Common
sense
“You cannot take away freedom to protect it, you cannot
destroy the free market to save it, and you cannot uphold freedom of speech by
silencing those with whom you disagree.” These words I found in a book just published
entitled Common Sense by Glenn Beck. In these times of tremendous change
especially for those of us over a certain age, the values we see disappearing
and being replaced by those seemingly in direct contrast to what most of us
believe in is a bit unnerving.
I was raised by parents who believed in fiscal and
personal responsibility who taught me from a young age that if I studied and
worked hard, I could become a worthwhile human being. I spent many years in
school obtaining more graduate degrees than either of my parents and finally
left when it became obvious that higher education, particularly on the
university level, did not necessarily mean to study reality.
I was disillusioned that so little attention was paid in
what were supposed to be the institutions of higher learning to what mankind
was actually doing as opposed to discussing theories about it. I was
disappointed that the majority of students were not as concerned as I was that
reality was not a focus of study but rather someone’s theory about it. That was
thirty years ago and I am sorry to report that this situation has not improved.
As I listen to the calls of the young turkeys to their
mothers outside my office window, I am reminded that my life on the ranch is
very different now from how it was growing up here. Other than hearing about
the court days in Los Angeles where my father and his attorney fought for nine
years to restore ownership of this ranch from the large hands of the Bureau of
Reclamation back to my grandmother, government agencies were rarely the topic
of conversation.
Today, more often than not, it is an all consuming
discussion of fearful projections by our politicians if we don’t immediately do
something, complete strangers all of a sudden have a say in our lives, and common
sense seems to have vanished.
We have spent many years discussing how we wanted to see
the future of the valley progress. Some of us have spent days, weeks, months
and years speaking on one topic after another trying to describe to the
legislators the realities of our lives here and how we might improve things or
perhaps just ask to be left alone to do as we have for generations.
But no! Strangers who have nothing invested in this
valley are telling us how to conduct ourselves. We are being told that some
people in this valley have more rights than others, including access to private
property. As far as I know we still have a Constitution that guarantees certain
things and I don’t recall seeing a notice that it has been officially
abandoned. Institutionalized racism is not to be tolerated against anyone and
to see it written into the valley planning document by county staff is
unbelievable.
Let me also state, for a fact, that people living in
apartments in Goleta or Santa Barbara are most definitely NOT stakeholders in
the Santa Ynez Valley no matter what title they may give themselves.
I have been doing a lot of research lately trying to
understand the changes that are occurring to our society. I keep hearing
different political terms being bandied about saying that the Republicans have
blown it, the Democratic party has been hijacked, no
this is really the Progressives coming of age or maybe it’s socialism or
Marxism or some blend of those. I haven’t quite figured out exactly what it is
but I have learned some interesting facts and I have a sneaking suspicion that
I have actually figured out what is going on.
This is what I have learned; perhaps you already know.
I have heard a lot about progressives so I looked it up
and found that there was an effort starting at the beginning of the 20th
century to promote or favor progress towards better conditions, of new policies
ideas or methods as opposed to maintaining the status quo.
American Progressivism, unlike movements in other
countries advocated income redistribution (i.e. if you have more money than I
do, you must give me some so that we can have the same amount and never mind
that you worked hard for your money and I did not), opposed the growth of
corporations, supported labor and trade unions, supported a living wage
concept, supported universal health care, was concerned with environmentalism
and supported third-party candidates.
Numerous American Presidents worked hard for this way of
thinking including Theodore Roosevelt, William H. Taft, Woodrow Wilson,
Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Lyndon Baines Johnson. I was surprised at the
length of this list, are you?
Frankly, from how I was raised in a rather middle of the
road place, some of these ideas seem somewhat alien to the values I was used
to. This realization coupled with the daily news onslaught of how the
automobile industry, the banking industry and other important parts of our
economy are being radically changed with government taking more control out of
private hands and giving it either to themselves or the unions seems a bit odd.
I think we are losing the delicate balance we had between those who produce
goods for this country and those who consume them that does not bode well for
the producers.
I am hearing that segment of the country representing
labor unions are advocating higher taxes on business, property, oil production,
vehicle license fees, personal income, tobacco and alcohol, and are lobbying
for eliminating tax credits for large and small businesses.
They are certainly entitled to their opinion but I wonder
if they have considered the fact that if employers are forced to pay higher
taxes for the “privilege” of having a business, they will no longer be able to
have as many employees so jobs will be lost as that money will be paid to the
government rather than the employee. As taxes are made higher on property, some
will be forced to sell, making way for more development that may not be what a
community wants.
While it is prudent to lessen our dependence on foreign
oil, is it not foolish to destroy those resources we have right here at home,
particularly before we have reliable alternative sources of energy.
It seems incredibly naïve to me to force the advent of
solar, wind and other methods of energy before they have been brought to a
level where they are not only affordable but also really useable as a
substitute for oil. I have had considerable personal experience with solar and
wind power both here in the valley and in Hawai’i and although it is wonderful
during some parts of the year, it is certainly not useful during the entire
year and will never be so. It is also prohibitively expensive. I think it would
be wonderful if it would work and perhaps someday it will but right now, it is
just a dream and those who can afford it, for now, will be the only ones using
those methods of energy.
I have mixed feeling about nuclear energy although France
seems to get along quite well with it but we are faced with so-called
environmentalists who will stop any project they don’t like.
I am beginning to think they are opposed to anything that
would work. A friend of mine went to the beach the other day and was surprised
about the tar that he brought home with him on various parts of his body. I
told him that he can thank the local “environmentalists” for that as they have
so far managed to prevent any drilling off our coast for fear of another spill.
It’s time to get over it folks — the industry has made many improvements over
the last thirty years and let’s not forget that your South County economy rests
on the fragile tourist industry. It would be much improved if the guests to our
beaches didn’t have to soak in kerosene upon returning to their motel room.
Think about it. Common sense anyone?
Believing
in America
This coming weekend we celebrate our independence from a
country that had us under their thumb. Since declaring ourselves independent,
we have been referred to as “the noble experiment” and other things as well. We
set out on a very ambitious journey to see if we really could live up to the
very high ideals we set for ourselves.
All men are created equal or so we said. It hasn’t quite
worked out that way although we have made some significant strides in that
direction.
Now apparently some in this country think it is all right
to have some folks be more equal than others in this valley in that property
owners are supposed to allow access to others whether they want to or not. We
were supposed to have checks and balances in our government but it is clear
that that has disappeared as members of both major parties have abandoned any
pretense at representing any of us citizens. In fact, some would rather
represent people who aren’t even citizens if they would vote for them. What a
joke! And the people of Iran think they are the only ones with hijacked
elections?
So while you enjoy your Fourth of July Independence
celebrations, please give a little thought to just how important that is to
you. If it is important to you, I would request that you make a commitment to
yourself and your family that you will stand up for the values that so many
before us have sacrificed and died for. We all have relatives who died for
freedom including my uncle James Duffy buried in France. It should not have
been in vain.
People the world over look to us as a guiding light.
Let’s not fail them. Happy Fourth!