In Memoriam

The Soldier: - By Charles M. Province

It is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech.

If you can read this message thank a teacher, If you are reading it in English of your own free will THANK A SOLDIER!

It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, who has given us the freedom to demonstrate.

It is the soldier, not the lawyer, who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is the soldier, who salutes the flag, who serves under the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag,who allows the protester to burn the flag.

To all the brave men and women who have dedicated or given their lives to protecting this country and it's freedoms: Thank you.

Mr. Adams, Thank You

John Adams was America’s second president (1797-1801). He lost a second term to his vice president – Thomas Jefferson. Adams was George Washington’s vice president; both terms. He was the father of America’s sixth president – John Quincy Adams. John Adams was a man unto himself. Even as he led the independence movement; he also defended the British soldiers who fired into the crowd killing five colonists in the event known as the Boston Massacre. His book, “Thoughts on Government” should be required reading in every secondary school in the United States. It presents such basic concepts as “a government of laws; not men,” “separation of powers,” and limiting government to “enumerated powers.” He would be more than upset (but read below; he predicted it) if he returned today and saw the mess we’ve made of this magnificent experiment. As you read his comments below, you may notice that he also anticipated much of the silliness that now dominates America’s government entities and its silly players. Parenthetical comments are solely the responsibility of TheFundamentals.  These quotes are all attributed to Mr. Adams.

The Revolution was affected before the War commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people; a change in their religious sentiments of their duties and obligations. This radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people, was the real American Revolution. (Tea Party critics: take notice.)

Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war. (GWBush. LBJohnson. Are you listening?)

Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.

Democracy... while it lasts is more bloody than either aristocracy or monarchy. Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There is never a democracy that did not commit suicide.

All the perplexities, confusion and distress in America arise, not from defects in their Constitution or Confederation, not from want of honor or virtue, so much as from the downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit and circulation. (TheFundamentals calls it “fiscal promiscuity.”   For people like Obama, Bush, Greenspan, Geithner and Bernanke, Mr. Adams has it right. It’s downright ignorance.)

Because power corrupts, society's demands for moral authority and character increase as the importance of the position increases. (This one is almost cynically humorous. Brings to mind WJClinton, JEdwards and GHart.)

Arms in the hands of citizens may be used at individual discretion... in private self-defense. (Mayor Daley, are you paying attention? Oh, that’s right. You’re much smarter than Mr. Adams.)

As much as I converse with sages and heroes, they have very little of my love and admiration. I long for rural and domestic scene, for the warbling of birds and the prattling of my children. (This is far and away TheFundamentals favorite quote.)

Power always thinks... that it is doing God's service when it is violating all his laws. (Ye gods. Ain't this the truth? Power is Arrogance.)

Fear is the foundation of most governments. (He got it. He saw it. He lived it. Nothing changes. Welcome to the 21st century.)

While all other sciences have advanced, that of government is at a standstill - little better understood, little better practiced now than three or four thousand years ago. (Could this have anything to do with the simple fact that only government and politics attract, employ and glorify the truly incompetent?)

The happiness of society is the end of government. (See above)

There are two educations. One should teach us how to make a living and the other how to live. (Our second favorite quote.)

The Hebrews have done more to civilize men than any other nation. If I were an atheist, and believed blind eternal fate, I should still believe that fate had ordained the Jews to be the most essential instrument for civilizing the nations. (We mostly agree but, no, TheFundamentals still thinks that AIPAC stretches the privilege.)

In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm and three or more is a congress.—  (OK, founding father John Adams never said it but his character spoke those lines in the musical “1776” and TheFundamentals thinks he might just concur with this thought if he only could.)

John Adams. You may have been a Federalist but you were our kind of Federalist and we miss you. Thank you for what you did and what you gave us. You knew of what you spoke.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall....

...who's the fairest one of all?

The most recent example of a silly politician gilding the resume with a combination of lies and exaggerations was outed by the NYTimes. And they were picking on one of their own – the attorney general of Connecticut who “misplaced a few words” in describing his wartime activities. In this particular case his misplaced words ended up relocating him from the safe confines of the reserve barracks in the homeland to the unsafe confines of a conflict thousands of miles away in which tens of thousands of real American warriors lost their lives. So, this got us to thinking about two things:

1. This guy is an attorney general which means he tries cases on behalf of the people of his state and that means he holds all sorts of other people to a high truth standard – defendants, witnesses, experts and others are sworn to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help them God, or they violate perjury laws and can be jailed/fined or both. What gives with an attorney general/prevaricator that can hold others to this high standard and, yet, not subject himself to the same standard? Makes no sense. Makes no sense that he can even continue in his present job much less be considered for another position. Haven’t we had enough of this deceit? Haven’t we had enough of settling for weak people? What standards do the people of Connecticut demand of their elected officials? Is Blumenthal the best that they can find for either job? TheFundamentals would think, with due acknowledgment to William Buckley, that any voter in Connecticut could open any phone book from any city/village/town in the nutmeg state, pick any page at random, point their finger at any name in the book and come up with a better qualified candidate. Okay, enough about Connecticut. The simple fact is that the citizens of the nutball, er, we mean nutbag state are entitled to vote for weak candidates if they so choose; we just don’t understand why they don’t give this “misplaced word” fellow the good old heave - ho.

2. But there is a much bigger issue at play when it comes to the way in which some of our political candidates see themselves. Do you remember a few years ago when Hillary Clinton was trying to get Obama’s job and she spoke about flying into a war zone under fire with the obvious connection about her bravery in being on the scene, in person, at great risk to herself because she was such a committed public servant? And, lo and behold, it was not true. It was either a lie or an exaggeration or misplaced words or whatever. And then do you remember when Joe Biden was running for president and he snitched the wording from some English politician about his background and upbringing and educational efforts and a bunch of other crap that not only was not true; the words were some else’s. So here’s what we were wondering. Why doesn’t Hillary quit her job and fly into a war zone and get to work doing something that somebody might find necessary? Why doesn’t she do something that is truly risky? Now. Just resign and say you are off to do something brave, but on my own. Or why doesn’t Joe do something really brave like quit his job and move to Somalia to teach the pirates there about capitalism and hard work? Or why doesn’t Blumenthal join the Peace Corps and move to Haiti and dig latrine ditches for the struggling citizens of that fair land? That’s what we don’t get. All these prevaricators can still do the things that they wish they had done but didn’t just quite get around to it. So just do ‘em now. Quit what you’re doing and do something that will make you look, er, we mean feel, good. There’s still time. Did you know that there are thousands of Americans, tens of thousands as a matter of fact, who make sacrifices every day? They don’t even think about gilding the resume or standing in front of an audience or a camera crew and belching out nonsense about their heroism and their real tribulations. They just do it. No one can make anyone do something for others or do something under difficult circumstances but we sure can acknowledge the ones who really do it and shun the fools who talk about doing it. It’s a fundamental, folk. The ones who really do it seldom talk about it!

In closing we want to make an observation about this guy Blumenthal. There is some evidence that he falls into the burgeoning category of very aggressive district attorneys who use their office for grandstanding and abuse of individuals and entities, particularly those where they are able to manage public opinion on so-called populist or politically correct topics. For those who are interested, we suggest you read a well written article by Fergus Cullen and recently published in the Wall Street Journal -
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704302304575214491462332922.html?mod=WSJ_newsreel_opinion

The abuse of power and the corruption of elected officials can be somewhat mitigated by term limit legislation and, where required, by amendments to state and the national constitutions. This term limit issue is not limited to congressional and legislative offices only. Term limits for all elected offices are long overdue!

A Secret Plan to Destroy America

I have a secret plan to destroy America. If you believe, as many do, that America is too smug, too white bread, too self-satisfied, too rich, let's destroy America. It is not that hard to do. History shows that nations are more fragile than their citizens think. No nation in history has survived the ravages of time. Arnold Toynbee observed that all great civilizations rise and they all fall, and that "an autopsy of history would show that all great nations commit suicide." Here is my plan:

1. We must first make America a bilingual-bicultural country. History shows, in my opinion, that no nation can survive the tension, conflict and antagonism of two competing languages and cultures. It is a blessing for an individual to be bilingual; it is a curse for a society to be bilingual. One scholar, Seymour Martin Lipset, put it this way: "The histories of bilingual and bicultural societies that do not assimilate are histories of turmoil, tension and tragedy. Canada, Belgium, Malaysia, Lebanon – all face crises of national existence in which minorities press for autonomy, if not independence. Pakistan and Cyprus have divided. Nigeria suppressed an ethnic rebellion. France faces difficulties with its Basques, Bretons and Corsicans."

2. I would then invent "multiculturalism" and encourage immigrants to maintain their own culture. I would make it an article of belief that all cultures are equal: that there are no cultural differences that are important. I would declare it an article of faith that the black and Hispanic dropout rate is only due to prejudice and discrimination by the majority. Every other explanation is out-of-bounds.

3. We can make the United States a "Hispanic Quebec" without much effort. The key is to celebrate diversity rather than unity. As Benjamin Schwarz said in the Atlantic Monthly recently, "The apparent success of our own multiethnic and multicultural experiment might have been achieved, not by tolerance, but by hegemony. Without the dominance that once dictated ethnocentrically, and what it meant to be an American, we are left with only tolerance and pluralism to hold us together." I would encourage all immigrants to keep their own language and culture. I would replace the melting pot metaphor with a salad bowl metaphor. It is important to insure that we have various cultural sub-groups living in America reinforcing their differences, rather than Americans emphasizing their similarities.

4. Having done all this, I would make our fastest-growing demographic group the least educated – I would add a second underclass, unassimilated, undereducated and antagonistic to our population. I would have this second underclass have a 50 percent dropout rate from school.

5. I would then get the big foundations and big business to give these efforts lots of money. I would invest in ethnic identity, and I would establish the cult of victimology. I would get all minorities to think their lack of success was all the fault of the majority. I would start a grievance industry blaming all minority failure on the majority population.

6. I would establish dual citizenship and promote divided loyalties. I would "celebrate diversity." "Diversity" is a wonderfully seductive word. It stresses differences rather than commonalities. Diverse people worldwide are mostly engaged in hating each other – that is, when they are not killing each other. A "diverse," peaceful or stable society is against most historical precedent. People undervalue the unity it takes to keep a nation together, and we can take advantage of this myopia.

Look at the ancient Greeks. Dorf's "World History" tells us: "The Greeks believed that they belonged to the same race; they possessed a common language and literature; and they worshiped the same gods. All Greece took part in the Olympic Games in honor of Zeus, and all Greeks venerated the shrine of Apollo at Delphi. A common enemy, Persia, threatened their liberty. Yet, all of these bonds together were not strong enough to overcome two factors ... (local patriotism and geographical conditions that nurtured political divisions ...)" If we can put the emphasis on the "pluribus," instead of the "unum," we can balkanize America as surely as Kosovo.

7. Then I would place all these subjects off-limits – make it taboo to talk about. I would find a word similar to "heretic" in the 16th century – that stopped discussion and paralyzed thinking. Words like "racist", "xenophobe" halt argument and conversation. Having made America a bilingual-bicultural country, having established multiculturalism, having the large foundations fund the doctrine of "victimology," I would next make it impossible to enforce our immigration laws. I would develop a mantra – "because immigration has been good for America, it must always be good." I would make every individual immigrant sympatric and ignore the cumulative impact.

8. Lastly, I would censor Victor Davis Hanson's book "Mexifornia" – this book is dangerous; it exposes my plan to destroy America. So please, please – if you feel that America deserves to be destroyed – please, please – don't buy this book! This guy is on to my plan.

"The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum." – Noam Chomsky, American linguist and U.S. media and foreign policy critic.

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The above speech was delivered in 2004 by Richard D. Lamm, a Democrat, who served as governor of Colorado for 12 years from 1975 to 1987.

There Oughta Be a Law

Where to begin. Every day we are experiencing and every day we see with our own eyes what we know to be misguided behavior. But we never see appropriate remedial action. We all know that the national government is now an accumulation of programs, agencies, personnel and costs that bear no association with the fiscally sensible priorities of a responsible nation. We are not even sure what the priorities are anymore because the priorities bounce around and the spending just keep rising.

We all know that the states are burdened with mandates from Washington DC that are the consequence of a rudderless effort to keep making everything better for everyone and, in the process of such silliness, the only real beneficiaries are the people who print government bonds and currency and work for the thousands of local, state and national governments.

We see, in our communities, out of control education costs with no accountability for results. We see this issue at a sustained crisis level in our major urban areas. The performance of urban public schools stink and they keep asking for more money. How about some new ideas, some new teachers, some competitors, some results? Oh no, just give us more money.  The schools should be closed and competition and new entries encouraged.

We see the daily misuse of the descriptive phrase – “public servant” knowing full well that the only public the public servants are serving are themselves, their associates and their highly compensated union bosses. There is a declining pool of tax funds available to pay for the basic activities assigned to government because the tax funds are paying for inflated salaries, benefits and generous pension plans.  Basic services deteriorate.  Privatization and competition, coupled with sacrifice and frugality, are the solution.  All public pensions should be revised by law to do away with defined benefit plans and replaced with defined contribution (IRA's and 401k's) plans.

Most of our larger states, the ones that now seem to be unable to enact any form of remedial or corrective action due to entrenched powerful groups supported by other entrenched powerful groups, are insolvent; teetering on bankruptcy. Heaven forbid that they would even consider issuing a legitimate financial statement accurately showing asset and liabilities and accounting for unfunded yet constantly owed liabilities such as pension payments, medical payments and other entitlement and personnel obligations.

We see special groups of people who do not submit and are not called to perform to the laws and rules that apply to most of us. Police who apply different standards to their own than to the public. Politicians who receive benefits and perquisites that are reminiscent of either royalty or tyrants. Judges who are afraid to enforce the basic laws so they "go along to get along."  Teachers who do not wish to be submit to performance standards. Silly litigation for those who accept no responsibility for their actions or the consequences of their actions. More lawyers per citizen than any nation on the face of the globe.  The examples are now endless.

We experience legislation that is measured by the pound; not the principle. A simple bill demanding a balanced budget is nowhere in sight. A simple bill demanding the reduction of debt is not even being considered.  A 2000 page document written by lawyers, special interests, pharmaceutical company lobbyists and several hundred more highly compensated individuals looking out for their carefully focused interests, is touted as a giant step forward by an increasingly apparent very weak individual posing as a leader. Who's gonna pay for it?  Not the people who vote for him.

The party out of power (POOP), after holding the chief executive spot for 96 months, was tossed out due in no small part to a record monthly deficit spending pace of $50+ billion. The party in power (PIP) now, learning nothing from that experience, has ballooned that pace to $150+ billion per month. This is not comprehensible to anyone who breathes, thinks and has ever balanced a checkbook. But it is happening. And then the people who do it are now saying we must stop spending so much money or we must raise taxes or both. Huh?

The people know better. The leaders do not. As a matter of fact, they are not leaders. They are self serving human beings engaged in a daily embrace of most of the documented known human failings – greed, pride, gluttony and sloth. We have been sold out for the silliest of all reasons – selfishness and misguided direction. We cannot solve everyone’s problem. We cannot make everyone’s life better. And we just plain have no business sticking our nose in other people’s business. Government is not a church; not a religion; not a cause. As a matter of fact our guiding law says we cannot establish a state religion in our country. And yet that is what the politicians and special interests have done. They have bypassed the basic religions and set up their own. And, much like the established religions, their religion follows many of the same tried, tested and true behaviors – fear tactics; high faluting principles; demands for money not earned but assessed to the followers; lots of glorification of personalities; false sense of uniqueness for participants; an entrenched leadership group that is so self elevated it is above the masses (a bright new face on the scene named Rand Paul correctly called them "arrogant") and countless monetary and personal benefits for those on the in. Here is what the USConstitution says about establishing a religion in the United States – “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.”

The US government has become the Church of Making Life Better for Everyone, except those who are either temporarily out of favor or just aren’t inclined to drink the cool aid, by Spending Borrowed Money. As a comic strip used to say, “There oughta be a law.” Hello? There is. It’s called the Constitution.

Vive la Différence

Who’d a thunk that America would be finding its footings on the banks of the Delaware River? Did you know that George Washington won his first victory of the Revolutionary War in Trenton, New Jersey on the banks of the Delaware? Day after Christmas, 1776. Did you know that this city, Trenton, NJ, was once the capitol of the new United States of America? Today, it is the capitol of New Jersey and, now, the home of the newest governor in the United States - a fellow by the name of Chris Christie.

Chris Christie has the audacity to say things like:

“They (Party in Power (PIP) in Washington) believe in bigger government, higher taxes and more spending. I believe in less government, lower taxes and empowering local officials…to fix their problems.”

“This is who I am and this is who the people elected.”

“Like it or not, you guys are stuck with me for four years.”

“Nobody in New Jersey is going to have to wonder where I am on an issue.”

“I came here to govern; not to worry about reelection.”

We may be getting a bit ahead of ourselves, but can you grab the concept – I’m here to cut spending and not worry about reelection? Where did this guy Christie ever develop such a rare syndrome as to grasp those rare concepts? Cut Spending. Not Worry about Reelection?

Meanwhile, out west, in the sovereign state of Utah, the three term senator Bob Bennett, anticipating a fourth term, instead, was asked to leave by the Party out of Power (POOP) powers. So what happened to Bob? Where did Bob go wrong? Well, let’s read some of his own words after he got the heave ho.

Here is one Bob quote, “"Looking back on them (votes), with one or two very minor exceptions, I wouldn't have cast any of them any differently even if I had known at the time they were going to cost me my career."

Let’s talk about the votes first. Bob gave lip service to controlling spending and balancing budgets. But he also voted for bailouts and he sure wasn’t opposed to putting spending designations in legislation that would come back to Utah. He was just a tad too unprincipled on the do as I say more than do as I do persona that has infected most all of the elected folk in Washington. Two, is it his job to vote the way he wants to vote or is it his job to vote the way his Utah citizens want him to vote, which is pretty much against deficits and unrepaid debt? TheFundamentals thinks he had better follow his constituents on matters economic and fiscal. He didn’t do it.

Bob also had a problem with keeping his word. Had to do with this reelection business. Remember, he said, “…cost me my career.” Big no-no, Bob. First who is kidding whom? Your career Bob was your private sector adventures; not representing the citizens of Utah in the US senate. Second, Bob, you said you would only serve two terms, which, by the way, is the recommended term limit period supported by TheFundamentals, for accumulative time spent by any one person in any combination of elected national jobs, excluding the presidency. Namely, twelve years total; no pension; just social security. So, Bob, why did you change your mind? Why did you say two terms, extend it to a third and now act upset when they gave you the heave ho while trying for a fourth?

C’mon Bob, do you really think you are that irreplaceable? Who do you think you are, John McCain (In Washington – 27 years)? Arlen Specter (In Washington - 29 years)? Harry Reid? (In Washington – 27 years)?

Twelve years. Not 27 or 29 or whatever!

Accurate Financial Reporting

We start this essay with the exact wording from the US Constitution pertinent to today’s topic:

Article I, Section 9 is entitled “Limits on Congress.” The sentence in this section pertinent to today's essay is, “No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time.”

Today, we focus on the wording, “…a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time.”

Does this wording include a regular Statement of Debt which is the direct consequence of the net of the Receipts and Expenditures?

Apparently not. Think about this simple extrapolation. The courts, the congress and the president(s) have taken the bare bones language of the Constitution and stretched, massaged and distorted those words over 200+ years and used the ambiguity of those words to create a massive, intrusive national government which is completely inconsistent with the wording and the intent of those who created the document. How do we know this? Well, the fine folk who fought for a great independent land sought strict controls over any government because they just had to fight for their lives in order to get out from under the burden of an oppressive national government. We cannot comprehend that they expected the government they formed to spend itself into a massive debt burden for which there would be no repayment program.   

What is the real debt of the United States? On May 10, TheFundamentals presented the US debt numbers provided by the US Treasury department. The recent growth of this debt is staggering. It is at massive record levels with no repayment program. It is growing monthly at massive record levels. It is projected to grow at massive record levels for the foreseeable future which means for years to come. It is not sustainable. It is the sure route to destruction of the country. But, we only published the portion recorded by treasury because that portion is actually documented with issued obligations – treasury notes, bills and bonds. But what about all the other debts and obligations and contingent liabilities of the US government? The so-called “off balance sheet” obligations. Where can we go to locate those numbers? Where does the United States government tally up all the debt, all the commitments, all the obligations? Where does the US government make that important information publically available. We don’t know. We can’t find it.  Surely our government would not hide this important calculation?

We Googled “total US debt.” They tell us that Wikipedia (W) is the most frequently used link to examine this search topic. So we read what W has to say and it is rather disconcerting. W says that the numbers we show from treasury exclude Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and that the US now stands behind all their debt. W estimates the debt of these two government outfits as “just over “$5 trillion.” FIVE TRILLION DOLLARS!  W also points out that the US has taken on substantial obligations as part of its support, guarantees and funding of various programs and bailouts beginning in late 2008 and continuing up to this moment. How much are these obligations and commitments? How much has the Federal Reserve committed?  We don’t know. And what about the other commitments that are quantifiable but are not identifiable through any reasonable search or examination.  What are these you ask? They include Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.

Last, we ask about the known spending commitments for all forms of government programs, bureaucracies and military activities. Perhaps a simple way to address all these items, and also include the rising interest costs associated with rising debt, is to ask for an accurate projection of future deficits which will become future debt in the very near future. If you know you are going to spend it and you know you won’t be able to pay for it you darn well had better document it as more and more debt and you darn well had better know when it is coming and how you will borrow the funds. That would seem to be a direct requirement under the Constitution wording noted above.

So, here is our conclusion. This fall when the folk are running around asking for your vote, answer them this way. We want to know how much we owe. Not what you occasionally tell us but the real numbers. And then we want to know how much you will commit to reduce that amount if we give you the job. If they can’t answer the question and they will not commit to report on and reduce the accurate total amount owed, tell ‘em to take a hike. Better to vote for no one.  Better yet, run for office yourself as long as you are willing to commit to abide by the Constitution and are willing to produce an accurate financial statement as required by the Constitution.