I have lived through many frightening periods in my life, most of them mercifully short.
The years of WWII were very scary for a child. The men all gone. Searchlights scanning the skies of Houston endlessly to illuminate enemy bombers for the anti-aircraft batteries that stood silent and ready.
My Dad made a small wax record of his voice with a message just for me, in a booth in San Francisco before he shipped oversees. I didn’t remember him, but the ladies assured me, pointing at the Victrola that was making scratchy noises and emitting almost unintelligible words, that it was my daddy. I went the rest of the war thinking that my dad was a shiny black disk that spun around in circles.
I remember in elementary school the cold war “duck and cover” drills that were supposed to save us from becoming crispy, courtesy of a Russian H-bomb. We all figured we would eventually be toast, literally.
Later, as a young married man with my wife and new son tucked safely away back in Houston I was swept away from our home by the Air Force to serve on the front lines during the Cuban Missile Crisis. I remember playing chess while on duty in the wee hours one morning, when for a brief moment, we went from the scary DEFCON 2 to the terrifying DEFCON 1. I couldn’t believe my eyes as I watched the big bombers, loaded with nuclear weapons, taxi from the alert line to the runway to take off for real bombing missions. The doctrine of deterrence (called mutual annihilation) kept ringing in my head. Turned out the Russian bombers were not really flying over the pole coming our way, it was a human error at some Radar center. But, damn! It was scary! Never got back to that chess game.
Service in Viet Nam, Scary! Again, During the Nixon administration when the Arab oil embargo showed us what our world would be like without oil and we wasted hours in lines at gas stations on alternate days to purchase a maximum of ten gallons, (unfortunately we learned exactly nothing from this); then, in the last year or two of the Carter administration when home mortgages were over 20%. Frightening times all, and I happily survived them all.
The most frightening hundred day period in my life however has been the first 100 days of the Obama administration. Rather than staring my own mortality in the face, I have been starkly confronted with the concept of the mortality of our nation, our constitution and our freedom. Most of us have taken these treasures for granted all our lives.
I have lived confident that these sacred things could never be taken from us by an invading foreign power. We would always prevail and make them sorry they had tried. It had never occurred to me that they could be taken in a bloodless internal coup while we slept! We as a people have taken this liberty that has been purchased with the blood of millions of patriots for granted and have been lulled into a sleep of apathetic arrogance.
For the last 100 days, I have seen evidence that it is indeed not only possible to loose our liberty, but it is actually happening before our eyes and we seem powerless to do anything about it. I had taken the freedom of my progeny for granted. America would always be great and free. In the last 100 days I have watched Liberty slip right through our fingers with hardly an audible protest from those of us to whom our sacrificing fathers and mothers have passed the torch and the duty of vigilance.
OK, Mr. Obama, you have our attention, and yes we are afraid. Anyone with half a brain should be. Remember this, however. There are many just like me in every state. We may be frightened but we are not dead. Our founding fathers provided a lawful way for us to deal with situations like this. You have underestimated us. You are in for a big surprise. Your supporters were only activist enough to spend an hour at the polls before returning to their TVs and video games. The real patriots of America who see you for what you are are activist enough to do more than just vote. We will present you with the specter of a Constitutional Convention. The Same body, the sovereign states, that originally created the Federal government and gave it its charter (the Constitution) have the power under that inspired document to retake the reigns of power from you and the entire Federal government and amend and clarify your Charter.And, so help me we will do it!
I don’t blame this all on you as this has been building for decades. In fact, you are doing our country a favor. Had it not been for your arrogance and your impatience to seize power we may have continued sleeping for decades.
This lecture was given by Thomas E. Woods, Jr., on Saturday, 4 April 2009, at “The Great Depression: What We Can Learn From It Today,” the Mises Circle in Colorado; sponsored by Limited Government Forum of Colorado Springs and hosted by the Ludwig von Mises Institute.
I asked my father what his parents had told him about their tough times during the Great Depression:
This is what he shared with me:
They lived on the farm during the Great Depression near Palestine Texas. Mom’s teen years occurred during that crisis. Their family was, of course, very poor. They had only one cow and depended upon her to provide milk for the entire family. President Franklin Roosevelt’s “stimulus plan” included sending a team to the Potter farm to shoot their one cow and burn the meat, so that it could not be eaten.
I suppose it was a well-intentioned plan designed to “stimulate” spending and consumption, to force this little family to go out and purchase milk and meat at the store. In reality, all it stimulated was hunger and a deep resentment of government stupidity and cruelty and President Roosevelt personally. My mom just plain didn’t like the President and was fond of making sure everyone she knew understood why. Let’s pray all the well intentioned “stimuli” our benevolent government is throwing around today hits the mark a bit better.
Because of her experience as a teen, my grandmother went on to participate in the battle to establish a two-party system in Texas. Up until about the 1960s (I’m estimating here) Texans could only vote for Democrats because only Democrats ran (sound familiar? big grin ).
What are your stories of dealing with Tough Times? We’d like to hear them.
Having grown up in the segregated south, in a home where racism (and run-on sentences) were not tolerated, and having experienced physical and verbal attacks for being in public places with friends who were black, (at the time “colored” was the polite term) I marvel at the social maturity achieved in our country since the early sixties.
On one hand, I think it is cool that a black person can be elected President of the United States. On the other, I wish we had chosen a clear thinking patriot like Dr. Alan Keyes or countless others (even Denzel Washington) to be the first to have that honor, rather than the nightmare that we seem to have brought upon ourselves.
Having a President that seems to, at best, lack respect for and understanding of the basic tenets of our Republic as established by the Founding Fathers is disconcerting. It may turn out to be a good thing in the long run, however.
If President Obama stirs enough fear and anger to re-awaken the Patriotic Spirit of America that seems to have been lulled to years of slumber by that insidious sedative, “Ease” it may be just what we need.
I find myself wishing, however, that we could have been jolted awake by something short of the onset of the socialist fascism we seem to have brought on ourselves.
There does seem to be an awakening among many of us old enough to have been taught patriotism in our homes, schools and places of worship. I sense a lot of fear and anger tossing about in the Boomer plus age group and some Gen Xers, but I am disheartened to “hear” silent acceptance and even applause among those too young to have experienced this privileged enlightenment. It seems they just don’t “get it”. I ask “where are the young people to angrily march in the streets waving placards that condemn the muddy footprints that have been trampled upon our constitution?” “Who is willing and able to man the barricades if it comes to that?”The silence mocks me.
I wonder if I am just a foolish old fart overreacting to “change”. But, I know better. This is serious, frightening. Our very liberty is at stake! Liberty, the foundation of our Republic, the measure of our existence! Not just trickling away, but dissipating into the wind, chased by rascals. Our Founding Fathers must be spinning in their graves! Who will stand up and defend our liberty?………………… Well, damn it, I WILL!!
Sorry for the drama but the feelings behind it were 100% genuine.I know I am not alone.Join me?
Sometimes you find the gift of hope from the most unexpected sources.
This afternoon, I was sitting alone at a hotel poolside restaurant on Waikiki beach waiting for my wife to join me. I was enjoying the ocean, the cool breeze, the occasional bikini stroll by, and a diet coke.
I couldn’t help but overhear a private conversation at the table directly behind me. It was between two postal workers who had apparently been elected to represent their union at a convention in Honolulu.
I was paying more attention to the pleasant environment and occasional stroll bys than to their conversation until they turned to politics. It then became apparent that they were core Obama supporters. I snuck a peek over my shoulder and saw that they were both young-end boomer generation black men with a little gray in their hair. I could tell they were NOT mindless victims of demagoguery, but were thoughtful deliberate men.
Their conversation reflected remnant of excitement at having a black President and was filled with confidence that Obama would eventually pull us through all the crises we faced. One of the men then qualified all the previous conversation by stating: “he better quit all this sh*t though, he’s killing us!” His companion grunted in agreement.
I sat there feeling my spirits lift. Here were two core supporters that had likely been actively involved in helping President Obama get elected and they were feeling some of the same fear and anger as I feel. As I said, sometimes hope comes from unexpected sources.
Today, hundreds of thousands of Americans are participating in tea parties in cities all across our nation. They are moms and dads, teachers and students, businessmen and women. They are Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, and Independents and they are all protesting the same thing – out of control government spending and taxes.
Complicated
Albert Einstein said, “The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax.” We can only imagine what he would say of the insanity that it has become today.
According to the Tax Foundation’s 2009 Survey of U.S. Attitudes on Taxes, Government Spending and Wealth Distribution, 85% of adults say the federal tax code is complex and 82% say that the tax system needs to be completely overhauled.
The U.S. Tax Code contains upwards of 70,000 pages. Every year it gets more complex. In fact, the burden of compliance has become a tax of its own. Compliance costs are estimated at $300 billion a year. An estimated 60% of Americans use paid tax preparation services.
U.S. taxpayers and businesses spend about 7.6 billion hours a year complying with the filing requirements of the Internal Revenue Code.2 And that figure does not even include the millions of additional hours that taxpayers must spend when they are required to respond to an IRS notice or an audit.
If tax compliance were an industry, it would be one of the largest in the United States.
To consume 7.6 billion hours, the “tax industry” requires the equivalent of 3.8 million
full-time workers.
It’s clear to everyone but our elected officials that the American Tax Code needs and enema.
Alternatives
Today, there are three alternatives to our current federal income tax. They are, in no particular order: the Fair Tax, the Flat Tax, and No Tax.
You can find more information about each alternative at the following links:
“The difference between death and taxes is death doesn’t get worse every time Congress meets.” – Will Rogers
According to the Tax Foundation, Tax Freedom Day in 2009 is on April 13th.
This is eight days earlier than in 2008, and a full two weeks earlier than in 2007, for two reasons: (1) the recession has reduced tax collections even faster than it has reduced income, and (2) the stimulus package includes large temporary tax cuts for 2009 and 2010. Nevertheless, Americans will pay more in taxes than they will spend on food, clothing and housing combined.
I remember fondly each Christmas when my children were growing up. We approached Christmas morning with great ritual. Mom and Dad would be the first to see the tree and the children would wait impatiently in chronological order (oldest first) to be admitted to our own family magical kingdom. Then came the unwrapping ceremony and then Mom and Dad were gleefully abandoned as the children scattered to show off and play with their new favorite toy.
The rest of the day was a marathon of play and sometimes the toy didn’t survive in working order through the day. But, those that did usually lost their shine by evening and other gifts were enjoyed.
What made me think of this was our new president. He reminds me of a kid with a new toy on Christmas morning. I really hesitate to condemn him as he is having so much fun and evidently needs the affirmations. Here is a guy that has never run even a Subway store and now he is king of the hill! In his first 100 days he has been flexing his new POTUS muscles and having a ball!
He has fired the CEO of GM for goodness sake! He is calling the shots in the auto industry as well as the financial industry. He’s been staging his own version of Eva Peron’s infamous “money tour”! He has set records for tossing around “pork” and has collected more IOU’s than a Mafia Don. Along the way, he has set some very dangerous precedents and has infringed on the liberty we treasure; liberty bought and paid for with the blood of patriots.
I was happy when I heard he was going to leave the country and turn his attention to the world. I hoped that his absence would mark a pause at least in the seemingly non-stop daily shocks and atrocities.
Little did I know that he was switching to his “new kid on the block” mode. The purpose of his foreign junket seemed to be to impress world leaders with himself. He seemed to be “on message” at every stop: “The rude, arrogant, narrow minded America of the past is gone. The incompetent leadership of the recent decades is gone. I, the super hero of heads of state, am here to set things straight.”
He insulted former friends, bowed literally and figuratively to men who are known to hate our country. He allowed insults to all of us to go unchallenged. He announced to the world that America is NOT a Christian nation. I found myself wishing he would come home!
Looking at the whole Obama circus from forty thousand feet, one could conclude that his election was the biggest espionage coup in the history of the world. READ ALL ABOUT IT! “Islamist extremists have successfully planted a mole that has risen to the highest level of any mole in history.”
I am hoping that the Christmas “mourning” of the Obama administration will end soon and that, like a kid on Christmas evening, he will lose interest in his new toy and turn to other things. My fervent wish is that he doesn’t “break us” before he lays his pretty little head down to sleep. I pray our republic survives.
Mr. President, America is nobody’s toy! You don’t own America! We the People of the United States of America still own this country. Our forbearers left us means in our Constitution to deal with situations like this. Don’t tread on us Mr. President. We are not all mindless zombies that depend upon the media to do our thinking.
We will whip out the Constitution and do what we should have done a long time ago! A Constitutional Convention called by two thirds of the states has the power to make clear the message of the tenth amendment and compel the federal government to stay within its constitutional bounds. Thanks for the wake up call Mr. President. You have our attention.
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