Politics 2020, Trump

And on the other hand…

August 30, 2020 Prudence Leadbetter Leave a comment

Prudence has worked for 2 weeks on a response to the Democratic convention. It is a topic that has piled up words faster and deeper than any other… and it’s not finished. Whether it’s ever posted is a question. Who on Earth would read it?

So, a lighter analysis of 2020 politics is in order. Might be fun.

There are two distinct sets of philosophies vying for power in this presidential year – no news, there. Summed up, one is generally in favor of our constitutional system of distributed power, installed as governance for the first time in 1789; one is in thrall to ultimate government control over the economy and not just the economy, but control over individuals: how they live, what medicines they are permitted – or MUST – take and how they educate their children and about what.

One recognizes that America succeeds within a culture that is worth strengthening and imparting to succeeding generations; one appears anxious to displace American culture and replace it with race-based socialism. What has this to do with each of us? Whichever philosophy wins the 2020 election is going to have a direct impact on the lives of many – not all, but many Americans. It will also affect the lives of millions of people in other countries. There aren’t many election decisions when that is true. Why will it be so?

In the event that Trump is re-elected, and we do, historically, tend to re-elect presidents if they have not failed economically, primarily, but not always… in that event there are significant risks to both our culture and our economy – affecting most of us, but not all. The forces arrayed to stop Trump in his first term will not have given up. If anything they will be more sharply aimed with greater destructive intent. It is sad but Prudent to consider the possibility that he will be assassinated. His determination to undo the deep state and eventually the economic oligarchy has not abated, and will be sharpened, as well.

The upset to our culture will be significant, much like the Kennedy assassination that began a long process of distrust of government and the decades of sex, drugs… and rock-and-roll, but I repeat myself. It opened the door to Johnson, the Great Society’s 60-year erosion of our family-centered culture, and led to the Viet-Nam War and to Richard Nixon, whose removal from power changed politics – and the media – forever. It is impossible to predict the upheavals that would follow an assassination, but none would be positive from a Prudent point of view.

Trump’s re-election is perceived as dangerous by many, and will expose him and his family to danger.

If, on the other hand, Biden is dragged across the finish line in November, there are significant risks to both our culture and our economy – affecting most of us, but not all. The radically left forces that have grasped the philosophy of the Democrat Party will be vindicated even as they celebrate their relatively cheap victory over tradition and constitutionalism. Elements of the “Green new Deal” will be proposed for legislation almost immediately, as will proposals on how to pay “reparations” to some amorphous group of non-whites. Green energy, so called, will be sold as an infrastructure plan; money in the defense budget will be diverted to pay for part of it. “Climate change is an existential threat.”

Sexual aberration will be further codified and given taxpayer support for any treatments or operations needed. Laws defending sexual identities and how everyone must accommodate them, will become more strict and widely enforced. Public safety and policing in general will be softened, and sanctuary status allowed where municipally claimed or, God forbid, state-claimed. The nullification of federal laws will become rampant. It is hard to predict whether rioting and anti-capitalist / anti-white destruction of urban centers will continue. Those who have permitted it in 2020 will also feel vindicated and their anti-Americanism rewarded; it’s possible.

Should Trump win and survive, there are positive changes he will promulgate, and among these are immigration enforcement and the eradication of “sanctuary” status everywhere. There is the distinct possibility that riots will continue, but Trump will feel vindicated by re-election, and will more readily impose states of emergency or even martial law to stop them firmly. This is a danger to everyone should martial law become acceptable for solving policing problems. At first it will be welcomed, but it is at least extra-legal and a terrible precedent and habit.

The reactions of China, North Korea, Iran and, interestingly, Pakistan to the re-election of Trump, are hard to pin down. Xi Jinping of China hates Trump for constantly calling out China over the Covid virus release, if not for several other reasons. His desire is to embarrass Trump so as to put him in his place, as it were. Xi naturally perceives his China as destined for global hegemony and sees Trump as his biggest impediment. Trump must lose face for the world to recognize China’s ascendance. This could take the form of North Korean provocation to near hot war with China’s declaration of support for North Korea including full military force, forcing humiliation on South Korea and the United States. Many alliances will be strained or broken if Trump backs down or appears to.

Pakistan, particularly with the conclusion of a much anticipated “peace” treaty with the Taliban in Afghanistan, may be encouraged, again by China, to resume clandestine and, perhaps, direct operations against India. All 3 states are nuclear armed. China has had hot incidents with India, most recently in 2020. It could serve China’s interests to see India tied down in the mountains of Kashmir, and to see the United States take India’s side. This would provide opportunities for China to act aggressively elsewhere. Whereas Trump has moved from treaty to agreement with abandon, re-making trade and other agreements to benefit the United States as he wished, in his second term he will be severely tested by China.

What would world leaders do with Biden in the White House? He has shown himself willing to bribe and take bribes from other countries, as has his “buddy,” Obama. He has supported softening relations with China for decades. Would he suddenly be tough? Doubtful. He has shown himself unwilling to denounce “Black Lives Matter” or the rioting in several cities. He appears to like top-down directives from government and would lock down the economy a second time if “experts” told him to. The only bold moves he has described for his administration have concerned climate change and the green new deal… plus raising taxes. For middle-class Americans, the Biden agenda, distorted by socialists, is unpleasant to contemplate.

As George Soros, evil globalist, recently stated, “The 2020 election will affect the entire world.” Be Prudent when you vote.

Culture, Economics, Education, Governance, Health Care, Politics 2020

If You Knew Covid…

August 26, 2020 Prudence Leadbetter Leave a comment

YOU DON’T KNOW COVID

Prudence has often commented on the casual mendacity of politicians, and that quality of theirs is troubling enough. New depths are plumbed, however, when hundreds of appointed, elected and hired “officials” agree to lie together for some tawdry political purpose. Many lie without knowing what that purpose even is. Suffice to say that the greatest power on Earth is unified belief, including evil belief.

Like the man or not, honest observers, liberals included, have to agree that hatred of Donald Trump inspired some of the most virulent and congruent political lying our nation has ever experienced. Virtually all of the lies have been exposed for what they were. Dishonest observers retain belief in many of those lies and have convinced themselves that because of what they perceive as true there is no possibility of compromise or even courtesy towards those who believe that the lies were, in fact, falsities. This mish-mash of lies and truths and the distrust of so many for so many others, provided the perfect breeding ground for the most widespread political lying yet: the Covid-19 pandemic.

It appears that only in the United States, where Donald Trump is running for re-election, has the Covid-19 epidemic played a significant part in the unseating of a government. Many countries have been hit hard by the initial attacks of the new, somewhat engineered, coronavirus that China spread across the world, but only in the United States has this medical threat been politicized. At the same time, and again, only in the U. S., leftist thugs have chosen the same moment to riot in dozens of cities. That resulted from a completely different set of lies from those told about Covid-19, and this isn’t the place to recount them, but the confluence of the two, essentially unique events, is itself unique and conveniently coincident in a political sense.

But “Covid” provided – and provides – a rich harvest of public policies – all left-leaning and largely unconstitutional – that are serving to twist electoral politics and sway votes based – on – half-truths – and outright lies. Everything from business and religious lockdowns, intrusions into personal properties and lives, and the enforcement of personal actions like mask-wearing, are based on half-truths at best, complete untruths at mid-range, or utter falsehoods at worst.

Americans have been misled. We hear constantly how many of us have died… DIED, from this awful scourge, now totaling some 169,000… THOUSAND(!) poor souls struck down by a disease that the Trump administration practically spread on purpose because all those people who work for Trump hate the rest of us. Remove the silliness from that sentence and we’re left with a statistic that is meaningless. The CDC counts “deaths” as people who died WITH Covid, not FROM Covid. Why would bureaucrats count such a serious phenomenon in such a flaccid way? Even people who died in accidents but who happened to test positive for Covid, are counted as Covid deaths. What good is a “statistic” like this?

Well, this half-truth serves erstwhile dictators who need to induce fear to gain compliance. There were reasons for fear in late February and March of this year. First, the virus protein was altered in a laboratory in Wuhan, China, from a corona (shaped) virus that existed in weird, ugly bats! Few of us know much about bats in the first place, and most of us are a little fearful of them, thanks to various horror movies. A wonderment for the average person was: “Who the Hell cares what kind of viruses exist in Chinese bats?” Fair question. It was totally rational to be afraid of the entry of a bat virus into humans, especially from such ugly creatures as Chinese horseshoe bats. The researchers who first discovered the bat-source of the SARS-like novel coronavirus, were certainly frightened.

Another reason for fear, then, was China-caused rapid spread of the new virus around the world, especially in the middle East and Europe, areas where China had developed intensive trade relationships and to where Chinese personnel were traveling in large numbers. Scary numbers of cases. A third reason for fear… then, was that the U. S. was not sure what to do or how to do it to contain or prevent the disease, and all kinds of directives were being issued and soon abandoned in favor of other directives. People, officials, with no medical background were creating public policy on the fly upon the advice of medicos who were often wrong. But recommendations quickly became economic shutdown dictates. Americans’ private properties were being stripped from them without compensation in the hopes that stopping commerce would stop the virus.

It certainly stopped commerce.

Oddly, maybe, the most Democrat-controlled jurisdictions have imposed the tightest restrictions on business. Despite improving knowledge from Europe and Scandinavia, governors and mayors insisted on ever-tighter lockdowns. Amazingly, State and Municipal employees didn’t lose their incomes, nor were they forced onto unemployment or furloughed or, simply, fired. When a governor said “We’re all in this together,” he was really saying, “YOU’RE all in this together. I and everyone else who is paid by the state, we’re pretty much divorced from your problems, especially if you lose your business or your job. We will borrow some money – from YOU – to pretend to care about you today.”

So who is benefitting from tight, anti-business and anti-religious lockdowns? Certainly not the people who own or work at those businesses, nor the ministers, priests, choir directors or secretaries who work at places of worship, certainly not the believers whose unfettered right to worship has been soundly fettered without debate or legislation, and certainly not all the people who depended upon those shuttered businesses for their daily living, health, recreation, library services or exercise routines. So, who, exactly?

Is it all to keep healthy people from coming down with Covid? Maybe… that’s what we are told to justify forcing everyone to wear masks when outdoors at pain of monetary fines and even apprehension should we ‘fail to follow the law.’ Except that it’s not a law, it’s a gubernatorial impulse or, sometimes worse, a mayoral one. If asked, those worthies would declare adherence to “CDC” advice and the implied fulfillment of “science” because of that connection. Of course there is no science that informs us of the efficacy of masks or other face coverings, although you’d think there must be because elected officials clearly care so much about saving lives. Indeed, they care so much that they are willing to implore us to endure the discomfort of masks and, even better, to distrust anyone who isn’t wearing a mask. In fact, we should no longer trust anyone to not be about to spray us with Covid-laden spittle.

Did you know that hospitals are rewarded, in a sense, by up to $25,000 for treating a Covid-19 patient who dies in the hospital? That accident victim who died WITH Covid was worth $25 Grand if the right box was checked for C.O.D. Follow the money for the outrageous total of Covid deaths. China, our far-eastern friend who blessed the world with Covid-19, has 4.34 times as many people as the United States and about 5 times the population density. Yet, miracle of miracles, the U.S. has THIRTY-SIX AND A HALF TIMES as many Covid deaths. Ignorant governors… and malevolent ones, have been making rules to barely live by, based on BS statistics designed to hurt the President of the United States: an odd way to execute public policy.

Now the big battle is re-opening schools… because of the need to protect the children, don’t you see? School-age children, say, 5 to 17 years, are so slightly impacted by Covid that it is nearly impossible to state their Covid death rate in terms of percentage: the decimal point is too many places to the left. But despite the desire of most teachers to teach, their unions have hamstrung craven politicians into “hybrid” schooling (some education / some goofing off) for the Fall and beyond in some cases, or long delays in re-opening, as if they’d only just heard of Covid-19. Teachers are all college educated and it would be reasonable to expect them to know and follow the latest approximations of “science” in judging the safety of schools reopening with real teachers and real students. But, apparently not.

In Montgomery County, Maryland, not only did the teachers’ union force delays in reopening, they forced the county to prevent private schools from reopening, as well, all of which, essentially, were prepared to open safely. The county refused to even examine their reopening plans, citing the fact that public schools weren’t going to open, as if it mattered. Private schools are generally smaller, more lightly staffed and better able to enforce social distancing and other rules, and, it seems, more committed to real education.

The more one sees the tactics of various “public” employee unions – particularly teachers’ unions, one sees that worries about Covid are largely political and financial. Between home-schooling and private schools, the grand government school monopolies are threatened as never before, as is the hyper-sexualized, white evil oppression, bull-bleep they spend so much class time on as if educating. The Lord works in mysterious ways.

What will come of nightly riots and mayhem in major cities? Would the changes demanded by the anarchists and BLM Marxists make America stronger, fairer or more beautiful? Not a chance. If police departments closed down, incarcerations ended and white people gave up their homes to black screamers and haters, would the demands for the relinquishing of all white possessions end? No. Kow-towing to rioters or other thugs has never ended the thuggery… it simply increases the level of demands and changes the targets. In fact, changing public policy on the terms of rioters instead of on society’s carefully considered terms, is the stupidest path any responsible leader could follow. The stupidest.

How is it that so many people are holding office at this moment whose decisions to respond to public mayhem are all the stupidest of available choices? Have these mayors and governors always hated the United States or are they mere cowards? We know how several District Attorneys got elected with the help of socialist money – anti-American money, but are there no “lawmakers” who can craft legislation that will provide for their removal if they fail to prosecute criminals? Or even laws that require that EVERY case be brought to court even if unenthusiastically? Or shall public safety and the fulfillment of the Fifth and Sixth Amendments be at the whim of a single person without constraint of law?

What do we actually believe about our civil rights? It’s silly enough to wear masks outdoors, please don’t put on blinders, too.

Culture, Economics, Education, Governance, Politics 2020, Race, Representation

An American Opportunity

August 12, 2020 Prudence Leadbetter Leave a comment

There is an unusual opportunity presenting if we have but sufficient vision to recognize it; indeed there are dozens of opportunities forced upon us this August of 2020. The Chinese communists have done their damnedest to destroy the United States both from within and without with their spying, stealing of intellectual property, cyber warfare and financial subversion of political leaders and key administrative personnel, and, now, with the unleashing – carefully leveraged – of the Covid-19 virus strain. What an odd way to be handed so many opportunities. Where do we start?

“Covid,” defined as all of the partially wise and partially stupid effects of reactions to it, has stripped away the façade – perhaps “veneer” is more apt – of wisdom and legitimacy claimed by whole swaths of elected leadership. From Andrew (and Chris) Cuomo, Bill DiBlasio, Phil Murphy, Janet Mills and Muriel Bowser in the East, to Lori Lightfoot and Gretchen Witmer in the upper Midwest, to Jenny Durkan, Ted Wheeler, Gil Garcetti, Gavin Newsom, Kate Brown and Jay Inslee on the left coast, many city and state leaders – people who have real responsibilities to their populations – have exposed themselves as fools and worse, people who believe that criminals are forced into crime by society (which is to say white oppressors) and that it is merely further oppression to arrest and incarcerate them: they’re all innocent.

Police on the other hand, in this (can’t say “school” of thought, maybe cesspool of thought) mindset are all guilty and should be disbanded. After all, the very existence, never mind presence of police actually causes more crime. Every one of these elected executive officers swore to uphold their state constitutions and the U. S. Constitution, but they have apparently not read those written formalities. What they have sworn to ultimately do is tear down the United States and western civilization with them. This attitude helps them when it’s time to bow down so very, very low to the banner of Black Lives Matter: a communist front group. Can you say, “treason?”

We’ve spoken of the dangers of unionism in the past, and one of those is the tendency of police unions (call them what you will) virtually universally, to protect their members whenever there are public complaints, or departmental sanctions against them. Lost in the minutiae of municipal employment contracts are numerous, arcane ways to delay, compromise, trade or plead down reprimands for everything up to and including fatal events. Defense of members is understandable and a large part of union justification, but it is safe to say that many of the officers sanctioned for the death of an unarmed suspect, regardless of skin color, were sanctioned previously for failing to follow accepted, prescribed “rules of engagement,” as it were… and their unions protected them, keeping them on the job when they should never have access to the official umbrella again.

Unionism for municipal employees, so-called, “public” employees, is a bad idea in general, were it not for so many examples of poor municipal executive management. Another terrible example is teachers’ unions, poor school department management notwithstanding. Along with police and fire employment, education employment is where excellence is needed and should be rewarded, and where mediocrity or worse should never be tolerated. In most cities and towns, even with some mediocre or poor members, police and fire departments have long records of success, often marked by dramatic lifesaving. Their unions seem to encourage selflessness, even heroism, in service to others.

Education unions, on the other hand, are mere budget manipulators. Exceptional educational work outside of contracted hours and duties is frowned upon and discouraged, else other teachers may suffer in comparison. There seems to be little concern for the positive effects on children who are blessed with some of that exceptionalism. Covid-19 has provided an opportunity for communities to rearrange the nature of education in the face of teachers’ (unions) unwillingness to go back to work after the spring Covid disinformation campaign. Science makes clear that the risks are minimal for almost all school personnel and for students, while emphasizing the damages done by the absence of daily school attendance. Doesn’t seem to matter.

Some “School Committee” could have done its actual job and utilized the past 5 months or so to de-certify its local teacher union and replace those who refused to work without a union. Lots of people would be happy to teach if imparting knowledge were to become the goal of public education. Each could be interviewed and hired on the basis of their honest appreciation for the United States’ history, the theorems and facts of mathematics, the proper usage of English grammar, the ability and value of proper spelling, the meaning of words and the responsibilities of citizenship. And some serious science, of course.

Instead these 5 months have been wasted, barely utilized to advance education at all. In a way, the students have been safe from hyper-sexualized, socialistic content for 5 months. We should rejoice that so many teachers on the payrolls are so uncaring. This is an opportunity for parents to do what that hypothetical school committee might have done: Clean house and return to an education system rather than a propaganda system. The opportunity is here.

What other opportunities might there be? Perhaps there is an opportunity to replace political party leadership – both parties. Clearly both parties need to step back from lies, calumny and focus-grouped accusations. Clearly, the American people are entitled – ENTITLED – to honesty about our government, budgeting and success rates for a multiplicity of “social” programs.

We are entitled to the defense of our nation, to the clarity and defense of our borders, and to the safety of our streets, properties and persons. We are entitled to the education of our children in the history, heritage, culture and CITIZENSHIP of OUR COUNTRY.

Are these things too much to ask?

Aren’t we also entitled to honesty about communist, anti-American domestic subversion? We are in the midst of the greatest opportunity for our nation: to expose the insinuation of communist operatives into key bureaucratic points of power… and into even elected and political positions, including municipal, county, state and federal levels. Are we not entitled to leadership committed to the strength and defense of our country? Can there be no test of loyalty and patriotism? What are we afraid of?

Do American freedom and the Bill of Rights provide a process of cultural suicide? Doesn’t seem very Prudent.

Culture, Economics, Education, Governance, Politics 2020, Race, Terrorism

BLACK AND WHITE AND RED ALL OVER

July 27, 2020 Prudence Leadbetter Leave a comment

Prudence won’t be watching any Red Sox games in 2020, not because it’s a truncated parody of sport and exemplary of governmental malfeasance and economic ignorance, and not even because the whole team organization besmirched itself by “winning” the World Series by cheating in 2018. Besides, who the Hell is even playing this year?

No American should watch because of that stomach-turning, obscene “BLACK LIVES MATTER” banner draped above the “Green Monster.” Please don’t misunderstand: it is perfectly Prudent to appreciate that black lives certainly matter, just as much, in fact as white, tan, beige, medium brown and swarthy skin-toned people’s lives matter – we are equal in the eyes of God. If that is too scary, consider that we are equal under the law in this country and that anyone who takes away that equality has committed a crime and the law says he or she will be sanctioned appropriately. To our shame this doesn’t always work equally.

Instead of a banner supporting the “BLACK LIVES MATTER” movement and political efforts, the Red Sox might as well have a banner that says, “TEAR DOWN THE UNITED STATES.” Not many people would put up with that crap, yet that is exactly what Black Lives Matter stands for and is fighting for. They are Communists. They hate the United States and everything about it; they hate White people and everything white people have ever done back into history immemorial. Well that should attract a big audience, John Henry, you idiot.

Black Lives Matter also hates Christianity. Quite a lot of Red Sox fans and customers actually ARE Christians, so that’s another brightly illuminated marketing ploy, John. If you put a flashing l.e.d.-lit sign rivaling the “Citgo” sign above the sky-boxes that says, “SATAN CELEBRATED HERE,” you can surely get a lot of Christians to pay outrageous prices to watch your millionaires play ball with the other guy’s millionaires. What a country.

Maybe the Red Sox organization agrees with the purposes of Black Lives Matter. For wealthy people these owners don’t seem to be as bright as their prominence would lead one to think. Most business owners would carefully evaluate any signage, ad messaging, inadvertent imaging – everything. Just look at how quickly social media slugs will turn on a business and attempt to damage it for any racial slight or perceived hetero-normal bias. No intelligent business would spend $3,000 or more for a banner that supports the destruction of the nation that made them rich, would it? Surely not. They would make sure of what that banner’s message is. That would be Prudent, at least.

Lots of private homes display the same signage: “BLACK LIVES MATTER.” They’re very proud of that sign because it shows the less-sensitive population: racists, every one, for sure, that the resident of that house is more loving, sensitive, non-racist and deserving of honor than everyone else who is not awakened to the tragedy of racism in America. Wow! That’s a lot to convey in just 3 words.

Actually, these “woke” self-praising superiors are conveying an entirely different message. They either have no idea what in Hell they are aligning themselves with, at best, or they do know and agree with “BLM” crap, at worst. For shame either way.

If every ostensible Black Lives Matter “supporter” gave enough of a damn to know what he or she is supporting, then minds might change, one hopes. The BLM “Manifesto” is as dishonest as the original Communist Manifesto and contains a host of non-truths and deceptions. Communism, like socialism in lesser forms, cannot be honest about its intentions because it plans to replace human nature and all spiritual values, leaving BLM’s promises doomed to fail without total top-down control by a small group. It has never been otherwise in every attempt at socialism or Communism.

Still, the BLM Manifesto is nothing if not comprehensive. It reads like the step by step annihilation of the Constitution that it is and, therefore, of freedom and our entire heritage and founding. Indeed, the Manifesto’s first section, item D., specifically calls for creation of a 3-year assembly for the express purpose of replacing the U. S. Constitution. What is worse, if you think about it, is item E., where they demand creation of a committee of “experts” who will control and administer the entire U. S. economy. More than one of our neighbors proclaims “Black Lives Matter” along with a bunch of other “woke” platitudes. They seem like nice people and it seems Prudent to assume they haven’t the faintest idea of what they are promoting. Odd, as they seem intelligent, too.

There are lots of ways to align oneself with the concept of the sanctity of life no matter the color or creed. Despite our racialist governments and welfare programs, our society, operated ideally, pays no attention to color – everyone is equal under the law.

BLM intends a government very similar to the soviet, Leninist model, with a few exceptions, one of which is power sharing with anyone who wanders across the ostensible borders. The danger of open borders is that people can escape as easily as others might enter, and that will weaken the power of the central committee of the wokest, so those who swallow that part of the manifesto should be prepared for temporary border closures until the “revolution” is completed and every vestige of white supremacy and racism has been removed from the United States. Prudence’ readers are well aware that racism cannot be expunged by government and “white supremacy” is simply hatred of white civilization, a condition of shifting definition.

BLM is about creating a black-peoples’ dominated international Communist structure. To effect it they have recognized and leveraged the failures of American education and the tendency of a people too comfortable, to feel guilty about their comfort in the presence of poverty. They’ve watched as political America transferred many $trillions through federalized welfare to support restive, non-working blacks in inner-city ghettos. The failure of these decades-long efforts created a willing army of resentment–filled “protesters” ready to explode upon ignition of the right fuse.

Why are Whites bending the knee before Black Lives Matter? What are we collectively guilty of? What have any of us done to deserve the collective hatred of, well… anyone? Did Andrew Jackson own slaves? Why, yes he did. Is there anyone alive today who is actually affected by that fact? Perhaps if one is determined to hate and to spread hate, he or she is “affected,” but that is a choice made to cause reaction today, which cannot change anything Jackson did, believed or smelled like. But, that hatred can create division today. The real question is why are whites falling for it? Have we “decided” that we have no rights? No culture of value? No progress or civilizing improvements, inventions or developments to be proud of? Progress achieved with the phenomenal contributions of blacks and every other race? Nothing to take credit for?

What’s the matter with us? Four assholes in Minneapolis murder a black suspect and western civilization is called into question? Can no one tell the truth anymore? Can no one call out Antifa or BLM terrorists when they operate inside the United States? If those terrorists steal the artifice of white-on-black oppression does that turn crime into protest, murder into justice, destruction into positive change? Does it magically make hatred a basis for something good?

Does anyone besides rabid, committed communists see the destruction of our unique Constitutional system as the path to a “better” future for mankind?

Wake up, America! … all of you!

Culture, Politics 2020, Race, Responsibility, Terrorism

FIELDS OF HONOR

July 10, 2020 Prudence Leadbetter Leave a comment

Forever in a field they wave… In rows and columns true;
Each soldier’s memory proudly etched – Loyalty, dressed Red, White and Blue.
Deeds of Honor recognized… Of times not long ago;
Field of Flags wave proudly.
History written in hearts aglow… Offer silent reverence, quiet prayer;
Noble servants rightly praised… On through time pass forever grateful.
Remembered with Flags unfurled and raised. By Mike Sousa, North Andover

In a summer marred by urban insurrections and variously excessive and unconstitutional, official pandemic fears and dicta, community service clubs, pillars of society, all, “Zoom” notwithstanding, continue their often unheralded works raising money to give away, along with countless hours of volunteer time. So it is with chapters of the Exchange Clubs of America who “Exchange our Service today to build stronger communities and a better Nation tomorrow.” This concept would be moribund if Exchange (and Rotary, Kiwanis and others) did not believe in the likelihood of stronger communities and a better Nation tomorrow. In fact, service clubs’ heartfelt faith in America’s striving for a more perfect Union – and Unity – is so directly opposite, and in opposition to the sea of hatreds that some stoke for anti-American ideologies, that the distinctions are quite sharp in the Summer of 2020.

Exchange in the lower Merrimack River Valley of northeastern Massachusetts is one of those chapters: the Exchange Club of Lawrence and the Andovers, sponsored in 1947 by the Exchange Club of Lowell, Mass., 8 miles up the river, just a few months after the Exchange Club of Haverhill was chartered, 8 miles down the river from Lawrence. Many Clubs were formed or grew significantly right after World War Two, as Americans returned from battles in terrible places and conditions to recognize how great the promise and premise of the United States of America truly were then and, Exchange members believe, still are today. Americanism is one of the 4 pillars of Service that define Exchange Clubs of America.

Following the September 11^th attacks in 2001, a flag company, at the urging of Exchange members in Sandy, Utah, created the first “Healing Field” of nearly 3,000 flags for those killed in the 9-11 attacks. The idea became a National Exchange project and over the past 20 years has been a focus for 9-11 and for other events that cry out for attention and memory across the country, promoted by various Exchange Clubs and by many other organizations.

Despite Covid-19 shutdowns and restrictions, the Town of North Andover, where Exchange did its first local “Field of Honor” in 2019, encouraged us to do a Field in 2020, as well, although without a closing, crowd-attracting ceremony on the Common where 500 flags were displayed. Local access TV created a video of the many parts of the ceremony that we would have done, and created a You-Tube video for anyone to watch:

The value of the Field of Honor is not mere patriotism, as essential as patriotism certainly is, it is a set of focused remembrances. Whether “In Memory Of” or “In Honor Of,” the person(s) to whom a flag is dedicated is an important part of who the flag sponsor is, now, today. The first time our Club installed a “Field of Honor,” we were not ready for the importance to our “customers” of this simple act of stating – printing out for all to see – the name and “heroic” worth of their relatives, antecedent or descendant, or even of great, somewhat sacrificial friends, even acquaintances. In every case, the honoree associated with each flag is important to the flag sponsor and the fact that he or she or they remember or take note of the honoree and are in some way affirmed in their own lives by the excellence, value or sacrifice of the honoree. It is intensely important that their own lives are acknowledged through the best connections that comprise them. It’s spiritual.

Every flag is about love and many about the deepest love: respect. Each tells a story about the sponsor and about the honoree, living or passed. The Field of Honor is merely a focus for manifested love and remembrance, but oh, so crucial – something the club was not prepared for the first time we installed a Field in 2019. Even more, we were not prepared for the importance of reading, saying, the dedications out loud. Spiritual.

For the Town of North Andover and for Andover and Lawrence as well, the Field created a statement of normalcy against a backdrop of Marxist anti-American hatred in the spring and Summer of 2020. There it was okay to be patriotic, okay to recognize goodness and honor and duty. There were so many outpourings of gratitude to the Club when the gratitude belonged to the flag sponsors… at least as the Club members saw it. Yet there they were, steadily, thanking us for erecting the Field. Humbling, spiritual.

For those who don’t share the views of rioters and insurrectionists, the Field is a comfort. It’s presence is an affirmation of America, of the Constitution, of what we hold dear in our families, and of what we hold dear in our faiths. The American flag, itself, is simple, by itself… no more complex than any other national flag, and we display it and hundreds of others very simply. A cheap PVC pipe is the flag-pole, slid over a short piece of steel rebar we try to pound vertically, we hope, into the soil. Tie-wraps hold the flag in place through holes we drill through the pipe, and a cheap golden bulb is stretched – coaxed – over the top. The flag is a printed one of decent quality, metal grommets and sewn edging. We tell sponsors that it will last eleven months and two weeks.

But for patriots the flag is a history, a heritage, a dream and a promise. Those who dedicate one to an Honoree of their choice, feel all of these aspects of this amazing symbol and yet more – things they can’t put into words. As we install them, straighten them, put dedication tags on them, and straighten them again, we feel those things, too. Together, we not only feel that history and heritage, and hear those dreams and promises, we make them, anew.

At the beginning of our You Tube video our senior member, a virtual pillar of these communities – his children following his example – recites a somewhat famous, somewhat poetic statement entitled, “I Am The Flag,” by Howard Schnauber:

I am the flag of the United States of America.

My name is Old Glory.
I fly atop the world’s tallest buildings.
I stand watch in America’s halls of justice.
I fly majestically over institutions of learning.
I stand guard with power in the world.
Look up and see me.

I stand for peace, honor, truth and justice.
I stand for freedom. I am confident.
I am arrogant. I am proud.
When I am flown with my fellow banners,
My head is a little higher,
My colors a little truer.
I bow to no one!
I am recognized all over the world.
I am worshipped – I am saluted.
I am loved – I am revered.
I am respected – I am feared.

I have fought in every battle of every war for more than 200 years.
I was flown at Valley Forge, Gettysburg, Shiloh and Appamatox.
I was there at San Juan Hill, the trenches of France, in the Argonne Forest, Anzio, Rome and the beaches of Normandy.
Guam, Okinawa, Korea, KheSan and Saigon, Vietnam know me.
I was there. I led my troops.
I was dirty, battle-worn and tired,
but my soldiers cheered me and I was proud.

I have been burned, torn and trampled on the streets of countries
I have helped set free. It does not hurt for I am invincible.
I have been soiled upon, burned, torn and trampled in the streets of my country.
And when it’s done by those whom I’ve served in battle – it hurts.
But I shall overcome – for I am strong.
I have slipped the bonds of earth and
stood watch over the uncharted frontiers of space from my vantage point on the moon.
I have born silent witness to all of America’s finest hours.
But my finest hours are yet to come.
When I am torn into strips and used as bandages for my wounded comrades on the battle field,
when I am flown at half mast to honor my soldiers,
or when I lie in the trembling arms of a grieving parent at the grave of their fallen son or daughter,

I am proud.
I am the flag of the United States of America.

Al Torrisi is a natural leader and a forceful speaker at any time. Yet his voice has a stronger, more commanding timbre (good for the 50-year owner of a large lumber company) than at other times when he recites these words. Years of patriotism, loyalty and love of country spill forth as he speaks, infecting and affecting his listeners. Truth is the most spiritual statement of all. It is the truth of America and of every flag sponsor and honoree, and of the Field, itself.

As this is written the Exchange Club of Needham, Mass. has experienced vandalism of its Field of Honor with some 30 flags being burned. The empty, sinking feeling a fellow Exchangite and field of Honor afficianado feels is hard to articulate. Clearly the membrane of civilization is thin and easily sundered for those who cannot judge the presence of hatred for their own country that such an act exposes. For shame.

Culture, Politics 2020, Race, Representation, Terrorism

Same as the old tyrants

July 5, 2020 Prudence Leadbetter Leave a comment

Black is White, Wrong is Right, Day is Night

Decision-making, whether of voters, politicians, very angry individuals or government types, are made from a mish-mash of facts, opinions, fables, fantasies and other lies. Within and among all of this slippery, shape-shifting pile of influences, lie words and language: the two building blocks of decisions that ought to be solid and immutable, upon the meanings of which all parties can agree. One might think that… if one thought.

Since the death/murder/manslaughter of George Floyd, a lot of decisions have been made and the consequences of decisions made long before that death, have played out. Some decisions were carefully weighed and placed on the shelf of foul opportunity for an, well… opportune time. Others have been made only in reaction to “riots,” vandalism, assaults, arsons, mobs and public mayhem – some strategic or tactical decisions to retreat, some difficult to comprehend by those who think. Utterly spontaneous mobs could not share such unity of purpose in 20 or 30 cities, as was evidenced in the first days of the 2020 insurrection. Those making use of well-calculated, pre-Floyd decisions took and retained the upper hand in city after city, forcing flabbergasted municipal officials to offer varieties of ever-escalating bribes to regain peace. What a disheartening display of governmental pant-wetting. Let’s not re-elect any of those dolts.

The organization calling itself “Black Lives Matter” was assigned the “point” position in making demands upon politicians to somehow rectify the centuries of “injustice” that black people have endured. The problem is, that if every weird change and every financial bribe is delivered (thank God we don’t negotiate with terrorists), none of the fundamentals of the next insurrection will go away. The existence of America and Americanism is an affront to communists, and until America is destroyed, their hatreds will be unfulfilled.

In other words, BLM is not primarily motivated by tearful concern or anger over the black fatality rate in North America. What does motivate these avowed – and trained – Marxists, is destruction of “white” culture and power, and destruction of the Constitutional system. Sadly, ignorant youth, products of incompetent education, march along with professional BLM agitators, demanding the piece-by-piece disassembly of the world’s greatest governing ideas. Every form of socialism is sold with untruths, starting with the premise that humans will be finer, better, happier people once the shackles of religion, merit and attainment are thrown off – discard human nature and “we” will make a better world. It’s a clever hoax if enough unhappy people can be identified via groupthink hatreds.

BLM has valid points to make about poor policing standards and practices, some of which result in the death of “unarmed” black suspects and arrestees. These are crimes when wrong actions are taken, but not always – not even close. And the frequency of such events has declined markedly since the Ferguson, Missouri riots. Unfortunately, so has other valid and valuable police work, causing a spike in crimes in inner-city areas, including murder rates: a very costly bargain. The Ferguson incident is the key example Black Lives Matter cites as proof of police malfeasance. The facts, even following a biased DOJ investigation by A. G. Eric Holder, show that Darren Wilson was justified in shooting Michael Brown as the teenager attempted to wrest the officer’s firearm from him. BLM consistently claims alternative “facts” to justify its anger, when it has other examples that are more reasonably real examples of police error. Constantly citing a false narrative makes it difficult to communicate with those not caught up in the hatred business – like most blacks and most whites and most others.

The actions of rioters that devolve into looting and arson and physical assaults on police, destruction of police equipment and other public properties, are indicative of the most foul hatreds. Nothing good comes from hatred: nothing of value is built, no advancement of the human condition is effected.

Politicians who believe they are the only people qualified to hold whichever august office they sit in, are virtually helpless in the face of hateful mobs. Immediately prior to the riot those same politicians thought that nearly everyone loved them – or should – given all the good works and heartfelt pandering each has done for every group he or she could identify. The knee-jerk or plain-jerk reaction of most elected “leaders” is to pander MORE to meet mob demands, thereby, it is hoped, to buy some sort of mob approval, turning murderous, anti-American hate into positive, America affirming cooperation.

It doesn’t seem to work, even when the big demands of the supposedly aggrieved mob leaders are met. Those demands have sunk to defunding or abolishing police forces and city leaders are actually agreeing to this! At the same time they are arranging for private security forces for their own safety. The vast majority of the citizenry that elected these fools is left out of their calculations. Normal, law-abiding, non-rioting residents of the jurisdictions of pandering politicians, are made significantly LESS SAFE in order to bow down to mob demands. A strange political calculation, that. At least the identity of office holders who should never be elected to anything ever again, is now clear.

Culture, Economics, Education, Politics 2020, Race, Representation, Responsibility, Terrorism

Brown Injustice

June 29, 2020 Prudence Leadbetter Leave a comment

America is confused. It seems a sudden event, this confusion, but it has been a long time coming. Rational patriots hope only that the radical leftist and fascist forces have sprung their trap at the wrong time, thinking that Americans, particularly white Americans, have finally grown so soft that we’ll all just roll over and wash the feet of black people for the sheer joy and justice of fawning over a brown-skinned person.

Once we’ve reached that level of automatic love and justice, we can readily let brown-skinned criminals out of jail regardless of their offenses, because someone’s great, great grandfather was a slave, known or unknown. Just being brown is close enough. All of our successes and failures are contained in simple formulae: more whites are better off than the average black person, therefore whites, as a group, are ALL guilty of something that has negatively impacted brown-skinned people… as a group, you understand.

Now, black people are pretty smart. Most have larger cranial volume than most whites; they are physically stronger in most cases, and, as a group derive from dozens of tribal heritages – racial types you might say – but now that they are in the United States they are all one race, one tribe, one aggrieved group, one voting bloc, one drug-dealing, white-hating, criminal-minded, low mentality group – easily led to welfare and other addictions… if you don’t look too closely. If you do look at blacks and other brown people, really look at them, you’ll find that they are as diverse as white people, Asian people, Indian people, Arabic people and so on, and on and on.

Most black people work for a living. Doesn’t seem like it, but most are competent and responsible and trustworthy. But not all. There are problems, not all of their own making… if you really look at how blacks are marginalized by governments and weak-minded whites, among others. Among those others are black racial leaders. No one has marginalized blacks more effectively than purported leaders who gain both influence and wealth by placing black individuals into a group, contravening the real American Dream.

Like any American citizen, any black is an individual, and equally treated (by law) under the law. Any black or brown citizen should have the same opportunities to “get ahead” in society and status and wealth, based on that individual’s own strengths, attitudes, education and will to succeed. The “government” cannot give an individual higher status or a higher level of attainment, although it can give him or her money in various forms. He or she knows deep down, that he or she has not earned the money/support just received. Black racial leaders, on the other hand, make a living by making blacks believe that they are owed that money or support. Whites have treated blacks so badly in the past that they have taken away blacks’ opportunities in this racist society, and simple fairness requires reparations. Thanks to us, your black leaders, here they are.

Except, they aren’t. No, no. Welfare is separate. Money transfers up until now are barely just, though vital and seriously demeaning. They don’t “count” toward reparations. Real reparations involve big, large, grandiose, unheard-of and astronomical numbers of dollars. We’re talking about multiple TRILLIONS of dollars. Welfare, free health care, Head Start and WIC, AFDC and a dozen other transfers, are mere window-dressings, drops in very, very deep buckets. Once the “reparations discussion” gets serious, the real price tag and the breadth of beneficiaries will take shape. Suffice to say that a starting point for said “discussions” could be every black person of unspecified fraction of black ancestry, is deserving of a share. We’ll get to the size of the fraction when discussions get serious.

Barack Hussein Obama, for example, was born to a white mother and a dark-skinned Kenyan about 100 years after slavery ended with the capitulation of the Confederacy. He claimed more than once that he was born in Kenya and raised in Indonesia, but everyone else who would benefit from denying that claim finally convinced him that he was wrong, after all, and was born in Hawaii. Maybe. Still his family had no connection to slavery, including the Arabic part of his father’s ancestry, and no connection to segregation and Jim Crow laws in the South after the Civil War. He appears to have lived a highly privileged life, in fact, even becoming President – a quite corrupt one it turns out, not in terms of money but of process, intent and belief.

Would he be “entitled” to reparations? Would his children, who are “blacker” than he is? If so, paid by whom? Taxpayers, obviously, particularly white ones. But what about the millions of brown and black taxpayers? What is their “debt” to black people? Prudence indicates that there isn’t one, so a lot of people would have to be excluded from the special reparations levy on white people.

There are millions of whites who emigrated to the United States since, say, 1870. Do they somehow share this unprecedented burden? Well, say BLM balloonists, “they” all were prejudiced against blacks, so they owe us, too. And Chinese indentured laborers – most of them weren’t willing immigrants; what do they owe? Nothing, seems Prudent.

And all of the immigrants over the past 60 or 70 years… or since World War II, let’s say, carry no burden of making black Americans richer because of slavery in previous centuries.

Then, we’ll have to exempt people related to courageous abolitionists who fought slavery their whole lives. There wouldn’t be a “Juneteenth” without them. Add in descendents of soldiers who fought in the Civil War to end the Confederacy, particularly of those who died – hundreds of thousands of them – and there are relatively few people: descendants of slave owners, who might be connected tenuously to the institution of slavery.

There are descendants of people who fought for the Confederacy, who might be prime targets of this scheme, except many of them were fighting for their states, not for slavery, per se, and many, like Robert E. Lee, who was very opposed to slavery, itself, were complex patriots, many, many of whom died. What more do they owe? If we isolate blacks who can trace their genealogy to slaves, do we then separate out those who are doing very well in America? Shouldn’t we look only at those who are still suffering from the effects of slavery? Or, from the effects of severe prejudice? How do we distinguish between racial prejudice and anti-social acts that would keep anyone from wanting to hire or help, or even be within the field of vision of the individual committing them?

Prudence knows who should be compensated: Native Americans. None of them emigrated since any time in American history. Their history and treatment is far worse than that of any other group, and they are a group that is identifiable.

Do you know who is enslaving blacks today? Mostly other blacks in the welfare-industrial complex. And they do so with the best of intentions; they hired on to federal and state welfare programs to help less fortunate black and brown people. Welfare is the second most corrosive acid ever concocted, exceeded only by other liberal-leftists, some of them, black, who make a living keeping hatreds raw. Shame on them. The continued failure of many blacks to advance economically and educationally, keeps those foul dragons powerful. Many actually fight against better educational opportunities for the very people they claim to share the suffering of. For shame.

There is a speech that a wise president ought to deliver – none has, so far:

“Ladies and gentlemen, Americans of all heritages, welcome! America does welcome you, it is our exceptional opportunity to do so. There are times in the life of every nation when its citizens must be reminded of their purpose and mission among the family of nations. None is quite like that of the United States of America. Our first Civil War was our separation from the Kingdom of England, of which we all were subjects. We paid mightily in blood and deprivation and with acts of heroism rarely seen even in war.

The United States were sorely tested on moral and Constitutional grounds in our second, ‘THE’ Civil War as we call it. By the numbers of participants on both sides, it was the bloodiest, most fatal war we’ve ever fought. At a time when medical practice was ignorant of germs, antiseptic conditions or instruments – often bone saws – or of anesthesia, patriots on both sides risked everything for their beliefs. Yes, Confederate soldiers were also patriots. Many cared not a whit for slavery, but they risked, and gave all for their state and their new country, not so many years – just ‘four score and seven’ – after the United States was itself brand new. The civil War of 1861 was a terrible purging of a nation’s soul. Work barely begun in the Constitutional Convention in 1787, was finally completed in the destruction of ‘the South.’ From the thousands of funerals on both sides sprang the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to our founding Covenant. When the Declaration of Independence declared it self-evident that all men are created equal, it did not clarify that non-whites were also men, and created equal too. Finally, that was rectified by the Fourteenth Amendment, and strengthened in terms of voting by the Fifteenth: the first voting rights ‘act.’

It took nearly 100 years more to rid our many states of ‘Jim Crow’ laws and codified segregation. But black people are amazingly strong and resolute, stoic and faithful. They are incredibly talented and beautifully expressive. For hundreds of years and in dozens of countries, whites and many other “non-black” people have tried to keep black people down, or separate. For shame. But they keep rising up!

Blacks constantly show their intelligence, creativity, skills and abilities in virtually every field of study, science, invention and strength. And as they rise up and excel in their professions, they lift up all of us. There are so many examples of excellence, duty, honor, fealty and faith among black men, why aren’t the loudest black politicians holding them up for young black men to follow? Is there no political power there? Is political power found only in marshalling hatred?

We have recently seen the harvest that hatred brings. Along with statues of Jefferson and Washington being torn down by ignorant, hate-filled rioters, a statue of John Greenleaf Whittier was vandalized, despite his outspoken abolitionism and calls for total emancipation. Yet even this was excused by one black apologist bemoaning the fact that black poets and writers of the same era did not receive enough attention. Perhaps this ignorant, stupid act of vandalism will ‘fix’ what didn’t happen in the 1800’s, but that is unlikely. What fools rioters and vandals and their apologists are.

Such acts of destruction and blind hatred must not be excused no matter how angry or hate-filled someone is. They must not be rewarded by venal politicians hoping to buy kindness from hate-filled gangs.

What fools these blind, empty-headed politicians are.

There is so much good that black and brown people are responsible for; there is so much good to build upon. Who among us truly believes that anything good will be built on utter, blind hatred?

My fellow Americans, it is time, indeed it is our duty to learn and grasp our own history, our own heritage, and the exceptional engine of freedom that our Constitution is. The mantle of American citizenship includes the defense of freedom and the inalienable rights that flow from it. If we don’t do so; if we let this fragile gift slip from our hearts, there is no one to our west who will save this, the last great hope of mankind.”

Economics, Governance, Representation, Responsibility

ARE-EEE-PEE, SPEAK FOR ME

June 16, 2020 Prudence Leadbetter Leave a comment

Thank Goodness they are willing to fight for us... — U.S. President Trump Addresses Joint Session of Congress – Washington, U.S. – 28/02/17 – U.S. President Donald Trump addresses Congress. REUTERS/Jim Bourg – RTS10VKB

The United States was born in a time of idealism, and “we” incorporated many ideals into our structure of distributed governance within which power is distributed across centers of responsibility: executive, legislative and judicial. Ostensibly, the legislative center is the most powerful because it represents the people, not the government. That’s a critical distinction: the EXECUTIVE and associated departments thereof, is the government; the REPRESENTATIVE LEGISLATURE (House and Senate) represent the people and the states, respectively, TO the government. In other words, the legislative “branch” is not technically part of the government. It exists to reign in the government and to make certain that the executive branch is conducting business AS THE PEOPLE WANT it done.

Unfortunately, but ideally, the system depends upon honest executives and honest representatives, and that means widespread sharing of a moral code, never a perfect circumstance, and much less so today than ever in our short history. The trouble with dishonest representatives is that they quickly figured out that they can vote themselves riches from the federal treasury. Taking more money required new justifications, mostly comprised of establishing one’s own importance and unique abilities to act as our representative. Senators started out very differently than representatives, and much differently than they claim to be today.

Senators started out being chosen by the legislators in their respective states, based on the concept of states being somewhat sovereign and deserving of their own representation, specifically separately from citizens, themselves. That is, states’ interests deserved to be watched out for, essentially to keep the federal government from encroaching on states’ rights and authority, which was a good thing for states to do. It didn’t take too many decades before legislatures demonstrated their inability to agree on who to send to Washington, particularly in the run up to The (second) Civil War. By 1900 vacancies in the Senate were common and years long. Voters were really irked.

Finally, in 1913, the 17^th Amendment was passed providing for direct election of senators, as there had always been for representatives. “More democracy” always sounds good, despite its own spotty record, and there has rarely been a senatorial vacancy since then. The upshot of direct election is that Senators, with their 6-year terms, are now simply more important “representatives,” who may or may NOT represent the interests of their state, and the Senate is the favored way for the lucky Representative to feather his or her retirement. It’s a nice, cushy job with few responsibilities. Senators don’t have to answer for every vote, and have found that they can depend on voters’ forgetfulness, while they campaign for re-election in the sixth year of their terms. Those unlucky Reps have to campaign every other year, if not more, with voters remembering more of what they promised and have done in the first half of their terms.

Still, one of the bright marks of the failure of our ideal system is the 95% re-election rate for our “elected” representatives. Along with voting themselves (automatically!) increasing amounts of pay, Reps and Senators take part in the finest health care and pension programs in the country. And, they have monstrous staff and support agencies who barely enable the two houses of Congress to get their work done! The work burden is unimaginable. There’s plenty of vacation time to provide relief from those burdens and to allow for basic mental health, there’s so much stress.

There’s so much stress, in fact, that basic work required by the Constitution and the by the citizens who send these sacrificial men and women to Washington to reign in the government on their behalf, often gets rushed through if done at all… stuff like an annual budget, for example. Not that it must be annual; the constitution says “…from time to time.” With all the stress noted, bi-annual budgeting would be perfectly useful IF, and only IF the Congress published a “…regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money… from time to time.” Other burdens not listed in the Constitution are preventing this requirement from being fulfilled. What a load… these public servants bear.

Now that the financial underpinnings of representatives and senators are firmly in place, and now that most of those same are likewise firmly in place, we find that members of Congress are mostly representing the GOVERNMENT to US, not us to the government. If you, the employer of these elected bureaucratic swells, ever attend a meeting where one is speaking – maybe even a “Town Hall,” – you’ll find the discussion one of why things that their employers (you) want done by the “government” can’t or won’t get done. Then you begin to recognize that our “representatives” are anything but… unless money is going to enrich a favorable someone in the district or state. Then it’s full steam ahead.

You may also realize that the language of Congress is not freedom, justice or Prudence, it’s power. Oh the money is nice, and all the trappings and perks, they’re okay. If a congressperson is able to take sufficient advantage of his or her influence over public monies to become wealthy during his or her decades of sacrifice, who really cares? But when talking power, there are but two potent factors: re-election and avoiding blame. For these things it is crucial that voters vote at least twice: once with their checkbooks and at least once at the ballot box. Indeed, public service has become so service-oriented that if voting at the ballot box is too great a burden for you, why friends of the congressperson will do it for you! And if there are citizens too infirm, confused or temporarily deceased, why they’ll make sure that voting isn’t burdensome on them, either. Re-election, step one precedes all things.

Step two, also an unending step, avoiding blame for much of anything, requires careful cultivation of scapegoats, but not just any scapegoat, he, she or they – especially “they” – must be plausibly portrayed as directly responsible (blame-worthy), probably responsible (blame-worthy), responsible for someone who made the mistake (blame-worthy), part of a group that has historically been responsible for a history of mistakes (blame-worthy). It’s simple, but requires a number of staff to keep abreast of. So, do you get it? Re-election and avoiding blame… re-election and avoiding blame. One need not be a genius to run or win for congress; just understand two principles. The rest of us are left to deal with honesty, honor, duty, tolerance, charity, courage, wisdom, thrift, family, service to others and Prudence. There is a point to this disparity of lifestyles.

The principles of purposeful citizenship in the United States are a burden that Americans gladly accept… at least they do if educated and prepared to do so. But they are easily set aside amidst a land of plenty, including plenty of diversions. Unless we are constantly reminded or constantly remind ourselves of our exceptional responsibility in the world, the principles and responsibilities with which we are charged as U. S. citizens can be forgotten, as will our unique place in the firmament of mankind.

In other words, “America,” the ideas that created and sustain her, can be lost in a single generation. Unfortunately our elected representatives, given their disconnectedness from the exigencies of real life and utter concentration upon the two factors outlined earlier, seem to forget the longer list of principles that must be upheld by citizens who remain the strength of our nation. First of these to become foggy, slipping into haze and irresolution once re-election is achieved that first time, is honesty. This no longer means lying about what one believes or does, something that can be ferreted out with evidence and records; now it means being afraid to tell the truth about what one does believe!

Now, we need courage in order to exercise honesty. Americans have been lied-to for decades… by people who promised to “fight” for us once in office. What does such a “fight” consist of, one wonders? Does he or she, candidate to represent US, promise to tell the truth about, say, the budget? Will he or she promise to read and understand every bill that comes to the floor?

Will he or she promise to fight against any bill that includes items unrelated to the purported title and subject of the bill? Will he or she insist on budget, and therefore, policy approval, for every titled agency and program in the Executive branch? You’ll be able to judge where to give your vote if the answer to any of these questions is some mealy-mouthed explanation of why things can’t be done as we ask.

The Courage to be Honest with voters – what a concept. Maybe there’s hope for Charity (with their own money, not our great grandchildren’s), Wisdom and Thrift. Thrift would mean reducing the profligate federal budget, something that must be done as part of Honesty. Of course, they’d have to become conversant with the budget in the first place, and not simply enough to blame one another for wrong-headed spending. The federal budget is essentially a Trillion dollars out of balance. Ask any rep or senator you have a chance to meet if he or she is going to fight to cut spending? Will he or she fight to prevent raising the “debt ceiling,” so called? Honesty requires an answer, doesn’t it?

Will your representative and senators represent us with Honor? No sly side-agreements that do not serve their constituents FIRST? No personal aggrandizement through any piece of legislation? Honesty would demand proper response to these questions. Who, after all, is at the top of our system? The government? “Brrraaaap!” You’re out.

We are at the top. We are sovereign citizens who have ceded LIMITED power and authority to the federal and state governments, and to municipal governments; all other rights, powers and freedoms belong to each of us as sovereign individuals who possess unalienable rights. Don’t you forget this. People in government are there to serve us and protect us and our private properties – including our rights: private properties we are born with.

Our success as a self-governing people can be measured only by how much SMALLER we can render our governments, not by how much larger. Ask your rep and senatorial candidates if they will fight to make government smaller. Good luck.

Culture, Education, Family, Governance, Politics 2020, Race, Responsibility, Terrorism

Kneel Down, KNEEL DOWN

June 10, 2020 Prudence Leadbetter 2 Comments

For those who have eyes to see and ears to hear, the waves crashing against the shores of America’s understanding ought to be exposing to the wise some of the great fallacies of our corrupt and feckless political power structure. First, a crucial point: government cannot “fix” racism, but it does make it worse. Government… and politicians, can’t even describe what racism is and as a consequence, they attempt to fix something else, leaving no question as to why they have failed so miserably.

Racism is not the government’s business at any level; injustice is. That is, how individuals ACT against the rights or property of another individual are the only matters that may be adjudicated, for only they may be placed in evidence at trial. How someone feels about another individual is inadmissible since it is not provable. Often it is self-declared or, at least, a matter of others’ feelings. Brought forth through testimony today, an individual’s feelings may be different tomorrow, if not within the hour. This is the problem with so-called “hate crimes” and with the laws that purport to make the underlying, adjudicable crime worse in the presence of hate, than otherwise, such as in the presence of neutrality, one supposes.

Our Constitution protects every person under its lawful jurisdiction by the principle of “equal justice under the law.” Any individual who interferes with that principle deserves appropriate sanction under the law. Any individuals of a group who interfere with it to the detriment or damage to any individual or individuals, each deserve equal sanction. Aside from some sort of executive or threatening force applied to cause an individual to abrogate the rights, freedom, or property of another individual or individuals, the individual perpetrator is responsible for the consequences for his or her actions. He or she is not absolved of that responsibility by virtue of others also being prosecutable for the same actions.

Our various governments manipulate racial groups and their designations in order to both control “groups” and to acquire their political favor. In other words, local, state and federal governments constantly distinguish among groups in terms of legislation, special benefits that result, and differential legal sanctions, both good and bad. That is, equal application of the laws is out the window if there is racially-based political advantage to be gained. The ideal of a color-blind society is most undercut by the very governments formed in its shadow. Prudence wouldn’t mind defunding that.

One of the worst consequences of the multi-city insurrection we have endured in late May and early June of 2020, is the obsequious surrenders of mayors, governors and federal politicians, to the well-coordinated mobs that have committed thousands of crimes across the country. These include murder, assault, arson, theft, insurrection, destruction of public property, incitement to riot and public mayhem. Yet public officials, sworn to uphold the law, public safety, state’s and our federal Constitutions, have decided to ignore most of it because “people are really angry.” This philosophy deserves some analysis.

Two weeks ago soft-headed, stiff-necked governors, and mayors, were threatening to fine, if not arrest, law-abiding citizens who dared – dared – to open a barbershop or 20-seat restaurant in the face of the Covid-19 scourge of the century and the requisite lock-down and social-distancing dictates. “We’re following this week’s CDC recommendations.” None of the orders were strictly legal but lots of ‘woke’ people were and are afraid to not wear a mask outside. Some mayors say they,ll fine you up to $300 for not wearing a mask! Burning out someone’s business should be fined at least $350 by that measure.

Protesters who are upset (as is everyone else) about the excessive force in the arrest of Saint George Floyd, somehow conflate every white person’s white skin with the causes of Floyd’s death. Guilt by skin color. People with white skin may say they are glad the police officers involved have been arrested and charged, but it doesn’t count: their skin’s the wrong color. People who own businesses or private property or both, are guilty of Floyd’s death, too, making the needed “justice” for George Floyd fall upon them, and burning and looting in the wake of George Floyd’s unjust death at the hands of 4 individuals in Minneapolis, can barely begin to balance the scales of racism since time immemorial. Besides, looters apparently believe, the only way white people are going to respect black people is if they are deathly afraid of them… that part of the plan is working.

They can show respect only by kneeling and apologizing for being white. Anyone who kneels for that is an idiot… they’re out there.

Lost in all of the riots – as clearly distinguished from “protests” – are the rights of individuals supposedly guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States which every elected official and police officer is sworn to uphold. These same rights protected George Floyd throughout his long criminal career and involvements with police, courts, judges, public defenders and prisons. What are police, mayors and individual, terminally guilty white kids being ”forced” to kneel for? Being white? Being elected and somehow responsible for George Floyd’s death – when they clearly aren’t?

Are they being made to kneel before the “Black Lives Matter” organization/movement? “BLM” is based itself on lies that they repeat over and over. Every wrongful death is tragic, although not always a crime, per se. In many cases they occur as a result of a series of grievous errors, not always only by the police personnel in question. But police are the ones who must operate at a higher level of professionalism. They can’t react from fear or confusion, else they must be accountable.

The “justice” that legitimate protesters seek has been remarkably swift in the Floyd case –rapid. That’s justice. First fired in one day and charged criminally about 2 days later. A couple of days after that, the other 3 police officers present were also charged in Floyd’s death. Very swift. Two autopsies had been performed before the smoke cleared from the first riots. A go-fund-me operation had raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Floyd’s family before the funeral services had been scheduled. That’s a lot of justice. Derek Chauvin, the officer whose knee caused the death of George Floyd, was served with divorce papers as he sat in jail under suicide watch. How much more “justice” can the protesters obtain?

None, that’s how much. So why keep protesting?

The actual protesters are a minority of those marching in the streets. Indeed, if one were able to interview every “protester,” the majority of them would be hard-pressed to explain what they are actually protesting. Are they protesting the death of George Floyd? Well, pretty good, so does every Prudent person. What do they hope will be the result of their protest? Better police? Cool, me too. The elimination of police? We part ways on that one because doing the ultimate stupid act isn’t Prudent at all. Is that really what protesters think they’re doing? Doubtful.

Rioters, though, are a different group, literally paid to agitate. They are where most of “Black Lives Matter” personnel are – coordinating riots. If that means looting, arson and beatings, that’s okay, in their eyes, because justice for George Floyd is not their purpose. If they cared about black people they’d be agitating to get rid of welfare or, possibly, they’d be protesting the 6,000+ deaths ANNUALLY, of blacks killed by other blacks. But they seem mainly to be concerned, upset really, about police and police departments. Regardless of color, black activists want to get rid of police. This is not a solution to problems shared by all Americans; police, law and order are a problem only for those attempting to destroy belief in our Judeo-Christian mores and America, itself.

“BLM” believes very different philosophies than you or I do, or do the vast majority of Americans. Their own statement of beliefs is in opposition to the norms of American, Judeo-Christian culture. In effect, every “victim” class they can identify, including all variants of sexual identity and “trans” sexuality, most particularly non-white, are claimed as equal-status members of the Black global movement. In this they are largely in opposition to the norms of a majority of American blacks who desire to live far more conservatively. Like most Christian or Christian-influenced people, Americans are tolerant of the need for political expression and of the redress of grievances, Prudence included of course. BLM is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, however.

BLM is purely racist. There is no pejoration in that description. Blacks, evidently can demand “black-only” this or that, whether a congressional caucus or a college graduation; whites, not so much. One of the lies that undergirds Black Lives Matter is that only whites can be racist. That is utter nonsense, of course. And racism per se, is neither evil nor negative… it is normal. Only under a regime of group identities and its hand-maiden, socialism, is “racism” a weapon. Americans are sadly in error, literally in denial of our heritage, if we accept group guilt for “racism.” Our nation and its founding is based on individual responsibility, not group responsibility. Every individual could be “racist” in the sense that he or she is uncomfortable with members of another race. It takes time and education to overcome that uncomfortability, even fear. But only a handful of individuals will act uncivilly or in a hateful manner toward members of the other “race.” That action is the only legitimate area of action for government. Bad actions may be sanctioned under the law, bad thoughts may not be.

Another aspect of what BLM “believes,” is that the “Western” nuclear family model must be undone (that is, thousands of years of Judeo-Christian family structure must be undone). BLM global wants “village” child-rearing, which is to say, some sort of government child-rearing. We’ve been drifting toward this model to our social detriment, for 60 years. As the federal government federalized welfare, removing all moral or any other judgment in the disbursal of “benefits,” black families disintegrated to such a degree that over 60% of black children are born to and raised by a single mother, which means that Headstart, Pre-K and numerous other social support programs often have more time with a child than its mother, let alone its father.

Black Lives matter is a fraud on America, since its concern is not helping black people, but rather the unseating of our nation and constitution. To communists, which they are, freedom is an affront. Any politician who accedes to BLM demands, kneels for their blessing or grovels in other ways, is presenting him or herself as the person to vote against in the next election… while elections that so many have died for, are still free.

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“20-20” Not So clear

June 3, 2020 Prudence Leadbetter Leave a comment

As Minneapolis (and three dozen other cities) burns and is given over to lawless thugs because, evidently, it is politically correct to do so and politically incorrect to arrest looters and arsonists and vandals, the United States has to face some uncomfortable truths, and resolve to believe them, since they are, well… true.

Here is one: sixty years of federalized welfare has destroyed the lives, hopes and attitudes of many blacks. It has also destroyed the black family unit which had been gaining ground at an accelerated rate for two decades prior to the Great society, and at an uneven, but relentlessly upward direction for seven or eight decades prior to that.

Here’s another: government cannot “fix” racism, nor can it “make” people love one another, or desire to integrate with one another. What government, through the adjudication of INjustice can do, is set standards and make clear the police, judicial and penal consequences for the mistreatment of any individual, whether civilly or criminally.

We have enough laws. We have the most beautiful Constitution and amendments that create a legal structure of equality of opportunity for every individual, and of equality under the law for every individual. But the rights guaranteed on paper do not belong to the government nor do they come from government; they belong to United States citizens who have formed governments to ensure, protect and enforce those rights. And, when those rights are abrogated by institutions or by individuals, those same governments, who are formed by and paid by we the people, and who are obligated to defend, protect and serve US, must take correct, legal, swift action against the offender(s).

Unfortunately our political structures have failed, largely in order to serve themselves, to treat individuals as deserving of every right and freedom as sovereign individuals, but rather as members of groups – groups who can be defined by either victimhood or unfair advantage. Identity politics is the underlying acid that has eaten away at the foundations of success for Americans. It is the same acid that leaves us, nationally, nearly destitute, as we constantly borrow from future generations to make ourselves more comfortable or politically powerful (and wealthy) today. For shame.

The long-term political structure in Minneapolis and in Minnesota, generated and managed the police and judicial environments that left large numbers of people so distrustful of authority that a spark like a bad police action ignited the pent-up hatreds that politicians have pretended for years have nothing to do with them. Their reaction is to blame President Trump. He’ll react, somehow, and almost no one will be happy with what he does or doesn’t do. Under the Constitution, under our federal system of 50 sovereign states, and under hundreds of years of common law and morals, it is not the president’s job or duty to resolve the grievances suffered by an individual in Minneapolis, Minnesota, except that he must direct the Department of Justice to ascertain whether federal laws or Constitutionally protected rights have been abrogated.

He cannot override the government of Minnesota or of Minneapolis. Yet as the office of president has become as much one of celebrity as of competence or leadership, people, and the press, expect every problem to be federalized. Competing political forces are attempting to gain advantage by spewing their own hates and dislikes in efforts to gain power from a bad even that, under group identity politics, is portrayed as a national problem. It is an individual problem, allowed to fester by incompetent local police management and union politics, which played out against an individual, whose family, without question, deserves justice and probably substantial compensation for wrongful death at the hands of the city of Minneapolis.

If the political “leaders” of that city had any vision, they’d be having every other police officer in that department hand-deliver notes of regret and sorrow to Mr. Floyd’s family, with promises to prevent any such event.

The problem is that the utterly corrupt political cabals that generated the equally utter hopelessness that engenders the bottomless hatred for “white” society and control systems – like police – is not the group we should expect to propose a solution for utter corruption. Just saying. These are human conditions, created by humans. Humans can, if armed with the right attitudes and beliefs – philosophies, if you will – prescribe right policies and applications of law and freedom that will unleash the creative, constructive power of inner-city citizens regardless of color. If you are unable to believe this is possible, then you cannot help form the new structure… can you?

To help the irresolute, Prudence can provide a “coral fact,” as they say in Hawaii, to wit: increasing welfare payments to anyone is nowhere part of the solution. So, let’s think fresh thoughts. Actually, they need not be all that fresh, since the mechanisms of success and personal independence are rather well known. “Oh, c’mon, Prudence! These are complex problems. Blacks have been repressed and discriminated against for hundreds of years in this country. The solutions will take time.” Words to that effect will be tossed across important looking meeting rooms for months after these riots are almost forgotten by the “press.”

Some very serious person who “sees the big picture” is certain to say, “We can’t just cut people off from their EBT, can we.” It should be a question but the speaker isn’t seeking any other answer… at all. She (most likely a she who feels great sympathy for the downtrodden) is part of the welfare industry, not so very well paid, but paid above average, plus state benefits and pension. And she cares a whole heck of a lot. She always votes Democrat because they do the most to help the poor. Ultimately the meeting breaks up after resolving to petition the state for massive reconstruction funds and new housing upgrades, and to have the entire congressional delegation file and back legislation to provide tax breaks to industries to invest in the riot-torn neighborhoods across the country. They all feel very good about their answers to the problems. Why, it could be 8, 9 years before there is any unrest in those cities.

People are made weaker from handouts, sympathy and low expectations. Strength, self-esteem and purposeful living come from attainment. Having someone tell you that even though you are a personal failure, full of hatreds and resentment for having accomplished nothing of value to others, that you are important and “entitled” to the same “equality” that others have, only weakens the listener. He or she knows that his or her status and independence have not improved one iota since the last time a social worker told them they were just as worthy as any white person. After a couple of generations of welfare subsistence, the “white” system is an enemy, not an example; the armed defenders of an obviously racist country and society are merely armed enemies whose actions are invalid at every police, judicial and penal level. There is no possibility of compromise.

“Piss me off enough and I’m gonna’ burn your house down.”

It simply is not Prudent to attempt to fix the problems, now a mere membrane away, with the policies of the last 60 years that created them. What have we got to lose?

One can observe the feckless reactions of mayors and governors to the transformation of “loving” protests into coordinated riots across the country. Are these failures based on political motivations? They certainly are not based on executive decision-making. What fools these liberals be. Have we decided, politically, that there is more than one America? That model has placed some of these nincompoops into power. Do they fear losing their political influence so much that they will allow the destruction of their jurisdictions so as not to “offend” destructive mobs? If there were ever an un-American group/organization it is Antifa, and these are the people who must not be offended? For shame.

The neighborhoods where welfare is the largest source of income, and any family now in its second or later generation of welfare as its source of income, must be transformed. This won’t happen by building nicer public housing, nice as it may be. Even for those who have come to terms with never being independent of welfare handouts, they must be directed, guided, rewarded for and, ultimately, forced onto a path of attainment. What does that mean?

First, responsibility. This requires moral judgment on the part of the welfare industry, something for which current policies and employees thereof are incapable. We have created a process of handing out monies by people who are just as resentful of “white” attainment models as are the increasingly hopeless clients of the system. More welfare yields more resentment, so it’s not a solution model. Public assistance must reward attainment, not mere acquiescence. That is, recipients need to be taught to believe in their own ability to be responsible for themselves and, despite everything they’ve been taught or heard for 60 or 150 years, that their efforts will succeed.

This won’t be done through “training programs,” “computer literacy” classes or voter recruitment drives. Some form of “responsibility boot-camp” is required, operated by people who believe in free-enterprise capitalism and in “e pluribus unum.” What have we got to lose? Political influence?

Our existence as a nation depends on the ideas that make us a nation. We are not a nation because of shared ethnicity, but because of shared ideas and ideals, the main one of which is “Out of many, One” – e pluribus unum. This is the American dream: that all kinds of people, recognizing that people are NOT all the same, but are all entitled to equality of opportunity – to make the most and best of themselves – and to equality under the law, can live as one people! There is little else that a government “of the people, by the people and for the people,” can honestly do… or should do. The breakdown of order in multiple cities here in late May of 2020, is the result of attempting to dishonestly do for people not because of their equality under the law, but because of their inequality under the law.

The socialist outlook is to disperse responsibility for failure and to force sharing of success. And, they teach this fallacy, having assumed control, politically and actually, of the government education monopoly. Without changing the belief of all of our citizens that there is a “sub-class” of people who are incapable of being responsible unto themselves and their families, the end result will fail to strengthen society. We cannot “pay off” people who hate the concepts of America and thereby get them to suddenly love this nation.

Every single program going forward must be designed in accord with the principles of personal responsibility and of the opportunity to attain to ever greater success and status.

Attainment is not about getting rich, although money can, with the right attitudes, be part of the measure of it. Getting richer in many more ways than money is the truer measure. So far, and it’s been only about 100,000 years, so it’s not yet proven, humans have found only one way to advance: by attaining to every level of advancement, which is to say, by striving for each. So far, and it’s been only about 100,000 years, no one has been able to give attainment to anyone, only the opportunity to reach for it.

It would seem that no government has ever been able to grant anyone the rewards obtained by striving and earning a certain level of attainment, only money – which has never made anyone a better human. It follows that no quantity of sympathetic or even empathetic words has ever changed the outcome of pretending that a person is not responsible for his or her decisions, actions or feelings; likewise, those words cannot change a handout into attainment. Yet every human being has the spark of attainment from birth… until taught otherwise.

Clearly it is parents who must instill the essential morals and beliefs… and decency into their children. Clearly millions of parents have failed miserably at their duty; our governments have failed by supporting “families” that take no responsibility for themselves, and less for their children. Financing generational resentment is not a plan. As local and state governments finally recognize the need to stop rioters, the question of what to do with violent, destructive, anti-American thugs who are not interested in the path of attainment, must be answered. Do we think we’re going to coddle them enough or pay them enough to change their hatred to love? Do we intend to just send them home to apartments that we renovate to make their living conditions more fair?

Where should they go? What kind of jobs can they do – or would they do – to support themselves? Drug dealing? Gun dealing? Extortion? House painter? Roofer? Carpenter? Do we expect to incarcerate them all until they turn nice or die? In part, their state of hatred and resentment is “our” fault and we can’t continue treating them as we have under the “Great Society.” Do we try to be “nicer” to them? Those willing to riot and destroy businesses and willing to kill police, are not part of American society. They are not like you and me and our children. Should we reward their hatred for decent society because we feel sorry for them? Where should we let them live? Where should they be so that the rest of us are protected from them?

Should they get to eat if they don’t work to support themselves legally? That’s a deeper question than it sounds.

The Civil Right

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