Rants and Ravings of a 40-Something Patriot

Rants and Ravings of a 40-Something White Male American

In this essay or book of unpredictable length and scope, I will try to put onto paper the feelings and thoughts that course through the brain of a man that has seen America thrive, prosper, recessions and now an all but historically acknowledged depression.
I included in my title White Male American, not as a racist stab at all other people but as a identifier of who I am. This is not an apology, but rather should be seen as a statement of clarification and fact. I am White. I am Male. I am American.

Chapter 1 Race

Why not lead off with the subject that all want to talk about but for some reason can’t.
Am I racist? No. I have a lot of Black, Hispanic, Oriental friends. “Ohhh, that’s what ALLLL racists say”, some will offer.
Well, I hate to say this, hate to crumple that little logic, but if I was racist, I wouldn’t have any of “those” as my friends would I?
Now that’s over with we can move on to more productive use my time.
Race was a real issue in the past, but as the country has grown so has the growth in Middle Class Black Americans. This really peeves the Democrat base.
They see the MCB (Middle Class Blacks) as escapees. These escapees have accomplished what few have before. They tapped into the stream of Success in America and that most want to keep more of what they earned.
I am convinced, as I’ve aged and matured, that Blacks are far more conservative than they really realize. They mainly want to keep what they earn, want good schools, want a fair shot at jobs, and good housing. I have found in most of the conversations with co-workers and friends that these are values that span the races and classes.
What person doesn’t want all these things?
Where we (as political philosophies) differ is how to accomplish these things. While they (and I use “they” in a broad sense, trying to cover the liberal Black mindset and the pressure by those LBM placed on New Black Conservatives to remain “true”) don’t want taxes raised, they seem to think its ok if others have taxes raised on them. They feel that despite the success they’ve achieved, the NBC should feel beholden to the cause and vote for Democrats.
Pardon my slight deviation from this thought, but in too many instances across all races, there is too much of the “guaranteed” Democratic vote. Too many say, “Well I vote Democrat because my papa and his pappy always did.” This little factoid runs through the rust belt in particular and along the East and West coast in general.
Sorry, but back to Race.
I could apologize for my great grand pappy owning slaves. I could, but won’t because he didn’t.
We were supposed to be in an age of color blindness, but its always those that have much to gain from agitation that always seem to bring race into conversations.
Heres a statement of obvious logic that will be skewered if this goes to press.
There will never be a color blind or racist free culture on Earth.
There it is.
Colorblindness is one of those liberal pie-in-the-sky pipe dreams commonly found in wishes more so than in reality. One people, One race, One Nation, One Peace, One World, One Government, One God (theirs)
The Democrats have counted on a >90% black vote for the past 5 decades. 90%. How can one RACE vote so overwhelmingly one way for 2 generations? Where has it gotten them? The gains in the NBC and the BMC exploded during Republican watch and Republican policies. Why, over 50 years are they still beholden to the very party that hopes (by their own policies) to keep them beholden and needy?
Better and brighter men than me have tackled that dilemma and people are still scratching their heads. But the tide is turning. The frustration of 50 years of voting and getting nothing more than a baby kissed and the token visit are catching up on the Democrats. Brings up a quote… Something like “Fool some of the people, but you can’t fool all.” People will catch on.

Race is a divisive issue. A wedge issue. It’s one way, among several, that policy wonks can work one class of people against another. If people are divided, it’s easier to keep the machine working to usurp Freedom.
Never lose that lesson.

WW2 saw that Americans were UNITED... under God.

Chapter 2 FREEDOM

What is Freedom? Is it the ability to pass gas when you want to, where you want to? Why not? And if that’s the case, no matter how rude or anti-social it may be, why are there curbs on other “freedoms”? Like burgers, or smoking? Or types of cars (gas guzzlers vs. Hybrids)?
Is Freedom the ability to chase your dream, whatever that dream may be? To be a surfer? Or a Doctor?
Why is it easy to limit someone else’s freedom while yours is off limits?
It was a big thing to savage the tobacco industry and force through smoking bans, but now that’s old news and the target on the horizon is fast food.
“But Todd, you are against abortion and legalization of marijuana,” you might say.
In the first case, I’d say not really. I am pro-life, but if the person wants to pay for it, it’s their soul and God that they have to answer to. But I am staunchly against Federally funded abortions.
Our Freedoms, the ones I grew up with, are under attack from so many fronts, its overwhelming.

An xray scanner you HAVE to pass through (or get patted down) in order to board a plane. The ability to eat unhealthy foods whenever you want. The ability to smoke a cigarette in your own house or apartment. More and more Freedoms are on the chopping block in the name of either safety, health, or the environment.
Each of these freedoms are small in their own way, but the trend has been set. If someone, somewhere complains loud enough, your ability to do what you want can be curtailed or eliminated. Why do you think a lot of people look for “unrestricted” properties to purchase out of the city? There is value in that type of lifestyle.
Freedoms, in the classical sense, are God given and cannot be altered or infringed on by man. Now, if I had my way, there’d not be a cigar smoked within 5 million miles of me, but that would compromise not only that persons freedoms but my own perhaps in the future.
Now could that smoker use common sense and perhaps smoke elsewhere or be a little more socially aware (ie. Polite)? Yes. But when he infringes on my right for clean smoke free air with his cigar, he runs the risk of losing that privilege with litigation and laws (witness the lengths they went to destroy that industry).
As we get further into the 21st Century, the nation will continue to expand in population and the freedoms we recognize today will come under even more pressure in 20 years. From the internet, to gun ownership, to drinking cola’s, perhaps even voting rights, could be in jeopardy.
How voting rights? I’m a citizen. Yet there is an overt effort in 2010 to dilute the value of my vote by allowing illegal aliens to vote. Back as far as 2004 there have been reports of illegals voting. That’s MY Freedom. That’s MY duty. Not theirs. So not only do dead people dilute my vote, but citizens of other countries do as well.
I’m interested in fixing MY country. If they want a better life, and a vote, why don’t they vote in their country and work on THEIR country? And don’t give me the La Raza crap either. The west was SOLD by Mexico back in the 1800’s. So, they need to look elsewhere to place their blame. Not to mention they are not the original owners anyway.
Freedoms are won. They may be given by God, but they are won by the might of righteous conflict, whether armed or political in nature. They are lost through apathy and negligence.
We still have the character to do great things in this country. It is the power hungry elite that seem to want to curb the aspirations of others.
One of the biggest ways that the establishment is curbing Freedoms is through the dumbed down school system.
Nearly 30% of every American that reach 16 years of age, drop out. In the big municipalities the problem is much worse, upwards of 75% dropout every year.
How are these people going to decipher what truly is happening to them? How will they be able to see through the misinformation and out right lies that will come their way every election cycle?
James Madison once said, “Learned Institutions ought to be favorite objects with every free people. They throw that light over the public mind which is the best security against crafty and dangerous encroachments on the public liberty.”
“…against crafty and dangerous encroachments…” amazing, isn’t it?

So one not only has to be educated, but those Institutions must be HONEST establishments where people can learn to think and reason clearly and then with their convictions, either support or dissent the various policies of the government at large.
This is an amazing concept. If there were a tyrannical government, would it not be wise to assume that they would put forth a school environment where they set the standards and curriculum?
Yet, with the advent of our nation, one of its founders thought that the educational system would be unaffected by the encroaching governmental policies used by power brokers intent on changing the foundations of America. Madison would be right in most cases, but he foresaw only that honest, moral, scrupulous people would be in office and in the houses of power, not only in government but in the schools themselves.
He did not count on the socialist religion that pervades the higher institutions now. These followers believe only the state has the answers, and that common man cannot look after themselves for their own good. The elites feel that it is in their purview to oversee what freedoms are fulfilled, what are curtailed and when these items are decided.
So, we can state that with a system that leaves so many short (and hey, kids are not all made alike so why do we think 7 hrs in a school room works for everyone?) is a system that is failed and broke.

Chapter #3 Education
If I had my way, I would have had my kids educated in a private or home school setting.
My kids are (to the public school system) high achievers. My son, a straight A student but not challenged until his 1st year in college where he had to actually study. Before that, the courses were simple enough that all he had to do was listen in class and he never had to crack a book to study. Once in college, however, demands changed and Calculus 3 kicked his ass.
My daughter is 14 and in Early college taking college level Psychiatry.
But that level of achievement is due not just great gifts from God, but great starts from her parents and grandparents. We sang and read to them when they were toddlers. They see us reading and engaging in moderately deep discussions. They know we have high expectations for them.
Public schools, for lack of a better term, have turned into day cares. They try to be places of learning, but even in an area of some moderate wealth there are still pockets of poverty and apathy.
These places, the impoverished, lend themselves to underachievers, who otherwise might succeed in other circumstances. But having said that, I have witnessed instances that prove that no matter how circumstances change or how early intervention is accomplished in a childs life, there is no escape from predisposition due to DNA.
I have stated elsewhere that the average dropout rate in public HS is 30-35% and that in larger cities (Detroit in particular) the rate is 3 out of every 4.

Just recently there was a study (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/09/education/09gap.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=proficiency%20of%20black%20students%20is%20found%20to%20be%20far%20lower%20than%20expected&st=cse ) that concluded the Black males, despite 40 years of mandated equal public education (through busing and other federally mandated help) are lagging behind Whites in far greater numbers and to a larger degree than ever previously thought.
And it boils down to :
…“conversations about early childhood parenting practices,” Dr. Ferguson said. “The activities that parents conduct with their 2-, 3- and 4-year-olds. How much we talk to them, the ways we talk to them, the ways we enforce discipline, the ways we encourage them to think and develop a sense of autonomy.”
Amazing.
While Blacks tend to see gov’t as Massa and end up not having the spine to care for their own anymore, Whites, Asians, and to some degree Hispanics have no such difficulty.
But Education isn’t just in school anymore either.
Some of the most influential “education” happens after school. 3pm TV time slots, once reserved for reruns of Gilligans Island, Bewitched, or Wild Wild West, are now the domain of Oprah, Jerry Springer, and other shows talking about topics that we would probably not liked openly discussed in front of minors.
Kids are no longer afforded their innocence. It is striped away at an early age. Cursing on TV, lurid lyrics on the radio, all undermine children and serve only to further destroy the morals and fabric of our society.
“Todd, kiddo, TV’s and radios have off switches, ya know.”
Yeah, I know. Just like I know curiosity would make those switches turn on when I’m not around.
The perversion and decay are everywhere. Former Disney Mouseketeers, formerly the bastion of “do gooders”, are notoriously inept in handling their life post teeny bopper era. Yet its not them that are suffering. It is their loyal fan base, those small kids that grew up wanting to be Brittany or Christina, or Lindsey or now Miley that are most affected by their favorite stars’ seemingly wanton self-destruction.
They are the one’s who chose to sell their souls for bigger pay and take the “next” step to distance themselves from their former pristine reputation.
Annette Funicello had more class. She had opportunities, but did not want to “go against type”. She did not want to disappoint fans.
Education is much more than what you receive in a formal environment. It is life experiences, day-to-day events, fights, talking yourself out of trouble, standing up to a bully, getting caught stealing. It’s the Sunday trips to church, it’s the lectures you get after all the school trouble. It’s the stead fast loyalty and unconditional love shown by your parents that is often at the time ignored or underappreciated by you. It’s the neighborhood residents holding you accountable for your actions. It is all these things and more. It’s the breakups where your soul gets crushed, and those souls that you crush.

Noone can be prepared completely for adulthood. But one has to hope that strong parenting, combined with strong teachers and plenty of luck are the remedies for our downward spiraling moral core values.
It starts at home. Always has, always will.

Chapter #4 Immigration (Illegal variety)

Immigration. Unless you are a full blooded Indian from North America, you are an immigrant. No crap.
Immigration has been a tool used by our country to prosper in ways no other country ever has. Labor, genius, entrepreneurs, scientists, they all flocked to our shores over the last 200 years. People with a hunger to make something of themselves AND the ideal to keep the fruit of their toils came to our country. They came far and wide with no limits. They took chances, freely, that we would never consider. Immigration makes a country stronger. It brings in people who have lived elsewhere and appreciate how good this country truly is.
But illegal immigration is entirely different. Especially when it gets to be 20 million strong. The influx of illegals has become rampant.
“They do the work Americans don’t want to do.”
Actually, they’ll do work we WANT to do…but cheaper. Way cheaper.
As a former small landscape business owner, I know the value of getting jobs and bidding practices where you gain jobs yet still maintain a profit.
Yet, over the past 10 years or so, most construction or landscape jobbers have only remained competitive because of illegal or low waged immigrants. This is harmful to the industry and leads to stagnation of wages for the middle class. A study recently confirms that American wages have been frozen since 1979.
Say whut? Yep, sure enough, wages have frozen since ’79. The Carter Administration. Even after the boom times of the 80’s and 90’s. Perhaps due to the slump (contraction) of the past decade, but with the continued importation of cheap labor and the exportation of jobs for cheap labor, the American worker has been caught in a wage squeeze resulting from layoffs, cutbacks and outsourcing.
The myth behind the “illegal” trafficking of humans, is that people just want a better life for them and their families. The fact is, they know that the Mexican Gov’t won’t take care of them, and they know that the programs in the US will. Especially the “Anchor Babies” that allow citizenship and 18 years after birth have the ability to bring in relatives to live consequence free here in the USA.
The fact is that business and Gov’t have had a hand in this debacle and share the blame. The more tolerant we are for ANY illegal activity, the more that activity will occur and will become an accepted norm.
While its tempting to hire illegal’s and undercut other bidders in that fashion, it is only logical that those illegals will someday become competitors and will use those same tactics against you.

The fact remains that the United States is the most immigrated to country the world has ever known. 20% of all known immigrants come here. 38 million currently. Well over 12.5% of our population, or to put it in perspective, 12.9% of our 2000 population were Black. The immigrants would make a huge voting block.

And that is the real reason for the acceptance of illegals at high levels. Both parties actively court the vote, even though they legally have no such honor.

Further dilution of the majority voter (white) is the goal.

We’ll add more to this as we go….