You Say You Want a Revolution December 14, 2009
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Uncategorized.Tags: balance of powers, Cap-n-trade, Cloward/Piven Strategy, Constitution, Declaration of Independence, EPA, Immigration, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Obama, Saul Alinsky, SEIU, Taxes, Tea Party
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Our revolution changed the world. Our Declaration of Independence proclaims self-evident truths. That all men are created equal, they’re endowed by their Creator with unalienable rights, among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. These words shook a world held in the vise-grip of hereditary privilege inspiring people around the globe. Our Constitution established a representative republic with a limited government of the people, by the people and for the people.
We’ve watched as our constitutionally limited government grew until today it’s leviathan running amok like Godzilla in Tokyo smashing things and scaring boy scouts. Today the Federal government is the largest employer in America, states are the largest employers in the states and counties are among the largest employers in the counties get the picture? Government’s on a rampage and unless Mothra is going to fly in to save the day we’ll have to deal with Frankenstein-on-the-Potomac ourselves.
Such brazen power-plays as the Executive branch issuing the Legislature an ultimatum, either pass Cap-N-Trade or we’ll impose it administratively through command-and-control make the dramatic changes in our political culture shockingly apparent. Has our balance of powers melted away under the glare of executive orders, signing statements and now ultimatums? Some people say this is evolution. To others it’s devolution. Our hard-won and dearly-paid-for Republic is devolving into a command-and-control all-encompassing central-state. With political dynasties bequeathing congressional seats like hereditary fiefdoms it’s becoming hard to explain why we left the British Empire. Today we not only have taxation without representation as congressional party-line voters ignore their constituents we also have representation without taxation as the perpetually re-elected Lords and Ladies represent the illegal immigrants, the professional welfare hammock-riders and now Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his band of war-criminals.
These big government social planners may believe they’ve achieved their community organizing goals fulfilling Historian Will Durant paraphrase of Lincoln’s famous quote, “It may be true that you can’t fool all the people all the time, but you can fool enough of them to rule a large country.” They may believe their revolutionary administration will fundamentally change America however, if they’d step 20 miles outside the Beltway obviously there’s a counter-revolution brewing. The Tea Party is overtaking the Republican Party in popularity. It has already supplanted them at the grassroots of the conservative movement. By 2010 an avalanche of voters will throng the polling places demanding their country back.
Following the tactics of Saul Alinsky brought the Obama-Acorn-SEIU coalition control of the Democratic Party and the country but following the Cloward/Piven Strategy for overwhelming the system to impose an alternative system is going to lead to a complete repudiation of this radical departure from traditional American politics and economics. We aren’t Venezuela. Even after decades of legislative efforts to progressively create a permanent underclass of government dependants who’ll follow the leader to the next looting of productive members of society the majority in this country still want freedom and opportunity not cradle-to-grave mediocrity.
We can and should stage a counter-revolution against this growing tyranny. A peaceful, lawful revolution at the ballot box and if you’re talking about destruction, you can count me out. The last thing we need in this crowded theater full of combustible emotions is either a match or someone shouting fire. Any incident right now would trigger a massive response. Just as the executive is using the EPA to impose the onerous restrictions of a Cap-N-Trade style economy stunting strangulation regulation he’s also using ICE to change the enforcement of immigration policy without any messy debate. Ruling by decree is hardly compatible with constitutionally-limited government. We’re told the administration has solutions. A solution to heal the greatest health care system in the world, a solution to save or create jobs while we lose jobs every month, a draconian solution for the man-made global warming hoax, a solution for endless wars for elusive peace. You say you have a solution. We’d all love to see the plan.
They say they want a contribution. Back in the good old change we could believe in days the dialogue of class warfare repeated that no one making under 250,000, or was it 150,000, or was it …anyway only the evil rich would have to pay a dime of new taxes. Watch out! You might find out you’re rich come next April 15th. Everyone has known since at least that tax-cutting wild man JFK that cutting taxes increases revenue to the government and raising them lowers revenue. Since the government knows raising taxes lowers revenue and since they’re raising taxes to increase revenue what are they trying to do? Complicated tax codes are used as a way to incentivize and de-incentivize behavior. If you want more widgets give tax breaks for buying widgets. If you want less widgets tax widgets. Using that for a guide notice what’s being pushed and what’s being pulled? Taxes on producers and tax breaks for non-producers imagine tax cuts for people who don’t pay taxes and tax increases for those who do. Taking the money of producers to bailout the greedy, reward the cronies and support the lazy. It’s time to tell the statists at the ballot box if they want money for things we hate they’re going to have to wait.
Executive orders and signing statements have been used in Republican and Democrat administrations for years to change the constitution without changing the constitution. Now sweeping new powers by regulators threatens to make Congress irrelevant as an all powerful executive branch grows like a malignant tumor. Don’t lose heart, don’t despair, don’t you know it’s going to be all right? Keep the faith, keep the peace, organize and win the day.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion for Southside Virginia Community College and History for the American Public University System. http://drrobertowens.com © 2009 Robert R. Owens dr.owens@comcast.net
Please Mr. Custer, We Don’t Want to Go! November 23, 2009
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Uncategorized.Tags: 9-11, Afghanistan, Democrats, Gorbachev, Iraq, Margret Thatcher, Michael Savage, Neocons, Nixon, Obama, Osama, Pakistan, Preemptive War, Taliban, War of Necessity
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When the neo-cons, a group of liberal democrats realized Margret Thatcher was right in saying, “The trouble with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money” they decided liberalism is as Michael Savage contends a mental disorder. In the 1970s and 80s they abandoned the Good Ship Democrat proclaiming themselves Born-Again Republicans. Generally they still carry the baggage of their former psychosis when it comes to social issues but when it comes to foreign affairs and military matters they sound like Errol Flynn playing George Custer in They Died With Their Boots On, “Don’t wait for orders from headquarters. Mount up everybody and ride to the sound of the guns.”
These neo-cons not only flew high into the circles of on-air talking-heads they swirled through the Bush White House leading us into Iraq. Now they’re beating the drums for massive reinforcements in Afghanistan.
The War in Iraq was a preemptive war, meaning we hit them back first. Preemptive war has a long history, the Romans and the Germans used it but this was the first time America climbed on the get-in-the-first-whack bandwagon. The mission of rolling the big rock up that steep hill has not yet been fully accomplished. Due to the tireless and valiant sacrifices of our heroic military the Iraqi theater is winding down into a perpetual garrison to make sure our now friendly ally remains friendly joining the list of American military garrisons in over 63 countries.
The War in Afghanistan is a completely different situation. The Taliban managed to subdue most of the country once the Soviet armies retreated in defeat. These purveyors of religious purity and peace killed tortured and maimed anyone with the chutzpa to disregard any of their religiously inspired rules such as little girls who tried to learn how to read or women who dared to leave the house without a male escort or without wearing a tent. Unable to curb their enthusiasm they didn’t forget to kill torture or maim any man who didn’t grow a long enough beard, boys who didn’t memorize their rule book fast enough and of course any member of the Gay-Lesbian-Bisexual-Transgendered society who happened to be trapped in their society. Under these turbaned and bearded fascists Saturday night soccer games were transformed into ritual be-headings and mutilations. Then for fun they would destroy historic works of art and crush people under walls as they waited for the Sunday stoning.
Stoically we considered all of these barbarous atrocities their own affair and never made a move to clean up this cesspool of 13th century evil until after the 9-11 war crimes. Then we politely asked them to kick the culprits out and we would let them go back to their celebration of depravity but they wouldn’t listen. They stood by their man and in retaliation we sent in the Special Ops, bribed anyone who would take a dollar in the hand in place of a bullet in the head and in short order drove Omar, Osama and their disciples of peace into Pakistan to fester and plot an encore performance. A confusing post-invasion coalition eventually morphed into the corrupt but pro-American Karzai regime.
Then our friends the neo-cons expressed their belief that the mistake we’d made after the proto-Taliban Mujahedeen we supported defeated the Soviets was that we didn’t stay and do some nation-building. So this time we stayed to do some nation-building. Today the regrouped Taliban are using the surge strategy to overwhelm our scattered troops. We’re trying to build a nation where none exists. Afghanistan is a fiction of western minds. We created it as single entity instead of a region. We drew it on a map and piously repeat that it exists like a mantra or a fever dream. To the medieval tribal people who actually inhabit the region their loyalty is to their family, their clan and their tribe.
It is apparent to everyone except seemingly the people American presidents ask for advice that no matter how much we want a nation to be built we don’t have the raw material as in identifiable citizens of a nation, the treasure or the patience to invest another decade or two to get electricity outside Kabul or democracy in Kabul. The whole world knows we are going to eventually bail-out, either declaring victory à la Nixon or admitting defeat à la Gorbachev and coming home. Why should one more American lose their life for a cause that has been stretched out way past our initial victory into our present morass?
On the campaign trail Mr. Obama claimed this war for himself. Since his inauguration he has repeated Afghanistan is a war of necessity. He’s installed his own commanders and almost immediately sent more troops. Now he hesitates to the point that everyone can see he doesn’t have the desire or the will to do what would be necessary to win. Let’s hope he has the political courage to withdraw before Afghanistan becomes the Little Big Horn with our brave troops as the Seventh Calvary. Please, Mr. Custer, we don’t want to go!
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion for Southside Virginia Community College and History for the American Public University System. Contact Dr. Owens http://robertrowens.com/, http://twitter.com/Drrobertowens, https://drrobertowens.wordpress.com/ © 2009 Robert R. Owens
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