Virtue vs. Vice: Self-Control & Gluttony

"It is certainly true that a popular government cannot flourish without virtue
in the people." - Richard Henry Lee, letter to Colonel Martin Pickett, March 5,
1786

Time for me to address the second in the series of virtues and vices. To recap, our Founders realized and understood that for a people to be truly free, they must be virtuous. And in the time of the founding of America, the people knew instinctively what is virtue and what is not on a much wider scale than we do today. They were taught virtue by their parents and in the pew at church. They also learned it in school.

Hard to say that it is being taught now outside the confines of a church, and even then some places are suspect.

Gluttony is traditionally considered the overindulgence of food and/or drink to excess, and withholding from the needy is also listed as gluttony. It's virtue, self-control, is also better described as moderation. Basically, it's taking in what you need and within a reasonable limit.

I can personally attest to gluttony. I'm a big guy - for now, anyway. I like food, it's how I got this way. And our society caters to that desire. Buffets, bigger and bigger menu items, more rich and decadent things available. And in the world of drink, just look at the mind-numbing selection of beer, wine, and liquors out there. If you enjoy these things, you can go forever without getting bored.

And so I did. And, not surprisingly, my body is paying the price. Aside from being overweight, I have Type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure. I pretty much stopped drinking, partly due to financial reasons, partly due to the horrible person I become when I overindulge.

So I have a choice to make: keep eating and drinking like I had been, or die young and miss out on my family. I chose option A, and am glad to say I've dropped under 300 for the first time in 5 years. It's a long road ahead of me, but I know from previous experience that eating right and losing some more weight will get me off the medicines and make me (as well as my sons) an awful lot happier.

But step back and see how our culture views these things - are we shown that self-control in any sense is a good thing? Not really. We're told we need the quintuple-stacker burger with bacon and cheese, or we need the huge tankard of ale with our 32 ounce steak. Throw in a 2-pound slab of cheesecake for dessert, boss - you deserve it! Now when we go out and I order a salad or something light, I get a look like I'm insane. If my kids want a kids' meal at one of the fast food joints, either I order something really light (at Wendy's, I admit - a chili and a side salad work well for me) or I just don't order anything. And I see the weird look from the cashier. "How's the fat guy not ordering a Baconator?" they wonder.

It spreads beyond food and drink. We have to have that faster car. We need to have a bigger engine. We need the bells and whistles. A car is not a car unless it has leather seats, a GPS, a home theater and a dashboard hibachi! Honestly, as long as the thing gets me from point A to point B I don't care if it's held together with duct tape or has wood paneling. (Another point of reference, my first ride HAD wood paneling. Driving a wood-panel station wagon in high school does wonders for the social life.)

We MUST have that giant flatscreen with picture-in-picture-in-picture. We NEED that NFL package to see all the games as they happen, not that it's possible to comprehend it all at once.

Our lack of self-control has driven us to the brink of financial and medical ruin. We've spent fortunes on dining out, on fancier equipment and cars, on things we really don't have any sane use for. Many of us have eaten and drunk ourselves to poor health. And a lot of people are probably banking on government-run health care to avoid having to directly pay the bills.

All because we as a people have forgotten how to say "No, thank you" and instead gorged at the trough.

How do you turn back from the abyss? It's easy to say, not always easy to do, as virtue often is. Say no to the things you want but do not need. People are learning this now with the banking nightmare. More and more people are saving instead of spending, and it's driving the banks and businesses insane. Business and banking grew because of the loose wallets of a LOT of people, and now that people are reining it in, they are suffering and in turn cranking up the heat trying to get people to spend.

Restaurants and bars suffer too. Turnout there is shrinking nationally. Places locally which used to have a wait time of hours now have little or no waits most nights. Instead of dining out, people are staying home or having friends over.

We're wising up, and it's a good thing.

- F. D. for Two Joe Schmoes

Watch the Continental Congress '09!

I'm interrupting my stream of thought yet again, because at present the Continental Congress '09 is meeting in St. Charles, IL.

You can view the live feed here: http://www.givemeliberty.org/CC2009/default.htm

Any lover of liberty and freedom, and any serious student of the Constitution as well, NEEDS to watch this. A lot of very interesting topics are being covered. Mainly, the focus is on the varied abuses of our Constitution perpetrated by Congress, the White House and the courts - and contrary to the Left's thoughts, this is NOT the equivalent of ObamaBash 2009. They are covering the abuses that have been going on for DECADES.

We the People gave our trust too readily to politicians and we all need to wake up to the very real dangers they pose to us now.

Please, watch along as it streams live, and pass it along to your friends. Make this go viral - it's the next wave of the Tea Parties.

- F. D. for Two Joe Schmoes

Virtue vs. Vice: Purity and Lust

"If Virtue & Knowledge are diffused among the People, they will never be
enslav'd. This will be their great Security." - Samuel Adams,
letter to James Warren, February 12, 1779

As promised, here is the first in a series on virtue versus vice. As mentioned below, for America to return to greatness, we need to once again be a virtuous people. But, what does that mean? I'm hoping to go through each of the Seven Deadly Sins and their corresponding virtues, and show you how far we've fallen from the virtue and given in to the vice.

The first virtue on my list is Purity, and the vice is Lust. Not because I value this over the others, but because on the list I took it from, it was listed first.

We'll begin with the virtue. Purity is also known as Chastity. It's essentially living a morally wholesome life, free from the temptations of the flesh and, well, carnal desires. Going further, expressing this virtue is more than just not surfing adult sites or PPV, or faithfulness to your spouse - although these are key parts of it. It can also be extended to respectfulness towards the opposite sex, to not treating them as mere objects there for your personal use/abuse for pleasure.

If you;re reading this blog, and agreeing with a lot of what we've been saying, then you probably know you don't have to look too hard to see how far we've strayed from Purity and Chastity and given in to Lust. Many of us are guilty to varying degrees. I won't say all, I am sure some have managed to avoid it - I'm not one of them. Sex is pervasive in American culture. You can't even go to teh supermarket without running into it. Waiting on line at the checkout, you can't help but see the scantily-clad women on the magazines. You see it on billboards, catalogs. You get it thrown at you on television constantly. I try to avoid watching much TV but most of the prime time shows have revealing outfits or innuendo.

Why? It sells - the people running the networks aren't concerned with your well-being, or that of the country. They're there to make money. I don't fault them for that; it's capitalism and if they can make money on it, it's their right. They should use more ethical weights, but since the demand isn't there, they simply give the consumers what they clamor for. And people clamor to be titillated and teased.

What happens then? Well, people tend to view others as objects more than people. To a guy, a beautiful woman in a bikini isn't a beautiful woman - she becomes an 'it' - something there to make a man feel like a man. And the smae holds true for women, although I think they have better control over their base emotions than we do.

But turning a person into an object makes them less human, and when you view a person as a thing then treating them as a thing becomes easy. IN the case of a person, you lead to harassment, rape, murder. Callous acts caused by callous people who no longer see people as living, breathing equals, but as something there to give them pleasure.

So, how do we stop this? I think it's simple enough to say - stop giving in to the stuff being put out there. Remove the demand for it. Turn away from the vice.

And yes. It's easy to say it. Doing it tends to prove a lot tougher. People are addicted to pornography, in many cases they want to turn away but find themselves sucked back in. It's no different from drug addiction or alcoholism. The rush is the motivating force. People want to feel good, and that's the easy way to feel good. Turning from vice to virtue is HARD. As a friend once commented, "if it were all good times, every jackass would do it." It takes inner strength to turn away from the vice. I'm no expert on HOW to do it successfully. I just know WHAT is involved. The HOW is up to the individual.

I will continue with the others as I get time. And hopefully soon.

- F.D. for Two Joe Schmoes

Darkest Before The Dawn

First, I spologize to you for not posting more often. The realities of raising two boys and looking for work and all the fun of being a stay-at-home dad take precedence over my ranting online in long form.

Second - those virtue vs. vice bits will come. Honest.

Anyway, I wanted to take this late night period of relative calm to share my thoughts on the recent events in this once and future great nation of ours. We are indeed in dark times - a lot of what we thought made America great is being brushed aside in the name of political expediency.

Instead of upholding and defending the Constitution of the United States, the members of the House decided to uphold and defend their lobbyists by passing a Titanic-sized bill under the ruse of health care reform in what is the most egregious and blatant power grab in recent memory, if not in the history of this nation. Yes, the vote was primarily along party lines, but let's not kid ourselves on this; both sides of that proverbial aisle have been slack in their responsibilities for quite some time for things to have come to this point.

Is our health care system perfect? No, of course not. We are imperfect beings, and try as we might, we're never going to nail it perfectly. But it is the best one currently in the world, and the problems we have with it are not the result of a lack of state involvement, but rather the intrusion of government regulation into the field. Premiums are as high as they are because the insurers' hands are tied when it comes to competing with one another. Many on the left will aruge that deregulation will make things worse, but in practice that is pretty much never the case. Giving the companies the ability to compete will result in price decreases. Look at the prescription prices now. Larger chains are offering many common prescription medications at very low prices, and in some cases, for free. I recently had a prescription for the antibiotic Levaquin filled gratis at my local supermarket. The free market works wonders, if only the chains of government regulation are undone.

But alas, the larger issue, and the cause of our dark times, is not a discussion over how to address our health care. The larger, more forboding problem is that the people in Washington who are supposed to not only represent the people, but to make sure their work is in accordance with the united States Constitution are in essence ignoring the law of the land, and ignoring us, in some cases openly mocking us.

The past few months have seen the rise of the Tea Parties and other grassroots movements of the people. We're sick of being treated like ignorant children by our elected officials. We're sick of our tax dollars being spent like there's no tomorrow, with little or no accountability for wasteful spending. We're tired of a media that treats us as insane, or as extremists or even terrorists. All we are asking is that those we elected to serve the best interests of America do so, and that they respond to us and not the groups who line their campaign war chests.

While a small number in DC get the message, most it seems have not, or will not. The rally in Washington in the days before the vote on PelosiCare was seen by a lot of us as a last stand against a Congress going mad with power, and our pleas fell on deaf ears. It does not help that the rally, called for by Rep. Michelle Bachmann, from what accounts I have read from personal friends, turned into little more than a GOP rah-rah session after a short while.

It would seem that neither side gets it. We're not looking to side with either the Democrats or the Republicans. We're looking to side with those who stand for individual liberty, limited government, and the Constitution. Sure, the GOP is against the bill, primarily because it's being pushed by the Democrats. I honestly believe had McCain won, something similar but less brazen would have been introduced and passed by now with Republican support. After all, in the somehow life-or-death economic crisis last summer, the "stimulus" passed with support from both parties.

It seems that no one in power is willing to listen to us. They think that we'll eventually go back to the TV and find something good on and forget about what they are doing to us. It's not going to happen. More and more of us are losing jobs, and it's not like new ones are being created (or saved, for that matter). Aside from an abundance of free time, we're now seeing what fruits we reap from sowing irresponsible spending and unnecessary intrusion by the government. No one wants to hire because the tax burden is going to skyrocket. it has to by virtue of the obscene amount of debt we are racking up. Added regulations make it that much harder for businesses to work efficiently. The ridiculous amount of money we're printing is driving the value of our currency into the ground. There's simply no economic reason for people to hire. All the jobs are heading offshore, unless of course you work for the government.

Our voices at this moment are unheard whispers among the roaring winds of "fundamental transformation" of America from a free land into a socialist state.

But despite this wrist-slittingly depressing analysis, I take some refuge in the notion that in our hour of greatest need arise those figures who can aid us in finding our bearings and setting us back on course.

We faced something similar with Carter. Reagan did come in and help steer the American ship on the right course, but we got lazy and assumed all was well too soon. The lesson we ALL need to learn right now is that for things to be right again, we must not only work at it now, but once we find our people to begin the process of righting the course, we need to be constantly vigilant and keep an eye on DC at all times from now on. Provided we hold free elections in 2010 - something I think many fear may not be the case - we can put in people who get it and who will work to undo the behemoth of Big Government. Our job is not done if we get these people in. Once in, our job will be to holdtheir feet to the fire and make sure they don't succumb to the temptations that political power offer.

The first thing that must be done is to set strict term limits on Congress. This should require a Constitutional amendment, as it did when the Presidential term limits were imposed. Two terms ought to be a good, consistent limit across the executive and legislative branch. Limiting someone's time in Washington effectively limits their ability to become corrupted.

Another area that needs to be addressed is the legislation itself. Congress is teeming with lawyers, who are so skilled at writing bills in legal jargon that many of them can't understand those bills they bother to read. Require that all legislation be written in plain English so that the people of this land can read the bills and underatand their meaning. Ambiguous language should be avoided whenever possible.

Furthermore, require that all legislation be read on the floor prior to any vote, prefereably prior to debate. Our Constitution was read piece by piece and debated on before passing. What is wrong with doing the same for any laws Congress wants to pass? Read the bills and discuss their Constitutionality, and vote based on that.

Bills like the 2000 page monstrosity should have died long before being voted on. How can anyone reasonably expect someone to vote for a bill so large with so little time to read it and examine it for legality? You can't; it's simply not possible.

Now, in this darkest hour, we must shine a light, find those who will blaze a new trail of common sense and responsibility in Washington, and find ourselves in a new dawn of American hope.

- F.D. for Two joe Schmoes

What is "virtue"?

As I said in the last post, America has strayed from its foundation, and everyone knows it. What not everyone knows is that our foundation is based on a solid morality and virtue, as the writings of the Founders will clearly attest. A lot of people on the Left want to equate this with some sort of theocracy or forced belief in religion. While our principles are based in Judeo-Christian morality, there's no compulsion to believe in any given doctrine. The virtue and morality the Founders spoke of is (or at least once was) held universally among all people.

Being a Catholic, I can go on the virtues listed in the Catechism. There are 7 virtues corresponding to the "Seven Deadly Sins", and one more which encompasses all others. They are, with their corresponding vices:

Purity -- Lust
Self-Control -- Gluttony
Charity -- Greed
Persistence -- Sloth
Patience -- Wrath
Kindness -- Envy
Humility -- Pride

Justice -- Corruption

The issue with America these days is a lack of the virtue and an overabundance of the vice.

Purity is mocked as "unrealistic" while lust is held up as desirable. One only need watch TV to see this.

Self-control is considered boring, gluttony is admired - look at the buffets, look at the portions served in restaurants.

Do I really need to explain Charity versus Greed? Washington calls its greed charity and our charity greed because we're not giving to them.

Persistence is punished now - our businesses are held in contempt while we are told it's "patriotic" to redistribute hard-earned wealth to people who have done nothing to earn it in some misguided attempt to "equalize" everything.

Patience is shunned, we're a society that wants, no, DEMANDS instant gratification. And if we don't get what we want, when we want it, we take it out on anyone near us. Road rage, air rage, fill-in-the-blank rage...America is very angry.

Kindness is seen as weakness most of the time. I can at least say that kindness is the most respected of the virtues, from what I've seen, but it is still overshadowed by its vice. Envy rules our petty minds - look at the "reality" shows which follow around the super-rich and spoiled elites. They are presented as having the life we should all want, and I've seen more than a few people overextend themselves to try to live like they do.

Humility does not exist in Washington, or in too many other places. People are quick to thump their chests and shout about all they do. No one can silently just do the right thing. People who do good are usually looking for a camera or attention out of the corner of their eye. In the work world it's even worse. No one can just do the job and be part of the team. Everyone is standing on a soapbox shouting about what they do, and often times denigrating the accomplishments of others. Pride is not only shown like this. In a lot of ways, people think they know better than the Creator, deciding who is and is not worthy of life.

Justice is the all-encompassing virtue - justice is when people are treated equally under the law. Remember, justice is not a respecter of people, it is a respecter of the law. What we have now is corruption in many forms. Groups are pushing to have their agenda favored over others, the Left loves to have its own special victim classes, who are perpetually oppressed by some Big Bad Oppressor. Our elected officials no longer go in with the intent to serve the people, they go in only to serve themselves and find ways to stay in office to amass power and money.

The way things need to be in order to work is inverted. I will try to cover each of these in more detail in the next posts.

F.D. for Two Joe Schmoes
Crossposted on Grizzly Groundswell

Addressing the Root Cause

One doesn't need to read much beyond the headline blurbs on the Drudge Report to see that things are not well in this world, and America in particular is in a freefall from Liberty to Tyranny.

While there are many groups forming at the grassroots level to fight what is apparently Obama's mad dash to turn the US into a socialist state - and those groups are full of wonderful people - the root cause of our malaise needs to be addressed and tended to, otherwise what we have is the equivalent of a doctor treating the symptoms while ignoring what is causing them.

In our case, it's pretty simple: America started off as a nation of virtue, and we've fallen away from that virtuous nature. The Left is blaming capitalism for the mess we're in. Capitalism itself isn't to blame. Rather, it's a capitalism that is not connected to moral and virtuous behavior. When you have people out solely to make a buck, consequences be damned, you're no better off than you would be under a socialist or communist state. I'm not referring to the "evil" businessmen who make huge profits. I'm talking more like the scumbags like Bernie Madoff who use the hope of making a profit as a way to screw people out of their savings.

Don't get me wrong, the people who got screwed really should have done their homework and investigated the thing before they threw down their cash. But the real issue is that you get people who lack honor or virtue or any sense of morality who give the rest of us a bad name.

Virtue is also sorely lacking in our media. The idolatry of Obama worship aside, look at what mainstream Hollywood puts out. My wife loves watching movies with me. Most of the stuff we rent is so horrible that we have to wait for the kids to be in bed - the level of violence and sexuality is too much. I don't even enjoy most of the stuff coming out. And yet they balk when movies like Fireproof come out with a positive message and do well.

Look at MTV and other media aimed at our youth - right is wrong, sacred is profane, the truth is called a lie and lies are held up as truth.

And look at the pigs at the Federal trough now. Compare them to the example that men like George Washington set. He came from money but asked for nothing when called to serve. They offered to make him a King, but he refused. He did not have term limits but voluntarily stepped down after two terms.

Name one politician out there who would do that today. I love a few of the solid conservatives who know and uphold our Constitution, but even they, I'd wager, wouldn't part with that juicy salary or step down after two terms.

Our Founders did not put term limits or salary requirements in the law, because back then they were men of honor who would not abuse the trust with which they were given, and it was their hope and belief that Americans would consistently place the best people into public service and not establish a "ruling class" of sorts where people get in based on connections and wealth - which is exactly where we are now.

Perhaps they assumed these things since they all fought alongside one another and by defying the British Crown, placed their very lives in jeopardy. Perhaps we will have to repeat that sacrifice in order to restore virtue to our public servants. Will it have to come to defiance of King Barack and placing our lives in danger to protect the Liberty we were given by God, and not by government?

As a nation, we've turned our back to our Creator, from whom our rights come. We no longer acknowledge God in the public square, partly out of fear of the Left's thought police and being labeled as "intolerant", and partly out of our own pride.

In future articles, I will attempt to go over some virtues and principles and how we've straed from them.

In short for now - we as a people need to hunble ourselves. We are NOT as great as we think. We owe everything we have to the God who created us, and we need to defer to His law. We need to stop allowing government to tell us what we can and can not do, and to stop wasting our children's inheritance on the selfish wants of the moment. We need to hold ourselves accountable for our own mess and work to get out of it, not to mortgage tomorrow on a "maybe" fix for today.

We've lost our souls, and we need to reclaim them.

F.D. for Two Joe Schmoes
Crossposted on Grizzly Groundswell

The Audacity of Hype

Lenders made loans without concern for whether borrowers could repay them. Inadequately  informed  of  the  risks  and  overwhelmed by fine print, many borrowers took on debt  they  could not  really  afford.

Funny how when conservative talk hosts were saying this last year as the mortgage mess was beginning to rear its ugly head, they were denounced as fearmongering. Although unlike the above statement, taken from Obama's budget document today, the conservatives were pointing the blame for this at people like Barney Frank and Chris Dodd, whose mismanagement of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as well as  Congress' thinly veiled threats to lenders about making these subprime loans.

But now that His Majesty has spoken it from on high, it is gospel. This is where we've come. Now the very people who have created this mess are standing on high, wagging fingers of blame at the free market who were coerced into it.

Things aren't boding well for America's near future. Our enemies rejoice at a President Obama. He is seen as weak and we'll see just how weak once the terrorists make a move sometime this year. I'm convinced it will happen. Happened in 1993 for Clinton (the first WTC attack), a few times after, and 2001 we had 9/11. Say what you will about Bush's RINO economics and other policies - after 9/11 we had no problems with terrorism in the US.

Under Obama, just today, I've seen articles about him reinstating the assault weapons ban that ended under Bush, and more talk from him about passing the so-called Employee Free Choice Act, which despite its "sunshine and butterflies" sounding name, is nothing less than the removal of the secret ballot regarding unions.

I'm not a Ph.D but I think if you've read my stuff, you're aware of that. I don't possess any expertise in economics or political science. And in some ways I think it makes me more qualified to speak - I don't have my head clouded with theories or other nonsense. I justt see things as they come and tr to correlate them as possible.

When you take some of the proposals the Democrats have, you have the makings of a fascist state:

- The "Fairness Doctrine" will muzzle talk radio - conservative shows will be cancelled rather than a station being forced to air opposing views. Not because the station management is conservative, but because liberal radio does not get ratings, and therefore is a money drain;
- A ban on assault weapons, and given Eric Holder's anti-gun stance, it's but a stepping stone to more draconian restrictions on our liberty;
- Removal of the secret ballot for unions. In essence, a union could, and probably will, use this to bully people into voting for a union if there's a close vote. It will also force business owners (who, by the way are providing jobs) to either unionize and raise prices a LOT) or to close their doors.

So, opposing voices will be silenced, your right to bear arms will be infringed, and the secret ballot will be removed. And if you think it'll be limited to union votes, think again. You now have a precedent to avoid it for other things. Perhaps in 2012 it'll be Obama/Biden in all boxes but one, and if you vote for someone else, you'll be taken away until you learn to think better.

Funny how the Left will scream that consevatives are the fascists, but when they get into power they move really quickly to assert their dominance and to silence dissent. One need look no further than Woodrow Wilson - the "progressive" President jailed 150,000 people for dissent. But you don't hear about that. You hear about McCarthyism all the time, but he went after the liberal darlings in Hollywood.

Hope you're happy with the "change" and "hope" you voted for America. I "hope" people "change" their minds in the next elections about voting in someone with no track record and instead go for someone of proven mettle and solid virtue. I also "hope" such a person still exists.

F.D. for Two Joe Schmoes
Crossposted on Grizzly Groundswell

The State of the Nanny State 2009

Despite my insistence this evening to watch Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern instead of the State of the (Insert some word other than Union here), I broke down and watched it. And tweeted my tail off.

In short, it sounds like the Obama/Biden 2012 campaign is already underway. I found the address to be very downbeat and negative. Yes, we all know times are bad. It's not exactly a shock to anyone anymore.

The "solutions" being provided are Big Government, Keynesian, nanny state ones, designed more to centralize power with the Federal government instead of letting the free market handle the mess. Either way, things will need to hit bottom. The only difference is that when the free market is in control, we will hit boom faster and rebound faster. No one knows where the bottom is with government interference. It could wind up an economic catastrophe, complete with hyperinflation and the US winding up like the Weimar Republic.

If Obama was not the President, his references to "irresponsible homeowners" would have been hilarious considering he blamed everyone in sight but the Democrats who drove the housing scandal to its current horrid state. Those people were given loans because the banks were more or less intimidated into giving them out.

I also caght Bobby Jindal's reply. I agree that the text of the speech was great, it was very precise and it's the message that needs to be sent out. But, I have to go along with the critics that his delivery was bad. As a former speech coach and competitive speaker, I know a delivery like that would have cost me dearly - it was not very animated. 

While the substance was there, this society clearly goes for the sizzle, as the last election showed us. Jindal makes a mean steak, but I didn't hear it sizzling.

More on this in the morning. I have to be "up" in an hour.

F.D. for Two Joe Schmoes
Crossposted on Grizzly Groundswell

Socialism, American Style

It's never been a secret that whenever Americans attempt something, they always put their own unique touch on it. There's the gag about how during the space race, we spent millions developing a pen that would write in zero-gravity, while the Soviets merely used pencils. Tales like that (true or otherwise) highlight that.

Now, on our march to socialism, we're apparently going to put our own nasty spin on all the assets Big Government is snapping up. Gerald O'Driscoll writes in the WSJ today about how Congress is apt to "politicize" bank assets.

One line from the article really jumped out at me as I was reading it:

There are some commentators, pursuing an ideological agenda, who want to use the current crisis to nationalize the entire financial system. That is nationalization in the style of a Latin American despot.

Hm, now I've heard a couple people talking about our march toward socialism, Glenn Beck in particular - and every time I hear about this, it is being compared to our "friends" in Venezuela. It's no real secret here that Hugo Chavez runs a socialist nation and has been making attempts to grab more and more power, just like any despot would. Is this the road we need to lead ourselves down? And let's not be so naive as to think that "it can't happen here" - think that something can't possibly happen here led to Pearl Harbor, it led to 9/11 - need I go on further?

O'Driscoll continues:

...[we] know how the government runs financial institutions -- consider Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Or IndyMac, whose management by the FDIC has been criticized for inflating the rescue costs through its liberal loan-modification program. A money-center bank in government hands would become a conduit for politicized lending and grants disguised as loans. That's what's happened at Fannie and Freddie. The government would never let go of its political ATM. You might as well consolidate such an institution with the Fed from the outset.

We've already seen how well our Congress reacts to crises lately. One side loves to hold the other entirely accountable, when in fact it's corruption and greed on both sides that made this possible. Not just this standing Congress should be held accountable, but several previous sessions of Congress as well. America didn't suddenly wake up one day to find this mess - we have been sliding this way for years, decades. The problem is that We the People stopped getting involved and let people make a living (and a handsome living at that) from public service, which at our nation's founding was explicitly made to be NOT a monetary gain. Our Founders knew if politicians turned a position of honor into a profit center that our principles would be eroded. And here we stand now, our people not knowing what America was built on more than knowing. A nation of freedom teetering on the brink of socialism and one-party rule.

How have we let ourselves get here? It's a good question, but one we should refrain from answering until we reclaim our government and scale it back to the limited scope it is supposed to have.

F.D. for Two Joe Schmoes
Crossposted on Grizzly Groundswell

Even the Soviets Learned...

Some days, you read a story that just blows your mind. I came across such a story this morning concerning none other than Russian PM Vladimir Putin.

You know, the former KGB officer, fanatic angler, and strong leader feared to be bringing the old Soviet rule back?

He's issuing a warning to us. No, we won't be seeing ICBMs raining down on us, at least not from him. He is warning us not to go down the socialist path.

Now that, friends, is irony at its finest.

Here's what he's warning us about:

Russian Prime Minister Vladamir Putin has said the US should take a lesson from the pages of Russian history and not exercise “excessive intervention in economic activity and blind faith in the state’s omnipotence”.

“In the 20th century, the Soviet Union made the state’s role absolute. In the long run, this made the Soviet economy totally uncompetitive. This lesson cost us dearly. I am sure nobody wants to see it repeated.”

Now, some could reasonably argue that Putin isn't a source we should be listening to. However, he's lived under a totalitarian socialist rule, and he's also lived (and might I add, succeeded) under a free-market capitalist Russia. And even he, a former officer in the socialist state, is saying that the state is NOT the answer to our problems.

Putin contunues with this:

Putin also echoed the words of conservative maverick Ron Paul when he said, “we must assess the real situation and write off all hopeless debts and ‘bad’ assets. True, this will be an extremely painful and unpleasant process. Far from everyone can accept such measures, fearing for their capitalization, bonuses, or reputation. However, we would ‘conserve’ and prolong the crisis, unless we clean up our balance sheets.”

This is, just as the article states, in line with conservative principles. In America, we have the right to pursue happiness. We are not guaranteed success - we are supposed to be free to succeed to our potential, and we are also free to fail miserably. This is a land of opportunity, not a land where the nanny state comes sweeping in to save everyone who fails.

Our own government officials would do well to listen. They would do well to study our history and our origins and remember what exactly America stands for, not what they want it to be.

F.D. for Two Joe Schmoes

Crossposted on Grizzly Groundswell

Generation Why Bother

After a mere month in office, President Obama has done more to this country than anyone expected. Those on the far Left are championing him as one of the greatest presidents ever, while those of us in the center and right are seeing this as an unprecedented assault on individual liberty and freedom.

We've had a massive pork-laden "stimulus" bill rushed through Congress so quickly, no one actually read the bill before it was passed, even though We the People were PROMISED by the Democratic majority that we would get at least 48 hours to look over the bill. Just another finger in your eye from the people elected into office. You can use your imagination on which finger they're using, although I'll pass on thinking where that finger has been.

We've seen appearances where the masses have appeared breathless and agape in sheer awe of the presence of The Chosen One:



And this week, we're treated to some half-cocked scheme to bail out mortgages of people who did not think before purchasing a home they could not afford. Obama says this is done to make things "fair". Meanwhile, millions of others who have been playing by the rules and are having trouble are not going to be aided at all. How far is this?

I don't own a home, as much as I would love to. My finances aren't that great, and if I had purchased a home at the obscenely inflated prices of not too long ago, I'd be living in a box right now. But we make too much money to be considered in need.

This is another case of what was said all through the campaign - redistribution of money. Obama is taking it on himself to drive America away from the principles of individual responsibility and the freedom to fail as well as succeed, and trying to socialize this great land of ours to where the government will provide everyone with everything they need.

Sure, in principle, it sounds fine - no worries, you'll have a job, three squares - and a lot of otherwise rational people are drinking this Kool-Aid. Do they not see what this will cause? America will cease being a land of possibilities. Where will the incentive be to innovate, to lead, to dare to dream? Why bother trying? After all, everything will be provided. If there is no risk in life, where is the drive to improve yourself? If these schemes are brought to their fruition, we'll have a generation of people who see no need to aspire to more, they'll live on the dole and be happy with it.

Obama is playing Robin Hood, but his problem is that the people of Sherwood Forest are ALL in need right now. The job markets are drying up, people are losing jobs (I should know, I was part of a companywide layoff recently) and nothing offering similar wages is appearing. Some people will sit on their hands and wait for things to improve. I will swallow my pride and look for work wherever it may be found. I have a family and they need someone to provide. I would like to strive for more, and I do so when I can. I write, I think, I speak to others, trying to help bring America back to its roots.

Luckily, some of the people in Congress, the true conservatives like Rep. Culberson of Texas, the ones who know and love the Constitution, have awakened. I hope it is not too late for us all, but when people see what exactly Obama's "change" is, perhaps they too will wake up and back the people who are out for their best interests. Perhaps they will join our cries for government to scale back, butt out, and to let the People run the country, as it was during our earliest days.

F.D. for Two Joe Schmoes
Created with ScribeFire
Crossposted on Grizzly Groundswell

Spending our way into oblivion

Things are bad.

Very bad.

If we don't do something soon, everything will collapse! People will be out of work, our dollar will be worthless, the seas will boil, locusts, plagues...the whole nine yards!

WE HAVE TO DO "SOMETHING"!!!!!

Maybe we do need to do something. But is that something the first poison pill presented to us? We have a spending spree presented under the guise of a "stimulus" that is hundreds of pages long. Many of our elected officilas only have 2-3 days to read it all before voting on it. Now, I think I'm a fairly speedy reader, but in 3 days I might get 200 pages done. But legislators get this beast of a bill, laden with little bits of pork and ominously-worded nonsense to help make government even bigger, and the cry is just vote it in, don't worry about the details...after all, we need to do "something", don't we?

Think back to the 1920s and early 30s. Germany was in a state we may well find ourselves in soon. Their economy was destroyed. The Mark was pretty much useless, not even worth the paper it was printed on. "Something" had to be done. A slick-talking guy ran for office promising change and hope for the German people. Lots of well-meaning things but little in the way of what precisely he had in mind. Oh yeah, his name? Hitler.

Sure, you can argue Mein Kampf laid out all his plans. Maybe so, but at that time not too many Germans read it. I tried, it's a really challenging book, and pretty dry. Obama doesn't lay things out in the same fashion, but read a little and you see his motives are not really for the benefit of the common good.

You and I are staring in the face of a coming fascist state, a dictatorship brought in under the guise of being "for our own good".

Congress is going to pass a bill to spend trillions of dollars that don't currently exist on things that may not - heck, probably won't - do any good. When was the last time our govenrnment got involved in something that actually improved things? What will back these trillions of dollars? The Chinese? They're not really out for our best interests. They're going to use us to get on top, and if it means stepping on us to do it, then so be it.

I'm glad people have found what they have in the short time we've had to read the bill.

For example:

Pages 164-165 of the stimulus contain the following prohibitions on the use of $3.5 billion available for renovation of public or private college and university facilities.

(2) PROHIBITED USES OF FUNDS. No funds awarded under this section may be used
for - (C) modernization, renovation, or repair of facilities (i) used for
sectarian instruction, religious worship, or a school or department of divinity;
or (ii) in which a substantial portion of the functions of the facilities are
subsumed in a religious mission; or construction of new facilities.

Forgive me for sounding alarmist, but that's awful discriminatory against free expression of religion. What difference does it make if the school buildings are used for teaching religious courses? It's a supposedly free country, students are free to study religion...or are they?

Then you find the dozens of other articles exposing little blurbs about a "Health Czar" (since when does America need a Czar?), money for little pet projects to sweeten corrupt politicians into voting for the Pork Monster...little hidden things supporters of Big Brother hope you and I never see.

It begs the question - do we descend on Washington now with our torches and pitchforks - or will it come to drums and fifes down the road?