Politically Direct
There is an old joke about the Department of Agriculture: One day a bureaucrat in that arcane agency notice a co-worker with a long face. He inquired, “Why the long face?” His coworker said, “My farmer died.”
It’s a bad joke, but the joke’s on us.
In the 1900’s more than half of the population of the U.S. was involved in farming. Today it’s less than two percent. Today there are more people working in technology related to the computer industry than farming. Continue reading “The Joke’s on Us”
How many times have you contacted a local company only to be helped by someone with an accent so thick you could cut it with a knife? Now I have nothing but deep respect for someone from another country who has learned English, but I have discovered that most of these local calls for service are rerouted to India or the Philippines.
I have nothing against either of these countries, but why aren’t these calls being answered by Americans? It’a pure economics. It’s cheaper to reroute these calls halfway around the world than to hire Americans willing to work. Ah, the key word in that sentence is “willing.” Continue reading “How to Save the Country a Ton of Money”
Last night, President Trump restated his plans to shore up our borders and stop the flow of illegal aliens flooding into the country. Republicans jumped to their feet to applaud his words. However, some of those who stood did so reluctantly.
If we could zoom in for a closer look, we would find many of those lawmakers with their finger’s crossed behind their backs. That’s because if they back this president, there will be hell to pay from many of their big business donors if the flow of illegal immigrants is slowed or stopped completely. Their supply of cheap labor will dry up. Who will clean the toilets, man the car washes? Who will pick our fruits and vegetables? Who will fill the low-skilled jobs in our factories?
The reality is that many of those jobs may go unfilled if there is not a companion effort to reform — really reform — welfare. Continue reading “Illegal Aliens and Welfare Queens (and Kings)”
The average life of a democracy is 200 years. Our country has outlived its expiration date largely because it is a democratic republic with a constitution that guarantees our citizens certain inalienable rights and a government with three co-equal branches, each with checks on the other two.
We are now seeing those basic rights eroded by an aggressive Supreme Court. We also are seeing those checks and balances upset by an equally aggressive president and a Congress that is reluctant to use the power at its disposal.
Furthermore, the financial stability of this nation has been undermined by our elected representatives who have learned that the best way to stay in office is by spending our money and doing favors for their supporters.
As a result, our economy is at a near standstill and we are mired in debt. China is bullying us, but we owe so much to that communist country there is really nothing we can do about it. This has to stop before it is too late because, as the Bible says, “The borrower is the slave to the lender.”
Just how far have we fallen down slavery’s slippery slope? Continue reading “USA on Slavery’s Slippery Sloap”
Now that Republicans have won the election war, the real work begins: the cleanup. As with any war, this is the tedious part. In these next two years there are no more glorious battles to be won, just a lot of grunt work. As with any war, dealing with the aftermath is difficult. It requires hard work, focus, commitment and, make no mistake, it is dangerous.
One of the biggest obstacles is land mines. These are not real land mines that can physically kill you but if the GOP doesn’t disarm them, they can kill the party’s chance for a victory in 2016.
The three biggest land mines standing between Republicans and victory in 2016 are:
Suddenly, it’s 1964 again. Racial tension is in the air. Cries of “injustice” and “police brutality” occupy the headlines. However, the epicenter has moved from Mississippi and Harlem to Ferguson, Missouri, a small municipality which occupies a slice of northeastern St. Louis County.
Unfortunately for the peace-loving citizens in that community, those fanning the flames which have led to the violence are stuck in 1964. Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and members of the New Black Panther Party have never moved on. They are in a time warp. In fact, their relevance depends on being able to make disadvantaged blacks believe that the system is rigged against them. That’s how they get their power and earn the money to buy their expensive suits and chauffeur-driven limousines. Continue reading “Suddenly It’s 1964 Again”
There is a saying that originated in the southeastern portion of the United States that explains why this country is in decline: “I’d vote for a yellow dog if he (or she) was a Democrat.” The meaning is simple; no Republican is going to get my vote. No way. No how!
As the Democratic Party began moving left, away from the principles that were embraced by religious conservatives in the south, a blue dog coalition of more moderate Democrats was formed. Although this group of lawmakers has attempted to show independence from its liberal leaders, the blue dogs essentially have been swimming upstream.
Unfortunately, Democrats don’t have a monopoly on the “yellow dog” intractable kind of voter. If the truth be known, most voters have never read their party’s platform or know the issues that define it. They blindly adopt the party label of their parents or have accepted a slogan or sound bite as absolute truth. Continue reading “The Yellow Dog Voter”
“If a man is not a socialist in his youth, he has no heart.
If he is not a conservative by the time he is 30, he has no head”
Georges Clemenceau, Former French Prime Minister and one-time radical.
In my last column I made a case for a modern-day equivalent of the “poorhouse,” a place of last resort for my father’s generation.
From the comments on that column and elsewhere it appears we have a lot of immature citizens in this country who will never grow up and use their heads.
Clearly our practice of handing out free money, free food, free housing, free health care and a myriad of other goods and services to people with no accountability isn’t working. It isn’t helping the poor and it is dragging our nation down into an economic abyss from which, if not corrected, there will be no escape.
Our government is serving as an enabler to those who prefer not to work, or at least not to work until such time that one can find the job of his or her dreams with a salary to go along with it. Continue reading “Arguments for the Welfare State from the Looney Left”
Some of you are old enough to remember an admonition from your parents to work hard and save a portion of what you earn so that “you don’t wind up in the poorhouse.” That was a fate worse than death to my father’s generation because it signified abject failure, loss of pride and a complete dependence on welfare, most likely for the remainder of one’s life.
The poorhouse, or more commonly the poor farm, was a place of last resort for those who could not support themselves in the 19th and early 20th century. Residents were required to work, to the extent they were able, in order to provide for their daily needs. Accommodations were sparse and pleasures were few.
Most of our parents and grandparents of that era didn’t have big houses or drive fancy cars, but they had good-sized savings accounts. Why? When hard times come — and they invariably do — our folks didn’t want to end up in the poorhouse. Continue reading “Bring back the Poorhouse”
The relevant question in the gay marriage debate largely goes unanswered: “How does gay marriage harm traditional marriage and children?”
It is frustrating to see so many pro-family advocates and the attorneys representing them in court completely drop the ball when the answer is relatively simple.
There are only two reasons to marry: 1) to make a vow before God and have the union recognized by the church. 2) to have the union recognized by the government.
Since all major religions condemn homosexuality in the strongest terms, reason # 1 is an attempt to “feel good” at best.
So, why does a couple seek to have their union recognized by the government? Conversely, why do so many heterosexual couples no longer bother? Continue reading “Why We’re Losing Traditional Marriage”
Jane Chastain 