I have spoken about groups like Progress Ohio that are progressive oriented groups in states built on advancing progressive ideas. Until 2010 I didn’t even know there were groups dedicated to such a cause. I was still wondering if the word “progressive” was something Glenn Beck made up to support some conspiracy. As it turned out, Beck probably didn’t say enough.
There has also been a lot of discussion about state budget shortfalls and how on earth our local, state and federal government is going to pay for the massive revenue problems that are occurring. Well, these budget problems are caused by public sector unions that have managed to negotiate an average salary of approximately $79,000 per year per employee. That is more than the average American tax payer makes by over $20K per year. The formula is all messed up; where the public servant makes more than the public it serves. And as government has grown larger and employed more and more people, adding more employees to that fantastically high pay scale and the wages in the private sector have been frozen to deal with the recession.
Now listen below to the suggestion from Progress Illinois of how to cover the budget problems. (LAUGH OUT LOUD)
Can you believe that? That’s how out of touch progressives are. That is their solution to the irresponsible spending problem we’ve allowed in government.
The high wages promised government employees create a government that is revenue hungry.
And this video is hilarious. Didn’t these people go to school? Why do they think the steel mills went overseas? Unions drove the costs too high, so those jobs left the country.
Now they have done the same cost increase of labor as they did in the American Car companies and steel industries. But now those costs are in government and government can’t pick up and move to another country. Government exists to serve the people, so the only thing to do is to cut the jobs or reduce dramatically the salary of those employees in order to justify their existence. The videos below are by Armand Thiebolt of the Cato Institute. This isn’t Fox News, but the Cato Institute. It’s an attempt to present the problem cleanly.
Now this is Fox Business, a piece done by Jon Stossel, but I think it explains things very clear.
This is serious business!
What needs to happen is public sector unions should return back to the legal status prior to the Kennedy Administration. That needs to happen in 2011 while a conservative congress can address the issue. Only by dealing with the issue directly can we hope to avert catastrophic budget failures.
You won’t see tanks driving down your street. You won’t see troops knocking on your door. But you will see your way of life being destroyed in a way that is no different than a military unit cutting off a railroad or other major supply line to a strong opponent. Philosophically, economically, ethically, we are at war.
Another one of my favorite books, which is a book I studied carefully over a period of years because it’s one thing to read the book word for word and gain a basic understanding. But the work of Sun Tzu requires an understanding of eastern philosophy, which is something specifically unique to Japan and China. The following quote is from The Art of War under PLANNING A SIEGE.
Complete victory is when the army does not fight, the city is not besieged, the destruction does not go on long, but in each case the enemy is overcome by strategy. So the rule for use of the military is that if you outnumber the opponent ten to one, then surround them; five to one, attack; two to one, divide. If you are equal, then fight if you are able. If you are fewer, then keep away if you are able. If you are not as good, then flee if you are able. This advice applies to the case where all else is equal. If your forces are orderly while theirs are chaotic, if you are excited and they are sluggish, then even if they are more numerous you can do battle. If your soldiers, strength, strategy, and courage are all less than that of the opponent, then you should retreat and watch for an opening. Therefore if the smaller side is stubborn, it becomes the captive of the larger side.
There are five ways of knowing who will win. Those who know when to fight ad when not to fight are victorious. Those who discern when to use many or few troops are victorious. Those whose upper and lower ranks have the same desire are victorious. Those whose generals are able and are not constrained by their governments are victorious. These five are the ways to know who will win.
This section is under FORMATION:
To perceive victory when it is known to all is not really skillful. Everyone calls victory in battle good, but it is not really good. Everyone says victory in battle is good, but if you see the subtle and notice the hidden so as to seize victory where there is no form, this is really good. It does not take much strength to lift a hair, it does not take sharp eyes to see the sun and moon, it does not take sharp ears to hear a thunderclap. What everyone knows is not called wisdom. Victory over others by forced battle is not considered good. In ancient times those known as good warriors prevailed when it was easy to prevail. If you are only able to ensure victory after engaging an opponent in armed conflict, that victory is a hard one. If you see the subtle and notice the hidden, breaking through before formation, that victory is an easy one. Therefore the victories of good warriors are not noted for cleverness or bravery. Therefore their victories in battle are not flukes. Their victories are not flukes because they position themselves where they will surely win, prevailing over those who have already lost.
Great wisdom is not obvious, great merit is not advertised. When you see the subtle it is easy to win—what has it to do with bravery or cleverness? When trouble is solved before it forms who call that clever? When there is victory without battle, who talks about bravery?
For those who will say that I am over exaggerating or that I am seeing what I want to see in the matter, you are part of the problem. The information is in books. Sun Tzu to the Chinese is probably revered more highly than George Washington is to the United States. Chairman Mao used The Art of War to defeat Chiang Kai-shek. I was a big fan of Kai-shek. My favorite modern military figure is Claire Lee Chennault leader of the Flying Tigers.Chennault worked closely with Kai-shek to hold off communism in China, but weak US policy after World War II lead to Mao taking over the country in 1949. Chennault warned of the possibility of future war with China in his WONDERFUL book Way of the Fighter published in 1949. In that book, that is now considered a rare book, Chennault predicted the trouble with Korea and Vietnam years before they occurred. It was a shame that nobody listened then.
Starting on page 505 of Joseph Campbell’s masterpiece called Oriental Mythology, published in 1962 and was part of four books he spent 12 years writing; he chronicles the beginning of communism in China quite startlingly. While China was showing propaganda pictures to the world such as a family sitting at the table under a picture of Mao, the following events occurred. Keep in mind this is just one account of many.
A man, aged twenty-two from Doi-Dura in th Amdo region was told by the Chinese that he required treatment to make him more intelligent. The Chinese at the time were telling Tibetans that they were a stupid inferior race and would have to be sup-planted by Russians and Chinese. They took blood tests of this man, his wife, and many others, and there are a number of corresponding reports from different parts of Tibet detailing the sort of operation to which this young man and his wife were the next day forced to submit. They were both taken to the hospital. “He was completely undressed, placed on a chair and his genital organs were examined. Then a digital rectal examination was carried out and the finger was agitated. He then ejaculated a whitish fluid and one or more drops fell on a glass slide which was taken away. After this a long pointed instrument with handles like those of scissors was inserted inside the urethra and he fainted with pain. When he came round the doctors gave him a white tablet which they said would give him strength. Then he received an injection at the base of the penis where it joins the scrotum. The needle itself hurt but the injection did not. He felt momentarily numb in the region until the needle was removed. He stayed ten days in the hospital and then a month in be at home….he had been married for only two years and prior to this treatment had very strong sexual feelings…Afterwards he had no sexual desire at all….”
Meanwhile, his wife “was undressed and tied down. Her legs were raised and outstretched. Something very odd which became painful was inserted inside the vagina. She saw a kind of rubber balloon with a rubber tube attached, the end of which was inserted inside the vagina. The balloon was squeezed and his wife felt something very cold inside her. This caused no pain and only the tube and not the balloon was inserted. She remained conscious throughout. Then she was taken to bed. The same procedure was carried on every day for about a week. Then she went home and stayed in bed for about three weeks,” and thereafter she had neither sexual feeling nor menstruation.
There will always be the types of individuals on this planet that seek to control others. And with the United States having the most advanced war weapons on the face of the planet, enemies of the United States will not attack us directly, because they can’t. But they will undermine us from within. They will use propaganda to divide our nation. They will use our movie stars to perpetuate their message. They will seek to wreck our economy, our life style. They will seek to get our politicians moving in a direction that is not of the people’s wishes. And they will be patient and strike when they are sure to win.
Don’t kid yourself. We are at war right now.
And if you don’t watch any of the above, watch this one.
This is extremely serious. Pay attention and understand what’s happening. That’s the first step to turning this around.
Nothing is impossible. For inspiration I look to our AMERICAN games. If we get our minds in the game, this could be our a nation instead of just a game from my favorite sports team. I look to this game as a metaphor that nothing is ever lost until the clock runs out of time. Here is Matt Bryant’s 62 yard field goal against the Eagles in the final seconds of the game. In theory, a kick from mid-field should be impossible.
Here is the view from the stands, under the Pirate ship, where I like to sit.
And the box seats.
And leaving the stadium after the big kick.
America needs a victory like this. We need to get our currency strong again, and to regain our strength on the world stage. It’s not too late.
We’re coming up on the levy season, and Lakota, which is the school district closest to me, is asking for another levy after we just voted no on the last one initiated in May.
There are many, many reasons I don’t support a new levy. Many of those issues are dealt with in the below video done by John Stossel for a 20/20 assignment. This video reflects my own experience with public education, that it has become an entitlement culture for the staff, weakened by union connections, and the philosophy has become too progressive for my taste. Not something I wish to spend almost $10,000 per kid.
In my business experience, anything over $6,000 per child is a complete waste of money. Anything over that number, I believe you need to restructure the administration, and benefit packages to support $6,000 per child. But as shown in the 20/20 film, there are schools that have cut their cost per child below $5,000 and they are performing at a superior testing level.
What voters have to admit to themselves before they can see this issue clearly, is that the system is essentially a scam. The state sets standards schools have to live up to. The state has to create those standards based on federal mandates which are imposed because the state accepted federal money.
From there organizations like that which reside in Ohio, my home state, such as the OSBA lean on state officials to shape education policies which of course are expensive to follow. The more money spent, the more jobs created, which the administration can then take credit for creating at tax payer expense. The reality is, most of those jobs created could be consolidated, and would be in the private sector.
In February of 2010, I put together this video about progressive education policies.
It is important to understand that things don’t have to be like this. That the control is truly in the people’s hands, and that the education policies of our modern age are doing very little to shape positive aspects of our national pride, teaching students to be self-reliant human beings, heck, most of the kids coming out of the school system don’t know basic geography and history. So what are we teaching kids if they don’t even know where Iran is in the world? And if they know more about American Idol than what’s happening in the next election cycle.
True, most of us would rather not pay attention to the details of an election cycle. There are many things more fun to think about. However, for a republic to work, people have to invest a bit of themselves in understanding what to tell their representatives in government, what to do. When those representatives know that the population doesn’t care, and aren’t watching, they’ll do what most people do when the boss isn’t looking; they’ll goof off. And that’s why we have corruption in those offices, because the people are apathetic and not watching.
And that is how people who are employed by education have scammed the system. The word was when they were getting education degrees and putting in their years, earning their pensions, that the money was good in education. They didn’t have any thoughts that someday, like social security, the funding may run out.
In Ohio, led by the OSBA, they have become very good at twisting the arm of the voter through school superintendants. And they use the dirtiest trick in the book. They hide behind children to make their argument. It is impossible to attack their position once they stand behind children and tell you that if you cut their funding, then you’re kids will suffer.
Edgewood, a community just to the north of Lakota lost it’s levy passage by just a few votes, and the reaction toward the community is the same as it is to every district across the state; as taught by the OSBA in their seminar for superintendants, they cut busing, cut sports programs, and make other schedule changes that make it difficult for parents to adjust. Their thinking is that if they put enough hardship on parents, then the parents will vote their way during the next election, because the increase in taxes are less than the fuel of driving their kid to school, or paying for the sports programs on their own.
To call it what is it, would be to call it a form of extortion. Only the assailants have smiles on their faces, and we are forced to trust them because they care for our kids. You see, they know what many don’t want to admit, that they are day care providers first, and educators second. They know that parents are strapped for time and cash maintaining their careers, and don’t have time to watch over their kids during the day. And they certainly can’t afford day care for their children over age 5. For many parents, finding a way to deal with summer break is challenging enough. As long as they see the light at the end of the tunnel at the end of summer, they can get by. But parents now more than ever, rely on schools to watch their children while they work. And school officials know this, and use that information to pad their pensions, and provide incomes for themselves that would be unheard of in the private sector.
And before anyone says it, I raised my kids with the same principles. Even when my own kids were in the middle of their educations, I still didn’t support the wasteful spending. And at the heart of my opposition is a strong dislike that I have for institutionalism.
Anyone with just a bit of investigation can see that there has been a progressive political movement in the United States for most of the last century. The strategy is as clear as a battle plan from The Art of War, Sun Tzu’s classic book. First break up the American Family. Second replace the family with a centralized authority, which is public education, and change the values of the youth through that centralized authority.
In my experience with the western arts, cowboys are the symbol of American values. They stand for rugged individualism, which was the spirit in founding the country. And as I meet young people these days, I don’t see them learning those elements in school. They are learning interdependency, and other values that my experience say’s is mostly irrelevant to a good and happy adult life.
The video below are people I’d consider to be amoung the best and brightest in this country. Not becaue they have degrees, which some of them do. Or because they have extremely high IQ’s, which some of them do. These are the type of people I call friends and all of them represent what is best about America. They don’t do what they do for fame or money. They do it because of what is good and right in their hearts. And they have what’s right for America in the front of their ideas.
I live by a saying; advice is only as good as the person that gives it. If the person giving the advice is an unhappy person, then the American dream is something lost to them, and they aren’t in a position to advise young people how they should live their lives. Happiness is not something obtained through money, so throwing money at a situation is not an answer I endorse. So my position on taxes, public welfare, and school levies is that I generally don’t support them, because I believe that institutions in most every instance, will fail by their nature, institutions lack accountability and allow for poor strategists and lazy minded employees to hide in the massive structure of an institution.
And passing a school levy only feeds the institutional monster. It won’t get rid of it for good.
The Overmanwarrior 
