Conversion on the Road from Philadelphia

Something has gone dreadfully wrong on the road from Philadelphia, September 17, 1787.

When Benjamin Franklin stepped out of the Constitutional Convention at the end of that fateful day following its acceptance, the story is that a lady, Mrs. Powel asked him what the drafters had given us, “Well Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?”  He purportedly replied, “A Republic, if you can keep it.”

Nearly 225 years later what is the verdict, have we kept it?  In fact, do most Americans even know what a republic is?  Do they know that the real power is vested in the States, not the federal government?  Do most in government even know this?

There is a general undertone of uneasiness in the body politic, a sense of foreboding.

The powers of the federal government are actually quite few and limited, by design.  Most of our Founders and Drafters were quite leery of a strong, centralized government.  And rightfully so. 

Those powers are to defend our borders and defend our interests at home and abroad, coin the money and deliver the mail.  And that’s about it.

The federal government is not constitutionally tasked to manage the nation’s agriculture or education or energy or health care or retirement or certainly the nation’s businesses.  Nor is it very effective or efficient when it tries to do all of this.

These things under our Constitution are, and rightfully should be relegated to the States and entities within the States.  Taking care of the individual needs of people is not found in the Constitution and is not a legitimate function of the federal government.  Quite frankly, it’s not very good at it.  When it comes to helping people, those closest to the person and the situation are best suited to help those in need.  Our history is one of family helping family, friends and neighbors helping friends and neighbors, churches and benevolent foundations helping those in their congregations and communities, and local villages and cities helping those in their midst.  As a last resort one might look to the State.  The least favorable prospect would be to look to some faceless bureaucrat in a cold, gray building far off in Washington, D.C. for help.   

Unfortunately, over the decades the federal government, like a growing leviathan has been sucking up all of the oxygen and national resources leaving precious little in local communities and charitable coffers for benevolent works.  It has illegally usurped the responsibilities of State and local governments amassing enormous power in Washington while chipping away our personal freedoms, liberties and private property rights. 

The best thing that the federal government could do is to give the people their money and freedoms back and then, well, quite frankly get the hell out of the way!

Sit Down Mr. President!

In light of the recent dictates on contraception, religion and health insurance emanating from the White House, I believe that it is time to review the duties, responsibilities and authorities of the office of the President of the United States of America.  The office of the President and its attendant powers are set out in Article II of the Constitution, and it's a very short Article.  The President is the executive officer of the agencies of the Executive Branch of the federal government.  He is not the executive officer of the Congress, the federal Courts, the States, individual citizens, private businesses or private organizations.  Thus he may direct the activities and spending of those federal agencies under his control, but that's it.  He cannot direct anyone else or anything else to spend or not spend or do or not do anything.  Period.  All of this huffing and puffing about directing churches or religious benevolent organizations or insurance companies to provide this or that or spend this or that is just downright silliness.  Beyond his executive duties for federal agencies his few responsibilities mostly relate to defense, foreign policy negotiations, appointing judges and signing or vetoing legislation.  I don't see running churches, charitable organizations or private insurance companies in that list.  His law enforcement and legal agencies may investigate violations of federal law, bring perpetrators to justice and try such cases in federal court; but the President may not amend federal laws on the fly.  This idea behind an all-powerful Presidency is what drives the move to abolish the Electoral College.  Forces in this country would like to elevate the President to a virtual dictator or king with power over all aspects of the federal government, state governments, individual citizens, private business and private organizations.  These forces would like to move to popular election of the President, ignoring the fact that the President is elected by the States to serve the United States of America.  The People's direct representation in the Federal Government is the House of Representatives, the People's House.  The President's role and influence has grown far beyond it's original intent and far beyond a safe and sane level.  It is time to return the office of the Presidency to it's proper and limited role in our government, our businesses and our personal, private lives.

Obama Assault on Religion

This assault on First Amendment Freedom of Speech and Religion by this lawless, unconstitutional, anarchist, fascist so-called Obama Administration is an abomination.  He has crossed a line and dropped his guard and revealed his true self.  This is an assault upon the United States of America proper.  This administration has become a clear and present threat to the U.S. Constitution and the U.S. Republic.  Barack Hussein Obama has thrown the U.S. Constitution on the floor and crapped on it!  There is no constitutional basis for this (and many previous) actions by this president.  And don’t throw the lame, tired Interstate Commerce Clause defense up.  That’s laughable.  And yes, the federal government has the authority to tax…but ONLY for legitimate Article 1, Section 8 enumerated powers.  PERIOD!  The majority of American people are finally wise to these realities and the phoniness of this administration.  And they’ve had enough.  The only hope this Republic has for survival are civil disobedience and State Nullification.  If the several States will exert their superior power (after all it’s the States who created the federal government to SERVE them) under the Tenth Amendment, we may preserve the Union.  If not, I fear all is lost.  There is no hope or solution In Washington, D.C.  In fact D.C. is the source of all of these problems.  The President, the Congress and the Courts have abdicated their Constitutional authority and failed to serve the People.  They should all step aside out of a sense of honor and duty.

God save the Constitution and the Republic!

Only Question Need Ask Presidential Candidates...

If the people and the Congress and the President want the federal government to do a thing and most people agree that it's probably a good thing, but the Constitution does not specifically empower the federal government to do this thing in Article 1, Section8; what should the feds do?

A)  Encourage the individual States to do this thing if they so desire.
B)  Begin the process of passing a constitutional amendment to empower the federal government to do this thing.
C)  Do Nothing.
E)  Just go ahead and do it anyway, after all it's a good thing and the federal government can do virtually anything and everything it wants under the Interstate Commerce Clause and the Necessary and Proper Clause.

If General Patton Lead the Conservative Movement

Now, I want you to remember that no candidate ever won an election by dying for his party. He won it by making the other poor dumb candidate die for his party.

Folks, all this stuff you've heard about Conservatives not wanting to fight, wanting to stay out of the media, is a lot of horse dung. Conservatives, traditionally, love to fight. All real Conservatives love the sting of debate.

When you were kids, you all admired the champion marble shooter, the fastest runner, the big league ball players, the toughest boxers. Conservatives love a winner and will not tolerate a loser. Conservatives play to win all the time. Now, I wouldn't give a hoot in hell for a candidate who lost and laughed. That's why Conservatives have never lost and will never lose a debate. Because the very thought of losing is hateful to Conservatives.

Now, a movement is a team. It lives, eats, sleeps, fights as a team. This individuality stuff is a bunch of crap. The bilious journalists who wrote that stuff about individuality for the Saturday Evening Post don't know anything more about real elections than they do about fornicating.

Now, we have the finest ideas and philosophy, the best spirit, and the best people in the world. You know, by God, I actually pity those poor Liberals we're going up against. By God, I do. We're not just going to beat the Liberals. We're going to cut out their ideological guts and use them to grease the commentary of our think-tanks. We're going to outnumber those lousy Libtards by the bushel.

Now, some of you folks, I know, are wondering whether or not you'll chicken-out under fire. Don't worry about it. I can assure you that you will all do your duty. The Liberals are the enemy. Wade into them. Spoil their ballots. Shoot them down on the telly. When you put your hand into a bunch of poo that a moment before was your best friend's business, you'll know what to do.

Now there's another thing I want you to remember. I don't want to get any messages saying that we are holding our position. We're not holding anything. Let the Libs do that. We are advancing constantly and we're not interested in holding onto anything -- except the Liberals. We're going to hold onto them by the nose, and we're gonna kick them in the ass. We're gonna kick the hell out of them all the time, and we're gonna go through them like crap through a goose!

Now, there's one thing that you folks will be able to say when you get back home, and you may thank God for it. Thirty years from now when you're sitting around your fireside with your grandson on your knee, and he asks you, "What did you do in the great 2012 Presidential Election?" -- you won't have to say, "Well, I voted for a RINO Republican."

Alright now you sons-of-bitches, you know how I feel.

 Oh, I will be proud to lead you wonderful folks into elections anytime, anywhere.

That's all.

If General Patton Lead the Conservative Movement

Now, I want you to remember that no candidate ever won an election by dying for his party. He won it by making the other poor dumb candidate die for his party.

Folks, all this stuff you've heard about Conservatives not wanting to fight, wanting to stay out of the media, is a lot of horse dung. Conservatives, traditionally, love to fight. All real Conservatives love the sting of debate.

When you were kids, you all admired the champion marble shooter, the fastest runner, the big league ball players, the toughest boxers. Conservatives love a winner and will not tolerate a loser. Conservatives play to win all the time. Now, I wouldn't give a hoot in hell for a candidate who lost and laughed. That's why Conservatives have never lost and will never lose a debate. Because the very thought of losing is hateful to Conservatives.

Now, a movement is a team. It lives, eats, sleeps, fights as a team. This individuality stuff is a bunch of crap. The bilious journalists who wrote that stuff about individuality for the Saturday Evening Post don't know anything more about real elections than they do about fornicating.

Now, we have the finest ideas and philosophy, the best spirit, and the best people in the world. You know, by God, I actually pity those poor Liberals we're going up against. By God, I do. We're not just going to beat the Liberals. We're going to cut out their ideological guts and use them to grease the commentary of our think-tanks. We're going to outnumber those lousy Libtards by the bushel.

Now, some of you folks, I know, are wondering whether or not you'll chicken-out under fire. Don't worry about it. I can assure you that you will all do your duty. The Liberals are the enemy. Wade into them. Spoil their ballots. Shoot them down on the telly. When you put your hand into a bunch of poo that a moment before was your best friend's business, you'll know what to do.

Now there's another thing I want you to remember. I don't want to get any messages saying that we are holding our position. We're not holding anything. Let the Libs do that. We are advancing constantly and we're not interested in holding onto anything -- except the Liberals. We're going to hold onto them by the nose, and we're gonna kick them in the ass. We're gonna kick the hell out of them all the time, and we're gonna go through them like crap through a goose!

Now, there's one thing that you folks will be able to say when you get back home, and you may thank God for it. Thirty years from now when you're sitting around your fireside with your grandson on your knee, and he asks you, "What did you do in the great 2012 Presidential Election?" -- you won't have to say, "Well, I voted for a RINO Republican."

Alright now you sons-of-bitches, you know how I feel.

 Oh, I will be proud to lead you wonderful folks into elections anytime, anywhere.

That's all.

Mother Robinson

And here's to you, Mother Robinson
Barry loves you more than you will know, wo wo wo
God bless you please, Mother Robinson
Hawaii holds a place for those who play, hey hey hey
Hey hey hey

We'd like to know a little bit about you for our files
We'd like to help you learn to help yourself
Look around you, all you see are secret service eyes
Stroll around the grounds until you feel at home

And here's to you, Mother Robinson
Barry loves you more than you will know, wo wo wo
God bless you please, Mother Robinson
Hawaii holds a place for those who play, hey hey hey
Hey hey hey

Hide it in a hiding place where no one ever goes
Put it in your pantry with your cupcakes
It's a little secret, just the Robinsons' affair
Most of all you've got to hide it from the kids

Coo coo ca-choo, Mother Robinson
Barry loves you more than you will know, wo wo wo
God bless you please, Mother Robinson
Hawaii holds a place for those who play, hey hey hey
Hey hey hey

Sitting on a sofa on a Sunday afternoon
Going to the candidate's debate
Laugh about it, shout about it
When you've got to choose
Every way you look at it you lose

Where have you gone, Joe Biden-o
Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you, woo woo woo
What's that you say, Mother Robinson
Joltin' Joe has left and gone away, hey hey hey
Hey hey hey

Corporate Teambuilding Warning

At the Friday staff meeting the boss excitedly announces that in two weeks the department is going to take a day off-site for teambuilding activities.  The extroverts are jumping for joy inside, oh boy; a day of fun and games!  There is a collective internal groin from the introverts, crap; maybe I can call in sick that day.  The poor clueless boss has no idea what disaster is brewing.  He went to a conference or read a book or was advised by someone in HR that this would be a great thing for his group.  Just the thing to whip up morale and boost productivity.  So what’s the problem?

As best I can determine psychology tells us that your personality is pretty much established by the time you are five or six.  And it seems that most of this is hard-wired, not so much learned or influenced by the social environment.  Which means that it’s really not going to change, no matter how many books your read or seminars you sit through.  People can be taught to try to mask their personality or fake it, but that usually never actually works well.  They tend to overcompensate and it just comes out weird, everyone can tell.  There are many models for describing personality types, but I am just going to stick with simple, generic introvert and extrovert.  Just convert to whatever model you favor; the principles are pretty much the same. 

It seems clear to me that society is generally structured around extroverts.  That is held as the de facto normal or correct personality type.  Introverts are looked on as a bit weird, eccentric; not really conforming to the norms of most of society.  They are quiet and withdrawn and shun interpersonal interaction and relationships.  Why don’t these people like others?  There must be something wrong with them, maybe an abused or dysfunctional past or family life growing up.  The extroverts plot to fix them; we must help them come out of their shell into the bright light of day!  They obviously aren’t having fun (as defined by the extroverts, of course), and to extroverts having fun is always the ultimate goal.   How could anyone have fun all by themselves?  The solution?  Teambuilding!

I’m not here to bash all teambuilding, it’s not all bad and it does have a role in corporate America.  But only if crafted properly and presented in a way that takes into account the different personalities of the group and does not put undue pressure upon people to do or say things that are phony or threatening to them.  One problem I see is that bosses or hiring committees generally do not make a serious effort to understand the psychological profile of the job and match it to someone whose personality fits that profile.  So we wind up with introverts in jobs that are best suited to extroverts and vice versa.  Some workgroups are nearly solely introvert types, think software engineering while others are solely extrovert driven, think customer service representatives or sales.  And of course others are blends of both.  The savvy boss understands this before filling these positions and is careful to find people with the right personality for the job.  Ah, if only it were so.  Unfortunately, that’s probably not usually the case.  So now we have mismatched jobs and employees and we’re going to throw that mix into teambuilding activities.  Watch out!  A lot of these people are already stressed and professionally unhappy because they are in a job that their personality is not suited to.  They will try to succeed by faking it, conforming, putting on a mask, reading books, going to seminars or even employing coaches to try to be something they simply are not.  The solution is to try to find a better job fit.  But back to teambuilding.

I find that most teambuilding programs are written and facilitated by extroverts.  And, probably unintentionally and unaware; most are written for extroverts.  Well, think about it; who would write teambuilding for introverts?  That’s an oxymoron.  It would basically be, sit in your cube and read a book!  Sales teams love teambuilding games, the engineers will hide under their desks.  So why do we keep trying to put square pegs into round holes?  Because the extroverts over in HR tell us that we need to have these days for the good of the team and the organization.  After all, they heard it at a conference from some expert (extrovert) who wrote a book about it.  He has a consulting business and a website so he must be right.  Forcing the introverts in the workgroup to put on a smile and participate in all of these activities can lead to unwanted behaviors and comments as well as bad feelings and damaged relationships.  They may poison the activity, make rude comments about the stupidity of the activity or just throw up their hands and walk away, refusing to participate.  Bosses and facilitators may see this as childish, disruptive behavior and resort to coercion or threats of disciplinary action in an attempt to get them to ‘work together as part of the team.’  They may be shocked at this behavior in someone who has been a good employee and never acted like this before.  What they don’t realize is that the introvert is displaying an ego defense mechanism under extreme stress and anxiety to try to protect their psyche.  They are not being intentionally uncooperative or disruptive; they are trying to keep from blowing a gasket.  So the boss or facilitator must ask themselves what is really to be gained from forcing someone to do something they are really not suited for.  Is the employee and the group really better off?  Has morale and productivity improved?  Probably not, actually it may now be worse.  This can create a lot of confusion and misunderstanding amongst the members which wasn’t there before. 

So what to do?  Well, from the get-go try to hire the right person for the job.  This will go a long way to maintaining a productive, pleasant work environment.  Introverts can work with others effectively, even with extroverts; but they function best when not being expected to act and perform like an extrovert.  Subtle social pressures will certainly undermine this, as can calling them out in teambuilding activities.  When introverts are in introvert jobs and extroverts are in extrovert jobs the wheels will turn much more smoothly.  Let the extroverts gravitate to each other and let the introverts be loners.  Don’t take it personally, it’s not.  Remember, when it comes to extroverts and introverts it’s not a matter of good or bad, right or wrong; just different.  Use the differences to your benefit.  The extroverts are great at working with the public and cheerleading new products.  The introverts are great at getting the details done behind the scenes.  Just tell them what you want, what resources they have and when it’s due then get out of the way (as much as is possible), leave them alone and you’ll get the results you want.  The introverts and extroverts will collaborate when necessary, just as long as it’s on their terms, not artificially contrived.  And when it comes to teambuilding, remember some people like to be on the field under the lights competing to the cheers of the crowd, while others just like to sit in the stands and watch.