Was it Worth It?
As the country deals with forces that would rewrite our country’s history, have all but white males identify with a particular group of victims, tell us the greatest threat to the United States is white supremacy, employ efforts to decriminalize crimes, defund and debunk law enforcement (especially local police departments), open our borders, infringe on free speech and due process, etc., I can’t help but ask the question: “Was it worth it?”
I recently heard an analogy worth repeating. Do we focus on the large windshield of opportunity ahead of us or on the rearview mirror?
We have been a unique, diverse population country with a unique history. While there have been ‘bumps’ in the growth path, I think it’s important to acknowledge that our history – starting with the Declaration of Independence – has been one of striving. Striving to do and be better. Striving to live up to the ideals of equality, of fairness, of freedom.
The emphasis from the beginning has been on the individual citizen. The rights and freedoms of individuals and the responsibility every citizen has to and for themselves – and defending those same rights to other citizens – has been our strived-for culture.
The citizenry has counted on our government to guarantee those rights for every individual. Freedom to speak, to assemble, to worship – regardless of whether others agree or disagree with individuals or groups thereof.
Due process is big part of the promise starting with the proposition that anyone is innocent until proven guilty regardless of the charge or accusation or who is being charged.
Equal opportunity is inherent is our founding documents. It has not always been a fact, but we have strived and changed and legislated to make it happen.
Are we living in a perfect country? No. But I submit we’re closer to the perfection for which we strive than anywhere else – particularly when one considers the blending of so many races and cultures into one that is unique here.
“We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
That preamble to our Constitution lays out the overall objective we have had since 1789.
It was the basis of our Civil War – our bloodiest.
We’ve fought 2 subsequent world wars (and others) to protect our Constitution and our way of life – our ‘e pluribus unum’ objective.
Was it worth it?
The results speak for themselves. The experiment that began with that first shot at Lexington against seemingly impossible odds led to the creation of a country with the strongest and biggest economy and the strongest military in the world!
That didn’t happen by looking predominately in the rearview mirror – it happened because we were looking through the windshield – at the future. We met threats to that future because we believed in it. We believed we would survive to strive and gain ground on that “more perfect union.”
Here’s what concerns me now – 2021.
It starts with the question: Is it worth it?
As we look around at what’s been going on the last decade or so, we see governments, politicians, professors, radicals and many in the media ‘on the stump’ and who would divide us – by race, gender, religion, political affiliation and a host of other issues.
We have current politicians who blatantly promise to totally change the country. To what? How did these people get to the “party” in the first place?
The ‘woke’ advocates propose we hate each other for some nefarious reason, to hate those who disagree with them, to silence those who may venture to do so by any unconstitutional means, and to hate this country and all it stands for.
If all that poison becomes reality it doesn’t feel like a country I would fight for, much less to die for.
Silence is no longer a strategy – because this stuff isn’t going away. It’s not a fad, it’s an ideology that has taken on all the attributes of religious fanaticism.
A great country is worth saving from misguided lunacy.
That translates, for starters, to standing up and saying “no” to a whole bunch of junk being preached to us ‘guilty’ people. The famous December 1944 one-word response of Gen. Anthony McAuliffe, commander of the outmanned, outgunned 101st Airborne Division at Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge to a Nazi proposal to surrender comes to mind. “Nuts.”
I’m proud to have lived here, served in the military, raised a family, supported our democratic republic and defended our constitutional rights. I’m proud to be an American patriot.
It’s still worth it – and can only hope it continues to be so.
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Have a great and prosperous week.
Hug somebody.
SPIDER Bites
With President Biden signing the near unanimously supported bill, he made June 19th the 12th federal holiday. It commemorates the day in 1865 when union soldiers brought the news of freedom to enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas – two months after the Confederacy had surrendered and about 2 1⁄ 2 years after the Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves in the Southern states.
During the 2005-08 housing bubble random length lumber hit $500 per board feet. But in May, lumber futures were trading hands for more than $1,600 per board feet. This surge was adding as much as $36,000 to the cost of a new home. Last week that price backed off to just under $1,000.
The Fed has been calling the recent surge in prices for lumber, cars – new and used, housing, shipping and other things “transitory.” On Wednesday it backed up that sentiment with a statement it doesn’t expect a rise in short-term interest rates until late 2023, I don’t know if that’s factual or wishful thinking. I tend to think the latter. It is still buying 120B/month of treasuries/debt.
In 2019, U.S. total energy exports exceeded total energy imports for the first time in 67 years, and the United States became energy independent and a net total energy exporter. That is no longer the case. Hello, Saudi Arabia – again! Are we better off being dependent?
GM announced last week it would spend $35B in manufacturing electric and autonomous vehicles by 2035. With EVs currently representing 2% of the car market, GM and others are counting on new government incentives and point-of sale rebates to spur an increase in EV sales. What’s interesting and frankly a bit scary to me is that GM is basing significant investment on what the government is doing – and will do – to the market as opposed to what the non-manipulated market would tell them. Government doesn’t know better than the market. When will we learn?
The Texas governor is talking about building a state-funded wall on the border. However, that prospect faces legal challenges on several fronts, perhaps the biggest is interference with federal control of immigration. Could be a great case re: states-rights vs. federal power under the Constitution.
California is warning residents of rolling blackouts again as A/C use hits summertime peak demands which the required 66% of electrical generation there now must be ‘green’ – mostly solar and wind – cannot meet. We’re all happy CA is saving the world, but we don’t want to move there.
“Re-fund the police” is the new policy in some major cities as crime spikes. I only hope it’s enough to entice good cops to stay and for the recruitment of good people in the wake of ‘defund.’
