Resist what needs to be resisted

Life can indeed be a struggle for a significant number of people, so that when pushed to the edge of tolerance, a choice needs to be made as to whether to resist or give in to what is happening, no matter how bleak.  Indeed, sometimes there isn’t any real good choice that will permit us a fair chance to overcome what oppresses us, but nevertheless, there is a choice, and those who are wise and with self-respect will not go quietly into the night when they recognize that to do so is to surrender to that which deserves no surrender, whatsoever.

 Not every battle is going to be our battle, and not everything that we see that is unfair and unjust necessitates our response to it, for those things that are relatively trivial and of no real concern should simply be left alone because to spend all of our time battling little things is pretty much a waste of our time.  Rather, we need to understand that life consists of occasional real battles that will define who and what we really are, and those that recognize that this is indeed their time to stand up and to make a stand are the same that have done right to their conscience, as opposed to those that are simply too cowardly to do what they need to do, when call upon to do so.

 Regrettably, no matter how right we may be in our cause, does not guarantee us success when we fight back against injustice, but just because we are not successful does not mean that we were wrong or stupid for resisting what needs to have been resisted, because part of life is to stand for something of merit, and by our actions we demonstrate that we will not surrender to that which deserves no surrender from us, no matter the personal cost, because at least when we resist, we do so knowing that we have demonstrated the courage to make that principled stand.

 In this life, we will be tested, and those that make easy statements about how they will never surrender, or never disavow that which is of most importance to them, need to be tested, or how else will anyone know their sincerity behind such statements if not put to the test -- which is part of the reason why we will be tested, because words are not the same thing as actions which are in conformance to those words, because when push comes to shove, there are plenty of people who are only too willing to eat their words, and submit to the other, often for an incredibly cheap price.

 Those of integrity are the very same that will when put to the test, be true to who and what they really are, willing to accept what comes their way, just or unjust, because they know when challenged to do the right thing, no matter the cost, no matter the choices so presented to them, that they resisted, which thus are the very same as those that have paid the price for the ultimate freedom granted to those that resist what needs to be resisted.

The lure of easy credit

Look, it has to be acknowledged that most people have a desire for material things that they believe will help to make their lives better by purchasing, for instance, a cellphone and its corresponding plan, or furniture, or a vehicle. No doubt, things of that sort have a true value, especially when it comes to a vehicle which, because so many communities have public transportation which is barely adequate, permits the vehicle owner to get to their place of employment, as well as to perform necessary tasks, and to just in general to have freedom of movement.

 The problem when it comes to purchasing items in which the person so desiring to make that purchase has poor or bad credit is that their avenues to make that purchase are limited, thereby meaning that they will often have to take up offers that express that “everybody qualifies”, or “nobody is turned away,” and others of that same general ilk.  The lure given to these consumers is the lure of credit provided to them, which will permit them to purchase something that they desire, though not everything so desired through this easy credit is necessarily a needful thing.

When it comes to so-called “easy credit” it has to be recognized that such credit comes with a cost to the consumer of such, of which that cost is typically that the consumer will pay a sky-high interest rate with significant penalties for a late or short payment, along with the fact for more expensive items such as an automobile, that delinquency means that the loaner of that particular good may well have the legal right to recover that automobile, which will mean for the consumer even more fees and penalties in order to recover the car, if that is even possible.

 So too, when it comes to easy credit, the loaner wants the consumer of such to focus upon the monthly or bi-weekly or even weekly payment amount and to not be concerned about penalties, recovery fees, repossession, or the length of time of the credit contract, and because so many consumers of easy credit don’t readily understand what they are signing up for, or possibly don’t even consider it because all they care about is purchasing the product that they want, this means that they are going to far too often make a “deal” which is quite favorable to the loaner and not favorable to them.

 No doubt, it’s human nature to want and to have desires, and because we live in a material world in which it’s pretty much a requirement to have certain things in our possession or to have access to them, or else we won’t feel good about ourselves and our place in life, that the upshot is that for far too many people, they go into a store with the basic idea that no matter how much that a given item costs they just have to have it, making it all the easier for those that offer easy credit to take wholesale advantage of their ignorance and lack of preparedness, with the penalty being wholly paid by the consumer to their probable lasting regret.

The three-fifths compromise conundrum

Certainly, politics make for strange bedfellows, of which those that were formerly the thirteen colonies, who had bravely fought for their freedom, thus decided that they needed to have a new Constitution to replace their Articles of Confederation. One of the main difficulties in getting these thirteen colonies to agree, though, and to ratify the Constitution, was the issue of slavery.  Indeed, these colonies recognized that if an acceptable accommodation could not be reached which permitted those of the Southern States to agree to that Constitution, than America before it was even truly formed, would subsequently have been divided between North and South, which in and of itself, could have led to European nations, such as France, Spain, and England to exploit such differences and troubles for their own European benefit.  So then, while there were lots of ideas debated and expressed during that convention, somehow it was decided that they who were legally considered to be personal property were when it came to congressional representation, to be designated as three-fifths of a person, which definitely made a difference upon that representation, which thus permitted the Southern States to have fourteen additional seats in the Second Congress. Those Southern seats would continue to be augmented over the subsequent census years of 1820 and 1830 and beyond.  This thus meant that those who most supported slavery had a bigger voice than their population of free people actually represented.

 While in this modern age we clearly recognize the injustice that slavery so represented, it has to be acknowledged that back in that time and age, slavery was something that not only existed, but when it came to the Southern States there was a strong belief that only with slavery would they be able to turn a tidy profit on the production of cotton, tobacco, and agricultural goods.  Further to the point, the South recognized that those immigrating from Europe had a strong affinity to immigrate to the Northern States, because it was these States which were far more industrialized and thereby provided a much better pathway for good employment and overall opportunity, so that the demographics of the South necessitated, especially in the Southern mind the need to have their population representative numbers as high as possible or else they could find themselves to be outnumbered in the question of not only slavery but also in other areas of interest and thereby without an effective voice in governance.

 History tells us that while the three-fifths compromise did permit the thirteen colonies to become the United States, it did not, though, bring forth a nation that truly supported justice, equality, and opportunity for all.  This meant that there would come a time when those of the South who were scared that their peculiar institution would be under assault from the national government decided that their best move was to rebel against that government under the wrong belief that not only were they right for doing so, but that they could enact their supposed Constitutional right to disband what had been joined together. 

 Indeed, the State representatives who got together for that initial Constitutional convention were some of the best and brightest, of which there probably wasn’t any way to come to a successful agreement without compromises, but in that Southern compromise, the die would be fatefully cast, which would ultimately result in a great reckoning, and thankfully, a new birth of freedom.

This world is a world of opportunity to prove your mettle

Indeed, life has its purpose, and that purpose can be best defined as an opportunity for each of us to prove our mettle in the challenges and temptations that life presents to us.  So then, wherever we may currently be at, as well as the circumstances of our life, recognize that what is presented to you, is there to provide you with the opportunity to prove yourself and those that do so successfully, are the very same that advance; whereas those that do not, are the same that will have to find a way to make good on what they need to make good on, or else they will not ever find themselves in that timeless sanctuary of serenity, peace, and truth.

 This thus signifies that what we say and do most definitely makes a difference, not just in our personal development or perhaps regression, but also through our interactions with those that we deal with, which will influence others for the better or for the worse, and while it could be said, that what people do or don’t do is their responsibility, what we have done to contribute or to harm such, reverts back to our own self, so that we are not only our brother’s keeper but we also are part of the overall milieu that society is made up of, which signifies that we need to do our fair part to help make society better for our good participation in it.

 Each of us is unique as an individual, for our circumstances are unique within who we are, which means that whatever that is our burden to bear, we must do our level best to deal with such with aplomb and with determination so that we will at the end of the day prove that when given the chance to do right, that we have done right or else to suffer the fair circumstances for our failure in judgment and our subsequent bad actions.

 For certain, there will be justice, for that is how the moral universe works, and therefore it needs to be recognized that more than anything, we earn our way to Heaven by the good deeds so done, as well as our contribution to the betterment of those with whom we congregate with in our interactions with one another. 

 So too, everything that we do actually does matter, for in skeins of time all is recorded and all is known – but this information held in the mind of that which is Infallible is not done with the attitude that this will oppress us or convict us, but rather as an object lesson for us to learn from and to therefore better ourselves so that we can develop into what we were always meant to be, for this world is the proving ground, provided for us to test our mettle with a fair challenge, and those that do not pass those tests will find that they are stuck in an endless cycle that they cannot escape from until they figure it out, by the subsequent thoughts and actions which do right by that which first created them.

The middle-class revolution

When it comes to revolutions and uprisings, there is a belief that those that are the most oppressed are going to lead some sort of proletariat or lower-income revolution, but history tells us that revolutions are most often led by either a fight of the elites, a military coup, or by those who have historically had a voice but have become essentially disenfranchised and thus have a very good reason to lead an uprising so as to obtain what they believe that they have already fairly earned but have unfairly lost.

 When it comes to America, we read at Investopedia.com that “The share of income captured by the middle class fell from 62% in 1970 to 43% in 2022,” which is a staggering drop, in which, quite frankly the middle-class of America has basically ceded their income, their wealth, and their monies to the elites of America, so that those that are at the very top have never been richer, and that those that are the heart and soul of America are ever feeling more pressure to maintain their status as the weight of oppressive taxation, personal debt, inflation, and employment insecurity have placed more and more weight upon their sore and aching shoulders.

 So too, the middle-class in absence of their voice being substantially heard and thus with their backs against the wall, are going to find that because their vote essentially doesn’t matter because nothing changes for the good of that middle-class that they are going to find that to get a fair slice of the American pie that they are going to be compelled to take back from the elites and the superrich what is rightfully theirs, and to do so, they will have to revolt against the current order so as to get back for them no more and no less than what they rightfully deserve for their labor.

 After all, when we reflect on where power is, it has to be acknowledged that without a vibrant middle-class, that this country would ultimately devolve into not only a complete police state but would lose any real semblance of its competitiveness and fairness because the superrich are disinclined to do anything that will necessitate that they personally sacrifice their own blood, sweat, and tears.  Furthermore, the elites of this nation don’t represent enough people to get done what needs to get done, because in actuality they need the middle-class to do that for them, and hence for their own continuation those elites are going to have to start paying their own fair progressive share of taxation, which also includes those corporations that have skirted around what they really should and ought to pay, or else there will surely come a changing of the guard, because the middle-class will not go quietly into the night, since they are the very ones that have done the work which has made America to be the success that it has become.

 An America without a vibrant and healthy middle-class simply isn’t America, and to get back to where it ought to be, necessitates that the elites, for their own survival, if nothing else, will recognize that without a happy and satisfied middle-class, that truth be told, the times surely will be changing.

The West are also perpetrators of terrorism

Those that are Western nations would like to presuppose that the world is basically differentiated between a clear black and white division, of which those that support all that Western nations do and justify are thereby right, and all those that are outside that realm, such as what has been painted by the Western nations as being a terrorist or supporter of such, are thereby wrong.  From this perspective, the West justifies all their actions taken against a supposed enemy terrorist state, in which, that enemy is hunted down and no matter how much purposeful or accidental collateral damage that subsequently occurs due to that hunt, or how many civilians are ultimately killed or harmed, it is all okay as long as there are also those labeled as terrorists or bad guys that have been eradicated, as well -- of which, by these actions, Western nations are essentially behaving in a manner in which they are above the law, thus acting as judge, jury, and executioner.

It is important for the general public to have a basic definition of what terrorism really is, of which, one definition would be to recognize that a terrorist takes the law into their own hands with a preconceived goal in mind to wreak havoc and spread fear, which thereby typically through the usage of deliberate targeted violence achieves its objective of harming or killing the other, without judicial overview, and without having proved their case in an independent court of law, so that whoever is targeted for death or dismemberment is thereby subsequently accomplished at the discretion of the terrorist, and of which, torture and extraordinary rendition are all considered to be acts that are justified in that commitment to eliminate or to compromise the other.

The bottom line is that Western nations always consider themselves to be the white hat agents of justice, though we find that what is considered to be right and justified from a Western perspective seems to be a construct of which whatever deeds are done through the hands of Western nations no matter how extreme or how much they clearly undercut the unalienable rights of individuals as well as their constitutional rights, is somehow legitimized.  So then, when we find, for example, that America extraordinary renditions of suspected bad actors, ends up killing those that they have been labeled as terrorists, that in the scheme of things, this has not been vetted by any real independent non-biased organization and seems to clearly be extrajudicial in its behavior, justified only because it is done by Western nations, which thereby means it must be okay.

In actuality, terrorism is terrorism, which means that those that behave just like those that they claim are terrorists, by using the same sorts of reasoning and similar actions but come from the other side of the equation, are no better than what they are trying to eliminate, and one could argue that they are worse, because they pretty much hold all the cards, but won’t work under the applicable rule of law, but rather work outside that law, as if they are saying, the ends justify the means.

All of the above would be indicative that those who commit wrongs in order to make things right are ethically suspect, and all those who take actions that are, in their way, consistent with terrorism, but declaim that they are not terrorists, but that they are the good guys, are, in actuality, also terrorists themselves.

America’s insistence that it is always threatened by a big, bad wolf

The amount of monies allocated to the Department of Defense in America is an incredible amount of money, and since there is a limited amount of resources that America can budget and thereby spend its money upon, it has to be said, that more money spent on the defense of the nation, when seemingly excessive and imprudent, is money thereby taken away from the people that could be used for their good welfare, which basically means that despite the fact that America is the richest nation in the whole world, it still has a troubling amount of people that essentially suffer, because of their lack of proper food, shelter, and opportunity.

The primary reason why America expends so much money on its defense, besides its insistence on being the world’s policeman is the fact that it insists that America and therefore the entire western world and its allies are constantly under threat, of which the country that has played the bogeyman for decades is Russia, which at its peak as the Soviet Union was a nation that had both size and a GDP which was in and around 1970, considered to be the second largest GDP in the world, but of which, this GDP was approximately one-third of the United States.  Still, it has to be said that the Soviet Union was one of the two premier nuclear powers, with therefore the capability to wreak destruction, though it never had close to the collective power of the United States and its allies, despite the insistence from these United States that it was a viable threat.

Indeed, the main reason why the Soviet Union, which subsequently became Russia, again, and thereby no longer had a union of sister states in and around Russia was considered to be such a threat to America, was to provide the military-industrial-technology complex the raison d'être of why billions upon billions needed to be spent on the defense of this nation, even though, those at the highest echelons of power knew that the Soviet Union was not really a threat to the United States or its way of conducting business, but rather served their purpose to justify all the expenditures directed its way that enriched certain aspects of this nation at the overall expense of the people.

Presently, with Russia’s GDP being about equal to Italy’s GDP, this is proof positive that to continue to believe that Russia is that big, bad wolf is ill-considered, but fortunately or unfortunately, depending upon one’s viewpoint, Russia is being replaced as the big, bad wolf with China, which certainly makes more sense, because not only is China the world’s second largest economy, but its population is well over 1 billion people, in addition to the fact that China is a nation that is becoming more of a global economic force, year by year.

Yet, what isn’t mentioned nearly enough when it comes to China, is that China does not behave like a bellicose nation, and further to the point, seems content to concentrate its energies on improving the lives of its people as compared to desiring to engage America in a world war, thereby signifying that America need not continue to expend so much money on its defense, when it actually has no fair reason to believe that it is under threat by any other nation, whatsoever.

Related Presidents

When it comes to a monarchy, because of intermarriage we find that monarchies between European nations typically have had common ancestors, and the monarch itself, is almost always directly related to the current monarch, as either a daughter or a son, though when that is not the case, the monarchy typically has passed on to the progeny of the monarch’s brother or sister.  In short, monarchies are hereditary and are deliberately structured as such, so that these elites are able to maintain their power and position for many, many decades and even centuries.

One might think that in a nation as populous as the United States of America, that there wouldn’t be any relationship from one President to another, but that would be wrong, for despite the fact that America has only had forty-five different Presidents in its history, we find that there are two of which the father, followed by the son were Presidents, as in John Adams and John Quincy Adams, as well as George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush.  Additionally, there was one grandfather-to-grandson combination, of William Henry Harrison to Benjamin Harrison.  As for more distant relationships, Theodore Roosevelt was a fifth cousin to Franklin D. Roosevelt, and James Madison was a second cousin to Zachary Taylor.

All of the above would indicate that just as we have seen in sports, with a father followed by his son, those who have relatives in high places have a strong tendency to also achieve that type of status, as well.  Perhaps this is a good thing, but mainly it’s a bad thing, because it seems to say that even in America, people aren’t necessarily graded on their merits and talents, but rather those that are in well-positioned places are going to be treated differently than those that don’t have those same types of advantages and hence this is why we have seen that Presidents can and have been related to one another of which this trend probably isn’t going to end anytime soon, and in fact, there is a decent chance that we may well have a husband and wife each end up becoming a President at some time, primarily because of their name recognition as well as the fact that the powers that be prefer to work within a domain in which the players are well known to them and are by definition the same that they would like to see continue in power.

Indeed, the bottom line is that to become President is something that is not even a remote possibility for virtually all Americans but rather this is only available for those that follow a certain well-trodden path that involves connections with the right people, often accomplished by congregating with them by going to the right schools and/or working at the same high places, which is why those that become President can be and have been related to one another because they typically are part of a milieu that is exclusive to them, and not available for others. 

So then, the fact that Presidents have been related to one another should be seen as a signal that those that are at the highest echelons of power are pretty much there because they are part and parcel of that very power structure, which probably isn’t good for all those citizens that desire this to be a nation of, for, and by the people, above all.

Taxation and the sword

The power of the government to tax the general public is the type of power that definitely affects the general public -- for part of what they have labored diligently for has been taken away from them by the government.  Indeed, when it comes to taxation, it has to be recognized that the more money that gets into the hands of the government, the more responsibility that the government has to do right by those who are its constituents.  So then, as much as the people are busy taking care of necessary things and the urgencies of the day, they do most definitely have a vested interest in where and how their tax dollars are allocated and thereby spent, for those governments that are irresponsible or corrupt will thereby take those tax monies and use such for purposes which are not for the general welfare of the people, at all.

 In life, it has to be recognized that the material things that we accumulate ultimately come from spending the money that we have in hand, or through the good credit that we have established, and when we lack that money or our credit is bad, we have far fewer options that permit us to take care of our business.  So then, a government that is starved of money for whatever reason(s) is a government that is already circumscribed because there is only so much that a government of limited monies is capable of doing.  This signifies that the more tax dollars that a government has, while not necessarily being bad, could be dangerous to the general public, whenever that government does not act responsibly by the people that it has an obligation to do right by.

 In truth, how and where our tax monies are spent makes a material difference in our personal lives, which means that it can easily make a difference in our freedom and liberty, or lack thereof, for whenever a government takes those tax dollars and spends an inordinate amount of such on the military of which those in the military do not readily answer to the people, but rather answer to those that are its generals or the politicians and elites of the day, then the people should rightly be troubled, for it is their labor taxed through governmental authority that thereby has permitted that government to militarized itself, which under the wrong type of leadership could use that sword against its own people, in order to feather its own nest, at the direct expense of the people.

 So then, the power to tax is also the power to have more control of the people, and thereby to limit their liberty, which when the representatives of this nation have been effectively captured by the elites, and the courts are not truly independent, we are left only with the executive branch, which when that branch cares more about control and exploitation of the people, then it must be said that those that believe that taxation without fair representation represents tyranny, are correct in their assessment that this is not in their best interests and hence not tolerable for them.

The reason for laws and rules of the road

All of us pretty much live in societies in which there are laws structured for us to obey, as well as written rules that we must follow, of which, the punishment for the breaking of such can be quite severe.  Yet, for those that think, they might well want to know why it is that we have so many laws and regulations, as well as the prevailing purpose behind them, because each of us is born free, but are somehow placed within a construct in which that freedom is constrained, which begs the question as to why.

The very first thing that we need to consider is to picture a world without rules or laws, and when we contemplate upon this, it readily becomes apparent that a society without well-reasoned laws would quickly become a society of chaos, confusion, as well as a constant injustice to just about everyone, because when there are no just consequences to our bad acts then the resulting trend is going to be unbecoming of a healthy and wholesome society, mainly because there will be a certain segment of the population which because it will not behave in a responsible way, contributes to the ails of society, and because there is no fair resolution to such, contributes to uncivility and further wrongdoing.

So too, the purpose of laws is to understand that everything that we do has a consequence, and when those actions create an injustice to the other, there needs to be some sort of recompense or else those bad actions will serve to corrupt others, because the others  may well feel justified that since there is no punishment for what has occurred they may as well let their guard down too, as they don’t rightly see the upside of restraining themselves when there doesn’t seem to be a consequence that they would serve to compel or urge them not to.

Indeed, one of the reasons why religion is so important in so many cultures, is that religion at its core, teaches people that there are fair consequences for their actions, good or bad, signifying that those that are good, receive the beneficence of that behavior, sooner or later; whereas, those that are bad, will received their due punishment for their wrongdoing, sooner or later, in this world, or beyond.

So then, laws and regulations most certainly have their place within society, and should they disappear or be poorly structured, the people are the very ones that will suffer, for when actions and subsequent consequences are not aligned up correctly, it makes for a dysfunctional society that will suffer duly for not adhering to what we are supposed to be at our core, which thereby necessitates proper guidance from not necessarily those in authority, who may themselves be seriously flawed and unfair, but rather from those that are good moral agents that truly have our best interests in mind, because these exemplars of virtue desire to see us to make good decisions, which  makes then for us to have the fair opportunity to have a much better and more fulfilling life.

The need to understand the true purpose of legitimate government

When people are asked the question as to what the purpose of government actually is, there are going to be various answers -- such as, for example, the general defense of the nation, the general welfare of the people, or the law and order necessary to have equal justice for all, and so on.  One answer, which is not heard nearly enough, is that the true purpose of legitimate government ought to be to protect our individual liberty, above all.  In other words, the purpose of government ought to first and foremost be about securing our liberty to be about our business and therefore thus providing us with the best opportunity to have a good life, with liberty, and to freely pursue that which brings satisfaction to us.

 Regrettably when we look at governments the world over and in particular our own government, it has to be admitted that the governance of this nation does not appear to be about protecting our rights, but rather seems to be about taking our natural rights as well as our Constitutional rights, and circumscribing them to something less than what they are supposed to be.  While there are myriad excuses why governments have a strong tendency to do this sort of thing, the bottom line is that power in the hands of the wrong or misguided people in addition to fallible institutions leads often to the result that the people that should be sovereign, are reduced to being something more akin to subjects, which are supposed to therefore obey their government, for their own supposed protection and safety.

 The fact that we don’t hear often enough from our politicians or from those that are in the catbird seats of power, that their objective is to defend and to assure the people, that our individual liberty comes first, is proof positive that this isn’t on their agenda, and clearly isn’t part of their thinking.  Instead, we are sold a bogus bill of goods from our government, that insists that the people need to forget about all this liberty stuff, and concentrate more on understanding that this world is dangerous and that rights so granted, even of an unalienable nature are subject to being modified as the government best sees fit to do per its inclination and that as a people we ought to just go along with this.

 So then, to live under a government in which the reality is that our liberty and our unalienable rights are subject to the dictates of that government, is to live under conditions in which we are not truly free.  In the best of those cases, though, we sacrifice some of our liberties, for the protection that the state provides us, though even that protection involves the citizens  themselves having to defend the nation from enemies within as well as enemies without, as defined by that government.

 All of the above reflects that when we examine our own government, that to believe that its top priority is to backstop our liberty and our freedom of expression and thought, is clearly something that not only isn’t a priority but seems to be something that this government does not desire to have in effect, because it wants to be in control, which conflicts with our natural rights to liberty.

The need to modify congressional representation based on registered voters only

In politics, compromise is often necessary in order to make some degree of progress or else the alternative is a likely dysfunctional society -- so then politics do indeed make strange bedfellows of which such proved necessary to have a constitution which became the prevailing law of the land.  We find that in the United States, a compromise was reached with the Southern States during the convention, which established that those that were enslaved and thereby legally considered to be property were entitled from a congressional apportionment perspective to be counted as three-fifths of a person, which thereby meant that the Southern States got more representation than they ought to have had because that which is designated as property has no rights and therefore should not have been counted, in which, the ensuing result of this governance of, for, and by the people if this compromise had not been agreed upon would surely have been different.  Yet, that is essentially what had to be done to get the thirteen States to agree to this Constitution.

 We find that at the conclusion of the Civil War, as well as the ratification of the 15th Amendment, that this changed the enfranchisement dynamic.  Yet, history tells us that this change which should have meant the fair enfranchisement of black male voters, soon became bastardized to the extent that the black people residing in the Southern States, now being counted as a full person, because they legally were persons, meant that these same Southern States, would essentially have more representation, of which, after a brief amount of time in which black candidates were duly elected to congress, that this subsequently ended, which thereby meant that the white man was not only able to re-impose their will against those formerly enslaved, but had also obtained more representative power because blacks were now counted the same in the apportionment of the representatives so earmarked for each State.

 As it stands right now, the only way to change what we currently have, which amounts to counting up the number of people in a given State through a census, which  does not take into account citizenship status or lack thereof, is for a Constitutional Amendment to change things to something more sensible.  It would seem fairer to the general public, that representation in Congress should really be apportioned not strictly on population, but rather should be specifically done through the number of registered voters in a given State.  That is to say, those that are of age to be a registered voter but do not register should not be counted for congressional apportionment.  This would signify that States that aren’t doing their best to register all eligible voters or are being biased against certain potential voters, should suffer the fate of less representation, because quite frankly, those individuals that have not registered to vote or are ineligible to vote, aren’t engaged with their country, which seems to stipulate that they believe that their nation is of minimal value to them.

 Furthermore, apportioning how many representatives each State receives is done every ten years, but should be changed to be in harmony with the fact that all Congressional representatives are up for election every two years.  All of the above would therefore make for a better representative government because those exercising their suffrage rights are the very same that deserve that representation.

Coin of the realm and inflation

In point of fact, inflation is not necessarily a given in societies, but we do find that in virtually all modern societies, each of those societies suffers from inflation, some of which can be exceedingly high and can thereby lead to the inconvenient demise of that currency.  The problem with inflation when it comes to, for instance, dollars, is that those that simply are holding onto their dollars or are trying to spend them, find that their dollar purchases ever less products or services over time, which thereby means that the value of their dollars have depreciated.  This can be a real burden for people because it indicates that in order to maintain their purchasing power they are going to need to earn more money or else find investments that will provide them with a meaningful positive return or obtain that combination, because without such, the worth of their dollar assets becomes ever less.

 So too, another way of looking at dollars that are depreciating is the fact that this is essentially a tax upon money.  That is to say, just like we have to pay a sales tax or an income tax, we are, in essence, paying a dollar tax, because the dollars that we have are ever becoming less valuable.  Furthermore, it’s disappointing that this government which states that our dollars are backed up by the full faith and credit of this nation, apparently can’t keep its house in order because inflation is both persistent and consistent, in which, some of the time, that inflation rate reaches even double digits, which definitely is a high tax for citizens to pay, of which, those very same citizens, seemingly have no recourse to stop inflation because it is essentially out of their hands.

 One would think that this government rather than mouthing words about how they are concerned about inflation and thereby desiring to do something of substance to contain inflation, still can’t apparently come up with any policies that do that very thing, which is why, the value of a dollar has declined precipitously since this nation went off the gold standard and replaced backing dollars with specie, with backing dollars instead with just words.

 Governments, the world over, are always looking for creative ways to tax their constituents and when one of those ways is the depreciation of the currency, this thus will always favor those in the know over those that don’t really know.  Furthermore, that dollar taxation really isn’t fair to the general public because it eats into their wealth, their income, and their purchasing power, without providing them with any corresponding benefit.  Additionally, most people are busy taking care of their necessary things, which means that their plate is already full and having to deal with the depreciation of the dollars in their hands, which they have labored hard to obtain, is just one more problem that serves to make their life more challenging, and one more tax to pay, without seeming to have much representation about it.

The African continent COVID-19 paradox

We have been told by orthodox sources that only because of the COVID-19 vaccination did the pandemic that occurred worldwide not become considerably worse than it was, and because of this vaccine that millions of lives were subsequently saved.  But is this true?  The case of the African continent would seem to indicate that this statement is clearly not true, and therefore, the truth of the COVID-19 pandemic is still not being propagated by mainstream media or governmental sources.

 To wit, the continent of Africa contains about 1.55 billion people, and the United States has approximately 340 million people, in which it has been estimated that the continent of Africa had 257,000 deaths from COVID-19, as contrasted to America having 1,228,289 deaths from COVID-19.  This indicates that the death rate for America, the richest country in the world, and of which it is considered to have far superior doctors, better medical staff, and stronger infrastructure, signifying that its medical facilities, as compared to the African continent, were far more robust and superior, somehow had a death rate of twenty-two times higher than the African continent.  This signifies that if the African continent were to have the same death rate from COVID-19 as America, then 5,654,000 of its people would have died from COVID-19, but only a small fraction of that actually occurred.  Additionally, there isn’t anybody on this planet who believes that the healthcare system in the African continent holds a candle to America.  Finally, it has to be said that wealthier nations are healthier nations with more medical options, signifying that even though far more Americans got vaccinated for COVID-19 and got that vaccination sooner, that somehow the African continent had far fewer people to ever get COVID-19, and a small fraction, as compared to the USA, actually died from it.

 All of the above is indicative that the story so propagated to the world at large is fundamentally flawed.  So too, the basic misunderstanding of COVID-19 has not been properly explained, in which the deadly devastation that COVID-19 wreaked havoc upon was clearly specific to certain people of a certain age, and was not a problem necessitating schools and businesses being closed.  That is to say, when we examine who actually died, the greatest percentage was people who were old, feeble, and/or had compromised immune systems.  That then is the lesson to be learned from this pandemic, which thereby means that this nation with all of its wealth, was somehow not able to figure out that the most vulnerable of its population were essentially the aged, and instead focused upon taking those in their prime working or schooling years and making them to believe that if they didn’t have a mask on or were not standing six feet away from another human being, that the result for that other person, would be death. 

 One more thing needs to be said: that there was the wrong belief that the mere act of getting vaccinated would bring immunity, which is belied by the fact that plenty of people who were vaccinated ended up getting COVID-19, and a meaningful portion of those ended up dead.  The lesson to be learnt then is that those who believe everything that they are told to believe and thereby to obey need to consider that they ought to examine things more thoroughly and be more skeptical.

Why is there no low-cost leader in retail gasoline stations

While there is a big difference in the price of gasoline in a State such as Mississippi as compared to California, we do find that within States themselves, that gasoline prices are pretty much in accordance with one another, unless a particular county has a much lower taxation rate as compared to an adjoining county on the gasoline that it sells.  In other words, gas prices are pretty much the same throughout the locale that a driver lives at, with apparently the only true exceptions being at grocery stores, that provide reward points for customers that spend a certain amount of money on groceries, or wholesale stores that have a membership fee and thereby lower their gas price as not only a courtesy to their members but also as a way to keep members satisfied that their membership is of value.

 The question that needs to be asked is the fact that oil is extracted by numerous oil companies within the United States, and while it is true that there are mega oil companies that pretty much dominate the oil industry, it doesn’t seem to make much sense that the costs of extracting and refining that oil, no matter whether it is Chevron or Exxon/Mobil does not make much of a difference, for as represented at the end of the day the price of that gasoline is essentially the same, give or take a few pennies per gallon.

 This would presuppose for this to be the case that the costs to get gasoline are exactly the same for each oil company, which is doubtful – and what isn’t been admitted is this probably reflects that oil companies, the refiners, and ultimately the way that gasoline is priced to consumer suffers from some degree of collusion from the big players, or else we would definitely have a low-cost leader, because the extracting and refining of oil, cannot always be essentially the same, from one oil company to another.  In other words, big oil appears to have too much sway in how gasoline is priced to the consumer, and thereby it is the consumer who ends up having to pay more money for gasoline, which means more profit for those in the oil business.

 Indeed, when we take a look at products which consumers have to have and in which there is true competition, there is much more price discrepancy between the products so being purchased in most of those cases, but we don’t find that to be true with gasoline, and while a few pennies here and there does make a small difference, it doesn’t reflect that the cost of providing gasoline to the consumer should have a low-cost leader, just like there are stores that are considered to be discount stores.  The fact that this doesn’t exist should be an area of concern to the governance of this nation, and the fact that it is not would seem to reflect that the governance of this nation has been essentially captured by Big Oil, thereby hurting the pocketbooks of everyday Americans.

The fear factor

We live in a day and age in which many European nations, as well as the United States of America, appear to have taken a turn to the right wing and thus a turning away from their previous liberal attitudes of inclusion and of thereby judging the other based upon the content of their character.  Instead, there is a drive to return to the days of old, in which the favored race and creed were clearly superior to all others, and thereby the prevailing surface traits of its favored inhabitants were of more importance than the content of anyone else’s character.

 Anytime that a given nation turns its back upon fairness, inclusion, and the consideration of the other, there is a reason – in which the reason why we see this at the present time really comes down to fear.  The fear of loss, and specifically the fear of the loss of status, so that those who are not at the premier level of success, wealth, and attainment are fearful.  These then primarily represent the people that have been historically the favored race, of which, they therefore cannot countenance that this status is inappropriately and somehow under assault, by what they perceive to be, mainly immigrants, both licit and illicit, who are not only too many in number, but have too many of their kind who are successful despite the handicaps so imposed upon them, thereby leaving far too many of the favored race believing that their once unassailable status will be no more.

 Those then that fear that they will lose their favoritism and thereby will have to compete on a field that is ever coming more level, have a couple of basic choices, which is to either improve their own character and to thereby put forth the incumbent effort to develop the accouterments of personal success, or to turn to a certain special and favored personage as well as the organizations behind that despotic leader which will let them to know that things could be back to where they once were, if they only were to support wholeheartedly all those that displayed an authoritarian fist and further are willing to back that up by using such.

 The bottom line is that way too many people who have historically been favored do not desire to compete, nor do they desire to play fair, but rather they just want things to be the way that they were before, in which they were the masters, and all others, with a few notable exceptions, were born to essentially serve them.  Indeed, this type of siren song appeals to many a person of the favored race, especially when they know for a certainty that their situation is not going to improve, unless they continue to get favorable treatment, undeserved or not.

 Indeed, the fear factor of losing face, of losing status, of losing one’s position in life, of losing the respect of one’s peers, forces the hand of many a person, and makes them to believe that everything can be great again, if those that have historically been oppressed and exploited, would only return to their place, and then all will be well.

Touching is soothing and necessary for the human experience

We live in a modern age in which there are those who believe that virtual reality, robots, and artificial intelligence will somehow not only make the world a better place but will also serve as a worthy substitute for alternative human interaction when traditional human interaction is unavailable or unobtainable for certain people under certain specific circumstances.  It is, though, hard to actually believe that human beings as social creatures can ever find true satisfaction in artificial constructs, as thereby serving them well regarding their happiness and self-esteem, because this would seem to fundamentally misunderstand what humans really are, and what they actually require to live a good and wholesome life.

The truth of the matter is that those that are not ever touched by a caring hand and thereby are essentially ignored, are the very same that are not in a good place and are thereby going to suffer from the feelings of neglect, and the feeling that nobody cares about them because that very lack of the human touch, distances them from the society that they should be an integral part of.  While not everybody wants to be hugged or touched all of the time, most people, not only appreciate a good hug but definitely desire to have those hugs, especially when they are most in need of the human touch and care.

 We as humans are social beings, which thereby necessitates us to communicate and to be in harmony with one another, and while conversations with other humans most definitely have their place, it has to be recognized, also, that most human beings also yearn to touch and to be touched by the other, because it typically brings them contentment and joy.  Those then that dismiss this as not being necessary for blissfulness are either not in a good place to begin with, which thereby means that they definitely need to feel some human caring, or are too caught up in worldly things or their own intellectuality to comprehend that their physical and emotional self needs care, as well.

 So too, those that are most violent or filled with hatred are not going to be those that have experienced an abundance of love and care in their lives, but rather are typically going to be those that are upset about perceived wrongs done against them as well as the perception that nobody cares about them, thereby making it easier for them to strike back at someone or something because they lack the feeling that they are appreciated by their fellow humankind.

 We are no more and no less than what we perceive ourselves to be, and when that perception tells us that we need more of the human touch, but we are unable to experience such, our overall life experience is not going to put us in a desirable place.  To be cared for necessitates not only a helping hand but also an unjudgmental ear, in addition to receiving the touching by the other that is freely given to us, and those who experience those very things are going to not only feel better and more appreciated, but will typically reciprocate in kind.

The Christians who are not really Christian

We find that, especially in America that the general population seems to have an innate desire to take shortcuts in life, as if by doing so, they will reach their destination of choice faster.  Perhaps some people are successful with their shortcuts, but this is undoubtedly outnumbered by those who try the shortcut but end up finding out, much to their disappointment, that their so-called shortcut wasn’t a shortcut at all, but rather was more of a detour or a wrong turn.

 Indeed, although the number of professing Christians of whatever sect that they most identify with in America is actually quite high, we find that in the scheme of things such surface characteristics don’t amount to much, for what seems to be missing from those that are professed Christians, is the fact that far too often those that take on the moniker of Christianity don’t seem to readily understand the commitment and accountability that are now theirs to bear, and because of that, they aren’t true to what Christianity really means in the real world.

 The very first thing to know about Christianity is that to be a Christian means actually to be willing to and then to follow through by taking up one’s cross, for those who then will not actually stand for Christ, when it really matters, aren’t Christian.  To be Christian necessitates risking something of real value and to thereby do right by those Christian values, and those who don’t aren’t Christian at all.  Indeed, the sunshine Christian is only there when things are going well, and therefore it’s easy under those favorable circumstances to be a Christian; whereas a true Christian will not turn their back when the going gets tough, but will actually do what they know to do, as per their Christian calling in life.

 So too, there are plenty of Christians who understand the need for exhibiting forgiveness, fairness, love, consideration, and doing the right thing, all of which should never take a backseat to revenge, injustice, hatred, inconsideration, and doing what is wrong.  To be a Christian is to take on the positive aspects of that Christianity, so that those therefore who will not tolerate others because they don’t like them or don’t like their beliefs, are not Christian in their behavior, because we are meant to accept others as they are and to do right to them, because that is our obligation as a Christian.  This signifies that to be a Christian is to acknowledge the value and worth of all human beings, and not just to favor those that align with our beliefs, and thereby to consider all others to be beneath us and unworthy of our care and concern.

 To profess to being a Christian may have its place, but that said, the real place for those who consider themselves to be Christian is demonstrated day by day, by our interactions with one another, in which we exemplify all the good qualities of a life lived in conformance with God’s blessings and beneficence, which is confirmed best by our sacrifice, care, respect, and love that we provide to one another.

Towards understanding fascism

There are those people that have a habit of insulting somebody that they don’t like or the governance that they are under as being fascist, without really understanding what fascism actually is, for they basically just recognize that to be labeled as a fascist, is to be something that is considered to be quite undesirable and therefore to adjudge someone as fascist is to label someone as being something akin to being a dominating and unjust bigot or even worse.

 In actuality, fascism is basically when the democratic or republican form of government no longer effectively exists, because it has been either been co-opted or is controlled by those elements which are unelected and thereby dictates to the general public the conditions of their citizenship, of which, it is therefore the duty of those citizens to obey those dictates, or else to suffer the punishment or alienation of being seen as in opposition or dissension to those that are its leaders.

 To be fascist is to believe that the only thing that really matters is to recognize that one’s country is always right, no matter what that country actually does or permits, and it so follows therefore that it is the citizen’s duty to support and to defend those governmental commands and thereby to suppress, defeat, target, or imprison all those that do not toe the appropriate governmental line.

 So too, it thus follows that the government is not in any respect of, for, and by the people, but rather the government marches to the beat of those that have the power within and the power outside that government, which typically is a consortium of private enterprise and the money brokers; in addition to the face of the government often is somebody who has dictatorial power in just about all aspects of society, so as to manage and to control it for the betterment of those that are its actuators.

 A fascist government is going to therefore primarily benefit those that are the power brokers of it, along with those in the highest echelons of the government or private enterprise and of which, some of the population may well be satisfied with that government, especially when it serves to backstop their creed, or their race, or basically anything that allows those certain people to have a higher place in the hierarchy based upon hereditary or similar type characteristics, as well as their perceived utilitarian worth to the fascist government.

 So then, when the people do not effectively have a voice, and are not permitted to have their own opinions but must be in conformance with their fascist government, then the people are not free to be about their business.  So too, all those that are outside what are considered to be the orthodoxies of the fascist regime are those that live in fear that what they do have is at risk, at being taken, and further to the point, are subject to being not just perceived as disloyal outcasts, but also can be considered as no longer worthy of life itself.

The other side of the Declaration of Independence coin

In any war of Independence, there are going to be winners and there are going to be losers.  So then, for those that do not desire to risk much of anything, their only real choice is to make it abundantly clear that they are absolutely neutral, or better yet, to depart forthrightly with what they have because wars are often very messy protracted events with tragic circumstances, for those that are its civilians, as well as for those that are its soldiers in addition to those other important operatives.

 When it comes to those who signed their respective names to the Declaration of Independence, they really did feel that they risked “… our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”  Indeed, the price of treason against Great Britain, would in all probability have meant that those of the highest echelons of revolutionary power,  would have suffered for their audacity in taking on the British empire, with not just losing their fortunes, and their position in society, but could quite readily have meant for them to lose their lives, as well, to set therefore an example to all those others considering revolution in the future, as a way to make the point, that Great Britain did not countenance and never would countenance those that took up arms against it, whatsoever.

 Fortunately, for those colonists that stood firmly on the side of the revolution, they were successful in defeating the empire of Great Britain, which is not only to their credit, and ultimately to the credit of all those that became Americans, but also meant that those that were the loyalists to the British crown, who may or may not have been aware of this inconvenient fact, signified that by virtue of them being loyal to that crown, and thereby either taking up arms against the revolutionaries or by aiding and abetting Great Britain in their war effort indicated that they too risked their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor, and because they were defeated, they had to pay the full price for having backed the wrong horse.

 Indeed, although only a few loyalists ended up actually being hanged, some, though, did pay that price for being loyal to Great Britain, by being hanged.  Additionally, many of the most powerful and well-positioned loyalists suffered from the loss and confiscation of their property, as well as their social standing, and were essentially forced to evacuate from what became the United States of America, with none or minimal compensation for the property so lost. 

 All of the above, indicates that when one side to the war makes it to be its point that they will risk everything that matters, then this truly does signify that the other side, is essentially going to be risking the very same thing, which means that to the victors go the spoils and to the losers, they lose everything, including not just their property, their social standing, their honor, but also their very lives.