Republic Rules - The U.S.A. is a great representative republic.

In my observations, I’ll often reference “WE” (usually capitalized), by which I mean WE, the people.  But does that mean I speak for everyone in the U.S.?  No.

The “WE” I like to speak of is a reference, of course, to the preamble of the Constitution of the United States.

Likewise, did the Constitution speak for EVERYONE in the incipient country?  No.  There were plenty of loyalists… people who did not want to break with Great Britain,  who supported being a colony under rule of the King, who opposed (ACTIVELY!) those who wanted independence.

So, from the very beginning, WE did not bean everybody.  WE refers to those who support our country and the priniciples upon which it was founded.  WE means those who BELIEVE in the Constitution. WE are the people who think our Founding Fathers “got it right”.  WE are the people who appreciate the selfless sacrifice of those who created and have defended our Constitution from the beginning.  WE are those who continue to have faith in the astounding integrity of the Constitution and want it to remain the basis upon which our great nation operates.

WE are those who fear manipulation of the Constitution by activist jurists, who fear elected representatives who place their own personal interests and/or the interests of their political party above the guidelines and restrictions dictated by the Constitution, who fear a populace that has not been honestly taught the many virtues of the Constitution and its worthiness of respect by our educational system.

WE are the people who object to a large and intrusive federal government.

WE are the people who object to a federal government involved in activities clearly not mandated or authorized by the Constitution.

WE are the people who are proud of our country and want it to remain a leader among world governments of the right of citizens to the pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness.

It seems some people are just looking for a fight these days.  They’ll take statements out of context, distort something that was said, or just hear words without thinking of their true meaning.  Here’s a current example:

A special meeting about Dallas County traffic tickets turned tense and bizarre this afternoon.

County commissioners were discussing problems with the central collections office that is used to process traffic ticket payments and handle other paperwork normally done by the JP Courts.

Commissioner Kenneth Mayfield, who is white, said it seemed that central collections “has become a black hole” because paperwork reportedly has become lost in the office.

Commissioner John Wiley Price, who is black, interrupted him with a loud “Excuse me!” He then corrected his colleague, saying the office has become a “white hole.”

That prompted Judge Thomas Jones, who is black, to demand an apology from Mayfield for his racially insensitive analogy.

It’s bad enough if someone actually does says something to incite a racial response, but when a person uses a phrase that’s well known… and has been used in a similar manner in many other cases with PERFECT understanding… then it demonstrates one of two things:

• The people complaining are uneducated and jumped to a false conclusion, in which case they owe the OTHER person an apology upon learning the true meaning of the reference, or
• The complainers are LOOKING for any opportunity to claim racial bias, even if there is none, in which case they are being deceitful and owe EVERYONE an apology.

In the first instance, a mistake is made and rectified, and life goes on.  A learning opportunity.  A chance to show real integrity.

In the latter, the “offended” people are willfully trying to manipulate others based upon a false premise.   To add insult to injury, one of the accusers is a JUDGE! That makes me wonder what kinds of things are going on in his court!!

English is a great language and we should be able to use it correctly at any time.  While miscommunication can occur at any time, there’s no need to go in search of it with the seeming goal of expunging certain valid words or phrases from common use.  But that seems to be the wish of “the offended” in these “politically correct” times.

My view?  “PC” is “BS”.

It’s an age-old warning:  let the buyer beware.

There ARE people (and businesses) who will try to cheat you or deliver far less value than what you expect.  It is YOUR responsibility as a buyer to examine all aspects of “the deal” before consummating it. But it applies not just to business dealings, it applies in all areas of our lives.

There are some people who think it is the government’s job to keep you from being cheated.   It is a misguided notion.  It is NOT POSSIBLE for the government to protect you from predators. The government can pass laws to make certain practices illegal.  The government can prosecute those who are found to have broken those laws.  The government can mete out some punishment for  convicted lawbreakers.  The government can warn you about the possibility of some illegal act being perpetrated.  The government can establish some barriers that make it harder for people to break the laws.

But, no matter what it does, the government cannot absolutely prevent someone from breaking the law.  So, WE must take some responsibility in the way we live our lives, the activities we get involved in, the people we associate with, and the situations we expose ourselves to.

Even if WE are diligent about protecting ourselves, WE cannot prevent some bad things from happening to us.  But WE have much more control than most people seem to think… because most of US are self-reliant, responsible, THINKING citizens who hold ourselves accountable for our actions.

There is a portion of our population who do not want to be responsible for themselves, who accept no responsibility for their actions, who look outward to place blame on the bad things that happen to them, and who rely on the government to “take care of” them.  Apparently, these people WANT the government to make decisions for them and are willing to give up some of their freedom in the process.  They proactively take a step toward enslaving themselves.

If that’s as far as it went, I’d say:  let the fools have what they want!

But people who want the government to have more and more control want it to have more control just over them… they want it to have more control over you and me, too!  THEY think they know better and want to sacrifice not only their own freedom, but OURS as well. So, the fools want to jump off a steep cliff… and grasp onto the rest of us while doing so.  They want to take us with them!!

ANY time we hear about some faction wanting the government to have more control, WE must LOUDLY PROTEST… or we will soon find the advocates have lost a bit of their liberty… and WE have, too.

Have you ever wondered who really has control of our country?

In theory, WE, the voters, have control.  WE determine who will represent us. Since ours is a representative republic, however, what we are really doing is GIVING our control to those we designate (elect).  THEY then have actual control.  If they campaign on a certain platform and deliver on their promises, then our votes we valid… our elected representative votes as the majority of us would have.  They faithfully represent OUR wishes.

If an elected representative is NOT honest, however, there is a problem.  If they promise one thing in order to get elected… and we vote for them based on that… and then they vote in some way contrary to how they campaigned, then they are DISHONEST and our wishes are NOT being portrayed as expected in the execution of their duties.

Obviously, if WE are unhappy about that circumstance, we can vote that person out of office in the next election cycle… but they have gotten away with their deceit in the meantime!

How often have our representatives done anything, said anything, just to get elected and then simply did what THEY wanted without regard to the wishes of the majority of their constituents?  I think it happens more often than not.  And it is the nature of things that the incumbent has an advantage in elections.  Perhaps it just has to do with name recognition, perhaps it’s due to laziness on the part of voters who do not connect the dots between old promises and actual behavior.  Either way, it’s harder for a fresh face to get elected than for an older one to get re-elected.

It seems things have to get very bad… or a representative has to clearly commit truly terrible acts… for the public to kick them out.  Indeed, some of the activities of our elected officials have been shameful… but, SOMEHOW, they manage to stay in office!

So, we relinquish our control to those we elect.   We place our trust in them.  Sometimes they prove to be unworthy of that trust.  The ONLY remedy is to remove them from office OR we are condoning their abuse of our trust… and it is OUR fault if we do not.  Sadly, many of the politicians guilty of this behavior pander to our selfish interests in order to remain in office… and, rather than casting our votes for those who DESERVE to be our representative, many of us cast votes based on greed… “buying” again the false promises and lies of the politician.

It is time to hold all representatives ACCOUNTABLE.  They are sworn to serve the best interests of our country.  Instead, many are not only failing to do that, they fail to serve their true constituency… and serve only THEIR personal interests.  These are the people we can do without.  Vote them out!

WE must assert OUR control!

We’ve all heard the very old saying:  “waste not, want not”.  (There’s actually a follow-on sentence to it:  “The less we waste, the less we lack in the future.”)  The point, obviously, is that you should use the resources you have efficiently.

It was an article about wasting food in Britain that made me think of this… and it could be applied to US just as well.  It wasn’t so many years ago when most people used what they had very frugally. Home canning of fruits and vegetables used to be commonplace… so was baking your own bread and having a good-sized garden in your back yard.  You still see some gardens but it’s rare to find home bakers and canners.

It’s a sign of how well we are actually doing.  If times were REALLY TOUGH… as tough as some of the media would have us believe… if we were in a depression or some other very, very tight economic times, there wouldn’t be as much waste… and certainly not waste of food.

SIDEBAR:  The UK article says:

“The report warns that having been broadly stable for 20 years to 2005, global food prices have risen significantly.

It blames poor harvests in some exporting countries; higher costs for energy, fertiliser and transport; farmers shifting to grow green ‘ biofuels’; and a long-term rise in demand for grain to feed a growing global population.

The finding on biofuels is embarrassing because world governments have pushed farmers to produce crops used to make the environmentally friendly fuels. But biofuels are thought to have pushed food prices up by as much as 75 per cent because they have caused shortages of wheat and maize.”

Once again, we find when government interferes with natural market forces, there are almost always unintended consequences… but let’s leave that for discussion on another day.

There’s always been waste, of course, but I don’t think as much as there is now.  We have become a “throw away” society.  We are too lazy to conserve.  Many of us don’t even think about ways to make better use of what we have.  WE have gotten into some bad habits.

I’ve always advocated conservation simply because it’s SMART.  Whether times are good or bad, it just makes good common sense to use resources well.  I’m not talking about HOARDING (not using) them as some would have us do with some commodities, such as oil.  I just think the INTELLIGENT use of resources should be the way of the world.  Sadly, too many people make such decisions based on emotion rather than rationality.

An old Chinese philosophy describes well the give and take, the ebb and flow, the constant change yet mutual interaction of many aspects of our lives, our environment, our universe.  It has a symbol we’ve all seen:

I was reminded of this by an article of Starbucks and their recent announcement about closing many stores.  Starbucks will continue to be a very large company even after paring back its presence in the marketplace, to be sure, but this article serves as an interesting example of many things:

• In business, things must change.  A college professor once told me that every business faces four choices in what it does every day:  adapt, mutate, change, or die.  In other words, every business must constantly evolve in order to survive.   That’s just the way it is.
  • It takes real insight, however, to maintain the qualities that make a business successful while still evolving it to be as successful in the future.  A company that views itself as a manufacturer of quality vehicles doesn’t have to make the same cars every year… those can evolve with the times… but it must keep its priority on building QUALITY cars.
  • If a country is established and prospers based on certain principles, it can adapt with the times but it must be wary of changing the principles that made it successful in the first place.
• When it first started out, Starbucks was cool.  Everyone loved the brand and all that it connoted.
  • At some point, it seemed to fall somewhat out of favor but continued to expand anyway.  It apparently lost touch with its consumers.  Rather than delivering personalized service, workers became automatons.  Rather than sticking with its core products, it tried to expand into other food products.  And the company opened many stores, often within eyesight of each other. Too much of a good thing CAN be bad.
  • OUR country started expanding its services many years ago.  Despite no Constitutional support, the federal government started getting involved in a host of social programs.  While well intentioned, they have just as many disadvantages for the people as they do advantages.  These programs do the recipients few real favors:  now, we have a “dependency attitude” ingrained in many of our citizens which inherently creates a psychological limit, or hurdle, for them to overcome before they can achieve success.
• Apparently, there is a faction of our society that likes things or people when they are small, when they are the underdog, and don’t like those same things/people when they achieve success and are more mainstream.
  • We jump on the bandwagon to build up actors into stars… and then abandon them just as quickly, choosing to then tear them down and apparently enjoy seeing their persona destroyed.
  • We applaud a business like Walmart initially when it built stores in rural towns where reasonably priced products simply were not available, but hate it when it becomes wildly successful and expands nationally.
  • Many of our own citizens used to love our country and want to share with others in the world the many advantages it offere… and now have come to hate what our country stands for and view other nations as models.
• Some people claim to only like small, local businesses… but fail to recognize the valuable role large businesses play in the economy.
  •  BIG companies often establish markets in the first place, generate a total sales volume large enough to bring about economies of scale and reducing the cost of the production of supplies for all consumers (including small companies), and demonstrate proven methods of delivering products to market efficiently.
  • The U.S. demonstrated the road to success in many ways over its history… and has served as a role model for other countries as they reached for greater success on their own.  While not perfect, we have shown the many good things that can be accomplished when freedom is allowed, when individual independence is promoted, when taxes are not onerous, and when self-reliance is encouraged.

So, the yin and yang, the ups and downs, continue… in business, in government, in life.  As one thing is attempted, another is affected.  The pendulum swings one way, and swings back again later.

Our country has experimented in many areas.  In my opinion, it has been “too friendly” to changes at the most fundamental levels and that has resulted in a shift in the wrong direction for our great nation.  We need to come back again to the core values that were responsible for our huge initial success.  It is time for change… change back to those basics.

Even though the U.S. did not officially declare independence from Great Britain until July 4, 1776, the Revolutionary War began with the Battle of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775.  Approximately how many years elapsed before the Treaty of Paris was signed, which officially ended the war?

• 1 year
• 2 years
• 3 years
• 4 years
• 5 years
• 6 years
• 7 years
• 8 years
• 9 years
• 10 years

Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown in September, 1781, effectively ending the war… but the Treaty of Paris wasn’t signed until September 3, 1783, so the Revolutionary War lasted approximately 8 and one-half years.

Freedom did not come come quick, easy, or cheap. It should be remembered that 15-20% of the people were “loyalists” and many fought on the side of the British Crown.

We are not certain how many irregular (militia) soldiers gave their lives in the Revolutionary War (perhaps 20,000), but we do know 4,435 U.S. military personnel (regulars) died in battle, which was at a time when the population was about 4 million.

The United States incurred substantial debt:  it spent $37 million at the national level plus $114 million by the states, supported by loans from France, the Netherlands, from Americans, and the inflationary issuance of paper money (which became “not worth a Continental“). The U.S. finally resolved its debt problem in the 1790s.

It was 232 years ago that our nation was founded and we celebrate it’s birthday today.  It is remarkable all that has happened in our country since then.  Many lives have been sacrificed, many families have struggled immensely to put us in the position we are today.

No country is perfect, but the U.S.A. is as close as has ever been established.  As much as I may complain about wanting a smaller government (nearer that created when our country was founded than the burgeoning bureaucracy we have today) and as unfair as I believe our tax and social support structure has become, I am still convinced it is far and away better than any other governing system on Earth.

In the beginning, it was not certain the Revolution against the King of England would be successful.  It could have easily gone the other way and, who knows, we could still be part of the United Kingdom if only a few relatively small events back in 1776 had turned out differently. Only God knows what this land might have been like had that occurred.

For a very good reminder of the factors that led up to our Declaration of Independence, the debates our Founding Fathers had about the “right” way to create a better nation, the personal struggles of the individuals involved in the creation of our great country, I highly recommend the recent HBO series called “John Adams”.  It is a story well told, both entertaining and educational… a good depiction of the times.

I think every citizen enjoys the great freedom they have as a result of living in the U.S. … but I suspect the vast majority take it for granted.  I only wish all would appreciate it more.

Continuing the discussion of yesterday…

 Just as an amalgam of metals becomes a stronger combined material than any of the individual components (which surrender some of their own unique chemical properties in the process),  the collective PEOPLE of our country… the “melting pot”… is stronger by becoming “one”.  It should be obvious, then, that WE cannot be “one” if any group of us decides to promote their individual “value” above that of the whole.

There is an old saying which holds great truth:  united we stand, divided we fall.

Typically, you hear about “the melting pot” when referring to immigrants.  Lately, there’s been considerable discussion about Mexicans entering the U.S. illegally.  Thirty years ago, there was a large influx of Vietnamese who came hear after the war in their country.  People of all nationalities have immigrated to our country since its inception, sometimes in waves.

Most of the time, those who risked everything to adopt our country also expended a great deal of effort to become good citizens.  They learned English, they got jobs (sometimes quite menial work), they paid their bills and taxes, and worked hard to improve their situation… and didn’t rely on government handouts.  Many became success stories in our free enterprise system, founding businesses that did well in their communities… some still exist today.

I believe the problem most current citizens have with many (but not all) new immigrants is that they have chosen not to integrate into our society.  Instead of learning our language and embracing our values, they shun the language of the land and do not appreciate the many things that make our country great.  They insist on putting the priority on their own language and customs.  In these cases, the most natural question to ask is:  why did those individuals come to the U.S. if they don’t want to “become American”?

There is an old expression:  When in Rome, do as the Romans do.

But these “complaints” are about people who chose to come to our country.  It seems their decision should include adapting as fully as possible to OUR culture.

The singing of the “Black National Anthem”, however, is a very different matter.  It exemplifies a situation that has been simmering for many years in the U.S. that is quite troublesome.  It is apparent there exists some faction within the African-American population of U.S. CITIZENS who are quite dissatisfied with their lot in life.  I have no statistics to cite, but I suspect anywhere from 20% to 30% of the members of the black race fall into this category.  A minority within a minority, if you will.

To be clear, most African-Americans in our country. are doing better than ever before, notwithstanding any room for improvement in the area of race relations, and are striving to be “good Americans” like most other citizens.  They work hard, get an education, pay their taxes, and live responsible lives in their communities.

But the “agitated group” seems to be taking voice in a wide range of venues and the things they are saying, and presumably believing, are quite disturbing.  At the core of their dissatisfaction seems to be an attitude that they are owed something.

And, if you listen to their self-appointed spokespersons, you would think slavery still exists… that no black has a chance in our country… that the government intentionally limits their opportunities… that whites are the enemy… and that the solution may very well be an armed revolt!

While there may be cases today where a black person has actually been wronged, you can find cases where whites, hispanics, asians, indians, and persons from every race have been wronged… but I do not believe it is a pervasive problem., certainly not to the extent the so-called “leaders” of this group would have you believe.

In fact, if you look at these “leaders”, they are very prominent, they have a lot of money, they live in big houses and drive expensive cars!  Though they’re not elected, I view them the same as many POLITICIANS… and they, in fact, practice politics every day.  They gain support by EXCITING their followers, by PANDERING to their constituents, by PROMISING things they can’t deliver, by IRRITATING everyday minor “bumps and bruises” to the point where they are festering sores.  Despite what they say, and they say it very well, I am convinced they do what they do and say what they say all with the intention of helping THEMSELVES.  Period.

This is not a healthy scenario.

It is bad enough when people have problems to deal with… we ALL do… but when someone comes along and convinces them that the problems are the fault of others, it undermines self-accountability.  It makes that person’s level of success or failure due to the actions of someone else, not themselves.  It makes them, in certain respects, slaves.  And why would anyone enslave themselves?

I had no clue, but there is a black national anthem.

It was sung (unexpectedly) at an annual State of the City address in Denver.  The singer, who was supposed to sing the actual National Anthem, apparently kept her intentions private and changed the song at the last moment… she delivered the song “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing”, which is also known as the black national anthem.

While she has a nice voice, it was totally inappropriate.  It was dishonest.  It was disrespectful.  You can see in the video this was a formal meeting:  members of the police department carried in the flags, someone led the very large group in the Pledge of Allegiance, and then the switcheroo was made.  It was something I might expect of kids at a high school event, but not of adults in such a setting.

In today’s PC world, nobody had the courage to step up and sang the REAL National Anthem… nobody said anything.  The applause afterward was tepid.

The singer said she wanted to express her love of her country by mixing the lyrics of “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” with the melody of the “Star-Spangled Banner.”  OK… but there’s a right time and place for such things.  The mayor said he didn’t think she was making a political statement.  Sure.  Hers was a deliberate act, singing an old song but putting it to the tune of our National Anthem (here is the real tune, if you’re curious… Jessie Jackson introduces Kim Weston).

Other than the fact that the chosen singer did not do the job she was selected to do, I see a deeper problem with this type of expression.  It further supports the idea some people have that we are not one UNITED nation.  For some reason, there are some people who seem to believe they owe allegiance to some minority group they’re members of to a greater degree than they owe allegiance to their native country.

In other words, some African-Americans think they owe some loyalty or homage to Africa to a GREATER degree than they do the United States despite having been born in the U.S.  Similarly, some Mexican-Americans who were born in the country display the same kind of behavior.  Why is that?

I believe it is good to honor your heritage, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, but you don’t place more emphasis, more importance on that than you do your actual, current circumstances.  A hundred years ago when people were immigrating to the U.S. from all over the world, there were many people with mixed backgrounds… born in another country but now living in and citizens of our country… who, while keeping their culture alive and certainly honoring it, EMBRACED the U.S.and all it meant to them.  They become “American” first, and Irish (or German or Italian or whatever) second.

Again, it is important to honor your ancestry… but there’s no need to diminish who you are today in the process.  In fact, it is important to place more value on who you are right now.  Anything else is “living in the past”. WE are a diverse nation with people of all backgrounds, and that is part of what makes us both strong and unique.   WE can enjoy each others’ customs while still maintaining the integrity of being a citizen of this great nation.  WE can be the best of everything and still be unified… if we choose to be.

In recent years, it seems to be common to find people taking more pride in a foreign national heritage than they have pride in the United States, the country where they were born and live… in most cases, they have never set foot on any other soil.  Sometimes, it isn’t even a national heritage they put more focus on… sometimes, it some other political advocacy.  Given the many factions posturing in the public these days, our National Anthem could have just as easily have been used as the tune for lyrics supporting gay rights, gun rights, national healthcare, union membership, welfare programs, tax reform, global warming, abortion, religion, and so on… and would have been just as inappropriate and indicative of a problem in our society.

Just as an amalgam of metals becomes a stronger combined material than any of the individual components (which surrender some of their own unique chemical properties in the process),  the collective PEOPLE of our country… the “melting pot”… is stronger by becoming “one”.  It should be obvious, then, that WE cannot be “one” if any group of us decides to promote their individual “value” above that of the whole.

There is an old saying which holds great truth:  united we stand, divided we fall.