NOTHING HAS EVER BEEN FREE

NOTHING HAS EVER BEEN FREE

By Domenick J. Maglio PhD. Traditional Realist

Senator Bernie Sanders, presidential standard-bearer for the Democrat party, appears to be a more open and honest politician as compared to the other nominee, Hillary Clinton. His speeches are accurate about the current pathetic state of our economy and foreign policy. However, he commits big whopping lies by omission when he speaks about giving out free things. Senator Sanders describes himself as a Democratic Socialist and continually speaks about free healthcare and free higher education for all Americans.

The truth is nothing has ever been free. In any form of government throughout history, from the caveman to the current state of affairs, people have expended their energy to survive and prosper. Emperors required their subjects to provide their own labor on government projects, pay taxes, and fight for the emperor to maintain his power. Large sums of a nation’s wealth were demanded by the victor to withdraw their warriors. Barbarians raped, massacred and pillaged more civilized societies. Then they waited a few years and returned to repeat the process. Peace has never been free. It has a significant price tag of treasure and lives to obtain and maintain.

Settling the new world by the Europeans took many lives and courage to deal with the hardships. It was a constant battle to survive. The pilgrims had to fight the physical elements and the indigenous people. The Jamestown Settlement, the Plymouth Colony and most settlements in the new world were first socialist community experiments, not capitalistic. They failed in short order because the people became lazy and unproductive. Then they adopted an economic system that honored private property and labor because it worked.

The lure of communal living did not die. It sprouted up throughout America’s short history. The Brook Farm, Fruitland, New Harmony, the 1960 hippie communal experiments and hundreds of others disappeared. This is currently only a footnote in history.

The same can be said of all the communist experiments in the Soviet Union, China, Vietnam, Cambodia and Cuba. These nations have recently turned towards a more capitalistic profit motive economy. The Democrat Socialist nations such as Mussolini’s Italy and Hitler’s Germany could not fulfill their progressive promises. They became overextended militarily and lost the faith of their people.

The Progressive social democrats of the countries of Europe are currently facing insurmountable economic reality. They cannot continue to give away their treasuries, as their birthrate is not sufficient for a sustainable economy. Their welfare programs no longer have sufficient producers to offset these programs. European nations have begun to reduce and eliminate give away programs to prevent economic disaster.

Bernie Sanders and the other Republican and Democrat progressives can only sell the social democrat platform by being disingenuous. His and other outrageous promises can only be temporarily kept by robbing Peter to pay Paul. These promises are only convincing to many citizens due to our long period of prosperity and peace in America. More and more people have been added to the “gravy train” receiving more and more freebees. We have become entitled to these government “gifts” such as “free” cell phones, “free” unearned income credits, free” housing and “free” food. Robbing the middle class to transfer the wealth to the unproductive class in order to buy their votes has done this. The ruling class, politicians and “one percenters” are recipients of special government corporate welfare and beneficial regulations against competitors that had been labeled as “fascism” in WWII.

The lack of quality public education has resulted in the total ignorance of the important accomplishments of America, the harsh reality of world history and basic economics. When Millennials and everyday Americans are asked simple basic knowledge and historical facts they are clueless. Their self indulgent lifestyles, anti US propaganda in schools and media indoctrination of America being the cause of everything wrong in the world has left many Americans disgracefully ungrateful for the fruits of our free market economy and our extraordinary Constitutional Republic.

This 2016 presidential election is an opportunity to educate, not indoctrinate, our citizens. Their eyes have to be opened to comprehend the progressive socialism, as it has never worked because it is based on a false narrative of human nature. Doers have to be free to keep most of their hard earned assets to continue to be the productive backbone.

 It is obvious that free healthcare and higher education is a blatant falsehood no matter what progressive Republicans or Democrats espouse. Both free healthcare and education will lose their quality as it dwindles down to meet the lowest common denominator and the exhausted middle class to rob.

The promise of free programs should be a red flag, a warning signal of what is to come. Welfare for all diminishes the opportunities for all that want to produce. Our economy will return to a high quality economic engine when freedom to keep much of their assets remains in the hands of the doers. It will produce great employment opportunities, high wages, wealth and social mobility for all citizens rather than for only a few oppressive ruling class members.

Domenick Maglio, PhD. is a columnist carried by various newspapers, an author of several books and owner/director of Wider Horizons School, a college prep program. You can visit Dr. Maglio at www.drmaglio.blogspot.com.

FOCUSING SOLELY ON THE POLICE OFFICER'S REACTION IS SHAMEFUL

FOCUSING SOLELY ON THE POLICE OFFICER’S REACTION IS SHAMEFUL

By Domenick J. Maglio PhD Traditional Realist

The major function of a police officer is keeping the peace by enforcing the laws and ensuring order. They are not designated to make laws or provide social services.  Judges, politicians, social workers and government bureaucrats are there to provide these functions. Many people would like the police to not only provide safety but to solve all of our inner city social ills.

Crime stopping is the primary function of police business. A dispatcher sends them into an ongoing criminal or domestic crisis situation. They are the first responders who put themselves on the line to prevent potential or ongoing violence.  Being a police officer is an inherently dangerous position.

In many, if not most, minority communities cops are considered the enemy. During the 50^th SuperBowl halftime show Bionce’ saluted the Black Panthers and the Black Lives movement. Both of these groups are antagonistic toward the police viewing them as obscene killers of black males. Many celebrities are fanning the flames of the hatred of police officers. These messages incited black members of the movement to murder cops, even black ones.

In addition to this intense anger towards the police there is a new wrinkle in law enforcement: the cell phone. The video component of the phone is being used as a weapon to second-guess many police actions. Every police officer is aware he is under constant surveillance for all his actions. Many patrol cars have dash cams and many policemen wear cameras on their collars. Added to this new reality most officers realize politicians in this politically correct world are prone to throw the officer under the bus for being involved in a controversial incident. Firing of officers has happened on numerous occasions throughout the USA. These factors are inhibiting police officers from concentrating on the responsibility of protecting the public out of fear of reprisal while crime escalates.

This new reality of being second-guessed by videos is not as fair as it first seemed.

The limit of videos is they are taken by bystanders who focus directly on the officer often after the provocation took place. We are only witnessing the tail end of the dispute when force is being used to quell the perpetrator. These camera devices

such as the dash and body cam recorders record in a straight ahead narrow path. This means all that happens on the periphery is not included.

As any professional football enthusiast realizes, the angle of the camera can change a referee’s judgment of whether the ball was caught out of bounds or not. It also can determine if the touchdown was in the grasp of the runner when he crossed the goal line. These videos taken from different angles are necessary to objectively determine many difficult decisions.

The perspective of the viewer changes the accuracy of drawing a valid conclusion. The perception of the police officer is his reality when someone he perceives is attacking him. The officer has to maintain his authority or he will appear weak losing all credibility as an enforcer of the law. Once the incident begins the refusals by the civilians to comply with the officer’s commands usually escalates into a physical confrontation. Since both the cop and the others become physically involved adrenaline kicks in.  At this moment rational thought is difficult to maintain while instinctual survival behavior increases. Missing part of the unfolding event makes it almost impossible to determine if the officer was provoking or being provoked.

 “Monday Morning Quarterbacking” by the media, consultants and reporters is extremely unfair. They pontificate about other approaches the officer should have used instead of how he reacted in real time in a life and death situation. Although many of the proposed actions by the media might have been reasonable under normal circumstances but are not feasible in a confrontational situation. If the officer is attempting to get immediate control of the situation for the safety of everyone it becomes much more complicated. It is difficult to evaluate when a person is in the middle of what he perceives as a direct life and death situation.

When the perpetrator has crossed the line of not responding to the officer’s commands the officer’s responsibility is to establish his authority.  What seems like abuse to the bystander and media is often the officer doing his duty to regain control.

The major consideration should be if the person or persons involved were compliant or not. When the individual is following the reasonable instructions of the officer and is attacked by him the incident should be investigated and the officer should be prosecuted.  This situation is a clear abuse of the officer’s mandate and power.

Although before drawing a hasty conclusion from the video of the police officer’s behavior, there is more information needed about the incident. What was the initial reason for the officer’s intervention? How did the suspect react to the officer? What was the testimony of other witnesses? Did the officer or the perpetrator do anything to provoke or extend the confrontation?

Jumping to conclusions on television from photos or video is unprofessional, unforgiveable and shameful. Police officers have a right to due process of the law like any citizen. Maintaining the peace is vital for us all.

Domenick Maglio, PhD. is a columnist carried by various newspapers, an author of several books and owner/director of Wider Horizons School, a college prep program. You can visit Dr. Maglio at www.drmaglio.blogspot.com.

CULTURE OF CORRUPTION CAN BE REVERSED

CULTURE OF CORRUPTION CAN BE REVERSED

By Domenick J. Maglio PhD. Traditional Realist

The political ruling class and their mass media minions do not understand the reason for Bernie Sanders’ and Donald Trump’s popularity. The American public is realizing the political ruling class of both parties, the Republican and Democrat parties, are joined at the hip. There are no differences between them except for their rhetoric. They are after the same things: power, money and retaining their power positions in Washington, D.C.

The voters are witnessing obvious massive government lying and corruption that is being dismissed as business as usual. Both parties are playing the same games except when a republican is “outed” the politician resigns while a democrat would receive a pass and the episode disappears.  The republicans have accepted their role as the minority party. As long as they do not attempt  to challenge the progressive establishment, the ruling class will keep them in the “good ole boy” D.C. system.

President Obama’s administration has exponentially politicized the office. Every event is seen through the lens of how we can protect and promote the presidency. A recent outrageous revelation was Eric Holder, as head of the Justice Department, had used his office to commit a blatant act of political corruption. He squeezed the major financial companies involved in the subprime housing market by coercing them into contributing to left wing organizations or they would not be able to continue their financial business. This “Pay to Play” scheme has been alleged throughout this administration. There is no ongoing investigation into this scandal or others at this time. It is business as usual.

The emails of Hillary Clinton as secretary of state that are being released by the State Department are eye openers. They directly contradict the Obama claim that there was no time for the armed forces to protect our ambassador and our people in Benghazi. The administration officials including President Obama, former Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta and Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton stated there was no stand down order given to the troops.  They insisted there was not time enough to have saved the lives of government officials and workers in Benghazi. The released emails of Hillary Clinton have shown this not to be true and show her total disregard for protecting top secret intelligence.

President Obama did not alert congress that the trade for Bowe Bergdahl who left his military post would involve five high level Al Quida leaders. He understood it would cause an uproar with American citizens. President Obama did it anyway to attempt to fulfill his policy of closing Guantanamo. He portrayed Bowe Bergdahl in the Rose Garden as a hero instead of the traitor he appears to be to his fellow squadron mates.

Press secretary, Josh Earnest, when addressing the media said only 10% of those released from Guantanamo return to the ISIS battlefield. However, the military generals are reporting that one third of those released return to the battlefield. This factual discrepancy was not addressed or questioned by the state run media.

Iran has tested a second missile when they agreed not to test any. The UN or the United States did nothing to protest this act even though the administration unequivocally stated that any transgressions by Iran would result in automatically making any nuclear agreement with them null and void. The ruling class and media establishment have ignored this and other incidents of disregarding the rules of the agreement such as complying with inspection and testing of ballistic missiles. These missiles can reach Israel, Europe and eventually the United States.

The President continues to insist ISIS is losing ground in the middle east and there is no credible threat of terrorism in the United States. He continues to refuse to call any incident Islamic terrorism, instead he wants to refer to incidents as “work place violence.” Even after Fort Hood; Chattanooga, Tennessee; Paris; the Boston Marathon bombing and even the San Bernardino terrorist connections with middle east terrorist organizations, the administration still refuses to make the obvious connection.

These and almost daily revelations of what some people call political incompetence are most likely Chicago type “Pay to Play” sanctioned corruption. Decisions are being made for the benefit of the ruling class members of both parties rather than the people. Our politicians are guided by the “it is all about money and power” rule.

These shenanigans are a replay of the end of the representative government in the Roman Empire. The entire structural government from top to bottom became corrupt. General Octavian who became Augustus, which means “the revered one,” changed the direction of the entire Roman Empire. He had the allegiance of the military and people of the nation to become the first emperor.  The Roman Empire was put on a moral foundation by his leadership that led to 200 years of peace for its people. “Pax Romana.”

Character of a leader does matter to a nation. A government head sets the tone for the people. A moral head of state is strikingly different from an immoral one. Citizens follow and imitate the thinking and actions of the person in charge. Immoral and moral decisions end in diametrically opposed places. The peoples’ vote in an honest election does matter. It will determine the future of America.

Domenick Maglio, PhD. is a columnist carried by various newspapers, an author of several books and owner/director of Wider Horizons School, a college prep program. You can visit Dr. Maglio at www.drmaglio.blogspot.com.