Pissant Patriots

Pissant Patriots

Charlie Earl

Politicians, bureaucrats and public servants of all stripes take an oath upon assuming office. Upon uttering the final syllable many of them begin to violate their vows. They represent the first wave of patriots who are neither patriotic nor trustworthy. Because of their status as elite members of government, their perfidy cannot be prosecuted and their accountability is nil. Their arrogance is only exceeded by their narcissism because of their beliefs that their positions and decisions are more worthy than ours. Thus… they do not consider oath breaking to be a fault but rather oath taking as small insignificant step towards their rightful places as our superior leaders. They are pissants because their self-contained universe is filled with their self-important egos.

Know-it-alls, do-gooders and grand schemers are another type of patriotic puissant. They exude a sense of certitude when they proclaim their remedies for what ails the rest of us. Their vast knowledge and flawless understanding of our weaknesses and our failures allow them to pompously prescribe potent panaceas for all the ills that plague our nation. Their usually statist remedies are based on their assumption that we are incapable of managing ourselves and that the good of the nation state would be best served if we would genuflect and acknowledge their superior antidotes for what vexes us. They celebrate the power of the collective state and consider themselves to be essential contributors to the common good. You’ll find them scattered among the various universities, think tanks and non-profit organizations that hover around the centers of power.

Pissantism (my apologies) is not centered only in the political and intellectual classes. Patriotic pissants are prevalent among the arts and the pseudo-arts. Many of the members of the ‘artistic’ class appear to mentally stunted and emotionally over loaded. First…allow me to admit a degree of bias about artists….particularly actors. I find it difficult to take someone seriously whose primary claim to fame is pretending to be someone else. It seems logical to me that immersing oneself in numerous roles may cause one to have a stunted self identity. Consequently…actors and artist must scramble to appear self-aware, but lack the necessary cognitive abilities and solid personalities to be truly independent agents. They tend to “go with the flow” and parrot the talking points that permeate throughout their class. They claim their inane utterances spring from the font of patriotism, but their mindless chatter demeans the public discourse and adds little to our national conversation. Their ignorance is often appalling, and their words verify their lack of knowledge and depth.

Journalists of all media represent a special sector of the pissant patriots. Their unabashed and unashamed ignorance as they report the ‘news’…. real or imaginary.. is truly dreadful. As the gatekeepers and guardians of the national discussion, their failures, omissions and commissions are legendary. Perhaps their greatest shortcomings are their dismissive attitudes regarding the capacity of the people and the context of the Constitution of the United States. A genuine Fourth Estate press corps is vital for a republic. Citizens must have unvarnished and untarnished information about the activities of their elected and appointed stewards. When the news disseminators become mouthpieces and flacks for government (in the name of patriotism), the tenuous tentacles of trust are severed and the people are not truly informed. Likewise…. when the journalists insist on berating, downgrading or degrading principled politicians simply because of their points of view, they subvert the element of trust between the citizen and the representative. Pissant journalists represent the vast majority of their “profession.” Their ignorance is exceeded only by their willingness to be tools for the statists.

“Pissant or piss-ant” is a real term that usually means: of little value or significance. I have not chosen this term to insult those whom I describe as pissants. If I had wanted to demean them, I would have selected a more accurately descriptive term such as “sh_theads.” The unfortunate aspect of this discussion is that while the pissants have little value or significance, they continue to influence a large number of citizens who confuse celebrity status with cerebral capacity. We and they should note that the path to liberty rarely goes through an ant colony. Stomp the pissants!!

Charlie Earl

cearlwriting@hotmail.com

http://thelibertylegation.blogspot.com

        

Granny's in the Attic.

Granny’s in the Attic

Charlie Earl

As a grandparent whose spouse, children and grandchildren sometimes suspect of being a full bubble off plumb, I hesitate to write this. The unspeakable events that occurred in Newtown, Connecticut, just a week ago raise so many questions and even more proposed solutions than seems possible. Predictably the first response from the statist-tyrannical class was to further limit the availability of firearms and some accessories for the people. Actually….on frequent occasions I heard people suggest that only the military and the police should be armed. This is the purest definition of tyrannical despotism that I can imagine. The Sandy Hook incident has three overarching themes that merit examination in my view. First, what role do firearms have in our society? Two, how do we measure, quantify and qualify the value of individual lives in our country? Third, how do we define, treat or isolate those who are aberrant, deviant, mentally ill or flat out crazy or evil?

Admittedly, as a gun owner and constitutionalist, I enter this discussion with a natural bias. I believe that The Constitution of the United States of America gives me the absolute and undeniable right to possess firearms. Although I assiduously obey the laws of the nation and my state (Ohio), I believe that many of the laws and regulations that impact or limit my 2^nd Amendment right are indeed unconstitutional. Firearms are tools, and tools can be misused. Lizzie Borden allegedly used an axe to commit a crime. Today….she would have a chain saw at her supposedly criminal command. Tools are inanimate objects.

It seems odd to me that the collectivist statists among us are willing to ban every conceivable harmful object or activity to protect us from ourselves and one another, but have no difficulty defending the deviants and perverts of our society. Typically…they seek to limit our individual rights for the “good” of all except for when they insist that social deviancy be given extra latitude in the culture. In other words…they are willing to put everyone at risk in order to not infringe on the outlier’s humanity, but at the same time are eager to broadly limit the rights of the rest of us. It appears to me, a right-to-life advocate and believer, that the collectivists-statists value individual lives ONLY when they are aberrant or not normal.

More than a century ago when our nuclear families were more intact and cross-generational, family members would deal with the mentally ill and dangerous relatives using their own resources. Nutty granny would be locked in the attic or crazy Aunt Tillie would be chained to her bed. As government grew larger and society looked to government for solutions, state hospitals and asylums became the social and political answers for dealing with the incompetent and the dangerous people among us. Just as there are members of the populace who are unstable and dangerous, there are also those among us who are greedy, lazy and venal. In the home-based system and the institutional setup there were abuses. Some people were shackled or locked up merely for being different. Others were put away because their “loved ones” wanted control of an estate. Some were undoubtedly abused while theoretically under “care.” As a result, some 50 years ago a movement gained momentum to dismantle the institutions that were erected to care for those who have difficulty navigating through life. Today…we have come full circle wherein the sick and the crazy are the responsibilities of their families…. except that the ACLU and other so-called “rights” organizations have intervened to allow the adult social deviants the final word in their treatment, incarceration or medication unless they have been convicted of a crime. The result is that either families must restrain a potentially dangerous person, or the government will place them in prison AFTER they have performed some heinous act. Meanwhile…all of us are walking on eggs shells, fearing that the next person we inadvertently offend will harm us. And the government, the collectivists, the statists and the uninformed bleeding hearts want to outlaw our means of defense.

Charlie Earl

cearlwriting@hotmail.com

cearlliberty@gmail.com

http://thelibertylegation.blogspot.com

www.littlestuff-minoosha.blogspot.com

Compound Interest

Compound Interest

Charlie Earl

When does 24.2 equal ten? Well…it is 2.42 times larger, so how can the two values be equal? It is the magic of compounding. If you had spent $10 for an item in 1982, and the price of that item compounded at 3% per year until today, that same item would cost you $24.20. The item I’m referring to is actually the relative cost of smaller government as envisioned by members and leaders of the Republican Party. Democrats have consistently sought to break the fiscal bank by initiating and funding worthless programs and policies….let’s say something along the line of a 4% compounded annual increase. Republicans on the other hand….being the self-proclaimed, self-appointed party of smaller government and fiscal responsibility have compromised us into the current morass. It’s true that on a relative scale of “responsibility,” the GOP has proven to be slightly less damaging than the Democrats, but it is an issue of time not dollars. In other words….the Republican strategy has stretched out the time for our fiscal collapse, whereas the Democrat/progressive/socialist mob would have gotten us there more quickly.  

Government at all levels is bigger and more costly. Our liberty and rights have been dramatically diminished thus violating the laws of God and men (the Constitution). Both parties have been complicit in this nefarious path. Both parties have been instrumental in our slide into a bankrupt police state. Both parties and their willing stooges have conspired to destroy the American dream for this generation and all future ones. Both parties shall be condemned at the Final Judgment. However…..parties are comprised of people and “parties” will not stand before the Throne of God. People will. Individual persons will. When a party is dead, it has no moment of accountability similar to that of its individual members. Who will answer? Who will pay?

Yes, I admit, that like some of you I was vapidly somnolent while waiting for my guardian elephants to pull our fiscal and freedom chestnuts out of the raging inferno. The massive blaze was large enough, however, that I saw the light. The Democrats’ driving mantra of “the ends justify the means” uses corrupt and immoral means to achieve nefarious and suicidal ends. The “big lie” is the primary tool in the Democrat box of underhanded devices. The GOP, on the other hand, engages in the “little lie” with alarming frequency. Republicans lie to themselves and each other while ignoring the reality of the Party’s march toward oppressive huge government. The party leaders enable the Democrats’ schemes and share the benefits of increased power and influence. Meanwhile….the slower-growth compound interest of deficits, debt and despotism is engulfing all of us.

Despite its lack of a national footprint, the Libertarian Party, too, shares in the sepsis of our national identity. By focusing on tangential issues such as the legalization or decriminalizing of pot, the prospect of gay marriage and other such constitutionally irrelevant issues, the LP has successfully marginalized itself outside the body politic. The aforementioned topics may be personally important to some Americans, but they are insignificant when measured against the overriding dismantling of our constitutional government and the fiscal devastation that currently faces us. The party has been around for more than thirty years, but because of a failure to promote the purity of personal liberty and the sanity of fiscal responsibility, it has become the resting place for every crackpot who has a personal bitch with the government and the other parties. Libertarians, it you wish to be one of the big ones, you must advance the big ideas and allow the people to ascertain how liberty and fiscal responsibility affect them personally. The LP problem is that its appeal has been based on too simple interest.

Compounding is the problem, and our difficulties have been compounded and made more complex because we allowed it, we encouraged it and now we are unable to prevent it. “There ought to be a law” has replaced “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” as our pre-eminent national identity. We screwed up, and I fear that reclaiming our heritage may be the costliest fight in our history. When our Founders declared our independence, the government was an ocean away with other problems on its plate. Today… now…the offending government is in our house. I’m exhausted and fed up with political parties that debate the nonsensical and the marginal. I’m sick of citizens who are distracted by the shiny objects of minor disagreement when there are just two issues: individual liberty and constitutional government. Nothing else matters because if those two principles continue to be abused, we are doomed. 

Charlie Earl

cearlwriting@hotmail.com

cearlliberty@gmail.com

http://thelibertylegation.blogspot.com

www.littlestuff-minoosha.blogspot.com

Debate Daze

Debate Daze

Charlie Earl

After sipping the Dom Perignon and enjoying a fine Havana, many patriots and their Republican acquaintances are basking in the afterglow of a total beat down during Wednesday’s Denver debate. Governor Romney treated the President like a rented mule as he pounded him all over the arena. The Governor was on message and politely aggressive while the President seemed confused and dispirited. More than 70 million viewers tuned in for the Romney romp, but were they informed….or merely impressed?

Concurrent with the debate, Libertarian Gary Johnson had an on-line event wherein he responded to the questions and the answers of the two old party candidates. The bad news is that the system was overloaded, thus denying access to some citizens. The good news which is not so good is that Gary Johnson 2012 picked up 7 thousand new Twitter followers. Seven thousand is like spittle in the ocean when compared to 70 million. It was an innovative effort by Governor Johnson but was a pale imitation of the big show….unfortunately.

Romney’s performance was targeted, informative and relentless. Obama’s was reminiscent of an empty-minded zombie. As one who detests Obama’s big-government socialist agenda, I was pleased with the outcome. However, I suspect that a Romney victory on November 6^th may be initially beneficial in the short term for our nation and our liberty, but marginally so for the long term. I watched the debate, and I carefully read the transcript. Here’s why I’m somewhat sanguine and cautious about our Nation’s future. Romney said, “I’m not looking to cut massive taxes and to reduce the revenues going to the government.” Why not?

Yes, we have a spending problem. It is a direct result of a government that is too large and operates outside the confines of its constitutional limitations. Why continue feeding the beast? By not reducing revenues, Romney is guaranteeing that agencies, departments, bureaus and fiefdoms will battle for each and every crumb of taxpayer funds. Weak-willed Members of Congress will struggle mightily to raise additional monies (new taxes) for their favorite projects. By taking gross tax revenues off the table, Governor Romney has limited his options and defined the battlefield for his opponents. Additionally, the apparent guilt of the Governor led him to assert that he would continue to tax the wealthy at a higher rate. This is class warfare…the GOP version.

Romney’s statement that he would measure the value of a subsidy or program by determining whether or not it justified borrowing funds from China has an authentic ring, but is specious. Why not use a constitutional standard rather than a fiscal one? In addition he promised to “toss” many programs back to the states for them to administer in ways that are best for them. He justified that by claiming to want the Tenth Amendment to work, however if those programs are mandated or required, the only benefit for the respective states will be in the implementation. If mandated, the new required federal programs will place additional burdens on the “sovereign” state governments. It appears at first blush that an aggressive nullification effort may be just as important under a Romney administration as it is under Obama.

Romney also stated that he wishes to “means test” Medicare benefits….probably by manipulating premiums and co-pays. Obama may have professed a desire to spread the wealth around, but Romney, too, has accepted the flawed premise. The Governor also flatly stated that he is “not going to cut education funding.” He forgot to identify the enumerated power in the Constitution that underlies his pledge.

Finally….Romney did state that he saw the role of government “to promote and protect principles of (the Constitution and Declaration of Independence).” He also stated that government should protect life and liberty. These statements are good. They are sound. They are laudable, but they conflict with his early words and his governance in Massachusetts.

If a true principled constitutionalist cannot be elected, and the contest is between just Governor Romney and President Obama, I hope Romney wins. I will, however, cross my fingers, hold my breath and battle every big-government overreach he supports or proposes. I must go now and don my armor. I strongly suspect that I will need it.

Charlie Earl

cearlwriting@hotmail.com

cearlliberty@gmail.com

www.littlestuff-minoosha.blogspot.com

http://thelibertylegacy.blogspot.com