WHEN in the course of human Events, it becomes necessary….
Winter Oak: Ten Things We Have Learned During the Covid Coup.
byVanderleunonMay 13, 2021
*1 Our political system is hopelessly corrupt. Virtually all politicians are hopelessly corrupt. No political party can be trusted. They all can be, and have been, bought.
*2 Democracy is a sham. It has been a sham for a very long time. There will never be any real democracy when money and power amount to the same thing.
*3 The system will stop at nothing to hold on to its power and, if possible, increase its levels of control and exploitation. It has no scruples. No lie is too outrageous, no hypocrisy too nauseating, no human sacrifice too great.
*4 So-called radical movements are usually nothing of the sort. From whatever direction they claim to attack the system, they are just pretending to do so, and serve to channel discontent in directions which are harmless to the power clique and even useful to its agendas.
*5 Any “dissident” voice you have ever heard of through corporate media is probably a fake. The system does not hand out free publicity to its actual enemies.
*6 Most people in our society are cowards. They will jettison all the fine values and principles which they have been loudly boasting about all their lives merely to avoid the slightest chance of public criticism, inconvenience or even minor financial loss.
*7 The mainstream media is nothing but a propaganda machine for the system and those journalists who work for it have sold their sorry souls, placing their (often minimal) writing skills entirely at the disposition of Power.
*8 Police are not servants of the public but servants of a powerful and extremely wealthy minority which seeks to control and exploit the public for its own narrow and greedy interests.
*9 Scientists cannot be trusted. They will use the hypnotic power of their white coats and authoritative status for the benefit of whoever funds their work and lifestyle. He who pays the piper calls the tune.
I agree with all but the last. I’ll be happy to give a large chunk of barren land to any group that wants to try the ‘simple life’ as long as they leave all human artifacts that date from the 18th century or later behind. No cherry picking allowed. There are things we should be careful to preserve but the only path for the human race is forward.
Work for me. This I know. Time Stands Still for No One. This isn’t the fist time we’ve seen this, and it won’t be the last.,
Far more good going on around this place, then bad! Life has been the lesson, teaches us too recognize,,,,
the truth from a lie.
Right from wrong.
Actually pretty simple. Sadly many over complicate life, for no apparent reason.
Village Idiot
nunnya bidnez, jrMay 13, 2021, 10:24 AM
During the coronavirus lockdowns and quarantines
I’ve learned that most people are submissive sheep,
doing whatever ridiculous things that the “experts” tell them to do.
No regard for critical thinking, questioning authority (where did those bumper stickers go??), evidence based science, or common sense.
oh well.
LPMay 13, 2021, 10:25 AM
I disagree with #8. I know some honorable officers.
Michael in AKMay 13, 2021, 10:28 AM
These are only lessons learned recently if you have been under a rock. Many of us figured it out a long time ago. Glad to see more and more waking up!
Rob De WittMay 13, 2021, 11:04 AM
Michael in AK –
You beat me to it, Bub.
Kevin in PAMay 13, 2021, 11:40 AM
Yes, the media is lying to us. The government is lying to us. Major corporations are also lying to us….and let us not forget that the Chinese communists lied to the world and The W.H.O. assisted them in their lies.
In the Middle East, however, wealth came from political power because there was no means to create wealth of significance apart of political power. So for centuries, nay millennia, the way to become wealthy there was first to gain political power. This pattern survives to this day. Saddam Hussein, for example, was a nobody of limited material means until he literally murdered his way into power in Iraq in 1979. It was after gaining control of Iraq’s government that Saddam became wealthy beyond all avarice.
Now the point of this little history lesson is this: In the United States, the means to create wealth and the exercise of political power in public office are being steadily unified. We are already well along to adopting a Middle East model. Since the Obama administration came into being, the wealthiest counties of America and the most politically-powerful counties of America have for the first tome become the one and same – all concentrated in and around Washington, D.C.
#2’s a problem. Democracy’s mob rule, always has been, always will be. Our founding fathers, with careful forethought, did not set out to create a democracy.
If Oak had noted that the present imitation of the Republic created in 1776 is a sham, I’d quite agree.
EX-Californian PeteMay 13, 2021, 1:10 PM
I agree with most of the post above with a few exceptions-
#1- Our political system has BECOME corrupt, and I pray the “hopelessly” part isn’t applicable.
#6- I’d change that to “TOO MANY people in our society are cowards.”
#8- I agree with LP- I have known a lot of LEOs, and 98% are “regular folks” like us who have had it with all the political BS and woke-a-fied-ness.
A mostly-LEO and Military veteran organization, Oath Keepers are stand-up folks. https://oathkeepers.org/ Just look how (hard core left) WikiPedia describes them- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oath_Keepers (this proves #4 above!)
If I might be so bold as to add a “#11” to the above list;
“All guns are evil and unnecessary, and gun owners are all sick, murderous, evil, racist White people who want to commit mass murders.”
ghostsniperMay 13, 2021, 2:04 PM
@LP, you cannot be part of a criminal organization without being a criminal. Those “honorable officers” are fake.
Jim is right. You cannot recognize the rights of the individual while upholding the rules of a democracy (mob rule).
LPMay 13, 2021, 2:14 PM
ghostsniper, I know the individual officers personally. One taught at my son’s private school before he joined the state police. He was a favorite teacher, really demanded a lot of his HS students. He taught true History and Social Studies. He had served in Afghanistan. He’s from a good family and now has a wonderful wife and a great pile of kids. Both of the state troopers I referred to earlier home school their children. They’re some of the most remarkable local families I know. We’re in a rural state though, maybe your cynicism is meant for big city cops?
John A. FlemingMay 13, 2021, 4:57 PM
This could be the germ of a yard sign to compete with the cloying virtue-signaling rainbow”We believe …” signs. I’ve been trying to come up with one for some time. This could work. I’ll get busy on it.
It’d last about two days before somebody would vandalize it or burn my house down or damage our cars. I have to have another at the ready when they do: “They damaged my sign. See, I told you progressivism is an evil religious death cult that responds to any criticism with violence”. They won’t damage that one, because they agree with it.
ghostsniperMay 13, 2021, 5:52 PM
LP sed: “I know the individual officers personally.”
========
See what you did right there?
You changed it from professional to personal, to fit your preconceived notion.
The professional gov’t employee is obligated to kill you dead under the right conditions whether you believe those conditions warrant such behavior or not. And if the gov’t employee is wrong in judgement of said conditions you nor your heirs have any recourse because of his immunity.
I live in a very rural environment and I see things as they are, not the way I would prefer them to be.
Cops are the most dangerous people in any society for they have the power to bring the force of the entire USG, including air strikes, against anyone they deem necessary which is why I go way out of my way to avoid them. No good can come from any union with such entities. I expect you to dismiss all of this because you know better then I.
Mike SeyleMay 13, 2021, 7:09 PM
Not to step between LP and Ghostsniper; just to say that dad and I ate breakfast at opening time at the Magnolia (TX) diner every Saturday. A cop and his wife ate at the booth behind us, week after week, and we eventually became friends as it happens in any diner. Dad died. They came to his funeral. I gave him the keys to my truck next time we ate and told him to go get dad’s goose gun if he wanted it. He disappeared, returned my keys. Will he obey a Texas demand to kill me if I happen to be back there and he recognizes me before pulling the trigger? I don’t think so. He worked on cars before joining the department. We’re bolted together like that.
We knew this already.
But I’ve been blindsided at just how cowardly, compliant, and brainwashed the masses really are. It’s not like I had a lofty opinion of people in general, but witnessing the voluntary mass masking of simpering suckers, cowards, Karens, fools, poltroons, and piss-willies, has been an eye opener. My disgust bucket is full, and I got contempt by the truckload. Fuck ’em all to hell.
Remember way back a loooong time ago, when everyone was all concerned about being a non-conformist, a free-thinking individual, not a follower of crowds, doing yer own thang, and all that crap?
Long time gone, man. Long time gone.
JWM
EX-Californian PeteMay 13, 2021, 9:14 PM
Ghost- I also live in a very rural area.
VERY rural, as in surrounded by cows, corn, a train track or 2, and lots of salt-o-the-earth kinda folks.
Hey, you & I have busted each others’ chops a few times and yet agreed with each other more often than not, but I gotta ask- have you taken the time to meet and know any LEOs personally? When you get right down to it, they’re Humans, like most of us.
One of the first friends I made after moving here was a guy in a gun store- a customer, like me. I was asking about this & that, who their in-house “smith” was, and what the scope of his work was.
Their ‘smith is a nice guy, but more of a “gun mechanic” than a master gunsmith. No machining or fabrication skills, no checkering, stockmaking or even inletting skills, only does cold bluing, etc.
I bought a couple pounds of powder, told everyone it was nice to meet them, and went outside to drive home. The customer guy followed me outside and said I seemed to know gunsmithing, and do I do any. After I said yeah, we talked for damn near 2 hours in the parking lot.
Long story short, I’ve (so far) worked on about 6-7 of his guns, built a replacement stock from scratch for his old Marlin 36, and fixed his grandpappy’s Colt SAA.
About the 2nd or 3rd gun I worked on for him, I reminded him I only take cash, and that I don’t have an FFL anymore (not that one’s technically needed here) and I trust him not to “alert the authorities on me.” He laughed his ass off and then produced a shield, saying “I AM the authorities, dude!”
Sonofabitch….
He’s a Sheriffs Deputy in the next county, and has introduced me to a few of his peers, a couple of which I’ve since done ‘smithing for. Good ol’ boys. One of them I ‘smithed for related to me that he thought “all them damn Harley riders are scumbag a-hole criminals and meth heads.” I didn’t respond to that, but I later arranged for him to pick up his repaired Kel-Tec pistol in my main garage, where I keep my Harley Fatboy.
Priceless moment.
After his flood of (what seemed like sincere) apologies, we had a couple beers and talked about things like mistaken first impressions, politics, libtards, and stuff. Weeks later he surprised the hell outta me with a few pounds of some killer red snapper and salmon he caught on a fishing trip. We’re pretty good pals now.
Just my opinion, but especially during these insane and unsure times that we’re in, I’d much rather have these guys as friends or acquaintances than as enemies.
BTW, the most “dangerous people’ in my book are libtards- they have no souls, morals, or self-control.
[5star]
ghostsniperMay 14, 2021, 4:58 AM
@Pete, here’s the story, which I have written here before. We moved here in the spring of 2006 and not knowing much about the area I was Jonesing bad for some shooting time. 2006 was an election year. About July I was sitting on the front porch and a car drove up and an elderly dood got out and came to the porch. I met him at the gate and said “Howdy do.” He introduced himself as Sheriff “Buck” Stogsdill and said he was out campaigning and asked if I was a new citizen to the area. I said, “Sheriff? You’re just the person I want to see.” He was surprised at that. Then I asked him where the closest shooting range was. He stepped back into the front yard, looked left, then right, and said, “Right here!” I was confused. I asked, “You mean I can shoot guns right here on my property?” Now he looked confused, and said, “Sure, why not? Looks like about 150 feet of clear open space from there to way over there. Make a nice little short range.”
So me and Buck continued our little conversation for a spell and when he left we were on good terms. But make no mistake. I saw it in his eyes and I’m sure he saw it in mine, the knowledge that he has built in power over me. Buck died about 10 years ago and there have been 2 other sheriff’s since him and the current one is hos oldest son, whom I also get along with. While I make concerted effort to avoid all gov’t employees is I am in a situation to where I have to associate with them I am warily cordial and find a way to extract myself from the proximity of them.
You can pretend they are your friend if you like but you do so at your own peril. I have no use for any gov’t employee and see them for the criminals that they are. I have hundreds of reasons why.
EX-Californian PeteMay 14, 2021, 10:06 AM
Ghost- well, I’ve never “pretended” to be anyone’s friend, nor “pretended” they were mine. Life’s way too short for that crap. I choose my friends carefully, (as we all should) otherwise they wouldn’t be friends. I only keep friends that I trust, and trust is something that I insist be earned, and not given freely. I’d bet you also abide by that standard..
By the recent numbers, the USA has around 14.85 million state and local government employees, and over 9.1 million federal employees. That seems like an awful lot of people for you to be leery of.
AND- on top of those numbers, technically- our Armed Forces can be considered “government employees” since they are paid by the government via our tax dollars. Literally, all uniformed members of the Department of Defense are employees of the federal government.
As in “Veterans.” And how many Veterans do we have in the USA?
I think you might have a lot more use for them than you realize.
Ghost, ExC Pete; enjoying your cop discussion and agree 99% with both your positions.
Had a number of cop buddies over the years, a lot of them took ‘protect and serve’ quite seriously. Taught my kids in the sixties; lost, in trouble, ask a cop for help. Didn’t and am not, teaching my granddaughter that.
Bad cops, good cops, yes, but bad, stupid, contradictory, silly, inane, unconstitutional laws, and regulations that have the force of law, are the bigger problem. Why yes, in this day and age I can be arrested and cited with a DWI/ DUI, for mowing my lawn on a riding lawnmower after 3 beers. Why yes, I can have my truck seized if I drive to a creek and am accused of (even if not convicted) catching a fish out of season.
ghostsniperMay 14, 2021, 1:11 PM
You’re right about the laws Jim.
But laws cannot enforce themselves so the gov’t hires conscienceless ninnies to arbitrarily enforce them. I don’t remember the number now but there is supposedly an unbelievable number of NEW laws created every year. I know everybody’s heard about the “Three Felonies” thing, where each of us apparently violates 3 felony laws everyday. If I do, I am unaware of them. Here’s one that can keep you up at night: Having knowledge of someone committing a misdemeanor crime and not reporting it to the authorities is a felony. So there are laws for doing things and more laws for NOT doing things. You can’t win.
@Pete, all of those millions of gov’t employees you mentioned are scattered over a very broad area and in my particular area of residence there are very few of them so I rarely encounter them. I do however wish I lived much more remotely, like say, on big acreage in the deep forest on the upper peninsula. Or way down on the southern-most tip of Argentina.
Real World Address for Donations, Mash Notes and Hate Mail
Gerard Van der Leun
1692 MANGROVE AVE
APT 379
Chico, Ca 95926
Green Pants Interior by Klahn
Who Am I? by Carl Sandburg
My head knocks against the stars.
My feet are on the hilltops.
My finger-tips are in the valleys and shores of universal life.
Down in the sounding foam of primal things I reach my hands and play with pebbles of destiny.
I have been to hell and back many times.
I know all about heaven, for I have talked with God.
I dabble in the blood and guts of the terrible.
I know the passionate seizure of beauty
And the marvelous rebellion of man at all signs reading “Keep Off.”
My name is Truth and I am the most elusive captive in the universe.
Duty, Beauty, Liberty, Country, Honor, Family, Faith — Plus a few simple easy to follow rules for guys
Men saw the stars at the edge of the sea
They thought great thoughts about liberty
Poets wrote down words that did fit
Writers wrote books
Thinkers thought about it
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
Many’s the road I have walked upon
Many’s the hour between dusk and dawn
Many’s the time
Many’s the mile
I see it all now
Through the eyes of a child
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
[Chorus]
Lost dreams and found dreams
In America
In America
In America
Lost dreams and found dreams
In America
In America
In America
And close your eyes
Leave it all for a while
Leave the world
And your worries behind
You will build on whatever is real
And wake up each day
To a new waking dream
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
[Chorus]
Change, change come over
Change come over
Talkin’ about a change
Change, change
Change come over, now
Change, change, change come over
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I see my light
See my light
See my shining light
I see my light
See my light
See my shining light
Gerard Van der Leun
Comments on this entry are closed.
I agree with all but the last. I’ll be happy to give a large chunk of barren land to any group that wants to try the ‘simple life’ as long as they leave all human artifacts that date from the 18th century or later behind. No cherry picking allowed. There are things we should be careful to preserve but the only path for the human race is forward.
Work for me. This I know. Time Stands Still for No One. This isn’t the fist time we’ve seen this, and it won’t be the last.,
Far more good going on around this place, then bad! Life has been the lesson, teaches us too recognize,,,,
the truth from a lie.
Right from wrong.
Actually pretty simple. Sadly many over complicate life, for no apparent reason.
Village Idiot
During the coronavirus lockdowns and quarantines
I’ve learned that most people are submissive sheep,
doing whatever ridiculous things that the “experts” tell them to do.
No regard for critical thinking, questioning authority (where did those bumper stickers go??), evidence based science, or common sense.
oh well.
I disagree with #8. I know some honorable officers.
These are only lessons learned recently if you have been under a rock. Many of us figured it out a long time ago. Glad to see more and more waking up!
Michael in AK –
You beat me to it, Bub.
Yes, the media is lying to us. The government is lying to us. Major corporations are also lying to us….and let us not forget that the Chinese communists lied to the world and The W.H.O. assisted them in their lies.
New Intellectual Frog Legs;
https://intellectualfroglegs.com/white-hats/
“There will never be any real democracy when money and power amount to the same thing.”
Yeah, like I said seven years ago: “America is adopting the Middle East model, and it’s not Islam.”
#2’s a problem. Democracy’s mob rule, always has been, always will be. Our founding fathers, with careful forethought, did not set out to create a democracy.
If Oak had noted that the present imitation of the Republic created in 1776 is a sham, I’d quite agree.
I agree with most of the post above with a few exceptions-
#1- Our political system has BECOME corrupt, and I pray the “hopelessly” part isn’t applicable.
#6- I’d change that to “TOO MANY people in our society are cowards.”
#8- I agree with LP- I have known a lot of LEOs, and 98% are “regular folks” like us who have had it with all the political BS and woke-a-fied-ness.
A mostly-LEO and Military veteran organization, Oath Keepers are stand-up folks. https://oathkeepers.org/ Just look how (hard core left) WikiPedia describes them- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oath_Keepers (this proves #4 above!)
If I might be so bold as to add a “#11” to the above list;
“All guns are evil and unnecessary, and gun owners are all sick, murderous, evil, racist White people who want to commit mass murders.”
@LP, you cannot be part of a criminal organization without being a criminal. Those “honorable officers” are fake.
Jim is right. You cannot recognize the rights of the individual while upholding the rules of a democracy (mob rule).
ghostsniper, I know the individual officers personally. One taught at my son’s private school before he joined the state police. He was a favorite teacher, really demanded a lot of his HS students. He taught true History and Social Studies. He had served in Afghanistan. He’s from a good family and now has a wonderful wife and a great pile of kids. Both of the state troopers I referred to earlier home school their children. They’re some of the most remarkable local families I know. We’re in a rural state though, maybe your cynicism is meant for big city cops?
This could be the germ of a yard sign to compete with the cloying virtue-signaling rainbow”We believe …” signs. I’ve been trying to come up with one for some time. This could work. I’ll get busy on it.
It’d last about two days before somebody would vandalize it or burn my house down or damage our cars. I have to have another at the ready when they do: “They damaged my sign. See, I told you progressivism is an evil religious death cult that responds to any criticism with violence”. They won’t damage that one, because they agree with it.
LP sed: “I know the individual officers personally.”
========
See what you did right there?
You changed it from professional to personal, to fit your preconceived notion.
The professional gov’t employee is obligated to kill you dead under the right conditions whether you believe those conditions warrant such behavior or not. And if the gov’t employee is wrong in judgement of said conditions you nor your heirs have any recourse because of his immunity.
I live in a very rural environment and I see things as they are, not the way I would prefer them to be.
Cops are the most dangerous people in any society for they have the power to bring the force of the entire USG, including air strikes, against anyone they deem necessary which is why I go way out of my way to avoid them. No good can come from any union with such entities. I expect you to dismiss all of this because you know better then I.
Not to step between LP and Ghostsniper; just to say that dad and I ate breakfast at opening time at the Magnolia (TX) diner every Saturday. A cop and his wife ate at the booth behind us, week after week, and we eventually became friends as it happens in any diner. Dad died. They came to his funeral. I gave him the keys to my truck next time we ate and told him to go get dad’s goose gun if he wanted it. He disappeared, returned my keys. Will he obey a Texas demand to kill me if I happen to be back there and he recognizes me before pulling the trigger? I don’t think so. He worked on cars before joining the department. We’re bolted together like that.
We knew this already.
But I’ve been blindsided at just how cowardly, compliant, and brainwashed the masses really are. It’s not like I had a lofty opinion of people in general, but witnessing the voluntary mass masking of simpering suckers, cowards, Karens, fools, poltroons, and piss-willies, has been an eye opener. My disgust bucket is full, and I got contempt by the truckload. Fuck ’em all to hell.
Remember way back a loooong time ago, when everyone was all concerned about being a non-conformist, a free-thinking individual, not a follower of crowds, doing yer own thang, and all that crap?
Long time gone, man. Long time gone.
JWM
Ghost- I also live in a very rural area.
VERY rural, as in surrounded by cows, corn, a train track or 2, and lots of salt-o-the-earth kinda folks.
Hey, you & I have busted each others’ chops a few times and yet agreed with each other more often than not, but I gotta ask- have you taken the time to meet and know any LEOs personally? When you get right down to it, they’re Humans, like most of us.
One of the first friends I made after moving here was a guy in a gun store- a customer, like me. I was asking about this & that, who their in-house “smith” was, and what the scope of his work was.
Their ‘smith is a nice guy, but more of a “gun mechanic” than a master gunsmith. No machining or fabrication skills, no checkering, stockmaking or even inletting skills, only does cold bluing, etc.
I bought a couple pounds of powder, told everyone it was nice to meet them, and went outside to drive home. The customer guy followed me outside and said I seemed to know gunsmithing, and do I do any. After I said yeah, we talked for damn near 2 hours in the parking lot.
Long story short, I’ve (so far) worked on about 6-7 of his guns, built a replacement stock from scratch for his old Marlin 36, and fixed his grandpappy’s Colt SAA.
About the 2nd or 3rd gun I worked on for him, I reminded him I only take cash, and that I don’t have an FFL anymore (not that one’s technically needed here) and I trust him not to “alert the authorities on me.” He laughed his ass off and then produced a shield, saying “I AM the authorities, dude!”
Sonofabitch….
He’s a Sheriffs Deputy in the next county, and has introduced me to a few of his peers, a couple of which I’ve since done ‘smithing for. Good ol’ boys. One of them I ‘smithed for related to me that he thought “all them damn Harley riders are scumbag a-hole criminals and meth heads.” I didn’t respond to that, but I later arranged for him to pick up his repaired Kel-Tec pistol in my main garage, where I keep my Harley Fatboy.
Priceless moment.
After his flood of (what seemed like sincere) apologies, we had a couple beers and talked about things like mistaken first impressions, politics, libtards, and stuff. Weeks later he surprised the hell outta me with a few pounds of some killer red snapper and salmon he caught on a fishing trip. We’re pretty good pals now.
Just my opinion, but especially during these insane and unsure times that we’re in, I’d much rather have these guys as friends or acquaintances than as enemies.
BTW, the most “dangerous people’ in my book are libtards- they have no souls, morals, or self-control.
[5star]
@Pete, here’s the story, which I have written here before. We moved here in the spring of 2006 and not knowing much about the area I was Jonesing bad for some shooting time. 2006 was an election year. About July I was sitting on the front porch and a car drove up and an elderly dood got out and came to the porch. I met him at the gate and said “Howdy do.” He introduced himself as Sheriff “Buck” Stogsdill and said he was out campaigning and asked if I was a new citizen to the area. I said, “Sheriff? You’re just the person I want to see.” He was surprised at that. Then I asked him where the closest shooting range was. He stepped back into the front yard, looked left, then right, and said, “Right here!” I was confused. I asked, “You mean I can shoot guns right here on my property?” Now he looked confused, and said, “Sure, why not? Looks like about 150 feet of clear open space from there to way over there. Make a nice little short range.”
So me and Buck continued our little conversation for a spell and when he left we were on good terms. But make no mistake. I saw it in his eyes and I’m sure he saw it in mine, the knowledge that he has built in power over me. Buck died about 10 years ago and there have been 2 other sheriff’s since him and the current one is hos oldest son, whom I also get along with. While I make concerted effort to avoid all gov’t employees is I am in a situation to where I have to associate with them I am warily cordial and find a way to extract myself from the proximity of them.
You can pretend they are your friend if you like but you do so at your own peril. I have no use for any gov’t employee and see them for the criminals that they are. I have hundreds of reasons why.
Ghost- well, I’ve never “pretended” to be anyone’s friend, nor “pretended” they were mine. Life’s way too short for that crap. I choose my friends carefully, (as we all should) otherwise they wouldn’t be friends. I only keep friends that I trust, and trust is something that I insist be earned, and not given freely. I’d bet you also abide by that standard..
By the recent numbers, the USA has around 14.85 million state and local government employees, and over 9.1 million federal employees. That seems like an awful lot of people for you to be leery of.
AND- on top of those numbers, technically- our Armed Forces can be considered “government employees” since they are paid by the government via our tax dollars. Literally, all uniformed members of the Department of Defense are employees of the federal government.
As in “Veterans.” And how many Veterans do we have in the USA?
I think you might have a lot more use for them than you realize.
Ghost, ExC Pete; enjoying your cop discussion and agree 99% with both your positions.
Had a number of cop buddies over the years, a lot of them took ‘protect and serve’ quite seriously. Taught my kids in the sixties; lost, in trouble, ask a cop for help. Didn’t and am not, teaching my granddaughter that.
Bad cops, good cops, yes, but bad, stupid, contradictory, silly, inane, unconstitutional laws, and regulations that have the force of law, are the bigger problem. Why yes, in this day and age I can be arrested and cited with a DWI/ DUI, for mowing my lawn on a riding lawnmower after 3 beers. Why yes, I can have my truck seized if I drive to a creek and am accused of (even if not convicted) catching a fish out of season.
You’re right about the laws Jim.
But laws cannot enforce themselves so the gov’t hires conscienceless ninnies to arbitrarily enforce them. I don’t remember the number now but there is supposedly an unbelievable number of NEW laws created every year. I know everybody’s heard about the “Three Felonies” thing, where each of us apparently violates 3 felony laws everyday. If I do, I am unaware of them. Here’s one that can keep you up at night: Having knowledge of someone committing a misdemeanor crime and not reporting it to the authorities is a felony. So there are laws for doing things and more laws for NOT doing things. You can’t win.
@Pete, all of those millions of gov’t employees you mentioned are scattered over a very broad area and in my particular area of residence there are very few of them so I rarely encounter them. I do however wish I lived much more remotely, like say, on big acreage in the deep forest on the upper peninsula. Or way down on the southern-most tip of Argentina.