Idolatry

Should we be worried about Idolatry?  For we read in Holy Scripture, "You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourselves an idol…"  (Exodus 20: 3-4).   The simple answer for most people is that of course they do not have any idols before God, for they do not worship golden calves, or Baal, or so on and so forth.  However, a more careful and nuanced understanding about this admonition in regards to idols and specifically in regards to this commandment involves the recognition that we must not make things that are lesser than our one true God, some sort of god; because far too many people are inclined to do exactly that, and that in itself is a form of idol worship.

For instance, those that worship the creation of some of the wonders of the world, such as seeing the great natural beauty that this earth can and does represent, to the exclusion of a belief in God, is putting what has been created by the hand of God, above the creator of it.  So too, those that are taking their work, no matter how noble or important such work represents, as the be all and end all of their existence, are seeing that labor as being of more importance than the recognition of the fact, that it is our God, that is the ultimate provider.  Then there are those that see their family as being the highest possible priority in their life, and as wonderful as having a loving and close family is, it is a mistake and a failure not to recognize that we are all children, of the very same God.

In all of these areas, the mistake that has been made is to take what is lesser than God, and treat such as something that is greater or of more value than God, and therefore in its way, this is a form of idolatry.  Further to the point, to put those things that are lesser than God, above God, invariably will lead to disappointment and heartbreak, because that which is not God, and therefore is not omniscient, nor omnipotent, nor immutable, nor eternal, is placing our faith in something that can never be of full satisfaction for us.

While there isn't anything wrong, and in fact there is a lot that is right, with seeing the beauty in this world, or laboring hard and diligently, and being good to one's family, to fail to recognize that to stop just there, is to stop before comprehending that the true objective of life is to find oneself in harmony with the Creator of all that ever is and ever will be.   After all, the point of all this great and wonderful creation, as well as the freedom of our mind, is to thereby freely desire to find and thereby to know who the Creator of it all, actually is.  For to settle for that which is less then what is the Truth, is to accept half truths as truth, and thereby to live lives of disappointment and heartbreak, for that which is less than God, or is not even part of God, is, by definition, going to lead invariably to disappointment and defeat.

Therefore, do not accept idols as the substitute for God, no matter how alluring or tempting that they may be, for that will inevitably lead to regret and sorrow; whereas, that which is God, is truly the end of all sorrows and the full restoration of that which was lost.

That old fashion fire and brimstone

America is a religious nation, of which, unlike some European countries, in which their beautiful religious edifices mainly seem to serve as places of destination for tourists, America's religious institutions are actually utilized for their congregants and most definitely has relevancy to a significant swath of Americans.  That said, the days when those that went into a religious service in which, the preacher preached some sort of version of fire and brimstone, in order to light a fire underneath the devotees  to encourage such to examine their lives and thereby to repent of their sins, appears to be in quite a steep decline.  Rather, many that minister today are much more about forgiveness, happiness, and prosperity, while correspondingly being far less about accountability, humility, and atonement.

To a large extent, one significant reason why so many preachers no longer breath fire and brimstone from the pulpit, has a lot to do with people, overall, not being willing to readily accept that message, and since congregants are free to move from religious institution to religious institution, or even to stop worshipping, altogether, those that preach, in order to have a congregation to preach to, have had to adjust to the "new normal".  Further to the point, many people are stressed out enough already, have enough problems to deal with, and are struggling in so many ways, that they will not tolerate their place of sanctuary being an institution that applies even more weight upon their shoulders.

Yet, one of the most salient reasons to go worship in public in the first place, is to hear what should be heard, and for the church to take the position, that its main job is instead to make their congregants simply feel better about themselves, or to preach prosperity, or happiness, is the sort of soft message which doesn't challenge people and, quite frankly, fails to have those worshippers actually face their sins.  There isn't anything necessarily wrong with making people feel better about themselves, or expressing the sentiment of the value of having reasonable material aspirations, as well as emphasizing the importance of pursuing your own happiness; but to ignore the fact that life consists of keeping score of what people do or don't do, and consequences thereof, and that it all really matters, is to ignore that the decisions made in life have real and lasting meaning.

In consideration that people do need a place of sanctuary, and an opportunity too for that sanctuary to provide them with some degree of comfort and substance, it probably wouldn't be right that every sermon be one of fire and brimstone, but that doesn't mean that none of those sermons shouldn't address and challenge people about their sins, selfishness, and mistakes; for a good preacher has the duty as well as the sacred obligation to be an agent of good, and that means seeing that which is sin as sin, and further that a good and faithful servant, in order to be a good and faithful servant, must not only repent of their sins, but that they must also do good in their actions and activities.

There is always that real need for fire and brimstone, for the world itself, proves that mankind, alone, far too often, is inhumane to one another, so that, it can be said, that in order for change to occur, first must be the acknowledgment of the error, then the repentance, followed thereupon with the knowledge and understanding of what is right and good, and finally the follow through in action.  For if that is not done, then this world will continue to be, what it so often has been for so many, a hell on earth.

The importance of good housing

This government provides a social safety net for healthcare, income subsidies through various welfare and earned income programs, food stamps, as well as public housing and housing vouchers.  As much progress that has been made to date, more progress needs to be made in all of these things, in which it must be noted that having a safe and secure place to be housed is of supreme merit.

The first basic way that this government takes care of low-income people and their housing needs is to provide them with a subsidy in which a portion of their income goes to the owner of the house or apartment, and the balance of the market rate of that rent is paid through a governmental voucher or subsidy to the owner of that dwelling through what is commonly known as the Section 8 program.  The advantage of this program is that this allows citizens to utilize housing and apartments that have already been built by private money and consortiums, and therefore the government need not build its own.

The second basic way that this government takes care of low-income people and their housing needs is for the government, national or state, to build housing projects for their residents to live in, and thereby this provides those citizens with a place to stay which charges them market rents that have taken into account the income of the residents and thereby requires from them an appropriate portion of that income in rent.

On paper, these programs would seem to be the programs necessary to assure that each citizen is provided with a reasonable basic standard of good, clean, and safe housing.  In effect, though, the waiting list for those desiring Section 8 housing, is incredibly long, in addition to the salient fact that Section 8 housing is concentrated most heavily in poorer and disadvantaged neighborhoods, and is almost unheard of in higher end neighborhoods.  As regards to public housing, the major flaw within this program is that the concentration of those that are impoverished and of low-income in the same general area makes for all the disadvantages of being in a low-income area, in the lack of good services, good paying jobs, good educational facilities, and basically good and safe infrastructure.

The fact that this government spends billions upon billions for housing for its citizenry is well intentioned, but to effectively segregate these people into low-income and dangerous communities as part and parcel of receiving such a subsidy is most unfortunate.  Additionally, the Section 8 voucher program in which it is not uncommon to literally wait years for a voucher to become effective would indicate the systemic flaws within that program.

The mistake that this government fundamentally makes within these housing programs is not to apparently recognize that concentrating together those that suffer from low-income and often ill education, will often mean the more hopeless that current generation as well as future generations will become.  Rather, it should be an integral part of these programs to successfully integrate lower-income people into good areas of communities, in a manner in which their assimilation will truly help to lift them out of their impoverished circumstances, thereby making this country both stronger and better; along with demonstrating that those that are given a good and fair opportunity are often worthy of that belief in their inherent abilities.

Senior citizens and augmented wages

According to kff.org, "In 2016, half of all people on Medicare had income less than $26,200 per person."  Additionally, kff.org, states, "More than 7 million people ages 65 and older had incomes below poverty in 2017, based on the Supplemental Poverty Measure."  The sheer numbers of senior citizens, that are struggling should be cause for concern, and is a meaningful reason why so many senior citizens have returned to the work force, as they are basically unable to make ends meet.

The United States government has an obligation to lend more of a resolute helping hand to all those senior citizens that have incomes below the supplemental poverty level.  One good way to address this dilemma is to provide those senior citizens with supplemental wages for all those senior citizens that are still working in the labor force, or are considering doing so.

In an era in which low wage jobs are plentiful, senior citizens should be entitled to something more than a minimum wage, especially in consideration that they are in the twilight period of their lives.  One way to augment all those senior citizens that are making less than $15/hour is for the government to make up the difference between their hourly wages so that the net effect is that each senior citizen through the governmental augmentation of their labor wage ends up making at least $15/hour.  That is to say, a senior citizen being paid $8/hour at their job should be entitled to an augmented stipend from the government for an additional $7/hour, thereby providing these senior citizens with a living wage of $15/hour.  This payment, should not be structured such as the Earned Income Credit (EIC), of which eligible taxpayers receive a lump sum from the government, come tax time, but rather it needs to be something that is structured in a manner, in which the hourly wage shortfall is made up to that senior citizen, monthly; so that they are thereby better able to meet their expenses on a current basis, and further this thus helps alleviate them from suffering the ill effects of being constantly impoverished.

If the whole point of pensions, social security, Medicare, and 401K plans are essentially to make it so that those that are senior citizens have the basics of a good and not impoverished life; then it is the responsibility of this government to take care of those senior citizens in a manner in which those that are still laboring are doing so, not towards an endless futility of constantly struggling to keep their heads above water, but rather in a manner in which the government becomes a meaningful aid to those senior citizens so that they need not have to unduly struggle.

While there are undoubtedly many reasons why senior citizens still work, certainly one of the most germane reasons is that they need money; and when the wages of their work are not enough to provide them with an actual living wage, then the government, as it does with so many other welfare programs, needs to step up and to take care of those that have grown old in their service to their country, and at a minimum, do its part to help those that have helped to make America so great.

The deliberate segregation of poverty

A healthy society is fully integrated, of which, such a fully integrated society, consists of peoples of all difference races, incomes, education, and religious faith.  The reason that this is so important is when all people of a truly integrated community are able to actually see the great variety of human people as they really are; they are thereby better able to appreciate and to relate to other people, in the conscious recognition that we are all part of the same equal creation. Further to the point, in a nation that considers itself to be generous and caring, it is vital to interrelate with other citizens that are not doing well; as well as those that are impoverished or in bad health, which thereby encourages those that have money, or time, or purpose, to utilize their resources to do more on behalf of those that have less.  After all, those that are successful or caring, in order to be more considerate of others will do so more readily when they are fully engaged by what they see right in front of their faces, such as: inequality, impoverishment, and material lack.

Unfortunately, many communities and societies are segregated in the most meaningful part of this term, but having those that are prosperous, successful, educated, and well-to-do, living almost exclusively in neighborhoods filled with those same sorts of people, of which their children go to good schools, and have abundantly available within their community, good parks, good recreational and good educational facilities, a good infrastructure, and an overall safe environment.  When people that are successful live within a construct in which everything looks quite rosy to them, despite the fact that poverty, bad crime, violence, and impoverishment is literally just a couple miles away from their home environment, they are consequently not viscerally aware of such, and thereby have a strong tendency to dismiss such from their minds.

Another very bad problem with poverty being segregated from mainstream society is that the infrastructure of poverty is fundamentally different than the infrastructure of a nice community or a prosperous community.  For instance, in impoverished areas, often there are no good paying and thereby no living wage jobs to be obtained within that community; so too, there are frequently no safe or good parks, nor is there often any good educational facilities or libraries, and further the safety of the community is typically very suspect, with very high crime rates, and abundant violence; for these communities suffer greatly from a debilitating crisis, in which those that have no future, no hope, no opportunity, and are ill-educated, often express themselves in destructive ways, that ultimately hurts themselves as well as those within that infrastructure.

This means that those that are impoverished, are fighting a two-front war, in which the first war is their struggle with their own personal poverty, and the second war is suffering all the disadvantages and ills of living within a community that has no accouterments of success or an infrastructure that will fairly help them to successfully escape from such, even when they put forth a mighty effort to do so.  This signifies that the most direct way to alleviate poverty within communities is to constructively rectify the infrastructure of failure and lack that runs riot within these communities; and further, to assimilate more of the poor into more prosperous communities, so that those disadvantage people are provided with a fair opportunity to make something of their lives.

Arrests, inventories, and quotas

There all sorts of laws, reforms to those laws, and then there are those unwritten laws.  It has been said that America doesn't have any legal ticket quotas or arrests quotas, but the reality of the situation is that police departments most definitely have both ticket and arrest quotas, though they aren't designated as such.  For instance, traffic tickets and citations bring in revenue, which is designated to the State, county, city, and locality, in which the budgets that have been created are based upon anticipated revenues from those tickets and citations. Further, when it comes to arrests, the whole infrastructure of jails, lawyers, probation/parole offices, and courts are dependent upon having an ample supply of arrestees to process, fine, incarcerate, and also to utilize for no-labor cost community service.  In addition, some communities have signed contracts with private prison facilities, which mandates a certain occupancy rate of inmates, in which any shortage to that percentage, the State or county responsible for that contract, are held accountable and therefore must pay the private prison facility a penalty for having not provided enough prisoners or arrestees.

Additionally, police officers in the field have an obligation to fill out at a minimum a contact list, of what that particular officer has been doing and accomplishing on a given shift.  So that, an officer that consistently produces little or no arrests is going to have an issue with their responsible supervisor, because a very common metric in the efficiency of any officer is the arrests accomplished on a given shift, and to come up short again and again, represents a red flag.  This signifies that officers that do not meet their explicit or implicit arrest quota, are going to be made well aware of it, because they are now cognizant of the truism that an officer that is not making arrests is not doing their job.  Therefore, once an officer becomes aware of what is expected of them, they are almost for a certainty going to produce the arrest numbers so needed.

So then, when it comes to arrests, police officers, aren't necessarily going to want to go to the trouble of finding real crime and real trouble, but instead have a strong tendency to want to spend their time arresting the types of people that have little money, few assets, no connections, and meager resources to fight the criminal justice system.  The very purpose of doing this, is because if police officers spent their resources on arresting those in white-collar industries, and harassing citizens that live and work in very nice neighborhoods and spend their money at very nice venues, then those people, collectively, would not put up with such targeted harassment, and would thereupon do everything in their power to stop such; because the purpose of the police for those people is to protect and to serve them, not to harass, intimidate, and to arrest them, for they collectively have political, legislative, and by implication, judicial power, and will most definitely utilize such, by all means, necessary.

Instead, the police recognize that the easiest people to arrest are those that have no power, and therefore make for easy targets, thereby pleasing their police superiors as well as keeping well oiled the machine of arrest, judicial processing, incarceration, and post-incarceration monitoring, all combining together to produce the filling of that machine with product, and poor people are the inventory that need to be utilized on a continual basis for that machine, and therefore quota must be met, and the poor and powerless are that abundant resource to be mined again and again for that very purpose.

Too big to fail, and too big to jail

The 2007-2009 financial crisis, will according to Bloomberg.com, "… cost the average American $70,000 in lifetime income," and further according to finance.yahoo.com, "the financial and economic crisis cost Americans $12.8 trillion."  This was not the first banking crisis in America, in which the most recent one preceding the 2007-2009 financial catastrophe was in the 1980s, in which, according to billmoyer.com, that "savings and loan debacle was one-seventieth the size of the current crisis, both in terms of losses and the amount of fraud."  Further, the justice department prosecuted and brought charges against many of this malefactors, of which "… this produced over 1,000 felony convictions."  On the other hand the 2007-2009 financial crisis, according to money.cnn.com, "There have been 35 bankers sentenced to prison…"

To put this in perspective, the savings and loans crisis that was one-seventieth the size of the 2007 - 2009 crisis, produced convictions of over 1,000 felons, whereas the 2007 - 2009 financial debacle has produced just 35 bankers sentenced to prison.  This signifies in a real sense, that America, which prides itself on being considered the epitome of capitalism, free enterprise, egalitarianism, and with justice applied equally to all; is, in reality, the bastion of favoritism, inequality, cronyism, and clearly favors the elite few at the expense of the people as a whole.

No industrial or western nation, incarcerates more people and at a higher percentage than America, but when it comes to crime and punishment, the reality of the situation is, that America imprisons for very lengthy periods of time, those that are impoverished, poor, and ill educated; of which, on the other hand those that are rich, well dressed, connected, and exploiters, are treated with kid gloves.  Further to the point, all the banks that were bailed out, and all the instigators and perpetrators of this financial crisis of 2007 - 2009, which were never even charged with a crime, let alone a financial crime, are indicative that the rules of the road are clear; if you are part of the elite that are intertwined with the right politicians, justice department bigwigs, lobbyists, and corporations, than you need not ever worry of suffering the indignity of being at personal risk of anything at any time.  The net result is non-prosecutorial action, despite the fact that the people of this great country suffered the ill effects of a deep recession and thousands of dollars siphoned from their pockets.

As they say, the proof is in the eating of the pudding, and quite frankly, a decade after this devastating financial debacle of 2007 - 2009, the richest of the rich, have gotten so much richer, the poor have gotten poorer, and the middle class as well as this current generation, and generations yet unborn, are stuck having to carry the load of this massive $22 trillion national debt.

The whole point of learning a lesson well is to recognize the errors of such debacles and to thereby take the necessary steps as well as to create the necessary means to preclude such in the future.  So too, these financial disasters always have perpetrators that are the masterminds and creators of that disaster, and those perpetrators should and must be brought to justice.  That justice must be swift, sure, and with appropriate firm punishment so meted out.  When none of that is done, this signifies, that the financial game in America is hopelessly corrupt and is quite obviously interlaced wholly into the highest levels of American governance; so that, those that effectively are above the law, are the law, and all others are subject to their whims and dictates.

What represents a moral act?

There are a lot of people that feel that if their actions, or even their intentions, are questionable or not, doesn't matter so much, as long as the end result is beneficial for those others that are part of that act; signifying their belief in the apparent truth that the good ends justify the means of any sort.  Unfortunately, civilizations and relationships have been built upon this false premise, for to believe that it's fundamentally right to do something that is foundationally immoral, as long as the end result is good, permits far too many people as well as civilizations the excuse that nothing is wrong, if the end result appears to be right.

In point of fact, to lie, to trick, and to coerce someone in a manner in which the objective is through this deception to get that other person to confess the truth, is an immoral act, even if the truth does come to light.  It is immoral, because a deliberate act of deception is wrong, and a wrong in and of itself is still wrong, despite the supposed good intentions behind it.  That is to say, if the quest is for the truth from a given person, there are legitimate ways to get to that truth, and if such truth does not come to fruition from that person, than in those circumstances, the truth must be discerned, or set aside.

A moral act, in all circumstances must be a good act; so that, if an act is bad, it cannot and is not ever a moral act. Further, a moral act is not just a good act on its surface, though that is foundationally part of a moral act, but a moral act must also be in order to be moral, be done for the right reason as well as in the right way.  These means that a moral act consists in the synchrony of it being a good act, for the right reason, and done in the right way.

The reason why a correct moral act, contains these three elements, is for example, there are people that are selective about telling the truth, but, when the purposes so satisfy them, they testify to that truth, but the reason behind doing so, could be so as to get someone else in trouble, or to create embarrassment for that person, of which by "telling the truth," they are able to hide behind this wall, as being the justification of what they have done.  But what they have really done is to start with an element of a moral act, but they have done so for the wrong reason, and in the wrong way.

It isn't good enough to be telling the truth, when inside that person knows that they are disclosing the truth for purposes unbecoming.  Instead, before we communicate with others, and perform acts throughout our day, we should understand the purpose behind such, and if that purpose isn't right, or isn't performed in the right way and for the right reason, then it isn't going to be a good moral act.  In order for a moral act to be good, it must be for the right reason, and done in the right way, and all those that adhere to such, are performing moral acts of real goodness, and having done so, are good, themselves.

Courage and telling the truth

We are told by our parents, and by our society of the importance of telling the truth; and not just any truth, but the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.  How many people actually consistently tell the truth in such a manner, and do so, always, is in all probability, incredibly low.  Further to the point, most people have absolutely no problem with telling the whole truth, when they know for a certainty that by doing so they will be in no danger to themselves, whatsoever.   Then there are others that will struggle with telling the whole truth, when they know that by doing so, such truth, will get someone that they like or admire in trouble, and do not wish to create harm for that person, or to be perceived as being a "rat" for having confessed to the truth of the matter.  Then there are those other cases, in which the whole truth, has personal consequences, of which by admitting to the whole truth, this will create personal harm and damage, in which, many people have a strong unwillingness to make a case against their own self.

The very thing about truth, is that, if telling the whole truth, is only something that is done when a given person knows it will bring no harm to themselves or to people that they admire or are friendly to, then the entire edifice of truthfulness comes crashing down, for if the whole truth, only exists, when it is convenient for a given situation, then the whole truth will not be shown the light of day, in all situations, and especially in those cases, when it most especially matters.  Additionally, the ethical purpose of the whole truth in the first place is for others, to actually hear or to have known the whole truth, for in order for there to be any real hope that good justice, fairly applied is actually going to be generated, the whole truth has to be out in the open.  Instead, because so often, the whole truth is not available, explicitly or implicitly, then the justice so applied, is at best, educated guess work; all because, it is a known certainty that the whole truth has not been divulged or is not obtainable.

Any person that claims that they are a responsible person cannot possibly be telling the truth to that characteristic, if they are unwilling to be forthcoming and expressive of the whole truth, whether such is convenient, or not, for them.The thing about telling the whole truth is that such is not like a light switch, so as to be turned on only when convenient for a given situation and thereby turned off or ignored when it is not.Those that actually tell the whole truth in all circumstances, are by definition, people of the upmost integrity; and further, they are courageous, by that truth telling; for everything that happens has consequences, and the telling of the truth, is one of those things that can result in personal punishment, personal shame, and personal disgrace or the same to others.However, those that are willing to face the music, are also those that having learnt from their mistakes, are gifted therefore at discarding falseness and error; whereas all those that do not do so, will still face the music, but, in a dimension and time of which, the whole truth and nothing but the truth will be told, and surely then they will thereby reap what they have sowed.

"…every warship launched … signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed…"

Five-star general and two-term President, Dwight Eisenhower, stated the above quote in 1953, which signified fundamentally the problem with spending hundreds of billions upon hundreds of billions of dollars on becoming far and away the military power of the world.  Unfortunately, these prescient words have been effectively ignored and set aside, as the United States, has spent and continues to spend inordinate amounts of dollars year after year, feeding its insatiable technology-military-industrial complex. 

Those monies spent specifically for the technology-military-industrial complex are monies that could have and should have been spent to help alleviate and to ameliorate the suffering that millions upon millions of Americans have had to unnecessarily endure each and every day in order to survive.  In point of fact, the great wealth of this nation should not be disproportionally spent on munitions which are fundamentally designed to kill and to destroy; but should quite obviously be spent instead on creating the infrastructure that would provide each American with good healthcare, good nutrition, good schools, and is conducive towards the support of families, neighborhoods, and communities.

America, is a very fortunate nation, for it is on very good terms with its contiguous neighbors and is in no danger from any country within close proximity of America; and while pundits can point out that intercontinental missiles can be launched against America, and call to mind all sorts of hobgoblins and dire scenarios, the fact of the matter is, that America is under no imminent or even contemplated attack from any nation or series of nations.

What needs to be fully recognized is that all the monies that are misallocated by the government of this country and in particular monies specifically utilized and designated for the Defense budget of this nation, above what this nation actually needs to defend itself, are contrary to the purpose of this great nation, and the liberty that it so represents.  Further to the point, money is a limited resource, so that those nations that do not budget their monies appropriately have done a grand disservice to their people.

The first obligation of any good nation is to take care of its own people in a manner in which each person within that country has adequate resource to healthcare, food, clothing, housing, childcare, and employment.  Further, each person of that country should be provided with a good education, fair opportunity, and the liberty to be about their business.  All of these are the mark of a truly great nation, especially in consideration that this is the richest nation that the world has ever known, of which, done correctly, America and its principles, would thereby be true to its Declaration of Independence, that all are created equal and all are entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

All those within America, that are hungry, cold, incapacitated, unemployed, and devoid of good education as well as fair opportunity, reflect the reality of a country that wishes instead to devote its abundant resources on the wages of death, destruction and war; as opposed to sowing the seeds of creating the last best hope of mankind and becoming that illuminating beacon of bright light for all.

When the government knows everything about you, then you will always be guilty of something

There are plenty of people that believe in the usefulness of the government or its agents, having cameras, listening devices, and the ability to know everyone's' movements, activities, and communications; in which this information is seen as being an obvious benefit in reducing crime and defending the homeland.  This may be true, and for all those that lead lives that conform to the state as it is -- such to them, surely makes a whole lot of sense.

On the other hand, the highest law of this land is the Constitution, of which the Fourth Amendment to that Constitution, stipulates that: "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."  The reason that this Fourth Amendment is so important in the era in which the government, corporations, and their agents are basically able to collect, collate, analyze, and know so much pertinent as well as actionable information about so many is that if the justice department of this state, permits such information to be acted upon by that state, then for all intents and purposes, the Fourth Amendment has been eviscerated, and replaced instead with a government that permits the actionable use of what is essentially, general warrants against all that the state so desires to intimidate, arrest, inconvenience, and incarcerate.

What so many people can't seem to visualize is that in a country in which there is no single entity or department that knows thoroughly all of its laws, because there are so many of those laws, and so many interpretations as well as contradictions of those same laws, than virtually anyone at anytime, is undoubtedly, violating or has violated some sort of statutory law at some point.  This means, that when the government and its agents vacuum in all of the data about a particular person, and/or specifically targets a particular person, then that person, is almost always going to be in a very vulnerable state, because given enough time and with enough data about somebody that actually is doing something other than laying in their own bed, all day, they will indubitably dig up something of interest.

So, we currently live within a construct, in which, those that are connected with the right people or are of no danger to the system, are safe; though, should they ever consider becoming a turncoat, or somehow lose favor with the ruling elite, than they too are susceptible of being found guilty of some crime.  As for the majority of the population, which is apolitical in nature, their lives are lives of normalcy, with the exception being that since the government knows everything about them, they can be found guilty of some crime at the convenience of the state, and therefore must always remain apolitical, quiescent, and seemingly content.  Finally, as for all those that are suspected of being disloyal to the state, their conviction is a mere formality, for the evidence of their crimes are clearly and unequivocally documented through the reams upon reams of data that has been extensively collated and studied for this very reason, for when the government knows everything about you, your guilt is predetermined and inevitable.

The return of military rule

There are nearly two hundred countries in the world that have all sorts of governments to rule their people, from monarchies, to dictatorships, to republics, to democracies, and all types of governance reflecting in principle, that same sort of thing.  But, that said, the reality is that despite what a Constitution might say, or the form of government that a given country claims to represent, more times than not, the actual power behind the throne, so to speak, is held in a very few hands, and typically those hands are either the military directly, or indirectly.

A case in point is America, in which most people would consider America to be a country that is considered to be democratic, though by statue it is actually a Constitutional Republic.   In fact, America likes to point out with pride that this is the country with the oldest written Constitution amongst all nations, and its Constitution is the highest law of the land which is the governing document of this great nation. 

However, as might be expected, over time, America has changed, so that, though there are three recognized branches of government, which are the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial, what doesn't seem to get mentioned so much is how gargantuan the military is in America, in which the 2019 Defense budget for America is $716 billion, despite the fact that America's last Congressional declared war was for WW II.   To put into perspective how much $716 billion is, recognize that the only other country that spends even $100 billion on its Defense budget is China at $178 billion, and China has a population that is more than 1 billion greater than America.

The true test as to whether America is actually devolving into military rule really comes down to whether or not any politician could ever be elected, or any legislature could ever enact, a draconian budget cut of 50% to the defense budget to take effect, in the next fiscal year.  To keep this in perspective, a 50% drop in America's defense budget would still provide America with a defense budget twice that of China's, and would be about the same size as it was in 2002, all at a time in which America is not involved in any world war, and is realistically in imminent danger from no country.

While there have been a few legislature representatives or even Presidential candidates that have railed against the technology-military-industrial complex, none of these have ever made any headway against such, and probably none of these into the foreseeable future, ever will.   This would indicate that the businesses, technology corporations, and the military, itself, are combined into a conglomerate that is so powerful and so influential, that they effectively are in charge of our foreign policies, and the budget so created is a budget preapproved by these entities.

So then, while America is loathe to admit to it, it is effectively run at its highest level by that technology-military-industrial complex, of which, as long as none of these three branches of this Constitutional government, does anything to negatively impact them, than all will be well; whereas, if instead, the people or any of those three branches should attempt to seriously rein in the budget and the influence of the technology-military-industrial complex, Americans will find that to their dismay that this is in reality, a country already under military rule.

America: Just beat 'em

According to theguardian.com, America has, "…has the worst child abuse record in the industrialized world."  To a whole lot of people, that would seem surprising, considering that America is the wealthiest nation in the world and prides itself on being the bastion of fair opportunity and egalitarian principles.  However, beneath the shining exterior in which America leads the world in all sorts of enviable categories such as in the market capitalization of its stock market, its technology innovations and prowess, and its world renowned institutions of higher learning, is that there is a huge underclass of impoverished, ill-educated, and deprived peoples, that have nothing of substance that is their own, and no real hope of extricating themselves from a well-nigh depressing and hopeless situation.

Poverty, most definitely breeds discontent, and people that are impoverished, before they invariably slide into total apathy, are often angry, frustrated, and ready to strike out against the system and further will often take out their aggression on those that cannot fight back.  While child abuse can occur in any neighborhood, of any background, and any given situation, such abuse is much more prevalent amongst those that are impoverished, because, they are often, the ones that are the most frustrated.

By nature, for better or for worse, people are always going to compare themselves to other people, and when the media makes it a point to show us ostentatious displays of wealth as well as achievement, and when a given person is lacking in both of these, and additionally they are without any realistic hope of becoming ever a person of even moderate means, then that person feels shame on the outside as well as on the inside, for their lack of accomplishments and achievements; in which they usually have not achieved a viable coping mechanism or reasoned maturity, making them prone to snapping, and snapping in a violent way, which is most often directed against those that are not physically able to well defend themselves.

After all, for those in which everything that they touch turns to gold, or all those that are able to live in a decent neighborhood with decent schools and are able to keep their bills current, are going to be in a situation in which though they may experience some sort of stress or frustration from time-to-time, over all, they feel pretty good, because they are at a minimum holding their own, or are doing a whole lot better than holding their own; so that, when something unexpected comes up, they often are able to deal with it in a manner that does not involve physical abuse.

On the other hand, those that lack good and affordable healthcare, a safe neighborhood, good schools, childcare assistance, a steady job, suffer from oppression from the law, discrimination, and lack a living wage, are almost always going to be on the edge, and those on the edge, as well as being under pressure, and of low self-esteem, will far too often take out their aggression on those that are not able to effectively fight back, because in a very sick way, abusing and beating down children, demonstrates their power.

The child abuse in America is so bad, because millions upon millions are not only impoverished, but also these same people are without any reasonable hope that they or their love ones will ever escape from such; so then, they attack their own, because to attack the system, instead, will invariably lead to them suffering their own abuse, justifiably or not.

Those damn sporting awards that are issued before the competition officially ends

Virtually every major sports leagues issues awards to the best players in that respective sport, usually done in more than just one category, so that in Major League Baseball, there is the Most Valuable Player, but there is also the Cy Young award.  So too, in the National Football league, there is the Most Valuable Player, but there is also the Offensive as well as the Defensive Player of the Year awards.  Additionally, most leagues over time, have added even more categories and more awards, so that the regular season has its MVP, and then the playoff season has its MVP, or even the last game of the year, such as the Super Bowl, has its MVP.

One might think that all of these awards that are issued are voted upon, tabulated, and then announced only when all the games have been fully played out, and although that is the case for certain awards, that is not always the case.  In fact, there are some individual games that insist upon naming the Player of the game and will do so before the actual game is even over; and then some sports will vote and then issue awards to players before the regular season or actual competition is over; or alternatively, will have all the votes tabulated before the season ends, and then withhold that result until the season ends, and then announced the winner as if the voting has been done based on the entire season, played.  

In an era in which electronic voting has never been easier, as well as to keep the integrity of these respective sports, intact; the ballot for such votes, and the voting itself, should never occur before all the pertinent game(s) have been played, especially in consideration that some outcomes are far from being decided, so that the voting of such should only be conducted when the competition is fully over.  Of course, the main reason, why such voting is allowed prematurely is mainly to keep it relevant to the interests of television viewers, sponsors, as well as other media outlets, but by compromising the integrity of such an award, which is supposed to represent, for example, a full season, or a full postseason, the award itself loses some of its true integrity.

If the very point of any sports award is to recognize and to acknowledge the player that is the best for that specific season, than the least the sport should do, is to only allow voting to commence upon the successful completion of that season, and not to allow such voting to start with a few games remaining.  After all, the award should reflect the entire season, not most or nearly all of the season, for though sometimes there is a clear and deserving favorite, there are other times when there is not, and the players that are able to step their game up at the most important of times, should be given the chance and opportunity to truly earn the award.

As is has been said, "It ain't over till the fat lady sings ," so then rather then not waiting for fat lady to sing, let her sing, and then vote.  The result will then be a fairer representation of what it should really be about.

Bail, incarceration, injustice, and unfairness

In the United States there was over 10,500,000 arrests made in 2017.  All of those arrested, by definition, have had their freedom curtailed, for by the very nature of being arrested, as compared to being served with a summons or a ticket or its equivalency, they are no longer free to be about their business, whatsoever.  As bad as it is in being arrested, it gets so much worse for all those that are unable to post bail, of which, there is a significant portion of citizens of this great nation that simply do not have the monetary capital to make bail, even of relative trivial amounts, at all.  Additionally, most adult citizens have responsibilities that require them to work, to pick up and to care for their children, to pay bills, to pay rent, to pay insurance, and to pay their car note, of which, anyone, while arrested, will no longer be able to do those things, which because of their being arrested, could easily lead to the loss of a job, the loss of their children, the destruction of their credit, the eviction from their place of residence, and the re-possession of their vehicle.  This signifies, that getting arrested for over 10 million people each and every year, most definitely has massive repercussions, and those arrested, are actually by the very act of being arrested, often suffer the ill effects of a justice system oppressing them, despite their Constitutional presumed innocence.

The Sixth Amendment to our Constitution states in part, "…the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial…" in which, if this was actually the case, being arrested would not nearly be the oppressive burden that it is, but the reality of the situation is, that the justice system in America, is ponderingly slow, which is an extreme burden on all those that are unable to bail themselves out, and are awaiting their pending trial.  When it comes to bail, quite obviously for all those arrested, they strongly desire for a bail hearing that is speedy and to the point, and further is the type of bail hearing, that releases that person so arrested so that the person arrested can get back to the given norms of their life.  However, in fact, America often imposes a monetary amount of the bail that must be posted by the accused, in order to make bail, which, by definition, is a an unfair and undue burden upon all those that are indigent, and lacking in credit.

Additionally, as reported by academic.oup.com, as written by Megan T. Stevenson "…that pretrial detention leads to a 13% increase in the likelihood of being convicted, an effect largely explained by an increase in guilty pleas among defendants who otherwise would have been acquitted or had their charges dropped. I find also that pretrial detention leads to a 42% increase in the length of the incarceration sentence and a 41% increase in the amount of nonbail court fees owed."  In other words, those unable to bail themselves out of jail have a higher chance of being convicted, along with suffering from a longer incarceration sentence, and an increase in court fees owed.  Further to the point, those that are unable to bail themselves out, are under an intense amount of pressure to plea bargain from a position of weakness in order to make the best deal that they are capable of, often without competent counsel to help them in making the best deal that can be made in a rather poor situation.  After all, those that are unable to bail themselves out, are imprisoned, so they are going to typically be desperate to cut some sort of deal, whereas all those that have been bailed out or didn't suffer having bail imposed upon them, can avail themselves of all the tools of the trade that being on the outside provides to them; in addition to the salient fact, that they can return to the normality of their life, and therefore continue as things were, pending the resolution of their case.

Therefore, it can be said, that bail, as currently constructed and implemented, in a country in which trials are almost never speedy, is an unfair and cruel burden placed upon the shoulders of all those that are impoverished and poor, which indicates in practice, that in this country, those that are poor, are basically for all intents and purposes, convicted at higher numbers primarily for being poor.

The destruction of America's middle class is the destruction of the American experiment

According to pewresearch.org, the percentage of those defined as the middle class in 1971 was 61% of all Americans, and a further 25% were considered to be lower class in 1971.  As of 2016, the middle class has been reduced to 52% of all Americans, and the lower class has increased to 29%.  This means that over the last two generations, that there are now more people that are actually part of the lower class then in 1971, and further that the vibrant middle class has been reduced to just barely half of all Americans, even though this country is a far richer country than it was in 1971.  In fact, Elizabeth Warren stated in January of 2019, the "The top 0.1 percent, who'd pay my #UltraMillionaireTax, own about the same wealth as 90 percent of America."

One might think, with this type of income and wealth disparity, and living within a country in which the people as a whole, can avail themselves of the ballot box; in addition to the salient fact, that per its Constitution, this country permits a free press and therefore an open and vociferous debate about anything of merit, that America would never find itself suffering from such a tremendous disparity of inequality, but in fact, America does.  More to the point, the situation is not self-correcting, but rather is getting worse.

The only conceivable explanation for the above, is that America is a class-based society in which rather than those that are losing ground and those that have never had any ground, actually standing strong together against the very small minority that hold all the cards, this has instead become a country in which the classes have turned against one other, so that as the middle class has proceeded to become more vulnerable and to lose ground, rather than that middle class constructively taking its frustrations and lack of fairness and addressing such against those in the wealthy minority that hold effectively the power, they have instead, far too often, bought into the construct that they are losing ground because of such dubious things such as illegal immigration, affirmative action, welfare programs, unions, and just about anything in which it is perceived that they are being robbed of their income in order to pay the idle, the stupid, and the unproductive.

The main reason why so many of the middle class spend an inordinate amount of time complaining and thereby taking out their aggression upon the lower class, is because, they recognize or believe strongly, that to attack the upper class is an exercise in futility that will only exacerbate their current situation and would most likely lead to a further erosion of their class, as well as the likelihood of a further loss of status and ultimately the shame of slipping into the disgrace of being lower class.  Therefore, the middle class, often castigates the lower class, and believes that "law and order" and thereby the incarceration of so many for the basic crime of living within communities devoid of opportunity and any semblance of fairness, should be dealt with harshly, rather than ameliorated by strong government policies.  So that, the rise of today's police state is because the upper class demands protection; while, the middle class demands that extralegal force be used to keep the lower class in their place; and the lower class suffers the indignity of being oppressively dealt with, and convicted literally, of the crime of being poor.

This nanny state owes us

When we are born into this world, our parents take care of us, and they also know everything about us; in regards to our likes and dislikes, our habits, our tastes, our fears, and our preferences.  A good parent cares about its child, because that child is not only their responsibility to take care of, but also because that child is their own flesh and blood.  Additionally, while good parenting is very important for the proper upbringing of children, it doesn't ever really stopped, because our parents care so much about us, that they are more than willing to contribute to our good welfare, in things large and small, no matter our age, because to them, we will always be their children.

In today's world, the overreaching nanny state has actually morphed into something that wants to compete and to essentially replace our parents.  For this government, in its many agencies knows everything about us, even those things, that we have forgotten about, or that time has dulled our recollection of, but this government, sees all and knows all, and further to the point, is able to hold over on its population by the power of that knowledge.

Our government, uniquely identifies us, far beyond a mere name that we were born with, but with our own individual number, but not just one number, as in our Social Security number, but also our driver's license number, our passport number, and any other numbers that are associated specifically with just one individual.  Our government knows our educational achievements, it knows our grade point average, it knows where we went to school, all the various places that we have lived, as well as our employment history, our health history, our marriage history, our income, our assets, our banking and brokerage accounts and pretty much everything of relevancy.

Our government knows if we have student loans, knows who and where we donate our charitable monies to, knows our phone number, knows our email address, knows our sex, our height, our weight, our race, our religion, and has pictures of us in its database.  Further, through the power and/or coercion of government, all of our social media posts, and who we communicate with, including the length of time, date, and format, are all contained within the governmental database, along with any arrest records, or court cases that have been transacted in our lives.

The bottom line is our government truly knows everything about us.  Some might say that means they own us, and that does seem to be the case for some people; but what this government really should admit to is that it actually owes us, because of fact that they know us as well as or even better than our parents, therefore this signifies that as any good parent does, it is now the government's duty to take care of us, having essentially replaced our parents.

That is to say, all of this information that the government has on us, in order for it to have a good purpose behind it, should be and must be, to benefit the people of this country; for just to collect, collate, and analyze all of this reams of information, just to be nosey, is purposeless.    This means that this government needs to hold up to its end of the bargain, for to know everything about us and then not to do right by us, is to vacate the sacred responsibility that governmental omniscience has become obligated to; so then, this government owes us, and owes us, big time.

Private prison guards, salary, and corruption

According to prisonlegalnews.org, "One in four private prison guards makes less than $26,091 annually," and further, "…employees of private prison companies earned roughly $6,000 to $9,000 less than their public counterparts."  What this essentially means is that private sector incarceration facilities pay their prison guards less money and are provided with less material benefits than comparably based public incarceration institutions, which quite obviously is one of those factors that permits for-profit incarceration facilities to achieve a higher gross margin and to turn the necessary profit.

The fundamental thing about prisons is that the people that are incarcerated there are afforded "free" room and board, but are imprisoned, and therefore are subject to the vicissitudes of prison discipline and prison laws, both written and unwritten.  So that, while very few people envy those that are imprisoned, the fact that those imprisoned do have food, water, exercise and entertainment facilities, library and/or education facilities, and a place to sleep, can be a source of displeasure for those that are their guards, especially when those prison guards perceive that the money that they earn in their work, barely allows them to keep their heads above water, and may not be really enough to keep them out of crushing debt, themselves.

This thus means that in any situation in which one party has sway and supervision over another party, in which those supervisors are underpaid, underappreciated, and are vulnerable to some real degree of physical harm and danger themselves; that they will be sorely tempted to look or to consider seriously augmenting their income so as to make their life appreciably better, especially when they believe, rightly or wrongly, that they deserve to have that extra benefit.   

So then, while prisoners often lack ready cash, those that are on the outside, that are their family, friends, and associates, do have access to ready cash or its equivalency, in which the cost of product going into the prison, is always going to have a very hefty markup.  Since, for the most part, nobody watches the watchers, but instead prisons are setup to watch the inmates as well as visitors of those inmates, the easiest and most common way to get contraband into a prison and to effectively ignore such contraband being there, is to utilize the best tool to do so, which are those underpaid and underappreciated prison guards.

The result is pretty intuitive, in which, those that are paid too little but are working a legitimate "square" job, in which they are struggling to live a life of any sort of quality, will find themselves understanding that since they have the authority over their captive audience, this thus allows them to make extra money, of which, those incarcerated, already understand the nature of the game, so that, they don't mind the price of doing business; so that, each side benefits from it.  So too, the private enterprise incarceration complex, really doesn't mind either, because rather than having to pay a living wage to their employees, they will instead allow that short gap of wages to be paid instead by those that are incarcerated, in one form or another.

This signifies that the contraband that comes into prison facilities, primarily comes in via corrupt prison guards, of which, nobody will readily admit to such, but those that are part of the business, know such is true.

The case for war must be made by Congress, not the Executive branch

The United States Constitution states, “The Congress shall have Power . . . To declare War…"  However, recent history has shown that this clause for all intents and purposes is null and void, because the wars that America has had against Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan, were all wars that were not authorized, declared, nor approved by Congress. On the other hand, on December 7, 1941, a day that will live on in infamy, in which Pearl Harbor was attacked by Japan; on the very next day, FDR went in front of Congress to ask for a declaration of war, which was thereupon authorized by that Congress that same day.  This so signifies, that if the President is willing to ask for a declaration of war, that the Congress, the only branch of government authorized to declare war, will vote upon it.

The main reasons why Presidents no longer bother going to Congress to get a war authorization, is that the President, first and foremost, recognizes that the President, based on recent history doesn't actually need to get authorization, despite what the Constitution stipulates, and further, that the President will not be held accountable for having not done so; and additionally, the President is just one person, and therefore the technology-military-industrial complex obviously prefers to just have to convince or coerce one person to make war, rather than to be involved in an actual debate with the representatives of the people, that may or may not be so eager to authorized a formal Congressional declaration of war.

The unfortunate thing is that when a Constitutional republic devolves into an Imperial Presidency, then that country is functionally not adhering to its own Constitution, so that the voice of the people is effectively negated.  Further, wars are the very thing that the people should have their say upon, for it is their blood, their money, their safety, and their reputation that is put at stake, in which, no President, on the say-so of that President, should be able to simply declare war without such being reasonably debated and vetted by the people's Congressional representatives.

The Declaration of Independence states that "…a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes…" for that independence, and the Declaration of Independence, then proceeds to do that very thing; along with the salient fact that the Declaration of Independence is signed by at least one representative of all of the thirteen colonies at the time of its declaration.  The reason that this is so important is that the signatories to that Declaration pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to that document.

This so signifies, that any war declaration made by the Presidency without the expressed authorization by Congress, is contrary to the highest law of this land, which is the Constitution, and that circumventing such is inimical to that Constitution.  The declaration of war is one of those decisions, that has major and significant consequences, so that, it should be accorded the type of respect that permits the members of Congress to debate the merits of, and should be done in a manner in which the people are an integral part of such decisions, for when war comes, it is the people's blood and the people's children that will do the fighting, the killing, and the dying.

Dividends, stocks, and capital gains

The stock market is very big business, in which barrons.com states, that the United States stock market capitalization is worth about $30 trillion.  That market capitalization equates to the value of the shares of stock of all publically held companies at their current share price.  For many investors, there is a belief that the current price of a given stock multiplied by the number of shares held represents a financial asset which would be the basic equivalency as if that money was held in a bank or in any sort of cash instrument, but this belief is most definitely, a fallacy.

One thing that investors have a strong tendency to forgot, perhaps based upon all the financial articles written and pundit words spoken, is that the stock price of any given stock, is what the market will bear at that time and moment, of which, there is a general belief that the price of that stock, is somehow correlated to fundamentals such as earnings per share, growth rate, future projections, sales, and so on and so forth.  To a certain extent, there is truth in that, but to a large extent, the price of any given stock at any given time really amounts to speculation and is a zero-sum game, for every stock traded has a seller as well as a buyer, and each of those investors, believes that they are on the right side of that trade.

Dividends, on the other hand, are payments made from the publically held company to the holders of that stock, typically done at scheduled times throughout the year, such as quarterly, in which real cash leaves the company paying that dividend and goes into the hands of the owners of those shares. This payment is a payment that once made cannot be taken back, so that, for long term investors in a given stock, they could easily have received over the years more money in dividends accumulated then the actual price of the stock when they first purchased it.  This also represents a payment from the profits of that corporation which is the only guaranteed return on investment that an investor will ever get.

For most people, especially when the market is going up, most of the money gained from their investments, actually comes from the price of that stock investment going up, which should be seen for what it is, a profitable gain on paper.  Additionally, while there may be many good reasons why a given stock goes up, in regards to earnings, sales, and growth rate, primarily, the price of the stock goes up because other investors or speculators believe that the shares are worth buying at an increasingly higher price point. This means, in a nutshell that all gains that investors make, with the exception of dividends paid out, come from other investors that are willing to pay a higher price for the shares then what was paid by the previous investor, no matter the time period. 

So then, capital gains, occur only when additional investors believe that the underlying price of the stock deserves to be higher than what it once was, whether or not the fundamentals of that stock or the conditions of the economy support such, and further to the point, capital gains come exclusively from other investors, and should and when other investors lose confidence in such a belief, stock prices collapse, sometimes very rapidly.