AN OPEN LETTER

We have been unemployed, locked down, locked up and watched television until every fiber in our body screams to let me out. America, and the entire world for that matter, has watched as tired and exhausted men and women are suited up, covered, disinfected, and go forth and do battle with an enemy that has devastated the lives of the population of our beautiful planet. Unlike the men and women that put on the uniform of the United States military, the enemy is not human nor is it fought with guns and bullets and bayonets. Instead the enemy is so small that even the biological microscopes can not see it and the ammunition used to kill this enemy is lacking the knockdown power of the assault rifle of the modern infantryman. Yet, the men and women of the medical corpse continue to go forward day in and day out to provide help to the sick and hope for pleading families. Hats off to these wonder workers and fortunately a grateful nation has raised them up in prayer, extended the praise of appreciation and witnessed in awe what our health care workers have sacrificed for our nation.
While the medical workers deployed to take on the virus much as the infantryman is deployed to combat an enemy, there are a multitude of unsung heroes behind the lines that don’t carry weapons but insure that the men that do carry the gun has everything needed for success. It is said that for every infantryman on the front line of the battlefield there are five to six men and women supporting them. These troops are the unsung champions that make winning possible. Like the military in a forward theater of operation, the war against the COVID19 virus has the same logistical requirements.
We have an army of workers that are getting up every morning, putting on their clothes, donning a face mask and climbing behind a checkout counter to ensure that Americans are fed and clothed. On occasion the look of concern or fatigue can be seen on the face of the worker but they are still there. As the checkers are seeing thousands of Americans daily their co-workers are working behind the scenes to ensure that food is on the shelves, trucks are unloaded and all the work is coordinated and administered.
The man and woman that climbs into the cab of some cross country or regional or local delivery truck are in league with each other as they travel tirelessly through the battlefield to deliver produce and products to a cautious society. Their mission is simple, ensure that America remains alive and prepared for a recovery that the world has never experienced.
At the front end of a supply chain that feeds a hungry nation are the farmers and ranchers raising the crops and growing the livestock. These are the stars that are awake before dawn to feed and cultivate and harvest and who are the first line of a long and complex supply chain that puts food on our table. This food must be processed and made ready to be placed on the shelves of stores across America. Though outbreaks of the Corona Virus are present at various processing facilities, workers continue to show up and get the food processed and on the trucks that go out to feed America.
The story of working America is immense and there is no way to include all those that are working behind the scenes to keep America alive. There is a resiliency in the American fiber that is alive and well. This spirit took a raw untamed country and turned it into the shimmering gem of a nation that we know today. It is the men and women of America that quietly do their jobs to keep the economy from falling off the cliff of destruction and into the abyss of despair.
To all these men and women, THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU HAVE DONE AND THANK YOU FOR ALL THAT YOU HAVE DOING! Please consider this to be an open letter of appreciation to all that get up every morning and climb the hill.

SOCIALIST DEMOCRAT

Anyone watching the Democratic debate last week may feel amused at the way the Democratic candidates tore into each other. In earlier debates it was like a group of canines walking around sizing each other out; sniffing and touching noses and being very cautious of each other. Now, think of the Caucus in Nevada as being a big piece of raw steak being tossed into the middle of the pack and suddenly the fangs come out and the animals tore into each other. The only winner in the debate was the big wolf sitting at the edge of the pit eating a well-cooked steak, President Donald Trump. The loser of the debate was the Democratic party as it continued to splinter.
While many viewed the debate with enjoyment and smiles and giggles were heard in rooms around the country, I had a more pragmatic picture. The fight was not only an attack on Bloomberg or snaps between Buttigieg and Klobuchar, the true fight was between middle-of-the-road Democrats and Socialists cloaked in the Democratic party robe. This made the debate far more important than a paid-for-view boxing match.
There were aspects of the debate and socialism in general that could be paraphrased from other discussions on the subject. “when such people from other classes join the proletarian [socialist] movement, the first demand upon them must be that they do not bring with them any remnants of bourgeois,{conventional middle-classed capitalist values] ,petty-bourgeois, [ petty capitalistic] etc., prejudices, but that they irreversibly assimilate the proletarian viewpoint. But those gentlemen, as has been shown, adhere overwhelmingly to petty-bourgeois [capitalistic] conceptions. In so petty-bourgeois [capitalistic] a country as {America], such conceptions certainly have their justification, but only outside the Social-Democratic Labor party. If the gentlemen want to maintain a petty-bourgeois [capitalistic] party, they have a full right to do so; one could then negotiate with them, conclude agreements, etc., according to circumstances. But in a [socialistic] party, they are a falsifying element. If there are grounds which necessitates tolerating them, it is a duty only to tolerate them, to allow them no influence in party leadership, and to keep in mind that a break with them is only a matter of time.”
The concept of socialism is not new and the excerpt above did not come directly from one of the Democrats on the stage of last weeks debate. Even though it reflects the views of several candidates, it was written over one hundred and fifty years ago in a colonial aristocratic European country. At one time this doctrine expanded around the world like a wildfire. Reality finally came to grips and the concept quickly died out following degradation of beautiful countries populated with wonderful humans. The quoted excerpt was penned in a letter by Carl Marx, the father of Communism and the ground zero for a policy that placed millions in bondage and leading to the brutal purges perpetrated by Joseph Stalin that saw over 750,000 fellow countrymen killed.
Marx believed in concepts that identifies the theory that the means of production ought to be owned in common and managed for the public good. Big brother controls everything. There is no individual thinking, no creativity and little human rights. Everything is a handout from a central government.
According to the Marx theory, for socialism to become the law of the land in America, the everyday working man and woman of middle America must be made to believe that they are oppressed and being made to slave for the benefits of an entitled few. Sound familiar? Doing this would cause the working men and women to rise up and overthrow the leadership of our government. In the case of America it would come at the ballot boxes instead of the barrel of a rifle like we have witnessed in communist coupes around the world.
Once America elects a socialist government; banks, transportation and land would all become owned by the central government in Washington. The means of production for our great nation is no longer owned by freedom loving Americans. Then a central plan would be devised so that the goods produced matched the needs of the population. Individual desires no longer exist and the population receives what the government feels the people needs. The concept of selecting what one wants will cease to exist.
Welcome to the wonderful world of socialism. Just as George Orwell stated in his book “1984”, “Big Brother is Watching You”.

SOCIALISM – THE GREAT FAILURE

 

The United States is confronted with a growing menace that is threatening to destroy our great nation that was forged by the founding fathers of the United States. This danger is not new and was addressed by a former president of the United States.
The crux of the presidents message is “All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest; with a Buonaparte for a commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years.
“At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.”
This was not uttered by a recent president nor a president that anyone will remember sitting in office. The warning to America was given in Springfield, Illinois on January 27, 1838 by young lawyer Abraham Lincoln. In addition to Lincoln’s warning, Ariel Durant stated, “A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within. ”
The dangers of polarization, infighting and social value changes are exactly what we have been warned against. While America was founded on root values that guaranteed each man and woman the opportunity to achieve personal satisfaction, America did not guarantee that every man and woman would be entitled to live equally. There are certain aspects of our society that America, as a benevolent society, will guarantee support for those in need. This help comes in the form of government assistance and individual citizen support. All children are accorded an education and families in dire need are provided the means to obtain food, clothing and shelter. Unfortunately, there are factions within our country that believe that everything should come from a mother government with the nation becoming an entitlement country with all control provided by a centralized control system. This form of government, Socialism, is the scourge of the world, breaks down government by the people, strips citizens of creativity and self-respect, degrades a population, allows corruption and finally leads to a deplorable life for a countries’ citizens.
Socialism was the flavor-of-the-month for many countries throughout the world during the 1960s and 70s, This form of government began to crack and fall apart by the end of the 1980s with the collapse of the USSR. This led to a domino effect that saw Eastern Europe throw off the yoke of Communism, a severe form of Socialism. Countries of inner-Africa returned to a capitalistic government after the USSR stopped funding a Communistic takeover of the continent. Russia has attempted to return to a more socialistic government with the return of Vladimir Putin but the attempt is slow, full of corruption and is a poor excuse of a country that is so full of natural resources. China, the shining beacon for Communism and Socialism has become a magnificent economic wonder of the world; not because of Socialism but in spite of it. China learned quickly that if it wanted to become an economic giant it would have to shift to a more market economy an allow its’ citizens the opportunity to make their own decisions. A communistic form of control is in place in China but a less centralized and more market economy is thriving. On the other end of the spectrum there are a couple of fossils remaining from the total socialistic governments of the past.
Cuba, just 90 miles from America is a crowning example of socialism. Cars from the 1950s and 60s ply the eroding streets in front of crumbling buildings. There is new construction going on but this is coming from America and European countries that are investing in a tourist industry that are bought about by reduced sanctions from the free world. With a degrading infrastructure it is apparent that socialism is not the glory it was supposed to be.
West of Cuba one finds the magnificent economic socialistic experiment of Venezuela. A country so rich in natural resources and so abundant in able bodied men and women that it should be flourishing with education, food, growth and abundant opportunity for all. Instead it is despair, hunger, depravity and anarchy. Citizens are eating rats.
Considering what the opportunities are for a Socialistic form of government, why would anyone wish to embrace such a diabolical approach to governing a great nation. Unfortunately, the youth of our great country has been failed by the family unit and education system of America. It is so important that the mother and father figures provide guidance and understanding of what we have and where we came from. Our education institutions must embrace a wonderful government and instead of promoting one government form over another, it needs to provide a balanced approach to government, encourage debate and allow our students to make up their minds without bias.
God Bless America and look to the prophetic words of Abraham Lincoln and head the warning.

IRAN IN THE CROSSHAIRS

On January 3rd, 2020 the world was winding down from its’ celebration of ushering in a new decade. 2020 had arrived. That evening the world was rocked with the information that Qasem Soleimani had ben killed by an American air to ground missile at the Bagdad airport while preparing to leave Iraq for Iran.
In 1978 I arrived at my new home in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Eighteen months later the loyal ally of America, the Shah of Iran, was deposed and a fundamentalist Moslem government replaced a western loving country. Overnight the United States came from being a great trading partner and friend to becoming the “great satan”. Overnight Iran came from being the largest purchaser of American military hardware, equaling all other combined arms sales in the world, to becoming completely ostracized from foreign sales. The outcome of this governmental change was brutal and anything from being a benevolent religious takeover. I had oil field workboats that would occasionally find decapitated Iranian bodies floating in Saudi waters. Many of the shah’s generals were executed. At this time the Iranian Republican Guard was formed. It was at this time that Soleimani joined the guard and survived the brutal Iran-Iraq war that cost over one million lives. The Republican Guard was a loyal force that was a part of the Iranian military and could be compared to the Immortals of ancient Persia.
Soleimani eventually became head of the Quds force, a special operations arm of the Republican Guard. The Quds unit is a special operations unit that was intended to destabilize foreign governments and actively supports subversive groups such as Lebanese Hezbollah, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, Yemeni Houthis, and Shia militias in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan. The primary task of Quds is to liberate Muslim lands, especially Palestine and by doing so destroy Israel. The name Quds means Jerusalem. Anything anti-Israeli, anti-American is an acceptable operation for Quds.
In Syria, Iranian support for the despicable Assad regime is well known. It would be the Quds and Soleimani that squashed the revolt for freedom. It was this revolt that brought Russia back to the Mid-East and it is known that Soleimani traveled to Russia to meat the president, Vladimir Putin. It is now speculated that the Quds has assumed more power than the political power in Iran and at the time of Soleimani’s death, he was considered to be the second most powerful man in Iran.
When America was actively in the Iraqi war to dislodge Saddam Hussein, it was Soleimani and his unit that brought death and suffering to thousands of American troops. My own son missed a fiery death and only a mechanical failure and three minutes saved him and his comrades from an IED explosion timed to take out his fuel truck convoy. I was amazed at the logistics and control it took to time such a coordinated ambush.
Many are saying that the killing of Soleimani was not justified due to his high status within the Iranian government. Quds has been declared a terrorist organization. This group was operating in Iraq and was behind the attack on the American embassy in Baghdad. Reminiscent of the Embassy takeover in Tehran, Iran, we were close to seeing a similar situation in Iraq. We stood by and saw what could easily have developed into a Benghazi where our government stood back and let an American diplomat and several contractors become victims of American non-reaction. Fortunately, neither scenario was repeated. As the protesters left the area after scrawling Soleimani’s name on the wall of the American Embassy, American Marines arrived. The siege was over and now the 82nd Airborne Unit will provide greater protection for Americans and freedom loving Iraqis.
It was the Soleimani led Quds that coordinated the attack on oil tankers in the Arabian Gulf and attacking the huge oil facility in Abqaiq, Saudi Arabia. Quds is also providing support for the anti-Saudi Arabian forces in Yeman.
If a major leader of a country and the leader’s organization is declared to be a terrorist organization, then the countries government is a terrorist organization. This removes any validation that the killing of Soleimani is un-just. What is surprising is how many Americans are cowering before the threat of Iranian retaliation. I will admit that I was immediately concerned when I heard of the killing but I also resolved myself that Soleimani had to go and his level in Iran’s government does not justify his behavior. Many say a lesser person should have been eliminated. You don’t stop a snake by cutting off the tail, you must cut off the head. We got the right person.
Now we ask ourselves what will happen; how will Iran respond. There are two scenarios. Some think that Iran is reeling from this action and are in shock that America had stood up and flexed it muscles in such a powerful way. In this scenario, Iran will think twice about any retaliation as they have witnessed a different America. The other picture is far less desirable. I refer to this as the hornet scenario. A person finds a hornet nest on the ground. The person decides to teach the hornets a lesson so they will stop any threat of stinging. The person hauls off and kicks the hornet nest.
Whatever happens, the dye has been cast. To paraphrase Sam Houston, “Do what is right and accept the consequences”. God Bless America.

KURDISH DISCRACE

THIS WILL APPEAR IN THE FARMERVILLE GAZETTE AND THE RUSTON DAILY LEADER THE WEEK OF 10/13/2019
I love America. I love it not for the materialistic advantages it provides us; I love it for its’ beauty, the opportunities it offers us and most importantly for its’ citizens. There is no one more patriotic than me. As such when a president is elected, regardless of party or who I voted for, he is the President of the United States, elected by the majority of the voters designed by our founding fathers. He deserves that respect and it is seldom that I will outwardly criticize our president. An incident occurred last week that surmounted this respect for the office; America is leaving a loyal ally vulnerable to genocide.
In 1978 I arrived in Saudi Arabia for my new job. Within a year there were stories of the destruction of people living in a region known as Kurdistan, a part of the world occupied by the Kurds. The Kurds are not well known but represent a formable population that numbers approximately thirty million. They are the fourth largest population in Western Asia behind the Arabs, Persians and the Turks. They live in Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey. This is where part of the problem lies. The Kurds want their own homeland, a land they call their own country. For years they have wanted much of this land to be in Turkey where the majority of the population is Kurdish. They also want something else; a life that is much like America. A country that provides freedom and liberty and like America, full of opportunities.
The Kurds are fiercely loyal to America and Western values. Most noted lately has been their support in the fight against ISIS. They are fierce warriors. When it came for a place to keep the European and American ISIS fighters that joined the Caliphate in Syria, the Kurds raised their hands and accepted the fighters that other countries wanted nothing to do with. As the war with ISIS drew to a close, America withdrew the majority of its’ troops but kept a small contingent of special operation forces; Rangers, Green Berets, SEALS, etc., in the field to help support Kurds that may be called on to hit small ISIS targets. Even though the Americans were small in number, the presence gave a message that there were still Americans in the field and the symbolism kept foreign fighters away from the Kurds. This includes Syrian army forces and their ally Russia which had been battling the Kurds for years. Also, kept at bay were the Turks who had no love life for the Kurds but dared not to cross the Syrian border to attack the Kurds.
Last week President Trump announced that America would be leaving Syria. This, in effect, removed the symbolic buffer between the Kurds and Turkey. The words of the announcement had hardly resonated in the ears of the free world and Turkey began to prepare to invade Syria and go after the Kurds. Unless something happens very soon their fate is sealed; we can sit back and watch a modern day Alamo. America has turned its’ back on a loyal ally.
The problem with writing this column is that it is published three days after it is written. In today’s world much can happen in three days. Right after American troops left, Turkey bombed several villages. America’s pull out will cause mass destruction if not genocide. This morning it it was announced that Turkey had bracketed with long range artillery an American Special Operations post at a Kurdish site. That means that one round was fired short, one round fired past the outpost. The third round would have been right on top of the Americans had it been fired. The message was clear. Also today Defense Secretary Mark Esper said that he was pulling out additional 1,000 American troops.
The Kurds have to survive and without America to insure their safety, there is a distinct possibility that they will ask Syria and Russia to come to their rescue. In essence America has caused an alliance between our ally the Kurds and our adversaries, Syria and Russia.

AMERICA’S NEW DUST BOWL

THIS WILL APPEAR IN THE FARMERVILLE LOUISIANA GAZETTE THE WEEK OF 5/11/2019
In 1934 America was crawling out of a disastrous depression. Known as the Great Depression, America and the rest of the world had experienced an economic downturn that had not been experienced at any other time in the modern world. This economic disaster that saw unemployment as high as 25%, began in 1929 and it was not until 1933 that America began to recover.
In 1934 communication within our nation was extremely poor as compared to the instant phone calls, texting and e-mails we are fortunate to have today. A disaster in Mid-America could go un-noticed for weeks, months or never realized unless it was reported in one of America’s major newspapers. Washington was immersed in attempts to restart the economy and bring relief to the millions of oppressed citizens. Louisiana’s own Huey Long rose to national prominence with his new political party that promised a bright future for the United States; a promise that was cut short by an assassin’s bullet. What was not understood by our leaders in Washington was that an environmental disaster began in 1934 that would exasperate the Great Depression and threaten one of the core elements of what made America great.
When the pioneers entered the great plains they discovered an abundance of plains that made farming a dream-come-true. They began agriculture and used deep plowing techniques that left large areas exposed to the elements. In 1934 drought conditions had dried the soil. This was followed by winds that stripped the top soil from the ground and led to what is known as the dust bowl. The Federal Government finally acted and in a big way but it was not until dust storms invaded Washington that it was fully realized that 100 million acres of America was being destroyed.
Today we have a current dust bowl or sorts. A crisis of monumental proportion is taking place before our eyes and many of our leaders in Washington are oblivious to what is happening in real time. It is hard to determine which is worse; ignorance of what is happening, hiding from the facts as they are presented or denying any problem to provide a skewed story for political gains.
The crisis referred to is what our nation and law enforcement is tragically encountering on the southern border of the United States. This crisis is multi-faceted. An excessively large number of immigrants are attempting to illegally cross our border. The magnitude is much larger than we have witnessed in the past. Not only is the magnitude great but the mix of the immigrants has changed. Past apprehensions made by our Border Patrol was mainly immigrant males. Today there are unscrupulous smugglers that use children to pose as a family member to allow easy entry into America. The smuggler claims the child to be family member. With limited space to hold the “illegal” immigrants, they are released in twenty-one days. Success for the alien. Instead of border control agents patrolling and protecting our borders they are changing diapers and tending to the welfare of their new-found wards. This is further diluting the protecting organizations on the southern border.
Those immigrants that are released into the entrails of America with a date to report to a local court are, for the most part, never seen again. They are here, making a living in the dark economy and sending money home so that their relatives can pay the cayotes to bring them across the border and the cycle continues.
So the question dares to be asked, “Why is this crisis on the border being ignored and even denied by many leaders in Washington?” Are some of these elected officials and their staff so oblivious to the real world that they cannot comprehend what the issue is and how it is unfolding on the Mexican border. Or are they in such a frenzy of hatred of our current president that they will sell out our country’s protection for the sake of discrediting the office of the President of the United States.
It’s time to get the heads out of the sand, quit denying there is a crisis on the border and be a part of solving the problem.

TAKE TIME TO BE AMERICAN – ASK AND LEARN

THIS WILL APPEAR IN THE FARMERVILLE GAZETTE THE WEEK OF 5/5/2019
When a person travels that person is continually surrounded by individuals that they have never met nor communicated with. If that traveler would take the time to speak and provide some friendly tone to a quick introduction, it will be quite amazing what will be exchanged in the ensuing conversation. The two people interacting will have an opportunity to exchange ideas and even though ideologies, race or religion may be different; common threads will be uncovered that make us so very unique. We begin to realize what makes America tick and the positive aspects that bond us together.
When in the Dominican Republic with our good friends the Davidsons on our yearly pilgrimage to learn about our beautiful planet Bonnie and I bumped into a couple one evening that had just arrived from Massachusetts. Immediately flags came up as we had met a “Northerner” that probably has opinions that would be totally foreign to anything we believe in the south.
Lesson one; don’t stereotype people and don’t let prejudice enter into preconceived notions. They were a wonderful couple and we all hit it off immediately and we had far more in common than we had differences. The one thing that came from the conversations was that America is wonderful and a great place to live.
Lesson two; ask questions and enjoy the response. Do not be confrontational with the conversation but consider it to be an exchange of ideas.
Lesson three; Listen to the exchange of ideas, evaluate what is being said and look at it in the context of what is happening within our immediate lives and also in the world as a whole. Our new friends told us about visiting Spain and how living there is not bad but there was no built in need to achieve in the normal life style. They went to Dunkin Donuts for breakfast. It opened an hour later than posted. Their daughter spent the summer in college there and the American students arrived five minutes early. The professor arrived about twenty minutes late but he was not the only one late; the Spanish students were arriving as late as fifteen minutes. When the afternoon siesta is over the store may be an hour late re-opening. This perpetuated throughout the country and I wondered how a country could ever progress like this and what is it that caused a beautiful country that once ruled much of the world to fall into this type of general attitude.
CNN had made a quick comment on Spain referring to it as Socialist Spain. Suddenly the light came on it was not the genetics of the people that caused the attitude. It was the political ideology. Since the 1920s Socialism had been a part of the culture of the country and it is Socialism that ultimately has taken its’ toll. When people are stripped of the laurels when they achieve and the benefits of trying and succeeding are not present, complacency replaces motivation. Also, when there is always a safety net and all purported needs are addressed by a central government there is nothing to be concerned about. A citizen receives what the government provides; nothing more and nothing less.
So where is the incentive to achieve anything. Where is the incentive to build for today and lay the foundation for the future. Why is there any reason to be in any hurry to open a store, to show up for a lecture on time or to provide the additional effort to build a nation. Socialism strips and decline follows.
When this reality of Spain hit home I understood that the last thing our great nation needs to do is to embrace Socialism. The only thing we need to do is to let the Capitalistic train run down the track pulled by an engine fueled with innovation and creativity and lubricated with the ideals of our founding fathers which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

PEOPLE THAT BUILT AMERICA – ADOLPH HITLER

THIS WILL APPEAR IN THE FARMERVILLE GAZETTE THE WEEK OF 3/17/2019
America has had a myriad of individuals that through intellect, perseverance and intestinal fortitude founded, built, molded and transformed a geographic area from a wild and beautiful frontier to become the greatest country the world has known. As important as these individuals are by building America from within, there are other diabolical individuals that can be characterized as nothing less than sub-human that have actually helped to build America from the outside.
In the 1920s Germany was feeling the economic tribulation brought on by losing a costly war and then having to pay war retribution to the winning side of World War I. Instead of taxing the individuals the country simply printed more money. This led to inflation that swallowed the country. People that had worked their entire lives could only afford a cup of coffee from their retirement benefits. A vengeful world wanted to punish Germany for the war. The country was in dire straights and then the country was plunged into the Great Depression with the rest of the world. Germany was ripe for someone to take control and lead it out of a hopeless future. Enter Adolph Hitler.
Hitler moved away from a state owned socialistic style of government and privatized much of its’ industry. This had a positive effect on the country and wages increased over 10%. Germany also placed tariffs on imported goods and this had a negative impact on imports. Also, Hitler believed that placing the country on a war economy to build his military was a method to grow Germany’s economy. While we in America believe in entrepreneurship and the small businessman, Hitler encouraged mergers and monopolies. This worked for a country struggling to survive. He was so successful that he appeared on the cover of Time magazine in 1933 and was named man of the year in 1939. This is where the outward successes end and a look behind much of the prosperity of the nation discloses a sick government.
Hitler funded much of his military expansion from the plundered wealth of the countries he conquered plus the personal wealth of the six million Jews he sent to their deaths. Slave labor was rampant in Germany Poland alone provided five million salve laborers used by Germany and by 1944 twenty-five percent of the civilian labor force was slave labor.
So how did Hitler help to build America. In the 1930s America was gripped in the Great Depression and then followed up by a massive recession. Desperation was rampant as people were forced to live in shanty towns while men looked for some type of work to feed their families. A massive drought exasperated by poor farming practices in the mid-west and farmers watched their farm land blow away. When things seemed as if it could not get worse, President Roosevelt ordered one shanty town’s occupation to be moved. The army came in and burned it down. Douglas McArthur’s military unit had displaced some of the most needy families in America. Still through all of these saddening situations, the American spirit remained alive. That inner glow that all will improve and that feeling that we will survive was still a part of the American spirit. Enter Adolf Hitter.
Hitler surprised the world when he annexed parts of East Europe; Hitler shocked the world when he invaded Poland. A swelling of American pride exuded itself across our great nation as America began to prepare for war. Then Hitler’s ally, Japan, attacked a sleeping American fleet and the fight was on. Our noses can be bloodied but we can’t be knocked out. Not only did men go to war but an untapped resource, women, built the war machines that won a war and brought additional funds to families across America. Football players were inducted into the Army at halftime of the Cotton Bowl while men committed suicide when they were not allowed to enter the military. Because of Adolf Hitler, America was provided the opportunity to rise to the occasion and stand proud in front of the world. America did not disappoint.

KOREAN SUMMIT WAS A WIN

THIS WILL APPEAR IN THE FARMERVILLE GAZETTE, FARMERVILLE, LOUISIANA THE WEEK OF 3/10/2019
The United States was recently on the verge of war with a despicable and harsh regime in Southeast Asia, North Korea. America refused to allow any further expansion of a nuclear weapons program that, if allowed to continue to develop and grow, threatened all of mankind. Harsh sanctions by the United States, its’ allies and other countries associated with Korea lead to North Korea sitting down at the negotiating table with the United States. These negotiations are nothing new and have taken place under different American administrations for decades.
A major summit was held in Hanoi two weeks ago with the purpose of signing an agreement to disarm North Korea’s nuclear arms program and at the same time lifting the economic sanctions levied on North Korea. The location of the meeting was quite ironic. America, myself included, did everything possible to blast North Viet Nam off the face of the earth. Fifty years later North Viet Nam is one of the fastest growing economies in the world. An economic move from being a total communist government and allowing Capitalism to hatch and grow coupled with normalized relationships with the United States and the West has lead to a vibrant economy in the jungles of Southeast Asia. Holding the summit in Hanoi should have been inspirational to the North Korean regime as Viet Nam’s successes discloses what Korea could accomplish if it would throw off the yoke of Communism and Socialism, embrace a more open country and dispose of their weapons of mass destruction.
Negotiations with North Korea have been ongoing with the same outcome. America goes in with a list of grievances and identifies what it requires to ease a tense situation. North Korea states they will meet the agreements but it requires some type of economic aid. America agrees, shouts out a high five and provides the aid. Korea backs out of its’ commitment, nothing changes other than North Korea has reaped a short-term economic benefit and America receives nothing.
This has been the normal tactic for decades; make promises, obtain economic benefit, forget the promise and laugh at America and the West. America quietly lets it pass and the agreement breakdown is un-noticed by the American public. In 1968, during the Lyndon Johnson presidential term, the USS Pueblo, an American spy ship operating in International waters, was attacked and captured by North Korea. America had sent out attack aircraft from Japan only to call them back claiming darkness was closing in. Following coercing by North Korea, the skipper publicly admitted to spying and America then paid a ransom to have the men released. The ship is still in Korea. In 1985 during the Regan administration, North Korea agreed to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and in 1991 the Bush administration announced America would remove nuclear weapons from South Korea. South Korea announced it would not produce nuclear weapons. Then in 1992 North Korea and South Korea signed an agreement to not test, posses or deploy nuclear weapons. One year later, 1993, North Korea said it will withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation agreement but later decided against it following “discussion” with America. It was estimated that North Korea then had enough Plutonium to make two bombs. In 1994 under the Clinton administration North Korea agreed to stop building reactors to enrich uranium. In 2002, after years of negotiations, talks broke down and North Korea exited the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Agreement. 2006 saw North Korea test its’ first nuclear bomb. The Obama administration failed to get North Korea to the negotiating table despite increased sanctions. Two weeks ago President Trump met with the leader of North Korea and expected to sign a treaty. Korea wanted all sanctions lifted first. Trump walked out of the negotiations and gave no concession to North Korea. America screamed another failure.
This was, in fact, a win for America. For the first time America gave no concessions to obtain a hollow victory. For the first time America held its’ ground against North Korea. The talks are far from over and we can ultimately expect a strong bi-lateral agreement that will insure a far safer world.

AMERICA IS ONE UNIQUE COUNTRY

THIS WILL APPEAR IN THE FARMERVILLE GAZETTE, FARMERVILLE LOUISIANA THE WEEK OF 3/2/2019
America is one truly unique country. Like the other parts of the New World, the Europeans and Asians came and settled it. Unlike South America, Central America, Mexico and Canada; America was settled by more than one or two predominant European countries. England on the East coast, Spain in the Southeast and Southwest, France in the South and Mississippi Valley, Scandinavians in the Mid-West plus a large contingent of Asians on the West coast and boatloads of Europeans and Russians made up a country filled with immigrants that wanted nothing more than to be Americans. Additionally, the slave trade filled the southern landscape with men and women that wanted no more than to be free.
The spirit to live life to the fullest permeated the American culture. Fiercely independent, strong willed, religiously solid coupled with intestinal fortitude and grit were attributes that brought immigrants to our shore. All wanted one desire, to be Americans. They didn’t want to change our great nation; they wanted to be a part of building it.
America grew up. Amid a great Civil War, one that we still feel the pangs of the nations’ separation, slavery was abolished and slowly the words of the Constitution, “all men are created equal” took root and was slowing accepted by the population of our nation.
As America turned over a page of the calendar and ushered in a new millennium we experienced the industrial revolution, the likes of which the world had never seen. Names such as Morgan, Rockefeller, Carnegie and Hurst became such moguls that their fortunes eclipsed many national treasuries. When America almost went bankrupt and there was no central bank, J.P. Morgan had to lend enough money to the American treasury to keep the government from defaulting. While these men wielded enough power to pay to have William Jennings Bryant defeated, their workers suffered from very low wages, poor working conditions and no chance for upward mobility. There was little left of the American dream. The strange thing about America is that when things seem to defy the base principles that built America, a shot of light is thrust through the clouds and all things bad are made good. In the case of the disparity between industrial leaders at the top and the worker in the mills and in the trenches, Theodore Roosevelt appeared on the scene. He broke up the monopolies like giant ice packs on the frozen rivers and water began to flow. The American spirit was again alive thus and ushered in thirty years of vibrant growth.
The one thing that America had going for it was its’ independent spirit. A capitalistic spirit was and has always been with us. During the dire times as a nation the one thing that our country cast aside was the notion that we must turn to socialism to solve our problems. During the Great Depression Upton Sinclair from California proposed that the country needed to turn to socialism. During this time of destitution and hopelessness, socialism was appealing to many Americans. As bad as the world seemed to the poor souls of that time, America could not embrace a socialist government and the concept withered on the vine. Louisiana had its’ view of individualist spirit when Governor Huey Long declared free text books for all children. Claiborne Parish rejected the idea of a central control dictating its’ destiny and rejected the books. The Parish did eventually lose and Long provided the books.
At the time America was struggling, Russia overthrew its monarchy and adopted a socialist government with added parameters and thus Communism became rooted. This lasted until 1989 and the economy of this large and resource rich country collapsed. Socialism failed and capitalistic virtue flourished.
America is in the throws of the greatest economic growth a peace-time country has ever seen. There is nowhere, not anywhere that socialism has a place in our great nation. Why would America even consider this type of government at this time in its’ history.