LET US SUPPORT LIBERTY ... FOR ALL!




First, this entire blog was dedicated to my concept of critical thinking, the application of critical thinking skills, and the utilization of 3FE, the tool of motivational empowerment.  As I have engaged myself more thoroughly in worldly matters, especially politics, I have found myself speaking with a more passionate voice. This voice tends to lend itself to pointed action through the written word.  Sometimes, it's quite vitriolic.  It may offend.  To those I offend, I do sincerely apologize.  However, I would ask that you remember I too am only human, and as I reach to grasp hold of wisdom, there will be times I fall short.  From your perspective, this will undoubtedly be one of those times.  Still, please read and endeavor to digest every word.  I mean all of it (even the parts where I'm being crass).  Then, if you like, let's have a dialogue about it.   


LIBERCON! 
Yes, silly I know.  A liberal conservative.  Still, even as I refuse to accept categorization, I know this is what we humans do.  So, I will offer up a term that can be used, just in case.  As I've said before, I have voted both Republican and Democrat.  I am a fiscal conservative, and a social liberal.  Hence, a LIBERCON.  Liberal first because I place the well being of people before my love of cash.  Liberal first because I believe in supporting and loving before I believe in hording and tightening.  Liberal first because I watch my brothers' and sisters' backs.  Then, as we are secure, I emphasize personal security and financial well being.  The need to succeed, accomplish my entrepreneurial dreams, execute my capitalist desires, risk for reward, and transform myself into an exemplary example stretches across both terms, both themes, both ideologies, liberal and conservative.  Hence, I am a LIBERCON. 

I'll delve more into this word libercon at a later date.  For now, let's focus on something else.  President Bush liked to call himself a Compassionate Conservative, and I truly believe that is what he tried to do.  However, even as he continuously tried to live up to this personal ideal, he aggressively failed, falling into ever lower levels of proficiency as President.  He ended his term with the TARP program, without oversight, a kneejerk reaction that was applied without proper consideration.  I agree, something had to be done.  Unfortunately, this tactical move was made without regard to responsibility, proper accountability, and transparency.  No matter, it's the past.  We don't forget the failure.  We learn from the failure, remember it as an example of what to avoid, and forge on.   

I believe in HOPE.  I firmly believe in the United States of America.  I LOVE this country. I recognize myself as a Descendant of the Emancipated, and hold firm to the bond between myself, my fellow Americans, and the responsibility I have to our ancestors.  I take this responsibility very seriously, which is why I continue to write, to think, and hope that my words are read and heard by the people, that the Tribe of Humanity will embrace critical thinking, and readily know the difference between fact and fiction, lie and truth, that through the application of critical cognition we can engage in positive conflict, and learn to truly come together and work to achieve prosperity, not just for some of us, but for all of us. 

With this in mind, as right-wing fundamental Christians call for an ALL BELIEVERS rise against Obama, as Hannity defines and spurs onward his Conservatism Underground movement, and Rush cries out about Porkulus and dreams of Presidential failure, I call for all free thinkers, critical thinkers, to find their voices, and rise up against the surging tide of ignorance.  It does not matter from which quarter it comes.  If it's Democratic ignorance, speak against it.  If it's Republican ignorance, speak against it.  Find your voice and speak out.  Be leaders, and explain to others what is rhetoric, what is bombasity, what is sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity, and how it is the embracing of such, which is full of negativity, that we can find ourselves wallowing in the pit of failure and despair.  
 
Know this, these individuals I speak of, like Rush Limbaugh, are what I call Compassionless Conservatives.  They are narrow in vision, and define America within specific parameters with no room for the evolution of thoughts and ideas, the continuing growth of our glorious union, the embracing of new and different people to our shores who can add their uniqueness to our own.  They deny the brightness that can be America tomorrow, that shining America that we can be if we toss aside our preconceived notions, bitterness, divisiveness, and yes ... that old tired ever present hate, that disgusting and wearying thing called racism.

Before I continue, I would like to open this with a quote by someone I greatly admire:

"You can't LEAD the people, if you don't LOVE the people.  You can't SAVE the people, if you don't SERVE the people." 
Dr. Cornel West.

I love this quote.  I have internalized it.  I have come to firmly believe in it.  There is sincerity in the power of these words.  Compassionless Conservatives would call this pansy rhetoric, the bloated base wind of foul liberals.  They don't believe in the wisdom of perspective, so they won't even take the time to consider the words, to read it back and forth, and expand their view.  They lack vision.  They have focus, but lack the ability to focus on a wider picture.  They have love, but lack love for us all.  They are simply ... lacking. 

The love described in the above words is a deep abiding love that has nothing to do with the heated passion between two lovers dedicated to one another in a nurturing relationship.  That type of love is a love of passion and greatness, and is indeed the kind of love we need in order perpetuate our families and build stronger communities.  However, I'm not referring to that kind of love here.  The love I am describing is the deep love you feel in the pit of your stomach when you see suffering and hatred, and something stirs in you to defend, to right wrongs, and affect change.  It's the love that you feel when you know for certain you are connected to others, and you sincerely desire a better world for them.  It's the love you feel when you give from the heart quietly, eschewing thanks and well wishes, but rather savoring the feeling of strength and well-being that wells up within you when you know you've done the right thing by someone else, and you know that in order to be the best you, you must continue to do for others.  It's the love you feel when you are driven to succeed, to achieve personal critical success, but then there's that stirring again, and it makes you look back over your shoulder.  It makes you pause, and reach out with your strong hands to grasp those in need, and help them achieve as best you can.  It makes you want to be an example, because love shows you that good examples are infectious.  People want to be the example they see.  Yes, this too is deep love; to show others that they too can do what you do, and that you will take the time to show them how.  Why?  Because you love them.  This is the love I speak of.  It is deep.  It is abiding, and binds us one to another, and makes us all want to move the race forward ... the human race, the Tribe of Humans.  Forward the agenda, my friends.  Together, we must all achieve Critical Success.  Narrow vision will not allow the Compassionless Conservative to know and understand this love.  This my friends, is very sad.  However, as critical thinkers, we must never forget our responsibility to continue the debate, to continue to engage, to reach for positive conflict, to dialogue, and work for the best outcome.  It is our responsibility to be accountable to the whole.  We work to engage the ignorant, and pray for the stupid. 




What did Rush say?

I've pulled some parts of his speech from the transcript.  Let's walk through this piece of rhetoric and bombasity and deconstruct what is obviously a willful peace of propagandist fluff designed to sound like impassioned truth, sincere and aggressive in tactic, attacking, but still sounding defensive.  Let's delve into this acknowledging first this truth, Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer. 

As I was reviewing this blog I saw the news regarding RNC Chairman Michael Steele, and I wondered what happened to Mike's manhood?  He had called Rush what I just called him, an entertainer.  The man is an entertainer.  He'    s a circus show, a clown!  However, this clown is a very dangerous clown, dangerous because he sways the public, dangerous because he feels and knows his power.  Dangerous because he used his power to make Republicans like Michael Steele bow down to him as though he were a monarch.  Michael formally apologized to Rush.  I'm still trying to figure out why he let some advisor convince him to do that.  Or, was it his own idea?  I sincerely hope not.  Mike, you must find your manhood, and reactivate it.  Learn to stand your ground! 

As critical thinkers we must remind those around us that Rush is dishing out Kool-Aid just like Hannity.  The Hannitized are sheep, trained to call everyone else sheep.  The only people who aren't sheep do indeed think for themselves, and that does not mean all Obama supporters.  Some of them are sheep too.  We, as critical thinkers, must be the ones to consider.  We listen.  We observe.  And we act effectively.  We must ask others to do the same.  President Obama will follow a propagandist track himself.  In today's politics it's necessary. I just happen to believe in his message through and through.  He has yet to give me reason not to (I read the platform).  However, as critical thinkers we will watch him.  We will judge him.  If he steps out of line, we will punish him with the ballot.  It's just that simple.  We need to admonish the good people at CPAC to not be sheep, to instead be critical thinkers.  We have to remind them that Rush Limbaugh gets paid to piss people off.  YES, THAT'S WHAT HE DOES!  He gets paid to be controversial.  This is critically important people.  We can't afford to let an entertainer think for us.  We can listen.  We can laugh.  We can applaud.  We can agree.  However, we must ever be discerning.  We must ever remain critical. 

What is Conservatism?
 
I'll summarize from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary: Conservatism is the tendency to prefer an existing or traditional situation to change.  The disposition to preserve what is established.  A political philosophy calling for lower taxes, limited government, limited regulation of business and investing, a strong national defense, and individual responsibility for personal needs. 

I'll just add to this some things that the core constituency of the current Republican party fervently supports.  They are anti-abortion/ right-to-life.  They are rabidly pro-Christian/Anti-anything else.  They are also anti-science (at a certain point).  Bobby Jindal's mom was an astrophysicist, I believe?  And here he is supporting Intelligent Design (Okay, let's all pray, yes pray for the man now.  He needs to get hold of critical cognition in a very bad way).  I wonder what she thinks of her Governor's intellectual leanings? 

These core Republicans also love their technology too, just like the rest of us.  Don't get me wrong on this count.  However, they aren't too keen on advancing science, especially where it pertains to biology  ... hmm, or anything else for that matter.  Oh, unless it involves shooting something down.  Yes, I can say that, because I was taught to shoot from a young age, and I value my gun in my hand in the name of defending my own.  

There, that about covers it.  As I look over it, I can pick the things that I identify with:  I hate taxes, I believe in the RIGHT government, a very strong national defense, and I write books on individual achievement (Critical Success: The 2 Rules of 3).  I can't even go near that second paragraph.  We can debate gun-control later.  Let's move on to Rush's words, shall we?

Rush said:
"Conservatism -- for us to make the decision that we've got to figure out policies, to get the Walmart voter -- psst, we've got most of them already, is the bottom line. Conservatism is a universal set of core principles. You don't check principles at the door."

I would have to start with what principles?  But then, I would have to remind myself that I need to be positive minded, and not throw barbs.  Okay, let's start with the fact that Conservatism is a core set of principles that are not any more universal than the liberal principles.  It's not so black and white.  Just like humans themselves, everything we humans do regarding these principles are bound by time and circumstance, and span the spectrum of human emotion, and only crystallize into intent as the facts around a given issue coalesce into something a large group of people can effectively engage.  In other words, I can claim some aspects of conservatism based on my behavior, and what I believe, vote Republican, and still run afoul of Rush and his foul words.

Rush said:
"Conservatives are naturally happy. We seek happiness. We pursue it. It's part of who we are. So what can you do? Live your life. I swear, folks, you do not know in just the everyday life that you live in your homes, your neighborhoods, the favorite word of this administration, your "communities"

Is he kidding?  Okay, he's not kidding.  The truly awful behavior that many Republicans are putting on display is the same sad sack crap mouth belligerent bile I saw spewed from many Democrats in 2004 and 2000.  It was after trying to engage my family in critical debate around the results of the elections, the true virtues of being conservative in our personal lives, and the fact that it's not a bad thing to limit government and taxes, that I gained a reputation as the family Republican, the outcast ... not to be trusted.  Rush isn't wrong in saying this.  He's just wrong in his behavior, and the other things he says.  Clearly, to those that observe him critically, he does not seek happiness.  The compassionless conservatives he represents clearly are not naturally happy.  If they were, they would not be so busy trying to wreck the lives of others.  They would not be trying to shove religion down peoples' throats or expose our children to the horror of Intelligent Design, when they can just keep right on teaching that Adam had a T-REX as a pet stuff at home.  If they were happy they would not be wasting tax dollars on frivolous court cases trying to get Harry Potter removed from Public Libraries.  No, no, no!  Please just keep YOUR kid out of the library.  Our children like Harry right where he is.  If these compassionless conservatives  were happy, they would not be trying to carefully, quietly, intricately, dictate my wife's position in our home, or institute a theocracy in OUR Republic.  If you're so happy, prove it.  STOP SPREADING BILE AND NEGATIVITY!   Be happy, and live your own life, and quit trying to dictate the lives of others!

Rush said:
"We're in for a real battle. We are talking about the United States of America -- and there will always be an America, don't misunderstand me -- we're talking about it remaining the country we were all born into and reared and grown into. And it's under assault. It's always under assault."

Hello!  I have no desire to live in the America Rush grew up in.  What is he?  Fifty years old?  I'm thirty-eight.  I would have had to grow up in the middle of the turbulence of the sixties.  It would have been heady time for one such as me.  I probably would have been a Black Radical Revolutionary, hopefully, eventually ending up on the side of Dr. King, affecting change through powerful, peaceful means.  Still, this is not something to be duplicated my friends.  Okay, I know Rush doesn't want to go back to Jim Crow.  No, no, no, no laughing!  He doesn't.  What he means by this statement is at the core of conservatism, a clearly stated truth when we consider the formal definition.  Rush wants to resist change.  He does not say what he wants to remain static.  He's more emphatic about what he doesn't want, doesn't like, and wants every conservative to rail against.  Then, he proceeds to spread kool-aid about Obama radicals, and Obama Socialism, which will lead to Obama Communism.  My friends, this is entertainment, and we need to try to explain this to our Republican friends with critical minds.  The Fundamentalists will have to come around on their own.  They'll never listen.  



Rush said:
" Don't treat people as children. Respect their intelligence. Realize that there's a way to persuade people. Sometimes the worst way is to get in their face and point a finger. Set up a set of circumstances where the conclusion is obvious. Let them think they came up with the idea themselves. They'll think they're smart that they figured it out. Who cares how you persuade them, the fact they can be persuaded is factually correct, it's possible. But the main thing to do here is stop thinking that we are a minority. Stop thinking that it is being in the minority that liberates you. It is your beliefs. It is your core principles, it is your confidence that liberates you. It's not being in the minority."

I agree with everything Rush said here.  Go figure.  Okay, so critical thinkers, please re-read the above passage and stop talking about it, but rather be about it. Go engage a compassionless conservative and see if you can't affect CHANGE!  See if you can't inspire HOPE!  See if you can't get him or her to value reading!  Tell them the whole law is available on the web, it's at recovery.gov!  Tell them to not listen to Hannity without their critical thinking cap on.  Tell them Rush is a Jenny Craig needing, sweating under a heat lamp, while spitting bile on stage during his so-called first National Address Porkulus talking about a pork .... ooops.  Sorry.  Don't do that.  I'm a black pot calling a kettle black (Wow, did I say that?).  Okay, I'm only human people.  Give me a break.  Remember, I'm aspiring.  Really, I apologize.  I'm slowly working my way back, people.  I'm working my way back.

Rush said:
" I mean, there's some people you can't say you want the President to fail. Ladies and gentlemen of the United States, the Democrat Party has actively not just sought the failure of Republican presidents and policies and now wars for the first time, the Democrat Party doesn't stop at failure ..."

I'm not going to dispute this.  Maybe many a Democrat said, "Bush has to fail!"  I'm not a politician.  However, neither is Rush.  I said in one of my videos that I never once wanted President Bush to fail.  I wanted him to stop and try to think critically.  That's what I wanted.  I wanted him to be able to say he made a mistake.  I wanted him to aspire to reach beyond his C average thinking.  I never wanted him to fail.  That, in my mind, would have indeed been unpatriotic.  So, I say again  ... Rush, you're being unpatriotic.  In these difficult times you don't want to rally around our President and support him either by positively engaging in conflict in order to redirect him, or working through other elected officials to do the same.  No, you're too busy tossing bile at him, and stirring up others, so they'll do the same.  You're too busy being a bloated demagogue, whipping people up against the Republican Congressmans and Senators who show even a hint of support for this new President that's been in office for 31 days.  I wonder what's this all about Rush? 


Rush said:
"When we look out over the United States of America, when we are anywhere, when we see a group of people, such as this or anywhere, we see Americans. We see human beings. We don't see groups. We don't see victims. We don't see people we want to exploit. What we see -- what we see is potential. We do not look out across the country and see the average American, the person that makes this country work. We do not see that person with contempt. We don't think that person doesn't have what it takes. We believe that person can be the best he or she wants to be if certain things are just removed from their path like onerous taxes, regulations and too much government. [Applause] "

Again, this shows the power of misdirected focus.  Rush mightily focuses on what he wants to see, and nothing else.  It shows his sincere lack of vision, compassion, and critical thinking skills.  I'll elaborate after the next section. 

Rush said:
"We want every American to be the best he or she chooses to be. We recognize that we are all individuals. We love and revere our founding documents, the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. [Applause] We believe that the preamble to the Constitution contains an inarguable truth that we are all endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights, among them life. [Applause] Liberty, Freedom. [Applause] And the pursuit of happiness. [Applause] Those of you watching at home may wonder why this is being applauded. We conservatives think all three are under assault."

The assumption we draw from this statement is that Rush and his followers revere the founding documents.  That's great, I know I revere them as well.  He needs to go back and read the preamble though, that's a red mark on his test paper.  In anycase, every American wants what's stated in the preamble to the Declaration of Independence.  We all deserve life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  Rush, if you truly believe this, let those of us who voted for Obama see our President lead.  If he fails to lead, we will vote him out of office.  We believe his plans will provide a better life.  We believe he is working to preserve liberty, and the pursuit of happiness not just for the few, but for us all.  I am firmly middle-class, and see clearly those teeming masses that don't understand these words, that don't know where to look, that don't understand freedom, or liberty, but still want it, still deserve it.  I see them.  In your narrow vision, you don't.

Rush said:
"We don't want to tell anybody how to live. That's up to you. If you want to make the best of yourself, feel free. If you want to ruin your life, we'll try to stop it, but it's a waste. We look over the country as it is today, we see so much waste, human potential that's been destroyed by 50 years of a welfare state. By a failed war on poverty. [Applause] We love the people of this country. And we want this to be the greatest country it can be, but we do understand, as people created and endowed by our creator, we're all individuals. We resist the effort to group us. We resist the effort to make us feel that we're all the same, that we're no different than anybody else. We're all different."
 
More kool-aid. Who's trying to make you feel you're like everyone else, Rush? Who's trying to make you feel like a black man, since that's what you're saying, yet not saying?  Who's doing this awful thing to you?  Point them out, let's deal with them together.  Or, are you talking about the challenge we face when we strive to work towards tolerance, and beyond tolerance love.  Yes, you can maintain your point of view.  You can refuse to change.  You can refuse to be tolerant.  This is America.  You have the right.  However, don't try and limit the rest of us.  We want to be accepting.  Don't try to make it difficult for us to do this.  Respect our rights, as we would respect yours.  You don't want to tell anybody how to live?  Rush ... gimme a break.


Rush said:
"There are no two things or people in this world who are created in a way that they end up with equal outcomes. That's up to them. They are created equal, given the chance - -[Applause] We don't hate anybody. We don't -- I mean, the racism in this country, if you ask me, I know many people in this audience -- let me deal with this head on. You know what the cliché is, a conservative: racist, sexist, bigot, homophobe. Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen of America, if you were paying attention, I know you were, the racism in our culture was exclusively and fully on display in the Democrat primary last year ... It was not us asking whether Barack Obama was authentic. What we were asking is: Is he wrong? We concluded, yes. We still think so. But we didn't ask if he was authentically black. We didn't say, as some Southern Christian Leadership Conference leaders said: Barack is not authentic, he's not got any slave blood. He's really not down for the struggle, but his wife is."
 
Okay Rush, I'm speaking for me.  I didn't say this.  I don't buy into stereotypes.  I know a lot people who don't.  In fact, I work with a group of progressive minded people called the Anti-Prejudice Consortium who fight against just this sort of thing.  Uhh, most of 'em are Democrats.  Engaging in this is asinine.  If you're not a racist, that's great Rush.  However, you need to make sure you tell that to the man that brought a stuffed monkey to the McCain rally with a noose around it's neck and called it Obama, or the woman who stood up and said, "I can't vote for him because he's ... he's an Arab."  Help me with those good folks Rush, those compassionless conservatives, and you and I will be on better ground.


Rush said:
"So don't expect the race industry to go away. Southern Christian Leadership Conference -- you may not know this, because it wasn't reported in the Drive-By Media -- the racism, the sexism, the bigotry that we're all charged with, just so you across the United States of America know, and you'll see demonstrated here as the afternoon goes on, doesn't exist on our side. We want everybody to succeed. [Applause] You know why? We want the country to succeed, and for the country to succeed, its people -- its individuals -- must succeed. Everyone among us must be pursuing his ambition or her desire, whatever, with excellence. Trying to be the best they can be. Not told, as they are told by the Democrat Party: You really can't do that, you don't have what it takes, besides you're a minority or you're a woman and there are too many people that want to discriminate against you. You can't get anywhere. You need to depend on us. Well. Take a look, someone has to say this -- I am thrilled for the opportunity to say it in my first national address to the nation -- and I'm going to touch on this in more detail in a moment, but this is just to get you thinking -- take a look at all the constituency groups that for 50 years have been depending on the Democrat Party to improve their lives. And you tell me if you find any. They're still complaining, still griping about the same problems. Their problems don't get fixed by government. And those lives have been poisoned. Those lives have been cut short by false promises, from government representatives who said don't worry about it, we'll take care of you. Just vote for us."

Rush, you should join the Anti-Prejudice Consortium and learn more about stereotypes, generalizations, and prejudices.  My mother is a solid Democrat.  My father was a solid Democrat.  Both have college degrees.  Both succeeded as individuals in a world where success was on the other side of an almost insurmountable barrier.  Still, they succeeded, and they instilled this desire to succeed in me ... so much so that I had to write a book about it Rush.  Go pick it up.  It's called Critical Success: The 2 Rules of 3, by D.S. Brown.  I think you'll like it, one libercon to a compassionless conservative.  By engendering in me a love for books, my parents (the Democrats) opened the doors of my mind, and convinced me that I could be better than I was.  There's your constituency, Rush. 



Rush said:
"And nor do any of us need a teleprompter, because our beliefs are not the result of calculations and contrivances. Our beliefs are not the result of a deranged psychology. Our beliefs are our core. Our beliefs are our hearts. We don't have to make notes about what we believe. We don't have to write down, oh do I believe it do I believe that we can tell people what we believe off the top of our heads and we can do it with passion and we can do it with clarity, and we can do it persuasively. Some of us just haven't had the inspiration or motivation to do so in a number of years, but that's about to change."

The man is a mess.  I'm getting tired of this, and all his slams against President Obama.  I don't need a teleprompter either Rush.  Watch the video I made about you on YouTube.  I could have gone on and on and on and on and on ... Rush, you need to be better.

Rush said:
"President Obama has the ability -- he has the ability to inspire excellence in people's pursuits. He has the ability to do all this, yet he pursues a path, seeks a path that punishes achievement, that punishes earners and punishes -- and he speaks negatively of the country. Ronald Reagan used to speak of a shining city on a hill"

You know, I was watching a video on YouTube where this guy was so very sincere about all the bad things Obama was saying in his speeches.  The bad part about it, is none of it was true.  It was clear to me that this person, just like so many others, was guilty of not listening.  This is critically important, so please note this Rush.  People often don't listen.  They teach classes on listening in schools, and offer it as a training course at corporations.  Listening is a skill, and many of us don't have it.  You don't have it do you Rush?  If you did, you would have heard his words in the State of the Union address.  He continued to speak about America's excellence, and our ability to achieve, and that we would succeed.  You didn't hear this, did you?  Of course not.  You were too busy plotting your next move.  You couldn't afford  to listen, let alone listen critically.  Unfortunately, this is expected from those that simply do not STOP & THINK. 

Rush said:
"Our DNA is no different. We're not better just because we're born in America. There's nothing that sets us apart. How did this happen? How did the United States of America become the world's lone super power, the world's economic engine, the most prosperous opportunity for an advanced lifestyle that humanity has ever known? How did this happen? And why pray tell does the President of the United States want to destroy it? It saddens me. The freedom we spoke of earlier is the freedom, it's the ambition, it's the desire, the wherewithal, the passions that people have that gave us the great entrepreneurial advances, the great inventions, the greatest food production, the human lifestyle advances in this country."

I'm rounding this out people.  I think we all know this was complete nonsense.  However, there are far too many people repeating this garbage.  So, those of you that read this, please take a moment to think about it critically, and decide how you might engage a compassionless conservative who regurgitates this rhetoric.  I'll give you an example to work with.  I live in Atlanta and bring home over six figures.  We live conservatively by practicing F-PEC, Fundamental Personal Economic Control.  We run our home like a country, checking our progress, monitoring inflows and outflows, investing for the long-haul (familial infrastructure), and passionately seeking opportunities along the way, so our home can be the best on the block.  Now, recently Channel 2 (or was it 5?) had a lawyer on television talking about how he makes just over $250,000 and that Obama's plan (which apparently is the result of wealth envy, voter buying, socialism, and a host of other evil initiatives) was going to hurt him and his family immeasurably.  Now, this man lived rather well.  His kids looked taken care of.  He seemed to be living the American dream.  I considered this critically.  Now, if this man was practicing F-PEC, why would going back to the tax rate from over eight years ago hurt him so drastically? Ahhhh, it became clear.  He was not practicing F-PEC.  He is probably on the precipice, a victim of MDC(Media-Driven Consumercelebreality) confusing his upper-middle class income with lifestyles of the rich and famous.  Yes, it's quite clear.  It this man is one check away from a disaster, Obama's tax changes could be disastrous for him.  But uhhh, who is to blame for this?  We support the bootstrap.  We support the rugged individual.  We support your desire to be left alone to do what you want to do.  We fully support your desire, more than most because you've already tasted success, to lose your home and fall into bankruptcy.  You as an individual, must decide.  This man, here in Atlanta, this lawyer, might not be a critical thinker.  In fact, he might be a Noon, or a Foon, close cousins of the Spoon.  He might just be stupid, or rather ignorant because of his MDC affliction.  Either way, he has to own this.  He can recover, if he starts making plans now.  The rest of us, we can do with some short term pain in order to reach prosperity.  I hate taxes, but I'll bear the burden if the plan to move the masses includes progressive education, re-opening of boys and girls clubs, parent and student re-education, teaching life skills and fiduciary responsibility.  Yes, I can go for all of this. Why, because in the decades to come I don't want my dollars supporting a permanent underclass.  And this, is what Rush, and the other compassionless conservatives are advocating, not in word, but in action.  They support this because they choose to be blind.  They are narrow in vision, and narrow in mental acuity.  They must either change, or be left behind. It is our responsibility to present them with their choices.



Rush said:
"They're poor because of us, because we don't care, and because we've gotten rich by taking from them, that's what kids in school are taught today. That's what others have said to the media. You know why they're poor, you know why they remain poor? Because their lives have been destroyed by the never-ending government hay that's designed to help them, but it destroys ambition. It destroys the education they might get to learn to be self-fulfilling."

What the hell have we been doing for the last eight years, Rush?  And what do you propose to do?  Rush, it does no good to spout propagandist rhetoric and bile.  WHERE ARE YOUR ANSWERS?!?!?   Rush, we need solution oriented people ready to tackle these incredibly tough problems.  We don't need porkulus, which my friend clearly describes your reflection (damn!  Sorry).  I can't help it.  I get passionate about this subject.  How do you propose we motivate the poor?  How do you propose we re-ignite a fire for learning?  How do you propose we re-establish a love for books, knowledge, new ideas?  You don't do it by remaining static!  It takes dynamic minds, with dynamic ideas.  It takes progressive and critical cognition.  It takes people who love people.  It take people who truly want to save the people.  It takes people who earn the right to lead because they want to serve.  This is what is core, Rush.  This is what is true. 

Please, take a moment and go watch Diane Sawyer's 20/20 special, Children of the Mountains.  Rush, whenever you talk about the poor and entitled, I since the taint of race-speak.  Yes, you can deny it, but it's there.  Watch the special. Think critically about the fact that blacks only make up between 13 and 14 percent of this country's total population.  We are not our greatest social burden.  Yes, we should be at the forefront of change, us and those who share even the smallest amount of our blood, all we Descendants of the Emancipated.  I freely say I am shamed by the behavior of some of our brothers and sisters (they're yours too, Rush), but that is why I will never turn away from them.  I will never toss them aside.  I see the Children of the Mountains, and they are my own.  I claim them as well.  They need real answers Rush, not "Oh you silly mountain people!  All you need do is be rugged individuals and pull yourselves up by your bootstraps!"  This is nonsense!  Rush, they don't know what a bootstrap is, or where to find one.  You see, some of those new programs could help them figure it out.  And where could it lead?  Look up a school in Kentucky called Berea College and get back to me.  Everyone reading this, go look it up.  Tell me what you think.  I know people who graduated from this school.  They are exemplary!  They are the only two in either of their families, parents, numerous brothers, and sisters, to graduate from college.  They have achieved Critical Success.  Imagine so many more institutions like Berea, at the high school, and elementary level, with or without a religious component.  Just imagine it.  Now Rush, if some support comes from the private sector, and the rest from the public, what's going to happen if we follow your example, and cut out public funding?  Even Bill & Melinda Gates, who have taken education head-on say the problem can't be rectified without government.  It's too big!  Tell me, Rush, what happens when we cut these people off?  What happens if compassionless conservatism wins out?  See my previous blog entry, the response to Obama's speech for an answer.  See the end, where I talk about America 2030 and get back to me.  There's your communist revolution.

Rush said:
"The people that make this country work, the people who pay on their mortgages, the people getting up and going to work, striving in this recession to not participate in it, they're not the enemy. They're the people that hire you. They're the people that are going to give you a job. They're the people that are going to give you a raise, the people that need you to do work for them." 

I wonder if Rush is taking more than just Oxycontin.  I don't know what he's talking about.  Neal Boortz spouts this same rhetoric.  I am one of these people, and I don't equate this to Obama's agenda.  Again, RECOVERY.GOV!  I read his platform.  I've gone over the law.  I know his agenda, and I have found that I can still achieve personal critical success for myself and my family within the framework he's providing.  Still, you all know what?  It's law now.  My advice to Rush, Hannity, and Neal?  Be solution oriented for goodness sake.  Stop turning your listeners into mental canned dog chow.  At the very least Boortz, go back to saying your disclaimer more often.  Let people know they should look things up for themselves, and not take what you say as fact.  Hannity and Rush ... well, I guess you won't do this.  However, it would be nice if you tried.

Rush said:
"The future is not Big Government. Self-serving politicians. Powerful bureaucrats. This has been tried, tested throughout history. The result has always been disaster. President Obama, your agenda is not new. It's not change, and it's not hope"

Crack maybe?  He's definitely not listening.  Try right size government, voting out self-serving politicians, and full disclosure of bureaucratic activity.  Rush, do you truly know your history? 


Okay, the below picture is wrong on so many levels.  But it still is what we must be about, free expression.  When I saw it, I just knew I had to include it.  First I thought I would. Then, I said no.  Then, I said yes.  I got stuck on yes.  It has nothing to do with wisdom, critical thinking, progressive thinking, not much thinking in the positive at all.  What it is, is ugly, a bit funny, and to many of us .... sincerely overdue.





My friends, I want us all to become Critical Thinkers.  I want us all to see entertainers, and regard them through our filter of understanding.  I want us to toss away this self-identification through party affiliation.  Critical thinkers are not Democratic or Republican.  They are free of the title, and vote based on critical cognition, through careful discerning of facts, and critical understanding of the issues. They may become impassioned, but they temper passion with reason.  They consider the now, the tactical, the present.  They also regard the future, the strategic, carefully considering how actions now impact the world in the days to come, and how best we can mitigate adverse possibilities.  I am working mightily to live up to this ideal.  I would invite you all to join me on this journey. 

Remember the words of Dr. West:  "You can't LEAD the people, if you don't LOVE the people.  You can't SAVE the people, if you don't SERVE the people."  Say this to the compansionless conservatives. Tell them you are striving to be better than you are.  Then, ask them sincerely, to join you in doing the same.