History Ahead of Time

I am a Judeo-Christian, pro-life, moderately conservative, thoughtful person. I diligently look for a dynamic "third way" on divisive issues. Global warming is happening, but the panic is accelerating beyond the science. Developing World debt needs resolving, but part of the resolution includes liberation from tyrants who confiscate the resources that are donated. Medical care should be available to everyone, but not centrally administrated by an overbloated federal system. Israel desrves secure borders and full recognition and the Palestinians deserve better leadership as they move toward statehood. These are just some of the thoughtful positions I try to articulate. I have suppported our current president due to his unswerving pro-life position, including stem-cell research, and his desire to protect us from terrorism.

Sadly, I must now go on record in full opposition to the current administrations in the White House and on Capitol Hill. I will continue to pray for them, respect the offices and hope for change; however, as a historian and scholarly observer, I now view the current leaders as destructive for the American Future.

There are three issues no one is willing to tackle seriously that undermine our future as a free nation. The first is immigration. The agendas of the global capitalists and one-world government advocates (with a North American Union as an interim step) are converging. Legal immigrants from anywhere in the world but Mexico face a tortuous gauntlet of red tape, legal fees and petty tyranny at the hands of corrupt government officials and lawyers. One exception to this is the full-tuition-paying foreign student! Meanwhile, we imprison border guards, call any enforcement racist and declare that a sane policy will hurt the economy. The loss of any sense of the rule of law and what citizenship means will do more to destroy our nation than endless reruns of "reality" shows. The current leaders on both sides of the aisle are too busy cozying up to powerful constituencies. The result may well be the loss of national sovereignty. President Bush - you are a threat to our future with this policy. Speaker Pelosi - if you care for our children, you will want them to value our heritage, ideals and laws.

The second issue is fiscal restraint. Neither party seems to understand Economics 101. Revenues have never been higher, yet we are told that it is not enough and that the "rich" (variously defined) do not pay enough. Meanwhile, the Republican Party sells its birthright for a mess of pragmatic, symbolic pottage. There is no surplus in Social Security and foreign nations hostile to our long-term well-being hold us captive in trade and T-bills. The entire tax system is designed to coddle the canny and soak the unwary. "Atlas may shrug" one day and spendthrift Americans may well become the servants of the rest of the world. Mr. President and Ms. Speaker - you fail us by not delivering a balanced budget and curtailing the pork.

There is a third issue that goes way beyond presidential or congressional control. Unless our citizens experience a moral awakening and understand that real freedom depends upon virtue and genuine virtue rests upon permanent principles, all the policy changes will be for nought. As long as Americans are content with the 21st century equivalent of "bread and circuses" there is no hope for a better future. As long as we "amuse ourselves to death" (Neal Postman), there will not be the courage to confront the challenges. Here aagin, the bully pulpits of politicians can be helpful. Where is the call for sacrifice as we confront terrorism? When will we learn that we can not have all the guns and butter we want? What is the strategic policy for our military once we leave Iraq? Conservatives love to say "smaller government" until their pet projects are involved! Liberals want to slash military spending - unless their local base is being shut dowm (thank you, Ron Dellums!).

The years 1968 to 2008 will go down in history as the era of erosion and subversion of all that is dear to Americans - unless there is a broad awakening among our populace. The Bush Administration will be villified as the great "bait and switch" school of political manipulation. A few pro-life tidbits for social conservatives can not make up for terrible fiscal, immigration, and military policies. The Democratic Party continues to be haunted by the 1968-1974 leftist takeover. They are equal partners in the destruction of the American Experiment.

I hope that this "history ahead of time" is proven wrong.

Fantasy Land

The rhetoric of party politicians and world leaders in recent days causes me to wonder what planet these folks think they are on.

The State of Union Address by President Bush put me to sleep within minutes. Nothing new, nothing particularly hopeful.

The Democratic Response was even worse - let's roll out our alternative stats on the economy, critique the Iraq policy (not hard to do), but offer no real solutions in foreign or domestic affairs.

CNN and Fox News battle over Barak Obama's elemenatry education, as if there have been no intervening experiences in his life. It looks like CNN has it right. Obama is not a dangerous terrorist - I think he is another empty-suited politician, but that is for another column.

The EU thinks it can bring peace to the Middle East and help run a Palestinian State - but Abbas and Co. are still unwilling to give real guarantees to Israel. Meanwhile, an aging Jimmy Carter continues to mix shoe polish and toothpaste when speaking on world affairs. Carter is not a Holocaust denier, but he is anti-Israeli and in his dotage he is moving dangerously to the extreme on this issue. If only he could have been content building houses...

Global warming is a fact - but the amount of human contribution remains a legitimate subject for debate. Now we have Weather Channel celebs calling for the decertification of anyone who departs from the party line. The U.N. is about to publish a major report "with the most evidence yet" of human contributions to climate change. Why the hysteria? It is simple - money for research and the hope of globalists to coercively direct the USA's economy. By the way, serious ecological issues in Europe, Russia, China and India go almost unreported. There is a dirty little fact about the EU - they already have all the nuclear power they need!

Two Border Patrol officers are in prison for shooting a drug dealer, who, even after being given immunity, kept on smuggling drugs into the USA. Democrats shout "justice" (cheap votes eventually) and Republicans "opportunity" (cheap non-union labor) - but no one has a plan to secure our borders. WalMart wants a port in Kansas and the Left is still singing "Imagine."

After listening to all the rhetoric, I conclude that most of our leaders are marooned on Fantasy Island. We have horrible deficits and trade imbalances, illegal immigration out of control, war-on-terror strategies in shambles and find the headlines dominated by the content of a movie no distributor will purchase.

The Republicans moved to Fantasy Island in the 1980s as they cut taxes (a good thing) but have not curtailed the growth of spending. The Democrats moved to the Island in the late 90s when Clinton claimed that the "surplus" (it does not exist) in Social Security could eliminate the deficit and pay down the national debt.

The UN is the caretaker of this Island. The UN honors Palestinian martrys and shows maps without an Israeli state, all the while claiming to be an honest broker. The billions embezelled by UN officials in the oil-for-food scandal under Saddam Hussein remain in the Caymans.

The EU, especially France, in in charge of the blueprints for the Island's buildings. French politicians suffer collectively from Multiple Personality Disorder (Yes, my therapist friends, I know that MPD is now called Associateve Disorder - AD) - they rule a state run by elite technocrats, yet their international language is leftist and always anti-American. They claim to be cultural leaders, yet they are about to be conquered by foreign Muslims who refuse to assimilate.

Finally, our Fantasy Island needs a host. Who better for this than Hugo Chavez? His Marxist, nationalist and racialist language is straight from Che and Fidel's playbooks of the 1960s, backed by street mobs and oil money.

Ricardo Montalban, where are you in our hour of need?

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