I have given it some thought and here it is.

I think that all things prior to the Declaration of Independence could be called pre-production, perhaps beta, releases.  Important but not necessarily ready then for official release and wide distribution. 

The Declaration was really America 1.0.  The Constitution, intimately tied as it is to the Declaration, would then be America 1.5. 

What followed was George Washington and the initial launch of a country, an experiment in democracy as some would say but really a brand new approach presented as a representative, constitutional, republic.  No Monarchy Redux issued in by good old George.  Issues between federalism (Big Brother) and anti-federalism (state’s rights for those confused) resolved, initial bugs fixed.

After the War of 1812 the new country seemed to finally establish its footing, achieving global viability by thrashing the Brits, again, and America 2.0 was released.

A major issue with 2.0 was addressed by the Missouri Compromise and issued in America 2.5.  The postponement of the resolution of the slavery question.

The administration of Andrew Jackson would have to rate another minor release or two and might have ended up with release 2.7 or so.

The 1850’s and then, after, the onset of the Civil War.  Definitely America 3.0 and, for those confused, this was a more significant release than Windows 3.0. It was followed in short order by the various Amendments which sought to solve the issues with slavery and freedom not resolved directly by the war- 3.1, 3.2, and perhaps 3.3.   

The progressivism/socialism movement, with its roots mainly in Germany, beginning its spread into our country in the second half of the 19^th century, spawning and nurturing the likes of Teddy Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, moved the releases along with 3.7, 3.8 & 3.9.

With Wilson America 4.0 was released along with World War I.  After a brief respite in the 20’s during which 2.1 and 2.2 attempted to move the country back from the progressive precipice,  along came the Depression and the Dust Bowl and the road to WWII; and, of course, FDR, the New Deal and the Real 4.0.  If Wilson had not launched it already it would have warranted its own major release but, as it stands, it went out as America 4.5.  And with the New Deal something like 4.51, 4.52, 4.53, 4.60, 4.61, 4.62.01, 4.62.02, 4.63, 4.64, 4.7, 4.71.01, 4.71.02, and so on.  Lots of follow-on fixes for reckless new feature releases- almost no room for much else.

America 5.0 would not have had to have been a major release other than the fact that it was an attempted move away from Wilson, FDR and the 4.x releases.  It spanned Truman, Eisenhower, and, to a lesser extent, JFK.  But then along came LBJ, the Great Society, Civil Rights, Vietnam and the 60’s.

America 5.0 had not gone far enough to address all of the issues introduced with America 4.0 so the 60’s ushered in 5.5, an eclectic overlap of the WWII generation and their offspring, the anti-war, anti-establishment, tuned-out kids and hippies of that tumultuous later decade. 

The remainder of the 5.x releases covered Nixon and moving on…with Carter and our loss of international prestige.  Reagan would have seemingly ushered in 6.0 if his legacy, squandered initially by the elder Bush, had not faded with the coming of the Clintons.  This was followed by the younger Bush and a more progressive side to the Republican remnants of Ronald Reagan.

The changes we have been subjected to over the last 5 years would seemingly support the announcement of a new release, America 6.0.  This release would be characterized by a rapid retreat from an abdication of the Constitution by the administration, Congress for the most part, the Supreme Court sadly, and, most especially, the DOJ ; a rapid fall in presence and prestige around the globe after a brief reprise under Bush; the continued destruction of our economic and financial institutions and practices; the ongoing decay of what remains of our moral culture; the elimination of the nuclear family; the subjugation of the Christian faith and its associated religious underpinnings; the disconnection of our children from academic excellence; the triumph of political correctness; the inevitable (I guess I must finally admit it) move toward American Socialism as we also face then the elimination of what was once known as American Exceptionalism.

But before we go there I would like to offer up an alternate proposal, an idea for a new release plan that might just satisfy everyone concerned.

So please stay tuned.

“I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

Did you say that?  Did you swear to that or affirm it as is required by Article II, Section 1 of that very same Constitution?

That is the Oath of Office of the President of these United States is it not?  Thirty-five words- pretty clear in terms of what you have supposedly sworn to or affirmed.

Does an oath mean much of anything to you?  Does a promise with you fly with the winds?

How many of our Presidents have held true to those simple, plain words after they were spoken?  If you are a cynic you might say that, like all politicians, the words were mere shells, something that had to be said, to be sworn to, in order to get on with their agendas.  Perhaps sometimes true but I would choose to think not so a majority of the time.  In any event, public opinion would eventually cause re-alignment as needed over time.  This has often been true in the past.

Not so now.

It seems that it has finally happened.  The general populace has either changed so much or been made so ignorant that outrage has now been placed out of sight and out of reach.

Nowadays people get outraged if someone does or says something that may perhaps be seen as insulting to themselves or their own special interest group or in some ways endangers their own personal agendas.  They become enraged if someone even attempts to take away a freebie that they have been enjoying thanks to a large, seemingly benevolent but financially and ethically bankrupt government.  They simmer and then boil if anyone has the audacity to state a position counter to their own on abortion, gay marriage, quota systems, welfare programs, health insurance, corporate or personal taxes, the legality of the use of hallucinogenics or narcotics, religious freedoms, allowable freedom of speech, the right to bear arms, military spending, global warming, birth control, voting laws, illegal immigration enforcement, intelligence collection rights of the federal government, the death penalty, the conferred  powers of the myriad government agencies…the list goes on and on.

A good number of those issues, arguably key issues in these times, are not even referenced in our founding documents but they can all be argued within that framework if we chose to do so, as we have done so often in our history.

It sadly seems though the use of that framework, even a belief in that framework, in the very founding document that has served us longer and more faithfully than any other associated with any other standing representative republic (note I did not say democracy and if you don’t know the difference then that may be a great place for you to start your move away from ignorance) in the world, well, it sadly seems that these are no longer of much concern to a rising percentage of the population.

You don’t understand the Constitution or why it was drafted in the manner that it was and it appears that you don’t really want to bother to learn.  I guess you’re not capable or are maybe just too lazy- which is it?

Did you know how much historical political thought went into that document?  Just because we now have such amazingly advanced technology or such a widely accepted spectrum of lifestyles does not mean that historical lessons can now be forgotten or ignored.

Perhaps it is just too late for us.  It has been known since the dawn of time that the way to rule is through the application of force, apparent or implied, and the calculated introduction of a steadily expanding epidemic of ignorance.

I will rule you because you are either too scared or too stupid for there to be any other possible outcome.

Shame on you, shame on us.

“I do solemnly swear that I will execute accordingly the Office of President of the United States, and to the extent that is deemed necessary, reform, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

Thirty-five simple words.  Does it really matter?

I was wondering why so many of our elected officials, at the local, state and federal levels, seem to forget where they came from so quickly, seem to move from the positions they occupied during their campaigns, seem quite too often and too quickly to say something quite different from what they said before.  I wondered but it was sort of a rhetorical musing.

Does absolute power mess people up absolutely?

How the heck does a local school board member acquire absolute power?  How much water is required to fill up the container until it overflows?  And why don’t they seem to notice when their feet wind up getting wet?

Someday I plan to investigate the federal monster known as the Bureaucracy- some refer to this as the Administrative State which implies it is put into place and tailored by each succeeding administration but I think it survives each mostly intact, only larger and more sinister- but I’m not sure that I have the courage to look in the darkened dungeon.  I tend to be scared of scary places.  For now let’s just focus on the elected folks who we are still, in the end I suppose, responsible for putting into place.

But are we really?

Oh sure we may wind up electing them, assuming that is the candidate we actually voted for, but once they win do they occupy a place of our choosing?  Once we have an elected official, some call him or her a representative, does he or she not then represent all of us, all of the electorate, in carrying out the responsibilities of the particular office?  If he or she are of a different party how soon are we forgotten or ignored?  If we happen to be in the same party and have an opinion or position that differs with the elected person representing us do we matter that much longer?  How much money do we have to control, how many votes do we have to bring before we really matter?

Someone told me once that the folks we elect actually work for us.  Really, that’s what I was told.  I think that is maybe where the word representative came from a long time ago.

Q:  “Why don’t you do as you said you would?”

R:  “You don’t understand, I have to go along to get along before I can get anything done like that.”

Q:  “But you voted on other things that we didn’t really care about, things we didn’t send you there to pursue.  Why?”

R:  “Because it’s important.”

Q:  “To whom?”

R:  “Look you don’t understand but it’s not really your fault- a lot of folks back home don’t either.”

Q:  “What don’t I understand?  What don’t we understand?”

R:  “It’s hard to explain so that you can understand.”

Q:  “Huh?”

R:  “Look, I can’t just show up and buck the system, I can’t just rock the boat, I can’t just swim upstream, I can’t just go against the grain, “I can’t-“

Q:  “Ok, ok I got it.  But why not?”

R:  “If I could even explain it you wouldn’t understand but you should realize that there are people there, powerful people who want things a certain way and they are going to get it no matter what.”

Q:  “Then why go there, why run for the office?”

R:  “To make a difference.  But it takes time, you don’t understand.  These people-“

Q:  “The powerful ones?”

R:  “Yes, them, they-“

Q:  “Are they corrupt as well?  Are they honest?”

R:  “Well, yes and no- or maybe it’s no and yes- it’s just so hard to explain.  You shouldn’t really worry about it, that’s my job.”

Q:  “But we sent you there assuming you would do a job that you’re not really doing.”

R:  “I need to go along first, just to get along.  And then I-“

Q:  “Become a team player?”

A:  “Exactly.”

It just seems to keep coming.  Once I get it cleared off then it comes again, even when the temperature is so low as to make it a somewhat rarer option.  I shovel, it snows, I shovel again.

Sometimes other things in life seem to go this way as well don’t they?

I work, I get the job done, more stuff comes my way.  If I’m lucky and like my job then it’s not so bad, maybe even a good thing.  Regardless, still it comes.  I work, I shovel.

I try to teach my kids all the things I consider to be good, to be right.  Just when I think that they have it down I find that the old ways have crept back in.  So I work again, I teach and re-teach.   I shovel again.  I put my back and legs into it.

There are New Year’s resolutions that I plan to make, to change me, to change my life.  That is the plan anyhow.  That has always been the plan.  I make the resolutions and I manage to keep a few, for a while anyhow.  Then the lesser angels of my human nature creep back on to the scene so I need to regroup and recommit myself to getting to where I wish to go.

A series of unfortunate or even bad events sometimes manages to greet us.  If you have lived a few years already and look back over that life of yours you will likely be able to identify several such streaks- the good ones aren’t always so obvious to spot.  You get knocked down, you get up again, you get knocked down again.  You get up because you know things will get better.  You get up because you are so sure that things can’t get worse.  You get up because of who you are and what you believe in.  You get up and try like hell to not get knocked down again.  Not today anyway.

I look out the window- it looks like it’s getting ready to start snowing again.  I am ready to head out again later.  My hands are still a bit numb from before and, yes, I did wear a good pair of gloves.  I have two shovels at the ready, I have two arms and two legs.  I am ready.

Like cleaning the house as well.  You clean it, it gets dirty again, you clean it again.

Springtime comes, the snows melt, the waters rise, my basement floods again.  I pump out the water and mop up the mess; I replace all that has been damaged; I get ready to do it all over again as much and as often as needed.

On an on and on it goes.

I pay my bills and new ones come.  Generally, unless I do something to address them, they grow larger.  Larger bills, new and greater taxes.

The bills are for things I voluntarily agreed to pay for- a service or commodity or something else I needed or otherwise wished to have.  My choice, though sometimes not seemingly so.  I could try to live without electricity or heat or running water or trash service or a telephone or petro for my car…  But I choose to have these things to provide for the welfare of the family that I chose to start along with the woman who agreed to marry me.  Nothing has been forced, I have had free and honest choices all along the way.

I dutifully pay my taxes but are they an expense I chose to have?  Did I have much of a say in the services they claim to provide, the general welfare they seek to distribute?  Can I choose where my taken dollars go?  Am I able to send my children to a school of our choosing without having to pay a private fee to do otherwise?  Do I have a vote in the pensions and perqs provided to our local public employees?  Can I fire a teacher who fails my kids?  How much input and control do I even have?   Answer is…not much.

In a free market if I don’t like the services or products provided by a company I can take my business to another company, a competitor.  If the taxes I pay locally are too onerous or I just don’t like them then I can move to another village or county or state provided I can sell my house, get another job, and so on.  I am somewhat locked into place and hope that the so-called authorities are reasonable- they need to be to a degree if they hope to draw new residents and businesses in.   Until it doesn’t matter anymore- like when all the tax revenues they receive are doled out from the central authority.   

Where can I go to escape the federal government though?  I can’t really even express my positions, my opinions, in any fashion other than electing some new representative and hope that  he or she can somehow manage to coalesce a group of like-minded colleagues and then get a bill together and up for a vote and then hope they can get it passed in the House and also then through the Senate.  And then hope it does not get vetoed.  And sometime later it may become law and trickle on back to me.  If I’m lucky and live long enough.

Nope.  Once things get established it is so hard to get them changed, to go back to where things were or should be.  It is a slight tug against an earlier and much bolder yank.  Who winds up gaining the greater amount of ground?  And, in the end, who pays for it?  Is there even a way to pay as all of our debts pile up higher and higher still with each passing winter? 

It snows, I shovel, it snows again.  If I have any energy left I shovel again…but still it snows and snows and snows.  Each time I have to throw the snow up higher and farther.  Soon it will pile up so high that there will be no place to throw it any longer.  We will not be able to shovel any longer.

And then, we’ll all get snowed in.

Yeah, okay, so my true colors finally show.  Had you not guessed my leanings by this time?

I am for small government, as close to what our constitution intended as possible.

I am for a fiscally responsible government that does not continue to just spend and then look to cover the bills with higher taxes or by borrowing or printing money, at every possible turn.

I do not believe in the welfare state, in the nanny state, that so many these days espouse; the one that continues to bleed us toward an inevitable demise.

I do not believe that healthcare, a minimum wage, a house, a car, high-speed internet access, or any such perqs and niceties are natural rights to be protected by and provided for by the government.

I don’t believe that modern people should continue to be held responsible for past wrongs committed or allowed to exist in this country.  Remember and learn, yes; continue to be made to be held to account for something I was not involved with, nor were any of my folk, no.

I do not believe in quota systems.  Best person for the job, no exceptions.

I believe in legal immigration, period.  Breaking the law is breaking the law and should be addressed, always, as such.

I believe with all of my heart in American exceptionalism.  We ARE special and there ARE very clear and real reasons for why and how we got to this point.  Let us lead and let others follow toward the same ultimate ends.

I believe in hard work and everyone receiving an equal chance to succeed.  Period.

I believe that the best family environment is one in which there is a responsible and loving mother and father present.

I do not believe in gay marriage.  Sorry, but I don’t and it is my right to feel that way and also to express it.  There are still real constitutional rights available to us right?

I believe it is the responsibility of every person to help his neighbor, voluntarily and out of moral empathy.  I’ll decide where my charity will go, not the government.

I believe in God and the Christian-based foundations of this great country.

I believe in term limits- too many lifetime, professional politicians.

I believe that unions have long outlived their usefulness.  I do not believe that they help this country.

I think that we need to draw back on some of our international military commitments and worry about just a few key interests.  Let the rest of the world got to hell if they so choose.

I believe that kids should be taught about winning and losing at an early age and that trophies for participation and hiding the game score are things to be avoided.  Life is tough so get used to it and get busy accepting personal responsibility for your actions and your outcomes.  Get ready to fail and then get busy trying again, and again, and again.  Too many young people out there were not raised with accepting personal responsibility as a requirement.

I believe in  the United States of America and the republic which has stood the test of time but is now in need of some serious and drastic rehabilitation to get it, and us all, back to where we were all collectively and individually intended to be.

There is no Obama tree in this house.  Wise up America.  Wise up and rise up and stand up for what you believe before it is simply and tragically too damn late.

Funny thing, this.  Although it appears apparent that no one is reading my ramblings- that’s actually better for me since it would sort of be like someone overhearing a conversation that I was holding with myself- I did receive a call from, well, not important really who from, suggesting strongly that I, well, maybe also not important really what about…

Just do it.

So, I guess I was a bit incorrect in regard to my rather misplaced assumptions regarding the details involved in starting a business and I would like to make a few corrections.

Sure there are start-up fees and certain taxes and yet more fees associated with starting and running a business and, yes, they do go to the various governments (here I mean local, county, state, and federal) but there is a definite and solid reason for this.  The folks that monitor and help to regulate my business, my industry and market need to be compensated for the valuable work that they do.  For if it weren’t for them there would be no one to issue, monitor, maintain, and revise the many regulations and oversights that are necessary for my business, my industry, and my market.  And without those regulations and oversights things would really be a mess I guess.

Also, as I did not understand, some of the money from the fees goes to help folks who need help so that they can actually visit my coffee and egg sandwich place and consume some of my goods with resources that came from me being fortunate enough to have others who might have consumed some of my goods having actually done so.  This is key, for without this economic stream, as defined and administered by those who know better, there would be no egg and sandwich place for me because there would be nothing to allow the creation of customers in the first place.  See?

You hopefully can see, as I do now see, that it took those in the know to create my egg and sandwich place and allow me the opportunity to channel the success back to the people who need it much more than I do.  It is they who create me and not the other way round.  That’s the mistake I made when first trying to think this through.

Still, I’m not sure that I will wind up taking the time to start up or acquire a business.   And I have been told that running for office is not that easy, or that cheap; and getting one of those nice jobs helping and supporting new businesses by setting and applying the rules so that they can prosper is not all that easy either.   Not sure why but…

So maybe I’ll just figure out a way to get some of that fee money from the guy that does take over that Panera so that I can use it to help him succeed.

I’ll buy an egg sandwich and a cup of coffee every single day if I can.

Heck, I’ll even leave a tip if I can since helping him ends up helping me as long as we have the help of those necessary and nice people in between.

See?

Panera.  I find myself out this morning and at the local Panera restaurant.  It is good to get out on a Friday.

I wonder what it would be like to have my own business like a Panera.  How would I manage it, how would it do?  Who would I hire and what little things would I put in place to make my place special.  If I started from where this one is today what would I change first, what would my goals be for the first month, the first three months? Who would I hire, who would I fire?  What choices would I have and what decisions would I make?

I wonder just how hard it is to start up your own business.  Is it hard these days, harder than before?  Is it easier to do it here in this country or in another?  How long would I expect to be able to stay in business?

And just how much would all the various arms of the government get into my business?

Seems to me it’s better to set myself up as a government or something similar from what I’ve been told.  That way instead of being the guy who takes all the risk and puts in all the time and sweat equity I could simply be the guy who tells that guy what rules he has to follow and what fees and taxes he has to pay.  And then I just have to sit back and check in on him from time to time to make sure he’s following all the original rules, is aware of and is following all the rules put in place since the original set of rules, and is paying his fair share per my prescribed payment plan for what a fair share looks like.

I don’t have to assume any of the risk and my success, for the most part, is not predicated upon his success.  If he fails then there surely will be another guy waiting to take things over or, if not, I can simply just make up the difference by charging the other guys more.

If my business of selling coffee and egg sandwiches is failing and I’m not making enough to meet payroll and expenses then I suppose I could raise the prices if I couldn’t get more customers and sell more coffee and egg sandwiches but that would likely just drive even more folks away and make my situation worse wouldn’t it?

Please help me on all this because I’m not a business guy so probably don’t have things exactly correct but I have talked to people who know more than me and I do watch CNN from time to time so…

So I think that my customers can vote with their feet, as they say.  They say that about voters in elections sometimes as well but since more and more of them seem to be transported to the polling booths by invested parties it would appear that their feet aren’t all that functional.  Or, as I have heard in Chicago, you have to get them back before dusk because that’s when they lock the cemetery gates.  Then again, that’s an entirely different set of choices- some have called it the redistribution of life…at voting time.

Okay, where was I?  Oh yeah.

But as the owner of the business if the folks I am paying money to decide to increase what I must pay then am I able to vote with my feet?  I think I could find other suppliers; I think that I might be able to find employees who would work for less or be more efficient in what they do; I could decide to lower my profit targets even if that threatens my long-term existence; I could make more efficient use of my utilities;  I could, I suppose, find ways to survive…at least for awhile anyhow.

But what do I tell the government man that tells me I have to pay more?  No?

I guess I could fight it somehow but how?  Could I just pick another government (without moving of course)?  Could I ask for more time?  Can I turn around and tell my suppliers and employees to take less or my customers to pay more?  They have other choices and can supply or consume elsewhere.

But wait- and then I’ll finish…  What if where they decide to go to supply or consume has a government that applies the same exact set of rules to the coffee and egg sandwich guys?  And also to the orange juice and bagel guys?  And also to the milk and oatmeal guys?

Being here at Panera this morning has made me think.  And I believe that I have the answer.

Decisions are no longer needed when the choices have all gone away.

I don’t think I’ll start a business.  I think I’ll run for office instead.