How to Save America – In Three Words

Ronald Reagan used to say “There are no easy answers, but there are simple answers. We must have the courage to do what we know is morally right.” Back in the 1980′s when Ronny was president, Americans had attention spans long enough to watch an entire music video on MTV. Those days, alas, are history. The modern voter, “prepared” for life by our failing “educational” system could never be expected to pay attention to anything for three whole minutes. That’s really just expecting too much from a generation of voters who are accustomed to the majority of their reading occurring via text messages on mobile telephones.

To reach those voters, we need simple messages. These are often called “memes”.  These are far shorter than the “sound bites” that we complained about back in the 1980′s.  Here are a series of memes which document how we can pull America back from the brink of destruction — in three words:

• Enforce the Constitution
• Demand Government Accountability
• Prosecute Government Officials
• Repeal Unconstitutional Legislation
• Reduce Government Footprint
• Balanced Budget Amendment
• Federal Hiring Freeze
• Term Limit Politicians
• Require Voter ID
• Eliminate National Debt
• Reduce Tax Burden
• Eliminate Unnecessary Bureaucracy
• Reduce Government Overhead
• Sell Government Assets
• Eliminate Government Subsidies
• Respect Taxpayer Dollars
• Simplify Tax System
• Eliminate Unnecessary Agencies
• Outsource Federal Agencies

These are just examples. You can find more memes about how to save America in three words from our followers on Twitter: #ThreeWordsToSaveAmerica.

Memorial Day Quotes

Courtesy of Memorial Day Quotes, here are some inspirational quotes for this solemn day:

It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived. — General George S. Patton

All we have of freedom, all we use or know -
This our fathers bought for us long and long ago.
– Rudyard Kipling, The Old Issue, 1899

Although no sculptured marble should rise to their memory, nor engraved stone bear record of their deeds, yet will their remembrance be as lasting as the land they honored. — Daniel Webster

We come, not to mourn our dead soldiers, but to praise them. — Francis A. Walker

The brave die never, though they sleep in dust:
Their courage nerves a thousand living men.
– Minot J. Savage

I have never been able to think of the day as one of mourning; I have never quite been able to feel that half-masted flags were appropriate on Decoration Day. I have rather felt that the flag should be at the peak, because those whose dying we commemorate rejoiced in seeing it where their valor placed it. We honor them in a joyous, thankful, triumphant commemoration of what they did. — Benjamin Harrison

Cover them over with beautiful flowers,
Deck them with garlands, those brothers of ours,
Lying so silent by night and by day
Sleeping the years of their manhood away.
Give them the meed they have won in the past;
Give them the honors their future forcast;
Give them the chaplets they won in the strife;
Give them the laurels they lost with their life.
– Will Carleton

Decoration Day is the most beautiful of our national holidays…. The grim cannon have turned into palm branches, and the shell and shrapnel into peach blossoms. — Thomas Bailey Aldrich

And I’m proud to be an American,
where at least I know I’m free.
And I won’t forget the men who died,
who gave that right to me.
– Lee Greenwood

The legacy of heroes is the memory of a great name and the inheritance of a great example. — Benjamin Disraeli

They are dead; but they live in each Patriot’s breast,
And their names are engraven on honor’s bright crest.
– Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Perform, then, this one act of remembrance before this Day passes – Remember there is an army of defense and advance that never dies and never surrenders, but is increasingly recruited from the eternal sources of the American spirit and from the generations of American youth. — W.J. Cameron

With the tears a Land hath shed
Their graves should ever be green.
– Thomas Bailey Aldrich

On thy grave the rain shall fall from the eyes of a mighty nation! — Thomas William Parsons

Green sods are all their monuments; and yet it tells
A nobler history than pillared piles,
Or the eternal pyramids.
– James Gates Percival

Are they dead that yet speak louder than we can speak, and a more universal language? Are they dead that yet act? Are they dead that yet move upon society and inspire the people with nobler motives and more heroic patriotism? — Henry Ward Beecher

Is’t death to fall for Freedom’s right?
He’s dead alone who lacks her light!
– Thomas Campbell

They fell, but o’er their glorious grave
Floats free the banner of the cause they died to save.
– Francis Marion Crawford

For love of country they accepted death… — James A. Garfield

Blow out, you bugles, over the rich Dead!
There’s none of these so lonely and poor of old,
But, dying, has made us rarer gifts than gold.
– Rupert Brooke

Peace to each manly soul that sleepeth;
Rest to each faithful eye that weepeth…
– Thomas Moore

But the freedom that they fought for, and the country grand they wrought for,
Is their monument to-day, and for aye.
– Thomas Dunn English

The patriot’s blood is the seed of Freedom’s tree. — Thomas Campbell

Better than honor and glory, and History’s iron pen,
Was the thought of duty done and the love of his fellow-men.
– Richard Watson Gilder

The story of America’s quest for freedom is inscribed on her history in the blood of her patriots. — Randy Vader

We who are left how shall we look again
Happily on the sun or feel the rain
Without remembering how they who went
Ungrudgingly and spent
Their lives for us loved, too, the sun and rain?
– Wilfred Wilson Gibson

Our battle-fields, safe in the keeping
Of Nature’s kind, fostering care,
Are blooming, – our heroes are sleeping, -
And peace broods perennial there.
– John H. Jewett

Their own souls rose and cried
Alarum when they heard the sudden wail
Of stricken freedom and along the gale
Saw her eternal banner quivering wide.
– John LeGay Brereton

The dead soldier’s silence sings our national anthem. — Aaron Kilbourn

Our cheer goes back to them, the valiant dead!
Laurels and roses on their graves to-day,
Lilies and laurels over them we lay,
And violets o’er each unforgotten head.
– Richard Hovey

But fame is theirs – and future days
On pillar’d brass shall tell their praise;
Shall tell – when cold neglect is dead -
“These for their country fought and bled.”
– Philip Freneau

Let no vandalism of avarice or neglect, no ravages of time, testify to the present or to the coming generations, that we have forgotten, as a people, the cost of a free and undivided Republic. — John A. Logan

Spirit, that made those heroes dare
To die, and leave their children free,
Bid Time and Nature gently spare
The shaft we raise to them and thee.
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

Alas, how can we help but mourn
When hero bosoms yield their breath!
A century itself may bear
But once the flower of such a death.
– S. Weir Mitchell

They hover as a cloud of witnesses above this Nation. — Henry Ward Beecher

These martyrs of patriotism gave their lives for an idea. — Schuyler Colfax

They saw their injured country’s woe;
The flaming town, the wasted field;
Then rushed to meet the insulting foe;
They took the spear, – but left the shield.
– Philip Freneau

“Dead upon the field of glory,”
Hero fit for song and story.
– John Randolph Thompason

Knights of the spirit; warriors in the cause
Of justice absolute ‘twixt man and man.
– Richard Watson Gilder

Their silent wounds have speech
More eloquent than men;
Their tones can deeper reach
Than human voice or pen.
– William Woodman

These heroes are dead. They died for liberty – they died for us. They are at rest. They sleep in the land they made free, under the flag they rendered stainless, under the solemn pines, the sad hemlocks, the tearful willows, and the embracing vines. They sleep beneath the shadows of the clouds, careless alike of sunshine or of storm, each in the windowless Place of Rest. Earth may run red with other wars – they are at peace. In the midst of battle, in the roar of conflict, they found the serenity of death. I have one sentiment for soldiers living and dead: cheers for the living; tears for the dead. — Robert G. Ingersoll

Your silent tents of green
We deck with fragrant flowers;
Yours has the suffering been,
The memory shall be ours.
– Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

How sleep the brave, who sink to rest,
By all their country’s wishes blest!
When Spring, with dewy fingers cold,
Returns to deck their hallow’d mould,
She there shall dress a sweeter sod
Than Fancy’s feet have ever trod.
By fairy hands their knell is rung,
There Honour comes, a pilgrim gray,
To bless the turf that wraps their clay;
And Freedom shall awhile repair,
To dwell, a weeping hermit, there.
– William Collins

And they who for their country die shall fill an honored grave, for glory lights the soldier’s tomb, and beauty weeps the brave. — Joseph Drake

The Flag still floats unblotted with defeat!
But ah the blood that keeps its ripples red,
The starry lives that keep its field alight.
– Rupert Hughes

Life hangs as nothing in the scale against dear Liberty! — Lucy Larcom

A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself. — Joseph Campbell

Recession Proof Jobs

The recession, or depression, is upon us — and it doesn’t look like it’s going away any time in the next few years.  The unemployment rate is higher than it has been since the Carter recession.  The average length of unemployment has reached record highs and millions of Americans have been unemployed so long that the government no longer includes them in the official unemployment statistics. The Obama adminstration is spending trillions of dollars it hasn’t collected yet, and stock market insiders are selling thirty times more stock than they are buying.  Times are hard and they are going to get a lot harder.

But that doesn’t mean we can sit down and quit.  Not all of us can go on the government dole.  So, what jobs are going to be “recession proof” during this economic storm?

Government Jobs

The economy may be shedding jobs like crazy, but the government is growing at the fastest rate since WWII.  Federal agencies are creating tens of thousands of pages of new regulations for Americans to follow and someone is going to have to enforce those regulations.

In addition, government jobs pay a lot better than free market jobs and it’s almost impossible to get fired from one.  The average American earns $39.751/yr; the average government worked is paid $74,519/yr.

Health Jobs

The government has decided to provide “free” health care to everyone.  There is no way this can be done with the number of medical professionals currently working in the United States.  The industry is going to have to nearly double it’s size to keep up with demand once it’s services become free.

Even if the government doesn’t manage to legislate free health care, the “baby boomer” generation is retiring now and they are going to need a lot of caretakers to see them through their “golden years.”

Security Jobs

The rising unemployment rate will eventually lead to much higher crime rates.  In addition, the government is passing new laws at an alarming rate, and that places additional burdens on law-enforcement agencies.

The current administration’s policies of terrorist appeasement are certain to encourage more attacks on Americans and America’s allies. Look for security to be an in-demand field for the forseeable future.

Basic Services

These are the last things to be cut during hard economic times.  Garbage men, water plant workers, and grocery store employees may be some of the least troubled people during the next few years.

Contract Security Jobs

With the US economy in the tank and no “green shoots” of recovery in sight, a lot of GI’s coming home from overseas deployments are transitioning from the front lines to the unemployment lines. The military provides outplacement services, but helping veterans find civilian jobs isn’t exactly the military’s core competency.

A lot of soldiers are re-enlisting to avoid entering the current civilian economy, some of the best and brightest operators are choosing a third option — contract security jobs. These jobs are similar to the jobs which the soldiers did in the Army or Marine Corps, but they are private-sector jobs with higher pay and better quarters.

These jobs may put the soldier right back into the war zone which he left, or they might put him into a more pacified nation like Qatar. With the rising profitability of piracy off the coast of Africa, many of these jobs are now based on ships.

Common tasks include convoy security, facility security, and executive protection. Specialist tasks cover everything from K-9 handling to IT security to training indigenous personnel. Management positions are fairly common, as many developing nations lack the capability to train senior security personnel.

Working Conditions

These jobs are in dangerous places and that always adds stress. However, this is the same stress faced by soldiers and contract security personnel are better paid and can quit any time they wish — although they will forfeit bonuses for contract completion. The fact that the team members can quit motivates the companies to treat them better than the military treats its personnel. These companies also can’t afford the bad press they would get from treating personnel poorly, while the military often seems perversely proud of the hardships they inflict upon the troops.

While conditions are usually better than you experienced in the military, these jobs almost always entail doing dangerous work under unpleasant conditions in places where almost everyone wants to emigrate from. You may be shot at and, as Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods discovered, you can’t expect support from the United States government.

 Tips

• Talk to current and former employees of any company to which you are entrusting your life to see how the company treats its employees.
• Be prepared to negotiate to receive the best salary, you’re not in the military any more.
• Get your duty station and preferably your position confirmed in writing before you sign anything.
• If the contract completion bonus is too high a percentage of the total compensation, the company is having a retention problem. There is usually a reason for this.

Going Galt in 2013

The term “Going Galt” is a reference to Ayn Rand’s epic novel Atlas Shrugged. In the book, John Galt is subject to forced unionization when the founder of the automobile company for which he works dies and his liberal children inherit the plant. John responds by leaving the company, but also by starting an underground movement to encourage the best and the brightest to withdraw from the corrupt society which was leeching the value from their lives.

Eventually, most of the “strikers” made their way to a hidden valley in Colorado, colloquially referred to as “Galt’s Gulch.” Not all of the strikers did that though. John stayed in New York City and traveled extensively to recruit new members. Francisco d’Anconia traveled the world, living the life of a genius playboy, as part of a larger plan to bankrupt corrupt businesses and governments. Ragnar Danneskjöld took up piracy on the high seas as a method of liberating tax money from governments and giving it back to the legitimate owners. Hugh Akston gave up his position as a professor of philosophy to become a cook at a roadside diner.

Clearly, “Going Galt” does not mean the same thing to all people. Going Galt is a very individual expression. Your method of Going Galt depends upon your own interests, skills, resources, and opportunities. The current state of surveillance technology makes living together in a Colorado valley unfeasible. You may decide to make your own gulch overseas or, like John, your gulch may be a hidden room in a dingy New York City apartment.

After discussion with a large number of individuals who are either in the process of Going Galt or who have already gone, I have determined that most “Going Galt” activities fall into four major categories:

• Earn Less Taxable Income
• Reduce Expenses and Pay Less Sales Tax
• Civil Disobedience
• Prepare for the Collapse

Earn Less Taxable Income

Income taxes are the governments number one tool for confiscating money from its legitimate owners. The best way to limit the power of a government is to reduce its access to cash.

These are some of the methods modern day “strikers” are using to restrict government leeching of their incomes:

• Contribute the maximum allowable amount to your 401k plan.
• Contribute the maximum allowable amount to an IRA.
• Contribute the maximum allowable amount to a Health Savings Account.
• Barter goods and services with your neighbors when possible.
• If you have current investments, hold them long-term to avoid short-term capital gains taxes.
• Avoid selling investments until capital gains taxes are reduced or eliminated.
• Relocate to a state which charges lower or no income taxes.
• Move overseas to take advantage of the expat tax deduction.
• Change your work schedule to part-time and use the extra time to work on your own projects.

Reduce Expenses and Pay Less Sales Tax

Everything you buy is paid for with a small amount of your freedom. Reducing your expenses lets you keep more of your freedom. As a bonus, reducing your spending also helps keep money out of the hands of government.

Here are the strategies people are using to reduce their expenses and keep money in their own pockets:

• Don’t buy anything you don’t absolutely have to buy.
• Repair and reuse when possible instead of buying replacements.
• Barter goods and services with your neighbors when possible.
• Plant a garden to grow foods and spices instead of buying them.
• Hunt large and small game for meat when possible.
• Eat at home instead of paying a lot more to eat at restaurants.
• Buy used goods whenever possible, to avoid sales taxes.
• Buy over the Internet when possible, to avoid sales taxes.
• Hold a yard sale to help your neighbors avoid buying new products.
• Stop supporting leftist Hollywood by watching their movies – read books instead.
• Walk or bicycle whenever possible instead of driving to avoid gasoline taxes.
• Relocate to a state which charges lower or no sales taxes.

Prepare for the Collapse

The socialist systems under which we currently toil continue to survive only by leeching off of a dwindling number of productive citizens. This is unsustainable — eventually these systems must collapse. The decision of productive individuals to Go Galt will only serve to accelerate the inevitable. When these corrupt governments collapse, generations of humans who have no experience in providing for themselves will be left to steal, beg, or starve.

Here are a few steps you should be taking to prepare for the coming collapse:

• Stockpile water, food, and ammunition to prepare for coming shortages.
• Practice canning and dehydrating food for long-term storage.
• Invest in small amounts of physical silver and gold.
• Put together a good first-aid kit, including antibiotics, medicines, local anesthesia, scalpels, and suturing equipment.
• Train in basic health care to prepare for rationing.
• Train in self-defense and tactical skills.
• Fortify your home to protect your family against looters.
• Connect with like-minded individuals to prepare for the coming crash together.

Civil Disobedience

This is where things get serious. This isn’t just trying to escape from a corrupt society and let it collapse; many of these steps involve making active decisions and taking risks that could negatively affect your personal liberty. Nonetheless, many people feel that the hope of living in a truly free world is worth the risk.

Here are a few tips to frustrate the tyranny of bureaucratic authoritarianism:

• Comply with government orders as slowly as possible.
• Fill out government forms incompletely and illegibly.
• Pay all taxes and fines at the last possible legal moment.
• Make it difficult for the government to enforce all unconstitutional or immoral laws.
• As a juror, exercise your right to nullify unconstitutional or immoral laws.
• Take multiple copies of all printed government forms to increase their costs.
• Take a job with the government, and then don’t do it.
• Boycott government propaganda outlets such as PBS and NPR.
• Get your money invested offshore while it is still safe and legal to do so.

The corrupt socialist regime under which you live may not collapse in your lifetime, but these steps will help you to retrieve the maximum amount of your freedom from their clutches. In addition, following these “Going Galt” strategies should help to improve your security, lower your stress level, and build your personal self-confidence.

Boycott Those Who Seek to Oppress You

There are plenty of bad people in the world who seek to limit our liberties. Unfortunately, instead of actively opposing these people, most of us are actually supporting these people. We are doing this by doing business with the businesses which these people use to fund their political activities. We are paying for our own oppression.

Who Are These People and Companies?

The most obvious offenders are the news media. ABC, CBC, NBC, and CNN top the list. Numerous magazines and newspapers are also hostile to liberty. When we watch these stations or advertise on them, we are effectively telling them that we approve of their continual assaults on our liberty.

The second tier of obvious offenders are the entertainment media. This includes almost every Hollywood studio and many individual entertainers. There are too many to list. In general, if you are watching a movie or a television show or listening to mass-market music — you are supporting your own oppression.

Selected Studios:

• DreamWorks Animation (Jeffrey Katzenberg – top Obama bundler)
• Warner Brothers (Barry and Wendy Meyer – top Obama bundler)
• Lions Gate Films (Distributor of Fahrenheit 911)
• DreamWorks SKG (Andy Spahn – top Obama bundler)
• DreamWorks (George Soros)

Selected Musicians:

• Jon Bon Jovi (leftist activist)
• Bruce Springsteen (leftist activist)

These offenders tend to be extremely obvious. They produce films, television shows, and music which clearly promote socialist values. Far more insidious are the product companies which appear innocent and then use the profits from your business to promote socialist causes.

Selected Companies:

• Heinz (Theresa Heinz Kerry and John Kerry)
• Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream (Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield)
• Stonyfield Farm (Gary Hirshberg)
• Craigslist (Craig Newmark)
• Progressive Insurance – (Peter B. Lewis)
• Choice Hotels International / Comfort Inn / Comfort Suites / Quality Inn / Sleep Inn / Clarion / Cambria Suites / Mainstay Suites / Suburban Extended Stay Hotel / Econo Lodge / Rodeway Inn / Ascend Collection (Stewart Bainum – top Obama bundler)
• Centerbridge Partners / Extended Stay Hotels / PF Chang’s (Mark Gallogly – top Obama bundler)

Here’s where things get sticky. We are talking about punishing an entire company for the actions of a single individual — who is perhaps not even the majority owner of the enterprise. If we do not do this, these people and organizations will continue to use our own funds to work against us. We do not owe these people a fair trial — they do not have a right to our business. We can just as well offer our business to individuals and companies without ulterior motives or with political beliefs more in accord with our own.

Each buying decision is your own. No one is forcing you not to do business with anyone. What I would encourage is that you research the people and companies with which you do business and make your own decisions.

Please Comment

The companies and individuals listed above are merely examples. If you have additional companies or individuals to list, please add them in the comments. If you have supporting (or refuting) data on an entry in this list, please add that data in the comments also. I will periodically update this article with new data from the comments and from other sources.