One American's Opinion

When I was a child my parents and almost everyone I knew was a Democrat. I didn't even know anybody that was not a Democrat. I didn't know what being a Democrat meant! But since every adult I knew and trusted, was calling themselves Democrats. I just assumed they knew what was right. When I turned eighteen years old I went into the USAF to do my part for flag and country just as my father and grandfathers had done in WW-1 and WW-2. I went to war without knowing who I was really working for. I thought though that I was defending America but didn't realize really what that was all about. I knew that President Johnson was a Democrat but never gave it a thought, my only focus was, being the best defender of the USA that I could possibly be. I willingly put myself in harms way for my country and didn't care if the president was a Democrat or Republican. I really didn't think there was that much difference in them, because we were all Americans and the good of our country was in the hearts of us all! After I spent ten years in the USAF, I finally got my discharge and hired into the LAPD as a police officer. I was born in 1947 but didn't get to vote in an election until the 1976 election that brought Carter into the White House (I voted for Ford). I remember when the California primary election was held that year I could not vote in it, because I was registered neither Democrat nor Republican, I considered myself an independent. I was not allowed to vote in the primaries as an independent. I was told that I had to be one or the other. So I was forced to sit out the primary election and voted in the general election that November as a registered Republican.

That is when I started to listen to what the different parties were saying and began paying attention to what they were doing while in office. I was convinced very quickly that I could not agree with what the Democrats stood for. I had fought a very vicious war against the Communists, and the Democrats verbally defended them at every turn. I was very angry at them when I suddenly realized that their leadership was sympathetic towards the communists, many of my friends bones are still lying out there in the jungles of Laos and Cambodia where they fell and were never recovered. I was very disgusted with the Democrats. Most of my family was still staunch Democrats because they could not see or accept the things they knew was happening with the Democratic Party. My own father was a staunch Democrat. I registered as a Republican to the dismay of most of my family. Most were truly angry when they found out I had registered as a Republican. I was told that the Republicans were only for the rich and did nothing for the working class. I paid no attention to them because as a police officer I was in a position to know certain things they could not know, not a lot more though, but just enough to see that the whole political scene was a farce. Both parties were corrupt and did things that would only benefit themselves. The Democratic leadership is as rich as the leadership of the Republicans and the only difference is their voting base and ideology. I remember being assigned to the press club as a plainclothes undercover officer. A guy had shown up with a forty-five handgun and a hand held rocket, he was arrested before anybody was hurt but they needed security, so LAPD assigned my partner and I. We were working the special problems unit at Rampart Area at the time, which is why we were assigned to the press club. We spent a full week at the club and while there, we saw many press conferences which were all fakes. There was only one actual press conference that week, the rest were fakes with strobe lights and recorded crowd noises. The political figure that was supposed to be answering questions never faced the reporters, they just made numerous statements to an empty room, and the questions were added later. Then on the evening news it was made to sound as if a real news conference had occurred, it did indeed sound that way, but the truth was; it was all faked. The reporters recorded their questions as if they were really asking it to a live person. Cut and splice the questions and answers and surprise, you had a seemingly real question and answer session. That opened my eyes as to how our country was really being run! Laws are enacted by legislators nationwide in every state as well as the nation's capital in Washington DC. All of them however are doing things for themselves or their political party; not for the good of the country. I know that some of the representatives are trying to do the right thing, but most are not. Those that do try to do the right thing are blocked at every turn by those who are out there; only for their own self enrichment or for a political agenda. It seems as if Democrats are for socialism and the Republicans are for the rich. The economy of America was put in real danger during Carters administration. Taxes continued to go up as the welfare class continued to get higher and higher incentives not to work or get trained for any kind of employment, they were called; the welfare class. As taxes went up, so did pay scales, until the unions got so many large benefits that some of the largest companies in America finally was driven out of business or were forced to relocate their operations overseas. Case in point was Kaiser Steel!

They were forced out of business due to the unsustainably high cost of union workers that had to be paid high wages, due to the higher taxes. A vicious cycle that was getting out of control, wages could not buy as much as they had just ten years before, due to what was known as tax creep. Taxes were the same but prices kept going up. We were taxed at the same rate as we had been ten years before but our money would not buy as much because of tax creep. President Reagan, when he was put into office corrected that as one of his first priorities. He also lowered taxes for the first time in who knows how many years. That enraged the Democrats who said that he didn't care for the poor! You see if the taxes were lowered, the socialistic agenda that the Democrats had been enacting for so long, would suddenly be exposed as what they really were; a socialist agenda. Which if allowed to continue, would have eventually trapped the American people into a socialist state, that we would have had a hard time extricating ourselves from. I remember when the very thought of socialized medicine was a joke that everyone laughed at. Well it is fast becoming a reality with Obama's healthcare reform law. Reagan also rebuilt our military which was being dismantled by the Democrats piecemeal. The defense budget was at the bottom of their agenda, while social programs for the so called poor were at an all time high. The programs put into place by President Reagan brought us out of the hole and put us back on sound ground as a nation, with the best military in the world; bar none. Then the American people were lulled into thinking that we needed a Democratic administration, so in 1992 Clinton was voted into office. That was a major mistake, because after eight years of his administration we were attacked eight months after his leaving office, mainly because he had elected to dismiss the Islamic threat to America and that is why the world trade center attack happened. We had been attacked in other parts of the world but not in America itself; that is until the 9/11 attack. Bush was forced to take real command and in short order had the training grounds in Afghanistan shut down; with the Taliban on the run. He then corrected a mistake his father made ten years before by not ending Saddam Hussein's rule in Iraq. The Democrats went ballistic, but only after first telling him to go ahead with the attack on Saddam's regime. They then went after him with as much vitriol as they could muster. Everything was Bush's fault; bad weather was Bush's fault. When Osama Bin Laden escaped from Bora Bora where he had been trapped, Bush was faulted. He could well have been at fault on that point, but not to the extent that the Democrats claimed. Now we come to this present administration. Obama has spent more money than all the other presidents in history and he just keeps on spending. If this continues we will no longer control our own destiny! Countries like China and Russia will own our economy in total; the world is already under the control of international conglomerates, which set world prices on everything. If you don't believe it, just look at the international stock markets around the world. Just turn to the business channel and watch for a few minutes, you are in for a surprise unless you don't care that we are controlled by outside influences. I just read that the Democrats now want to tax us for the miles we drive in our cars and trucks on the nations highways, they say that the gas taxes we all pay, for the gas we use, is not enough to keep our highways in working order.

Well, it would be except for one little detail! They have used the gas taxes we pay for other things, and not for keeping the highways in working order. The vehicle miles tax (VMT) is supposed to get them enough revenue to fix our highways, because you see since the Gore scare over global warming, the government has told us we have to go with other forms of energy for driving; such as electric cars. Well if you use electric instead of gas then they are right about the gas tax not being enough but they have been at the forefront of this change in the type of energy we are supposed to use. However when and if they start taxing the miles we drive, they will not remove the gas taxes already in place and they WILL NOT use the VMT for the highways like they say they will. Those taxes will be used for things like social welfare programs, which will suck us right back to where we were headed when Carter was president. I am surprised that they do not try to tax how many breaths we take of government air in America. How about an (energy use tax) on the energy we all use in our bodies? As stupid as that sounds I am surprised that some politician somewhere has not proposed such a thing! We are the most heavily taxed country on earth and we are now the world's police force, against people like the potentates of the Middle East, when they start to crack down on their own populations, who want the freedom to have things that those of us in the western world take for granted. Things are changing in the Middle East, but is it for the betterment of the people, or the Islamic rulers who see a chance to take complete control. The entire area is falling into absolute chaos, and will be that way for the foreseeable future. Things will definitely get worse before they get better; that's for sure. In Ethiopia which is 90% Christian and 10% Muslim, the Muslims have started to burn down Christian churches and Christian houses, notes are attached to front doors that say; convert to Islam or die! In Egypt the Muslims have started to kill Christians just because they are Christians. In other Moslem countries it is a death penalty to convert from Islam to any other religion; especially Christianity. So as we continue to spiral downward, the Democrats keep spending us into a national grave and point towards the republicans as the ones responsible! They have no shame at all because they lie, right in the face of the American people and blame everyone except themselves. Don't get me wrong I am not happy with the Republicans either, but at least they seem to still have some idea of what the American people want and need. I have a word for the way in which the courts of this land work. I call it a judicial dictatorship because when the people of a state votes to make a constitutional change in their state constitution, the federal appeals court says," it is not constitutional to make a change to the constitution of the state". In other words, we no longer have the right or freedom to make changes that the courts don't want us to make, that is legislating by the courts and that is un-constitutional. It violates the powers of separation set up by the founding fathers. Our government is made up of three branches called the legislative branch, the judicial branch and the executive branch. One cannot overrule the other except in very narrow ways. Courts are supposed to interpret the law, not decide what the law should be. That is the purview of the legislative branch.

The defense of the nation is the duty of the executive branch, however the congress decided that they need to call the shots and be in charge of any war situation. That is just absurd; because when it comes to military command, it is necessary to have a centralized point of decision. The military is under civilian control that is true, but that control rests with the president not congress, despite what they have enacted. The courts could if they wanted too; find that legislation un-constitutional. But they won't, because for them to make any such findings on the law, it has to be challenged in court, but will not be; by either party. Take this current bombing campaign by American military forces in Libya, it was ordered by the president supposedly to protect civilians. However the president has said all along that the present leader of Libya must be removed from power! In the mission statement of operation Odyssey Dawn, that is not the objective of the operation. But if that is not the objective, then just what is the objective? What is the ultimate aim of this operation? It could very easily put an even more repressive regime into power by allowing an Islamic theocracy to take power! Just think of that for a moment. The people fight to be freed from repression, but then are subjected to an even more repressive system than the one they just got rid of. Rule by religious leaders MUST be stopped worldwide, religion while good for the soul is a disaster when applied to ruling a government or people's lives. Because let me be very clear on this point, religious leaders do not speak for God, they speak for themselves and their own self beliefs. They have convinced themselves that they speak for God on earth and they must impose their will and control over everyone else. God will let us know on an individual basis as to how we should act on his behalf. I know that God in fact exists, but I have no regard whatsoever in organized religion or the vaunted holy ones that run the money grubbing, power hungry religions around the world that profess to speak for God. What they do is the purist form of blasphemy. While we do need the guidance of religion when it comes to the worship of God, we do not need it to take total control of our lives. I know that some who read these remarks will think I am against God. Well nothing could be further from the truth. I just know that because religious leaders are human, they are going to present themselves as the authority on the word of God, and crush free thinking as much as possible so they can stay in power as long as they can, before some other self professed holy person pushes them out of power and takes over for themselves. Anyway as flawed as our government is, it is still the best that humanity has to offer. We have a better life than any other place on earth, which is why so many people risk their lives to get to America. What I find so incredible is that after they get to America some do not want to assimilate, they seem to want to keep their own culture, language and way of life. While they should keep in touch with their roots, they must remember that it was the way of life in their native countries that caused them to flee to America in the first place. The last topic I should address is that of unions! Yes those all powerful bullies that have over time been responsible for America losing all of her basic industries.

You know things like steel, aluminum, copper, textiles and the car industries which have gone away from our shores. The unions blame the government and big business for the loss of all those industries but it was due to the continued union demands that finally priced American made good out of the market worldwide, nobody could afford to pay the high prices that the union pay scales and benefits caused. The union movement at the outset was not really to help any workers it was to spread the message that the Bolsheviks in Russia was advocating. Really, that was how the union movement got started here in America, but Americans did not like what was happening in Russia, so the objective for the unions became better pay and a safe work environment. However violence was used by the unionists to get those benefits into place. I do in fact think that workers rights and safety should be the priority in any work place. But the way unions have twisted that imperative around is shameful indeed. The unions made it almost impossible to fire un-productive, unsafe, dangerous or lazy workers. Private sector unions have nearly been put out of business due to businesses going over seas or out of business entirely. The unions are actually to blame for their own demise, after all was said and done they demanded too much. Between unions pay demands, benefits and the heaviest taxes in the world. It was only a matter of time before our business infrastructure self destructed. American industry once supplied most of the world with the things they wanted and needed, that began to change over the last thirty or so years until this nation is no longer a supply side nation but an importer of basic goods. We no longer have the basic industries; we are now dependent on foreign industry to supply us with all the necessary goods like refined steel and oil! The only way this can be remedied is to get away from the high taxes and un-sustainable benefits demanded by unions. Anybody in America can become self sufficient if they really try, that is what made our country the envy of the whole world. If you give a person the incentive to seek a better life for themselves and their families they will do so and will succeed beyond their own expectations! But this is not the way the welfare state has pointed America towards; the so called poor do not have to be poor! All they need to do is work hard towards a goal, one that they can achieve, and stay the course, that is the way to financial success; not welfare programs.

Free enterprise and the freedom to make our own decisions have made us the strongest country the world has ever known. We Americans are among the hardest working people in the world because we are from all over the world. Our culture is a mixture of cultures; we are not a one dimensional society, we are the result of the coming together of the whole world in one land, under one flag and with one language (English). We should continue to use our native languages but our base language has always been English and will remain the language of choice for most Americans. Those who come to America and refuse to learn her language need to think about why they came here in the first place. If a person rejects the language, then maybe they reject our country also; it is all or nothing, when it comes to being an American. As for myself I spent 35yrs in the service of my country and the service of my fellow Americans, ten years in the USAF and twenty-five years as a police officer and detective. I did what I thought I should do for America. That does not mean that all Americans need to do what I did, but they should at least respect their country by respecting the laws of the land and stand up for her when duty calls. Respect goes both ways though; to get respect you must give respect, so to all who read my words please know that I wish you well in your life, and may you only know peace and happiness through all your days.