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Doug Smith: Cry ‘Havoc,’ and let slip the dogs of war

14 Nov

doug smith

Doug Smith: Author, historian and lead contributor to Free State Patriot

11.14.15

 And Caesar’s spirit, raging for revenge, With Ate by his side come hot from hell, Shall in these confines with a monarch’s voice Cry “Havoc!” and let slip the dogs of war, That this foul deed shall smell above the earth With carrion men, groaning for burial.

Marcus Antonius

Julius Caesar Act 3, scene 1, 270–275

300px-Punch_-_The_Dogs_of_War

When faced with barbarous, murderous intent on the part its enemies, a civilization is left with 2 roles it can play in the great drama of life.

  1. The Victim

Maybe they will not hate us so much if we are nicer, if we don’t call them murderers, if we refuse to raise the sword or the shield.  Barbarians, whether they run Auschwitz, or immolate people, or behead prisoners, or make sex slaves of women and children, will follow a simple rule. “Age quod Agis”.  (Do what you do best)  Eventually they will get around to you.

  1. The Fighter

You don’t have to hate your enemy, or pity him, or love him. But you must kill him.  You must keep on killing him, until you kill all who intend to kill you, or break his will to kill you anymore. These are the bare bones realities of victory and defeat. If you are to be victorious over your enemy, you must defeat him or kill him. And he must KNOW he is defeated. In 1945, our enemies knew it.

Now there are those who formulate grand ideas of how it “should work” in campus coffee shops, or faculty lounges. These folks have never heard a bullet “Whiz” past their heads (sorry Hillary, fictional stories don’t count), or faced the reality of a determined enemy trying to kill them, personally. They do not believe you ever truly need to defeat an enemy. If you understand him, and help him understand you, he will cease to be an enemy. Or a barbarian.

They cling desperately to their faith that it should work, so it must.

History has shown that they are desperately wrong.

We left North Korea as a blight on the world stage in 1953. They have not played nice.  When the Russians invaded Hungary in 1956 we ignored their pleas for help and left them to the Gulags for 3 decades.  We abandoned Southeast Asia in 1975 and permitted the Killing Fields and the slaughter of millions.  In 2009 we began to announce and carry out an abandonment of the Middle East.

None of these choices worked out well. No matter how nice we are, the barbarians at the gate will still be barbarians. Barbarians will still rape, pillage, plunder, and murder.

No words or promises of ours can make them cease to be barbarians. But we can close the gate and push them away from it.  We can protect civilization and let the barbarians live in the savagery which they choose. We can decide the time for words has passed, and the time has come for the sword.

Sadly, some of our gatekeepers cease to see it as their duty to keep safe those behind the gates.

Now, it has been that said people fall into 3 categories.

Sheep, who will not defend themselves from danger, but simply huddle together, and leave the stragglers to their fate.

Wolves, who will attack the sheep and eat them at their leisure, happily feeding on the stragglers which the flock abandon.

And there are Sheepdogs.

They live and wander about quietly among the sheep. Sometimes herding them away from danger, watching all around them. And they kill wolves, or drive them off.

More often than not, for the past century, Sheepdogs have worn American flags.

So, cry Havoc! And let loose the Dogs of War.

Sheepdogs.

With American Flags.

Who kill Wolves.

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Doug Smith: Modern Day Progressive Slavery

18 Oct

Liberal benevolence has never been about caring

DOUG SMITH

Doug Smith: Free State Patriot Lead Contributor

10.18.15

The modern Democrats, from the “purest and highest of motives”, wish to give people everything they need. More, they wish to give them everything they deserve, and much of what they want. These folks judge themselves, and others, on the basis of how much they want to give to people. They form their philosophy of government on the basis of 2 beliefs:

  1. We are smarter, wiser, and more benevolent and know, far better than you, what you need.
  2. Only we can supply what you need, without us you are not capable of caring for yourselves.
  3. And, not coincidentally, we are entitled to a rich and lavish lifestyle because of 1 and 2, above.

slavery 1

154 years ago, that mentality belonged to the slave owning aristocrats of the South. The slaves are, except for the small matter of liberty, happy in their lot and better off than they were in Africa (that at least is largely true.) They are not nearly as wise, smart, industrious, or clever as we are, and without us, would starve and die. They have no need for education beyond what we want them to know, so don’t burden them with “book learning”, or in fact, teach them to read. They might pick up dangerous ideas.

We will supply them with houses, (not as nice as our palatial estates, but with a roof.), food, (not what WE eat, of course), and clothing (all a working man needs is a pair of pants and a rough shirt), and useful, productive work. Of course, their work will be done to serve us, and we expect them to defer to us in return for our benevolence, and we will remain in charge, and wealthy. But like wise and caring parents, we will care for them from cradle to grave, and treat them as the infantile, helpless servants we expect them to be.

In 1860, those folks were also Democrats. Some things never change.

slavery 2

People who form governments have 2 choices of direction. The one above, Noblesse Oblige, dictates that power and wealth will be gathered to the self-proclaimed “best and brightest” and doled out and their benevolent inner instincts dictate. The enduring problem of this approach is slavery. Oh, pretty it up and call it dependency if you prefer. But the fact is that for Democrat Liberal politicians to give away a smorgasbord of free stuff, “the Dole” they must take it away from someone else. The Clintons are worth about $ 100, 000,000. There are 48,000,000 living on food stamps. Even if you went to a Democrat controlled public school, you can do that math. How far does her fortune stretch among all those people?

So liberals who make lavish promises to give stuff away, have a hidden, and sinister promise implied: We will enslave you.

Free healthcare? We will make Doctors work for less, and take a lot of money from some who produce to pay for it. (Because we are government, we own and produce nothing.)

Free college? We will make University administrators cut their $ 500,000 salaries. No, wait, Democrats will NEVER do that, so we will just raise your taxes and pay them. And that “free “tuition.

Free anything? We have to steal it. But not in the honest straightforward way of a gangster like Al Capone (who gave away free stuff: he funded soup kitchens,) but at least sold an illegal, but desired product. No, Democrats will steal it by picking your paycheck every 2 weeks, with the force of the guns of the IRS and the FBI behind them.

slavery 3

Medieval kings gained their kingdoms by being the best soldiers around, and it was their Army which compelled the serfs to work their entire lives to provide the Royal treasure. Of course, the King would, Noblesse Oblige, provide for his serfs. With money and work he had taken from them. At the point of a sword.

Governments who come together to provide “free stuff”, must do so at the sacrifice of free people.

One unique time in history, men came together to wrest power to create free men, not take goods. They fought an empire and a king which enslaved them, for the right to be free. Free to strive and prosper, or to laze and starve, but at their own choosing and of their own efforts.

And of that same beginning, free men came together to risk life, and limb, and fortune, to wrest power from those aforementioned slave owning Democrats, and end their tyranny over men.

Those free men, history reminds us, were called Republicans.

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But the Democrats like their power, and their money, and found it a good bargain to buy men’s freedom for their own gain using the fruits of enslaved people’s labor. One which they ardently wish to continue.

2 things are worth remembering in light of all this.

The modern Progressive movement was started by an elitist, Ivy League, Southern Democrat – Woodrow Wilson.

Hillary Rodham Clinton is an elitist, Ivy League, Southern Democrat.

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Doug Smith: Politics attracts the worst of us

19 Sep

DOUG SMITH

Doug Smith: Author, historian and lead contributor to Free State Patriot

9.19.15

Politics attracts and rewards the very worst among us. Politicians and lawyers account for the largest congregation of sociopaths in our society.

Now, I don’t like Donald Trump. Let’s start there, shall we? I find him obnoxious, self-important, arrogant in the extreme, abrasive, and for all his money and education, as crude an individual as I have ever experienced. And I think it increasingly likely that he will be the GOP nominee for President in 2016, and the next President. I can’t say I’m happy about that idea, but I prefer The Donald, far and away, to the Barack, or the Hillary, or even the Bernie.

Who could beat him?

barack bernie donald hillary

The Democrats? Be real! After 7 years of the real pain, fear, and anger people feel on Main Street, despite the lies and pabulum of the Pres, the Democrat brand is damaged badly.

What do they offer?

The summer, fall, Year, Decade, you name it, of recovery? Promises of jobs, soon, any day now, this is the year, no kidding, trust us, one more time. For all their smoke screen about the 5.6% unemployment, there are 94, 000, 000 unemployed voters who know why the roses grow so well at the White House.

And who do the Democrats offer? Hillary Clinton? Please.

“There are concerns about her honesty?”(Really?)

“She travelled A LOT, and she cares about women.” (So did Bob Hope.)

Dems will as always appeal to the Give me stuff crowd, but they are badly damaged.

But what does the GOP offer us?

Anger has grown in the folks, like me. We turned out in droves to give the GOP more power, and the mandate to fight Barack Obama.

And we have seen them, time and time again, fold at the first volley, and write Obama a blank check to do what we oppose, and what they promised to stop in its tracks. Each time they whine, we need more power, each time we give it to them, and each time they lie. Then they fight an utterly meaningless fight, after they sign the check and it is too late, and expect us to blindly keep trusting them and believing them.

What, then, are we left with?

The Dems lie, cheat, steal, and drain the treasury.

The GOP makes noises about how wrong that is, then quietly, a little embarrassed about it, do, or permit the same things.

The Folks are “Mad as Hell, and not gonna take this anymore.”

Enter Donald Trump. Right or wrong, he does have success behind him. He says, without fear, worry, apparent conscience, or regret, the things most of us are thinking.

A pox on both your houses!

He voices our anger.

If he is the GOP nominee, the GOP leadership will hate it. That is almost reason enough for me to vote for him. If he is the nominee, they will have no one to blame but themselves. We have rallied behind them, given them the power to fight for us, and they have shown that they will not do so.

Now to the Conservative purists, the 4 million of you who sat out the 2012 election and elected Barack Obama ( how s that decision feel now?), who would rather go down in flames behind a “True Conservative” than compromise and work with a so-so Conservative who actually wins, how is that working out for you? Going down in flames because you are stuck with 80% of what you want instead of 100% has 2 results. You burn. And you get 0%.

Now, Trump may not be the best candidate. Or the best President. But if he is the GOP nominee, I will absolutely vote for him. We cannot afford another 8 years of Democrat Socialism. I hope it is not him. I would certainly prefer Ted Cruz, or Dr. Carson.

But it is time to restate the Buckley principle: Support the most right leaning, viable candidate. A pure conservative who cannot win does not help anyone. Except Hillary. God help us.

Remember the Dole, McCain, and Romney Presidencies?

Neither does Barack Obama.

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Doug Smith: Pity the Liberal

14 Sep

doug smith

Doug Smith is an author, historian and regular contributor to Free State Patriot.

9.14.15

Pity the modern liberal. He, no, sorry, she, no wait we can’t use gender centric language. Well, She-it. Ok, She-It has to defend some pretty difficult positions.

To be a Liberal Democrat (henceforth LD), you must argue your Bills carefully. Clinton’s abusive treatment of women is excused, and he is an advocate of women’s rights because he “feels their pain” (and supports abortion.) Cosby’s behaviors toward women are not excused, because his positions are at odds with the Liberal dogma.

bill cosby bill clinton

But pity the poor liberal, who must defend Willy and condemn Cos for the same moral failings. While we are at it, we must accept Hillary as an advocate for women, despite paying women on her staff less than men, and acting as the attack dog on women who were objects of Bill’s predilections. All for the good of the cause. Pepto Bismol, anyone?

The LD must defend Planned Parenthood, because it is the sacrament of the religion of liberalism. Sheit must defend it as a “Women’s Health” organization helping with Breast Cancer, ignoring that is does no such thing, and attacks another organization which does so for withholding money. Extortion, anyone? Vito Corleone would be proud. LD s must defend PP for “keeping women out of back alleys, and in the hands of butchers, while ignoring and defending unsafe clinics and abortionists who do indeed, even in the 21st Century of Roe V Wade, maim and kill women with impunity. No criticism or attack can be tolerated. Hence, the LD has to somehow defend an abortionist cutting through the face of a living baby to remove his brain. He is, apparently, a blob of tissue, until he can be enrolled in a LD approved, state sponsored Head Start program. Wow. Pepto?

planned parenthood 2 planned parenthood

The LD must turn hits (in Appalachia that is proper grammar. For the gender confused LD it is an amalgam of his her its, and one more reason to reach for the Pepto) logic inside out to insist that Obamacare, which is on the approved list, is the “law of the Land” and must be obey, nay, praised, Nay Worshipped!, but yet Barack Obama can unlawfully alter it dozens of times, fail to implement troublesome parts, and that is an acceptable heresy.

The LD must revere, rightly so, the work and dream of Martin Luther King, yet at the same time eschew criticism of Barack Obama’s failings, and his reversals of the gains won by MLK based not on the content of his character, but on the color of his skin. For no criticism of Obama is accepted and debated, rather, the critic is loudly labeled a racist for his disagreements. Pity the LD, and pass hit the Pepto. MLK must come to Sheit in hits dreams and thunder “Were you not listening?”

Pity the LD, who, supporting the law, turns on law enforcement; who, supporting black lives, must be blind to hundreds killed the right way; who, ( oh my poor aching belly, ) must condemn every shot fired at a black criminal, and, by silence, condone every killing by a black criminal, whether of a white or ( most frequently,) another black. Sheit must condemn blacks who say “We have got to stop killing each other”, and put the blame on, who? Sheit must check with Josh Earnest to see who is at fault this week for the 2000 shootings and 350 murders so far this year in Chicago. Sheit must suspend common sense, and the evidence of hits eyes. Pepto?

mike brown 2 mike brown

The LD must be ok with the lawlessness of ignoring property rights, and rewarding the UAW over bondholders in GM, by Obama, not by, as 100 years of precedent dictates, by a judge, and publicly deriding investors who protest getting pennies on the dollar as greedy, while rewarding the greed of UAW contracts with a company in default. Sheit must be ok with suspending the law, and committing robbery on private individuals, to reward the friends of a corrupt politician. It’s the pink bottle, right there in the front of the fridge.

false 3 false 2

In short, Sheit must be ok with suspending common sense and the law when it serves “the greater purpose.”

Yet, there is a problem with that suspension of conscience. As Robert Bolt has Sir Thomas More state it in “A Man for All Seasons”,

“And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned round on you—where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted thick with laws from coast to coast—man’s laws, not God’s—and if you cut them down—and you’re just the man to do it—do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then?    Yes, I give the Devil benefit of law for my own safety’s sake. “

progressives

And there is, perhaps, the crux of the problem. The LD sees the law as a hindrance to do what Sheit wishes, instead of the protection against the worst urges and greed of barbarians, bandits, and tyrants.

And it is not working for her. Him. It.

Well, Sheit! Pepto?

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DOUG SMITH: A MARK OF NOBILITY

9 Aug

DOUG SMITH

Doug Smith is an author, historian and regular contributor to Free State Patriot.

8.9.15

I think you may judge of a man’s character by the persons whose affection he seeks. If you find a man seeking only the affection of those who are great, depend upon it he is ambitious and self-seeking; but when you observe that a man seeks the affection of those who can do nothing for him, but for whom he must do everything, you know that he is not seeking himself, but that pure benevolence sways his heart.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

—–

It’s true, too. We are a flawed people, led by flawed people, subject to all the foibles and weaknesses of flesh. Yet, a flawed man whose conscience nags him may still do the right thing, despite his faults. Or, he may say the right thing.

Which brings me to Donald Trump. I don’t like the guy. I find him unnecessarily rude, crude, and offensive. It think it is very likely that if he worked for anybody but himself, he would hear the phrase “You’re fired” often.

donaldDONKEY

He is, in short, an ass.

Yet he says some things that really resonate. The flood of illegal, uneducated foreigners coming to the US while maintaining the peasant culture, language, or mores from which they sought to escape is a huge problem. We need the courage to say so, and to act accordingly. Trump spits that truth out, crudely, but accurately.

We are in the 7th year of a failed Presidency, both in terms of economics, and foreign policy. We are suffering greatly from the policies and arrogance of Barack Obama. It is not racism to say so, though the President and his supporters hide behind that shield. But not from Trump. He calls it accurately, and in so doing hits a chord with millions who are out of work in the Obama economy, and do not feel they are suddenly racist for saying “Where is my job, Mr. President?” Trump doesn’t care what Obama or anyone else thinks about him. And that is admirable.

Yet, it is not so much the point that a billionaire, who will still be a billionaire if his mouth causes the whole world to stop doing business with him, can say what he will and not fear the backlash. It is not the number of politicians to whom he can purchase access.

It is rather how he acts on the other end of the spectrum.

And in this, Donald Trump seems to lack a basic morality. If he wants to call the President of the United States a blithering idiot; that is moral courage. When he calls to task an employee, or a reporter, or a waiter and talks to them like a common street bully that is not courage.

A mark of greatness in a President is not his deference to Queen Elizabeth, but his kindness to the cooks and maids and travel agents in the White House. In this respect, the Coolidge’s and the Reagans showed that common touch, while the Clintons did not.

Now Trump brings a bit of spine to the arena that has been missing. He has framed the questions that many have been afraid to even speak and put them on the national stage. For those things he is to be commended. But I’m not sure we want the maids to discover that they are a “bunch of bimbos.”

Other candidates can take a page from Trump and learn that the American public is sick of politics as usual, pick up the message there and say, Yes, Donald is right about that. And here is what I’ll do about it. Trump brings up some great points, and has some sound ideas.

Being a bully is not being brave. We know how Trump acts to the powerful.

Other Republicans should, and can, learn from his success in this coming year. I’m not sure Trump can stop being an ass in a year.

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Doug Smith: The Trouble with Tribbles

5 Aug

DOUG SMITH

Doug Smith: Author, historian and regular contributor to Free State Patriot.

Star Trek fans will remember the tongue in cheek episode “The Trouble with Tribbles”. (David Gerrold, 1968.)

ST_TroubleWithTribbles

The episode posits a small, seemingly harmless critter, the Tribble, which emits a soothing sound that makes people want to hold it for comfort and pet it. It is just a small ball of fur, and, again, “seemingly” harmless.

There is just one problem. Tribble only do 3 things. Just three. They purr. They eat. And they, ah, reproduce. They purr in a most lovely manner. And they eat. Everything. As they reproduce. Rapidly. They will quickly eat and, ah, frolic (?) to the point where all food, and space for them to live, is gone. It must be noted, of course, that if you have been petting one for the soothing sounds they make, you, too, will be out of food, and room. Pity Captain Kirk. Commander of a state of the art space ship, he is engulfed in the little critters, at risk of losing a shipment of grain which will cause millions to starve, and barely able to turn around, let alone con his ship, for the soothing little “ purr balls”, still making noises to tell him everything is fine.

Tribbles, it seems, are Progressives. The soothingly tell us that all is well, they have their hearts set on our best interest, but no, fatherless families are not a problem. Meanwhile inner cities burn and writhe in violence.

They assure us that “carbon emissions are at their highest level in 800,000 years”, never mind there was no industry to speak of even 200 years gone, and global “warming” has decreased for 25 years. Get out your long johns, climate change is coming. We can fix it with Solar panels. Pause. From Solyndra?

But don’t worry, here, rub a Tribble. Purr. Purr.

We are assured that spending just a little more on government programs for education will make us the envy of the world. Trillions of dollars later, Johnny can’t read his arrest warrant, or sign his welfare check. No worries, we will go to a card for him. Because the check-out guy can’t read it either, so we’ll just swipe it. Because neither of them can do the math either. But no worries, give us more money and we will really fix it. This time. Here, pet the fur ball. Purr. Purr.

We are told, from the New Deal, to the Great Society, to the War on Poverty, to Obamaphones and Government Motors, that more government spending will eliminate poverty. Meantime, jobs vanish, more people are in poverty than ever before, and fewer than ever are motivated to get out of it. But no worries, they may be poor, but they can Vote! Here, relax, rub a Tribble. Purr. Purr.

What we really need, they assure us, is for everyone to pay their fair share. Never mind that the producers of goods and services are paying 85% of all they take in. Never mind that nearly half are living off the hard work and effort of the other half. Never mind that we have the highest taxes in the corporate world. Never mind that we have the population of Germany (by numbers) unemployed. Never mind that black young men are unemployed at a rate of 45%. Never mind that we have borrowed more than we are ever likely to pay, that in 7 years we have racked up more debt than the entire history of the Republic. It’s not like we are ever going to pay it! Here, rub a Tribble. Purr. Purr??

It is time to stop feeding the Triberals. They never get enough. Every inch is a light year by the time they are done. It is worse than feeding a stray dog or cat.

In the Star Trek episode, they sent all the little pests to the engine room of their enemies to be a nuisance for them for a change. Perhaps deporting 11 million illegal aliens to Mexico is not viable. But might we send a few million Progressives to Iran, or China, or Russia?

Where I’m sure, (sorry, Scotty,) they’ll be no Tribble at all.

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Doug Smith: Admiral Rickover helped shape his century

8 Jul

doug smith

Doug Smith: Author, historian and regular contributor to Free State Patriot.

“The more you sweat in peace the less you bleed in war”

Admiral Hymen G Rickover

rickover

In 1904, half a century before my birth, Abraham the Tailor sent for his family in the Russian Empire, to join him in New York. I would owe Abraham a debt someday.  For he brought with him his son, Hymen.  Hymen was a very driven, scholarly, and hardworking boy. Demanding, and a loner, Hymen did not endear himself to people.  He was educated at the Naval Academy and at Columbia.

He did little to endear himself to the Navy brass either; ignoring rank in favor of ability, working hard and demanding the same of others. His standards were simple: Excellence. By 1948, he was head of the Naval Reactors brand of the Atomic Energy Commission. In 1954 he presided over the launch of the USS Nautilus, SSN 571, and the world’s first nuclear powered submarine.

My debt, and yours, to Admiral Hymen G Rickover, increased markedly that year. I was quite unaware of it, having not yet reached the level of a “twinkle in my Daddy’s eye.”  By the time I would make my entrance, late the following year, Nautilus would have signaled “Underway on Nuclear Power”, and would be on the way to circumnavigating the world, sailing to the North Pole, and steaming 250,000 miles under the oceans.

Under Rickover’s direction, the world’s first nuclear power plant would be built, around the time I turned 2.

A strong proponent for excellence in education and safety in Engineering, Hymen Rickover was the force behind a United States Nuclear force with a 60 year record of Zero serious accidents or deaths. Our Russian counterparts cannot make that claim.  That Naval Submarine Force was silently, secretly, but integrally involved in pressing back the Soviets during the Cold War, and behind us all, there was Rickover.

Us?

Yes, my more direct debt to Admiral Rickover.  As I grew up, so too, did the Submarine Force. On 4 July, 1976, I reported for duty to the USS Gato, SSN 615; a hard charging Permit class Attack Submarine, a sleek, silent, and deadly predator; a shark. I became a “steely eyed killer of the deep”; ready to do incredible violence on your behalf, to protect you, or perhaps your parents, from enemies on or beneath the seas. What did we do? Well, I could tell you, but then…  No. Much of what we did will never be told. But we were out there, between our homes and our enemy, and behind us was Hymen Rickover. His name and his spirit and his presence were felt on every boat in the fleet, and by every sailor calling them home.

He helped to shape his century. On this date, July 8th, in 1986, Admiral Hymen G Rickover died, and was laid to rest in Arlington Cemetery. So today I will remember my debt to the tailor, and the engineer and leader.  Thanks, Abraham, for bringing him. And thanks, Admiral

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DOUG SMITH: MINIMUM WAGE ZERO

11 Jun

DOUG SMITH

Doug Smith: Author, historian and regular contributor to Free State Patriot

June 11, 2015

In 1938, in the midst of the Great Depression, a Progressive President and Congress acted to try and mandate the minimum wage a worker could be paid. Their target wage was 25c an hour.

They failed. As has every subsequent Congress which tried over the years. For the minimum wage is, and always has been, Zero.

If I hire you to cut my grass for $15, and you do a lousy job, your wage will move from 15 to zero, because I won’t hire you again.  I will make a cost benefit analysis. It is not worth $15 to me to have you cut my grass. So I seek another alternative. I might buy a goat.

And so it has been, in 1938, and every time Congress has tried. Some keep working, and get the new mandated wage. Many others get fired, and get the eternal minimum wage: zero. Many more do not get hired at all, and continue to get the universal minimum wage: zero. When Congress, or the city of Los Angeles, moves to artificially raise the minimum wage, they accomplish two things; neither of which are their original intent.

The first is to make some workers happy, and their employers unhappy, because they are getting more money for the same effort, without contributing more to the company’s bottom line. They also make other workers unhappy, because the mandated raise will not apply to those who started at the bottom, worked their way up to making more, only to see the guy who just started and doesn’t know which end is up get the raise he worked for at the stroke of a pen.

min wage

The second is to make potential workers unhappy. For with each increase in the minimum wage, the number of entry level workers is decreased. Now in plain English that means companies cut back on the number of employees. Care to flip a coin with the guy next to you? One of us gets a raise, one of us gets the boot. Good luck. There is a cost beyond just salary to keeping an employee. If I must pay each bottom rung employee more than they are worth to my bottom line, it becomes for cost effective to fire 2, and pay a little overtime to 3 others. More to the point, the teenager looking for part time work, the young person seeking that all important 1st job, looks less appealing. I will hire fewer people now than I would have. If an additional $100,000 in business might have been the break point to add one full time employee before the $15 minimum, now it may be $150,000. Sorry, kid, but Congress says you will have to wait.

So, in the midst of the Depression, with economic activity stalled and sputtering, how much longer did it take for a business to reach the point to hire one more man? The guy inside the gate was now getting a bit more, but the guy outside the gate was still broke, cold, hungry, and out of work. He would have been thrilled to get some work at 20c an hour, but

Congress and FDR say “No, we can’t have you work for that pittance! How can you support a family on 20c an hour? “

“But, but, I’m supporting them on zero cents an hour now. I’ve got nothing coming in. The 20 cents would be great.”

“Sorry, but we are from the government and we are here to help. Blame it on the evil, greedy capitalists inside the gate. “

Meanwhile, the EGC s inside the gate are going over the books. The 25% increase in labor costs, mandated by the government, has cut their margin from 2% to ½%. And an increase in the cost of goods sold has cut that even further. Shaking their heads, they reach for a stack of pink slips and start filling them out.

And that is what a boost in the government mandated minimum wage accomplishes. Not lifting people up, but pushing more people to the true minimum wage, dictated by natural law: Zero.

As if to underscore the point, the labor unions of Los Angeles are petitioning to be exempted from the city wide mandated $15 minimum wage because “it might make them uncompetitive in seeking contracts.”

The irony is rich. Welcome to basic economics, boys.

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Free State Patriot: Exposing the progressive movement in America…every day.

15 May

        DOUG SMITH                              mc

Doug Smith: Author, historian, and regular contributor to Free State Patriot.  Mark Caserta: Editor, Free State Patriot

About us:

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Free State Patriot is a conservative blog that’s working hard, sometimes behind the scenes, to expose the progressive movement in the United States. And we’re making a difference. We have thousands of followers in 14 different countries and so far in 2015, Free State Patriot has had hits from 74 nations around the globe!

And we’re looking to grow.

We stand for Christian conservative values, the Bible and the U.S. Constitution. And we won’t compromise an inch on any of the three.

You see, compromise to a progressive, is like blood to a shark. They advance their agenda slowly, but methodically. To the uninformed, it will most likely happen without them knowing it.

But that’s where …Free State Patriot is committed to stepping in and exposing their devious strategies. And we don’t like to lose.

And with God in our corner…we can’t possibly fail.

So what would you attempt in life if you KNEW it was impossible to fail?

Maybe it’s time to get involved and find out.

Visit us at:
https://freestatepatriot.com/

And learn more about what is happening to the greatest country on earth…progressively.

God Bless,

Mark

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Doug Smith: The Power to Tax

15 May

doug smith

Doug Smith: Author, historian and regular contributor to Free State Patriot

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“The Power to Tax is the Power to Destroy”

John Marshall

 

“A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing”

Oscar Wilde

Today is May 12, 2015. Congratulations. You are working for yourself. What, you didn’t know? If you have a job, you worked till April 24th for the government’s share before you start to work for yourself. It took you that long to earn enough to pay your “fair share” of taxes.

Last year, it was April 21st, in 2013 April 18th. That date has steadily moved forward for 100 years. You will pay more for your share of taxes than you will spend for food, clothing, and housing. You will work 114 days out of 365 before you are working for your own money.

I’ve been thinking of taking 2 year old granddaughter shopping. I’m going to give my credit card and check book to the cashiers, and then let her grab anything shiny or sweet that grabs her fancy. We’ll go through toys, and clothes, and candy, TVs, DVDs, you name it. We’ll hit it all. Spare no expense! Don’t consider the cost. If it seems like something she wants, just buy it.

Crazy, you say? Well, perhaps you are right. The two year old knows the price of nothing, and has a value system based upon what she wants. So giving her a blank check is perhaps, not the wisest course of action.

We might say that a Congressman is a person who knows neither the price nor the value of anything, or, if not, has the same system of values as that 2 year old. If it seems good, why then do it. Never consider the cost. Now why, do you suppose, that a Congressman and a 2 year old reason in much the same way?

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The two year old knows only that certain ways of persuasion get her what she wants. Pouting is less effective, but the sweet smile and eyes aimed at her Daddy or her Papaw will usually melt all resistance and get her what she wants at once. (Mommy, of course, is made of sterner stuff.) She does not know the value or the price of what she gets, for she has not yet had to pay for anything. Nor has she had to work for the valuta with which to pay. Is it worth it to spend the value of 8 hours labor for a cheaply made toy that will amuse her for an hour and then never be touched again? I can make the value judgement that it is not, (absent that smile and blue eyes pointed at me!) for I know what it is to work those 8 hours.

Now, we hope that before she is out on her own paying bills and balancing a check book, she will learn of value, and work, and reward. She will understand that to get something that costs 8 hours of her labor will, in fact, Cost her those 8 hours. A Congressman, however, will never learn that lesson. After all, it is my labor from January to June that pays for what Congress takes from me. Congress gets to spend on whatever is shiny and new, and give in the coercions of thousands of 2 year olds, albeit some of them chronologically much older.

How, in fact, can a Congressman ever hope to know of value when he spends the fruits of the labors of millions for the pleasure of thousands? If he worked a full year, instead of the handful of days he does, his labors would not earn what he spends in 5 minutes. If he worked his entire life, and gave all he earned, he still would not have paid the piper. How can he ever know the cost of what he is spending on my behalf? And if he does not know, and yet has the power to tax me as much as he wants, then we have a dangerous situation.

Somehow we need to have people in Congress who understand, and respect, both cost and value, before they undertake to spend and tax. Otherwise, they are as destructive as that 2 year old with a credit card, or a cannon.

Do you doubt that Congress can destroy using the tax? Consider this example.

The estate tax destroys many small family farms. When the owner dies, if the total of the farm land and equipment is worth over a million dollars, (not a lot for even a modest sized farm, and not enough to make the farmer a millionaire) the estate tax will reach as much as 40%. ( In 2012, Democrats in Congress cheerily proposed raising this to 55%) So his heirs, also not wealthy, are forced to pay taxes again on what he has worked for, and paid taxes for, all his life. Now, not having 400 grand lying about, his children have no choice but to sell off all or part of the farm to pay the taxes, or lose it all to the IRS and the State. In time, often in just one generation, a family farm ceases to exist.

At the same time we are wiping out small family farms by taking with the right hand, the left hand is spending like that proverbial 2 year old in the candy store in the form of “farm subsidies.” This is a brilliant program (designed by Progressives during the Depression to bolster farms) that pays someone who “might” farm, not to.

Farm subsidy payments are based on acreage, so the bigger the farm the bigger the subsidies. Commercial farmers, with an average income of $200,000 and net worth of nearly $2 million, get the majority of farm subsidies. From 1995 to 2005, farm subsidies went out to, among others,

John Hancock Life Insurance ($2,849,799)

Westvaco ($534,210),

David Rockefeller ($553,782)

Ted Turner ($206,948

Also to members of Congress, who get to vote on the subsidies, such as

Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa, $225,041)

Rep. John Salazar (D-Colo., $161,084).

In one crazy instance, a farm was converted to homes, and the owners were sent farm subsidy checks for not growing soybeans in their back yards!

So in this instance we see Congress’ power to tax is destroying family farms while making payoffs to wealthy friends, and, themselves.

The power to destroy? At what point will people refuse to go to work and work for Congress to spend their money on others?  150 days? 182? At some point, if the trend of Progressive big spenders in Congress continues, working people reach the point where they cannot pay for essentials with what

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