemplifies the “put one’s hand to the plough” mentality that separates those who persevere and thrive and those who prefer to wallow in misery.  The young male main character, Jim Burden, narrates the story of moving to early 20th century Nebraska to live with his grandparents, who were early homesteaders.  Jim becomes fascinated with neighboring homesteaders, the Shimerdas,  a family of Bohemian immigrants.  Throughout the story, Jack’s grandmother exemplifies the indomitable American spirit and she’s a testament to planning not just to survive, but to live as comfortably as possible in an unforgiving environment.  The Shimerdas, city-dwellers in their home country, fail to take responsibility for their own survival, necessitating good neighbors to prevent their demise.  In one scene the grandmother packs a hamper to take to the Shimerdas, she offers this line:

‘Now, Jake,’ grandmother was saying, ‘if you can find that old rooster that got his comb froze, just give his neck a twist, and we’ll take him along. There’s no good reason why Mrs. Shimerda couldn’t have got hens from her neighbours last fall and had a hen-house going by now. I reckon she was confused and didn’t know where to begin. I’ve come strange to a new country myself, but I never forgot hens are a good thing to have, no matter what you don’t have.”

Despite the Shimerdas family’s hardships and suffering caused by their parents lack of survival skills, Antonia Shimerda and her siblings (thanks to neighbors and others in their rural Nebraska community), get on the path toward successfully homesteading and thriving in America.

I’ve noticed this dichotomy in how various regions of the country respond to natural disasters too.  In the heartland, entire towns were swept away by flooding, yet you saw neighbors helping neighbors and I recall one reporter interviewing a young man, who was  helping build a sandbag barricade.  This young man, nonchalantly told the reporter that his family’s home had already been washed away one town upriver, so there was nothing they could do about that.   He told the reporter they decided to come and try and help their neighbors save their homes.  Yet, when natural disasters strike urban areas, the scene quickly turns into political posturing about the federal response, looting concerns, and a general spectacle of people who don’t seem well equipped to survive.  To be clear this isn’t a racist comment, I’ve observed this in Long Island, New Orleans, LA, and other urban areas and I think the difference is in the sense of community that still flickers in rural America,  that no longer burns in urban areas.

During Hurricane Katrina, GEN Russell Honore became one of the most prominent faces of Katrina.  After Hurricane Katrina he wrote a book, aptly titled, “Survival: How A Culture Of  Preparedness Can Save You And Your Family From Disasters” (here).  I bought the book, thinking my husband might want to read it, because he worked for GEN Honore, earlier in their careers and my husband came home almost daily with stories (many very amusing).

When I read the first few pages, I decided to read the whole book.  His book offers up many excellent remedies for improving our state and federal response to disasters, but the main take away he pushes to the forefront is that you are the main  driver of you and your own family’s survival.  He describes his rural upbringing working on his father’s farm and later working for pay for a  neighboring dairy farmer , Grover Chustz.   He describes Chustz as lacking formal education, but being highly creative, innovative and most of all striving to make sure everything on his farm was done well.  Honore describes how Chustz  taught him a fundamental lesson that carried him through a highly successful military career.  Chustz pulled out a single wooden match and had Honore break it.  Next,  he pulled out two matches,  put them together and had him break them, which proved harder to do.  Then he pulled out four matches and Honore couldn’t break them.  He explained  to Honore that’s the power of a team.   I believe that’s the challenge we face in America –  rebuilding the power of the team.  With the rise of the Tea party movement, the phrase, “Take Back America” took flight, but perhaps we ought to readjust that to rebuilding the American team.

Reality TV garbage, like Doomsday Preppers and the fixation on extreme survival skills, like Bear Grylls, marginalize  the seriousness of learning practical steps to take to be prepared.  In fact, stockpiling and building a fortress probably won’t increase your odds of survival anyway. The surest way to survive lies in building that team, where individual strengths and skills can lead to  innovation, creative-brainstorming and more ideas on how to tackle our problems, even in the most dire situation.  If you are stranded by rising water, calling Washington won’t help you, but calling your neighbors, who can pool resources sure might.

In a previous post, I mentioned federalism as the key to revitalizing America, in hopes of pulling back on some of the federal encroachment on states’ rights.  And the vital building blocks to stronger states lies in rebuilding our sense of community.  This isn’t about celebrity-driven national movements or the Glenn Beck type extravaganzas.  It’s about concerned citizens within communities sharing concerns,  ideas, pooling resources and taking charge of their own survival.  Considering the fractured nature of not only American communities, but more importantly American families, this team-building effort can’t be done overnight.  In fact, it could take years, but without it, we will keep making those  3 am calls to Washington and realize, no one is at home.

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December 22, 2012 · 4:56 am

Time For A Classic Christmas Story

I love the short-stories of  American writer, William Sydney Porter, who wrote under the pen name O. Henry.  In my teens, I used most of my babysitting earnings to buy books, thus commencing a lifelong obsession with books.  I still have my copy of “Tales of O. Henry” I bought decades ago and the very first story in the book, “The Gift of the Magi”, is the one that I urge you to read.  Take a break from the dismal news, prop up your feet, and read a few of his wonderful short-stories.  You can find  it for free (here).

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December 22, 2012 · 3:28 am

Gimme A Knife (Written by Gladius Maximus)

Last Sunday the Pastor posed the question of what we would consider to be necessities in today’s life. He gave some statistics from an earlier, time, maybe 50 or so years ago, wherein there were only about 19 things listed whereas in the current time were listed about 98 items. I’m not sure of the exact numbers, but those are close. Wow, 98 items considered necessities for an American.

Well, me being me, when he said “necessities” I immediately began thinking of survival, as opposed to microwave ovens and hand-held devices. The first item on my list was a good knife as I figured with a good knife I could either build or kill my way into most everything else. With some effort, after reaching only about five essential items on my list, I quit the inventory and got back to the sermon. Since then, though, I’ve had a chance to reflect on that question and the meaning of it to our society.

It came to me that our inability as Americans to survive in meager circumstances, or put another way, our dependence on technology, gadgets and the government, is evidence of the decay of character in our society. By that, I mean, our inability to be independent, innovative and willing to put up with hardship reflects how truly weak we have become. Our lack of perseverance in the face of adversity is evidence of our impotence. Unless we are surrounded by what many in the world would consider sumptuousness, we don’t believe we can make it.

If we don’t get our water out of a tap from a government approved water system, where will we get it? If we don’t get our protein from the local mega-store, sliced, diced, shrink-wrapped and priced, how do we get it and process it? If the burners on the range don’t work, or if we at least can’t get charcoal for the grill, how do we cook it? Need vegetables? How do they grow? Where do we get seed? When our shoes wear out, what do we do? When it’s cold outside, how do we stay warm?

I understand that folks growing up in the cities don’t have some of the outdoor opportunities that some of us have, but I am convinced that there are opportunities to develop individuality, independence, self-confidence and other survival skills without having to spend a year in the Rockies on some kind of sabbatical. Survival is more a mind-set than a setting. Attitude is everything.

Being innovative and imaginative is essential whether you’re in downtown Houston or central Nebraska. Skills of observation and patience are not natural talents, but acquired skills; both are essential and both can be acquired through discipline. The ability to reason and employ a rational, decision making process is needed in order to survive and thrive. Again, that is an acquired skill. Determination, grit if you will, is a trait to be cherished, not erased.

Why do I address this idea of necessities and survival in this column? What, you may ask, does that have to do with Taking Back America?

Our nation was founded by independent free-thinkers who were able to craft in their collective imaginations the essence of liberty. That imagination did not come from a dependence on the Crown of England to provide for their every need, but a willingness to be innovative; a willingness to persevere in the face of scarcity; a willingness to survive. The lack of that spirit is at the heart of the troubles we now face in America.

Health care issues; let the government fix them. Poor education in our schools, the government will fix it. Lack of discipline in the schools, we will regulate that by the government, too. Economy is weak; the government will provide for us. Coffee too hot at McDonald’s, let’s file a lawsuit. Offended by someone’s callous comments, get legislation to make that a hate crime. Don’t want to pray in public, make sure nobody else can either through lawsuits and legislation. Too lazy to work, go on welfare. Too lazy to get job training, get welfare. Want to make the stupid decision to quit school; that’s ok, there’s welfare for that, too. Have babies out of wedlock because of dumb decisions; that’s ok, we will give you money, medical care, food stamps and tell you it is a personal decision (even though tax money from productive citizens supports your dumb choices).

Whatever the problems we may face, the government will take care of us; cradle to grave. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the problem.

We have lost our independent spirit. We have lost the ability to innovate. We have lost the desire to stand on our own. We no longer want to be self-sufficient. We no longer teach our children what discipline is and why it is important. In short, we have become a nation of parasites.

Fortunately, not all of us are parasites as there are still enough productive tax payers out there to support the rest who are, but the numbers are dwindling. The decisions being made in congress will continue the crippling of our society until finally, the parasites will be the majority. And, when the parasites are the majority, we will be finished.

As for me, though, I’ll take a good knife.

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Filed under American Character, Food for Thought, Gladius Maximus