Seeking Significance

Many of us stumble through life with our days of joy, months of the routine and times of despair. Some of us are more reflective than others as we seek to make sense of it all…or merely a little part of it all. Some psychologists and business consultants inform us that in many cases recognition is a greater motivator than increased pay. Most people desire, at some level, to be significant. During my campaign last year, I encountered several of the tyrannical overlords of some our political forums. These “little kings and queens” conducted the programs with iron fists and airs of command. They relished their significance as they marched candidates and audience through the ceremonies of the evening. We can witness similar behavior in almost any group, organization or function that requires some organizational skill. People want to be significant….important….recognized.

In my view the desire for significance is the primary motivator for career politicians. If they were driven by selfless service, there are a multitude of opportunities for one to serve the community, state, nation or humankind without basking in the spotlight of political activity. Most of them are obsessed with the appearance of service (the image) rather than the actual tasks required for true serving. Why would anyone with her or his sanity intact want to spend their time continuously running for an office in an institution (House) that has lower than 10% public approval? Perhaps campaigning every six years for a Senate seat makes more sense, but the bombastic bloviating of most senators would become tedious after a day or two. There’s an old saying that “the Senate is composed of 100 egomaniacs who all believe they should be president.” That little gem says a lot about the joys of “serving” in the United States Senate. The desire to be considered a significant player would appear to be the impetus for running for the Senate.

Presidential politics is another ballgame. The egos are similar, but larger. The spotlight is brighter and bigger. The power is phenomenal. Even in this age where Civil Service has theoretically replaced the patronage system, Presidents can create staff positions out of the thinnest of air. Clearly a presidential wannabe must be very confident and self-assured. Extreme egomania, however, can lead to gross missteps and miscalculations. The range of issues that impact the Presidency are so great that the officeholder must seek out and listen to wise, experienced counselors. An ego-driven approach will drive serious advisors away and attract genuflecting sycophants. Nevertheless, a presidential hopeful must have the drive to be considered significant. All presidents, some more brazenly than others, want to have a “legacy.” Whether a monumental achievement or some element of policy that fundamentally changes our direction and our ways of doing things, the President desires to leave office having crafted a significant element that succeeds him (so far it’s only men).

It seems logical to conclude, therefore, that politicians, particularly career politicians, yearn to be seen as significant. Why else would so many have post offices, bridges, highways and buildings that bear their names? For the most part they do not have the servant’s heart, but crave the lights of the stage and the clamor of the crowd. This aspect of their personalities is something that is a product of the two-party system, the mass media, and inattentive citizens. The two-party system is partly at fault because not enough dissenting voices are present in the political process to demand accountability from the two old parties who have controlled the process and the discourse for more than 150 years. The mass media, news and entertainment, carry much of the blame because of their emphasis on glitter, glamour and “gotcha” programming. Boring policy discussions do not sell even when they inform and enlighten the audience. Citizens can and should demand that political candidates and their parties discard the shallow for the specific, but they revel in the show-biz and reward politicians for being good speakers (who say nothing) and good looking (with nothing between their ears). In the end the citizens have attracted and encouraged the mindless political class that we have today. We are burdened with significantly insignificant politicians who lust for significance. Be careful what you wish for.

Comment:   cearlwriting@hotmail.com     or    www.littlestuff-minoosha.blogspot.com

Transfering Wealth

The lefties of our nation and the globe as well, insist that “fairness” can only be achieved by transferring wealth from the “haves” to the “have-nots.” As one can expect from most socialist reasoning (an oxymoron…emphasis on MORON), the holes in their policy are massive. Bernie Madoff sits in a jail cell as police, prosecutors, and plaintiff’s attorneys confiscate every remnant of his former ill-gained fortune. Now he appears to be broke. Should someone be required to share their wealth with the former prince of ponzi? I suspect that when we speak of transferring wealth from the “richer” to the “poorer,” we are in reality discussing transferring earned wealth from producers to socialist-voting looters. A person’s “right” to the wealth of others is determined by her or his likelihood of voting a certain way.

Transferring wealth is more complex than merely dropping a dollar into the bucket of a curbside beggar. The various governments, non-government agencies (NGA’s), non-profits, churches and other elements of the society employ a number of coercive devices to generate wealth-sharing. First, there is the direct tax, direct payment method. Welfare, Social security, Medicaid and Food Stamps are the most brazen examples. Some transfers are more indirect. They might include tax credits for munchkins (children), subsidies for behaviors (education) and massive industry and corporate subsidies or tax breaks. Straight forward foreign aid is direct. Sweet trade deals for preferred countries are an indirect form of the share the wealth mentality.

The transfer of wealth may also involve some subtlety (or sneakiness, if you prefer). Laws that include certain prohibitions may create a competitive advantage for one or another industry or company. For example, when I served in the legislature, there was a representative who introduced an absolutely devastating axle tax for the trucking industry. And….he introduced a similar bill every session…year after year. As I fielded the calls from truckers in my district and notes from lobbyists representing independent truckers, I sought to discover why he would introduce such a job-killing piece of   legislation. My older colleagues informed me that the offending representative was “in the pocket” of the railroads. No one took his legislation seriously, and it would not go anywhere, but just like biennial elections, he introduced it every session to earn his campaign check. When those pieces of legislation are taken seriously and passed, then a law-induced transfer of wealth is the result. Wait, there’s more.

Nearly every regulatory initiative passed by nearly every legislative body or agency impacts some industries more than others…a subtle transfer of wealth. Within given industries some companies may be more adversely affected than their competitors by new rules because of their size, location or any number of intervening factors….in essence a transfer of wealth because compliance costs are not fairly assessed. The great dream of the socialist agenda, ObamaCare, is the epitome of a wealth transfer mechanism at every level. The more than one thousand, one hundred (1,100) waivers granted so far to corporations and labor unions with the “correct” political leanings is the epitome of an indirect and sometimes subtle transfer of wealth. As you can detect, wealth transfers involve much more than simply “robbing Peter to pay Paul.” They also include subsidizing Paul and giving him tax breaks. They may involve regulating Peter at a much greater level than Paul so that Paul gains a competitive advantage. Think of coal, oil and natural gas rules and regulations versus the subsidy packages for wind power, solar systems, and bio-fuels. And yet…the “green” technologies are not competitive on the open energy market.

Licensing and registrations are another form of wealth transfer that operates outside the public view. In my early days as a broadcaster, there were no licensing fees for stations to operate once they had paid the initial start-up licensing amounts. Now stations must pay annual fees based upon their transmitter power, their markets and their gross revenues. In other words the more successful stations must pay a penalty for their efforts while the ones that are not so successful get by with lower fees. Stations that have made the effort to attract topnotch on-air talent and hire competent sales people must subsidize the regulatory administrative costs for less popular stations.

Transferring wealth by force is how the government functions. Government by its very nature is the definition of force. In a world where liberty reigns, wealth would be transferred unfettered by government coercion. A series of voluntary transactions wherein quality, productivity and service would thrive is the model for free commerce. While government stacks the deck and enforces its preferences, wealth is transferred….and we’re all much poorer and less free.

Comment:   cearlwriting@hotmail.com     or    www.littlestuff-minoosha.blogspot.com

On Watch

Our federal government has become a huge unworkable monstrosity while we were napping. There are bureaus, departments, agencies and offices for every imaginable activity designed in the human imagination. So what’s the government solution when agencies proliferate faster than rabbits in heat? Why, add more, of course. Because our government is so bloated and inefficient, we need oversight agencies and inspector general departments. We pay thousands of bureaucrats to watch over many hundreds of thousands more. If the rate of growth continues, we may require many more thousands of overseers to watch the watchers who watch the “doers…” who watch us (and Oprah). Geeeesh!

It is natural for some people to be shirkers. We all know individuals who for whatever reason refuse to be productive and reliable, but to dedicate entire government departments and bureaus to ferret out sloth and slackers is the epitome of waste. Certainly civil service law and public union contracts should be changed or repealed if workers have to be overseen, watched and evaluated on a continual basis by an outside governmental entity. The same holds true for those “public servants” who cheat or steal. If we didn’t have the union contracts and antiquated civil service restrictions, we would not require constant monitoring for employee misfeasance or malfeasance.

Oh my, I nearly forgot to address the multiplicity of Congressional oversight committees. They watch the watchers who watch the watchers watch. That is why we pay our career politicians $174,000.00 per year to watch the supreme watchers. And yet, waste, fraud and abuse are common in the realm of government’s spending. Taxpayers must fund inefficiencies, foul-ups and crime. The career politicians are like any other middle-manager in a corporation. They seek to enhance their power and their resumes. By adding more people to the government payrolls and more responsibility for government offices, the political class can insure that their committees and oversight committees will have increasing responsibility and budgets. The taxpayers must dig deeper to pay for their illusions of grandeur, and suffer the consequences of a meddlesome bureaucracy. They win, we lose.

If our federal government were to function within the enumerated powers of the Constitution, we would not need the legions of watchers, checkers and overseers that now collect government paychecks, benefits and pension funds.  If the federal leviathan adhered to its constitutional limits, the state and local governments could drastically reduce the huge numbers of employees who are required for compliance and for implementing unconstitutional mandates. We could severely reduce the hordes of watchers. We would pay lower taxes and have more for charitable giving. We could expand our small businesses and maybe hire out-of-work former federal, state and local government employees. We might hire some out of work “watchers,” too, because all those ex-feds might be tempted to loaf, to cheat….and whatever. Massive numbers of government workers resemble those Styrofoam packing peanuts that so many shippers use these days. They’re everywhere and magnetically attach themselves to nearly every object near the unpacking site. Small, constitutional government is much better than bloated monster we have today. We should try it sometime. Maybe our $174,000 watchers will get a clue. Then again…….

Comments:   cearlwriting@hotmail.com      or     www.littlestuff-minoosha.blogspot.com

  

"Howdy" Duty

They look good, and may smell good. Their responses are measured and clearly rehearsed. If they encounter a question or a situation that may reflect poorly on their airs of competence, they ignore it and provide an unrelated answer to an unasked question. They are experts when “working the room.” Saying “hello” and “howdy” to every person in attendance as the young aide whispers names and political standings into their ears, they move about with freshly-starched shirts, glimmering cufflinks, nattily-knotted silk tie and a high-quality suit. And the smile…always the smile…except for those theatrical moments that demand a pensive or thoughtful demeanor. Even when they curse, it is done deliberately for dramatic effect. Their words seem full of insider’s knowledge, and their definitive pronouncements spring from the well of certitude. They are the career politicians…the class of Americans who have lusted for position and power since they watched their first presidential news event.

In their finely-manicured hands they hold our lives and our futures. Their eager young twenty-something staffers fill them with talking points and highlights about major legislative initiatives. Their overworked office bees cannot follow every piece of legislative action, however, and they frequently must vote on issues about which they know little. They turn to their colleagues for guidance as they cast their votes that affect millions in the nation and hundreds of thousands in their home districts. They do it all with confidence and the self-assured knowledge that they are more capable and wise than are the common folk who are their constituents. They are our nation’s elite leaders….the career politicians.

Rarely have they toiled in the lowly world of commerce or served in the ranks of the common laborer. Few of them have driven cabs, cultivated fields or cooked breakfast for a hundred patrons. Many are attorneys who have diligently studied to find the flaws in the typical contracts and agreements that others try to implement. Their arduous schooling fails them when examining the legislative monstrosities that their peers promote. The massive bills slide through the process…flawed and unworkable…left for the bureaucracy to interpret and enforce as it sees fit. Even if they are the best and brightest our country has to offer, they cannot do it all. There will be gaffes, mistakes, errors, foul-ups, but they are the chosen ones…the career politicians….born to lead, bred to rule, expected to be re-elected time and again until they choose to draw their generous taxpayer-financed retirement.

They spread their promises like soft butter as their practiced facial expressions of sincerity underscore the solemnity of their pledges. Their commitments to be champions of prosperity for all and fairness for the aggrieved ring loudly. Speaking of justice and government concern, they announce that they will assault the marbled halls until their constituents can reap “their fair share.” They resemble every super-hero in the battle for rights and plunder, and they tell us that they (and we) will prevail. “Send me back, and I’ll bring it back to you,” they so earnestly vow. They are career politicians, and for them some vows have no meaning.

Some vows are meant for speaking. Few are meant for keeping.

“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.”

                                                                                       or

“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

These are meant for keeping, but few do so. It’s time that “we the people” insist that these vows be kept…even by the career politicians. It must be duty first and foremost… now and forever.

Comment:   cearlwriting@hotmail.com     or   www.littlestuff-minoosha.blogspot.com

Littlestuff Weekender-6-12-2011

What a week it has been since our last Weekender. Anthony Weiner continues to fight for his political survival. His defenders state that he must stay in office because he has never done anything else. Yes, Anthony the narcissistic exhibitionist is a “CAREER POLITICIAN” and is not equipped for any other line of work. Aren’t we and his brain-dead constituents the lucky ones? His twisted little arrogant mind has been solely dedicated to “public service” and texting graphic pictures of his intimate body parts to barely-known female acquaintances while his wife works in another government job. Weiner should be the poster boy for cultural depravity, career politics, big government, elitist tyrants. As a resident of Brooklyn, I’m certain there’s a 7-11 there somewhere where he could work the night shift. Go, little man, go. Get outta my sight. Your whining, your arrogance, your sick mind, your smug belief that you know more than the people … make me ill. Just go, and the lunk-heads of New York will find your clone to represent them.

Had a terrific vacation in the Outer Banks…lots of writing and reading although my progress with each was less than I had hoped. It’s good to be home. Frosty was thrilled to see his “treat master” again. Thanks to PJ, Heather, Sully and Oliver for watching my faithful canine companion for the past week or so. He doesn’t look as if he missed any meals.

One of the greatest benefits from a week of vacation is the opportunity for thinking. I’ve returned with loads of topics for future columns plus some exploratory threads for the book (books). Now comes the research and development into 700-word bites. While in North Carolina, I wrote 4 columns and attempted to use my location or situation thematically. Day one featured the Wright Brothers (Kitty Hawk), day two was a metaphorical discussion of the tides, the third day reviewed the importance of birthdays (I had my 65^th on Monday), and the fourth column revolved around returning home. Some of the “Write-for-the-moment” exercises worked better than others, but it was an enjoyable challenge.

The newscasts informed me that the GOP House was yielding some ground on the budget cut/debt ceiling ratio. I was neither surprised nor dismayed. I expected it. Despite the label or letter behind the politician’s name, they are all CAREER POLITICIANS who will not hesitate to spend your money and compromise your freedom away. An email thread contained an impressive list of GOP proposed budget cuts…proposals and lists mean nothing, legislation and passage mean something, bureaucratic interpretation means everything.

So Newtie’s third wife, Calista, has driven off 15 professional political staffers from his campaign. One, we should ban all “professional political types” (Just kidding, I’m a libertarian, after all), Newt should get a clue about his prospects, the bond between spouses should always supersede other relationships even if it is professionally harmful.

Mitt thinks we are responsible for warming the planet. No problem, his Massachusetts version of socialized medicine can treat us all for sunburn. Broadcaster Mike Church calls him “Mitt for brains….” graphic and appropriate.

We’ll be on WSPD this week on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday…6:00pm to 7:00pm, 1370 AM.  www.wspd.com

Our column is now being distributed in California as our daily ruminations are slowly spreading across the fruited plain. Hope that I don’t run out of ideas before the spread has ended. I’ve been engaged in political column writing for about 18 months with the daily version for about 5 months. I feel like the Grandma Moses of political-philosophical punditry. It’s fun, it’s exhausting, it’s exhilarating and it’s frustrating at times. This is a very selfish undertaking as I attempt to make some sense of the goings-on in our world. Thank you for sharing it with me.

Monday’s column is “Howdy Duty.” Enjoy your Sunday, hug your family and always work for liberty.

Comment:   cearlwriting@hotmail.com     or    www.littlestuff-minoosha.blogspot.com