Food For Thought

This couldn't be said this any better than it has been by J. P. Long

 

By Junius P. Long

Food For Thought

If you can get arrested for hunting or fishing without a license, but not for being in the country illegally ... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.

If you have to get your parents’ permission to go on a field trip or take an aspirin in school, but not to get an abortion ... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.

If the only school curriculum allowed to explain how we got here is evolution, but the government stops a $15 million construction project to keep a rare spider from evolving to extinction ... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.

If you have to show identification to board an airplane, cash a check, buy liquor or check out a library book, but not to vote who runs the government ... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.

If the government wants to ban stable, law-abiding citizens from owning gun magazines with more than ten rounds, but gives 20 F-16 fighter jets to the crazy new leaders in Egypt ... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.

If, in the largest city, you can buy two 16-ounce sodas, but not a 24-ounce soda because 24-ounces of a sugary drink might make you fat ... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.

If an 80-year-old woman can be stripped searched by the TSA but a woman in a hijab is only subject to having her neck and head searched ... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.

If your government believes that the best way to eradicate trillions of dollars of debt is to spend trillions more ... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.

If a seven year old boy can be thrown out of school for saying his teacher is "cute," but hosting a sexual exploration or diversity class in grade school is perfectly acceptable ... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.

If children are forcibly removed from parents who discipline them with spankings while children of addicts are left in filth and drug infested “homes”... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.

If hard work and success are met with higher taxes and more government intrusion, while not working is rewarded with EBT cards, WIC checks, Medicaid, subsidized housing and free cell phones ... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.

If the government's plan for getting people back to work is to incentivize NOT working with 99 weeks of unemployment checks and no requirement to prove they applied but can’t find work ... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.

If being stripped of the ability to defend yourself makes you more "safe" according to the government ... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.

What would Ike, Truman or Reagan do?

My wife asked an interesting question this morning, she asked what Ike or Truman or even Reagan would do in this situation with the world on the brink of war.  I had to think a while as the question hit home.  I don’t believe we would have reached this point had any of the above listed been president.  Why you ask, because they would have reacted a lot sooner to the different cases.  Ike or Truman would have at the first sign of escalation put out an ultimatum to stand down immediately that the world would have listened to, as they were known for being men of action not just diplomacy.  In the last few decades we have become appeasers and are not expected to react other than to send our diplomats to negotiate with these rogue leaders through third party intermediaries. 

“We will not negotiate with terrorists” is what they say, but in the background we have an emissary from the French speaking for us.  Our stature in the world has fallen to the degree that if Korea wants more food they rattle the saber and we send food, it’s a big joke in the world.  America the country that was left to these last two generations a strong and feared nation among nations has become the piñata of the world, poke her and goodies will fall out.  We saw what Reagan did when he took command, the hostages in Iran were released immediately, how about when the Cubans sought a foothold in Grenada, he didn’t negotiate he reacted.  We saw what Truman did at the end of WWII to show the world that it doesn’t pay to mess with the United States of America.  Ike was so strong coming out of WWII that we had the greatest period of economic growth in our history.  Why did these leaders succeed where today’s fail?  Because they had the heart and soul of America and all these tin horn dictators knew it.  The John Wayne syndrome has always been the mantra for success in leadership in America.  The press called Reagan the Cowboy in a very derogatory way, yet it was that Cowboy who brought down the Berlin Wall and brought The Soviet Union to her knees. 

A thing to ponder; all three presidents that I spoke of brought themselves out of poverty just as most Americans did in the day.  There were no hands reaching down to lift their spirits or fill their larders.  These were self made men who took the personal responsibility to succeed. The Presidency was the most prestige’s position in the world and when the President of the United States spoke people listened.  Today we have a reflection of what we have become; a spoiled aristocratic government that thinks more about their personal power and prestige than the glory of the American way that defined our nation for decades.  

That’s my opinion, what’s yours?

How close are we to a World War?

In October of 1962 I read an article that asked the question; how close are we to war?  I was in the military at the time and I can tell you we were pretty damn close to a shooting war on three fronts.  There was of course The Cuban Missile standoff, at the same time a cat and mouse game was going on under the sea with Russia and the United States both playing a dangerous game of chess with highly armed nuclear submarines at times coming just yards from each other provoking and dodging.  Then there was a battle brewing in Viet Nam after the French pulled out.  The U.S. backed a South Korean named Ngo Dinh Diem who was not much more than a thug who had eliminated his rivals on his way to president.  The world at the time called for a nationwide Korean election but the U.S. was afraid the communists would win and fought to hold the election in just the South.  The resulting unrest in the North eventually led to a shooting war that as we all know involved losing thousands of American Troops. 

If I were to be asked the same question today I would have to say once again we are involved in the potential for  war on four fronts; Of course Afghanistan where we are totally involved but I can’t call it a war because in a war both sides are trying to eliminate each other.  In the case of Afghanistan our troops have one hand tied behind their back due to constrictions placed on them by both the Bush and Obama administrations and the Karzi regime regarding collateral damage.  Plus we have already told the enemy that we are leaving whether we win or lose.  Once again the U.S. for whatever reason has backed a thug who has little support of his people. 

The second front is Israel; it will only be a short while before the Arab Nations surrounding Israel decide that they can win against the smaller country.  By the way, aren’t we helping arm Egypt with tanks and F-16’s, a nation run by the Islamic Brotherhood who has sworn to remove Israel from the map?

The third front is Syria which will lead eventually to Iran; the U.S. is really in a pickle here as Russia has chosen to back the Syrian regime with weapons and supplies.  The only way the United States can win these conflicts is to actually be allowed to use the weapons at our disposal and fight to win.  These do not necessarily have to be nuclear arms as we have a huge arsenal of conventional weapons in our armory.  We just have to make our enemy understand we are in to win and will not hold back our military once engaged.   Our M.O. has been to hit and run in these engagements never to go for all out victory.  To the eyes of our enemy Americans have no stomach for war and will soon tire of the conflict.   Have we the people of the greatest nation ever become so weak that we are going to allow America to become a lesser nation who depends on others for survival?

I know I mentioned a fourth front, to most it is obviously Korea the most bellicose of the four.  In my opinion North Korea will saber rattle till the cows come home but will not attack in force until we are totally engaged in other parts of the world and stretched to the limit.  They may cause a ruckus on the border but China will hold them back until they consider we are so weak from the attrition of war that we can be gobbled up easily.  All this time our longtime Cold War enemy Russia sits and watches and waits. 

It is my opinion that without strong and decisive leadership in Washington we are being led into a world class trap that will be hard to get out of.  The United States must lead from the front and not allow the weaker nations of Europe to dictate our survival.

That’s my opinion, what’s yours?

When the government gets involved

When the government gets involved it tends to overkill whatever it is responding to.  When legislation is passed by Congress it then has to go to a team of regulators that create regulation to backup the laws passed.  The regulators look into every aspect of compliance and basically guess at what the result of the law will be on society as it is implemented.  Many times there are unintended consequences to these laws that have an adverse affect on the populace and do more damage than the good that was intended. 

A good example is prohibition, prohibition was suppose to bring families back together by closing the gin mills that husbands often visited on their way home from work.  It actually caused chaos thru-out the country and did more damage than good.  It proved that you can’t legislate morality, it has to be taught in the home first and foremost and that old habits are hard to break.

Another example is as Marisa Manley wrote in 1996 “Welfare laws are supposed to help the poor, yet as Charles Murray and others have documented, welfare establishes powerful, perverse incentives for families to break up, since mothers lose government money if a father is present. The poverty rate among families with a single head of household is 600 percent higher than families with two heads of household. Infant mortality is much higher among single-head-of-household families, too.”  Do you think the government planned it to be this way or is this just another example of overkill from government?
Read more from Manley: http://www.fee.org/the_freeman/detail/why-laws-backfire/#ixzz2PYYfL0po

Another case of overkill was the arrest and confinement of the Japanese Americans during the war.  These families were uprooted from their homes and businesses in a massive sweep to rid our country of subversives.  These were law abiding citizens of the United States no different from Italians, Germans or even the Irish yet they were removed from society forcibly and many lost everything they had built up over their entire lives as they were put in internment camps by the very country they loved and supported. 

Now we have possibly largest case of overkill by the government so far as they take over the worlds greatest healthcare system.  Their intentions are supposedly good but the ultimate result is yet to be determined, so far our cost for medical insurance has skyrocketed forcing many businesses to trim their employee roster or switch them to part time to avoid the over 20,000 new regulations that have come from Washington so far.        

I remember a case of overcharging in the military when it was discovered a $14 toilet seat cost $230, this was the result of the cost to do business with the government. It was due to the massive amount of paperwork and the specs that had to be followed because of the regulations involved.  Instead of just sending a simple purchase order to a supplier to buy  toilet seats these bureaucrats felt the need to design their own.

In my opinion when government gets involved in domestic affairs things go badly.

That’s my opinion what’s yours?

How does the Federal Government earn money?

What creates revenue for the Federal Government? 

When you tax or overburden the small business community with regulations you stifle the creation of jobs which in turn lowers the income through employment tax.  Picking up the slack through additional tax on those who create jobs further depletes investment and again lowers revenue. 

When the government lowers the burden on investors and small business jobs make a comeback and it increases the revenue collected by the government.  Kennedy and Reagan both proved this by lowering taxes and creating jobs during their respective administrations.

As of today we have no sign that this administration understands this principle lesson.  There are over 20,000 new regulations coming out of Washington just for Obama-Care alone.  This is creating an over burden situation on the job creators which lowers the possibility of an increased employment picture.  Small to medium businesses create 75 to 80% of the jobs in America yet there is no small business package that is readily available to help them through these hard times.  The Green Energy program that has been supported by this administration has been wrought with corruption and failure.

They can tax us out of capitalism and create a European semi socialist style of economy without firing a shot and that’s exactly what they are doing.