Pivotal Points

Almost 100 years ago (April 1912), the great ship Titanic left the Southampton harbor on her maiden voyage to America. The great steamship liner was filled with wealthy Americans making the ship's fist trans Atlantic voyage, as well as poor people in the lower parts of the ship. The ship builder said before it left Southampton, “This ship is unsinkable, even God could not sink this ship.” We know today that the ship lies at the bottom of the Atlantic ocean; it hit an iceberg and did sink. The last survivor, just a baby at the time of the sinking, died recently. Books have been written and movies have been made about this great ship.

My entire life (80 years), I have been reminded about the fact that America is too great to sink. I lived through the Great Depression, I know the horrors of what people in this country experienced, and then I have lived through other recessions. Always these things just happen like the stock market. Old people have always talked about hard times. Two things my parents and grandparents talked about until their death were the Great Depression in 1930 (the year I was born), and Hurricane Hazel in 1954 (while I was away with the Korean mess).

Every decade has a time of recession, it happened in the 60's, 70's, 80's and 90's. In 1987, President Reagan put billions in the Treasury as a “plunge protector” against the fall of the stock market. At that time, you never heard the word “trillion”. Now we are dealing with trillions in plunge, trillions in deficits. When you consider the deficits in securities, Medicare, Medicaid, entitlements and all other debit to which the government is responsible, and the condition of the world's economy, we know that we are in a financial dilemma from which there is no recovery.

We are at this point because half of the country's population depends on a government check, social security, civil service, military retirements, disability and welfare. Those who receive these checks, largess of liberal socialism in control, will not bite the hand that feeds them. They will always vote for those who have their nose in the trough. Politicians who swear on the Bible to protect and defend the constitution are willing to give away the very goose that laid the golden egg in order to keep and protect their seat of power.

It has not occurred to them that the politician, who is paid very little for this public service, is willing to spend that, multiplied a thousand times in order to be elected, because he knows he will be paid many times over (under the table and over the table) for knowing the good ol' boys who control the purse strings of industry and government and who, in the event of defeat, will make sure they are sitting on plush paying boards of directors. The politician and bureaucrat knows that he and his family will always be cared for through the craft and corruption which has grown like a virus in the American system of free enterprise.

In WWII, 70% of industrial production was from America, today it is only 20%. Through NAFTA, CAFTA, etc., industry has fled the US. OSHA, EPA, excessive taxation, regulation and, as Dr Russell Adcox of the Wharton School of Business has said, “No one wants to be a clog in the machine. Again, everyone wants to be a foreman and boss, where in foreign countries ordinary people are glad to get a paycheck for honest work.“ You will notice in your community with any type business or professional office most employees, and even professionals, are just going through the motions.

Spending by the Congress, state legislators, and even local governments is like an alcoholic on a binge. Those who have read my commentaries know I have traveled the the world (every continent, passport stamped in 157 countries). The difference in owning a home in America, democratic republic, compared to living in a communist country is like worthless fiat paper money. You have a paper deed showing you have ownership to your house but you never really own your house. Try not paying the ever increasing taxes on your house, your utilities, your insurance, even your homeowner association fees, and you will find that the government owns your house.

In America the slave takes all the responsibility of his house. In communist countries, as in housing projects where many Americans now live, the government owns the building and assumes all the responsibility. It is a better deal for you to “think” you own your house so you will assume the responsibility and take better care of it. 95% of all loans are FHA mortgages. As an example, with the new Obama inspired “cap and tax” provisions, you must have specific windows and doors so your house will meet certain government specifications insofar as environmental concerns, if you expect to get a permission label from the inspector in order to sell your house.

The best example I could ever show revealing the greed, graft and corruption involved in local government happened here in the county where I live. Every elected politician and bureaucrat puts his hand on the Bible and swears to uphold the Constitution and act in an honest manner. It was found that the head administrator of the local ABC board controlling retail liquor stores, is paid $342,000 a year. His son (his assistant) is paid $115,000 a year. On top of these salaries the board gave him a $30,000 bonus, his assistant son received a $20,000 bonus. One family (two people in the democrat trough) paid nearly half a million a year for managing a few liquor stores (39 employees). This shows the extent of graft and corruption in local government. $600,000 disappeared one year in North Carolina (mental health). It is reported billions have disappeared in the federal government. Yet this year Senator Boxer of California demands funds in health care legislation that women get abortion funds if men get funds for Viagra.

I speak as a totally blind, 100% disabled, service-connected veteran. The 100% disabled veteran, blind, cripple, gets less each month than a college ROTC student. Poison is in the well. Stark discrepancy can no longer be ignored, the “hope and change” Obama promising to bring the boys home. A man who has never fired a BB gun, but knows how to collect a peace prize, is sending thousands more of your brightest, best, to the most God forsaken area of the world that I have ever visited (including the depths of the Sahara): Afghanistan, and soon Pakistan. For those who return alive you not only pay for your country's posturing while in unpredictable environments during the war, but on coming back and trying to resume a normal life, you pay over again in taxes to support medieval activities in parts of the world with which you are totally unfamiliar. There are 126 military bases outside the US. The veteran is expected to pay the taxes of warfare for the rest of his life. Like the blind (your writer) even though I can't use a public park, public library, most public auditoriums, your prisons (total number of disabled in prison insignificant), you keep paying taxes for those who have never served their country, who care nothing about their country.

Not in my lifetime have I seen the church or the Christian so attacked by the liberal aggressive media. Do not be surprised, Christ warned us of this. He was not loved by the world while He was walking here. His Holy Spirit in us, his church, will be attacked to the very end. The cross separates all history. From the flood to the cross, about 2,000 years, we had persecution of believers of faith under the law. From the cross to present, 2,000 years, we have the persecution of believers in Christ. Remember, only 5% of Christian church members have a real relationship with Christ. Most have never talked with another person about salvation. If the civic club or the country club or a business were as slack about their mission as the church, all would fail It is our blessed thought to know Him, the power of his resurrection, the fellowship of his suffering (Philippians 3:10). We are at the pivotal point in our history as a country, as people of faith and as citizens of the world.