An Andy Rooney Moment: Why Is It?

An Andy Rooney Moment: Why Is It?

By

JT

Andy Rooney was a news writer and commentator best known for his unique satirical style while appearing on the CBS news magazine, 60 Minutes. Rooney often poised his segment with the satirical commentary; Why is it that... In a Roonaical spirit, I pose my own satirical look at the American Political Left.

Have you ever wondered why the Political Left demonstrates such poor leadership skills and why is it that voters keep electing those same poor leaders? Is it because voters cling to a dead script or because our politicians are just good actors? It seems to me that the Political Left is good at acting. Al Franken, for example, was an SNL comedian whose Senate service was laughable too. If you speak with liberal voters they seemed locked in a rerun that was never appealing the first time around. I think they call that insanity when you repeat the same thing over and over again expecting different results. Rossiter concluded that the liberal mind is a deeply disturbed personality in his book. You can find his conclusion on page 330.

Can you think of anything positive the Political Left has done for you? They partner with industries and businesses taking a lot of money from them but contributing nothing positive. Minimum wage jobs are actually maximum wage jobs as companies have to pay nothing more than what the government says to pay you. So, leaving one job for another job to get better pay is kind of pointless. For those struggling with identity, there is now a culture of bathroom options. Quite frankly, a person either stands to pee or sits to pee. And where is the option for about half the population that has to sit to pee? Will Congress take up the age-old debate to regulate whether to put the seat up or down?

I thought egalitarianism was a core principle of liberalism but the Political Left has created a culture where many people are special. How about parking? Parking is not special unless you are handicapped, a pregnant woman, law enforcement, delivery, a to-go order, an employee of the month, management, be there 5-minutes, or even 10-minutes. How often has anything taken 5 or 10 minutes? There is always someone who holds up the check-out line or a problem that takes more than 10 minutes to correct. There is also veteran parking at some places. Okay, our veterans deserve something since most places do not offer discounts these days. The point is the Political Left takes a lot of money, creates unusual cultures, offers nothing substantive, and makes it difficult to receive so-called entitlements. I do not understand how anyone could vote for the Political Left unless voting for ideology.

Let us discuss ideology. People who advance ideology are called ideologues which may be a polite way of calling them, idiots. When was the last time people stopped what they were doing and regulated themselves according to someone else's idea imposed on them? People seem to fight against other people's ideas and idiots seem to forcefully impose their ideology attempting to achieve some impossible utopian dream that no one else cares about. We see socialist governments deteriorate into communist regimes. The movement is always towards tyranny in those cases of human ideas because they are not natural and have to be forced.

We live in a practical world driven by natural order and natural systems. The American Forefathers saw humankind as corrupt at the most fundamental level. They built a system of government that dilutes corruption and appeals to the natural order of a free market and republic. American citizens struggle against who they are to become something better. The natural order is about the individual and their journey in life appealing to the conscience. The Preamble to the Constitution reads that the people are striving towards a more perfect union. We know ourselves to be imperfect with a history of failures and false starts. Nonetheless, we are striving and find confidence in our freedoms, not controls imposed on us and that which is taken from us.

• Religious Freedom • Friedman on Welfare State • Friedman on Free to Choose

You hear about a time to change but for all the change in the world, there is nothing new under the Sun. Shakespeare wrote in his play, As You Like It, that all the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances... The scripts have run their course and the acting on the Political Left is tiring. I would like to see many of our politicians on the Left take their exits and all the men and women take up the natural roles giving the American story back to its citizens - back to individuals.

Note: Milton Friedman was an American economist who won the Nobel Memorial Prize in 1976. Friedman has been a leading economic voice refuting Keynesian Economic Theory which advocates increasing government spending to pull out of economic slumps. Governments have failed miserably at pulling societies out of economic slumps and preparing for future slumps as most people understand that increased spending must be paid usually sooner than later.

History Repeats Itself: What About War?

History Repeats Itself: What About War?

By

JT

War is an unpleasant aspect of life and wars seem to be inevitable regardless of how peace-loving one has become. Evil will always bring wars to the peace-loving people who must decide how to deal with the onset of war. There are only a few options; fight, flee or submit. Remaining neutral is nothing more than submitting or surrendering.

Long Term Trending

A Long-term economic trend known as a super-cycle or Kondratiev Wave has war cycling about every 80 years and coincides with major American history. The Revolutionary War, Civil War, World War II, and the current times all have the same pattern consistent with this super-cycle.

The repeating pattern involves a 30 year period of rapid growth followed by a 30 year period of increasing commoditization when making money become more difficult. Then there is about a 5-year boom period, a 12 year bust period, and a major war lasting up to 5 years before repeating the cycle again beginning with a new way of living.

The most recent cycle has shown the pattern with the following sequence and approximate years.

• 1945: WWII ends & the Rapid Growth term begins as the Age of Luxury Living
• 1975: Rapid growth period transitions to the Commoditization period as companies began right-sizing, downsizing, reorganizing, and offshoring
• 2005: The commoditization period transitions to the short boom period with the rise of the housing boom and dot-com boom.
• 2010: The Dotcom and housing boom transitions to the bust period
• 2022: The bust should conclude with the onset of war

There was some timing variation in the sequence that may have been politically driven. For example, the Bust Period seemed to start closer to 2008 as the economy began to falter with huge layoffs. The transition to the Commoditization Period seemed to start following 1976 as interest rates skyrocketed, an energy crisis set in, and windfall profits became taboo. Nonetheless, the cycle seems to be closely on point.

Rarely do people see the conditions that lead to the onset of war. There are conflicts occurring in other cycles and skirmishes that spring up not connected to any cycle that confuses the circumstances. Political activity may also influence variations and conflicts.

Political Influences

Let us look at American history and the influences that the Political Left has had on causing the US involvement in belligerence. I hold that the peace-loving Progressives through their leadership and decision making have precipitated nearly all the US involvement in more than a century of wars. Progressives continue to demonstrate an inept ability at leadership.

• The first Progressive president was Teddy Roosevelt who commissioned the Great White Fleet to introduce America to the world at the turn of the 20th century. The Great White Fleet sailed around the world remarking; be our friend or we will attack. They used the philosophy that either a country is our friend or our enemy.
• After 8 US-flagged ships were sunk by German U-boats, President Woodrow Wilson, a Progressive, insisted that the US was too proud to fight. An emboldened Germany then tried to ally Mexicans against the US. Congress overrode the President drawing the US into WWI.
• President Franklin Roosevelt, a Progressive, defunded the military, parked many Navy ships at the pier, and much of the military was poorly trained for combat. The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor as the Pacific fleet was sitting ducks. Radar operators thought the Japanese attack force was an unscheduled training exercise.
• President Truman, a Progressive, ordered the world's first and only use of Nuclear weapons to end WWII. The Truman doctrine got the US into the Korean War which has never ended with a live DMZ today and a third-generation dictator. Truman ended one war and started an indefinite war.
• President Johnson, a Progressive, faked the Gulf of Token Incident which has been proven to be a lie, and got America into the Vietnam War after the French had completely withdrawn from a hopeless situation.
• President Carter, a Progressive, turned his back on the Shah of Iran effectively turning Iran over to Islamic fundamentalists who in turn overran the Embassy and took US hostages for 444 days. Later Ahmadinejad, one of the terrorists who held the hostages, became President of Iran. Carter attempted a failed military rescue of the hostages that was doomed from the start due to poor planning and leadership.
• April Glaspie, a Progressive US diplomat, gave Saddam Hussein the green light to invade Kuwait sparking the Gulf Wars and US involvement.
• President Clinton, A Progressive, demonstrated complete ineptness at foreign policy, diplomacy, and military use. During diplomatic talks in Haiti with diplomats on the ground, launched bombers threatening the capture of the US diplomats. Clinton, knowing of Osama Bin Laden's threat to the US, bombed mountain goats and empty villages claiming to just miss Osama Bin Laden setting the conditions for the 911 event.
• President Obama, a Progressive, apologized for being the US and took a submissive posture around the world. He embraced the Arab Spring which sought to unify the Middle East under the Muslim Brotherhood by ousting leaders who were soft towards the West in favor of more hard-line fundamentalist leadership. Obama used the US military to weaken long-standing Islamic leaders in order to be replaced by fundamentalists. Unification of the Middle East is necessary for Global Government and establishing a regional center of economic influence. Obama also attempted to normalize US relations with longstanding threats to democracy. Much of this administration's influence and outcomes need to be seen in time.

Where are we today and what has transpired? Is the situation any better or different than in the past? Coincidentally, modern political factions map just a little too close to the Biblical Jewish sects of the Pharisees and the Sadduccees. The Political Left could be seen as the Sadducees who were focused on the law of the land and liberalism. Not one Sadducee came to Christ in the Bible. America's founding is 100% from the Bible including the original intent for warfighting doctrine.

The Biblical Warfighting Doctrine

Most scholars either reject or are very reluctant to discuss warfighting doctrine in the Bible. Many scholars will claim there is no such doctrine. Before I get into the details, I want to clarify the difference between a warfighting doctrine and a doctrine of war. Warfighting doctrine is a set of principles, duties, and responsibilities or a dogma established as a response to the act of war or serious threat. A doctrine of war is the provocative use of force to gain land, resources, passage, or impose one way of life on another way of life. The Bible has a warfighting doctrine that is consistent with God's war on evil and wickedness, Genesis 3:15 and Ephesians 6:12, and establishing Christ as Lord, Revelation 19:11, who judges and commands legions of Angels. These Angelic forces battle demonic forces that march on the City of God, Jerusalem, through the Valley of Armageddon.

As for humans throughout the Bible, there are several kinds of war; secular wars, holy wars, and wars of judgment. Secular wars are of human origin and human objectives and work for the good of God. Holy wars only involve Israel. Wars of judgment are when God judges nations based on their treatment of Israel or rebellion against God's order. God judges nations using war.

Biblically, the government prosecutes the war. A nation goes to war only after peaceful attempts at resolving the reasons leading to war have failed. When a nation wars, they do so with the intent to annihilate the enemy. War booty is prohibited and should never be expected. Prisoners of war are to be treated humanely. If the enemy surrenders then the prevailing nation is to indoctrinate the fallen nation into Godly ways as bad cultures are not to be preserved. The Bible assigns duties and responsibilities to gender. If necessary to war, males are called to fight beginning at the age 18.

Nothing New Under the Sun

Wars come and go throughout history for all sorts of reasons. Some are random skirmishes, many wars result from megalomaniacs seeking power, and others are occurring on cycles. All wars are a reflection of the fight between good and evil. War is brought to the peace-loving people by evil actors. The peace-loving people must determine how they are to respond.

Based on long-term economic cycles, the world is poised for a major war in the near term. Traditional wars have been dyadic or have two opposing sides. In the modern world, there is a possibility that the coming cyclic war will be a complex war involving many actors. This will be a difficult war to fight as there will be several opposing sides whose alliances shift regularly based on moving objectives founded on power, money, and control.

War is inevitable and we need to learn from our past as well as look to successful doctrines. Otherwise, we are doomed to repeat mistakes, achieve lukewarm outcomes, and sadly cause loss of life.

Star Trek vs America's Founding

Star Trek vs America's Founding

By

JT

Nearly everyone is familiar with the Star Trek franchise created by Gene Roddenberry then popularized through numerous television series and movies. Many people seem to draw their sense of ethics, leadership, and societal mores from the fantasy episodes that explore issues common to Earth but seem to exist throughout the galaxy. Nonetheless, Star Trek has an agenda that is not exactly compatible with America's Founding.

In the ethos of Star Trek is the Prime Directive that prohibits Humans from interfering in off-planet affairs and societies. In the first season of The Next Generation (TNG), episode 22 which is called Symbiosis, Captain Picard explains the Prime Directive is not a set of rules but a philosophy that protects the normal course of the universe and mandates that humans are expendable to prevent violation of the directive. During the second season of TNG in episode 15 called Pen Pals, the senior staff debate the extent and limits of the Prime Directive. The staff volleys between philosophy and practical application, theology and religion. In many episodes, the Prime Directive is broken usually in favor of some ethical fabric that is beyond the human convention but often cast as their humanity.

From where does the Prime Directive originate? This directive is from the human convention of Star Fleet Command in the series. But the notion of the Prime Directive is a secular humanist, atheistic, construct drawn from the human imagination. Atheism denies the existence of sovereign God(s) but promotes with evangelical zeal nothingness. The atheist's god is appropriately named the god of nothingness, a NULL, for which they fight. Numerous US circuit court cases have upheld that Atheism is a religion protected by the First Amendment having the Right to free exercise and the Right to assemble. One of the more recent cases was Kaufman v. McCaughtry (2005) which relied on the precedence set by numerous earlier cases and a US Supreme court ruling (Davis, 2005).

Roddenberry was a secular humanist, an atheist, who imagined the Prime Directive. Roddenberry held a belief in levels of ascension or a New Age philosophy that he wrote into the Star Trek The Original Series (TOS) and early TNG episodes before he died. According to Roddenberry, there are pre-warp, warp-capable, and post-warp societies as well as alternate planes of existence. Ultimately, intelligent and sentient life achieves the continuum where the Q exists. The Q is god. To Roddenberry, man achieves a god's status in time. In the Star Trek TNG third season, the fourth episode called Whose Watching the Watcher highlights Roddenberry's Secular Humanist Theology and thinking. Picard breaks the Prime Directive to prove he is not a god - yet.

Watching Star Trek reveals what secular humanists are thinking and what is on their uninspired minds. The Star Trek TOS episode, The Mark of Gideon which is a Biblical reference aired in February 1969. The leader of the planet Gideon uses a virus to reduce the over-population which sounds too close to COVID-19 which may have been a test run in reality.

The Theology Behind America's Founding

A brief account of the historical path to America's founding began with the printing of the Gutenberg Bible which lead people to read the Bible discerning the unfiltered message. In time, the Bible was annotated and cross-referenced in the margins creating the Geneva Bible which was used by the Protestants and the Pilgrims. These annotations lead to a more in-depth understanding and, in time, were carried over to the King James Version of the Bible. At the outset of the Pilgrims to America, Pastor John Robinson wrote a farewell letter that detailed the Biblical form of Government for them to live under in the New World. The Pilgrims set sail on the Mayflower on September 6, 1620. Upon arriving in the New World on November 11, 1620, there was a near mutiny on the ship. They sat down and used Pastor John Robinson's letter to draft the Mayflower Compact which became their Constitution.

Over 150 years later, the French and American Revolutions were occurring close together. In an odd sensibility, America is a Tale of Two Cities. Charles Dickens wrote about Paris and London were the worst of times and the best of times. America is about Jamestown, VA and Plymouth, MA which were experiencing the worst of times and the best of times as well. Jamestown was under the rule of King George III. They were warring with the Indians, there was famine, economic depression, plagues, martial law, and harassment by the King's agents. Meanwhile, Plymouth was enjoying an abundance of food, good relations with the Indians, a thriving economy, and good health. The American Forefathers were inspired by the contrast between these cities and observed the Mayflower Compact. In 1756, the Biblical model was well understood as demonstrated by John Adams' diary entry:

"Suppose a nation in some distant region should take the Bible for their only law book, and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited! Every member would be obliged in conscience, to temperance, frugality, and industry; to justice, kindness, and charity towards his fellow men; and to piety, love, and reverence toward Almighty God... What a Eutopia, what a paradise would this region be." - John Adams on February 22, 1756.

The American Forefathers were well studied in many theologies and philosophies. They were not proponents of religion although most were practicing members of Protestant sects. They determined that Judeo-Christian Theology was the kindest towards establishing the new nation. The Judeo-Christian theology became the underpinning of America and is known as Original Intent which was focused on the individual, his or her path in life, and unalienable human rights. Original Intent was 100% derived from Judeo-Christian Theology.

Original Intent Compared to the Prime Directive

The Bible is an integrated message system having internal consistency meaning no message or question is left dangling or open-ended. Every message compliments other messages supportive of Christ, the individual, and ordained systems or constructs. One of the systems in the Bible is the construct of a Republic, also known as representative democracy. This is underpinned by the free-market economy which is creativity in service to humanity. The free market is underpinned by the energy, fossil fuels, that were gifted by God following the Great Flood. The Republic is an overseer ensuring natural rights are not lost or infringed upon and the safety of its citizens. Individuals are architected to support the free market given a mind to imagine things, hands to create things imagined, and feet to transport things made to the market where just rewards are earned. Each individual has God's image in them and these Biblical systems give levity to the image in people. However, unlike the Prime Directive that expends human life to preserve itself, the Bible has commandments that uphold life and the individual. For example, Thou Shalt not kill is the Right to Life.

The commandments which also include The Ten Commandments are written in a negative connotation. When written in a positive connotation and modern-day language become natural and unalienable Rights that have duties and responsibilities that protect society from the wilds of an individual. An individual's Rights are directed at them by others as opposed to impressed upon them and respected by others. Nonetheless, the action is incumbent upon the individual. The commandment Thou Shalt not kill is a simple example which is the Right to Life. Each individual has a duty not to kill and a responsibility to uphold the sanctity of life. In this way, society is preserved and everyone is alive and well. In short, your Right to Life persists because other people fulfilled their duty and responsibilities. The Right to Fair Treatment is the commandment "Thou shalt not to bear false witness" which applies to all circumstances including criminal, civil, and even gossip. The duty is to be honest and the responsibility is to uphold truthfulness in all circumstances.

Other commandments are developed in a more complex manner in the Bible as themes more than simple statements. The pursuit of freedom is a theme throughout every book in the Bible. Freedom is not a hedonistic pursuit to do self-indulgent things. In general, the pursuit of freedom included entire nations fleeing slavery to individuals serving their masters up to the Year of Jubilee. In other Biblical terms, freedom is from bondage to Mosaic Law and is found in Christ who fulfills the law. Thus, Christians live not by rules or laws but by principles. Laws are for those who are not in Christ. Sometimes principles and laws of the land conflict and Christians are to adhere to God's commandments. Commandments can also be viewed in terms of principles that humans aspire towards since everyone falls short. One Biblical struggle is people struggle against who they are to become who they are supposed to be. America is aspiring toward a more perfect union and America's citizens are to live by and aspire to principles.

The difference between the Prime Directive and Original Intent is opposite of each other. The Prime Directive asserts non-interference, even hiding from other cultures, and is self-preserving at the expense of humans. America's Original Intent asserts that the United States is a beacon to the world to be seen, an example known as American Exceptionalism. Original Intent asserts that America is seen as a principled place and at times interferes to uphold those principles which exalt human rights that preserve people and virtuous societies. Original Intent is the exact opposite of the Prime Directive. The only Star Fleet I see are the fifty stars on the American Flag. 

 

References:

Davis, D, (2005) Is Atheism a Religion? Recent Judicial Perspectives on the Constitutional Meaning of “Religion”. Journal of Church and State. Vol 47 No 4. Oxford University Press: USA. pp. 707-723.

Federer, W. (1996). America's God and Country. William J Federer, Fame Publishing, ISBN: 1-880563-05-3