Conspiracy Theory Is Not the Way to Go

There are a couple of books out by Matthew L. Harris of Colorado State University - Pueblo. One was noted in a link I shared in a Facebook posting that I will copy here because it led me to state my political interpretation rather succinctly.

[linking to an article "How did Mormons become so Republican?]:

Hopefully, we're finally getting out of this philosophy of one man....

Ya know it's interesting that no one of that stature has ever taken the extreme positions and conspiracies theories he did. Sure, there was that guy in the dorm and more than one crazed Utah politician, but nobody of the same stature in the church. What's that thing about paying attention to living leaders and not dead ones?

I'm going to be very blunt here. As blunt as Steve Schmidt has been with trump.

The Conservative Mormon fallacy has been:

Why I Hate Government

Evil everywhere

Yeah, really I'm no different than anybody else. Except I seem to be the one idealistically bashing my head against the wall trying to make things better.

Last night we watched an episode of The West Wing in which the usual crises appeared and circumstances were such that there was no good way out or to solve the bigger problems of evil.

I have a difficult work assignment in personnel law, an area of the practice that I've been trying to get out of for a good 20 years now but can't seem to do so because there is no one else to do it and I have the experience and I'm stuck. I can't resolve the problems of right and wrong any more than an attorney in the practice of domestic relations (at least I have that to be grateful for, but personnel law is second only to divorce on the civil side for horrible situations - thank heavens I don't deal with too much criminal!!)

And then there's fired FBI Director Comey's testimony coming up this morning. Today will not be the end of the most disgustingly corrupt and morally evil man to inhabit the White House since maybe Warren G. Harding. Or what I'm afraid of is that trump is actually the worst ever. The Republican Congress still controls. They will not likely turn on trump as long as they think they can squeeze through things to help the wealthy or those who think they are or want to be wealthy (like a lot of Americans) to the disadvantage of the poor and especially disfavored minorities. There is some overlap there in the electorate. Kansas is starting to figure that one out. But it takes a lot of thought and some bad things happening for most people to get it.

Less Militia, More Dieter!

Yes, I have been a little obsessed with the armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, the far right-wing views of the Militia with their "sovereign citizen" philosophies, and the tragic death of an old friend caught up in all that.

As I've tried to explain, my work includes legal support for the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. I was also born in neighboring Malheur County Oregon. So Malheur Country has been with me all my life. I even have a boy who served a LDS Mission in Oregon with part of his time in Burns. Part of his missionary service was assisting with the roping and castrating of calves. How's that for missionary work!?

Cliven Bundy and the Contract Citizens of the United States

While his two sons languish in jail and the Finicum Family moves forward preparing for a tragic funeral, Cliven Bundy continues his vendetta against the People of the United States.

Having the form of legality by denying the authority thereof. And he can't spell "Malheur."

From Cliven Bundy's Blog dated Sunday, January 31, 2016, I copied the following:

With money and fear we will justify the assassination of LaVoy Finicum and make political prisoners of all that dare to lift their hand. (We can, we will kill.) This is our livelihood and we will protect our right of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, so help me Devil!

Constitution-Choosing and the Red Ghost of Skousen

You may notice that the copy of the Constitution on the left is the one seen recently in the pockets of several of the armed occupiers of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge. The one on the right is the edition published by the Government Printing Office [now, Government Publishing Office] and is available for free from any Senator or Congressman's Office. When I get them, it's usually a handful at a time as I'm going off to share and teach Scouts the non-Skousenite doctrines of the Supremacy Clause, the 2nd Property Clause in Article IV, and the Fourteenth Amendment (among more of the basics). (You can also go online at the National Archives.)

They both seem to be accurate copies of the Constitution as Amazon advertises the one on the left:

"proofed word for word against the original Constitution housed in the Archives in Washington, D.C."

What Amazon does not tell you, unless you read far down into the less favorable reviews, is that the one on the left includes commentary and selective quotes from the Founding Fathers in support of the extreme, right-wing agenda of the publisher, the National Center for Constitutional Studies, successor in interest to W. Cleon Skousen's Freemen's Institute. There are even ads in the back for more publications of the NCCS.

Communi-phobia

As I continue to walk my own fine line not fighting for or against same-sex marriage. Most of the criticism I have received is from those on the "against" side who seem to use the teachings of the Prophets to condemn me for "not hating gays enough." I don't think that's the message of the Prophets at all.

Anyhoo, I thought I would like to note that there are a lot of messages popping up on the internets linking Gay Marriage to Communism. Even on claimed LDS affiliated sites. Yep, more evidence of the paranoid style in American politics.

Glenn Beck: Losing His Religion?

Something is up.

Both Anonymous D and the blogger, Chris Henrichsen, have noticed. Read Henrichsen's piece here. D has this weird fascination with Beck and actually listens to him sometimes.

¡Viva Cuba!

Last night, my little play on The Old Man and the Sea turned out to be so prescient! I had no idea the President would announce the first steps to normalizing diplomatic relations with Cuba today. It's long overdue. Our little Western Hemisphere containment theory hasn't worked all that well, so let's open it up and let in the bright sun.

Cuba still has to reform and become democratic. That works best with international trade. My Brazilians friends, many of them conservatives, may challenge me on this but Presidente Dilma was pretty smart to get Brazil well situated with a new international port established in Cuba. It would be good for the US to get in on some of that economic action and anything at all is bound to help Cuba modernize and democratize (although I'm not sure free-market, capitalist swine have done so well with that in Russia. Just sayin'.)

Cuba and Me

Why I Trust John McCain on Torture

He knows.

This is posted in the best effort to learn from the past. I'm not sure we have, so we need these reminders. Fortunately, John McCain, victim of North Vietnamese torture, is still in the Senate and can rebut most of those in his Republican Party who try to excuse or justify the use of torture by the United States. (OK, if you're still unsure whether "water-boarding = torture" I hope you can at least admit that anal forced-feeding is.)

President Obama: the Fulfillment of "Prophecy"

First off, I don't believe in these prophecies. Anonymous D and I were discussing the state of the world again and he suggested the idea that people will find what they are looking for out of life. If you are expecting everything to be evil and depraved, sure enough, they surround you!

It led me to think about some of the political prophecies I heard as a kid about how we would all wake up as communists one day. I keep pinching myself, but I still haven't woken any uncontrollable urges to sing The Internationale or shoot capitalists.

So, I ask you to consider the following. Think about what unique historical occurrences have happened in recent years and see if they don't make Barry Goldwater a prophet, at least to some:

Senator Lee & his Friends

I had to cut and paste Senator Mike Lee's really good statement of respect at the death of Nelson Mandela. Also included are a few of the many comments of Senator Lee's "friends."

My work is done here.

Why I Continue My Fight

Time for a little open-heart reflection and explanation why I continue my fight against Senators Cruz, Lee, & Paul along with the tea-party Representatives and the political entertainers Beck & Limbaugh.

I've read a little history and seen enough old news reels to wish somebody had stood up to Senator Joe McCarthy earlier. I also wish more people had stood up to Cleon Skousen too. Even Ernie Wilkinson could have used a bit more of a kick in the rear when he imposed his anti-communist spy-ring on my alma mater. So I'm standing up to the demagogues now in hopes of saving them and their followers from worse abuses like those we've known in the past in this very country. And they've mostly come from the extreme Right.
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Bottom line, what I fight against is the demagoguery that pulls in some very good friends and family that I care about.

The Big Lie of "Socialism!"

I got a little snarky on a FB post of a friend with whom I share some political views. In his attempts to promote a little Social Justice from solid, Mormon History, he was met with all the usual screed about the evils of "Socialism." My best comment was:

"Socialism. You keep using that word. I don't think it means what you think it does."

My point here is to try and explain that when tea-partiers on the Right talk about "Socialism" they are not using the classic, dictionary definition of an economic system in which the state owns and controls the means of production.

(By the way, I am not a Socialist. I believe in property rights and open markets regulated by representative democracy. Sigh!)

Anti-Communism & Racism II (with Digressions to the Spanish Civil War)

I don't know why I can't get more of my FaceBook friends to comment here on the blog. They have these great discussions going there on my links to the blog that I would like to share. This discussion comes out of the previous post about Anti-Communism & Racism which might serve as some background. Two out of three of the main commenters have granted permission to use their names. I'll call the third "anonymous" for now.

To start off the fun, we have Anonymous:  

this article is a liberal generated, unbalanced, and spurious hypothesis that tries to brand as racists anyone who opposes barrak hussein obama and his socialist agenda. the article is consistently typical of openly hostile and viruently anti-conservative liberal tacticians, especially manifest since the year 2000. class warfare and exploitation of the masses with a persistent disinformation campaign against rule of law and order are well documented tactics of insurgent movements and communist ideologues, who expect that the "unwashed" masses are not educated, intelligent, or remembering enough to know the difference, or to recall that it was the republicans that emancipated slaves and the democrats/dixiecrats of the deep south that ran the klan and perpetuated the racists policies and sympathies (to include anti-communism) in that region. The very same that this artical now tries to lay that at the feet of modern/reaganite conservatives. Because one in infavor rule of law over unbridled illegal immigration does not make them a racist - although this article and the left want you to believe it. the t-party is not racist as a whole (there may be individual cases - as in all movements), but rather it stands for rule of law, accountability, and fiscal integrity - which the left, in order to marginalize their opponents, identifies as racist policies.

Anti-Communism & Racism

Waking up this morning I find that Mitt Romney is not President, Barack Obama still is - re-inaugurated after four whole years already - and the world has not come to an end.

I have a question for my conservative friends. It applies to my libertarian friends as well. Why does it seem that there has been a historical connection between strong anti-communist conservative views and racist views like those who opposed Integration? People get really offended when anyone suggests any link between tea-party conservatism and racism. But can you explain this in historical context without just turning it around to accuse the questioner of racism simply because I dared to suggest it?

This has been bothering me for some time. I did a quick Google search to illustrate what I am trying to say. I know there are a lot of texts, too, linking communism with the Civil Rights Movement and Desegregation. We'll save those for another time. This is the internet and visuals are powerful. Please understand that I do not endorse any of the images below, but try some of these and please help me understand:

Little Rock, Arkansas protesters 1957 (in my lifetime!)

Cold War Relic

My college daughter works at the dollar store this summer between terms. I love going in to ask her what each thing in the store costs. "Everything's a dollar!!" I like her other job even better at Tonyburger because of their great family discount! (Mmm, Tonyburger "like") But the dollar store has its upsides, too (besides the fact that "everything's a dollar!"). She was excited to text me today that she had found a treasure in the cash register. Her boss let her take it home. [I got it backwards. It was actually in the till at Tonyburger!]

Musical Socialism

Last night, I went to the annual awards ceremony of the jazz music program my two youngest boys are in. I won't name it here because of the title to this piece and I don't want to unnecessarily politicize the Director. I continue to take responsibility and flak for my passionate moderation seen by some on the right to be as evil as Mau-Mau Marxism.

Anyway, the Director said something interesting last night. In getting a little emotional about how much he respects his students for their talent and their basic goodness even more, he said that music education is so important because it teaches good citizenship as a lesson in civics. My ears perked up.

A Mormon Helps End The Cold War

One more mild Mormon I have known came to mind as I rewatched one of my all-time favorite movies, "The Яussians are Coming! The Яussians are Coming!" This was the first film for child actor Johnny Whitaker (credited as "Johnnie" Whitaker). I knew him as a missionary heading for Portugal when I taught in the MTC (the LDS Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah). He was a very nice Elder and an example of the rare successful survivor of childhood stardom. He had his troubles later as an adult, and he still came out a survivor now counseling those with substance abuse problems.

Johnny Whitaker circa 1966

Taxation as Theft. Or Is It "Property Is Theft?"

I'm getting really tired of the arguments from the far right that taxation is somehow stealing from the deserving and giving to the undeserving. It makes as much sense to me as "property is theft" from the leftists. I think that's an anarchist sentiment from Proudhon, but it fits in with Marxist Communism just fine.

Both sayings have some basic logic to them. They really fall apart though, when you use them as a  response to any opposing political or economic theory. I lose respect for argument or discussion when they turn into fights over dogma.