Housekeeping

In any business enterprise, it is well understood that a reorganization is required on a regular basis. In IBM, it was called "stirring the pot". We never looked forward to these events. There were always changes to procedures i.e. the elimination of certain tasks, one's job description and responsibilities being redefined and shortening lines of communication. Why would management cause this kind of disruption on a regular basis? IBM, like any good management team, knew exactly why it was good business. It results in more efficiency and productivity while lowering production costs. So, what is the cause of this need to reorganize?

As a business grows, communication and control become more important issues. With more departments and people who have become interdependent, the business gets more complex and more difficult to control. Many times, new activities are created that already exist elsewhere in the company. This kind of duplication is especially common when there is poor communication between the units. It then becomes even more difficult for management to keep control over these duplicated and overgrown activities. 

Here's what happens. A key factor in a business's success is its ability to grow. Growth, however, brings its own challenges. It is the basis of why a regular reorganization is necessary. It is growth itself, that can cause duplication, excessive waste, costs and inefficiencies. Management teams that understand this are able to deal with these problems and restore continued success. 

It took only 5 to 10 years of IBM's growth, for it to become necessary to eliminate such duplication of effort. Only 5 to 10 years! Doesn't that seem a pretty small amount of time for a company to lose track of things? Well, what about this? 

Here in the USA, we have a government that has been growing, not for 5, 10 or even a hundred years, but for 237 years! We can only imagine the incredible amount of waste and inefficiencies there are throughout the entire system. There are hundreds of departments, many of them, all doing the same thing. Just think about all of the duplication of effort and the subsequent waste. And yes, each of those departments has its own budget. It takes 100's of millions of dollars to fund all of these.

So, it might be clear that what our government should do for the country, is exactly what any rational management team would do. But, no - not a chance - cleaning up the waste is not possible! U.S. Representatives and Senators who manage this country have no such desire or ability. They've pretty well convinced us that we really don't have a problem and that government growth should just continue on as usual.  We can expect nothing better from these people. What is required in Washington are the kinds of people who are in very short supply - those with courage, knowledge and patriotism. 

In my heart, I feel that even if we were to begin the "clean-up" of this massive mess today, it would probably take a few generations and even more national election cycles. Any success at a real clean-up would only be possible if the right people and the right party were in position. But, even then, they would have the challenge of trying to hold on to power over that long a period of time - 
I'm not that optimistic.

God bless America

"Clinging to their guns and Bibles"

In the 2008 campaign, when the President said this about certain Americans, he meant to disparage them. He made it sound like they were a bunch of people who were paranoid. Well, you'd be paranoid too, if you knew someone was really out to get you. And they are!

That is why I will cling to mine. I am also clinging, as hard as I can, to my country's flag, to its Constitution and to the oath I took to defend this country, years ago.

Why should I so resent this comment? Because it was made, not by an enemy, but by an American president! Despite having taken a solemn oath, he doesn't share the belief that these things are a normal part of being an American. His administration is actually creating an environment where the Bible and guns are being removed. 

I'm watching as the Christian religion is being dishonored and dismissed. The Founding Fathers were steeped in their love of God. The Bible is the basis for many of our laws and has always been the accepted standard for morality and social order. Despite these valuable benefits to our country, our leaders are forcing it to go in a secular direction.

Of equal concern to me is the way our flag is being redefined. It is now to be considered as only a symbol, and therefore not worthy of respect. Yes, it's a symbol, but it is the symbol that represents our honorable country. It is the flag that many millions have pledged their allegiance to for 237 years and is always honored by Americans.

There are still honor guards at all military and governmental functions. The flag is always displayed using a clearly defined, unique etiquette. Millions of patriots have died for it and were honored to have it placed on their coffins. But now, the government says it's perfectly OK for others to desecrate and dishonor it. 

Our Constitution is viewed by liberals as an old document and no longer valid. After years of acceptance and success, it is now being freely interpreted by an American president who is bringing fundamental change to the nation. 

Our 2nd amendment rights are there to protect us from this very kind of danger. It is the key to preserving our liberty and avoiding enslavement. It allows Americans to defend themselves, their families and property in the face of invading armies or an oppressive government. 

God help us - Lock and Load!

The New Censors

For decades now, censoring the news, radio or television has been out of favor with the American public. The result of this has given us a freer society, but one that appears to be getting coarser and cruder. As time passes, our free society will become even more licentious, and will continue its march toward decay and its possible demise. At this point in our history, any effort to reintroduce censorship of the media would fall on deaf, and maybe even violent ears. 

There is a good argument for keeping some degree of censorship so as to maintain a more orderly society. It would be difficult, however, to get a majority of Americans to agree on the standards that censors would be asked to monitor. Most of the existing standards for moral behavior are embedded within religious doctrine, and are already clearly represented in most of the existing laws of society. Despite that, these norms are unacceptable to many. 

There are many who refuse to have any limitations placed upon them and what they see as their freedom being infringed upon. There are also those who have atheistic beliefs who would be repelled by any effort to inject any religious thought into society. And then there are the people who simply do not accept the concept of absolutes, like good, evil and truth.

In the past, when censorship was legal, the majority of society members were religious people and inclined toward moral behavior. Individuals and communities had no problem agreeing on what was good, bad, obscene or disgusting. That’s out of the question these days. Our diverse society has become unwilling to be judged in any way and remains sharply divided about "freedom". 

Here's an interesting phenomenon that is occurring. There is now a new censorship problem developing before our very eyes, and it threatens us in a most totalitarian way. These new censors are the very liberal extremists who rejected censorship in the first place.

They have become very vocal in America and around the world. They come in the form of various disparate groups, each having their own agenda. They demonstrate in the streets, cause disruptions and are prepared to fight against any legal authority. They band together for various causes but they are essentially of the same nature. What they all have in common is their earnest desire to impose their minority view on the rest of society. Wait a minute, wasn’t that their original argument against censorship or any idea of absolutes and morality? Let’s look at some of these groups and how they have managed to impose censorship on those who have more traditional values.

The feminist organizations first defined themselves as looking out for women’s rights. Things like equal pay and equal opportunity marked their original and positive cause. They were there to protect women from abuse and defamation. Today their agenda has narrowed and become a political movement. Their one issue now is abortion. As women who were raised during the era of "free love", they view abortion as a birth control method. They want abortion to be their "right" and have made it into their movement’s ideology. 

Like any other liberal group, they have associated themselves with the Democrat party. By supporting that party, they hope to impose their view on the entire country. These groups are now the censors of those who consider the taking of a life in the womb as murder. Those who value human life, must now watch as the lives of millions of human fetuses are extinguished. 

Another group of liberals are also our censors. They are the "Free Speech" crowd (ACLU, et al). In America, the right to free speech is one of our major blessings. Any citizen is given the right to preach hatred and even the overthrow of the very government that gives them that right. Despite this absurdity, the founding fathers knew the risk of any government getting out of control and put its faith in a clearly written Constitution. 

These groups can be expected to rise up in very predictable cases. Where they shine is in "pushing the envelope", their desire to do and say things that are seen as crude, vile and obscene to others. It is then that these not so sturdy pillars of society go to work with our glorious flag wrapped around their unclean shoulders. 

Then there is the PETA crowd. They tell us to do nothing that may harm an animal. They tell us not to wear fur, not to drink milk and not to use rats for experiments. They feel good about themselves because they don’t want any living thing hurt. That seems nice on the surface, but their position is naïve and not very well thought out. Many of the living things they want to leave untouched are necessary for the survival of humans. Much of what they want would drive many organizations out of business and wreak severe damage on the economy of the country. 

This damage helps them to satisfy a more basic motive. Their target is really the free enterprise system, capitalism and big corporations - the very engine of America’s success. They don't seem to care about the societal advantages we gain from those companies. Along with the jobs they give us, those large businesses are there when we need generous contributions to charities, sponsorship of sports and the arts. They make the cars we drive, the movies and TV’s we watch, the planes we fly. What’s most important about their bigness and their expertise is that in time of war, they can be counted on to build the ships and guns we need for our very survival.

What several of these and other small groups have in common, is a need to impose their views on the majority. They are, in most cases, people who think their Utopian view is the “right” one. For those in the majority who may differ with them, they attempt to impose a sense of “wrongness”. So what is the new reality I believe we are facing? After decades of these liberal groups rejecting the institutions that would judge or censor their behavior, they themselves have now become the censors of society.