Who and from here to where

It was in February 1972 that I first saw Uijongbu, South Korea. Since then, I have been back a few times. The only thing unchanged since that first time is the rocky hilltops surrounding the valley, the Uijongbu corridor, which is the traditional invasion route from the north. My month long trip to the Land of the Morning Calm was restful and mind clearing. I long for those days of being a carefree Army private. For me, it was the time when political issues and the state of our country were things that confounded the minds of others. I lived through the hippie era, racial strife in the ranks, drug abuse, and alcoholic senior noncommissioned officers and all of it during the Vietnam drawdown. I was as disconnected from the truth of the political world then as much of America is today. Historically only about half of us vote in general elections and odds are much of that half is politically ignorant.

I suppose all of us can look back on a time and long for the days of blissful ignorance. Especially during a time when so much information is coming toward us that we can barely comprehend it and much less determine fact from fabrication and all of it during a time when the fate of the nation relies on our ability to do just that. Our crucial freedom of the press has been abused and forfeited by ideologues. No such freedom exists for them who are steered in thought and action by ideology and the unscrupulous neither of which is the least bit interested in truth – at least not interested in the people knowing the truth. Sadly, they and the many who consume massive quantities of their daily dose of gibberish, would not recognize the truth if it smacked them straight in mouth. Most remain wholly ignorant because of it, although it is not a blissful ignorance. These days it is an anger filled ignorance fueled by lies and many years of brain washing indoctrination. Out of ignorance, they will burn down their own towns and ultimately invite in tyrant saviors who are not ignorant of the truth to control their lives. As wrong and misguided as they are, they remain passionate about what they believe and who they support all of it antithetical to the free representative republic that is the United States of America.

A nation that has wondered so far from the pathway to greatness laid out in our founding documents, desperately needs leaders. Over many years, those elected as guardians of our great nation have failed us. They have failed because they are no longer a government of the people, by the people and for the people. They are the living example that power corrupts. These are men and women who have spent lifetimes in national politics. They love the television cameras, the Washington social scene, their privileged lives, and people willing to steer large amounts of money to them and their families for the right piece of legislation. These under the table legal bribes hardly differ from the in your face hundreds of thousands and millions of dollars donated to bogus charitable foundations or for speeches paid for by banks and foreign countries. No matter their party alignment, all of them prey on the gullible and ignorant. In the foreground and from all sides, they stir up the ignorant with many promises never delivered. In the background they are great buddies sipping bourbon, smoking cigars and working out the next cash deal. Only strong leaders can put our country back on course.

The theory goes society creates the event and the man (man is gender neutral here – not my theory so I will not rename it). If you do not have a great event then you cannot have a great man. Without World War II, would there been an Ike or Patton? Or would both have ended their military time as Colonels? That is the question raised by the great man, great event leadership theory. Leaders are born, not made the theory declares and without a great event they become history’s everyman. Audie Murphy practically begged his way into the Army and once in Europe he had to plead for a combat assignment. He became our most decorated Soldier. But without the event?

I do not know if we have a great leader on the horizon. But, a wholly corrupted national government from Congress, to the Whitehouse, to the Cabinet Secretaries, to the Courts to the top echelons of the military, to an economy teetering on collapse, to big money from corporate lobbyists, to social justice warriors, terminal political correctness and all of it driven by a gigantic propaganda machine (also known as the main stream media) and a populace that largely gets its information from Facebook, Twitter, and that same ideologically driven media, and with the rejection of any moral authority, we certainly have an event. A nation driven dangerously close to its tipping point – a place from which, if not corrected, it will never return.

We have two people battling to be that great man or great woman to either save this nation or complete its fundamental destruction. For clarity, the issue is the fate of our nation and ideology aside there are only two choices. One is a product of this cesspool of corruption. A charter member of the Washington establishment, proven liar, as corrupt as the day is long, of seriously questionable health and mental capacity, and glorified each day by a doting sycophantic media and billed as better than the alternative by much of the like-minded establishment. The other, never held a political office and was never part of the Washington establishment, although it is likely he greased some of their palms along the way as the cost of doing business. In speech he is not politically correct, but with plain language he is touching the everyman. The media and establishment Washington, even to the extent they would prefer the dishonest and corrupt – for them a kindred worldview, hate his guts and try daily to derail his journey to the Presidency.

Each of us must decide who and from here to where.

© 2016 J. D. Pendry All Rights Reserved

Category: Politics