Why is the government collecting all this data?

Over the last few weeks we have learned an important thing.   Our government is out of control, plain and simple, and it has been for a long time.  We have been living our lives, going to work, paying our bills and raising our families.  Every two years, we go to the ballot box and voted for what we thought was the lesser of two evils.  Well, we are now beginning to learn that the lesser of two evils, is still evil.
The government is tracking your phone calls, texts, emails, Facebook posts, YouTube videos, Skype calls and your credit card transactions.  The government will tell you that they are just “collecting data”, not listening to phone calls.  By the way, my smart phone has GPS; they are collecting that data too.   Kroger collects data on the food I buy in a guise of better pricing.  It is just data collection, and citizens have nothing to worry about, as long as they’re not doing anything wrong.  But who determines what is “wrong?”  Remember when the government in NYC determined that sugary drinks are “wrong?”
I have been involved in politics, to some extent, for most of my adult life.  The last six years I have been much more involved and what I have seen concerns me.  The mantra of every group I have been involved with over the last six years has been “collect as much data as possible:  name, cell number, emails, addresses, married/ single, children, race, religion, groups they belong to, etc.”  Everything is about developing lists and gathering as much information as possible.  Lists are the key to winning.  At first I did not understand why these groups craved so much data.  Then I was shown it is all about patterns, habits and predicting outcomes.  
Humans are creatures of habit.   We tend to do the same things, we like things that are familiar, we don’t like change.  We go to the same restaurants and order the same things because we know what we like.  We like to stay in our comfort zone.  In our comfort zone things are predictable and we crave predictability.  There is nothing wrong with this; it allows us to live our lives with reasonable expectations that if we do something that we’ve done before, and we were happy because of it, we will likely do it again.

likely do it again.  

This predictability is why lists and data are so important to political organizations and the government.  This predictability allows the political organizations to target groups of people, or demographics that will donate money or make phone calls.  Predictability can identify those who are most likely to vote and those who will likely need some prodding to get to the polls.  Data base prediction also allows the political organizations to mass market to certain groups and change the marketing based on the group to whom they are trying to cater the message.  With enough data, an organization can predict a person’s likely behavior in the future.  

The Government has an advantage over all other organizations, we are forced to provide all that data to the government via the IRS and our tax returns.  As we have found out in the last weeks, the government is also collecting our data through phone calls, emails, facebook and other social media.  So it follows that if political and commercial organizations can predict how you will act in the future, with that amount of data they collect, the government must have a much clearer idea of how we will act in the future.  This is where things become interesting.

The question is why, and to what end, is the government collecting and storing so much data?   If the point of collecting this data is to predict how groups and individuals will act in the future, why, then, is the government so concerned about how citizens will behave in the future?

Let’s assume that the government is using data collection to determine how people will vote.  The government would never target groups of people or individuals who challenged the bureaucracy, right?  Certainly, those in power, would never target groups and harass them if they “liked” the Fair Tax page on Facebook?  What if I referenced the Communist Party USA in a Facebook status, or shared a quote from Rush Limbaugh or Michael More, that would not make the FBI interested in my “behavior”, right?  I mean if DC is not interested in my behavior on social media sites, in emails I send and receive, in phones calls I take and make, in websites I visit that Google happens to remember automatically, what reason would they have to store it at all?  As the famous line from the original star wars goes, “these are not the droids we are looking for, move on.”

Lifting the veil

Wednesday March 6th there was a shift in this country, but most people did not notice.  A defense of Freedom, Liberty and the Bill of Rights was on display in the US Senate.  Senator Rand Paul stood up in the well of the Senate and spoke for over 13 hours.

The media will tell you the purpose of the filibuster was to block the CIA nominee John Brennan, but the truth is so much bigger.

Attorney General Holder sent a letter to Sen. Paul that said,” In an emergency, the Federal Government could execute a drone strike on US soil.”  While AG Holder added the caveat “in an emergency”, the answer was yes, the executive branch of the United States government could serve as judge, jury and executioner, in an emergency.

Who determines what constitutes an emergency?  Why of course the Executive branch does.   According to the top US attorney the executive branch can declare an emergency, thereby, having the authority to execute a drone strike.

Sen. Paul stood up with 14 other senators and demanded the executive branch answer the question, can American Citizens have their  4th, 5th and 6th amendment rights denied by a President?  Can a President, with a drone strike , take away an American citizens right to “be secure in their person”, “be indicted by a Grand jury”, “not be deprived of life liberty and property without due process of law” or to the “right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury”?

This is why this moment was so important.  The Bill or Rights has been under attack for decades, but the last 12 years have seen an unprecedented attack, the Patriot Act, warrantless wiretaps, surveillance of e-mails, monitoring of cell phones, social media and attacks on religious freedom and the curtailing of free speech.  Yet during this attack on the Bill of Rights few in power stood up and took on the executive branch.

 Sen. Paul and those that supported the filibuster did just that, they stood up and demanded that the executive branch tell them if they had the power to ignore the constitution.  These few rebels’ shook the earth in DC, evidence by the reactions by those in power the next few days.

The “old guard” of the GOP took to the senate floor and called Sen. Paul everything from “dangerous” “Wacko Birds” and the “leader of the code pink republicans”.  Those in DC that believe in party over principle understood what had happened and it scared them.

If the American people begin to understand that what is happening in DC is just a game of R’s vs. D’s and as long as they keep us fighting each other, we will not notice the government overstepping its bounds and taking away our rights, the ruling class’s power would disappear.

Sen. Paul lifted the veil just a little and an amazing thing happened.  The people’s media, Twitter, Facebook, internet news sites and citizen journalist covered the filibuster with astounding success.  The news that someone was standing for freedom and the Bill of Rights spread across that internet, from C-Span to the twitter hashtag  #standwithrand  trending to number 1.  Even today if you Google stand with rand there are hundreds of blogs and new media stories, many of them left leaning news sources, even the progressive site Mother Jones questioned the use of drone strikes as Raha Wala, an attorney with Human Rights First said, “Any use of drone strikes or other premeditated lethal force inside the United States would raise grave legal and ethical concerns”

If we can stand together on the issue of liberty and freedom, we can stop this attack on our basic freedoms and present a united front to remind those in government that the only power they have is what the people grant them.

The ground has shifted, the veil lifted and the game has been exposed. We are purposely being pitted against each other, to keep us distracted.  We need to stop fighting each other and unite to defend our rights against a government that thinks it is ok to be judge, jury and executioner, as long as there is an emergency.

The world is full of razors

So I was having a conversation at work the other day and we were getting motivated to get some projects done and were bouncing ideas around , when someone commented ”why bother, no matter how hard we try it always ends up the same.”  

The energy the enthusiasm and the productivity of that conversation ended and the negativity flowed.   How does one mindless little statement completely derail what could have been a useful and innovative conversation?  

“A soothing tongue is a tree of life, but a perverse one crushes the spirit” Proverbs 15:4

Well I guess once again the Bible explains what happened.  

What is worse is that I am the one that brought the perverse tongue to the conversation.  How easy it is to mindlessly say something that is a fruit of anger and frustration, sure for a brief second it satisfied my need to vent, but what was the outcome of that action?  

The outcome was to suck the life and energy out of the conversation and to crush the spirit if you will.  

Imagine this situation; you have just accomplished a goal that you have been striving for, spent a couple months working toward this accomplishment, just to have someone make a small comment about how stupid it was or how pointless it has been.  You are filled with joy and accomplishment, and yet someone, you may not even know the person, has burst your bubble and left you feeling flat.  

The point is that the father of lies can work through all our actions and even the words that come out of our mouths.  Our tongue is one of the most powerful weapons we possess; it can be used for great evil or for great good.  The tongue is also one of the hardest, at least for me, weapons to control.  

As we take the Sword of truth and do battle with ourselves, we must be honest and deal with the areas in which we lack grace, and pray for the grace to overcome our shortcomings.

We must discipline ourselves to do better; only through discipline and practice can we turn that razor tongue into a soothing one.  As with everything that is positive in life, we must want it and work to achieve it.  The path I have chosen is narrow and difficult to traverse, lots of things to stumble over, but it is the path less taken and the path to life.

Which path are you going to take?

Bring the sword

“I came not to send peace, but the sword” Mt 10:34

Send the sword? I don’t think there is any doubt that Jesus was not pro violence, so what is this supposed to mean?

We are to bring the sword not to others but to ourselves. Jesus came to save us all, He cleared the way, He is the Way, but as we fumble with the gift of our freewill, we screw up. We turn from Him and toward the world, the kingdom of the father of lies.

So He brought the sword, the sword of truth. There is a battle going on, it is not nation against nation, brother against brother, it is inside us, inside me, the battle between the man I am meant to be and the man that I am. The sword is in my mind, in my heart, it is the sword of truth, of rightness, the sword that allows me to fight against the desires of the world. Every day I wake and do battle, I have to decide which side of the line in the sand I am going to stand.

Each of us has to fight this battle. It is easy to not fight, to take the wide road; it takes honor, courage and love to fight the battle every day, to choose the narrow path. Until we win this battle inside ourselves, we will battle with each other.

One nation under God, indivisible!

Why do you believe that man can rule himself?  The last time I posted that was the question I left you with… So did you come up with an answer?  Would it surprise you that the question has already been answered?  That all we have to do is look to our history, and the explanation is there?  

First one other citation from 1 Samuel… “Grant the people’s every request.  It is not you they reject, they are rejecting me as their king.  As they have treated me constantly from the day I brought them out of Egypt to this day, deserting me and worshiping strange gods.” (1 Samuel 8: 7-8)  So says the Lord.  Looks like the Israelites forgot they already had a king, the King of kings.  

Man cannot rule himself.  

In the beginning, in a garden, man was able to rule himself, but the father of lies used an apple to show us evil, to lead us to darkness.  Our parents used their free will to choose to listen to the father of lies to ignore Gods law.  We were fallen; we lost our ability to rule ourselves.

We were fallen, but not forgotten.  The Word become flesh became the new Adam, to re-open the Kingdom, to reconcile us with the King of kings.  So you ask what does this have to do with the divide in our country.  What does this have to do with the question can man rule himself?  

Man alone cannot rule himself.  We are fallen, but thru Jesus the door of the Kingdom is opened, “He who obeys the commandments he has from me is the man who loves me; and he who loves me will be loved by the father.” (John 14: 21)  Without God and obeying his law, the law of nature for He created nature and its laws, man cannot rule himself!  Don’t believe me; well would you prefer to hear it from our founders?

"We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion . . . Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."  John Adams 

“[T]he only foundation for a useful education in a republic is to be aid in religion. Without this there can be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty, and liberty is the object and life of all republican governments.”  Benjamin Rush

"[F]or avoiding the extremes of despotism or anarchy . . . the only ground of hope must be on the morals of the people. I believe that religion is the only solid base of morals and those morals are the only possible support of free governments.” Governor Morris

"The Bible is the best of all books, for it is the word of God and teaches us the way to be happy in this world and in the next. Continue therefore to read it and to regulate your life by its precepts." John Jay

"Human law must rest its authority ultimately upon the authority of that law which is divine. . . . Far from being rivals or enemies, religion and law are twin sisters, friends, and mutual assistants. Indeed, these two sciences run into each other." James Wilson

"All the miseries and evils which men suffer from vice, crime, ambition, injustice, oppression, slavery, and war, proceed from their despising or neglecting the precepts contained in the Bible." Noah Webster

"Men, in a word, must necessarily be controlled either by a power within them or by a power without them; either by the Word of God or by the strong arm of man; either by the Bible or by the bayonet." Robert Winthrop
[O]nly a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters." Ben Franklin

"Religion and morality are the essential pillars of civil society." George Washington

"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim tribute to patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness -- these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. . . . reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principles."  George Washington

I could go on and lay down more quotes, but I think you get the point.  

So what am I saying that we need to become a theocracy? That we need to institute religious rules and laws to replace the constitution?  Well again history holds the answer…

One Nation Divided part 2

As I explained previously our country is divided, not as in the Civil War were there was a dividing line North/South, but this divide is in our hearts, minds and beliefs.  As John Edwards so famously said there are two America's.  Edwards (a millionaire trial lawyer) said that we were divided amongst lines of Rich/Poor. That those that were poor were held down by the rich and it was the duty of the government to level the income divide.  That statement and thought process exemplifies the belief that man cannot rule himself, that there must be an overseeing organization to force us to act fairly.

Leaders that believe that man cannot rule himself views the citizen's as sheep, we must be herded and controlled for our own safety, and if one of the sheep gets out of line, they send out the sheep dogs to bark at us until we get back in line.

While I never thought I would type these words, I believe that Edwards’s statement was correct, not how he meant it, but there are two America's.  Those that believe man can rule himself and those, like Edwards, who believe that man cannot rule himself.

So which America do you believe in?  My guess is that most of you reading this think that man can rule himself, my question to you is why?  Why do you think that man can rule himself?  There are not many historical examples to look to and say here is my proof of why man can rule himself.  So again my question to you is why do you believe man can rule himself?

As for me, I do not believe that man can rule himself.

You read that right, I do not believe that man can rule himself; man left to himself will tend toward a king.  Since the earliest recorded history the Jews requested a king, "therefore the elders of Israel came in a body to Samuel at Ramah and said to him, 'Now that you are old, and your sons do not follow your example, appoint a king over us, as other nations have, to judge us.'" (1 Samuel 8: 4-5)
Samuel explained to them what a king would do, "He told them, 'the rights of the king who will rule you will be as follows: He will take your sons and assign them to his chariots and horses, and they will run before his chariots.... He will set them (sons) to do his plowing and his harvesting... He (king) will take the best of your fields, vineyards, and olive groves, and give them to his officials... He will take your male and female servants as well as your best oxen and your asses and use them to do his work... and you yourselves will become his slaves.'" (1 Samuel 8: 10-18)

Even after they were told what would happen, what did the Jews say?  "Not so!  There must be a king over us. We too must be like other nations with a king to rule over us and to lead us in warfare and fight our battles." (1 Samuel 8: 19-20)
They did not believe they could rule themselves they wanted someone to rule over them to fight their battles.

So from earliest recorded history man did not believe they could rule themselves and they were right.  Their history showed that even with all the blessings they received from God they could not rule themselves, they wanted a king.

So I ask you again why do you think that man can rule himself?  What makes America different?  Why won’t we suffer the same fate as the Greek democracies, the Roman Empire, the Soviet Union?  What makes us different?

One Nation divided

Our nation is more divided than anytime, since the 1860’s.  Today differs from the 1860’s in one big way, there is no mason Dixie line. There are no physical line’s North/South, City/ Country, Rich/Poor, although the last one is what is being used by those that wish to divide us further.  The divide is in our minds and hearts. The division is within each of us.  Which America you live in depends on what you believe the answer to one question is,
Is man capable of ruling himself?

If you see an America that is unfair and the deck is stacked against you and different groups are victims of other groups, then you would tend to believe that man needs government rulers to ensure that no one gets an advantage or his fellow man.   The poor are victim’s because the rich have cheated/stole their fortunes.  Minorities are victim’s because the majority has oppressed them.  The “workers” are victim’s because the bosses are oppressing them.  If you see yourself as a victim then you need someone to stand up for you because you are not able to stand.

If you see America as a country that has unlimited possibilities if you work hard and practice prudence,(on a editorial note, unlimited possibilities does not mean that everyone will be filthy rich and own 10 cars, it means that you are free to become the best that you are able to be, to be the best teacher, plumber, electrician, salesman, CEO or Janitor out there) that it us up to you to achieve what you consider success, you would tend to believe that there should be limited government. You would tend to see yourself as an individual. You want to stand for yourself.

This leads to two different philosophies:  First what does “Victim” mean? According to dictionary.com

1. Person who suffers from an injurious action or event

2. Person who is cheated

A victim is a person that has had something external “out of their control” happens to them.  They were powerless against the event.  The second definition is a little trickier—“a person who is cheated”, it seems straight forward but if you feel you deserve something and don’t get it, were you cheated?  That is for a latter topic.
We have many people in our country that feel something out of their control (financial collapse, Inflation, born poor, color of skin) has caused them injury.  Victims feel powerless, unable to control what happens to them.  There are many people in the country feel this way, perhaps most of us.  I did not benefit, like those at Fannie Mae, from the housing bubble.  I did not devalue the US Dollar, thereby causing gas and food prices to go up.  It is a very human place to be, for most of human history we were not able to control what happened to us.  Being a victim has happened to every human that has lived or will ever live.
The evil of victimhood is the road it leads to.  The belief that you cannot control what happens to you leads you become despondent, fearful, angry, depressed and fatalist.  In history, humans have dealt with these feelings in the same way; we turn to someone else.  
We turn to someone that is more powerful to help us, whether it is sacrificing to gods or turning to political leaders, we look for someone to avenge us, to take away our victimhood and this has led to king’s and tyrant’s.  When we don’t think or feel that we can control our lives we look for someone that promises to make things better, to avenge us.  The leaders that rise up will identify who has oppressed us, they will galvanize the victims.  History is full of examples of this, but it almost always has the same “villain”.  The villain is always those that are different; different skin color, different hair color, different religious beliefs, different facial features, and of course the wealthy. This attitude leads to extermination, genocide, holocaust; it leads to us vs. them.  In order for “us” to prosper we must get rid of “them”.  
The problem with this thought process, beside the mass deaths, is that it is based on a false premise, “victim” is a noun, a term used to indentify someone, it is not a verb, it is not an action word, it is not a lifestyle it is a label no different than fat, short, pretty, ugly it is a label not a lifestyle.

Now if you answer yes to the question “can man rule himself?”  Well this is trickier because it has not happened very often throughout history; perhaps the Greek city-states were the first example of self-rule, and democracy.  Where the citizen’s were seen more as individuals and having rights, then there was the Roman Republic, before the Caesar’s.  After the fall of Rome, there was a long period before man tries to rule himself again, the next attempt begin with the Magna Carta which was the first attempt to wrestle power away from a king and institute self rule.
Fast forward 500 years you have the American Revolution and the French Revolution (although the French revolution’s self government did not last long).  The belief that man can rule himself, is proven throughout history to be an oddity as opposed to the norm.  
If you believe that man can govern himself, you tend to think and feel that you control your destiny, that if you succeed or fail it is based on your merit.  The believer in self government is willing to take more chances and is not bogged down by the idea that someone or something will keep me from succeed.  You feel that they can shape your own future, because you were born poor does not mean you will always be poor, that a label does not define who you are.  This belief, too can lead to dark places, if you believe you can rule yourself there is a tendency to become selfish and only self concerned.  If we are only concerned about ourselves then others can be viewed as not your problem.  It truly becomes Darwin’s survival of the fittest.
So we have a nation that is really two nations, one believes they are victims and are oppressed to such an extent that they cannot improve their lot in life, and those that believe that they believe that they control what happens to them and if they are left alone they can do whatever they are capable.
Is it any wonder that we cannot have a civil debate?  Each group see’s the other as the cause to their problems.
Can a free society exist when the population is so divided?  History tells us no, remember that the Roman Republic, ended with a Emperor and the French revolution ended with Napoleon.