THE CRISIS 1776/2011

The New Sons and Daughters of Liberty reject political dogma in all its forms and permutations.  Dogma is the death knell of all political movements and philosophies.  Rather we like to proclaim our allegiance to objectivism and pragmatism.  It is almost axiomatic that problems define their own solutions.  Categorical rejection of real solutions based on dogma is folly if not ignorance. To quote Martin Luther King, Jr.: “Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.” 

Among the objective truths of history and the demands of contemporary problem resolution are the words of Edmund Burke when he observed that those who forget the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them. What follows is a lesson from American revolutionary history updated and adapted for today’s challenges.  

It is the Fall of 2011.  Unemployment lingers above 9.1 percent; the manufacturing sector of the American economy has long fled our shores; the nation in bankrupt; we continue to expend blood and treasure in hopeless foreign adventures in lands where we are reviled and hated; we remain addicted to the importation of energy resources from theocratic tyrants who pray five times a day for the destruction of what they call “the great satan”; ideological warfare dominates the halls of Congress;  fear grips the land.  Read, think, respond. We welcome critical analysis.     

The Crisis (as amended), by Thomas Pain, December 23, 1776.

THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he who stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the defense of liberty, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. 

Only heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods, and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as liberty should not be highly rated.  The   collectivists, with an army of elitist supporters to enforce their tyranny, have declared that the right to not only to tax, but to bond the citizenry in all realms of life and if being indentured in such manner, is not bondage, then is there not such a thing as serfdon upon earth. Even the expression is impious; for so unlimited a power can belong only to The Infinate Divine One.

I have as little superstition in me as any man living, but my secret opinion has ever been, and still is, that The Infinate Divine One will not give up a people to destruction, or leave them unsupportedly to perish, who have so earnestly and so repeatedly sought to avoid the calamities of tyranny, by every decent method which wisdom could invent. Neither have I so much of the infidel in me, as to suppose that The Infinate Divine One has relinquished the government of the world, and given us up to the care of devils; and as I do not, I cannot see on what grounds the collectivist/progressives can look up to heaven for help against us: a common criminal, a highwayman, or a house-breaker, has as good a pretense as they.

Tis surprising to see how rapidly a panic will sometimes run through a country.Yet panics, in some cases, have their uses; they can produce as much good as hurt. Their duration is always short; the mind soon grows through them, and acquires a firmer habit than before. But their peculiar advantage is, that they are the touchstones of sincerity and hypocrisy, and bring things and men to light, which might otherwise have lain forever undiscovered. In fact, they have the same effect on secret betrayers, which an imaginary apparition would have upon a private traitor. They sift out the hidden thoughts of man, and hold them up in public to the world. Many a collectivist/progressive has lately shown his head, that shall penitentially solemnize with curses the day on which judgment arrives upon these shores.  But  if we believe the power of hell to be limited, we must likewise believe that their agents are under some providential control.

ANY TOWN USA 2011

Here is a hypothetical transcript of a speech on Labor Day 2011 on Main Street, Anywhere, USA by a Tea Party speaker.  (You will note the striking similarity to the speech given on Labor Day in Detroit, MI., by Teamsters Union president Jimmy Hoffa):

“Are there any Tea Baggers in the house? (Thunderous applause!) This is Main Street, Anywhere, USA, but today, this is Tea Bagger town! (More thunderous applause!) We are individuals, families, students, workers and businessmen, we are black, white and brown, we’re gentile and Jew, hispanic and anglo, young and old, we’re employed and unemployed, haves and have nots, gay and straight, and we’re all patriots. We all believe in and love our country.  This is the message that we send today, and this is the message that we send to the voters of America.

There is a war being waged on the responsible taxpayers and founding fathers of America. You see it everywhere: It is in the progressive movement in general, you hear it in the words of Jimmy Hoffa, president of the Teamsters Union, it is in rhetoric of SEIU, it is in hearts, minds and words of politicians like Rep. Maxine Waters, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Rep. Andre Carson, Rep. Frederica Wilson, and Rep. Al Green. And we see the war in Wisconsin where SEIU, NEA, and AFT brought in the shock troops  in support of the flouting of  the democratic process and in defense, not of their collective bargaining rights, but of their unfettered access to what they consider the deep pocket of the American taxpayer.  But the people of Wisconsin spoke and we beat back the forces of evil that are bankrupting municipal corporations from coast to coast and will continue to do so in 2012. But that victory could be illusory if we do not unite against the common enemy. That’s number one.

Number two, in Ohio, we are fighting a battle there with regard to the same kind of taxpayer exploitation and abuse we see coming from public employee unions throughout the country. We will watch the success of SB5. We’ve got  millions of responsible taxpayer supporters.  We are going to win in Ohio — that is our number two. 

And in Michigan, we’re going to see right to work laws passed. Yes, even in Michigan we going to see sanity returned to the pay and benefits of public employees. It’s coming.

We have to keep an eye on the gathering storm we face coming from the progressive movement—it is a war on the Constitution and responsible taxpayers. And you see it everywhere there is an entitlement, gimmie gimmie, don’t gore my ox mentality. And you know there is only one way to beat and win the war being waged against the American taxpayer.

The one thing about responsible citizens and patriotic Americans is we like and welcome a good fight. Been there, done that!  And you know what, the enemies of responsible citizens and the American taxpayer have  got a war, they’ve got a war with the founding fathers, individual liberty and personal responsibility and there is only going to be one winner. It is going to be the responsible taxpaying citizens of America – we are going to win that war. All the way.

But it starts with your involvement, it starts with next November. We’ve got a bunch of people out there that want to see the president’s radical egalitarian agenda expanded and accelerated and they are called progressives, liberals and collectivists; and democrats – the people who want to fundamentally change the core values of the American State away from individual liberty and personal responsibility and towards  a cradle to grave nanny state philosophy.  Make no mistake, they are the enemy!

President Obama sees what’s going on. He reads the polls and the unemployment figures. Well, guess what, we’ve got the vote. And the answer to what we say is, we’re on to you Mr. President, and your radical agenda, and November 2012 cometh.  We will beat the radicals and give this country back to the responsible taxpaying citizens of America. We can do it together.

We’ve also got to talk about spending. I get so tired about people who think that big government, play for pay and crony capitalism is the way to create jobs, and they’ve got the audacity to use phrases like “the summer of recovery.” 

Well I’ve got news for you. It’s time to recognize that the root cause of stagnation and unemployment in this country is the fact that we got a president who campaigned on the theme  of class warfare and radical change in America and is doing everything in his power to implement his collectivist agenda.  And what we’ve got to do is insure that the president and his fellow travelers are sent back to Chicago to join Rahm Emanuel, maybe as the faculty of the Saul Alinsky School of Community Organizing. 

We are going to hear from President Obama in a few minutes, and I am so glad that he has come to Anywhere, USA because this is where he will see the real America. Undoubtably his appointments secretary clicked the wrong key on her computer; but here he is.  He looks out on this army of people and you know what I say? President Obama, this is your Waterloo. We are an army ready to march against your radical agenda. President Obama, we want one thing: No more years, no more years, no more years. (the crowd joins the chant)

That’s what we are going to tell America…..When he sees what is going on here on Main Street, USA, what we are doing here, he’ll  rue the day he read from his first Teleprompter.  But he and his fellow travelers need help finding their way out the door. And you know what? Everybody here has got a vote. If we go back, we keep the eye on the prize, lets take these sons-of-bitches out and take America back to where we belong.” (Thunderous cascading waves of applause!)

_______________________

At a hypothetical press conference the following day Jay Carney was asked if President Obama had any response to the inflammatory rhetoric used by the Tea Party speaker at the Main Street rally.  

Carney: Remember the hallowed words of the president when he spoke to the need for civility in political rhetoric at the funeral for the fallen after the Tucson tragedy last February. He said, “Rather than pointing fingers or assigning blame, let us use this occasion to expand our moral imaginations, to listen to each other more carefully, to sharpen our instincts for empathy, and remind ourselves of all the ways our hopes and dreams are bound together... for all our imperfections, we are full of decency and goodness, and that the forces that divide us are not as strong as those that unite us...But at a time when our discourse has become so sharply polarized -- at a time when we are far too eager to lay the blame for all that ails the world at the feet of those who think differently than we do -- it's important for us to pause for a moment and make sure that we are talking with each other in a way that heals, not a way that wounds.”

  

The president condemns the speaker at the far right-wing Tea Party rally on Main Street, USA. The president commends the speaker at the far right-wing Tea Party rally on Main Street, USA  his Tucson speech and that she reflect on the wisdom and divine inspiration contained in his words of love, brotherhood and civility.  The president calls on speaker at the far right-wing Tea Party rally on Main Street, USA to apologize and seek absolution for her rhetorical transgressions.  

PASS THIS ON

Catching Wild Pigs   A chemistry professor in a large college had some exchange students in the class.   One day while the class was in the lab the Professor noticed one young man (exchange student) who kept rubbing his back, and stretching as if his back hurt. The professor asked the young man what was the matter. The student told him he had a bullet lodged in his back. He had been shot while fighting communists in his native country who were trying to overthrow his country's government and install a new communist government. In the midst of his story he looked at the professor and asked a strange question. He asked, 'Do you know how to catch wild pigs?' The professor thought it was a joke and asked for the punch line. The young man said this was no joke. 'You catch wild pigs by finding a suitable place in the woods and putting corn on the ground. The pigs find it and begin to come everyday to eat the free corn.. When they are used to coming every day,you put a fence down one side of the place where they are used to coming. When they get used to the fence,they begin to eat the corn again and you put up another side of the fence. They get used to that and start to eat again. You continue until you have all four sides of the fence up with a gate in the last side. The pigs, who are used to the free corn, start to come through the gate to eat, you slam the gate on them and catch the whole herd. Suddenly the wild pigs have lost their freedom. They run around and around inside the fence, but they are caught. Soon they go back to eating the free corn. They are so used to it that they have forgotten how to forage in the woods for themselves, so they accept their captivity. The young man then told the professor that is exactly what he sees happening to  America  . The government keeps pushing us toward socialism and keeps spreading the free corn out in the form of programs such as supplemental income,tax credit for unearned income, tobacco subsidies,dairy subsidies, payments not to plant crops (CRP),welfare, medicine, drugs, etc.. While we continually lose our freedoms -- just a little at a time. One should always remember: There is no such thing as a free lunch! Also, a politician will NEVER provide a service for you cheaper than you can do it yourself. Also, if you see that all of this wonderful government 'help' is a problem confronting the future of democracy in  America  , you might want to send this on to your friends. If you think the free ride is essential to your way of life then you will probably delete this email, but God help you when the gate slams shut! Keep your eyes on the newly elected politicians who are about to slam the gate on  America  .  "A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take away everything you have" Thomas Jefferson

THE SUMMER OF RECOVERY 2010

This is another in a series of articles written long before the current election season by J. Scott Lyman These articles are being posted on the UniteOrDieCafe.com blog to give context to past and future posts.  

The Summer of Recovery

by 

J. Scott Lyman

On Tuesday, August 24, 2010 the “non-partisan” Congressional Budget Office reported that, President Obama's economic stimulus package may have added or saved as many as 3.3 million jobs to the economy and may have prevented the nation from lapsing back into recession.  While the news on the economic front presages the continued free fall of what was once the greatest economic engine in human history, Vice President Biden labels the sun’s current tenancy in the northern hemisphere as “the summer of recovery,” and recently allowed: “no doubt we're moving in the right direction.”  The question is whether the president, vice president and many of the elite in the democratic party live in a world where political and economic fantasy trumps reality. I, for one, believe, that the Obama Administration is taking us over a political and economic cliff, if not into a black hole. 

In 2008 candidate Obama cast himself as the post-partisan, post-racial pragmatist who, with the wave of his wand, would miraculously heal the political and economic wounds inflicted on the nation and the world by George W. Beelzebub. But as it turns out, the “hope and change” we swallowed was not the reincarnation of a pragmatic Messiah, but rather his somewhat narcissistic, Alinsky trained radical egalitarian alter-ego.  

It doesn’t take a Harvard law degree to figure out who and what our president is and is not. Confusion or ambiguity on this issue is pretextual at best. First, what Obama is not: He’s no more a pragmatist than Biden is polished, persuasive and charismatic.  What Obama is: Credit where credit is due;  he’s smart, witty, charismatic, handsome and, truth be known, a sincere and committed ideologue. Largely the anthesis of George W.  And to what ends he pours on these considerable gifts should be equally clear, if one cares to look.

By heritage and legacy, from early childhood to the present, Obama’s socio-political instincts and philosophy have been radical egalitarian, with a centralized State as the wellspring and locomotive for the achievement of his vision of social justice and the redistribution of wealth in society. The denials of socialist/Marxist leanings by Obama and his cadre of radical egalitarians supporters are contrived, transparent and tactical. Exactly what Alinsky taught in his 1971 must read book, Rules for Radicals.      

Exhibit A in support of the real Obama is his 20 year tenure in the pews of  Jeremiah Wright’s  Trinity United Church of Christ. The core theology expounded by the good Rev. Wright is overtly Marxist, unapologetically Afrocentric and stridently revolutionary.  Not only did Obama regularly warm the pews of Trinity United for 20 years, but as was written by Chukwudi Nwokoye, in nigeriaonline.com.: “Rev. Wright was his mentor. He has known him for 20 years. The pastor was the person that introduced him to Christ. He officiated the wedding between Barack and Mitchell Obama, and baptized Obama’s 2 daughters Malia and Sasha. He was more than a pastor to him, he was a family and in fact a father figure to Obama who never really knew his father.” 

Exhibit B is the core constituency of Barack Obama.  From the day he set foot in Chicago before and after law school, Obama has had an intimate and long-term association with the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), what was and is (in its various permutations), the largest and most hard left (i.e., Marxist), radical group in America.  It was only when ACORN, like the good Rev. Jeremiah Wright, became a political liability that Obama distanced himself from the organization.  But wait! That’s definitely pragmatic. 

Another of Obama’s  core constituencies is the Service Employees International Union or SEIU. On the SEIU radical egalitarian agenda, Obama is perfectly clear.  In a speech before SEIU on August 23, 2009 President Obama proclaims: “Your agenda is my agenda...I wouldn’t be standing here without you...My life’s work is to make your agenda a reality.”  Lest there be any doubt about Obama’s commitment to his rhetoric, bear in mind that Andy Stern, the president of SEIU and an unapologic Marxist, has been one of the most frequent visitors to the Obama White House since day one.  Some would argue that this is the same SEIU that is a prime actor in the bankruptcy of municipal corporations from coast to coast.  While extended commentary on ACORN and SEI’s political agenda is beyond the scope of this article, suffice it to say that in both cases they are hard left, radical egalitarian and arguably Marxist. 

Exhibit C, and most important, is the direction Obama has taken the country since ascending to the Presidency, along with Democratic control of both houses of congress. The Obama trend line, in virtually all spheres of its political life, is toward the consolidation of power in and expansion of the federal government.  Vast new armies of bureaucrats  are forming to insinuate themselves into the lives of individuals, associations and political subdivisions, from birth to death.  The notions of checks and balances, states rights, Federalism and the Founding Fathers fear of the of autocracy and tyranny, are being thrown under the bus as anachronisms.  Even the classic totalitarian “cult of personality” syndrome is in ascendency under Obama.

Vice President Biden proclaims,  “We’re turning this great ship of state around that was wandering out to sea and it’s headed back to port.  There isn’t any doubt that we’re moving in the right direction.”  While perhaps serendipitous, it is worth noting that the vice president ostensibly was talking about the “ship of state,” not the economy when he proclaimed we are headed in the right direction. But whether America is headed in the right direction is very much in doubt.  The summer of recovery this ain’t!

In some polls up to 70% of the American people believe the country is headed in the wrong direction and a large plurality disapprove of the job Obama is doing as president.  Simply put, the question is, do the American people support the  fundamental change promised and acted on by Obama?  It’s not the economy stupid!  It’s whether “a government of the people, by the people and for the people, shall parish from the earth! November cometh!