"THESE ARE THE TIMES THAT TRY MENS SOULS."

Those words were penned by Thomas Paine - American - on December 23rd, 1776, in a pamphlet called "The Crisis". Words which are as applicable today as they were 233 years ago. Paine was a true believer in freedom. Freedom from, freedom to, and freedom for all Americans. Freedom from tyranny and government oppression. Freedom to assemble, associate, speak, write and worship. Freedom for all motivated Americans to develop their full potential, or to earn a fair and reasonable wage for their labors. To worship - or not - in the manner of their own choosing, and to be the architects of their own destiny. Thomas Paine, although something less than a social and financial success, was the personification of "the American spirit".

At that time Paine was expressing his opposition to Britain's King George III's tyrannical rule over the American colonies. The wording is a bit archaic, and therefore awkward for today's reader, but tyranny is still tyranny, and revolution is still revolution. "These ARE the time that try mens souls."

In today's United States of America there is a significant political, philosophical, and moral rift between the left-wing "liberal progressives", and the right-wing "conservative traditionalists". There is a second Revolutionary War being fought as I write this blog. Thus far the skirmishes have been restricted to the mass media, the halls of Congress, and the "town hall meetings"... and the fusillades are only verbal. Retaliatory barrages from the White House consist of verbal smokescreens designed to blind and confuse the opposition forces, while simultaneously obscuring the intent of those who wish to rule rather than govern and discrediting those who are most outspoken against the rapid, insidious development of the infrastructure needed to support that rule. Citizens are governed by choice - slaves are ruled by whatever means necessary! Paine also said, "Britain, with an army to enforce her tyranny, has declared that she has a right (not only to TAX) but "to BIND us in ALL CASES WHATSOEVER" and if being bound in that manner, is not slavery, then is there not such a thing as slavery upon earth." (Two hundred thirty three years is a bit long, but I think that - were Thomas Paine alive today - he would be having a deja vu experience.)

Paine continues, delineating the difference between Tories (conservatives, sometimes called "loyalists") and Whigs (liberals, social reformists, believed in loose interpretation of the Constitution) -"Why is it that the enemy have left the New England provinces, and made these middle ones the seat of war? The answer is easy: New England is not infested with Tories, and we are. I have been tender in raising the cry against these men, and used numberless arguments to show them their danger, but it will not do to sacrifice a world either to their folly or their baseness. The period is now arrived, in which either they or we must change our sentiments, or one or both must fall. And what is a Tory? Good God! What is he? I should not be afraid to go with a hundred Whigs against a thousand Tories, were they to attempt to get into arms. Every Tory is a coward; for servile, slavish, self-interested fear is the foundation of Toryism; and a man under such influence, though he may be cruel, never can be brave."

Today's "Tories" are, politically speaking, primarily Republicans, Independents and assorted impotent-third-party followers. Mostly conservatives, they believe that the Constitution is an enduring document requiring little, if any, "interpretation". They also believe that the best government is the least government.

The "Whigs" of today are the Democrats - and their liberal following of government-dependent entitlement whores, who would sell our freedoms for a big screen TV and a couple of more government give-away programs. They believe the Constitution is a "living document" - one that should be changed as often as they change their minds... or their underwear, whichever comes first. The "blame America first" crowd, whose words and actions echo those of the Pogo Possum cartoon of 1970, wherein he proclaims "We have met the enemy and he is us."
The difference today is that the Tories are the ones who would "protect and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic", while the Whigs would tremble, quake and hide, while crying out for their nanny-government to protect and save them.

Our constitution - for all the wonderful rights it does promise us - it does not promise that we will be given anything other than that which we earn! It does not promise that we have a right to take that which another has earned, nor do we have a right to not be embarrassed, inconvenienced or otherwise upset by something we may experience during our appointed time on this Earth. We have the opportunity to fail in our endeavors, as well as the opportunity to succeed! How we exercise those rights and opportunities is entirely up to us.

Thomas Paine was not just a "man of his time"... he was a man for all times, and his words ring as true today as they did on December 23, 1776! Where will you be when the voices of opposition are silenced... right before the other noises begin?

Obama's 4 Ds - Disagreement, Disregard, Disenfranchisement, and Disinformation

It should have come to our attention by now that your "President" does not appreciate having his desires and actions questioned, for He is "The One". Oh, yeah ... he's The One, alright. He's the one whose only proven organizational ability is that of "Community Organizer", a "job" in which his primary function was to teach people how to be loud, boisterous, and civilly disobedient. He also trained them in how to be disruptive to those conducting the business of government, and how to refuse to take "NO" for an answer.

Now, when truly disappointed, frustrated and angry citizens attend "Town Hall Meetings" and demonstrate that disappointment, frustration and anger to their elected representatives, through their general demeanor and passionate, heart-felt outbursts Obama and his left-wing allies cry "foul". The Democraps seem to believe that when the left does these same things, it's just honest emotion, and therefore fine with them. But... when anybody who can see through the smoke, mirrors and misdirection of "The One" has the audacity to actually verbalize that belief, they are immediately demonized as "puppets of the wealthy Republicans", "unruly mobs", "racists" and "tea-party loons" by the left. (By the way, the attendees at the nationwide "tea parties" this past April 15th were an amalgam of Americans who are unhappy with the direction Obama and his cronies are taking this country. There were people of every stripe and color - Republicans, Independents, Libertarians, Constitutionalists, and yes... even a few liberals and intelligent Democrats. (We even had some neo-Nazi skinheads - whom we peaceably frustrated - show up at our tea party in Grants Pass Oregon. Their demeanor wasn't the least bit belligerent, but we felt their message wasn't an appropriate one for our rally.) All cultures and colors were represented - whites, blacks, native Americans, Mexicans, and Asians in attendance. There were natural-born citizens and naturalized citizens. There were Christians. Jews, Muslims, Hindus, some of the Orthodoxies (Greek, Russian, etc.), and atheists and agnostics there also. I saw no indication of any significant "wealth" there - no Armani suits, Rolls-Royce automobiles, or Gucci handbags - 99% of the attendees were quite casual in their manner of dress. Among the crowd of about 1,000, there may have been 10 people wearing something other than jeans, tennis shoes/flip-flops or boots, and a t-shirt or pullover. I saw one tie, and two sport coats. These were everyday, working-class folks who were demonstrating their concern about the direction (or is it misdirection?) our government is taking. The left wishes to denigrate those people who make up the backbone of America, and classify them as the "lunatic fringe". After all, one would have to be a lunatic to be in opposition of anything The One wanted done!

"We the People" are tired of being ignored by our elected officials! We are tired of ever-expanding, tax and spend government. We are disgusted with a government which bails out private corporations - to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars - using taxpayer money to do so. We are sick of ridiculous health care proposals that would euthanize, or at the least, withhold necessary life-saving treatment from the elderly, the disabled, and the chronically ill. We are angered by a government that insinuates itself further into our privates lives, and that ignores our Constitution in order to foist bogus, unnecessary, and expensive social programs upon us. We are confused and frustrated by a government that believes it can borrow - or print - money to recover from a financial crisis, all the while instituting more of the aforementioned "expensive social programs". (We spend our way into bankruptcy, not out of it!)

We are no longer the beneficiaries of government by the people... we have now become the victims of government of the people by the elitist, Marxist-socialist rich. Over 40% of our elected officials are multi-millionaires, and the remainder are just extremely "well-off". A few of those elected "representatives" brought their wealth with them into the office, the others made their wealth from within the office... I can't help but wonder how they made all that money from a job with a starting pay of $174,000 per annum? If they banked their entire pay - without spending so much as a penny of it - for 5.75 years they would just barely qualify as a millionaire. We have the best government that corporate and special interest money can buy!

As far as dissatisfied citizens "forming organized, orchestrated, and choreographed unruly mobs" is concerned... they ain't seen nothin' yet! These town Hall Meetings have, for the most-part, been held in (suprise) town halls. A town hall is generally a small, cramped venue with a capacity of perhaps 200 people in a large town hall. To hold these public meetings in a larger auditorium would allow too many people to attend, thereby taking too much of our elected representatives precious time, and perhaps it would also insure that he or she got an earful of what their constituents actually wanted! That could be disconcerting if the people wanted something that conflicted with what corporate America, the Special Interest groups, PACs and good paying lobbyists wanted. They choose the path of least resistance for themselves when it comes to hearing what people really think. If they want to see a MOB they should wait until 50,000 people march on Washington D.C. - which may happen in the near future.

I could be wrong about this, and your Congressional Representatives and Senators could actually care about you.