"Just How Secure is Social Security?"

Subject: Interesting Facts About Your Social Security

Just in case some of you didn't know this.  It's easy to check out.  It doesn't matter whether you are Democrat or Republican.

Interesting Facts:

Social Security Cards, up until the 1980s, expressly stated that the number and card were not to be used for identification purposes. Since nearly everyone in the United States now has a number, it became convenient to use it anyway and the message, NOT FOR IDENTIFICATION, was removed.

Our Social Security:

Franklin Roosevelt, a Democrat, introduced the Social Security (FICA) Program. He promised:

1.) That participation in the Program would be completely voluntary.  It is no longer voluntary.

2.) That the participants would only have to pay 1% of the first $1,400 of their annual incomes into the Program. Now the amount is 7.65% on the first $90,000

3.) That the money the participants elected to put into the Program would be deductible from their income for tax purposes each year. It is no longer tax deductible

4.) That the money the participants put into the independent 'Trust Fund' rather than into the general operating fund would only be used to fund the Social Security Retirement Program, and no other Government program. Under Lyndon B. Johnson the money was moved to The General Fund and Spent.

5.) That the annuity payments to the retirees would never be taxed as income. Under Clinton and Gore up to 85% of your Social Security can be taxed.

6.) Since many of us have paid into FICA for years and are now receiving a Social Security check every month we now find that we are getting taxed on 85% of what has been paid into the fund.

The money we paid to the Federal government to 'put away' may be of interest:

Q: Which Political Party took Social Security from the independent 'Trust Fund' and put it into the general fund so that Congress could spend it?
A: It was Lyndon Johnson and the Democratically controlled House and Senate.

Q: Which Political Party eliminated the income tax deduction for Social Security (FICA) withholding?
A: The Democratic Party.

Q: Which Political Party started taxing Social Security annuities?
A: The Democratic Party, with Al Gore casting the 'tie-breaking' deciding vote as President of the Senate, while he was Vice President of the US

Q: Which Political Party decided to start giving annuity payments to immigrants?
A: Jimmy Carter and the Democratic Party. Immigrants moved into this country, and at age 65, began to receive Social Security payments. The Democratic Party gave these payments to them, even though they never paid a dime into the program.

Then, after violating the original contract (FICA), the Democrats turn around and tell you it is the Republicans that want to take your Social Security.  Although I still think that is the game plan, I believe it is predicated on the premise that the Republicans want to avoid having to pay back the liability that was created by violating the "trust" and using the funds for purposes other than what was originally intended when the Social Security Program was established.  To allege that Social Security is totally funded seems a bit of a stretch.  Rather, the government has an outstanding liability to the Social Security Fund that will be required in order to restore integrity to the fund.  This only confirms that both major political parties feed from the same troughs of corruption and big money. A crook by any other name is still a crook.

A solemn trust should be treated for what it is --- an inviolate commitment between the government and the people that can only be changed by approval from the voters.

Nowhere will you find the Social Security Act labeled as a “Presidential, Congressional or Political Slush Fund”.

I still operate under the belief that a “democracy,” is a system of government “of the people, by the people and for the people,” where the actions of the elected must be approved by the electorate, regardless of their political persuasion. Did I miss something?  Truth and responsibility should be applied equally, not selectively. 

Cowboy Bob
The Sagebrush Philosopher
September 18, 2012

“We Are Beyond Procrastination; If Not Now, When?”

The lights have been extinguished. The bunting has been taken down. The emptiness of space echoes hollow. The lofty speeches and inspirational rhetoric have fallen silent. All has been consigned to the ages, eventually to become faded memories and, ultimately, forgotten. The political conventions in Tampa and Charlotte are nothing but historical events in the vast labyrinths of time. It is now up to us to make something meaningful, lasting and good from the promises embodied in the endless exhortations, all of dubious sincerity and of questionable value to a nation of people, gripped by a pervasive fear of the unknown, and a feeling of helplessness to do much about it. Never, in the history of this nation, have we been so devoid of a moral compass to guide us, one that will ensure that each among us will be accorded their just dues as members of this republic. We are gripped with a pervasive greed and corruption on a scale never witnessed since the days of the Great Robber Barons. Never have we had cause to be totally suspect and fearful of the motives of those who, ostensibly, were elected to serve us.

Our two major political parties are completely compromised. They serve not us, but the most evil and avaricious among us. Every conceivable manifestation of the worst traits of mankind is evident in our everyday lives. We are without leadership and statesmanship to guide the ship of state and get us back on course. Right is dismissed as the folly of those who naively believe in the best about us. Wrong is blithely accepted as just a part of our everyday lives. Within our complacency lie the seeds of our ultimate demise. Those who perpetrate the transgressions against the people are never identified and held to account for their egregious and despicable conduct against us and all we stand for. The fox is guarding the chicken house and telling us, the victims, what and how much will be tolerated by the systems they deem appropriate for our common welfare.

The system is rigged against us. Every facet of our lives works, not for us, but against us. Every institution and branch of government summarily ignores the common welfare and plunges headlong into everything that will serve their interests at the expense of the common good. And they get away with it! Those who call them out on what they do to us, rather than for us, are identified within the system as the enemy of the people. The forces of what were put in place to protect us are now aligned against us. Those of us who dare to insist on what is right are demonized and cast as enemies of the people. The sophisticated instruments of surveillance are aligned against those who dare to speak out and peacefully demonstrate against a system that is there to serve those who have anything but our best interests in mind. The most basic of our rights as citizens of this country; the right to vote, is literally being stolen from us lest we use that right in an effort to bring order and our democracy back into line with what was intended by the Founding Fathers. The jury is still out as to how successful they are likely to be.

I have written exhaustively about the lack of leadership in our system of government. All of that information is there among my previous writings for the interested reader to explore and draw his own conclusions. It would be redundant for me to attempt to recapitulate the extent to which we have been betrayed by both of the major political parties and those who profess to serve those of us who elected them to office.

The Republicans are hell bent on pillaging and plundering our entire political, social and economic systems for the benefit of the super rich at the expense of those who work for a living. They have perverted our system of government, and the social and economic systems that were once there to ensure opportunities for everyone to share equally in the prosperity and opportunities of this great nation. All they claim for the general welfare of everyone, at the end of the day, simply ends up in coffers to feed their insatiable appetite for more and more, but less and less for those who labor in their service. They have laid claim to a divine right that intends for them to enjoy a life of luxury and plenty, based on all they have stolen from the mouths of those who hunger for an honest portion of our national treasures. The price they exact for their service to those who own and feed the system is serving as their minions against those of lesser means who rely on a system of justice and fairness. They mock human decency.

Democrats, who were once seen as the champions of the average and the working people of this country, now depend on the same largesse as their Republican cousins. They, too, must rely on returning favors to the rich and powerful in exchange for their own political, economic and social survival. They, too, have become masters at the art of deceit, seducing us into believing they stand for something more noble and altruistic on our behalf. They share a place at the troughs of corruption and greed with their kindred spirits from the loyal opposition. Both profits handsomely from those they profess to serve and from whom they exact more in order to fuel the engines of their ambitions.

The tools of deception and manipulation are shared by both political parties. Both have become masters at leading us to believe they are there to serve us. Neither is credible.

Wyoming folk wisdom used to say, “A man is only as good as his word.” That should serve as a cardinal lesson for President Barack Obama. I would ask you, how many of those who claim their place in the service of this country and the people who put them in office have measured up to that standard? How many people have been held to account for their part in illegal wars? How many of those people have been held to account for the part they played in gaming our system of finance and banking for their own personal gain? How many promises made by our leadership have resulted in criminal charges and indictments for their conduct as public servants?

Name me just one. They have managed to define the rules by which they will play and our government has dutifully complied, thereby enabling every last one of them to get off Scott free as they gamble with our wealth and plunder the national treasury. Who among those elected to public office have served as their loyal enablers while they engage in outright fraud against the people and the nation they are sworn to serve?

Credibility is defined as “when one’s actions are consistent with his words.” How many of the myriad prominent and influential servants of the people could actually pass the smell test?

This country is on the brink of catastrophes unthinkable in our recent past. We are facing the ominous consequences of global warming. We are facing the prospect of widespread famine and a life of scarcity. We are facing the growing consequences of outsourcing the engines of our economy through unfavorable trade agreements and currency manipulation. We are starving our national treasury of the resources necessary to meet the challenges of an ominous future because of our inability to see through and beyond the grand deception of what the super rich claim to be rightfully theirs. We are depleting the tax revenues necessary to ensure the viability of the social network required to take care of the needs of the common people of this country. We are feeding a military apparatus that is totally out of control by buying into the ever-present notion that there is a real threat to our national security behind every tree. The military/industrial complex is siphoning off resources that could be better used to alleviate the real human suffering among our own, rather than the bogey man about to consume us all.

I don’t see much hope for things to get appreciably better after this next election. The two-party system is pretty well insulated from any real consequences for their behavior against those of us who have supported them in the past. Because I see the Republicans as the worst of the alternatives, I will vote for the least of the alternatives among the Democratic Party and hope for the best.

However, folks, we simply cannot rest on our laurels after the polls close in November. We have to join ranks and work to completely purge our government and all that is subsumed under that label of the massive corruption that has such a stranglehold on our society and our country. The two major political parties have not served us well. It is imperative that we take stock of the alternatives and work together, shoulder to shoulder, to clean up the corruption and restore confidence in the system that is there for all of us, not just a select few.

We need to seek out an effective way to take stock of all that is wrong with the way we do business, as a nation, and what means we have at our disposal to clean up the mess that impedes our ability to do a better job of governing. There are great minds out there we can look to who would be honored to be a part of such an effort. Those first to be excluded from a part in any such effort are those who may be seen as “sages” from the past in government service. They are flawed merchandise. We need a fresh perspective with a sincere desire to do what it takes to restore trust and confidence in our government.

Whatever is done must be grounded in the Constitution and only bona fide changes to the documents that created this democracy could be regarded as legitimate. The goal should be to improve what they put in place and to which we have subscribed for over 200 years.

What we do know, at the outset, is that the system is badly broken and is being exploited by those who would seek to radically change the intent of what they created. What we do know, however, is that Lady Liberty needs a tune-up and that can only be accomplished by credible individuals with the knowledge and the dedication to restore confidence and trust in what they created.

Every aspect of what is now subsumed under the mantle of our Federal Government should be subject to meticulous scrutiny that would ferret out conflicts of interest to what was originally created. That should include the institutions we have in place, the intent in creating them, how they function and the efficacy with which they have been used to govern this country, with an eye to making whatever changes would legitimately restore confidence in government. The House, the Senate, the Executive Branch, the Supreme Court, the Federal Reserve System, the entire Military Organization and all other “services,” and agencies that have been created up to the present time.

Paramount to such an endeavor should be (a) to get money out of politics, (b) to re-establish a completely independent press, free of ownership or control by any outside influence and whose sole purpose would be to “serve as the watchdog on government in the service of the American people and (c) to reinforce the role of the Supreme Court to that of judicial review and intent, totally free of any attempt to invoke political considerations or personal bias on the part of the justices, and (d) to forever break the stranglehold of the two-party system of government. In my view, the number of justices serving on the court should be increased in order to prevent the egregious performance we have seen with the current 5 to 4 majority rule. It might even be worth reconsidering the process and term limits whereby justices serve on the court.

I would begin by bringing together the leadership of the Green Party, Rocky Anderson of the Justice Party, and Buddy Roemer who recently tried in vain to launch a new political party leading into the coming election. From that forum, I would seek out the great contemporary minds who have proven to be genuine statesmen and stateswomen, above politics and vested self-interests. Some of the greatest minds in our history are with us today, particularly in constitutional law, economics, international relations, journalism, and other tangential disciplines that could and should be part of any such undertaking.

That group should create the method by which a diagnosis of the state of Lady Liberty is determined, and what methods and options should be explored in order to return her to the revered place she once held as a beacon to all of us in our efforts to create what was envisioned as the greatest form of democracy in the world. From the diagnosis should flow the plan of action to restore her health. That the patient is not yet terminal, albeit rather close, is cause for hope.

At some point we have to acknowledge that the evolution of our system of government has not necessarily been the best we could do. Values and behavior that was once considered reprehensible is now commonplace. Just because we have been complacent and less than rigorous on insisting that we preserve the integrity of our system of government does not excuse the fact that what we have today is far from what this country deserves. It is not to say, either, that any such endeavor will be anything but arduous and will require the highest standards of personal and professional integrity. At some point we have to collectively say “enough is enough.” We either fix it, not only for ourselves, but for future generations to whom we have a solemn obligation or we all go down with the ship. No amount of sugar-coating will change the severity of what we face. Time is not on our side. That is an inescapable fact of life, and no amount of wishing or selfish interests can change what we face. That greed is an insatiable appetite is an established fact. If we can’t stop it, then we must cut the head off the hydra and defer to the intellectuals and scientific minds that have it within their power to look beyond today and see a better future.

I took a shot at this subject and published a blog on December 24, 2010 titled “A New Federalist Party.” It isn’t a bad piece of work.

Lastly, I have been pondering how we like to think of ourselves as “One nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all.” If we are, indeed, one people, why do we persist in defining ourselves as subspecies of “Americans?” Why do we have African Americans, Mexican Americans, Cuban Americans, Latin Americans, and every other color and stripe of American, each with his own agenda of what their particular subgroup wants from the system? I cannot help but wonder how the “Native Americans” must feel amidst all these classifications, given that the United States Indian Service historically consigned them to the poorest real estate on the continent, classified them as savages and rarely, if ever mentions them as a part of the human race? We all share some responsibility for relegating them to the status of “America’s most forgotten people.” If we honestly seek to become one people, then why can’t we start working together toward a common future that will accrue to the benefit of us all?  

Cowboy Bob
The Sagebrush Philosopher
September 13, 2012

"Is This Class Warfare?"

Well, the recent announcement of Paul Ryan as Mitt Romney’s running mate should come as no surprise to political minds that are the least bit savvy. They are a good fit. Theological scholars dismiss any pretense of a religion that is the hallmark of Romney’s system of beliefs. Ryan, on the other hand, holds out his professed membership in one of the oldest Christian religions as proof that he is a true believer that only wants what “God” has deemed to be in the best interests of the American people. For anyone who actually believes either or both of these religious demagogues and their zealous followers, I have a slightly used bridge for sale -- at a bargain price.

Any astute person need not labor for long to identify the fallacy of what this particular brand of politics is likely to visit on the people of this country, already trampled into the ground by the sheer evil of those seeking to pound the last nails into the coffin of what is left of our fragile democracy – a government of the people, by the people and for the people. Yeah. Tell me another one. Given all that this sinister movement peddles, I ask you, where are the “people” in this equation? As I view the total economic and social devastation of the last forty years, I see only a wasteland of what used to be the finest and best about us.

If one will take the time to look back in history, the genesis of this plague that is upon the land will become glaringly apparent. Every fascist totalitarian system of government has emerged promising utopia for the society upon which it is built. They articulate a new and better order for the masses. They garner the popular support of the very ones they end up persecuting. The “new order” has no problem readily solidifying the support from those of wealth and privilege. They have no problem gaining the support of the zealots who, in one twisted form or another, believe they have a favored position with their divine creator. They preach “God” and practice a demagoguery that blames the disenfranchised for every ill which they claim has created the havoc from which their concept of society suffers. They are the ones who have no trouble brutalizing the least among them, who persecute them, who incarcerate them, who exile them and, yes, in some instances execute them. History shows that this is all done within the context of creating a more perfect society. It is utterly incredulous that any sane mind could possibly comprehend, and any civilized soul would not reject out of hand.

It all begins with a radical and simplistic ideology, from which emerges a charismatic leader who articulates a belief system that convinces a broad base of the population, motivated by greed and power, that he is the personification of all that will make life infinitely better and more perfect for all true believers. He will rout out the dead beats that are nothing more than parasites on those who have worked and sacrificed to make their world a better place. Mob rule sets in and feeds the mission. The rich and powerful join the movement. The military establishment aligns itself with the movement against those who are the objects of its disdain. The religious dimension has no trouble believing that God talks only to them and champions their efforts to cleanse society of those who have not seen the light, and are the thankless takers from good and virtuous people. They are the ones who have had to support and subsidize the indolent and marginal producers in their otherwise perfect world.

From this wellspring of self-proclaimed superiority and its attendant malice comes the simplistic and absolute concept of a perfect world that fuels the fires of their self-proclaimed system that ultimately becomes a cause. Knowledge and reason become their sworn enemies. Discourse is soon reduced to slogans. From all this comes such paragons of virtue and enlightenment as Dick Cheney, the Neocons, Herbert Norquist, Mitch McConnell, John Boehner, Eric Cantor, Rush Limbaugh, Fox News, the Tea Party, the Fundamentalists, and all those who suffer from varying degrees of calcified cranial tissue that makes them want to plunder and destroy out of sheer ignorance and an insatiable greed. They are the disciples of Ayn Rand, and the others who see only what they want to see, believe only what they want to believe, rather than what knowledge might otherwise dispel. They are the epitome of a self-imposed ignorance fueled by an ingrained hatred that only seems to make them more embittered.

This is the stuff of Wall Street, Corporate America, opponents of science, destroyers of the environment and those who know no limits to their plunder of Planet Earth. Among them are those who comprise organized efforts such as the Chamber of Commerce of the United States, who buy and sell our entire political establishment, those who pander to the purveyors of all that goes into a bloated military establishment for which there is no rational basis and from which there is no escape. These are the ones who operate in the shadows, have conceived of and spawned an intelligence and security apparatus that is shrouded in secrecy and drains billions of dollars from our economy, based on an insidious fear that, in most instances, can only be asserted, not proven. Their ability to fan the fires of fear gives them the power to solidify their position in the “new order.” This has given us a plethora of agencies, the most prominent being the Department of Homeland Security which has become such a behemoth that it seems to have a life all its own. All this comes at tremendous cost to our economy and the social fabric that might well better serve the common good.

When did all the virtues that made us a good and decent people and that gave us a sense of trust and respect for one another die? When did it become acceptable to engage in every conceivable method of deception and manipulation in order to feed the rapacious appetite of our basest instincts and glutinous greed? When did those practices become the norm in every branch of government, in the world of banking and finance, in the boardrooms of corporations, and in every other institution that was once the bedrock and foundation of our ability to honor, respect and treat others as equals with a legitimate right to their part in the ownership of a fair and just society? When did our churches cease to be the moral compass for us all, only to morph into a mouthpiece for hatred and disdain heaped on those who they deemed to be little more than parasites on society? By what Divine revelation and authority did their demagoguery become a mark of virtue?

A wise man once said, “Trust, like the soul, never returns once it is gone.” Trust is a precious gift that should be respected and revered by those who seek it. What happened to the value we once placed in that trust? Frankly, I simply no longer trust or respect any of those who serve at our pleasure, be it in government, commerce or all the other institutions of society that are there to, ostensibly, serve us and to maintain the health of and welfare of our nation.

I don’t fault those for whom the methods shaping our attitudes, tastes, values, etc have succeeded. In the end, they are the ultimate victims. However, I do fault those purveyors of the very sophisticated and refined methods that are used by those who seek to manipulate and control our perceptions of the world around us and who seek to create the system of beliefs and our appetites for all they want us to assimilate and covet. It is a very sophisticated science that is routinely practiced in every aspect of our daily lives. We feed on what they peddle and they profit from it, very handsomely.

Ours is not a system of government. It is a system of corruption. The Executive Branch is corrupt; the Legislative Branch is corrupt; the Judicial Branch is corrupt; agencies that operate in the shadows of secrecy are suspect; the mainstream news media are compromised and anything but objective or guardians of the public interest. Those who feed the corrupt in exchange for their favors are corrupt. The entire system is rigged in favor of those who have no sense of decency; those who plunder from the national economy for their own ambitions and personal gain.

Why is our sitting President revered by the press for being such a great President? Where, I ask you, has he stood firm on one single issue of principle calling for real leadership? Where and on how many occasions has he sold out the working people of this country in favor of the oligarchs, plutocrats, corporate behemoths and all of the attendant sycophants lusting for ever more from their never-ending pillage of this country? Where is the transparency and openness with the American people he promised? Why does he seem to have such an ingrained fear of the veto pen? The answer to all this is “Because he is not and never has been one of us. He is one of them!” He is the proverbial compromiser who keeps feeding the alligators, hoping they will eat him last.

As for the Legislative Branch, except for a few very notable exceptions who have a genuine fix on the responsibilities and dedication real statesmanship requires, they are just as corrupt, if not more so, than their kindred souls in other branches of government. They are just greater in numbers and more adroit at clouding the issues.

Then, of course, we have the august sages of the Supreme Court. Judicial integrity seems to have eluded the majority of the current crop of black robes. To think of themselves as anything but legal harlots is a stretch, if you ask me. They aren’t even subtle as to the going price for one of their “considered opinions,” that will cater to their particular brand of political bias. I refer you to George W. Bush and the super rich behind Citizens United, for openers.

I have developed an ingrained mistrust of those to whom we have entrusted our future. I just don’t see much consistency between their words and their actions. In the final analysis, the bottom ninety-nine percent is clearly regarded as the bottom feeders in our social and political systems. They are the mushrooms kept in the dark and fed excrement by those who sit at the top of the food chain. They are the fodder for their canons. They are expendable in their grand scheme fed by limitless wealth and unchecked power. At the end of the day, they count for little or nothing.

It is time for the love fest between Barack Obama, Eric Holder, Wall Street and the alumni of the Clinton Administration to come to an end. We have had enough of their seductive rhetoric and a free pass on every transgression against the nation they are sworn to serve. Where were their voices and actions when the “Occupy Wall Street” movement was met with civilian law enforcement fronting for the power elite against those engaging in peaceful demonstrations? Their only “crime” was to protest against the myriad injustices being perpetrated against those who, rightfully, want their fair share of the wealth, abundance and opportunity this nation is sworn to deliver. Although there seems to be a growing number who believe otherwise, we are not a nation of royalty. We are a nation of free people with every right to a fair share of all that is produced by their role in the wealth of this republic. That goes for equality and fairness in every dimension of our lives.

It is time for labor organizations to regain the equal treatment and opportunity under the law on a par, and with the same guarantees, as those who now reap obscene profits from their success in minimizing the rightful role of labor for the American worker to that of a token effort, at best. It is time to stop the rhetoric that it is government that is responsible for the deficits we are racking up. Where is the accountability that should properly be laid at the feet of every sordid and greedy profiteer that holds himself out as a pillar of decency? You cannot have equal opportunity by starving our public education system while the coffers of the private schools, colleges and universities amass endowment funds that would have been the envy of kings and queens of earlier times. You cannot have equal opportunity when we permit lending predators to reduce our young people to a state of indentured servitude and a lifetime of debt. You cannot have safe and secure communities by stripping them of law enforcement, fire and safety personnel sufficient to guarantee that basic human right. These few examples, alone, clearly state the case that we are, indeed, a two-class society. Call it what you will, but it is an inescapable fact that “a rose by any other name is still a rose.”

My first inkling that the winds of change were upon us was when the so-called “all volunteer armed forces” was adopted. That opened the doors to those who would become the fodder for the canons owned by the elites who stood to profit, handsomely, from the blood, sweat and tears of those who would “volunteer” out of sheer economic necessity. Meanwhile, those from homes among the bastions of wealth and privilege went off to the Ivy League Schools to learn the skills needed to plunder and exploit our country, much like those who begat them, in order to preserve and enhance their massive wealth gleaned from the sacrifices of those who labor in their service. Enough blood has been shed by the oppressed in the service of the oppressor, the only result of which is yet more contempt and disdain for those whose labors they procure for a mere pittance.

The question has been asked, “Is this class warfare?” That is not the question that appeals to those in polite company. My retort? You damned right this is class warfare, and it is time to bring it to a screeching halt! And all those we elect to public office have a solemn obligation to support that cause with determination, honor, integrity and dedication. Anything less is an affront to the national conscience. That isn’t rocket science, folks, that is just plain old common sense.

It is time for that change, my friends, and I am referring to real, honest change and not just more of the bovine scatology that has been the only fare known by far too many and for much too long. We are, after all, a nation of laws, and everyone is supposed to be equal under those laws. The time has come to educate the “scum class” to that basic fact of life in these United States of America. A good start might be to create an opportunity for more than just the “knighted” two-party system that dominates our local and national political agendas. I dare say you could probably begin by entrusting that charge to a few of the outstanding scholars who have been disenfranchised from their educational pursuits by the alleged “mounting deficit” facing this country. We might just discover that there are, indeed, better alternatives that demand a forum and our support. Tell Romney, Ryan, the Tea Party and Corporate Capitalists we categorically reject, out of hand, all the hollow promises they make. Theirs is no utopia. It is just more for them and the same or less for the rest of us. They know it and so do we.

All politicians, regardless of their ilk, need a cardinal lesson in the virtues of basic honesty and simple truth. That would take us a long way down the road to a better future.

Cowboy Bob
The Sagebrush Philosopher
August 19, 2012

Permit me to share a few vignettes from my earlier life that may cast some light on why I feel so strongly about what we, as a nation, are experiencing and the fear of what we might yet become.

• When I was a small boy, my Dad worked as a ranch hand south of Cody, Wyoming. At the end of the tourist season, he was one of the hands assigned to help move the horses to winter pasture. My Mother and we three kids were to meet him after the horses were safely moved. We waited in a tourist cabin. My Dad failed to meet us and my Mother did not have the means to contact him. As a result, what money she had did not last long. We were reduced to eating oatmeal for three days, with no sugar and milk. I know what it is to be hungry and the fear of an uncertain future.

• Later, my Dad was working as a ranch hand on a ranch owned by an heiress of the Heinz 57 Fortune. Her son, who was the same age as me, arrived in a private railroad car from Philadelphia to spend the summer with his mother. I was designated to be his playmate for the duration of the summer. We became good friends and, on one occasion, we had lunch in the dining annex to the main house. Following lunch, “Georgie” asked me if I would like to see his room. His mother was standing near by and reminded him that “the hired help were never allowed in the main house.” So much for that excursion into the world of the wealthy, and a stark reminder, at the ripe old age of 9, that I was, in the final analysis, just another member of the “hired help.” I know what is to be reminded of a lower station in life.

• On the Easter Day of my 7th year, I recall getting out of bed early and searching the house for the Easter baskets that were traditionally left by the Easter Bunny, all to no avail. My Mother was sitting at the kitchen table, her head buried in her hands, crying. She had to tell us there was no such thing as an Easter Bunny (she had no money). I know what it is to have the joy of a childhood mystery shattered by the reality of poverty.

• Every year my Mother’s sister in California would pack up all of the clothes her two children had outgrown, and send them to us in a large cardboard box. I remember the joy of seeing and wearing all those clothes. I know what it is to experience the happiness created by the thoughtfulness of someone who cared.

• My entire formal education was underwritten by the G.I. Bill. It took me through my baccalaureate studies, and a Public Health Scholarship took me through my Master’s studies. I know what it is to have the emancipating experience of a government funded education in exchange for my four years of military service. I know the feeling of a grateful heart because of a nation of people who genuinely cared.

"The Careerists"

Every discipline and academic field of endeavor has its share of outstanding minds, all of whom contribute a great deal to our understanding of the world we live in.  We would be much the poorer were it not for them.  However, there are a few "superstars," who seem to have  particularly poignant insights into and broader brush strokes of the panoramas they paint for us.  Two that most impress me are Chris Hedges of TruthDig.com and Bill Moyers of Public Broadcasting.

On Common Dreams today, July 13, 2012, you will find a published article titled, "The Careerists" by Chris Hedges that is one of the most brilliant assessments of the players who figure most prominently in the sad state of affaris reeling around our heads today.  Chris says it most succinctly in one sentence of this treatise.  "They do the little chores that make vast, complicated systems of exploitation and death a reality."  You will be doing yourself a disservice if you do not take the time to read this particular piece.  It is well worth the effort.

Cowboy Bob
The Sagebrush Philosopher
July 23, 2012   

"So What Shall It Be Folks? Republicrat or Demican?"

With the constant din of noise emanating from the various sources of what passes for “news” offered in the name of political discourse, it is easy for rather enlightening tidbits to drift by our sense of awareness, only to fade into the vast labyrinths of the nothingness into which it all flows. If we made even a serious attempt to listen to it all we would surely go stark raving mad. However, the sheer magnitude of all that is beamed into our unsuspecting senses does offer an opportunity for much of what we should know to simply pass unnoticed. All of that missed information accrues to the benefit of the very sources that prefer we not be aware of what is being communicated.

I was reminded of that phenomenon the other day as I was watching a news segment on the presidential race and the forthcoming presidential debates. The candidate for President of the Green Party was being interviewed. Suddenly, I was gripped by one of those “wow” moments when something registered that I had not been consciously aware of. For the first time, I heard that the only candidates permitted to participate in the Presidential Debates are those who are running for President from the Republican and Democratic Parties. All others are excluded. Frankly, that pissed me off. Who in the hell decided, on my behalf, that I was only to be privy to the positions of those seeking election to the Presidency from the two “major” political parties? If that isn’t an infringement on my right to know I don’t know what is! God forbid that one of those lesser candidates might just proffer a resolution to a problem or an issue that might be more beneficial to the broader spectrum of the population, at less cost, and that is more honest and effective than what might spill forth from the mouths of the two heavy-hitters in the debate. I cannot think of more fertile ground for that to occur than within the context of a healthy debate with ALL interests represented. From my perspective, that little twist of the rules is the most egregious and outrageous affront to the American people that could be perpetrated against those casting their vote for the highest office in the land. We have an inherent right to hear all sides of an issue, not just what a bunch of self-serving elites have deemed, in their infinite wisdom, that we SHOULD hear.

I have no idea from where this notion originated, but I rather suspect it was hatched in some backroom by those who want to control the process so it comes as close to an outright monopoly on information as is humanely possible. Think of how ecstatic the oligarchs, the plutocrats, the bankers, the military/industrial complex, the intelligence services, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the political establishment and big corporations in all their manifestations must be with this rather cozy arrangement. With only two points of view on every major issue before the nation, they surely take some satisfaction in knowing that, regardless of who gets elected to office, the outcome for their individual and collective greed and benefit will be something they can live with and from which they can prosper handsomely. After all, what better way of ensuring it all falls into place according to their greater plan for yet more wealth and less regulation at the expense of all those who labor in their service?

Just think, folks, of all we are about to savor. A stage properly set, with the most effective lighting, all created by the mainstream news media in order to elicit the greatest visual appeal from the millions of humanoids who are about to be snookered by bovine scatology, compliments of the “news media.” The anchors from each of the networks, immaculately coiffed, intoning their voices to elicit the greatest possible effect from their perceived individual and collective authority on any issue they are about to present to the candidates. Enough to intimidate the most aggressive among us, don’t you agree?

If we are to be limited to the joys of hearing from just two of the great political minds of our time, why do we need to rely on such discreet labels in order to clearly fix political affiliation and responsibility? Why bother with one being a Republican and the other being a Democrat? Let’s just amalgamate the two into one Republicrat and one Demican? After all, they both feed from the same largesse that buys their loyalties and owns their souls.

In all seriousness, this entire concept is just one more fraud foisted on the American people. If that isn’t treating us like a bunch of mushrooms, I don’t know what is. Incidentally, mushrooms are kept in the dark and fed bull shit. Sounds strangely familiar, don’t you think?

One of the clearest mandates by our Founding Fathers was that we should have a “free and unfettered press,” to serve as a watchdog on government for the people. Why and how that morphed into ABC (Disney), CBS (Westinghouse), NBC (General Electric), MSNBC (General Electric), and CNN (Time-Warner), is beyond me. If that lot of unsavory characters that dominate the electronic news media isn’t a closed system that takes very good care of the dictates and needs of the Corporate Capitalists, I don’t know what is.

I think the time has come for us to insist on the following as the first jump out of the chute toward an unambiguous form of democracy that will serve all the citizens rather than a select and very rich few:

• Get money out of politics.
• Require that all aspects of the news media be independently owned and operated, totally free of any outside investment or absentee ownership.
• Term limits for all elected officials.
• Expansion of and term limits for all Supreme Court Justices.
• No special salaries or perquisites for elected or appointed officials that are not in line with those accorded civil service employees.
• No secret meetings within government or with other governments, unless clearly deemed to be for national security purposes, and only with the approval of the leadership and rendering of a report of any such meetings to the leadership of the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives.
• No military officer or former military officer will be permitted to serve as the head of any defense or intelligence agency. All must be under the leadership of civilian appointees.

Transparency must be the order of the day. Under no circumstances, will it be permitted for any Executive or Legislative Branch of government to engage in secret activities without the expressed knowledge and approval of the President and the leadership of the House and the Senate.

It is the sense of privilege and entitlement that has gotten us into this mess. It is those same notions of exclusivity that has reduced the average American to a second-class citizen. It is time to open the windows, let in the fresh air and restore this nation to its rightful owners – all the citizens of the United States of America. Privilege is the stuff of royalty. We did away with that a long time ago. Time to go back to our roots and regain the respect we once had for ourselves and all we represent to the world. We can do it again, but only at the ballot box and by taking a genuine interest in what goes on in our names, in government, commerce, education and all of the other foundations of a civilized society.

Get interested, get involved and, above all, VOTE!

Cowboy Bob
The Sagebrush Philosopher
July 19, 2012

"Why Don't We Just Call It What It Is?

The barrage of information that has invaded my senses during the past few months has been some of the most sobering and despairing that I can recall during my lifetime. I cannot believe what is happening to us, as a people, our country and the world in which we live.

I have endeavored to identify the root cause(s) of what has brought us to the point where all hope has been abandoned, but where there might be some faint hope of saving us from ourselves. What we would have to do in order to simply understand and reverse the forces we have set in motion and continue to nurture seems insurmountable.

We are, by our very nature, social beings. I do not believe we were intended to live our lives as loners. We were meant to be a part of something bigger than any one of us. We were, as the laws of nature have said, meant to be a part of something where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. I think we have simply forgotten or deliberately chosen to ignore that fundamental principle of life. We have evolved into a world where the singular predominates. We live by “I,” “Me,” and “Mine.” I don’t see where any great effort is made to cultivate and respect any notion of “We,” “Us,” or “Ours,” which might serve as the guiding principles by which we were intended to live. What brought us to the point where the singular is all that matters; that it is noble to pursue only those aspects of life that will nurture my sense of self-entitlement or self-indulgence, at the expense of a greater common good? Where did we buy into the notion that anything having to do with “me” is more important than that which focuses on “us?” At the end of the day, that is what has led us to becoming a people who are totally self-absorbed and patently selfish in our life’s pursuits. We are now living with the second generation of “spoiled brats,” who know absolutely nothing except that which will satiate their every desire. And, do I blame them? Not on your life. They are what they are because we encouraged and permitted them to become the socially aberrant beings they are. It is because we failed them. We did not take the time and effort to teach them that there is something greater in this world than him/her, and to nurture a respect for that inescapable fact of life. We are now reaping the harvest from the seeds we visited upon this earth.

Those “qualities” have now been incorporated into the institutions we look to for guidance, inspiration and enforcement of what makes a society civilized and orderly, with a sense of community that will serve the needs of us all. They see any sense of charity, sharing, giving and help as a sign of weakness; the complete antithesis of the now much revered sense of personal entitlement firmly rooted in and having only to do with “me.”

We are reaping the results of that failure on our part by the avariciousness and sense of privilege by the oligarchs, plutocrats, international corporations, financial institutions, political parties, elected officials, public servants and the vast number of minions who are all too eager to cater to their every twisted and perverted whim, hoping they will throw us a crumb from all they have taken from those of lesser means. Those are what they have created in order to profit from our self-interests and insatiable appetites for “more”. They have the means and the help of some of the most sinister creativity imaginable in order to determine our appetites and what it takes to satisfy those appetites, so they can, in turn, create and grow the vast fortunes that permit them to feed upon what little of our treasure may be left after their plunder. We, in turn, have dutifully become totally conformist and complacent, thereby ensuring the growth and profitability of the markets they have created from their vast wealth. We are now the willing and ever compliant serfs. They own and control us. They know it and we sense it. But, when, if ever, are we going to rise up and insist on something better? I do not see that as very likely in the foreseeable future.

There a couple of old clichés that come to mind. One is that “birds of a feather flock together,” and “you shall be known by the company you keep.” Those of great wealth and power keep their exalted positions because they know the validity of those words and they are masters at practicing them. They “keep the backs” of each other so those on the bottom of the socio-economic-political ladder will not rise up and overtake them.

• The Bush Family has a well-established history of associations with some of the most unsavory and unprincipled scions known to the business and political worlds. That tradition has not been lost on George W. Bush and those who served as his enablers during his terms as President. Scratch the surface and you will find a tainted history that vastly improved their economic well-being.

• Are you aware that a close personal relationship has evolved between George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton since each left the White House? Yet, on Clinton’s first Inauguration Day, President and Mrs. Bush hardly spoke to the Clintons. What changed that transformed them into golfing partners and bosom buddies?

• Are you aware that Bill and Hillary Clinton, ostensibly, left the White House paupers at the end of his Presidency? Are you aware that, as of today, Bill Clinton is reputed to be worth 200 million dollars, and Hillary is rumored to have a fortune worth 34.9 million dollars?

• Are you aware that Bill Clinton, as President, was the great enabler for Phil Gramm, Robert Rubin, Larry Summers, Alan Greenspan and a host of others of dubious stature that enabled them to totally dismantle all of the financial safeguards (Glass-Steagall among them) that comprised the bulwark that was keeping those institutions viable and secure for the people of the United States?

• Are you aware of their role in the de-regulation of the financial institutions spawned the financial collapse of 2007 – 2008?

• Are you aware that Chelsea Clinton is reputed to have been, during and after the financial collapse, a hedge fund manager on Wall Street?

• Are you aware that most of the key players in Bill Clinton’s administration were quietly and rather surreptitiously imported into the Obama administration shortly after President Obama assumed office? What, if any, benefit accrued to the electorate because of that thread of continuity, or were there sinister motives that served a darker purpose?

• Are you aware that Barack Obama has done an about-face on every major campaign promise he made that was supposed to accrue to the benefit of the American people who put him in office, and the working Americans to whom he promised so much?

1. Strengthening free-trade agreements, such as NAFTA, CAFTA, etc., all to the detriment of the interests of working-class Americans?

2. Are you aware that President Obama has capitulated to every significant interest in banking and health care, plus holding Bush Administration officials accountable for engaging in torture and crimes against humanity?

3. Are you aware that President Obama has soft-peddled any real effort to close Guantanamo prisons, support habeas corpus, and do away with the indefinite detention of suspected terrorists?

4. Are you aware that President Obama back peddled on his commitment to a single-payer option, health care reform and mandatory negotiated prices from drug companies seeking government contracts?

5. Are you aware that President Obama has soft-peddled any meaningful penalties against British Petroleum for the Gulf Oil Disaster?

6. Are you aware that, despite his promises to the contrary, President Obama is engaging in “secret” negotiations on free-trade with other nations in this hemisphere, plus a massive free-trade deal with nations on the Pacific Rim? All of these agreements will accrue to the detriment of working-class Americans, American business interests and the sovereignty of the United States of America?

This could go on ad infinitum, but the point is made. For readers who have an interest in exploring his consistent betrayal of the American people, it takes little or no effort to ferret out just how disingenuous this man has been and continues to be. From my take on him, his underlying interests have been, are and always will be with big money, big business and his own political ambitions. His rhetoric notwithstanding, I have yet to see anything that would convince me that he is, in anyway, the “real deal.” Frankly, I am astonished that the mainstream news media has the audacity to continue to heap praise on him and give him a free pass on the myriad promises made but never kept. But, then it isn’t a quantum leap from Obama being one of their boys, and the need for their news organizations to cast him in a favorable light with the electorate.

Now, my latest reading on the antics of our illustrious president, plus the cadre of cohorts he rubs elbows with, all of which accrue to our national detriment, brings to light the following:

1. Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany, has capitulated to pressure giving virtually all control over the European economic recovery to the major banking interests in the EU. The central banks have insisted that their control is to remain outside that of member nations, and the individual banks will have complete authority to do whatever they deem necessary to bring about stability and control of the economy in Europe. In other words, the people of Europe will be at the mercy of the very institutions that were instrumental in the collapse of the financial sector of the European Union.

2. That same mindset is now in the offing for these United States of America, all done, of course, within the shroud of secrecy that has become commonplace for whatever our government has deemed to be in the “best interests” of the country. The “country” being, of course, the oligarchs and the plutocracy that virtually owns the entire system.

The bottom line is that we, the people, are about to have the ability to govern ourselves usurped by the very powers that brought us to the brink of a total financial meltdown in 2007! Yet, we passively and unknowingly wait for the catastrophe that few of us know is coming.

I honestly believe that every aspect of our political establishment, our government and the institutions of government created to serve us, the people, is owned by those who seek to reduce us to a modern-day fiefdom; our lives reduced to a level of existence that makes us irrelevant in the grand scheme they have in store for themselves. World government is now being talked about in the dark halls of power. It may be only a whimper now, but let us hope it never reaches a crescendo.

Secrecy is never put in place for the common good. Secrecy serves the darkest motives and actions of those who have something to hide or something to gain. Secrecy is the enabler for those who live and operate in the shadows. They relegate to secrecy that which they do not want us to know. How has secrecy and the absence of transparency served the best interests of the people and protected us from the excesses of government, religious authority, intelligence agencies, military establishments and all the other major centers of wealth and power? What have we, the people, gained and how are we better off because of what those who covet secrecy have deemed necessary and in our “best” interests?

Given the milieu of our modern day society, I think it is prudent to exercise caution in how much and what we choose to believe. “Don’t tell me; show me.” I am not interested in what you think I should know, but what I know that I need to know.

What about South America, Mexico and other trade interests that he swore he would hold to account? There is not only his total capitulation to Wall Street, but to drug companies, health insurance and management companies, as well. The majority walked away from their “negotiations” with the President far better off than anything they expected when they entered into those negotiations?

Are you aware that not one officer among the major banks on Wall Street has been indicted or prosecuted for his complicity in the collapse of their banks during the financial meltdown of 2007 – 2008?

Are you aware that President Obama recently openly praised the reputation of J.P. Morgan Chase and the acumen of its Chairman, Jaime Dimon?

As I bear witness to the charade going on before us, euphemistically called a “presidential campaign,” I am sobered by the fact that Obama and Romney are merely actors on the same stage for the benefit of public consumption, and the grand seduction of us all for the benefit of the oligarchy and plutocracy that stands poised to inherit the spoils of the nation. There is not one scintilla of evidence to support the perception of anything but that they are common partners in a common crime. We are the least powerful and most vulnerable in the equation.

Barack Obama, Mitt Romney, Bill Clinton and the vast array of their minions all support one objective – corporate ownership and control of this nation and those who have no other option but to throw themselves at their feet, hoping for a crumb that will help to support and sustain them and those who are dependent upon them. There is only one label common to them all – that of “Corporate Capitalist.” No term could be more accurate to describe their objectives and our misfortunes. Of all the human predators, they are the most loathsome and dangerous of all.

To fall back on the wisdom of a particularly prominent and renowned author and journalist, there is only one avenue that will enable the common people to stem the rapacious and greedy pursuits of those who are a part of a system that seeks to destroy all that rightfully belongs to us, the people. That avenue is the use of “peaceful, nonviolent resistance.” That strategy is still very much alive and well. I believe it can and should be given new life, strength and purpose. It won’t be easy, but it must be done and it must not be late in coming.

From my perspective, to believe that his or her vote for President will make any real difference is naïve. That just isn’t going to happen. It will just be more of the same, indifferent packaging from whoever serves the same masters and feeds from the same troughs of corruption and power.

For those seeking election or re-election to seats in other branches of government, that will require some study and knowledge about each one seeking office. It has to be much more than what we hear them say. It has to be much more than what they look like and what they promise. If we are serious about the challenge before us, we have to accept the fact that it will require some serious effort on our part.

• We will have to be cautious when it comes to trusting the agencies of government that represent domestic security organizations. As we have seen in previous confrontations with the Occupy Wall Street movement, it cannot be assumed that they have our best interests at heart. Those agencies need to be reminded of the fact that they are there to ensure peaceful and orderly conduct by and for everyone. Contrary to popular belief, none is the personal army of any mayor or governor.

I would like to believe there is an opportunity for a real alternative to come out of the shadows and into the spotlight. Someone who could provide a real choice for the people and who could change the direction of this country. Someone who could mount a real challenge to the validity of Citizens United, and the wholesale capture of our electoral process and the democracy it was intended to serve. Perhaps there is a strong and capable person out there who could challenge the President for the nomination at the convention?

We deserve a real alternative. Perhaps it is time for a woman in the White House?  Perhaps that is the real “change” we need. Perhaps that is what will save this country and all the inherent goodness that is woven into the fabric of the Republic, and all who labor in its service. Perhaps the time has come to breathe new life into what the Founding Fathers bequeathed to us?

Maybe it is time to put an end to all the empty rhetoric, the din of which seems to never end. Maybe the time has come to revisit and seriously ponder some of the time-honored and proven virtues of “truth,” “honesty,” “fairness” and “justice.” I genuinely believe the best about us is laying dormant, waiting for the renaissance that will bring us back into the light and back to our senses.

Cowboy Bob
The Sagebrush Philosopher
July 6, 2012

“Freedom Taken to the Extreme Becomes the Barbaric State: Welcome to America!”

I cannot recall a time in my life when I have been witness to such an intellectual wasteland or the numbing of the human mind as has been set before us by the need for the American people to be passively entertained and the conscious choice to live in a state of self-imposed ignorance.  That is not only pathetic, it is an indictment of what we could and should be as a people.  Has not the time come for us to revisit the joys of original thought and dismiss the trite and meaningless nonsense that we accept as “fun,” and pursue with such vigor?  

Permit me to list just a few of what we have incorporated into our daily lives. 

·        We willingly allow the oligarchs and those who serve as their minions in government and industry to pillage and plunder the wealth of the nation for their own benefit by fostering subservience from the very systems that should be there to serve the needs and interests of the people of the United States.  They own and control every branch and agency of our government, minimize and denigrate any actions that may be taken for the benefit and welfare of the citizens of this country in favor of reducing their obligations to society and reducing the needs of the broader social order.  The rich just get richer and the poor get even poorer.  That is the new mantra of what we have become.  If that is not really what we want for this country, then why in the world don’t we change the system, and reign in the excesses they claim and which are fostered by those elected to serve us, the people?  They pollute our environment at will while dismissing the warnings of science and the perils to come by their blatant greed at the expense of the planet.       

 

·        We have completely abandoned any notion that we, the people, have a solemn duty and responsibility to hold our government accountable to us for what they do for us and to us because they have set themselves above the law and the will of the people.

·        We have allowed Bill “Fellatio” Clinton, Phil Gramm, Robert Rubin, Larry Summers, and Alan Greenspan to deregulate major financial interests in order to favor bankers, financiers and hedge fund managers at the expense of the American people and the viability of the financial institutions put there to better serve the body politic.

·        The Obama Administration bailed out renegade banks and other financial institutions at the expense of the taxpayers and at reduced rates of interest, for problems they, not we, created!  Moreover, he tacitly gave his approval for the massive and sustained “interest free loans” to failed banks by the Chairman of the Federal Reserve. 

·        The Obama Administration has favored reduced rates on income tax and other forms of taxation for wealthy benefactors, the movement of offshore funds in order to reduce their tax liabilities and has favored big business, corporate capitalists and other entrepreneurs to further reduce their tax rates while the average American has labored to meet their tax obligations. 

·        The Obama Administration has favored big energy companies, free trade agreements and other forms of subsidies to various industrial enterprises, again at the expense of the average American.    

·        We revere and defer to the military and intelligence services as if they were royalty and touched by the hand of God.  To question them and their motives is almost an affront to the sanctity of all they profess to be and do for our collective benefit.  Sez who?

·        We have bought into the “privatization” of every conceivable kind of public service as inherently good, less expensive and far superior to anything that might accrue to our benefit by the efforts and work of public servants.  If so, why are the hucksters of the business and financial worlds in such a hurry to tap into that lucrative cornucopia of profit and greater wealth?  That just doesn’t compute. 

      

·        Why do we tolerate the massive cost of benefits and the loss of valuable time by our legislators so they can spend their time courting the favor of lobbyists, and taking vacations and excursions of various kinds at taxpayer expense?  While the “working” Americans and lower paid workers envy the perks they so freely flaunt, they turn a blind eye and go for even more.

·        Why do our elected government officials acquiesce to one-sided actions such as Citizens United by the Supreme Court, all for the benefit of those who claim their divine right of superiority to rig elections and the financing of those elections for the rich and famous so they can buy votes and the attendant benefits for the benefit of their insatiable greed and material gains?

·        Why is there such disparity in the funding of unemployment benefits, the minimum wage, student loan relief, etc. by the renegades sitting in the halls of the House and the Senate vs. what should be given to help all of those seeking honest jobs and bearing the responsibility for supporting their families with a living wage? 

From my perspective, our society has degenerated to a level where anything goes and we are not embarrassed or shamed by anything.  We are mesmerized by electronic gadgets that enable us to stare blankly into a hand-held device in order to “communicate” with others without ever having to talk, and to be passively entertained by every conceivable kind of titillating pleasure known to mankind.  How are we any better by ogling at girls with skirts up to the cheeks of their bottoms, the bare-chested and tight crotches of men’s clothing, and the use of gutter language as they emulate those who have managed to peddle that nonsense?  Do we really care to listen to a prolonged discussion about the private parts of human anatomy and the role those we are watching play in the entire scenario?  What does all that do for our sense of common decency and what sets us above the sewers from which it comes? 

We are a people who seem to find it attractive to use acronyms and other forms of abbreviated speech rather than proper language in order to carry on conversations.  We attach meanings to abbreviated forms of speech and react as if they were somehow subversive or vulgar, and convey some sort of disdain or prejudice by their very use. 

What comes to your mind when you hear the terms “Working American,” “Middle Class,” “Service Employee,” “Domestic Worker,” “Manual Laborer,” etc.?  Is there not more dignity to being a “Working American” than that of a “Senator,” “a Congressman,” a Consultant?  Where the former earns an honest day’s pay for an honest day’s work, the other earns his/hers by peddling knowledge of dubious value or by letting us know that he/she steals and deceives (with aplomb) for a living rather than stooping to that of a mere laborer.  Who are the more respectable and more noble in all this?   

What comes to your mind when you hear terms such as “Ivy League,” “San Jose State College,” “Junior College,” “Stanford University,” etc.  Does one strike you as superior or inferior to one of the others?  What does that say about you?

What makes a scion of Silicon Valley more valuable and respectable than someone who can fix your car, or build your house, or manage a cattle or sheep ranch, or serve you a well prepared hamburger in a fast food restaurant?  One works for a living and the other peddles technical expertise of a dubious value to society in general.  Both serve us in special ways and both are essential to a balanced life for all of us.  Why do we revere one more because he/she has money and the other is just a “working person?”

The nomenclatures we use by the names we attach to political parties convey a great deal about us and how we view those we put in public office.  What is the essential difference between a Republican and a Democrat?  Both are accomplished thieves and peddlers of all sorts of deception and manipulation that most decent people would find offensive. 

Did you know that the Presidential Debates to which we are subjected every four plus years are limited only to those who are candidates for the Office of President from the Democratic and Republican Parties?  Did it ever occur to you that is tantamount to a two-party political system to which we, the voters, are expected to subscribe?  Who deemed it a two-party political system to the exclusion of every other qualified candidate who may be seeking that office?  Why should the candidates from the Green Party, the Justice Party and the Freedom Party all be barred from participating in those discourses.  Might we, the voters, not learn a great deal more about who could and would serve us most effectively if we could hear their answers to the important and salient questions having to do with their occupancy of the Office of the President?  I would think so. 

Who deemed it appropriate that we should only have a limited number of political parties for any and all of our elections for public office?  I have never read where it was codified as the only option we were to have and, frankly, I think we (and the country) are the poorer for it.      

We Americans seem to have an ingrained disdain for any political party with the term “social” or “socialist” associated with it.  Somehow those terms connote some sort of subversive element that would surely undermine the purity and sanctity of what we currently have. 

For most of my life I labored by declaring my party of choice as the Republican Party.  With time and enlightenment, I came to my senses and shifted to the Democratic Party.  My greatest joy in that move was to have had the privilege of meeting John F. Kennedy.  I have had my moments with that political party, as well.  That discomfort has been largely created by the notion that, somehow, both of those political parties were more “American,” than others.  I no longer harbor that illusion. 

I now pride myself in being a “Social Democrat.”  A “Social Democracy” is defined as “a political movement advocating a gradual and peaceful transition from capitalism to socialism by democratic means.”  That suggests to me that we have not done a very good job of using the proper nomenclature in the use of such terms and how they might apply to the greater society at large.  If the largest segment of our society is that of the “working” or “middle” classes, does that not suggest also, the greatest segment of our population is a social class?  If that is the pre-eminent class, then it seems logical for that class to be occupied by those who claim membership in the largest group of people dedicated to the health and welfare of society.  That being the case, then why should we be limited to just Democratic, Republican, Green, Freedom, and Justice Parties, all of which are minority parties.  Why should we not have a “Social Democratic” party that embraces the largest majority of voters having the greatest vested interest in a political establishment that would serve the greatest number of citizens?  It would seem to me that the Scandinavian countries have proven the case rather well.  What is to be gained by re-inventing the wheel?    

Moreover, why should any minority party control the institutions of government more than any other political party?  Would it not be more reasonable and logical for a socialist democratic party to represent the greatest potential number of voters in a system that is, ostensibly, there to serve all of the people?       

        

It seems to me that we could make a good start by revisiting the wisdom of the Founding Fathers, going back to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights by putting back into place the safeguards that were so wisely incorporated into our way of life.  We could start with a “free and unfettered press,” followed by well-regulated corporations, an impartial judicial system that served us all, equally. 

We should, and could, clean up the mess we have so we are a real democracy that we can all take pride in and have confidence in to ensure we are all, indeed, “equal under the law.”

Frankly, I am tired of the games our political, commercial, intelligence and military establishment play with us and the persistent wondering if we, the people, really are in control and are being heard, or if we are little more than sheep waiting to be led to the slaughter.

Aren’t you?

Cowboy Bob

The Sagebrush Philosopher

September 2, 2014    

 

                             

"Isn't It Time For Change We Can All Believe In?"

I don’t know about most folks, but the more we get into this election cycle the more I am convinced that common decency has no place in this contest. It is whatever the traffic will bear. Whoever can garner the most money and tell the biggest lies seems to fare better in the polls. Make no mistake about it; it is the goal of big money, big business and the Republican Party to convert our democracy into a two-class society as quickly and as completely as possible. Their goal is two-tiered; those who have the most vs. those who have the least. No amount of lying, unadulterated bull crap and impugning the integrity of their opponents will change that inescapable fact. When and if they win this next election, you can bet we will bear witness to the most ruthless destruction of this democracy and the working class that one could possibly imagine. Regardless of the campaign rhetoric, there will not be one modicum of mercy for those who find themselves at or near the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder. Hard times? We haven’t seen anything yet.

So as not to belabor this too much, let me briefly list a few of the issues that have managed to get my hackles up.

1. Despite the efforts of the news media to burnish his image, at the end of his last term in office, Bill Clinton joined forces with Phil Gramm, Robert Rubin, Alan Greenspan, Larry Summers, and other august members of the “club” to deregulate financial industries, kill Glass-Steagall and open the flood gates to the predators of Wall Street. Clearly, that set the stage for the crash of 2007 – 2008. Bill Clinton should own up to that and take responsibility. Time and money doesn’t change things. He is what he is.

2. Barack Obama had hardly found his way to the nearest restroom in the White House, when he began his wholesale importation of every sullied and questionable player that ever served in Bill Clinton’s Administration. I am still not sure whether they were brought in to teach the fledgling President on how the “big boys” successfully played the game or whether they were there to ensure continuity from the Clinton Administration to the Obama Administration. Either way, I regard that as a strategic error in good judgment.

3. The adoration and love-fest notwithstanding, Barack Obama wasted little time before he began his wholesale shredding of practically every campaign promise he made.

a. Not one single banker on Wall Street has been indicted for his role in the collapse of the financial markets. In the depths of the biggest recession since the Great Depression, he recently and publicly extolled the virtues of J.P. Morgan Chase and its CEO, Jaime Dimon. Whose side is this guy on?

b. Not one mortgage company official has been indicted for his role in the collapse of the housing market, a major piece of the economic Titanic that is still listing to starboard.

c. No effort has been made to level the playing field with China on trade and currency manipulation. All one need do is to compare the state of their infrastructure to ours.

d. He sold out the American working class, contrary to his promise to right the wrongs inherent in free-trade agreements negotiated and supported by the Clinton Administration.

e. Much to the detriment of American workers, he has expanded trade agreements and has undercut American business by acquiescing to foreign interests at the peril of our own economy.

f. He failed to even make a weak attempt to honor his commitment to a single-payer option for healthcare insurance.

g. He failed to honor his commitment that would have required drug companies to negotiate with the government on the cost of prescription drugs.

h. He failed to show anything but token support for environmental programs and safeguards.

i. He failed to hold British Petroleum to account for the disastrous rupture of their deepwater well in the Gulf of Mexico. If one were so naïve as to believe what is being peddled, you would think the Gulf was our modern-day Shangri-La of milk and honey.

j. He has shrouded the Executive Branch in far too much secrecy, extending its cover to issues surrounding Guantanamo Bay, whistleblowers, etc. His rhetoric on the merits of and advocacy for “transparency” rings hollow.

k. His penchant for “secret” or “private” meetings with adversaries acting contrary to the best interests of the American people raise serious questions as to whose side he is on.

l. His token support for minority interests leads one to believe that he really isn’t solidly behind those efforts.

This could go on ad nauseam, but I believe the point has been made. To say that he is disingenuous is, at best, an understatement.

His penchant for compromise and capitulation to the opposition belies any notion of sincerity in his oratorical ability and casts a shadow on his leadership skills. President Obama may be a “facilitator,” but he is no leader. That requires steadfast determination and the courage to act with resolve on behalf of the American people, rather than selling them down the river for political expediency and personal gain. At the end of the day, he is just one of the boys imbibing in the largesse from special interests to the detriment of the average American. Any serious examination of his position on issues would pose a challenge to any serious student of politics as to his real loyalties and his party of choice.

I think it is time for every good and decent American, and every dedicated Democrat to rethink what his professed accomplishments have really gotten us. Where is the strength of his commitment to the average person who has been so badly put upon by his Administration? He may feign his sincerity for their plight and their pain, but deeds speak louder than words. An anxious nation still waits, with faint hope, that there is still a chance for “Change We Can Believe In.”

Frankly, I am not so sure the “Old Boys’ Club” comprised of the fat cats who have held high office in Washington is actually working for the American people. Who represents those who have been unemployed for years and harbor faint hope that things will, indeed, get better? Who is representing those who are members of labor unions and have been stripped of their authority and rightful place at the bargaining table? Who is representing all the students who are suffering under a burden of debt thought to be unthinkable in recent history? Who is representing all the state and municipal governments who are struggling to provide vital community services and repair crumbling infrastructures? Who is standing with the “Occupy Wall Street” movement and their valiant efforts to restore some fairness and justice to our economic system?

Given the trend in the polls and the imminent threat that exists to the very foundations of our democracy, I think the time has come to “think outside the box,” and wean ourselves from the male mystique that surrounds the Oval Office. Barack Obama is clearly a failure and he should, in the name of party unity and what is best for this country, gracefully bow out and make room for America’s first woman as our next President.

The first that comes to mind is Hillary Clinton. She proved herself a very able challenger for President in the Democratic Primary against Barack Obama. I believe she has handled the adversities in her personal life and those in her public life with strength and resolve. I, also, believe she has the ability to unite the many disenfranchised factions that are looking for strong leadership from the White House. My only concerns, and they are valid concerns, is the extent to which she has been influenced and shaped by her husband’s politics, allegiances and ambitions.

Elizabeth Warren has demonstrated her ability while she tenaciously served as the chief advocate for a Consumer’s Protection Agency in the Obama Administration. However, in keeping with his penchant for “playing it politically safe,” he managed to sidetrack her and, as most of us know, she is running for the U.S. Senate seat in Massachusetts. She is a strong, determined, and able person who would make an excellent President.

Amy Klobuchar, incumbent U.S. Senator from Minnesota has proven herself an extremely bright, energetic and highly principled individual. She has represented her state and its constituency well and has the attributes of a reasoned and thoughtful leader. She could handle the responsibilities of President very well.

Jan Schakowsky is one of the incumbent U.S. Congress-women from Illinois and has served in various responsible and powerful positions since she has been in the House. She has proven herself as a bright, energetic and strong leader.

It is well beyond the time for us to put aside any reservations we may have about a woman serving this nation as President. History has given us numerous examples of women who have carried burdensome responsibility as well as or better than any man. Some that come to mind are Margaret Thatcher, Angela Merkel, Golda Meier, Queen Elizabeth II, Indira Gandhi, and Christine Lagarde. Any one of them has demonstrated she has what it takes to serve a nation as Head of State.

Any one of the four I have enumerated could, and would, prove that she is more than capable of that challenge, and has earned the distinction of being our first woman President. I can think of no one more capable of steering this country away from a Republican disaster in the making, and restore confidence in our ability to choose and support a leader that will truly do what is best for the people of this country, and the interests of our nation in the world community.

Barack Obama has failed the American people, and he has failed the Democratic constituency he inherited, based on false promises and his cozy relationship with the very oligarchs, plutocrats and scions of business that have taken this country to the brink of ruin. That he is little more than a political opportunist is borne out by the extent to which he has been instrumental in selling out the working people of this country. The time has come for Barack Obama to stop playing with the national psyche and step aside in favor of someone who will take the job seriously and make an honest effort to turn this country around.

Mitt Romney is what he is. He is a ruthless and wealthy opportunist in the game for himself and all those who have amassed phenomenal wealth at the expense of every citizen who has a stake in the future of this country; not just a privileged few.

I don’t see where the “macho” complex and being a member of the “Old Boys Club,” has done us any good. I think it is time for bold and decisive action. The time is now, and the time is for a woman. They have waited long enough.

Cowboy Bob
The Sagebrush Philosopher
June 18, 2012

"Beware False Prophets"

Now that the oligarchs, plutocrats and their army of enablers have clearly demonstrated that they are, quite unabashedly, totally amoral in their assault on the people and institutions of the State of Wisconsin, we need to pause and reflect, not only on what has happened, but what is likely to continue unless we have the will and the determination to draw a line in the sand and say, “Enough is enough!” What we have witnessed is pure evil in its darkest and most virulent form.

About all it has proven is that truth is at a distinct disadvantage when it comes to shouting down the manifest lying that seems to be at the foundation of anything having to do with the will or the ambitions of the Republicans in order to reduce this nation to little more than a pile of rubble. Thanks to the dubious wisdom of the euphemistically labeled “Supreme Court,” it has proven itself to be nothing more than the facilitator of the greatest effort to rip this nation apart by its partisan interpretation of the law in order to make absolutely certain that “those who have the most will always get the most.” They have not one modicum of integrity and they have proven to the world, unequivocally, that their genesis could only have come from the loins of the scum that gave them life. But, as seems to always be the case, it is the good and decent among the people they are sworn to protect who suffer at the hands of their partisan mindset and their misguided concept of what they are about. The prince of darkness must be pleased.

The Supreme Court, having laid the groundwork for the rapacious onslaught of big money, has been, as in most cases, instrumental in what looks like the march of great wealth to the sea, leaving in its path nothing but a barren wasteland of empty promises and broken lives. Their greatest cheering section has to be all those who profess to have an inside track with “God” and all deemed by them to be just and holy. As once was famously uttered by a sage of free enterprise, “Tea Partiers and the Religious Right, Ya done good!”

That posturing takes me back to an earlier time in my life when I was a young husband, a new father and a convert to the religion that was, and still is, a challenge to me and the moral compass that has guided me through some tough times in my life. That is personal and not for me to impose on others. But I, also, don’t want others to engage in efforts to convince me of the truth of what they believe and the folly of what I have chosen to believe. At the end of the day, I am duty bound to accord the same deference to others as I have every right to expect in return.

On one occasion, at the conclusion of the first Mass by our new pastor, we were among the parishioners who were greeting him. My family and I were lined up behind a particularly prominent member of the parish who was not the least bit modest about all her many contributions to the church. She was so convinced of her special relationship with the Deity that she was absolutely overbearing. The priest respectfully listened to the litany of all she had done for God, country and faith. When she paused to take a breath, the priest quietly said, “I am not so much interested in how you talk your faith, Mrs. Castle, as I am in how you live your faith.” He stopped short of adding, “Do you use God or do you serve God?” Those few words have stayed with me throughout my life. They have helped to keep me and my commitment to that faith in perspective.

It seems to me there is almost a cataclysmic explosion in the growth of those who espouse some type of special relationship with “God” in all His manifestations. It is as if there is no escape from the absolute truth of every kind of divine revelation they claim. Those who are the “true believers” have no reservations about the infallibility of what they call their “religion.” At the end of the day, probably ninety-nine percent of those have never crossed the line from what is their elementary and simplistic system of beliefs to what they would have us think they actually, in truth, know. That is the stuff of zealotry and demagoguery. How many in the Tea Party have gone on to serve in government and have actually demonstrated that all they so adroitly peddle is in anyway credible and provable? They haven’t got one shred of verifiable evidence to back up anything they assert as being absolute.

I would submit that most of those who bear the label of “fundamentalist,” or evangelical” would likely fall into that category. How many of those professing to be followers of “God,” simply use their religion as a means for justifying their own selfish interests by demonizing those who don’t passively buy into all their tommyrot. They skillfully use their facility for heaping disdain on others as justification for denying others their rightful place in society. Few do a better job of that than the likes of Sarah Palin, Pat Roberts and others of like mind. Do they use God or serve God?

Then, in the wake of Mitt Romney’s claim to the presidential nomination, there is a spate of discourse about his affiliation with and history in the Mormon Church. That is an interesting question.

I grew up in Wyoming among Mormons and got a hefty dose of their grand fairytale in my formative years. Later, while stationed on Oahu in the Hawaiian Islands, a few of my buddies and I happened to have stopped for a tour of the Mormon Temple on the windward side of the island. Our tour guide was a powerful, dark-skinned Hawaiian. He was a good tour guide and shared some of his experiences and insights about his Mormon faith. One of his many beliefs was that, someday, because of his belief in the Church of Christ of Latter Day Saints, he would become white. That might have been something that would have played well in the early history of the Deep South, but it was a bit over the top for any sane mind among my tour group on that particular day.

Some years ago, I had a very good friend who was studying for his Master’s Degree at one of our nation’s premier colleges. He chose to address, as his Master’s Thesis, the question of whether or not the Mormon Church actually met the criteria that would qualify it as a religion. In order to complete the requirements for his degree, he had to adhere to the rigors of study and analysis that would lead him to the logical conclusion of his thesis. His conclusion was that the Mormon Church did not meet the criteria for a bona fide religion but, rather, could only be classified as a “sex-centered social club.”

Some have dubbed it a “cult,” and rightfully so. Much of what they believe and practice is shrouded in secrecy. Secrecy and ritual seem to be the essence of organizations that have a need to withhold truth from those who would dare to question their assertions. Many of their traditional beliefs, such as polygamy and racial inferiority have only been tempered by some professed “divine revelation,” that told the elders that what they were practicing could impede the “mission” of the church, and might even be in direct conflict with the laws of the land.

Joseph Smith, the founding father of Mormonism, appears to occupy the pre-eminent position in the hierarchy of prophets and apostles in the Mormon Church whose numbers would dwarf those among other faiths who followed, suffered and died for Christ and God’s Kingdom on earth. The small band of true believers led the followers to their promised land on the shores of the Great Salt Lake, gave them a legacy of the joys of polygamy, racial discrimination and volumes of copy and ritual that no sane person could reasonably and seriously entertain. The more rational among them saw the light, asked too many questions and took flight. The faithful remained, jumped the bones of their harems, paid their tithes and filled the coffers of the Church with great wealth.

There was an emissary from Salt Lake City who was sent to collect the tithes from a colony of Mormons in California during its “Gold Rush” history who had strayed from their ranks. A man by the name of Sam Brennan was the titular head of that colony. When confronted by the demand that he hand over the tithes he had collected to Brigham Young’s emissary, he informed the delegate that he would gladly turn over the tithes only when he was presented with a receipt signed by the Lord Himself. The delegation was forced to return, empty handed, to the land of plenty on the shores of the Great Salt Lake.

The wealthy and privileged among them became more influential and more powerful. With time, their progeny donned their suits, got on their bicycles and dutifully spread across the land and, indeed, the world to preach truth from the Doctrine and Covenants, known as the Book of Wisdom, and convert all those to whom they preached the truth of Mormonism. Those who died in a state of ignorance of the Mormon Church were to be summarily baptized, posthumously, in order for the faithful to embrace them as members of the “one true faith,” to whom their souls had been entrusted. Presidents Past smiled from their celestial temple. The Ghost of Joseph Smith was pleased, and the Angel Maroni sounded his horn in jubilation.

Although it is categorically denied as a practice in modern-day Mormonism, if one peers into the backwaters of Utah, Northern Arizona, Idaho, Texas and other remote environs of the West and Southwest, the vestigial remnants of their more dubious practices are still very much in evidence as part of their system of beliefs. There are countless other “secrets” of the faith that still remain sequestered in their archives and beyond of the reach of scholars not of the faith.

One thing, however, remains certain. They have an answer for everything.

Mitt Romney, having had the audacity to equate his time as a missionary in France for the Mormon Church equal to the sacrifice made by millions of men and women who have served and died in the service to this country is an affront to us all. It defies reason and logic, and certainly does not deserve the trust and confidence we place in those we elect to public office, particularly to the highest office in the land. His pillage and plunder of the economy of this country seems to be more in keeping with his experience and talents in the role of a so-called “business man,” If anything, were he a truthful man, he would hang his head in shame for having been a part of the rapacious behavior of Bain Capital and other business ventures that have profited at the expense of so many held hostage to their mercy.

I think it can be safely concluded that Mitt Romney is a member of the one percent that is enslaving the remaining ninety-nine percent of the people of this country. Further, he has shown that truth to him is, at best, elusive. He has shown that he has no compunction whatsoever, about his chameleon-like posturing on any issue that may be germane to his quest for the presidency.

I have a lot of issues with Barack Obama. I cannot argue with his oratorical skills, his personal charm and his professed political and social beliefs. However, as skilled and talented as he may be in other ways, he is clearly not a leader. When push comes to shove, he will always favor the rich and powerful at the expense of the common people of this country – the Middle and Working Class. Perhaps not to the extent that Mitt Romney would, but he has a track record of being much too cozy and accommodating to those on Wall Street, Corporate America, the Military/Industrial Complex and previous members of Bill Clinton’s Administration.

Come Election Day, I will vote for Barack Obama. If I could reincarnate Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, or John F. Kennedy, any one of them would take precedence over what we have. Why? Because each one of them was clearly a leader in the finest and best sense of the word; men of courage. Obama, at best, is a “facilitator.” Consensus does not trump courage and fortitude in serving the urgent needs of this country at the present time. Were he a strong, decisive and clearly a committed member of the political party he represents, I would be much more comfortable. But, to vote for Mitt Romney, in protest, would be totally irrational, disastrous for the future of the United States of America and an assault on the democracy we hold so dear.

In the meantime, we must attach our utmost importance to ------

                          • Getting money out of politics.
                          • Restoring confidence in government.
                          • Restoring independence and private ownership to the news media.
                          • Supporting the creation of a viable third political party.

Cowboy Bob
The Sagebrush Philosopher
June 11, 2012