Category Archives: Politics

March 4, 2013 · 11:08 pm

Our Ever Useful Idiots

Just when you thought  Sean Penn holds the title of most dimwitted celebrity foreign policy adviser, along comes Dennis Rodman.   Rodman, for reasons that defy rational thought, embraced the pudgy new leader of one of the most despotic regimes on earth, North Korea, and wonders be, serendipity struck as they found affinity through their mutual love of basketball.  If you found Field Of Dreams  tested your tolerance for sports-centered fantasy, take a stiff drink before you ponder Rodmans’ surreal meandering foray into the world of international affairs (here).  Prison camps, millions of starving citizens, chest-thumping missile launches, threats of war – not to worry, Dennis assures us Kim is a humble man, his “friend” and he loves basketball.  What more could we desire in a leader?   Oh, wait, we have one of those that loves basketball, minus the humble part.   Laugh at your own peril though, our official policy, direct from John Kerry’s lips, intoned with that annoyingly oh-so-superior accent, sounds much like Rodman’s delusional take on his new best friend, Kim Jong-un, the inheritor of the dictatorship of North Korea.  Last week Kerry held out that olive branch of direct negotiations with Iran’s mullahs and Ahmadinejad (here), continuing the Obama doctrine of  embrace your enemies, while you stab your friends in the back.    Yes, he wants the mullahs in Tehran to know that the United States, despite years of intoning a stay tough with sanctions and no nukes for Iran mantra, really just wants to be friends………..  and we know, a’la our nuclear talks with Russia, that this administration excels at negotiations of this sort (thanks, Hillary)….. well ok, not so much.  It looks good to hold your hand out begging for talks, right?

As guests know their standing based on their place card location on the tables, foreign leaders gauge their standing with the United States much the same way.  Kerry embarked on his first official  trip to the Middle East as Secretary of State and he will visit with Mahmud Abbas today, but no visit with Israel is scheduled (here), continuing the Obama administration policy of placing Israel at a remote table off in a secluded corner, while all the miscreants of the world sit at the head table……… where perhaps they can share hoop dream fables and plan future golf outings.   Israel lives in a neighborhood, where they can’t indulge in such vacuous posturing,  knowing they’re facing an existential threat since the Arab Spring unleashed the Islamist hordes.   It’s much more important to this administration that they let the Muslim world know that the US plans to continue the cozy up to our enemies policy rather  than support our closest ally in the Middle East – Israel.

If the sequester-athon last week didn’t disgust you to the point of swearing off following politics completely, you probably didn’t miss this latest insult to your intelligence.  We are broke, yes broker than broke, according to President Obama.  Life as we know will cease because of the evil  Republicans’ unwillingness to compromise and avoid the fiscal grim reaper, swinging with broad strokes.  And then John Kerry announced $250 million  in aid to Egypt yesterday (here), as a bribe of sorts to encourage Egypt to reach an IMF agreement to secure a $4.8 billion loan package.  So, I guess we’re not really broke, broke, only broke on assuring  our national defense needs receive appropriate funding.   Most days lately it’s easier to skip the news than to face the relentless insults to our intelligence heaped out by this administration and the equally disingenuous posturing by the GOP tap dance champions, Graham and McCain, doing their shim sham shimmy routine (here), where they repeat the same steps, over and over and over.  You might conclude that Dennis Rodman’s pronouncements on North Korea rank as lame-brained  and worthy of only ridicule, but if you stop a second and listen to John Kerry’s foreign policy rhapsodizing (here) about lifting the world’s poor, fighting disease and promoting human rights,  the distance between Rodman and Kerry isn’t quite so far.  We all know Dennis Rodman hasn’t a clue about foreign policy.  However, lest anyone forget,  John Kerry referred to Bashar Assad as “my dear friend”, according to a Commentary magazine column by Michale Rubin in December 2012 (here), hinting that when it comes to rogue regimes he  carries on the proud leftist tradition of being useful idiots for communist thugs.   And just  like Rodman, Kerry hasn’t a clue about foreign policy either.

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Filed under Foreign Policy, Politics

February 26, 2013 · 8:55 am

Pet Peeve #2 – Too Stupid To Survive

We Americans love to believe we’re the greatest nation on earth and at some point I believed this too, but as things go from dismal to dire, such delusions might well prove to be our undoing.  Since President Obama took office every step he’s taken pushes us closer to a point of economic collapse from whence we won’t be able to recover.  He deflects attention like a political  Wizard of Oz, waving his hands, telling us to pay no attention to that man behind the curtain, while he systematically dismantles (transforms) our country into a country ruled by executive fiat.  Republicans run around in disarray with only enough discipline to form a circular firing squad when the Democrats lob the next legislative fire bomb .  No need to wait for impact, these GOP clowns shoot each other long before then, making this era of democratic scorched earth policy an unnecessary redundancy.  Both sides provide a decidedly sickening display of gutless, self-serving antics that is it any wonder no problems ever get resolved?  We’re stuck on a endless political hamster wheel,  round and round and round we go with phoney fiscal crises, fabricated doomsday hysterics, all pasted together with the brainwashing chant of some new catchphrase the media willingly repeats thousands of times a day.  A couple months ago it was “fiscal cliff”, today it’s “sequestration”.   The Democrats perfected this technique of public brainwashing decades ago and it works – repeat the same hypnotic talking point, using the same phrases and all of a sudden the general public follows along , not even caring where they’re being led.

Our government loves to warn us about China and Russia.  Beware they’re doing all these dangerous things that run counter to our American interests.  Well, yes they do and what does America do?  We run around creating a fiscal plague, poised to wipe out life as we know it and we want to take the moral high-ground???   China has been buying up US real estate for decades and American companies, but we pretend it isn’t happening.  We want all the cheap consumer goods, because our lazy, slovenly citizenry can never have too much junk, yet we mouth hollow rhetoric about how great we are and how evil they are.  There’s enough scary stuff written about Putin to fill a library and yet, as I watch how he leads, I sure wish we had even one leader in America with his backbone – just one!  It’s time to pay attention and realize that the leaders in Russia and China watch us and frankly they’re worried that we might pull the entire world into a financial tailspin.  They’re  unloading foreign exchange currency (US dollars) for gold, in hopes of boosting their chance of survival (here, here, and here).   They’re seeking secure energy resources, while we have this President and his EPA albatrosses wrapped around our necks, strangling the last breath of economic freedom from us.  They have leaders and we have this sorry excuse in Washington and sometimes I laugh at how ridiculous it is to hear American officials, like our illustrious former Madame Secretary of State railing about Putin or lecturing the Chinese.   In my heart, I long for real leaders in America again.

What  does it say about us when our most popular export isn’t our American values, but Honey Boo Boo?   She’s the perfect face of our American decline:  a chubby, rude, beauty pageant queen, prone to temper-tantrums and embarrassing public displays.  As a child, I loved watching re-runs of Shirley Temple movies and comparing real talent beside this bratty child, being exploited on TLC (The Learning Channel) of all places makes me cringe.  It’s a perfect example of American culture.  We have  a History Channel where no real history can be found, but you learn about the pawn business, trucking in Alaska and  alien visits.  We have music channels where they play no music and  news channels with more punditry than news reporting.   Since words no longer carry concrete definitions it seems quite fitting that we prefer to live in a perpetual state of national delusion, believing our financial Armageddon can’t happen to us,  – we’re so great.  So, while we slouch, sag, and vegetate and our elected officials point fingers at each other, many other countries have leaders preparing for the future.  Are we too stupid to survive?    Sad to think that we just might be…..

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Filed under Pet Peeves, Politics

February 22, 2013 · 7:14 am

Remembering Why

Yesterday Fort Stewart, home of the 3rd Infantry Division, held a tree dedication ceremony in memory of another fallen soldier, SGT Aaron Wittman, 28 years old.   He was the first American soldier killed in  Afghanistan this year, but this tree dedication is but one of  445 for this military installation.  The news article can be found here.

A few years ago I attended one of these tree dedication ceremonies and memorials should serve as a reminder to us all.   It made me tear up just seeing these long lines of trees with personal items placed around the base by their brothers and sisters in arms, their friends and family.  It forcefully reminds you that these were all young people in the prime of their lives who died in service to our country.   We should never forget that the policies our government follows come at a very real cost for those in uniform.  This young soldier’s father said his son, “loved being a soldier”.  We should never forget these brave soldiers, but we need to demand accountability of our leaders in Washington.  President Obama should attend a few of these ceremonies and talk to the families, at least as often as he has time to golf.

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Filed under Military, Politics

February 20, 2013 · 12:34 pm

Link To Opinion Piece – “Women In Foxholes”

This is an excellent commentary by Major General Patrick Brady, U.S. Army (retired) – (Here).  He raises  many excellent points and makes the case quite eloquently on why women don’t belong in combat.  We’d do much better as a society if we started focusing on respecting the differences between men and women, rather than trying to emasculate men and masculinize (yep, had to check my trusty Webster’s for that one) women.  If we started from the ground truth that men and women aren’t physically or psychologically the same, which there’s a plethora of research and daily observation to attest to this fact, we might be better able to formulate policies that make military sense as well as being inclusive of women.   By using a fact-based, reality-based framework to formulate policies, then we could reasonably discuss the military requirements and put in place standards that we will enforce, instead of playing this game of willfully turning a blind-eye when women can’t meet the standards and due to political pressure pretending they do.  Lowering standards to accommodate this political agenda only degrades our military competence.  There are so many people, both men and women, buying into the decades old myths about female performance in the field and cherry-picking only the female success stories, while ignoring the troubling large number of  problems that negatively impact missions.  Ralph Peters wrote a New York Post column in January, “Sergeant rock-ette” (Here), where he predicated his glowing endorsement of accepting women with open arms (figuratively speaking, I am sure) on if it’s “done right”.  Nothing regarding integration of women has ever been put to the simple test that men and women in the military must meet the same physical standards for a MOS, so how on earth he thinks this will be any different defies logic.  I served a short time and from day one, there were different physical standards, yet they sent women with these very different physical standards into many jobs that required a great deal of physical strength and endurance.  I observed the real results first-hand and formed my opinion, which I’ll repeat again, all military missions should be based on what assets best fit the mission.   Fair standards be damned, what we need are the highest standards,  in my book, if we want to win wars and maintain our military preeminence. Even survival in a field training environment places more stresses on a female body than on a male body.  These basic biological differences will always hamper female performance in combat jobs where only the strongest males succeed.   It would be real eye-opener if the actual statistics and facts on integration ever reached the light of day.  Major General Brady’s piece offered a blast of fresh air to the topic, where most military officers prefer to take the three wise monkey path – see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.  I admire his candor!

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Filed under Military, Politics

February 20, 2013 · 10:39 am

Military Expertise: Maybe Not So Much

An American Thinker piece titled, “On  Giving Pro-Obama Military Veterans A Pass”, written by Dan Nagasaki and Glenn Doi (here), offers some important historical examples of why veteran status does not in any way indicate whether a person is qualified to be Secretary of Defense.  In today’s military it is a rarity to find even four-star generals with the historical vision, strategic aptitude and  most importantly,  the sterling character required to be exemplars worthy of leading  the United States Armed Forces.   In the present case of Chuck Hagel’s competence, clearly his combat experience , in and of itself, does nothing to recommend him to be Secretary of Defense.  Yet too many in the media and in our society, at large, pay blind homage to military service, in an almost reflexive way to atone for the disgraceful treatment of our military during the Vietnam era.

Perhaps we would be better able to make decisions if we started out with a list of job requirements,  just like we’d begin with any other job.  If we did a checklist of job requirements and checked them off as we assessed Chuck Hagel, it would become clear as day, just by his pathetic confirmation hearing, that he isn’t fit for a job that requires making decisions for a vastly complex organization like our Defense Department.  He didn’t even seem clear on strategic issues or where we stand on many of these issues and yet, President Obama thinks this man is the best choice for this difficult, challenging and vastly important position?   Aside from Hagel’s disturbing personal history of making remarks about Israel and Iran, he seemed so unprepared for his confirmation hearing, that one might wonder how he would handle all the highly detailed decision-making this job will require.  Yes, of course he will have plenty of flunkies and Obama policy wonks peeking over his shoulder to make sure he sticks to the administration track, but he will still need to represent the US in important talks and dealing with our military allies and adversaries.  He will get confirmed though and then at every turn, President Obama will remind us that Chuck Hagel is a Republican, to deflect us from the dismantling of the greatest military in the world.

Now to take this topic to a broader context, the media and the public give veterans and military service constant praise, but regarding military matters, they prefer to remain completely ignorant and blindly accepting of military experience, military  “expertise” and most dangerously, they accept everything someone with military rank says as some sort of fount of military knowledge and wisdom.   It’s way past time to start questioning these military “experts” that the media foists on us and also to begin questioning the theories, strategies and policies these people spout.   To blindly follow based on some flashy medals on a chest, makes us dupes, no better than those following a tinpot dictator.  This common thread advice of mine definitely fits this situation: Think For Yourself!   A citizenry of blind followers and media “fans” could prove our undoing if we keep traveling this path, where the public, at large, won’t bother to read The Constitution and start taking an interest in learning some military history.  Sure, most people don’t want to become military historians or strategists, but truly most strategies should be easily understood by people of average intelligence.  If a strategy sounds highly complicated and convoluted, just apply common sense and realize that it just might be a bunch of malarkey.  Start trusting in your own good common sense and less in fancy titles, military ranks and highfalutin terminology.  Break any strategy down to its parts and you’ll be able to assess it without a doctorate degree.  We should demand that our leaders and all these “experts”, who foist so much loopy,  top-lofty-sounding tripe on us, be able to put their ideas in plain English and then we would quickly see that most of  it’s more hot air than strategic expertise.  Ask questions until you get answers that make sense and stop buying into other people’s bullshit (sorry I couldn’t think of a more genteel way to say that)!

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Filed under Military, Politics

February 7, 2013 · 9:53 am

Who Is A Terrorist???

Inside our insular little lives we would like to believe many naive things about our government that fall a far distance from the truth.  We would like to believe that our elected officials “care” about American citizens and  what’s in our best interests.   Above all else we would like to believe that the selfless pursuit of our interests guides their actions.  Long ago our  founding fathers determined that their government fell far short of promoting and protecting their interests and they risked all to free us from the chains of  monarchical rule and in the process devised our Constitutional Republic, which they felt offered the best hope for securing the blessings of liberty.  They knew that power corrupts, so a system of checks and balances was carefully fitted into their work, ending with the The Constitution of the United States

Americans receive much ribbing and derogatory press about our reverence for The Constitution, because many in the free world function well without a written constitution.  Yet for many Americans, myself included, The Constitution stands as the keystone providing the center stone support in our arch of freedom.  It’s importance lies so central to our belief system that the very first act passed by the US Senate on May5, 1789 was the Oath Act, requiring members and civil servants to swear to support The Constitution.  We require elected officials, judges and every member of our armed forces to swear an oath that they will defend The Constitution.

The Constitution lies at the center of this alarming acceptance of expanding executive branch power.  In recent days the press buzzes with stories about the Obama Justice Department’s memo (here),  which lays out broad power for the executive branch to target American citizens to be summarily executed, based on their “intelligence” (no one has to even double check that info by the way).  So, we accept the premise that one man (it need not even be the President according to this memo) can arbitrarily decide a particular American citizen poses such a threat to the Republic that he/she can be executed without needing  to prove his/her guilt.  Keep in mind too that in 2011 the Obama administration not only executed alleged terrorist, Anwar al Awlaki, but in a separate attack a couple weeks later they executed his 16 year-old son, Abdulrahman al Awlaki too, who was also an American citizen. The Huffington Post link: here.  Sure many people will just shrug their shoulders and brush off any concern about this by glibly asserting something along the lines, “oh what the hell, little terrorists grow up to be big terrorists.”   However how you can square that with our reverence for the law and our bedrock principle that every citizen has equal protection under the law and a right to a  jury trial if accused of a crime  with targeted assassinations carried out on flimsy grounds by an executive branch without any checks or balances, nor even Congressional oversight, well, it completely escapes me, because I don’t believe you can in good faith assert both things

Now couple this power to assassinate our fellow citizens at will with a government that accepts “spin” as an acceptable political tool to be used brazenly and without any concern for the law to secure political advantage and you are placing this power into the hands of people who lack character and truly aren’t trustworthy (do you trust liars in your life).  And then this can be pushed one step further because in the Clinton years the press glowed on about getting two for one, so the American people elected Bill Clinton, but by virtue of her supposed greatness, they cloaked Hillary with executive power too.  So, we had a wife, who was not elected and not legally accountable, wielding the power of the presidency.  I, for one, am thankful drone technology was not in our arsenal back then, when the “smartest woman in the world” was running amok without any checks on her power and so far Michelle Obama has remained in a more traditional First Lady role, urging us to exercise more and eat healthier food.

The US Army embarked on this crazy path too, encouraging what they dubbed the “command team” concept.  They wanted commanders’ spouses (almost always wives) to run the family support activities,  thus giving them a quasi-official status and allowing many of them to run amok wearing their husband’s rank to push their weight around all volunteer activities  and also to stick their noses in personal family problems, where they had no training, no accountability and yet often these very situations could have resulted in UCMJ action against the solider.  Enlisted wives were allowed entry into volunteer activities if the commanders wives allowed it.  Granted most commanders wives weren’t tyrants, but as we moved around the Army I met a few and boy, one time dealing with that type of officer’s wife was more than enough.  I’ve read so much press about Holly Petraeus, champion of the lowly soldiers,  and I’ve often wondered which type of commander’s wife she was, because her Daddy was a general and GEN Petraeus moved through the political channels, not the tough command route, to get to the top.

Do you believe an administration that embraced sleazy players like James Carville to propagate lies and slander on political opponents would hesitate to create a file of lies to attack an American citizen they deemed a “threat” to their political survival?   Someday we may get the answers to that question.  I remain ever hopeful that truth will triumph.  And I also remain hopeful that Americans will wake up and realize that just a cursory glance at the morally bankrupt types we elect to Washington should have us demanding more checks and balances and definitely more definitive proof that an American citizen is a terrorist other than a file compiled by nebulous government flunkies who have predetermined that the “terrorist” is guilty  just by association and no clear cut proof is required of what terrorist activities the person plotted or participated in – only that  they believe the person is ideologically aligned with that cause.  Keep in mind this President, when a senator, called US soldiers terrorists and has made other unsettling  stereotyping type remarks about various groups of American citizens, while refusing to call actual acts of terrorism as such.   Yet he shows no hesitation at secretly assassinating people from his hit list, compiled by our oh so efficient intelligence services or political operatives or actually we don’t know how that hit list is arrived at, but who cares, right?  In the meantime we’re supposed to accept their word that this 16 year old deserved to be assassinated and in the words of former Obama press secretary, Robert Gibbs,  “he should have [had] a more responsible father” (quote from the above Huffington post article) .  No other explanation or justification seemed necessary and we never questioned the Obama administration further.  Scary times we live in where lies now serve as well as the truth and no one even murmurs a protest.

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February 5, 2013 · 10:25 am

Getting To Know You

How well do you know anyone else or even yourself?  Most people automatically assume they know themselves perfectly and from that little self-conceit they believe they know most of the people around them extremely well too.  I’ve decided to challenge you to step out of your comfort zone and really think about what things you believe to be true about yourself and what things really are true based on how you conduct your life.  All it takes is a short list of the things you say you believe and a quick honest appraisal of  how in practice you live up to your own value system to see that you, like just about everyone else (since we’re none of us saints) , falls short on just about every metric we deem as a worthy value to uphold.  This can be a humbling experience when you first start doing it, but after time it can help you learn to work on your areas of particular weakness and also help you build on your areas of strength.

Long ago these types of character-building exercises permeated society from religious institutions all the way through our political institutions and down through our civic organizations and educational system.  Teaching “good citizenship” rested upon teaching the building of a good character.  These days “good character” got kicked to the curb, replaced by being green, being a diversity advocate, being non-judgmental, and being value neutral.  In other words nothing is right or wrong and if you believe there are moral absolutes, well, you need to be re-indoctrinated to get with the new regime.   The only institution that still  pays lip service to values constantly is in the military and that leadership has been hijacked by political sycophants for the most part.

To avoid making this too deep of a theological exercise, let’s just focus on the difference between actually  “knowing people” and “knowing about people”.  The first one takes more personal effort, because it involves actually making a personal connection with individual people and listening to them.  It takes time to get to “know people”.  To “know about people” ranks as a shallow second and third hand exercise where what you know usually comes from other people, in other words, much of it is little more than gossip that you accept as fact.  In our personal, everyday life this distinction might not have a huge impact other than to create unnecessary conflicts with neighbors, co-workers and within our own families.  And believe me, it’s hard to resolve some of these deep-seated misunderstandings based on not  knowing what’s truly in the hearts of others.  It’s hard work listening to others and really trying to understand what other people think, believe, dream.

While believing incorrect or absolute lies about other people isn’t usually too earth-shattering in our everyday lives, having our media and political institutions  reduced to consumers of “knowing about” people rather than taking the time to “know people” leads to many very unsettling results.  For instance reporters often zoom in on neighbors when seeking to add context to stories, yet do they ever bother to think that perhaps the neighbor hated the  person whom the story is about?  Do they bother to seek a broader understanding of the situation?

In this Newtown massacre within the first 48 hours, the press reported so many false stories that by the time they started coming up with a few facts, their credibility was nil and the damage had already been done.    Long ago most news organizations prided themselves of being reporters of the truth, with reporters trained to seek out who, what, when,where,  why and how.  Now we have live ‘reporting” where reporters fill the long segments with rambling gossip, innuendo, pop psychology detours, and plain emotional outbursts that should have no place in real journalism.

When this trend of accepting lies without question captures our political system, our Republic may be doomed.   Our founding fathers told us that the system they devised will only stand for a moral people.  Our electorate now falls mainly on shallow emotional hot-button issues, which both political parties shamelessly play.  The key factor in every election should be the character of the individual running for office, but we know that standard fell to the wayside long, long ago.  In the past 20 years, our moral compass as a nation died and we now have a media that helps promulgate lies for political advantage.  This mostly benefits the left, because the vast majority of journalists fall to the left politically.

During the Clinton years this dangerous threat to our Republic came to be known by the rather innocuous term “spin”.  Spin is the deliberate, concerted effort of your elected officials to lie and deceive you.  If you accept “spin” as truth or excuse it as just part of politics, then seriously there is little hope of rescuing our society from the moral sewer where these Clinton spinmeisters left us decaying.   George Bush did spin some facts on the “war on terror” (a term that is in and of  itself a fallacy), but they avoided the cheap character assassinations that the Clinton crowd excelled at.  Now we reached a new level of lying where cheap race-baiting tactics get used at every turn to keep the most shallow, intellectually vapid person ever to reach the Oval Office in power.  For rational people to accept flimsy “composite” white people as representative of the white mentality and to listen to his constant vile stereotyping of  white people, conservatives, rural Pennsylvanians (having grown up as one – well I took offense), well we are on a dangerous course here.  Now, the left is embracing junk science to promote the idea that conservatives are “genetically’  intellectually inferior beings compared to the liberals.

These dangerous paths always lead to governments running way off course to extremes, where an idiot like Roseanne Barr, seriously suggested re-education camps for conservatives.   Where was the outrage from the left about that insanity???

Americans need to wake up and realize that before they side up against other Americans they had better take the time to walk up to those who hold different views and sit down and talk first. Perhaps by actually getting “to know” other people, we might be able to bridge the gaps and build a stronger nation, where all views from all people get heard at our political kitchen table.  And just maybe communities might get back to holding potluck dinners where everyone comes and shares a meal and gets to know his/her neighbors.

What an amazing concept that is – getting to know other people, up close and personal.  It just might revolutionize America;-)

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January 6, 2013 · 2:05 am

Carville laments “Clinton haters”…… oh the hypocrisy

This Politico story (here) took me back to the Clinton Impeachment days, when there existed no sewer too foul for Carville and the other Clinton sewer rats to scurry through.    One can only hope that someday the  full  extent the  Clinton political machine went to silence anyone whom they perceived as a threat comes to light.  Oh, that would make one a conspiracy nut, in addition to a “hater”.  His line, “I mean, this is really an inhumane kind of discussion that these people were having. I have no idea what would lead them to do something like that. It’s sort of beyond me” , oh yes, James I have spent  all these years wondering what would lead people to behave like that too.  One can only hope that saying holds true:

“The truth will always out in the end.”

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/01/james-carville-hillary-clinton-haters-inhumane-85790.html#ixzz2HAzbOEcZ

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January 4, 2013 · 11:05 am

The Quest For American Leadership In The 21st Century: A Few Home Truths

I came across this piece I wrote a few years back, so it’s a bit dated (just like me), but the sentiments still apply today.

The Quest For American Leadership In the 21st Century:
A Few Home Truths
by libertybelle

Ronald Reagan once said, “All great change in America begins at the dinner table.”, a simple statement of trust in the great, good sense of average Americans to hash out the pressing politics of the day. One of the saddest commentaries in recent years on the state of America, came from pop culture icon, Oprah Winfrey, who devoted an entire show to teaching American parents the importance of finding time for family dinners. Despite the statistics on divorce, out of wedlock births and the steady mass media messaging, the importance of the American family emerged on Oprah, with a host of “experts” on hand, to teach us about family dinner time.  Millions of Oprah followers, I am sure, began talking amongst their friends and just as they buy the books she recommends, most assuredly many started trying to fit family dinners into their weekly schedule. How do family dinners and the quest for American leadership fit together? In our fast-paced, multi-tasking society, few common threads strengthen the waft and weave of our national fabric, so perhaps the family dinner table emerges as the place to begin this quest.

A young, single mother, with two young daughters, asked me a question this past Christmas that left me stunned for a moment. She wanted to know how to start family traditions. Growing up in a large family, in rural America in the 1960s, our family life ran like clock work and I never consciously thought about family traditions; they were just there. Sheltered from the turmoil and social upheaval of that decade, our family and community life continued relatively unscathed. My father, a blue collar worker, taught us by example, putting a value-based education in simple terms, “if you give your word; you keep it”. My mother enforced discipline, family dinner at 5 p.m., with the table set properly, cleaning the house from top to bottom on Saturday morning, with her assigning tasks with the efficiency of a drill sergeant and marching us to Sunday school in crisply ironed clothes and spotless shoes. My mother, placing high value on proper attire, shined shoes for all six children, when we were young, teaching us along the way how to do that task ourselves.

This young mother works hard trying to provide for her children, with the father providing child support on a sporadic basis. Her mother, with a chronic drug problem, offered no secure foundation for her to learn how to build a strong family. Multiply her situation, to hundreds of thousands of American children growing up without learning basic values, bereft of the security of a stable family life and the social chaos in America comes as no surprise. So, perhaps the Oprah dinner time show provided a public service. In lieu of parents instilling basic values, a mass-media produced line of “experts”, flashing ivy-league credentials or pop icon celebrity status, fill the void. Why on earth would anyone turn to Suzanne Somers for medical advice or Dr. Phil for advice on family problems?

The election of President Obama, the Tea Party movement and soaring popularity of Glenn Beck indicate millions of Americans yearn for a better America, divergent as their messages may appear. President Obama ran on a message of transforming America, leveling the playing field, expanding opportunities for all, and beating down the status quo. Those on the right of the political spectrum, calm down, I am speaking about the message, not the reality. The Tea Party movement appears to be a genuine populist uprising, with a few common themes of smaller government and fiscal responsibility as their message. Due to a lack of a national platform or organizational structure, I suppose we will see every type from good ole sweet tea to herbal concoctions, of course, we will probably be spared a green tea group.

Where to start with Glenn Beck, let’s see, his chalkboard antics aside, his message centers on a demand for honest government, a return to the original intent of the founding fathers, as encapsulated in The Constitution. His call to read about our founding fathers and our original founding documents definitely deserves praise. However, I urge people to tread lightly at accepting the simplisitc bows he ties all his theories in, targeting, those nefarious Progressives with the blame for all that ails us.

Discontented with unresponsive national leaders, Americans increasingly are losing faith in the two-party system, providing an opportunity for grass roots populism to flourish. Before jumping on any political bandwagon, prudence requires serious study, reflection, and most of all stepping back and thinking for yourself. Learning to evaluate events and politics, free of media-fueled, partisan flame-throwing should be the starting point. Now, back to the family dinner table, a few family dinner time conversations will quickly cure you of a belief that one political shoe fits all. Promote civil discourse, at home, among friends and in public forums. Civil discourse requires listening to opposing opinions and ideas, not shouting down the other side. Be an American first, remembering we can always find room to squeeze in another point of view at our political table. Including dissenting voices into the national dialogue, rather than shouting them down, as demonstrated by those disgraceful Congressional town hall meetings last summer, offers the path to forging consensus and building national unity.

President Abraham Lincoln stated “Let reverence for the laws be breathed by every American mother to the lisping babe that prattles on her lap. Let it be taught in schools, in seminaries, and in colleges. Let it be written in primers, spelling books, and in almanacs. Let it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative halls, and enforced in the courts of justice. And, in short, let it become the political religion of the nation.” Few would argue that our leaders should be men of good character. Defining what constitutes good character, a task that should be simple, will produce a confusing array of answers, if you do a quick survey of your friends. Going back to my father’s, “if you give your word; you keep it” belief, demanding our national leaders possess basic honesty, propels us further in this quest than dissecting political platforms, plank by plank, ever will.

The challenges facing America, from the war against radical Jihadists to our escalating economic crisis, demand leaders willing to build renewed faith in our governmental institutions; to find solutions and protect our nation or we face the very real possibility of massive civil unrest and collapse. Machiavelli, endlessly quoted for his “the ends justify the means” line, offered advice for republics too. He stated, “A republic may, likewise, be brought back to its original form, without recourse to ordinances for enforcing justice, by the mere virtues of a single citizen, by reason that these virtues are of such influence and authority that good men love to imitate them, and bad men are ashamed to depart from them.” We need to demand that type of leader in this century.

The quest for our 21st century American leaders starts with you. Step One: Think for yourself; move away from being swayed by political partisans hurling talking points at you. Take the time to study issues, candidates and find your own moral compass. President George Washington, my favorite founding father, wrote a list titled, Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior In Company and Conversation”, 110 rules covering everything from admonitions not to clean your teeth with the tablecloth to don’t run in the streets. He ended with #110: “Labour to keep alive in your breast that Little Spark of Celestial Fire Called Conscience.” That should be your guide.

Step Two: Be the leader of your own destiny. Don’t be a follower of populist movements. left or right, unless you have completed Step One. Before becoming a political lemming, allowing professional media figures to press your political hot buttons, calmly discuss issues with family and friends. In our 24 hour news cycle, internet-connected world, misinformation, disinformation and outright lies can circle the globe in minutes. Don’t let these control your political reasoning, refer back to Step One.

Step Three: Follow the rules. President Lincoln’s call for reverence for the laws provides the keystone to rebuilding a stronger America. When political aspirants lack personal integrity, obfuscate on public issues, or find excuses for not following the rules; move on and continue your quest for worthy leaders. To honor those who sacrificed all, to secure our blessings of liberty, at the very least we all have a duty to become informed citizens, who demand men and women of character to lead us in this century.

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January 4, 2013 · 3:21 am

The Evil Provisions in The Constitution???

Having a touch of insomnia tonight, so I’ll try this sure fire  fix, reading through this New York Times opinion piece  (here) that one of my sons emailed me.  It’s titled, “Let’s Give Up On The Constitution“, written by Georgetown University constitutional law professor, Louis Michael Seidman.  I read it once and survived the tortured reasoning, so the second go around should be a breeze.  Alexander Hamilton or James Madison he’s not.  Hey Gladius, I’ll defer to you, if you’d like to write a short dissenting opinion on this crapola.  As for me, well, this issue was decided decades ago when I raised my right hand and swore: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.”  So, that makes it case closed for me.

He really states in this piece that certain parts of The Constitution – like The Bill Of Rights could be salvaged as good manners gestures, not rights: quoting, “This is not to say that we should disobey all constitutional commands. Freedom of speech and religion, equal protection of the laws and protections against governmental deprivation of life, liberty or property are important, whether or not they are in the Constitution. We should continue to follow those requirements out of respect, not obligation.”  James, James wherefore art thou?  Oh, here it is:

“If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.” – James Madison.

I think I’ll be able to sleep now, Goodnight:)

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