A Plea to Conservative Christians in America, an Election Reminder

 

Normally we would not make such a direct argument on the election, but this is anything but a normative election. First and foremost, please get out and vote for good, solid conservatives for the House of Representatives and the Senate. Start a committee if there is not yet one and take back your schools and local school boards. Install a curriculum which represents traditional Judeo-Christian values even if that requires eschewing Federal Education Aid Dollars as they come with more than strings, they come with ropes, cables and dictates on who you may hire as teachers, what your courses must contain, and even what courses based in liberal and immoral lessons must be taught. Their money leads to free condoms for students in all grades; sexual education which teaches if you desire, act; the school will teach you untruths as truth your parents are too ignorant to know and other means which breaks down the traditional family. Lastly on education, partner with private small and medium local companies and some carefully vetted national or international companies who employ in your area and see if apprenticeships can be arranged and even some classes taught by company personnel whose salary might be subsidized by the company or even some school funding directly from the companies. Choose your teachers carefully and monitor their classes and be wary of teachers’ unions and make your school system free of their poisonous influence. Taking back our schools in the United States is the first, most necessary and vital step to winning back our nation, governments and families.

 

Next is to select judges with care. Vote solely for vetted judges whose rulings and beliefs are known and tested. Newly appointed judges need to be monitored and vetted. Similar systems need be in place for every level of judgeship, police officials, sheriff’s department and any other elected official. Take the required steps to free your local jurisdiction from virtually, if not all, Federal oversight even if it costs reasonable and affordable loss of controlling funds from Washington D.C. If the healthcare system is not returned to a free market system then health maintenance groups may be required setting up with local physicians and hospital privileges with church, synagogue and other houses of worship as the central planners. Take back every single part of your local community. Start with your block, your neighbors; then the local community using churches, synagogues and worship centers; enjoin civic and business groups and clubs including Elks, VFW, Masonic Temples, Lions, shooting clubs and any others who are willing; and eventually with increasing success you will regain control of your community, then the county, and perhaps the state and a nation reborn working as was the original vision, from the bottom up with less power the higher in governance one rises. The community must become the highest nexus of power in the land in affecting individuals’ lives.

 

Finally to voting for either Trump or Clinton which we assume will be difficult no matter whom one has chosen, as this election places two very different choices with each having their own litany of sins against Hashem and against our laws. First thing we must remember as was taught by the sages and ever since and as the title of a short piece about mitzvah (deeds sanctified by Hashem and Torah) by Rabbi Eliyahu Safran titled, “Love the Sinner, Not the Sin.” This does not mean forget the sin but would recommend we investigate the person over the transgressions. The first question is are the allegations true as hearsay, rumor, innuendo, false accusations, lies and motivated accusations serving a desired end have ruined many people even beyond politics, and countless politicians through the ages. Plays and novels are written of such ruinous lies. Too bad many classics such as The Count of Monte Cristo are no longer on required reading lists as they teach valuable lessons in writing, morals and life. Then one need seek to see if the accused has taken ownership and made an honest repentance. Finally, if time has passed, do their current actions depict one who has altered their wrongful ways. Finally, if all else is not favorable, are there indicators the person wishes change. Vote your conscience, your heart, even your gut because there is one last little quibble which is about the uniqueness of the United States in today’s world. The United States is the sole backing of the modern free world by her own design. Here is a lesson for Donald Trump from that day in American History class that he apparently missed. At the end of World War II and as a part of setting up the newly liberated Europe the United States made a little demand largely of London but also Paris and Berlin. No longer was the United States going to come to the rescue Europe from another debacle and to make this a certainty the British were to scuttle much of their naval vessels making them scrap to be smelted and all three powers were to keep military strength below levels acceptable to the United States. In return, the United States would assist greatly in protecting them from outside threats, namely the U.S.S.R. There was no real demand for payment as not returning to end another conflict was payment enough.

 

The Ten Commandments

 

This deal passed down an unspoken but sacred in nature promise to the world which stretches back to the receiving of The Law at Mount Sinai. Let us trace from the giving of The Law, the Ten Commandments and Torah. Also reestablished was the basic code for civil society, the Noahic Code which was to be required to be accepted by those residing within Israelite Lands as the minimum of acceptable comportment. The code of Noah was spread along with the Ten Commandments throughout the greater campsite, both the Israelites and the others who sojourned with them from Egypt. These two camps went their separate ways after the initial fighting started claiming not to have any argument with the locals and some claim they fashioned boats and set off into the Great Sea (Mediterranean Sea). There has been some archeological evidence from gold and silver jewelry and many of the basic laws expounded by the early Greek philosophers with references to limited power of a king or ruler, rights of the individual, and even the republic which was reminiscent of the power structure of the tribes under Moses once his father-in-law, Jethro, suggested that he delegate and allow more local authority to tend to the minor and daily demands. From the Greeks, this freedom, liberty and individual rights covenant was passed to the Romans where it was written in the many languages of the empire. The covenant fell all but lost but reemerged in Britain with the Magna Carta. These ideas spread and with the birth of the United States exploded in France and were heard across the political and philosophical world. This covenant of freedom, liberty and individual rights was kept by Britain, France and attempted to spread to Germany by the Weimar Republic and Russia after the Czars with the Временное правительство России (Vremennoye pravitel’stvo Rossii or the government of the Russian Republic) though failing and falling to dictatorships much as France had after her revolution for Revolution de Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité which dissolved, bringing Napoleon while the Germans wrought Hitler and the Russians Lenin and Stalin.

 

 

Please let us never know what monster the dissolution of the United States governance based on freedom, liberty, individual rights and societal respect might produce. Just a little reminder of what values the United States fought for in the American Revolution and a hope that these elegant and humanely noble thoughts never be allowed removed from the human conscience. Next to the Bible they are probably the most noble of declarations of the holy spirit which resides in every person.

 

The Declaration of Independence

    July 4 1776

When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

 

Declaration of Independence
of the United States of America

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Egypt’s Rough Road to Democracy

There will be many people who over the coming days will express ideas and talking points which will agree with Alexei Pushkov, chairman of the Russian Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, who was quoted saying, “The events in Egypt show that there is no quick and peaceful transition from authoritarian regimes to democratic politics.” He went on to describe the current events in Egypt pointing out that democracy is not a “one size fits all” system and nearly all the “democratic revolutions” in the Arab World have produced less than admirable results. He further pointed out that there was a need for much advance work to be performed in order to transform the Arab World into a place where democratic governance could flourish. I disagree with this assessment simply because what we are witnessing is democracy in its most raw form. What we are not seeing is a representative republic yet forming in the Arab World. The error Mr. Pushkov has made is to confuse democracy with representative governance. Democracy in its purist form is mob rule which we are witnessing in Egypt. Pure democracy is a messy and unforgiving form and cannot be implemented in and of itself to govern a nation, it must be tempered with restraints and mechanisms which blunt its more fickle nature and have avenues for redress and protection for minorities. As the old adage goes, Democracy is three wolves and a sheep voting on what they want for dinner. That vote never turns out well for the sheep.

 

Egypt is currently going through the early stages of developing their democracy based representative system of governance. Just because the very first time they attempted to hold fair and open democratic elections produced a government and Constitution that failed does not mean that democratic based rule is impossibility for the people of Egypt. Many people point to the United States as the glorious precedent which everybody should attempt to match in their transition from Monarchial governance under King George of England to the Constitutional Democratic Republic that exists today. It was not that simple and the United States did not go directly from Monarchy to Democratic Republic. There was a failed state in between before the Constitution was written and enacted where the government of the United States was guided by the Articles of Confederation which were found inoperable leading to the writing of the Constitution. So, if even the United States with its all so intellectual Founding Fathers had to take two goes at forming their democratic republic how can we expect Egypt to get it perfect on their first trial? We should recall the French Revolution and the First Republic. The French Revolution worked so fantastically well at bringing into power a representative government that it led directly to Napoleon declaring himself Emperor. The French have probably worked the hardest at perfecting their Republic as they are currently in what they refer to as the Fifth French Republic and there are serious discussions about the necessity for another restart bringing on the Sixth French Republic. Egypt is only entering their second attempt and history will very likely list the year under President Morsi as a trial run which will not count as overly significant beyond its ability to point out some glaring shortcomings.

 

What people tend to forget is that between the times the Czars ruled over Russia and before the onset of Communism and the Soviet Union, Russia had a short lived representative government which lasted from February of 1917 all the way until November of 1917 with the most remembered leader of the Russian Provisional Government being Alexander Kerensky. So, even the Russians did not slide directly from the Czars into the arms of the Communists, they too had a shot at democratic republican governance. Perhaps it is this short history of democratic governmental failure in Russia that influenced Alexei Pushkov into suggesting that Egypt would not be much more successful than Russia had in such endeavors. Germany too had a democratic republic briefly between the Kaiser and Nazism which was named the Weimar Republic. The Weimar Republic was a parliamentary system which ruled Germany starting in November 1918. The downfall was caused by monetary policies which were partly doomed to fail due to reparations imposed by the Treaty of Versailles which ended World War I and other difficulties causing hyperinflation making the German currency next to worthless. This made the people susceptible to any strong charismatic leader who offered some light at the end of their dark tunnel and this arrived in the form of Adolph Hitler and that brought the end of their democratic experiment. Throughout history democracies have had limited shelf-life usually cracking under their own policies within four-hundred-years. This was true for the Greeks who founded the earliest democracies, then the Romans and nobody has even come close to challenging the four-hundred-year barrier since Rome. The United States has just celebrated their two-hundred-thirty-seventh year of democratic republic governance and even then it took two attempts to get something that has thus far lasted. So, perhaps everybody should calm down and have a deep drink of water. Yes, the democratization of the Arab World has appeared to have gotten off to a bit of a rough start. Nobody before them performed anywhere near perfectly first time out establishing a workable democratic republic. The secret to establishing a truly representative democratic republic is to remember that the central government will only go in one direction after it is established, that is to grow. So start with an undersized central government and allow it to grow its power only as required for as long as possible and whatever happens, do not give up after all the French have kept at it even after a short respite under an emperor; so if the French have not surrendered then you should not either. What Friedrich Nietzsche said about people also appears to work if slightly modified for representative governance. He stated, “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.” For attempting governments one might say, “That which does not destroy the country can be salvaged and modified.” Patience and perseverance are key.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Too Much Talk about Syria Intervention

There have been votes over whether or not an intervention to end the slaughter of innocents in Syria should be carried out by the United Nations. Thus far they have been blocked by the vetoes of permanent members Russia and China. There were rumors about six weeks ago that France and Turkey had discussed joining for an intervention to end the reign of President Bashir Assad allowing for a new government to be formed by the rebel forces. And there have been the biweekly rumors or accusations, depending on the source, that an Israeli attack is imminent to either remove Assad, secure Syrian chemical weapon stores, or simply expand their possession over the areas near the Golan Heights. Thus far none of the scenarios for a Syrian intervention has proven to be true. So, the killing of innocents and combatants continues; the shelling of urban and residential neighborhoods slowly destroys more infrastructure and lives; the casualties from the civil war and from terrorist bombings mount; and accusations of torture, mass executions, and whole families or groups disappearing amid fears of mass arrests. And now there is an additional rumor entering the equation, the fear that Bashir Assad has instructed the moving of his chemical weapons of mass destruction with a likelihood there are plans to use them in a last ditch desperation to turn back the tide and defeat the rebels with no cares about the consequences of such an eventuality.

Probably the best definition of the world’s reaction to the horrors ongoing in Syria might be that it is a situation full of sound and fury; signifying nothing. The one bright and intriguing item is that the one group of countries which have actually taken some actions, even if they have been tentative and have lacked having any real results, has been the Arab League. The Arab League, mostly Saudi Arabia, have backed the rebels with arms and technical assistance including communications equipment. Their most recent initiative, though unlikely to prove of any consequence, was to offer Assad for he and his family to be given safe conduct providing he relinquish control and end the civil war allowing for a new age to begin for Syria and her people. This offer is in stark contrast to the Russian rebuke of those claiming they had offered to give Bashir Assad asylum just a couple of weeks ago. The only path, other than military intervention, that could possibly end the violence and allow for the Syrian people to begin to repair their country and move towards some normalcy would need to provide Bashir Assad, his family and those who are part of his inner circle and their families asylum and also offer some guarantee that the forces still remaining loyal to Assad are given absolution for any of their actions during the civil war. As long as there are calls and threats to bring Assad and his remaining officers and advisors before the International Criminal Court on war crimes charges, we can look forward to continued violence and even more desperate measures taken by both sides until either Assad and his inner councils are all dead or captured or the rebel leaders and most of the Syrian people who remain within Syria are dead. Unfortunately, neither side is going to simply surrender as both suspects, with good reason, that the other side will not accept any compromise and will execute all who had any part in the support of the other side. This is like every former revolution with very few exceptions; yes, the United States revolution was an exception; where whichever side prevails, they will execute every single person of any rank or position from the other side and any semblance of a trial might prove either a formality or unnecessary.

So, what should be done if a decision is reached or the situation forces a military intervention? The first necessity is for extreme discretion and air-tight secrecy as any forewarning of a coming military intervention has a good probability of provoking Assad into making rash decisions which have a possibility of his deploying chemical weapons on a broad and inclusive front, some might even say a likelihood after Assad’s threat to use them should any foreign troops enter Syria. Any military intervention would require the use of numbers sufficient to bring the desired results in as rapidly as possible while being sufficiently small so as not to be detected and arouse any suspicion that an attack is imminent. Such an attack will require that it be done without debate in any public forum which rules out United Nations being consulted, even the Security Council as Russia, China, or any of the other nations currently serving in the Security Council would likely make public any such plans. This implies the requirement that such an intervention be the result of a single country or at most two, maybe three, working together. The United States has the capabilities but would require the cooperation from a neighboring country to Syria. This would mean making arrangements with either Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon or Iraq. We can count both Iraq and Lebanon out as Iraq has already informed the United States in no uncertain terms they would never permit an American attack on another Muslim country from their soil and Lebanon is currently ruled by a coalition headed by Hezballah who are allies of Bashir Assad. Israel would appear to be the most likely to keep such activity under wraps but launching from Israel risks triggering a larger regional war. That leaves Turkey or Jordan. Both countries would likely not allow such an action and also would be risky as far as secrecy is concerned. That would mean launching an attack from the Mediterranean Sea which would require extensive logistics which compromises any chance of secrecy. Odd as it may seem, the only country that likely could intervene to bring the slaughter in Syria to an end would be Russia, but that is a virtual impossibility as Russia has been protecting Assad thus far. I would like to say stranger things have happened, but I am at a loss to think of one such example.

Beyond The Cusp