FREEDOM IS WORTH THE FIGHT

FREEDOM IS WORTH THE FIGHT

By Domenick J. Maglio PhD. Traditional Realist

Our nation's independence from British repression heightened our founder’s insight to the dangers of a large government. These patriots personally experienced the injustice of official’s illogical policies that alienated law-abiding colonists. They learned first hand that any government must be limited for citizens to be free.

The United States has followed the principles of our Constitution and the Declaration of Independence that these wise men produced. We have been blessed with a free and prosperous country. Since the Civil War Americans have always known what it means to enjoy the benefits of freedom.

The rapid expansion of the federal government is giving us a heavy dose of regulation and politically correct indoctrination toward self-censorship. These new policies are restricting our choices under the guise of security and entitlements. Political correctness blurs moral values, which legitimizes immorality. It is eroding what we can say and think.

The fear of illness and death has been exploited to pass an encompassing entitlement, which restricts people’s access to specific medical treatments. It will decrease our ability to determine the best methods to treat ourselves. We are supposedly not to eat, drink or smoke certain items that bureaucrat experts think would adversely affect a person's health so not to burden our healthcare services. Our bodies have become wards of the state.

Our homes are no longer our castles. We need a permit to improve our own property and even to do necessary maintenance. Incentivizing local government by the federal central planning of land usage limits freedom of property owners to use their land as they see fit.

These restrictions of our freedoms will continue to expand making our first amendment a farce. Religions, especially Christianity are being harassed to stop preaching Biblical beliefs and practices. This is to increase tolerance towards immorality. Deviance is being liberated while healthy, stable living is ridiculed.

 Our schools and media are indoctrinating our children and young adults to unwittingly accept progressive slogans. Parents are no longer inculcating their children with values of right and wrong. We are becoming a "live in the present, give me” society without a grasp of the need to prepare for the future.

Self-centered hedonist societies do not end well. Economic and moral collapse eventually bring weakness that results in either an oppressive central government that enslaves citizens or in a foreign military conquest.                    

Civilians serving government is incompatible with freedom to create one's own destiny. There are few individual choices in a totalitarian society. Eventually the government owns your life.

A free man can think, do and believe whatever he wants as long as it does not harm someone else. He can use his wealth and property as he chooses. He is not required to give anything to anyone but he is not entitled to receive handouts. A free individual is independent not dependent on government.

Being free means you have to be self-reliant. The government does not guarantee your personal health, happiness and welfare because they are your responsibility.  You are supposed to take care of your own health and eat and drink what you know is good for you. Each person decides how to live and takes full consequences for his lifestyle.

Every free person has the right to succeed or fail, which everyone does throughout his life. He has the right to use his own talents and abilities to the fullest. A person will experience the pleasure or displeasure of his own decisions. He is able to meet his maker knowing his life was the creation of his own free will.

Standing up to keep our freedom is the only way to maintain our selfhood and our dignity. Freedom takes vigilance to fight against the gradual erosion of our rights and those of others. Tyranny is the outcome of weak thinking and dependent people no longer willing to defend themselves or others against government’s oppressive policies.

Dr. Maglio is an author and owner/director of Wider Horizons School, a college prep program. You can visit Dr. Maglio at www.drmaglio.com.

THE ELECTORAL DIVIDE: ROSE COLOR VS. HD GLASSES

THE ELECTORAL DIVIDE; ROSE COLOR VS. HD GLASSES

BY Domenick J. Maglio PhD Traditional Realist

Elections are never final, there is always the next one. The 2010 election was a strong victory for limited government followed by the 2012 reversal. Every election has winners and losers with political analysts from the left and even some from the right talking about the demise of the Republican Party.  

Any election is a snapshot of voters at a particular time. Any incident could sway enough citizens to affect the outcome. This is especially true where the votes were almost evenly divided as in the 2012 election.

Many commentators cited exit polling that stated that 15% of the voters solidified behind President Obama due to his handling of the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy in the northeast USA. The photo op with New Jersey governor Chris Christie made President Obama appear presidential when his poor economic performance was under question.

Big government represented by FEMA said it was mobilizing to prevent the personal agony of the natural disasters. It was supposed to be a demonstration of the effectiveness of big government to Americans. Ask the people impacted by the storm today how they would grade big government’s performance.

The media’s coverage of the late breaking stories of Sandy, Benghazi, the Petraeus scandal and Fast and Furious have been benignly censored. These stories were carefully managed to insure that no breaking news would adversely impact the President’s public standing at the end of the campaign.

There were two different men with two different strategies running for office.  The Obama “Forward” and discrediting Romney before he defined himself and Romney’s “Are You Better Off Economically Than You Were Four Years Ago?” and be statesmanlike by remaining above the fray were very different tactics. In essence, President Obama said to continue to view the future with rose-colored glasses, while Romney wanted us to examine the past with high definition glasses to see the exact differences between 2008 promises and 2012 performance.

Today in our instant gratification culture promises of “free things” trump the people’s freedom and opportunity to advance up the socio-economic ladder.

President Obama appealed to scientifically identified mini demographic groups.  His appeal was emotionally crafted. Each interest group was promised specific goodies and changes that would make their lives better. The president appeared to express empathy for each and every one of these people. There was no grand plan spelling out how this turnabout was supposed to be accomplished in our poor economic condition but it specifically targeted commitments to each group.

President Obama enlisted America’s “feel your pain” former President Clinton, to vouch for his word and his ability to correct our economic woes. Ironically this was the same president who lied under oath about having an affair with Ms. Lewinsky.

Governor Romney took an entirely different approach by focusing his campaign on his expertise to get the economy to produce greater private sector jobs. He used numbers and facts to demonstrate the weak results of President Obama’s experiment in central government planning. The big picture was presented logically and straightforward to persuade people to vote for him. It did not work to motivate over a million voters who had voted for candidate, John McCain, in the 2008 election.

Promising things to obtain a citizen’s vote for a leader goes back to Biblical times. Kings employed divide and conquer and giving cake and circuses to maintain power. There was no nation’s constitution, law or electoral process only to the individual that was proclaimed king by hook or crook. The people served the king, not the king serving the people.

Humans inherently need guidance and wisdom imparted by adults to prepare them to face the difficulties and challenges in life. America’s youth worshipping culture has done a poor job in this area. As families disintegrate and parents become more givers than teachers, future adults are becoming more dependent on others than self-reliant.

The next four years will be fraught with many financial, educational and cultural decisions that will cause pain and suffering. Our taxes will go up and there will be cuts in entitlements. Many promises will not be kept as they were not in the past four years.

Americans will abruptly be robbed of their adolescent rose-colored glasses and be forced to grow up and face reality. They will learn to be concerned with the fine print with their HD glasses on before voting again. Suffering brings reality into focus. This could be the 2012 election’s saving grace.

“Forward” has in the past been a socialist slogan because politicians of that ilk cannot stand an examination of their performance. Socialist Europe is disintegrating in front of our eyes. Their politicians are still painting wonderful pictures that cannot materialize because of their own impending economic cliff.

The US is not far behind Europe’s financial disarray but we need to change our nation’s glasses to observe reality before it is too late.

STANDING UP FOR ONESELF PROTESTS OTHERS

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STANDING UP FOR ONESELF PROTECTS OTHERS

By Domenick J. Maglio, Phd. Traditional Realist

The provoker and the provoked are treated in the same manner in our current PC culture. Most people think they have a right to do whatever they feel like doing in a society with little consensus on moral values. This lack of consistency in dealing with the difference between appropriate and inappropriate behavior is confusing.

People are becoming paralyzed in social situations when obnoxious and harmful behaviors occur. This unwillingness to express our disapproval of destructive behaviors has weakened the distinction between right and wrong.

Yet most people find it easier to speak up for someone else’s rights than for their own. They are under the misconception that it is beneath them to defend themselves. This is wrong because standing up for oneself often will teach the other person what he is saying or doing is inappropriate.  This direct intervention might be enough for a future instigator to be taught a lesson that will stop a bully in his tracks.

When an individual is being unfairly treated by another he should stand up to the culprit or it will encourage the person to continue his abusive behavior towards him as well as others. Ignoring offensive behavior will result in many other people being treated in the same abusive manner. The non-confronted offender will become even more emboldened in his negative behavior.

Offenders can be a peer, a superior or in this modern culture, a youngster.  Too often children can be tyrants to their parents. It is important the parents send their child the message that they will no longer tolerate demeaning or harmful behavior. This should definitely include not following parent’s directions. If children learn they can disregard or even disrespect their parents, all other authority figures will be tested and many will be put in uncomfortable situations due to the parent’s negligence.

Parental neglect is not only about what not to do, but what to do in specific circumstances. It is not unusual for a child to attempt to boss another child around. A youngster has to be taught the social skills to say “no” to his peers. The child who accepts unconditionally the commands of another is put in jeopardy of getting in trouble. The ultimate fault for the child’s ignorance in imitating bad behavior has to be attributed to parents not emphasizing that another child cannot give him permission to countermand an action that the parents said was wrong in the first place.  The old parents standby, “ If your friend told you to jump off the Brooklyn Bridge, would you do it?”

Contrary to modern permissive materialistic child rearing, children who receive consequences for inappropriate behavior are not being abused or in danger of becoming conformists. They will learn right from wrong. These moral values will give strong convictions to stand up to others who want to force them to violate their values. This will prevent them from copying obnoxious behavior.

These same skills are needed when a young adult enters the workplace. He has to possess convictions of right and wrong. It takes a person with a strong moral character to analyze complex social situations. He has to be able to discriminate between being exploited or if it is normal behavior in the environment.  He has to determine whether a supervisor is blatantly not following normal operating procedures or is unfairly discriminating against him. A supervisor being inappropriate with his subordinates needs to be corrected.

A person who accepts unfairness in the workforce is doing everyone a disservice. The same way a child is unwittingly sanctioning other children being mistreated by his acceptance of abusive behavior, passive adults often do the same thing. Tolerance of bad behavior leads to an increase in the level of it.

When someone refuses to be mistreated, he is setting a high standard of decency that positively affects the lives of others around him. This straightforward person might be overlooked for a promotion based on his seeming lack of finesse and political skills in a corporate environment. Nevertheless, he will be respected by others and will gain inner strength knowing he has done the right thing.

In an entrepreneurial position the individual’s decisiveness and competency will allow him to shine. Instead of a hindrance to his advancement it would become an asset. Inner-directed people usually have firmly established principles based on a strong moral compass that allowed them to be decisive and correct in their choices.

No advancement or monetary reward should seduce an individual to accept being abused by anyone. Personal dignity cannot be bought with dollars.  Creating a positive path for others by standing up for good and right in the long run is the best spiritual way to go.

Anyone who has the courage to stand up does more than protect him, he inspires others to do the same. This individual is a wonderful role model for establishing a healthy and peaceful community. Strong individuals can lead others to stand up for themselves thus giving the weakest among us the strength to do the same.

Dr. Maglio is an author and owner/director of Wider Horizons School, a college prep program. You can visit Dr. Maglio at www.drmaglio.com.

IT IS NOT PATRIOTIC FOR THE GOVERNMENT TO TAKE WHAT IS YOURS

IT IS NOT PATRIOTIC FOR THE GOVERNMENT TO TAKE WHAT IS YOURS

By Domenick J. Maglio PhD Traditional Realist

Occupy Wall Street Slogan: “One day the poor will have nothing to eat but the rich.”

Karl Marx, “The theory of communism may be summed up in one sentence, abolish all private property.”

Class warfare has been a major component of a Marxist revolution. President Obama said, it was “patriotic of well-to-do Americans” to pay higher taxes.  These higher taxes are needed to finance government bloating of failed programs and increases in federal staffing gone wild. These programs supposedly are to assist the less fortunate but their goal is to increase dependency on the government. The wealthiest 1% should think that their present 37% share of all the collected income tax revenue even if doubled to 80% or more would be “their fair share.” Redistribution of a person’s income would only be ended when all was taken.

This notion is like a teacher swiping a hard working student’s A grade and transferring it to a lazy D student’s report card. An A student would consider it outrageously unfair however when the American workers are robbed of their assets through exorbitant taxation we are supposed to smile and ask the feds if they would like to take more as it is what patriots do. Being mandated to give a large percentage of income to the federal government is supposed to be seen as a privilege while receiving those redistributed funds is a right.

This 2012 election will determine the direction of our nation. We will continue to either remain a Constitutional Republic with a free market economy or we will be a centrally controlled government with a Marxist economy moving towards one world government. The contrast could not be clearer.

The Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 was fought against the Romanov czar regime. These Bolshevik Marxist intellectuals used differences between interest groups to divide and conquer. Women, class, ethnic and race were exploited to fan the flames of despair. The hope of change in this chaotic climate motivated the people to put the Marxists in power.

The purpose of this calculated uprising was to implement a Marxist utopian society. “From each according to his ability to each according to his need.” In this Marxist political environment, the rich are supposed to gladly fork over their hard earned income. The absurdity of this reasoning is the person that works hard to perfect his marketable ability is penalized by the government. His assets are confiscated through a ridiculous tax structure or by edict. Eventually the person realizes that sacrificing and striving will not enhance his own existence. These people become disheartened and by default become slacker-takers. The country becomes a dispirited Godless society.

Our founding fathers were reality oriented revolutionaries. They sacrificed their livelihoods, homes, families and their lives to be free to follow life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. These patriots established a free nation not only for themselves and their families, but for future generations- if we can keep it. They were men of God and wisdom who understood the history of past nations for guidance in creating our sacred document, the US Constitution.  Time-tested truths were logically and reasonably put into place to create a representative republic.

These revolutionaries believed that freedom of individuals to raise their families  and their livelihood would insure a morally strong nation. Adam Smith’s, Wealth of Nations, became a major factor in developing the capitalist economy. They understood that the productivity of free individual buyers and sellers would allow both to profit as well as the nation. Since no outside government influence was forcing the transaction, the individuals themselves settled on a satisfactory contract.

 The capital these producers accumulated was their property to use as they chose. The decentralized citizen’s assets would be the fuel that would drive the economic engine.  There was no centralized government 5–year-plan or stimulus plan that picked winners or losers, just businesses small and large creating opportunities for employers to apply their abilities to make the business an honest profit.

Trickle Down Government is diametrically opposed to what our founders proposed when developing a free market economy for our limited government republic. Citizens freely chose opportunities taking personal risk to better themselves. In present day America the poor do not have to eat the rich, they merely have to work. Our society has been one of the most socio-economically mobile nations in the history of man. The successful entrepreneurs increased in social and economic status while those who were born into wealth but were not productive fell on the social and economic totem pole. We have a fluid social class structure not a static one.

Americans would not accept confiscation of their land, homes or money. except at the barrel of a gun. Our government is supposed to stay out of the way letting individuals make their own contracts with each other. Other than taxes for maintaining national security such as the military and infrastructure our founders did not assume the government had a right or even an expectation to a citizen’s money.

Our government is supposed to work for the people’s interest, not the people working for the government’s. Our country was based on the freedom of the people not on dependency or enslavement to the government.

It is unpatriotic to accept an inefficient, bloated government demanding and expropriating your money to continue failing programs while going deeper into debt. It is time for true patriots to stand up and vote these un-American shysters of both parties out of their plush positions of power. We must clean house and sweep out self-serving politicians and entrenched bureaucrats who use their offices to enhance themselves rather than serve the people.