Giving Thanks plus the Weekender

Most writers submit their holiday copy for the day of or the day before the holiday. I’m writing this column reflectively…after the fact. I admit it. I do not express my thanks often enough. I frequently approach the Lord with my troubles, problems, issues and questions, but not to thank Him for His blessings and the “teachable moments” that spring from my trials. I do not thank those whom I love for being who they are. I do not thank them for their support, encouragement and compassion. For me it is easier to be a cheerful giver than a grateful thanker. Thank you to my family and for my family who sustain me when the going is rough and who comfort me when I stumble.

Thank you for the remnant of people who cherish liberty. The scattered group of individualists who recognize their inalienable rights to be free provide an earthly hope to complement my eternal hope. Thank you for the wisdom of the Founders and the Framers who were imperfect men and their counseling women. They recognized that their imperfections and weaknesses were common to all humanity, and they were driven to devise a system of self-governing that would encourage our better natures to thrive and prevail. As Thomas Paine observed in 1805, the great beauty of a democratic republic is its capacity for elective remorse…to change directions when one proves to be faulty or unwise. Corrective action is its most endearing asset because fallible people will not always choose wisely, but the ability to change or even reverse course is a fundamental principle. So once again, thanks for the remnant that is committed to changing from our present circumstances back to the dreams and designs of the Framers.

Thank you for our founding freedoms, and for those liberties that have endured decades of erosion. The freedom to speak freely and to dream of universal liberty has survived from the beginning, and, for the most part, is generally intact. While our freedoms have been restricted, I am thankful that we continue to have enough liberty to challenge the status quo and work for our nation’s restoration to first principles.

Although I have already expressed my thanks for my family, I especially want to thank the Almighty for my grandchildren. They are my primary impetus for needling, wheedling, whining, begging, pleading and teaching about the benefits of and necessity for liberty. I have not accomplished every goal that I have set during my life, but the prospect for doing so has always been available. I sense that for my grandchildren the prospects are much dimmer and the opportunities are fewer. They are savvier than Grandpa was at their ages, and their potential is so great if a smothering Nanny State doesn’t dash their dreams. They can be tremendous producers and contributors if Big Brother doesn’t extinguish the sparks that ignite them.

Finally, I am thankful because I have been blessed in numerous ways at unexpected times. I KNOW that they were not serendipity or coincidence, but true blessings. I have been blessed by all the people whom I’ve known throughout my six decades plus. Despite some friction with a few, I have learned something from everyone when I took the time to know them. Thank you for lessons learned, forgotten and recalled. Thank you to my readers and listeners on WSPD. If we were to meet on an elevator or in a Wal-Mart, we probably wouldn’t recognize one another, but we share a kinship. We want a government that does its duty….and no more. We wish for a land where liberty reigns and is not constantly challenged by the power structure. We share a love for freedom and sanity and accountability and responsibility and honor and integrity…..and a true sense of community. Because we share our dreams and desires, I’m honored to call you “Sister” and “Brother” as we work to turn on that shining light on the hill.

I do hope your Thanksgiving weekend is a blessing and a beginning. There will be no Littlestuff Weekender this week, but our Monday column will be posted. I’ll be sitting in for Fred LeFebvre from 6:00-9:00am Monday morning on 1370 WSPD, Toledo  www.wspd.com, then back with my regular Tuesday show from 6-7:00pm. Thank you.

Comments: cearlwriting@hotmail.com

www.littlestuff-minoosha.blogspot.com

The Cherry Table

One of my favorite pastimes is woodworking. Because of my fading eyesight and diminishing digital dexterity, I have begun to restore furniture as a reasonable alternative. The first few pieces that I tackled were some that my grandfather, a master carpenter, had built. These included a birch dresser, an oak whatnot stand and an oak chair. My purpose as a refinisher is to restore the structural integrity of the piece but to allow the nicks, cuts and stains to remain. I believe that if a piece of furniture has survived daily use by one or more families or generations, it has earned each mark of honor. Obviously if the flaw negatively impacts the sturdiness or strength of the piece, I will correct it. I then attempt to coat and finish the article as closely to the original as I can determine. If I do not foul things up too badly, the final work is a strong and glossy piece of furniture that proudly bears its history through its scars.

Last week I felt confident enough to try to restore a cherry coffee table that I had purchased at auction for the princely sum of $1.00. Although the craftsman’s name was obscured, it was clear to me that it had once been a grand focal point in someone’s parlor or living room. The simple yet elegant inlay work complements the grooving and scrolling on the gracefully curving legs. It appeared as if someone had played hockey on the surface, and the sides and the small drawer have numerous gouges of varying sizes. For a few days sanding and gluing were my primary activities. The old piece began to reflect some of her former glory as the grime and finishes of many years gone by were slowly removed. The sturdy old gal needed some TLC and healthy doses of Gorilla Glue as I sought to recapture her basic structural integrity. Now the cherry table was finally ready for a makeover…..wild cherry for the basic unit and light cherry on the inlays. I’ve not yet completed the table, but I can picture the final product……and it’s good.

If you are familiar with my writing, you have been anticipating the object lesson from this exercise in my shop. Here it is: the old cherry table (let’s say 224 years old---just for giggles) is a metaphor for our nation. Once glorious and stately it has been beaten and mistreated in recent times. Although the basic frame is intact (The Constitution), it does need some tightening, gluing and reinforcement. Our devotion to our primary document has come apart and must be retightened. The sanding represents our removing all the noxious toxins that we have draped across our beloved First Document. Wild-eyed interpretations, legislative acts that exceed their constitutional power, and executive mandates that are not allowed by law must be ground down and eliminated.

The numerous scars and gouges are representative of the need from time to time to amend The Constitution thus changing or tweaking its original structure. Some of the deeper gouges or wider cracks must be repaired to maintain the document’s integrity (I would suggest eliminating the 16^th and 17^th Amendments and clarifying the 14^th). Once we have strengthened and cleaned our table we can begin to apply the various coats of finish. The finish in my model represents our commitment and fidelity to The Constitution of the United States of America. Each coat enhances the beauty, strengthens the piece, and preserves it for a long and useful future. As the layers are applied, the beauty of the table (and wisdom of the Constitution) becomes more evident.

Liberty is the glue that holds our table together. Prosperity is represented by the intricate inlay work….it’s an obvious enhancement because of freedom. The stripper and sandpaper represent the difficult and rough tasks we face as we attempt to restore our Republic. Clearly the gouges and cuts are representative of the various attempts to alter her---some successful, some not. Staining is commitment. Each layer represents a new generation that embraces the entire document and seeks to preserve it from time and weather.

The glory can be restored to our abandoned table. It takes time and dedication, but the end result is amazing to behold. It is worth the effort. The table is NOT for sale…at any time…for any price. It is priceless.

Comment:  cearlwriting@hotmail.com

www.littlestuff-minoosha.blogspot.com

Tue. & Wed., 6-7:00pm, 1370 WSPD, Toledo  www.wspd.com

Producers and Looters

They are a vanishing breed. Those who produce provide the jobs and the wealth for a growing nation and economy. Their numbers have diminished for a number of reasons. The government that should encourage them to thrive often hinders or harasses them. The regulatory environment has morphed into a maze of unfathomable and ill-conceived barriers. Attempts to legislate sound business practices have transformed into insurmountable hurdles that limit the producers’ flexibility and progress. Risk for their huge entrenched competitors is minimized by government preferences, sweet-heart deals and “too-big-to-fail” bailouts, handouts and subsidies. Every where they turn, they find obstacles. Every direction they look, they see an unreasonable regulator. They become frustrated and discouraged, and many of them abandon their dreams.

Others fail to produce because they have lost the initiative, the drive, the purposes for creative self expression that develops when one is a productive contributor to the community.  They observe that others who lack their imagination or their ambition are riding the coattails of those who labor and risk to develop and create. While they are battling stringent unnecessary limitations, they note that others are living well playing by “who-you-know” rules. While they resist government efforts to identify their most productive cropland as wetlands, others receive grants, subsidies and low-interest government loans for questionable technologies and shaky enterprises. As they attempt to develop sound business models to map their ascendency to prosperity, they witness others who receive benefits and favoritism for flim-flam scams. While waiting for government approvals and sign-offs, they see their competitors establish cozy crony relationships with venal career politicians and receive special consideration and expedited approvals. Potential producers, their ideas and dreams are sacrificed on the altar of regulation and cronyism while the schemers and scammers are enriched through their inside knowledge of “how the game is played.”

Looters come in all sizes and hues. Some are merely n’er-do-wells who languish on the sofas of sloth and draw their sustenance from the taxpayers who continue to labor. Others manipulate the system to place their competitors at a disadvantage while reaping the benefits of traveling on the inside track. Another class of looter is the government worker….the staff member or bureaucrat who implements the foggy legislation passed by an out-of-touch Congress. Bureaucrats have no “skin in the game,” thus they can arbitrarily decide which laws, rules or regulations to ignore and which to emphasize. Combined with the distasteful (and usually unconstitutional) Executive Orders, the selective enforcement and uneven treatment by government is an indicator of the potential for tyranny. Those in power generate rules and laws that overwhelm the populace, and selectively enforce them to penalize opponents and reward friends. It is rather apparent that not all looters are unkempt and lazy. Many wear the latest fashions and diligently pursue their wrongfully-gotten gains. Looting the taxpayer, looting the Treasury and looting the nation are generally full-time jobs.

It is not unusual for people to be confused about producers and looters. Some ingenious producers may wear greasy clothes, have a limited vocabulary and lack the glibness we often associate with successful people. On the other hand there are many looters who are clean and  verbally agile, but contribute to the overall good of the community or the nation in a manner reminiscent of a tic… a blood-sucking parasite that spreads sickness wherever it lands. Looters drain the resources, the lifeblood and the spirit from a nation. They take, consume and demand while providing little for the good of the country. If they find themselves in positions of power, they command and insist with no regard for the impact of their actions on the producers and the people. Looters are takers, and producers are their prey.

Producers and looters are not personality types that have recently emerged. They have been integral elements of the human scene since the beginning. There is an element about the relationships between producing class and the taking class that informs us about the state of a nation or society. When the producers are dominant and influential, the community prospers and grows. If the looters assume the pinnacles of power and the strength of numbers, the nation regresses….and either collapses into chaos or fades into obscurity. It should be noted that nations that succumb to the law of the looters are often overrun and conquered, but their defeats were begun much earlier through their own decay. Nations that encourage, nurture and legitimize looters at all levels are well on the road to oblivion…. and death. Societies that celebrate and enhance producers will grow, flourish and live. The time has arrived for the United States of America to choose a path. Will it be life or death?

Comment;  cearlwriting@hotmail.com

www.littlestuff-minoosha.blogspot.com

Tue. & Wed., 6-7:00pm, 1370 WSPD, Toledo  www.wspd.com