Paul Ryan’s Evil Goddess: Ayn Rand’s Atheistic & Wanton Destruction of Public Life & Common Good

Ayn Rand, Paul Ryan Evil Goddess: She just won't go away, despite hiding Ryan's past worship under a rock, the Mormon Mitt Romney

Perhaps no one represents a more direct and serious threat to the public welfare today than Paul Ryan. A foolish and self assured rebel who heads up the Randian Crusade into the abyss (See “Ayn Rand Extreme Capitalism's Goddess of Selfishness 160 Current Economic Undertow”). Paul Ryan’s are the tenets representative of the kinds of greed and raw Corporatocracy (See also “The Virtue of Selfishness”) that festoon themselves as the New Traditionalism, a harsh route offered the country by the Romney/Ryan ticket.

“Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people. To destroy this invisible government, to befoul the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of the day.” -- Theodore Roosevelt, April 19, 1906

The 2012 loyal base of the Republican Party, best described as Southern White Males (Texas Born-agains) with racial overtones, has no clue as to the utter reversal of brotherly love and American Exceptionalism that waits in the wings with Ryan and the supremacy and ascendancy of rogue powers such as the anti-public service and anti-government fanaticism and billionaire power-lust of the Koch Brothers, Americans for Prosperity and acolytes such as Kingmaker Karl Rove and his Citizens United “tool” Crossroads GPS, Ralph Reed, and now the beguiled religious players including Franklin Graham & Mark DeMoss, of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (See “Why is Billy Graham so involved in the 2012 elections?” on the Christian Century).

This march to the brink of doom for public life and shared responsibility for ones neighbor is so clearly the modern analogy of the lemmings unstoppable plunge off the civic cliff into the sea of chaos into the deep and dark turbulent waters of national nihilism visiting again the manifestation of misplaced power and the rule of the many by the so few. American Know Nothing religionists having gone deep into national politics represent a cohort of groups suffering from a kind of partisan and sectarian auto-immune disorder -- an inability to cope with what they perceive as foreign pathogens in their universe; threats to their bigotry and “moral “absolutism.

"And it seems to me perfectly in the cards that there will be within the next generation or so a pharmacological method of making people love their servitude, and producing...a kind of painless concentration camp for entire societies, so that people will in fact have their liberties taken away from them but will rather enjoy it, because they will be distracted from any desire to rebel by propaganda, brainwashing, or brainwashing enhanced by pharmacological methods." --Aldous Huxley, 1959

We are seeing the unraveling of civility and common sense. It’s the dark night, the miasma of evil ideology and rank divisiveness, which serves the few, the One Percent. (See “The 99 Percent for the 100 Percent: The Case for Deep Patriotism” in The Nation). We saw its apex in the debacle of 1929 and again we see it now. Yet many feel that we, as a social gathering of all the traditions and social groups of the world under one roof—America’s Big Tent of representative democracy, can tolerate and survive this quagmire of fraud and rules bending.

"Our form of government does not enter into rivalry with the institutions of others. We do not copy our neighbors, but are an example to them. It is true that we are called a democracy, for the administration is in the hands of the many and not of the few. But while the laws secure equal justice to all alike in their private disputes, the claim of excellence is also recognized; and when a citizen is in any way distinguished he is preferred to the public service, not as a matter of privilege, but as the reward of merit.

Neither is poverty a bar, for a man may benefit his country whatever be the obscurity of his conditions. There is no exclusiveness in our public life, and in our private intercourses we are not suspicious of one another, nor angry with our neighbor if he does what he likes; we do not give him sour looks which, though harmless, are not pleasant". -- Pericles (Athenian statesman, 5th century B.C.)

We cannot survive as a viable nation if we cannot stave off such an erosion of “full faith and confidence” in self-government that is giving unfair and unequal advantage to the few. Will we tear down, with malice what our Fore founders erected to save mankind from the tyranny, by continuing to allow the concentration of such daemonic power in the hands of so few?

God forbid.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis spoke stern warning: "We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both."

Rue the day Paul Ryan gave his heart to the pagan, sexpot, and anarchist, Ayn Rand, (aka Alisa Zinov'yevna Rosenbaum) the temptress of the sons of Baal. We shall all taste the sweet, thirst slacking waters of democracy turned bitter and acridly poisonous by the powdered shards of the Golden Calf made into a corrective diuretic by the God of the Ages, who punishes the foolishness and the disregard of the mighty toward the welfare of the many. “For God so loved the whole world he sent his only begotten son… that they should not perish….”

"The real difference between democracy and oligarchy is poverty and wealth. Wherever men rule by reason of their wealth, whether they be few of many, that is an oligarchy, and where the poor rule, that is democracy". -- Aristotle

"There is nothing mysterious about the foundations of a healthy and strong democracy. The basic things expected by our people of their political and economic system are simple. "They are:

• Equality of opportunity for youth and others;
• Jobs for those who can work;
• Security for those who need it;
• The ending of the special privileges for the few;
• The preservation of civil liberties for all;
• The enjoyment of the fruits of scientific progress in a wider and constantly rising standard of living."

--Franklin D. Roosevelt

On the Reader:

“Barack Obama Doesn’t Think Ayn Rand is a ‘Fountainhead’ of Ideas” by By Lyneka Little in the Wall Street Journal on October 26, 2012. 

Related Slates:

Ayn Rand Speaking With Precision for the 99 % (November 2011) - Just-Leave-Me-Alone Tea Party Hero John Galt BePraised: The High Hypocrisy of Galt’s Creator, Ayn Rand (April 2011) - Saint Ayn - Extolling Great Evil - Used As Source of TeaParty Political Punch Lines (April 2011) - Much Ado About Evil: Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged (April 2011)

Posted by guest commentator Morton M.

What the Frack Fellas? Morality and Michigan's Environment - Back When & Now Then

In response to recent hydro-fracking enabling legislation, ad campaigns and spin led by ALEC and Big Oil surrogates in the Midwest (Michigan & Ohio).

"To waste, to destroy, our natural resources, to skin and exhaust the land instead of using it so as to increase its usefulness, will result in undermining in the days of our children the very prosperity which we ought by right to hand down to them amplified and developed."
- Theodore Roosevelt, in a Speech to Congress on December 3, 1907

"[Conservation] is the chief material question that confronts us, second only and second always to the great fundamental questions of morality."
- Theodore Roosevelt, Proceedings of a Conference of Governors in the White House, May 13-15, 1908

You Gotta Love Teddy: The Bull Moose Who Went to Bat
for America's Natural Treasures (Theodore Roosevelt National Achieves c.1910)

Memorial Day and its participants, those steadily declining visages of past conflicts like the Spanish-American War of Teddy's day to today's World War II veterans who have been hailed as the Greatest Generation, remind us all that a precious and hard won victory over oppression and an evil corporate-run government in the hands of foreign tyrants was secured by a stupendous act of redemption-not only for America, but the entire world.

One writer has lamented the deterioration of that honor, the tarnishing of heroic valor, the death of that victory, due to the excesses of the corporatist control of all levels of state and federal governance, the sorry state of affairs we now face:

"Back when people were actually almost "free" (immediately after WWII), when public education was not just another empty promise - and the trend in life was toward a better tomorrow for everyone - at that time 'control' was in retreat, and progress was the theme of every hour. Now what we have is control of every idiotic facet of everyday existence - rules for every waking act, every thought that is not controlled is seen as the enemy of the state (the corporatocracy).

"Our entire way of life has been stolen and shall never return to the lazy and hopeful days of living and loving, of joy and promise, with the possibility for doing real and meaningful things with one's own life - not to mention being able to envision a better world for more and more people - whose lives were so far below the levels we enjoyed.

" Instead of that promise, instead of that possibility - what we have now is the outright worship of Mistrust, of Fear, and of Paranoia - along with obscene profits for those who have purchased all the politicians, and who control every facet of this once nearly free society.

"If American life were a sporting event - today's game would be one in which all the officials and the referees had all been pre-purchased by what would obviously be the winning team. Now companies 'police' their own activities, deciding for themselves when they've gone too far - or stolen too much. The original point behind government providing a watchdog over industry - was to keep the playing fields equal - between players and owners."
(emphasis added)

The writer is on the right scent.

Take the following example from a Nation of Change article entitled "ALEC Slips Exxon Loophole into New Ohio Law":

"Wake up and smell the frack fluid. But don't ask what's in it, at least not in Ohio, cause it's still not your right to know. Ohio is in the final stages of making an Exxon trojan horse on hydrofracking into state law, and it appears that the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) connected Exxon's lawyers with co-sponsors of Ohio Senate Bill 315: at least 33 of the 45 Ohio legislators who co-sponsored SB 315 are ALEC members, and language from portions of the state Senate bill is similar to ALEC's 'Disclosure of Hydraulic Fracturing Fluid Composition Act.'...disclosure of fracking fluids? On behalf of ExxonMobil?

Frack fluids include unknown chemicals that gas drillers mix with sand and large amounts of water. The mixture is pumped underground at high pressure in order to retrieve gas and oil by fracturing shale formations. These are the chemicals that have caused widespread concern among residents near gas fracking operations; concerns echoed by doctors who don't know how to treat patients harmed by exposure to chemicals that oil companies keep secret. Oil companies like XTO Energy, a subsidiary of ExxonMobil, the first company lined up to drill in Ohio's Utica shale."

(emphasis added)

Milking Mother Michigan: Fracking (Shale Sands) Map
of the Lower 48 US States (US Energy Information Agency May 2011)

The blatant use of power and immense amounts of cold, secret cash to push aside the welfare and rightful concerns of the population in order to accomplish whatever is in the Corporatists' self-interest is best shown in the ongoing activity of the Koch Brothers cabal comprised chiefly of the Americans for Prosperity and The American Legislative Exchange Council.

It has become exposed and shown to the public that things so dastardly are being rammed through blindsided/defenseless state legislatures by A.L.E.C. members in those bodies, and ALEC's fellow travelers, that many premiere brands, former sponsors and supporters of ALEC, have bailed out of this corporate-owned and operated 'plug and play' Rad Right legislative mill.

What a blow to ALEC to have Walmart, Coke, Blue Cross and so many other familiar brands and corporations pull out of the Koch Bros. American Legislative Exchange Council. Yet here in Michigan A.L.E.C. powers on. The Mackinac Center for Public Policy joyfully and recently submitted in its own suggested boilerplate legislation, developed here in Michigan, to be promoted by ALEC nationwide.

US Rep. Dave Agema, a Michigan ALEC member and a Rad Right Screaming Eagle, succeeds, with the backing of the Koch's crowd, becoming Michigan's upstart male National Republican Committee member. Little wonder, when over 100 past or present members of the Michigan Legislature are /or have been complainant ALEC members.

Business Trumps Nature Leaving Just Stumps: When Michigan Big Business gets it all - Statewide Clear Cutting of Millions of Acres in the 1880-90's (Upper Peninsula Lumbering Operations Anon c.1880)

How do you suppose Michigan Koch-Heads will handle our fracking questions when the time comes to regulate (OR NOT) the fracking permits and permissions so intensely sought by Koch oil and other such interests? Last century rich investors left the face of Michigan a stubble of stumps, but the fact is nobody knows what toxic fluids flow through far flung fracking pumps.

Michigan families and their many out state guests have enjoyed its wealth of nature, pure beauty, fertile soils, and its bounty and plenty.

Who cares? We care!

Our state, with its tremendous water resources, must care; it's our wonderland heritage won and protected by heroes and workers, farmers and tradesmen, now so blatantly threatened by the overweening Corporatocracy and the greed of the rich and powerful 1%.

What the Frack? Will the Koch Brothers blast TDR off Mt Rushmore too?

On the Reader:

• Michigan grassroots movement website "Ban Michigan Fracking" and Michigan Petition Drive website "Let's Ban Fracking" 
• Key articles on Fracking in The World in "Burning water, contamination and natural gas 'fracking'" (16 May, 2011) and details about the relationship between ALEC and Heartland Institute in "Heartland Institute and ALEC Partner to Pollute Classroom Science" (March 30, 2012) and more MAPS on Oil Spills and Fracking Accidents across the country and in Michigan.
• Teddy Roosevelt and history of "Conservation as Morality" by Jessica Sheffield (January 2011)

Related Slates:
More of Teddy Roosevelt and ALEC in the Gazette.

Original.

If We Are Truly a Democracy: Quotes from James Madison and Mickey Edwards

"We have, it is true, occasional fevers; but they are of the transient kind, flying off through the surface, without preying on vitals. A Government like ours has so many safety valves...that it carries within itself a relief against the infirmities from which the best of human Institutions can not be exempt."
-- James Madison in a 1830 Letter to Lafayette

Former Congressman Marvin Henry "Mickey" Edwards penned the following in an essay entitled "How to Turn Republicans and Democrats Into Americans":

"ANGRY AND FRUSTRATED, American voters went to the polls in November 2010 to 'take back' their country. Just as they had done in 2008. And 2006. And repeatedly for decades, whether it was Republicans or Democrats from whom they were taking the country back. No matter who was put in charge, things didn't get better. They won't this time, either; spending levels may go down, taxes may go up, budgets will change, but American government will go on the way it has, not as a collective enterprise but as a battle between warring tribes."

"If we are truly a democracy-if voters get to size up candidates for a public office and choose the one they want-why don't the elections seem to change anything? Because we elect our leaders, and they then govern, in a system that makes cooperation almost impossible and incivility nearly inevitable, a system in which the campaign season never ends and the struggle for party advantage trumps all other considerations. When Democrat Nancy Pelosi became speaker of the House, the leader of the lawmaking branch of government, she said her priority was to ... elect more Democrats. After Republican victories in 2010, the Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said his goal was to ... prevent the Democratic president's reelection. With the country at war and the economy in recession, our government leaders' first thoughts have been of party advantage."

"This is not an accident. Ours is a system focused not on collective problem-solving but on a struggle for power between two private organizations. Party activists control access to the ballot through closed party primaries and conventions; partisan leaders design congressional districts. Once elected to Congress, our representatives are divided into warring camps. Partisans decide what bills to take up, what witnesses to hear, what amendments to allow."

"Many Americans assume that's just how democracy works, that this is how it's always been, that it's the system the Founders created. But what we have today is a far cry from what the Founders intended.
George Washington and James Madison both warned of the dangers posed by political parties. Defenders of the party system argue that parties—including Madison’s own—arose almost immediately after the nation was founded. But those were not parties in the modern sense: they were factions uniting on a few major issues, not marching in lockstep on every issue, large and small.  And while some defend the party system as a necessary provider of cues to voters who otherwise might not know how to vote, the Internet and mass media now make it possible for voters to educate themselves about candidates for office."

"What we have today is not a legacy of 1789 but an outdated relic of the late 1800s and early 1900s, when Progressives pushed for the adoption of primary elections. By 1916, all but a handful of states had instituted the "direct primary" system, under which a party candidate was selected by a public vote, rather than by party leaders in backroom deals. But the primaries, and the nominating conventions, were open only to party members. This reform was supposed to give citizens a bigger role in the election process. Instead, the influence of party leaders has been supplanted by that of a subset of party activists who are often highly ideological and largely uninterested in finding common ground. In Delaware in 2010, a mere 30,000 of that state's nearly 1 million people kept Mike Castle, a popular congressman and former governor, off the general-election ballot. In Utah, 3,500 people meeting in a closed convention deprived the rest of the state's 3 million residents of an opportunity to consider reelecting their longtime senator Robert Bennett. For most of the voters who go to the polls in November, the names on the ballot have been reduced to only those candidates the political parties will allow them to choose between. Americans demand a multiplicity of options in almost every other aspect of our lives. And yet we allow small bands of activists to limit our choices of people to represent us in making the nation's laws."

"I am not calling for a magical political "center": many of the most important steps forward in our history have not come from the center at all, including women's suffrage and the civil-rights movement, and even our founding rebellion against the British crown. Nor am I pleading for consensus: consensus is not possible in a diverse nation of 300 million people (compromise is the essential ingredient in legislative decision-making).

And I’m not pushing for harmony: democracy depends on vigorous debate among competing views. The problem is not division but partisanship—advantage-seeking by private clubs whose central goal is to win political power. There are different ways to conduct elections and manage our government-and strengthen the democratic process."
(emphasis added)

Application:
In Michigan we have seen the extreme example of extreme Teapublican partisanship "advantage seeking by private clubs" that back these rude Teapartisans whose legislative attacks on certain select groups of individuals in Michigan illustrate that the fact that Teapublicans of Michigan are seeking to help these "private clubs" in pursuit of their central goal "to win political power." All other impacts of this highly-targeted legislation, many of which are punitive and damaging, are held as inconsequential and unimportant in the triumphalism of this Teapartisan march toward a highly profitable political homogeny.

-----

As former Congressman Mickey Edwards stated in regret: "the struggle for party advantage trumps all other considerations." The mess in Michigan is a prime example of this outrage under a TeaPublican domination of all branches of Michigan governance: Executive, legislative, judicial.

Democracy in Michigan as it once was is no more. Emergency Managers and A.L.E.C. / Corporatists plug-and-play bill writing have broken the long chain of democratic practice and compromise. A tradition that has been the custom of Lansing over the decades - "a collective enterprise" in service of the citizens of our state - has been deliberately shattered.

On the Reader:
Read the original essay "How to Turn Republicans and Democrats Into Americans: An insider’s six-step plan to fix Congress" by Mickey Edwards (The Atlantic, June 15, 2011) and other Essays by Edwards:

"Why I'm Not at CPAC"by Mickey Edwards (The Atlantic February 18, 2010) Quote:

"I'm not at CPAC (2010) because I believe in America. I believe in liberty. I believe that governments should be held in check. I believe people matter. I believe in the flag not because of its shape or color but because of the principles it stands for--the principles in the Constitution, the principles repeated and underlined and highlighted and boldfaced and italicized in the Bill of Rights. The George W. whose presidency and precedents I admire was the first president, not the 43d. It is James Madison I admire, not John Yoo. Thomas Paine, not Glenn Beck. Jefferson, not Limbaugh."

"Reagan wouldn't recognize this GOP: The Gipper may be the patron saint of Limbaugh and Coulter, but he'd be amazed at what's been done in his name" by Mickey Edward in the LA Times, January 24, 2009) Quote: 

"The Republican Party that is in such disrepute today is not the party of Reagan. It is the party of Rush Limbaugh, of Ann Coulter, of Newt Gingrich, of George W. Bush, of Karl Rove. It is not a conservative party, it is a party built on the blind and narrow pursuit of power. (Break) ...conservatives have turned themselves inside out: They have come to worship small government and have turned their backs on limited government. They have turned to a politics of exclusion, division and nastiness."

More on the Republican Right Wing and Conservatism on the Gazette.

Original.

Snyder Snippets: Auto Manufacturers "regret" their move to Right-to-Work States

Just in case he's thinking of forgetting things he might have said, here are the statements made by Rick Snyder on Feb 8, 2012 in reference to Michigan workers and Right to Work (for less).

"We (Snyder and team) were meeting with some of the auto companies at the auto show (who) say that their companies regretted being in the southern part [of the country, where right-to-work laws are common] because they weren't getting the SKILLED WORKFORCE the same way that they would in MICHIGAN."

-- Stateline Online

See the complete INTERVIEW with Snyder in "Seven questions for Michigan Governor Rick Snyder" conducted by Melissa Maynard and Jim Malewitz, Stateline Feb 08, 2012

Important Snyder Snippets:

STATELINE: Do you think the research is clear on whether right-to-work would help improve Michigan's economy, political considerations about the fights over getting it passed aside?

SNYDER: No. Actually I think if you look at some of the labor agreements out there, there are some really competitive ones. And if you look at productivity overall, we actually had people when we were meeting with some of the auto companies at the auto show say that their companies regretted being in the southern part [of the country, where right-to-work laws are common] because they weren't getting the skilled workforce the same way that they would in Michigan and the flexibility. They were having people taken away for other lower wage situations versus having the right talent at the right place.

SNYDER: This is not something people should overreact to. In many respects when people say right-to-work, it's like one of those red flag kinds of issues where too many people just sort of have a visceral reaction and say "ok, here's my position and I'm not open to listening to anything else." That's not how good government should operate. I want to listen and hear it and work on it.

STATELINE: What about the state's labor relations with its own employees?

SNYDER: We had successful collective bargaining with our own employees at the state level. I want to give credit to [UAW President] Bob King. It was literally a case where the UAW took the lead and he had great people working for him, but Bob and I got on the phone and we actually met a couple of times to sort of hash through issues. WE GOT THINGS RESOLVED. In the end IT WAS GREAT that when we hit a loggerhead we just sat down and talked and got a good agreement done. (emphasis added)

For all of those of you with limited legislative experience or knowledge of Michigan's political history: Former Gov. John Engler often said, "Michigan's autoworkers are world-class!"

FULL TRANSCRIPT of Rick Snyder Interview with StateLine.

Original.

Hard work will set you free! Or...

We can never have too many inspiring people like all of you. Multi-taskers at work on many projects in many places: home, family, office, church, neighborhood, school, clubs.

(Honors bestowed here today indicate) that you are intelligent or that you are hard-working; maybe that you are both.

What do intelligence and hard work have to do with this? Well, to tell the truth, I am not really sure about intelligence. All of those IQ studies we hear about seem to come to one conclusion: none of us really have much to do with our IQ. Even if we know what intelligence is, and even if we know how to measure it accurately, our intelligence is, according to these studies, not our own doing. Whose doing is it?

Here are eight possibilities:

• Our parents and their genes; and, above all, their refusal to let us watch TV for 10 hours a day; let's give that 20 points on the IQ scale.
• Our brothers and sisters, who argued with us about everything including the TV remote-another 20 points for winning the argument and 10 for crushing the remote.
• Our kindergarten teachers, who made us cooperate with kids we couldn't stand-40 points for learning to get along with others.
• Our high school chemistry teachers, who taught us the recipe for concocting that rotten egg smell (hydrogen sulfide). Ten points for nothing, really, unless you're a chemistry major.
• Then there's the daily two-hour commute or subway ride, which provides time for reading, thinking, i-Podding, and snoozing-20 points. But no text messaging or cell phones; that's minus 30 points and a ticket.
• The multi-vitamin you take every day, 10 points.
• - The fourth cup of coffee you have every morning that tightens your synapses for clearer thinking, 20 points.
• Watching The Daily Show with John Stewart to keep up with the news-30 points, or not watching The Daily Show-40 points.

When you add up the points, you see that all of us are like the kids in Lake Wobegon-a little above average, but not something we've achieved all by ourselves.

But there is one thing we do achieve by ourselves; there's one thing scientific reports can't take away from us: THAT'S HARD WORK-WORK THAT WE HAVE TO DO ON OUR OWN. AND IF YOUR LIFE IS ANYTHING LIKE MINE WAS WHEN I WAS YOUR AGE, THAT MEANS THERE'S A LOT OF HARD WORK, SOMETIMES MORE THAN WE CAN HANDLE. YET SOMEHOW, SOMEHOW IT GETS DONE.

Hard work-not just the idea-but actually doing it requires a form of moral excellence. WE PRACTICE THAT MORAL EXCELLENCE THROUGH VIRTUES THAT GUIDE US AND SUSTAIN US WHEN WE ARE CONSUMED BY HARD WORK-SO MUCH SO THAT WE CAN HARDLY THINK ABOUT WHAT WE'RE DOING, ONLY THAT WE HAVE THE STAMINA TO DO IT.

Three Virtues That Guide & Sustain 'Hard Work'

Virtue Number One: Patience, my American Heritage Dictionary defines it as: bearing or enduring difficulty with calmness; persevering; being constant; capable of calmly awaiting an outcome or result.

How are we patient? Just sitting requires patience and enduring the complexities of calculating a cost-benefit analysis for an economics class; or persevering through the difficulty of gathering our thoughts for a 10-page paper describing the impact of Trieste on the writings of James Joyce; or getting through, as I am trying to do, the 800 pages of Charles Taylor's A Secular Age, and not just reading, but trying to really, really understand what he is talking about (and I'm not getting a grade at the end).

You are constant in showing up for classes, for turning work in on time, and working with other students on joint projects. That is hard work. We cannot do this (and everything else) without patience.

Virtue Number Two: Then, there is courage. Courage is a quality of mind and spirit that enables us to face vicissitudes with self-possession, confidence and resolution (American Heritage Dictionary). Courage is not simply a virtue for the battlefield or for undergoing surgery or for saving a child from a burning building. Courage underlies the everyday willingness to look at a to-do list with self-possession rather than panic, with confidence rather than doubt, with resolution rather than faint-heartedness. The word courage comes from the Latin word for heart. That gives a clue to how it works: courage is the virtue that allows us to throw ourselves with our whole heart into the tasks at hand. Courage helps us to fix on our goal and pursue it until we have achieved it.

Virtue Number Three: Finally, there is hope; it is a virtue with attitude, an attitude of confident expectation (American Heritage Dictionary), that we will achieve what we have patiently and courageously set out to do...we all join with you in hope, in confident expectation that with hard work, patience, and courage you will achieve what you have set out to do and that what you have set out to do is worthy of all your efforts.

Source: Thoughts by Margaret O'Brien Steinfels, Co-Director, Fordham Center on Religion and Culture, excerpted from keynote remarks given at the Alpha Sigma Lambda Honor Society reception and induction ceremony at Fordham University.

Hard work is the key to success.
How much of the above laud and praise to 'hard work' really works? Is the fruit of 'hard work' available to the average school child born into the world of urban Detroit? A place where there are no 'real jobs', little opportunity, little or no optimism? How much of the above is available to a Latino youth hoeing a field of tomatoes-'hard work will set you free?' Or is successful outcome from a more direct route...that other route to fortune and success? Having a rich father and the momentum of class, social approval, a fraternity or sorority membership, a partnership in a hedge fund, a father who was an automotive giant or the founder of a MLM firm. Face up to it: these things will go much farther than "simple hard work."

Hard Work as a Means to an End?
It all comes down to access and politics. How does one gain access? How important is that access and the power of law contained in the momentum of politics and policy making?

"As long as the law may be diverted from its true purpose -- that it may violate property instead of protecting it -- then everyone will want to participate in making the law, either to protect himself against plunder or to use it for plunder. Political questions will always be prejudicial, dominant, and all-absorbing. There will be fighting to gain access to the legislature as well as fighting within it."
-- Frederic Bastiat

Or as an anonymous blogger has stated:

"The virtue of hard work went out the door when the profits from increased productivity went to the stockholders before the workers. Thank you. Ronald Reagan and the Republican Revolution."

Original.

Survey Political Speeches in the First Half of the 20th Century for American Values

An early study, based on an investigation into political speeches, was published in 1961 by Edward Steele and Charles Redding that identified a set of archetypical American values.


Archetypical American Values Based on Political Speeches Prior to 1960:

Puritan and pioneer morality
The world is made up of people who are good and bad, foul and fair. You are either one of the good guys or you are one of the bad guys. If you are not with us, you are against us.

Value of the individual
The individual has rights above that of general society and government. Success occurs at the level of the individual. People should not have to fight for their rights. The government should protect the rights of the individual, not the other way around.

Achievement and success
Success is measured by the accumulation of power, status, wealth and property. What you already have is not as important as what you continue to accumulate. A retired wealthy person was successful, but is now less admirable.

Change and progress
Change is inevitable. Progress is good and leads to success. If you do not keep up, you will fall behind. Newer is always better. The next version will be better than the last.

Ethical equality
All people are equal, both spiritually and in the opportunities they deserve. This includes differences in race, gender, disability, age, sexual preference and so on.

Effort and optimism
Hard work and striving is the key to success. The great American Dream of fame and fortune comes to those who work hard and never give up.

Efficiency, practicality and pragmatism
Solution is more important than ideology. Utility is more important than show. A key question to any idea is 'Will it work?'


Original.

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, and No Jobs in Michissippi (Michigan)

"The freest government cannot long endure when the tendency of the law is to create a rapid accumulation of property in the hands of a few, and to render the masses poor and dependent." 

-- Daniel Webster, 1782-1852

If the greedy Corporatists won't take a hint from the protests sweeping state houses across the land, then take it from a Founding Thinker and Patriot, extreme inequality between the OnePercenters and the 99 Percenters is a foreboding omen of coming disaster.

Be Glad and Give Thanks for the Occupy Movement: Light is shining in the darkness, and exposing the Wall Street deeds, and the Corporatocracy (an unhealthy alignment between business and political power) of the Koch brothers-so corrupt and evil-via A.L.E.C.'s 'plug and play corporate state legislation". It's all coming into that laser light.

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, and No Jobs... this quote is from Pat Buchanan, Member the Conservative Caucus, during his campaign for the presidency:

"What is an economy for if not so that workers and their families can enjoy the good life their parents knew, so that incomes rise with every year of hard work, and so that Americans once again enjoy the highest standards of living in the world? Our American the most productive in the world; our technology is the finest. Yet, the real incomes of American workers have fallen 20 percent in twenty years. Why are our people not realizing the fruits of their labor?

We have a government frozen in the ice of its own indifference, a government that does not listen anymore to the forgotten men and women who work in the forges, factories, and plants and businesses of this country. We have instead, a government that is too busy taking the phone calls from lobbyists for foreign countries and the corporate contributors of the Fortune 500."

Source: Presidential announcement speech of Patrick J. Buchanan at the Manchester Institute of Arts and Sciences on March 20, 1995

One Buchanan supporter shares a vision: "Imagine a Ron Paul / Pat Buchanan ticket. I would cry with joy. But I can dream."


Original Part 1 and Part 2.

A Very Merry Christmas

The McGuffey Gazette's Christmas card has this essay reproduced, torn from Michigan View's Henry Payne's favorite magazine, Reason. It's penned by A. Barton Hinkle, a columnist at the Richmond Times-Dispatch, placed/nestled inside with a arty card featuring a luminous winter shot of the majestic Detroit skyline at Christmas-as seen from the peaceful Windsor shore-as a cover:

"These are the folks who write earnest monographs on how everybody has the wrong idea about Ebeneezer Scrooge, who was really a thrifty capitalist hero. Their idea of a neat Christmas present is something like a "Who Is John Galt?" doormat-except there isn't one, because John Galt was nobody's doormat...so instead you get a book on Basel bank-capital requirements and a bookmark in the shape of Ludwig von Mises."

"Which is not to say that either group is wrong, mind you-merely that, like the madman in Chesterton's "Orthodoxy," they are "trapped in the well-lit prison of one idea...sharpened to one painful point." You want to say to them, look: If British and German soldiers could sing carols together at Ypres in WWI, then the rest of us are entitled to give politics a break for one lousy day. Here, have some peppermint bark."

"After all, giving people a break is what the holiday is all about. The story of Christmas is the story of a wrathful, smiting God who had a change of heart. A God who said: "You know what? All those horrible, awful, things you've done? Forgiven. We're going to wipe the slate clean and start over. Yet get a second chance."

"That is, at bottom, what makes Christmas such a poignantly joyous holiday. There are not many of us who have not at some time felt lost, broken, inadequate, consumed with guilt. To be forgiven is a great relief. But it is also a great relief to forgive someone else: to let go of grudges and resentments, to give them a reprieve and accept them as they are. And this is something even those of us who cannot swallow the New Testament whole can take part in. You don't have to make peace with the story of Jesus to make peace with your neighbor."

Source: A. Barton Hinkle in Reason Magazine "On Christmas, Escaping the Well-Lit Prison: Give the gift of forgiveness this holiday season." December 23, 2011

And So, Merry Christmas & to all a good night...

Original.

If Only Michissippian TeaPartisans Would Stand Up to the Bullies at the Michigan Chamber...

Those like The Mackinac Center for Public Policy, and the Koch Bros.’ Michigan Chapter of the Americans for Prosperity’s Ranting Rabble

If only Alexander Hamilton could have foreseen the ravishes and rashness of vengeful TeaPartisans in the ruinous TeaPublican led extension of the musty and dank Engler Revolution (the 2011 Legislative Session), bitter partisanship now headed up by a myopic and weak Nerd Beancounter who thinks he owns the right to dictate to citizens of this state following his evisceration of many state programs and budget responsibilities.

But alas!

"We may safely rely on the disposition of the State legislatures to erect barriers against the encroachments of the national authority."

-- Alexander Hamilton-The Federalist Papers Federalist No. 85

Who can save us from a radicalized TeaPublican state legislature reeking havoc on all its enemies, a bully-boy super majority, out of control and disrespectfulof all minority rights?


Original.

The Last ‘Normal’ Michigan Christmas Before Michissippi’s Inevitable Economic Collapse/Consumer Demand Implosion

Misanthropic Bean-Counter Herr Snyder & His Marauding Michissippian Münchausen Cronies - corporate shills and hatchet men - have done-this-state-in for a moldy bowl of Corporate welfare and unfair advantage ranging into the BILLIONS of taxpayer monies siphoned off to themselves.

The natural and moral birthright of hardworking men and women has been devoured by the A.L.E.C./Mackinac Center's HIGHROLLER HOGS; pursuing unjust profits and corrupt advantage. A pox on their achievements! Michigan holds the sad infamy of being "driven to the poor house" with its own GOP/TeaPublican Know Nothings having a heavy foot on the accelerator!

Many of us wondered why that humongous pink HOG was left to wallow at the Capitol Grounds for weeks last year. Now we know. It was a prophetic and chilling PR symbol that the HOGS with the BIG BUCKS had come to Lansing to devoir the assets and living-wage jobs of Michigan's Middle Class, and trample under cloven huff the poor, the veteran, and disadvantaged-whom they blame as "self-depriving" and "undeserving."

The BIG LIE as told by Nerd Rick Snyder is that he was compelled to re-invent our GREAT STATE.
The Nunce Snyder and henchmen were/and are not entitled to control of such an enormous task. This State is not the TeaPublicans to, reconnoiter, dismantle, and re-make. They have no authority to such power over our lives and quality of living; legislatively plundering our property rights and sacred freedoms in any manner that superbly pleases Herr Snyder and his ruthless handlers-a very cleverly, behind-the-scenes imperial cabal led by his very own transition team leader, Doug Rothwell, President & CEO, BUSINESS LEADERS FOR MICHIGAN.

Alexis Charles Henri Maurice Clerel, le Comte de Tocqueville: The Warning & the Democratic Citizens' Pledge: 

"Never invest any number of my fellow creatures with UNLIMITED AUTHORITY"

"If it be admitted that a man, possessing ABSOLUTE POWER, may misuse that that power by wronging his adversaries, why should A MAJORITY not be liable to the same reproach?"

"Men are not apt to change their character by agglomeration; nor does their patience in the presence of obstacles increase with the consciousness of their strength. And for these reasons I can never willingly invest any number of my fellow creatures with that UNLIMITED AUTHORITY which I should refuse to any one of them." 

-- Sage advice from Alexis de Tocqueville

THE LAST WORD: Herr Snyder has become trapped in Machiavellianism: Politics that is amoral and that acts by any means, however unscrupulous. Such acts Snyder et. al. believes can justifiably be used in achieving political/corporate power/anti-majoritian power and in the enactment of unjust laws over and against their rivals, adversaries, and opponents to achieve Snyder and company's own goals and objectives.

Now, Christmas 2011 soon becomes a faint "Christmas Past" for Michissippi: A state enslaved to untoward TeaPublican power and rampant corporate/business GREED. God help us all!


Original.

Confessions of A Well-Known One Percenter Scion of a Robber Baron

"For more than a century ideological extremist at either end of the political spectrum have seized upon well-publicized incidents...to attack the Rockefeller family for the inordinate influence they claim we wield over American political and economic institutions. Some even believe we are part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my family and me as 'internationalists' and of conspiring with others around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure-one world, if you will.

If that's the charge, I stand guilty, and I am proud of it."

-- David Rockefeller, 'Memoirs' 2002, p. 405

Original.

Michissippi Breaks Its Social Contract With the Public

"Class happens when some men, as a result of common experiences (inherited or shared), feel and articulate the identity of their interests as between themselves, and as against other men whose interests are different from (and usually opposed to) theirs."

-- E.P. Thompson, in "The Making of the English Working Class"


Original.

LaPlante condemns a Democratic Congress member for the assertion that TeaPublican proposed “reforms” (gutting of Social Security) are “heartless and un-Christian”

In Response to John R. LaPlante in the Michigan View on Dec 9, 2011 in "God is on my side: Democratic Pols".

Reading the LaPlante lament :

"One member of the Democratic caucus in the U.S. House called proposed reforms to Social Security and other entitlements as "'heartless and un-Christian'" 

Let's take a deeper look at John's protest.

When we do, we see that LaPlante follows up that complaint against the Democratic defender of Social Security with his cute qualifier:

"To quote a reader of National Review Online, ' I'M STILL TRYING TO FIND THE PASSAGE WHERE JESUS TELLS HIS FOLLOWERS TO TAKE AS MUCH AS THEY CAN FROM OTHERS, SO THAT THEY CAN HAVE MORE TO GIVE TO THE POOR'"

In using this quote LaPlante opens the door to the New Testament passage concerning Jesus and the Rich Young Ruler. The National Review Maven cited by LaPlante uses hyperbole, as is common to his genre, and seeks to make an extreme interpretation into a truth by qualifying his recollection (or non-recollection) of the intent expressed by Christ in his ministry.

In this New Testiment account a rich young man asked specifically what God expected of him in light of his previous moral life and his accumulated riches, this is what occurred and what Jesus required:

Matthew 19:16-24:

"16 Then someone came to him and said, "Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?" 17 And he said to him, "Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments." 18 He said to him, "Which ones?" And Jesus said, "You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; 19 Honor your father and mother; also, You shall love your neighbor as yourself." 20 The young man said to him, "I have kept all these; what do I still lack?" 21 JESUS SAID TO HIM, "IF YOU WISH TO BE PERFECT, GO, SELL YOUR POSSESSIONS, AND GIVE THE MONEY TO THE POOR, AND YOU WILL HAVE TREASURE IN HEAVEN; THEN COME, FOLLOW ME." 22 When the young man heard this word, he went away grieving, for he had many possessions. 23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, "Truly I tell you, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God."

There is the direct answer: Jesus required the young enquirer to give up wealth to achieve eternal life. LaPant's National Review Maven wants to frame the story thus: Did Christ ever tell his followers to "take as much as they can from others?" The Maven may or may not know his Bible.

Jesus set a test. If you want to have "eternal life" rich young person (whom Christ knew had many possessions) then you must sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor.

If the National Review Maven is going to hide behind his exaggerated assertion and miss the true impact of this scriptural account, then the Maven should not make a statement such as this one, where he made an attempt to postulate that Jesus had nothing applicable to say about wealth and poverty, thus coyly feeling himself of all obligations to such as in the lawful benevolence of the American Social Covenant with its citizens to operate and protect poor and others of retirement age via a system of contributions and taxation that require only a small fraction of what Christ demanded of the Rich Young Ruler.

LaPlant may want to refresh and edify himself as to the core of the American Creed by going to: Jim Wallis, "Praying for Peace and Looking for Jesus at #OccupyWallStreet."

And as a chaser John should perhaps contemplate the message of The Rev. J. Carl Gregg, of Broadview Church; Chesapeake Beach, Maryland:

"It is often said that the best way to preach a sermon is with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other hand. This past week, I found myself unable to read these hard sayings from Jesus without thinking about the Occupy Wall Street protests that are cropping up across our nation. As I have read and listened to various commentators and pundits in regard to the protests, two quotes, in particular, have stood out to me. Together these quotes serve as both an interesting juxtaposition and as commentary on one another.

"The first quote is from John Kenneth Galbraith, a well-known economist who died a few years ago. He says that we humans too often 'search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.' This quote is perhaps particularly relevant given the resurgence of interest of late in Ayn Rand's philosophy of selfishness among some prominent politicians. The most bizarre aspect from my perspective is that many of these Ayn Rand-toting politicians are regular church attenders who experience no cognitive dissonance between their politics of selfishness and the way of Jesus.

"The second quote is more ironic, as one would expect from comedic satirist Stephen Colbert, who quips, 'IF THIS IS GOING TO BE A CHRISTIAN NATION THAT DOESN'T HELP THE POOR, EITHER WE HAVE TO PRETEND THAT JESUS WAS JUST AS SELFISH AS WE ARE, OR WE'VE GOT TO ACKNOWLEDGE THAT HE COMMANDED US TO LOVE THE POOR AND SERVE THE NEEDY WITHOUT CONDITION AND THEN ADMIT THAT WE JUST DON'T WANT TO DO IT.'

"Although evolutionary biologists and neuroscientists are increasingly finding genetic and evolutionary impulses toward compassion, it is also true that selfishness is, in a sense, "natural" and part of our evolutionary inheritance. We are all born as egocentric infants, but in the face of evolutionary impulses to protect ourselves and those who share the largest number of genes, the way of Jesus calls us to expand our love of selfbeyond merely our immediate tribe to include the love of God and all our neighbors. Indeed, Jesus teaches that The Second Greatest Commandment is to "love your neighbor as yourself" (Leviticus 19:18 / Matthew 22:39-40 and parallels)." 

(emphasis added)

Source: Rev Carl Gregg in his sermon “Jesus, #OccupyWallSt, and the Rich Young Ruler” October 2, 2011.

Original.

The President Joins Teddy’s Spirited Charge Up Greed Mt.

President Obama has joined the charge up the slopes of massive greed and elitist's gated power mountain.

Review these his towering speech, presented-via Robert Reich - as follows:

"The President's speech today in Osawatomie, Kansas (12/8/11) - where Teddy Roosevelt gave his "New Nationalism" speech in 1910 - is the most important economic speech of his presidency in terms of connecting the dots, laying out the reasons behind our economic and political crises, and asserting a willingness to take on the powerful and the privileged that have gamed the system to their advantage."

(break)

"Some background: In 1909, Herbert Croly, a young political philosopher and journalist, argued in his best-selling The Promise of American Life that the large American corporation should be regulated by the nation and directed toward national goals. "THE CONSTRUCTIVE IDEA BEHIND A POLICY OF THE RECOGNITION OF THE SEMI-MONOPOLISTIC CORPORATION IS, OF COURSE, THE IDEA THAT THEY CAN BE CONVERTED INTO ECONOMIC AGENTS...FOR THE NATIONAL ECONOMIC INTEREST," Croly wrote. Teddy Roosevelt's New Nationalism embraced Croly's idea"

President Obama in his Speech to the Nation:

"For...(The New Deal), Roosevelt was called a radical, a socialist, even a communist. But today, we are a richer nation and a stronger democracy because of what he fought for in his last campaign: an eight hour work day and a minimum wage for women; insurance for the unemployed, the elderly, and those with disabilities; political reform and a progressive income tax.

"Today, over one hundred years later, our economy has gone through another transformation. Over the last few decades, huge advances in technology have allowed businesses to do more with less, and made it easier for them to set up shop and hire workers anywhere in the world. And many of you know firsthand the painful disruptions this has caused for a lot of Americans.

"Factories where people thought they would retire suddenly picked up and went overseas, where the workers were cheaper. Steel mills that needed 1,000 employees are now able to do the same work with 100, so that layoffs were too often permanent, not just a temporary part of the business cycle. These changes didn't just affect blue-collar workers. If you were a bank teller or a phone operator or a travel agent, you saw many in your profession replaced by ATMs or the internet. Today, even higher-skilled jobs like accountants and middle management can be outsourced to countries like China and India. And if you're someone whose job can be done cheaper by a computer or someone in another country, you don't have a lot of leverage with your employer when it comes to asking for better wages and benefits - especially since fewer Americans today are part of a union.

---

"Now, just as there was in Teddy Roosevelt's time, there's been a certain crowd in Washington for the last few decades who respond to this economic challenge with the same old tune. "The market will take care of everything," they tell us. If only we cut more regulations and cut more taxes - especially for the wealthy - our economy will grow stronger. Sure, there will be winners and losers. But if the winners do really well, jobs and prosperity will eventually trickle down to everyone else. And even if prosperity doesn't trickle down, they argue, that's the price of liberty."

---

"It's a simple theory - one that speaks to our rugged individualism and healthy skepticism of too much government. It fits well on a bumper sticker. HERE'S THE PROBLEM: IT DOESN'T WORK. IT'S NEVER WORKED. IT DIDN'T WORK WHEN IT WAS TRIED IN THE DECADE BEFORE THE GREAT DEPRESSION. IT'S NOT WHAT LED TO THE INCREDIBLE POST-WAR BOOM OF THE 50S AND 60S. AND IT DIDN'T WORK WHEN WE TRIED IT DURING THE LAST DECADE."

President Obama expands on this:

"...(T)his isn't just another political debate. This is the defining issue of our time. THIS IS A MAKE OR BREAK MOMENT FOR THE MIDDLE CLASS, AND ALL THOSE WHO ARE FIGHTING TO GET INTO THE MIDDLE CLASS. At stake is whether this will be a country where working people can earn enough to raise a family, build a modest savings, own a home, and secure their retirement."

This speech will occupy the minds of those who were/are privileged to hear or read it for a long time.

It's time to occupy our own courage and meet eye to eye the hoary mass of obstructionism and fawning deference to the imperial 1%ers - whose days of plunder will include sunset- a massive revolt-the very kind that scares rad-right word-monger Frank Lunz ; who says he's "SCARED TO DEATH" of the power and ability of the 99%ers who literally occupy every part of America.

Our President expands:

"Now, in the midst of this debate, there are some who seem to be suffering from a kind of COLLECTIVE AMNESIA. After all that's happened, after the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, they want to return to the same practices that got us into this mess. In fact, they want to go back to the same policies that have stacked the deck against middle-class Americans for too many years. Their philosophy is simple: we are better off when everyone is left to fend for themselves and play by their own rules."

President Obama's memorable concluding summation:

"Well, I'm here to say they are wrong. I'm here to reaffirm my deep conviction that we are greater together than we are on our own. I believe that this country succeeds when everyone gets a fair shot, when everyone does their fair share, and when everyone plays by the same rules. Those aren't Democratic or Republican values; 1% values or 99% values. They're American values, and we have to reclaim them."

"In 1910, Teddy Roosevelt came here, to Osawatomie, and laid out his vision for what he called a New Nationalism.

'Our country,' he said, '...means nothing unless it means the triumph of a real democracy...of an economic system under which each man shall be guaranteed the opportunity to show the best that there is in him.'"
(random emphasis added)

Well said, and Timely.


Original.

Occupy America: Finding a Way to Free Citizens of the 99% from the “Mastery of the Ignoble elite.”

The hand-cranked memographers failure at the mighty propaganda mill - Mackinac Center for Public Policy - to do "the right thing" has caused it to lose all claim to pro-active philosophy, a sustainable fairness and renewal direction for Michigan.

This is profoundly sad and frightening.

It is the Mackinac Center incessant pounding of the legislature with proto-lobbying and the hectoring of the public to achieve their privatization and for-profit goals (while destroying and undermining the necessary order of Michigan and the everyday lives of its working people) that is creating ugly Michissippi - a newly decimated state pushed to be run over by TeaPublicans "gone wild" under the tutelage and direction of the Koch Bros., Amway, big oil, American Legislative Exchange Council put-and-take legislation and other mega corporations. These have put their demands well before the needs of Michigan's struggling populace.

The Mackinac Center is not conservative. The Mackinac Center is not moral. The Mackinac Center has lost all sense of religious mores. The Mackinac Center is a blight on traditional conservatism as led by Michigan's own Dean of Conservatism, the late Russell Kirk. The 'ignoble' mega-wealthy who back and propel Mackinac Center are not worthy of statesmanship and honor. They and their goals are ignoble.

Read this assessment of Russell Kirk's impact as relates to TRUE CONSERVATISM:

"First among the concerns of modern conservatives is the regeneration of spirit and character, by which Kirk means the renewal of religious ideals, the one sure foundation for a life worth living.

"Kirk cautions that political Christianity, in which God is a means to an end, will not suffice. Rather, spiritual renewal must be done for its own sake.

"The conservative is also concerned, as Kirk has mentioned before, with the PROBLEM OF LEADERSHIP, which has two aspects: the preservation of reverence, order, discipline, and class and the cleansing of our system of education, so that it can become liberal in the best sense of that word.

Stated Kirk "ONLY JUST LEADERSHIP CAN REDEEM SOCIETY FROM THE MASTERY OF THE IGNOBLE ELITE."
(emphasis added)

Excerpted from "Russell Kirk: The Conservative Mind".

America Faces Coming Judgment for Its Unbridled Worship of Pagan Mammonism

The Mackinac Center stands squarely with the Godless paganism of Ayn Rand, Friedman, Greenspan and others who exult the individual above the community and the congregation of the righteous, and still too, the common good, must be seen for what it actually is, a pagan libertarianism: Mammon whose fixation on "freedom" has degenerated into a raid on the foundations of our Republic; its banking and investment services, and yes, upon the distinctly religious basis given American life by the Framers of the Constitution.

Occupy America with righteousness and restore probity to the government and its institutions; stand with those who demand that business abide by moral standards. Too many of the "smartest men in the room" would have us believe that in America, if something has the force of law - a proposal is made into legal statues it bears the impress of morality, not so. All that is called 'legal' is not all moral. Legal is not necessarily 'moral.'

Americans suffer under many laws and corporate designer regulations that are anything but moral and righteous; beneficial to the common welfare.

Join Kirk's fight against twisted ideology and the corruption of real conservatism by the greedy usurpers mentioned above. Be genuinely 'Conservative.'
________

It is said that mankind faces judgment by God in the afterlife. Nations, however, receive their judgment and punishment in this life. America stands to face harsh judgment from God in the here-and-now. Repent.

Will repentance now be too late to save our fair land?

For more on the 1% follow the "Mega-Wealthy" and "Wealthy Elites" tags on the Gazette.

Original.

Confusion Over Free Enterprise & Private Property

A SHARP FOCUS:
The Promulgation of Theft by the 1%ers v. the Right of Preservation & Expansion of Personal Property by the Victimized 99% Long Deprived of Fair Compensation for Honest Labor

"A pickpocket is obviously a champion of private enterprise. But it would perhaps be an exaggeration to say that a pickpocket is a champion of private property. The point about Capitalism and Commercialism, as conducted of late, is that they have really preached the extension of business rather than the preservation of belongings; and have at best tried to disguise the pickpocket with some of the virtues of the pirate."

― G.K. Chesterton, in his book "The Outline of Sanity" (1927)

Original.

Ayn Rand Speaking With Precision for the 99 %

The Evil of Supplicating to Men Who Produce Nothing, in Order to Produce:

"When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion - when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing - when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors - when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work and your laws don't protect you against them, but protect them against you - when you see corruption being rewarded and honestly becoming a self-sacrifice - YOU MAY KNOW THAT YOUR SOCIETY IS DOOMED."
(emphasis added)

-- Ayn Rand (1905-1982) Author

Source: Atlas Shrugged, Francisco's "Money Speech"


Original.

Rothschilds as One Percenters

"The Rothschilds, and that class of money-lenders of whom they are the representatives and agents -- men who never think of lending a shilling to their next-door neighbors, for purposes of honest industry, unless upon the most ample security, and at the highest rate of interest -- stand ready, at all times, to lend money in unlimited amounts to those robbers and murderers, who call themselves governments, to be expended in shooting down those who do not submit quietly to being robbed and enslaved."

-- Lysander Spooner (1808-1887) Political theorist, activist, abolitionist

Source: "No Treason #6" (1870)

Original.

Attention Pseudo-Christian Capitalists

Forget God' s Rules for Wealth, Forfeit Your Wealth

Having received the 10 Commandments on Mount Sinai; Moses said to the gathered people:

"Obey all the laws that I am teaching you, and you will live and occupy the land which the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. Do not add anything to what I command you, and do not take anything away. Obey the commands of the Lord your God that I have given you. You yourselves saw what the Lord did at Mount Peor. He destroyed everyone who worshiped Baal, there, but those of you who were faithful to the Lord your God are still alive today.

"I have taught you all the laws, as the Lord my God told me to do."

His Semitic predecessor was depicted as a man or a bull - the Wall Street Bull?) (Baal serves Mammon & Greedy Hording)

Remember Who Has Given You Ability to Produce Wealth

"You may say to yourself, 'MY POWER AND THE STRENGTH OF MY HANDS HAVE PRODUCED THIS WEALTH FOR ME.' But REMEMBER THE LORD YOUR GOD, FOR IT IS HE WHO GIVES YOU THE ABILITY TO PRODUCE WEALTH, and so confirms his covenant..."
-- Spake Moses - Deuteronomy 8:17-18

So spoke Christ Jesus:

"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You can not serve both God and Mammon."
-- Matthew 6:19-21 and 24

God or Mammon America...What will your choice be ?

If we lose these, we are conquered, fallen indeed...

"..Virtue, morality, and religion. This is the armor, my friend, and this alone that renders us (America) invincible. These are the tactics we should study. If we lose these, we are conquered, fallen indeed... so long as our manners and principles remain sound, there is no danger."

-- Patrick Henry (1736-1799) US Founding Father in a letter on "American character" to Archibald Blair January 8, 1799 (Tyler, pg 365).

Original in response to comments.