PHANTOM JOBS AND BULLET TRAINS

By Marilyn M. Barnewall
February 27, 2011
NewsWithViews.com

Everyone is suddenly talking about it. Thomas Sowell wrote an article, Bill O’Reilly talked about it on “The Factor,” the Washington Post wrote about it, Fox News got it wrong… everyone is talking about President Obama’s high-speed rail program and the Governors who are rejecting it.

I enjoyed being ahead of a large number of journalistic notables when I began writing about high-speed rail (HSR) over a year ago. What little-known journalist wouldn’t enjoy beating the big guys? But what’s more significant to me is the lack of factual data being published on this subject today – and the lack of journalists who see why HSR is so important to the Democrats/liberals. HSR and the jobs it promises will serve as one of the 2012 campaign issues. It’s so obvious it almost takes my breath away.

Most of the good and famous journalists and editorialists writing about high-speed rail appear innocent of any clear definition of the subject – including O’Reilly. That’s politically correct for what I would otherwise say: “They don’t know what they’re talking about!”

High-speed rail – or Bullet Trains like they have in France, Germany, Japan, China, the United Kingdom, et al – go from 150 to 222 miles per hour (mph). Rapid rail moves at from 75 to 150 mph and light rail is used to provide transportation between the hearts of our cities to suburbia at speeds of less than 75 mph.

In other words, when Joe Biden talks about riding high-speed rail trains from Delaware to Washington, D.C. frequently (and loving it), he’s talking about riding Amtrak’s Acela train. It averages about 70 mph and hits a top speed of 150 mph.

What does that tell you about Vice President Biden’s mode of transportation? And, what does it tell you about the Vice President’s knowledge of high-speed rail? Look at the definitions above. He’s using rapid rail and calling it high-speed rail – but doesn’t know enough about the subject to differentiate between the two. Or, perhaps he does and his political reasons outweigh his ability to be truthful about it.

This also tells you that Amtrak must have no idea of what high-speed rail is – they have no experience with real, live, high-speed rail – or they would quietly correct Vice President Biden to prevent him from looking foolish to those who know better. The same is true of President Obama and his “know nothing about high-speed rail” Secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood. Yet, according to Biden, Amtrak (which has no experience with HSR) is serving as the Vice President’s source of expertise to build Bullet Trains in America. If a little old lady living on the side of a hill in Western Colorado can find these things out, you’d think the highly paid research staffs of major news outlets could! They must not be looking very hard!

This is a case of liberals convincing people that they will create jobs on the one hand, while knowing that there is no money in the other hand to build HSR – so the jobs will never materialize. It provides insight into what Democrat Campaign 2012 will be based on: Republicans (who refuse to irresponsibly further bankrupt the nation by accepting funds to build rapid rail systems liberals call high-speed) will be positioned as anti-job creation. Was the money there to create the jobs in the first place? No, but to liberals that doesn’t matter. Promises and intentions are what count.

We have four very courageous Governors taking flak right now because despite what they knew would be nasty publicity intended to stir the insecurities of the masses into hateful opposition to their necessary actions they did the right thing, anyway.

We are so anxious to criticize (it appears) when politicians do wrong. We sit down immediately and write letters of complaint. Have you sat down, however, and written a letter to any of the four Governors who are willing to risk their political popularity to do the right thing? If not, please do. If you want politicians to do the right thing, support them when they do. It doesn’t matter that they aren’t the Governors of your state. What matters is that they are doing the right thing for America! They are behaving morally and responsibly.

What we are seeing in Madison, WI, is a mini-debut of what is to come. In Madison, we have teachers whose salaries (including benefits) average $89,000 to $100,000 a year for working about nine months annually. Wisconsin is one of the most highly taxed states in the nation. In return, they get teachers whose efforts result in placing Wisconsin 44th in the nation in education.

What was it Jesus called the moneychangers on the steps of the Temple? “Oh, ye hypocrites!”

Wisconsin’s Governor, Scott Walker, deserves a medal for the businesslike way in which he is handling bad examples for children in the form of teachers who get their phony “I’m sick” letters signed by lying physicians on street corners. He also has legislators too cowardly to report for duty, fight their fight, and accept the will of the people who put Republicans in office last election. The really sick thing about all of this is that two years ago, then Democrat Governor Jim Doyle told Wisconsin public employee union members that thousands of them would have to be terminated because of budget shortfalls. There was absolutely no response. No protests, no doctors on corners handing out sick leave slips (who should lose their licenses to practice medicine), and no union objections. “Oh, ye hypocrites!”

And yet, they continue to protest. Ohio Governor John Kasich is facing similar problems with budget shortfalls in that Great State. He rejected federal funds to build a rail system in Ohio that has nothing to do with HSR. The feds wanted to pour dollars into Ohio to provide a rail system that would take longer to get from Cincinnati to Cleveland via Columbus than the rail system that was in place 50 years ago. Kasich analyzed the long-term costs to Ohio taxpayers and rejected the offer. Will Governor Kasich have the required starch in his shorts to stand as solidly against union demands as Governor Walker has so far exhibited? It’s the core problem, after all. Kasich positions himself as being pro-union because he lives in a highly unionized state. So does Governor Walker!

As for Governor Scott in Florida, his state was singled out at Obama’s 2010 State of the Union address as receiving funds to build HSR between Tampa and Orlando (85 miles apart). As I pointed out in a HSR article after that speech a year ago, HSR Bullet Trains are designed for long distances, not short hops. A Bullet Train would hardly get up to speed before having to slow to stop in 85 miles. That was, from its inception, a rapid rail project for which taxpayers would be charged high-speed rail prices. A boondoggle!

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie stopped one of the most taxpayer unfriendly and costly projects in the country when he ceased the building of a HSR tunnel between New York City and New Jersey. Like Governor Kasich, he evaluated the long-term and ongoing tax costs to his state and his people and said “no.” He, too, takes a lot of mainstream media heat over this wise decision.

As I have said numerous times, government’s HSR program is a boondoggle! It has been all along. Until the demonstrations in Wisconsin came up, I failed to see the reason. Now, it’s pretty clear.

Here’s how liberal minds function. Liberals take one of their greatest weaknesses – in this case the inability to create new jobs because they don’t understand how capitalism works – and put their opponents in the position of rejecting costly programs that create new jobs – at least, in theory. That way, their opponents cannot use their weakness against them. If a Republican candidate for office says anything about the Democrat inability to create jobs, all of the high-speed rail jobs that would have been created had Republicans not rejected the federal dollars for the program will be thrown in their face. That’s how liberals think. It doesn’t matter to liberals that no money was available to fund the high-speed rail programs and the jobs would have never been created. What matters is that they had the intention of providing jobs. How do we fight that kind of intellectual dishonesty? The way the governors of four states are doing it: Head-on.

Save me from liberal intentions! Please! For readers – particularly Tea Party leaders – who will have candidates in the 2012 elections, prepare to deal with this issue because it is the main course on liberal campaign tables. Too, we might want to keep in mind the fact that governors who accept these funds are making it impossible for State government to function independently of Washington. It’s a rather scurrilous way for the feds to stave off declarations of State Sovereignty, isn’t it?

One of the oldest HSR projects in the country was that of California. Again, it was a case of “promises, promises!” No funds were forthcoming and Governor Schwarzenneger went to Shanghai last September to beg for money from China.

Here are the names and addresses of the four Governors who are doing the right thing for their states and our Great Nation. If you’ve got any citizen starch in your Fruit of the Looms, drop them a line and say, “Thanks; we needed that and appreciate your courage!”

Office of Governor Chris Christie
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
PO Box 001
Trenton, NJ 08625

Office of Governor John Kasich
STATE OF OHIO
Riffe Center, 30th Floor
77 South High Street
Columbus, Oh 43215-6117

Office of Governor Rick Scott
STATE OF FLORIDA
The Capitol
400 S. Monroe St.
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0001

Office of Governor Scott Walker
STATE OF WISCONSIN
115 East Capitol
Madison WI 53702

Note: Additional information on high-speed rail.

© 2011 Marilyn M. Barnewall - All Rights Reserved

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Marilyn MacGruder Barnewall began her career in 1956 as a journalist with the Wyoming Eagle in Cheyenne. During her 20 years (plus) as a banker and bank consultant, she wrote extensively for The American Banker, Bank Marketing Magazine, Trust Marketing Magazine, was U.S. Consulting Editor for Private Banker International (London/Dublin), and other major banking industry publications. She has written seven non-fiction books about banking and taught private banking at Colorado University for the American Bankers Association. She has authored seven banking books, one dog book, and two works of fiction (about banking, of course). She has served on numerous Boards in her community.

Barnewall is the former editor of The National Peace Officer Magazine and as a journalist has written guest editorials for the Denver Post, Rocky Mountain News and Newsweek, among others. On the Internet, she has written for News With Views, World Net Daily, Canada Free Press, Christian Business Daily, Business Reform, and others. She has been quoted in Time, Forbes, Wall Street Journal and other national and international publications. She can be found in Who's Who in America (2005-10), Who's Who of American Women (2006-10), Who's Who in Finance and Business (2006-10), and Who's Who in the World (2008).

SPEECH PLANNING AND GREAT EXPECTATIONS

By Marilyn M. Barnewall

February 6, 2011
NewsWithViews.com

No one seemed to notice it but me. Maybe I’m getting old. Or, maybe the media is.

Charles Krauthammer – who never misses anything – missed it.
Brit Hume of Fox News missed it.
Sean Hannity of Fox News missed it.
Shepard Smith missed it, too. So did Juan Williams.
Michelle Bachman missed it – but she came closer to actually giving it than the person charged with the responsibility.
Congressman Paul Ryan from Janesville, Wisconsin, missed it, too.

And, Barack Hussein Obama certainly missed it.

What did I get that everyone else seemed to miss?

I missed input from President Barack Obama on the State of the Union in his State of the Union address. Maybe I’m still groggy from anesthesia.

Instead of discussing the dangers posed by America’s debt, or possible solutions for the mortgage foreclosure frauds running rampant throughout our court system (please note my non-use of the words “system of justice”), or the war in Afghanistan – or the state of anything – the President filled the airwaves with words like “I’ve ordered … I’m willing … I am prepared … I will veto … I know … I urge … I’m proposing … I disagree … I would” and a lot of other words were placed after the pronoun “I.”

Good grief! Is Washington totally bereft of decent speech writers? Does anyone in this White House understand good communications? Based on performance to date, a very good case can be made that no one in White House communications – including the Press Secretary – has any insight into what constitutes effective communications.

When planning a speech, what is the primary objective?

Gee, knowing the topic one is expected to speak about used to be at the top of my priority list. When someone requested me to give a speech, it was because they had a topic they wanted explained to an audience. They invited me because I was qualified to give that explanation. The media seemed to be looking for a well-delivered speech designed to motivate people. Bill O’Reilly certainly was looking for that.

Maybe someone needs to remind the media that a President’s State of the Union address is supposed to be about the State of the Union – and it’s on how well that topic is covered their speech reviews should focus.

It is called “State of the Union” for a reason. It is on this night the President of the United States is supposed to tell the citizens of this country the problems faced by the nation and the impact the problems had on the Union during the past year.

Let’s see how gently this can be put. The subject of a sentence defines what the person who says or writes the sentence considers the most important part of the sentence. When the word “I” is the subject of so many sentences, the speaker obviously considers “I” the most important. If he didn’t, the word “I” would not be the subject of so many sentences.

The President’s sense of self importance rather than compassion and respect for the people of the United States came through loud and clear. The media didn’t catch that, either.

But Obama is supposed to look, and sound, like a leader. How can he do that without making the word “I” the subject of his sentences? By making “the people” the subject of his sentences and expressing his leadership as a part of the sentence sub-structure. He says “The people want” rather than “I want.” He says “The people deserve” rather than “I urge…” and completes the sentence by saying “…and as their President, I intend to support them by doing the following things.” Such a sentence makes “The people” the subject – the most important element of what’s being said – not the President. Take a look at the text of this speech and count the number of times the word “I” is used!

This is called “Communication 101.” This administration needs someone who passed the course – and took at least one semester in sales and another in marketing – to help write this man’s speeches. President Obama sounds like a narcissist of the first order (and may be – but the job of his “people” is to keep him from sounding like one).

Obama began the “meaningful” part of his speech by saying: “At stake right now is not who wins the next election -- after all, we just had an election. At stake is whether new jobs and industries take root in this country, or somewhere else. It's whether the hard work and industry of our people is rewarded. It's whether we sustain the leadership that has made America not just a place on a map, but the light to the world.”

If we are a light to the world, why has Obama found it necessary to apologize for America whenever he steps onto foreign soil?

He referred to jobs numerous times in his speech. Creating jobs is a hot button issue with the American people – and with unemployment over 9 percent (and most of us believe it’s far higher than that), it should be. He should have provided statistical data on this subject and given his projections for improving it. The truth is, liberal democrats don’t have a clue about how to create jobs because to do so requires government to get out of the way and let independent businesses (not multi-nationals whose loyalties lie with providing jobs to the least expensive labor pool in the world) grow and hire people.

“These steps we've taken over the last two years may have broken the back of this recession…”

Yes. He had the – nerve – to say that. He didn’t even flinch when he said it. Broken the back of this recession? What gall! It will make all of the people who have been illegally foreclosed against and all of those who are still unemployed hopeful, I suppose, to know President Obama has “broken the back of the recession.”

The only thing worse than Barack Obama’s failure to understand how to define and give a speech that explains the State of the Union is the media’s inability to perceive and report the failure.

For example, he could have told us:

1. “I have issued 733 waivers for Obama Care…” (more than 500 granted in December – but that wasn’t made public until the day after his State of the Union “address,” a/k/a his opening 2012 campaign speech). “The waivers exempt recipients from the increased costs of health insurance” (which means the rest of us will pay higher insurance premiums so those with waivers can be exempted from the higher costs). Nothing new there… a vigorous redistribution of wealth continues.

2. Those who are receiving waivers for enforced Obama health care mostly include unions, businesses, cities that support him politically (like Detroit – where unemployment exceeds 25 percent), states that have either proven to be loyal or which he needs for reelection – Massachusetts, New Jersey, Ohio, and Tennessee. Democrat Senators Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana have already received payment for the Obama Care support of their votes.

3. The new Republican Governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker, rejected President Obama’s offer of funds for a high-speed rail line between Madison and Milwaukee. Why? First, because what is planned isn’t high-speed rail. It’s rapid transit. Second, because Governors in other states have discovered the offers are designed to gain voter support by promising (rather than providing) jobs. Otherwise, why was former Governor Arnold Schwarzenneger in Shanghai a couple of months before the New Year asking the Chinese for funding and assistance in building California’s high-speed rail project? Why did Governors in Florida, New Jersey, and Ohio also reject or suddenly question the offer of federal funds to build high-speed rail? (Maybe because there are no federal funds?) After President Obama’s 2010 State of the Union speech, I wrote about the high-speed rail boondoggle and I wrote about it again last fall. In spite of union activist interruptions at his Inauguration, Governor Walker said “We’re going to focus on things we can afford.” He promptly rejected the phony financing backed by collateral consisting of worthless mortgage-backed derivatives. Good grief! Even Bill O’Reilly did a 15 minute segment last week on why high-speed rail needs to be done by private investors!

4. Remember the 2009 and 2010 State of the Union addresses given by President Obama? In both years, he recommended government spending be frozen for a period of three years. The Democrats controlled both the Senate and the House during those two years. It’s funny how Harry and Nancy just ignored the President. This year, though, he said “I want to freeze spending for five years.” Of course, since he gave his 2009 and 2010 speeches, the budget Obama now wants to freeze is 84 percent larger – and growing every day. Since the Republicans want to take a hatchet to spending, the budget will not be frozen, it will be cut.

We, the People, deserve to know what’s going on with regard to the BP oil spill – what is the status of offshore drilling? In what prison cell is Secretary of the Interior Salazar languishing because his lax offshore drilling policies (which have never been called before Committee) caused broad-based human suffering? Too, we deserve to know the status of the Afghanistan conflict. As of the date of the State of the Union speech, 27 American servicemen had been killed during 2011.

There are many things we deserve to know, but there are few that will be willingly revealed. If I ever hear the word “transparency” associated with this man’s name again, I will barf. He can’t even be transparent in a State of the Union speech where he’s supposed to be transparent.

As an aside: Thanks to so many of you who took the time to write and wish me well during my recent surgical “experience.” Your prayers were the greatest gift you could have given and were most gratefully accepted. God bless all of you. To answer the question many of my readers are asking, Flight of the Black Swan is completed and will soon be published in final format. At the moment, a pre-publication version has been printed. For those of you who use Kindle to read e-books, it is available at Amazon.com.

© 2011 Marilyn M. Barnewall - All Rights Reserved

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Marilyn MacGruder Barnewall began her career in 1956 as a journalist with the Wyoming Eagle in Cheyenne. During her 20 years (plus) as a banker and bank consultant, she wrote extensively for The American Banker, Bank Marketing Magazine, Trust Marketing Magazine, was U.S. Consulting Editor for Private Banker International (London/Dublin), and other major banking industry publications. She has written seven non-fiction books about banking and taught private banking at Colorado University for the American Bankers Association. She has authored seven banking books, one dog book, and two works of fiction (about banking, of course). She has served on numerous Boards in her community.

Barnewall is the former editor of The National Peace Officer Magazine and as a journalist has written guest editorials for the Denver Post, Rocky Mountain News and Newsweek, among others. On the Internet, she has written for News With Views, World Net Daily, Canada Free Press, Christian Business Daily, Business Reform, and others. She has been quoted in Time, Forbes, Wall Street Journal and other national and international publications. She can be found in Who's Who in America (2005-10), Who's Who of American Women (2006-10), Who's Who in Finance and Business (2006-10), and Who's Who in the World (2008).

THE PACK, THE PEAS AND THE NATIONAL ANTHEM

By Marilyn M. Barnewall
February 9, 2011
NewsWithViews.com

The Super Bowl game was great – what a joy to watch Aaron Rodgers so effectively replace Brett Favre and come into his own! Favre once said he wasn’t taking Rodgers under his wing and that Rodgers would have to figure it out on his own. It wasn’t his job, Favre said, to mentor Rodgers.

It’s probably a good thing that Favre went diva on this issue because Aaron Rodgers managed to do something Favre has never done: Win the Most Valuable Player award for the game. Perhaps Favre could stand a little mentoring from Rodgers? Many people don’t know that Rodgers is the Packers’ Team Captain, too.

Though the game was enjoyable, the more football game halftimes I watch, the more convinced I am that people who plan these things have no common sense. And, though I heard the pre-game show about the history of our Declaration of Independence was excellent (I missed it), the pre-game singing left a great deal to be desired.

It’s usually Super Bowl halftimes that disgust me. This one didn’t do anything to impress or entertain me, but it wasn’t as tasteless as the Janet Jackson boob-mobile in 2004. This year, the most disgusting thing was Christina Aguilera’s butchering of our National Anthem.

I once sang for a living with the Air Force Academy Dance Band when it played at the Lowry Air Force Base Officer’s Club on weekends (before the Academy moved to Colorado Springs). I understand the difference between being a song stylist and a crooner. Even more important, I understand the difference between singing a hymn or an anthem and a pop tune. Our National Anthem is a hymn. I don’t know about you, but I’m sick and tired of hearing pop singers stylize the National Anthem of this Great Nation in an attempt to make it sounds like “them.”

Aguilera did more than stylize our nation’s song. She forgot the words! Ms. Aguilera sang “Whose broad stripes and bright starts through the perilous fight. What so proudly we watched at the twilight’s last gleaming.” The actual lyrics: "Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight. O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming."

During rehearsals, Aguilera cut off the rehearsal without singing the song all the way through. It was the way she wanted it and she saw no reason to rehearse the entire song. What a perfect example of why professionals do complete dress rehearsals… to prevent this kind of mistake.

Regardless of the cause, I’m tired of having singer/stylists think that because they have been asked to sing the National Anthem before an important event, they should turn it into pop music. That’s like taking the Lord’s Prayer and singing it to Bee-Bop-Ah-Lu-La.

So, dear Ms. Aguilera and every other warbler in the world, when you sing a song that represents the heart of a nation, remember that it is not intended to sound like it represents you and your singing style. Aguilera has a beautiful voice and had she sung the National Anthem as it was written it would have been wonderful. I don’t want to start an event by remembering a singer’s style. I want a National Anthem which memorializes my country.

NOTE TO FRUSTRATED, EGOCENTRIC SONG STYLISTS: Put your ego in your purse (or back pocket) and understand the honor that has been bestowed upon you when you are asked to open an event by singing America’s National Anthem. It would also be a good idea to make sure you know the words to the song before you butcher them in front of one of the world’s largest television audiences.

NOTE TO BIG EVENT PLANNERS (ESPECIALLY SUPER BOWL PLANNERS): Please ask the person who is retained to sing America’s National Anthem to sing it as written, not as interpreted. Most Americans don’t give a rat’s ass about how singers interpret the Anthem. The song vibrates in the hearts of patriotic Americans everywhere. They want to hear it sung to their vibration, not the singer’s.

As for half-time, one of the things Super Bowl entertainment is known for is innovation. Black Eyed Peas has been doing pretty much the same thing on television the past few months as it did during the half-time show. The entry onto the field was good, but Black Eyed Peas doesn’t carry the kind of reputation in the music biz sufficient to carry such a large event. Their lyrics were clichéd and tired and they were sung to unyielding beats, often in a rap style exhibiting little singing talent.

Who do Super Bowl planners think comes to these games? What do they think the average age of the person is who has the money to buy Super Bowl tickets and advertised products? I haven’t done a statistical analysis of it, but the average age is far older than people who are attracted to Black Eyed Peas.

Dallas Cowboy General Manager Jerry Jones surprised me. I thought he would ensure that the new state of the art Arlington, TX-based home of the Cowboys that hosted Super Bowl XLV would make sure the world’s spotlight on Dallas would cast a positive shadow. Jones is a personable guy who is Chairman of the NFL Network Broadcast Committee, a member of the Management Council Executive Committee, the Special Committee on League Economics and the Pro Football Hall of Fame Committee. Jones has served two prior terms as a member of the NFL's Competition Committee as well as a stint on the Business Ventures Committee. He has all of the experience and contacts to produce a first rate Super Bowl production – but didn’t.

One interesting question is: Why do advertisers tolerate it?

Here are some tips for all of the people who plan athletic event shows and those who spend advertising dollars on them.

1. People are more easily led gently into purchasing products than being shocked or entertained by an ad.

2. If your company has been an advertiser of big event athletics, you might want to check more closely the content of half-time shows. Do you think I forget my distaste for what advertising dollars make possible? Re-think it. I don’t forget.

3. Americans view sports as healthy competition. They do not like it mixed with morally questionable performances like Janet Jackson in 2004, or programs that are out-of-touch with the average age of attendees and viewers.

4. Which group is most likely to be at home watching the Super Bowl on a holiday? Which market segment tends to have money in its pockets? If you said “over 45” – those most offended by a lack of taste (and is the most patriotic market segment) – you are right. If you said parents who want to enjoy spending holiday time with their children you are also right. Wow. Was that hard to figure!

5. What is it parents with children and friends most enjoy sharing? Simple things like pride in country and community, and/or a sense of togetherness (which reflects the make-up of most Super Bowl parties).

6. Last, but not least, the purpose of advertising is to primarily get people to remember your company’s name and products. The young people writing ads today don’t seem to understand that. They think using shock or entertainment to get people to watch is the name of the game – and half of the time I don’t know what product is being advertised after watching the ad.

7. You have to have a “hook” to do entertainment advertising. There will never be a better Super Bowl ad than the Budweiser Clydesdales lining up in the snow to play football. People knew it was Budweiser because the Clydesdales ARE Budweiser. The horses were the “hook.” If your product doesn’t have a famous hook like the Clydesdales (or, from ancient history, the White Knight for Ajax Cleanser), forget entertainment ads. Focus on your company name and the product!

Why do the people who plan these events show so little common sense? Why do advertisers tolerate such a lack of good judgment in how advertising dollars are spent?

It makes little or no sense that big company advertising dollars are directed at the market segment with the least amount of cash to buy their products. It makes no sense that advertising dollars don’t sell a company’s name and the product being advertised.

Let me plan the Super Bowl half-time next year. Please.

I’ll get one of the Big Bands to play Jimmy Dorsey and Glenn Miller and other songs from the World War II era. Or, I’ll find the right group to play hits from movies from various eras… running film clips while the music plays. Tie what’s playing on stage to past Super Bowl competitions. So much could be done here!

Camera tricks using vague copy to present your message are advertising losers. Get yourselves some Clydesdales if you want to do cute ads people will remember and associate with your company’s products. Look at the numbers, for heavens sake! The returns advertisers get for their bucks are going down. Does that tell you anything?

A good rule of thumb: When planning entertainment for a national event, celebrate America (and please, get someone who can sing the National Anthem so I can sing along with her/him in my heart – and please make sure the singer knows the words).

Celebrate the things Americans share in common: Americana.

© 2011 Marilyn M. Barnewall - All Rights Reserved

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Marilyn MacGruder Barnewall began her career in 1956 as a journalist with the Wyoming Eagle in Cheyenne. During her 20 years (plus) as a banker and bank consultant, she wrote extensively for The American Banker, Bank Marketing Magazine, Trust Marketing Magazine, was U.S. Consulting Editor for Private Banker International (London/Dublin), and other major banking industry publications. She has written seven non-fiction books about banking and taught private banking at Colorado University for the American Bankers Association. She has authored seven banking books, one dog book, and two works of fiction (about banking, of course). She has served on numerous Boards in her community.

Barnewall is the former editor of The National Peace Officer Magazine and as a journalist has written guest editorials for the Denver Post, Rocky Mountain News and Newsweek, among others. On the Internet, she has written for News With Views, World Net Daily, Canada Free Press, Christian Business Daily, Business Reform, and others. She has been quoted in Time, Forbes, Wall Street Journal and other national and international publications. She can be found in Who's Who in America (2005-10), Who's Who of American Women (2006-10), Who's Who in Finance and Business (2006-10), and Who's Who in the World (2008).

POLITICS AND THE IMMUTABLE LAWS OF HUMAN NATURE

By Marilyn M. Barnewall February 20, 2011

NewsWithViews.com

Marilyn’s Law: The only way to maintain progress without chaos within a society is to have changeable social values that are tied to unchanging principles.

That may sound pretty boring, but if you’ve ever wondered where America went wrong and why, keep reading. This rather dull sounding concept holds the answer to a lot of questions. First, some definitional clarity so we’re all singing the same song.

What is the definition of “values”?

Values are laws based on social ideals created by humans to ensure a logical social order that encourages progress without chaos and helps achieve societal objectiveS. Also called “ethics” or “social rules.”

What is the definition of “principles”?

Principles are laws of nature created by God – if you don’t believe in God, the laws of nature were put here when the Big Bang happened. Few intelligent people deny the laws of nature exist. Principles are also embodied in the Ten Commandments (which are not, as some people seem to think, ten suggestions). Sir William Blackstone had it precisely right when he said: “When God created man… he laid down certain immutable laws of human nature.”

Whether the reader believes in Creationism, if it happens in nature, we can be sure of it. What goes up must come down. For every action, there is an equal reaction. For every cause, there is an effect. All living things grow to maturity, level off and die. The line of least resistance creates crooked rivers (and so it probably creates crooked people, too). Those are but a few of nature’s principles. They do not change from day-to-day as human values do. They are immutable. The line of least resistance will always create crooked rivers. What goes up will always come down. The sun will always rise in the east.

Values must change for progress to occur. If social values are not allowed to change, cultures remain in a rut. Human beings, however, have a penchant for thinking they are God. Perhaps that’s why He put into place unchanging principles which cannot be ignored if humans want to survive.

What does all of this mean and why should you care? Let’s answer two questions using this little philosophy.

• The problems of the Islamic world are caused because their legal, religious and social structures are all tied together under sharia law. These laws of Islam demand unchanging social values that are tied to unchanging principles. Unchanging social values means no progress.

• The problems of most Western cultures result from untying changing values from unchanging principles. For progress to occur without chaos, changing values must be tied to unchanging principles or no stability exists. No one can manage risk in an unstable environment. Capitalism/free enterprise requires risk management.

Principles are unchanging. Values change as a society progresses. It would make little sense to have laws about tying your Appaloosa horse outside the town tavern in today’s automotive society – but such a law once made sense. At one time, it made sense for a man to have more than one wife. Values/laws/rules change.

By bonding values that change to principles that do not, societies throughout history have maintained stability in the long-term and flexibility in the short-term. It’s a difficult, but necessary, balance. No societal stability means no unchanging principles are in place. No social progress means no changing values are in place to support a move forward.

Muslims live under sharia law, which conforms to the religious principles of the faith. Thus, Muslim values never change. Their laws remain the same no matter where the Muslim lives: Egypt, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran – the United States or Russia.

In most Western cultures, laws vary from Denver to New York City to Los Angeles. They differ from the United States to the United Kingdom to Brazil. Traffic drives on the right side of the road in America; on the left in Great Britain. Most societies say theft of another’s possessions violates their laws – their values. In America, one will get a slap on the wrist for violating that law. In Iran, the hand may be cut off.

Anyone who takes that as a slam against Islam is wrong. They may cut off the hand of a thief, but they haven’t aborted millions of unborn babies. No sane person in Western cultures can point to the cut-off hand of a Middle Eastern thief and shout “Barbarians!” because Muslims look at millions of abortions and shout “Barbarians!” right back at us.

Unchanging principles are supposed to make it clear to everyone – government, the people, businesses – what is expected of them. Values give direction intended to help achieve the objective of the unchanging principle. So, before any value can be established, a concept or a doctrine – a principle – has to exist. Perhaps the selected principle is freedom. Values – or laws and social rules – must be created to support that principle. When the rich and powerful want the masses to have less freedom, that becomes the principle and laws are passed to support that objective. The point is, until society states its accepted principles, values cannot be established to help the social order achieve the objective of the principles. Values (or laws or rules) must be established to support the ideal contained in the principle, once the principle is defined.

Look at the Obama Administration’s inability to create jobs. People in the business community don’t know from one day to the next what is expected of them. Government at all levels appears to have abandoned the Rule of Law – both of values and principles. Who wants to take business risks in such an environment?

Ask yourself if the policies (or laws/values) of the BP oil-drilling catastrophe in the Gulf can be tied to any unchanging principle. There is no unchanging principle that says “greed is good” because, in the end, the greedy always fall to their own weaknesses. How about the fraudulent mortgage foreclosures that run so rampant in the country? Can you conceive of any Law of Nature or of God to which such unlawful behavior could be tied? What about abortion? To which Law of Nature or of God is such a “value” attached? I can find none. There is a big difference between “value” and “valueless.”

Values must change or societies do not progress. There are countries on this planet that still function as they did several hundred years ago because they tie their unchanging societal principles to unchanging values. Unchanging values results in no social progress. This explains the dilemma of the Muslim world.

It’s interesting that the social ills of two totally opposite cultures – Muslim and Christian – have at their core the same basic problem. Neither understands the need for changing values that are tied to unchanging principles.

When people start trying to change principles, they change the entire doctrine at the core of the principle. Freedom is a principle. For freedom to remain as our forefathers defined it, the definition must stay fixed. It is an unalienable right granted by our Creator, not by our government. What comes from the Creator must remain unchanged by man. The definition of freedom, however, has not stayed fixed. Socialists and fascists have slowly redefined it.

The word ‘freedom’ has been changed to mean ‘license.’ They have re-defined ‘freedom’ – or have tried to do so. Most Americans do not accept their re-definition – but don’t know how to get their tried and trusted definition of “freedom” back again.

I believe one of the biggest problems people around the world suffer today is a lack of definitional clarity. When someone speaks to you, what is that person saying? If you define the word “freedom” one way and he defines it another, are you communicating effectively? Do you understand one another? It has allowed our elected officials to get away with highway robbery while, technically, not lying. In many cases they do lie, but not always. Sometimes they just scam us. It is up to us to stop it.

Politicians have a responsibility to talk to the public in understandable terms… honest terms. The public has a responsibility to demand they do so. We have ignored our responsibility as badly as they have ignored theirs. When you attend political debates this year and next, one of the most valuable questions you can ask is “Will you please define what you mean when you say ‘______’?” (Add any words – cost cutting, or 20 million people who don’t have health care – who are they?) Make them define their terms! One of the questions I am about to start asking politicians is: “What do you mean when you say ‘democracy’? Our founding fathers gave us a republic, not a democracy, so why do you refer to it as a ‘democracy’?”

I believe this little theory of mine applies to most of the social problems in America today. Nothing is black and white because powerful people are disconnecting our changing values from unchanging principles. They are re-defining freedom. The confusion in both political parties is caused because a slick group of thieves are removing the unchanging principles that have anchored American society for a few hundred years.

The only way to move America from capitalism to communism is to re-define words like freedom, faith, education, sovereignty, independence, competition. Those words represent the unchanging principles on which America was founded. “…Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness…” How do you define happiness? How do the millions of Americans on welfare define it – or those who find happiness in drugs or in reality tv shows each night? How do we as a society define ‘life’, ‘liberty’ and ‘happiness’?

It makes it possible to ignore the Declaration of Independence and Constitution of the United States… which ensures our most important unchanging principle: Freedom. At least it ensures freedom as long as the Rule of Law is respected.

© 2011 Marilyn M. Barnewall - All Rights Reserved

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Marilyn MacGruder Barnewall began her career in 1956 as a journalist with the Wyoming Eagle in Cheyenne. During her 20 years (plus) as a banker and bank consultant, she wrote extensively for The American Banker, Bank Marketing Magazine, Trust Marketing Magazine, was U.S. Consulting Editor for Private Banker International (London/Dublin), and other major banking industry publications. She has written seven non-fiction books about banking and taught private banking at Colorado University for the American Bankers Association. She has authored seven banking books, one dog book, and one work of fiction (about banking, of course). She has served on numerous Boards in her community.

Barnewall is the former editor of The National Peace Officer Magazine and as a journalist has written guest editorials for the Denver Post, Rocky Mountain News and Newsweek, among others. On the Internet, she has written for News With Views, World Net Daily, Canada Free Press, Christian Business Daily, Business Reform, and others. She has been quoted in Time, Forbes, Wall Street Journal and other national and international publications. She can be found in Who's Who in America (2005-10), Who's Who of American Women (2006-10), Who's Who in Finance and Business (2006-10), and Who's Who in the World (2008).