Many are called but few are able

 

When I think seriously about those who are Democrats and those who are Republicans, I am truly stymied by the similarities of both, especially with those who serve us in Congress.

Being a politician is a person who is professionally involved in politics, especially as a holder of or a candidate for an elected office.

When you consider yourself a “professional politician” then the idea of service to others, specifically your constituents, becomes problematic. Those in office often disregard the idea of service in order to maintain one’s professionalism.  Elections become vastly more important than doing what’s right. The singular idea of “staying in office” trump’s (no pun intended) the very notion of being a Statesman, defined as a wise, skillful, and respected political leader.

I am naturally dubious at those who spend their lives in political leadership. Regardless of their ideology, the long-term and “professional” status only leads to corruption and incompetence and reminds me of the following.  

The Peter Principle states that a person who is competent at their job will earn a promotion to a position that requires different skills. If the promoted person lacks the skills required for the new role, they will be incompetent at the new level, and will not be promoted again.[1] If the person is competent in the new role, they will be promoted again and will continue to be promoted until reaching a level at which they are incompetent. Being incompetent, the individual will not qualify for promotion again, and so will remain stuck at this "Final Placement" or "Peter's Plateau."

This principle applies equally to all sides of the political spectrum and most areas of life, but in politics, the effects can be devastatingly destructive. For many, political office, especially National Politics is the zenith of achievement, but very few consider the reality of their inability to serve effectively and are solely focused on getting elected and then remaining in office to stay in office, regardless of their effectiveness. 

There is a reason politicians have a 33% approval rating. That rating is an across-the-board average of all politicians in all parties.  I think it's safe to say that the reason for their disapproval is their obvious inability to perform their duties as outlined in the Constitution and expected by the people who vote them into office.  

The above is obvious. The problem is, and again this is obvious, we the people cannot elect competent people to serve our country's needs. Therein lies the ideological issue. Regardless of the obviousness of the above, it is only salient if we pursue the truths written in our government's charter, the Constitution.  

Most do not understand the Constitution, most have never read it and many profess, ignorantly, to demand alterations or addition to it. Many want to expunge it from existence, replacing the constitution with open-ended and morally relativistic doctrine that allows anything for anyone. 

In order to alter the above, we would have to alter the inevitable ignorance of those who are allowed to vote. That by the way includes almost everyone who can breathe and some that do not. If any of you have any suggestions on how to accomplish that monumental task, I’m listening….

Debt = Slavery

 

In the space of just 14 months, the economy has plunged into a serious financial quagmire.  I guess to some extent; it depends on how you look at things, but the undeniable truth is as follows:  

1.  Interest rates are still low but that is a function of the Fed forcing the issue and maintaining low-interest rates, despite the decreases in real money supply. Reliable money must be based on proven and reliable assets, and not the trillions of easily printed dollars flooding the market.  

In order to maintain a stable monetary system, it is imperative to balance the need to print money in relation to the reliable assets available. Our government has printed, and continued printing regardless of the long-term effects it will have on future inflation and monetary stability.

2. The engines that drive this country are the fuels we depend on to feed our factories, our homes, and our transportation. Supply and Demand dictate that when you tighten a supply of a product, you increase the demand for that product and that increased demand increases the cost of the available supply.  

Oil is an essential product of not only our economy but virtually every economy of the world. Without oil, the world stops, and despite what you think you know oil is also the foundational resource that builds our windmills, our solar panels, produces our electricity, and gives us the choice to seek for alternative power sources. Without oil, our economy is forced to step away from progress and expansion and instead move downward toward stagnation.

3.  Infrastructure allows all of us to freely move about.  It ensures safe travel, rapid movement for easier decision making and lets the people of that economy choose more freely where they want to live, work and play.  

The current cost of upgrading our infrastructure is in the trillions of dollars and will take years to complete, but when mixed with 1 and 2 above the prospect of completion is beyond reason. Especially with the current administration's movements away from carbon, rapid movements to curtail oil and increase electric use, without the use of oil, or so they say, the idea of infrastructure improvements that actually work for most Americans is simply a pipe dream.

Our government is moving toward paying mortgages for people who are or have not worked because of the CoronaVirus Pandemic. This will cost trillions of dollars. We expect them to approve student loan forgiveness, which will cost billions upon billions with the unknown effects moving toward cheapening education and destroying the educated process in general. 

These economic moves of the Left are nothing more than an attempt to herd the masses with promises of free stuff, masked as a move toward freedom. “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” Give away free stuff and you create a subservient class, a group of non-thinkers and people who are unmotivated, slothful, and dangerous.  

Giving to the needy is essential, as we help others we help ourselves but giving to those who can work but choose not to is not helpful. Giving away education, paying for student loans also destroys the very process of learning. Free does not mean right.

When the time comes that the policies of giving can no longer be sustained, the receivers of those gifts learn quickly that they have been enslaved and at the same time are too content to understand the consequences of that form of slavery. They no longer think for themselves, they can no longer appreciate the values of work, self-reliance, and liberty and instead, meekly bow their heads and do as they are told.  

When gas lines are too long, most will eventually accept the new reality and do less, move less, think less, and perform less, learning quickly that it is better to keep your head down and do as you're told.  

We all need to take action now. Hold our leader's feet to the fire, help them understand how their actions, how their spending will destroy our lives. Open your eyes and see the actual truth behind what’s happening to our Country.  

We can hope it gets better, or we can act to make it better. We can dream or we can wake up and see what’s happening before our eyes. It is up to us.

The Reality of Race Relations

 

Reality, it seems, is not that real, at least not for a percentage of the population.  So many are out of touch with reality that they claim that they have their own, distinctive form that overshadows and has precedents over the scientific data and statistical measures that are not only quantifiable but verifiable as well.

We all know that the media can manipulate statistics, but when asked if blacks were more likely to die from a police encounter or from a traffic accident, most respondents, both black and white believed that they were more at risk of dying when stopped by police.  

 

241 African Americans were shot by the police and killed in 2020.  That number included all age groups and all incidents, including individuals killed during criminal behavior.  https://www.statista.com

5,432 traffic deaths occurred within the black community in 2002,  I could not find more relevant information but the patterns are similar over the years.

In an article entitled, “The Myth of Systemic Police Racism” WSJ, by Heather Mac Donald, she looks at the statistics and shows the relationship of public opinion in relation to statistics, they don’t match. The incidents of racial animus are far less than reported in the Media.  

The incidence of systemic racism is RARE and has been Rare, for years. The issue is in how singular events are reported as widespread.  Statistically and sociologically race relations have never been better.  If you doubt what I report, I challenge you to look at the statistics, look at the numbers, look at the patterns of how we generally interact with each other and you should see, I say “should” because there are some who will refuse to see the reality even with the overwhelming evidence provided.

There is a pattern that should be considered.  When the media latches onto a story or an event the rise of irrational behaviors can cause a change in society's illogical and groundless opinions.  These usually occur around elections and are almost always promoted by the Left and their believers.

I use the word believers because their actions are no less fervent than those who believe in a religious cause or purpose.  

Let me be clear about a few things.  There is racism, there is hate and there is discord in all societies.  But when you take the totality of our advances away from slavery, when you include the intent and actual words of our founding documents, and when you include the relative rapidity of our abandoning slavery of blacks, as a whole, then you can start to see the overwhelming progress of this Country toward the idea that all men are created equal.

In general, most Americans are good, honest, hard-working individuals who eschew the thought of mistreating another, regardless of skin color.  We used to value our families and our rights and we looked at our flag with a sense of honor.  We were kind to each other and went out of our way to help others, regardless of skin color, religious belief, or political ideology.

We used to...That is changing.  The Media, Social Media is changing us.  It is infecting us with its lies, its hyperbolic ideas, and notions.  I don’t understand why or who really gains but our current level of race relations is not systemic; it is media-driven to sell time, papers, viewers.  They understand that good news is not as profitable as bad news, and we are awash in bad news.

It’s your choice, but if you listen to the bad news and fail to do your own research, it will adversely affect you. 

 

Trapped

 Trapped in a man's body

When you think about the statement above, you must have sympathy for the individual who expresses those words.  What they are going through is a horrendous ordeal to manage and process.  The above also applies to women trapped in the body of a man.

The feelings of being trapped, not being able to escape, enslaved or forced to remain creates psychological fatigue and raises the body's stress levels to unhealthy levels.

 

I can fully understand the anxiety and the frustration of thinking as they do about being trapped and do not want to minimize their inner struggle towards “freedom”.

I once saw a rabbit caught in a snare of thorny sticks.  The rabbit was helpless and would have died had I not helped it to escape.  That feeling is overwhelming and beyond frustration and I can understand why their thoughts turn to suicide.  

I released the rabbit from its horror but to those who believe they are trapped and process the situation with human emotions and intelligence, the issues only get worse.  

The term “being trapped” is an interesting way of expressing their frustration and in a genuine sense, I think they are trapped.  

Had the rabbit understood its dilemma it would have understood how it got trapped and even though it couldn’t do anything about it, it would have understood and with that understanding would have been able to process the event.  With that understanding, the rabbit could have learned to avoid the circumstances that would have prevented that disaster.

There are however a few questions I would like to ask in order to more fully understand this psychological imprisonment.  I use the term psychological because it’s the only term I know that makes any sense.  Please correct me if I am wrong.

1.  When you refer to yourself “as trapped…” in a woman's or man's body, who trapped you?  

2. Is that entrapment malicious or random, or is it the act of something else that I do not understand?

3. As has often been stated, “I knew when I was a child that I was a...Man or Woman, I have always known.” Is it knowing or is it a feeling.? Is there a difference between knowing that you were different than you are, then feeling that you knew? I understand that this is splitting hairs but there is a great difference between the two, with the consequences between the two, being the difference between a happy and fulfilled life and a life of misery, pain, and eventual suicide.

4. Is it easier to accept who you are, rather than who you want to be? Let me explain. Humanity has learned that in order to be “happy” we must be willing to accept. Accept our circumstances, our “lot” in life, ourselves as who we are. If we are not accepting of the face in the mirror is it the mirror’s fault?

The point I am trying to make is that who we are is much more important than what we are. I suggest that who we are is the key. Are we honest? Are we kind? Do we like ourselves, regardless of what we are?  

What we are, can change and often does throughout our lives. When I was a child, I wanted to be an artist or an Architect.  My father had other ideas, so those options were not available to me.  When those opportunities presented themselves, I could not pursue that desire in my life.  

I still try to think as an artist, I dabble in artistic things, I draw, I paint but I am not an artist in relation to my view of myself when I was young. Has that influenced my life?  To some extent, yes.  Has it defined my life? No. I have a happy and fulfilling life despite not becoming an Artist.  

This philosophy applies to everyone.  It applies to the rich and the not-so-rich. It applies to all races and genders, including the Trans community.  The question of being trapped can affect us all, but each of us has the God-given ability to look beyond what we want and focus instead on who we are.  We are all children of our Heavenly Father and with that understanding, we can pursue a life filled with joy and happiness and if we do that, that reflection that we see in the mirror will be what God sees in us, not what we wish we could see.