No Free Market Economy With Total Government Control

A foundational cornerstone of conservative thought in relation to government and the economic system is support for the free market. A free market stands or falls on its own. Government best serves the people when it allows for risk taking to be shouldered fully by the entrepreneur. We have been away from the basic understanding of a free market economy so long it sounds almost revolutionary to bring up the reality that in a free market the risk is taken by the one who takes the initiative to start the business.

Government funding and support for risk takers is the norm in business practice and now, government functions fully as the supporter of and the risk behind almost all financial ventures. This leads to total government control with the “big brother” or “nanny state” controlling all areas of business and personal life. The mantra is, there are businesses “too big to be allowed to fail” and in order to assure their success, the government must unload tons of money into the business to assure that if it fails, only the government stands to lose money and not the individuals involved. The biggest problem is that the ones who lose are the taxpaying citizens required to fund the government with their taxes. We know with every penny given by the government to a project, there are strings that weave into cords of control choking any success unless the government decides success is in the government’s best interest.

Control by government of all areas of life is showing itself more with regulations of the insurance coverage required and the lifestyle choices individuals make. The big brother crowd in government really believes they know better how to develop a menu of meals for the masses than the individual citizens. As part of the control mechanism imbedded in “Obama care,” are requirements as to government allowed body weight and body fat content of individuals. One could argue the government is trying to look after the citizens and to assure they live longer by requiring a lifestyle and eating regimen that will fit within the government allowable guidelines. That argument falls apart when we realize the government has no right to force its way onto the personal life choices of the citizens of this free nation. It does not matter that the requirements of limiting the size of a soda may be well intended; the citizens are required to be more accountable to government functionaries to obtain what they normally would buy otherwise to quench their thirst.

 In case all of this talk of government control, big brother and nanny state have you confused, the simple statement can be made for the government to get out of our life. However, we have come to be so completely dependant on the government, it is hard to make a change at this time. That being true, we are trapped in the ever slippery slope going downward into more government control of all we do. Less government, not more and bigger government is needed. We know, however, that to have less government control at this point in our republic, we must pass more legislation to reverse decisions already passed. In doing the reverse of what has already been placed into law, will in itself, require more government laws, thus we are on a failing cycle of giving up control to more government and not less government with hope to change the pattern of more government control. This is not double talk; this is the gridlock in the thinking that occurs when every new freshman class of government elected leaders are sworn into office. The newly elected officials go into office with the great hope of bringing about change and turning the wheels back to a free market economy only to be hit with the reality that to accomplish their goals they must pass new laws that will bring about more government and not less. We are at a point in our history when we must make crucial decisions about our future and our freedoms. Do we want to give up some of the support we insist the government provide to us? Do we want to continue to have our freedoms taken from us in order to allow the government to promise they will take care of us no matter what happens?  We must find a way to stop this slide into total government control of all we do and are.

Ray Newman

Amnesty is the wrong path

Amnesty, that will declare all illegal aliens in our country as suddenly legal, is a terrible public policy. Unless America becomes serious about making our borders secure we will always have people entering our country illegally. We cannot say we are going to declare the borders to be secure when by all reports they are not. When student visas are granted to foreign students allowing them to enter our country with the express purpose of attending college but they never enroll or they stay longer than the visa allows, then our laws are being broken. When a person enters this nation with a stated purpose and is allowed legal entry but once inside they decide they are not going to abide by their already pledged purpose for being inside our nation, they have then moved into the area of being illegal. When laws, already on the books but are not being enforced for whatever reason, the person who is no longer adhering to their stated reason for being in our country has then moved into the realm of lawbreaker. Some people argue that because they are unknowingly breaking a law, we must then give the illegal aliens the benefit of the doubt and allow them to stay in our country illegally. That flies in the face of every level of law enforcement this nation is founded on. I understand clearly why many people want to come to America to live and make a living. We are free and upward mobility is allowed to bring about betterment of a person’s condition in life. The reality of bad public policy is when blanket or retroactive amnesty is granted or planned once certain other standards are met and then that allows for a run on our borders (that are not secure), meaning that once illegal aliens are inside our nation they can enjoy all the rights and freedoms those of us who are in the country legally have.

Some people may ask, “Where is the compassion?” There are people who argue that we offer more jobs, freedom, and the ability to have a better way of life than any other nation on the planet. That being true does not make it right for people to overrun our borders, entering this nation through false means, and then putting down roots to stay without benefit of being legal.

We are discovering the disaster the so-called Affordable Health Care Act is with regulations that threaten to destroy jobs and bring down our nation setting us up to become a third world country. The same is true when we have talk of opening the borders and allowing all people currently in our country illegally to suddenly be declared legal. In former years, plans for amnesty proved to be a disaster, likewise, the current concept of securing borders, and then creating a so-called “path to citizenship” will not work in the long term to make us a safer nation filled with law abiding citizens. I care deeply for America. I love the opportunities we make available to people who want to obey our laws. I know there are criminals and others who learn quickly how to take advantage of the generous loving spirit that is demonstrated in our nation. We will not long be able to afford the assistance necessary to attend to every need of all the people who are already in our nation illegally. When members of Congress propose adding to those numbers other people who have shown an unwillingness to obey our laws they are setting up for failure of a major size.

 When we become serious about having secure borders, and allowing into our nation only those people who are willing to obey our laws in order to one day become citizens, then we could be on our way to finding a comprehensive solution to the immigration issue. Until then, we are facing major tough decisions as to how we are going to insist that the current laws be enforced. Those decisions could prove to be the most difficult we have ever faced in our country. The harshness of some solutions always causes people on both sides of the issue to point out how impossible it will be to put into practice.  Something must be done to find a solution, but amnesty is not the right path.

Will we remain a free nation?

Terms such as “The Chicago Way,” and “Being thuggish,” are making their way around social media outlets following the revelations  of the Department of Justice obtaining phone records of reporters who work for the Associated Press and Fox News and  with the I.R.S. profiling conservative groups in order to delay or deny their application for tax exempt status there is much concern growing. These outrageous assaults on our freedoms are added to the already frustrating attempts by Congress to have questions answered about the attack on our consulate in Libya. With Congress holding hearings on these subjects, little is known why these events are continuing and the uneasiness of the American people is beginning to surface. Government’s role is to protect the citizens from all enemies, both foreign and domestic. Government is not to be feared but to assure the safety of all citizens. Fairness and balance in government is a goal toward which all people being governed would like to see happen. There is an impression by many citizens that only the elites receive special treatment of influence and power. The average hard working, tax paying citizen has long felt they are taken advantage of by their government officials. As these events become more known across the country, they continue to fuel the discontent and the fear that government no longer protects the citizens but impose their big government ideas upon a helpless population.

A government leader who cannot call terrorist or terrorism what it is but believes that because a taxpaying citizen, who cares enough to stand up and speak up for freedom, is someone to be profiled and kept in check is certainly proving what many people have speculated would happen.

 I always speak in a positive way about our military and the law enforcement agencies across our nation who are hired and trained to protect us. As I talk with people across our state, I am hearing more people share their deep concern that those whom we expect to protect us will be ordered to harm us if we dare speak our convictions and stand up for freedom.

I am certain it takes a great amount of courage for someone to enter a political race. With the large amount of money required to conduct a successful campaign for office at any level of government, many people will never be able to enter a race. While there are numerous people today expressing great desire to see new people run for office and to be able to investigate every person running, there is a fear that one does not really know the deep agendas of any candidate until after they are in office and then, it is too late to remove them, it seems. There are certain words that always attract my attention in a political speech. One of those words is: “reform.” Reform means change. The question that must be answered before anyone is elected to office is: “What type of change are you talking about?”

Our nation is built upon the blood, sweat and tears of former generations of people willing to give their life if necessary to assure our freedoms would remain intact. A sad moment in our American history is to watch as the total direction of our country is being changed and the fabric upon which this nation was built is being torn apart. For many years, I have insisted that when we listen to a politician long enough we will hear them tell the truth. At the point in time we must insist on hearing the truth and understand the truth as it is being given to us. I am not an advocate for turning the clock back; that is not possible. We will never again be the nation we once were. I am, however, an advocate for advancing the freedoms of our nation that were purchased with the blood of former generations who have gone before us in death. This generation of those seeking to change this nation into a “progressive” big government and socialist nation must not succeed. In the long run, a powerful centralized government will not assure the safety of the hard working taxpaying citizens. A government that continues to grow bigger becomes a threat to the freedoms of all citizens. With all the changes taking place one wonders if we will remain a free nation.

Not Much Hope Left

Within the ranks of the elitist crowd, there is a determined plan to wipe out the input of the average taxpayer from any decisions. There are focus groups and study groups being brought into the ranks of government at the highest level to counsel with the decision makers and to write policy that will touch the lives of average Americans. Recently, the pentagon found they were in hot water when word leaked they were going to write policy that would exclude the personal witness of, or the opportunity for members in the military to have freedom of religious expression. The high ranking decision makers within the walls of the pentagon sought the advice of an atheist to help write the new policy. Once they were caught in the act (the atheist could not keep quiet about his plan to silence people of religious conviction), the leaders in the pentagon found it necessary to make statements denying their plan would rob any person of their guaranteed religious liberties. For several days, it was necessary to issue statements defining words and purposes of the rewriting of the policies. This is just one example of how the elitists are setting plans in place to take from us our freedoms.

Were it not for certain members of Congress, the current administration in Washington would have been able to sweep under the rug the assault on our consulate, staffed with American citizens on 9.11.12 in Benghazi, Libya. The willing lap dog main stream media successfully continues to hide from public view the events that are happening as the orchestrated plans continue to be moved forward to strip from us our freedoms.

 Last Friday, an IRS official admitted what many have felt was taking place as the IRS official admitted to the fact they are requiring more information from conservative groups for them to be approved for a tax exempt status. We know the IRS is the main enforcer of the so-called Affordable Health Care Act, better known as Obamacare. This elitist plan to take over the lives of the majority of Americans and destroy small businesses in our country is now being called by some in the highest levels of government, “A train wreck.” What seems like a train wreck to some is turning into a nightmare for the majority of small business owners and for those who provide jobs for many entrance level young employees. Obamacare is proving to be exactly what many of us thought; a job killer and a freedom destroyer.

 The main stream media has refused to report the news and spend the majority of their time finding ways to cover for the decisions of the Obama administration while pretending to report the news. There is always someone else to find who must be blamed for the decisions being used to take from us our personal and corporate freedoms. There are so many examples of covering up what should be front page headlines that some in the media have come forward to admit their disgust with their industry. One example of under reporting is the heinous charges and conviction against the abortion clinic doctor in Philadelphia. Some in Congress are now putting together legislation that will require more supervision of and inspection of these abortion mills as a result of testimony in the Kermit Gosnell trial.

Added to the above listed issues, we have the overtime speed with which regulations are being pushed forward that covers all aspects of our lives by this administration. One cannot help but wonder what the next three years will bring if this trend continues at the current speed. For example, the newly released allowance of providing the “morning after pill” to early adolescent girls sends the wrong signal and will encourage sexual misconduct at an earlier age than now.

It is thought the last four years of a two term presidential career is to build the legacy of the President.  We wonder what the legacy of President Obama will be. He did say he would totally change the direction of our nation. He promised hope and change. The changes we are seeing at lightning speed. It remains to be seen if we will have any hope left after all the changes are made.

Ray Newman

We need to pray

These last weeks have been filled with many events to occupy our time. The bombings in Boston, the shoot-out involving one of the bombers and the capture of the other one took up several hours of news space. The haunting questions related to when the FBI knew about the two bombers and their family and why nothing was done to stop what became another terror attack, still lingers. Another month where we are to be made more aware of child abuse has come and gone. The awareness of Autism, a developmental issue, is finally reaching into the public view. We are filled with many causes and issues that keep on rolling across the scroll at the bottom of the screen on the news networks. From an official point of view, we still don’t know what happened regarding the attack upon our citizens in Benghazi. The sequester cuts and how they are to be handled is proving to be a public relations nightmare for President Obama. It would seem that in order to exact as much pain as possible on a certain segment of the American people and to finally make the general public aware that the mean old Republicans are to receive the blame has backfired and with non partisan (across the aisle) agreement, the air traffic controllers have been rushed back to work. In not seeing the bigger picture, the person responsible to develop this strategy seemed to forget that members of the House and Senate rush home each week on airplanes, and they were also being delayed in their flights home. One more great idea about being able to point a finger at the other side came back to embarrass the White House. Reading this list, I am beginning to be depressed. Our world is in a mess. At this time in our nation, who is giving any leadership? Leadership seems to be an absent characteristic at this point in our history. Frustration, even anger, is being expressed. We need not get too worked up, however, as the President still has time to “Yuk It Up” with news correspondents for their annual “get-together” at a swanky hotel in Washington. While government waste continues; the entitlement generation wants more; demands continue for higher taxes; and charges of murder against an abortionist in Philadelphia goes under reported because (we are told) few people want to know about what is called “after birth abortion;” and the President finds time to invoke God’s blessings on Planned Parenthood; all is right in the world of the liberal elites in our country.

You will excuse me today if I am a bit sarcastic. I am still mourning the surprise loss last week of George Jones, the greatest country singer ever. Before you get all in an uproar, it is only natural that I would love country music after growing up in the Deep South listening every Saturday night to the Grand Ole Opry and remembering that as a child, the first time I saw my mother cry was the day Hank Williams’ death was announced. Country Music is more than just a genre of music; it is a way-of-life. Country Music singers/songwriters touch the deep heart strings of their listeners with the lyrics of the songs they write and sing. The unfortunate stories behind so many of the hits of country music mirror the train wrecked lives of the singer/songwriters. Few people have been as blessed with God given talent as some of the greats in country music. George Jones was one of those. His personal and family life was a mess. Alcohol, other drugs, women, and wild parties made up much of the life of George Jones. Knowing all he went through in his life of 81 years, one would be hard pressed not to admit that once he stepped up to the microphone to sing, his talent was anything short of God granted. The Lindsey Lohans, Kardashians and other celebrities of today’s party scene have nothing on the generation of country music stars I remember as a child and young adult. Following the surprise announcement of George Jones’ death last week, people from around the music industry proclaimed Jones’ most famous hit; “He stopped loving her today” as the greatest country hit of all times. Knowing all that is going on in the world and with the death of country legend George Jones, National Day of Prayer (tomorrow) could not have been planned for a better time. We need to pray!

Ray Newman

We must stand together against terror plots

We are not liked by many people. I know that statement comes as a surprise to those of you reading this column.  There is no other country that has given more money away, responded in times of disaster, fought wars for freedom on foreign soil, and rebuilt the war-torn nation and with bucket loads of money, supported the United Nations (the most useless organization anywhere) responding every time a nation has asked for assistance, yet we are not liked. “Not liked” could be a little weak, we are hated by many people in other nations, and some inside our country. Trying to find out why other people dislike (even hate us) is a big waste of time, in my opinion. Our nation set out on a course to experiment with freedom for individuals. We sought to allow individual and corporate freedom in order to elevate the lifestyle of every person in our nation. There are liberals who have never liked the idea of free market economy. There are liberals who think that the only good government is a centralized government with only a few elites at the top with complete control of the government and the personal lives of all the citizens. There are liberals who have greatly benefited from the ideology that caused this nation to be as great as it became. The majority of the liberals who have reached the top of success in their profession did so because they live in America. What they desire to force on this nation has never made anyone safe, secure, or successful. We are not a perfect nation. There is no such example to be found anywhere. In our long and blessed history, we have opened our doors to people from every part of the globe. We have shown great patience in seeking to assist the hurting, and even criminals seeking refugee status. Yet in all we have done, we are still hated! Why? Who knows and at this point in time, rather than wasting time on finding out why we are so hated, let us band together to show the world we are people who can succeed. Let us show the liberals and the extremists in economics, the centralized government crowd, the other groups wanting to impose their brand of religious tyranny on us (and any other haters), we are Americans and we are free to make choices, allowing individuals to take risks that will lead to success or failure based on the individual’s desire to better themselves. Our nation, like the truth or not, was founded with a strong belief in God and the Judeo-Christian work ethic. We were respectful of other people’s rights, opinions, and choices in the founding of our nation. We were fed up with government control and tyranny, which included taxation without representation, thus we declared our country to be a free and independent nation.

There are people inside our nation who think nothing of destroying lives or families and are seeking to bring to ruin our resolve as a freedom loving people. We know there are people who plot, plan, and carry out the plan hurting innocent people because of their hatred for what they see as a nation that needs to be destroyed. We have people outside our nation who would like nothing more than to wipe our country off the map. Their hate filled minds cannot think past their next planned terror attack. They think only of themselves and will stop at nothing to deliver their personal message of hate.

Before we jump into hiding, let us stand strong with fellow citizens as we fight off the haters among us. Many men, women, and children have given their lives as targets of the haters of the world. We need to find more ways to protect our country. We need to bring swift judgment to bear upon any person inside or outside our nation with a desire to bring a reign of terror upon us. Let us look carefully at any who try to hide behind the freedoms we enjoy in order to continue making their plots to destroy us. We must let it be known to the world we intend to continue as a free country. We must send the message that we will not bow to terror attacks or to any with plans to force on us other forms of government than the one that made our country great.

Ray Newman

The New Order of Values

A society or social order which determines it will be devoid of values, traditions, or absolutes is one that has chosen to live by no rule or value system. In effect, they have created another value system that is devoid of any value. On the surface, the idea of having no values or making up values as a society develops might sound inviting. The ultimate outcome of such thinking, however, leads to anarchy or to terrorism as the value system by which the society is ordered.

While many in our world think they have come up with a new way to live, they really have just fallen into an old trap of academia and supposed progressive thinking by adopting a concept birthed in Russia in the 19^th century known as Nihilism. This “know-nothing” philosophy as a way to look at life and to establish order in culture, always leads to a dead end of nothingness. The main issue to the nihilistic thinker is to overthrow all old ideas and ways of looking at life, and embrace new thought. New thought that has no basis in making decisions is an empty pit out of which mankind cannot climb. While in the pit of nothingness the value system that develops, while pretending to be fair and to promise equal justice, really does away with fairness and any former of social order justice. The ultimate outcome of throwing away all values and traditions leads to the development of new values and traditions based on emotion, passion, and spur-of-the-moment concepts that do not stand the test of time to assure either fairness or social equality.

We can take the concept of personal choice as it is reflected in the pro abort mindset. The issue for this thinking is personal choice but on the face of the value system that is developed, there is no fairness or equal justice because the life taken has no way of defending or speaking up for self. The only self recognized in the debate is the personal choice of the one who will take the life of another person. This debate leads to a death. There must be at least two voices that speak on this issue, but with the post modern mindset there is only one voice that can ever be heard and that is the pro abort voice. There is no fairness or equal justice there.

This continues with those who are certain they have come up with a way to assure fairness in the area of marriage by insisting society must now acknowledge that the only real fair way to look at marriage is to allow for so-called same-sex-marriage. The post modern mindset embracing the concept of nihilism throws away tradition and rules of order that have served every civilized society from the beginning of time. Marriage as a union between one man and one woman is the founding block of society and human order. Once a society determines that they have the personal choice to take the life of the unborn person and then not just refine marriage but reconstruct society, we have reached a point to where we make up our values as we go, rather than depending upon the founding value system of our culture.

Once all old values, traditions, and rules of order have been successfully thrown away, the only rule (which is the new rule or value system) is that terrorism reigns supreme. The strong survive, but not for very long, because along will come someone stronger to do away with them and we see the ultimate end of civilized society.  A society no longer able to procreate because of the chosen lifestyle of same-sex-marriage will see the end of all humankind on the horizon. We also see that the progressive thinkers who embrace nihilism and the post modern mindset see no problem with the ultimate outcome because for them, they embrace the idea that there will never be an end about which to be concerned once we reach (for them) the ultimate goal of fairness and equal justice for all.  They have created in their minds a world that cannot be or will never be, and certainly it will not yield the utopian ideal society they envision.  We can conclude then that nihilism is fatal and leads to the end of all things, not to fairness or any hope for social justice.