Saturday, April 25, 2009

Blogging huh...I decided that it was time to blog on some of the events going on around Command Headquarters. When I opened up the blog...I noted with great disdain how long it had been since last blogging. It also caught my attention how similar my blog entry was about to be to the last blog entry...not good. So much for creativity!

So, what has been going on around Command Headquarters any way?

Before I go into that, let us take a journey together into socio-political thought, shall we.

The state of the economy still has people down in the dumps. Of late, there are some signs of economic thawing, but who's to say how long, or how far that will take us. I started thinking about this economic thing. It seemed strange that signs are starting to look more positive, yet we haven't been hearing our political critters beat their chest and taking credit. Strange...why? 2 theories come to mind immediately.

1) They are scared to start taking credit for fear that the turn is merely a 'false blip' on the economic radar. This doesn't have a lot of credibility with me because the MO would be to take credit for the good any way, and if things start turning bad again, jump up and down and blame your political opponents for destroying economic progress.

2) Recovery is not what they want. Let's face some facts here....the politi-critters would have us believe that this is the worse economic crisis since the Great Depression, and the only way out of it is with government control and intervention. Sadly, I had bought into the 'economic crisis' theme myself. Dave Ramsey pointed out the other night in his Town Hall for Hope broadcast, that the recessions of the early 70's, and the late 80's/early 90's were much worse than our current situation; in terms of unemployment, interest rates, inflation...you name it. The only statistic that is worse now is foreclosures. Here is an interesting tid bit...50% (yes...HALF) of the foreclosures came out of 35 counties throughout the US. That is stunning in and of itself! So, if they are screaming that things are deathly bad, and that they are the only solution; and the hard data does not backup their claims.....what exactly is their motive? One need only look at their actions thus far. Their 'solution' is increasing government control of the private sector. So, why are they not claiming credit for the economic 'recovery'? Easy...they don't have the degree of control that they want of the private sector yet.

So.....now we come back to Command Headquarters. So I'm sitting around digesting the things going on around us. As I am thinking about the increasing control of government in the private sector (and getting angry at the feeling of helplessness about it), it occurred to me....government was only half of the problem! Sure, they want to control GM, Ford, CitiGroup, ect,ect...but the only way they could, was for the private sector to invite them in! The Feds used a page out of the playbook that they have been using against States for decades! You want our money....simple, do as we please. Do that, and you can have the money. States bit, and gave up the notion of States rights. Now States are merely another level of government waste to wake through, and another trough for the politi-critters to feed at. Like wise...corporate America holds out their hands for some of the government money, and find that they, like the States before them, are now irrelevant.

That is when it hit me...we have the same choice! Daily, government seeks to invade our lives. All they ask is a little control over our lives. You want to drive, follow this speed limit. Want us to educate your children, put them on mind altering drugs, Want us to pay for your medical expenses, use the doctors on our 'approved' list. Want to be a doctor on our 'approved' list, agree to get paid only this. See a pattern?

Obviously, we can' extract government from our lives in totality, even the Amish haven't been able to do that; but we CAN start to recognize the encroachments for what they are, and implement our own 'bailout' plans. It doesn't have to be on a grand scale, or Earth shattering....just make one decision, implement it, and when it is second hand, andingrained as part of your life, make another decision. In WW II, people planted Victory Gardens. At the time, the people and the government were on the same page. What about now? How about a Liberty Garden? Think about the vegetables that you won't be paying sales tax on. Will you be able to live entirely out of the garden...not likely, but it is a step!

To that end, I have been doing 'Liberty Projects" around the house today.

I already home brew wine under the Liberty Gulch label.

Today, I hand loaded ammunition under the Liberty Armory label.

Today I planted the Liberty Garden under...you guessed it, the Liberty Gardens label.

See a pattern? Create your own economic stimulus. Create your own pattern. Show government that, today, you need them just a little bit less than you did yesterday, and tomorrow, you will need them less still. Relegate them to insignificance...Oh what a feeling!