The forgotten ones in the Deplorable Class, live in towns like this. We are depending on our GOP congressional leaders to work for us every year. Just, Get ‘er Done!
Republicans, one of the “forgotten” ones on the “Trump Train” has some advice. We elected you to do your job every year. That includes even numbered years. We did not elect you to run for office in even numbered years, 2022, 2024, and 2026 etc. You have a job to do this year, 2022; and the job is not just to run for office, the job is to do the work of We the People. Do not blow it! Do not snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Act like Democrats used to act. Work as a unified team not like the President vs RINOS vs Republican Senate and House Leaders vs Republican rank and file legislators vs conservatives vs the “Trump Train, forgotten” ones like me.
Republicans in the Legislative Branch need to learn to compromise among yourselves and offer a unified plan for each agenda item. The first year’s legislative agenda went fairly well, but unity would have given us so much more. If you lose 2022 to campaigning, many on the “Trump Train” will jump off. You know it, and that is a corner of the swamp that forgotten ones like me despise. Along with President Trump and his Cabinet, go lock yourselves in a room somewhere and come up with bills that all can support for each agenda item. Forget your need to make political points that are only about your next election and keep your fights in the room. Remember what Thumper’s Mother told him in Bambi, If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all. Work for We the People for a change. Remember, forgotten ones do not forget. Stop giving the opposition, the news media, fuel to stoke the viral speculation fires that dominate network news, cable news, and other news outlet coverage. Get unified; get organized; and get er done.
Writing as a member of one group among the forgotten ones of the Left’s “Deplorable Class,” Biblical Christians or Evangelicals, Mister President, you won. You do not need to counter punch anymore. It did allow you to control the narrative during the primaries and the election; and, you won. We, the forgotten ones, can mentally counter punch for you now. You taught us how to do it. Consequently, everyone on the Trump Train knows that Senator Schemer is a bad actor. Pointing it out, counter punching, only angers the Left and Democrat legislators. It serves no legislative purpose and makes legislative progress more difficult. It is also making Senate confirmation of your Cabinet, other administration officials, Supreme Court Justices, and other Federal Judges more difficult. You need friends or at least frenemies, not sworn enemies in the Legislative Branch to be the best that you can be. Save all the good counter punches for the 2022 and 2024 elections. Surprise us then.
RINOS, you know who you are. Join the team now. Do not be part of the reason Republicans snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. The opposition, the news media, the Democrat Party, the progressive moneyed elite, and their army of flash mob demonstrators, Antifa, and anarchists, always smell blood in the water. The sharks are always circling. Republicans, unify to accomplish all that is necessary to keep turning this country around, and Make America Great Again. RINOS, are you with the forgotten ones or not? Are you with Republicans, including President Trump, or not? RINOS, remember, the forgotten ones do not forget. RINOS, stay with the team, get organized, and get er done!
We the People, the forgotten ones in the Deplorable Class, are depending on all of you.
Just, Get er Done!
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Extreme vetting will ensure that terrorists cannot hide among immigrants.
Psychologists and socialists developed a system of questionnaires and interview questions, “extreme vetting,” that could identify radical Islamic terrorists; and the terrorists will be unaware that they have been identified. “Extreme vetting” could also identify those unable to assimilate into our society. After WWII, social scientists developed questionnaires and interview techniques to identify and quantify traditional family dynamics and antisemitism in the Europe and United States. The same techniques could serve as a model for extreme vetting. Discussion of this extreme vetting model is based on research described in The Frankfurt School Its History, Theories, and Political Significance (TFS) by Rolf Wiggershaus translated by Michael Robertson.
Since The Frankfurt School, as this group of scholars was known, made significant contributions to the left’s Marxist, socialist, progressive, liberal, Democrat agenda in Europe and North America, an introduction is warranted. The Frankfurt School was the only group of scholars whose contribution to Marxist thought was considered collectively significant by the editors of A DICTIONARY OF MARXIST THOUGHT (ADMT). Indeed, several books have been dedicated to the evaluation of the contribution of this group to modern Marxism and the Progressive Liberal movement. This group of German scholars of largely Jewish descent was extremely influential in assuring Marxism’s “assimilation into modern social sciences.” After realizing that the communist revolution was not progressing as expected, this group of Marxists saw the need for a different more inclusive, multidisciplinary, incremental approach to social revolution. They saw that the contradictions between the philosophy of Marx and the realities of communism under Lenin, and later, Stalin in the Soviet Union were largely responsible lack of progress of the revolution in Western Europe and the United States. The group sought to accomplish this goal without stressing either the nature of the principles they promoted or their relationship to the widely discredited Stalinist version of Marxism by eliminating obvious Marxist terminology (ADMT p. 182-188), Stealth Marxism.
In 1923, the Institute of Social Research was established in association with faculty members and academic leaders of Frankfurt University to counter Soviet Communism and pursue an alternate path toward Marxism. In 1933, the group was exiled from Germany and moved to the United States where its principle leaders became faculty members at Columbia University. The group was directed by Max Horkheimer. His two principal associates were Friedrich Pollock and Theodor Wiesengrund-Adorno. Erich Fromm, Leo Lowenthal, and Herbert Marcuse were significant, but lesser associates of the group. Walter Benjamin, Franz Neumann, Otto Kirchheimer, Paul Lazarsfeld, and Jurgen Habermas were also important but even less integrated associates of The Frankfurt School. Publications by this diverse group included works in the areas of philosophy, sociology, social psychology, economics, national planning, musicology, psychoanalysis, political science, law, pop culture, literature, political economics, essays, and literary criticism. The motivation of this group was to promote an interdisciplinary approach, which became known as Critical Theory, for incremental transformation of society to one based on Marxist principles. With time, this approach has been expanded to include many aspects of the biological and ecological sciences, and whenever possible the physical sciences.
The Frankfurt School was at the forefront developing a model for extreme vetting. From the outset, research projects used psychological and sociological questionnaires and polling techniques as the basis for their critique of society. Their project methods included both written questionnaires and leader driven interview and discussion group methods. Their pioneering work in this area began in the early 1930’s. Eric Fromm was initially responsible for development of the questionnaires and interview techniques. According to Wiggershaus, he expected three categories of information to emerge from analysis of the data. First, he expected to develop a perspective of the political, social, and cultural views of respondents. Second, he sought to formulate social-psychological types and their relationship to various political party groups. Third, he hoped to discern methodological capabilities of questionnaires and further refine the procedures.
Fromm’s ideas for a methodology to accomplish these tasks were to infer the character structure of each person from the whole questionnaire. Questions, that would promote conclusions about the hidden, unconscious tendencies and instincts of each respondent which would reveal their character structure to trained observers, were embedded in the questionnaires. The exhaustive questionnaires included sections containing apparently innocent questions which would permit conclusions about hidden personality traits. The conclusions were validated by comparison with the general impression given by a person’s answers (TFS, p. 113-116). Accordingly, character structures should have a basis in explicit psychological theory, influenced by the empirical material of the research itself, and consistently differentiated. The purpose of these ideas was to develop a methodology that would fulfill the goals of analytical social psychology as he saw them (TFS, p.170-171). The methodology could be used for “extreme vetting” that would identify individuals with strong affinity for radical Islamic terrorism and an inability to assimilate.
Paul Lazarsfeld, was the primary empirical data analyst for the The Frankfurt School with an in-depth understanding of Marxist philosophy. He was a pragmatic and methodical social scientist. His experience evaluating, categorizing, and statistically analyzing psychological and sociological research data based on questionnaires and interviews was extensive. In guidance for interviewers and assistants Lazarsfeld noted that none of our assistants should appear in the role of a reporter or observer, but rather that each of them should blend into life naturally by means of some function or other useful to the people. His guidance was consistent with a previous statement about research involving interviews and questionnaires where he noted that
Only a researcher who is so close to the problem in his own life that he only needs to practice introspection to be able to produce a conceptual and methodological apparatus and possesses the scientific brutality to translate this experience into data and formulae which can be checked can help to make problems less opaque than they are at present (TFS, p. 166-167).
Lazarsfeld’s research was well received by the Rockefeller Foundation which financed a trip to the United States and resulted in an eventual position at Columbia University where he became the first Director of the Bureau of Applied Social Research which was the predecessor of the modern Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy. This group could be contracted to develop a tool for “extreme vetting.”
Studies on Authority and the Family was an import result of the collaboration between Fromm and Lazarsfeld. Fromm claimed that the authoritarian, patricentric, bourgeois (Capitalist) Protestant society and family resulted in character types essential for authoritarian and capitalist societies. In Fromm’s view, these character types enjoy accumulating property and capital without regard for the effect of their accumulation on fellow human beings and feel that acquisition of power is even more important than accumulation of property and capital. Studies on Authority and the Family may be one of the most significant assaults on the paternal Judeo-Christian family and Christianity of the first half of the twentieth century. Fromm used the study to formulate his sado-masochistic character type as a product of the patricentric, bourgeois-Protestant society and family. Although data from the questionnaires was not referenced by Fromm, the study appears to be the basis for a great deal of subsequent psychological research designed to demonstrate the adverse effects of the traditional Judeo-Christian family, Christianity, and religion on individuals and society under both capitalism and authoritarian governments. Again, the methodology could be adapted to accomplish “extreme vetting” of immigrants.
Although the Rockefeller Foundation and the Carnegie Foundation were approached for antisemitism research grants, the American Jewish Committee and the Jewish Labor Committee provided financing for the project. One aspect of the project dealt with antisemitism from the perspective of psychology of the masses including the instincts and thoughts of men. The project was also designed to continue development of experimental psychological research methods. The questionnaire and interview methodology developed required interviewers who know the interviewees and whom the interviewees trust. Questions included, How do you distinguish a Jew from another person?, What do you think about the Detroit Riots?, and Do you go to church? The questions established the attitudes of respondents about Jews and anti-Semitism. The interviewers were told that the openness of everyday conversational situations would allow both qualitative and quantitative analysis of the material collected in a pioneer experiment in social research that would provide insight into what working people honestly are thinking about the whole Jewish question’ and why they feel that way. Polls and interviews could not provide the insights that would be gained from conversations. Obviously, techniques are know to develop tools that would work well for “extreme vetting.”
Wiggershaus reviewed collaboration between The Frankfurt School and a group of psychologist from the University of California at Berkley, R. Nevitt Sanford, Else Frankel-Brunswik, and Daniel J. Levinson, which was a key part of the anti-Semitism project. The Berkley researchers, who referred to themselves as the Public Opinion Study Group early in the project, developed a unique combination of questionnaires, interviews, and projective psychological tests. These collaborators concluded that an indirect means of assessing anti-Semitism would be advantageous and started working to develop a method to accomplish the task. The indirect questions were formulated by using two questionnaires given consecutively to various test groups. The first questionnaire contained no obvious anti-Semitism questions or questions related to other forms of prejudice. The second questionnaire contained a mix of questions related to Jews and ethnocentrism and other subjects mixed in a manner designed to disguise the intent of the questions. The purpose of this format was to find questions in the first questionnaire with high correlation to anti-Semitism displayed in the second questionnaire and develop a highly reliable indirect research tool. Wiggershaus observed that years later Adorno made the following statement about the process of developing the questions:
We spent hours waiting for ideas to occur to us for individual items for the questionnaire. The less their relation to the main topic was visible, the prouder we were of them. We then checked these items in constant pre-tests to restrict the questionnaire and exclude those items which proved not to be sufficiently restrictive (TFS, p. 373).
One result of the collaboration between The Frankfurt School and the Berkley Public Opinion Study Group was development of the F-scale (Fascism Scale). The scale was an effort to measure psychological dimensions, variables, and syndromes, providing evidence of a connection between anti-Semitism, fascism and the destructive character in experimental proof of the threat that anti-Semitism poses to democratic civilization. Similar methodology could be developed that would provide an IT-scale and an A-scale for Islamic terrorist tendencies and assimilation potential, respectively.
The questionnaires included questions such as, Jews seem to prefer the most luxurious, extravagant, and sensual way of living; and The Jews should make a sincere effort to rid themselves of their conspicuous and irritating faults if they want to stop being persecuted. To access the level of anti-Semitism, respondents registered three levels of agreement or disagreement to each question. As in previous questionnaires, projective questions such as, What great people, living or dead, do you admire most? were inserted to evaluate respondent personality structures. Clinical case study methods including use of pictures of groups of people were used to evaluate reactions to various types of people and interpersonal relationships. Initially, seventy-seven women students participated in questionnaires ten of whom were evaluated in the clinical tests. These methods were used to reveal the groups concept of the personality which included determining modes of behavior and conscious convictions, deep-seated, often unconscious, tendencies influencing behavior and convictions, and overt and covert anti-Semitism.
According to Wiggershaus, one result of this research was A Scale for the Measurement of Anti-Semitism. The research also revealed two distinct modes of antisemitism. Affluent Jews, bankers, brokers, and merchants, etc., were viewed as oppressors by middle and lower class non-Jews who saw them as the immediate cause of their misery. Middle class Jews who usually embraced individual achievement while maintaining Jewish ethical and religious values — such as learning, intellectual achievement, social betterment, and things of the spirit contrary to the social behavior customary to their social setting were viewed as non-conformists and also experienced anti-Semitism.
The methodologies and questions exist to determine whether an individual is hiding their ties to radical Islamic terrorism and would support the Constitution of the United States over preference for Islamic enclaves governed under Sharia Law. This process would be extreme vetting. Psychologist and sociologist have developed questionnaires and interview methods that identify conscience and unconscious personality and cultural characteristics associated with what Fromm called the sado-masochistic character type which appears to be consistent with the personality type of radical Islamic terrorists. They developed a scale to measure antisemitism indicating that a scale to can be developed measure conscience and unconscious tendencies and attitudes necessary for an individual to become a terrorist. Similarly, a scale like the Fascism Scale can be developed to measure psychological dimensions, variables, and syndromes to evaluate a potential conscience and unconscious connections between radical Islamic terrorism and Islam. For conversational, individual, and group interviews, undercover intelligence officers and Special Forces operatives have the training and experience to blend into subject groups and conduct casual and non-threatening interviews necessary for effective extreme vetting. In my opinion, an effective system of extreme vetting could be implemented in a relatively short period of time. Such a system would provide far more confidence among We the People regarding immigration of people from areas known to produce radical Islamic terrorists.
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Capitalism’s globalism contradiction centers on cost savings in emerging markets.
Capitalism’s globalism contradiction centers on Executive’s and Board of Director’s obligation to maximize profits and their obligation to their employees, their communities, and the nations of their origin. Failure to consider the implications of this contradiction provides the left with a powerful criticism against capitalism. In the United States, this contradiction is exacerbated by our high labor costs and benefits, safety regulations, environmental regulations including environmental impact assessments that increase both the costs and time required to open a facility or project, financial system regulations, land use and zoning regulations, and past high corporate taxes. The relationship between profit and societal obligation is only one component of capitalism’s globalism contradiction.
Another aspect of capitalism’s globalism contradiction is the incredible economic success of western civilization, especially in the United States, since the start of the industrial revolution. Until the 1960’s or 1970’s, globalization was not a significant issue in relation to competition and market share for corporations in the western world. Consequently, costs associated with land, labor, and capital were comparatively inconsequential strategic considerations compared to today’s markets. Costs of doing business were evaluated only in relation to competition in the United States and other western industrial powers. For example, the big three US auto makers competed among themselves for US market share and labor. Labor union contracts for wages, benefits, and working conditions that often precluded effective discipline and quality control were virtually identical throughout the US auto industry. The result was high industry wide wages, benefits, and job security. As countries like China, South Korea, India, other Eastern Pacific rim countries, and parts of the old Soviet Union emerged as competing centers of industry, the cost of land, labor, and capital became a competitive liability for western industry.
Finally, North American and European capitalists are harnessed to strongly unionized labor forces unwilling to negotiate lower, more globally competitive wage, benefit, and work condition packages which could have slowed reductions in US manufacturing and plant closures. This issue is complicated by the success of western capitalism causing high costs of living and the expectation of high disposable income to finance the good life. These two factors make efforts to make our labor costs more competitive in the global market difficult. Western capitalism’s success also amplifies capitalism’s globalism contradiction when faced with emerging markets for our products and competition with our products throughout the world.
Capitalism’s globalism contradiction is profit versus support of the labor force that makes their products or provides their services and loyalty to the communities and countries of their origin. Interestingly, it is also the left’s globalism contradiction, maintaining wealth for our workers while redistributing wealth to developing country industries and workers.
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It is my opinion that Democrats support the Constitution only when the Constitution or the Federal Courts decisions support and provide an advantage in promoting their agenda. Democrats rarely defend the actual words of the Constitution, as defined when it was written, the “original intent” or “manifest tenor” since they believe that the Constitution should reflect current mores of our society. In other words, the Democrat Party and the left are at best Constitutional pragmatists. President Obama clearly demonstrated that he did not support and defend the Constitution when he repeatedly used Executive Orders to by-pass the Legislative Branch because he was unable to get his agenda items passed by congress. Many of his orders were deemed unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court proving his failure to support the Constitution.
Democrats support for the peaceful transfer of Constitutional power was weak at the Inauguration of President Trump.
The 30% of the Democrat members of the House of Representatives who did not attend the Inauguration of Donald Trump also demonstrate, by their behavior, that they do not support or defend the Constitution. Actions speak louder than words. Each Inauguration where the new President comes from a different political party is a peaceful, Constitutional transfer of power. Failure to attend the Inauguration demonstrates that these Democrat Representatives do not support the provisions of the Constitution that provide for this peaceful transfer of power. Each Inauguration is a celebration of our Constitution not a celebration of the next President. Inauguration attendance demonstrates whether or not these Democrats support the Constitution and defend the processes set up to ensure the peaceful transfer of power from one political party to the other.
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News narratives stimulate fake news; and opinion reported as fact is fake news.
News narratives stimulate fake news. The fact that news agencies formulate a narrative designed to guide public opinion, including political news, is general knowledge. Accordingly, news stories are selected or rejected to promote or reinforce the “narrative. Conversely, stories that do not support the “narrative are eliminated or buried in the back of the publication, or buried at the end of a report behind other irrelevant information.
The issue is not new. The narrative of the news media concerning the Viet Nam War was changed after the North Viet Nam Army and Viet Con Communist forces launched the Tet Offensive.
In February 1968, in the wake of the Tet Offensive, the respected TV journalist Walter Cronkite, who had been a moderate and balanced observer of the war’s progress, announced that it seemed ‘more certain than ever that the bloody experience of Vietnam is to end in a stalemate.'”
Walter Cronkite down played the fact that the Tet Offensive was repelled by United States and South Vietnamese forces suffering one tenth the casualties of the attackers. Although South Vietnamese forces proved quite capable during the counter offensive and communist forces were severely weakened, the Tet Offensive was characterized as a defeat. To me, this misrepresentation of facts constituted fake news. The news changed the perception of the war and drastically increased anti-war sentiment in the United States. Decades later North Vietnamese generals admitted that they were defeated but understood that they only had to delay long enough for the anti-war sentiment in the United States to end the war politically giving them victory.
In my opinion, Walter Cronkite should have ended his nightly news program saying, That’s the way we choose to portray it month, day, year, instead of saying, That’s the way it was month, day, year. The same is true for most news today.
Fake news has been in the news lately as well. Once a news narrative is posited, fake news is often started on Internet social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, or other Internet News outlets. Unfortunately, traditional standards of Journalism such as source vetting and multiple source conformation, do not apply at many of these sources. Some of these Fake News stories originate with unfriendly foreign governments, like Russia or North Korea, intent on manipulating public opinion in our political process, foreign affairs, socio-economic system, and culture. Fake News has been treated as legitimate news by traditional print and mainstream broadcast news agencies without proper vetting when the fraud fits the Narrative.
Legitimate pols can become fake news, or least a misrepresentation of public opinion, when specific responses fitting the narrative are emphasized because the answers fit the narrative. Pols can also be manipulated by the order and nature of the questions leading respondents to the desired headline opinion that fits the narrative of the news agency involved. In this situation, the headline and first section of the story, or news, reinforces the narrative. Opinions that mitigate or modify the narrative are buried later in the story or left out hoping the public does not go to the complete pols for a more realistic view of the opinions of the entire pol creating fake news through omission.
The 24/7 “news” cycle that evolved with cable television introduced an abundance of editorial style expert analysis, opinion programs, and opinion segments as part of hard news programs. Internet news outlets are also heavily involved in editorial and opinion writing. Some influential bloggers also get involved in news dissemination, analysis, and opinion. These outlets often blur the distinction between news, editorials, and opinion. When the editorial opinion writing and punditry matches the narrative, opinion and expert analysis often turns into headlines and lead stories. This is especially true when the editorials and opinions concern the outcome of elections, the future of the economy, a corporation, how healthcare will change, or what the tax plan will contain, etc. This news is often just hours and pages of viral speculation. In many situations the punditry from one outlet is subsequently debated on another outlet. When opinion is reported as fact, the result is, in reality, fake news.
In my opinion, the majority of news outlets in the United States and the world are dominated by progressives and disseminate news based on the progressive narrative. This narrative opposes Biblical Christianity, the Biblical traditional family, reduction or elimination of influence of Christianity on our culture, personal responsibility and morality, and favors progressive culture, economic principles, and centralized government over Biblical Christianity, capitalistic economic concepts, and limited government.
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Capitalists capitalism’s problem is the result of the behavior of some capitalists throughout history, call them Godless immoral capitalists. The behavior of a few capitalists provides evidence for the need to control the raw nature of man according to Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations. Smith observed that controlling this raw nature is one of the few reasons for government involvement in commerce and industry. Abuse of the labor force was the rule during the much of the Industrial Revolution. These Godless immoral capitalists abused child laborers, working women, and laborers in general who lacked viable employment alternatives. The result was a rapid rise in the labor movement which included Marxists who formed communist and socialist parties throughout the industrialized Western world. Over time, progressives and liberals combined forces with Marxists to form the modern political left.
Evidence for the statement, capitalists capitalism’s problem, in relation to socialism.
The behavior of Godless immoral capitalists is continually cited as evil and prima facie evidence that societies based on Marxist philosophy are better for humanity. Pictures of child laborers fill our textbooks as examples of the evils of capitalism. Factory fires where exits were chained on the outside to prevent laborers from taking unauthorized breaks resulting in extremely high labor casualties are cited as additional examples of the evils of capitalism. Unethical and often illegal business schemes such as Enron and Ponzi schemes like that of Bernie Madoff are also cited as evidence of the evils of capitalism. Unfortunately, in developing Third World countries abusive labor practices still occur.
Consequently, capitalists capitalism’s problem remain a major issue in the debate between capitalism and the Marxist alternatives of the left, socialism, and the progressive and liberal movements. It is interesting that while Godless immoral capitalist’s behavior is highlighted by the left as abuses of capitalism, the behavior the communist regimes of the old Soviet Union, now Russia, North Korea, China, Cuba and Venezuela, among others, are totally ignored by the left in these discussions.
The ratio of the corporate executive compensation to employee compensation within each corporation is an additional issue in which capitalists capitalism’s problem is paramount. Several internet sources indicate that the ratio was approximately 20 to 1 in 1950, 40 to 1 in 1980, 120 to 1 in 2000, and 200 to 1 in 2014. In a very few corporations, the compensation ratio now approaches 500 to 1. To put this in perspective, during the same period of time executive compensation increased 1000% while employee compensation increased only 11%. From the perspective of the left, the compensation differential is most concerning in the industrial manufacturing and service industries. This is especially true in situations involving labor unions or the desire of employees to join the labor movement. The following statement can be found in the online Bloomberg article, CEO Pay 1,795-to-1 Multiple of Wages Skirts U.S. Law:
When CEOs switched from asking the question of ‘how much is enough’ to ‘how much can I get,’ investor capital and executive talent started scrapping like hyenas for every morsel, said Roger Martin, dean of the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, in an interview. ‘It’s not that either hates labor, or wants to crush their lives. They just don’t care.’
The statement, They just don’t care concerning corporate executive’s attitude about the executive to employee compensation ratio seems to qualify as the raw nature of man. Such indifference could also be considered Godless immoral capitalist behavior, a prime example of capitalist capitalism’s problem.
During the formative years of the labor movement, the raw nature of man reared its ugly head in the form of riots resulting in property damage and human suffering. The Communist Party in the US was so deeply involved in the violence of the labor movement that federal law precludes participation in labor leadership by members of the Communist Party. This behavior included violence between competing labor unions for membership. Labor union violence continued past the middle of the 20th century. It is safe to say that Godless immoral behavior is unfortunately endemic to the human condition.
The phrase Godless immoral capitalism was coined for its relationship to our Judeo-Christian heritage. Contrary to popular opinion on the left, religion and morality have been essential in the rise of the United States of America to its position of prominence in the world today. In his Farewell Address to the Nation, the Father of our Country, George Washington, said:
Of all the dispositions and habits, which lead to political prosperity, Religion, and Morality are indispensable supports. “ In vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of Men and Citizens. “ The mere Politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and cherish them. “ A volume could not trace all their connexions with private and public felicity (happiness). “ Let it simply be asked where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths, which are instruments of investigation in Courts of Justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition, that morality can be maintained without religion. “ Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure “ reason and experience both forbid us to expect, that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.
It will be worthy of a free, enlightened, and, at no distant period, a great nation, to give to mankind the magnanimous and too novel example of a People always guided by an exalted justice and benevolence, — Who can doubt that in the course of time and things, the fruits of such a plan would richly repay any temporary advantages, which might be lost by a steady adherence to it? Can it be that Providence has not connected the permanent felicity of a Nation with its virtue? The Experiment, at least, is recommended by every sentiment which ennobles human nature. “ Alas! is it rendered impossible by its vices?…
In my opinion, most of the current societal problems in our nation, including capitalists capitalism’s problem, are the consequence of our abandonment of Washington’s admonition about Religion and Morality.
Does the Judeo-Christian heritage of the Founders and Biblical Christianity substantiate the advice given to the United States of America by the Father of our nation? The Bible does provide numerous scriptures related to the source of wealth and the requirement to treat laborers fairly. Some relevant New International Version Bible scriptures follow:
But remember the Lord your God for it is He who gives you the ability to produce wealth. (Deuteronomy 8:18a).
Do not take advantage of a hired man who is (comparatively) poor and needy. Pay him because he is counting on it. Otherwise you will be guilty of sin (Deuteronomy 24: 14-15).
Honor the Lord with your wealth. (Proverbs 3:9a).
So I will come near to you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and fatherless, but do not fear Me says the Lord Almighty (Malachi 3:5).
Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the Lord. (Jeremiah 17:5).
The worker deserves his wages (Luke 10:7b and 1Timothy 5:18b).
Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation (Romans 4:4).
Now we ask you, brothers, to respect those who work hard among you. (1Thessalonians 5:12).
The Godless immoral capitalist behavior, capitalists capitalism’s problem, previously described, including the corporate executive to labor salary ratios are inconsistent with the advice of George Washington and the cited Scriptures.
In my opinion, many of the Marxist left’s objections to capitalists capitalism’s problem are justified. Prior to the early 1900’s, treatment of the labor force, including women and children, was consistent with what I call Godless immoral capitalism. Similarly, the violent behavior of the labor force as they sought to organize themselves in their effort to secure better wages and benefits and working conditions was equally Godless and immoral. The behavior of both sides in the labor management struggles was the epitome of the raw nature of man. Nevertheless, the capitalistic economy that evolved in the United States developed into the largest and most successful economy in history. Our nation also became the most potent military, political and economic power of the 20th century. In the 21st century, everything from our Judeo-Christian heritage and constitutional capitalistic political economic system is being challenged by the left.
For the last 200 years, the philosophical leadership of the left has worked to gain dominance in virtually every form of communication in the Western world including the United States. The left’s first objective was to marginalize Christianity in society. Second, the left established an educational dictatorship in the entire public education system. Third, the left has learned to use both our United States and State judicial systems, which lack effective checks and balances, to thwart the will of We the People when the left is unable to accomplish their goals through the legislative process. Progressive ideology dominates all forms of the news media, telecommunication entertainment, movie and theater entertainment, and the advertising industry which is filled with subtle social, political, and economic messages. The cinema graphic industry produces works filled with stories of excesses and adverse impacts of capitalism on society and the environment. Millennials are probably the first generation that have been exposed to progressive curricula from preschool to PH.D. and the media generated progressive agenda.
In light of the fact that Bernie Sanders, who calls himself a democratic socialist challenged Hillary Clinton for the Democrat party nomination for president, the philosophically Marxist progressive agenda is gaining wide popularity with younger citizens. In polls, a surprising number of millennials favored socialism over capitalism. For millennials, capitalists capitalism’s problem is ingrained in their psyche. Wealth redistribution through heavy taxation of the œ1% is their answer to all their problems. The wealth of the 1% will pay for their higher education, eliminate their college loans, subsidize their healthcare, save Medicare and Social Security, and save the planet. They see corporate executives secure prescription monopolies for the purpose, in their mind, of securing drastic increases in prescription prices. They look at the rise in the corporate executive compensation to employee compensation ratio, stagnant or falling labor compensation compared to the unprecedented increase in corporate executive compensation; and millennials are revolted. Finally, millennials hear statements regarding the executive compensation to employee salary ratio indicating that these executives no longer ask the question, How much is in enough? but now ask How much can I get? When millennials are told that corporate executives just don’t care, they conclude that capitalists capitalism’s problem is a good reason to reject capitalism as a fair economic system.
No one can actually speak for them; but, based on remarks from his Farewell Address to the Nation, that George Washington and the other Founders as well as their Biblical Christian morality would indicate that capitalists need to make real changes in their behavior. In light of the fact that the Marxist or socialist, progressive, liberal agenda dominates all aspects of culture in the United States, it seems that capitalist leaders should begin evaluating their decisions and behavior in relation to solid moral and ethical standards.
Although it is the fiduciary responsibility of corporate executives to maximize profits for shareholders, it might be appropriate to start asking do our decisions benefit both our stockholders, and equally important do our decisions benefit our employees as efficiently as our executives have benefited from their compensation. This change in attitude toward employee management relationships would provide a positive employment atmosphere and could even have a positive effect on productivity. Asking the question, is this decision moral and ethical could also lead to reductions in potential environmental problems caused by manufacturing, energy production, and reduce land, air, and water pollution. To accommodate this change in approach, corporate boards of directors would also have to allow executives latitude to affect change.
The system of constitutional capitalism that has evolved in the United States since the Revolutionary war has given our nation the most potent political socioeconomic system of governance in history. Unfortunately, conservative and capitalistic institutions have failed to recognize the all-inclusive and pervasive influence of the left in our society. The left is now the dominant force training and evangelizing the youth of the United States of America. The cultural mores and ideology of the left dominate our education system, information system, and economic ideology of our young people.
Donald Trump is not a conservative. Conservatives cannot become complacent simply because he is a Republican. He was a pragmatic, innovative, populist. Capitalists, corporate executives, and conservatives cannot assume that the results of the last several elections, the dramatic shift to Republican office holders, indicates movement towards conservative and Republican principles and ideology in our nation. Polls regarding the attitudes of millennials show a strikingly different philosophical and ideological attitude of the next several generations of voters. Conservatives and Republicans cannot assume that these voters will always be undependable Democrat voters in the future. From the perspective of young voters completely immersed in Marxist and progressive philosophy, capitalists capitalism’s problem is a reality in their mind. The welfare of the middle and lower classes will determine the political socioeconomic future of the United States of America.
A relevant question is, How can conservatives and capitalists change the negative populist perception about capitalism that prevails in the minds of a growing percentage of current and future and young voters in the United States? The answer to that question will determine the future of the United States of America.
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Russian hackers revealed Democrat corruption and disdain for our citizens and the “deplorable class.”
Russian hackers revealed a great deal about the left’s corruption and disdain for our citizens in what Democrats define as the “deplorable class.” WikiLeaks and our own news media, which provided the leaked information to voters, exposed the modus operandi of the left and the Democrat Party. Additionally, the Democrat Party must, if they hope to remain a viable political force, look into its soul and change its behavior to regain the respect of the constituents they lost in the 2016 election.
Be that as it may, the United States must formulate a realistic plan to combat foreign cyber warfare against our citizens, businesses, and government including our political process and elections. Our national government must develop a robust cyber warfare strategy that provides both impenetrable defensive and unstoppable offensive capabilities. The desired result would be cyber peace through cyber strength.
The hacked 2016 election Democrat campaign Emails exposed the corruption and disdain of the leadership of the Democrat Party at the highest levels. The Emails showed that the Democrat Party leadership was going to do everything possible to ensure that Hillary Clinton was the party nominee for the Presidency. The Emails also showed that the party leadership was willing to conspire with the news media to give Hillary Clinton the upper hand during at least one presidential debate since the Clinton campaign was given at least one debate question in advance of the debate. This act also demonstrated the bias corruption and disdain of our news media. Each individual in the United States should be asking whether this behavior was amoral, unethical, unlawful, or anarchistic. We the People must demand better; or we are also complicit by tolerating such behavior.
The last two presidential candidates of the Democrat Party have placed a large part of We the People of the United States into a Basket of Deplorables, as Hillary Clinton described us. President Obama disparaged We the People of the fly over states as people clinging to our guns and Bibles, his characterization of We the People in the left’s Basket of Deplorables. For one claiming to be Christian, his opinion of Biblical Christianity is alarming to this Biblical Christian. Both candidates exhibited their mental corruption and disdain for the political process and We the People.
Finally, the anarchism displayed by the left following the election of Donald Trump to the Presidency of the United States will only serve to solidify Deplorable Class support for him. Their demonstrations which at times turned into riots, their refusal to accept the election results, and their irrational attempts to change votes in the Electoral College show their hypocrisy, corruption and disdain for the Deplorable Class and the Constitution. For those who understand history, the Bolshevik nature of their actions is cause for great concern. The actions of the left show their true motivation and vision for the future of the United States of America.
We are at America’s Crossroad.
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In my opinion, the left, Marxists, communists, and progressives of the world were not fighting the same Cold War that the United States and our allies were fighting. For the left, the strategic “Cold War”is a philosophical ideological “Cold War.” With this thought and the recent death of Fidel Castro in mind, it seems an appropriate time to consider the place of Fidel Castro, in the world and the nature of the Cold War. After his revolutionaries defeated the Cuban dictator Batista, Castro openly embraced communism. He nationalized the economy of Cuba and sought support from the communist regime in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), the Old Soviet Union, today’s Russia. He brutally eliminated political opposition. With the support of the Soviet Union, Cuba became the center for communist revolutionary expansion into several countries in Latin America. Probably the most notable was Venezuela. The communist dictator of Venezuela nationalized the country’s oil industries which had been developed by North American and European petroleum companies. Cuba allowed the Soviet Union to position nuclear missiles on the island nearly bringing the world to a nuclear disaster before the missiles were removed from Cuba. The fall of the USSR effectively ended Soviet financial support of the Castro regime, and greatly reduced Cuba’s influence in the western hemisphere. From this perspective, Fidel Castro was a central figure in the Cold War in the Americas.
To me, the Cold War was a geopolitical, economic, militaristic contest between the United States and the USSR, the two dominant nuclear powers of the world at the time. These two powers competed to bring allies into their spear of influence throughout the world. The Cold War ended when the United States and our allies were victorious after fall of the USSR. Dismantling the USSR in non-Russian Eastern Europe completed the process. Although the USSR was a totalitarian communist regime, it was not the only totalitarian communist regime in the world. China, North Korea, Vietnam, the communist regimes of the Eastern European Soviet bloc, Cuba, Venezuela and several other countries in Latin America were also totalitarian communist regimes. Without the support of the USSR, Eastern European countries overthrew their communist governments embracing various forms of democracy.
During the height of the Cold War, Nikita Khrushchev, leader of the USSR said, communism will outlast capitalism, not We will bury you!”
However, several powerful totalitarian communism regimes still exist in Asia and Latin America and communist revolutionaries still battle to control countries in some parts of the world. It seems appropriate to ask a question. Did we actually win the Cold War? We certainly did not eliminate totalitarian communist regimes and revolutionaries as a threat and influence in the world. Perhaps a more important question to ask is this. Did we understand the nature of the Cold War from the strategic perspective of our Marxists, communist enemies. In a 1960’s speech at the United Nations, Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev used a phrase that was translated We will bury you!” A better translation of the phrase is, communism will outlast capitalism. From the standpoint of Marxist philosophy expressed in The Communist Manifesto, Khrushchev’s phrase provides a simple strategic description of the goal of communism or Marxism for the world. Khrushchev was not speaking of a geopolitical, economic, militaristic contest, he was speaking of an evolutionary paced contest of philosophy and ideology, Marxism versus capitalism. Given the attitude of millennials in the United States toward Marxist ideas underpinning communism, socialism, progressivism, and liberalism, or the brutality of totalitarian communist regimes, and their lack of understanding of capitalism and this nation’s Judeo-Christian heritage, we should ask this question. Was Nikita Khrushchev correct when he said, Communism will outlast capitalism?
In my opinion, the Marxist of the socialist, progressive, liberal movement certainly out foxed the conservative capitalistic thinkers of the United States and the world. One of the principal objectives of America’s Crossroads is an informative discussion of the goals and tactics of the left as they seek to convert capitalistic societies, especially the United States, into Marxist societies. Pragmatists of the left have been formulating and slowly teaching and implementing their ideas since the early 1800’s.
When considering the question,is Marxist philosophy the basis for leftist ideology, it is important to understand that Marxist philosophy has been largely integrated into the modern social sciences. Ideas like wealth redistribution, progressive taxation, curtailing or eliminating inheritance rights, diminishing the influence of Biblical Christianity, eliminating or degrading the Biblical family among other topics are all concepts now embedded in liberal arts and social science curricula at all stages of our education system. Competition, individualism, self-confidence, personal responsibility, and strong moral and ethical values are critical elements to successful capitalistic societies. The Biblical Christian church and family are institutions where these values are taught and modeled for children by church leaders and parents. The role of the individual in Biblical Christian culture and Marxist or progressive culture is antithetical in nature. Before a society like the United States with a strong Judeo-Christian heritage and capitalist economy can be converted to society based on Marxist philosophy, the population has to embrace Marxism. To accomplish this goal, the left has achieved an educational dictatorshipwhere their ideas are taught in virtually all the liberal arts and social science curricula throughout the educational system. Marxist progressives have accomplished many of their objectives toward globalism in both domestic and foreign policy in the United States.
Finally, it is my opinion that the left has even managed to integrate its philosophy into jurisprudence in the United States. In the last quarter of the nineteenth century, legal progressives slowly started to substitute case law and the opinion of judges about the Constitution for the manifest tenor and original intent of the Constitution. Chief Justice John Marshall’s opinion in Marbury versus Madison was critical to this evolution in jurisprudence. Consequently, this shift in the Supreme Court’s attitude towards the Constitution exposed a flaw in our Constitution. There are no meaningful constitutional checks or balances on the decisions of the federal judiciary. Marxists and progressives on the left have succeeded in using this flaw to enact laws and regulations that could not be instituted through the legislative process.
Since the people of the United States of America have failed to understand the Cold War from the perspective of the Marxist or the socialists, progressives, and liberals, We the People are close to losing the real Cold War, the philosophical battle between communism or Marxist philosophy and capitalism. The extremely important philosophical or ideological “cold war” is not over; and, in my opinion, capitalism and conservative Judeo-Christianity is losing.
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The progressive globalism contradiction is global wealth redistribution from US laborers to foreign laborers.
The goal of global wealth redistribution, globalism, is contradictory to the progressive goal of wealth redistribution within industrialized capitalistic countries. From the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, progressives struggled to increase the wages of the lower and middle classes, the primary work force. Activists on the left called themselves communists, socialists, progressives, and liberals depending on which term was more acceptable to society at large at the time and location involved in the world. These activists were essential to the success of the labor movement in Western Europe and North America. As a result, the wages and benefits of Western workers became the envy of the rest of the world. The contradiction, for progressives, is the fact that Western wages and benefits have resulted in comparatively high disposable income and standard of living in the industrialized Western world. For globalism, global wealth redistribution, to succeed, workers in industrialized countries must expect wage and benefit stagnation at best or decreases in their standard of living through reduced disposable income. In other words, the left gives and the left takes away, the left’s globalism contradiction.
As industrialization expanded to other regions of the world, specifically the Asian-Pacific rim countries and China, global competition also increased. Initially, lower wages and benefits in these regions allowed Asian automakers, consumer product producers, as well as Chinese steel and other consumer good producers to compete effectively in Western European and North American markets. Additionally, the fall of the old Soviet Union brought capitalistic enterprise and increased industrialization to Russia and Eastern Europe which allowed additional low-cost consumer goods to enter Western markets. The result was that Western manufacturers faced competition from newly industrialized areas where wages and benefits were lower than those in the United States and other Western countries. In the United States, our manufacturing plants, steel and special metal mills, textile mills, and consumer product manufacturing plants were old and outdated. The cost of updating these facilities as well as the time required for licensing and construction and the high cost of construction labor made new manufacturing plants even more time consuming and costly to bring on line. The time and expense of environmental impact and economic assessments adds significantly to the time required and the expense of constructing new modern manufacturing facilities.
Faced with low cost competition and the rapidly expanding global market, the globalism contradiction forced corporations to make decisions regarding manufacturing plant locations. The result was plant closures in the industrialized parts of the United States and new plant construction around the world to replace facilities closed in the US. These decisions have adversely affected the number of manufacturing jobs available, wages, and benefits in western countries like the United States. As a result, middle and lower working class wages and benefits have been at best stagnant or declining for at least two decades.
The final globalism contradiction is related to free trade agreements like NAFTA and TPP. When these agreements result in excessive trade deficits for the United States, they are effectively global wealth redistribution. This fact is contradictory to conservative ideology. Although US consumers purchase goods at a lower price, the value of the good paying jobs we lose in the exchange is roughly equivalent to the value of the trade deficit. The free trade competition results in lower cost consumer goods, but we lose good paying manufacturing jobs due to the high costs associated with US manufacturing. From the perspective of the left, opening factories in developing countries is great. Capital is redistributed from developed industrialized countries to underdeveloped Third World countries creating good paying jobs, more disposable income, and increased standard of living, global wealth redistribution. Of course, leaders and planners on the left do not discuss the sacrifices this global wealth redistribution inflicts on the middle and lower class workers of the more advanced industrialized countries. They stress that the top 1% are not paying their fair share of the costs they inflict on our workers. The question is, are workers in the United States satisfied with the answers provided by the Left?
On his last overseas trip, President Obama indicated that globalism has not leveled the world playing field as quickly as he had hoped. The 2016 election demonstrated that workers in the United States are not interested in sacrificing their standard of living to advance global income redistribution. It was the progressive globalism contradiction, stagnant or declining wages and employment in the United States, that cost progressives the Presidency in the 2016 election. This debate will be critical for the future of our country. This issue among others at this point in time and our history places us at America’s Crossroad.
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To understand progressive domestic policy it is necessary to understand that globalism is wealth redistribution. The critical concept of globalism is the statement by Marx, From each according to his ability to each according to his need wealth redistribution will occur on a global scale. To prepare people in successful, industrialized, capitalistic countries like the United States for a totally globalized economy, several precursors are necessary. Changing the minds of the citizenry to accept global wealth redistribution is probably the most difficult, but essential, step. To accomplish this goal, an educational dictatorship has been established by progressives. The second step is the left’s domestic policy. The third step is the lefts foreign and immigration policy. These three prerequisites are discussed in detail at the links provided. A great deal of progress must be made in these three areas before the final stages of global wealth redistribution can be accomplished. The left plans and thinks in evolutionary time frames. They have worked toward their goal of complete globalism, wealth redistribution, since at least the early 1800’s.
For progressive domestic policy and globalism to succeed, it is necessary to understand that both require wealth redistribution.
Some of the tactics of the left in this process are virtually invisible especially in the developed countries. From the perspective of individuals and families, the greatest difference between the people of advanced countries and Third World countries is disposable income. In my opinion, disposable income is income available beyond basic survival needs. Basic survival is simply food to maintain population vigor and vitality or a strong, healthy, and reproductive society. Safe water to drink and the ability to survive extreme heat or cold which requires adequate shelter are also basic survival necessities. The ability to stave off severe epidemics and diseases is also a basic necessity for life. Virtually everything beyond these survival necessities constitutes disposable income. Meeting these needs constitutes the fixed costs of life at the survival level. The more income a population has to secure amenities above these survival needs, the greater their disposable income.
The left has numerous resources and tools available for their closure of the disposable income gap between advanced capitalistic countries and Third World countries. Incremental increases affecting regulatory policies that increase production costs and higher taxes on fixed cost products and services like food, shelter, water, and healthcare are stealthy methods of reducing disposable income in advanced countries. In addition, taxes and regulations that increase costs of unnecessary necessities, such as advanced transportation systems, entertainment, recreation, and technology related to the basics of the good life decrease disposable income available for these necessities in industrialized Western cultures.
Similarly, excessively high business income and property taxes as well as business and financial institution regulations reduce available capital for business expansion. One of the most detrimental regulations has been Obamacare which mandates employee health insurance coverage for all businesses with 50 or more employees. This regulation stifles business growth and profitability. Small businesses either restrict growth to less than 50 employees or increase their prices to cover increased costs. Banking and financial regulations such as increased cash reserve requirements for banks reduce the supply of capital for business improvements or expansion. Financial regulations also cause a reduction in the number of local banks further reducing the supply of capital available to many small businesses. These actions result in lower product and service supplies resulting in increased costs. Until the current administration reduced regulations and taxes, these costs caused corporations to move their headquarters or factories overseas to reduce overhead costs. Loss of productive capacity also increased costs. When taxes and regulations increase, the resulting cost increases are added to fixed costs related to the real or perceived necessities for life, thus reducing disposable income in developed countries.
Possibly the most powerful tool in the progressive stealth toolbox is global environmentalism. In the United States, the environmental movement has been supported by both Democrat and Republican administrations. Republican support shows that they support reasonable efforts to maintain safe water, clean air, and stable ecosystems. Republicans, however, do not support regulations that have adverse effects on the quality of life of our citizens by increasing fixed costs of living. One of the strongest proponents of environmentalism has been the United States federal court system. Our federal courts usually side with environmentalists. Often, these court decisions have the effect of decreasing supplies of lumber products, agricultural production, other renewable natural resources, and nonrenewable natural resources, both petroleum and mineral extraction. Environmentalists also work actively to reduce planned, and in the not too distant future, eliminate existing hydroelectric and irrigation dam projects. Many existing Hydro projects are facing their fifty-year environmental impact reviews in the near future. In all these critical areas of our fixed consumer economy, the result is a decrease in disposable income as fixed costs of the basic necessities of life increase. Environmental regulations associated with global warming have the same impact. They increase the fixed costs of both real and perceived necessities for life. Costs of heating, cooling, energy production, manufacturing, and transportation and sales of consumer goods, constitute increases in fixed costs in industrialized societies.
From the left’s perspective, the stealthy beauty of the entire environmental toolbox is the fact that saving minnows, spotted owls, or rare lizards, sounds so progressively wonderful and feels so good to a large portion of the populace, the urban dwellers. The impact on their disposable income and quality of life is irrelevant to them. After all, they already have enough, until they start losing too much of what they currently have.
In the United States, middle class voters in the northeastern industrialized states who experienced stagnant wages and rising fixed costs for a decade voted for change. They voted against the status quo and declining disposable income because they started experiencing the reality of global wealth redistribution on their quality of life.
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