Time to START Supporting Obama November 26, 2010
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Uncategorized.Tags: Dr. Robert Owens, Evil Empire, Neo-Cons, Soros, START, trust and verify
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A broken clock is right twice a day, and even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while. It’s not surprising therefore that even as President Obama and the Soros Administration work feverishly to transform America into the USSA they would eventually stumble upon something that’s deserving of support by patriotic citizens.
The Cold War is over. Or at least it was. The fall of the Soviet Union, the greatest totalitarian horror of the twentieth Century came with a raised eyebrow instead of a bang. Unlike the clean-up after those other failed totalitarian monsters, Mussolini, Hitler and Tojo there were no trials and no crimes against humanity. Instead the masters of the gulags, the tormentors of innocents, and the destroyers of liberty received pensions and luxury dachas on the Black Sea disappearing into the woodwork along with much of the nation’s gold. Instead of hanging by his heels from a lamppost Gorbachev started a think tank and began earning astronomical speaking fees from all his friends in the West.
The Cold War was a fifty year-long nightmare. Yet today some History teachers in America characterize this multi-generational conflict as more extreme competition than a war, thus discounting the tens of thousands who died in Korea and Vietnam and the tens of millions who died in the gulags as if they were players fouled in a rough game. Having forgotten the lessons of the past, our bellicose neo-cons are now blustering and bullying the best Congress money can buy into refusing to ratify the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START).
Yes, the treaty needs to be looked at closely. Yes, we need rock solid assurances the treaty provides for our ability to maintain and modernize our deterrent force. However, we need to realize that this treaty is more than just the next round in the nuclear stand-down initiated by President Reagan. This treaty is the next logical step in linking Russia to the West.
Russia has always been conflicted. Is it a Western nation or an Eastern Empire? Is it part of the legacy of the West, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, the democratic revolutions and evolutions, or are they the true child of the Golden Horde the political descendent of the autocratic Czars? Is it an honorable member of the human community or is it a ruthless gang of authoritarian Stalin wanabes out to dominate the world?
Today Russia is engaged in massive trade with the West, primarily Europe. The capitalist cat has been let out of the bag and they would have a hard time putting that toothpaste back in the tube. Our war in Afghanistan, without the assistance of Russia in allowing us to cross their territory with supplies, would resemble more of a siege than an assault, with us behind the barricades. The long and winding road from Karachi through the Hindu Kush is a perilously thin life-line the enemy can disrupt or bock anytime it suits their fancy. Without the alternate Russian access our heroes would be on the Little Big Horn looking for General Crook and Colonel Gibbon.
I have long asked what our military establishment in Europe was accomplishing besides providing a bail-out for the socialist economies and the opportunity for them to have no meaningful military budgets interfering with their cradle-to-grave nanny states. Who are we protecting them from: their own people? If Russia permanently joins the West couldn’t we finally bring our troops home? Perhaps we could even deploy them to our borders where they could protect us from invasion?
True, Russia may not be the quintessential example of a liberty loving representative republic, but then again neither any longer are we. True, they may not be Adam Smith’s definition of a capitalist society, but then again neither any longer are we. They are however no longer the Evil Empire. They are no longer a slave state run by megalomaniacs who have dozens of captive nations enthralled to their fever dream of world domination.
If we send the new START Treaty the way of the Versailles Treaty we will undercut every Russian who supports democracy and engagement in Moscow. We will empower every Russian who beats the drums of their age-old national obsession with encirclement. Just as our indifference cut the legs out from the protestors in Iran after their last bogus elections, our failure to accept the Russian’s hand extended in friendship will ensure a Russian fist raised in defiance.
The last thing we need now is a new Cold War. The last thing we need is Russia once again fueling every tin pot regime dedicated to American decline. Imagine if instead of standing with the West in the War on Terror they were: supporting Iran instead of cancelling the delivery of previously purchased weapons systems, supplying arms to the Taliban as we supplied arms to Mujahedeen, and demanding an end to the dollars supremacy.
On the positive side, the new START Treaty, which limits each side to less than 2,000 nuclear weapons leaves more than enough to get the job done if we ever need to vaporize anyone. Though it isn’t perfect it also leaves in place the verification side of Reagan’s “Trust and Verify” wisdom. If we lose this how are we going to retain any trust? The loss of which will lead us back to the distrust, which was at the base of the fifty year long nuclear arms race. Looking at this another way, ratification of the treaty is supported by an overwhelming and bipartisan collection of present and former intelligence, military and diplomatic leaders. They all say the treaty is good for America.
The Neo-cons led us in turning our retribution/revenge raid against Al Qaeda and their Taliban hosts into a decade long experiment in nation-building. They led us into a pre-emptive war in Iraq that has turned into a nation-building mission for an eternal garrison. They are beating the war drums for a pre-emptive strike on Iran. We cannot allow them to bait the Russian Bear and reignite the Cold War. No matter what they or their fellow talking-heads call them these are all globalist distractions keeping our eyes overseas while the Progressives extinguish liberty at home.
Though I have and I will continue to oppose President Obama when he acts against the interests of the Republic, I’m not afraid to speak out when he does something that will benefit the American people. This may not be the beginning of unqualified support, but at least it’s a START.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion for Southside Virginia Community College and History for the American Public University System. http://drrobertowens.com © 2010 Robert R. Owens dr.owens@comcast.net Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook.
Thanks for Nothing November 20, 2010
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Uncategorized.Tags: 2010 election, Dr. Robert Owens, Dream Act, Insolvency, National Debt, START
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Sometimes not getting everything you want is the best thing you can get. Sometimes enough is too much already. Sometimes the next time might be the last time if this time is just like the last time. Sometimes when we try to run out the time, time runs out on us. Then again, sometimes time seems to stand still, which is exactly the time we need to realize time never stands still.
Sometimes not getting everything you want is the best thing you can get. In the run up to the game-changing election of 2010 many people hoped the Republicans would gain control of both the House and the Senate. This did not happen and that is a good thing. The staggering scope of the re-alignment in the House reveals the breadth and depth of America’s repudiation of the Progressives and their welfare nanny-state. However, if the Teanami had given conservatives complete control of the legislative branch it would have set the stage for President Obama and his accomplices in the media to run against the Tea Party Congress 24/7 for the next two years. As it stands today, the House can act as an anchor slowing down the precipitous rush into the Progressive’s socialist dream world without being a foil for the next comeback kid.
Sometimes enough is too much already. While the House is now in a perfect position to slow down the Progressives march towards Utopia it might be too late. By standing on the promises they’ve made to get another chance at legislative leadership the Republicans can stop anymore over-the-top spending. They can use their power to modify bills and bring some sanity back to our budgetary process. This will be good, but it won’t be enough. The looting of the treasury that’s gone on for the last two years combined with the projected looting already commits us to trillion dollar yearly deficits for the next 10 years. Slowing the rate of growth will do nothing to stop our mad rush into insolvency. Standing still is not good enough, we must reverse course or this Titanic is going to hit the iceberg no matter where we place the deckchairs.
Sometimes the next time might be the last time if this time is just like the last time. The Republicans are hitting the right note as they prepare to take over the House. They aren’t crowing about the victory of their Party. They’re acting chastened and aware that if they mess it up this time they may end up following the Whigs they replaced in the 1850s unto the ash heap of history. After 40 years in the wilderness, the Republicans gained power in 1994. They followed through on their contract and brought in the first balanced budget in a generation, ended welfare as we had known it and inspired a pragmatic progressive to utter those long sought after words, “The era of big government is over.”
Unfortunately, they nominated a lackluster candidate and were out maneuvered by the Clinton Machine in 1996 and then fell into an impeachment debacle wherein they had to fight the administration, the media, and their own Progressive wing. Following their impeachment fiasco the GOP legislative majority followed their Progressive leaders and wallowed in the pork until disgusted voters decided to give the Democrat Progressives a chance.
The Republicans are wise to realize they’ve not been embraced by the Silent Majority / Tea Party. They’ve been given one last chance. Do what you said you would do, fight to reverse the slide, fight to save the Republic, don’t just mark time, or this time will be your last time because sometimes when we try to run out the time, time runs out on us.
Sometimes time seems to stand still which is exactly the time we need to realize time never stands still. The lame duck session grinds on, and we still don’t know what lame laws these ducks will lay before they lose the keys to the House. In a way, with the holidays fast approaching and the blessed sound of a recess bell not too far away it feels as if time is standing still. As if the angels are holding their breath awaiting the first snowflakes as we all gather to give thanks, Congress is going home.
However, the Progressives are not standing still. In the last two years they’ve effectively abdicated their Constitutional responsibilities moving much of the decision-making and oversight from Congress to the bureaucracy. Right now the multiple thousand page bills are being unwrapped like Christmas presents by the departments and bureaus and soon new regulations with the force of law will cascade out of nondescript offices continuing the transformation of America. Those dedicated to the salvation of the Republic cannot rest upon the glow of victory. We must redouble our efforts to turn back the tide. We must limit the government before the government limits us.
Now is the time to petition our representatives, asking them to actively do nothing in the lame duck session that isn’t absolutely necessary. There was no budget passed, so a continuing resolution is required. That’s all that must be done. The tax question can be postponed until the next Congress and made retroactive. The START treaty needs a closer examination. Everything else being proposed such as the Dream Act is nothing but political payoffs for members of the Progressive coalition. The best thing this Congress can do for us after all they’ve done to us is nothing. If they’ll just do that we can all be thankful.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion for Southside Virginia Community College and History for the American Public University System. http://drrobertowens.com © 2010 Robert R. Owens dr.owens@comcast.net Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook.
A Principle for Peter in the 21st Century November 13, 2010
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Uncategorized.Tags: credit crunch, Dr. Robert Owens, foreclosure moratorium, housing bubble, hyperinflation, Obamacare, QE2
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The world is lining up to not buy our debt so we are buying it ourselves in a move we call by the innocuous acronym QE2, which is short for Quantitative Easing two. More traditional, or verbally honest, economists are calling this what it is: monetizing our debt. This is a move which has our creditors heading for the doors and our enemies smiling as poor old Uncle Sugar stands with his pockets turned inside out, a bewildered look on his face as he wonders, “Where did all flowers go?”
Quantitative Easing is a type of monetary policy central banks use to pump money into their respective economic systems. This policy is only used when the central bank has already reduced interest rates to or near to zero. In other words, they have tried to encourage lending but they’ve failed. What the central bank does next is create money with a printing press, using that money to purchase bonds from its parent government and from banks and corporations within the nation’s banking system. The second and third tier banks then increase the money supply even further through another process known as deposit multiplication wherein they receive 100 dollars but are only required to keep $20 on hand, so they loan $80. The person who borrowed the $80 deposits it in their bank, and then that bank keeps 20% and loans the rest, and so on and so on until the increased money primes the pump and the stalled economy sputters to life. At least that’s the strategy.
No strategy survives contact with the enemy. And in this case the enemy is a financial system still reeling from government produced or instigated shocks: the housing bubble, the credit crunch, the escalating costs associated with Obamacare, and now the threat of a foreclosure moratorium. The dangers of the QE2 strategy lie in two directions. One it could be too successful igniting inflation and maybe even hyperinflation or two it could fail to re-ignite the economy and then the uncertainty of future tax rates, what new regulations might cost and the prospect of irretrievable assets locked up in a foreclosure freeze causing banks to hold the additional cash as a hedge against the government caused uncertainty. This would put us right back where we started: a frozen economy which opens the door for QE3, QE4, and eventually the dollar won’t be worth the paper it’s printed on.
If you rob Peter to pay Paul you can usually count on Paul’s vote in the next election cycle. This has been going on since FDR’s political genius discovered the magic formula of spend, spend, spend, tax, tax, tax, elect, elect, elect. Years of getting Paul addicted to lying in the hammock of government safety nets and swilling a brewsky as the game dulls his senses haven’t worked. Likewise, years of socialist education teaches Paul he isn’t a parasite he’s a victim with an entitlement haven’t worked. At the end of the day even Paul is starting to see that this can’t go on forever.
The free trade policies of both parties may have brought in cheap consumer goods to make Paul with his diminishing buying power think things are getting better all the time, but these same policies have also destroyed the manufacturing base that once provided Peter with enough income to carry Paul on his back and still live a good life. Today the average Paul is obese and the average Peter hasn’t had a raise in years, has watched his friends get laid-off, and wonders how he’s going to send Paul’s kids to college on burger-flipping money.
This brings us back to the world not lining up to buy our debt and to the definition of monetizing our debt. This is the government version of paying your MasterCard with your Visa. It may relieve current stress, but it portends future catastrophe. Debtors may appreciate moving their debt around, but creditors want to get paid. At a minimum they want to know their investment is secure. If we owe someone 100 dollars they want to know that the 100 dollars they receive in payment will have the same buying power as the 100 dollars they originally lent out. If the money they receive in payment is only worth half as much, they have lost half their initial investment. This is why China is reacting negatively to the Fed’s plan to pump more money into an economic system strangled by red tape and bleeding red ink.
It’s just not that hard to recognize a ponzi scheme. The smart bet is to walk away as soon as you see the shill starting to move the shells around on the table and this is just what the rest of the world is beginning to do. But poor old Uncle Sugar still thinks he has magic in his hands and more than a smile to hide his motives. What happens if you have a bond sale and nobody comes? I guess you buy the bonds yourself.
Will the end of American preeminence come not with a Bang: not with a whimper but instead with a “cha-ching!” If America, once the engine of the world’s economy and the seedbed of innovation crashes due to unsustainable debt will this validate the 20th Century concept of the Peter Principle? This principle states that within a bureaucracy people tend to get promoted due to their competence until they reach a level of incompetence remaining there until over time incompetence fills every level. Or is it time for a Peter Principle for the 21st Century?
Now is the time for Peter to rise up and say enough is too much already! In the coming Tea Party Congress the father and son Paul Team plan to offer twin bills in the House and the Senate to dissolve the Federal Reserve and reassert congressional control of America’s economic destiny. The howls will be loud, the fight will be hard, but either those who want to see a second American Century will usher in a return to limited government and free enterprise or the national motto may soon be, “Help I’ve fallen and I can’t get up.” To avoid this I urge every Peter who’s tired of being taxed to support the Pauls, contact you congressional representatives asking them to support the Paul Team as they fulfill their promises and strike a blow for freedom. If all the Peters follow these Pauls maybe we can put Humpty Dumpty back together again.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion for Southside Virginia Community College and History for the American Public University System. http://drrobertowens.com © 2010 Robert R. Owens dr.owens@comcast.net Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook.
My Name’s America and I’m a Debt-a-holic November 6, 2010
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Uncategorized.Tags: Dr. Robert Owens, entitlements, monetizing the debt, National Debt, tax cuts
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Anyone who’s walked down the twelve-step path or knows someone who has, which is almost everyone in America, has heard the saying, “Until you admit you have a problem there’s no hope for a cure.”
We, as America have a problem: we’re addicted to debt. Now is not the time to point fingers. This isn’t the time to figure out whose fault it is or when was the fatal binge that sent us over the line from recreational user to addict. Now is the time to man-up, to admit we have a problem, and take the first steps toward recovery. And I’m not talking about some over-priced, jazzed-up, Betty Ford type recovery “Program.” I mean real recovery. This won’t happen overnight. It won’t happen without fears and tears and soul-searching honesty as we look in the mirror and admit to ourselves, “We aren’t controlling the debt. The debt is controlling us.”
Like many survivors of the Summer of Love, and the other social scams of the 1960s, when so many of we Boomers danced in lock-step like lemmings at mass festivals loudly proclaiming our induhvidualism while wearing identical tie-dyed shirts and patched-up jean uniforms, I found myself one day admitting I was addicted to something. No longer could I pretend I was taking the formerly magical something for fun. I was ingesting something that was bad for my body, because if I didn’t I’d get sick. My body, my mind, my soul had become addicted, and if I didn’t keep flying I was going to crash. I had that realization. Step-by-step I learned to walk on my own again. Maybe you’ve never had that experience personally. Hold on to your treasured memories of missing that degrading rite of passage, because we as a nation are about to hit the wall.
If we don’t sober up and take the cure ourselves one day soon our friendly local debt dealers are all going to get together and pull an intervention on us, and that will not be pretty. The austerity you place upon yourself is easier to bear than the austerity placed on you by someone else. If we don’t seize these last few moments of independence to stand up and say, “My name’s America and I’m a debt-a-holic” before we can print enough funny money to pay off our massive debts the countries holding that debt will cut us off and we’ll have to go through withdrawals cold-turkey. Or worse yet, we may be so strung out on living beyond our means that we’ll agree to anything the debt dealers demand if only they’ll extend our credit for a few more days. The borrower is slave to the lender and he who pays the piper calls the tune.
It’s easy to pick out all the pet projects of the opposition and say those are what caused us to go over the line. If we’re truthful we will see that it wasn’t just entitlements it was providing garrison troops to maintain the peace around the world. It wasn’t just tax cuts it was also spending. Truthfulness is a required ingredient for this cure. It won’t work if we just stop drinking, because dry drunks just find something else to fill the hole in their souls. It won’t be good enough to kick the heroin of debt just to become strung out on the methadone of printing money. We can’t just click our heels three times and say “I wish I was home” as Bernanke pumps out billions of increasingly worthless paper dollars. We can’t start using our Discover Card after the shop keeper cuts up our MasterCard and our Visa.
Some fear the cure will be worse than the disease. Some are afraid to admit there’s a problem fearing there will be a stigma. We’re past time to worry what the other countries down the block are going to say. We cannot hesitate because we’re ashamed all the other countries will point at us on the UN playground and say behind phony smiles, “America couldn’t handle their budget and now they have to live within their means.”
We can’t let divisions divide us. We must remember we are the UNITED States. We have to realize we cannot remain anonymous buying our debilitating debt on the corner from dealers who’re laughing at us behind our backs. We cannot continue spending like drunken sailors at the first port-of-call in six months and expect that there will be anything left for the kids. We’re sacrificing our children at the altar of our own desires. It’s time to admit that being generous with other people’s money isn’t generosity, its theft. It’s also time to realize that if everyone demands what they want no one will get what they need.
Yes, this will mean hard choices. Yes, this will mean that we all must roll-up our sleeves, tighten our belts, and go to work for the long haul. But we’re America. We can do this. Instead of expecting our representatives to bring home the bacon let’s ask them to balance the budget no matter how that may gore our sacred cow. Perhaps it’s time we remember to ask not what our country can do for us, but ask instead what we can do for our country.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion for Southside Virginia Community College and History for the American Public University System. http://drrobertowens.com © 2010 Robert R. Owens dr.owens@comcast.net Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook.
This isn’t a Recession October 30, 2010
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Uncategorized.Tags: 99ers, Dr. Robert Owens, food stamps, SEIU, State Capitalism, Tea Party Movement, tea-nami
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Perhaps the following examples are emblematic of our present precarious situation. The Progressive Congressional leadership apparently believes Steven Colbert is not only what they perceive as a conservative commentator they also believe his outrageous satirical views are worthy of a Congressional hearing. Not to be outdone by the pedantic puffery of his lockstep legislative sidekicks, our President, like millions of his devotees, apparently perceives John Stewart as a serious news broadcaster. Together these two politically motivated comedians are what the left believes constitutes an effective counter-weight to Glenn Beck and his chalkboards.
After the dust settles, after the confetti is swept up and all the balloons have popped what will the transformed American political landscape look like? Who will be leading and where? Will the recently awakened millions who’ve campaigned to get their country back have anything to show for all their efforts? Or, will the entrenched GOP establishment reach across the aisle proving all they were really interested in was co-opting the Tea Party Movement to regain their power so they could continue their side of the slide into the shabby future of a Progressive Social Democracy?
Hopefully the Loyal Opposition will realize this election was not a place holder. This was not merely a warm-up for the opportunity to send Mr. Obama back to Chicago. This tea-nami will send people to Congress who need to know this is their chance to work for the reversal of the Progressive agenda. If instead they misinterpret it as a two-year lease with an option they will soon hear the cry, “We can see 2012 from here!”
Then again this whole election cycle may be President Obama’s version of rope-a-dope. His erratic pronouncements and lack of any message except variations of his car-in-the-ditch illustration make it seem as if he wants the Republicans to win control of the House and pick off some old mass-backs in the Senate. That way like the new boss who cleans out the old team, he’ll be free of Nancy and Harry and for the next two years he can bounce against the ropes, play the Comeback Kid, and let the Senate absorb the force of the punches. Then in 2012 he can blame the Republicans for the mess he has created while saying the answer to the failure of Plan A is Plan A again.
Niccolo Machiavelli once said, “No enterprise is more likely to succeed than one concealed from the enemy until it is ripe for execution.” Now look at the situation the 112th Congress is going to face. Without total veto-proof control of both houses the ship of state will continue to speed towards the glacier of unsustainability while the wide-eyed reformers rearrange the deck chairs. Or as Sun Tzu said, “He who is prudent and lies in wait for an enemy who is not, will be victorious.”
The unemployment rate in September 2010 stood at an abysmal 9.6% and that only includes people receiving unemployment benefits. If everyone is counted, those whose benefits have run out and the underemployed who work part time but want to work full time the real unemployment rate is closer to 16.7% and some analysts peg it as high as 22%. Then there are the 99ers, those who have exhausted their 99 weeks of unemployment benefits. With the help of the AFL-CIO and the SEIU they are unionizing online hoping to use the power of collective action to legislate longer benefits.
One in eight Americans, are now enrolled for food stamps. This is the highest share of the U.S. population ever receiving food stamps, which is another first for the Obama Administration’s economic recovery program. The stigma caused by using the old funny colored monopoly money has been replaced with an anonymous looking debit card linked to someone else’s account. Looking forward, the research of professional anti-hunger lobbying groups shows that one in three eligible people are not receiving the benefits they deserve. If this is correct, soon half of America may have the opportunity to subsidize the other half. This will be a major blow to the pro-hunger lobby.
The Census Bureau reports over14% of the population were below the poverty line in 2009, compared with 13.2% in the previous year and 11.3% in 2000. The number has increased three years in a row with no decline in sight as the trillions spent in the President’s recovery plan just keep on giving.
The national debt has increased by 5 trillion since Nancy Pelosi became the Speaker of the House and promised no new deficit spending. Since President Obama’s inauguration the debt has increased by 3 trillion. And according to the administration projections the National Debt will increase by approximately $6.5 trillion during President Obama’s first term which is greater than the unacceptable increases of Bushes two terms.
Apologizing for our past, pillaging our present, mortgaging our future, kowtowing to China, imitating Europe our first post-exceptionalism President rejects our greatness as illegitimate and seeks to manage America’s decline. This isn’t a recession this is the new normal. The Progressive Evolutionaries are systematically destroying our economy in order to produce the Lumpenproletariat their cherished theory of life, the universe, and everything predicted Capitalism would produce. Now that the name of Communism has changed to State Capitalism maybe it will.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion for Southside Virginia Community College and History for the American Public University System. http://drrobertowens.com © 2010 Robert R. Owens dr.owens@comcast.net Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook.
Wanted a Kamikaze Congress for a Banzai Counterattack October 23, 2010
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Uncategorized.Tags: Crony Capitalist, Dr. Robert Owens, Election 2010, Mainstream Media, Progressives
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During World War II when the no-longer sleeping giant was pounding on Japan’s door their do-or-die military began Kamikaze attacks against our ever growing fleets in the Pacific. The Kamikaze pilots flew planes filled with bombs into American ships as the first and only honorable expression of the term suicide bomber. During America’s island-hopping advance through the Japanese Empire the combination of courageous marines and naval supremacy led to defeat for the fanatically loyal Japanese. In many cases instead of surrender the last of the defenders launched a Banzai Counterattack. This was the earthbound equivalent of the airborne Kamikaze. A final charge into the face of overwhelming odds meant to either change the game in one decisive blow or to at least die honorably for a sacred cause.
Unless the Progressives are able to pull an election out of their hat the coming midterms have the feeling of an approaching hurricane. The tide, as measured by polls, is going so far out it looks like a tsunami of indignation is about to send a tidal surge of newly elected self-proclaimed Conservatives with a mandate to reverse the Progressive trajectory. A trajectory which has America aimed like a laser at the dust-bin of History. These newly elected heroes, many of whom have come from nowhere to defeat long-serving Progressive icons, will have been hired by the voters to not only drain the swamp of Federal corruption but to turn the swamp back into the seed bed of liberty and opportunity.
These New Hires must not morph into the in-crowd clique in Washington as so many have in the past. And if the entrenched leaders of the loyal opposition are determined to compromise with the Progressives for some favorable coverage and a photo-op in the rose garden, the New Hires must vote them out and elect new leaders who will fight the good fight. The New Hires must remain true to the people who sent them or the millions of newly aroused voters and grass-roots activists will throw them out in 2012. The Momma Grizzlies, the Grammas, the Grandpas, and all the once-silent majority who’ve sacrificed their repose to stand-up for limited government will turn from ardent supporter to dedicated advisory in the blink of an eye if they believe the new boss starts to look like the old boss.
The New Hires must withstand the ridicule of the Corporations Once Known as the Mainstream Media. The propaganda arm of the Progressive Movement will relentlessly mock and denigrate any who try to dismantle the welfare state and return America to limited government. The New Hires must be willing to commit political suicide by not tweaking but by repealing the entitlements which have turned America from the cradle of opportunity and the arsenal of democracy into a half-way house on the road to the poor-house.
Billionaires who amassed their fortunes through crony deals and manipulation, dedicate themselves to the destruction of capitalism and liberty. They use their power and their front-groups to destroy the lives and the careers of anyone brave enough to step into the swamp and confront the Progressive beast. The recent campaigns have shown no tactic, no smear, no fraud is beneath the opponents of liberty. Instead of victory celebrations on November 3rd the New Hires should rededicate themselves to doing whatever it takes to re-establish limited government.
The hour is late and the night is dark. Our Progressive President aided and abetted by the democrat-controlled Congress of Pelosi and Reid have delivered the wealth of the nation and the power to rule into the hands of a professional bureaucracy willing to legislate through regulations, to rule through politically correct guidelines, and the desire to control our every move. This may be the charge of the Light Brigade into the valley of doom for it’s not enough to return to the spending of the Progressive Bush (either of them) or the Progressive Clinton. No, we need to face the austerity our credit financed binge has purchased. We need to dismantle the entitlement superstructure constructed upon the re-interpreted foundation of the Constitution.
We boomers need to admit we’ve been swindled. There’s no lock-box and there never was. All the money we’ve invested in Social Security over the years wasn’t invested. It was flushed down a rat-hole. There’s nothing there. We have to stop demanding what we feel we have coming and join our children, roll-up our sleeves, and together rebuild the greatest Republic ever to grace the history of man. All of us, every American, needs to admit the binge is over and the time for heavy lifting is here. To pass these changes, over the President’s veto, may swiftly end new political careers. New Heroes will be needed to replace the first line of battle as the banzai counterattack of limited government assaults the ramparts of the Progressive- bureaucratic-media-crony capitalist coalition.
If the portents of a coming pro-limited government victory at the polls prove true we must gird ourselves for the long legislative war against an implacable foe. Be prepared for the Progressives to react like a cornered jackal forced to drop its prey. The battle will be bitter, and don’t count your votes until the dust settles. In any close races ACORN-by-any-other-name will find bags of votes someone forgot to count, the ballots for our heroes defending the Empire overseas can’t seem to make it there on time while those to prisoners are hand- delivered. Thugs who intimidate in front of polling places are given a pass while government-funded institutions urge people to vote early and help the Democratic Party.
Total victory may not be possible until there is a change of administration, but it must be attempted. Those who believe in limited government and personal liberty must make a stand so that those who come after will hear their cry, “These principles we believe in and for these principles we are willing to sacrifice our lives, our fortunes, and our political careers!” Keep the faith. Keep the peace. We shall overcome. Who knows Republicans may even win in Chicago.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion for Southside Virginia Community College and History for the American Public University System. http://drrobertowens.com © 2010 Robert R. Owens dr.owens@comcast.net Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook.
I’ll See Your Hiroshima and Raise You a Nagasaki October 17, 2010
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Uncategorized.Tags: alphabet soup of Federal agencies, City on a Hill, Dr. Robert Owens, fundamentally transform America, illegal drilling moratorium, John Boehner
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I do not lightly use the names of the only cities in history obliterated by the use of Atomic weapons. The nature of the cause in which they forever stand as sentinels of determination precludes their use for any profane purpose. I wouldn’t use such loaded terms unless the issue at hand wasn’t equally as momentous within the flow of American History.
Hearing the voice of the people on November 3rd, President Obama ought to pivot to the Center after the coming Tea Party driven Republican resurgence. The Chat-o-crats of talk radio and the 24 hour cable news cycle debate endlessly whether he will imitate Bill Clinton who suddenly switched from his drive to socialize America into a born-again reformer bellowing “The Era of Big Government is over” to ensure that he was still relevant. However, there’s a significant difference between the man from Hope and the purveyor of hope and change. Bill Clinton is a pragmatist willing to do whatever it takes to stay in front of any crowd so he can call it a parade and look like the Grand Marshal. President Obama is an ideologue with an iron-clad agenda and, as his most admirable trait, an iron determination to stand by his convictions. Instead of pivoting Mr. Obama will unveil the Imperial Presidency hidden in those thousand-page bills no one reads.
Thousand-page bills don’t write themselves overnight. Since the people who said they wrote them don’t know what’s in them where did they come from? These bills have been waiting in the wings for such a time as this. The Progressives realized that even after their infiltration and hijack of the liberal wing of American politics, even after generations of addicting Americans to one entitlement at a time their naked grab for power during the sprint to the finish line would turn the most died-in-the-wool fellow-traveler back to American values. And they had to fear that their final push to fundamentally transform America into a social democracy might wake-up those dozing on the couch in front of the game. Realizing all along the homeowner might wake up and catch them with their hand in the cookie jar they built automatic-pilot bureaucratic nomenclature into their signature pieces of legislation.
By voting through omnibus bills without reading them the Best Congress Money Can Buy has ceded their power to the vast Federal commissariat. Since the November Revolution of 2008 this gaggle of accomplices and dupes has allowed the Commander-in-Chief to inflate the Federal red-tape machine by more than 15%. Congress rubber-stamped themselves into irrelevance. Power has been transferred to the alphabet soup of Federal agencies and bureaucrats know how to fill in the blanks.
As a case in point: The Obama administration ends their illegal Moratorium on all offshore drilling. Does this mean the tens of thousands of jobs already lost will come back as new operations ramp up to locate and exploit American energy resources? Not so much. At the same time the administration announced the end of the moratorium they also announced that new regulations are coming. This threat of new, unknown regulations discourages anyone from investing money in new drilling. Even the crony capitalists with their government guarantees and bailout cushions aren’t fool enough to invest money in a rigged game when the rigging hasn’t been decided on yet. None of this took Congressional approval or even notification. After the election look for rule by decree by any other name as the people elected to drain the new swamp learn their predecessors gave away the store.
This is what brings us full circle to the Hiroshima and Nagasaki reference. If we who believe in limited government run the board and send a significant majority to put steel in the back of John Boehner as the new Speaker of the House we must also elect a veto- proof majority in the Senate. If both of these are not accomplished the Progressives, who are masters of the legislative two-step, will thwart every attempt to roll back the coup d’état they’ve legislated for themselves and America will swirl down the drain into the historical backwaters of failed experiments. Unless the new pro-limited government majority is large enough to repeal the massive centralization of the last four progressive administrations over President Obama’s veto, they will become cast in the cement of precedent and instant tradition. A willing media and a complicit judiciary will anoint the Progressive agenda as the new normal.
Victory must be total or it will not be victory. The surrender that was signed in August of 1945 would not have been signed for months or years later unless the twin horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki hadn’t convinced even the Japanese Army who was still winning their war in China that all was lost. Likewise, we who desire a return to limited government must take total control of Congress. If the margin is only a vote or two in the Senate the Progressives, who campaign as Patrick Henry and rule as Benedict Arnold, will cross the aisle and the time for an electoral reversal of the Progressive Evolution will pass. America will still be here. The next day when we wake up the world will still be spinning and the birds will still be singing, but the America we have known will be History. Victory must be total or it will not be victory!
Now is the time for everyone who believes in limited government to come to the aid of their nation. In the past few years many who previously ignored politics have awakened to find their nation has been hijacked and they’re about to land in an America more like Cuba than a City-on-a-Hill. Those now awake must wake-up their families, their friends and their neighbors. A tsunami, an avalanche, an earthquake of voters must swamp the polls on November 2nd to overcome the reality that Chicago votes early and votes often.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion for Southside Virginia Community College and History for the American Public University System. http://drrobertowens.com © 2010 Robert R. Owens dr.owens@comcast.net
The Unconventional Convention October 10, 2010
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Uncategorized.Tags: Chris Christie, Dr. Robert Owens, George Allen, Ken Cuccinelli, Lou Dobbs, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul, Steve King, Virginia Tea Party Patriots Convention
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I’ve just returned from the largest Tea Party Convention ever held, the Virginia Tea Party Patriots Convention. As a person who has attended more political conventions than I can remember I can testify this was an unconventional convention.
The motto of the Convention was “The Constitution Still Matters.” I found this sad. Sad that those in the America of 2010, the America controlled by the Obama-Pelosi-Reid triumvirate people feel the need to proclaim this as if it’s a radical or shocking statement, “The Constitution Still Matters.” I feel it’s especially sad that while in the hearts and minds of these thousands of fired-up America loving patriots this may be true, but at the same time the actions and even the words of our elitist leaders make it obvious that to them the Constitution doesn’t matter at all.
But what was so unconventional about this convention?
It was pointedly non-partisan and organized by regular people: citizens who’ve stepped away from their lives as homemakers, small engine repair mechanics, and entrepreneurs to organize and lead a grass-roots movement that’s just weeks away from fundamentally transforming Washington D. C. These patriot community organizers are about to show many of the professionals the door as they overwhelm the midterm polls in a tsunami of indignation.
Senator George Allen recommended the States quit accepting Federal subsidies as a way to avoid the strings attached. He also advocated for a Constitutional Amendment stating that when 3/4 of the States determine any Federal law, policy or regulation unconstitutional it would become null and void. He pointed out the abdication by Congress of the legislative power granted them under the Constitution that empowers unelected bureaucrats with the power to control the economic and personal lives of America. He called for people to demand that our representatives represent them and take back their delegated authority. Senator Allen added it’s time the American people get to decide how they want to be taxed. Whether by the IRS using a maze of laws even the people who write them can’t understand or by a flat tax that treats everyone the same. His final points of ending lifetime appointments for Federal Judges and with-holding Congressional pay if they fail to pass a budget got everyone out of their seats applauding their approval.
Senator Rick Santorum told the crowd they should feel blessed to live in a time when America needs them. There have been generations of American who could live their lives in blissful silence knowing liberty and opportunity would be there for their children and their grandchildren. This is not such a time. This is a generation called out of slumber to sacrifice for the nation. Sacrifice their repose for the rebirth of freedom. The Greatest Generation became the Greatest Generation because they were willing to stand up when it came time to sacrifice, and now it is the turn of this present generation to do what has to be done. Senator Santorum cautioned the crowd that they cannot expect the return of limited government to be accomplished in one election. When 2010 turns over Congress he reminded everyone that until there’s a change in the White House nothing will get done. America can’t change the change until the administration changes. He predicted that by the fall of 2011 President Obama will be threatening to shut down the Federal Government unless the new Republican Congress bows to his will. That’s when everyone who supported the Tea Party insurgents needs to stand shoulder to shoulder and not blink as the class of 94 did on their way to becoming the New Elite. He urged everyone to stay active, to remain vigilant holding the feet of the people soon to replace so many to the fire. Make sure they do what they said they would do, or be ready to replace them in 2012.
Representative Steve King of Iowa drew shouts and cheers when he said we were facing a Constitutional Demolition Crew in Washington and that we needed to demand that every act of Congress have a preamble explaining which enumerated power in the Constitution specifically authorized the bill.
Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli of Virginia delivered a message highlighting the assault being waged on Federalism. He urged all there to educate themselves in American History. To study the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, because we don’t want to eliminate the opposition we want to convert them. He brought out the non-partisan nature of this movement when he stated there would be no Tea Party if the Republicans had remembered they were supposed to be the party of limited government.
Congressman Ron Paul brought his message of limited government and sound money eliciting a succession of standing Os. His call for an end to the IRS was greeted with unabashed enthusiasm and approval.
Lou Dobbs said the leadership we’re now enduring isn’t worthy of the American people. He asked, will the people work for the government or will the government work for the people. He declared he’s seen a rising tide of Americans who’re telling Washington the arrogant elitism we’ve endured will no longer be tolerated. He said all these people working together can reclaim respect for this country, its people, and its institutions. When he pointed out that he’d been as vocal a critic of Bush as he is of Obama the crowd roared their appreciation for a non-partisan love of America. Dobbs urged everyone to count themselves as Patriots who’ll work to return America to prosperity as citizens who refuse to abide a President who ignores the power of opportunity as the engine of success.
Yes, this was an unconventional convention. It was wonderfully organized and encouraging. Yes, Virginia there will be another morning in America once the Progressive led mourning for America is over. Let us engage in the public arena giving no ground to the ideologues of the right or the left, vigilant of our natural rights, and determined that we will preserve them for our posterity.
By the way Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey won the Straw poll for President, Sarah Palin came in second and Ron Paul came in third.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion for Southside Virginia Community College and History for the American Public University System. http://drrobertowens.com © 2010 Robert R. Owens dr.owens@comcast.net
What Did You Do to Save the Country? October 3, 2010
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Uncategorized.Tags: 2010 elections, Dr. Robert Owens, Obmanation, Tea Party
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One day our grandchildren may ask us this question. Will we have an answer that will make us and them proud or will we have to sit silent knowing we stood silent when it was time to speak or remained passive when it was time for action? Now is the time for all believers in limited government to stand up and be counted. Now is the time for all who believe, “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” to remember “That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
The coming mid-term elections may well be the most important in our lifetime. America faces a crisis as profound as the Revolution and as divisive as the Civil War. This has been brought on by the Progressives who seek to fundamentally transform America through evolutionary means. Incrementally, one entitlement program, one regulation, and one tax rate increase at a time, these Evolutionaries have used class warfare, activist judges, a politically-correct education system, and a complicit media to create a dependent constituency. They’ve constructed a matrix of sports addiction, celebrity worship, and recreational prescription medicine that makes the bread and circuses of Rome appear as crude as they were effective. Welcome to the Brave New World.
In 2008 the Progressives achieved what the media called a “Veto Proof” majority in both houses. This was typical of the Progressive-controlled media’s spin. With a fellow Progressive holding court in the White House there was no chance the long cherished dreams of national health care, massive interference in the economy, and expansion of the bureaucracy would be vetoed. The description of the majorities should have been filibuster-proof meaning there was no way for the minority party to thwart the will of the majority. Even when the Democrats lost their 60th seat in the Senate with the addition of the Progressive Republicans, they still had a filibuster-proof majority. The only reason they have not achieved more of their agenda such as amnesty for illegal immigrants is that members of their own party have balked at a complete surrender of our heritage.
Those who wish to stop the mad rush into the arms of an all embracing Federal Government must register! They must vote! They must do all they can to influence anyone and everyone to elect a true veto proof majority with the power and the will to reverse the slide into insolvency, which will trigger either a default upon our overwhelming debt or a collapse of our economy. Either of which opens the door for the current administration to impose their statist solutions irrevocably altering the nature of the United States. The name will remain the same but let no illusions of normalcy cloud your sight; this will be a new nation, the Obamanation.
In the coming election it is imperative that those who wish to reverse course send a veto- proof majority to Washington or President Obama will block every attempt to return to the traditional American mode of limited-government. And even if this happens the newly awakened Patriots must realize their victory will energize the portion of the country desiring a European-style welfare state. They must realize just as Truman in 1948 ran against the “Do-nothing Congress” more than against Tom Dewey and Clinton in 1996 ran against the “Mean-spirited” Congress more than against Bob Dole, in 2012 Mr. Obama will run against the “Tea Party” Congress more than against any opponent the Republicans might nominate.
The Town Hall meltdowns of 2009 and the Tea Party phenomenon of 2010 have surged across America as no spontaneous movement has in many years. The energy and enthusiasm of this grassroots explosion has rocked primaries from Coast-to-Coast. The political establishment in both parties are bracing for a tsunami of popular indignation at the ballot-box. However, if the vote does not do more than just rock the House, if it does not also capture the Senate, the Democratic Majority Leader will lead well disciplined troops in blocking every move the Conservatives make, and the media will hang the ensuing deadlock squarely around the neck of the Tea Party.
To make sure that the rising Tea Party Samson successfully pulls down both the House and the Senate pillars of the Temple of Progressivism, the novice Conservative political activists need to understand voting is not enough. We need to exert every ounce of influence among friends, neighbors, and family to bring out an historic vote. We should stand ready to drive people to the polls, work the polls, do anything we can to plant the flag of Liberty once again in the capital of the Land of the Free and the home of the Brave.
Turning to the Word of God we’re counseled, “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 will forgive their sin and heal their land.” Our Founders declared, when tyranny raises it head, when a government founded to ensure the rights of citizens begins to trample upon those rights their descendants should remember, “That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to affect their safety and happiness.”
As peaceful citizens let those who love Liberty use their guaranteed rights to write, speak, assemble, and vote to preserve what we’ve been given for our children and our grandchildren. Let every politician know, whether they wish us well or ill, that “we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.” If we will do this, if now that it’s our time upon the stage we’ll take a stand beside the Founders, the Framers, and the Greatest Generation when our children or grandchildren ask us, “What did you do to save the country?” we will be able to say more than,, “I didn’t notice what was going on,” or “I couldn’t find the remote.”
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion for Southside Virginia Community College and History for the American Public University System. http://drrobertowens.com © 2010 Robert R. Owens dr.owens@comcast.net
Why Would a Capitalist Hate Capitalism September 25, 2010
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Uncategorized.Tags: Dr. Robert Owens, False Consciousness, Freud, Marx, Projection
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Marxists believe in “False Consciousness.” It’s part of their theory of class warfare. False Consciousness is the belief that through the long-term and systemic misrepresentation of reality by the dominant class, the consciousness of the subordinate class is warped in such a way they cannot perceive they’re being exploited.
Marx based his work on the economic relationships he perceived as the true foundation of society. This system teaches that everyone’s class is determined by their ownership of property. Although an atheistic philosophy, Marxism does address the non-physical side of life believing everyone’s personality is made up of their perceptions, thoughts, and emotions. These form the world-view or paradigm by which they interpret and understand the world.
According to Marx there’s an eternal struggle between the interests of the dominant and subordinate classes. To describe how the dominant class shape and control, the non-physical Marx outlined the process by which the dominant class systematically uses education and media to distort the understanding of the subordinate class through the promotion and distribution of errors and lies. If these mind-bending mechanisms didn’t operate the subordinate class, which always vastly outnumbers the dominant class, would see they’re being exploited and rise up to shatter the economic shackles binding them.
As a lifelong student of History and Political Science, of course in the higher educational system of Twentieth Century America, I was required to read multiple volumes of Marx and Freud every semester. The Declaration of Independence was relegated to the dustbin after memorizing the Preamble in a 1960s middle school classroom. The Constitution was discarded after memorizing the preamble to pass a state mandated test in 1963. All I ever heard of the Articles of Confederation was that they were a failure. But every year in College I was required to read the works of Marx and Freud. Every semester avowedly socialist professors mocked anything that smacked of American pride or patriotism.
As a late comer to higher education, I was secure in my beliefs and steadfast in my convictions long before I came in contact with the last bastion of Marxist true believers, America’s intelligentsia. I watched as all around me impressionable young minds were converted from the traditions taught through years of dedicated nurture and love by their parents. I saw the youth of America being taught to reject all that had made America great.
The contradictions and insanities the Marxist Priests in the temple of capitalism foster are clear to all but the illuminati of re-educators and the products of their efforts. Think of the advocates of free speech shouting down anyone who disagrees with them. Look at the anti-war protestors using violence to show their rejection of violence. Consider the proponents of academic freedom blocking the publication of anything not toeing the party line. Liberals granted tenure by conservatives seeking to ensure all voices were heard now routinely deny tenure to conservatives to ensure their voices are not heard.
I never appreciated the study of Freud. I always rebelled against his sexual undertones, simplistic answers and his cookie-cutter approach. Then one day, looking deeper and analyzing further I saw that if nothing else Freud did present and define the concept of projection. Projection, as defined by Freud, is a defense mechanism people automatically use when they feel threatened by or afraid of their own impulses which they then attribute to someone else. I could see this was true because I could discern that Freud was projecting his sexual fantasies and fetishes on everyone else.
I never appreciated Marx either. Perhaps it was that I grew up during the Cold War. Some of my earliest memories are confounded with the duck-and-cover strategy of surviving a direct nuclear attack: duck under your desk and cover your head, or as my first grade teacher explained the first time I took part in the annual race home during Civil Defense Week, “If you can’t run home in 15 minutes you’ll have to stay here and die with the rest of us.” Perhaps my aversion to Marx was based on my personal study of American History and political philosophy which began at age nine and has continued on a daily basis ever since. Whatever it was, I always railed at my yearly required dose of the Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital. Then, after the fall of the Soviet monstrosity and after the end of a generation of fear, I took a fresh look at Marx and I realized he was right about a few things.
I had to admit, as Marx pointed out, economics does affect all aspects of society. And reflecting on the contradictory beliefs of numerous friends and relatives I have to admit false consciousness can most assuredly warp the perceptions and shape the world view of those molded and captured by a social elite.
I have relatives and friends who hate capitalism even though they’ve spent their lives earning excellent salaries working for capitalist enterprises. I know others who’re now enjoying generous pensions. They are living a life of leisure provided for them by the investment of their capitalist employers in 401 Ks and other financial vehicles fueled by capitalist activity. I know one person who vehemently hates capitalism and capitalists, he’s an inventor and an entrepreneur, who built a business, made a fortune, and is now the independent Squire on his multi-million dollar estate.
Congratulations to my Progressive colleagues. You have created a generation of Americans who hate the capitalism which has given them the prosperity to attend your classes and the limited government which has allowed you the freedom to advocate for the end of freedom.
If you want to change the world…..Change the children. Progressives learned this generations ago, Conservatives need to remember it.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion for Southside Virginia Community College and History for the American Public University System. http://drrobertowens.com © 2010 Robert R. Owens dr.owens@comcast.net
Dr. Robert Owens Chronicles the History of the Future 
