Curtis Dahlgren
Give us this day our daily WONDER bread, Mr. President?
By Curtis Dahlgren
"Never let yourself be persuaded that any one Great Man, any one leader, is necessary to the salvation of America." — Dwight D. Eisenhower
"Nothing is so vulnerable as entrenched success." — George Romney
ON ONE AWARDS SHOW, a so-called celebrity didn't say "Thanks Mom," but instead said that "first we must thank our Lord and Savior, Barack Obama." Without going quite that far, one of our locals wrote a letter to the editor in praise of the President, unions, and the wisdom of the voters. Here are some excerpts of the letter I wrote in reply (quote):
We hate to burst his bubble, but I must respond to your November 15th letter writer, who said: "let's be honest. If you don't make a decent wage you can't buy a $40,000 pickup truck."
Mister, you are confused. Why do think an American pickup has to cost $40,000 and why the Janesville Chevy plant is idle? You are confusing economic freedom and a utopian equality of outcome; you're confusing the symptoms and the causes of our nation's problems; you confuse collectivism and individual initiative and responsibility.
Unions had their place and their time, before they became greedy. When Eastern Airlines went belly up, the striking mechanics on the picket lines chanted "We WON, we WON!" (sounds like some of our local liberals after the 2012 election). The layoffs have not yet begun to fall (just like the 4th quarter of 2008 — after the election)! Fewer people are working now than when the Prez was inaugurated, and the liberals just don't see what's coming.
Frank Maguire says that "you can wake up a person who is sleeping, but you can't wake up someone who is just pretending to be asleep" [i.e., leave me alone!]. The saying evidently came out of the Roman Republic. Hundreds of years earlier, a Hebrew prophet said:
"They have eyes to see, but they see not" [i.e., the blind seem to be leading the blind].
Happy is the man who is looking forward to his next new pickup truck, but don't be surprised if the pricetag is out of sight, with the cost of food and fuel and everything else — including your taxes, going up. Personally, I've had to go on high blood pressure medication since the election.
Since coming to America, four generations of Dahlgrens have never been unemployed or on food stamps. We were non-union for the most part. My nephew is a businessman who will soon be punished for working so hard and being "too successful." Well, Mr. President, you think you won that election? You didn't do that; "someone else did that."
My dad paid $18,000 for his first farm at the age of 45, and he would have thought it almost a sin to pay $40,000 for just a truck! We proudly drove a 1932 Ford truck until 1950. My first car was a Studebaker and I'm now driving a car that's worth $200 if the gas tank is half full, and I'm as happy as a Lark with it. Tell the Hostess workers that it's not all gold that glitters.
Have a Twinkie and a nice day. HoHo ho, ho ho hum; the EPA and the unions killed another one (I could call them Ding Dongs, but I didn't do it). You WONDER what they were thinking, eh? Wouldn't it be funny if Hostess ended up being saved by Bain Capital? Dolly Madison must be rolling over in her grave. [end quote]
"Put not your trust in princes, in whom is no help." — Jeremiah
P.S. You do realize, don't you, that "salvation" is what Liberalism is "all about"? I'm talking "salvation" from the consequences of stupid decisions (temporary material salvation):
In the "Life of Julia," her daily bread really does come from Uncle Sam, and she's not even required to look for work.
Julia's daughter is pregnant? Don't sweat it; just kill the grandchild (wouldn't want her to be 'punished' with a child).
Julia's new boyfriend is in trouble with the law? Don't sweat it; hire a lawyer paid for by the "working taxpayers" of the middle class.
Julia's former boss went bankrupt? The creep better get himself a job (somebody's got to pay for the ObamaCare).
PPS: I don't think the average man on the street will start paying attention to our fiscal problems until the state Lotto checks start bouncing. Rush says that Santa Claus is retiring because he's been replaced. Rumor has it that the Obomas are putting up 56 Christmas trees and a picture of Rudolph on Air Force One. And Julia and Uncle Sam lived happily ever after!
Meanwhile back at the Capitol building, Congress is in a quandary. When you've been violating the Laws of Nature as long as the government has, whatever you do next will be the wrong thing. Like taking a swig of scalding hot coffee, do you swallow or spit it out?
The President says "WE WON. Take it or leave it!" As Charles Krauthammer says, Grant beat Lee too, but "Lee got a better deal."
Meanwhile, FEMA is one blizzard away from going bankrupt too. First it was Atlantic City; now it's northern California. Who says there's no God?
Mark Steyn says that a strip club blew up in Springfield, Massachusetts and the poles took out an electric substation a block away. He's such a kidder, but who knows; maybe FEMA will come to the rescue with new G-strings, whatever they are.
PPPS: I seriously want to review a book entitled "The Light and the Glory" by Peter Marshall, Jr. and David Manuel. Maybe next time, but here's a little appetizer:
"America, America — until about 15years ago, the name by itself would evoke a feeling of warmth. Whether it was pride or gratitude or hope, the response of the majority of people on earth was deeply positive. America's moral and fiscal currency was the soundest in the world; you could bank on it . . .
"The American Dream was about to come true. And then, with a suddenness that is still bewildering, everything went out of balance. Our military ventures ceased to go according to the script . . . Domestically, our economy waxed increasingly erratic . . . Our children's mathematics and English aptitudes were plummeting; by college-entrance standards they were two years behind the averages of a decade before."
1997? NO — 1977 is when those words were published, and 15 years before that would have been 1962 (when the generation that was intellectually stunted by two years began blowing up and burning down university buildings!). Marshal and Manuel go on to say, in the preface:
"Psychiatry could not begin to cope with the tidal wave of mental and emotional disorders which seemed to break upon the land, claiming one hospital bed in three . . . And yet, sexual promiscuity, which we scrambled to accommodate through legalized abortion, permissive sex education, and ever more effective birth preventatives, was not in itself the most telling sign of the depth of the moral decay . . .
"The most significant index of the extent of our moral decay was our very indifference to it."
The book chronicles the faith of the early "Americans," from Christopher Columbus to the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The former was a historic trail blazer but a lousy governor (of Espanola). The latter had both good governors, pastors, and laypersons — people who believed that God could stop a drought because they had witnessed it more than once.
"The Light and the Glory" is now one of my favorite books of all time. The title was taken from a quotation of John Adams, who said to his wife Abigail in 1776:
"I am well aware of the toil and blood and treasure that it will cost us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet through all the gloom I can see rays of ravishing light and glory.'
THAT WAS THEN AND NOW IS NOW THOUGH.
THE JURY IS STILL OUT AT "THIS POINT IN TIME."
© Curtis Dahlgren
December 5, 2012
"Never let yourself be persuaded that any one Great Man, any one leader, is necessary to the salvation of America." — Dwight D. Eisenhower
"Nothing is so vulnerable as entrenched success." — George Romney
ON ONE AWARDS SHOW, a so-called celebrity didn't say "Thanks Mom," but instead said that "first we must thank our Lord and Savior, Barack Obama." Without going quite that far, one of our locals wrote a letter to the editor in praise of the President, unions, and the wisdom of the voters. Here are some excerpts of the letter I wrote in reply (quote):
We hate to burst his bubble, but I must respond to your November 15th letter writer, who said: "let's be honest. If you don't make a decent wage you can't buy a $40,000 pickup truck."
Mister, you are confused. Why do think an American pickup has to cost $40,000 and why the Janesville Chevy plant is idle? You are confusing economic freedom and a utopian equality of outcome; you're confusing the symptoms and the causes of our nation's problems; you confuse collectivism and individual initiative and responsibility.
Unions had their place and their time, before they became greedy. When Eastern Airlines went belly up, the striking mechanics on the picket lines chanted "We WON, we WON!" (sounds like some of our local liberals after the 2012 election). The layoffs have not yet begun to fall (just like the 4th quarter of 2008 — after the election)! Fewer people are working now than when the Prez was inaugurated, and the liberals just don't see what's coming.
Frank Maguire says that "you can wake up a person who is sleeping, but you can't wake up someone who is just pretending to be asleep" [i.e., leave me alone!]. The saying evidently came out of the Roman Republic. Hundreds of years earlier, a Hebrew prophet said:
"They have eyes to see, but they see not" [i.e., the blind seem to be leading the blind].
Happy is the man who is looking forward to his next new pickup truck, but don't be surprised if the pricetag is out of sight, with the cost of food and fuel and everything else — including your taxes, going up. Personally, I've had to go on high blood pressure medication since the election.
Since coming to America, four generations of Dahlgrens have never been unemployed or on food stamps. We were non-union for the most part. My nephew is a businessman who will soon be punished for working so hard and being "too successful." Well, Mr. President, you think you won that election? You didn't do that; "someone else did that."
My dad paid $18,000 for his first farm at the age of 45, and he would have thought it almost a sin to pay $40,000 for just a truck! We proudly drove a 1932 Ford truck until 1950. My first car was a Studebaker and I'm now driving a car that's worth $200 if the gas tank is half full, and I'm as happy as a Lark with it. Tell the Hostess workers that it's not all gold that glitters.
Have a Twinkie and a nice day. HoHo ho, ho ho hum; the EPA and the unions killed another one (I could call them Ding Dongs, but I didn't do it). You WONDER what they were thinking, eh? Wouldn't it be funny if Hostess ended up being saved by Bain Capital? Dolly Madison must be rolling over in her grave. [end quote]
"Put not your trust in princes, in whom is no help." — Jeremiah
P.S. You do realize, don't you, that "salvation" is what Liberalism is "all about"? I'm talking "salvation" from the consequences of stupid decisions (temporary material salvation):
In the "Life of Julia," her daily bread really does come from Uncle Sam, and she's not even required to look for work.
Julia's daughter is pregnant? Don't sweat it; just kill the grandchild (wouldn't want her to be 'punished' with a child).
Julia's new boyfriend is in trouble with the law? Don't sweat it; hire a lawyer paid for by the "working taxpayers" of the middle class.
Julia's former boss went bankrupt? The creep better get himself a job (somebody's got to pay for the ObamaCare).
PPS: I don't think the average man on the street will start paying attention to our fiscal problems until the state Lotto checks start bouncing. Rush says that Santa Claus is retiring because he's been replaced. Rumor has it that the Obomas are putting up 56 Christmas trees and a picture of Rudolph on Air Force One. And Julia and Uncle Sam lived happily ever after!
Meanwhile back at the Capitol building, Congress is in a quandary. When you've been violating the Laws of Nature as long as the government has, whatever you do next will be the wrong thing. Like taking a swig of scalding hot coffee, do you swallow or spit it out?
The President says "WE WON. Take it or leave it!" As Charles Krauthammer says, Grant beat Lee too, but "Lee got a better deal."
Meanwhile, FEMA is one blizzard away from going bankrupt too. First it was Atlantic City; now it's northern California. Who says there's no God?
Mark Steyn says that a strip club blew up in Springfield, Massachusetts and the poles took out an electric substation a block away. He's such a kidder, but who knows; maybe FEMA will come to the rescue with new G-strings, whatever they are.
PPPS: I seriously want to review a book entitled "The Light and the Glory" by Peter Marshall, Jr. and David Manuel. Maybe next time, but here's a little appetizer:
"America, America — until about 15years ago, the name by itself would evoke a feeling of warmth. Whether it was pride or gratitude or hope, the response of the majority of people on earth was deeply positive. America's moral and fiscal currency was the soundest in the world; you could bank on it . . .
"The American Dream was about to come true. And then, with a suddenness that is still bewildering, everything went out of balance. Our military ventures ceased to go according to the script . . . Domestically, our economy waxed increasingly erratic . . . Our children's mathematics and English aptitudes were plummeting; by college-entrance standards they were two years behind the averages of a decade before."
1997? NO — 1977 is when those words were published, and 15 years before that would have been 1962 (when the generation that was intellectually stunted by two years began blowing up and burning down university buildings!). Marshal and Manuel go on to say, in the preface:
"Psychiatry could not begin to cope with the tidal wave of mental and emotional disorders which seemed to break upon the land, claiming one hospital bed in three . . . And yet, sexual promiscuity, which we scrambled to accommodate through legalized abortion, permissive sex education, and ever more effective birth preventatives, was not in itself the most telling sign of the depth of the moral decay . . .
"The most significant index of the extent of our moral decay was our very indifference to it."
The book chronicles the faith of the early "Americans," from Christopher Columbus to the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The former was a historic trail blazer but a lousy governor (of Espanola). The latter had both good governors, pastors, and laypersons — people who believed that God could stop a drought because they had witnessed it more than once.
"The Light and the Glory" is now one of my favorite books of all time. The title was taken from a quotation of John Adams, who said to his wife Abigail in 1776:
"I am well aware of the toil and blood and treasure that it will cost us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet through all the gloom I can see rays of ravishing light and glory.'
THAT WAS THEN AND NOW IS NOW THOUGH.
THE JURY IS STILL OUT AT "THIS POINT IN TIME."
© Curtis Dahlgren
The views expressed by RenewAmerica columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of RenewAmerica or its affiliates.
(See RenewAmerica's publishing standards.)
