RESPONSIBILITY, honesty, Truth…

Whose job is it to teach children responsibility, honesty and truth? Does that obligation lye with parents, extended family, schools, law enforcement, some other entity, or all, or none, of the above? In my opinion, whoever is responsible is failing!

What do you think?

I think it is the parents moral and civic duty to raise their children to be good, responsible citizens with the best chance of success and, from my Christian viewpoint, the best chance of salvation. That goes without saying.

But, after saying it, I need to throw in a caveat. People who create children have varying degrees of ability to efficiently raise them. We (Parents) all need some help from time to time. Some have more resources such as a willing, nearby, family or a large enough bankroll to hire a nanny. Other parents have neighbors they can safely call on to watch their children when they go shopping or need to complete other chores that are easier to accomplish without children present. Some set up schedules with their neighbors to allow each party to be “kid-free” at certain times. There are couples who choose to have one parent stay with the children while the other works as the sole breadwinner. Some parents are able to work opposite shifts and hand the child/children off, somewhat like a relay race baton, while one parent ends their shift and the other heads out to theirs. There are hundreds of other, innovative, ways to responsibly care for a child. The important factors are that the solution the parents find is safe and enables the child to prosper and grow with values the parents are in agreement with.

While I believe that the largest burden of raising responsible children should be borne by the parents. I realize that in some instances they are not able to do that. I am aware that 23% of children under 18 years of age (yoa) in the U.S. are living in single family homes (much more than any other country- 7% for the rest of the world). In cases when the child’s parent(s) are shown to be unable or unwilling to bear their burden and there is no family or charitable help available the government should step in, but only in those cases.

Let me go on record as saying I do not want the government to have any more control over anything than they do right now.

Here’s why.

The United States Postal Service lost 4.9 billion dollars (Money we taxpayers were forced to give them) in 2021 and 9.2 billion in 2020, and, despite all of the government dollars it has to work with, it does not operate effectively – late deliveries, missed deliveries rude clerks and many more documented problems. How do private companies thrive in a profession that costs our government billions of dollars? I have the answer- it’s because the people who make the decisions don’t care. They assign friends or people they owe favors to to coveted positions, regardless of ability.

AMTRAK lost $780 million in 2020 and $3.7 billion in 2021 (blamed on COVID- but what doesn’t the government blame on Covid?). The new Amtrak budget assumes a $1 billion loss yearly in perpetuity (enotrans.com). They also are not known for their efficiency, nobody has said, “You can set your watch by the trains…” since the government took over. My local commuter train is expecting a $1 million profit for 2022- but then again, it’s privately owned, and people get upset when there is no profit. With tax dollars, who cares, we’ll just get more- right?

Immigration: We need a strong federal government with plenty of resources to protect our borders (It is arguable that they are not currently performing that duty with approximately 2.76 million illegal entries in fiscal year 2022 -ending in September, breaking the previous record by over one million entries according to The U.S. Customs and Border Protection report 10/21/2022 and reported by Julia Ainsley nbcnews.com). Why is this happening? Could it be because Biden took a successful program and dismantled it? I think it could be. In 2022 there were 2.76 million illegal entries. In 2019 there were 977,509. Man, I wish we had a responsible press that would be asking WHY every day in headlines and lead articles! We can get it if we insist on having it. And if we don’t insist on having it, I think, we might lose what we have now- Freedom!

In my opinion our government does not do anything well. I also believe, as the founding fathers did, that a small government is the best government. Thomas Jefferson said, “THE COURSE OF HISTORY SHOWS THAT AS A GOVERNMENT GROWS, LIBERTY DECREASES.”

The reason I’m blasting the government is not because I hate it. I don’t, I love my country and believe it is the best available and the only hope for worldwide freedom! But I definitely see its’ many flaws.

I am upset that our country is walking backwards. We aren’t, in my opinion, as free as we were when I was born (A long time ago). I don’t think we are even as free as we were three years ago, I’m sure we are not. Our press, designed to be the 4th branch of the government to hold the other branches accountable, is now just a rubber stamp for the politicians who want to march our country towards socialism. You may disagree with me, that’s fine, I WELCOME IT!

I ask you. Have you seen the throngs of people leaving California, New York and Illinois and moving to Texas and Florida. I wonder why? Could it be that the first states are giving tax dollars to the perceived needy and the second states are being fiscally responsible. That reminds me of a riddle- What money is easiest to give away? Other people’s.

I do ask you to please, check both sides of the stories that will, or could, affect our country. Research to know the other side’s story! Is it completely wrong? Is it better than you thought? Are they right? You will not know until you do your research. You owe that effort to your country and your neighbors, and yourself!

All sides of any story should be covered thoroughly. I believe that with my whole heart and soul. That is not happening currently!

Cory Doctorow wrote in a blog for EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation/deeplinksblog) that both the right and left should be worried about big tech censorship. He documented that, “Republican-led legislatures in Florida and Texas have introduced legislation to ‘end Big Tech censorship.'” he added that the legislatures say, “the dominant tech platforms block legitimate speech without ever articulating their moderation policies, that they are slow to admit their mistakes, and that there is no due process for people who think the platforms got it wrong.”

Doctorow continues by declaring, “They’re right.”

He then adds, “So is everyone else.”

In the blog he says Palestinians and others who criticize Israel, including other Israelis are not heard. The article goes on to say, “We have a whole project tracking people who’ve been censored, blocked, downranked, suspended and terminated for their legitimate speech, from punk musicians to peanuts fans, historians to war crimes investigators, sex educators to Christian ministries.”

On the other side of the table is Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D MN). She co-sponsored a bill with Ben Ray Luj’an (D NM) called “The Health Misinformation Act” which will, if passed, “hold Facebook, YouTube and other social media companies liable for the proliferation of falsehoods about vaccines, “fake cures” and other “harmful” health-related claims on their sites.”

If it passes who will determine what “fake cures” and “harmful” materials are?

As far as “Fake cures” I remember reading, and hearing from, the Main-Stream Media that Hydroxychloroquine was dangerous and should not be taken as a preventative for Covid 19. I just Googled – HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE FOR COVID 19 and the first result was THE FDA HASN’T APPROVED USE OF THIS DRUG TO TREAT OR PREVENT COVID-19. TAKING LARGE DOSES OF THIS DRUG CAN CAUSE SERIOUS HARM. DON’T USE MEDICATIOS INTENDED FOR ANIMALS ON YOURSELF TO TREAT OR PREVENT COVID-19 HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE AND CHLOROQUINE. I then Googled HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE and found a very positive post advising how useful it is to treat LUPUS (A blood disorder). That post said nothing about animals. Strange, isn’t it? I would say, intentionally misleading.

This, in my opinion, is a very dangerous act that attacks free speech in more ways than I can cover here. How many of the unassailable facts have been proven incorrect over these pandemic years.

Here are a few.

Doctors have proven that the masks we were forced to wear are not effective against the Covid Virus- thousands of them actually voiced this opinion prior to the mask mandates, but they were silenced and, some of them were, fired for voicing their opinions that were based on fact. Instead of a big deal in the media the mandates just slowly went away.

Do you remember when it was recommended that we get a second opinion for any major medical procedure? Now they are attempting to legislate against it. I don’t think that is progress.

I’m just starting to read 1984, What is happening in our country sounds like Orwell to me.

Doctors who spoke out about the vaccine causing heart and reproductive problems were vilified and some were fired. Then slowly the facts began to surface and those doctors were proven to be correct- there was no apology in the press, no corrections, but we are seeing many athletes who developed heart ailments shortly after taking the jab come forward or die on the field. An article in the BMJ (British Medical Journal) tells some of the truths. In this current climate.

Requirement #1 Number of cases low and predominantly mild #2 Young males at highest risk shortly after second dose, suggesting longer dosing intervals might be beneficial #3 Findings must be considered alongside benefits of vaccination– (Authors note: WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF THE VACCINATION? IT DOESN’T GUARANTEE YOU WON’T BE INFECTED- in fact a higher percentage of vaccinated get Covid than unvaccinated!)

Why are young people even being vaccinated? Why are many schools insisting students be vaccinated? Why are the US Armed Forces insisting solders be vaccinated? None of those age groups experienced a high number of deaths from Covid.

The article mentioned above points out that, “mRNA Covid 19 vaccines are associated with a rare but heightened risk of acute myocarditis and pericarditis (heart disease), according to US researchers.” in English- the Covid Vaccine may cause recipients to suffer heart disease. Have you heard that before? Probably not!

Have you heard any of this? Would this information have stopped you from forcing your student to get jabbed as a requirement to enter school?

Are you aware that, by far, the highest number of Covid deaths, by age, from the outbreak in 2019 to January 4, 2023, are the victims 50 yoa and older, many with other health issues?

Here is a list of age ranges effected by Covid-19 that I found in (Statista https://www.Statista>statistics) 0-17 yoa 1,414 18-29 yoa 6,749, 30-39 yoa 19,255, 40-49 yoa 45,092, 50-64 yoa 197,247, 65-74 yoa 246,021, 75-84 yoa 282,430, 85yoa and older 288,990 (Statista https://www.Statista > statistics) Have you heard any of this? If I was a betting man, I would wager that most of America hasn’t- because most of us are not going past page 3 of google, and google doesn’t want us to know, so they’re burying the lead! These statistics clearly show that the brunt of Covid deaths lye with the elderly- a group of which I am a member, but let me say, for the record, I am not worried about Covid-19. I am not vaccinated, I will not take the jab!

So, again, I ask, why are students being forced to take the jab? Why are soldiers being forced to take the jab? Why is anyone being forced to accept a vaccine that is not proven and is most probably causing deaths in previously healthy people?

Politicians often say, “If only one life can be saved, we should enact this invasive law, wear masks, stay inside… I ask, “If we are concerned about life, why are we encouraging the young to take a vaccine that could kill them to possibly avert a disease that probably won’t kill them?

How do we fix this situation?

I think we need to take control. We need to start doing what is right. If a neighbor kid is breaking the law, call the police, or call his parents if you are confident they will rectify the situation, but you MUST do something.

If you subscribe to a newspaper that tells only half the story, cancel the subscription. Let them know you will not support dishonesty. The same for TV or radio news.

Stay up to date on what is happening politically. Unfortunately, this can not be done by using only one news source. It is hard to find a station that tells the whole story.

It is our duty as citizens to know the truth and to vote our conscience. If “your” candidate does not keep the promises they made, do not give them a second vote. As they yelled in the 60’s, “DON’T RE-ELECT ANYONE!” I would amend that to say, “Don’t re-elect anyone who fails to honor their commitments.” If you find a politician who votes as promised- keep them in office forever and a day!

If a product you have been buying for years aligns with, or donates large sums of money to, projects you are opposed to, stop buying that product.

If a star you enjoy watching endorses products that are opposed to your morals, boycott that star. You can find something else to do for one night.

I believe we will all be judged one day. I also believe that day could be today. I know that it is our duty to do what is right all of the time, not just when we are being watched.

In my opinion, this country has been on “auto pilot” for a long time, and it has drifted very close to the reef. It is our duty as citizens and as humans to do what is right. We must actively participate in our government or there is a good chance we will lose it.

Benjamin Franklin’s response to the question- What kind of government will we have was, “A Republic, if you can keep it”

We can’t keep it if we don’t fight to keep it. We must know who is running locally, who is running for state offices and who is running for national offices. We must vet them and vote our conscience.

Responsibility is doing the right thing. Now is the time. We must be honest with ourselves and our friends. Without being obnoxious it is our duty to speak the truth to those who ask for it, and to those haven’t asked, but need guidance.

Thank you for reading.

Please tell me where I’m wrong and, more importantly, tell me where you feel I am on target.