On The State Of The Union Address Last Night…

Posted on February 1, 2018 by john

Dear Friends,

It seems to me, when your power is based on suffering, anger, hopelessness and despair… good news is bad news. We saw this reasoning illustrated last night at the State of the Union Address by Donald Trump. Many times when he announced good news the democrats attending scowled and grumbled. Not surprising to anyone who understands the power structure in the US and around the world. All socialist parties need the people to be hungry and angry, so the socialists can direct that anger at their political enemies. Progressives need a huge and growing underclass, that cannot participate in any economic growth, and Marxists need peasants to populate their armies. Since their power is totally based on suffering, any alleviation of suffering is horrible news to them, even as it is great news for humanity. This sets all socialist parties against the interests of humanity at large.

When Trump announced that Black unemployment is at an all time low, the reaction of the Congressional Black Caucus was telling. They scowled and crossed their arms. Not because they were mad that Trump achieved such a laudable goal but because hope might return to the African American community. Hope and prosperity is to race-baiters and rabble-rousers, like holy water is to a demon. They could see their power, and indeed the wealth that such power bestows on them, evaporate. No wonder they loathe Trump with such passion. For the same reason they loved Obama, he had the decency to increase poverty, crime, drug use and therefore hopelessness in the Black community. If Trump manages to create hope for the future, help rebuild the family structure in the African American community and create the conditions where Blacks can participate in any economic resurgence, the power of the race-baiters and rabble-rousers will be seriously diminished.

Trump’s characterization of MS-13 really irked the democrats. Since their political power is essentially based on a large and growing underclass, because illegal aliens incapable of getting jobs and who only know crime, are a handy way to drastically increase that underclass. Any diminishment of the tsunami of illegal aliens seriously corrodes their power base on several fronts. A lowered crime rate allows the economy to run more smoothly… therefore increasing prosperity, the number of people locked in poverty and thus constituting an underclass… shrinks, and crime scares people into ceding power to the establishment, ostensibly to lower the crime rate. The last is of course laughable since no socialist wants a lower crime rate, that would be counter productive to his or her usurpation of power. They work diligently to increase the crime rate wherever and whenever they are in charge. One only needs to look at places where progressives have been in control for a time to see this in action.

On the national security front, Trump caused many progressives watching to loose heart, at keeping Guantanamo Bay open. Fear is a powerful motivator of people to damage their self interests and terrorism fuels just such fear. That Trump gave the military carte blanche to destroy ISIS, after Obama had held the military at bay while arming and funding them, undermined one of the progressive’s chief tactics. The destruction of ISIS as a military force dramatically lowers their ability to operate terror operations in the US and Europe. It also diminishes their name. This will lead to a lessening the number of people in the US and Europe willing to trade freedom for security. Which is the primary economic activity of progressives, selling “security” for liberty. Calling out North Korea for their human rights violations also irked the democrats. They have worked hard to insure evil regimes would get nuclear weapons capable of threatening the US. From showing the world what would happen if any autocrat gave up WMD in Libya, to funding Iran’s nuclear program in the name of stopping it, they have worked tirelessly to make the world a much more dangerous place. Trump now threatens all their hard work.

Yes, when a political movement faces a loss of their power you can expect them to be livid. Angry at the loss, but they will have open loathing the person or people that are responsible, and we see that clearly in the response to Trumps State of the Union. From the legacy media that is fully on board with the progressive agenda, increasing poverty, creating a permanent underclass, fomenting fear and bringing the world to the brink of nuclear Armageddon, to the democrat party that booed God himself three times at their national convention, progressives despise Trump. Their reaction to his speech is more telling than any reasoned argument could point out. The vitriol they vomit cannot be denied and their mindless hatred of the man was on full display last night. It is sad to see grown men and women so in love with power and wealth, they are willing to lower the lot of mankind to get it, but true to Lucifarian doctrine, power and wealth is all that counts to them… especially when this world is the only one in which they will ever have it.

Sincerely,

John Pepin

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The Rights of the Individual Versus the Needs of the Many

Posted on January 29, 2018 by john

Dear Friends,

It seems to me… the rights of the individual outweigh the needs of the many. The needs of the many are insatiable, and so if we sacrifice the rights of the individual, that sacrifice must be unlimited as well. Therefore, if the rights of the individual are forfeit, for the needs of the many, sooner or later there will be no individuals left, to kill, steal from and abuse… but of course there will not be the many either. Which is not a good long term strategy for survival as a species. Sadly, those who espouse opposite mottos like, “From each according to his abilities to each according to his needs,” and “the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few,” are so blind in their selfishness, hatred and envy, they cannot see that the consequence of their own ideas can only result in their own destruction. For without individual liberty, responsibility and human heartedness, which comes from the certain knowledge that the individual is the basis for the many, no society can exist for long.

People are not bricks, we are far more like rocks, each of us unique in our own way. Those building walls however, prefer bricks, since they are easier to control and pile. That is why people who claim that the individual should be subservient to the group, always seek to make people more alike, and are utterly intolerant of real differences. One of the founding principles of Marxism is that the individual must be forcibly “evolved” to a more socialistic attitude. We are to be changed fundamentally by our government to become bricks. To do that our sharp edges must be knocked off, with the tools of violence and pain, we must have large ungainly chunks of our psyche sheared off, by political correctness, and we must be made to conform to the demands of our leaders. Leaders who would never accept their own sharp edges to be chipped away or parts to be cleaved off.

Those who claim the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, believe in that glittering lie wholeheartedly… until their personal needs are sacrificed. There is not a single example of a socialist who would accept any diminishment of their fortunes for the benefit of society. It is not in the nature of human beings. Imagine Stalin, Mao, Rousseau, Castro, Deridot, Chavez, or Obama sacrificing anything, for someone else! It would never happen. People like that are so self centered and narcissistic they have no ability to recognize their own failings, nor do they care how much suffering they inflict on others, to meet their egoistic selfish wants. Imagine for a moment what Stalin would do to someone, who demanded Stalin himself lay down his life for the greater good! That prescription is for the people… never our leaders who claim the needs of the many outweigh the rights of the individual.

All societies are made up of individuals, and it is just the true diversity that individuals bring to the table, that allows the complex system of society to function. Society, being a complex system, is made all the more resilient when there are a plethora of voices, attitudes and ideas. Yet complexity is undermined when diversity is eliminated. Bricks are not diverse nor are zombies. True diversity is in ideas, attitudes and wants… not skin color nor race, those are merely superficial attributes. A rainbow nation of mindless sycophants is as diverse as a box of ammo… and just as utile. Therefore, since society is built upon the individual, and individuals are diverse… in openness, agreeableness, orderliness, conscientiousness and narcissism, while that diversity leads to a stronger more resilient society… the rights of the individual and indeed our very diversity of thought must be cherished and protected.

A society that sacrifices the rights of the individual for the good of the whole is a self destructive one. As diversity is eliminated and people are chiseled into bricks, for the convenience of egoistic leaders, not only is diversity lost but society as a whole is diminished. Those that claim the right to demand from others, that which they themselves would never tolerate, in the name of “the good of the many,” are by definition hypocrites. They are only too happy to slaughter their way through the human race, always a few executions from perfection, to create their diabolical version of utopia, as has happened so many times in the past. It is time for the human race to wake up and look at the truth, that the rights of the individual must supersede the needs of the many. Because once the needs of the many outweigh the rights of the individual, the insatiable needs of the many… cannot ever be met at all.

Sincerely,

John Pepin

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The Modern Death Squads

Posted on January 25, 2018 by john

Dear Friends,

It seems to me, anyone who is pro abortion, cannot logically claim to believe in human rights and especially human life itself, since they believe in the taking of human life without reason, remorse or right. It would be like someone who owns slaves claiming to be an abolitionist. It is a violation of logic itself. Yet today, those who demand the death of millions of babies have the gall to pretend they are the ones with big hearts! In a sane society such absurdity would be laughed at, but our society has abandoned sanity and even humanity itself. Our collective insanity has got so bad that our governments often force, at the point of a gun, people who believe in the sovereignty of human life to pay for the dismemberment of babies, so their parts can be sold at a greater profit. Only in the land of the insane would such a thing be considered, let alone done, and shows the dangerous path we as a human race is on.

Planned Parenthood was caught on camera telling “buyers” of baby parts, they try to cut of the arms and legs of the baby, so that the torso will be intact and fetch more money. If the most heinous criminal was executed that way there would be a hew and cry over how inhuman it is, yet the most innocent are routinely dismembered and tortured to death. Only a truly evil person would do such a thing. How little soul must a person have to intentionally cut the arms and legs from a baby while it fights for it’s life. Imagine for a moment, the terror and pain that child feels, as his or her arms and legs are cut away with a surgeon’s scissors! Yet while many people were outraged at the open inhumanity, our government not only didn’t stop paying Planned Parenthood… they upped it’s budget!

During the invasion of the Soviet Union by the Nazis in 1941, the Schutzstaffel (SS) rounded up Jews and Gypsies, to be machine gunned down in cold blood, after they had been forced to dig their own mass grave. The SS was recruited from insane asylums for just the right kind of people, psychopaths and sociopaths to do the actual killing. Nevertheless, even people with such pernicious personality disorders were having nervous breakdowns at the evil. Yet today, abortion doctors slaughter many times more people, in a far less humane way, without remorse! It makes one aghast at the blackness of their souls. If even an SS man, groomed and taught to hate, with a personality disorder where they have no sense of humanity or fellowship with their fellow man, had problems, abortion doctors sleep well at night.

Our politicians who protect the abortionists from the natural consequences of taking a human life are just as evil. They approve of dismembering a screaming baby if it forwards their diabolical agenda. The same party that booed God himself, three times at their convention, is the party that claims to be big hearted! Lucifer himself must be proud! It is not a stretch of logic to understand that those who murder babies, fund the slaughter of babies, promote the killing of the unborn and so loathe God they boo him, are dead and black inside. It is a sign of the insanity of our times that such politicians get a single vote at all. It is clear who and what they serve… and it is not goodness or love, but darkness and indeed evil itself. The media that protects and supports politicians who facilitate the massacre of babies are just as evil as the politicians and the abortionists themselves. For who could say the holocaust was only the fault of those who pulled the trigger?

So, what we have today is a group of people who have gone dark inside, demanding the rest of us follow their twisted morality. That morality which is reliably the opposite of the human morality that evolved with us for thousands of years. Where they throw out freedom of religion for establishment of atheism, as the state religion, and abortion is the sacrament of that state religion. Christians are not only intentionally offended by art such as Piss Christ and Feces covered Mary, but are forced to pay for it, along with abortion on demand, even as those who serve evil are protected from being offended by any Christian, Jewish, Hindu or Buddhist morality. Until politicians who denigrate God, support abortion and call evil good and good evil, are defeated at the ballot box, this world will continue it’s slide into Hell itself. But like the old song says, “You gotta serve somebody…” We know who they serve… who do you serve?

Sincerely,

John Pepin

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Crazy Corporations Today

Posted on January 18, 2018 by john

Dear Friends,

It seems to me, there is an old saying that is prescient today, “don’t “excrete” where you eat.” Today’s corporations could learn a thing or two from that wise old saying. You have to wonder what they are teaching in business colleges today. Firms are run like they don’t even want to survive. Alienating customers at every turn and daring us to go somewhere else. Today corporations have three enemies, or you would imagine so given the way corporate executives run them, those enemies are… the customers, the employees and the shareholders. Executives seem to believe that if only they could get rid of those three groups of people their companies could be run like tops. Of the three, damaging the interests of the customer is by far the most egregious, because it is the customer that sustains the firm. After that, wounding the shareholders interests, creating a principle agent dilemma, and finally, ignoring the interests of the employees. Corporate executives today, judging by the public and private actions of the firms they control, are far more loyal to the new class, than even their own place of business.

Don’t “defecate” where you eat is a metaphor, it takes the analogy of excreting in a food preparation area, which everyone instinctively knows (or should know) is a path to severe disease… to illustrate why a person or company should not damage in any way something they rely on. It is mere common sense but sadly, in the new class’ world, common sense is a very rare thing. Evolving from a way of warning people away from having romantic relationships in the office, to a warning to take great care of that which you need. For an employee it is their place of work and for a business it is their customers. Food analogies are appropriate in the world of business, the customers, to put it another way, are the side of the bread the butter is on, and no one wants that side to hit the ground, for a number of reasons too obvious to go into.

Twitter, Target and the NFL, are all using their dishes as bedpans, while emptying them in their kitchen sink. With the revelations that Twitter hides tweets of conservatives while not censoring those of progressives, socialists and Marxists shows how deeply executives at Twitter hold their customers in disgust. How poorly those executives must think of the people that pay their salaries. The NFL will not allow a player to dance in the N zone but spitting in the eye of their most ardent fans is perfectly acceptable. No wonder attendance and viewership is way down. In any organization 10% of the people do 50% of the work, and in an imploding organization those good people will leave first, because they have options, and the bottom 90% must pick up the drastically increased workload. Which always leads to failure. Once the process begins, it becomes exponentially more difficult to stop as time goes on.

What I find the most laughable, is the typical reaction of corporate executives once they have so polluted the well from which they drink, is to raise the price and lower the quality. Blockbuster was the perfect example of this in action. When streaming video started cutting into their bottom line, a product of greater convenience and lower cost, Blockbuster raised their prices, exacerbating the cost differential, and lowered the convenience of their product, (they started imposing late fees, a violation of their original business model). The results spoke for themselves, Blockbuster is no longer a corporation, the customers are denied an option, the employees are out of jobs and the shareholders have lost their savings, but you can bet the executives landed well, lofted by golden parachutes.

These executives are cut from the very cloth, the new class, that is the source of our bureaucrats, journalists, lawyers, judges, politicians, doctors, scientists, etc… you know, the people smarter than the rest of us, and who believe themselves so smart they should run our lives through the bureaucracy. They destroy our corporations, and thereby the savings of people who have invested in them, alienating customers by imposing political correctness, poking their grubby fingers in the eyes of their patrons, by taking a knee, even outright stealing directly out of customers accounts, ala Wells Fargo… and have got away with it every time, with no one making the decisions suffering any negative consequences. Consequences are for the customers, shareholders… and employees. But I wonder, if new class executives are so smart, why do they continue to defecate where they eat?

Sincerely,

John Pepin

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There But For the Grace of God Go I…

Posted on January 15, 2018 by john

Dear Friends,

It seems to me, one is best served by living the adage, “There but before the grace of God go I…” Not only is one best served, by living humbly and non judgmentally, but society is benefited as well. A win win. What then does it mean to live by the adage, there but before the grace of God go I? It is to harbor compassion in the heart, wisdom in the soul and results in charity in one’s works. Moreover, to be non judgmental, protects us from all sorts of misfortune in our lives. Lets face it, most, if not all the adversity we face, is of our own creation. Our own bad decisions, which might have seemed right at the time, led to almost every hardship we have ever faced. Obviously many are born into poverty, but especially in such circumstances, those who remain virtuous succeed, while those who turn to crime fail. The start to virtue is to embrace wise adages like, there but before the grace of God go I.

The term itself was first coined it is said, by John Bradford, at seeing criminals executed. Most probably because he considered, if he had been born in their shoes, he might have been the one jerking at the end of a rope… instead of that criminal. It is the understanding that, had you or I been born German in Germany in 1920, we could very well have become Nazis, even if you are a Jew today! Thanking God that in his grace, he didn’t test us as harshly as he did them. Or perhaps he did, and we passed, that is why we stand here, either way, it is by the grace of God that we are who we are, not by some inner superior strength. Many would like to imagine they are good because of inner superiority, but put in the right circumstances, might do anything. They don’t know if they are not tested.

Human heartedness, and living by the adage there but before the grace of God go I, correlate significantly. Human heartedness is E. R. Hughes translation of Confucius’ term, “jen” and others have translated as benevolence. The human hearted man seeks to do his or her best, at everything they put their hand to, are not envious of those above, or despise those below. They love and are beloved by their families, while they maintain their fences to the right, as they would have those on their left maintain theirs. The human hearted person has a love of learning. To be non judgmental by acknowledging one’s own weaknesses and failings is a step onto the path of human heartedness. It should be obvious that human hearted people do better at business and indeed in life.

Those who are non judgmental doesn’t compare themselves to others. The person who is not judging their fellows is obviously not comparing him or herself to others. Alternatively, those who sit in judgment of their peers must also measure themselves against everyone else. To constantly measure oneself against everyone else can only lead a person to be both prideful and envious. Two character traits that are often called character flaws, and for good reason. To live by, There but before the grace of God go I, is good protection from becoming prideful and envious, as well as the social roadblocks such characteristics create. To recognize one’s own weaknesses and failings puts us in a more charitable mood, if we are in a more charitable mood, we are more likely to donate time or money. Since charity benefits the giver as much as the receiver, especially effort over money, we are benefited in that way too.

It isn’t hard to practice, there but for the grace of God go I, just say it in your head when you find yourself judging, envying or pitying. It might just remove some social impediments to your progress up the ladder. Ever notice that many Chinese people do well in business and succeed in corporations? It is not some intrinsic trait of being Chinese, it is because of the philosophy many still live by, Confucian human heartedness. Looking at your fellow human beings, even those who live, both today and in history, through this lens, allows us to have a little more compassion, even for the villains. Perhaps that is what Jesus meant when he said, “Love thy enemies, bless those who persecute you…” because your enemy’s burdens have been, are or will be, much worse than yours. That is not to diminish the inner happiness that embracing, there but for the grace of God go I, gives the adherent…

Sincerely,

John Pepin

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Traditional, Administrative government… and Socialism

Posted on January 11, 2018 by john

Dear Friends,

It seems to me, one way we argue past each other, is that we often haven’t rectified terms, specifically, the difference between the administrative type of government and traditional governments. Often when people argue for socialism, they are in fact arguing for the administrative type of government, not the socialistic form of economics. The two correlate but not to the nth degree. When college students debate the advantages of socialism, they have a bureaucracy in their minds, not a Stalin, Pol Pot, Idi Amin, or Mao… as the benevolent administrators to usher in the new age of world socialism. For haven’t you heard? Real socialism has never been tried. If that is so, then traditional forms of government are not compatible with socialism, and a new one is needed, the administrative type. But for our well intentioned kids, not having thought it through, perhaps a review of the administrative type of government is in order…

The administrative type of government is one in which… it is the bureaucracy that does all the real decision making, any residual traditional vestiges having only decorative powers. The US, it could be argued, may be considered an administrative type of government. Since the Congress has allowed itself to become an appendix, the President is limited by the whims of the bureaucracy, and the judicial is wielded like a sword by those that favor the administrative type, against anyone who would stand in the bureaucracy’s way. Yet it hasn’t reached the full apex of what the administrative type can become. The final step in a fully administrative government would be the elimination of the president, congress and even judiciary and replacing them with a bureaucracy to administer government. There would be no debate, politics or selfish aggrandizement, only more and more rules to order society the way the bureaucrats see fit.

Traditional governments have a right and wrong form, ie tyranny is the wrong form of monarchy, because the tyrant seeks only his or her own benefit… while the monarch seeks the benefit of his or her nation before their own. The difference is in intention. Right forms have the intention to serve the whole of society, and in that way they serve society, while the wrong forms intend to serve themselves, and in that way society serves them. This has been understood for twenty five hundred years since the time of Aristotle. The new form, the administrative type however, is something new. Yet, it draws it’s cogs from the same caliber metal as the traditional forms, and so will certainly be as subject to good and bad forms. The question then will be, “What are the intentions of the bureaucrats who run the administration?”

Those who favor the administrative state believe it only has a right form, that the enlightened bureaucrat, educated in the best schools with the right attitude, will always seek the betterment of the nation, and so will work diligently in their little cubicles to better the lot of Mankind, through regulation. Since the bureaucrat individually has little power, there is no reason to limit their power over the individual, and indeed limiting the power of the bureaucracy might invite backsliding, so those that favor the administrative type of government, must disfavor any limits on it. So what you have set up is either a benevolent or malevolent dictatorship. Counter intuitively… the benevolent dictatorship is by far the worse.

The kind of tyranny to be feared the most is a benevolent one. The benevolent tyrant will stick his nose in everything, seeking to make it better, but in fact making everything worse, which will of course be solved by more rules, to order that which is characterized by complexity. The human condition is a complex system. Our economics, governance, societies and cultures are all complex systems, and complex systems have as a principle quality, a dancing landscape. What may be perfectly right one moment, because the landscape so to speak changed, that becomes exactly the wrong thing to do. No matter how enlightened, benevolent or far seeing a bureaucracy is, the landscape will always change, making any prior rule possibly counter effective.

So what we have are kids, who think they know it all and are smarter than the rest of us because a professor has told them they are, and do, argue for a system they really do not understand, if it were implemented, and it looks like it very well may be, the results will be disastrous for them. The results will be disastrous, since both what could be called the right form of the administrative type of government, is even worse than the wrong form. If we accept their premise that socialism has never really been tried then they must then be arguing for a system other than that which has been the dominant paradigm of socialism, ie, the strong man model, for a different one, the benevolent administrative form. Sadly, that they have been so fooled by their indoctrination shows they are not indeed as bright as they credit themselves. It is up to us adults then, to teach as best we can, what they are really advocating for when they say with a straight face, socialism is the answer.

Sincerely,

John Pepin

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When Some Are Above The Law

Posted on January 8, 2018 by john

Dear Friends,

It seems to me, whenever and wherever some are above the law, what you have is not law but arbitrary rule. Another term for arbitrary rule is unlimited power, More than a matter of justice, when a culture allows certain people or groups to be above the law, that culture steps onto the path of destruction. That destruction is as sure as the Sun rises in the East. Tyranny always leads to societal discohesion, crime and poverty, as the people strive to follow their leaders into vice. When we see our leaders are above the law, we as human beings will emulate them and try to be just as corrupt, as those we are told to admire are. So, while allowing some to be above the law is immoral, it also has a very deleterious effect on the economy, society and indeed the culture itself. If we seek to leave our children a world wracked with tyranny, poverty, crime and violence, then by all means allowing some to be above the law is perhaps the best means to that end. If on the other hand…

Arbitrary rule simply means that the laws are inconsistent, random, subjective, and injudicious, and/or those that make the “laws” are themselves unaccountable. Arbitrary, like when they make laws that the little people are subjected to, but those that make the laws are not. A law that allows lawmakers to engage in an act, that would garner jail time if a common citizen did it, would be an example of inconsistent laws and therefore proof of arbitrary rule. When some people are caught, openly violating laws that they are supposed to be held to, but are not, is perhaps the most dangerous form of arbitrary rule… lack of accountability. It is not hard to recognize arbitrary rule if you know what to look for. All one needs to remember is, are the elite held to the same standards as a common person, do the laws apply to all equally and, are some above the law, the answer to these questions will inevitably tell the inquiring mind, whether or not he or she lives under arbitrary rule.

Arbitrary rule is always and everywhere a psychotic means to enrichment and power over others. As such, those that seek arbitrary rule are people who, by definition, should never be allowed anywhere near the levers of power, let alone unlimited power! You cannot claim that a person who is above the law, and can make laws that apply to everyone but him or herself… does not have unlimited power. What other definition of unlimited power is there? So what if the arbitrary ruler claims to be limited, by a no longer valid or upheld “constitution,” when in fact they are not. One has to ask oneself, is it reality that I favor, or a glittering lie? If I am connected inextricably to reality, then I must accept it no matter how ugly it is. Moreover, simply seeking to better oneself, makes one a human being, seeking to abuse power to enrich oneself at cost to humanity, is psychotic.

If we agree with Aristotle and admit, only those governments that serve all the people can be considered “Right” forms of government, which makes any government that serves only those that make the rules and their cronies, a “Wrong” form, then any type of arbitrary rule is a wrong form of government. All wrong forms of government are tyrannical in nature, according to Aristotle’s definition, and despotism is always exploited as a means to riches, rather than serve society as a whole. It should be obvious to anyone however, that those governments engaged in arbitrary rule, would not want that fact advertised. Like ancient Rome after the final intercine battle, that led to Octavius Caesar becoming emperor and establishing the Praetorian Guard, Rome pretended to remain a “republic,” but it was in name only, not at all in fact. So, you can cling to a glittering lie, or embrace an ugly truth, the first is the easy choice, and the second the more difficult.

We cling to glittering lies, believing that people who have lied to us, have proven themselves to be above the law, and have gone from rags to riches while in public office… actually work for the “downtrodden.” Many of us have invested so much emotional energy rooting for our team, which creates great cognitive dissonance, because admitting we have been rooting for villains instead of the heroes we believed they were, threatens our own self image. Mature adults however need to be reality based, living in a fantasy is a luxury best left for children, and so as adults we must take a hard look at our nations, societies and cultures asking ourselves… do we want to bequeath our children arbitrary rule or a land of laws, opportunities and wealth? If so, then we have to demand any and all forms of arbitrary rule be expunged from our countries, call for severe punishments of those exploiting their offices, and require from our leaders, without exception… accountability.

Sincerely,

John Pepin

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The Rope Trick

Posted on January 4, 2018 by john

Dear Friends,

It seems to me, sometimes the best thing you can give an adversary… is rope. Skilled liars can take hundreds of yards, and create an impressive knot with it, but eventually that knot will tighten around their own throats. One need be careful the opponent does not bury the rope however, for if it is buried, that rope will never find it’s target. This strategy works best when the initial assumption of the foe is absurd. The more absurd the better. Because anyone peddling absurdity must use a great deal of rope, yet absurdity is notoriously difficult to tie up in a neat package, so a Gordian knot must be created. One factor that insures the effectiveness of feeding rope to an adversary, is if that adversary is arrogant. Even the most skilled of liars can be defeated at their own game, especially those who are arrogant, simply by feeding them all the rope they need, to lynch themselves, while making sure they don’t bury the coil in the mud of fake news.

Lies have a tendency to compound, the longer they are told, the more they compound. No time is this more true then when a lie is absurd. Even the most charismatic liar needs to be able to add at least a veneer of logic to her statements. The most fawning press cannot treat what is clearly nonsense as truth, because when they do they lose credibility, which is why over time they always lose credibility. This leads to the need for more rope to weave an ever growing web of lies, and to try to claw back some credibility to the propaganda bureau. Once the lies become so obvious that even the most zealous of partisans has to admit them as lies… the noose cinches shut.

Arrogance leads to evil people removing the mask the moment they feel it is safe. It is a factor of arrogance to believe oneself to be superior to the run of the mill human being. Those who consider themselves superior must, as a matter of logic, underestimate the intelligence and acumen of others. This plays right into the strategy of feeding a liar rope. The arrogant liar will quickly weave a gleaming mask of lies, then take it off just a moment too soon, revealing her true hideous visage underneath. To be arrogant puts one perpetually behind those who are not, simply put, to be arrogant is to underestimate others, and to underestimate others is a sure path to ruin. No where is this more true than when a liar is arrogant and therefore underestimate’s her opponent and the people themselves.

This strategy is limited if your enemy has the ability to silence dissension. If that is the case we are reduced to using word of mouth. Clearly, anyone engaged in lies is someone who will not balk at meaner measures, like burying a story or promoting foolishness. If however, the government run propaganda agencies can be discredited, and often they disgrace themselves, (look at the wonderful job CNN has done in discrediting itself), word of mouth will gain far more credibility and will become as fast as email. In the realm of information, credibility is the currency upon which the media trades, without it, one is poor no matter how well endowed with radio and TV stations and with it, the other with credibility is rich, despite the dearth of infrastructure to promote his message.

Obviously, for a person to practice the tactic of feeding rope to a foe must be both certain in the justness of his position and fearless. I would add that it helps to be braggadocios. Someone loud and boisterous, fearless and a bit arrogant himself would employ just this strategy, to defeat an enemy that appears to hold all the cards… controls the media, the bureaucracy and is backed by the new class itself, would be indomitable to anyone but the egotist. Yet it is just the braggart who would exploit the deep vulnerability of arrogant liars and feed them rope upon which to hang themselves. And it becomes more obvious every day that despite control of the media, the bureaucracy and indeed the new class, as the coils fall from the loudmouth, gathering at his feet… a certain faction has tied a Gordian knot around their own necks… and are getting ready to jump from the chair.

Sincerely,

John Pepin

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Kindness as a way of being.

Posted on January 1, 2018 by john

Dear Friends,

It seems to me… kindness is the foundation upon which the civilized build their lives. One need not be agreeable to be kind, nor must a person be a pushover by being kind, kindness is a way of being, of looking at the world. Kindness is in the heart. Yes, the world is horribly flawed, yes the world is terribly unfair and without question, the world does bad things to good people, but those are even more reasons to hold kindness in our hearts. It is said that a man’s inner nature, for good or bad, is measured by the way he treats those below him. Those who embrace kindness as an integral part of their heart then, by that measure, will be exceptional. Think about it, we all have a sense of fairness, and most of us can apply it to someone other than ourselves.

We are like a mirror, but a mirror that has free will over what it reflects. We can reflect the evil we see in the world, we can choose to reflect the good all around us, or reflect nothing. If we embrace kindness in our hearts we naturally reflect that kindness. We have the ability to choose what to reflect out into the world, and by the butterfly effect, we have no idea how far or what form of hurricane could result, be it good… or evil. Because we are not mere audience in the world but active players. Our actions effect the whole. By reflecting good back into the world the light of goodness shines a little bit brighter. We can choose to reflect whatever we want back into the world, and be participants, or we can be bullied into not reflecting anything at all, letting others do the reflecting… so we can have someone else to blame for the world being so horrible.

Even though kindness is utile, it is not a utilitarian philosophy, it is a way of being. Often it is the highest and most human hearted form of kindness, to be unkind in the short run, to be more kind in the long run. Is it a kindness to get a heroin addict heroin? In the short term it could be argued, yes, but clearly in the long term the answer is a resounding no. When administering punishment, it is more kind to administer a punishment that will stop the behavior, rather than make other people feel a sense of “justice.” These are examples of utilitarian forms of kindness, made possible only when kindness is a way of being, which then creates long term solutions rather than pernicious problems. To be kind is to keep malice at bay, confront feelings of envy, recognize your fellow man is as imperfect as you are, and mostly, do not hold others to a higher standard than you do yourself. These are ways great men are made.

To say to oneself, “That is all well and good but doesn’t apply to me, I am not a kind person by nature…” is to deny free will. Everyone has free will to embrace kindness or coldness in their hearts. It is the coward’s choice to embrace coldness, because it is easy, while the hero’s choice is kindness, because it is hard. The poltroon finds himself always being chased while the swashbuckler finds opportunity. Those who embrace anger and bitterness must lack the fearlessness to overcome it, and so are trapped in lives of ever shrinking options, while those who embrace kindness in their hearts, feast on an ever growing smorgasbord of opportunities. Everyone has free will, but like any other aspect of a human being, that which is not exercised, withers away. It is easier in the long run to bravely embrace kindness, even if in the short run it might seem better, to become angry and bitter.

The human condition can appear to be nothing but humiliation and violence, and you can reflect that, or it can be wonder and peace, and you can reflect that back into the world as well. We all have an amazing ability to see only that which we want to see. We watch like a cat, for anything that validates our worldview, be it good or evil. Instead we should try to be more open minded. There is great evil, and yes it is the duty of good men to point out evil, else it will grow, but it is equally important for those good men, to keep our eyes open to the goodness that surrounds us, in order to nurture and husband it. Every time we see a mother wipe snot from her child’s nose, a dog bounding after a stick or a father pretending to be a monster chasing his kids, we are witness to goodness in the world. How can anyone not hold kindness in their hearts when we are surrounded by such love?

Sincerely,

John Pepin

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Envy

Posted on December 28, 2017 by john

Dear Friends,

It seems to me, the most destructive emotion, bar none, is envy… and sadly, we have an entire political establishment that is based on envy. What good comes of envy? Does it motivate people to better themselves? No, it only motivates people to destroy. Does envy create an inclusive society? No, envy demands exclusiveness. Envy destroys not only the person envied but the envious as well. It corrodes the soul until there is nothing left but hatred. Envy only destroys, but when stoked it insures that villains get power to harm those who are envied. The envious gleefully look upon their own calamity and cheer it, as long as those they hate are harmed as well. Yet that party that is based on envy is composed of the very people we are supposed to envy! They artfully manage our anger and hate to their own ends. Have you ever noticed that the very people telling us to “eat the rich,” are themselves uber rich? Is it irony or villainy? I would argue it is villainy of the highest order.

From our schools teaching envy as a virtue, our media stoking the fires of envy and our governments exploiting envy as a means to power, envy has become synonymous with progressivism. Common sense, the great philosophers and prophets, all have called envy evil, yet our modern sophists tell us and teach our kids envy is a good. Any society that elevates such a corrosive emotion, as envy, to the status of a noble act, is one that will soon see violence, crime and poverty. There is no way any culture that nurtures envy can create wealth, have low crime or dwell in peace, because envy is not constructive but destructive. Taking pleasure in the suffering of another motivates people to crime, violence and derision. Teaching envy to children is in all ways a crime against those children, and indeed, a crime against humanity itself.

Socrates said this about envy, “Envy is the ulcer of the soul.” And it truly is an ulcer of the soul. The soul that is filled with envy must also be filled with hatred. The two conditions correlate to a high degree. Those who envy, must be filled with hate, and those who are filled with love, never harbor envy in their hearts. Solzhenitsyn said, “Our envy devours us most of all.” By nurturing envy in our hearts we slowly eat our own souls. This is because envy consumes us by filling our hearts with the poison of hate. The envious find solace in their own destruction if it also destroys the envied. Therefore they will not only harm the envied, but themselves most of all, and in doing so damage all of human society. Blind hate, born of envy, is why some gladly harm themselves and their loved ones, as long as it also harms those they envy.

Politicians who deal in envy exploit it’s negative qualities to gin up hate of their political enemies, while at the same time elevate themselves as the righteous warriors, who will deal a blow to the envied, in the name of “fairness.” While most of the time, politicians who use envy as a means to power, are exactly those who do not deserve their ill gotten gains. Bernie Sanders is a perfect example in this, He has never worked a day in his life, never produced a single good for anyone but himself, yet has several mansions on the lake and drives around in a super car. He has got rich in politics. Harry Truman said, “Anyone who gets rich in politics is a God damned crook!” By that definition Sanders is a GD crook. Yet while he deserves nothing that he has, he stokes the fire of envy against those who have worked hard for their wealth and contributed to society. Then wields the hatred as a weapon to destroy, not only those who have bettered the lot of Man, but against human heartedness itself.

Envy is a form of greed, a greed that is born of the envier’s self loathing, because they don’t have the chutzpah, intelligence, work ethic or virtue to get it themselves. Envy is avarice for that which the envious is unwilling to work for, a greed that insures the envious will never get, that which he or she so covets. Make no mistake, the heart that contains envy is one that is incapable of the true virtues of love, honesty, righteousness, humility, self sacrifice and charity. Instead filling the envious with hate, perjury, a passion for revenge, haughtiness, and selfishness… even at cost to themselves and their loved ones.

The politician who deals in envy then proves he or she is villainous by it. Throughout history all the great thinkers have unanimously condemned envy, yet today, our media, politicians, and even schools teach envy as a virtue unmatched by any other, which can only lead to want and suffering. Envy causes those afflicted by it to find joy in harming their own self interests. Yet we can speak up when they try to manipulate us with envy. Point out when we are being manipulated by envy, be an example to others, and teach your children to love rather than hate. It is the duty of the human hearted to call attention to the destructive passion of envy, and crush it wherever we find it… and if you discover you have envy in your heart, you are best served to expunge it, else you endanger your very soul!

Sincerely,

John Pepin

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