The Man Who Would Be King February 16, 2012
Posted by Dr. Robert owens in Politics.Tags: Dr. Robert Owens, TARP, Ron Paul, Stimulus, 2012 election, Obama re-election
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In 114 BC, Rome was a democratic Republic. Representatives elected by popular vote filled the Senate, and the Senate ran Rome. The Empire was conquered in the name of the Senate and the People of Rome, symbolized by the ever present SPQR seen on every Roman standard in every gladiator movie you have ever watched.
At the beginning of the first century BC sovereignty in Rome resided in the People, which may have inspired the most famous attribution of sovereignty in American History, “We the People” as the proclaimed authors of the Constitution. The power in republican Rome resided in the people. In a revolution that was by then legendary, they had banished their kings and established themselves as a free republic where the people assembled together to elect the Senators, the magistrates, and made all major decisions such as whether or not to go to war. And far beyond mere words much of what was early Rome was the target the Founding Fathers shot at when they established our later day republic.
And yet, by 14 AD, when Augustus died, popular elections were but a memory. Power was no longer located in the people, or in their assemblies, or their representatives in the Senate, instead power was concentrated in an Imperial Palace which was guarded, unapproachable, and foreboding.
How did this revolution occur? What led the freedom loving Romans to lay down their liberty and put on the yoke of oppression? Later Romans who longed for the freedom their ancestors had discarded pointed to 133 BC when a rich young man named Tiberius Gracchus bought his way into the office of Tribune, an executive position one step below magistrate that was meant to protect the interests of the poor. Gracchus used his office to curry personal power by giving bread and circuses to the people paid for by the public treasury. Eventually he hit on a very popular plan. He proposed to seize the lands of the rich and give them to the poor and he imposed this under his own authority, an authority he lacked under the Roman constitution. Later when he put himself forward for a second term in opposition to custom and law he was assassinated by a group of Senators.
Several generations of corrupt politicians using the same formula sought to buy personal power and popular adoration by looting the public treasury to give the people ever increasing benefits. Finally another rich young ruler arose by the name of Julius Caesar. He rose through various public offices eventually gaining the office of Proconsul or Governor of Gaul (France). He knew that to be a true Roman hero and paramount leader he needed to be a successful conqueror, so that is what he spent the next nine years doing. He conquered not only all of Gaul but much of central Europe even leading the first Roman expedition to Britain. While he accomplishing this he sent back well written dispatches to Rome which were published and widely distributed recounting his bravery and skill as a general.
All of this was too much for his political rivals in Rome. They gained enough votes to have him branded a traitor which meant little in Gaul where he had absolute power thanks to his well trained and veteran army. His rivals promised his arrest and conviction if and when he returned to the capitol. However Caesar was not to be denied so he compounded the accusations of his treason with a treasonable act leading his army across the Rubicon River to Rome.
With his troops behind him Caesar secured all power and after many adventures to suppress the forces loyal to the old order he had a compliant Senate elect him dictator for life. As his grasp of power solidified it became clear his rule would be the end of the republic. Breaking completely with tradition he began to wear purple, the color of royalty in public. Finally when his chief Lieutenant, Anthony, publicly offered him a crown it was too much and just as with Gracchus one hundred years before, Caesar was assassinated by a group of senators.
Caesar was followed by Augustus, the first Emperor of Rome who was never called Emperor. He was instead known by the republican sounding title of princeps, or first citizen. Kings were hated in Rome. The traditions of the Republic ran deep. Both Gracchus and Caesar had been killed because people thought they would make themselves king. The genius of Caesar’s nephew and successor was that Augustus made himself king in all but name while keeping the outward forms of the Republic. The elections were rigged, the Senate only did what they were told, and the people were kept happy by giveaways from the public treasury and kept in line by a smothering blanket of laws and regulations.
Fast forward to the 20th century and two other would be kings include Mussolini who decreed that calendars in Italy should begin again with October 29, 1922 the date he assumed power as the first day of year one. He proclaimed the Fascist Era was the dawn of a new age. And Hitler who said his National Socialist Nazis would reign for a thousand years.
In America today we have a leader who campaigned on a platform of cutting taxes and regulations. A man who when the economy melted down said if he didn’t solve the problem in three years he wasn’t worthy of a second term. In a classic example of bait and switch he walked over his promises to restore American greatness and suddenly announced five days before the election that he would instead transform America.
Presidents are elected to preserve, protect and defend the constitution. Nowhere in the job description does it mention anything about transforming America. He was elected to do one job and decided instead to do another. TARP was passed to clear the toxic assets out of the banks and restart the system but instead was used to seize controlling interests in AIG, GM and Chrysler and in general assert government ownership over a significant portion of the American economy. The stimulus was passed to re-energize the economy but instead it became a gift bag for the President’s supporters and a slush fund for his re-election.
Mr. Obama, with the corporations once known as the major media clearing his way and covering his tracks, compares himself to Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, Reagan and God, ridicules those who cling to the old ways, and decrees that he can rule without Congress because he can’t wait. His spending has impoverished future generations and will eventually sink the ship of state. His foreign policy ignores our allies and empowers our enemies. Instead of uniting our country to get out of the hole dug by generations of failed Progressive boondoggles and giveaways he incites class warfare while the welfare rolls expand daily.
Whether we are dealing with one man devoted to personal aggrandizement or merely a teleprompter reading front man for a well-oiled CABAL we are face to face with someone who has been positioned by the generosity of American voters to do irreparable damage to our nation. We have one last chance to save the republic as we have known it. The Republicans who operate as the other half of the party of power seek to nominate another big government operator who promises little more than driving us to the poor house a little slower with new wars along the way.
What we need is a man who will work as president to re-impose the limits of the constitution. We need a man who will educate Americans as to what a constitutional government is and what it should do and not do. We need a leader who will reverse course and take us back to the days of individual liberty, personal freedom, and economic liberty. We need a leader who isn’t afraid to jettison the empire to save the republic. Now is the time for such a leader. If only enough Americans will recognize the signs of the times and rally round the flag they will still call it America.
Just as the Rome of Caligula and Nero still called itself a republic so too in the coming era of Progressive centralization and control will our beloved country still be America. The Constitution will remain on display in Washington. However, in the world turned upside down liberty will be circumscribed by political correctness and freedom will be defined by government regulations. Our schools and media will assure us that we are the most free and prosperous nation on earth while other countries that have gained their freedom pass us by. History as it is taught in America today tries to tell us that socialism works. It doesn’t. It leads to a stunted, shabby future where everyone sinks to the level of the lowest common denominator. What we need is a rebirth of republicanism with a small “r” and a big dream.
Keep the faith. Keep the peace. We shall overcome.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion for Southside Virginia Community College. He is the Historian of the Future and the author of the History of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com © 2012 Robert R. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens
If We Don’t Win We Lose February 2, 2012
Posted by Dr. Robert owens in Politics.Tags: 2012 election, Dr. Robert Owens, limited government, Presidential History, Progressivism, Ron Paul
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America’s slide from the forefront of freedom to the swamp of collectivist social engineering didn’t start with the current manager of our decline and his Cavalcade of Czars. It didn’t start with President Obama’s favorite foil and arch-nemesis the man the Corporations-Once-Known-as-the Mainstream-Media love to hate, George Bush, the Younger. It didn’t start with the Bush-Clinton decade + 2 of continuous government growth, its thousand points of light or its thousand points of light or its Hillarycare.
Even Ronaldus Magnus, the last good President left Washington bigger than he found it.
Jimmy Carter not only walked in the Inaugural Parade he walked us into the grip of a Department of Energy that works tirelessly to limit our energy production and a Department of Education that presides over the greatest decline in education in world History. He chastised us in his malaise speech about our crisis of confidence never realizing it was our confidence in him not our country that was hobbling America. And what was his advice? Should we work harder, invent more, or launch out in bold new ways? No he suggested we wear sweaters and turn the heat down. Managing the decline has long been the theme song of those who see America’s glory days in the rearview mirror instead of in the headlights as we travel towards the future.
What about Nixon? Forget about it! He gave us price controls, OSHA, and the EPA. He took us off the gold standard and left us at the mercy of the Federal Reserve, all this from the conservative wing of the Dualocracy which is the bi-polar Party of Power.
Lyndon Johnson and his Great Society, Medicare, Medicaid, and Food Stamp revolution created the entitlement monsters which are poised to devour the budget.
Though he cut taxes to spur the economy, Kennedy with his phony missile gap and foreign policy blunders did little besides set the stage for Johnson.
Eisenhower spent eight years guiding the construction of the Military Industrial Complex he warned us about as he left the stage.
The Fair Deal was merely Truman’s election driven attempt to increase the size, scope, and power of FDR’s New Deal which was a massive and unprecedented intrusion of the central government into the economic and social life of America.
FDR was the 20th century poster boy when it comes to stretching the size of government and putting the stamp of entitlement as the cause on liberty’s death certificate.
Hoover, contrary to FDR’s story line and the accepted version of America’s History, responded to the stock market crash with a massive extension of government and its programs. The Great Engineer, as he was known before his name became a household word for failed presidency, was a champion of government intervention, and though today his devotion to the tenets of laissez-faire are blamed for the depression when it was instead his federal interference that provided a deep recession for FDR to turn into the Great Depression.
Silent Cal Coolidge was America’s last limited President. He limited himself and stayed with the confines of the Constitution.
Harding tried but died.
Wilson used the War he bragged of keeping us out of as the excuse to arrest and detain citizens, seize control of the economy, foster segregation and racism, and generally slap the cuffs of a greatly expanded central government on America’s wrists.
Taft was Teddy Roosevelt’s handpicked successor. And although he continued the Progressive agenda of attacking business and expanding government he didn’t do enough. So Roosevelt broke him and his presidency running against him splitting the Republican vote and opening the door for the Progressive Democrat Wilson.
Teddy was the grandfather of them all. His trust busting interventionism was Progressivism personified.
Though this may be the litany of the current gang of statists who are poised to smother freedom, the struggle to keep constitutionally limited government, personal liberty, and economic freedom alive has been one long series of attack defenses declines and rebirths.
The second President, John Adams, was a man who helped write the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. He was a man who worked tirelessly for the ratification of the Constitution, and passed and signed the Alien and Sedition Acts under which he arrested people who criticized him, his administration or his policies. From there it goes on and on.
Jefferson compromised his beliefs about the limited power of the central government and purchased Louisiana without Constitutional authority, a good deal but a bad precedent. Monroe committed America to defending the entire Western Hemisphere. Polk sent American troops into territory internationally recognized as part of Mexico and then asked for a declaration of war when Mexican troops fired on those troops. Lincoln suspended the right of habeas corpus whenever he needed to in order to maintain the Union though the Constitution does not grant that power to the Federal Government. The 10th Amendment strictly prohibits the Federal Government from having any powers not expressly delegated to it, and at least one state, Virginia, in their ratification convention expressly considered the Union voluntary and reserved the right to secede.
From one battle to another America’s freedom fighters have stood before the Leviathan of Central Government and clung relentlessly to the promises first set forth in the founding document of the United States of America, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Considering that these uplifting and timeless words of human liberty were penned by a slaveholder and that it took four score and nine years for this stain to be removed from our nation we can see that our road away from serfdom has always been one of fits and starts.
Today we face the next great challenge. Progressivism, America’s current variation on the age-old theme of government knows best is poised to break the bounds of limited government, regiment the people, and smother the economy. After more than one hundred years of incremental growth in just three years the promises of hope and change have broken the bank and mortgaged the future. One more term of this profligate spending and oppressive regulations and they will kill the golden goose.
The forces of freedom cannot afford to lose this next election to the purveyors of class warfare and division. If we do this great experiment in limited government, personal liberty and economic liberty will have progressed from a new country on the margins of civilization to the greatest power the world has ever known, to just another socially engineered centrally planned economically shackled democracy voting itself benefits it can’t afford.
Our adversaries believe they have stacked the deck by taking control of both major political parties which operate as two wings on the same bird of prey. They hope by nominating a Progressive in both parties there will be no way for the forces of freedom to prevail.
Our ranks are filled with those who have been in the trenches for a lifetime and are weary of the fight. They have been joined by the recently awakened who know little of the history and less of the tactics. Our opposition is comprised of the slickest, best funded, and most corrupt professional politicians, labor barons, and crony capitalists the world has ever seen with thousands of Occupy storm troopers thrown in for good measure. The odds are against us. The smart money is betting on the victory of the all-powerful government, lining up to get their deals and haul away the loot.
The odds have always been against us. We fought the greatest empire in the world to gain our freedom. We have persevered and prevailed against plot after plot to extinguish the light of liberty and in this battle too we must remember that the one we should never be forgotten told us long ago, “if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
Yes, the blood of more than 54,000,000 innocent lives cry out for justice, yes we as a people have legalized what should be unlawful and condoned what should be condemned. Yes, we have fallen from the high road and are weakened by an entitlement mentality and an addiction to entertainment. But we are the American people. We are, “We the People” and if we will but turn and acknowledge the one who has given us everything we have a chance.
The time is now. The place is here. We are the people we have been waiting for. We must rise to the occasion. We must win this battle because if we don’t win we lose.
Keep the faith. Keep the peace. We shall overcome.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion for Southside Virginia Community College. He is the author of the History of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com © 2012 Robert R. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens
Can Freedom Survive or Is the Fix In? January 12, 2012
Posted by Dr. Robert owens in Politics.Tags: 2012 election, Dr. Robert Owens, Gary Johnson, Ron Paul, Sarah Palin
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The Republicans have a habit of nominating moderates who have served the Party well, or as the Soviets called them apparatchiks, or as they are called in Chicago Ward Heelers, or as they are called everywhere else Hacks. That is how they ended up with Bob Dole and John McCain. They had run for the nomination before and lost. They were loyal soldiers who then went on to support the nominee. And now, it was their turn. That is not a very convincing campaign argument: “It’s my turn.”
Another foolproof system employed by the Progressive Republican leadership is to let their friends in the Corporations Once Known as the Mainstream Media set the agenda and choose their candidate. The debates these Corporations hold are aimed at causing division and starting intramural fights, and the Republicans fall for it every time. The Progressive Media loved John McCain. He was their “Maverick.” They just couldn’t get enough of his “reaching across the aisles” until he had won the nomination, then he was the enemy. It was the same thing with Dole. Now they tell us every day that Romney is the only one who has a chance to beat Obama. They just keep loving on Romney, can’t get enough of Mitt. Just wait until he is the nominee and see how fast he becomes the Wall Street fat cat who plundered millions of dollars and laid waste to middleclass lives.
With their 24/7 news cycle and group-think barrage of negative reinforcement the media seeks to disqualify those they fear and promote those who will maintain the status quo.
Sarah Palin was disqualified because she is damaged goods due to media attacks that were over-the-top in viciousness. The Progressives simply couldn’t allow a woman to rise to prominence that had really built her own career and accomplished things without riding on her husband’s coattails or worshipped at the idol of the pro-abortion sisterhood. That would have jeopardized their grip on the gender gap.
Gary Johnson was dis-invited to most of the Media sponsored and Progressive controlled debates. He was ignored during the few debates he was invited to attend. His poll numbers were based on polls that didn’t include his name as a choice. The Republican leadership turned such a cold shoulder to this successful two-term Governor he has left the Party and is seeking the Libertarian nomination for President.
In the last election cycle John McCain was the darling maverick of the Progressives and he valiantly led to a stunning defeat by a novice with obvious ties to radicals.
Ron Paul is marginalized and ridiculed because of his whacky far-out ideas and policies such as obeying the Constitution. The Progressives can’t allow anyone to seriously consider a return to government created by a bunch of old dead white guys! No way! No how! To them that is absurd, so at every mention of Dr. Paul’s name there is a snicker, a joke or at least a raised eyebrow. On every network both cable and broadcast his name is constantly followed by the conventional wisdom, “He can’t possibly get the nomination” or “He could never win a general election.” Thus Dr. Paul is condemned to only have people who actually listen to his positions and know the Constitution as supporters, and the powers-that-be are betting they are a minority in America today.
The talking heads of the ruling chatocracy tell us over and over that Representative Paul is unelectable. They treat his legion of loyal supporters with derision and contempt. They use loaded words like whacky and kooky to describe his positions. In other words they treat Dr. Paul and his supporters with the same fear and loathing they heaped upon the Tea Party. In the Paul campaign they see a real threat to their Neo-Con / Progressive stranglehold on power. Every other candidate will perpetuate the reign of the military/industrial complex and its freedom smothering empire of foreign intervention and phony money. If any other candidate wins it may mean cosmetic change, but it will also mean business as usual. With any other candidate the looting and plundering continues.
Nothing reveals the truth more clearly than this obvious attempt to steer America away from the one candidate who seeks a return to the Constitution: a return to limited government, personal liberty and economic freedom. And the greatest disappointment of all is Fox News. The major networks and the other cable news outlets ceased being anything except mouthpieces for the Progressive Democratic Party years ago. But Fox held out the promise of a fair and balanced approach. Their news anchors and reporters tried to live up to their credo and report the news allowing their viewers to decide. But in this case they have gleefully joined in the attempt to dismiss Representative Paul as a serious contender.
From their much respected former anchor and current chief political analyst Brit Hume, their chief political correspondent “Campaign” Carl Cameron to their current anchor Bret Baier this team which offered a hope of unbiased news uses every opportunity to malign and marginalize Ron Paul and his supporters. In 2008 it was merely Cameron who used loaded terms and sneers to ridicule Dr. Paul. In this election cycle the entire network has piled on the anti-Paul band wagon. Watching the lead up to the first votes was evidence enough. Though Ron Paul scored in double digits in every poll we were told it meant nothing. When he was near the top of polls his name wasn’t even mentioned. Now that voting has started when he places 3rd in Iowa and 2nd in New Hampshire it is treated as a curiosity, an anomaly as if all those voters had somehow pulled the wrong lever. Shame on you Fox News for leaving fair and balanced behind.
The establishment does everything in its power to stop the one choice that might mean an end to their precipitous rush to the precipice of power. They believe they neutered the Tea Party in 2011 when they turned the new majority in the House to the dark side sustaining the old leadership, passing the Patriot Act, and raising the debt limit. They feel secure treating Ron Paul and his legions of supporters as kooks advancing unworkable ideas and antiquated principles.
Every election is important. This one is for the soul of America. Will we continue down the road to become just another social welfare democracy? Will the greatest experiment in human freedom become a kleptocracy where the perpetually re-elected shovel out sweetheart deals to cronies as the cronies shovel back contributions to keep them in office? Is our government just a huge money laundering scam with a printing press using a Ponzi scheme to keep the marks happy? Are we fated to become the sacrificial lamb on the altar of avarice and greed? The establishment says yes. Their news media fellow travelers say yes. What will we the people say?
Will we rise up and demand a return to limited government, personal liberty, and economic freedom, or will we the people meekly accept our assigned role as we the sheeple? Will the descendants of the founders wake up and reclaim their heritage, or will we believe the Progressive line that constitutionally limited government is an unworkable idea and that life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is an antiquated principle?
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion for Southside Virginia Community College. He is the author of the History of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com © 2012 Robert R. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens
We Can Trust Us November 25, 2011
Posted by Dr. Robert owens in Politics.Tags: 2012 election, Classical Liberalism, Constitution, Declaration of Independence, Dr. Robert Owens
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Listening to the lies of the politicians as presented by the prattle of the biased it is easy to lose hope in a secular sense. My hope in an eternal sense is founded on the rock of an unshakable faith in Jesus and so it cannot be shaken. However, in the secular resting, as it must upon the shifting sands of man in America today, hope as a measured commodity is all too often hopeless. Seeking for hope in current events, a diamond among the discards and a point of light in a sea of darkness, is seeking something positive among the gathering gloom of an empire in eclipse.
I don’t know about you but I cannot focus on the negative trends of our current situation for long without at least contemplating depression and I don’t mean the economic kind. I am thankful I have a peace that passes all understanding and a hope that cannot be taken away, and I am also glad that I have a sense of History which gives me a context to frame the Now. For if all we have is the Now it can always be changed with the next headline, the next news bulletin or the next press release. Having a historical context brings things into focus fitting the events of today into flow of time from yesterday to tomorrow.
Truth often becomes the victim of expediency. For what seems true at the moment may end up as the lie of the hour. Politicians bend truth like gravity bends light: the heavier the perceived need the greater the unperceived distortion. Lies can become so widely believed that truth is swallowed in truism. As lies become the accepted wisdom of professional pundits chattering endlessly supporting that which ultimately must fall for those who seek to surf a tsunami into a safe harbor. The news is filled with half-truths and as my second favorite philosopher, Anonymous once said, “Beware of half-truths, you may have gotten the wrong half.”
We live in a twilight time. Twilight by definition is a time when two sources of light pierce the gloom, that quivering moment when both the sun and the moon hold back the darkness. The darkness of confusion is dispelled by the brightness of the sun of truth but it is disputed by refracted light of the moon of opinion masquerading as truth.
Casting about for something solid in the midst of the swirling fog of conflicting facts, shifting observations, and contradictory visions in the secular sense I must focus on one thing: the people. I trust the American people. I trust them to make the right choice when presented with unvarnished reality. I trust them to do what must be done to preserve the bequest of our forefathers for the inheritance of our posterity.
The Declaration of Independence was written to proclaim the righteousness of the actions of “One people” with the courage to declare to a world sold into bondage that our liberty was founded upon truth. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
We the People wrote the Constitution in order to perfect that which had been founded upon the truth. “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
It is to this one people, this “We the people” that I look for secular hope, political peace, and the eventual solution to our current cultural conundrum. The popular definition of a conundrum is a problem without a solution. However it also has another meaning, a riddle whose answer is or involves a pun. Since I am referring to the second meaning I will present the riddle, “How is liberalism the solution to the problem of liberalism?”
In our through-the-looking-glass world politicians use actual truth to obscure the obvious truth. Congressman Joe Early (D-Mass) at a press conference to answer questions about the House Bank scandal said, “They gave me a book of checks. They didn’t ask for any deposits.” While I’m sure it is true he was given a book of checks, obviously one needs to make deposits if one is to honestly write checks. In this same manner the leaders of our free country promote socialism as the solution to the problems socialism has caused knowing that you cannot honestly write checks if you don’t make deposits. Capitalism makes the deposits and socialism wants to write the checks. As Churchill said “Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.”
We are awash in polls. Every campaign and every major news source constantly trumpet polls many of which contradict each other. No matter what the polls say I believe that the American people still believe in freedom. I believe they still believe in the equality of opportunity and the opportunity of equality. We all aren’t the same. Each of us is born with a particular set of talents and each of us uses those talents in a certain way. It is my belief, that given the level playing field of individual liberty and economic freedom, the vast majority of Americans will work hard to earn what they deserve. This is my secular hope. Heaven on earth is not possible but given individual liberty and economic freedom inherently promised in the perfect union we the people sought to create we can at least avoid remaining in the hell of socialism the Progressives are currently foisting upon us, and as Churchill also said “If you’re going through hell, keep going.”
Oh, by the way, the answer to the riddle is that Classical Liberalism promotes the general welfare by promoting the limitation of government and the liberty of the individual in order to better serve the whole. Welfare Liberalism erodes the general welfare by expanding the government at the expense of the individual in order to better serve the individual. Thus Classical Liberalism is the solution to the problems caused by Welfare Liberalism. And that’s the truth which brings me to one last Churchill quote for the day, “The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it. Ignorance may deride it. But in the end, there it is.”
Don’t be discouraged by the blather of the pontificating politicians or confused by the conflicting ruminations of the professional talkers. When all is said and done we can trust us. We the people will eventually come down on the side of truth, justice, and the American way.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion for Southside Virginia Community College. He is the author of the History of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com © 2011 Robert R. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens
A Declaration of Independence August 5, 2011
Posted by Dr. Robert owens in Uncategorized.Tags: 2012 election, debt deal, Dr. Robert Owens, National Debt, Progressives
2 comments
It has happened just as foretold. The Progressive Republicans have joined with their Democrat fellow-travelers and once again sold our inheritance for a bowl of promises. We voted for an end to the out of control spending and what did we get? 3.5 trillion steps closer to the abyss. It’s time to admit that when you fall off a cliff it doesn’t matter much if you were pushed or if you walked. The fall might not be so bad but that sudden stop at the end isn’t so good.
Maybe it’s just me but I’m tired of the same old same old in our politics. The big-box monopoly parties have morphed into two sides of the same coin. Today we choose between the Conservative Progressives’ policies of tax and spend, infringe personal liberty, and outsource our sovereignty or the Liberal Progressives’ policies of tax and spend, infringe personal liberty, and outsource our sovereignty. We’ve been caught on the horns of a dilemma trying to choose between Tweedledee and Tweedledum, and since we don’t want to throw our vote away we must vote for one of the big boys after which the campaign promises dissolve and we’re hung out to dry.
As a voter I’ve had my Damascus Road Experience. The scales have fallen from my eyes. I’ve reached the point where I would rather vote for someone who might actually try finding another way to operate our government besides taxing like the Sun King and spending like a drunken sailor whose credit card limit is constantly raised and who can print his own money.
It’s time to stop talking. It’s time to take action. The Founders of our nation dedicated their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to birth our state and this noble experiment. It’s time for us to do the same. This nation was conceived as a representative republic designed to operate on democratic principles. For over 100 years the Progressives have worked to transform the land of the free and the home of the brave into a People’s Democratic Republic. What’s the difference? The difference between a Democracy and a People’s Democracy is “the difference between a jacket and a straight jacket.”
How did we arrive at the current situation?
James Madison our fourth president and the chief architect of the U.S. Constitution said, “There are more instances of the abridgement of the freedom of the people by the gradual and silent encroachment of those in power, than by violent and sudden usurpation.” We didn’t get here all in one jump. First the camel said, “Can I just stick my nose in your tent to stay warm?” and finally the generous man found himself out in the cold as the camel settled down for a nice warm nap, one inch at a time.
The compassion of our people built a safety net for those who needed help and the greed of the lazy turned it into a hammock. America, the Land of the Free is being transformed into an America that is dedicated to the unsustainable achievement of, from each according to their abilities to each according to their need. When you rob Peter to pay Paul eventually Peter changes his name to Paul and the house of cards tumbles down.
The willingness to share our heritage led America to welcome more immigrants each year than the rest of the world combined, and the abuse of our generosity turned into a migration invasion that threatens to overwhelm us and destroy the future of our children. Taxes imposed to meet the ever-swelling demands of government have turned into a blatant, wealth re-distribution program that makes most pyramid schemes look fair. It’s as if our predatory government looks at a productive citizen as merely a source of residual income. Or as the ads promise, our Progressive leaders lay on the beach of self-importance and our checks just keep pouring in. We’re no longer respected as Citizens. Instead, we’re coveted as consumers or human capital.
It’s time for action.
We as citizens who love our country must to break the logjam caused by an imperial presidency, an abdicating legislature, an activist court, a suffocating bureaucracy, and the strangulation of regulation. The constant growth of government destroys freedom for “as government expands liberty contracts.”
It’s time to actively work for America’s acceptance of a different way.
And what might this Different way be?
Something radical, something that almost strains the bounds of the imagination, something that would immediately unleash the bent-up energy of a free people: a return to constitutionally limited government!
But how do we get there from here? We need to build a new party to win the reins of government from the two-headed bird of prey which has assumed perpetual power through perpetual re-election. What we need now are citizens willing to sacrifice their repose and enter the arena. We need non-professionals to clean up the mess and right the ship of state.
What we don’t need is one more election where the Conservative Progressives replace the Liberal Conservatives because as Albert Einstein said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
We need a new party. We must work to unite the Tea Party Movement with the many splinter parties which hold the same basic values. We must reclaim our liberty from the professional politicians and professional radicals who have manipulated the system to achieve unlimited power which they use to spend us into insolvency, tax us into poverty, and regulate us into serfdom.
This new party must siphon off all the conservatives who are members of the twin party out of habit or family tradition. This new party must rise fast and work hard. It must capture the center and the right declaring boldly that it will defend what America stands for but not necessarily all that stands for America. The time has come to fight for the right before we are swallowed by the wrong.
Winston Churchill said, “If you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed, if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not so costly, you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance for survival. There may be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.”
We can’t let divisions divide us or they will bury us. United we stand, divided we fall. None of us can do this alone but together we can. Keep the faith. Keep the peace. We shall overcome.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion for Southside Virginia Community College. He is the author of the History of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com View the trailer for Dr. Owens’ latest book @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ypkoS0gGn8
© 2011 Robert R. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens.
Lemmings the Cliff and 2012 July 22, 2011
Posted by Dr. Robert owens in Uncategorized.Tags: 2012 election, Dr. Robert Owens, Obama re-election, shovel-ready jobs, space shuttle
4 comments
We all think we are invincible. We all think we will have another day. Then one day there isn’t another day and our day is done. Empires rise and empires fall and everyone always thinks, “We’ll make it through this. We always have” then one time you don’t. No one gets to live in the world they grew up in, because the only thing that never changes is that everything changes.
Though we won the race to the Moon, though we pioneered and financed the International Space Station we have witnessed the end of America’s manned space program, but not because of some grand explosion or tragedy. Past administrations faced these and soldiered on to boldly go where no man has gone before. It was not because of a lack of vision; our planners wanted to send Americans to Mars and beyond. It wasn’t because of a lack of talent, or technical know-how. No the end of America’s manned space program has arrived because America is in the grip of an administration focused on managing the decline of America even if they have to make the decline happen themselves.
Look at the economy. Though Nixon famously quipped, “We’re all Keynesians now” Milton Friedman and the neo-classical economics of the Chicago School proved we can’t spend our way to prosperity. We can’t borrow our way to solvency, yet this administration has racked up the largest debt of any administration in History in less than three years. Their first 800 billion dollar stimulus was such a failure even Mr. Obama can’t keep a straight face when talking about the supposed shovel ready jobs. And what is this administration’s answer to the continuation of the Great Recession? The President wants more spending and more debt, a policy which ensures the continued degradation of America’s economic position in the world. From the undisputed leader of the world this administration is fundamentally transforming America into an economic dependency on China.
Ever since the early 1980s and the Laffer Curve provided the facts to prove what many economists had long known: within certain perimeters reducing taxes generates more revenue than raising them. Economists generally agree that raising taxes slows growth and reduces revenue especially during a recession. Yet in the current debt ceiling EMERGENCY!!!#*%!!! what does the Obama Administration propose? They want to raise taxes. And how do they seek to achieve this masterstroke? By the most blatant application of class warfare rhetoric since Lenin climbed on a barricade in 1917.
If the President is to be believed, it is the tax credits given to the purchasers and operators of private jets that are one of the three causes of our current economic anemia. Conveniently it is forgotten by the President and by the Corporations Once Known as the Mainstream Media, who parrot his every word, that it was his own stimulus bill which created these tax credits to begin with. The second cause according to the President’s teleprompter is tax breaks given to millionaires and billionaires. By millionaires and billionaires he means everyone earning more than the level needed to qualify for food stamps and Medicaid. And last but not least are the billions of dollars in subsidies given to Oil Companies. Of course these aren’t really subsidies they are tax credits extended to domestic companies for the exploration and development of new oil resources, and since at the same time the President and his party will not allow anyone to develop any resources they don’t amount to much. Never mentioned is the Democrats’ pet corporation such as GE, which pays no federal taxes at all.
That’s the economic plan: attack the private jet industry, tax the rich (anyone not on welfare), and penalize anyone attempting to actually solve America’s dependence on countries that hate us for our energy. That won’t lead us on the road back to prosperity or maybe that isn’t the destination our leaders have chosen. Remember don’t discount ulterior motives when the mistakes are so great stupidity seems like the only other answer.
Geo-politically, the endless wars for peace grind on even though everyone knows the moment we leave Iraq they will ally themselves with Iran and the moment we leave Afghanistan the Taliban will march into Kabul as Karsai, his crew, and our billions will take off for Geneva. Just as the President’s best seller, The Dreams of My Father resembles the nightmares of others his Arab Spring looks more like the prelude to a twenty-first century Kristallnacht or the Middle East version of the March on Rome. Any but the blind can see that the pro-Western dictators overthrown are being replaced by pro Al-Qaeda Muslim Brotherhood clones. And after less than three years of the Obama drama America now leads from behind and cannot muster the wherewithal to defeat a tin pot dictator hated by his own people with a rag-tag army of mercenaries and children.
With a dismal record of retrenchment and failure such as this how can President Obama possibly win re-election?
His only chance is the Clinton formula. There has to be a viable third party candidate or the Republicans could resurrect Herbert Hoover and win in a landslide.
However, we can’t ignore the Lemming Effect. The political lemmings are those Americans who proudly ignore politics and economics, who get there news from John Stewart, Jay Leno or the major networks, this who vote for the same party their parents did just because that is what they do, in other words, Democrats. They will vote for the President even if they can’t stand anything he’s done and disagree with everything he says. After all he has a “D” after his name. Or as Lenin said, “The capitalists will sell us the rope we use to hang them.” With these millions of lemmings heading for the cliff Mr. Obama has a solid third of the electorate but with his record of failure and surrender that won’t be enough to win.
Luckily for the President and the Progressives the Republican leadership in Congress is dedicated to compromise when they should stand their ground and are experts at snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. In the coming months they will vote to raise the debt ceiling and alienate the majority of the Tea Party who could be the salvation of the Party of Reagan. Then they will nominate a lackluster, “It’s my turn” candidate and POOF there will be a third party candidate strong enough to ensure four more years of humiliation and defeat.
The Space Race is over, we won, but now we have capitulated. The Cold War is over, we won, but we squandered the opportunity to create a world of freedom to pursue wars without end. The greatest creditor in the world is now the greatest debtor. The greatest manufacturer is now the greatest importer of manufactured goods. Twenty-three years of Progressive presidents combined with a big-government, big-spending Congress has led us to the brink of the abyss. Our current debt levels are unsustainable and unless we act quickly the momentum of decline may become irreversible and irresistible
However, we are the American people, we can stop this. We can throw the rascals out, reverse course and rebuild the land of the free and the home of the brave. We can do it. We must do it. Or, it won’t get done.
How do we do it?
We can’t let divisions divide us anymore. We must unite behind the strongest conservative and work together or we will all watch our beloved country swirl down the drain of History separately. Just as the Democrats and independents took control of the Republican primaries in 2008 to nominate the Progressive McCain the conservative majority must take control in 2012 to ensure that a viable conservative is nominated. Otherwise the leaders of the Republican re-election machine will nominate an Obama-lite and the lights may go out on the greatest experiment in freedom ever devised. Keep the faith. Keep the peace. We shall overcome.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion for Southside Virginia Community College. He is the author of the History of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com View the trailer for Dr. Owens’ latest book @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ypkoS0gGn8 © 2011 Robert R. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook.
We Can Do This Unless We Don’t June 24, 2011
Posted by Dr. Robert owens in Uncategorized.Tags: 2012 election, Chris Christie, Dr. Robert Owens, Michele Bachmann, Ron Paul, Sarah Palin
4 comments
If Alfred E. Newman with his “What me worry?” grin was President of the United States he couldn’t do a more pathetic imitation of leadership than we are currently witnessing in Chicago on the Potomac.
Dismissing the easy visuals of an out-of-touch Imperial President such as:
- Playing golf more in two years than Bush did in eight. With over seventy rounds of eighteen holes in 2.5 years and more that eleven weekends in a row this year it makes one wonder if he’s practicing up for a second career perhaps taking Tiger Woods place once he leaves the White House.
- The 2010 decision to skip the wreath laying ceremony at Arlington to make a pilgrimage to his political Mecca by the Lake,
- Joking about the failure of the 800+ billion dollar stimulus with his cronies at the ironically named Jobs Council when he quipped with his usual uh … uh … off-script eloquence and profundity, “Shovel-ready was not as … uh .. shovel-ready as we expected.”
These types of politically tone-deaf blunders are merely the insensitive actions of a self-indulgent prima donna on his way to a Jimmy Carter style one-term ejection and should surprise no one. When you hire a novice to do a master-craftsman’s job don’t be surprised when the paint peels or the wood warps.
However, President Obama, even with the debt exploding, the economy imploding and his poll numbers in free fall has a glimmer of hope for a surprise re-election commonly known as the Republican Party.
The re-treaded leadership in the House, which the new Tea Party majority-makers allowed to continue even after they handed the momentum back to the Progressives with the Lame-Duck Deal, seem determined to hand Mr. Obama a second term. How can this be? One continuing resolution after another, a budget deal trading a real 1.6 trillion dollar deficit for phantom cuts, re-affirmation of the liberty-smothering Patriot Act, the soon-to-be vote to raise the debt limit, and the political hacks that pass for conservative leaders will prove it’s business as usual for the two-headed bird of prey that is America’s party of power.
The GOP needs the energy and votes of the Tea Party to win. With a record of caving to the Progressives who will rally round the Republican flag? Then there is the coming nominee. Who will it be? Will it be someone who could fire up the rank-and-file or will it be another in the long line of “It’s My Turn” RHINOs that the Party sets up to get knocked down? Will Romney be the next McCain, the next Dole, or the next George H. W. Bush? Will a Huntsman or a Pawlenty garner enough votes of Democrats voting in Republican primaries and thus win a plurality of the votes as McCain did?
Does the party of Reagan have the courage to nominate someone like Ron Paul who has the record to prove he stands by his limited-government positions? Do the people who want their constitutionally limited government back have the sense to ignore the drone of the Corporations Once Known as the Mainstream Media and refuse to allow them to succeed in their efforts to make Sarah Palin over into anything but the winner she is? Do they have the foresight to draft Chris Christie and demand that he run? In other words do the Republicans have the political integrity to actually run a conservative or will they stick with the same old lackluster Progressive Lite that has spelled doom in the past?
President Obama is eminently beatable. His successes: healthcare and financial reform were shoved through over the determined resistance of the American public. His expansion of the wars and his support for the Arab Spring which is code for Islamist take-over has eroded our security. His religious adherence to the Cloward-Piven Plan to collapse the economy as a means to fundamentally transform America has brought us to the brink of financial disaster. And his in-your-face golf-while-Washington-burns party at the end of the age lifestyle has made him vulnerable to any candidate who will actually stand for everything the President is against.
The President may say he isn’t on the campaign trail but it would be more accurate to say he has never left the campaign trail except for weekends of golf, luxury vacations, and celebrity parties. While he was far too busy running for the presidency and miss-managing the country for two years to release a reasonable facsimile of a birth certificate he always has time for important things like the Oprah Show or jetting across the country to glad hand donors.
We all know the President is an excellent campaigner, which according to himself was one of his chief qualifications for becoming President. With his 2012 campaign headquartered in his adopted home of Chicago, the home of vote procurement procedures, and his goal to raise and spend one billion dollars there should be no doubt that his will be an energetic and effective campaign.
He may have the organization and he may have the money; however, what is the President’s strategy to overcome his record as the first President since Jimmy Carter determined to manage the decline of America instead of working to ensure its continued success? How is he to convince the great majority of Americans that his program of reckless spending, apology tours, abandoning friends and embracing enemies is deserving of another four years? The short answer is he can’t, and so he won’t.
President Obama, aided and abetted by the Progressive Media will pretend the economy is recovering or that prosperity is just around the corner. They will tell the voters we can’t change horses in the middle of the stream. The storyline will be, “You may be out of a job and waiting to be foreclosed on but it could be worse and it’s getting better.” I predict this has about as much chance of working as convincing a Steve Jobs worshipping Apple Devotee that a PC really is better. So what’s the President going to do?
I believe his only chance for a second term is to either use the media and primary cross-voters to help the Republicans nominate the next “It’s my turn” loser or to split the conservative vote. The Progressive Media will do all they can to promote a like-minded left-wing RHINO ala-McCain, but if the Tea Party wing has enough juice to nominate Ron Paul or Michelle Bachmann or enough power to draft Palin or Christie I predict there will be a pseudo conservative third party candidate even if the DNC has to finance it.
Four more years of managed decline without a re-election to restrain him and President Obama’s transformational vision of America as just another country may become more than just the content of his latest apology or the lesson taught to our children in public schools. It may become the shabby reality we will have to endure and the shameful remnant we leave to our grandchildren. We must stay united, stay focused, and work together for the restoration of America. We can’t let divisions divide us anymore. We can do this unless we don’t.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion for Southside Virginia Community College. He is the author of the History of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com View the trailer for Dr. Owens’ latest book @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ypkoS0gGn8 © 2011 Robert R. Owens dr.owens@comcast.net Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook.
