08-07-2021
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Many years ago, in a universe far, far away, I was taught by others to be grateful. I did not learn this skill quickly, nor did it come easily, but I did learn it. The circumstances of life are ever changing and while we have the inherent right to pursue happiness, we have no guarantees of it; and neither can any form of government arrange for it. Our existence relies on food, clothing and shelter, just as it has for the last 300,000 years or more. Beyond mere existence, our lives are a direct result of our thoughts and actions.
I do not believe happiness should be our only goal anyway. The pursuit of meaning and purpose should have their place also. This is insinuated by Jefferson in the body of his writing, but stated only as “…pursuit of happiness..” insofar as what a government should provide for its people. A government is responsible for protecting the unalienable rights of a people. The people are responsible for themselves and society.
For as much as the Marxist would like to strip us of personal responsibility and dole out resources according to their declared paradigm , it cannot be done entirely. They can take our money. They can take our land. They can even take our food. (if we let them) But they cannot take our individual sovereignty if we do not allow them to.
These tenets, the very concept of individuality is what makes us human. The chaos we see in society, from schools to churches to neighborhood parks, from lock downs to passports to open borders, from unemployment to rent moratoriums, is emanating from a color revolution designed and intended to break us psychologically. The Marxist cannot tolerate independent thinking, therefore they must demoralize us.
Gratitude is one way to subvert becoming demoralized because gratitude is a component to wisdom. It will require wisdom to defeat the color revolution under way. It will require action also, and carefully chosen words to refute the false promises that socialism and communism make to their followers. The sleepers must be awaken!
It’s difficult these days to find reasons for gratitude, but there are always things that we can focus on for minutes at a time that will engender a fleeting sense of tranquility. Knowing you are part of the solution, even a microscopic part, rather than a member of the problem, can be a beginning. As Jordan Peterson says, before you try to save the world, clean up your own room.
Likewise, before you take on world wide hunger or homelessness, maybe check your neighborhood and community to see if your help is needed there first. I am grateful to know that across this great nation, most communities have a solid core of people who volunteer, pitch in, and help wherever they can. These people, dare I say, – we – , are the majority.
The vast majority of our population believe in border security, law and order, free speech, and capitalism not socialism. The vast majority. I am grateful for that. I am grateful that parents are pushing back (finally) against Critical Race Theory being taught in K-12 schools.
I am grateful for the overlooked facts concerning the progress of the world since the early 1800s. A confluence of events, highlighted by the industrial revolution and free markets, put humanity on a exponential trajectory of increased wealth, improved life style, advanced technology, medical breakthroughs, and in 2019 we were quickly approaching the elimination of hunger. Most of the poorest people in the world today live better than anyone did in the 19th century ! Of course there are exceptions – such as Cuba. World-wide, however, – the big picture – proves that innovation, capitalism, and free societies equates to improvements in the human condition the likes of which have never been equaled in the all of history. Everyone has been lifted up in spite of wars and droughts and communist governments feeding off the spoils of capitalistic ones. The capitalistic industrial revolution, not Communism, accounts for our increased well being.
The predictions of Marx were all wrong. In fact, the results of the past 150 years are nearly opposite of his oppressor / oppressed theory. Many other predictions made by those who would tell us how to live have been wrong also. The population explosion was supposed to have caused mass starvation by the year 2000. What happened? We learned how to get more food per acre. So much more, it baffles the mind. According to the climate experts of the 1990s, Miami should be under water by now. The ice caps are melting! But wait. Some are melting. Others are growing. What gives? Our atmosphere is supposed to be all but stripped from the planet by now, according to the leading minds of the 1970s. Remember the ozone layer? We were going to incinerate ourselves with nuclear weapons by now also. Why did we not? Cooler heads have prevailed. Even the most incompetent of our leaders have determined that no future is far worse than a troubled one. There will always be a crisis. There will always be strife and struggle. After all, peoples gots problems.
Most of all, I am grateful that truth is eternal and universal law always wins in the end. I believe in karma, not the predictions of pseudo intellectuals. The plethora of lies we have been told have done great damage and there is no end to them in the immediate future. But truth telling is making a steadfast comeback, people are much more informed than a year ago, and if the majority of our population engage in the issues of the day, we can eventually curtail the madness.
All of this is not to say we need not be vigilant. There are real problems in the world. There are still far too many leftists intent on destroying this country as we have come to know it. They would plunge us backwards 100 years. There are far too many people living in ignorance and buying the lies of socialism and communism – the sisters of tyranny. They should visit Cuba.
I am sad for the uprising in Cuba. Many more will be killed before it is over. They have shut down the internet, so no real news will be coming from the island, only propaganda from the regime until or unless it is overthrown. Of course some are blaming Trump for this. But I am grateful that those poor citizens of a repressive communist regime have finally stood up against their oppressors. It is ironic that leftists in this country cry out against oppression, yet minimize the Cuban crisis where true oppression is the root cause of poverty, hunger, and lack of medicine. Their oppression is a direct result of communism. We can only pray that their message makes its way to our shores.
In the words of Devin Nunes “ Communists everywhere come to power promising equality, justice, and social progress. But inevitably, their corruption and economic policies are so disastrous that they can only keep power by creating a massive police state. ”
If we are to take in 2 million immigrants this year, I say let them be Cubans. There is much they can teach us. But that does not seem to be Biden’s strategy.
Taking stock of what we should be grateful for casts new light on our lives and should inspire us to fight to keep what freedoms we have left. We must not allow the unique form of communism rising up from so many institutions to devolve us into the police state. That is what happened to Cuba. It has happened to Hong Cong also. Once the police becomes an arm of the political regime, the game is over. That is why I ask, “Why do we need Capitol Police stationed in Florida and California?” These are two of largest states in the country in terms of electoral votes. Coincidence? Or another incremental move by a centralized authority to usurp more power over we serfs?
Back in the 1990s, Thomas Sowell was ringing the alarm bell as a prophet might predict the future. He wrote a book called Vision of the Anointed. The Anointed are the elites who run big business, big education, and big government – the ruling class – the oligarchy. The Vision is almost exactly what has taken place since then.
In an interview promoting the book at the time, Sowell said that the elites in this country believe they are smarter than the rest of us so it is important to them that they continue to create government programs that will re imagine our society. Sowell warned us of the mindset, noting, Paraphrase: “When you bring them facts that contradict their presuppositions or positions, they simply ignore them in favor of an ideology.”
The lines between liberal idealism, social engineering, and single party rule that results in communism or some other form of police enforced authority are blurred and translucent. It is not easy to understand or believe how one thing morphs to the next given the propaganda that promotes it, the doublespeak. It is not easy to track the 1,000 pin pricks that incrementally lead us through The Overton Window (another great book) . But as decisions that need to be made are taken away from the individual and given to the government to make, individual freedom is the price. When well meaning programs result in the unintended consequences of doing more harm than good, we digress. In every case, it is the conceited idea that they know better than we, which is the prime mover. Sowell nailed it.
Our government is thriving and growing today because of capitalism. Capitalism is not thriving because of today’s government, but in spite of it. The oligarchy is walking the fence line. They need free markets to maintain their wealth. But they need power to maintain their hold over a once free society. How will they foster innovation in a country edging closer and closer to a tyrannical state?
For some time now terms like, the Great Reset, New World Order, the fourth industrial revolution, and “technocracy” have been hovering in the halls of international conventions and G7 summits. This is the end game for the globalist elite, one final modification (to currency in this case) aimed at destroying free markets and encouraging government control over the economy and society. Once again it is the conceited elites believing they should tell us how to live. If we won’t listen they’ll just bring down the iron fist. In other words, if we do not agree to redistribute wealth, then they will manipulate the currency to achieve their ends. Karl Marx was correct. People are being oppressed. Isn’t it ironic that the Marxists are so good at it.