Posted on 06/17/2014 5:00:54 AM PDT by Kaslin
"Remember, it’s not only the questions you ask, but the questions you fail to ask, that shape your destiny." – Tony Robbins
Believing that America will continue to be strong, prosperous and free no matter what we do is just as foolish as believing that a human being will continue to be healthy, happy and free if he consumes nothing but vodka, crack and doughnuts.
Just as the richest, healthiest, happiest man can be undone if he stops doing what made him successful, America can be undone if we stop asking the crucial questions that guided previous generations.
1) Is this worth the cost? As Thomas Sowell has written,“Weighing benefits against costs is the way most people make decisions — and the way most businesses make decisions, if they want to stay in business. Only in government is any benefit, however small, considered to be worth any cost, however large.” That sort of thinking is exactly how America ended up with a 17 trillion dollar debt. You often hear politicians from both parties call that “unsustainable.” Another way of putting that is if we don’t focus on what’s worth our money today, we won’t have the money we need for Defense, Medicare and Social Security tomorrow.
2) Is this good for society? No man is an island and any American who believes he’s a “citizen of the world” should ask himself when the last time was that he spent a great deal of time fretting about how the people of Djibouti are doing these days. This country is like a fish tank. The culture, the economy, the morality, and the corruption all impact your life and will make a big difference in how your kids grow up. If the oxygen in the water gets low, if mosquitoes move in, or if someone drops a spoonful of ammonia in the tank, we all suffer for it. The less we worry about what’s good for all of us economically, morally, and socially, the more of us will end up getting flushed down the toilet in the end.
3) Is this politician fit for office? Paradoxically, Americans say that, “Morals don’t matter,” when it comes to politicians; then they complain incessantly about how corrupt and dishonest Washington has become. Along similar lines, they vote for politicians who’ve never accomplished anything in office and then they bemoan their ineffectiveness and incompetence. There was a time when Americans actually held politicians to a HIGHER STANDARD than the average person. What’s wrong with expecting our politicians to be as moral as a preacher, as honest as an accountant, and as competent as a firefighter? How is it that we hold 18 year old kids fighting in Iraq to a higher standard of behavior and performance than men three times as old that we expect to lead our country?
4) What's the long term impact of this decision? Thomas Paine once said, "If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace." What happened to that mentality? What happened to preserving Medicare and Social Security so that future generations of America can retire? How about paying off our bills today so our kids don’t end up as debt slaves? What about insuring that Iran doesn’t get nuclear weapons so we don’t end up on a planet full of nuclear-armed basket-case states? Our decisions have to be based on factors bigger than whether the stock market goes up or down tomorrow, which interest group is going to get its panties in a bunch, or which political party benefits from today’s news cycle. Whether you plan for it or not, the future eventually arrives and it belongs to those who prepare.
5) Would God be pleased with what we're doing? If you believe in God, you should DEFINITELY be concerned about whether He approves of what our nation is doing. Even if you don’t believe, this country has been successful in large part because of Judeo-Christian ethics, a puritan worth ethic, and Christian philosophy. Maybe you don’t like all of Christianity or maybe you think parts of it are oppressive and silly, but that doesn’t change the fact that it has borne fruit for America. At the end of the day, even if you don’t know how a light switch works, you should still be able to appreciate the fact that if you flip it, a light comes on.
I’m good with the first 4 questions.
My questions are but three:
1. Is it permitted by the Constitution?
2. If 1 is yes, is it a good, useful or necessary (and MORAL; ALWAYS MORAL) thing?
3. If 1 & 2 are yes, is it affordable?
ALL THREE must be a loud, resounding YES before I would sign off on something. Never to protect folks from themselves, NEVER, EVER a Nanny State thing of any sort. Such things are ALWAYS and in all ways immoral to the max, far more so than any possible behavior they purport to control or prohibit. And they invariably lead to more and more repressive government, turning a free society into a police state. Thanks but no thanks.
Then, by all means, let's be more practical in our descriptions. How about: the generations that:
1) are now taking the reins of power in this country, or will be in charge for the next 40-50 years (or until we collapse into internal civil war, or are invaded and conquered by an outside force like China, whichever comes first), and
2) will in in charge of our Medicare and Social Security, and
3) will determine how much to increase the death tax to, and
4) will determine how much of our retirement savings to raid to pay for their pet social programs, and
5) will determine how much food and energy prices to go up, thanks to their gloBULL warming/"climate change" initiatives, and
6) will be in charge of deciding which of us are worthy of receiving government-controlled health care, or who simply gets a pain pill and is told to shut up and go die, and
7) will enact so much more stupid crap that they've had programmed into their heads over the last 30 years, that will become reality because we're too busy arguing over semantics and trying to prove to one another how smart we are.
Or, can we just call them Generation X and Generation.com? BTW, in the interest of full disclosure, I am an Xer.
Yes, the problem has between going on since long before the early 70s, but that doesn't matter. Generation X and Generation.com are the ones we need to reach. The Baby Boomers are fat, dumb and happy, playing golf at The Villages. They don't matter anymore because they'll be gone in 10-20 years.
We conservatives are abjectly STUPID to allow our enemies unopposed access to the most powerful weapon ever for shaping young peoples' opinions...pop culture. Our parents and grandparents were abjectly STUPID for ignoring it, turning their noses up at it, and turning their backs on it. We're now paying the price for that stupidity. Let's quit moaning and groaning about how bad things are, and try using pop culture to our advantage, shall we?
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
Okay, so let's either get busy surrendering or get busy shooting. One or the other, 'cause this sitting around pi**ing and moaning about how bad things are crap is getting old and boring.
IMNSHO, I don't believe "it can't be done", because there are entirely too many things we haven't tried, before resorting to one or the other of the two above mentioned scenarios. But it seems to me there are only two schools of thought on FReep these days...the surrender monkeys and those who are itching for a fight. Mind you, if those were the only two options, I'd die surrounded by empty cartridge cases, but God help us either of those come to pass. Especially considering we haven't even begun to use the tools at our disposal to do it the way it's supposed to be done.
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
I admire your enthusiasm.
Long range precision shooting covered in detail.
83 videos that will guide you through each step in learning how to hit long range targets. Introduce your rifle to the world of long range targets.
Obama needs to ask himself this question, “Have I met one, just one, Veteran who enlisted to fight for Socialism”? The answer is No, so that should be enough to convince him to change course before we make him do it.
Complacency.
“No, so that should be enough to convince him to change course before we make him do it.”
Actually, he has no intention of changing course, however you define it, and neither is anyone going to make him do it.
We just have to await the next administration and hope for the best.
Gauging the intelligence level of the average American, I’m not optimistic, but, who knows, we may get lucky.
We can quit pouring our investment dollars into Brazil's future, China's future, and India's future, and put it into OUR future. We can take our message to where Generation X and Generation.com are going these days -- smartphones and the internet -- and wrap it in packages they'll open -- music, movies, reality TV, video games, etc. We can lace up the Reeboks, grab our picket signs, and take to the streets, the parks, the Capitol steps, and sidewalks outside our congresscritters' local offices. And yes...PRAY! Pray your heart out, but don't forget that God helps those who help themselves, and He's already given us the tools to help ourselves. Let's use 'em.
There are a lot of things that we can do before raising either the white flag of surrender or the skull and crossbones. But they all call for us getting off our a**es and getting busy...right freakin' now! It won't be easy, but neither will those two options that everyone on FReep seems to be resigned to.
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
I’m thinking like you with an addition of hundreds or thousands of patriotic hunters qualified to hit thousand yard and beyond targets. These people will be a force that no government can reckon with if they ever become activated.
This will calm the DHS and FLEA’s because they’ll recognize there will be no forceful action they could take that will force the people to succumb to socialist demands or violent threats.
The phrase “Speak softly but carry a large club” has been a favorite of mine for decades.
But you're right...a citizenry skilled in marksmanship is the best deterrent to tyranny. I thought I was hot sh*t until a couple of years ago when I attended an Appleseed shoot. It was a humbling event, to say the least. I recommend Appleseed to anyone who wants to seriously improve their skills.
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
Watch a few of the videos in #27. There is techniques in them that will improve everyones shooting skills.
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