Collective Rights versus Individual Rights

Posted on September 27, 2012 by john

Dear Friends,

It seems to me, the discussion about rights in America and beyond, is characterized by a lack of understanding about what is really at issue. The focus of the disagreement is collective rights versus individual rights. I will try to explain what each is in this article and how they are applied to societies. In this, I will use historical examples, that illustrate the differences in application and philosophy. Since no productive decision can ever be made in the face of ignorance the difference is important to understand.

Collective rights is a term that is important to the theory of collectivism. In this theory the individual is a member of a collective or whole. The collective can be the government, a nation, or any other group of people. The important thing to keep in mind, when referring to a collectivist philosophy, is that the individual is a part of the whole. The whole being more important than any part, or, put another way, the piece serves the total. As a result, whenever collective rights is used, it refers to the right of the whole over the rights of the unit. In this case the individual.

Individual rights is a concept that was put into overt political practice by the United States founding fathers. Under a regime of individual rights the individual is supreme. The single human being is as important as the group. The group serves the individual, or, put another way, the whole serves the part. This concept, that the individual has intrinsic value above and beyond some societal function, is the basis for the American experiment.

Under a collectivist regime, the person must be evolved, to become indifferent to his or her station… becoming a cog in the machine of the collective. To be more, or less than a cog, creates friction within society. This friction lowers the efficiency of the whole. Since the unit serves the whole, this is unacceptable, for collectivism to function as a viable system of order, the nonconforming individual must be reeducated to become a cog in the sprocket of the society, or be eliminated, as a threat to that society.

Under a regime of individualism, society must evolve, to to recognize that the eccentric is as important and as valued, as the conformist. In this type of system, an individual who exceeds the norm or falls short in some way, is accepted, and in some cases lionized. The individual right to be different is paramount under this type of system. Diversity in thought, action and attributes being a good under a system of individual rights but dangerous under a system of collective rights.

Collectivist theory has been put into practice many times in the past. The French revolution was possibly the first time it was intentionally implemented. The French revolution was singular in it’s efficient cruelty. The government was made the whole, and all other segments of society were made to support it’s function. Those segments that were different were exterminated. Humanity is given lip service by this type of system, by making the extermination of individuals that don’t fit, humane. The guillotine was the method used by the French, Zyklon B was used by the Nazis and a club to the back of the neck was used by the Khmer rouge. Most have used terror, firing squads and famine as a means to mold unacceptable elements into conforming masses. The result is always the same, eccentrics and non conformists are eliminated, for the good of the whole.

The very rare examples of societies that instituted a regime of individual rights, have been characterized by their prosperity, and have been the sources of all improvement to the lot of mankind. Many times in history it has been the non conformist that has ushered in a new paradigm of good to the society. Sometimes it has been in the form of wealth, but more often it has been artistic, cultural, philosophical or medical. The contributions of individuals is the main attribute of all systems that have, as their fundamental theme, individual rights.

All systems of ordering societies have their fundamental attributes. Collectivist systems seem to be inherent in the aging of a civilization. Most that start with individual rights, such as the Roman example, end up with collective rights and then eventually fall or are subjected by invasion. This has been the paradigm of human civilizations throughout history. Rome was founded by Romulus and Remus as a haven for eccentric individuals. This was magnified by the overthrow of the Etruscan King Tarquinius Superbus, and the founding of the Roman Consular system. This system, one that elevated the rights of the citizen over the group, after hundreds of years, was overturned by the praetorian system, where the rights of the State were paramount. This eventually led to the fall of Rome.

As I have shown, there is a profound and important difference, between the concepts of collective rights and individual rights. This divergence shows itself in subtle, and not so subtle ways, in both the actions and rhetoric of our political leaders. Knowledge of the differences, is paramount for the voter, in those governments that are democratic. Democracy being compatible with either system of organization, whether collectivist or individualist. Those that want a collectivist system, should understand what they are really striving for, as should those that espouse individual rights. To politically labor in ignorance, of what one is working for and against, is a high form of folly. I hope, by this treatise, the reader has a measure of foreknowledge and understands a bit better, what it is they seek and what it is they forsake.

Sincerely,

John Pepin

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The Coming Catastrophe

Posted on September 24, 2012 by john

Dear Friends,

It seems to me the World is in real trouble. The economy of almost every country is crumbling, we are standing at the gates of World war, there is a very real possibility that the US Constitution will fall in the next few years, and, (apparently in an effort to prove my last blog true), the unbiased media are focused, like a laser beam, on a week old story about Mitt Romney putting his foot in his mouth. The reason the planet is in such dire peril, is because the media misdirect us, keeping us ignorant and from taking decisive action, to stop the slide to oblivion. Our lives will change dramatically… if we don’t turn this ship around soon. Time has run out and neo Nero plays the fiddle while our World burns.

The economies of the World are teetering on collapse. The engine of the World’s economy, the United States, is seizing up. If the US economy collapses the World’s economy goes into a tailspin. Take the analogy of a car… if the engine blows up, the car stops functioning. The only way to fix a car with a seized up engine is to replace the engine. But, there are no other players on the World stage, that have the ability to take over the role of economic engine for the World. China is a paper balloon that is wafting dangerously close to the fire. Japan is facing a demographic choke and Europe has destroyed itself with multiculturalism, regulation and the welfare state. Meanwhile Russia’s government is as corrupt as any on the face of the planet.

Regulation and red tape are strangling the entrepreneur in America as well as Europe. Obama is the latest, but we have been tatting red tape for a long time. In the 1970’s Milton Friedman warned us about the increasing amount of regulation. Since then our governments has added millions of regulations to the books. We have gotten to the point where it is nearly impossible to start a business due to the regulatory maze. In Vermont, it takes 25 years and a Supreme Court decision, simply to get a Walmart built! How can a young person, with an excellent idea, start a business on a shoestring budget? It cannot be done. Most of the industries that we rely on for employment today, could not be started in this economic environment… for the red tape and bureaucracy.

The US is about to enter a period of hyper inflation. The US FED has increased the money supply, in the last 3 years by nearly 100%, from 1.4 trillion in 2008 to 2.3 trillion today, in M1 and M2 money! All this money printing while the economy has been stagnant. In the newest incarnation of Quantitative easing, Bernanke says he will print 40 billion dollars a month… until the economy catches on. Indefinite printing of money, is a means to destroy the wealth of the vast majority of Americans… and everyone who has invested in America! No one is safe from the danger of hyper inflation, in the US, or anywhere. When confidence in the dollar is shattered, and it will be, the World economy will fall into a depression, that will make the 1930s seem like boom times.

The Islamic world is becoming more radicalized by the day. The leaders there want a caliphate regardless of the blood shed that will be required to lubricate the process. They see their scripture as impelling them to subjugate the World to their violent, theocratic ideology. Some, the Twelvers, even believe that drenching the World in human blood will bring back their Mahdi, ushering in their vision of a World where only the elect are allowed to live, all others will be killed. These people, who willingly strap bombs to their own children, and send them into a crowded bus, are being allowed to get nuclear weapons! There is only one place this road will lead… to World War III, where nuclear weapons will be used. They could never, in a million years, develop them themselves… but with our help they now have the A-bomb.

The US Constitution, the shining light on a hill for so many subjugated people around the World, is under pernicious attack. The US government has used such tactics as, sending guns to Mexican drug lords and vilifying gun owners in the US for it. The Obama administration told the Muslim Brotherhood about the anti moahamed movie, to change the focus of the 911 attacks on US embassies from protests to get the Blind Shaikh released, to attacking free speech in the US. Obama rules by caveat now, with no push back by the irrelevant Congress. Freedom of religion is under attack in America like never before, and the Judiciary is totally cool with all of it, as long as they can continue suing US Businesses for billions of dollars a year.

The unbiased media, in the face of all this paradigm changing news, has focused for a week, on a gaff by the Republican candidate. They have chosen their role in the coming catastrophe. Nothing makes profits for news outlets, like economic collapse, World war and civil upheaval. Our only real hope, is that we replace the people in charge, who are destroying us from within, and replace them with people who will follow the Constitution, stop devaluing the Dollar, and stem the tide of war. In this, we have the intercession of God, for God doesn’t want the World drenched in blood, famine or economic collapse. But… he has given us free will. He will only intercede if we ask him and act on our own behalf. The next decade will be painful. The question is, do we want a painful operation… or a bone wrenching death by cancer. The choice is ours to make. Lets pray for our children, our counties, our World… and back that prayer up with action.

Sincerely,

John Pepin

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The Threat of Media Bias

Posted on September 20, 2012 by john

Dear Friends,

It seems to me, the biggest threat to our freedom and the liberty of our children, is a uniformly biased media. Not that Obama and his redistributive, socialist, policies are not a huge threat. In a liberal republic, if the media is uniformly biased against the side of liberty and for the side of tyranny, the republic is in dire risk. Since the media is the arbiter of information in a modern society, their skewing that information to vilify liberal capitalism and lionizing socialist redistribution, creates a people who are unable to make rational decisions. Rational decisions must have, as a prerequisite, accurate information. This problem is magnified when those extremely biased purveyors of the public’s information call themselves unbiased. This is indeed the biggest threat to our freedom because it corrodes our ability to make informed decisions.

The melt down in the Middle East is a perfect example. The unbiased media parrot the Obama administration’s obvious lie, that the attacks on the US embassies were entirely the fault of some film maker in California, exercising his first amendment right. This absurdity is paraded in front of the US citizenry as truth constantly. Even though Middle East leaders have said that it was a coordinated attack, planned far in advance and warned that they would happen days in advance. Disregarding the fact, the people who planned and carried out the attacks were not only emboldened by Obama’s actions, but were brought into power by Obama’s policies! Any republican President who presided over such a foreign policy fiasco would be drummed for office by the unbiased media. Instead the media change the subject. They ape the administration’s propaganda and attack the Republican candidate for pointing out the truth.

The example of the gaffs of Obama and Biden as compared to Romney and Ryan are amazing. Obama didn’t know how many States are in the United States of America! What a gaff that is. The unbiased media ignored it. Romney says the truth, that those people who are dependent on the government will not vote for him and are immune to his lower tax argument. The unbiased media pounced on him. They say he will not represent those that don’t vote for him. Yet they ignore Obama’s calls for class warfare. Clearly, Obama is not representing that segment of the population, that he vilifies.

There was a recent news article, that Eric Holder’s “Justice” department was cooperating with Media matters to spin information about Fast and Furious, among other scandals the truth challenged agency is embroiled in. Media matters is an organization the unbiased media go to as a adjudicator of ethics in journalism. NPR had a Sunday morning show where they examined the question of press bias. They always consulted a Media Matters representative. The weekly conclusion was… Ta ta ta da, that even if the press is biased they must not say so! This type of self serving tripe is how they really think. Now it appears that Media matters itself has a pro Obama agenda. Of course, Media Matters considers it ok to be biased… as long as you keep it hidden.

It recently came out that while reporters were covering the democratic party convention, “unbiased” reporters were donating to the Obama campaign, using pseudonyms! This is proof positive that they have an agenda and they try to keep it hidden. Those who believe so much in a candidate, they donate their own money to a campaign, are extremely unlikely to report fairly about that campaign. Logically they are biased.

Today on Bloomberg radio. (A bastion of progressive reporters). I heard a debate between reporters about the race. The theme was that Romney is unlikable. When you favor a candidate you always consider his or her opponent to be unlikeable. I ask you, is such an perspective based observation, reasonable for an unbiased reporter to make?

Speaking to likeability… Romney gives a ton of money and time to charity, he is a religious man, and he made his money from saving failing businesses. Romney came about his money in the traditional American way… he earned it. By every measure Obama is the antithesis of Harry S Truman. Harry Truman said, “Anyone who gets rich in politics is a God damned crook.” Obama made his millions from politics. By Harry Truman’s standard that makes Obama a crook. The unbiased media hated Harry Truman as well. They even printed that Truman lost the election before the votes were even counted! Which tells me that Harry Truman was not a member of the Elite. The media, who adored and worshiped at the feet of Roosevelt, despised Truman with a passion. They took sides then and they are taking sides now.

No correct decision can be made with inaccurate information. That is simply logical. Take a computer. The old saying goes, “garbage in, garbage out.” When any decision is based on faulty information the conclusion cannot be in harmony with reality. In the case of a computer program, the bugs and errors are a mere annoyance, but in the case of the future of Our republic, the outcome can be disastrous.

It is too late for today’s journalists… but tomorrow’s can be saved. Future reporters will have the ability to look back at these times, reflecting on the stupidity of their ancestors, and avoid their mistakes. They will understand, it is in their own best interests, to inform the public of their personal biases. Not that a bias makes it impossible to convey news, but it is important for those that do so, to let the reader know that there is one and what it is, so the reader can judge the information in the proper context. This allows the citizenry to make more informed decisions about the pressing questions at hand. To intentionally lie in the face of the truth is malfeasance of the highest order, future journalists will shake their heads that it was ever done, and go about their calling with a degree more virtue than today’s.

Sincerely,

John Pepin

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Free Will

Posted on September 17, 2012 by john

Dear Friends,

It seems to me, the gift of free will, is both a blessing and a curse for us. It is self evident… we are given free will, and that free will comes from God. Our free will is the font of our virtuous desire for liberty and our iniquitous wish to control others. It is through free will that we created the World we live in, and our free will is the source of all that is good and bad. This is an important concept to understand if we want to create a better World for our children to live in. If we get it wrong however, the World we create, will be devoid of free will and may take centuries or millenia to recapture.

Many argue that God should make everything good. That it is his duty to fix all the problems in the World, like poverty, disease, famine and tyranny. But they don’t go all the way with their logic. If God were to fix even one of these things it would make God a tyrant. Look at out original state. God made Mankind free of law, compulsion and ethos. We have imposed them on ourselves. As Carneades said, “mankind imposed a set of laws and moors on itself out of necessity. Because people, being like animals, each seeking his or her own good, make true justice impossible. For a man to be truly just he must do damage to his own self interest…”

God also gave us, avarice, jealousy and ego. These are what makes us so willing to impose our wants and desires on others. These are the reasons all evil is in the World. All sin comes from these emotions. Stealing from avarice, lying from jealousy and from ego comes cruelty. To counter these negative inclinations, God also gave us, compassion, a sense of justice and love. These emotions create all that is good in the World… but can be twisted to serve evil.

To remove poverty God would also have to remove free will. Free will is the source of poverty, in not only the modern World, but the ancient one as well. For God to remove disease, would also require the destruction of free will, since most all disease is due to our own actions. IE. uncleanliness, engaging in dangerous activities, thoughtless commingling and venturing out when we are sick. To remove tyranny from the planet, would certainly eliminate free will, for it is free will that brings a tyrant to power. We seek leisure, safety and control over others lives and property, it is these desires that are why tyranny exists in the World.

Yet God allows evil of our own making to exist in the World. Why? Because to eliminate them would eliminate free will. Therefore, it is clearly true that God considers free will, more important than out comfort and safety. God must hold free will, as one of the highest goods… if not the highest good. Since free will is a profound source of wickedness in the World and God allows it.

It is free will that provides the driving force in our lives… to live in liberty. We all, no matter our culture, ethos, race or upbringing, want to live in freedom. Our culture may impel us to disallow others to be free, but we all want freedom in our own lives… it is others we argue, that should be subjugated. This duality of concept, that creates a friction in our societies, renders no man truly free.

Any system of government, religion or ethos, that allows men and women free will, is human hearted and in line with God’s will. As I have shown, if God believes that free will is the highest good then any system that uses pain of death to compel people to do, believe or think in a certain way, is antithetical to God’s will. Such a system will not be blessed no matter how powerful or wealthy. Power and wealth being merely human metrics of good. They fall far short of the role God has for us and our individual salvation. However, even by these secular measures of good, a system that allows free will, is blessed.

If we look at the most prosperous society in the history on Mankind, we see that it is Western culture. Western culture, buttressed by the Christian doctrine, that has expressly given homage to free will. Slavery as a system, was condemned and finally outlawed in the West, due to our father’s and mother’s moral outrage, at the taking of another’s free will by force. No other society in the history of Mankind has done this. It was Western society that eliminated the dread diseases from our midst. Western love of free will that produced the concept of a constitution, as a contract between the rulers and the ruled, limiting the power of the Elite, for the first time ever. The Free market and competition, which are a reflection of free will, have created incredible wealth, a prosperity that is so pervasive, it was unimaginable only a few centuries ago. All the good that has flowed from this recognition, of the role of free will in the lives of people, are blessings from God on the World. Yet, even the Western civilizations have fallen short of our own ideals, due to our egos, avarice and jealousy. No one is immune to the congenital nature of Man.

Today, the paradigm of human hearted religion, that has served us so well for so long, is being overturned by people that despise God, and the free will of others. We are increasingly being subjected to ever more intrusive regulation imposed by unelected bureaucrats. The Constitution that protected our liberty, so well for so long, is being rewritten to control us, instead of the Elite, as it was intended. The Constitution is called a “Living Breathing Document” which really says the Constitution means whatever the hell the Elite claim it does. Moral equivalency is all the rage in our academic circles. We are told it is “compassionate” to render our fellow human beings dependent on the government for food, clothing and housing. We are becoming subjects of an all powerful State. In short, our gift from God… free will, is being exchanged for empty trinkets and glittering lies. This is a bargain with the devil… because, since God gave us free will, it is the role of Lucifer to take it away.

Sincerely,

John Pepin

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911 Attacks on US Embassies

Posted on September 13, 2012 by john

Dear Friends,

It seems to me the attacks on the US embassies are the direct result of Obama’s policies. The Arab Spring was championed by Obama and his fawning press, despite the fact that history shows there would be a bad result, it would be a French revolution instead of an American one. In Egypt Obama forced Hosni Mubarak out of office. Obama sent bombers to decimate Qaddafi’s army during the Libyan rebellion. He has sent billions upon billions of dollars to Egypt and Libya to support their newly elected islamofascists regimes. Remember, Hitler came to power, in a free and fair election too. Obama lowered the status of America and all Westerners by bowing deeply to a Muslim king. The list is endless, how Obama and his supporters in the unbiased press, have diminished the American image and all the West, in the eyes of the Islamofascists. The attacks on the eleventh anniversary of 911, is of no surprise, nor the initial response of the Obama administration… apologizing to the Islamofascists, for having offended, the perpetually offended.

The unbiased media are backpedaling and rewriting history to support Obama. The Obama administration initially apologized to the Islamofascists. The American people were deeply offended by this. As a result the unbiased media now claim it never happened. They are so in the tank for this guy, they will stoop to the lowest level, deny reality, cover for him, outright lying, and if that doesn’t work… point the finger at someone else, even to the ludicrously absurd point of blaming Romney! What absolute malfeasance from the unbiased media. But, we have become used to their malpractice, remember the letters CBS fabricated out of whole cloth, regarding Bush’s military records, and then reported as true, days before the election?

Now Obama is sending drones to fly around the Libyan desert to find someone to take vengeance on!? The drones are supposedly looking for terrorist training camps that the Obama administration claims to know are there. In what world does that make any sense? If there are terrorist training camps there… why didn’t Obama act sooner? Why doesn’t he attend his Intel briefings? Why is he so intent on diminishing us to dhimmi and elevating Islamofascists to the righteously offended?

The Islamofascists, the unbiased media and the Obama administration, are in lockstep once again. They are blaming some idiotic movie ridiculing mohamed. Really? How stupid do they think we are? Apparently, pretty stupid! There are hundreds of movies ridiculing mohamed. He is the easiest person in history to ridicule. He raped women, he made lying a religious duty, he was a pedophile and he slaughtered anyone who didn’t bow down to him. Such a man deserves no praise but the derision of all people the World over. To claim they were so offended, by one of the hundreds of movies that disrespect mohamed, they had a right to storm the American embassies, is sophistry of the highest order.

The really offensive thing about this whole affair is that it was perpetrated on the anniversary of 911. To claim it wasn’t intended to offend Americans, Christians, and all Westerners, is an insult to our intelligence. Dates are all important to the Islamofascists. They know that the Islamic invasion of Europe was stopped at the gates of Vienna on September 11, 1683 . Their “peaceful” advance into Europe, was marked by the “loving” enslaving of everyone they came across, “peaceable” raping of women, and the “caring” slaughter of Europeans. That is why September 11, 2001, was the Islamic return to the field of battle against the West… and continues in 2012.

It is childish to send drones into the desert, looking for some hapless Muslim sheep herder to kill in retribution, and then claim, “We showed them.” That is as barbaric as the storming of our embassies. The answer is, shut off all aid to Egypt and Libya. Cancel the join military exercise with the Egyptian military. The exercise where the American army was going to teach the Egyptian military how to conduct offensive operations. Who, I wonder, are the Egyptians planning on invading? Sudan, Libya, Chad… Or perhaps the nation they have invaded several times in the past… Israel? The only free capitalist nation in the Middle East. We must stop the flow of every penny in aid, military, economic and other. Moreover the Obama administration must cancel the plan to buy attack submarines for Egypt. They cannot even feed their own citizens! What does Egypt need with a powerful military? The economies of Egypt and Libya are in a shambles… Libya is now a failed State. Instead of preparing for war, if the Islamofascists that rule Egypt today seek prosperity for their people, perhaps they should,… oh, I don’t know, maybe, cut regulation, clean up their civil service, attend to the rampant corruption in their government and society, cut taxes, or maybe invest in infrastructure? If we see real advance on these issues then we can restart foreign aid…

We see the intentions of the Muslim Brotherhood in stark clarity. Obama has been appointing Muslim Brotherhood members into high offices in his administration. Putting the Muslim Brotherhood ‘s propaganda needs over the security of US citizens. Obama has changed FBI training manuals so they wouldn’t offend the Brotherhood. He has changed the goal of NASA, from going to the stars, to making Muslims feel better about their contribution to the Space Program. This makes Obama’s position clear as well, anything is superior to Western culture, religion and history… making Obama either stupid or evil. There is no other possibility.

We are in dire threat of being the generation that allowed liberty to slip from our hands. If that happens the human race will be plunged into another thousand years of dark ages. Maybe one our posterity will never emerge from. If that happens, we will have to stand before almighty God, and admit that our stupidity and arrogance, allowed Mankind to fall into darkness. Many actively seek it. Let us actively try to keep that from happening.

Sincerely,

John Pepin

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Our Culture’s Dehumanization, and Elevation to Godhood, of Mankind

Posted on September 9, 2012 by john

Dear Friends,

It seems to me, our culture reduces us to less than human, while at the same time inflating us to the status of gods. The seemingly irreconcilable duality of this concept is actually quite intuitive if you think about it. Our scientists have, since the age of enlightenment, told us science can accomplish anything… even create life. Meanwhile academia redefines the human being into a mere automaton. Culture has taken these two concepts, of the nature and ability of Man, and amalgamated them into a pernicious whole. They lower Men and women to no better than a salamander, in fact the environmentalists claim the salamander is higher than Man, because it doesn’t pollute, while making Mankind out to be virtual gods, creates a people who are callus to the plight of our fellow man and inflates our egos. If an indifferent and egoistic people is the best ethos our modern society can come up with, we can reliably say that our culture, academia and science… do us great disservice.

The dehumanization of Man is rampant today. Our culture tells us, in many subtle and not so subtle ways, that Man is no better than an animal. Environmentalists, as I pointed out previously, claim that animals are more virtuous than Man. Whenever their regulations destroy jobs and economic growth, due to an owl that, as it turns out, is being pushed out by it’s own cousins, not logging, is more important than us feeding our families, they lower our worth to less than that of a wild animal.

The National Academy of Health has recently come out with a paper that explicitly claims that “after birth abortion” is a viable way to kill babies that don’t meet their standards or have parents that are unfit. They argue that babies who have not been born, and babies that are less than a year old, do not have the “moral” standing of an adult! How can someone, as evil as the person who wrote that, use the term moral!?!? I cannot think of anything else that lowers us to less than human… more than that. To say that some people should be murdered, in a humane way, is the least humane thing anyone can say or believe… especially a doctor!

Academia makes itself out to be the equivalent of god. They delve into the sciences with gusto and behold the workings of God. Then they have the ultimate hubris to think they are capable of godly acts. Nothing could be further from the truth. The eggheads in our institutions of higher learning almost universally have great disdain for God. They preach atheism from their highly paid “teaching” positions and aver that Man is unlimited in our ability. They laugh scornfully at the righteous man and speak derisively about the role of divinity in the lives of men. The same people who diminish us to mere automatons and animals, consider themselves, God’s equal.

Perhaps the best example of the dehumanization of Man, coupled with the notion we are the godhead, is abortion. Nothing lowers human beings more than the slaughter of babies. To change their status, simply by changing their title, is a sophist rhetorical tool. Mensheviks, Untermensch, and Jews were dehumanized this way, to allow for their massacre, by the Nazis and communists in ages past. As if a moniker justifies crimes against humanity. We know the results of those evil philosophies. The mass slaughter of swaths of humanity. But, at the same time, abortion elevates us to the role of God. Deciding, for whatever selfish reason that touches our fancy, who should live and who should die, puts us in the place of God. It is self evidently true, abortion is the epitome of this idea… that we are both subhuman, and gods.

But only a fool believes that the ability to kill bestows godhood. Since Cain killed his brother Abel, the ability to murder our fellow man in cold blood, has not raised us, it has lowered us… not to subhuman but to a fallen people. A bacterium has the ability to kill, but germs are not gods, and only a half-wit would argue they are. To deny our humanity is the argument of egoist. A person that believes in personal self interest above all. For, if he or she can lower us to mere animals, we can be yoked and herded, like oxen… and put to his bidding.

The thoughtlessness and hubris of the Elite, that promulgate such nonsense will lead, inevitably as it has in the past, to inhumanities visited on Mankind. This is as certain as fall comes after summer and winter after fall. The reality is, we are human beings and each of us has intrinsic worth… regardless of our age. We are not gods, and we should keep that in mind, lest we become evil in the most vile sense of the word. Loosing our souls and actually becoming animals, with delusions of godhood. It is prudence to keep this in mind as we engage in the affairs of Man.

Sincerely,

John Pepin

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“Representative” Party?

Posted on September 6, 2012 by john

Dear Friends,

It seems to me… a political party should at least pretend to represent the people of the country they govern. In what universe does it make sense for a political party to insult the dominant religion of the people, in favor of one that is diametrically opposed to the values and Constitution, of their founders? Does it make sense for a political party to expect to be reelected, when their economic policies have done such great damage, to the interests of the vast majority of economic actors? What people would think that it is acceptable to clearly lie about their record, their results and their intentions? You would think that we would react unkindly to this level of affront to our sensibilities. To allow such actions to go unquestioned by the unbiased media puts our Republic and our welfare in dire jeopardy.

The Democratic convention started out with a Muslim Jumah prayer. The prayer was on Friday and was sanctioned by the party. The party that seeks to allow sharia law within our boarders! Lest anyone be ignorant of the tenets of Sharia… let’s remind you. Sharia allows polygamy, marriage to female children of 9 years old, stoning of women accused of adultery… rape included, execution of anyone who converts away from Islam, dhimmi status of all non Muslims and a host of other rules that are in direct opposition to our laws and the tenets of the Constitution of the United States. While Muslim prayers began the Democratic Convention references to God was removed from their platform.

The most ardent ally of the United States in the Middle East, perhaps the World, is Israel. The Democrats have removed the plank in their party calling for the sanctity of Jerusalem and US support for Israel. To throw our staunchest ally under the bus, would seem to be heartless, and shows other allies that their friendship is not guaranteed under a Democratic regime. If our closest ally can be callously tossed away how can any ally trust us?

The Democrats party while the economy burns. News story after news story inform us that the United States has slipped in competitiveness, is facing runaway inflation, has now hit 100% plus debt to GDP, faces more high unemployment for years to come… and economic woes are the new normal. How is it, anyone can read this economic news, and not be moved at the disconnection between what the Democrats say about their efforts. and the results of those efforts? Moreover, isn’t it a slap in our collective faces, that the Democrats claim the private sector is doing fine… it is government that needs more money?

Just a casual look at the economic numbers is sobering. According to the Fed’s own fact sheet, the amount of M1 and M2 money in circulation, has grown at 17.8% in the last three months! Yet the Fed is actually talking about printing more money in their newest incarnation of Quantitative Easing! Apparently these people don’t think the laws of economics apply to them. But then again… why should they, no other laws seem to.

What becomes of a political party when they stop representing the people and resent them instead? The slaps in the face to the American people are coming faster and they are hitting us harder with every whack. I wonder, if we have become like a battered woman, too used to the humiliation and assaults to walk out and try something different. The batterer wants us to think the World outside is dangerous but we know the world inside is. At what point does the abuse of our religion, economy, blatant lies and dignity become so much that we turn from them?

The trouble is… are the Republicans that much better? Well at least some of them agree with the American people. Not the ones in charge now, but more and more, as the Elite Republicans like McCain are replaced by Tea Party types. You can reliably tell who is against us and the Republic, when they attack people who are for us, like Michele Bachmann, when they insult our intelligence with blatant lies, as they call the majority opinion extreme… and work to undermine our Constitution. The answer will be determined in November. Lets hope we choose wisely, else our Republic is in danger, as are our allies around the World. Or are we already too used to the insults to do anything about it?

Sincerely,

John Pepin

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Should We Spread Democracy or Capitalism Around the World?

Posted on September 2, 2012 by john

Dear Friends,

It seems to me, that the sophist call for the US to spread “democracy” around the World, shows how foolish and stupefied we have all become. Democracy is no more synonymous with freedom and prosperity than aristocracy, monarchy or even republicanism. They are forms of government, that usually, have a lack of freedom for the individual as their chief attribute. Democracy has an equally horrible track record in this regard as any dictator or oligarch. Aristotle said, “democracy is the tyranny of the majority over the minority” and his sentiments were echoed by the US founding fathers. That is why Ben Franklin, when asked what kind of government the founders had given us, replied, “A Republic, if you can keep it.” A more correct thing, for America and other freedom loving people around the World to spread, would be capitalism.

Democracy was one of Aristotle’s wrong forms of government. He listed the correct forms of government as, polity, aristocracy and monarchy… and the wrong forms as, democracy, oligarchy and tyranny. The thing the right forms have in common is that they rule for the betterment of all. The wrong forms in that they rule for the benefit of the rulers. Democracy is no different. The size of the oppressor group is superfluous.

If we seek a more peaceful and prosperous World, what we should be spreading, is free market capitalism! It is free market capitalism that has led to the fastest and most widespread prosperity the World has ever seen. The history of Man is one of poverty for the masses and prosperity for the few. Capitalism turns that on it’s head and distributes prosperity, and freedom, to everyone.

Free markets and capitalism requires, as a prerequisite, freedom of the individual. To attempt to have free markets without freedom for the individual is like trying to breathe water. It cannot be done. This is because, for a free market to work, we must be free to live our lives and engage in business. We must be free to win and free to fail. Often it is in failure that we learn to succeed. We must be allowed to take risks and to make our own decisions about our lives, habits and time. We must have room from regulation, to create new paradigms of business, meet new and expanding human needs and wants…and our lives must be our own. Else the free market simply collapses and becomes distributive justice by political favor, the historical norm.

Capitalist systems, and all other economic systems, are by their nature complex systems. Complex systems are systems of individual actors who are independent, diverse, interconnected, able to adapt, interdependent and respond to their local environments. Democracy, being the tyranny of the majority over the minority, undermines some of the basic attributes of a complex system. Tyranny, in all it’s forms, limits the ability of actors to, adapt, eliminates diversity and independence, while increasing interdependency to ridiculous heights. If the complex system of economics is allowed to function, with all it’s warts as well as it’s halos, the lot of Man is improved. If it is undermined, by a man or group seeking it’s own good, above the good of all, the lot of Mankind is lowered.

No system is perfect, but the horrors visited on Mankind, by economic and political systems, that use distributive justice by political favor as their model, have been universally evil. History is littered with the detritus of failed States, mutilated bodies and destroyed families, that used this model. Many had democracy as their cornerstone. But, they sought to distribute the goods of society by political favor, from those with no political power to those with political power… believing it to be more fair. The killing fields of Cambodia, Stalin’s purges, Mao’s famines, mass slaughter of dissidents in communist countries, mass graves, Nazism and other ideologies systematic extermination of people, like Jews, Gypsies, Armenians and others, are outcomes of this pernicious notion, that majority rule is the be all and end all of human existence.

As I have shown, to say that democracy is the highest good, is sophistry. This is self evident once a person takes a long hard look at the underlying logic. It is not to say that every form of government should not have a democratic component, because for a government to be legitimate, it must have the consent of the governed. But it is to say, that democracy in and of itself, is not the final answer, it is more often than not, a means to trick people into empowering an oppressor group, the size of that group being irrelevant to the fact they are despots. If we truly want to improve the lot of Man, and put an end to the inhumanities that have plagued mankind throughout the ages, we must seek to spread capitalism around the World. Capitalism, a system that has led to the unheard of standard of living we enjoy today. A lifestyle that is put at risk, when we fall prey to foolish and sophistic claims, that democracy is the font of all that is good. That is why I say, “We must spread free markets and freedom around the World… if we want peace and prosperity.” If you want poverty and atrocity, however, then democracy is as good a way to go as any.

Sincerely,

John Pepin

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Monetary Policy and Economic Growth

Posted on August 30, 2012 by john

Dear Friends,

It seems to me that the US FED and the ECB, are not as much sowing the seeds of the next financial catastrophe, as they are planting, watering, and fertilizing them. Economists today have far too much confidence in the ability of monetary policy to save a faltering economy. We see this in the way the equities markets eschew real economic data, for perceived changes, or “easing,” of monetary policy. The market rises on hopes the US FED will print money and falls on a rumor the FED will stop printing money. This state of affairs not only endangers our economy in the US, but threatens economies around the world, with becoming addicted to smoke and mirrors and ignoring economic realities.

There is an economic theory that is relevant to this discussion… it is called the neutrality of money. I believe it was Milton Friedman who coined the term. This theory states that money is neutral to an economy, in that if the amount is increased, prices will rise in accordance to the increase, and long term economic output will remain unchanged. For example, if an economy is at full utilization of it’s resources, a state called equilibrium, and more money is added to the economy, after the initial economic disruption caused by the “helicopter drop of money,” the economy will return to equilibrium, and the only change will be inflation.

In the short term, the printed currency might cause people to spend the additional money, thus driving up demand and economic output. This “stimulus” if you will, is a short term phenomenon however. The short term “stimulus” of added money, is undermined if people expect higher inflation, or put another way, they anticipate what the FED is doing. People aren’t stupid, they will horde the extra money, in “anticipation” of the higher inflation that will inevitably result.

We see inflationary pressure in QE1 and QE2, in the dramatic rise in commodity prices, that resulted from these FED actions. Operation TWIST, the FED buying long term assets to drive down long term interest rates, didn’t have nearly the same asset price inflation as Quantitative easing did, (printing money). This may be because the rate of anticipation was higher, the global economy had dropped so low it was irrelevant and the risk aversion of people, (in this case small businesses), had dropped so low, the cheap money wasn’t taken advantage of, or perhaps due to people’s assumption of a negative economic future.

People in government, the media and economics, are reluctant to blame Obama, or the democrat’s policies, for the anemic economic recovery, even though the FED has done more to “stimulate” the economy in this recession than at any other time in history. Interest rates are at historic lows and the US Dollar has lost 40% of it’s value in the last decade. According to the Keynesian… this should result in an extremely fast economic rebound. That this hasn’t happened is, at least anecdotal evidence, that monetary policy has minimum ability to raise economic outcomes.

In fact, in 1920 the US economy was in a deep recession, perhaps even deeper than the “Great recession.” At that time Warren Harding committed the greatest of economic sins, he cut spending, cut regulation and cut taxes! While at the same time, the FED raised interest rates, (destroyed money), possibly to undermine Harding’s reforms. The result was staggering, the Roaring Twenties happened. Possibly the fastest rate of economic expansion the US has ever experienced. If we examine this period in US economic history, as well as the Reagan years of fast economic expansion, the effect of the FED to use contractionary monetary policy, to effect growth in the economy, pales in comparison to the ability of the executive to expand it.

The firestorm that Nial Ferguson has come under, for even hinting that Obama’s economic policies have anything to do with our miserable economic rebound, is clear evidence there is a price to pay for telling the truth. There are some people calling for the tenured professor to loose his tenure and his job. The reaction from the eggheads in academia, is more telling of their political position on the matter, than any real statement on economics. This might explain why so few economists are willing to point out that it may very well be, Obama’s vilifying of businessmen, his draconian regulation, his constant push to increase taxes, blatant partisanship, his out of control spending, his gutting of Medicare to fund Obama care or his overreaching Constitutional bounds, that has been such a drag on our recovery. The economic malaise we are experiencing, despite the historic exertions of the FED, are entirely due to factors outside the control of the FED.

The results of the FED’s actions will inevitably lead to runaway inflation… as economic theory says it will. The continuing printing of money by the FED, and now potentially the ECB, will end up damaging the ability of people, the world over to have real economic growth. Bernanke will go down in history as a villain, even though he was instrumental in saving the World from economic collapse, in 2008. The exchange rate of the World’s currencies will be forever reset, The World will go into a great recession and China’s economic miracle will be crushed by the resulting tsunami of worthless dollars… All so that Nobel laureate Obama can escape the blame for his actions. Pretty pathetic if you ask me.

Sincerely,

John Pepin

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Evil’s Intolerance of Good and Good’s Tolerance of Evil

Posted on August 26, 2012 by john

Dear Friends,

It seems to me that evil is intolerant of good, and good tolerates evil, at it’s own peril. The intolerance of those that seek socialism is an example of evil’s intolerance, and the tolerance of good people to the lowering of the culture, is an example of tolerance that endangers good. Our culture is art war with itself in this regard. Forces vie to destroy the foundational attributes of our society and government while the good, who are constantly called intolerant by evil, keep quiet this in the name of diversity. Yet those that claim the mantle of diversity are the least tolerant of real diversity. Our society, culture and liberties are in peril due to this dichotomy in thinking.

The culture of the US and Europe is getting lowered daily. We are bombarded with negative messages. Some are obvious, like when television shows idolize indolence, promiscuity, drug use and criminal behavior, while others are less obvious, such as when movies make the villain the hero. These cultural messages all have the same thing in common… they lower the virtues of the people who consume them.

Abortion is a sacrament of evil. We are told that if we have a problem with the evil that is abortion we are intolerant. Spurious arguments are used constantly to shut us up. Some of the sophist arguments include, I would rather a baby be aborted than be abused. If this is true, then the person making this argument should commit suicide immediately, else they may someday be abused. In cases of rape and incest, as if these things are so rampant in our society, they justify millions of on demand abortions a year. It is the woman’s right to choose, yet these same people don’t believe we have the right to choose, how much soda we drink, what to do with our trash, how dirty out cars are allowed to be, how many windows should be in our homes, what kind of car we should drive, what we should eat or what we must and must not teach our children. The hypocrisy of this argument is blatant if you merely look for it. Abortion is really about the lowering of our consideration for human life.

Gay marriage has nothing to do with equal rights but has everything to do with further lowering the value people have for marriage. The ancient Greeks engaged in homosexual behavior as a matter of daily occurrence. Sparta encoded it in their very laws. Alcibiades met Socrates through homosexual intercourse… yet they didn’t have gay marriage. Are we to assume the ancient Greeks were homophobes? Marriage is, and has always been, about the procreation of children. Society has a vested interest in the continuation of the species. Marriage is the way society and government recognize this reality. Gay marriage is a way to convince us that marriage, and all that is good… come from government.

The work ethic has been so diminished, that many people especially younger people, are incapable of engaging in the market system. Rampant drug use and persistently high youth unemployment creates people who cannot hold a job. People who are addicted to opioid drugs cannot function without them, and when they are inebriated, they cannot operate anything safely. Those who go years and years without getting up in the morning and going to work, become unable to subjugate their emotions, they have no self control, to take orders from an employer. Our culture and regulation have created an entire generation that are increasingly unable to hold down a job. That is not to say that there are not youths who are hard workers and will do well, it is to say that the evil incentives in our society, are ruining the ability of more and more people to be productive and live successful lives.

As our culture is diminished the power of government must grow. Machiavelli said, a corrupt people cannot be free. He meant that in a corrupt society, business cannot go on. Your shop will be broken into constantly, your person is not safe, your children are not safe, your home is not safe and you cannot trust anyone you do business with. In such a society, tyranny is the order of the day, because everyone will turn to the oppressor who claims he will keep you safe. But, as Ben Franklin said, he who gives up liberty for safety will get neither.

We continue to tolerate evil in our midst at our and ours children’s peril. The negative consequences of our tolerance are there for anyone to see. We merely have to open our eyes to it. Evil finds good absolutely intolerable however. Look at the vitriolic ways they characterize good. Anyone who finds abortion objectionable is called a murderer of abortion doctors, those of us who are against gay marriage are called homophobes, those of us who seek a free market, are said to be uncaring for the plight of the poor, those of us who look to God for guidance, have the most vitriol heaped on us… and anyone who calls attention to this, is labeled a hatemonger. It is obvious, that evil is intolerant of good, but good tolerates evil not only at our own peril, but to continue to do so and not call evil what it is, threatens the very society we live in. Those that are the proponents of evil are fearless, we must be equally as fearless in our response, else we cede the World to malevolence, intolerance and poverty.

Sincerely,

John Pepin

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