Stop Pulling the Wagon

THE FOLLOWING IS INTENDED PRIMARILY AS A CHRONICLE OF THE CHANGES I HAVE WITNESSED IN CALIFORNIA AND OUR NATION WITHIN MY LIFETIME AND SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE IMPACT THOSE CHANGES HAVE HAD ON OUR LIVES AND VALUES TODAY

I was born in the small central valley town of Selma just south of Fresno and smack dab in the middle of California in the period following the Great Depression and just months before Pearl Harbor was attacked.

Can’t say if it was the best of times or the worst of times historically but I had hard working, honest, loving parents who devoted themselves to me and my two sisters.  We never had a lot of money but there was always food on the table and a roof over our heads.  We did things as a family and shared whatever we had.  So,  for me it was the best of times in the things that really mattered in my life.  My dad was the finest man I have ever known.  he lived his life for us kids and my mom.

At that time California was the “Golden Land”.  Hot summers.  Cool, wet winters.  Fertile soil. Abundant crops. From agriculture to manufacturing, jobs in all fields were plentiful for those willing to work.  Criminal activity was the exception and I remember little exposure to it other than in the movies.  We did not lock our doors, often left keys in the car so they would be easy to find.   Like most folks we attended Church and believed in “God and Country” in that order.

Historically, I know there was racism but I did not see it in my own life or experiences and it never occurred to me to hate someone who was “different” than me.

In many ways it was a much simpler time.  We did not have the medical “miracles” we have today but also we did not have many of the other  things and “stuff” we can’t seem to live without, and often can’t afford, today.  I started working with my dad in his shop when I was 12 and by the time I was 15 years old I had an after school job.   After graduating from High School I had a full time job at a shoe store and later a men’s clothing store.  I only made a bit over $100 a week but taxes were low and I rented an apartment for $50 a month.  Utilities were only a few dollars a month.  You could hardly fit $20 worth of groceries in the back seat of a car.  Come Friday night you could put ten gallons of gas in your car, go to the movies, have burgers and root beer after and finish the evening at the bowling alley  and do it all for $10 or less.

If  there was some incident of corruption in government it was considered shameful if discovered and those who practiced it were outcasts and looked down upon, not made into “Rock Stars” as they so often are today.

Your word was considered your bond and a handshake was considered more binding than a legal document is today.  I remember my father taught me at a young age that if a person’s word was not good then likely the person was not good for much else and to never trust them.

So when did the country I love begin the journey to what I call the “dark side” or as they refer to it in the Star Wars movies,  “The Dark Side of the Force”?

I have thought about it often and it seems to me that much of it can be attributed to four things.  The “Great Society” and beginning of the Welfare State, The Vietnam War, the “Drug Culture”, all followed by the decline of reverence for human life and basic values.

Government in particular seems to be corrupt at all levels,  very little at a local small town level, more so at a county level,  much more so at a state level and  nearly totally corrupt at the federal level.  It is not that everyone involved in Government is corrupt but the small percentage that are honest are overwhelmed by what I like to call a “Consortium of Clowns, Criminals and Lunatics”.  The “Good Guys & Gals” don’t have a chance.

What used to be simple truth has been corrupted and it is destroying our culture.  What we are left with is half-truths which are often more damaging than an outright lie.  Take a lie and put some lipstick on it and call it “Talking Points” or “Spin”.  We face an onslaught of it daily from politicians, advertisers and too many of the people we must deal with in the normal course of living.  I am often dismayed and amused when people I know seem surprised that a politician who has a history of lying to us is caught in a lie.

I fear we have gone past the point of no return and are doomed to a world where the values I was raised with are becoming nothing more than a quaint, outmoded anachronism.  If I look back at the history of great civilizations it would seem that the Second Law of Thermodynamics applies to humanity as well as in nature.  Entropy dictates that order eventually descends into decay and disorder. We are descending from the order and structure of our founders to the decay and destruction of a lawless society based on lies, corruption, chaos and theft.

And the people bowed and prayed to the neon god they made.  (Paul Simon – Sound of Silence – 1960)

Bob Bandy

NO SITUATION IS SO DIRE THAT OUR GOVERNMENT CANNOT MAKE IT WORSE!

“Giving Money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys”.  P.J. O’Rourke – Civil Libertarian

Stop and think about it.  Name me any government department or program that is both cost effective and produces promised results in a timely way.

The Post Office?  They run deficits in the Billions every year.  The politicians and unions won’t let them do the things needed to end the red ink.

The “War on Poverty”?  Since introduced by Lyndon Johnson the government has spent Trillions of Dollars  on a program that has increased the percentage of our population living in poverty to a level greater than when the program started. Most/many of the recipients living on anti-poverty programs feel angry, frustrated and without hope. This noble sounding program has also seriously damaged the American Family. A large portion of its annual budget is spent on a vast, bloated unionized bureaucracy which provides lifelong salaries, pensions and healthcare for its government employees while doing little to help the “poor”.

Public School System?  Well intentioned teachers find themselves trapped in a system designed to promote political correctness over education and whose main goal is more about empire building and power by its Union Leaders than educating the nations youth.  A large portion of the nations education budget is spent on bureaucracy and administrative costs. In the meantime we are producing “graduates” who often cannot read or fill out an employment application.

The Military?  Not very cost efficient but the most powerful military in the world yet the politicians and current regime in charge micromanage our Military and will not let them do the things needed to win over our enemies.  Instead, our “government”  spent Five Hundred Million Dollars training five (or was it seven) Syrian “Freedom Fighters”  who have all since disappeared.  Poof!

Social Security, Bankrupt.  Medicare, Bankrupt.  Amtrak, Deficits.  I could go on and on.

It is not so much that government is inherently evil but that it is just inept, clumsy and more interested in a political agenda and power than it is in providing common sense workable solutions for its people.

Let us consider our governments ability to manage the nations “family” budget.

As a nation we are soon to be Twenty Trillion Dollars in debt.  When interest rates return to what is  more customary and usual, say 5%, it will take One Trillion Dollars a year just to pay the interest on the nations debt. With anticipated 2015 government revenues of 3.18 Trillion Dollars it would take over 30 percent of the governments income just to pay the interest on the debt.   If interest rates were to go to 7.5% or 10% or more (the Jimmy Carter years) – you do the math.

Have we already gone over the cliff?

Bob Bandy

LESSONS IN LIFE – THINGS I HAVE LEARNED

As I get older I find myself reflecting on my life and the things I have found to be true.  Many of these truths I discovered by observation and many I have learned the hard way, through experience.  The following are in no particular order.

1.  It is human nature throughout history to want to act irresponsibly without negative consequences.  But, there are always consequences.  The hardest person to forgive is me.

2.  Success in life’s endeavors most often follows self discipline.  Including hard work and responsible behavior.

3.  The Native American Indian made the mistake of believing Government promises.

4.  We do not truly appreciate what we have not worked for.

5.  Core values are essential to inner peace and harmony.

6.  A loving family and true friends are more valuable than gold or silver.

7.  We humans often do not want to hear the truth if it is unpleasant.  “I have given up my search for truth and now seek a good fantasy.”

8.  Creating dependency destroys lives.  Whether the dependency is for drugs or a handout.  That is why the nations parks have signs saying “Don’t Feed The Animals”.  It makes them dependent.

9.  Good intentions often lead to bad unintended consequences.  Example:  The War on Poverty.  In 50 years we have spent 22 Trillion Dollars fighting poverty and it is worse today than when we started and we have done great damage to the family unit in the process.

 10.   Never stop being thankful for things I too often take for granted.  The “green pastures and quiet waters” of life. My loving, faithful and long suffering wife.  The laughter and shining eyes of my daughter.  The joy and comfort of good friends.  A warm bed on a cold and rainy night.  Indoor plumbing .

11.  My faith in my Creator.  For “I am fearfully and wonderfully made…..” Psalm 139:14.

12.  And finally, when I find that I am taking myself too seriously,  I look in a mirror.  My Creator also has a sense of humor.

Bob Bandy

And I saw something else under the sun:

In the place of judgment – wickedness was there,

In the place of justice – wickedness was there.

Ecclesiastes 3:16

At the close of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 Benjamin Franklin was reported to have been asked by Dr. James McHenry: ” What have we got, a Republic or a Monarchy?”.  To which Benjamin Franklin replied: ” A Republic, if you can keep it”.

For some time I have been troubled by what I see happening at all levels of our government.  It seems that no matter where I look I see only a thirst for political power.

I continue to search but find only department after department, agency after agency that have succumbed to the politics of the moment.  The Internal Revenue Service, the Environmental Protection Agency, the (in)Justice Department, the “Supreme” Court, ad nauseum.  All seem to be the lap dogs of the ruling political party.

Freedom, truth and true justice are being sacrificed on the altar of political correctness.  And this altar is for a god that will never be satisfied.

I hope for a turning point down the road.  A return to the values my country was founded on.  Faith, personal responsibility, integrity and honor.  It is only a hope.  For now, I fear the darkness that is falling over our land.

If you read my writings you will find that I rarely quote from the Bible so you will forgive this single verse from the above mentioned Book of Ecclesiastes.  Chapter 3 verse 1 tells us: There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.

Has America’s season passed?  It is my prayer that it has not.

Bob Bandy

EVER HAD ONE OF “THOSE” DREAMS?

Last night I dreamed that I was working in the California State Department of Paperwork Reduction.

A wonderful place to work that was a model of diversity.  We had one of every race, creed, nationality, religion, mental and physical handicap and everything else you can imagine.  Even different political parties were represented though it was rumored that the token Republican had not been seen in a while and was possibly in a 24 step recovery program.  This is California after all.

We also had employees whose only job was to act as interpreters for employees engaged in conversations in different languages.

The mission of our department is to reduce the excessive use of paper within California to help in the war against Global Climate Change.  Three Hundred and Fifty, dedicated to the cause employees occupying four floors of a state office building in Sacramento.  Working diligently three, sometimes four days a week depending on holidays, vacations, jury duty, sick leave, comp time etc.

To fulfill our mission our job is to produce a 172 page workbook every year that is to be mailed to every place of business in California.  The title of this workbook is: YOUR PLACE IN PAPERWORK REDUCTION.

Within the information packed workbook will be a snap out set of forms (12 pages) which is to be copied and distributed to every employee at each place of business. Each employee is to fill out the 12 page questionnaire, sign it, copy it and then mail back the original to the California State Department of Paperwork Reduction for tabulation and completion of a 1500 page report which is to be distributed annually to all other State Departments.

In addition a copy of the 1500 page tabulated “Final Report” will be sent to each of the businesses within California who participated.

What could possibly go wrong?  This is government at work.

Bob Bandy

A NEW YEAR.  A TIME FOR REFLECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS.

Seems every year I want to start out with some new resolutions.  This year I will lose weight.  This year I will spend less and save more. This year I will exercise daily.  Ad nauseum.

What I really should do is see what I have learned in the year past and apply that to making for a happier year to come.

For example, the year past has taught me that looking for real solutions to our nations problems to come out of Washington D.C. is like fishing for supper in a septic tank.

Not to say there are not good, decent politicians.  There are.  But, they are so outnumbered by the clowns, lunatics and criminals that the honest ones do not have a chance.

Washington is an asylum that is being run by the worst of the inmates while the “good ones”  are relegated to aligning the deck chairs on our ship of state while it is sinking in a sea of debt, dependency and political correctness.

When a plurality of the voting population is made up of those who no longer seek the truth but prefer to believe the fantasy  that it is possible get 20 pounds of apples out of a 10 pound sack, Democracy is ultimately doomed.

Too bad there is not a law that requires pictures of our children and grandchildren on our nations credit cards. Public and private.

I think that this year I will resolve to spend a whole lot less time focusing my life around the insanity that rules our nation and more time on minimizing its impact on my life.

I will instead resolve to start the new year by spending my time more profitably fishing  for happiness with my family, friends, faith and neighbors. And, do more good for those I see in need along the way.

Bob Bandy