This is the July Fourth weekend, our yearly celebration of an Independence Day that has been unique in human history.  It has always been a joyous occasion with parades, picnics, and patriotic speeches punctuated by fireworks after dark, although there are some who can’t wait, and start as soon as they can find a pack of matches.  This can be annoying to humans, but terrifying to dogs especially when the blasts of sound last so long.  This year, even more than last year during the pandemic, our celebrations have been tainted by controversy from organizations which have sprung up with hate for our country, its citizens, its flag and its history.  Most of us sit back and observe what is happening and comment to ourselves about how destructive and stupid is most everything we see on the news and then go about our lives.  This has been normal from a conservative point of view, but this time there is a difference.  We are being held hostage to some ideologies that are destructive ultimately, but seemingly innocuous as we live our lives.  If there ever was a time to wake up and check the wind direction, this is it.  Poisons have been inserted into our daily lives, and since they are initially subtle, we have been slow to recognize that the freedom we have long enjoyed is now under full-scale attack.  We need to come to the aid of our country.  Now.  There is no time to waste.

The poisonous organizations that are attacking are all rooted in Marxism from the writings and examples of Mao, Stalin, Mussolini, Hitler, Marx, Engels, Trotsky, Lenin, etc.  These have all coalesced into a movement that threatens our very existence as a nation.  What is happening now is heavily funded and deeply rooted in a new and more evil playbook that has appeared in our society as Critical Theory (CT), and Critical Race Theory (CRT).  These poisons are extremely divisive, and have infected our educational system, our media, our military, and our government itself.  They, and Politically Correctness (PC), have made free speech problematic, even impossible in some cases.  They are purposeful traps for the unsuspecting to fall into and face the ruination of their careers and sometimes their very lives.  The 1619 Project published by the New York Times is evil in its racism and divisiveness.  It seeks to rewrite our history by starting anew, and poison the minds of our youth with propaganda.  The 1776 Project is an attempt to counter the foregoing lies with facts that are not now being taught in our schools.  Obviously those who are in charge and teach are also infected.

Given the above, it is not difficult to realize that those following the Marxist playbook are right on track.  1. Take control of the education system of the young and indoctrinate them.  2. Take control of the news media.  3. Take control of law enforcement and the military.  4. Under the guise of equality, promote racism in order to cause instability and hate.  5. Destroy property with rioting and burning to show impunity and the neutering of law enforcement.  6. Turn all common sense situations and thinking around and upside down with re-writing and re-naming.  All of this has been happening.  But are we awake to the extent of the poison yet?  Even more importantly, have these evils progressed to the point of no return?  Is it possible to stop the infection? How close are we to the rot of the French (or Russian or Chinese) Revolutions where a citizen may just point a finger and have another jailed or tortured or even executed?  How close do we have to get for this to happen?  Indoctrination can cause mob rule which can erupt instantaneously and decimate sections of any society, e.g. anti-Semitism in the 40s.  Life becomes cheap.

On the other hand, if we think of all of the above evils and poisons as feces or manure being spread everywhere in our culture, we can also reasonably think that beautiful flowers and plants and common sense and love of our country and its flag and principles are going to grow even stronger than before.  This is a law of nature that has existed as long as the earth.  We see it happen in growth every Spring and through every growing season.  Why not in our lives and in our political system?  Let us put the purveyors of hate, fire and destruction on notice as of now.  We prepare for you.  We will come for you.  You will be defeated as always when you awaken the sleeping giant of righteousness.  We will continue to build rather than destroy.  We will educate rather than indoctrinate.  We will enforce our laws rather than defund.  We will turn our arts and music toward the beautiful and lofty rather than the superficial and meaningless.  We will no longer live in a parody of “The Emperor’s New Clothes.”  The elephant will no longer be standing in the middle of the room.

Missing for too long in our society has been a pervasive “Honor” and “Responsibility” for our own actions.  God has been hidden behind curtains of falsehood and mendacity.  Faith, family, friends and freedom are not based on skin color or politics, but on kindness and humility and love.  Let us awaken anew to the principles stated in our Constitution and Bill of Rights.  Let us sing daily of our America and her beauty; songs of freedom and true unity.  Let us continue to sing “God Bless America.”

Our trust as a nation in general has been wearing very thin over the past year, actually since the new administration took over.  This has coincided loosely with the Covid-19 pandemic and the out-of-control rise of the far left and liberalism in general. There have been far too many things spoon-fed to us saying that this is for your own good and as time goes on you will learn to like these changes and learn to live with them.  As these have accumulated, our trust has decreased.  We have begun slowly to question these assumptions “for our own good” and to look for alternatives to an agenda which we now realize is dysfunctional.  The question now becomes: where do we go from here, or how do we deal with this problem of control in our life-styles that used to be free?

The problem of trust begins with the dysfunctional government we now have.  In addition to the inaccurate reporting of almost all of the news media, our Executive branch is dangerously weak.  This is bad enough domestically, but it is inviting catastrophe in our foreign relations.  Words like stupid, silly, infantile, senile, etc, come to mind.  And we obviously can no longer trust an executive branch that is so out-of-touch with its citizens.  There is no longer any credibility. Likewise Congress.  Since it has been controlled by a party whose only agenda for years has been to impeach and destroy, nothing of value to we, the people, has been accomplished.  As a group they have been mean, vindictive, controlling bureaucrats.  Unseemly for a group of supposed lawmakers answering to the people who elected them.  The Supreme Court has also lost our trust by only espousing liberal ideas and wishes.  They are supposed to be above the fray and decide for the good of all, not just a small percentage of the population dedicated to its change so drastically that it could be our downfall as a nation of freedoms.  In the Justice Department including the FBI, CIA, Homeland Security, Attorney General, etc, there is a severe lack of trust.  Law enforcement in general seems to confuse the victim with the perpetrator.  Help and support is given to questionable organizations with very questionable agendas.  Mayors and governors of too many states promote lawlessness and destruction instead of keeping the peace.  None of the above invites our trust.

Our trust is further fractured by rampant censorship, indoctrination, and propaganda.  The media have lost their soul and their moral compass.  Their purpose and fairness in reporting have been lost.  They only report the party line:  the far left liberalism, socialism and even communism in events that they purposefully edit and slant.  Hopefully, parents are beginning to realize that their children of every age are being indoctrinated with acts and ideas that are not only disgusting, but harmful.  The controls now being forced upon us include: masks, vaccinations, racism, socialism, atheism, abortion, higher taxes, inflation, history fractured, with an attempt to be rewritten, and open borders, the effects yet to be determined.  Our immigration laws which have worked for decades are now being ignored.

If the above escalates, we will be able to exist, but conservatism will be driven underground.  Day to day living will become similar to socialist and communist countries like Venezuela and Cuba, Russia and China.  The black market will be ubiquitous, sine qua non.  Your only choice for a decent wine or scotch or soap or toilet paper.  And at an exorbitant price.  If we extrapolate, this is possible but not inevitable.  But the people must be heard.  We must re-educate our government.  This may seem daunting, but it is necessary if we are to retain our freedoms.  Freedom is the reason that immigrants have come to this country.  Will they now begin to turn around and leave?  Probably not.  But freedom isn’t free.  Freedom takes work and daily maintenance.  We the people must be heard in a loud and clear voice that says: Enough!   Enough of the stupid, ridiculous, dysfunctional ideas from a ridiculously small percentage of people whose “dumbass” ideas are being promoted loudly and clearly, even though they are evil and being espoused by an irresponsible media, and government, including the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches.

We the people are the solution.  We are the reason that this country with its Constitution and Bill of Rights exists.  George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln were intelligent, strong-willed leaders.  We need a similar leadership.  Our election process should be sacrosanct.  We must insist on voter identification and accuracy and transparency in the vote counting process.  Nothing less will be acceptable from this point onward.  Our government must realize that they, all of them, work for us.  We the People.  Vote sensibly, our freedoms depend on this. Let us say, every day, “God Bless America.”  And mean it…!

During the past year or so, our thinking has changed. We used to speak freely without any thoughts of reprisal. Saying to another person what we thought at the moment was accepted and normal.  Then something changed.  Now there are many things that we feel and know are wrong, but can’t or won’t speak out for fear of being fired from a job or even ostracized from a community.  What has changed is that our innate courage that has been with us since our birth has been gradually reduced to fear.  Fear is a terrible state to be in because it incapacitates the will.  It immobilizes our psyche, and we become tantamount to sheep.  It is painful to think about this because we feel neutered, beaten down with no recourse.  This situation has been developing for many years.  It hasn’t happened over night.  The questions now become: “who is causing this to happen” and “how do we reverse this evil trend.?”  We must begin by replacing fear with courage. It is only with courage that we can answer the above questions.

Propaganda, censorship, indoctrination, socialism, Marxism and communism used to be dirty words with very dark and nasty baggages attached to them.  But now, with the help of all of the media in concert, they have been charged with new meanings which are supposed to help us renew our lives together.  The new and acceptable words heard everywhere are: diversity, many genders, racism, climate change and many more.  In reality diversity actually denigrates that idea by promoting divisiveness. Racism now actually causes more racism than was ever present in our society.  It is lucrative to the perpetrators. Climate change has been cyclical since the earth was born, but now we are to have caused it.  And so on with fake science.

Missing in our society are: integrity, respect, responsibility, manners and kindness.  Are we now so desensitized that we can no longer recognize evil right on our very doorstep?  Are we so clueless that we can no longer recognize assassination attempts by those who hate a political leader or anyone who honestly speaks their mind? Ae we so blinded by a personality conflict that we can no longer see the most important fundamental issues at stake?  Are we so self-centered that we can no longer celebrate the greatness of our country and its national interests that benefit all, not just a designated few.  Are we so confused by our news and social media that we can no longer find truth in issues because it is so hidden in misinformation that it is now actually fake?  Have we so devalued education that our children will grow up indoctrinated with liberal and far left socialist propaganda? Are there no journalists left who are able to report truthfully and honestly?  Our government and our nation are much bigger than one election or even one branch of our government.  We, the people, are the body of the USA.  And we embody the towns, cities, states and our nation as a whole.

Far too much of our country has become rude and crude, foul-mouthed and disrespectful to ourselves, our neighbors, our laws, police and military.  Some are trying to rewrite our history in most obnoxious terms. And our younger generation is learning from a one-sided media, film and music industry, and corrupted education system.  We need a reversal!  We need to bring back our firm foundations that say that everyone who works, earns and retains the fruits of their labors.  We must appreciate our leaders in their accomplishments with issues and not just their personalities.  But when they fail to meet our expectations, we need to say “enough.”  This is accomplished by secure voting and voter I.Ds.  Nothing less can be acceptable.

Enough of our fear-based lives.  We must say “No” to a Marxist-based education system.  And “No” to a concerted power grab by those trying to build a one-party system of government. “No” to a media that supports these evils, and “No” to those promoting censorship of all that does not fit their own limited agenda.  We must support our police and military. They must have the means to stop violence before or when it occurs.  The answer in all of the above is courage.  It must begin and end with the eligible voter. Our constitution is sacred to our way of life.  Let us protect it by insisting that those in government abide by its principles.  One by one, let us stand up and be counted.  Freedom is not free.  It must be protected every day in every way.  Let us clean up our system of government and return to civility with the stewardship that our own United Stated of America deserves.  God Bless America…!

I am back now for some comments that I have been storing up.  Since we were in the process of moving, I could not even think creatively or critically during February and March.  And I am still adapting and recovering, so I am not sure how together I am even now.  But I have to start somewhere.

Much has happened politically in the last few months.  Most of it has been negative and difficult to assimilate.  This makes my thinking confused because of the pervasive and slanted reporting by all of the media.  I am reading a book called “Bonhoeffer” by Eric Metaxas.  It is about a young priest in Germany beginning in the 20’s and continuing through the rise of Adolph Hitler.  Diedrich Bonhoeffer, the young priest, is from a well-to-do family who is politically connected pre-Hitler.  They are very aware of what is really happening, as are many other people, and they begin to warn their friends to try to do something to prevent what is surely coming if Hitler has his way.  The signs of trouble are unmistakeable to all reasoning people with any degree of common sense.  But most citizens and clergy fail to acknowledge these signs.  The church leaders, bishops and priests see their freedoms being eroded but they continue to think that they can reason with Hitler and his thugs.  The most astounding part of this book is the realization that many of the beginning restrictions, threats, censorships and losses of freedom are beginning to happen to us today here in the United States.

Businesses and shops in large cities are being trashed, looted and burned with impunity because the failed leadership in those states inhibit law enforcement from keeping the peace. This is sad, frustrating, unheard of, and certainly illegal.  No one in a leadership capacity should be able to inhibit the protection of their citizens or their businesses and property.  This happened in the beginnings of the Nazi party.  Censorship began at the same time as did racism, and the complicity of the news and all of the media in one-sided reporting.  Education was taken over by the state with only the approved party lines transmitted to the young and impressionable.  Bullying in all of its forms was rampant as it is here today.  If one says the wrong thing to the wrong person, one can be fired or ostracized or even jailed.  These things happened in Nazi Germany and they are beginning to happen here now as a matter of routine.

It is obvious that the far left has begun to take over our society.  They are virtually controlling the three branches of our government: executive, legislative and judicial.  This means that the checks and balances that have allowed our government and our society to exist are gone.  Needless to say, this is not only dangerous but ultimately a threat to our basic freedoms.  What has been a leaning toward socialism is now a slippery slope.  Open borders with the inherent crisis which is happening should be unthinkable.  No country can exist for very long with this as a policy.  This is like eating tainted food or drinking infected water.  Our southern border states now feel the effects, but soon, as this crisis spreads, all states and cities will feel the effects like a disease or a cancer that is out of control.  Racism is periodically trotted out by the very people who should want it to disappear.  It is very profitable.  Antifa (domestic terrorists) and BLM (Marxist sponsored) are both paid for by radical billionaires who want power and total control.  Realize that total control rapidly turns into dictatorship and then into Communism. No one wins in this scenario except the billionaires who want One World, an imaginary global utopia.  Keep in mind that this has never in the history of the earth worked anywhere.  It is self-defeating.

What is missing now is the same question that was asked during the rise of Hitler and his National Socialism.  How do we stop this move toward insanity?  Do we have to go through the devastating cycle that plagued Germany until it was stopped by a world war and immense destruction?  Can these democratic socialists be reasoned with?  Neville Chamberlin tried this with Hitler and we all know how that turned out for Britain and most of Europe.  The only thing that Hitler worried about from the beginning was the people of Germany.  Were they for him or against him.  He had to make Jews a scapegoat and promises of unity and a great society to “suck in” the whole population to his way of thinking.  It worked then.  The big question for us now is will this work again with us here in the United States.  We need to convince the misguided people that voted for a socialistic administration that there is a way out. We have to be united against the evils we are now experiencing.  We need to fix the broken voting process with a mandate for voter I.D. and uninhibited oversight of the process.  No exceptions.  The citizens of these United States do have a voice and it needs to be heard loudly and clearly.  No more raising of our taxes for frivolous spending and getting deeper in debt by trillions of dollars by just printing of more money by the Federal Reserve.  We have had enough of your mendacity. ” We are mad as hell and we are not going to take it anymore.”  God Bless America…!

We have come to a very sad point in our ongoing American history. We are suffering from a “rot” within our society and our government.  We slogged and suffered through eight years of a left, liberal, socialistic thinking administration.  It left us weakened both domestically and in our foreign policy, not to mention economically.  This was the legacy of a Democrat administration and a Democrat strangle-hold of the House of Representatives.  Please take a minute and think about that term –  representatives.  This group is supposed to represent the thinking of their constituents no matter which party they belong to.  They are NOT supposed to forget about their constituents and just attach themselves to a bloc of politically motivated like-minded politicos.  They are instead representing the citizens who voted them to their present positions. Please think about the term “citizens” who are qualified to vote in the first place.  This is fundamental to our constitutionality.

Keeping the above in mind, let us remember that when a Republican became president in 2016, the Democrat party generally, and the House specifically, did everything possible to block policies that would eventually heal our national ills.  They tried impeachment based on fake info and every other means of obstruction they could find. This is government at its worst.  Many of the new policies were actually based on common sense, scientific fact and need.  Securing our Southern borders and adjusting our foreign policies and trade agreements back to our own advantage reversed the extensive outsourcing that erased jobs from our own work force.  There are many other examples of policies that have, or would have, benefitted our whole society if they had not been blocked by the bad decisions based on the corrupted thinking of the Democrat party.

All of this has culminated in an election, after four years of political nastiness from the misguided party in legislative power,  in a corrupt election process in November of 2020.  Instituted were mail-in voting which invited corruption, faulty voting machines with built-in corruption, and covert vote-counting in individual states which resulted in thousands of votes from the deceased, prisoners, illegals, underage voters, and stuffing ballot boxes with fake names and even no names.  This resulted, in many cases, in more ballots than voters, and when competent and impartial oversight is blocked, corruption rules. All of this is made possible by state governors and mayors who openly espouse the far left, socialism and even communism. These are the same governors and mayors who allowed domestic terrorism to continue into the destruction of property, businesses and even whole downtowns by hate-filled and hate-funded organizations such as Antifa and BLM.  All of this is unconscionable in our free society.   Freedom does not include anarchy and fascism. The paid activists who cause strife and destruction are unintelligent cowards and bullies. The only way to deal with these low-lifes locally, nationally or even globally is direct and decisive force to completely shut them down.

The next trial for the American people was the advent of a virus from China.  We still don’t know if it was accidentally spread or chemical terrorism, but it has affected virtually every corner of the earth.  We have all had to deal with sickness and death, masks and quarantines, the shut downs of businesses, entertainment, and the destruction of many types of small businesses.  Our president dealt with this swiftly and decisively  when it was first discovered by shutting down travel and assembling the best medical and chemical advisors available at the time.  These actions and the daily info sessions undoubtably saved many lives by preventing, or at least inhibiting, the rapid and pervasive spread of the virus.  Please note that at every step of this process the Democrat party was adversarial with opposing opinions intended to block progress.  All of their thinking was to be proved wrong or just blatant lies.  And of course the news and all of the media were, and continue to be, complicit.  We are still dealing with the effects of this virus which probably has morphed, making a universal vaccine problematic.  Even so, the first version of the vaccine was released  with much less testing and research than would be normal and advisable.  This being the case, the future opening of all places of business, including schools, is an unknown factor.

Hand in hand with the socialist Democrats is the media of all kinds. who daily spread negativity and misinformation and even lies.  But keep in mind, that, like a very tasty drink laced with an undetectable poison, any unthinking or unintelligent person will swallow the content eagerly and even ask for more and more.  The news is sugar-coated and gift wrapped to entrap and ensnare as many people as possible to adopt the evil party line they are paid to disseminate.  Both parties and many other people agree that they do not like the personality of the President, but they all forget about the issues and policies of great value that he has instituted despite the obstruction and  obstacles that have been thrown at him.  They also forget that he is a consummate businessman as was Harry Truman. Our president is not a politician. Having worked a lifetime in business, he has built and accomplished many things of value to our society.  He is refreshingly honest and is able to get done what he says he will do which is why he was elected by the American people in the first place. In being able to complete tasks and find solutions to problems, his personality is not set up to kiss asses like most politicians but to kick them. Ultra-sensitive and whiney personalities common to liberals and those with PC personalities don’t like this treatment.   When they hear the word “No,” they act like a child caught with a hand in a cookie jar, not as thinking adults.  Conversely, “common sense” citizens tend to love his straightforward honesty and ability to follow through and accomplish designated tasks.  Everyone should respect his love for America, our military, our police, fire and essential workers of all kinds, as well as his love of the working class, the people who had the good sense to elect him.

At this point we need to pray for the ascendancy of common sense in all citizens, the return of the education of our young to the truth of our history and morals and the ability to think and analyze information. America is not perfect, but we are the best there is.  Let us all return to the love and respect that our country deserves. God bless us all, and may God continue to bless America.

Our lives are like a fabric woven thread by thread through time, year by year. Sometimes the fabric feels like burlap and sometimes like the finest silk. The length is indeterminate as is the width and breadth.  But whenever it shall end, it will tell our story to the One who lives eternally, the master of the loom. The collector of all fabrics adds to and builds this tapestry, the unending warp and woof of the universe.

Let us return to living with respect for other people, places and property.  And let us add to this our own discipline and resulting responsibility for passing along these tenets to our young who need the guidance and experience of their elders.  Let us think of someone other than ourselves, with their friends and families and their living spaces. Let us replace our negativity with lasting positivity and renew our commitment to faith and hope and love.  Let us occasionally meditate.  Why are we here?  We live and we die. Is that all there is?  What’s next?  When our bodies are gone, what’s left?  Do we survive as a soul?  Will someone ask us “Did you live with respect?” Do our lives have a purpose? Did we live with each other with respect?  Is eternity real?  Did we use our time wisely or waste it away?

Is there still time to wake up or are we deaf to the signs and warnings and exhortations to shape up and come together in love for one another, and with whomever we may meet who is traveling along the same path with a crutch or in an airplane?  Do we see?  Will we finally see?  We need to learn to live together and realize that the foundation for this is respect.  Respect…!

Idealists are a lot like frogs who, when put into a pot of slowly heating water, will stay there rather than jump out before the water boils and they die.  In the present political situation, the idealist would rather stay put while everything gets worse and worse and pulls everything down with them in a resounding crash rather than admit to a failure by jumping to safety.  I weep.  I fear.

I weep for the times gone by that took with them our freedom of speech and left censorship in its place.  I fear for the times to come when we will figuratively or literally die because of a misspoken word or even an implication however innocent that will spell our doom as a society. Can no one look ahead?  Is there anyone who can communicate the danger that awaits us around the next corner of our lives?

I weep for the young, our unknowing descendants who will inherit evil embodied as the solution to all of our problems.  I fear for the survival of our ability to think and express ourselves freely and unfettered by a government gotten too large and gone too wrong. Is there a messiah, a savior, a champion to save the common sense and the gentility of civilization? Or are there only liars, thieves and multibillionaires who support a mass stranglehold on a media which has become only a tool of these evildoers?  Not knowing, I weep.  I fear.  But enough…!

There are four solutions that I can see that will always be with us even if they are temporarily hidden.  These are faith, hope, love and …?…

Faith that enough citizens will wake up and put a stop to the election of mentally unsound leaders in government whether it is local or national.  Hope that we can retain the ability to communicate information accurately with or without our ruptured media.  And, love of one another.  This is the most difficult because it involves dealing with personalities that may be goodhearted but ostensibly unlovable.  And finally we need to begin again to ask questions.  Too often we forget to ask questions or have them blocked by someone with a crooked agenda who is in charge.  When we can no longer question anything or anybody, we are doomed to follow whomever or whatever wishes to lead us blindly into their den.

The bottom line to all of the above is freedom.  Freedom is not free.  Freedom takes constant vigilance and stewardship to keep it intact and to protect it.  Freedom is unique in our world.  It is not guaranteed and it is not universal.  We need to be very careful of the seduction of globalism.  To participate, each nation must give up something in order to blend in to the whole.  We must be aware that this could be a weakening of our precious freedom.  This freedom contains our common sense and our ability to think and express ourselves freely.  It is worth fighting for.  Semper fidelis. Semper paratus.   May God bless us, and may God bless these United States of America.