Forgiveness

My day started this morning with a number of text messages from my younger sister, who having the capacity, and willingness to listen to my burdens from time to time was sending me passages of scripture which she thought would be instructive for me to contemplate. At the time I understood what she was attempting to do, however I didn't think she could appreciate how hard it was to try to read, and then type a text message particularly at 6:00 a.m. in the morning, so I called her while trying to dress and tie my shoes. Imagine me actually walking and chewing gum at the same time.Using the speaker on the phone made it much more practical, after all I was in a hurry to get out the door. I was glad on the other hand to have the conversation it started me thinking of essentially the point she was trying to make, which was to have the capacity to forgive.
                                                                         Now this is not something recently new to me, as a matter of fact one of the reasons she thought of this was a disagreement we had had a few years ago, and despite how upset I was, eventually I had the ability to forgive the transgression and move forward. We have made an attempt from that point to speak to each other at least once a week, and having that communication has created a special bond between us. It is our moment to share our lives, and our thoughts.Even if we do not agree...... it is still a time to take a moment or two to connect with family, and it has been very special.

                                                                         Of course as is quite typical for me I cannot just take a conversation at face value. In those spare moments driving down the road, or while working on a project at work, I let my mind drift into the nuance of a conversation. You will find that a person will say a phrase, or use a gesture that has significance at the time that may slip away at the moment, but later has a much more deeper meaning and reflection than at first was recognized. I was spending some drive time thinking about forgiveness, and how as a concept it  has became a part of the Human conscience. It also began to occur to me that forgiveness seems to become more important to people as they get older. Not necessarily old, but older. I wondered was it because of life, and experiences teach you that you are not indestructible ? Is it just a biological reaction to a change in hormones in the body as you get older ? What about the importance to being spiritual, not necessarily religious ( although in regards to the conversation with my sister and I we focused exclusively on the importance of God in a persons life ) but having a deeper sense of soul in regards to the fragility of life, is that a great motivator in ones life for the capacity for forgiveness ?
                                                                          All of these thoughts at what was by now 6:20 a.m. in the morning, and I was quite pleased with the conversation even more, what a great gift that was bestowed upon me first thing in the morning. A deep loving conversation all meant to steer an older brother on a path of virtue. Upon deeper reflection I began to realize that I needed to make an act of forgiveness myself, that it was imperative that I put into practice what I had been blessed to discover so early in the morning, so the following is my forgiveness to those  whom I perceive have committed wrong............


                                                                            I forgive a political class who have taken the property of productive individuals and given it to others without compensation in return, nor even gratitude. The political class cannot be held accountable for their actions, for after all it is we the people who must hold them responsible for their conduct, and thus far we have done a poor job of that. After all if a group of individuals continually put you in a position of authority year after year, and your behaviour was deplorable, yet no one was going to hold you accountable, well why not ? It is not the fault of the elite political class that we the people do not end their reckless behaviour. On the contrary it is the responsibility of the people to elect good representatives, on the other hand it is also our responsibility to keep irresponsible people out of office. So on my part I forgive you.
                                                                         I forgive any Bank Executive that makes a bad loan. After all the Federal Reserve exists to keep the banks in liquidity, and if a particular institution fails that is a bad thing, but when an entire industry fails knowing that it has over extended itself, that is not a failure of a banking system, but rather a failure on the part of the people who ........again elect irresponsible people into office who pass laws creating a monetary system that encourages loaning money that you know will not be repaid. How can I or any one else condemn an executive for doing what has been created for him to do, and will back those ill advised decisions with a bail out ? The very system exists for taking such risks, despite the dangers of doing so. Again on my part I forgive you.

                                                                         I forgive a President that has done everything in his power to ruin the worlds most productive people, and it's economy. After all candidate Obama was very forthright with what his goals were. Of course he sounded convincing that he was about change, precisely because it was his intent to create change. Many were not listening to the change he had in mind, they just wanted something different, and by our vote we got it. You cannot blame the President for thinking we wanted his brand of change, after all, this was a man who was connected to people in a way that no other candidate ever dreamed of, with the talent and foresight to access text messaging, and email, and the Internet, it must have been an intoxicating feeling that the vision he had, was what the American people were looking for. For that mistake of judgement on his part, I am more than willing to forgive him.

                                                                                 The essence of forgiveness is to cease to demand retribution, or punishment. I have no interest in seeking any form of punishment or retribution. However I do wish to seek a restoration to the idea of liberty. Free people engaging, or not engaging,...... going about there lives fulfilling there desires and dreams, seeking there fortune and happiness, to exist with others in a society where the idea of freedom is at the forefront of laws, and legislation. A restoration to an idea that a person has the right.......... to live their live......... for there own sake. I recognize that such an idea takes away the power that the political class  currently has over our lives and relegates them to nothing more than servants, and this would destroy the status they currently enjoy. It would be a transformation creating a rather uncomfortable arrangement in power in our society, and would thus reduce there status to that of nothing more than a citizen in a place of trust, no longer a place of privilege and exemption, but rather a short term occupancy for the whims of the people. When this transformation takes place it is my desire that those who have held office for the power and exemption can have the capacity for forgiveness as well, and have the capacity to refrain from a  bitterness toward  a people who want the Republic as it was founded well over two centuries ago.

                                                                       After all as the saying goes " to err is human, but to forgive is Divine " and in the spirit of forgiveness, let's change from the past and reclaim the heritage of liberty.

The Precipice

      I am quite taken by how many people in general are now making comments on the state of affairs in the country lately. Individuals who would not ordinarily involve them self's in comments or concerns are now piping in with two cents worth of opinion. Not much of it is good. In fact it has all been bad. This level of dissatisfaction in the country has not reared it's head in probably 30 years. If you live on main street, what you see are " Foreclosed " signs, window fronts with signs that say " For Sale or Lease " .... call........... homes vacant, or even boarded up. Whole neighborhoods that with the exception of a few small individuals are completely vacant, neighborhoods in decent communities that were once thriving with children and families now show signs of some decay, and empty homes. No one is immune in this country. It is taking it's toll on the psyche of the nation. It will continue for some time in the future. The issue here is not so much a reverberation of what has happened, or why it happened as much as it is about where we are going, and the direction we collectively choose to find ourselves. It will define the success or failure of the nation for a long time to come. It will also define the limits of freedom, for a very long time to come. There is an axiom that power corrupts, I think it is safe to say we all know that axiom, there is another one. Emergency is the plea of the tyrant. As a nation should we choose the direction of continued direction from Washington for economic affairs, and capitalization to be provided by the Federal Reserve than it will be axiomatic that Americans for the first time in the history of this nation will find itself living a lower standard of living, and with that will come a lower level of safety and security. This will become a nation that will cease to nationalize, but rather to localize, for security and protection and service. I do not mean that in a sense that is good either, for what I believe will happen that if government exists at any effective level in the local sense it will be to preserve it's own existence. Think of a triage of police, judges, and prosecutors all working to maintain there existence within a system that is for the most part sterile. I would suggest at some level it has already begun. The knowledge of it's existence will soon enough show it's ugly head, to the extent that is common parlance.
                                                                             Locally here in the Detroit area there were headlines from one of the local newspapers telling how DTE ( Detroit Edison ) was taking streetlights " down " and capping off the power to the poles, and taking the metal poles to the local scrap yards for the cash price for the metal. There was no longer going to be street lighting provided to the municipality because the were not paying the electric bills. Store owners, and what was left of homeowners were paying there electric bills, and keeping there taxes up, however the municipality did not take the money it needed to pay the bills from its operating budget and pay the electric company, but rather continued to pay the officials and employees of the city, and provide for their pensions and benefits. While DTE was taking the poles down, there was no increase in police protection to offset that damage, however Police officers " offered " to those with means to ensure the safety of their property, for a fee of course which is above what is already being paid by the property owner thru the extortion of taxation.
                                                                                 While indeed Atlas Shrugged is a work of fiction, the slow decay that began to creep around the country as the Strike progressed also invited a corruption of pull. If you knew someone who was of any importance than you became very close friends with that person for the use of their influence and ability to get ahead in society. There will always be a sense of that in any structure organization, have the ability to connect with people is a mainstay of any business or organized effort, to rely on that for your existence and as the sole means to keep your existence is to deny a just society. Most of us know and understand this but what I often see missing is the " How " part of that discussion and that brings me to where I have been heading.

                                                                                      The current administration is trying to rally support for more public spending for projects deemed necessary for infrastructure and also spur growth in the economy, which is laughable 400 billion in a 17 trillion dollar economy is barely enough money to spend on the planning of the multitude of some of those projects, let alone pay for all the labor, raw material, and engineering that would be required to make those projects come to fruition. Our system is a " Capital " system, given that there is no incentive on the part of those who own that capital to invest on projects and receive what they themselves deem an equitable return, money is sitting by becoming unproductive, and without the need for productivity labor is then sitting by idle doing absolutely nothing. With out the stimulation of the global equity now available to create wealth, and wealth creation we are seeing the steady decline not just in our economy, but in our safety and security. There are two sides to every coin, and it is time we as a people flip that coin and let the chips fall where they may. There are those that still adhere to private property, and free enterprise, then again there is a complete opposite point of view which is for a large transfer of wealth, to be used for public welfare and benefits provided by a central authority. The latter solution is a complete failure and will always be a failure, because it does not adhere to or obey the necessary adjustment of the price mechanism in the market place, and that failure creates distortions that are not able to self correct. The largest of institutions of that particular failure is the Federal Reserve Bank. It is an institution that distorts the economy by sending the incorrect signals for higher order projects in the economy, think buying a plant or a building, with cheap capital investment in such things appears to be attractive, the only problem is that capital then gets taken away for short term consumer goods. It is the tug of war for those two principles that decide where labor and material are most needed, and without the proper signals someone is going to make huge miscalculations on what is needed in the economy.
                                                                             Government too is in quite a pickle in this scenario, it is borrowing money on what it deems is " cheap " money and does so with the expectation that it can pay this back without any real threat but then when the excess's are more than can be met with the current tax take from the citizenry, there is no longer any choice but to borrow and tax, creating a scenario where capital will  hide for shelter, thus creating more unemployment, and a desire to borrow more  money. What then do we do ? The answer lies again, limit the role government plays in the economy, including the regulation process, and allow freedom to take hold. It is the unhampered market that creates wealth. There is no government on this planet that can offer anyone a job without first taking wealth away from an individual or group of individuals. Just cut out the middle man then. Do you need to have some one interfere with the wage structure in the economy ? A wage is a price. somewhere in free exchange buyer and seller will meet and agree. It is a voluntary exchange that has existed for a long, long time. A free person is more than capable of deciding if they are worth more or less than what someone is offering them. A free person is more than capable of deciding the meat, or milk, or cheese they wish to buy is safe for themselves or their family. There is nothing that stops a person for going to court to seek redress for an exchange or service, in a free society there are options available to pursue happiness. We would be wise to embrace that freedom again in this country, and there are examples the world over even today that freedom works.
                                                                                 Take for example North Korea and South Korea from anecdotal knowledge whom do you think has the most freedom ? Who then also has the greatest prosperity ? If planning an economy is the key to success then North Koreans should be the fattest happiest people on the planet. Even in China, the highest standard of living and wealth is where ? Hong Kong. third largest trade center in the world, and it's wealth is greater than any on the mainland, but also so is it's level of freedom. There are examples in the America's, and Africa. There are unlimited examples of this in history. All we need to do is be more vigilant in the continuing access to that freedom, and ensure it is the reign of order for our society. To choose other wise we will as a nation perish. The decline we are witnessing now CAN get worse. Much worse. There is just now signs of the collective discontent on both sides of the ideological divide, with such diverse views of how we should structure ourselves as a nation as well as the lack of ability to pay for the progressive view of what this nation should be, there needs to be a separation. A physical separation, where one side rules one way, and one side rules another. To do other wise is to increase the discontent to the point where violence becomes the accepted means of expressing that discontent. Then no one wins.Everyone will lose, including their liberty, which is what the governments are created to protect in the first place.

                                                By the way I have been thinking about the separation for some time, but the first person I have seen right about it was Walter Williams when he out right suggested that would be the best thing for this country. Pat Buchanan once suggested that the United States would become " Balkanized "  but the reasons were pretty much the same. We have become a contradiction as "One Nation" and contradictions cannot exist.