I Like the New Employee Manual

Demotivator

Good Morning Carnivore, ECHELON, and All Your Pals

Is giving them up really the only way to “preserve” our freedoms? In that case, count me out.

For more understanding, search the internet for words found in the title of this post and related topics. Yes, the terms are slightly dated but the concepts, unfortunately, are not. Post your own list, just to keep the self-proclaimed good guys on their toes.

Albert Allah America Arnold Assassinate
Baby Barack Biden Bilderbergers Blow Bomber Bruce Bureau Bush
Carter Chavez Cheney Christian Clinton Communist Conspiracy Council
Danforth Democrat Destroy Device
Earl Enemy Explosive Extremist
Fear Federal Foreign Frederick Freedom
Genocide George Gore Government
Herbert Hugo Hussein
Illuminati Improvised Investigation Iran Iraq Islam Israel
James Jefferson Jew Joseph
Kill Klan Klux Ku
McVeigh Mondale Murder Muslim
Obama Overthrow
Party People Plot Power
Quayle
Racist Radical Reagan Relations Republican Revolution Richard Right Robinette Ronald
Socialist Soldier States Suicide Supremacist
Tax Tea Terrorist Timothy
Underground United
Vast Veteran Violent
Waco Walker Walter War White William Wilson Wing

The Families of Man – Conclusion (Seventh and final part in a series.)

It should be obvious by now that the various social units of humanity, like most other organized structures in this universe, are simply increasingly larger and more complex replications of the unit preceding. Individual to Family, Family to Community, Community to County, County to State, State to Country, Country to World: All of these are structures that are fundamentally the same, just as the rings spreading out from a rock tossed into a pond are larger than the ones inside but otherwise little different.

Few individuals can be successful unto themselves. Even those who are eventually fail, since if they don’t permit their existence to spread beyond themselves then their existence ceases with their death, and might as well never have been. To have one’s genes, one’s thoughts, one’s very acts upon the physical World disappear with their final breath is a compelling definition of “pointlessness”.

Therefore, we must reach beyond ourselves, to grasp and shape a meaning for the existence we enjoy. We bond with others in webs of ever-increasing complexity to provide security and access to resources in order to shape and produce our contribution to the endless mosaic of life. The more we protect, nurture, guide and help others, the more we will receive those same benefits in return. Taking without giving back, withdrawing rather than stepping forth, we add nothing to the whole and concurrently diminish the self.

Helping needs to be an interactive and mutually beneficial process. Taking from one person and simply giving to another creates nothing; it only moves what already exists from one place to another. One individual consuming resource to produce something of value to another, and that other providing resource in exchange for that value increases the net value to all. An expanding web of increased value spreads out, growing endlessly larger and endlessly complex.

The best thing anyone – any person, any group, any government can do is to stay out of the way of producers. The more that is confiscated of a producers resources, the less future value will be able to be produced. When the value of what is produced becomes less than the value of what it takes to do the producing, production inevitably grinds to a halt. It is foolish to expend more effort that will be realized in return.

It has been said, “ten percent is good enough for God”, and there is a lot of truth in that sentiment. An increasing percentage of a decreasing pie results in smaller returns for the taxing authority. Government does require a revenue stream to enforce the security and freedom necessary for its citizens to flourish. Take too much though and that stream turns into a trickle. Those intended to benefit instead suffer, and the suffering tends to spread until all experience the hardship to some degree. Whenever a Family gets out of balance, when needed resources are withheld from some members the whole Family begins to feel the pain. Any government is simply an element of a larger Family, and it must execute its role in a manner that impacts the rest of the Family in the least negative manner possible. Take what is needed, but no more. Give assistance where required, but only when the other members of the Family have run out of options and the capacity to aid each other. That is how they grow stronger and more capable to face the future on their own. Let them teach each other to fish, rather than meeting the trawler at the dock and confiscating the catch to be distributed. Do that often enough and the captain will simply stop taking his ship out to sea.

To derive the greatest benefit from all the families one is a member of it is necessary to give those families the greatest benefit one has to offer. It is not possible to go it alone over the long haul.

Faith, and forward.

World (Part 6 in a series.)

The largest possible Family available to us – so far! – is the World. Countries do join together in mutually beneficial partnerships that not only further their own interests but also yield benefits that are far greater than either party could on its own. This is no different whether those joining together are countries, communities, families, or, on the first rung of the ladder, two individuals. The result, in a successful union, is the same: added benefit for all.

Is it possible or even desirable for all the individual families of man to join together into a single mega-Family? Yes, and probably yes. Within individual families, members grow up to become artists and athletes and farmers. Some can turn out straight, some gay, and some are largely solitary by choice and comfortable with that choice as right for who they are. In successful families, all of these differences are acknowledged and embraced, and the Family is inevitably strengthened as a result.

As a World we could eventually reach that point, but we aren’t close to doing so yet. Too many of our families are dysfunctional, and do not accept or respect the differences of their members. A parent will insist upon disowning a gay child. One religious Community will fight against another for failing to believe correctly, or insisting upon believing at all. Interdependent communities squabble amongst themselves for access to mutually necessary resources, often to the detriment of both. Country fights Country, often for no better reason than they can, or worse because they always have.

None of which are reasons to give up the struggle. All of us, whether born in the United States or anywhere else have the right to enjoy the pursuit of happiness. So long as we continue to exercise that right, and insist that it not be hindered, we are moving in a right direction. It would be presumptuous to declare any particular direction as the right one, as so many are available and the eventual outcomes of any particular path largely unknowable. As long as we keep moving in a direction, we are likely to get somewhere. And if we don’t like it when we get there, nothing prevents us from moving on again.

Country (Part 5 in a series.)

When a Community of communities comes together for their mutual benefit and security, you have states and ultimately countries. A diverse group of individuals, families, and communities joined together with a core common principle: The expression of self, exercised in the security of an ever-widening web of Family for the benefit of those the self encounters. Whether others actively help the individual along their path of personal and familial growth is not important. What is important is that the ever greater Community does not actively impede the growth and expression unnecessarily.

The Country exists for the benefit of the individual, not the other way around. The primary objective of the Country should be the protection of its constituent members. Keep away those who would destroy or wantonly impede those members. Provide, but only in the instance of a last resort, for the succor and preservation of any constituent sub-unit of the Country. It is not the role of the Country to declare what color blanket a newborn child should be wrapped in, what manner of final disposal a newly deceased citizen should have, nor how any of a nearly uncountable number of choices should be made between those two life defining events.

The Country that is serving its citizens best is the Country that is serving its citizens least, and even then only when the service is desired and desirable. If two neighbors determine it is mutually beneficial to them to bridge the river between their properties, then in most cases it is best to leave it to them to amass their resources, affect the desired construction, and mutually reap the attendant benefits. Who is well served when the government steps in and builds that bridge for them, but also paves over their respective properties and renders their homesteads all but useless? Help is not at all helpful when it destroys that which it is purported to serve. As the scope of governments grows, an inverse square law of decreasing common sense would seem to apply. Those closest to the problem usually have the best answers, and are too often the least listened to when an ever more distant and disconnected government involves itself.

Community (Part 4 in a series.)

Just as a Family is a collection of individuals bonding together to create a stable and secure environment for the expression of self, a Community is a collection of individual families bonding together to form an environment secure from the depredations of others who might seek to take that which the Community values. The Family is an extension and a magnification of the individual, and in the same manner the Community is an extension of and allows for the magnification of the Family.

The Family exists so that the needs of the less capable can be met and nurtured, ideally raising the weak to a position of self-sufficiency. When it is functioning correctly, Community provides the same security for individual Families. Through a combination of individual skills, personal inclinations, and even largely uncontrollable circumstances, not all Families are going to have access to the same resources nor will the same resources be utilized with equal efficiency among different Family groups. What Community does is enable those members who are less competent or less fortunate, and even those to some degree who are unwilling to put forth the effort to be a fully participating and productive member of the Community, to enjoy the opportunity to survive and perhaps even thrive.

Each of us is ensured the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Life is the breath we draw as a consequence of being born, and no one individual has the right to deprive another of that right. Liberty is the freedom to engage in those actions that satisfy a need of the individual without infringing upon the right of another individual to do the same. The pursuit of happiness is presumably what the individual is after when exercising liberty. Some will seem to have it from birth, while others may strive a lifetime and always feel they have come up short of the goal. For most, a middle ground is the most likely place they will find themselves. Happiness is endlessly attained and relinquished; or, having attained one objective that defines happiness, another is discovered for which to strive. Pieces of one’s personal happiness goal may be held at different times though never all of the perceived pursuit at any one time. That is inherent in the pursuit of happiness: It is different for every human being, it is the privilege of every human being to strive for the attainment of happiness, but no one is guaranteed the success of reaching that idealized state.

Just as a Family will nurture their own and provide an environment in which they and grow and achieve new successes, so too must a Community of Families provide a safe haven in which all their members are free and secure to discover and explore their own paths. It is only through this process that new and unimagined benefits are returned to the Community for the benefit of, if not all, certainly many.

It is not the obligation of the Community to see that Widow Johansen down the street is cared for properly. She does make a mean batch of Christmas cookies each year that are to die for though. And does anyone remember the forty-seven years she spent teaching at the elementary school before they finally made her retire? She probably taught you, and your kids if you’ve been a member of the Community that long. Aren’t you better off for that helping hand she gave you? Is an hour to shovel her sidewalk too much to give back? A weekend spent repairing her roof to keep out the rain? Hasn’t she earned the simple pleasure of a cup of coffee with a fellow traveler once in a while, just to reassure he she’s not been forgotten or discarded? Are these comforts and protections that can truly be provided through a check from a faceless bureaucrat at the state or federal level?

That is the security and the comfort that the Family of Community offers those Families and even those individual Family members that comprise it.

Family (Part 3 in a series.)

A life founded on Faith, on a belief that there is either something or someone greater than self for which to live or that the simple fact of existence grants one the capacity, right, and perhaps even obligation to define a meaning or purpose for that existence greater than the self, requires an outlet for the expression of that Faith. Though the opportunities for outlet are many, and the more that are indulged in the more effective and purposeful one’s life will be, the first and strongest outlet is Family.

Family is the basic unit upon which any society is built. The individual is important, but essentially useless without others. Thousands of bricks can be joined together to build a house. A single brick, though, is just a brick. It is important for the brick to be formed, but until that brick is joined with others in a purpose beyond its own single existence it has no reason for being. Once joined it provides a critical element in the creation of a much greater whole.

The individual is that brick. Having accepted the responsibility of Faith to look beyond the self, the individual can join with another and build something far greater than it would be possible to accomplish alone.

The traditional Family is vitally necessary. A man and a woman and their various offspring are necessary for the simple biological imperative of combining existing DNA into new and potentially greater patterns. Without the creation and nurturing of new DNA factories, Faith and all the rest really is meaningless. Is it possible to procreate outside the bonds of a traditional Family unit? Certainly. Biology could care less where it finds its Petri dish. As long as the experiment can be conducted, biology is satisfied. The advantage to the Family is that it provides a secure, stable environment in which new generations of DNA can be protected and nurtured by one parent while needed resources from the outside can be obtained and brought home by the other. It is not the only way to accomplish this, but it is among the most effective methods a long period of trial and error has devised.

Is a traditional Family unit of male, female, and biological offspring the only viable or even sensible structure? Of course not. Two males or two females, while incapable of producing their own biological offspring between themselves, certainly have the capacity to love, nurture, and provide for the growth and development of a new human life. Look around, there are plenty of little people in need of parents to help them along. Those children may be orphans, or the cast-off detritus of the unwanted consequences from biological urges being satisfied, or simply unfortunate enough to have come into a Family unit that was emotionally or financially too unstable to rear them.

This leads to the grand bugaboo of marriage. Marriage, at it core, is a social contract between two beings to be mutually supportive and to provide for the successful generation of offspring to carry the process forward. That contract, when defined by the specific word marriage, exists within the structure of religious teaching. That contract works equally well for many who take part in no formally recognized theological structure. The debate surrounding marriage tends to focus on the religious aspect of the institution and not the social contract element. Society benefits whenever two – or more – people are formally bound to each other in a publicly proclaimed and sanctioned contract of mutual support and obligation. That support includes financial, emotional, physical, and numerous other elements. It also includes caring for the children who will carry that society forward.

As long as those who choose to bond into a non-traditional Family unit respect the choices of those who have a religious and more overtly Faith-based foundation to their unions, they deserve to have that respect returned in kind. No one has to like or agree with the choices of another, but so long as those choices are not inflicted upon unwilling participants then there is no harm. Given its religious foundations, “marriage” is an emotionally charged word. Defenders of the Faith have no choice but to unite! Perhaps it is time to create a “legal union” for purposes of the State sanctioning and bestowal of the benefits and privileges of individuals joining together, and leave it up to the various Faiths of the world to define and confer the blessings of Marriage upon those deemed deserving of that privilege. Two similar but separate institutions for two similar but separate purposes.

Having secured the Family, one is then ready to embark upon the fabrication of a Community.

Faith (Part 2 in a series.)

This first point was originally conceived of as “God”. Reflection on the potentially inflammatory nature of that word led to the less specific, and therefore more encompassing, term “Faith”.

Faith is not a belief in God, or Allah, or Yahweh, or the Goddess, or even the grand harmonization between marshmallow, chocolate, and graham cracker known as S’mores. Faith certainly encompasses all of those things, and more, but like true Faith that definition is far too limiting. Faith does not require a grand cathedral, though some people do. Faith does not need a bonfire to dance naked around, but some insist upon doing so. Faith isn’t only happy when solitary upon a mountaintop, even though some only can be happy in that setting.

Faith is not simply a matter of which aspect of deity is recognized and worshiped. Indeed, Faith does not require acknowledgment of any deity at all. Faith does require that one look outside oneself and experience some greater purpose. Faith is the difference between simply existing as a recombinant DNA factory and living. It is not necessary to have Faith in order to go about the tasks of daily existence – eating, defecating, the odd bit of procreating – but it certainly can be used as a springboard for making of that mere existence something much greater than it otherwise would be. Whether it is the promise of a glorious after life or the simple guileless smile of a child, having a reason to get out of bed each day is what makes doing so something other than an exercise in futility.

Whatever Faith you follow, it is the best Faith there is. Proclaim your Belief, wear it proudly, allow it to be a defining element of who you are. If you don’t believe your Faith is the best, the most perfectly right, then why would you waste your time with it? Who could trust a Pope who proclaimed to St. Peter’s Square “Yes! We’re kinda alright, but man do those Muslims really got it going on!” Be proud of the Faith you follow, and hold to your convictions. Share your understanding with the world. More importantly, be ready to have all those you encounter in the world share their Faith with you. Don’t expect them to be any less fervent or impassioned about their Faith than you are. Demand it, in fact. Because if they don’t have conviction they lack a goal, and a purpose, and will be easily swayed by any enticing offer that comes along. Principles of convenience are no principles at all but merely the t-shirt being worn that day.

When you encounter those who do not share, even in broad terms, the Faith you hold dear, respect their difference. So long as they honestly and fervently hold to their beliefs, respect that fealty. Share your own convictions, but do not bludgeon your audience with them. True Faith obliges the follower to express their views fervently, but it is possible to have fervor without rancor. It is incumbent upon the individual to conduct social interactions in this manner. Listen to what those you meet have to say, respectfully and without resorting to simple derision of their ignorance. If at the end of the day neither of you is able to persuade the other to a new point of view that is fine. Accept that your Faith is strong, and that another has granted you a different viewpoint from which to examine your Faith, and be proud that you have respectfully offered the same service in return.

Faith is. Faith does not require blood to be shed on Its behalf in order to be defended. It is possible to command obedience through a greater capacity to apply force, but not respect. Any Faith that relies upon the physical force of Its adherents does not have respectful followers but simply has those who display obedience through compulsion. There is no Faith at all.

Once you do have your Faith, however, as a foundation upon which to build your life you are ready to embark upon the next point of responsibility for a sentient being: Family.

The Families of Man (Part 1 in a series.)

On January 20, 1961, John Fitzgerald Kennedy gave his Inaugural Address from the East Front of the United States Capitol. One of the most often quoted passages from an often quoted speech is: “And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.” Forty-eight years later, that call to the spirit of all that is noble in Man has been stood upon its head. Today, too many ask only what their country is going to give to them. They wonder also why they should even consider giving anything to their country.

This is a mindset that must be changed if the nation created by the Founding Fathers is to continue in any recognizable form. Indeed, this is a mindset that must be changed if a free and unfettered humanity is to survive both within these borders and beyond.

It has become widely accepted that “The Government” should do for the populace everything necessary to grant a comfortable and secure living. Food, clothing, shelter. High Definition digital television. Internet access. After all, socialism worked so well for that great Peoples Paradise, the Soviet Union. Why shouldn’t we, too, derive the benefits bestowed upon that grand tribute to Humanity? Okay, so maybe the USSR isn’t the best example of the vast benefits of living in the Worker’s Paradise – but that’s only because the evil Ronald Reagan endlessly talked about freedom, and individual responsibility, and the chance to carve out one’s own success in the world until finally a crushing blow was delivered to the will of the People. How else could a fat drunkard climb a tank and topple the Grand Soviet Empire?

Right.

Somewhat more frightening than the headlong rush to “what yours is mine and what’s mine is mine” is the growing number of people who don’t even comprehend how their government is funded. A recent report on an Opinion Dynamic Corp. poll conducted for FOX News stated, “While 65 percent understand the government's money is their taxpayer dollars at work, some 24 percent think the federal government has "plenty of its own money without using taxpayer dollars." The first concern is that only 65 percent of Americans understand that if the government doesn’t tax there are no government dollars to spend. Truly a matter of concern – for at least 65 percent of us – should be the fact that nearly one quarter of our neighbors apparently believe in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy. These same people are allowed to vote, to drive on the same streets you drive on, and date your daughter.

If that last doesn’t scare you, then nothing will.

Working on the premise that it is never too late to start trying, it is time for the people of the United States of America to wake up, pay attention to what is really going on around them, and take an active hand in ensuring that the country they want to believe they were born and raised in and now inhabit actually continues to exist. This nation did not just happen. It was created through hard work and sacrifice, and through a confidence that there could be no greater achievement than those made through the human spirit unleashed. It takes passion, sweat, and commitment to retain that which was bequeathed to us. For the past half century we have become complacent, and unwittingly abetted the forging of the chains that now threaten to shackle us.

The effort required is great, and in many cases the cost dear. Without that effort though the dream that was America will be lost. Though the challenge is difficult to meet, the road to travel is surprisingly simple and straightforward. There are five waypoints along that road that must be kept in mind and maintained in their proper priority. Those points are Faith, Family, Community, Country, and World.

Simply keep to the path, and help your neighbor find their way and together we will reclaim the essence of what was once a United States of America able to lead the globe to victory in two world wars and stand tall and proud as an example of all that could be right with Humanity.

I Must Be Getting Older Than I Thought

Most Sundays you won't find me sitting in the front row at church. Or, in any other row for that matter. Not that my parents didn't do a good job of making sure Pastor Dan had his shot at me every Sunday morning when I was growing up. They did, and most of what he had to teach has stuck with me in one form or another even if I don't offend those around me by "singing" the weekly selections from the hymnal.

I preach a pretty good tolerance game, while at the same time have no trouble crossing the line into being horribly offensive to those who can't or won't take the time to see the deeper subtext hidden by the surface words. Perhaps I am guilty of the latter offense, particularly as I have pretty well judged this particular book only by its cover.

During an assignment to California for most of 1999, I became somewhat hooked on the KFI morning show done by Bill Handel. Through the years I kept up with the show and the station whenever I found myself in the Los Angeles area, and then later on a far more regular basis as streaming internet radio became available. It is through the KFI webcast that I first became aware of The Jesus Christ Show.

The first few commercials I heard let me dismiss the show as standard Sunday morning fare. The more of them I heard, though, the more obvious it became that there was this guy who was identifying himself in the first person as Jesus Christ. I finally broke down and tuned in one Sunday morning. Sure enough, the host ran through his opening spiel and concluded with "I am your Holy Host, Jesus Christ". That was a bit of a stunner, even for someone like me who will let a joke wander far away from the straight and narrow if it helps to get a point across.

I chose to ignore the show, and to ignore examining exactly why the concept disturbed me so much. After all, I didn't live in the Southland and didn't need to have any more exposure to a purely local phenomenon than I chose.

Clear Channel doesn't see it that way. In recent weeks, they have added The Jesus Christ Show to the Sunday morning lineup on XM Radio channel 158 at 9:00 AM Eastern, following me anywhere my radio has line of sight to the satellite. Yes I can still avoid the show if I choose, and so far have.

My concern is, when did I become that intolerant SOB who gets his hackles up just because he is confronted with something that is so obviously offensive and wrong? Particularly since I'm guilty of passing that judgment based upon a handful of commercials and three minutes of an opening monologue.