Realistically, we’re doomed.

All of the most self-defeating things I ever hear begin with something like, “Realistically…”

At least in a political context, whenever I hear words and phrases like “pragmatic,” “the way things are,” and, of course, “realistically,” I know what comes next is a lame rationalization of wrong.

Right?

Instead of saying, “That’s a great dream! Let’s make it happen,” the “realistic” person’s got to say, “realistically, you must choose the ‘lesser of two evils;’” or, “it took a long time to get here, it’ll take a long time to fix it.”  Realistically, you’ve got to “take baby steps,” “work within the system,” and “you can’t fight city hall.’”

Even so-called “third parties” concentrate on “winnable” races, even if that means that they sacrifice a statewide televised platform to discuss real differentiating issues.  It also means the most visible races go unchallenged or are contested by lesser candidates who put their party in a bad light.  And, of course, when they do win a “winnable” race, that means it’s such small potatoes that nobody will ever hear about it anyway.

“Realistically,” they’ll say, “you don’t stand a chance.”  “You have to,” they tell me, “play the game.”  “Start at the bottom and work your way up,” they say.  Maybe the worst is when invokes “the masses” as their excuse for voting like a herd animal, instead of for what’s right.

I am pretty certain this is why human civilizations have a 100% failure rate.  There are too many unwitting servants of the status quo, and far too few revolutionaries.  Too many people think like plodding, duty-bound bureaucrats, and too few think like passionate, principled visionaries.

I am sure we have a sufficient number of dreamers if only we’d vote the way we dream… and if we would vote outside the unconstitutional, inherently divisive “Two Party System” that our founders warned against.  Unfortunately, our votes for dream-squashing Powers-That-Be crony puppets outnumber alternatives.  So the cronies all parrot the officially-approved talking points, run the media, and are currently in charge of pretty much everything on the planet.

This so unnecessary, so sad, so self-destructive.

To cave in to odds is to shuffle toward societal collapse.  To accept even mediocrity, let alone “lesser evil,” is to voluntarily, actively, choose failure.  (see aforementioned failure rate)

And that, is a denial of our very real power and accountability to do better.

I’ve spoken to more than a few voters.  I see what they do every Election Day. Collectively, we really did choose exactly what we’ve got.  We’ve chosen badly, and keep re-electing the badly-chosen.

We can’t blame anybody else for that.  But we sure try to.  The “Two Party System,” corruption, lobbyists, and “there ought to be a law” all get blame.  And those things are, granted, terrible. terrible.

But we chose it.  All of it.

And it looks like we’ll do it again this November.

We do this over, and over, and over again.

We never learn.

My enduring hope (and I believe our culture’s only hope) is that we’ll snap out of our madness and choose better.

Now, I do understand the roadblocks.

1. There’s a vast, nearly-diametrically-opposed difference between a good candidate, and a good politician.  We expect a good candidate¹ to be a market phenomenon; sort of like a movie production with a cast of hundreds.  The very “best” candidates are usually much less impressive as individuals than they are as a puppet figurehead/mascot of a team.  You rarely hear or see the politician as a person, actually.  You see a managed message crafted by professional staff.  A good politician, on the other hand, must be an honest, scrupulous statesman; hardly the sort of performance artist who’d be a media hit in this climate…amiright?  The job of a candidate is to get elected and reelected.  The job of a statesman is to serve his fellow humans by holding a leash on that dangerous abstraction we call “politics.”  And that apparently doesn’t sell well today.
2. The best candidates are bought.  We all know it. But we never follow the money and come to the correct conclusions, do we?  In fact, we do the opposite.  We see our candidates in order of odds and money, not in order of principles and actions.  We treat this more like pro sports, and less like real life with you as a key actor.  And that’s at least partly because…
3. All the major media are bought, and not just by the best candidates.  The major media are wholly owned and operated by the same military industrialists, financial services moguls, “information” regulators and political kingmakers that own and operate all the best candidates.  Look at how media and search engines cover campaigns.  Look even at the order in which they list candidates in articles.  It’s not alphabetical, is it?  And try to look for what doesn’t even make it to your eyes and ears.  Almost all of the very best statesmen are rendered invisible and voiceless by our incessant, loud and omnipresent media – both old and new.  Your senses are overloaded by their choices such that you may never get to hear what would be better choices.  That leaves you too numb and worn-out to scour the fine print, rumors and internet threads for better choices.
4. The rules we now call election and campaign finance “laws” were written by all the best candidates, so of course they’re unconstitutional, corrupt, and serve to stifle better options.
5. We don’t want to admit that we’re responsible for our choices, and that our choices really do matter, and that we could change our choices, because that’d be the same as admitting that we’ve screwed up for years!  I get it.  I’ve been there, done that…and in ways I still don’t want to admit.

But now let me describe your opportunity.

1. You get what you choose.  If you choose better, you get better.  If you decide to vote against evil entirely, what’s “lesser” or “greater” won’t matter.  You really do get what you, personally, choose, because you are not as alone as you’ve told yourself.  Not everybody else is an idiot.  More people than you likely think, are thinking, and acting, just like you.  Most people are just looking for somebody else to make the first move.
2. It doesn’t take a majority to change things.  In fact, it has never worked that way.  The passionate few have always determined the course of history.  Always.  The “masses” follow the leader.  That’s how our species, and most others, work.  You want to be among the passionate few?  Then choose to be.  Be a Political Alpha that others can follow.  It’s just another choice.
3. Politicians hire themselves if you let them; we do NOT have elections to hire politicians.  Our founders and prior generations bequeathed all of us (all races, all creeds, all genders…even the new ones) the hard-won right to vote not as a numb approval of the status quo, but as a weapon of peaceful revolution.  You are SUPPOSED TO vote AGAINST some things (evil, entrenched incumbents, bad choices).  You are SUPPOSED TO vote to FIRE the best candidates, and replace them with the best politicians.
4. Picture this.  On a single day in November, you upset the status quo.  Instead of reelecting almost everybody (over 98% of House Reps were reelected last time, you know), you fire almost everybody, and replace them with people who’ve not sold you out.  It’s a choice.  Your choice.  Imagine how bright the sun would shine on that next day when the gobsmacked media pundits realize that you figured it out, and won.  Just picture it.

Would it be so scary to, just for once, use your vote more like a sword than a poker chip? Wouldn’t it be invigorating and wholesome to walk into a voting booth with the Spirit of ‘76?

Realistically, we’re all going to die, and our culture and nation will collapse.  It’s a certainty, actually.  Sooner, or later.

But we choose how we live our precious lives.  We don’t have to keep doing the same things over and over again.   While history demonstrates very well that we humans keep screwing up over and over again, we personally don’t have to.

We can choose.

Don’t we want to strive for a really great life in a great country?  I say let’s dream on that, and make it so.

1A candidate is a corporate abstraction consisting of a figurehead, several key executive members, and a bunch of supporting staff all dedicated to winning elections…often as a full-time job for many campaigns, year after year.   A politician is, when done right, an actual, moral, honest-to-goodness human being who’s trying to make politics the noble art of getting along.

The Truth about $#!+holes, and the people thereof

We’ve got “immigration” all wrong

I’m not an “open borders” libertarian.  And borderless anarchy isn’t possible with humans (see I Samuel 8:6-20).  So at least for some degree of control over communicable disease (we’ve been lucky so far), human trafficking, etc., we need to have some border security.  If you allow that you’ve got a political government, and other states/nations have theirs as well, there have to be borders and jurisdictional limits to politicians’ rules.  And I’m more about actual law and order than 99.999873% of the planet. 

So don’t get me wrong.

But our current problems aren’t with illegal aliens, immigrants, or any of the relevant and constitutional laws.

1. We are luring illegal aliens here with free stuff. Free healthcare. Free education. Special rights, travel, phones, housing, privileges and immunities unavailable to even legal citizens.  There are lots of reasons why we’re doing it – More federal reps and EC electors for Democrats, certainly (since we count illegals in the census now).  And Social Security and Medicare pyramid funding is collapsing, y’know…we need a growing population to make the math last a few more years…but I propose we stop doing this.
2. We’ve made “legal” labor so expensive, complicated, legalistic and impractical that “illegal” labor is a very attractive option, or sometimes the only workable option.  Some jobs just don’t get done with “legal” labor.  And especially where minimum wage laws push out others from the workforce – we need illegal aliens to pay payroll tax in low-wage jobs.  I propose we reverse this.
3. We’ve been tormenting and destroying other nations with our “War On Drugs”, CIA crime rings and coups, oppressive policies/embargoes and direct attacks, such that We The People have, both directly and indirectly, made some $#!+holes that don’t need to be $#!+holes.  In other words, we’ve made other people’s countries practically uninhabitable, driving them here for survival…or more insidious purposes.  We really have made lots of enemies all over the world, y’know…and we’d already found “terror cells” and foreign agents operating here under our noses.  I propose we stop doing all this.
4. Our ever-changing, unpredictable and absurdly unfair immigration laws and policies force illegal aliens to lay low, force employers to keep secrets and break laws, and generally force the realities of illegal aliens under the rug.  I propose we make our immigration laws and policies fair, consistent, and focused on our domestic security, health and interests…and then just enforce them!
5. Do you know how hard it is for potential immigrants to get visas?  Pretty much impossible in any short-term or desperation case.  So smugglers make a great business getting tens of thousands of dollars for every person they get to the border illegally.  But if it were easier/faster to get visas, then the sort of people we want here, the ones who’re desperately wanting to build a better life for themselves and their loved ones, could hop a plane for tens of thousands less, go through controlled checkpoints with drug sniffing dogs and people wearing blue gloves, and go legit with the only part of this that’s actually under federal jurisdiction: “To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization…”  I propose we make it much easier and cheaper to come here the right way.  That’d welcome the good folks and put the squeeze on only the bad ones.
6. There actually is, since the 14th Amendment, a constitutional stipulation that anyone born in the USA is automatically a USA citizen.  “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”  So, really, there’s a powerful incentive for pregnant women to dive over the national goal posts to deliver a baby in the citizen end-zone.  It’s not their fault if they succeed.  However…  Think about how the rules of monitoring “documented” citizens and trans-border “security” would be enforced.  Given the sort of nazi/socialist/authoritarians we continuously re-elect, this could get really ugly.  “Your papers please” is already a problem.  Spying on us all is already a thing.
7. Besides…if you know you live in a $#!+hole, can’t make it better, and want a better life for you and your loved ones, you’d be a fool not to find a way here, where you’ll find life better than you’ve ever known. Right?  Wouldn’t you do the same?

The first five bullets above exist only in breach of the federal constitution.  In other words, those problems would be solved if all we did was affirm and enforce the Constitution for The United States of America against our government. 

In other words, if we’d just quit making “legal” labor so costly, quit making illegal entry the only door, quit giving away freebies to illegal aliens, and stop messing up other countries, we’d not likely even talk about a wall. 

In fact if we were to just DO the constitutions, state and federal, as written and amended, we’d not likely be constantly fiddling with our immigration laws, and we might even legally, legitimately welcome people looking for a better life as our friends, coworkers and neighbors.

While The US of A is no longer the freest, wealthiest or healthiest nation on earth, we are among the most accommodating to foreigners.  Though, if we don’t get our side of the equation fixed, this whole thing really could explode on us…exponentially.  The Malthusian eugenicists of the WEF sure won’t like that…  Maybe none of us will like what happens with our devolving healthcare and collapsing “social safety net” systems.  Those are serious concerns.

Of course, if you’re just one of those “‘Merica – Love it or Leave it!” people, and that’s why you’re mad about this issue…you’ve got a little ‘splaining to do…

Sure, there are the “Reconquistas,” the criminals, the terrorists.  But their numbers have so far been tiny compared to the home-grown murderers, rapists and thieves (even outside the DC beltway); and their numbers are tiny compared to the regular human beings trying to do better for themselves and their loved ones.  They didn’t love what became of their country, and they left it.

The discussion we’ve been having over illegal aliens in major media and political discussions is stupid. We play word games, divide ourselves against ourselves, and place blame and propose punishment for our screw-ups on people who’re doing the best they can to get by in a world gone mad.

Think of the people you know that annoy or plague you the most. Think of the worst people you can think of.  Are they immigrants?  Illegal aliens?

Probably not.  Illegal aliens actually comprise a much lower per-capita percentage of crimes and criminals than native-born citizens represent.  Most don’t want trouble.  Most just want a better life than they had, and they get it here.

And here’s what’s apparently a secret:  This is not only a federal issue.  All border state constitutions claim authority over their borders.  Some other states do, too.  Federal jurisdiction in this is limited to that aforementioned “…uniform Rule of Naturalization…”  And we don’t even HAVE a uniform rule (on anything!).

So, let’s try to think both in context of reality, but also think as if we’re all just humans trying to do our best. OK?

Liberty or Bust!

###

Just Say No to war with Iran

Freedom, IN – It’s a quote misattributed to pretty much everybody, that “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” The saying is more true and applicable to USA foreign policy than to anything else.

None of our foreign aggressions worked as promised, or even as we’ve been told. Yet we’ve had scarcely a year’s peace since the War to End All War.

And we’ve been getting worse, not better, at finagling foreigners into serving us and our Saudi allies. Does anyone doubt that our interventions in Libya and Syria have been disastrous?  Have we really fixed anything in Somalia, Yemen or Pakistan? When will we be done with Iraq?  Afghanistan is the USA’s longest war, ever…and we’re losing.  What’s the plan? What’s the goal?

We’re sure not fighting for freedom.  Not anybody’s freedom.  And we’re sure not making friends when we blow up their children.

A leaked May 17 memo reveals that the USA government once again intends to replay the same failed script; this time against Iran (again).

The key directive sent to Rex Tillerson is “…that the U.S. should use human rights as a club against its adversaries, like Iran, China and North Korea, while giving a pass to repressive allies like the Philippines, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.”

Let’s think like a human, and not a politician, for a moment.

What actual human beings on the planet would not hate us for our arrogant, armed and deadly games and manipulations?  Why wouldn’t we be creating more enemies than friends with such obvious duplicity?  Does anybody on this planet think they’re the ones who’re wrong, and deserve death?

Is the Golden Rule really so bad?

I’m no pacifist.  I believe in security through strength.  And I understand the theory of “Humanitarian Intervention” (though that’s been irrelevant lately, and it certainly doesn’t work in practice!).

But we’re acting like stupid teenage “swatting” and “knockout game” thugs; not at all like rational adult humans.  We’re acting as though we can use killing force against others with impunity, when in fact, we’ve been hurting ourselves as much as anybody else.

This is insanity.  We’ve got seven “whack-a-mole” wars going on now, and we’re losing our wealth, security, and of course, freedom as a very direct result.

Our armies are protecting military industrialists, bankers/ the petrodollar, and drug trade, not anything We The People should value.  Not freedom; not for anybody.

And we’ve for some time been lobbing missiles and troops and drones at people and nations who, really, are no threat to us.  What will we do when China decides to take Taiwan?  That’s been slowly brewing since 1949, and heating up fast since 2012, when the dictatorship of Xi Jinping made plain that China was already waging war against us and buying up half the world with our consumer’s money, and our governments’ cooperation.  What will we do when Russia decides to take Ukraine?  That’s been Russia’s obvious next move since our broken promises to stop expanding NATO onto Russia’s doorstep in 1994 …then accelerating since at least 2013 …and certainly since 2014, when Ukraine, spurred on by the USA, pushed for NATO membership, pushing Russia to annex Crimea and start campaigns of hacking, subversion and propaganda.
(sorry about the run-on sentence…but isn’t that how our foreign interventions have been working…run-on and on and…)

How long can we be party to the corruption that’s kept Ukraine out of NATO up to now, without some response from Putin, who we know wants the old USSR back?  Not very long, I suspect.  He must know what evil the USA has been working in Ukraine…

We’re headed toward world war, you know.  Don’t know when, but the trumpets, drums and war paint are already on stage.  Will we fight people who can fight back?  Could we afford to?

I propose we just say stop the madness, and give Peace, Prosperity, Security and Freedom a chance.

Liberty or Bust!

Andy Horning

###

Please note! I will soon be using an automated list service to better manage privacy and flow of information. If you wish to subscribe to my list, please do so through the subscription link on my website, or send me the contact information you wish to share, and I’ll put you on the list!
Thanks!

Better Choices for 2018

Two of most illuminating, timely, wise and actionable statements ever made by humans are missattributed to Mark Twain:

“No man’s life, liberty or property are safe when the legislature is in session.” – Gideon J. Tucker

“Politicians and diapers have one thing in common. They should both be changed regularly, and for the same reason.” – Eça de Queirós

Whether we like to admit it or not, our government is us. It is the sum of our choices. It perfectly represents our tolerance, our knowledge, care, and, of course, our sins…especially fear, jealousy, and aggression.

That’s great! That means we can do something about our big, stinking mess.

As a friend and fellow American, I’m telling you we’re past due for a “courtesy flush.”

It’s just a choice. Maybe even an opportunity.

We The People can choose turn from our Fear-Aggression Syndrome, heal our divisions, repudiate our faith in politicians, and live in Peace, Prosperity, Security and Freedom. It’s already the law, you know.

Life should be sweet. It can be for more of us.

This year, let’s make better choices. Let’s govern our government, and reign in our lawmakers. Let’s flush the ones who’ve been there too long, and flush their illegal laws and massive, costly and illegal bureaucracies with them.

It’s not just a good idea, it’s the law. It’s not just the law, it’s the Golden Rule.

Liberty or Bust!

Andy Horning

###

Please note! I will soon be using an automated list service to better manage privacy and flow of information. If you wish to subscribe to my list, please do so through the subscription link on my website, or send me the contact information you wish to share, and I’ll put you on the list!
Thanks!