6 posts tagged “conservatism”

Many Persons, such as Paine & Voltaire, with some of the Ancient Greeks, say: "we will not converse concerning Good & Evil; we will live in Paradise & Liberty." You may do so in Spirit, but not in the Mortal Body as you pretend, till after the Last Judgment; for in Paradise they have no Corporeal & Mortal Body -- that originated with the Fall & was call'd Death & cannot be removed but by a Last Judgment; while we are in the world of Mortality we Must Suffer. The Whole Creation Groans to be deliver'd; there will always be as many Hypocrites born as Honest Men, & they will always have superior Power in Mortal Things. You cannot have Liberty in this World without what you call Moral Virtue, & you cannot have Moral Virtue without the Slavery of that half of the Human Race who hate what you call Moral Virtue. A Vision of the Last Judgment, p. 93.

The Last Judgment is an Overwhelming of Bad Art & Science. Mental Things are alone Real, what is Calld Corporeal Nobody Knows of its Dwelling Place, it is in Fallacy & its Existence an Imposture. Where is the Existence Out of Mind or Thought, Where is it but in the Mind of a Fool. Some People flatter themselves that there will be No Last Judgment & that Bad Art will be adopted & mixed with Good Art, That Error or Experiment will make a Part of Truth & they Boast that it is its Foundation. These People flatter themselves I will not Flatter them.

Error is created. Truth is eternal. Error, or Creation, will be Burned up, & then, & not till Then, Truth or Eternity will appear. It is Burnt up the Moment Men cease to behold it. I assert for My Self that I do not behold the outward Creation & that to me it is hindrance & not Action; it is as the dirt upon my feet, No part of Me. "What," it will be Question'd, "When the Sun rises, do you not see a round disk of fire somewhat like a Guinea?" O no, no, I see an Innumerable company of the Heavenly host crying, `Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty.' I question not my Corporeal or Vegetative eye any more than I would Question a window concerning a Sight. I look thro' it & not with it. A Vision of the Last Judgment, p. 95.

Written over 200 years ago in England by William Blake.  I believe it was somebody on either VOX or StumbleUpon who recommended this site to me and it is so very appreciated but I don't remember who it was.  I bookmarked the page and occasionally go back only to discover again how very much like me he observed the world's cultures self destructing, but much more eloquently expresses those observations than I ever will.

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Rouze up O Young Men of the New Age! set your foreheads against the ignorant Hirelings! For we have Hirelings in the Camp, the Court, & the University: who would if they could, for ever depress Mental & prolong Corporeal War. Painters! on you I call! Sculptors! Architects! Suffer not the fashionable Fools to depress your powers by the prices they pretend to give for contemptible works or the expensive advertizing boasts that they make of such works; believe Christ & his Apostles that there is a Class of Men whose whole delight is in Destroying. We do not want either Greek or Roman Models if we are but just & true to our own Imaginations, those Worlds of Eternity in which we shall live for ever; in Jesus our Lord.

And did those feet in ancient time,
Walk upon Englands mountains green:
And was the holy Lamb of God,
On Englands pleasant pastures seen!

And did the Countenance Divine,
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here,
Among these dark Satanic Mills?

Bring me my Bow of burning gold:
Bring me my Arrows of desire:
Bring me my Spear: O clouds unfold!
Bring me my Chariot of fire!

I will not cease from Mental Fight,
Nor shall my Sword sleep in my hand:
Till we have built Jerusalem,
In Englands green & pleasant Land.

Would to God that all the Lords people were Prophets.

Numbers XI. ch 29 v.


http://www.betatesters.com/penn/blake2.htm

http://www.betatesters.com/penn/

If you are not familiar with the story of Kevin Kammerdiener and his trek into the Army and Afghanistan and back you are missing an important one.  Kevin was injured by a suicide attack on his convoy and his single mom (Leslie Kamm) had started this blog prior to his deployment.  I have linked this to the beginning page as the whole thing should be read in chronological order starting 24th February 2008.  So you'll have to read from the bottom up to get it in the appropriate chronological order.  It is a journal detailing everything from attending his Airborne jump class and graduation to receiving the news of his injuries through present day struggles and progress in recovery.  This is an important story being lived by thousands of our brave men and women and their families and rarely told via the major media outlets.  Please take the time to familiarize yourself with this very uncommon journal of very common stories of our military volunteers' and their families' sacrifices for our freedom and security.  It is a journey you will not want to miss.

For those with shorter attention spans, this video relates visually the modus operendi of the survivor mentality.  When the worst thing you can imagine has happened and there is nothing left but the consequences, you can either give in and let your life pass before your eyes, or you can take whatever options left available to you and do with them what you can.  You might be amazed at how well you come out of it.  In other words, sitting their like a victim and letting the inevitable happen ensures your victimhood.  Fight it!  Fight it to the bitter end and write your own destiny for as long as you possibly can.  You can always deal with the victimhood after the opportunity to fight is passed.

Through the last three presidential elections, we've witnessed a remarkable degradation of respect and maturity by the liberal populace.  From random individual attacks on political speech to personal attacks against Christianity in particular, and conservatism in general and not just at street level.  Noted in an article linked at the bottom of this body was the attempt via petition signed by 12,000 liberals which was intended to initiate a local proposition to rename their sewage treatment plant after President George W. Bush in profound and deliberate disrespect.  It seems there is nothing left the Left might do which would shock us.  We have come to expect this level of immaturity from them.  During this election we witnessed intimidation efforts by Black Panther members at polling stations.  We witnessed an upsurge in the trend in destruction of personal property all over the country.  We witnessed a politician's home spray painted with threats and in at least one case a home was shot up.  But the biggest sign that respect is disappearing was the media's conduct and treatment of the candidates they opposed vs. the treatment of candidates they favored.  80% positive reports for Obama and 17% positive reports for McCain.  The media are an important part of our society's success in that they are supposed to be a type of watchdog over our leaders' behavior.  Instead they've obscured the President Elect's history and record on all the controversial issues of our time and his many ties to actual criminals and open enemies of American ideals while literally sifting through garbage cans in the home states of Sarah Palin and John McCain and editing interviews to make them look as corrupt, weak and ignorant as they possibly could.  The media elites have lost all self respect for their profession in their advocacy.



• Matthews: 'I Want to' to Enable a 'Successful' Obama Presidency
• Chris Matthews Cheers on Hardball: 'The Excitement Begins!'
• Fineman: Obama's 'Excellence,' 'Changing Everything as He Moves'
• CBS's Harry Smith on Obama Win: 'I Wept Tears of Joy'
• Harris: 'We're Having Something of a National Moment' Over Obama
• Giddy on MSNBC: Olbermann Compares Obama Election to Moon Landing
• CNN's Frank Sesno Labels Rahm Emanuel 'Center to Center-Right'  

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• Matured by Choosing Obama,' Makes 'A More Perfect Union'
• ABC: McCain 'Distorted' Obama, Palin an 'Empty Designer Suit'
• Weir Glows Over Obama's 'Transcendent' Night of 'Communal Joy'
• CBS on Obama: 'New Era,' 'Privilege,' 'Breath-Taking,' 'Euphoria'
• ABC's Jim Sciutto: Obama Has 'Captured the World's Heart' a

Liberals have abdicated their role in this free society in favor of placing a leader who promises to take their responsibilities from their shoulders and place them on the ever listing shoulder of big government.  In spite of the fact that this is in direct opposition to the design the founding fathers agonized over for this country and in spite of the evidence of consequences to the design they desire, they will do anything it might take to get that design installed.  The liberals are quick to charge the conservatives of hate and quicker to demonstrate hate for the conservative.  Where is the evidence of the conservative hate mongering riots they charged?  There aren't any, but their are examples of rage by the gays in California where the proposition which defined marriage as between one man and one woman.

In such an environment, it is a requirement for our security to inculcate this society with a working knowledge and incentive to apply respect for the rights of others to free political speech.  I would encourage all my readers to begin initiating political conversations at every opportunity for the express purpose of getting these rules of conduct into the foreground.  Be prepared for angry responses.  It is a necessary part of the process of teaching immature adult people a mature approach to dealing with their disagreements.  It won't be until that anger has been tapped that we can demonstrate improper vs. proper behavior.  In the past we have been reluctant to deal with immature adults due to the fact that we expect their immaturity to spill into violent behavior. 

Listen; this is what we want.  If the liberal will not learn by your example of calm and reason, if he will not be ashamed of his immaturity and since adults answer only to official authority and the police can't do anything until someone becomes a danger to themselves or others, we have to escalate their behavior until it is correctable.  At the same time we must maintain the air of a mature responsible person to keep a good reputation and to be effectively changing the opinions of the audience that is sure to gather.  This means "NO bullying."  Think of it as your tithe, your sacrifice to build a better society.  Remember; Give me liberty or give me death!  Sounds remarkably like witnessing for Christ, doesn't it?  Probably because the responsibilities are pretty close to equivalent.


Teaching respect is exemplified in the same way we handle the immaturity of children.  Steve McChesney over at http://www.bullyfreekids.com demonstrates the way we do this for children.  I hope he'll pardon my liberty with his work.  I have adjusted it to fit the circumstances I've referred to above.

A respectful liberal takes care of belongings and responsibilities, and a respectful liberal gets along with conservatives.

How can you teach respect to your liberal?

Be honest – If you do something wrong, admit it and apologize.

Be positive – Don’t embarrass, insult or make fun of your liberal. Compliment them.

Be Trusting – Let your liberals make choices and take responsibility according to his ability.

Be fair – Listen to your liberal’s side of the story before reaching a conclusion.

Be polite – Use “please” and “thank you”. Ask his/her individual investment in liberalism before broaching your liberal’s issue.

Be reliable – Keep promises. Show your liberal that you mean what you say.

Be a good listener – Give your liberal your full attention.

Liberals may learn from anything we say and do. Make sure that you are modeling respectful behavior. Some of the things you can do are:

Obey laws – Follow rules.

Be caring – Show concern for people, animals and the environment.

Avoid poor role models – When you see examples of disrespect, discuss them with the nearest observing liberal.

When you set rules for use in discussing moral/political issues, explain to your liberal why the rule is important.

Teach your liberal to respect themselves. Self-respect is one of the most important forms of respect. Once we respect ourselves, it is easier to respect others.

Your opinion means a lot to your liberal. If you believe your liberal can succeed, they will believe they can as well.

Build their independence. Give them responsibilities as soon as they can handle them.

Help them set and achieve goals. Their self-respect will skyrocket when they see themselves achieving those goals.

Encourage honesty. Let your liberal know that they may be able to fool some people, but they can’t fool themselves. There is no pride in stealing, cheating, or lying.

Most importantly, show love! Explain to them your position is not to cause them or anybody harm but to bless them and help them live better.

If your liberal makes a mistake, remind them that they are still loved.

Maturity level affects liberal's respect. Liberals and conservatives deserve respect at every age. Here is a guideline based on maturity compared to children:

Babies – They are too immature to show respect but when you meet their needs, they learn to trust you. This helps as they mature because respect for authority is based on trust.

Toddlers – They are mature enough to learn to say “please” and “thank you”.

Preschoolers – This is a good time to teach rules and consequences.

Elementary school – They show the most respect for adults who make fair rules. It helps to let them have a say in the rules that they are expected to follow.

Middle and High Schoolers – Allow them to show independence, such as clothing or hairstyles, but make sure you have guidelines. They will appreciate the respect you are showing them. We respect you and the incredible job that you have, being a conservative.

Goodness knows, you may not get it. There may be days when you feel Rodney Dangerfield had nothing on you. You may even decide that getting respect is not a battle you choose to fight, or something that's necessary for getting things done. But just because respect is not forthcoming doesn't mean it isn't due. You are deserving of respect for your moral views, your knowledge about your society and its needs, your tireless efforts on its behalf, your faith and love in the face of tremendous challenges. If there are people in your life -- whether professionals or family members -- who don't pay you the proper respect, know that the shortcoming is theirs, not yours. Meanwhile, make sure you're paying yourself plenty.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

re⋅spect

   /rɪˈspɛkt/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [ri-spekt] Show IPA Pronunciation

–noun

1.	a particular, detail, or point (usually prec. by in): to differ in some respect.

2.	relation or reference: inquiries with respect to a route.

3.	esteem for or a sense of the worth or excellence of a person, a personal quality or ability, or something considered as a manifestation of a personal quality or ability: I have great respect for her judgment.

4.	deference to a right, privilege, privileged position, or someone or something considered to have certain rights or privileges; proper acceptance or courtesy; acknowledgment: respect for a suspect's right to counsel; to show respect for the flag; respect for the elderly.

5.	the condition of being esteemed or honored: to be held in respect.

6.	respects, a formal expression or gesture of greeting, esteem, or friendship: Give my respects to your parents.

7.	favor or partiality.

8.	Archaic. a consideration.

–verb (used with object)

9.	to hold in esteem or honor: I cannot respect a cheat.

10.	to show regard or consideration for: to respect someone's rights.

11.	to refrain from intruding upon or interfering with: to respect a person's privacy.

12.	to relate or have reference to.

—Idioms

13.	in respect of, in reference to; in regard to; concerning.

14.	in respect that, Archaic. because of; since.

15.	pay one's respects, a. to visit in order to welcome, greet, etc.: We paid our respects to the new neighbors. b. to express one's sympathy, esp. to survivors following a death: We paid our respects to the family.

16.	with respect to, referring to; concerning: with respect to your latest request.

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Origin:
1300–50; (n.) ME (< OF) < L respectus action of looking back, consideration, regard, equiv. to respec-, var. s. of respicere to look back (re- re- + specere to look) + -tus suffix of v. action; (v.) < L respectus ptp. of respicere


References:

A tutorial for teaching respect to kids.
Jeffrey Scott Shapiro with the Wall Street Journal online

The treatment President Bush has received from this country is nothing less than a disgrace. The attacks launched against him have been cruel and slanderous, proving to the world what little character and resolve we have. The president is not to blame for all these problems. He never lost faith in America or her people, and has tried his hardest to continue leading our nation during a very difficult time.

Our failure to stand by the one person who continued to stand by us has not gone unnoticed by our enemies. It has shown to the world how disloyal we can be when our president needed loyalty -- a shameful display of arrogance and weakness that will haunt this nation long after Mr. Bush has left the White House.

C Bradley Thompson

 I don't like cross posting entire articles because I view it as bad etiquette.  Aside from the legal implications it can be immoral unless the author personally requests that their work be spread around.  In this case, I think the author would prefer it be spread around.  So, I'll include the link back to the original location I found it and go ahead and put the whole thing up.  We have to know what is right and good and beneficial as opposed to what is bad, wrong and harmful.

pos 101 from Illinois State University

Socialism vs. Capitalism: Which is the Moral System?
On Principle, Vol. 1, No. 3
Autumn 1993

by: C. Bradley Thompson

Throughout history there have been two basic forms of social organization: collectivism and individualism. In the twentieth-century collectivism has taken many forms: socialism, fascism,
nazism, welfare-statism and communism are its more notable variations. The only social system commensurate with individualism is laissez-faire capitalism.

The extraordinary level of material prosperity achieved by the capitalist system over the course of the last two-hundred years is a matter of historical record. But very few people are willing to defend capitalism as morally uplifting.

It is fashionable among college professors, journalists, and politicians these days to sneer at the free-enterprise system. They tell us that capitalism is base, callous, exploitative, dehumanizing, alienating, and ultimately enslaving.

The intellectuals' mantra runs something like this: In theory socialism is the morally superior social system despite its dismal record of failure in the real world. Capitalism, by contrast, is a morally
bankrupt system despite the extraordinary prosperity it has created. In other words, capitalism at best, can only be defended on pragmatic grounds. We tolerate it because it works.

Under socialism a ruling class of intellectuals, bureaucrats and social planners decide what people want or what is good for society and then use the coercive power of the State to regulate, tax, and redistribute the wealth of those who work for a living. In other words, socialism is a form of legalized theft.

The morality of socialism can be summed-up in two words: envy and self-sacrifice. Envy is the desire to not only possess another's wealth but also the desire to see another's wealth lowered to the level of one's own. Socialism's teaching on self-sacrifice was nicely summarized by two of its greatest defenders, Hermann Goering and Bennito Mussolini. The highest principle of Nazism (National Socialism), said Goering, is: "Common good comes before private good." Fascism, said
Mussolini, is "a life in which the individual, through the sacrifice of his own private interestsŠrealizes that completely spiritual existence in which his value as a man lies."

Socialism is the social system which institutionalizes envy and self-sacrifice: It is the social system which uses compulsion and the organized violence of the State to expropriate wealth from the producer class for its redistribution to the parasitical class.

Despite the intellectuals' psychotic hatred of capitalism, it is the only moral and just social system.

Capitalism is the only moral system because it requires human beings to deal with one another as traders--that is, as free moral agents trading and selling goods and services on the basis of mutual consent.

Capitalism is the only just system because the sole criterion that determines the value of thing exchanged is the free, voluntary, universal judgement of the consumer. Coercion and fraud are anathema to the free-market system.

It is both moral and just because the degree to which man rises or falls in society is determined by the degree to which he uses his mind. Capitalism is the only social system that rewards merit, ability and achievement, regardless of one's birth or station in life.

Yes, there are winners and losers in capitalism. The winners are those who are honest, industrious, thoughtful, prudent, frugal, responsible, disciplined, and efficient. The losers are those who are shiftless, lazy, imprudent, extravagant, negligent, impractical, and inefficient. [What about the role of luck­being in the right place at the right time or the wrong place at the wrong time? R. R. Pope}

Capitalism is the only social system that rewards virtue and punishes vice. This applies to both the business executive and the carpenter, the lawyer and the factory worker.

But how does the entrepreneurial mind work? Have you ever wondered about the mental processes of the men and women who invented penicillin, the internal combustion engine, the airplane, the radio, the electric light, canned food, air conditioning, washing machines, dishwashers, computers, etc.?

What are the characteristics of the entrepreneur? The entrepreneur is that man or woman with unlimited drive, initiative, insight, energy, daring creativity, optimism and ingenuity. The entrepreneur is the man who sees in every field a potential garden, in every seed an apple. Wealth starts with ideas in people's heads.

The entrepreneur is therefore above all else a man of the mind. The entrepreneur is the man who is constantly thinking of new ways to improve the material or spiritual lives of the greatest number of people.

And what are the social and political conditions which encourage or inhibit the entrepreneurial mind? The free-enterprise system is not possible without the sanctity of private property, the freedom of contract, free trade and the rule of law.

But the one thing that the entrepreneur values over all others is freedom--the freedom to experiment, invent and produce. The one thing that the entrepreneur dreads is government intervention. Government taxation and regulation are the means by which social planners punish and restrict the man or woman of ideas.

Welfare, regulations, taxes, tariffs, minimum-wage laws are all immoral because they use the coercive power of the state to organize human choice and action; they're immoral because they inhibit or deny the freedom to choose how we live our lives; they're immoral because they deny our right to live as autonomous moral agents; and they're immoral because they deny our
essential humanity. If you think this is hyperbole, stop paying your taxes for a year or two and see what happens.

The requirements for success in a free society demand that ordinary citizens order their lives in accordance with certain virtues--namely, rationality, independence, industriousness, prudence,
frugality, etc. In a free capitalist society individuals must choose for themselves how they will order their lives and the values they will pursue. Under socialism, most of life's decisions
are made for you.

Both socialism and capitalism have incentive programs. Under socialism there are built-in incentives to shirk responsibility. There is no reason to work harder than anyone else becuase the rewards are shared and therefore minimal to the hard-working individual; indeed, the incentive is to work less than others because the immediate loss is shared and therefore minimal to the
slacker.

Under capitalism, the incentive is to work harder because each producer will receive the total value of his production--the rewards are not shared. Simply put: socialism rewards sloth and penalizes hard work while capitalism rewards hard work and penalizes sloth.

According to socialist doctrine, there is a limited amount of wealth in the world that must be divided equally between all citizens. One person's gain under such a system is another's loss.

According to the capitalist teaching, wealth has an unlimited growth potential and the fruits of one's labor should be retained in whole by the producer. But unlike socialism, one person's gain is everybody's gain in the capitalist system. Wealth is distributed unequally but the ship of wealth rises for everyone.

Sadly, America is no longer a capitalist nation. We live under what is more properly called a mixed economy--that is, an economic system that permits private property, but only at the discretion of government planners. A little bit of capitalism and a little bit of socialism.

When government redistributes wealth through taxation, when it attempts to control and regulate business production and trade, who are the winners and losers? Under this kind of economy the winners and losers are reversed: the winners are those who scream the loudest for a handout and the losers are those quiet citizens who work hard and pay their taxes.

As a consequence of our sixty-year experiment with a mixed economy and the welfare state, America has created two new classes of citizens. The first is a debased class of dependents whose means of survival is contingent upon the forced expropriation of wealth from working citizens by a professional class of government social planners. The forgotten man and woman in all of this is the quiet, hardworking, law-abiding, taxpaying citizen who minds his or her own business but is forced to work for the government and their serfs.

The return of capitalism will not happen until there is a moral revolution in this country. We must rediscover and then teach our young the virtues associated with being free and independent citizens. Then and only then, will there be social justice in America.

C. Bradley Thompson is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Ashland University and Coordinator of Publications and Special Programs at the John M. Ashbrook Center for Public
Affairs.

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