All the Wrong Answers in All the Right Places

      In his poem "The Black Cottage", Robert Frost declares, "Most of the change we think we see in life is due to truths being in and out of favor".  Notionally, truth proves an impressionable force on social norms, whether by its existence or its delinquency.  Yet, where should we find "truth"?

      Any dozen philosophers, pundits, and theologians contest that truth remains the hallmark cornerstone of justice, law, and religion.  Without it, our qualitative judgments prove subjective, discriminatory, and prejudicious to sound reasoning.  Such ambiguity would render government, order, and citizenship meaningless.  Without a standard (a truth), every measure of currency, tenant of law, and expectation of authority would subjugate humans to the temptable egos of their peers.  Truth interweaves the fabric of our society making each thread stronger.

      Even computer programmers would be lost without truth.  The "boolean expression" captures this sentiment with its If/then/true/false syllogisms.  Represented in binary code, we may see this expressed as a "1"(true) or "0"(false).  While truth (the behavior) often suffers the liberalizations of truth (the concept), its importance can be found in any avenue of civil society.

      As the Dow Jones continues to set record breaking highs on Wall Street and politicians rally behind a tenuous socio-economic recovery in America, our country's cultural foundation lacks its quintessential cornerstone: Truth.  In all the seemingly right places to search for truth, we find it missing.  Search the public schools and find tired teachers and cozy coaches unwilling to hold our youth accountable to the moral, ethical, and scholastic responsibilities of this world.  Attend many of our Christian churches and find that the gospel of Jesus Christ has been diluted or misconstrued.  Sit at your family's kitchen table for dinner and realize a lack of substantive discussion.

      While some may indicate that increases in social networking, the advancement of technology, and popular media influence has contributed to such rapacious change in American culture,  I defer these protests.  The Hollywood movie set, the mudslinging-pandering politician, the iTunes "explicit" artist, the vulgar video gamer, and the self-inflating professional sports athlete.  These figures don't blossom from a sterile state of nature.  Instead, they manifest themselves from our family, educational, and religious structures.  Once pillars of our cultural-behavioral norms (truth), their recent brittleness lends itself to a fracturing of the firm social foundation upon which this country has invested heavy freedoms.

      Arguably, these are the right places to search for truth: family, school, church.  The truth found in these places emphasizes disciplined behavior, impeccable ethics, and the highest sense of morality.  In and of itself, truth is a concept.  When associated with action, it becomes an expectation, a habit, a norm, a culture.  And what happens when truth seems conceptual or unimportant?  Concept without action devolves into a semantic liberalization, a frumpish scholastic pursuit, a trite-Socratic half-truth, a numbing and dumbing of existing culture.

      America, it's time to get it in gear!  People need to find truth in all the right places.  Otherwise, what hope should we have that they'll find it in the wrong ones?  Our country's social structures (and robust culture) depend on the fortification of its truth epicenters: family, school, and Church.  A truth-centered culture doesn't require Aristotelian genius, just ethical courage.  Truth-filled culture does not imply that everyone is blameless, just the opposite.  From truth comes personal accountability, self-government, and the ultimate sense of citizenship.

     

        

Survive Sequestration: Lift Big, Run Long

      I am bewildered by pundits' recent analysis on sequestration.  Pundits from both the Left and the Right argue the repercussions of such fiscal folly.  Republicans revel that sequestration did not immediately damage the economy.  Democrats insist that projected monetary harms will destroy an already ailing economy.  All the while, stockbrokers on Wall Street rally the Dow Jones above previous market highs.  Frankly, I don't think politicians, economists, or pundits have a clue why sequestration didn't assail the country in notably, predictable ways.  Not a comforting notion.

      As America traverses uncharted social, political, and economic territory, each citizen ought to expect the unexpected.  An economy dependent on psychology and not fiscal science, a government dependent on partisanship and not principle, a society dependent on instant gratification and not posterity, injects unavoidable volatility into our everyday lives.  While sequestration may not have delivered the doomsday consequences Democrats wanted us to believe it would, it will surely carry more tragic results than Republicans would concede.

      As the military continues to suffer deep, bias cuts in the wake of sequestration, politicians sanctify fiscally weightier entitlements like social security and medicare (which individually outspend our annual defense budget).  What does this mean?  A country unable to support its constitutional obligation to common defense, must determine how it will safeguard its national sovereignty.  Don't want to support a professional military man to do that for you?  No problem.  I have a few suggestions.

      America, it's time for you to start lifting big and running long.  Want to know how others are safeguarding your entitled lifestyle?  Want to know why it's possible for you to receive your federally unconstitutional "rights" to social security, medicare, or universal healthcare?  Let me enlighten you.  It's because servicemen and women voluntarily deploy to the world's cesspools to secure the nation's most vital diplomatic and economic assets.  These folks earn a simple but sufficient compensation to operate the country's most sophisticated equipment and maintain the nation's most tenuous alliances.  Life at the tip of the sword (and beyond) requires these service members to be elite, professional, and ever-resilient.  Unprecedented tactical prowess did not stumble upon America.  It was sacrificed for...  sacrifices from an all-volunteer military yielding unparalleled camaraderie, tradition, and expertise.

      Many of these fine service members go above and beyond to prepare themselves for the crucibles their country may require them to endure.  Most will adopt strenuous mental and physical routines demanding the entirety of their effort.  All the while, like any other humble American citizen, they will kiss their spouse on the cheek, tuck their children into bed, and balance their checkbook.  Then, they will lace up their boots, and prepare to lift big and run long.

      Want to survive a sequestration that indiscriminately reduces our military's ability to train, equip, and man the world's preeminent superpower?  Get tough like a service member.  Lift big and run long.

      

No Such Thing as Quiet Leadership

       A once popular term has re-surfaced: "quiet leadership".  The term refers specifically to the good people who do right without verbalizing it.  Often, we find these "quiet leaders" to be earnest and soft-spoken while also earning trust through moral consistency and dependable industry.  Today's Christian youth aptly capture this notion: always preach the gospel and, when necessary, use words.  Quiet leadership represents a beautiful concept, but does it work?

      What America has observed in recent years corroborates what humanity has always known... what we do not openly condemn, we tacitly condone.  The fundamental transformation of American culture did not occur in a vacuum, but in the hearts and minds of each and every individual.  Captive to the academic manipulations of intellectual elitists and the power tactics of overly compensated politicians, the average American suffers the slings and arrows of its embattled social structures.  Our cultural heritage, belittled by politically motivated men and revised by selectively intelligent educators, becomes unrecognizable.  Our peoples' culture assumes one identity today, and appears dynamically different tomorrow.  Even to be an "American" doesn't assume a particular definition.  We find ways to muddle our Americanism by establishing nationally more palpable cliques of people known as Hispanic-, Black-, Asian-, Arab-, Latin-American (and the combinations don't stop there).  

      This didn't happen overnight, though.  The seemingly covert marginalization of our national identity is not exclusive to this presidency or our newest generation.  No, it has always been and seeks to keep being.  It is man's natural propensity toward temptation, deception, and pride that ultimately consummate his willingness to compromise his fellows in a civilized society.  Give a man an inch and he'll take a yard.  Observe this idiom in motion when our politicians convene with lobbyists, when corporations meet with union reps, when teachers meet with the school board.  Each group doesn't fairly negotiate.  Instead, they seek to steal territory, usurp money and goods, leverage vital assets, and compromise emotion, fairness, and legalism to fulfill their ultimate political agendas.

      These things do not manifest themselves in solitude.  They overtly influence our everyday lives by impacting the taxes we pay, the type of TV shows we watch, the churches we attend (or don't), the groceries we buy, the cars we drive, etc.  Daily, Americans confront a subtle but sobering reality... we don't find contentment in our equality.  We want to be richer and more popular.  We want to be bigger and stronger.  We want to work less and play more.  Plainly, we just want to BE more.  We are human... we are sinful... this is our innate, unsatisfiable nature.

           So, who should lead such a people?  Who can lead such a people?

      With the buzz of selfish politicians and selectively intelligent pundits growing ever-louder on today's mind-numbingly, provocative popular media networks, the expectation for good people who do right grows even larger.  Our nation cannot afford quiet, do-gooders.  Frankly, we just need good people to speak up.  Speak up and stand up for what is right and good in this world!

      Ironically, I've never seen a quiet leader because I've never seen a quiet person followed.  The iconic leaders of our American heritage were men and women of great oration and demonstration.  They not only acted, but they spoke.  Show me someone who has led, and I will show you that they did not lead in silence.  That's because there's no such thing as quiet leadership!

      America's tipping point is near.  A time for good and selfless leaders, who do right and speak up, is now.  What America's leadership does not openly condemn, it will silently permit.  Wanted: Real leaders to build a lasting America.

Instant Immigration Reform: Collapse the U.S. Economy

      Illegal immigration endangers America's domestic social infrastructures. Even immigrants who earnestly seek work and abide by the law place drains on education and healthcare systems, which rarely receive full compensation for services provided to illegal immigrants. The darker side of illegal immigration reveals overt national security concerns... terrorism, human trafficking, sexual enslavement, drug smuggling. All in all, illegal (and I emphasize ILLEGAL) immigration jeopardizes the sovereignty of this nation.

      Yet, why have politicians, pundits, and popular media networks reignited the immigration debate? Sure, immigration reform presents a very important social issue in American domestic (and collaterally foreign) policy, but it has been an important issue for decades. So, why now?

      Our politicians' ability to multitask has never proven effective. With so many legislative claims currently proliferating headline news, it makes one wonder what the real aim is. Can the House and Senate collaborate with the White House to solve gun control, the fiscal cliff, expanded military efforts in Africa, aid to Hurricane Sandy victims, social security protection, AND immigration reform? Whoa, folks! Let's knock these down one at a time. Let's attack the gator closest to the boat, please!

      America's immigration policies must be reformed. I believe this wholeheartedly. Yet, shouldn't we first figure out how to stabilize our country's rapidly deteriorating economic condition? The U.S. economy remains a terminally ill patient barely surviving on hokey monetary policy and promises of stronger consumer confidence. The effects of an economic collapse appear far more apocalyptic than deciding whether we should build fences on the border or grant blanket-amnesty.

      What are our politicians fighting so hard to distract our attention from? With one more legislative gator in the water, how's America's working class to know which issue presents a greater harm to our national vessel? While immigration reform embodies a noble and essential American need, it also unnecessarily distracts the country from more transformative legislative works like gun control and the fiscal cliff.

      But who knows? Perhaps that's the grand design. Tank the economy, repeal our amendment rights, and strip America of its exceptionalism. Then, no one would want to come here (legally or illegally). That would solve illegal immigration!

Dumb Politics: A Road Map to the Effectiveness of Public Ignorance

      Has someone ever pranked you? Perhaps, you've been the object of a practical joke. As the recipient of such chicanery, you probably realized later that your own gullibility and self-induced ignorance masked the obvious signs of something fishy. Somehow your self-delusional perceptions (conscious naïveté) subdued your innate survival instincts (subconscious alerts) resulting in your hilarious (albeit embarrassing) foolishness. Your trust, violated by the perpetrators of the prank, regenerates slowly as you vow not to be deceived again!

      Modern politics have become the new (though time-honored) social prank. A conspicuous manipulation of our good faith and self-induced ignorance. It would all be so funny if the stakes weren't so high. Yet, politicians don't just shake our soda can before we drink it or put superglue in our office chair. They impact the social, economic, and judicial expectations of our everyday life.

      It's time to defend ourselves against the practical jokes our politicians are playing on us. Listed below are five of our politicians most recently and frequently played shenanigans... the dumb politics (what they want you to believe), eventual prank, and effectual reality.

#1) Social Security to Provide Your Retirement Income
Dumb Politics: It is an essential retirement and disability income for all Americans distributed fairly to those who contribute to it.

Prank: The benefit income is stupidly low compared to each American's individual contribution and discriminates against individuals who receive supplementary retirement income from personal 401(k)'s, TSP's, or IRA's.  Furthermore, increasing numbers of beneficiaries strain the system's shrinking number of benefactors resulting in the government's leveraging of tomorrow's social security contributors to pay for today's social security recipients.

Effectual reality: The "benefit income" masks itself as another federal tax to support a welfare entitlement program as citizens receive its benefits disproportionately to the amount they paid into the program.  Additionally, prospective insolvency proves to strip America's youth of hard-earned money futilely paid into the program.

#2) Gun Control to Protect You

Dumb Politics: Assault weapons proliferate the streets and lead to an increase in violent, gun-related homicides.  An issue of this magnitude requires federal intervention.

Prank: According to the CDC, Americans are more likely to cause unintentional harm to themselves than to commit/fall-victim-of gun-related crimes (see the following for amplifying statistical support http://platoandpopculture.blogspot.com/2012/12/connecticut-challenging-view-on.html).  Marginally (or  unarmed) citizens bid less resistance against harsh infringements on civil liberties and eventual tyrannical governmental regimes (consult American Revolution, 1776).  

Effectual reality:  Emotionally motivating the rescinding of our 2nd amendment rights avoids the intellectual and physical implications of a disarmed citizenry.  An unarmed and impoverished populace ventures into pre-Nazi German territory... a slippery slope by which any government consolidating political power within a single party may exercise unchallenged infringements upon our civil liberties.

#3) Universal Healthcare Required for All

Dumb Politics:  Private insurance companies and stingy private businesses make personal health insurance unaffordable and/or non-existent.  Elderly women, children of impoverished families, and indebted, part-time working youths suffer from the impractically priced private-sector healthcare.

Prank:  Government programs such as medicare and medicaid inflate hospital costs and shrink compensation for medical practitioners seeking coverage for pricey operations and routine check-ups.  Private healthcare strains to marginalize costs by imposing slightly higher prices on corollary insurance companies and private healthcare recipients.  Despite inflated costs of private healthcare induced by federal government entitlement programs, private healthcare remains affordable for those that prioritize their health.  * Give up the cable television, the dining out, and the pleasure-seeking, and save some money toward your own health insurance.  Otherwise, quit your complaining when you enjoy a weighty doctor bill because you spent your insurance money on HBO.  Sophisticated healthcare ain't free!

Effectual reality: A further entitled country expects top-notch healthcare nearly free-of-cost, while aspiring medical practitioners stray from a federalized profession that  will compensate much lower individual wages.  Consequently lower wages dissuades prospective practitioners from entering the field due to a fear of accruing un-repayable student loans.  Medical field strains to recruit practitioners, accepts suitable alternatives (registered nurses vice medical doctors), and reduces specialty practices and independent research currently benefitting American healthcare recipients.  Private healthcare still exists but only for the tremendously wealthy.  Working class America receives an equitable but crappy quality of healthcare.

#4) Higher Taxes on the Rich to Alleviate National Debt

Dumb Politics: The rich pay disproportionately lower taxes than working-class America.  Difficult economic times requires those who have prospered more from the labors of America's working class to contribute more to remedy her economic sufferings.  It's a patriotic duty.

Prank:  America's total National Debt exceeds 16.4 trillion dollars (expected to add nearly 2 trillion dollars to this number by the end of 2013).  The top 50% of U.S. wage earners pay over 97% of U.S. taxes.  The top tax brackets (top 1% of American wage earners) contribute 37% of the country's taxes.  In that upper tier exists people like Warren Buffett (the world's third richest man) who even if he paid all that his net worth amounted to (a whopping $50 Billion), he'd only reduce our national debt by one-third of 1%.  Our national debt requires more than levying higher taxes on the rich.  We must also reduce governmental spending on pricey entitlement programs (i.e. social security and medicare, which outweigh defense spending).

Effectual reality:  Stigmatizing the rich by demonizing their tax contributions and legislating tax increases thereby instigating class warfare only penalizes the working class.  Working class wage earners suffer the repercussions of wealthy Americans who must pay less to their employees, afford lower company dividends, or shelter money overseas (by sheltering money off-shore or by investing in foreign businesses) due to aggressively disproportionate federal income taxes.  In the end middle class America suffers the most during class warfare.  The timeless adage remains: you cannot take from someone who has earned and give to someone who has not and expect each to work equally.

#5) Foreign Policy: Benghazi Doesn't Matter

Dumb Politics:  The incident on September 11, 2012 in Benghazi, Libya represented the backlash from a discriminatory documentary maker who's vile condescension of the Prophet Muhammed riled an angry mob to violently overthrow a U.S. embassy and kills several American embassy workers.

Prank:  The attack on Benghazi was later determined to be pre-meditated, sophisticated, and terrorist-backed.  The assault on a sovereign U.S. government structure received little public media attention and accrued no legislative or executive accountability.  Investigation into the shortcomings of our foreign policy and associative international security measures in this region would not be assessed until four months later.  

Effectual reality:  A four month-delayed hearing with our Secretary of State to account for the Benghazi attack revealed how weak-hearted and disinterested our elected officials have become as few questions were poised to establish the veracity of our reported standing in that region of the world.  Consequently, North African militancy and Islamic extremism grows bolder as countries like Mali, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt test the ideological resolve of America.  Not only has our involvement in the Mediterranean and North Africa been complicated by conspicuous gutlessness, but our elected officials seem indifferent to holding our Executors responsible for flawed policy.  Politicians piss on our legs and tell us it's raining without fear of repercussion.  Such political nonchalance endangers our servicemen and women serving abroad in hostile parts of the world.  Violence and terrorism resurges as America demonstrates political impotence in response to conspicuous acts of evil.  Safeguarding domestic and allied economic interests abroad grows more tenuous.  Alliances weaken.  America regresses to pre-superpower status as power projection abroad diminishes behind cavalier politicians and a willingly pranked populace.

***  Stand against political pranking, America!  These D.C. shenanigans have gotten out of control.  Stop the public ignorance... stop submitting to DUMB POLITICS! ***

Tebow, Manning: Who's Better For the Broncos?

      The Denver Broncos bid their Super Bowl hopes goodbye this past weekend as the Baltimore Ravens narrowly beat them 38-35 in a nail-biting double-overtime football game.  The Ravens who seemed to limp into the playoffs with a 10-6 record (1-4 in their final five games) managed to produce over 330 yards passing to cap the elite Broncos.  Despite the Broncos' astounding 13-3 regular season record (10-0 in their final ten games of play), which afforded them the AFC's number one seed and a  first-round playoff bye, their brilliant regular season efforts would be marginalized with a second-round playoff loss... a similar storyline to last season.

      For all of the hoopla that surrounded Peyton Manning during his valiant return from a seemingly career-ending injury last season, popular sports networks have nearly swept Tim Tebow under the rug.  Manning who suffered a traumatic neck injury during the Indianapolis Colts' 2011 football season and remained sideline for most of that year, appeared old and brow-beat.  After an emotional departure from the Colts' at the end of the 2011 season, Manning avoided early retirement and dated the Denver Broncos.  Crazed with Tebow-mania, Denver fans, who witnessed a storybook season in 2011, would come to love the notion of a mechanically sound quarterback.  Faith removed, fickle Denver fans promoted Manning.  The organization complied.  Tebow was dropped.  Manning was gained.  

      Sportscasters, fans, and haters would begin to say that Tim Tebow held the Broncos back from realizing their potential during the 2011 "miracle season".  His poor throwing mechanics and overly simplified offensive scheme throttled down gifted offensive players.  Manning was to change all of that... bringing experience, passing complexity, and superb throwing accuracy.  The Broncos would capitalize on the upgrade... Super Bowl bound.

      Now, with history noting the Broncos' second consecutive loss in the divisional playoff round, what should we think of Tebow and Manning?  Who was better for the Broncos?

      Check the sports headlines.  Media favoritism prevails.  Manning, a tough but aging quarterback, poises himself to duplicate another successful season with the Broncos.  Approaching a gallant twilight to his Pro-football career, Manning has proven how capable he is during a short-offseason.  See how he performs with a year of experience and locker room leadership. Tebow, on the other hand, appears young and all-but-homeless on the sidelines of the New York Jets restrained by a lukewarm fan-base, a mediocre coaching staff, and a diseased football organization.  The "saga continues"... who wants to gamble on a guy who can't throw the football... not even the Jacksonville Jaguars want this hometown hero!

      Sure, if given the opportunity to make a comparison between these two athletes, sports pundits would argue persuasively on behalf of Manning.  They've done it all year....  Manning's an iconic professional quarterback...  Tebow's a gifted but polarizing athlete.  Apparently, Manning hung Denver's moon, even though Tebow poised to set it.  Tebow hater-ade remains a favored beverage by today's sportscasters.  Frankly, the media's singular oppositional bias to Tim Tebow leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

      I do not suppose that Tim Tebow is a prospective Hall of Fame Quarterback (though he may surprise you), but I do think the pundits and haters are scared of owning obvious facts.  Tebow inherited a team during his second professional season (sophomore year... no slump... ask Cam Newton about that) with a 1-4 record and miraculously inspired them to finish the year with a playoff victory.  As his prize for reviving a previously weakened fan base and saving a decaying football organization, he was swiftly traded, slandered, and pushed to the second-string.  

      Call me crazy, but I don't think Manning is better for the Broncos.  I think he's a stud and will doubtlessly proliferate Pro Football's Hall of Fame after he retires.  Was he worth the investment though?  A weighty salary spent on an aging quarterback hoping at all costs to avert aggravation of a career ending neck injury... all so that the club can "best" its impressive previous season performance?

      When the sun sets on the Denver Broncos and Peyton Manning, they may wish they'd kept their salary cap freer... retained Tim Tebow, sold some jerseys and seasons tickets, converted a few people to Christ (and perhaps even to root for the Broncos), and rolled the dice on another "miracle season".  

       

Constitutional Exceptions: Guns and God

      Restrict cruel and unusual punishment of pedophiles, and the media will support you.  Provide a homicidal maniac trial by jury and afford him due process and the media will sensationalize you.  Throw out a criminal case when incriminating evidence was found without probable cause, and the media will badger the police force (and then idolize your wisdom).  Each of these processes, afforded by constitutional amendments, protect U.S. citizens from corruption, savagery, and police-state actions... a model of an intellectual judicial body... brilliant legislation crafted by our founding fathers and grounded in the Bill of Rights of our Constitution (the Bill of Rights refer to the first ten amendments of the U.S. Constitution and were ratified nearly two and half years after the original signing of the Constitution, 1789 & 1791 respectively). 

      Politicians, Pundits, and Popular Media appear to support the judiciary unequivocally when issues of humanity, justice, and legal fairness are concerned. Perhaps you're familiar with these common legal protections, but do you remember where they come from?  Here are a few examples: protection from unreasonable search and seizure without probable cause (4th amendment)... protection from self-incrimination and the right to due process (5th amendment)... the right to trial by jury (6th amendment)... protection against cruel and unusual punishment (8th amendment).  

      These protections don't represent whimsical humanitarian aims or progressive legislative adaptations.  Instead, these amendments represent impressive foresight by our founding fathers over 220 years ago to legislatively prohibit certain legal processes that if left to corrupt actors may perpetuate brutal and unfair treatment of U.S. citizens.  Popularly, the country agrees that such amendments deserve full support and judicial commitment.  We believe that a judiciary left to its own devices (unbound by legislative protocol) may be coerced by extortion, special interests, or political power... resulting in justice brokered at a price, a favor, or a particular bias.  The citizens of this country know this because we see this type of endemic corruption in the legal systems of Russia, China, and Central America (to name a few).  Hence, we support with sobering awareness the amendments that protect us from a corrupt legal system.

      Yet, when it comes to issues of free speech (1st amendment) and gun ownership (2nd amendment), our country cowers in the corner of the legal tool shed looking for a one-size-fits-all device to permit or abolish these constitutionally expressed rights.  The controversies brew and sensitivities turn emotional rather than intellectual (or even legal).

      Freedom of speech and public expression go without provocation until "God" is spoken, written, or evoked.  A Nativity scene constructed to celebrate Christmas but placed on a privately owned residential thoroughfare agitates an atheist family... a public school offers a moment for prayer which is replaced by a school-wide "moment of silence" and is eventually prohibited altogether because students observed praying during the "moment of silence" may offend those that don't believe in it... the U.S. pledge of allegiance adds "God" ("one nation under God"), remains intact for over 50 years, and continues to be recited in U.S. public schools... yet, now the pledge is rarely recited in public schools, "God" is not typically mentioned, and students no longer have to stand or place their hands on their hearts while "optionally" participating in the pledge.  

      Furthermore, the country untethers itself from more provocative public speech delivered on nationally syndicated TV networks like CBS, NBC, ABC, which now permit words like "damn"and "bitch" to be used in primetime sitcoms and TV shows.  Yet, we polarize when expressions of God, Jesus, or religious faith are expressed on these same networks.  We concern about the humanity of our criminal trials and legal punishment, but marginalize the importance of our right to free speech.  With moral repugnance, atheist activists, secular media networks, and manipulative progressive politicians, make every expression of God appear like a public establishment of religion thereby prohibited by the first amendment.  These tactics unfortunately prove effective, transformative, and contagious.  

      The constitutionally expressed right to bear arms takes cover from a barrage of intellectually insignificant attacks.  The politically liberal trinity of special interest groups, secular media, and progressive politicians, shallowly narrow the scope of this second amendment debate (see a previous writing on this site for a specific, statistical comparison of firearms homicides in the U.S. with other annual U.S. fatalities, http://platoandpopculture.blogspot.com/2012/12/connecticut-challenging-view-on.html).  School shootings and maniacally contrived homicides stir panic in the citizenry.  Perpetuating fear and arousing executive intervention, the White House seeks to consolidate greater federal power at the expense of our individual liberties.  Focus deviates to the poles... sensational exceptions to responsible gun ownership populate media headlines and deceive the ill-informed.  The ignorance proves painful... emotionally charged rhetoric dumbs our society like an episode of Jersey Shore. 

      Seriously, have you heard of a sensible solution to crazy people killing sane people?  Take the guns away?  That really works.  NOT!  We couldn't successfully take away alcohol during prohibition (and who was that killing?), how are we going to take away guns?  The Vice President is meeting with video game makers to prevent the production of violent video games.  Yet, we will condone "bitch" and "damn" on public television?  The moral compass seems pretty selective to me.

      As previously written on this site ("Connecticut: A Challenging View on Political Agenda"), America's first and second amendment arms her citizens with essential tools to protect herself from dictatorship.  Sound radical?  Read about German government prior to Hitler's rise of Naziism.  The country seems pretty normal until a decaying economic system and an impoverished people are swept up in an unchecked, violent national overthrow.  No need to rehash the end of that story... not pretty.  

      America's revolutionary independence from an abusive colonizer inspired constitutional rights that would prevent such oppression from enslaving its people again.  The right to free speech empowers our individual intellectualism.  Our right to bear arms strengthens our individual might.  Together, the right to free speech and bear arms promotes significant individual brain and brawn, which no violent governmental movement could suppress.

      Some have focused on specific solutions to preventing mass atrocities such as the recent school shootings and large-area homicides.  While these talks encourage future prevention of heinous acts, I argue that collective (or individual) think tanks on these subjects will generate very little public inertia.  This is because progressive politicians and media networks don't really care about isolated incidents and the solutions that may remedy their occurrences.  The CDC reports that more people die annually by accidental falls than from firearms, yet politicians aren't boycotting ladders, bridges, and cliff sides.  

      

      This debate remains impassioned by emotion and not intellect... fueled by special interest and not realistic interest.  The battlefield for our 2nd Amendment right means more than finding a way to sensibly restrict guns from bad people, employ more adequate tactics for suppressing mass shootings, or delivering ultimatums on the size and scope of our firearms and munitions.  If such decisions were decentralized to the individual (municipality or state), then the individual would institute an environmentally reasonable constraint (or prevention) on the sale, use, or criminality of firearms.  Humans always find ways to individually secure their own safety, shelter, and belongings.

      The real war is not of guns and God.  Instead, we battle the ideology that ensues a lack of either.  Our founding fathers appeared to have known this... capable of true intuition and respectably aware of the tyranny that oppresses a defenseless, voiceless people.  They seem to warn us: permit the government to take your guns today, they will take your due process tomorrow... if they take your God today, you'll suffer cruel and unusual punishment tomorrow.

      

       

Service Explained

Though our days are numbered to some unknown sum, we spend each one confidently in the company of our fellows.  For some unrevealed purpose but unsatisfied conviction, we rise each day with a will to work for the greater good of humanity.  Even when we may not fully understand the essential good we strive to provide, we diligently traverse through fire and briar to insure that when the day is done at least some good has been accomplished in the world.

To us, a call to service is not simply an order to be followed, it is a conviction to live by.  Deep within our hearts exists a God-inspired passion to commit ourselves fully and wholly to the welfare of mankind.  The gospel reigns truth on our souls: to whom much is given, much is required. Requiring ourselves in gold or in blood, in sweat or in tears, in wealth or in poverty, in fame or in exile, we defend the ideals of service... integrity above indecency, humility before pride, faith instead of doubt.

In essence, our call to service is not a flattering compilation of rhetoric fashioned for the skeptic’s ear.  Neither pretentiously pious talk nor limp-wristed church offering can honor real service.  Service rings truer.  

We serve as a humble recognition of others who have already modeled their life in selflessness and goodwill, and who daily encourage us to live bravely in service.  For none other than the man who has observed another’s life fulfilled in duty can realize the positive influence of a servant’s work—work that calls other to live honorably, morally, and courageously for the benefit of his or her fellows.  Service... a legacy inspired by boldness and preserved with grit... a common need provided by uncommon people.

Thus, guided by faith and obedient to conviction, servants, past and present, embody a special charge: to serve is not an obligation, but an opportunity... an opportunity to forge a more perfect future... a servant's future... mutually reinforced by shared grace and willing humility. 

An America Worth Fighting For

     An unmistakable identity crisis plagues America.  Who are we?  What are we?  Popular media both instigates concern for our country's eventual fiscal erosion and also allays our fear of national economic insolvency.  Morality and ethics become a discussion of convenience... the responsibility to provide for those in need or speak against injustice rests in the hands of the government... our personal accountability substituted for a collective one.  Children of the same home and upbringing grow to adopt dynamically different perspectives on American citizenship and personal responsibility.  A never-before-seen expectation for privileged entitlements polarizes its recipients from its donors.  Political bandstands such as "change" and "hope" now sing like sirens...  hypnotizing ships to fatally veer off course.

     Forget trite political cliches and grand legislative promises... let's be frank.  What type of people are we?  What does it mean to be American anymore?  What would you fight for?

     America in reality is very different from historical (or perceptual) America.  Perceptually, America remains the last bastion of economic and social freedom... a refuge for the socially, religiously, or economically persecuted... an icon of financial mobility, preeminent industrialism, and epic innovation... a dominant but benevolent world leader capable of promoting safety at sea, the safeguarding of foreign trade, and the munificent supply of humanitarian assistance to countries in need.  In theory America embodies every fairytale description of an omnipotent yet altruistic global benefactor.

     In reality, this once-appropriate description fades at an exponential rate.  Domestic America, besieged by pretentious elitists and politically motivated intellectuals, struggles to dignify a national identity.  Greedy politicians collect the spoils of special interest groups and weighty lifetime pensions, while insulating themselves from the legislation affecting their constituents.  Pundits and Professors of higher learning institutions construct outspoken soapboxes conveying ideologies radically contrary to the liberties they've reaped in America.  Spineless popular media networks willingly forego independent journalism while advocating tacit state-ownership (a critical tenant of communism).  Individuals divorce their families and neighbors while conceding these personal responsibilities to the government.

     Simply put... America won't get its act together!  Internally, socially, intellectually, and economically imploding.  Whether you're a Republican, Democrat, or Independent, you have to be concerned about some alarming numbers... numbers that make us look like global buffoons:

$16.4 trillions dollars of national debt

National debt to GDP ratio exceeding 100%

Annual deficit growing (adding more to the national debt)

Unemployment/Underemployment numbers growing

Job market decreasing

     These simple numbers hardly confront other disconcerting national issues: legislative unconstitutionality, endemic governmental corruption, and over-leveraged foreign policy.  Yet, they appear on our individual "American" identities like a tramp-stamp tattoo after a hangover...  Embarrassing and immature.

     Honestly, "Real America" offers little to fight for or fight over as much of our personal finance and individual liberty will be usurped by the federal government in the years to come.  Only an intelligent and willing people, devoted to governmental decentralization, personal responsibility, and virtuous rule, will save this country from the manipulative, political machinations of power-hungry people.  The naive citizens of this country may dwell in the bliss of ignorant entitlement, but for most of us, this isn't the America we're proud of.  A quiet but unmistakable revolution brews... America's ultimate identity weighs in the balance... when will we determine an America worth fighting for?  

     

   

    

I'm Poor Because I Have No Money (Satire)

     Are you confused why life in the post-"fiscal cliff" era seems eerily similar (and equally unstable) to the pre-"fiscal cliff" era?  Perhaps that's because nothing has really changed!  We're unmistakably impoverished by $16.3 trillion dollars of National Debt, a continually increasing annual deficit, a stagnating job market, a stalled economy, a handful of protracted foreign military engagements, and a boat-full of unconstitutional federal entitlement programs.  Hmmm... I'd say this illustrates national poverty.  What do you say U.S. Goverment?

     Why am I poor?  Because I have no money.  You see, if I had more money, then I wouldn't be poor.  It's that simple.  You get it?  More money = not poor.  No money = poor.  Wow, I wasn't sure I could explain that any clearer.  Now that you understand why I'm poor, listen to my plan for rising out of poverty.  Are you listening?  This will blow your mind.  I'm going to get more money.  Remember?  More money = not poor!

    How do I get more money, you ask.  Simple.  I make it or take it.  Make money?  Yes, make money.  Take some rag, some toner, a sweet machine... print a couple bills and voila!  I have money.  Take money?  Well, I command you to give me money.  What for?  For stuff.  My stuff and your stuff... but mostly, my stuff.  I'll probably give you "your stuff" at a pre-determined but nebulous date forty years from now.  I digress.  That's how I'm not poor.  I make and take money... and now I'm not poor.

     But let me be clear, I make and take the money.  You must earn it.  I make it and take it,  while you earn it.  Me = make it/take it.  You = earn it.  

     If you become poor because you have no money, remember that you must earn it.  Why can I just make it and take it while you have to earn it?  Because I defy the economic gravity of insane financial policy.  The ordinary laws of the land don't apply to extraordinary people like me.  I'm an elected superhuman of the highest level of cephalized beings... independent of the consequences of my actions... answerable only to God (of whom, I'm not so sure I'm not Him).  

     As you can see, I'm obviously too smart to be talking about such intricate financial matters with you.  Additionally, as you can further observe, I'm no longer poor.  Actually, I've become instantly wealthy... wealthy with money (because I have so much of it, now)... and I cannot be associating with those that don't have money (no money = poor, remember).  Poor people always want my money.  That's indeed how they become "not poor"... they just need money.  Oh gracious, you've already heard that explanation... we've come full circle so quickly.  I flatter myself.  

     A brief sign-off to my poor and wealthy citizens: To the poor people, get some money... that's obviously why you're poor (I feel so sorry for you guys... vote for me and I'll hook you up with some stuff).  To the wealthy people, you have earned too much money... I'm going to take it... JK/LOL... but seriously, I'm going to take your money.  To all the people, I bet you wish you were so NOT poor like me... maybe one day you'll get on my level. #printMORbenjamins #fiscalElitist #pretentiousPsychosis 

     

     

Burn the Straw Man

     About half of America hates poor people.  Frankly, they'd love to see the elderly euthanized... since an increase in medical entitlements unfairly bankrupts healthy tax-payers.  These conspicuously evil people prey upon America's sick, impoverished, and disabled.  Ostentatious schemes to decimate the health, wealth, and general welfare of America's underprivileged proliferate their yacht club social events.  You may even find these people toting their guns and bibles while chanting, "the poor don't deserve social security entitlements... tell those losers without medical insurance to get a job!"  A motley bunch of dopes, conservative Americans wage war against society's indigent, impoverished, and incapable populace...

     Uuuuummm (Obama pause), that sounds ridiculous!  Right?

     None of the above stated rhetoric approaches real, logical argument.  Yet, we often hear politicians, pundits, and popular media echo these types of sentiments as argumentative truths.  How ignorant!

     This type of diversionary speech models what is referred to as a "Straw Man"... a fallacy illustrating a person's intentional decoy during an argument.  While ever-so-slight, the "straw man" distracts the audience from the principal argument.  A diversion from the core issue offers a new (but unrelated) debate arena, whereby the straw man takes the abuse.  Often energizing emotional disputes (rather than logical ones), the straw man replaces the argument's original burden of proof with a syllogistically dysfunctional one.  Typically, the straw man steers the debate away from intellectually-challenging positions to defend... often because of the positions' associated political collateral.

     For example, politician A says that he opposes Obama care.  Politician B quickly asserts that politician A doesn't care about young people who can't afford private healthcare.  Enter straw man... young people who can't afford private healthcare.  Politician A may offer a plethora of reasons to oppose Obamacare... perhaps citing congressional lack of money or unconstitutionality of such an act... but politician B's straw man diverts attention from core issues.  Unless politician A burns the straw man (removing it from the argument) and refocuses the debate on the principal issue (Obamacare), then politician B prevails in the argument by scoring an emotional victory with the audience.

     Some might read this and think, "that's genius... that's like the Houdini of argument!"  Such ignorance, however, gives way to intellectual decay... marginalizing virtue and transparency, while also dumbing down critical subject matter.  Straw men interfere with the population's ability to oversee the fruits (or poisons) of their elected officials.  Masking true issues by using smoke and mirrors, politicians using straw men dishonestly manipulate public perception... consolidating power and reinforcing private, political agendas.  

     What is the eventual societal consequence of accepting straw men?  An intellectually incoherent mass of fools, incapable of distinguishing real core issues from their emotionally, diversionary manipulations... enslaved to the elitists who believed them too stupid to understand the difference... destined to moral mediocrity and societal stagnation.  

       So, next time you hear someone arguing with straw men, burn them... the straw men, that is.  Such fallacy manipulates the principles of sound argument and impedes intellectual advancement.  Plainly, straw men disrespect our intelligence.