To secede from the Union is not an option

Abraham Lincoln was elected by the people of the United States, in which, Lincoln promised not to interfere with the institution of slavery as conducted within the southern states, for he felt he had no Constitutional right to do so, yet, because the south lost the election, and because the south perceived that Lincoln was inimical to their principles, South Carolina became the first of eleven States that seceded from the Union, with South Carolina seceding on December 20, 1860, and later it was South Carolina that fired the first shots of the Civil War when they fired upon the Fort Sumter, a Fort held by Federal hands, that South Carolina wrongly believed belong to South Carolina and the new Confederacy.  

There are many fundamental flaws within those that seceded, of which, the first is that no State, under any circumstance, can simply decide on its own, through its own State elected representatives or some other means, to just up and leave the Union, for the United States is a compact of States that have voluntarily bound themselves together into a Federal union, and hence their individual sovereignty outside of the United States, in which they are essentially their own country or their own nation, is not an option that any State can Constitutionally make by its own volition, for that option is not available to them.  In addition, no State within this Union, was or is currently sovereign unto itself, therefore, even the semantics of the word "secession" are fundamentally flawed, for to secede is not permitted within the Union, so that those that "seceded" did not legally secede, in fact, they were in rebellion against the Union, and it is this rebellion, that the Union had the Constitutional right to suppress, which it did. Third, the Constitution is the supreme law of this land, its laws, treaties, debts, obligations, lands, infrastructures, and so on and so forth, are owned by the people, represented by their elected representatives of such a people, all ruled within a Constitutional government, divided into the three branches of judicial, executive, and legislative.

Further to the above points, the other forty-nine States of this Union do not have the right to force the secession of any one State from this Union, for this is a present-day compact of fifty States of which this Union is inviolable. In addition, secession or rebellion is detrimental to the continual sovereignty of the nation, for foreign adversaries in times of such, see the opportunity to interfere within this domestic Union for their own advantages, so that a Union that will not stand strongly together, endangers the Union, by inviting foreign interference.  It so then follows, that certain States of this Union that have greater natural resources or significant populations or are far wealthier in aggregate than other States of this Union, lacking clarity of Constitutional law, and its sacred compact, may choose to believe that they can essentially extort terms from the other member States of the Union so as to remain within the Union, or else they will choose their own way.  That belief, if it does so exist, is fundamentally flawed, it is not only disunion, not only secession in its talk, not only rebellion, but at its core, it is treason, and has no place in a country that provides its United States citizens ballots to make fairly their democratic choices.

The 10% Tithe and Transparency

Churches are institutions that should primarily exist in order to bring comfort, wisdom, fellowship, teaching, sanctuary, love, and other positive Christian attributes to those that attend that church and should also be good community members.  Apparently, it's believed that in order for churches to perform well their function, they typically in one form or another, require tithes or donations or bequests from those that attend their church, and therein lays a fundamental problem.

The business of churches should never be about money, in any of its many forms and functions, for the true business of any legitimate church is to be a benefit for the constituents that attend such, and a benefit to their society, of which, if those constituents do not have the ready means to money, than the church can still exist by the simple gathering and congregation of like-minded people, joining together to worship their Creator, and to help support one another, which does not necessitate a building structure of any sort, though such a building brings creature comfort and convenience.

So too, our minds and hands are capable of producing and creating things that may not bring forth a direct monetary compensation, but are creative forms of labor that produce things of worth, that a church can then draw upon, so to pigeon-hole anybody and insist that a proper churchgoer must produce 10% of their paycheck and thereby donate it to the church coffers is fundamentally flawed, for it is in the volunteering of the congregant, the love and faithfulness of such, the service of church members to their God, as well as to their community, that defines the true effectiveness of what it truly means to be a Christian, and monetary donations while having their place are not the sine qua non of what merits true Christian faithfulness.

Churches that insist upon tithing as a point of honor or even to the insistence that paycheck stubs be provided to the church so that proper tithing can be calculated must be held accountable to the very things that they hold their constituents accountable for; that is to say, if a given church insists on its members religiously making their tithes, than that church, in return, should be completely transparent about its accounting books, in regards to where these tithes go, who in the church benefits, what bills are paid, what things are accomplished with the money, and further to the point, the very people providing the money for the church, should be permitted to have a strong say as to what is done with that money and the prudence or lacking result thereof of it.

Anyone, who gives up money to any church organization, or gives up labor, or gives up their free time to such an organization, has not only a right to know thoroughly what is going on at that church organization, but one can easily say, has a duty to know what is going on, for that money, and even that labor, or even their good head on their shoulders, are all gifts from God, and as faithful stewards of those gifts, it is their incumbent responsibility to see that these gifts are being appropriately and prudently utilized at that church for the betterment of the congregants and of society.

So that, churches that impress and insist upon their congregants that they require their financial donations, must be completely transparent with their devotees, for those that ask loudest and that make the biggest noise, will one day stand before the Most High God and be call to their account, whereas those that walk softly and lead by good example, recognize that "…the Kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17: 21).

Standing armies and the destruction of democracy

America's inception was fundamentally based partly upon the fact that British troops and British conscripts came to America to enforce the British crown' desires, taxes, and to thereby stamp their authority upon the colonists, which lead to the uprising of the colonists, outright revolutionary war, and eventually to American independence.  Perhaps, the colonists would not have become independent from the British crown, if Great Britain had not made the fatal error in regards to imposing military force upon the colonists, as opposed to reasoning out the differences between the two parties, which had worked out for so well for so long.

Today, in America, there are two types of essentially "standing armies", the military arm which is utilized to maintain our presence and authority all over the world, and the various types of policing agencies, such as the police, but also agencies such as the FBI, and all those that from the support for such groups.  The combined numbers of these types of standing armies are in excess of well over two million peoples, and they are professional, well trained, extremely well armed, with a high degree of integration as well as intelligence, and in unity, cannot be vanquished by any militia or personal-based counter force in America.

Many Americans see the above as a very good thing, but the most basic problem is that when the people cede the armament of the nation to what is in substance, a professional standing army, the question becomes, is this policing arm of the state actually for the people, or actually for certain specific elements of the state, for the difference, between the two, is the difference between a vibrant democracy which has a right to protect and to serve its constituents as compared to a false democracy, in which, the force of the state, answers not to the people, but to an elite status quo.

America has been in existence, long enough, that the answer to the above question can easily be seen by the history of how this standing army treats the heartland of America.  For instance, in 1786, disgruntled revolutionary soldiers who had served faithfully for the cause, did not receive the anticipated pay for such service, and because of their unpaid debts, were subject to confiscation of farming lands that they own, so Shays' rebellion was their response to this injustice, of which, the federal government made its stand protecting its armory against this rebellion and defeated them.  During our civil war, conscription became a requirement in order to add men to the Union cause, of which riots broke out in New York city, because of the perceived injustice of such a draft, as well as a legitimate protest that not all were in favor of the Union cause, so that these riots were met by federal troops that quelled the rioters by their superior firepower and strength.  In the coal mining region of West Virginia, in 1921, the powerful mining owners effectively made it impossible for the miners to unionize and further controlled the activities of the miners by utilizing their own private detective force, so that when the miners finally rebelled at this continued injustice, the mining interests combined with the force and firepower of the sheriff and his cohorts put down this incipient miner rebellion.

Again and again, throughout American history, whether the people rebel or riot, the instrument of the state, is always used to destroy or to control those that are in rebellion, caring not whether their cause is legitimate, but only caring that they are silenced through the power of the state, so that, it is this power, that effectively coerces compliance by the people to support or to acquiesce to whatever policy that the status quo so desires, whether it is just or not.   This signifies that when the state has powerful standing armies, well trained, and in league with the justice system, than the people don't really have a true voice, for to voice their protest, invites the full armed power of the state to neutralize them.

How to kill thousands of unarmed civilians and get away with it

For a normal well-adjusted person, it isn't easy to kill anyone at anytime for any reason, especially if that person is unarmed, or defenseless, or old, or a woman, or a child, because doing so, actually killing someone in more or less, cold blood, negates much of what it means to be a conscientious sentient human being to begin with.  So too, it is a lot more difficult to kill someone without the aid of a weapon such as a gun or a large knife, because to kill someone with your bare hands or with a hard stone will often necessitate an extraordinary effort and a sustained desire to do so, in addition to the fact that the person that you are trying to kill, will most likely be trying to protect, defend, or to escape, so then to accomplish such a killing task, is exhausting from a physical standpoint.  But, it also is exhausting from a mental standpoint, because this is all happening in real time, with real humans, at very close proximity, which is basically a form of purposeful fratricide, which means that if somehow you can addle your mind so that you don't consciously recognize that you are killing a fellow human being, or convince yourself that the person being extinguished by your hands is not fully human, or is less than human, or demonized that person in some way, than it becomes easier to accomplish the task at hand.

This means, that military operations know that hand-to-hand combat is something to be avoided at all costs, not only because the resulting kill ratio will be distressingly low, but that it also takes a very large psychological toll on the participants, so having weapons, sophisticated weapons, makes killing other human beings, a lot easier because it can be done at a distance, in which as distance increases, the moral qualms of what you are actually accomplishing are significantly reduced, because in your mind, you can begin to proselytize that you aren't really killing people, but that you are simply hitting or engaging"targets" or objects or especially "bad guys", which implies, of course, that you must be one of the "good guys".

Still, Americans don't like to see their own men and women killed or harmed in all of the wars that America gets involved in, so that the military has had to make a significant adjustment since the debacle of Vietnam, which is to utilize far less "boots on the ground" and far more air power, air strikes, heavy artillery, and anything that can rain significant hellish damage upon the opponent without actually endangering American soldiers.  Unfortunately, the fundamental problem with bombing and heavy artillery is not that these weapons don't kill, because they do a very good job at killing, but that these weapons are blunt in their killing power, so that whatever is in their target range is going to either get hurt real bad, or die, and that obviously includes civilians, and non-combatants of all ages, male or female. 

For instance, as reported by airwars.org, in regards to coalition airstrikes of Syria and Iraq, from August 8, 2014 through September 15, 2017, "…that a minimum of 5,486 to 8,414 civilians are likely to have died in Coalition actions…", of which, America stands accused by recognized international tribunals of no war crimes, whatsoever, while the establishment media in conjunction with the military, spins the tale that they regret any and all overseas civilian deaths, but pushes the lie that in order to get the "bad guys" there will regretfully be some collateral damage.  The truth of the matter is that when bombs are dropped, and heavy artillery is fired into known civilian areas, civilians are going to die, and when that is not considered to be a crime against humanity, then that is exactly how you get away with killing thousands of civilians, and because those dropping the bombs do not care to see and do not care to experience their lethal destructive power of their bombs, it is rather easy for them to assuage their conscience by believing the lie, that their mission was for the betterment and safety of the world, but, in truth, it most definitely was not.

Airline Passengers and Class

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which has authority for the security of such, for those traveling from one destination to another that involves the United States homeland, and in particular, are common to see at virtually any major airport within America, though, surprisingly, there are some notable exceptions, such as the San Francisco airport, in which private screeners are used instead, though, such screening and permission are actually granted under the aegis of Homeland Security.

There probably aren't many passengers that are happy to go through the inconvenience and sometimes the embarrassment of TSA screening, whichmay involved invasive pat downs, the necessity to take off or out one's belts, wallets, shoes, and so forth,  the removal of laptops and other assorted items from one's baggage, with some unfortunate souls having to endure even more intensive private screening away from other passengers, as well as the annoyance and the confiscation of certain personal items violating rather arbitrary approved carry-on items, in addition to the time wastage and long lines which can result in a missed flight, or lacking proper identification which can do the same, to the actual denial of admission to your flight, are all part of the comprehensive TSA process.  For the millions of passengers that fly each year, few are appreciative of the consideration and courtesy by TSA officers, rather, many see them as bureaucratic flunkies, that are incapable of assessing the situation right to begin with, and make mountains out of molehills, and are arbitrary, creepy, and sometimes corrupt. 

Though, many people do express the need for some sort of airplane security, so as to avert any other future airline terrorist events, the precision and professionalism needed to conduct such in a thorough but efficient manner, seems to not be in the TSA playbook.  However, the TSA, came to the decision or had the decision made for them, that if instead of treating all passengers as potential criminals, if they instead divided passengers into the privileged class and left all others as potential criminals, that their effective approval rating by the people that really matter would increase considerably, for while America speaks loudly about equality and fairness, it doesn't actually practice it.  So that, for those that have $85 to pay for TSA pre-check, and  are willing to provide their respective identifying information as well as to show up at a satellite office to be fingerprinted,  if they are thereby approved, they are now accorded their own TSA pre-check line, in which, they won't have to worry about suffering through an enhanced pat-down, or the inconvenience of taking off certain items of clothing or unpacking certain things from their carry-on, but will typically be treated more with "kids' gloves" and therefore glide through security through a shorter line and probably a more considerate attitude by the TSA crew.

This means, for those that hardly travel at all, or don't wish to devote $85 to TSA pre-check, or know that because of a previous arrest, conviction, or something else, that they aren't model citizens, that they are effectively forever placed in the category of "those that need to be watched", whereas those that have money, or their company pays the fee for them, or are boring, obedient, or even good citizens, don't have to go though the inconvenience and indignity of the TSA pat down, signifying that when it comes to travel in America, that there are two basic classes, those that are treated with respect, and those that are treated with contempt.  So that in America, it is only too obvious, certain oppressive rules apply only to those other people, and never to those that are favored or coddled by administration policies.

You can't lead from the back

To be a true leader, one can't just talk about what needs to be done, or strategize about what should be done, or delegate solely to others what they believe must be done, one has to instead, in order to be really effective, stand in front of one's people, and make them to know, that the things that need to be accomplished, start first at the very top, and therefore one must lead by example to demonstrate that through the cooperation of teamwork and a collective focused desire, great things can be accomplished. 

It isn't enough for a charismatic leader to talk the talk, that leader must also walk the walk.  It isn't fair or responsible to place the entire burden and the risk on everyone else, for those that want others to risk endangerment must be willing to place their own self in some sort of peril, also, or the words that they have spoken aren't the words of a leader, but the words of a protected and coddled boss. 

This doesn't mean that in a military situation, that the five-star general literally puts himself in actual harm's way, for the value of that general is so great that the risk of doing this, would be foolish, but the general must be fully aware of the risks involved for his men, and take full responsibility for such risks for his soldiers, andthe decisions that are made in the battle as planned, for those in authority, ultimately rest within that authority, and therefore they should and must thereby be held accountable for the outcome.

In the business world, leaders that request specific work that must be accomplished must put forth the same effort and diligence in their oversight of such work, as those actually doing the work, for those that are applying themselves to the task at hand, are a collective resource, that needs the guidance of an accomplished team leader, in order to effect a cohesive unit that will accomplish more working together in purpose, than any could do on their own or at cross purposes.

In the religious world, it simply isn’t good enough to preach a powerful message, if the person so preaching isn't living their life as a reflection of the message given to the flock, for that is the very definition of hypocrisy, for to ask something of others, but not make it applicable to oneself, demonstrates a hollowness of principle and has no place on any pulpit. 

Another reason that one must lead from the front, and cannot lead from the back, is that the people that are being addressed have their eyes and their focused attention on the person that is in front of them, not on the person that is behind them,  for they cannot see that person behind them, and besides this is a forward-thinking nation, not a backward-thinking one, and progress cannot be made without taking forward steps and those steps are made in fellowship with one's leader, because it is through that leader that barriers are broken down, goals are achieved, and headway is made. 

You can't lead from the back, because your view is blocked, so get out in front, stand on unwavering fair principles, work tirelessly for it, and do the right things.

…with liberty and justice for all

Our Pledge of Allegiance, ends with "…with liberty and justice for all," which is a wonderful sentiment, of which, though there are many faults within America and its application of fair and equitable policies, it does at a minimum, pay a reasonable homage to this sentiment, though, unfortunately, it often falls short.  Still, this is a country that gives its citizens a vote, has a strong written Constitution with liberal principles, such as freedom of speech and of the press, petitioning of the government by the people, and the free exercise of religious belief.

Now, the measure of a great nation, if it truly be great, is the very things that we hold in principle, are the principles that we first and foremost wish to see secure within other nations that we associate with on a constant and consistent basis, so that their people too, will live within a country that offers all of its people, liberty and justice.  That is to say, the greatest export that we should wish to see exported to all other nations, is the principles of our Constitutional government, because Americans believe that it is this Constitution that allowed this country to not only demonstrate that it has been truly blessed by God, it also has enabled America to become the ultimate superpower that it now represents.

While there probably isn't a country in the world, that America doesn't have trade with or diplomatic relations with, in one form or another, it would seem that America does a very poor job of exporting republican and democratic virtues to them, and instead prefers when dealing especially with unstable, poor, civil discord, and third world nations in particular, to prefer to deal with autocratic regimes, in any of its various forms.  America, by its actions, surreptitiously or not, has again and again, supported repressive regimes, overthrown elected parties within regimes, designated specific parties to back in repressive regimes, and has purposefully interfered within sovereign nations in such a way that they favor certain parties and specifically oppose certain factions.  The United States not only plays favorites, or backs favorites, but it deliberately supports autocratic regimes that it perceives will be beneficial to America, or its businesses, or its military interests.

The reason that America gets nervous about truly democratic institutions, is that convincing a whole nation, that America is the best thing for that nation, is a lot harder achievement to accomplish, as opposed to convincing a small elite clique within a nation, that they should allow American multinationals to drill for oil or to exploit other natural resources, as well as setting aside certain land areas for an American military base, or treating American business interests as a priority within that country, and so on and so forth.  America prefers to have their designated man in control of a given foreign nation that they will personally benefit and protect, in order to profit from the things that that particular country can provide to certain selected interests of the United States.

So, while America preaches the virtue of liberty and justice for all, domestically, on the other hand, way too often, it has little interest in seeing that accomplished internationally, for it selfishly wants its own way, wants to take advantage of others foibles and weaknesses, so that all this can be exploited to the advantages of the military-industrial complex and other businesses within America, because really the business of America in other foreign nations, has very little to do with liberty and justice, but rather is all about benefiting certain specific American interests, which is far easier to achieve with "tinhorn" dictators. 

Colonial America: Cheap land and their need for labor

Today, the price of real estate in any major city and its associated suburbs is very expensive, for a lot of reasons, of which the density of the respective population, income, growth, and infrastructure, are amongst some of them, but back in the days of colonial life, overpopulation was not an issue in America, in fact, those that owned their own arable land, needed laborers, especially in order to successfully produce products such as: rice, indigo, cotton, and tobacco.  This meant, particularly in the southern parts of America, that indentured servants and/or slaves, were necessary in order to create wealth for the planter class of that era, for without those indentured servants or slaves, the land itself, had very little value, for the value of that land was incumbent upon having enough laborers to create, maintain, and produce the crops that provided money for the land owner.

While today in America, some politicians may rail against immigration and the need to build a wall to preclude illegal immigrants from entering into this country, back in the colonial era, the compelling issue was the need for immigrants, for labor, for anybody of good health willing to work the land, indentured servant or not, free or not, for without that labor, lands would lie idle and fallow, producing far less than their capability would properly indicate.

This would indicate that since indentured servitude as well as slavery were legal, that both were actively pursued by the land owning class in America, with incumbent advantages of each, depending upon the location and size of the land, the climate, the capabilities of that labor, and the crops or product being so produced.  In addition, since an indentured servant, upon completion of his contract terms, now was entitled to his own land or the freedom to move to another locale for employment, there were obvious advantages to the buying of slaves to begin with, in addition to the fact that slaves produced their own progeny under the ownership of their slave masters.

Not too surprisingly, for those blessed with abundant land resources, and plenty of slave labor to work it, the economics of the situation, allowed this privileged planter class, to make good coin literally off of the backs of the slaves that worked for them, so that, over time, this became an ingrained and embedded institution so much so that without such slave labor, and in acknowledgment that there was no other cheap labor available to replace this slave labor, the plantation class wassusceptible to imminent economic collapse without their access to slavery.

Fortunately, for the plantation class, the trickle-down effect, of a vibrant economy built on slave labor, meant that merchants, banks, churches, governments, and the necessary infrastructure, all had a vested interest in keeping going what was already working, especially in consideration of the fact that slaves were legally treated by the owners as their own personal property. 

All of this meant, as this nation began to mature, that those that had no need for slavery, as well as those that saw the moral corruption of slavery, became quite uneasy with it, for it stained deeply this great nation of freedom, that held in bondage millions of people, with no effective escape or exit strategy whatsoever from this particular and peculiar institution.  Because the wealth of the south was truly built upon slave labor it would not and could not give it up, for in those times, land was cheap, and it was enslaved human labor that provided its inestimable value, so that the seeds of the civil war to come were first sown upon the exploitation of human labor yearning to breathe free.

Obedience and Responsibility

Our pets are trained to be obedient to us, as well as animals in circuses and other public shows are trained to be obedient to their task masters, but we, as humans, have a tendency to believe that since we have a consciousness and a moral code, that we will or won't behave in a manner that is callous, robotic, cruel, or inhumane, unless our mind is not right, and that therefore, those that do so, should suffer the penalty for the harm that they so cause. 

In theory, the above seems correct, but in practicality as demonstrated in real life, through war, through police officers, through social experiments as conducted by Dr. Stanley Milgram, it is distressing how obedient the typical human being actually is, especially when the obedience is structured in a manner, in which the person doing deeds that are harmful, is doing them under the color of perceived authority figures.

There is something to be said about obedience and its need, in particular, for children; for children need structure and guidance from adults or elder children, that have the wisdom to know the difference between right and wrong, as well as the difference between things that have good as compared to bad consequences, so that to be obedient as a child, most definitely has its place.  So too, obedience or cooperation within company or employment-type situations has its relevancy, for to follow orders has a purpose of efficiency and throughput, so that, though things can probably be done in more than one way, to question that way on a continual basis, would be disruptive and thereby is not tolerated.

So too, the military and police organizations are structured in a manner, that for the most part, soldiers and officers are trained to obey orders without questioning such, because there are pertinent situations in which time is of the essence, so rather than to call upon their own human sovereignty, they work together as a cohesive unit, obeying the hierarchical structure.  Unfortunately, the downside of such unquestioned obedience which has been demonstrated time and time again, is that great abuses against innocent outside agents by military and police organizations occur because of this structure.

The rather nasty secret for why there is so much willingness to go along with the orders of a given authority figure, is the fact that if the person carrying out the order, believes that the authority figure is legitimate, because of their status, because of their uniform, because of their title, or because of their power, and in addition, if that authority figure has previously made it clear, that they will take full responsibility for the outcome of said obedience to an order, most people will justify in their mind, that it is okay to obey such an order, because they do not see themselves as being personally responsible for the outcome of their actions, but merely as an instrument for the carrying out of a particular authoritarian command.  This, in a nutshell, is the fundamental error of why there is so much hatred, strife, division, war, and destruction in this world, because "good" people, do horrible things to other people, and believe that because they are not "personally" responsible for those actions, that everything is okay.

It isn't okay, for those that allow themselves to be used as agents of evil, through obedience, through ignorance, through irresponsibility, through drinks, or through drugs, because they have forgotten the most fundamental point, that things that you do, are always your responsibility, for it is you that does them, so that for evil to remain triumphant, merely comes down to good people, and their willingness to be obedient agents of evil, because instead of listening to their own moral consciousness, they have willingly surrendered it to another, who deserves it not.

The need for literacy

The fact that so many people within nations today are literate and the fact that the world has never been more wealthy in aggregate, is most definitely not a coincidence, for the more people that are able to utilize their language skills, both written and verbal, as well as having fundamentally sound mathematical skills, the more advance civilization becomes.  For instance, the island nation, Japan, has remarkably few natural resources, including arable land, but because of its great literacy as well as its strong work ethic, Japan was able to rise from the ashes of World War II, to become the second largest economy in the world.

This would strongly indicate that literacy and the advancement of nations, go hand-in-hand, implying that education for all, should be one of the most basic tenets of any truly civilized nation, but some dictatorial governments, recognize that literacy is most definitely a two-edge sword, for a population that can easily and readily communicate with one another as well as understanding the lay of the land, often results in the masses being far more difficult to control, and therein lies the problem, for an enlightened population may well perceive, relatively easily, that their present-day government is not beneficial and will consequently press for change.

This means, that governments that do not encourage literacy or take away the opportunity for literacy from certain segments of the population, such as females, religious or ethnic minorities, or the poor, deliberately do so, so as to maintain their power, recognizing that an intelligent population, is a population well-armed, making them a clear and present danger to the regular order of things.  However, to take the resources of one's mind, and not to develop it, means that the country as a whole will lose productivity, will lose in virtually all areas of advancement, in order to maintain their control, weakening the nation from within, and stymieing the opportunities of growth of the general population, as well as making the uneducated far more dependent upon the generosity of the state.

The reason that certain nations fear literacy is that they fear the free-thinking of liberated minds, competing against the unfairness of a country ruled by a privileged class for the primary benefit of that class, which exploits the underclass in order to enrich themselves, at the expense of that underclass.  The thing about literacy is that literacy in all of its many aspects is the very best way for those that lack material things as well as present-day opportunities, to obtain the very things that they lack, by applying themselves diligently to that task, which is why it is feared, because of the then governmental perceived lack of control of this individual resource, and dictatorial regimes are all about maintaining order and control.

Then too, the other downside of literacy for nations, is the fact, that those that become literate with little or no moral structure, may decide to utilize their skill set in a manner that benefits them in a selfish way, at the expense of others, even literate others, that aren't as perceptive, diabolical,  or intelligent.  This implies that great nations make it a point to not only educate their population but to indoctrinate them in the ways that a good citizen should think and behave, so that through the checks and balances of societal norms, good citizens are ever alert to those that would unfairly usurp what is rightfully theirs.

Manipulation, Control, and Freedom

We are born free, even in an un-free world we are free in the sense that our minds, our decisions, our actions are our own choices, albeit, all come with consequences, of which some can be rather dire for us, or beneficial.  Societies have gotten larger, as we are now far removed from simple tribal societies, along with the fact that the world has gotten a whole lot smaller, so that almost all of us, have common touchstones, which are actually there for a reason, of which, the most basic reason is to have commonality amongst people that aren't necessarily homogeneous to begin with.

The most important thing for any individual to recognize is that having the gift of a free will, is an awesome personal responsibility that we must constantly be cognitive of or we can find it compromised if we are not diligent in protecting it.  That is to say, cooperation is very important in any society, for a lot of reasons, good or bad, so too is obedience in any of its many forms, but too often, people have a strong tendency to put their mind on "cruise control" and just do things to get along, or out of habit, or in accordance with what other people are doing, or out of fear of punishment, without actually consciously acknowledging that their actions are their actions, and hence ultimately that they must take responsibility for their actions and cannot, though they might, foist the ultimate responsibility of such, onto someone else's shoulders, especially when it appears by doing so, they have done that, successfully.

This means that most every day, most people suffer through situations in which someone or some situation is trying to control or manipulate our person so as to control our behavior or decisions in a manner that will better some entity: personal, corporate, governmental, or otherwise.  There might not be a problem with any of this, if, the overall control or manipulation is done in conjunction with the general betterment of society, which is all to the good.  However, mankind is a selfish creature, as well as there being corporate, governmental, and hierarchical entities, that have a need for general obedience and cooperation in order to accomplish their objectives.  It is this selfishness, it is these entities, that purposely develop strategies that take advantage of basic human psychological traits and then utilizes them for the benefit of that selfishness, ideally done, with the person being manipulated, not really consciously recognizing such or choosing to suppress it.

Too many times we are trained by our parents, by our schooling, by our government, and by our employment, that in order to perform and to function correctly, we need to toe the company line, and that cooperation to directives from our superiors or those that are in power, which effectively makes them our superior, is the primary directive that we must follow.  This, whether done in a subtle manner or not, is the very first and often fatal step to interpreting the world in a manner controlled or manipulated by another mindset, in which we consciously end up suppressing our opinions and viewpoints, in order to be in compliance to that specific authority, seldom recognizing that if we only thought it through, we would understand that actions accomplished by ourselves, under false pretenses or not, are still our actions, so that those that guide our behavior in a manner that we are compliant to, have essentially replaced our free will with a controlling mechanism, making us forgo that great gift of freedom and free will, by replacing it instead with a behavioral pattern in conformance with those that are our puppeteers.

When you have everything, you can't ever get more of it

What appears to keep economies growing is the ever present desire in most people, rich or poor, to desire strongly to have "more".  That is to say, many successful people want even more money, or more prestige, or more material things, or more status, or more of this or more of that, it is always more, more, more.  Those that don't have much of anything also want more, because they have so little to begin with, and aspire to accelerate themselves out of their current unfortunate circumstances.

This desire for more, to have more, is probably for the most part, beneficial for motivation,  however, misapplied or taken to obsession like levels it most definitely is not, for if you see the world as a world of limited resources, or of finite limits, than one recognizes implicitly that the more that you get, the less that is available for others to get, and this type of selfishness, is not beneficial for the person trying to get it all, nor is it beneficial for those that are on the "losing" end.

One way to recognize the fundamental flaw of getting it all, is to understand that if one person, or group of people, were to functionally have everything, and by everything, this means that there isn't anything else worth getting, than knowing that they now have everything, rather than bringing them complete satisfaction, peace, and serenity, would instead bring the fear that their lives were now being lived in recognition, since they now have it all, that they will now and forever into the future, only have less, because there is no more to get, and knowing that there is nothing left but unlimited downside, this becomes functionally debilitating to them.

This would signify that the desire to have more, more, more, is a fundamentally flawed premise, for to have all of any particular thing, means that rather than relaxing and enjoying the luxury of your given position or status, you instead, are worried about losing what it is that you have strived so hard to obtain, by means fair or foul, leaving you with less, less, less, for there is no more to get or obtain.

So that, someone of wisdom, must then recognize that to have everything, cannot possibly be the answer to the most meaningful question in life, for to have all, means ultimately that you must destroy all, in order to never lose back or share what you have already won.  This then signifies that perhaps the most liberating way to look upon life is not that we wish to own or to have everything, but rather that we are most free of the limitations and paradox of having everything , if we do not get attached to this world as the be-all and end-all of everything, for it surely, cannot be.

This means that if your happiness depends upon things that are ephemeral such as all material things, including physical things and the feelings that these invoke; recognize that that happiness cannot and will not sustain itself, for it is, despite whatever length of time, ultimately transitory and temporary.  So if you want it all you will never obtain it, and your personal cycle of despair will never be broken until you finally recognize that you are actually on the wrong path which cannot ever be made right by being on it, for the very path that you need to be on, is the path that brings wholeness, oneness and unity with the universal consciousness which is limitless, timeless, and eternal.

This is a government of enumerated powers

Just about any government has a strong tendency to take whatever has been granted to them by Constitutional law or similar, to then aggrandize onto itself, more powers than has been vested in them by its Constitution or common law to begin with.  The United States Constitution as stated in Article 1, Section 8, specifically defines the powers of Congress, the legislative branch of our government, of which the function of the legislative branch is to make new laws and to change laws; however, these areas of interest, are distinctly enumerated and limited as stated in Article 1, Section 8, of our Constitution. 

The reason for such limits, is that a government that has no limits, is no longer a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, but a government that serves those in the power positions of said government, and thereby becomes the very thing that subjects the people to all sorts of oppression, interference, and invasiveness, all under the color of the Constitution, misapplied.

That is to say, the law is clearly written in the Constitution, which succinctly defines the powers vested in our Constitutional government, of which, unfortunately, those in power have consistently and repeatedly exercised powers that clearly are not vested within the legislative branch, for good reasons or not.  The most significant problem with the misuse of legislative Constitutional powers is that as the government takes from the powers of the sovereignty of the individual, than the less free that given individual becomes, though, perhaps in some of those powers taken, the individual may gain in security, or other material benefits, but be that as it may, it is not Constitutional.

Those that debated and signed the Constitution which became the law of this land, executed a document for a specific purpose and for specific reasons, of which, one of those reasons, was to define and to enumerate specifically what powers our national government had or did not have over the individual, and many other assorted things fit and proper.  In particular, though, the power of a government over the individual, is, and has been, the give and take of governmental law and its vested powers versus the individual, of which, any government, that legislates, executes, and judges the laws as fit and proper, must be held accountable to its limits, to its Constitution, and specifically to its enumerated powers, or it will become a force akin to a leviathan, that the people, no matter how right that they are, cannot possibly defend themselves against, and thereby the people are no longer co-equals in a government of the people, but servants to the state and its awesome and oppressive power.

The state does a great disservice when it is a power onto itself, and thereby, the only appropriate usage of Constitution power, is the recognition that such government, must operate within its Constitutional constraints as well as acknowledging in action that their just powers specifically come from the consent of the governed, which is the people.  While there may be many things that one person wants or another person does not want, what one person needs and another person may not need, it is not the government's place to play favorites or to tilt the playing field, but rather it is, and always will be, the government's obligation to see that all are treated equally by the law, fairly applied, and that the people are masters of their own fate.

Crimes that aren't really crimes

According to https://ucr.fbi.gov, in 2015, there were "… an estimated 10,797,088 arrests."    Further, "the highest number of arrests were for drug abuse violations (estimated at 1,488,707 arrests)," as well as "… driving under the influence (estimated at 1,089,171."  Taking a closer look, at the drug-abuse violations, the majority of those arrests were for possession, that is actually having the illicit drug in one's home, car, or in hand, of which the drug most often arrested for possession, was marijuana, a drug that has been legalized in several States, decriminalized in several other States, or allowed to be utilized in several States if medically prescribed, yet, this is the drug that most often necessitates an arrest for possession, for the very simple fact, that the sheer amount of people that utilize or possess marijuana is a very large number to begin with.  Additionally, so-called "driving under the influence" is one of the most pernicious laws ever foisted upon the public, for if any adult of legal age has a Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) of .08 percent or more they are considered to be "per se intoxicated", and incredibly some of those that have a BAC of under .08 percent can still be arrested for a DUI, if the officer perceives that they have been driving as if impaired, or their speech appears to be slurred.  The reason the current DUI law is so pernicious, is that previously when BAC limits were first imposed to determine impairment, that limit was set at .15 percent, which argues the question, were the medical doctors and authorities, so stupid and ignorant in the 1980s that they clearly didn't know the difference between intoxication and non-intoxication or was the law inexorably changed in order to ensnare more people.  Further to the point, automated cars are now allowed on the roads, so that being so, would a given intoxication level in a fully automated car even be relevant; in addition, there are cars manufactured today that have automated or semi-automated features such as "lane assist", "steering assist", "automatic forward-collision braking", and so on and so forth, which definitely are a real assistance to drivers of those cars, and should be relevant to any discussion of how impaired a driver with such features in use, actually was, especially if this is a considered to be a public safety issue.

In addition, there are all sorts of laws that people are arrested for of dubious value, which are better classified as victimless crimes, since there is no victim, only possibly a moral issue in regards to illicit drug usage, gambling, or prostitution; then there are nuisance crimes, which are things such as public intoxication, disorderly conduct, curfew, or loitering, which are arbitrary and often unfairly applied.  There are, in short, an unseemly amount of arrests made each and every day for crimes in which there are either no victim, or a specific desire by the state policing authority to interfere with the life style choices that a particular person has made, as if it is the state that should have final say as to what is permitted or not permitted, recognizing that the state's power is so pervasive that they can effectively rule by fiat, empowered by laws that criminalize everything.

The way that the criminal justice system is constructed in America, today, is that it is an embedded institution that needs arrests and therefore criminals which makes it a thriving business, considered to be a real "growth industry".  In point of fact, a significant portion of arrests being made today, could be far better resolved with far less trouble and far less expense, if the criminal violation, was amended to be something equivalent to receiving a traffic ticket, which while this would still be an inconvenience to the public, it would be a significant and meaningful step in the right direction of less arresting and thereby less incarceration.  In a country that professes that it is "free", the reality of the situation for the average man in the street is that it most definitely is not "free", and it is not fair; it is instead highly intrusive, intolerable, unacceptable, and cruel.

More Cops equates to more victimless arrests

There are so many laws on the books already, that in fairness to everybody in the general public, there is bound to be some obscure law or even a general law, that most people violate on some level at some given point, signifying that just about anybody can be arrested at anytime, if the authorities so desire to do so.  In actuality, it is even worse, for the police can simply arrest anybody that they so desire by asserting that you have violated a law, even when you have not, if they are determined to do so, or have been instructed by higher authorities to do so, which is why it is extremely dangerous to have a list of laws so long, so convoluted, and so contradictory, that anyone at anytime can be arrested.  This is the type of thing that we see in dictatorial, or tyrannical societies, of which, those that oppose the party in power, and are considered to be a threat to such authority, are arrested under the most dubious of circumstances and accusations.

There are a lot of constructive ways to work with people, that appear to need help, of which, one of the very worse, is to arrest them, convict them, and to incarcerate them, for that typically upends a person's life, loses them their means of employment, rips apart their family life, annihilates their bankroll, and destroys their future prospects.  For instance, the amount of arrests that are made each and every day for crimes, which are not even really crimes, such as victimless crimes, is an outrage foisted upon the American public, as some sort of public safety issue when it really isn't anything of the sort.  Victimless crimes such as illicit drug usage or sales, prostitution, illicit gambling, public intoxication, loitering, and so on and so forth, can be dealt with in a manner that does not necessitate an arrest, or incarceration, for these aren't really crimes in the first place, because there isn't any victim, and there isn't any real reason why the policing authority of the state needs to arrest these people, as opposed to perhaps issuing something akin to a traffic ticket or similar or just leaving them alone.

If, America, has an abiding interest in reducing illicit drug usage, or of reducing prostitution, than it should address these things on a community level, which deals with people as human beings, deserving of respect, consideration, and caring, as opposed to dealing with them as criminals.  There is a massive difference between the two, and punishment is virtually never an effective way to get someone to change their mindset or behavior whatsoever, whereas, getting to know someone, have a conversation with someone, learning about someone, is an effective way to bring understanding and empathy to a given situation. 

There is such a thing known as freedom, of which, people should be entitled to make decisions and to do things that they so desire to do that are personal choices with personal repercussions, and if those things include things that you do not approve of, that you do not personally do, that you consider to be a moral wrong, what of it, for unless you then take the energy, time, and consideration, to express to that person in a concerned way, how these choices made, may not be the best choices, and thereby give them an opportunity and chance to respond to you, than aren't you judging them, denying them their freedom or free expression, before having walked in their shoes, and who made you the Supreme Judge of them, anyway? 

We don't need more laws, we don't need more cops, we don't need victimless crimes to be crimes, but what we do need, is for the hypocrites and busybodies to first get their own house in order, and to stop treading on others with ill intent.

Police Officers and the need for criminals

The United States has the highest incarceration rate of any western nation in the world, and it isn't even close, this would imply, would almost mandate, that the United States, unlike other western nations, must be a land of utter chaos, close to a civil uprising or revolution, and thank goodness, the police are here to protect the innocent and vulnerable.  The thing is, that just isn't the truth, for the unfortunate truth is that because of our massive criminal justice system, which includes the courts, the prisons, the officers, the correctional personnel, the forensics, and everything and anything that is related to all of this, the United States has developed a huge criminal justice infrastructure that must be fed, and "criminals" are the necessary food that keeps the whole dirty business going.

That is to say, you know you are part of a sick system, when private prison compounds sign a binding contract with State or other authorized authorities, guaranteeing them a quota of criminals, in which the punishment for the state for not providing these institutions with the minimum percentage mandated of criminals to house and feed, is the payment of a monetary sum, that the state pays as its penalty for failure to provide enough incarcerated criminals.  This fact, gives up the ghost completely, that the state has little or no interest in preventing crime, but has incentives and all the interest in their community of finding "crime" wherever that may be.

Not too surprisingly, criminals are always easier to find, when one's resources are concentrated on the very people that do not have the wherewithal to fight back, which would be: the poor, the indigent, the ill-educated, and the simple minded, all making for very easy targets for the policing authorities to prey upon, of which, for the most part, the general public, doesn't much care, just as long as the police doesn't bother them, or their family.  This means, that as much as the authorities declaim that police don't have quotas that they must maintain on a consistent basis, they do, though internally, no doubt, the word "quota" is never used, substituted instead by being mandated to meet "performance standards" or "departmental performance goals" so as to demonstrate materially that the given police officer is performing per standard, which effectivelymeans arresting people and issuing tickets, for if a given officer is not doing that, than what is that officer actually doing on their respective shift.

This signifies that the entire criminal justice system apparatus rests of the men and women that make up modern police forces or their federal equivalencies, for without these men and women bringing in "product" there isn't much of anything for those in the criminal justice system to actually do.  So that, for a certainty, the more officers hired, than the more arrests that will be made, the more criminals that will be manufactured, and more criminals that will be incarcerated, so that, those that complain about police brutality or police persecution, aren't ever going to reform the system by requesting more respectful officers, for the system needs product, so that in order to make fundamental change,  the only protest worth making is the protest that demands the absolute reduction of police officers in a community, for less officers, means less manufactured crime, less manufactured criminals, and less manufactured incarceration, and it really is as straightforward as that.

The Danger of sweet alcoholic drinks

People like to consume their alcohol in all sorts of manners, from straight up in "shots", to a very basic mixture of alcohol with, for example, just orange juice, to very sophisticated mixes of several ingredients of which usually one of the main ones is the addition of sugar sweetness as well as fruit flavors in order to cut down on the general perception of the straight bitterness of alcohol when not so mixed.  How adults drink their alcohol is their own choice, of which, alcohol, when it is not mixed with anything, is most definitely an acquired taste, obvious to all that it is alcohol, and fairly easy to know how much one is drinking of any type of alcohol, if one pays attention to the amount of alcohol being poured.  So that, if one knows that their basic alcoholic limit is three 1.5 fluid ounces of 80 proof, or 40 percent alcohol drinks, of their favorite brand, and their drinks are mixed at exactly 1.5 fluid ounces, than that person is well aware of exactly how much alcohol that they have consumed, and thereby knows their given situation.

However, drinks that you mix, or at mixed at precise specifications, are not the same, not even close to being the same to drinks that are mixed out of sight, wherever that may be, especially made problematic by those that favor sweet drinks, in which, the sugary content of soda, or its equivalency, do a stellar job in masking to a very large extent, the bitterness of the alcohol being consumed, signifying that if one of your checkpoints when drinking alcohol, is your judgment that the more bitter the drink is, the more alcohol that it has, so that when a drink that is overloaded with sweetness is consumed, your perceptions of how much alcohol that you are actually consuming will now fundamentally be in error.

Not only does the sweetness of sugary substances make drinking alcohol far more palatable, it also makes it difficult to know how much alcohol is being consumed, so that, by the time, you figure that out, when you are, for instance, feeling a bit drunk, or wasted, you have already consumed more alcohol than you intended, which places you into a vulnerable situation.  Further to the point, sugary drinks can mask not only alcohol very effectively, but psychoactive drugs, so that, because of this masking, you can easily consume a drug that will incapacitate you, typically given to you, by somebody that does not have your best interests in mind.

So too, some people on their own or through peer pressure, take substances such as cough syrup containing codeine, mix it into a sugary soda concoction, in order to get a "high" from doing so, all made far more appealing by virtue of the fact that the drink tastes sweet, so that the perception often made in your mind, is that this concoction is pleasurable, which encourages one to drink more of it, even though the effects of such, are not good for either your body or your mind.

As much as some people love their sugary drinks mixed with alcohol, it is that sugar that unscrupulous people can use to deceive you, and thereby provide you with drinks that have considerably more alcohol in them than what you think you are drinking, or even worse, other substances that will knock your consciousness out, making you vulnerable to those that are exploiters of such, in which the vehicle that they use to take advantage of you, is the sweetness of sugar, disguising the bitterness of their intent.

This is what you're going to say when you die

People do an inordinate amount of things when they are alive, from good to bad, from useful to useless, from hateful to helpful, and so and so forth.  Yet, many people don't want to face up to the fact that eventually their physical body will give out and therefore their physical life will be no more.  Some people like to believe or to fool themselves into believing that this life is all that there ever was or ever will be, in which such a foolish philosophy often leads to a life that fundamentally is flawed, because without knowing the end, the purpose of such seems to be ephemeral.  Then, there are others that believe this life is their only life to be on earth, but even with that "knowledge" they aren't able to stay focused on what really matters for those that fail to prioritize the eternal over the temporal, aren't going to be finding a very satisfying after life.  So too, there are others, more perceptive, that understand that life must be a cycle, of the inevitable birth, death, and re-birth, in which, the objective of such is to actually improve oneself so as to get back to the ultimate First Cause, which is the Creator of it all, understanding that earth is really a proving ground, testing who and what we really are, so that for those that wish to soldier on with God, they must be in harmony with He who is perfect Harmony.

It is therefore, rather disappointing, that so much time and effort is generated to do all sorts of material things, of which some, no doubt, are of considerable merit, whereas others are just variations of "killing time", whereas every minute of every day should actually be spent in pursuit or in conformance of the only thing that really matters, the Man behind the curtain.  Still, mankind has made tremendous progress in the sciences, in the arts, and in mathematics, because those making such pursuits and those following these trailblazers, recognize implicitly as well as often explicitly that the design of all that we see and all that we record, is not random, never has been random, but comes from the very hands of the most intelligent and intricate design-maker, of which, to be at the feet of such an incomprehensible genius, is really a privilege and worthy of our devoted homage.

You would think, that governments, that nations, and that families, would recognize the value of being in the pursuit of their Creator, as compared to pursuing material wealth, or aggrandizement of power, or of selfishness or greed, so that the world would definitely be a more pleasant place to be, but the world so often behaves as if it really doesn’t have a sensible clue.  This means, that many people, in many ways, aren't about much more than making sure to take care of their own, which just might be only themselves, and have little interest in self-sacrifice, egoless, or less of anything that doesn't benefit their own desires, and takes no prisoners with those that stand in their way.

But, the sad thing is, while we go round and round that merry-go-round, trying to grab that brass ring, is that when we inevitably meet our point of death, we aren't going to be saying how much we wish we had been greedier, or more selfish, or more bigoted or less inclusive, rather we will be saying, unless our life has been in exceedingly good order, that we wish we had been: "more patient, more loving, more caring, more understanding, more generous, and less judgmental, and less evil", ruing our mistakes, foras it has been said, you most certainly will reap what you have sowed.

The Real Unemployment Rate

Statistics can tell whatever story that the disseminators of want to tell or spin for the general consumption of the public, further to the point, the repetition of such information, or misinformation, often enough and pervasive enough, has a tendency to get accepted as of relevance to many people.  A case in point, the unemployment rate for America has consistently been perceived as low in recent years, even considered to be at a rate that reflects "full employment" even though the reality of the situation in the lives of those that surround us postulates that this could not possibly be true.  The reason that this is so, the reason that what we perceive does not reflect these positive statistics must be because the statistics being foisted upon us are not a true reflection of the real unemployment rate.

The most prevalent unemployment rate, talked about and most sited is the unemployment rate, U3, which is defined as the unemployment rate of people that are without jobs but have actively looked for work within the past four weeks, which not only seems incredibly arbitrary, but almost senseless, for human nature has a strong tendency to give up, when they fail at the same activity, in this case, achieving employment, again and again, which U3, does not measure.  A truer reflection of what unemployment actually means is to take into account, discouraged workers, that are people that want to work but have essentially actively given up finding work, as well as other workers that would in general like to work, but haven't been seeking anything recently, as well as part-time workers, that want to work full-time but are unable to find additional employment or the means to accomplish such.  All these additional categories are classified as U6, of which this unemployment rate far exceeds the official figure that the pundits use in the media.  So that, the current unemployment rate of U3 as of August, 2017, is 4.4%, whereas the unemployment rate of U6 as of August, 2017, is 8.6%, which is a considerable difference.  Additionally, from 2009 to 2015 the U6 unemployment rate was in double digits for each of those years, signifying, that our eyes do not lie to us, that rather than America being fully employed, it really is not.

In addition, there is another meaningful category of employment, which is the labor participation rate, which is the percentage of people that are employed as compared to all those who are unemployed, of which those that are retired, students, or taking care of children or other familial responsibilities are not included within this number, so that this number reflects those that are employed in the labor force as compared to those that have the capability to work but are not working.  The labor force percentage rate has been in a long term decline over the last ten years, in which the labor participation rate fell from 66.4% in January, 2007, to 62.9% in August, 2017, indicating that not only has the percentage of Americans in the labor pool that are working dropped significantly, but that the number of employed Americans has stagnated for its "growth"  over the last decade is at an anemic  overall rate of 5.12%, as compared to a population growth during this same period of 8.08%.

The declining labor participation rate, in conjunction with a real U6 unemployment rate which only recently declined to 8.6% reflects that a huge swath of Americans are effectively wards of the state, underemployed, unemployed, poor, disadvantaged, and completely out of reach of any significant part of the American dream, all this, despite the fact, that America is in aggregate the richest nation in the world, though America professes egalitarian sentiments, the distribution of its wealth, resides primarily inthe hands of the few, leaving a great balance of Americans, to lead lives of desperation, dissatisfaction and destroyed dreams.

USA: Like a Boss

August 6, 1945, could have been the day that everything changed forever, for this was the day that the United States dropped from the air and detonated a catastrophic atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, to its utter destruction, a city that while having some military facilities, was probably chosen because of its overall compactness and to prove the Biblical power of this new atomic weapon, which it did by killing around 45,000 people on that very first day, and through the invasive power and devastation of radiation, it is estimated that another 100,000 persons died due to radiation poisoning from this atomic attack.

This meant, in a nutshell, that America, unlike any other country in the world, unlike any other country in the history of the world, had the power to effectively end the world, and/or to bring every other country to its knees in homage to the mega-powerful United States.  Surprisingly, given the opportunity to do so, it did not.  That is all to the credit of America, for when provided the opportunity to rule the world, when given the chance to be the one empire in the world, it chose not to be.  Perhaps, this was happenstance, that is to say, perhaps America believed that no other country would garner the ability to develop such atomic weapons, or at least, America would be aware of it, if they so chose to monitor such; or perhaps America realized that having this awesome power and then actually using it or threatening to do so, would put the world at an incredibly dangerous risk, all we know is that for a certainty America when given the opportunity to do so, did not.

The restraint that America showed and demonstrated to the world, when it truly would have been the global empire, collecting tribute from all other countries, large and small, demonstrated the maturity and clarity of its vision, and perhaps why this country understands better than all other countries, that each of us, has unalienable rights, and that certainly taking such rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness from other countries, for no legitimate reason, is a violation of such. 

We should, the world should, be forever grateful that when given the opportunity to use the most destructive power in the world as a conquering god, that the American nation, did not do so.  This means, of course, hindsight beingtwenty/twenty, that there are a significant swath of people that wish that America had actually gone out and taken control of the entire world, be they rich and poor, allies or not, and thereby been able, in theory, to make the world a more pleasant and harmonious place, but if it had done so, it would have converted the world to its atomic faith, by the sword, and not by reason, nor by persuasion, and those that force conversion by the sword, will surely die by it too.

Until the Soviets exploded their nuclear bomb, four years later, America was the boss, it was their show, to do whatever that they so desired, in which, their desire was to take former enemies such as Japan and Germany, and help to rebuild them, to make them economically viable, to improve the lives of those that had lost so much in the World War; America, at that time, showed the graciousness and wisdom of true power, of a boss, that wished to make the world a better place of egalitarian harmony, rather than one of a servant or slave to a merciless master.