Shortly after my last blog congress and the president came up with what they called a deal that would allow government to continue. Mostly the Republicans gave in. The few who wanted to continue making a stand such as Senator Cruz were not enough to hold up the process. However, the "deal" is only a temporary patch. The fight is only pushed down the road a few months, probably so that everyone can catch their breath, re-evaluated the "gains" and 'losses" of the recent battle so that strategy can be revised and supposedly improved.
All of this only goes to reinforce the concept that politicians today are only playing "politics" with our money and government. Many functions of government continued without hinderance, many that were in reality not so necessary. However unlike any other shutdown in US history this one was made to be as painful for the average American as possible, or more succinctly for key Americans (Veterans and military in particular). While it took more effort and cost to close many venues than it would have cost to keep them open, that wasn't the point. The current administration wanted to make a point at the expense of the American people. They wanted to use the American people as pawns in the battle over the budget. This is the true symptom of the crisis facing America today. Not the budget issues as those are old hat and nothing new. We've had disagreements the have easily reached and surpassed the current purported crisis and have come out just fine. The difference this time was the overt attempt to politicize the debate and to directly use the American public as pawns in the fight. This is what is quite new and dangerous.
Why is it so dangerous? Because it shows that the politicians are more interested in their own agendas, their own pockets and their own positions versus doing the business of the country. In the past while obviously politicians are people and thus subject to the frailties of all people the rules of conduct and accepted procedures kept them at least somewhat honest in doing the public business and not purely their own.
This is a trend that started back some 50-60 years ago. Not something that suddenly was sprung upon us, but crept in by degrees. The culture of the congress, the American public and politics at large have gradually moved over time to what we have today, and it's not pretty. It is time that we do something about it, but most Americans while recognizing that something is not quite right often can't quite identify what exactly the problem is. Many other American's can identify the problems but just don't quite know how to effectively deal with them as anything they try seems to fail in the end for one reason or another.
The answer has been identified by several today and the solution is actually rather simple although not easy. No I don't mean rising up in rebellion, that is doomed to failure for a variety of reasons. Organizing into a 3rd political party will also end in failure, one thing that both Republicans and Democrats will come together on is to destroy or limit any possible gain by a third party, just look at the Tea Party movement.
So if none of these are the answers then what is? Simply put: Education. No not more college or universities or other "credentialed" education system, but true education. The same as what our Founding Fathers gained. I have often stated that real education does not come with an alphabet behind it. Contrary to what many would have us believe, education is something that all can gain. Simply reading and studying on your own. Focus on the classics and remember that not all classics are 200 years old.
A few books that I might suggest to start with:
The Coming Aristocracy, by Oliver DeMille
A Thomas Jefferson Education, by Oliver DeMille
Freedomshift, by Oliver DeMille
Wealth of Nations, by Adam Smith
The Law, by Frederic Bastiat
That Which is Seen and That Which is Not Seen, by Frederic Bastiat
Launching A Leadership Revolution, by Orrin Woodward and Chris Brady
UnCommon Sense, by Stephen Palmer
The 5000 Year Leap, by Cleon Skousen
Leadership and Self Deception, by the Arbinger Institute
This is a short list that deals directly with the issues facing the world today, I would strongly recommend that you use this as a starting point and then build on it as most of these books have a lot of other suggested readings in them as well to continue to expand your education.
Only when we the American people regain our classical education base that our forefathers had dating back to the origins of our nation can we regain our freedoms, without this any attempts will only result in tyranny.
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