Character Building: Dads Needed (Some Assembly Required)

      Old-fashioned character is hard to find these days.  It seems that the day has passed when American men of steel struck giant rivets into the weighty beams of towering skyscrapers.  Yesterday was the man who plowed his field by hand, protected his land from predators and trespassers, sowing his crop in faith and diligence, only to reap that which he'd rightfully sowed himself.  Once a man existed that believed in God, studied the bible, and prayed over his family at dinner time.  Not so long ago, sons knew fathers who were tough, character-rich men.
        Whether you follow NFL drama, National news sensationalism, or reality TV provocations, one thing is certain: America needs better character.  Roughly half of Americans actually pay into the federal tax system, while more than half of Americans receive some form of federal entitlement.  Over two-thirds of Americans are classified as obese distressing the fact that less than 10 percent of Americans can medically and physically qualify for military service.  More than a fourth of American children are born to single parent homes of which 80 percent of single parents are women.  Nearly a half of these mothers are divorced while another third of these women have never been married.  Alongside these statistics, cases of domestic violence, sexual assault, corruption, bigotry, and self-indulgence flood the news.  Hope for a stronger America seems desperate.
       Some will say that perception is reality.  In our case, reality is reality.  America's character issues haven't just magically conceived themselves from some behaviorally-twisted, psychologically perverse netherworld.  A scarcity of public leadership combined with increasing media liberalism fosters an ever-selfish culture of American men.  A legacy takes root.  Families lacking male leadership perpetuate America's tragic moral vacuum.
      Go ahead, feminists and progressives, complain about how politically incorrect and sexist that statement is.  This one is for dads and wannabe dads.  Learn how to be an uppercase "Dad."  America's character problem has little to do with public sentiment and everything to do with fundamentals at home.  Kids need Dads.  They need dominant male role models that exemplify physical strength and ethical fortitude.  For both sons and daughters, resilient men inspire the provision and protection that make them feel safe and confident.  A child's moral compass steadies on the course their patriarch sets.  It's simple, innate, and arguably ordained.  Men speak life or death into the hearts of their children.  Every word and deed an act of construction or destruction, character building starts with Dads.
       America is breaking but not broken.  Before public schools will improve or political corruption will wane, American Dads must lead the charge in renewing American character.  This is not a matter of race or religion, but responsibility.  Men, you have a responsibility to your children to build them strong and character-rich.  It's not complicated.  Institute faith in your homes, be masculine and hard-working, love your wife, and cherish your children.  You may not pound rivets into skyscrapers, but your ironclad ethic can build morally-rich children and restore old-fashioned character.  American character. 

Post 9/11: The 1% That Keep Us Safe

   

     September 11 comes again.  For many, the sensationalism fades.  After all, thirteen years at war can do that to a country.  Keeping perspective on an old injury without marginalizing the scars seems an increasingly difficult task.  Understanding our purpose has never been tougher.  Americans have changed.
    One year after Y2K, Americans reveled in the achievements of art, science, and entertainment.  Wikipedia debuted the first open-source, online encyclopedia.  'Gladiator' claimed an Academy Award for best motion picture.  Barry Bonds broke Mark McGwire's vaunted single-season home run record with 73 home runs.  And Apple introduced the very first iPod.  For all intents and purposes, 2001 proved a vintage year for the United States of America.
     This is important to note because children entering junior high school, today, may not fully understand the twist in this story.  An entire generation of Americans have entered this world without this one vivid memory: innocent Americans jumping from twisted metal and fiery blaze, a pair of gigantic skyscrapers collapsing, an ashen cloud of debris and human life suffocating greater New York City.  America humbled, this, the memory that brings instant nausea to pre-9/11 Americans.
      Yet, from this fateful day one decade and three years ago, a special 1% of America was called upon.  They were not techies, Hollywood stars, or professional athletes.  Nor were they investment bankers or business tycoons.  America doesn't tend to call the folks with the big bucks or the big mouths when they need really dangerous problems solved.  Instead, they call the less than 1% of the American population, whose solemn oath to the U.S. Constitution, places them on Presidential speed dial to avenge such hostilities.  This brave and modest minority, our U.S. Armed Service Members.
     Regardless of your race, religion, or political affiliation, these service members stand ever-ready to deliver the knockout punch for you.  Bound by their ever-abiding sense of duty, they will stand watch tonight.  They, the providers of your common defense, will protect the 99%.
     For those being born into the post-9/11 world, we owe them our story.  America has changed... it is always changing.  Remembering those Americans who paid ultimately the price for being envied an American, we cherish what it means to be American.  Honoring our service members, our top 1%, we demonstrate appreciation for that often trivialized and yet most sacred constitutional provision, the common defense.  We owe them our eternal gratitude.  #TheReal1%

   
     

Five Job Truths that Have Everything to Do with Federal Minimum Wage

 

     Like many of America's working class, I began my work history in a restaurant.  Unlike those who found work as a fry cook at McDonald's or a food server at Chili's, I was born into the restaurant.  It wasn't a matter of "if" I'd work for the restaurant, it was "when" and "how much."  As early as nine years-old (no exaggeration), I recall being added to my father's payroll to clean toilets.  Against all modern perception, I thought it was cool to be in third grade and already have a job!  This, of course, is what I thought prior to cleaning restaurant toilets.  I would have to spend a lifetime coming to grips with the notion...

Job truth #1: ... not all work is cool, but cool people have jobs.

     My old-school father believed that employees should earn their position and prove themselves trustworthy of more responsibility.  Therefore, each of his children followed the same career path in his restaurant.  When we were young, we were hired to clean toilets.  When we had mastered this job and proven ourselves trustworthy in that duty, we were promoted to dishwasher.  From there, we became bus boys, food runners, waiters, cooks, and bartenders.  The pinnacle of our restaurant career would come when our father would hand us the keys to the store and bestow upon us the sacrosanct title, "shift manager."  Our job progression taught us that...

Job truth #2: ...when you work hard, prove yourself trustworthy, and gain workplace skills, you can promote. 

     We learned that we could become more.  The more we learned and the harder we worked, the greater the responsibilities we were given.  We could achieve anything.  This work-thing didn't seem so complicated after all.  We were kids with no financial responsibilities... clean slates to impress ethics upon... ideologues before our time.  Yet, as we readied ourselves for college, the veil slowly lifting, we came to understand...

Job truth #3: ...that what you know is critical in determining how much you can earn.

     A free-market society thrives in the constant ebb-and-flow of supply and demand.  High supply and low demand jobs tend to offer minimum wages.  It is not difficult to hire a new fry cook.  It is a low-skill, entry-level job with no education requirement.  Most high school teens already demonstrate the necessary competency to work this job.  And what about professional athletes... they don't always need prior education and yet they get paid so much?  Professional sports tend to carry large demand for skills (hitting home runs) while only supplying a small number of employees (athletes) capable of meeting that demand.  The competition is tremendously stiff for a skill that society deems extremely necessary.  Microeconomics prevails.  Supply and demand sets wages.
     Therefore, your potential for income growth relies heavily on your ability to learn a high-demand skill.  Obtaining a college degree in Psychology, Golf Course Management, or Prehistoric Literature doesn't entitle you to a high-paying job.  If your education and accompanying skill set are not in high demand, expect to assume a low-wage, entry-level job.  It's all about what you know.  And even when you work your butt off, commit to arduous education in a lucrative field of employment, you still have to know...

Job truth #4: ...that high-paying, cool jobs go to the hard-working, well-qualified applicants that relentlessly work hard and prove themselves qualified. 

     Education and pedigree alone will not earn you a high-paying job.  The free market does not work off of charity.  It is driven by performance.  So, be a performer... a hard-working, ever-qualified performer... and make sure others know that.  You are your own best advocate.  Life in the real world requires continued education, relentless work ethic, and persistent pursuit of employment opportunities.  After all, living as a productive member of society in the U.S. continues to reinforce the most central and important socio-economic privilege of our country...

Job truth #5: ... that it's not about where you start, but where you end.

     The federal minimum wage dispute in America continues to overlook and condescend the achievements of the working class.  Mistaking minimum wage as an ultimate end for some Americans, blue politicians patronize hard-working Americans.  Instead of empowering working Americans with these five job truths, they convince them that they are only worth minimum wage.  It's a cheap parlor trick, smoke-and-mirrors, obvious straw man.  As real, hard-working Americans know, working folks don't champion minimum wage, they seek the American dream.      
     Brought up in a highly impoverished home, my father was the oldest of six children.  No luxury.  No inheritance.  No entitlement.  He worked dozens of jobs paying nothing more than minimum wage... onion fields, construction, restaurant service.  After completing three years of college, he returned home to tend to his brothers and sisters when his mother had passed away.  Despite not graduating from college, he worked countless restaurant management jobs.  After spending two decades shadowing other restaurant leaders, he ventured out on his own and began his own restaurant.  A self-made man who returned to college in his early 50's to finish what he'd started three and half decades earlier, he always knew that hard work was the gateway to the American Dream.  He never let his beginnings define him.  Instead, he remained steadfast in his vision of where he wanted to be.  A father, an entrepreneur, a life coach.
     So, if you want to earn more than federal minimum wage, then get off your duff and start living these five job truths!

2014 Mid-Term Elections: Why We Can't Get Tough on ISIS

   

     Radical Muslims marauding Iraq and Syria want to cut off your American head.  A fundamental Islamic terrorist group identified as ISIS (or ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, seeks to unify Sunni Muslims in conquest of critical Middle Eastern regions.  Amidst their furious pursuit of Middle Eastern dominance, these thugs brutally slay all dissenters... women, children, Arabs, Westerners.  Whatever you're thinking, it's much worse.  Search "what is ISIS" on the internet, and let your brain bleed as you come to know the depth of evil this group is capable of.
     Is this a big deal, though?  America is familiar with plenty of brutal terrorist groups, which daily vow to our destruction.  Terrorist groups across the Middle East, North Africa, East Africa, and Southeast Asia claim the lives of innocent people everyday.  Most Americans remain blissfully unaware of the country's on-going "War on Terror," which now spans nearly every region of the world.  Bluntly, there are and have been tons of bad dudes all over the world working for our demise since we stirred the hornet's nest in 2001.  What makes ISIS different?
     ISIS lays claim to their namesake, Iraq and Syria.  These countries represent political gambles by the Obama Administration... the evacuation of Iraq by U.S. troops in 2011 and the arming of Syrian rebels in opposition to President Bashar al-Assad in 2012.  Coincidentally, these two events prove devastatingly related.  The U.S. prematurely departs Iraq against the wishes of top military leadership, and then begins funneling military arms into a volatile Syria to support lesser known Syrian "opposition groups" of which ISIS plays a major role.  A short two years later, ISIS emerges in U.S. news as a terrorist power player exhibiting sophisticated military tactics and organization, financial assets nearing $1B, and ownership of half of Iraq.  What the crap!  I'm no conspiracy theorist, but this sounds like a serious foreign policy screw-up to me.
     Ahead of the 2014 mid-term elections, red and blue political machines alike operate in full damage-control mode.  Blues will hush the seriousness of ISIS with a few well-timed media shots of precision-guided bombs blowing up trucks in the Iraqi desert.  All the while, most foreign policy issues will simmer in the background.  Realistically, it's too far away from the average American home to make a difference at the ballot box.
     Wasting no social capital on controversial topics like the legitimacy of lunatic terrorists who cut off American journalists' heads and globally broadcast these evil acts, reds and blues bloviate about sexism, racism, minimum wage, pot legalization, evil rich people, leaked nude photos, and poor immigrant children.  The world burns and popular media mourns Joan Rivers.
   
   
   
      

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.