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REQUIEM

Below are the two final essays to be posted on Allegiance and Duty Betrayed. The first one is written by a friend -- screen name 'Euro-American Scum' -- who, over the past four years, has been the most faithful essayist here. He has written about everything from his pilgrimage to Normandy in 2004 to take part in the 60th–year commemoration of the invasion, to his memories of his tour in Vietnam. His dedication to America’s founding principles ... and those who have sacrificed to preserve them over the past 200+ years ... is unequaled. Thank you, E-A-S. It has been a privilege to include your writing here, and it is a privilege to call you my friend.

The second essay is my own farewell. And with it I thank all of the many regular visitors, and those who may have only dropped in occasionally, for coming here. I hope you learned something. I hope a seed or two was planted. But, even if not, I thank you for stopping by ... 25 March, 2010

9/06/2009

The Power of an Ember


Rick and I have season tickets to a local theater. Today we attended a performance of 'Hello Dolly!' One of the lines delivered by Dolly's betrothed reads, Ninety-nine percent of the people in this world are fools, and the rest of us are in danger of being contaminated.

It put me in mind of the way many conservatives have felt for a long time, with increasing unease. I suspect that his estimate of ninety-nine percent may be significantly exaggerated, but I occasionally understand where he is coming from.

We can no longer depend on Washington or the mainstream media to either disseminate the truth or work in our best interests. Obviously that state of affairs has been in existence for decades, but its insidious nature has ramped up exponentially over the past seven months.

The tools at our disposal to affect change in our leadership, our direction as a free republic, and our efforts to derail the Marxist 'American' train, are dwindling. What we still have within our grasp is the personal responsibility to attempt to awaken that portion of the citizenry that continues to prefer somnambulism to living an informed, vigilant life. It may not seem like much, but, as long as an ember remains, there exists the memory of fire.

Over the past few months I have discovered, as have many of you, the existence of a modern American Thomas Paine, in the person of Glenn Beck.

Rick and I watch his political commentary religiously. If we are not at home at 5 PM, we record it for future viewing ... every day.

We have attended his programs ‘The Christmas Sweater’ and ‘The Common Sense Comedy Tour’, both simulcast within the past year in theaters across the nation. Both experiences were incomparably uplifting and inspiring. From the audiences' collective reactions to both programs, rest assured that the inspiration we received was not unique to us.

If you have not watched Beck's program (the fusion of entertainment and enlightenment), I suggest that you do so.

Once.

If you do not come away from one viewing with the belief that this man is not simply a conservative complainer, as are most so-called conservative pundits, watch the program again. Everyone has an off day.

After a second watching, if you are an American conservative, a believer in the sanctity of the U.S. Constitution, and fearing that your beloved republic is being systematically dismantled by a coalition of radical leftist revolutionaries, I pretty much guarantee that you will realize that Mr. Beck is:
  • a self-educated man with no agenda

  • a man who believes in amassing exhaustive research from reputable sources and painting a comprehensive 'portrait of America'

  • a modern American patriot

  • passionate about the need to return America to her roots

  • honest

  • genuinely searching for solutions that will save our republic from ruin

  • among the best teachers you have ever had the privilege to witness, whether or not you agree with every ‘lesson’ he presents
Tool #1: If you watch the Glenn Beck program and are in agreement with all of the above, tell as many people as you can about the program.

Advertisers -- GEICO, Procter and Gamble, Progressive Insurance, Men’s Wearhouse and Sargento among them -- are abandoning Glenn Beck because he is too ‘controversial’ (read: he refuses to march in lockstep with the Obama administration and the 111th congress, and those behind-the-scenes movers and shakers who are authoring many of the grotesque policies that Washington is shoving down our throats).

We need to provide an equal and opposite reaction. We need to grow his audience in order to (1) provide more incentive for businesses to advertise there, and (2) educate the American citizenry regarding the massive amount of behind-the-scenes maneuvering that is going on in (‘transparent’) Washington, and who the movers and shakers are –- making decisions that will effect your and my life far into the future, not to mention the futures of Americans for generations to come ... if indeed America as we know it manages to survive the current unprecedented, no-holds-barred assault on her noble underpinnings.

I cannot count the number of people who have said to me in utter confusion over the past year or so, when new legislation is introduced, ‘This program is supposed to help the American people?’ ... or words to that effect.

The next time someone says something similar to you, do the following (I have done so for several months now, with surprisingly positive results, many of which aren’t relayed to me until sometime later):

Tool #2: Tell him/her your own version of the following simplistic truths:

The elitists in our government did not merely allow the economic bubbles and industry disasters of the past few years to take shape ... they helped to create the conditions that made the crises almost inevitable. See the Community Reinvestement Act (only one among countless government programs that encouraged, and in some cases even required, the reckless massive loaning of money to people who could not afford to repay the loans). Consider the effects that major unions and 'community organizations' have had on the American economy/industrial base, and the role that the panderers posing as 'leaders' in Washington played in their rise to immense, entirely unconstitutional political power.

Whenever you hear of a new policy, or new legislation, coming out of Washington these days ... one that leaves you scratching your head and asking, ‘How, exactly, does this benefit Americans?’ ... take that head-scratching and put it to better use. Instead, ask yourself, ‘How will this eventually cause the American citizenry to be more dependent on government?’ ... and therefore inevitably render the U.S. Constitution obsolete, while simultaneously increasing the power of our elitist rulers, who appear to believe that they know what is best for us, far better than we do.

Think about that question when you ponder the so-called ‘stimulus bills’ (of which there will be many more, just over the horizon), the nationalization of private industry, the eventual government takeover of our healthcare system, the dramatic increase in oppressive and irrational 'climate change' legislation, the grotesque and increasing power of unions, 'community organizations', and other special interest groups, the government’s virtual eventual seizure of (what's left of) our energy sector ... and on and on, ad infinitum ...

For the first time in America's history, radical leftists -- including a significant number of avowed Communists -- have taken over control of a major political party, if not by their actual presence in the party, then by their close mentorship of those who are. American 'democrats' of a generation ago wouldn't be willing to sit in the same room with much of the 'new democrat' leadership. Their party has been rendered unrecognizable.

The goal of the 'new democrat' party is to overwhelm the system, create monumental problems -- meticulously following Rahm Emmanuel’s admonition to 'never let a serious crisis go to waste’ -- until the America we once knew is unrecognizable ... and then create a ‘new America’ from the ashes, and in their own images.

And how better to accomplish that dubious feat than to (1) destroy our republic’s largest corporations, send in the government to ‘revamp’ them, author bureaucratic rules by which they must do business, and bring some of the former corporate execs on board, (2) declare the state an enemy of genuine entrepreneurship and small businesses, (3) dramatically increase ‘environmental law’ so as to drive farmers and ranchers out of business, (4) pass draconian ‘climate change’ legislation that will severely handcuff any industry that dares to remain viable and profitable, (5) take over massive segments of society that were once left to private enterprise –- including healthcare –- and regulate that segment so that it affects virtually every aspect of every American’s life,(6) eliminate free speech and opposition rhetoric ... and on and on ...

Most Americans want nothing more than to strive for excellence, work hard, take care of their families, live by the golden rule, enjoy the fruits of their labor and leave something for their children. The realization of all of those simple dreams, founded on our God-given liberties, requires minimal government ... as does our Constitution.

Yet, for the past few decades (probably since George McGovern sought the White House back in '72), there has arisen a cadre of men who believe they are a kind of chosen elite, destined to lead a crusade, the results of which will render every American, other than the chosen elite, 'equal' -- a la Animal Farm -- and equally dependent on this elite leadership for their very existence.

Virtually every major move that occurs is Washington these days is focused on that end. And anyone who dares to attempt to stand in the way of the steamroller is viewed as an enemy of some sort: an angry, unruly mob -- as in tea party and town hall attendees -- a racist -- as in anyone who dares to disagree with the man in the White House -- and any number of other derogatory labels, a la Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals advice to 'isolate and demonize the opposition'.

The Constitution has been declared irrelevant and the transformation will occur, with or without our, or our representatives' (those few who still have their eyes focused on the Constitution), consent. Have a good look at at least the first twenty seconds, if not the entire tirade, of a recent house deliberation , which serves as one of the latest examples of unconstitutional congressional ‘decision-making’ -- and one of the many responses by conservative members of congress.

Our elected officials no longer have our best interests at heart, and haven’t for a long time. Our mainstream media no longer seek to inform, and haven’t for a long time.

America’s future is being determined by a leftist cadre of ‘leaders’ who claim to believe in a perverted kind of social justice. Engrave that term into your consciousness, because, under its guise, your country is being led into suicidal oblivion.

Our 'leadership' wraps every corrupt government policy in a cloak of social justice ‘compassion’ and masks itself as a champion of the downtrodden, the sick, the oppressed, children, the environment, the planet, flora, fauna, butterflies, ladybugs ... and anything else whose defense appears noble.

Because, in that way, our leadership can unabashedly label anyone who does not support their agenda as hateful, bigoted, small-minded, greedy, intolerant and self-absorbed.

Yet their agenda bears no resemblance to genuine social justice. Its primary goal is the amassing of power over others. They are, you see, a privileged elite – godlike in their wisdom, and willing and prepared to rule the planet. They are determined to convince you and your children that white people and capitalism are pure evil, that America's unprecedented prosperity and super power status were gained through a raping of the environment and centuries-long oppression of the rest of the world -- and that we, as a people and a nation, need to get down on our knees and beg the world's forgiveness for our sins.

The only thing standing in the way of a complete realization of their vision of America's utopian transformation is man’s love of liberty, and his recognition of the source of that liberty.

God will not blink. Nor will He forgive men who deprive other men of their divinely-bestowed free will.

Until now, America has stood as the bastion of that all-powerful, all-encompassing concept. If the citizens of America relinquish their reverence for individual liberty to those who worship the ability to wield unbridled power over other men, freedom will be dealt a blow from which it will never recover.

Do all that you can to simply and sincerely inform and educate everyone you meet. Doing so remains our most powerful tool. And its use is required of every freedom-loving American. Speaking out in the name of human freedom and dignity is of more importance now than ever before in the history of mankind.

Cherish being an ember.

~ joanie

9/04/2009

A Storm is Brewing


Something of historic proportions is happening. I can sense it because I know how it feels, smells, what it looks like, and how people react to it. Yes, a perfect storm may be brewing, but there is something happening within our country that has been evolving for about ten to fifteen years. The pace has dramatically quickened in the past two.

We demand and then codify into law the requirement that our banks make massive loans to people we know they can never pay back? Why? We learned just days ago that the Federal Reserve, which has little or no real oversight by anyone, has ‘loaned’ two trillion dollars (that is $2,000,000,000,000) over the past few months, but will not tell us to whom or why or disclose the terms.

That is our money. Yours and mine. And that is three times the $700 billion we all argued about so strenuously just this past September. Who has this money? Why do they have it? Why are the terms unavailable to us? Who asked for it? Who authorized it? I thought this was a government of ‘we the people,’ who loaned our powers to our elected leaders. Apparently not.

We have spent two or more decades intentionally de-industrializing our economy. Why?

We have intentionally dumbed down our schools, ignored our history, and no longer teach our founding documents, why we are exceptional, and why we are worth preserving. Students by and large cannot write, think critically, read, or articulate. Parents are not revolting, teachers are not picketing, school boards continue to back mediocrity. Why?

We have now established the precedent of protesting every close election (violently in California over a proposition that is so controversial that it simply wants marriage to remain defined as between one man and one woman. Did you ever think such a thing possible just a decade ago?) We have corrupted our sacred political process by allowing unelected judges to write laws that radically change our way of life, and then mainstream Marxist groups like ACORN and others to turn our voting system into a banana republic. To what purpose?

Now our mortgage industry is collapsing, housing prices are in free fall, major industries are failing, our banking system is on the verge of collapse, social security is nearly bankrupt, as is Medicare and our entire government.

Our education system is worse than a joke (I teach college and I know precisely what I am talking about) -- the list is staggering in its length, breadth, and depth. It is potentially 1929 x ten.

And we are at war with an enemy we cannot even name for fear of offending people of the same religion, who, in turn, cannot wait to slit the throats of our children if they have the opportunity to do so.

And finally, we have elected a man that no one really knows anything about, who has never run so much as a Dairy Queen. All of his associations and alliances are with real radicals in their chosen fields of employment, and everything we learn about him, drip by drip, is unsettling if not downright scary (Surely you have heard him speak about his idea to create and fund a mandatory civilian defense force stronger than our military for use inside our borders? No? Oh, of course. The media would never play that for you over and over and then demand he answer it.)

Mr. Obama's winning platform can be boiled down to one word: Change.

Why?

I have never been so afraid for my country and for my children as I am now. This man campaigned on bringing people together, something he has never, ever done in his professional life. In my assessment, Obama will divide us along philosophical lines, push us apart, and then try to realign the pieces into a new and different power structure. Change is indeed coming. And when it comes, you will never see the same nation again.

And that is only the beginning.

As a serious student of history, I thought I would never come to experience what the ordinary, moral German must have felt in the mid-1930s. In those times, the ‘savior’ was a former smooth-talking rabble-rouser from the streets, about whom the average German knew next to nothing. What they should have known was that he was associated with groups that shouted, shoved, and pushed around people with whom they disagreed; he edged his way onto the political stage through great oratory. Conservative ‘losers’ read it right now.

And there were the promises. Economic times were tough, people were losing jobs, and he was a great speaker. And he smiled and frowned and waved a lot. And people, even newspapers, were afraid to speak out for fear that his ‘brown shirts’ would bully and beat them into submission. Which they did -- regularly.

And then, he was duly elected to office, while a full-throttled economic crisis bloomed at hand -- the Great Depression. Slowly but surely he seized the controls of government power, person by person, department by department, bureaucracy by bureaucracy. The children of German citizens were at first encouraged to join a Youth Movement in his name where they were taught exactly what to think. Later, they were required to do so. No Jews of course.

How did he get people on his side? He did it by promising jobs to the jobless, money to the money-less, and rewards for the military-industrial complex. He did it by indoctrinating the children, advocating gun control, health care for all, better wages, better jobs, and promising to re-instill pride once again in the country, across Europe, and across the world. He did it with a compliant media -- did you know that? And he did this all in the name of justice and ... change. And the people surely got what they voted for.

If you think I am exaggerating, look it up. It's all there in the history books.

So read your history books. Many people of conscience objected in 1933 and were shouted down, called names, laughed at, and ridiculed. When Winston Churchill pointed out the obvious in the late 1930s while seated in the House of Lords in England (he was not yet Prime Minister), he was booed into his seat and called a crazy troublemaker. He was right, though. And the world came to regret that he was not listened to.

Do not forget that Germany was the most educated, the most cultured country in Europe. It was full of music, art, museums, hospitals, laboratories, and universities. And yet, in less than six years (a shorter time span than just two terms of the U. S. presidency) it was rounding up its own citizens, killing others, abrogating its laws, turning children against parents, and neighbors against neighbors. All with the best of intentions, of course. The road to hell is paved with them.

As a practical thinker, one not overly prone to emotional decisions, I have a choice: I can either believe what the objective pieces of evidence tell me (even if they make me cringe with disgust); I can believe what history is shouting to me from across the chasm of seven decades; or I can hope I am wrong by closing my eyes, having another latte, and ignoring what is transpiring around me.

I choose to believe the evidence. No doubt some people will scoff at me, others laugh, or think I am foolish, naive, or both. To some degree, perhaps I am. But I have never been afraid to look people in the eye and tell them exactly what I believe-and why I believe it.

I pray I am wrong.

[This is an excerpted opinion piece being circulated as having been authored by historian David Kaiser. Mr. Kaiser says that they are not his words. I do not know who wrote it, but I applaud the author's insight and courage, whoever he may be.]

~ joanie