Election 2020

  The Pressure Cooker of Freedom A pressure cooker is heating up in American politics. The upcoming election requires critical thought to release the pressure that could otherwise blow up the country. Listening to the speeches at the Democratic National Convention, I was struck by Obama’s emphasis on values. It occurred to me that while much of what was said sounded good, these ideas cannot be fully realized by merely tinkering with the government. Effective governance sets up guardrails that encourage behaviors benefiting the common good. However, good behavior cannot be legislated. True freedom requires us to manage the pressure of our national debt through sound governance. The Obamas and Kamala emphasized hope as the value that sustains freedom. I disagree. While I concur that freedom is our crowning value, it is actually a function of four competing forces: liberty, equality, order, and disorder. Liberty is the mantra of the Republican Party, deeply embedded in our Constituti...

Doug Mastriano, the republican Candidate for governor, has recently been unfairly attacked about his competence on his doctoral thesis which was published in the book entitled “Alvin York” A new biography of the hero of the Argonne.” I checked this book out of the library recently to see his research for myself.  Sergeant York is a famous soldier from World War I. With the help of seven soldiers from his platoon he poked a whole in the Aragon line and captured 132 German soldiers. This saved countless American lives in the stalemate of WWI. In the book he is very open about Sergeant York’s faith in Jesus Christ. In this day of inclusionary cynical criticism many people may find his book to be exclusionary and perhaps offensive. He has been criticized for believing eye witness accounts which may not be accurate. Many professionals have done research in the past only to be proven in error when technology advances to a point to further illuminate conclusions. The position maps may hav...

  Violence has been breached as a grassroots political strategy. In the past violence has been initiated by civil rights and patriot leaders. In the future, a person with a cell phone and followers can initiate mob violence with questionable motives. There will be more violence by Republicans and Democrats in the future. Whatever happened to domestic tranquility? #SenateImpeachmentTrial “The Capitol riot revealed a new force in American politics — not merely a mix of right-wing organizations, but a broader mass political movement that has violence at its core and draws strength even from places where Trump supporters are in the minority,” a quote from, "The Atlantic". (These next two paragraphs are from Lisa Lerer @llerer at the NYT.) That force shows little sign of backing down: Two weeks ago, the Homeland Security Department issued a rare terrorism alert warning that violent extremists were emboldened by the attack and motivated by “the presidential transition, as well as o...

I can still remember when I received my first paycheck. My first question was, "Who is this FICA and why are they taking all my money"? I learned quickly that take home was not the same as gross income, and math became important to me. Of course I learned that FICA stands for our Social Security system, and then after questioning it resigned myself to the fact that I was forcibly saving for retirement. Later while I was  working for the US Chamber of Commerce, I realized that the trust fund that I was paying into was in jeopardy because the government was borrowing from it to offset the deficit. The federal deficit is the difference between what the government spends and takes in each year. From the Washington Post "The U.S. Treasury released eye-popping numbers this week that show the federal budget deficit is on course to cross $1 trillion in fiscal 2020, yet nobody seems to care." I know that I risk people's eyes glazing over when I discuss math...