One of the great things about our country is the fact that it has always ran smooth even if we don’t pay ant attention to it. Less than a third of us pay any attention to the people that run our country. Usually only about a forth of us vote. The rest of just don’t want to be bothered by all of the political stuff. Oh, we complain, of course, but never bother to do any more but complain.

Now, however, our country has gotten into what is usually called “one hell of a mess.” Billions of dollars of your money has been given to banks, and yet more of them are closed every day. More billions of dollars of your money (and you children’s) have been spent foolishly with very little results on stopping the unemployment of millions of our countrymen. Billions of your dollars have been given to poorly run super businesses and yet they continue to go bankrupt. One has a very difficult time finding any benefit of the trillion dollars of your money that has been given away. Yet, it continues even today.

There was a time not long ago where the common American would not stand still for this to go on. There would be such an outrage that even the most corrupt politician would take notice. That is not happening now. The few that are protesting the way our money is being stolen and wasted are more or less ridiculed by the very ones that complain about it.

Are there any of us left that are willing to stand up and shout loudly at the politicians that are running our country. Why are we putting up with high officials that don’t pay their taxes while the waste ours? Why are we silent when we see our children’s money being thrown away?

Forget Healthcare. It doesn’t matter what Healthcare package is passed. If our country isn’t put back into a solvent position, no new government program will succeed, and the ones we have will continue to fail. It doesn’t matter who or what caused this mess. Forget party loyalty. Forget Republicans or Democrats. What matters now is how are we going to get out of it. Everyone knows that you cannot avoid bankruptcy by borrowing and spending more money. Yet, we let them do it.

I hear people say it doesn’t do any good to write their congressmen or senators, but they have never written a letter to their congressmen so how do the know? The only thing that our royalty (politicians) fear is losing their luxurious living. We can take that away from them, and they know that if enough of us are standing up, they will lose.

If you don’t do anything else, let you congressmen know how you feel about this mess that they have gotten us into, and let them know again and again.

            The dictionary shows the definition of "traditions" as this:

tra·di·tion (tr...-d¹sh"...n) n. 1. The passing down of elements of a culture from generation to generation, especially by oral communication. 2.a. A mode of thought custom or usage. or behavior followed by a people continuously from generation to generation;

            The meaning is quite clear. If we do not have traditions, we will not pass out culture or behavior to our children. It is that simple. Many traditions have been followed in this country of ours since the beginning. Tradition taught us to look at history and understand why our country was the best and freest in the world. As long as we continued these traditions, we would remain free and strong.

            As out population spread and families were broken up, traditions were not followed and they were slowly forgotten. Even out most sacred holidays are not celebrated as they once were. Without these traditions, our country has lost its compass. It is traveling in no clear direction. It is like a ship without a port, wandering aimlessly just hoping to find something. What the country seeks is what we once had. Picking up the old tried true traditions will point us once again in the right direction.

            Traditions all began with family traditions. Human behavior was designed by the acceptance of family traditions. It was a chance for all us to learn from one another. Alas, family traditions are fast becoming a thing of the pass. Many traditions are no longer even in existence. The importance of the family has fallen causing individuals to wander just as those ships at sea.

            That is one thing that makes me proud of my family. We have not only kept our traditions, but we have added some new ones the last generation. It was always traditional for us to be with our immediate family on Christmas. Now we not only do that, but we have added the tradition of the gathering of all our relatives at one place during the Christmas holidays. I have friends that have commented on what a wonderful tradition it is and wish their family would all get together sometime. Our family gathers twice a year. Almost everyone attends at least one of these gatherings.

            The thing that makes me proudest of my family though, is a tradition we started just a few years ago. It is the Ladies Luncheon. What a great idea to let the women in our family have a time of their own. That is very rare in today’s world. It gives them a comradeship that is usually only formed by men. Men have always had such gatherings and meeting that strictly excluded women, and it has been accepted. They formed strong bonds and could always count on support from fellow buddies. Women had no such groups.

            The Family Ladies luncheon makes up for that. This tradition allows our wives, daughters, sisters, aunts, nieces, and cousins to meet in an environment where they can just be themselves without fearing that a man will be upset at what they say or their behavior. They can talk “women speak” without fear of being ridiculed or teased. In short, they can be women and behave as such, just, as the men behave as men in their meetings.

            I believe the strength of our country lies in the strength of our families. Without strong families, the country will cease to exist.

            We all know that congress can legally steal money from the taxpayers in this country. This loot is distributed to their friends and the congressman gets a kick back. This kickback comes in different forms. It seldom is in cash, however, it may come in the illegal way of buying stocks or getting inside information on a stock increase, etc. Sometimes this kickback is just given to the congressman in the form of political donation. That is the reason why candidates will spend millions of dollars to get a job that only pays about 100 thousand dollars a year. We have no federal congressmen that aren’t millionaires by the time they have served their term in office. They just keep getting richer every year. We are making Royalty out of them. Our leaders are as rich as almost any royalty in the world.

            They steal this money by attaching pork spending to each bill passed into law. These are called “earmarks”.  Perhaps this is why they don’t read the whole bill. If it has their earmark in it than the rest doesn’t matter to them. The president then has to either sign the bill or veto it. He has to accept or deny the whole bill. He cannot scratch the “earmarks” from it.

            Some people have tried to pass a “line item veto” law to give the president power to mark off some of these earmarks and still pass the rest of the bill. In fact, such a law was passed in 1996. Bill Clinton used the line item veto 82 times in 11 bills. The Supreme Court ruled in 1998 that the line item veto law was unconstitutional. Almost every President has asked congress to consider a constitutional amendment to give the President line item veto power.

            There are many very good arguments against giving the President so much power over the legislative branch of the government. However, unless some way is found to keep all of the earmarks out of bills passed by congress, we will never be able keep our tax money from being wasted and our taxes will always continue to rise and the government will get more powerful.

            Only congress can change what is in a bill and they refuse to stop “pork barrel spending” because they are all doing it. It comes down to “if you vote for mine, I’ll vote for yours.” I think this is where the old saying “thick at thieves” got started.

            I believe that other ways can be found to stop these earmarks. One way would be to publicize the items in each bill that are not conclusive of the bill’s main agenda. Another way would be that if the bill is a Federal provision, then nothing for the individual States should be in it.

            Unless we can get our congressmen (and women) to change this idiotic way of added wasteful spending to good bills that are being passed, our country will continue spiraling downward.

            Every time you contact your congressmen about anything, mention this serious flaw in our government.

 

·                                 "A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul." George Bernard Shaw (1944)

            This is the time of the year that we celebrate the holidays. First comes Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving in the past has always been a time for all families to get together to just share their love of one another and be thankful for it. It was a family holiday. People would sometimes travel from long distances and make sacrifices as just to be with their family on Thanksgiving. The scene of a family gathered around a table with a turkey and all the trimmings was a true scene of the way things were in past days.

            I fear that this is no longer the case. More and more people do little to be with their family on Thanksgiving. It is now just looked upon just another holiday. Little effort is made my most people. Home cooked Thanksgiving dinners and gathering around the table with just the family are becoming a thing of the past. It’s too bad because we are losing something by ignoring the opportunity to renew our love for one another.

            Yes, the Thanksgiving holiday and it’s meaning is fading away in this modern world, but the biggest and most troublesome holiday change that worries me is the Christmas holiday.

            Christmas was not only celebrated because of the birth of Jesus Christ, it has been a time when we celebrated life. It was a time when we took time off from the petty emotions, such as, jealousy, envy, and hatred of others and turned our thoughts to caring and gentle love of one another, regardless of religion. It was a time when we Americans tried to behave as we all know is the right way to behave, and that is to love one another all. There was a powerful feeling that embraced us all at Christmas time. Even many unreligious people were caught up in the Christmas spirit of showing love for their fellow human beings.

            People with plenty shared with the less fortunately at this time of a year. All charities were swamped with gifts and donations to help their cause. Very few could not be affected by the love that was felt by everyone at this time of the year. It was the one time of the year when we all felt like Americans.

            That feeling is disappearing fast and there is nothing that can replace it. Even the big Commercial attack on Christmas could not destroy it. Such things as replacing the word of Christmas with Xmas really did little to lower our efforts to celebrate Christmas. Now, however, there are threatening moves that’s only purpose is to destroy the Christmas holiday.

            Laws are being passed that will prohibit many ways that we have always celebrate Christmas, even to denying of using the word Christmas or God in some instances. Each year, more and more people have stopped using the word Christmas in their greetings and on their cards. More people shy away from even discussing Christmas for fear of offending someone. This is how the Christmas holiday is being defeated.

            It’s a shame that those behind such moves don’t realize that they are not defeating a religion; they are tearing out a very important part of the America fabric. Without the Christmas spirit there will be no reprieve from the aggressiveness of businesses and hard heartedness of people that behave incorrectly toward their fellow man. Their deeds will continue without their conscious being bothered by the Christmas spirit. The bitterness and hate will continue to grow unchecked. All Americans will suffer from the loss of the love that was once passed during the Christmas holidays.

            I believe that Christmas was not just a religious holiday. I believe that it was a holiday celebrating our humanity. To lose it would only succeed in making the world a sadder place.

            I for one am going to celebrate the holidays the old fashion way whether anyone likes it or not.

            Happy Thanksgiving. Merry Christmas and God Bless You ALL.

 

            There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear.

                                Bible, 1 John iv. 18

 

 

 

 

 

           

           

           

Until the 20^th century, almost everywhere in the world, Man lived close to his own. The family was a group that supported each other in good times and in bad. Man loved his family and chose them over all others. When one married, then another was welcomed into the family. Children were taught to love and respect their family first. The answers one needed for their problems were found within the family. Their family taught them the ways of living.

When a family member was sick, the family took care of them. When one was too old or sick to live alone, they were welcomed into the home of their family and cared for. Man had love around him the whole time from beginning to end.

At the beginning of the 20^th century, Man invented and started the Industrial revolution. It was a revolution! It changed every thing about how Man lived. He was able to travel far from home. At first he traveled only short distances and then returned home to his family. Each year the means to travel farther and faster and Man’s insatiable curiosity caused him to travel farther from home. He began to leave some of his family behind. Man’s young embraced the thought of exploring new worlds, so Man sent his young in search of a “better” world.

When each country accepted the Industry Revolution, that country also moved away from the “old ways” of the family being the center.

As Man’s family was spread in far away places, communication became less frequent and close contact was lost. Soon the young felt less need to contact the original family members. They started new families. With the excitement of far away places calling to them, the new family began to scatter sooner until very few family members remain in close proximity for very long at a time.

It was soon no longer believed that the family was important. It was easy for man to move from wanting and needing a loving family to wanting to be alone and not needing anyone.

Today, I believe that the nurturing love that Man felt for his fellow humans being has been lost. Each generation has less of it.  Money, careers, and excitement have become the important things in Man’s life. Man now seems only capable of short quick love and then has to move on to another. Without knowing the love from his family, Man did not know how to love other human beings. Man now loves himself more than anyone. That is the definition of selfishness.

Hence, today, wives move from one husband to another and husbands moved from on wife to another. In fact, it has become fashionable to not being married at all and just go from one partner to the next.

Sons and daughters are left without parents that put them first in their thoughts. They lost the wisdom that was passed to them by someone that truly loved them. They lost the vision of their future that was before them when they looked at their elders.

Mothers have lost that bond that lasted a lifetime with their children. Now, many times the love that kept the attachment between mother and child has weakened so that contact is rarely made.

Fathers have lost the pride in seeing their offspring achieving happiness. They are no longer considered to be an important part of their child’s life.

 This causes many to live a lonely life and die alone with just a minimum contact from some family members that often comes to late.

I believe that Man has lost the ability to love unconditionally. Man is no longer taught how to love un-conditionally by watching and feeling the love that was once in every family. I believe that Man is becoming more selfish as time passes. It is now acceptable to just use words, or greeting cards, or an infrequent long distance telephone call to pass for true love. Man no longer feels or needs love by touching or being touched.

Is man happier and more satisfied living the modern way? I don’t think so.

 

We are all born for love.  It is the principle of existence and it's only end.
                                                                          - Benjamin Israeli