Monday - Apocalypse Eve

date Mon, Nov 1, 2010 at 3:41 PM]

PN:

According to the on-line dictionary I use ( www.dictionary.com ), “apocalypse” means (among other definitions):

apocalypse – a prophetic revelation, esp. concerning a cataclysm in which the forces of good permanently triumph over the forces of evil.

As a neophyte wanna-be political pundit, I believe the mid-term election tomorrow in the United States is immensely important – the most important world-wide political event since 1989 when the Soviet Union capitulated. The message on November 3rd (to my hopeful ears) will be one of liberty and freedom – a harbinger of smaller government, less regulation, the death knell of political correctness, and the end of entitlement mentality. Pay yer own way! would be a good slogan.

I am a retired person who owes no allegiance to any elite, or any state other than “state of mind”. However, I freely pledge allegiance to the United States constitution and bill of rights. I am a Canadian-American.

Do you remember how hard it was to qualify for your first credit card? I’m sure at one time or another you all have had that first one. Do you remember how easy it was to whip that baby out, pick up the tab and be a hero in your own mind? Or all those “gotta have” items that you had to have – and then you did? I still have some of those items gathering dust in the garage.

Do you also remember when it finally sunk in to your head how much time and energy it took to pay back those credit debts? And how outraged you were at the usurious interest rates?

I do. It was long ago, and far away, but I do.

Every night on the television I see numerous advertisements from companies promising “to reduce your credit debt 40%, 50%, up to 70%” – and this is a legitimate course of action……. No personal control, no will power, no self reliance.

During the last 4 years I have facilitated workshops for people who are the “down and out” of the working world. They are unable to procure sustainable employment.

Often there is a tangible reason: i.e. lack of certification or training, financial and / or political impact on some industry, a physical barrier.

Almost always there is an Affective Domain problem – something wrong with their belief system, their process of perceiving and judging, their behavior, their expectations.

The number of clients I see who believe they are entitled to everything required in life is staggering. When did this happen? When did this –

And this –

Turn in to this –

And become this –

And this….. And this……

Every generation faces challenges unique to their time. My mother, for example, was raised on a homestead in Ituna, Saskatchewan. 11 siblings. Her parents? An errant drunken father (a grandfather I never met: not one of my uncles or aunts EVER said a good word on his behalf). A devoted loving mother who never learned to speak English and raised the children as best she could. There was no welfare. Or government aid. Or credit cards. Yet they managed, somehow, to survive and thrive.

As did their parents, and their parents parents before them.

Somewhere in our time, we started borrowing against our future to pay for current desires. The collateral used? Unborn generations of children. And to what end?

I have rambled all over, but what I’m trying to get across is this – if you are voting in America, or you know someone who is voting in America, forward the following list of reasons why people voted for Democrats. This list was put together by Frank Reister. I found it on a Face Book page:
When your friends can’t explain why they voted for Democrats, give them this list. They can then pick a reason .

10. I voted Democrat because …I believe oil companies’ profits of 4% on a gallon of gas are obscene but the government taxing …the same gallon of gas at 15% isn’t.

9. I voted Democrat because I believe the government will do a better job of spending the money I earn than I would.

8. I voted Democrat because Freedom of speech is fine as long as nobody is offended by it.

7. I voted Democrat because I’m way too irresponsible to own a gun, and I know that my local police are all I need to protect me from murderers and thieves.

6. I voted Democrat because I believe that people who can’t tell us if it will rain on Friday can tell us that the polar ice caps will melt away in ten years if I don’t start driving a Prius.

5. I voted Democrat because I’m not concerned about the slaughter of millions of babies through abortion so long as we keep all death row inmates alive.

4. I voted Democrat because I think illegal aliens have a right to free health care, education, and Social Security benefits.

3. I voted Democrat because I believe that business should not be allowed to make profits for themselves. They need to break even and give the rest away to the government for redistribution as the democrats see fit.

2. I voted Democrat because I believe liberal judges need to rewrite the Constitution every few days to suit some fringe kooks who would never get their agendas past the voters.

1. I voted Democrat because my head is so firmly planted up my ass that it is unlikely that I’ll ever have another point of view.

I’ll keep my Freedom, my God and my Guns… You keep the Change…
I could add my own items to the list ( i.e.I voted Democrat because I believe Keynesian economic theories are always the right solution, or, I voted Democrat because I believe you can always calmly engage our enemies in meaningful dialogue which will change their hearts and minds), but I won’t elaborate.

OF THE ABOVE ITEMS, NUMBER ONE IS MOST TELLING.

If you don’t / won’t / can’t understand, read the following.

The words of Martin Niemöller ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Niemöller ):

First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out–
because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out–
because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out–
because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out–
because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me–
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

Niemöller was no saint: he was an early supporter of Adolf Hitler. It is possible to be swept up in the events of your time. Your beliefs, perception, and judgment do the rest. This man Niemöller was an Iron Cross recipient and WWI hero, yet spent all of World War II in concentration camps (He was not a Jew). When you do see the light, you have a moral obligation to do the right thing. Niemöller saw the light of his time, and did what he felt morally correct. I do not admire him. I don’t think he ever got it right. But the often misquoted or paraphrased passage above is incredibly powerful.

As Henry Ford said, “Quality is doing it right when no one is looking”.

In conclusion, to my American friends:

Please vote your conscience, not your appetites.