Opus 2020-301: Should-a-Beens: Prognostication

What lies in the future?  Obviously that is a dumb question if you expect an accurate answer, but it is a consideration we need to keep making.

I think that the goals of President Trump will be the same, win or lose.  I think he will continue to work to drain the swamp.  His methods and priorities will be different depending on the outcome of the election but he has set himself to make America great again and I don’t see him quitting.  There is a very real sense in which he has the tiger by the tail and can’t let go, even if he wants to.  He has been learning a lot in the last four years about the enemies of the Republic and their lack of moral limitations.  He has seen the abuse of the legal system in the persecution of Michael Flynn.  He has watched as the swamp has used every agency of the United States government to bring him down when he was supposed to be the head of those agencies.  I think he is a different person than he was four years ago.

The people who have attacked him, his family and his country need to begin living in fear.  He has a lot going for him.  

    His own commitment to winning
    His deep love for the United States of America
    80 million voters who were given hope again
    The Constitution of the United States
    In my opinion, God Almighty

I read an article that got my mind going this way.  I went looking for it and could not find it again so I can’t give them credit,  but it started with the premise that Donald Trump will not be retiring to a quiet life in the countryside.  It suggested that if he loses, he would announce for 2024 but not really run.  Being a candidate opens up a lot of options for him in the coming years and would put him in the place to continue transforming the Republican party into something besides Rinos and swamp critters.  

Of course it would be better to let him continue the work he has started and become a supporter after he is term limited out.  I am still hoping for that option.  If I don’t get it, then we will have to go with plan B.

The option of surrender is not acceptable.

homo unius libri

Opus 2020-300: Monday Pulpit: The God Thing

 Opus 2020-300:  Monday Pulpit:  The God Thing

It has been a long time since I have listened to Alistair Begg on my way to work.  I did write a lot of ideas down from listening to him.  One of them is appropriate for the times we are living in.

    “Providence is a soft pillow to put your head on in the evening.”

My wife like to call it “a God Thing”.  That is cute but does not have the gravitas of “Providence”.  Do I plan and save?  Yes.  Do I lock my doors at night?  Of course.  Do I check the seals on food I buy at the grocery store?  Always.  I don’t play games with God.  He expects me to practice due diligence.  He does not play games with me.  I trust Him to be in charge and watch out for both the microbes and the meteorites.  I am concerned about the election we just went through.  I know that a Biden administration will do much to destroy the righteous in this country.  But I don’t fixate on it.  

Sleep well if you trust Him.  

homo unius libri

Opus 2020-299: Who Changed the Name?

When did we change the name?  Suddenly Pearl Harbor Day is Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day.  I tend to be suspicious of any change that suddenly appears without any discussion I am aware of.  Remember when Easter vacation became Spring Break?  Me neither, but it happened.  Merry Christmas has become Happy Holidays.  BC and AD became BCE and CE.  Socialism became a success.  There is usually a motive behind the change even if it is just to get people unsettled.  

Pearl Harbor is one of those days that fit in with the meme “Never forget.”  The phrase was originally a reference to the Holocaust.  People who know anything about history know we are talking about the genocide against the Jews perpetrated by the Nazis.  The list grows as we become aware.  Without going far back in history you can look at the Armenian Holocaust, Pol Pot, the starvation of millions of Ukranian peasants by the Soviets, and 911.  The list has a lot of variations depending on your awareness and personal involvement, but the list is real.  

Why is it important that we never forget?  The purpose is not to wreak vengeance.  The purpose is to avoid the same tragedy again.  What international events led up to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor?  Can they be avoided?  How can we do better?  Or take the deliberate lies about socialism.  It is clear to anyone who is not brainwashed or totally ignorant that socialism has been one of the greatest killers in history.  Soviet socialism (Communists for the uniformed) makes National Socialism (Nazis for the uninformed) look like a bunch of minor leaguers when it comes to killing.  Mao’s People’s Republic (Chinese communist for the uniformed)  made the Soviet Union look like they were not even trying.  
 
It is obvious that most people don’t want to remember.  It requires them to make choices and take stands that are not popular.  Take the Armenian Holocaust.  It was the massacre of men, women and children by the Turks.  Numbers vary depending on your political position but I am going with a million and a half people.  It was an international hate crime by Muslims against Christians.  It is not popular to point that out.  All kinds of excuses are invented.  Obviously people making excuses have ignored the pictures of Armenian women crucified and dead bodies lying in rows.  What makes this terrifying is that the religious massacre is still going on.  I don’t imagine CNN or any of the Progressive news sources has covered it but the Muslims are at it again.  Armenians are being slaughtered.  We would rather forget and ignore.

Remembering is often inconvenient and sometimes just painful.  It is important to remember that an extra piece of cake can make you fat.  It is even more important to remember that socialism will make you either a slave or a corpse.  

Open your eyes so you know what you should never forget.

homo unius libri

Opus 2020-298: How about a New New Normal

America is on the verge of losing it all.  People are putting their children back in day care and sending them back to school.  

The virus scare and government overreach has given us a chance to stop and take a deep breath.  It has allowed some to reconnect with their children and get a glimpse of the brainwashing that is going on in the public schools.  Many parents have been filled with horror when the schools tried to teach on line and gave them access to the lessons.  Families have been forced to reexamine their spending and priorities and ask themselves if the dining out and the extra shiny new car were worth what it was costing them emotionally.

One of the lines I have been hearing all my life is that you can’t live on one salary.  The actual statement should be “We can’t live at the elevated level we have become accustomed to on one salary.”  Although my wife has generated some income from various sources she has never sought out a regular job since our first born arrived on the scene.  We have driven old cars, worn out our thrift store clothes and eaten out with coupons.  With a bit of thrift and some help getting started on our first home we have done very well.  We had a lot of vacations in Hawaii but when we went we took an ice chest full of frozen food.  It is amazing what you can do when you try.

So.  Take a deep breath.  Ask yourself what you want for your family.  If happiness requires a Hummer and a Lexus in your driveway then go for it.  If you would prefer children that are a bit more balanced then consider making a go of it.

Each of us has to make our own decisions.  I keep hearing about people who send their children away to college and they come back belligerent Marxists.  I have this feeling, nothing I can prove, that the problem started long before they filled out the applications.

homo unius libri

Opus 2020-297: All Hail, Lord Gavin

I am wondering if we should celebrate the return of States’ Rights.

I am referring to the police states being established in California, Michigan, Minnesota, Virginia, et cetera.  The governors of those states are basically defying the will of the people of the United States as well as the citizens of their states.  The difference is that the people of California elected Gavin Newsom and gave him a one party state to run, so they deserve everything they get from him.  The same is true of Oregon, Washington, and all the other states with strong Antifa loyalties.  In the true spirit of federalism, Donald Trump refused to play their game and send in the Marines.  He let them stew in their own juices.  That is one reason it was so important to steal this election, the Democrats want to bail out their minions.

States rights advocates that each state has a degree of autonomy.  If they want to have high taxes and corrupt politicians then that is their right.  At one point it was even legal for them to have slaves if they wanted.  The Democrats wanted.  Even after the Civil War they did everything they could to keep black Americans on the plantation.  They have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.  They are working hard to move Latinos and whites onto the plantation as well.  

Now we have Governor Cuomo telling the Supreme Court to go pound sand when they stand up for religious liberty.  On one side I agree with him.  If the people of New York want to see their freedom eroded and support their own personal dictator, then maybe they should have that right.  If the Jews and Catholics, who probably voted in block for the man, are told to get on the plantation, they have a remedy that they can put in place without crying to the supreme court.

On the other hand, where are we going to be if every state starts defying the Supreme Court?  Maybe that is something worth considering.  Maybe if no one listens to them they will decide to resign and we can get in people who have read the Constitution.

The more I see the overreach of the Federal Government, the more I move toward being sympathetic toward the South in the Civil War.  Slavery could have been dealt with.  Some people think it was on its way out already.  I heard one speaker, who was black, say that slavery really never ended until the invention of machines that could pick cotton.  We need less from Nanny and more from the adults in the room.

homo unius libri

Opus 2020-296: The Dictator Is Unknown

As I read a novel that touched on the foundation of the National Socialists and the rise of Adolph Hitler to power, it was clear that Biden himself is not the danger.

In the Weimar Republic Hitler was at first a minor, ambitious politician.  Paul von Hindenburg was the president.  The big break came when he appointed Hitler Chancellor and which gave him the potential to take power.  The similarity to today is that Hindenburg at this point in history was a doddering old man.  Sound familiar?

The leftist media has been calling Trump Hitler since the beginning.  As I have observed along with many others, if Trump was half the dictator he is accused of being the talking heads would have been lined up and shot years ago.  George W. Bush went through the same treatment.  The closer parallel is that there is someone waiting in the wings to take over from the doddering old Biden.  Harris?  Hillary?  The one who is really behind Biden’s nomination?  I hope we never find out.

Keep in mind that the office of dictator goes back to the Roman Republic.  Dictators were given power by the people.  They did not usurp it or pull a coup.  In a sense they are elected.  Originally they were only to serve for one year.  I don’t think America is ready for that.  At least I can say that the 80 million who voted for Trump are not ready.

homo unius libri

Opus 2020-295: Cheaters Seem to Prosper

Are we going to need to accept cheating as the new normal?

One of the unavoidable elements of democratic forms of government is power brokers finding ways to cheat in the election.  To be fair that is not just reserved for democracy.  I am sure that the other forms have it also.  I don’t think it is being pessimistic to assert that we will never be able to have totally honest elections.  I guess even that needs definitions.

Progressives* would probably say we can have honest elections but they do not mean what a well balanced, moral person means.  For them an election is honest if they win.  It is as simple as that.  Bribery, coercion, false results, ballot box stuffing, voting often, none of these are dishonest if they do them.  Keep in mind that in the mind of the left right and wrong are simply a way of measuring victory.

People who embrace the Christian way of thinking, even if they would not call themselves Christian, tend to believe that 2 + 2 = 4, period.  It doesn’t matter if you need 3 or 5 to make your computer model work.  One answer is right and any other is wrong.  Part of this philosophy is that man has a tendency to do the selfish thing.  In theology this is called original sin, the carnal nature or depravity.  The Founding Fathers knew this.  That is why we have checks and balances.  That is why we are a republic, not a democracy.

Cheating is universal.  What is unique about culture in the West is that its Judeo-Christian roots say that cheating is wrong.  So how do we deal with people in control rejecting that value?  What do you do when the government officials, courts and law enforcement all feel like you are a chump for thinking your voice and vote matter?  

If Biden wins this we may be forced to find out.  We may be forced to force.  It is a dangerous road to go down.  Lets keep hoping we can work this out by the rule of law and reason.  It is a sure thing that they will ignore both.

homo unius libri