@Ruffinogold Yep. I'm in Slidell, La. right on the border of Louisiana and Mississippi (about 30 miles east of New Orleans). My oldest son is in the process of moving back here from Johnson City, TN.
@PappyJoe ... Johnson City is a pretty good size town . That neck of the woods is pretty cool . I guess he's familiar with the heat and humidity down in La. lol . Well , it'll be good to have your son around
Finally our government has done something about out of control, anti-American free speech!
As President Trump seeks to purge the federal government of “woke” initiatives, federal agencies have flagged hundreds of words to limit or avoid, according to a compilation of government documents.
I dont enjoy talking politics online for the most part . I find it almost worthless . But I do enjoy pointing things out sometimes
Ever since I can remember anything politics , which would be the 70's being I was born in the 60s , I remember everyone talking about getting a grip on wasteful gov spending . Im talking from both parties since the 70's . Im sure theres video online of everyone talking about it and of course no one doing anything about it . So finally there is a real push to get something done .... but its Trump , lol , so it must be bad . I mean , anyone could have done whats being done but didnt , at least not in a significant way that I can recall .
I blame the media for being in the business of pitting folks against each other . Look at how facebook used agitating feeds to get reactions that were negative , as a modern example , which they learned from traditional media . It was done on purpose because negativity gets more reaction than positivity for some reason . Kinda like Johnny Cash singing bad news spreads like wild fire [ good news travels slow ] , right .
My wish is that the American public would get past being a reactionary lot . Everything is about immediate reaction and its about the most sophomoric mindset possible ... but , easy to manipulate .
Have you ever watched an episode of Ancient Aliens [ bare with me ] ? Its basically bs but theres always a point when they say " some believe that .... " .... yada yada . Its how they interject absurdity into the conversation as a point of validity just because someone [ usually unnamed or known ] believes it , lol . This is an example of media tactics . You can always find some idiot that believes something absurd , no doubt
The word ... Experts , generally equates to biased funded disinformation . This was something I learned as a teen by the end of the 70s . Fast forward to current times and people actually think the opposite . The whole energy behind messing with the establishment has gone away from the left . I think they believe they are the establishment of the day , as if they won from back in the 60's and 70's . If they believe that , then theyve been played . Because the right are the only ones messing with the establishment . Its funny that the conservatives are the rebels of the day . The left just has absurdity to use as a message . Pretty soon theyll be saying that someone believes a monkey can fly out of your arse , so you'd have to get on board with that . Im here to tell ya that a monkey can not fly out of your arse and its more important to audit governments wasteful , fraudulent and abusive spending and doing something about it
Back in my childhood days of the 1960s, I remember a Catholic priest who hated the word "expert". He always said the correct pronunciation was Ex-spurt which should be defined or broken down as Ex (has been but is no longer) and Spurt ( a drip of water) so an expert is just a has been drip.
@Ruffinogold No. He was a rarity among Catholic priest though. He had to leave the church after he was caught having an affair with a woman. He ended up marrying her.
“Tariff” is shaping up to be among the most talked about words of Trump’s second administration. The goal, for the most part, is to re-industrialize the American economy and bring manufacturing back to the American workforce. The assumption is that Americans will want to work manufacturing and industrial jobs. I for one have never met a person who works in manufacturing or the industrial sector who truly enjoys those kinds of employment. I’m sure there are some, but most of those jobs are taken out of economic necessity, not because someone grew up dreaming of working as the employee of someone’s else’s company. Trump is seeking national independence from foreign manufacturing. Jefferson’s wisdom was that personal independence must come first, including independence from government intrusion into our homes and private lives. This talk of national independence is nearly pointless, especially when many of the early presidents and early Americans, including the generation that gave us the Constitution, had no problem with international trade, no problem with buying many of our manufactured goods from other nations. Jefferson, and much of the South throughout its history, envisioned a nation of farmers, not steel mill workers. Now, I am not so naive that I cannot see the major differences between then and now. We need the ability to manufacture many of own things, especially military equipment. But I think there is more than a kernel of truth in Jefferson’s reservations about what becoming a manufacturing nation might mean.
In his Notes on the State of Virginia, Jefferson made a compelling argument that a republic is only as good as the citizens who live within it. And history has proven him right. He, like John Adams, James Madison, and the Founders overall, warned over and over again about the constant need to preserve a sense of morality among the populace. We lost any sense of public morality decades ago. Nonetheless, how Jefferson wanted to preserve this morality is still pretty much the best way to do it, and it’s the best way to restore it. First, make sure citizens are properly educated. Second, make sure America continues primarily as a nation of small farmers, which, even today, is the best way to gain personal independence from external economic and political forces. For Jefferson, no period of history has produced a great decline of public morality where the bulk of the population lived and worked on privately owned land. He was adamantly opposed to the industrialization of the American economy and the possibility of European-style manufacturing coming to the newly formed United States. Manufacturing creates for the worker a dependence on someone else, a greater degree of financial instability due to fluctuations of a national economy, and a reliance on the willingness of companies to produce and then sell everyday goods at an affordable price. Jefferson argued that we should promote good craftsmanship in the realm of carpentry, masonry, blacksmiths, etc., “but for the general operations of manufacture, let our workshops remain in Europe. It is better to carry provisions and materials to workmen there, than bring them to the provisions and materials, and with them their manners and principles.” (Emphasis mine.)
That last part is perhaps the most interesting criticism of a manufacturing lifestyle from Jefferson. Manners and principles. Who talks of manners and principles anymore? Very few. American history has shown repeatedly that the manners and principles of those who work in cities and rely on a great many others for their everyday goods are somewhat different, often incompatible, with the manners and principles of those who create and produce things for themselves, at home, in the countryside, on private property. On a farm, in an agricultural community, people rely on each other to get things done and to offer help during difficult times. In a manufacturing community (cities), one relies far more on the wage, the paycheck, and often does not say or do what one wants, or defends what one believes in, for fear of losing a job. But many people don’t mind that trade off. They prefer the wage, not caring for or wanting self-sufficiency and personal independence. Hilaire Belloc’s 1914 book The Servile State explains this issue very well. Read it if you haven’t.
So what’s the problem I am trying to identify? Simply put, industrial, manufacturing, city life is no more capable of producing the best kind of moral, creative, and honest citizens now than it was during Jefferson’s time. There can be no doubt that many people who work such jobs in such circumstances do so in order to support a family. There is honor in doing so. But I think that today, such people are increasingly rare. There’s no tradition, sense of place, belonging, stewardship involved with such work. Industrial jobs are transient, disposable, and often unfulfilling. It’s not the kind of work that we were designed by God to pursue.
Even though many people are perfectly content working their entire life for someone else, and believe that patriotism is defined in part by re-industrializing places like Detroit, there are more than a few people who somehow know that we are missing the mark, that we are called to not only be more than wage slaves, but to do more and better things with our time and resources. Wendell Berry echoes Jeffersonian ideas when he argues that a family of four can grow all of their vegetable supply on a 40ft by 60ft patch of ground. The Southern Agrarians echoed Jefferson when, in 1930, they argued that a farm is not a place to grow wealthy, it’s a place to grow corn.
The fact is, we don’t need 95 percent of the trinkets, gadgets, and consumer goods that we are told by salesmen to purchase in order to make life easier. We need satisfying and meaningful work, and that work should be centered on the home, local community, and family. We don’t need more career choices and investment opportunities that force people to constantly move about over the course of their working lives. We need people who are bold enough to stay put, to invest in private property, not the stock market. We need young people who want to learn real skills, such as how to grow food and create things for the household by using local materials. It doesn’t take that much land to achieve the kind of life and work I am advocating. But it does take commitment. It takes a willingness not to follow the recent fashions and fads, to not want more than what you need. As Americans, we are too accustomed to asking the wrong questions. Rather than ask how we can manufacture and sell the most gadgets and trinkets in a quick and profitable way, in order to build personal or national wealth, we should be asking how our work is based in nurturing and stewarding those things that matter most, in order to build, no, REBUILD, the moral fiber, character, and original identity of this nation.
Comments
Yep. I'm in Slidell, La. right on the border of Louisiana and Mississippi (about 30 miles east of New Orleans). My oldest son is in the process of moving back here from Johnson City, TN.
”….. short some additives and hyperbole.”
Uh…… what?
I’m old and sometimes obtuse.
Ever since I can remember anything politics , which would be the 70's being I was born in the 60s , I remember everyone talking about getting a grip on wasteful gov spending . Im talking from both parties since the 70's . Im sure theres video online of everyone talking about it and of course no one doing anything about it . So finally there is a real push to get something done .... but its Trump , lol , so it must be bad . I mean , anyone could have done whats being done but didnt , at least not in a significant way that I can recall .
I blame the media for being in the business of pitting folks against each other . Look at how facebook used agitating feeds to get reactions that were negative , as a modern example , which they learned from traditional media . It was done on purpose because negativity gets more reaction than positivity for some reason . Kinda like Johnny Cash singing bad news spreads like wild fire [ good news travels slow ] , right .
My wish is that the American public would get past being a reactionary lot . Everything is about immediate reaction and its about the most sophomoric mindset possible ... but , easy to manipulate .
Have you ever watched an episode of Ancient Aliens [ bare with me ] ? Its basically bs but theres always a point when they say " some believe that .... " .... yada yada . Its how they interject absurdity into the conversation as a point of validity just because someone [ usually unnamed or known ] believes it , lol . This is an example of media tactics . You can always find some idiot that believes something absurd , no doubt
The word ... Experts , generally equates to biased funded disinformation . This was something I learned as a teen by the end of the 70s . Fast forward to current times and people actually think the opposite . The whole energy behind messing with the establishment has gone away from the left . I think they believe they are the establishment of the day , as if they won from back in the 60's and 70's . If they believe that , then theyve been played . Because the right are the only ones messing with the establishment . Its funny that the conservatives are the rebels of the day . The left just has absurdity to use as a message . Pretty soon theyll be saying that someone believes a monkey can fly out of your arse , so you'd have to get on board with that . Im here to tell ya that a monkey can not fly out of your arse and its more important to audit governments wasteful , fraudulent and abusive spending and doing something about it
Thats me in a nutshelll ^^ . Take it or leave it
Back in my childhood days of the 1960s, I remember a Catholic priest who hated the word "expert".
He always said the correct pronunciation was Ex-spurt which should be defined or broken down as Ex (has been but is no longer) and Spurt ( a drip of water) so an expert is just a has been drip.
No.
He was a rarity among Catholic priest though. He had to leave the church after he was caught having an affair with a woman. He ended up marrying her.
“Tariff” is shaping up to be among the most talked about words of Trump’s second administration. The goal, for the most part, is to re-industrialize the American economy and bring manufacturing back to the American workforce. The assumption is that Americans will want to work manufacturing and industrial jobs. I for one have never met a person who works in manufacturing or the industrial sector who truly enjoys those kinds of employment. I’m sure there are some, but most of those jobs are taken out of economic necessity, not because someone grew up dreaming of working as the employee of someone’s else’s company. Trump is seeking national independence from foreign manufacturing. Jefferson’s wisdom was that personal independence must come first, including independence from government intrusion into our homes and private lives. This talk of national independence is nearly pointless, especially when many of the early presidents and early Americans, including the generation that gave us the Constitution, had no problem with international trade, no problem with buying many of our manufactured goods from other nations. Jefferson, and much of the South throughout its history, envisioned a nation of farmers, not steel mill workers. Now, I am not so naive that I cannot see the major differences between then and now. We need the ability to manufacture many of own things, especially military equipment. But I think there is more than a kernel of truth in Jefferson’s reservations about what becoming a manufacturing nation might mean.
In his Notes on the State of Virginia, Jefferson made a compelling argument that a republic is only as good as the citizens who live within it. And history has proven him right. He, like John Adams, James Madison, and the Founders overall, warned over and over again about the constant need to preserve a sense of morality among the populace. We lost any sense of public morality decades ago. Nonetheless, how Jefferson wanted to preserve this morality is still pretty much the best way to do it, and it’s the best way to restore it. First, make sure citizens are properly educated. Second, make sure America continues primarily as a nation of small farmers, which, even today, is the best way to gain personal independence from external economic and political forces. For Jefferson, no period of history has produced a great decline of public morality where the bulk of the population lived and worked on privately owned land. He was adamantly opposed to the industrialization of the American economy and the possibility of European-style manufacturing coming to the newly formed United States. Manufacturing creates for the worker a dependence on someone else, a greater degree of financial instability due to fluctuations of a national economy, and a reliance on the willingness of companies to produce and then sell everyday goods at an affordable price. Jefferson argued that we should promote good craftsmanship in the realm of carpentry, masonry, blacksmiths, etc., “but for the general operations of manufacture, let our workshops remain in Europe. It is better to carry provisions and materials to workmen there, than bring them to the provisions and materials, and with them their manners and principles.” (Emphasis mine.)
That last part is perhaps the most interesting criticism of a manufacturing lifestyle from Jefferson. Manners and principles. Who talks of manners and principles anymore? Very few. American history has shown repeatedly that the manners and principles of those who work in cities and rely on a great many others for their everyday goods are somewhat different, often incompatible, with the manners and principles of those who create and produce things for themselves, at home, in the countryside, on private property. On a farm, in an agricultural community, people rely on each other to get things done and to offer help during difficult times. In a manufacturing community (cities), one relies far more on the wage, the paycheck, and often does not say or do what one wants, or defends what one believes in, for fear of losing a job. But many people don’t mind that trade off. They prefer the wage, not caring for or wanting self-sufficiency and personal independence. Hilaire Belloc’s 1914 book The Servile State explains this issue very well. Read it if you haven’t.
So what’s the problem I am trying to identify? Simply put, industrial, manufacturing, city life is no more capable of producing the best kind of moral, creative, and honest citizens now than it was during Jefferson’s time. There can be no doubt that many people who work such jobs in such circumstances do so in order to support a family. There is honor in doing so. But I think that today, such people are increasingly rare. There’s no tradition, sense of place, belonging, stewardship involved with such work. Industrial jobs are transient, disposable, and often unfulfilling. It’s not the kind of work that we were designed by God to pursue.
Even though many people are perfectly content working their entire life for someone else, and believe that patriotism is defined in part by re-industrializing places like Detroit, there are more than a few people who somehow know that we are missing the mark, that we are called to not only be more than wage slaves, but to do more and better things with our time and resources. Wendell Berry echoes Jeffersonian ideas when he argues that a family of four can grow all of their vegetable supply on a 40ft by 60ft patch of ground. The Southern Agrarians echoed Jefferson when, in 1930, they argued that a farm is not a place to grow wealthy, it’s a place to grow corn.
The fact is, we don’t need 95 percent of the trinkets, gadgets, and consumer goods that we are told by salesmen to purchase in order to make life easier. We need satisfying and meaningful work, and that work should be centered on the home, local community, and family. We don’t need more career choices and investment opportunities that force people to constantly move about over the course of their working lives. We need people who are bold enough to stay put, to invest in private property, not the stock market. We need young people who want to learn real skills, such as how to grow food and create things for the household by using local materials. It doesn’t take that much land to achieve the kind of life and work I am advocating. But it does take commitment. It takes a willingness not to follow the recent fashions and fads, to not want more than what you need. As Americans, we are too accustomed to asking the wrong questions. Rather than ask how we can manufacture and sell the most gadgets and trinkets in a quick and profitable way, in order to build personal or national wealth, we should be asking how our work is based in nurturing and stewarding those things that matter most, in order to build, no, REBUILD, the moral fiber, character, and original identity of this nation.