Yearly Archives: 2014

Vision 2016 Part I: Foundations for Our Future

A Time for Reflection
For half a century, America has been at a civil crossroads. Will the founders’ experiment in virtue-based liberty continue or will it be replaced by disempowering ideologies? Will American “first principles” of freedom of conscience/religion, assembly, redress and speech remain robust, or will political correctness stifle the full exchange of ideas? Will government return to its subsidiary role of protecting natural rights or continue the one hundred year trajectory of bestowing rights as largess from a Leviathan?

Will a civil center be recaptured so people of all faiths and philosophies argue peaceably, allowing their deepest convictions to guide them, or will elite secularists force free discourse underground? Will citizenship and the rule of law mean something or will pseudo-compassionate amnesty programs overwhelm labor markets and foster a one-party state?

Thinking further, will historic guilt lead to unwise capitulation to neo-racist supremacists or will Martin Luther King’s dream of “all God’s children” living together with equality and justice reassert itself? Will Americans shed their racial bias and welcome as friends all cultures and races? Will life from conception to coronation find protection or will social engineers dehumanize “unneeded” persons under the guise of economics, science or social good?

Globally, will the USA support its ally and the only democracy in the Middle East or capitulate to jihadists bent on Israel’s destruction? Will America stand with all people of conscience facing persecution or continue the present trajectory of submission to Islamicist supremacy?

The compelling issue for America’s future is a vision of the common good that will catalyze citizens to create a better future.

Forging a flourishing future requires devotion and discipline, inspiration and integrity, passion and principle as well as policies that work. I offer the following as a way of inspiring all people of conscience to contribute to their communities, our nation and world.

What is Vision?

Vision = a picture of a preferred and achievable future.

Vision = a pathway toward flourishing for all.

Vision = life between fantasy and fatalism, requiring faith and work.

Vision = offers hope that empowers present sacrifice for future generations.

What follows in the coming weeks are principled and practical aims designed to appeal to people committed to the common good; people that understand that liberty is rooted in virtue and self-regulation is essential for maximal freedom. I look forward to a great conversation.

Courage and Grace: The Morning After 2014

Once again, midterm elections humble an incumbent President. Since 1938, almost all midterms bring favorable gains to the party outside the White House. Apart from an idiotic editorial in the New York Times calling for the elimination of midterm elections, what does this mean for America during the next two years…and beyond?

The drubbing of the Democrats in the House and Senate means little if the Republicans cannot articulate a fresh vision for America’s future that is inclusive and inspiring, passionate and principled. In my next essay on this sight, I will present one of my most important posts ever: “Vision 2016.” It is vital that clear and courageous directions are offered with sincere attempts at bipartisan cooperation. The “ether/or” polarization of the past six years must yield to integrity and statesmanship as we forge a preferred future.

Moral courage and political grace is needed, with Republicans adopting a principled and practical agenda that will benefit America for generations, not just secure the next election. There are four things that I hope ‘the morning after’ will bring:

First, a willingness to bring all legislation to the floors of both houses of Congress. The more the people know about the debates over pending bills the better for our democratic ethos. Harry Reid’s refusal to bring bills forward must change. Oh, and by the way, the lawmakers should actually read the bills before debate and passage!

Second, The House must give leadership to fiscal stewardship of public monies, reversing the last 50 years of White House control of the budget. It is time for federal financial matters to originate from their Constitutional source while challenging the Senate and White House to real negotiations over how our money is spent.

Third, President Obama’s judicial nominees deserve thorough scrutiny for both their ideology and legal records. When it comes to lifetime appointments, our nation needs better appointees.

Fourth, the spirit and tone of Republican communication must be civil and compassionate, firm on principles and flexible on some details. Republicans must learn the art of winning hearts as well as minds, garnering emotional support as well as being “right.” People of all classes and cultures want a better future for the next generation.

The next two years are the greatest test for the American Experiment in virtue-based liberty since the era of the Civil War. Will we reaffirm our first principles and articulate a fresh vision that inspires our nation/ Or will we continue on our present trajectories of anarchy, dysfunction and polarization? May we choose courage and grace and forge a better tomorrow for generations yes unborn.

9/11

9/11: We all remember where we were. (Flames Restaurant, San Jose, CA).

9/11: Grief. Horror. Shock. Anger.

9/11: And prayers in full churches. Hugs with family and neighbors. Our Persian landlords bring a fruit basket and share tears with us.

9/11: Our eldest son’s 18th birthday. We still have cake and presents, because life is still worth living.

9/11: A nation in mourning. A nation facing an intractable and zealous, elusive and untraditional foe that hates every value we hold dear.

9/11: Not a conspiracy – a tragedy. Not a time for a religious crusade, but repentance and resolution, moral and spiritual reformation and action.

Today is 9/11/14.

Mr. President, will you lead with civil and political consensus, with international support and moral and military courage? The enemies beheading Americans (and raping and killing across all cultural and religious lines) must be opposed without qualification. We are not facing victims of Western imperialism. Israel is not a genocidal state, she is a democratic ally. Even Egypt knows this!  The West is weak, but not destroyed. The question of the hour is simple: will be stand for freedom, oppose tyranny and not be reduced to the morality of our opponents?

9/11/14: Time to act with courage and wisdom, not platitudes and wishful thinking. We must not allow our self-hatred and historical guilt (some of which is valid) to cloud our vision. Our enemies want our complete submission. We must call for complete freedom of conscience and religion and defend for all others the rights we want for ourselves.

Like the 1930s, we are war weary – and hopeful that generous financial arrangements and a wide toleration of cultural differences will persuade our enemies to desist. Our lack of internal integrity and strategic inaction only increases their resolve.

9/11/14: A time to act.

Courage: Compassion and Confrontation

75 years ago Europe erupted in warfare as Hitler invaded Poland with the aid of his new “cooperative partner” Stalin. Just days before, on August 22, Germany and the Soviet Union signed a 10-year non-aggression and trade agreement. The secret protocols divided Eastern Europe into zones of conquest for each power. Russia was given half of Poland, and a free hand in  the Baltic states and Finland. Germany was given her share of Poland and a free hand in the West. Both powers knew they would one day go to war…but for now they were allied against the forces of democracy.

While these totalitarians oppressed Europe, Japan was expanding her conquests in China and eying much of the South Pacific. Her military rulers felt it was their destiny and right to rule a vast portion of the East. Japan was  allied with Germany and Italy. To lovers of democracy and the Judeo-Christian tradition, the world had gone mad.

For a decade before these events, the Western powers tried to ignore the warning signs and pretend that appeasement and decency could convince dictators to limit their ambitions. There own ambivalence was rooted in elitist rejections of traditional values joined with colonizing much of the developing world under the guise of League of Nation “mandates.” Voices such as Churchill’s were drowned out by anti-war advocates and men like Neville Chamberlain who were convinced that a little humility and a willingness to understand Germany’s historic grievances would maintain the peace.

Germany’s invasion of the Rhineland in 1936, her absorption of Austria and negotiated capture of the Sudenten part of Czechoslovakia in 1938 convinced Hitler that the West had no moral or military stomach for confrontation.  Japan felt the same as she pillaged and raped the populace of China. Mussolini took Ethiopia and set his sights on Libya. Protests were made, but little done on the part of a West weary of war and an America comfortable in isolation and wrestling with years of economic depression.

In 2014, the dynamics are the same, with a new set of implacable foes of freedom. Radical Islamic terrorism confronts a civilized world with religiously-fueled absolutism, intolerance, misogyny and violence. “Moderates” in Islam (like historic German conservatives, Japanese Royalists, Italian nationalists and cooperative “euro-socialists” in the West in the 1930s) are so invested in anti-Western narratives and fearful of reprisal that they refuse to see the danger. The pagan-secular Left in the USA and West are blinded by their anti-American ideology and residual historical guilt. They willfully refuse to change their “narrative” and confront their mortal enemies with moral and military strength.

Hamas, ISIS/ISIL, Hizbollah, Al-Queda, the Taliban and the host of other groups have one goal in mind: a new Caliphate in the Middle East, North Africa and Southern Europe (reliving the glory days of 632-732 and the 14th-15th centuries) and eventual world conquest for Islam. Their hatred of Israel and the USA knows no bounds. Their contempt for Western civilization is total. Jihad is not moral struggle or defensive warfare. It is conquer, “convert or die” and destroy. Beheadings, rape, mass executions and deportations are policy, not accidental consequences of conflict.

Such evil must be opposed with all the moral, political and military strength the civilized world can muster. While President Obama plays golf and calls for “managing” such opponents, China expands her influence in the Pacific and Russia eyes new conquests in Eastern Europe and beyond.

Academics, media personalities, public intellectuals and politicians in the West must wake up and recognize that these enemies of liberty are much worse that any imperialism of the West or the Israeli governance of the West Bank. It is easy to protest against democratic Israel. No lives are lost and she cares about public opinion. It is easy to advocate for radical social causes in the USA – our freedom of religion, assembly, redress and speech open the doors to all kinds of expression that would destroy someone in the 57 nations under the thumb of Islam.

The troubles in the Islamic world today are no longer the fault of Western colonialism. There is enough oil money to eliminate poverty. No Western nation wants to conquer and occupy a Muslim land. The problems in the Arab and world are their own making. Iran is ruled by apocalyptic mullahs willing to subjugate a cultured, intelligent people.

What is the allure of radical islam? Male power and resentment of the West. Religious ideology that sanctions violence against all who disagree is appealing to young men from all walks of life.

What is the way forward?

Compassion and courage. Without losing our highest ideals and deep sympathy for the victims of structural injustice, the West must demonstrate moral and military strength. Peacemaking and negotiations must be reinforced by a willingness to strike back with overwhelming force, not half-hearted gestures.

Israel, NATO and the USA are natural allies in this struggle to preserve the hard-won freedoms of the past three centuries. It is time for conservatives and liberals, religious and secular, women and men of all cultures to unite against foes that desire our destruction. While we (necessarily) argue over principles and policies within our nations and communities, we must come together as lovers of liberty and call on all Islamic moderates to join us in peacemaking, compassion and military and political actions.

The next generation will determine whether liberty becomes a memory or an expanding influence. The choice is ours.

Solutions

From the chattering media class to the proverbial “man on the street” – so many folks have fallen into a soft fatalism, an unconscious resignation that nothing can really change when we look at the serious problems we face. Immigration and Israel, fatherless homes and federal deficits, ecological and economic challenges – all seem intractable.

The problems we face have solutions. Courage and creativity, innovation and integrity will be required. The heart of any effective answer is simple, even if there are complexities in application. Here are some starting points for solving several issues confronting us right now, July 20, 2014:

Peace in the Middle East: Support Israel and call on Arab leadership to recognize her right to exist as a Jewish and sovereign state. Demand an end to all denial of the Holocaust and Israel’s right to her ancestral home as well as an end to elimination ideology and terrorism. The haters only respond to strength. Camp David can happen again.

The (artificial) Immigration Crisis: Secure the border. Care for the human needs in the USA and Mexico. Screen every person and enforce current laws. Stop using children as political and social pawns to destroy the American experiment and flood Texas with Democratic voters. Deport all illegal alien felons currently in US prisons.

The Federal Deficit: Begin with a 10% pay cut for all federal government officials; 20% for all making more than $200,000. This will test how many are “serving” the public interest. Cut 10% more out of the administrative program budgets of every federal agency. New furniture and another junket can wait. Have business leaders assess efficiencies, make recommendations and implement them.

Economic Inequality: Equality of access and opportunity is not a guarantee of equal outcomes. Remove unneeded regulations and stimulate business development with streamlined processes and tax breaks. Compel able-bodied folks receiving federal and state assistance to volunteer on infrastructure and service projects. Remind everyone of the dignity of a full day’s work.

Family Anarchy: Enforce and tighten accountability for parents that conceive a child through consensual intimacy. Make it socially shameful for spouses that fail to care and support children they are responsible for. The best gifts parents give their children are fidelity to each other, hard work and unconditional love.

Islamic Radicalism and Terrorism: Call on peaceful Muslims to renounce all terrorism, affirm full equality for people of all faiths or none and agree to end all threats to their adherents that choose another (or no) religion. Keep Rapid Response forces ready to destroy terrorist dens when found and end all occupying responsibilities apart from strategic bases.

Activists, entrenched unions, economic and political cronies will all oppose these measures. Their opposition is proof that these solutions may work. After all, if most folks choose fidelity, offer and full day’s work, demand accountability from their government and stop allowing envy poison their souls, then some of these “advocates” may have to find real jobs.