THOUGHTS
by
Just Gene
about
CONFUSION
I’m getting old and constantly find myself in a state of confusion. Watching the news about Egypt, I find the people democratically elected Mohamed Morsi as their President. Then it seems, as soon as he was sworn into office, he threw out the constitution. This totally pissed off the people of Egypt and the military kicked him out of office.
This is where the confusion comes in – sometimes I don’t know what town I’m in or even what day it is – but I look at the UNITED STATES of AMERICA and I think I remember the people of the UNITED STATES democratically elected Barack Hussein Obama as their President. Then it seems as soon as he was sworn into office, he threw out the constitution. This totally pissed off the people of the UNITED STATES but the military did nothing. What is going on ? Oh – I know – we cut our military budget so we would have money to send to the Egyptian military.
Do you think we can send a petition to the Egyptian government to send some money to our military ? Never forget, the tree of liberty must often be nourished with the blood of patriots and tyrants – hopefully, mostly theirs. Keep in mind – the timid have never known the thrill of victory nor the agony of defeat. We must learn one or the other to protect our country – the UNITED STATES of AMERICA.
luvya
Right Ring 
Gene, good post. It’s understandable., but you aren’t alone.
If you think you’re confused, there’s some nut in the White House that thinks he’s the President of Egypt. He gave a big speech in Cairo, he’s been bowing to Arab royalty, and keeps saying all the problems are caused by insiders playing politics in Washington. Now that’s nuts.
….but I wouldn’t know where to send the petition, at this point.
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Good post, Gene. I do not share your confusion about why our military hasn’t kicked the bum out. He has made DAMN sure he has enough DIRT on the perfumed princes in the Pentagroin as to ensure they will keep their mouths shut, lest he give the dirt to the peckerheads of the Pravda, U.S. style. Think Gen. Petreaus.
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Gene,
Great post. I feel the same as you do. The parallel between us and what happened in Egypt is so uncanny. But where is our military is my question so many times. And look how those people braved the Morsi crowd to kick them out. What are we doing?
Like clyde said our military has been corrupted by the King and will now do his bidding. This really gets me since they took an oath to the Constitution, not to a King.
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Our military does not need money. After the suppression of much of the written rantings of the Fort Hood shooter and the instigation of weaker soldiers into combat positions, they have proven that they wouldn’t know what to do with money anyhow. What they need is a bunch of advisors and some testosterone injections.
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And isn’t it funny how as soon as anyone in the military asked any questions they got canned? To protect against enemies foreign and domestic, or both at the same time.
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Excellent post Gene! I have the same thought as Pepp…where in the hell is our military? Are they going to wait until another revolutionary war breaks out to step in? Our Joint Chiefs of Staff must be the Asshat In Chiefs payroll also. I’ve never seen a more domestic enemy that Obamageddon.
Someone in power needs to grow a brass pair and end this bull crap…
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Loved your point as well, although we haven’t suffered as badly with economic malfeasance and unconstitutional harm to citizens. Oh, wait. I think we have…
I have felt pride in the Egyptian citizens as they took to the streets by the MILLIONS.
Where are we the people?
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“That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.”
Have we really reached the point found to have existed prior to our founder issuing this Declaration of Independence? I don’t think so, and I am certain, after having spend 20 years serving in the military, that that extension of the Executive also does not – not even close. Let’s see what problems we can solve and which people we can find to replace those who are not keeping true faith with our U.S. Constitution.
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Rick, no disrespect but are you wearing rose colored glasses?? How many laws does Obama have to break before you think he should be removed? How many state AG has to put together a list of over twenty laws Obama has broken for you to believe it is a train? You put “long train of abuses in bold” and I’m glad you did, because IMHO I believe Obama has put together the longest train of abuses of any president I’ve ever seen.
You ask “have we really reached the point found of have existed prior to our founder’s issuing this Declaration of Independence?” If we haven’t, then I don’t know what it will take for folks like to realize yes we have and we are way past that point.
We have zero representation in DC…zero. Laws are being made up no matter what our constitution says and folks like you say…”well, that’s not enough to insist things change.” That attitude Rick is part of the problem we currently face and certainly not the answer. With your thinking; Hitler Jr. will have the fires burning bright prior to anything being changed by the people.
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Opinions vary. His policies may suck [and they do] and he may be running the most corrupt Administration in history [and I think he is], and while most Americans may be in jeopardy of severely limited individual liberty [and I agree that they are on the current trajectory and push of more vile altruism and pragmatics as opposed to true problem solving], the American people are far from suffering. We are far from starving or being enslaved.
We are far from being free to travel, to speak out against our government, and many other things that were the case under King George, because we still have the opportunity to elect our own members of the U.S. Congress – the Constitutional check on the Executive. If we are in jeopardy of losing our rights, then, it is not solely the Executive that is to blame – equal blame rests with an inept and corrupt Congress.
And who is it that created this gathering of fools and wannabe tyrants? Look in the mirror and at your neighbors who are perfectly content to go about their lives ignorant of their government, complicit in the government’s demand for “sacrificing the individual for the collective”, coconspirators in the government’s insistence of solving problems through unprincipled pragmatics as opposed to the hard work of Constitutional problem solving.
To this last point, look at the 16th Amendment to the Constitution where Congress abolished the requirement of apportionment in collecting and distributing taxes and used that amendment to create a permanent income and other taxes that were only allowable under emergency conditions through special legislation, such as was the case when Abraham Lincoln and the U.S. Congress at the time imposed a temporary income tax as an excise tax to fund the war.
None of the above could have been possible without the consent of the people. And so long as the people are giving their consent through those they continue to elect and keep in power, how can one make the claim that the people have been “long suffering a train of abuses”? If the government says that we will be better off as a nation [as opposed to as individuals], by cutting our wrists and “we the people” follow such stupid suggestions – who is truly causing the suffering?
Who is truly responsible for the results of such a ridiculous act? Who is truly causing the “suffering” felt as the cuts are made and the blood loss progresses over time? Easing the suffering in such as case does not derive from a sudden awakening and a scramble to apply a tourniquet and treatment of such self-created, self-destructive wounds.
Easing the suffering is getting and remaining informed and active enough, in a legitimate sense, to know enough not to cut one’s own wrist and to not trust people who were given power over others.
Easing suffering is to elect people of principle with an eye to hold them to account should they falter. Easing pain is working to keep government as small and as minimally intrusive as possible with respect to our privacy, but strong enough to defend the interests of the nation and protect our people from harm caused by others.
While government may make suicide illegal, it can’t stop those willing to commit such an act and it certainly lacks the power to further punish the dead. Our focus should be more on awakening our neighbors, friends and family to understand what is going on and get them to help set things right by understanding what is at stake at the polls, In the way our children our educated, in the virtue of doing the hard work of problem solving rather than resorting to expedience in getting around Constitutionally created obstructions…solving our problems is best accomplished by being responsible citizens and fighting for responsible change which includes a reattachment to our founding principles.
Both sides of the aisle have been and remain responsible for egregious governance. Both sides conveniently interpret the U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. Even strict constructionist in many instances will interpret the phrase, “All men are created equal” as “All citizens of the United States are created equal” and would deny others the right to freely travel across our borders, to seek work, to raise their families in a better environment with the hope of a better life and praise their God [I’m an atheist] while denying their God’s children the right to free association and their own right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Naivety may be marked by an absence of hypocrisy, but hypocrisy is a marker of oppression, injustice, and the convenience of unprincipled pragmatics and the slave creation implied by those who insist on altruism over liberty.
Patience is a virtue and we are far from an oppressed nation. There is still time to turn things around. The end result comes down to whether or not “we the people” are willing to change our attitudes, motives, desires and actions sufficiently to re-embrace the basic principles set forth by our founders with a goal of doing so more completely, openly and honestly than they did when, out of their own willfully blind pragmatic and altruistic motives, chose to view non-whites as something less than “men”, and their women and children as little more than chattel to be used and abused at will.
There is so much more we could be, but we are what we are and we’re on a path of our own choosing. If we want to be better, then we must become better. The rub is that becoming better requires real work, real commitment, and pursuits based upon reality. Real change for the better demands the acceptance of the full, unalienable rights of others and a willingness to help integrate those others willing to accept our Constitutional law into our national fabric spun strictly with threads that comprise the rule of law and the love of individual liberty for all..
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By the way, convention poses that when one follows the phrase, “no disrespect” with the word, “but”, one intends to be disrespectful, but don’t worry, no sense of disrespect was taken as I’ve been guilty of using the same rhetorical device.
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Rick, trust me…you would have easily known if I’d wanted to be disrespectful to you despite what “convention poses.” All know me very well and I pull zero punches. When I say no disrespect I mean no disrespect.
Our opinions will simply have to stay opposite of each other. I’ve seen enough personally to know what road we are headed down and I choose to try and prevent the final destination. You need to see more of this corrupt, anti-American and anti-constitution leadership for you to feel the same. Your right via our constitution.
I do believe one day you will look back at this very moment in time and say…damn…he was right about all this crap and hopefully it won’t be too late for folks like you to help us get our country back.
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Rick we may disagree on some things. You know the military code much better than I could. But the Declaration is one subject I have some ideas about. Its a philosophical document with a statement of intent. It occurred to me many times that we need a statement of intent.(not that it would fix things in itself but it wouldn’t hurt to have one) Are we not entering absolute despotism? Or are we waiting for some grand finale? I’d say absolute despotism, in itself, carries with it means to resist efforts of reform – which is my other point.
I see the parts you highlighted. My emphasis is on the patient sufferance. We should really fixate on those words right now. I don’t view our conditions today as light or transient. I would also say that it is our duty at a point to act, if not who will?
We did not have a Constitution at the DoI but we do have one now. My point is to alter as is necessary to secure liberty and our rights. It is not a means of throwing everything out. We need to return government to the chains of the Constitution – “providing new guards for securing our future” falls under the banner of necessity and is determined by the need. I don’t think in the past years, its been any more needed than it is now. But the requirement should be altering, since this is now is not our original form.
You may be right that it is determined on condition but we see those conditions deteriorating around us, with a stronger federal government than was intended, usurping everything under its control. The problem is are we supposed to wait until that process is 100% complete? I think not, because it is virtually impossible then. When we compare the situation to the power under the King, we are about at that place now under the federal government.(granted it is not just one person — but object has evinced the design.)
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Man do I hate when it posts prematurely, Can’t understand why it does that. Anyway, my premature, unedited, still forming thoughts.
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Hi Bull,
Interpretation is in the eye of the beholder. When one’s circumstances are strong enough to survive with a minimal degree of comfort a withering economy, a coarsening of the culture or the corruption of a segment of the government, it is easier to be more patient than it is for those who are truly oppressed, starving because of a lack of opportunity as opposed to ambition and so.
So, what is “light and transient suffering” will differ from circumstance to circumstance. Also, what we fear may be coming is not the same as the circumstances currently existing. The poorest among us in America lives a life of relative comfort compared with those in other nations with poor economies and true tyrants. In fact, even in countries that are young democracies, our people still live much better and enjoy liberties that people in other nations will never know in their lifetimes. So, I think “patience” demands some scale of “relativity”. in our case.
Our Constitution was build upon the principles outlined in the Declaration of Independence as well as other documents having to do with governance. Just as not all men are equal in their abilities, not all men are equal of their assessments of reality and of the degree of action required. Hence, we get the aggressive and violent expression of frustration of a John Brown over slavery or the more peaceful and intellectual arguments of suffragettes fighting for the right to vote.
We have a current debate over immigrants arriving from our southern borders, yet there is little debate over the issuance of dual citizenship to Canadians or the insistence by some Canadians on retaining their natural citizenship before accepting that granted to naturally born Americans.
In contrast, we have many people from Mexico, Central America and South America who want to come here and who are willing to pledge allegiance to America and renounce their native citizenship, serve in our military on the promise of citizenship at some point in the future as well as making other concessions for the ability to come here and live out their dreams and pursue their own path to happiness just as those who chose to separate from England did.
We still have the right to vote and the power of the vote has and can still be used to transform the government. It’s not up to the politicians to vote themselves in. That privilege [or as I see it, that duty] rests with us. We have the government we elected and we still have the means to change it. Just because those means aren’t imminently present doesn’t mean that they don’t exist.
It is up to us, as free individuals, to convince others that we are on a path that, if followed deeper into the future, may ultimately enslave us It is up to us to speak or write in a fashion that engages the mind of others in an intellectual appeal or debate over the virtues of individual liberty and the immorality of collectivism that by virtue of its name demands that the individual subsume itself to the group, and if one lives to sacrifice to the group, like a rose, by any other name involuntary sacrifice means slavery, and slavery, regardless of the intent or perceived benefit is vile, disgusting and ignoble as a concept as well as a practice.
And it is not just the federal government that is behaving despicably. We have situations where some on both the right and the left insist on the supremacy of states rights in one instance and federalism in another varying more with ideology as opposed to constitutionality or rational secular principle. I use the phrase secular principle because religion, especially organized religion carries its own power.
And as we’ve seen in our own European history through the middle ages, the combination of religion and government created much mischief, suffering and death as individuals are forced to serve two masters as opposed to being the masters of their own lives and destinies. We also see the same phenomenon in Islam which is the embodiment of the fusion of church and state, judge and jury and the guiding force that prescribes how one lives and dies when one does not conform to the whims of the mystics.
All in all, we may be facing some bad circumstance that need to be addressed, but the power of ideas is still a powerful weapon in the right hands. It is up to us to find those most capable of convincing others intellectually that a return toward holding the individual as the basic unit of a Constitutional Democracy – not the collective, and the sooner people wake from their intellectual slumber and assume individual responsibility for their own destiny, the sooner we may be able to resolve this and that is my point in sum – there is still plenty of time to use intellect, history and debate to restructure the failure of today’s government for the promise of a better tomorrow.
Best always, Bull
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Rick, well, certainly informative.
I’m only saying if we really look, including with this conversation today, that we will find a plethora of similarities between then and now (minus the fact of having the Constitution)
Indeed there were people then who wouldn’t have felt the tryanny directly, or personally yet, and those who opposed the independence movement as not ripe. So mileage may vary. Of course, that created a daunting task for the other patriots.
“It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people’s minds.” — Samuel Adams
So I resist the notion that there must be a percentage of people to object to conditions or feel the brunt of it before the time is right — and as if we would know by some visible sign..
But I am not using the simple rod of economic poverty or slavery as a measure but inalienable rights and liberty. In fact it is the ploy of despots to use economic factors in attempt to appease the malcontents. In this country they use a wealth of tools to accomplish the task. At any rate, the subject is ripe for conversation about it..
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Agreed, but with respect to setting brush fires, I don’t think there is enough yet to inspire people to fan the flames of any kind of revolution beyond the revolution of reawakening in the minds and hearts of freedom lovers the need to assume responsibility for our own failure sufficiently to inspire a demand for more intellectual honest and less distracting and divisive rhetoric. Democracy can only prevail with the free exchange of ideas and until those in the main steam media are convinced to change course and participate with a greater degree of objectivity and intellectual honesty, for example, a huge source of fire spreading oxygen remains unavailable. Our blogs are helpful to the cause, but are much more limited at this point. Then again, the pamphlet “Common Sense” ultimately served the cause of freedom well; so, who knows.
I also agree with you regarding individual rights – the point of pointing to economic and perceived levels of suffering as to actual suffering was purely to note that in my view, the people aren’t ready or even aware enough to act in any way to change the course of government without first being intellectually engaged in foreseeable, but overlooked dangers pose by the lure of collectivism.
It is my belief that government will make better choices when we, as individuals make better choices, including the choice to hold our representative, at all levels of government, accountable.
Here in Massachusetts, my job sometimes seems like mission impossible, but I will not give up or do any less than my best to help my neighbors see the folly and ultimately, the insufferable evils of modern day liberalism and the enslavement of individuals to the nanny state.
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Rick,
There are always going to be those who oppose reform or correcting our path, and I am not referring to general revolution in some conventional sense. A percentage may never get to that point of “enough is enough” — (such a divisive term) There may be a never-ending supply of patient sufferance for some of us. (whether they realize it or not) That is as much a problem as anything government is doing. (while they may not literally beg for “more” abuse and oppression, they’ll accept an unlimited amount of it and not stand in the way of it.)
Supreme interpreters tweak a few words and voila, we no longer have real property rights. And true, it is at all levels. It is done incrementally — incrementalism on steroids. If we just chock it up every time to patient sufferance, then we are writing a blank check for our sufferance – which is pretty much what we’ve done, fiscally or legislatively. We have demonstrated there’s no limit by which they cannot be allowed to pass.(regardless what founding documents say) It is sad when both sides basically agree that is the case. We have some creative geniuses who can think up plenty of ways to work around our will. We saw it with Obamacare. If they are just testing our resistance, they’ve found us lacking on every level. Of course that is no problem for the elite ruling class.
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“All it takes for evil to win is for enough good men to do nothing.” Edmund Burke
We don’t have enough (if hardly any) good men in the position of power to do anything to stop this madness. Or; those in position to do so don’t seem to have problem watching our once great nation crumble. Combine that with We The People that do nothing and I think that says it all.
Elections are a joke now, so we can’t change crap that way. I believe it would be delusional to believe otherwise. What has anyone done in DC to stop this commie/Marxist takeover? Nothing. We’ve signed petition after petition and have accomplished near nothing. We’ve contacted our elected officials via phone and email and what has that accomplished? Near nothing.
Our constitution gives us peaceful ways (that I currently advocate) to get rid of an abusive government. It’s called “Convention of States.” Our Founders saw this possible happening and thus; gave us ways to ensure those who work for us do our bidding. If you’d like to read more about this constitutional right, I suggest you read this:
http://pepperhawkfarm.wordpress.com/2013/08/19/very-important-message-by-peppermint/
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I have too well said.
”Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the boisterous sea of liberty”— Thomas Jefferson
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Can’t disagree. Thanks for the stimulating discussion
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Hey Rick, as always, it is interesting. We’re all passionate but we can have a disagreement. So we want the same thing, You’re working on it there, I know.
PS: you posted an interesting story about the sub and periscope which is about how I feel sometimes.
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I think everyone knows Gene was making a rough and loose comparative analogy. And the dig about getting them to give us money would seem to be following some sort of pattern. It sure hits you when you think about it.
For a while I thought how ironic when they were protesting an abusive, usurping government there, while at the same time here they are telling Obama… no, begging Obama to take more unilateral executive actions and usurp more power from the legislative branch. They do it over there and the people recognize it as tyranny right away. Here we hardly even debate it. We sigh.
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Do the Egyptians have leaders? I’ve never understood the military’s connection to the people although they seem to have a big connection.
Our leaders seem to like to talk.
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I’m not too sure what remains at present. The military seems to be the only thing acting with a modicum of responsibility. Talk they can! But what is happening there to Coptics is pretty bad, whether being allowed or not.
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BTW: I noticed OBama did not apply his Syria doctrine of red lines to Egypt.
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I noticed that too.
He seems to be dancing around his love of the Brotherhood.
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Gene, speaking of confusion. Our fuhrer just said the deficit (budget deficit) is going down.
Translation: that means taxes are rising even faster than the deficit. 🙂
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