Well, it has been one week down since the rather memorable midterm elections, and the Democrats sure took a whuppin! The fact is though that so much over the past few years has failed - the economy hasn't gotten any better, and Obama is bucking for the distinction of being the absolute worst President in American history. I am neither Republican nor Democrat, but to be honest if either is to be in office, I would much rather it be Republicans for the most part. However, my own politics are somewhat more radical than many, and I want to talk a little about my own political history.
Over the years, I have come to the conclusion that neither the Democrats nor the Republicans represent me personally - the Democrats are often too much for big government and special interests, while the Republicans are often for large corporations. Other than Mitt Romney in 2012 (which was more of a protest vote than anything) I have never voted for a Republican Presidential candidate at all. And, other than Dukakis in 1988 (the first year I ever voted, and it was a mistake on my part!) I have also never voted for a Democrat for the President. Most of the people I have voted for in the Presidential races have been independents, beginning with Bo Gritz in 1992, Pat Buchanan in 2000, my own party candidate Kurt Weber-Heller in 2004, and Alan Keyes in 2008 (I didn't even vote in 1996, because that was one of the most boring elections I had ever witnessed - Bill Clinton vs. Bob Dole - and I don't even remember the independents who ran then). Independents seem to speak more of my own language, and conservative independents are my voting preference. This conviction was one I carried over to the gubernatorial race this year in Florida, as I refused to vote for either Scott or Crist (reasons I will discuss momentarily), and instead voted for the Libertarian candidate Adrian Wyllie, whom a good friend in Virginia made me aware of. I didn't agree with everything Wyllie stood for obviously, but of the three vying for the mansion in Tallahassee, he was the best choice to me, plus he was honest. Sometimes one has to concede some things on a candidate's platform in order to have a viable voice at the polls, and so it was with Wyllie. Also, even if there is not 100% agreement with a candidate on certain issues, these things tend to work out when one votes for other things on the ballot. A good example of that this year was Amendment 2, which was proposing the legalization of marijuana in the state of Florida. I personally opposed it, but Wyllie supported it. Another is the whole "gay marriage" issue - I oppose any effort of course to recognize same-sex unions, whether they call them a marriage or not, due to having a strong Judeo-Christian conviction which upholds the traditional definition of marriage as being between one man and one woman. However, Wyllie was open to the idea. It goes to reason therefore that sometimes even the best candidate for public office will not always see eye-to-eye with you on some issues, but the bigger picture is the fact that the guy you are supporting may be the best choice to represent you in government, and therefore the other things can be worked on later. And, as mentioned, there may be other issues to vote on in the election that will balance the vote too.
As for my own political convictions, I can be defined as a paleoconservative, and by party affilliation I have been actively part of the Christian Falangist movement in the US, which dates back to the early 1980's. As a paleoconservative, I have developed a pretty specific platform over the years of where I stand. Essentially, I am for small government, but paradoxically I am also a monarchist. I also support states' rights, small businesses, and would also advocate between a balance of supporting total self-sufficiency and good environmental stewardship - for instance, I have no issues with the proposed Keystone Pipeline being constructed, but have a bigger issue with too much condo development and such on Florida's wetlands. I also would advocate for tax reform (the IRS needs to be put out of its misery, as does Obamacare and other big government abominations) as well as a lot of deregulation of things that are over-regulated. I also would say that schools need to be turned back over to the private sector, and government should not have as much sway over what kids learn as it does. As a very important issue too, I would strongly recommend term limits on Congress, as some of those geezers have been in there way too long and are becoming career politicians more interested in their own bank accounts rather than serving the people they are supposed to represent, and that is not acceptable. The idea of mandating more traditional values - including complete religious freedom for all, as well as allowing public displays of one's faith without fear of reprisals - as well as doing way with a lot of bogus litigation and this whole "political correctness" nonsense - people should be able to speak their minds without fear of reprisal from someone whose feelings may get hurt. If you are that big of a wuss that your feelings get hurt over the use of the term "Black," then maybe you need therapy! It is just ridiculous as to how much of this politically-correct thought-patrolling has permeated society, and that needs to end. Any rate, that is where I stand politically, although a complete manifesto would take up much more volume.
That rant being vented, let us now remember that today is November 11th, the traditional observance of Veteran's Day. Both of my parents are Vietnam vets, and despite other issues in their lives, I can say with all sincerity that I am proud of both Mom and Dad for their military service, and this is their day. Our vets need prayers, as unfortunately there is a new generation of hostile people coming up who seem to love to villify vets, and that needs to stop as well - if those idiots have an issue with someone serving their country, then they can find another country to live in and not let the door hit them on the butt as they leave here. I am sick of the lack of patriotism among people today, and two instances in particular got my blood boiling in recent years. In 2009, Barb finished up a certification program for her work at a local technical college in Clearwater, and at her commencement ceremony of course the Pledge and the National Anthem were said and sung respectively. Traditionally, when the anthem is sung or the Pledge is said, you salute by putting your left hand over your heart, Many of the brain-dead idiots sitting in that auditorium that night didn't even bother to get up, much less show respect, and that is a disgrace. I know you unfortunately cannot punish stupidity, but if I had the opportunity I would have horsewhipped every person in there who didn't even have the good manners to stand for the National Anthem. Is this what our nation is coming to? A second incident I have talked about before, and that happened in a Hermeneutics class at my former university just two years ago. Instead of teaching Biblical hermeneutics like his students were paying him for, he went off on a 20-minute rant about why it is wrong to have an American flag in a church! Personally, I thought that whole discourse - from a man with a Ph.D. yet to boot! - was uncalled for, as the flag is in a church as a reminder to pray for that nation the church is located in. These attitudes in recent years have just had me flabbergasted, as I come from a generation where the opening of the day in elementary school was reciting the Pledge of Allegiance and then singing as a class something like "My Country Tis of Thee." Most of these kids today probably wouldn't even know how to do either honestly. However, it is ironic that the same kids that are too stupid to know the words of the Pledge of Allegiance sure know how to carry revolvers to shoot their classmates with, and that warrants almost a whole other discussion in itself. Again, though, I have ranted enough.
As we face a sort of new beginning in this country, with solid Republican leadership in the Congress as well as the fortunate possibility of getting rid of one of the most corrupt characters to hold the office of the President since the 1920's when Harding was in office, it gives me hope for the first time in a long time. Soon, it may be possible to have gas prices under $2 again, and to have a better employment rate in this nation. However, as the voting public, we have the responsibility of making sure that our duly elected officials don't just run their mouths, but rather get things done. This election made a lot of statements, and one statement is that the career politicians had better get their butts moving or they will face a firing. The time has come to reclaim a nation that rightfully belongs to us, and we each have a responsibility to make sure that happens. God bless until next time, and again, thanks to all those vets who served their country, defending the rights of people like me to say things like this.
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
Friday, November 7, 2014
Thoughts As I Reach 45
It is really hard to believe I am going to be 45 this coming Sunday! As I think about that, I wonder, "where on earth has the time gone??" This last year has been one of many challenges, but also of many triumphs, but I wanted to reflect on some things today that I have been pondering and that have been on my mind recently.
To begin, today I got involved in this really intense discussion with a former co-worker from some years back, and one thing that really irritated me about that discussion is the level of arrogance people have sometimes. This particular person is a naturalized American citizen - she is originally from Argentina - and although overall she is actually not a bad person, she is also so misguided. For one thing, she is enamoured with the big city - the bright lights of New York in particular dazzle her. And, she is well-travelled as well. Her serious shortcoming though is this - she thinks the "best" of America is found in the big city, and to her the travels (or experiences related to them) make her some sort of authority on life. I want to address this bad misconception briefly, because I have some reflection of my own that this sort of triggered.
To begin with, experience is a good thing in itself - we all have experience as part of our personal stories, and the experiences we have give each of us a level of incommunicability that is unique to us personally. Over the years, I have become fond of that passage in Romans 8:28 - "All things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to his purpose." This entails our experiences as individuals - everything we face, good and bad, is meant for the purpose of bringing us to where God wants us to be. The compendium of that experience is what is called our testimony, and it is a precious gift. However, experience alone does not make us intelligent (although it helps make what we are educated in more practical) but it must be accompanied with study, feeding the intellect, and also learning how to incorporate those things we learn into our own lives. My friend misses this whole idea by infinity when she basically says that people who don't travel like she does are somehow not as "enlightened" as she is, and that is where she fails as far as the test of using her experience responsibly goes. One thing about an individual testimony - it is not something you lord over someone as better than them, nor is it something you use to be arrogant or stuck-up with. If you do resort to those measures, then there is a deficiency in your own thinking. To explain how experience and knowledge work together, let me tell it this way. A baby who touches a hot stove experiences getting burnt - OK, the stove will hurt if I touch it, in other words. But, it must also be understood that at some point, that baby has to learn why the stove is hot and what makes it hot, and that is knowledge. The two together constitute something that seems to be lacking in much of today's society, and that is common sense. So, while experience is good, and much can be learned from it, it is also imperative for us to nourish our intellects in other ways too, and then make it all work together. If you can do that, you are truly a well-rounded individual. Also, this common sense helps in adaptation to a situation - the more you learn about what you both experience and study, the more useful it comes when situations may arise which call for putting those things learned into practice. And, that is the lesson my dear Argentine friend and former co-worker needs to learn. It has taken me a lot of years to come to that conclusion, as like her I was once young and cocky and thought I had answers to everything - I found out really quick that I didn't! Now, at 45, I have learned to distill that common sense into something else - wisdom. And, I still have a long way to go, I know - we all do.
This intense little debate with my Argentine friend did get me thinking about something though - it is that time of year when I reflect on what my life is, where it has been, and where it is going. The older I get, the more specific that reflection becomes. Let's have a recap of my own experience - here I am, from a small West Virginia town first off. I have a diverse heritage, as I am simultaneously a descendant of Charlemagne, German Anabaptists, Conversos, American Indians, and French Huguenots, among other things. Despite having a rich bloodline, I also grew up with a single mother, and I grew up very poor. Unlike many other Gen-Xers, I also went to a 3-room elementary school, and in high school I was taught Latin, German, and was reading things like Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, Alexander Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo, and the philosophical writings of Reinhold Niebuhr (some of these kids today are lucky if they learn to read a comic book properly in today's schools, much less classic books like those!). After accepting Christ as my Savior at the age of 16, within one year I was teaching Sunday School in my local church and was deeply involved in denominational affairs of my church at 18. Unlike a lot of kids my age, who preferred KISS or Michael Jackson, I listened to Guy Lombardo, and began collecting vintage big band records at the age of 10 - by the time I was in my teens, I had refined my tastes even further to incorporate Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps, Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring, Jean Sibelius' Finlandia Suite, and Ravel's Rhapsodie Espagnole into my musical preferences. I also grew up a part of my childhood having to use an outhouse (my grandmother's house didn't have plumbing in those days), acquiring a taste for groundhog, poke greens, deer and squirrel, and at one point when I was really young my mother and I were so poor that we slept in the living room and used the oven for drying clothes, cooking, and heating the house simultaneously. Also, I have spent many a childhood night being warmed by a wood stove, taking a bath in a metal tub filled with water heated on that woodstove, and I had to split a lot of firewood and kindling. At another low point in our lives, I was able to make sure my mother and I survived by raiding the neighbor's gardens - we ate a lot of fried cabbage, corn on the cob, boiled potatoes, and fried zucchini and cucumbers that year! I learned from an early age too about what roots and herbs could be found in the woods for food or medicine, and I still to this day have a lot of uses for wild onions I used to dig up in the back yard! In short, growing up was hard, and by all the statistics I should not even be where I am today - I have a bachelor's degree, am working on a master's, have three published books, and so much more! But, by God's grace here I am! Yet, I made a conviction many years ago to never forget the fact I grew up a poor, small-town West Virginia boy, and I came as far as I did because God ordered my steps. But, there is more.
Over the years, I have had the privelege of meeting political activists, bishops of churches, famous authors, and even a famous Grammy-winning polka artist, and many of these people I still keep in touch with today. I have also gotten to know a lot of fascinating people over the past 45 years of my life - I know Assyrians, Gypsies, Armenians, Lebanese, South Indians, Copts, Greeks, Macedonians, Slovenes, Serbs, as well as the stories of many of my own teachers and venerable old ministers, not to mention a few corporate executives (not overly impressed with some of them!) and the owners of many small mom-and-pop establishments. I have memorized maps, encyclopedias, and cookbooks, taught myself how to cook like a gourmet chef, and I now know at least 4 languages that I work with on a regular basis. I have accomplished much in that regard! And, for my Argentine friend, I too have traveled - I have been to at least 25 of the 50 states, and lived in 5 of them, and I know my history well. All of this is me over the past 45 years - I am (or have been) a minister, an educator, a paralegal, a culinary professional, a genealogist, a historian, and a budding theologian. And, for those who may have doubts about what I say, I have a shelf of binders over to my left as I am writing this which chronicle everything, as I have saved every paper, church bulletin, everything - not to mention about 20 years of journals and 25 years of calendars. So, I am also an archivist in my own right too.
This small-town West Virginia boy has proven many wrong before, and I will continue to prove them wrong for years to come, as my best years may be yet ahead. I don't claim perfection, but I do know who I am. My Argentine friend lacks this knowledge of herself - she betrayed that in her objectives - she wants to "liberate" herself from her past, and she wants to pursue dollars, and her affinity for the big city and the establishment has colored her perception. It is really sad when someone like that goes that direction, because there is so much they miss out on. Also, she shows a lack of desire for the real America, instead idealizing her version of the "American Dream" in the bright lights and big city life - what a rich tapestry she is denying herself, getting to know the small towns, the highways and by-ways, and the fact that diversity of the American landscape rather than the cookie-cutter conformity of the big city is what made this nation great. Which leads me to some other things I am proud of too.
I am thankful for my humble beginnings, although they were a challenge - they gave me character. I am also thankful for having two parents who are both Vietnam veterans who served their nation. I have a good marriage, going on 23 years, to a great and godly woman. And, I have legacy - a rich family tree, a meaningful story of my own, and the appreciation for my roots that continues to unfold the more I find. But, through it all, I am also thankful that I have not been sidetracked by dollar signs to the point I forget who I am and where I came from, unlike so many. Today, it is as if this culture wants to be severed from anything about its history, and too many kids are growing up dumber today as a result, not to mention being spoiled rotten by parents who failed to instill that into them - it is a scandal! That is why I grow more thankful as I get older that I was able to document and preserve so much of my own roots, and I feel I am a better person for it.
I am also amazed too at how some people don't harmonize their thinking with factual information - this Argentine friend today was culpable in that regard. We got into a discussion about the origin of the American Indian, and I brought up Dr. Dennis Stanford's Solutrian Theory (which states that the ancestors of the American Indians may have come from different places, including a part of France where they migrated to America over or adjacent to an ice shelf) and she essentially told me that due to her experience meeting Indians in Peru or somewhere, and externals, they are all the same to her. It is interesting how people come up with this stuff, despite DNA research and other things by capable genetic scientists which cause us to rethink history every day. This mentality limits people, and it is sad. I only hope she does have common sense enough to examine the evidence for herself, although she thinks her experience is superior to reading the works of capable authorities who have researched this stuff - again, experience is good, but is not an end in itself, I am starting to get into soapboxing, so I will digress from that at this point.
I have reflected enough tonight, as the hour is late and I am tired, so at this point I leave you. As I turn 45 in a couple of days, I am anticipating another interesting year ahead as I continue a course I know God has laid out for me. I only hope and pray the best for others as they follow their predestined course too.
To begin, today I got involved in this really intense discussion with a former co-worker from some years back, and one thing that really irritated me about that discussion is the level of arrogance people have sometimes. This particular person is a naturalized American citizen - she is originally from Argentina - and although overall she is actually not a bad person, she is also so misguided. For one thing, she is enamoured with the big city - the bright lights of New York in particular dazzle her. And, she is well-travelled as well. Her serious shortcoming though is this - she thinks the "best" of America is found in the big city, and to her the travels (or experiences related to them) make her some sort of authority on life. I want to address this bad misconception briefly, because I have some reflection of my own that this sort of triggered.
To begin with, experience is a good thing in itself - we all have experience as part of our personal stories, and the experiences we have give each of us a level of incommunicability that is unique to us personally. Over the years, I have become fond of that passage in Romans 8:28 - "All things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to his purpose." This entails our experiences as individuals - everything we face, good and bad, is meant for the purpose of bringing us to where God wants us to be. The compendium of that experience is what is called our testimony, and it is a precious gift. However, experience alone does not make us intelligent (although it helps make what we are educated in more practical) but it must be accompanied with study, feeding the intellect, and also learning how to incorporate those things we learn into our own lives. My friend misses this whole idea by infinity when she basically says that people who don't travel like she does are somehow not as "enlightened" as she is, and that is where she fails as far as the test of using her experience responsibly goes. One thing about an individual testimony - it is not something you lord over someone as better than them, nor is it something you use to be arrogant or stuck-up with. If you do resort to those measures, then there is a deficiency in your own thinking. To explain how experience and knowledge work together, let me tell it this way. A baby who touches a hot stove experiences getting burnt - OK, the stove will hurt if I touch it, in other words. But, it must also be understood that at some point, that baby has to learn why the stove is hot and what makes it hot, and that is knowledge. The two together constitute something that seems to be lacking in much of today's society, and that is common sense. So, while experience is good, and much can be learned from it, it is also imperative for us to nourish our intellects in other ways too, and then make it all work together. If you can do that, you are truly a well-rounded individual. Also, this common sense helps in adaptation to a situation - the more you learn about what you both experience and study, the more useful it comes when situations may arise which call for putting those things learned into practice. And, that is the lesson my dear Argentine friend and former co-worker needs to learn. It has taken me a lot of years to come to that conclusion, as like her I was once young and cocky and thought I had answers to everything - I found out really quick that I didn't! Now, at 45, I have learned to distill that common sense into something else - wisdom. And, I still have a long way to go, I know - we all do.
This intense little debate with my Argentine friend did get me thinking about something though - it is that time of year when I reflect on what my life is, where it has been, and where it is going. The older I get, the more specific that reflection becomes. Let's have a recap of my own experience - here I am, from a small West Virginia town first off. I have a diverse heritage, as I am simultaneously a descendant of Charlemagne, German Anabaptists, Conversos, American Indians, and French Huguenots, among other things. Despite having a rich bloodline, I also grew up with a single mother, and I grew up very poor. Unlike many other Gen-Xers, I also went to a 3-room elementary school, and in high school I was taught Latin, German, and was reading things like Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, Alexander Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo, and the philosophical writings of Reinhold Niebuhr (some of these kids today are lucky if they learn to read a comic book properly in today's schools, much less classic books like those!). After accepting Christ as my Savior at the age of 16, within one year I was teaching Sunday School in my local church and was deeply involved in denominational affairs of my church at 18. Unlike a lot of kids my age, who preferred KISS or Michael Jackson, I listened to Guy Lombardo, and began collecting vintage big band records at the age of 10 - by the time I was in my teens, I had refined my tastes even further to incorporate Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps, Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring, Jean Sibelius' Finlandia Suite, and Ravel's Rhapsodie Espagnole into my musical preferences. I also grew up a part of my childhood having to use an outhouse (my grandmother's house didn't have plumbing in those days), acquiring a taste for groundhog, poke greens, deer and squirrel, and at one point when I was really young my mother and I were so poor that we slept in the living room and used the oven for drying clothes, cooking, and heating the house simultaneously. Also, I have spent many a childhood night being warmed by a wood stove, taking a bath in a metal tub filled with water heated on that woodstove, and I had to split a lot of firewood and kindling. At another low point in our lives, I was able to make sure my mother and I survived by raiding the neighbor's gardens - we ate a lot of fried cabbage, corn on the cob, boiled potatoes, and fried zucchini and cucumbers that year! I learned from an early age too about what roots and herbs could be found in the woods for food or medicine, and I still to this day have a lot of uses for wild onions I used to dig up in the back yard! In short, growing up was hard, and by all the statistics I should not even be where I am today - I have a bachelor's degree, am working on a master's, have three published books, and so much more! But, by God's grace here I am! Yet, I made a conviction many years ago to never forget the fact I grew up a poor, small-town West Virginia boy, and I came as far as I did because God ordered my steps. But, there is more.
Over the years, I have had the privelege of meeting political activists, bishops of churches, famous authors, and even a famous Grammy-winning polka artist, and many of these people I still keep in touch with today. I have also gotten to know a lot of fascinating people over the past 45 years of my life - I know Assyrians, Gypsies, Armenians, Lebanese, South Indians, Copts, Greeks, Macedonians, Slovenes, Serbs, as well as the stories of many of my own teachers and venerable old ministers, not to mention a few corporate executives (not overly impressed with some of them!) and the owners of many small mom-and-pop establishments. I have memorized maps, encyclopedias, and cookbooks, taught myself how to cook like a gourmet chef, and I now know at least 4 languages that I work with on a regular basis. I have accomplished much in that regard! And, for my Argentine friend, I too have traveled - I have been to at least 25 of the 50 states, and lived in 5 of them, and I know my history well. All of this is me over the past 45 years - I am (or have been) a minister, an educator, a paralegal, a culinary professional, a genealogist, a historian, and a budding theologian. And, for those who may have doubts about what I say, I have a shelf of binders over to my left as I am writing this which chronicle everything, as I have saved every paper, church bulletin, everything - not to mention about 20 years of journals and 25 years of calendars. So, I am also an archivist in my own right too.
This small-town West Virginia boy has proven many wrong before, and I will continue to prove them wrong for years to come, as my best years may be yet ahead. I don't claim perfection, but I do know who I am. My Argentine friend lacks this knowledge of herself - she betrayed that in her objectives - she wants to "liberate" herself from her past, and she wants to pursue dollars, and her affinity for the big city and the establishment has colored her perception. It is really sad when someone like that goes that direction, because there is so much they miss out on. Also, she shows a lack of desire for the real America, instead idealizing her version of the "American Dream" in the bright lights and big city life - what a rich tapestry she is denying herself, getting to know the small towns, the highways and by-ways, and the fact that diversity of the American landscape rather than the cookie-cutter conformity of the big city is what made this nation great. Which leads me to some other things I am proud of too.
I am thankful for my humble beginnings, although they were a challenge - they gave me character. I am also thankful for having two parents who are both Vietnam veterans who served their nation. I have a good marriage, going on 23 years, to a great and godly woman. And, I have legacy - a rich family tree, a meaningful story of my own, and the appreciation for my roots that continues to unfold the more I find. But, through it all, I am also thankful that I have not been sidetracked by dollar signs to the point I forget who I am and where I came from, unlike so many. Today, it is as if this culture wants to be severed from anything about its history, and too many kids are growing up dumber today as a result, not to mention being spoiled rotten by parents who failed to instill that into them - it is a scandal! That is why I grow more thankful as I get older that I was able to document and preserve so much of my own roots, and I feel I am a better person for it.
I am also amazed too at how some people don't harmonize their thinking with factual information - this Argentine friend today was culpable in that regard. We got into a discussion about the origin of the American Indian, and I brought up Dr. Dennis Stanford's Solutrian Theory (which states that the ancestors of the American Indians may have come from different places, including a part of France where they migrated to America over or adjacent to an ice shelf) and she essentially told me that due to her experience meeting Indians in Peru or somewhere, and externals, they are all the same to her. It is interesting how people come up with this stuff, despite DNA research and other things by capable genetic scientists which cause us to rethink history every day. This mentality limits people, and it is sad. I only hope she does have common sense enough to examine the evidence for herself, although she thinks her experience is superior to reading the works of capable authorities who have researched this stuff - again, experience is good, but is not an end in itself, I am starting to get into soapboxing, so I will digress from that at this point.
I have reflected enough tonight, as the hour is late and I am tired, so at this point I leave you. As I turn 45 in a couple of days, I am anticipating another interesting year ahead as I continue a course I know God has laid out for me. I only hope and pray the best for others as they follow their predestined course too.
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