The Communist Origin of the Modern Conservative Movement VI

The American Revolutionary War revolutionized warfare. Up to that point armies of great nations met on large battle fields and fought it out. America did not have a great army at the time and depended on guerilla warfare and ambush techniques. This allowed a much smaller force to overcome a large professional army. During WWII America used terrorism to defeat Germany and Japan. In Germany America started large fire storms with bombs to terrorize the civilian population. In Japan atomic bombs wiped out entire cities. The war may have been fought by convention armies but terrorism won the war. In Vietnam guerilla warfare handed America a great defeat.

Terrorism is effective because it attacks the emotional mind. Terrorism does the same thing as the twig breaking in the jungle it raises the possibility of danger in the emotional mind. Donald Trump poll number soared to 41% after the terrorist attack in California and his proposal of outright Muslim ban. Trump, possibly the most dangerous potential leader of a major nation since Hitler, was a gag political candidate with no real chance, now may be electable because of the fear sweeping America.

Modern warfare may now have evolved to point that a few terrorists armed with automatic weapons along with the new media may bring down a superpower by causing them to elect an idiot.

Terrorists don't have to kill a large number of people they just need to kill a few to make the vast majority fear that it could happen to them. Once a few people have been killed in America others see a crouching tiger around every corner waiting to strike. They say a coward dies a thousand deaths, a brave man only one.

War has always been terrorism an invading army coming into your homeland and destroying everything in sight is terrifying. Only countries can afford large armies but war is now more economically feasible for religious and dissident groups. An exploding bomb in one part of the world affected only those in the immediate area at one time now the explosion is seen around the world in seconds. The breaking twig is heard around the world. Everyone now knows the tiger is not only on the loose but is armed with explosives. The object of terrorism is to terrify and it is the most economically efficient means of war because so few can terrify so man. You no longer need be nearby the explosion to feel it you can simply sit in your living room and witness hundreds of times. The bombing of the Boston Marathon was run on television over and over and you could watch a national sporting event turn into a bloody battlefield. Now we could not only imagine the tiger in the bush we could be an eyewitness to it slaughtering other people.

Hitler believed as a 19th century German general Helmuth Moltke believed that the most cruel and inhumane form of warfare was the most humane because it ended the war sooner. The use of atomic bombs against Japan in WWII illustrated that point, the aftermath of the atomic bomb explosion rivaled the vision of any horror master in Hollywood but it is credited with ending the war much sooner. ISIS believes that by using bombs and guns designed as weapons of mass destruction on civilian populations is the best way to achieve their objectives. Fear motivates, people will move away from circumstances they fear and toward safety. You never know where terrorists will strike next this makes the whole environment unsafe.

Killing soldiers on battlefield is relatively easy, they have different uniforms and are on one side of the battlefield. But terrorists have no uniform and act and dress like the rest of the population. They are not usually found until they strike. This is a much more economic form of war and is very expensive to defend against.

ISIS' reason for the terrorist attacks is religious in nature. They have no intention of staging an invasion of America. The California terrorist was upset that America had not only established a Jewish Caliphate but continue to support it while the US fights against letting the Arabs establish their own Caliphate. Israel was a mistake a Jewish Caliphate should have never been established in the Middle East by Western countries. Religious Caliphates are a mistake anywhere. Religious Caliphates will always go to war against each other to prove their God is the one true God.

The problem is quite simply religion. We need to nuke imagination land. The foundations of all religions are is firmly rooted in imagination land.
It time to realize that people are dying for what someone else imagined hundreds of years ago. Bombs and guns of mass destruction may terrorize us but attacks on their imaginary religion will terrorize them. Imaginary creatures are always vulnerable to attack. Why would not attack the very basses of their religion? Because an attack on any religion is perceived as an attack on all religions. If one God is vulnerable and falls to reason the other Gods will fall on the same grounds.

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All the explosives in world will never kill an idea. This war is not about territory or treasure. This war is being fought over a philosophy, specifically religious philosophy. As I child I can remember watching HG Well's "War of the Worlds" in the original version the Martians are hit with all the weapons on earth and after they are hit with atomic bomb out of the smoke and fog the Martians space craft arise. At this point all is lost until the Martian crafts begin to crash. The Martians did not fall to the mightiest weapons but to the tiniest creatures on earth, germs. the Martians had no resistance. Killing people in a war of religious philosophy is a stop gap solution at best. We have to be able to attack at the heart of the problem, God. The vast majority of Americans believe that the Muslims are following a false God. In monotheist religious system their can be only one true God, all other Gods are false. But our hands are tied behind our backs in this war because we can not use rational arguments to show they are following a false God because the exact same arguments would show our God to also be a false God. It seems we are condemned to fight and die forever over imaginary beings who only dwell in imagination land.

Let's make an unfounded assumption that Christian God is real and since our religion is monotheist we know that the Christian God and only Christian God is the one true God. It would then follow that ISIS' God is a false God. How would we convince ISIS that the Christian God was real and their God was a figment of their imagination? We could and did send Mormon Missionaries to convert the heathen and save them from an eternity in hell. A Moron apostle named Orson Hyde made the journey to Jerusalem in 1841. That area of the world is of special interest to Mormons since Christianity traces it roots to that area. If Christianity is indeed the one true religion why are there so few Christians in the Middle East? The Middle East after all is the birth place of Christianity. In spite of the fact the Roman Empire had mandated Christianity as the official religion of that area it almost entirely died out and was replaced with an upstart religion that was hundreds of years younger.

Only 5% of the Middle East is Christian down from 10% in 1900 . How can this be? Christianity has declined in its homeland by a full 50% in the Middle East in the last 100 years. It is likely it will completely disappear from the Middle East in the next few hundred years like thousands of religions before it. The Mormons have a hard task before them and are far more likely to be beheaded than convert many natives.

If Christianity was the one true religion it should be easy to convert people from the other counterfeit religions. But the problems lies in the fact that any and all proof of any religion lies in imagination land. You have to convince others to imagine what you are imagining. Despite the Christian religion efforts to convert the heathens in the Middle East they reject Christianity and it remains a dying religion in that area of the world.

Religious philosophy, unlike others forms of philosophy, is instilled in children by brain washing before they each the age reason. In a free and open society no other form of philosophy uses brain washing. When children become adults they decide what type of philosophy is best. Religion is the exception. If the Christian religion is any more valid then any of the other hundred of religions it should be easy for our Mormon missionaries to quickly convert the Middle East but in fact Christianity is no more valid then any other religion and the type of religion is just a choice.

To shake the hold that religion has on the Middle East we will have to ultimately find common ground in the truth and admit that our religion is a fraud so they can also admit their religion is a fraud. Imagination land is fertile ground and Gods will always spring full grown from its soil. There are lost generations that reason will never reach in both countries. They will continue to make war in imagination land and the real world carrying the banner of their God into battle until they die. As people get older their prejudices, opinions and beliefs set up like concrete. They lose their ability to reason and mistake belief for truth. It is still possible to reach the young, though brain washed, they still retain some malleability. The hope in the Middle East lies with the young there and the young here and the rejection of imagination land. Belief is often mistaken for truth.

A manipulator needs a lever, something that lets him gain control of his victim. In most common scams that lever is the victim's belief that everyone is honest like himself. People that are honest don't need contracts, their word is their bond and if they tell somebody they are going to do something they will do it. Conmen will go door to door in a community passing out fliers this gives them time to asses their victim. They can quickly tell someone that is too trusting. If they run into someone who is street smart or suspicious they will move on. Conmen have a talent for quickly picking out targets they can take. Being able to size someone up is a talent. The conmen must also posses another important trait, like a psychopath, they lack any sense of empathy or fair play. They see the world simply as predator or prey. Of course they see themselves as the predator.

But honesty is not the only opening in a person'a character that allows the manipulator to gain control of them, religion is probably the easiest way to manipulate someone. It is one thing to take someone treasure but another to take their life. People have died for Christ and a assortment of other Gods since the beginning of time. The leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi has a PHD in Islamic studies, the fact that he has a good educations makes him less likely to believe what he preaches. Baghdadi was by all accounts was a quiet man committed to his studies who lived simply in one room attached to a mosque. during the Iraq war he was taken prisoner. In one account it was between February and December of 2004 another account said he was imprisoned from 2004 to 2009. Either way we know that it was Baby Bush who radicalized him during the Bush oil war.

As leader of ISIS, Baghdadi is in a place to manipulate large number of believers who have much less education then he has. Religion is the lever that provides the opening that allow him to gain control of them. When he tells them they must fight and die to establish a Sunni Caliphate, Gods Kingdom on earth, they will gladly go to their death and take as many other people as possible. There will always be those who believe in a flying spaghetti monster but there is hope for most people. The internet allows information to travel round the world at speeds never imagined. It exposes people to points of view that they have never been exposed to.

The internet can target the emotional mind and radicalize people or it can target the rational mind and enlighten them. People need to become aware of when they are being emotionally manipulated. Rhetoric that causes a strong emotional reaction should always be suspect. One should always be aware that there will always be people in this world who want to use you. They will send you to your death for the greater glory of God all the while they know it is figment of their imagination. .

Even some more moderate Muslims are willing to admit that the problem causing terrorism is in fact religion. They are calling for basic changes in the Muslim religion to make it less likely to spawn terrorists.

Terrorism and clinical depression are closely linked. In our society we seldom see acts of terrorism for political ends but we see acts of terrorism several times a year. Yesterday in Las Vegas a woman ran down 37 people, that was an act of terror. At one time many of the mass killings were linked to, Prozac, a drug used to treat depression. For a while the drug itself was being blamed for the mass killings but besides the drug the mass killers shared one other thing, the depression they were being treated for. I haven't heard Prozac being blamed for mass killings anymore but depression is still a factor. We know for certain depression ends in suicide for significant number of people with severe depression. Studies show that a number of car "accidents" are not accidents. They are actually suicides. Television commercials have been airing this season showing a teenager considering killing himself in a car "accident" pushing Suicide Hotline. People depressed enough that they no longer care about their own life do not care about the lives of others. A handful of these people act out killing others each year. The woman in Las Vegas is likely to have a history of depression.

The terrorists are being spawned out of dying culture. The fact that their culture is dying and they know it is dying is likely to cause depression and depression is likely plays a role in terrorism. The shooting in California and the shooting in Sandy Hook Elementary have a lot more in common than we realize. We recognize heart disease and cancer as terminal diseases but we don't think of depression as a terminal disease but until we do people will die needlessly on the highways and elementary schools. A person may have cancer and die but depression is the only disease where family and strangers die because of the disease also.

In looking at the recent shooting in California and the shooting that took place at Sandy Hook Elementary we have to realize that there are a lot more similarities than differences. Both were attacks on public buildings designed to kill the maximum number of people. A suicide bomber and a mass killer may have a lot in common. The killings in Sandy Hook seems to have no motive while the killings in California had a political motive. In war generals have political motives but soldiers only do as they are told. It is much easier to push someone over a cliff if they are standing on the ledge. A terrorist may have a special profile and that profile may be that they are already trending toward depression and would have killed themselves in the long run. By focusing the depression on a political cause they can be used like a weapon of mass destruction. The profile of a mass killer and a terrorist have more in common than many would like to admit.

Some types of cancer can be cured while some types of depression can never be cured, it can be treated and the symptoms controlled but it is never cured. Depression is the only disease that kills others besides the victim but as dangerous is ignored as the real cause.

Most people would accept the idea that is irrational to kill oneself. Someone that commits suicide would be considered irrational. We have a number of people coming into the United States from Muslim countries. There is no doubt be some terrorists will be able to immigrate along with the others. Depression may be a key marker in a terrorist profile it may make them easier to manipulate into killing others. Immigrants could be given psychological test that might indicate a personality with depressive tendencies. It would not be grounds to keep them from entering the country but it would indicate that they may need to pay special attention to them because they may be far more vulnerable to manipulation by religious extremists.

Profiling has become a reliable tool in tracking serial killers. The profiler can even predict what type of a car a serial killer is likely to drive. A good working profile on a terrorists will likely include a personality with depressive tendencies. By using scares resources to target the most likely suspects may provide the best results.

As society we are very uncomfortable with the subject of mental illness and would much rather ignore it than deal with it. We have no problem confronting cancer or other deadly diseases but we would rather ignore mental illness. In an obituary you might mention someone dying of cancer but if someone commits suicide it is seldom mention in the paper or the obituary. We believe if we ignore it will go away.

Man has a duel nature both to create and to destroy. This can often be seen in teenagers. We often see the destructive urge in teenagers who will shoot the windows out of cars for several blocks or slash tires causing tens of thousands dollars in damages for no reason. They just feel an irresistible urge to destroy things. sometime this will go on for days before they are caught. Rioters will destroy building and cars after a ball team wins. In the 60s rioters destroyed large portions of inner cities. At times many older buildings are torn down to make way for new buildings so the destructive impulse has a useful purpose.

In depression their is no doubt component of anger and envy. When teenagers go out to destroy things for no apparent reason chances are they are depressed. I had taken one of my sports car to Wall-Mart I had parked it as far away from the door as possible to avoid dents from other drivers car doors. When returned to car there was a large dent in the quarter panel where it had been hit with a rock. A thousand dollars worth of damage for no reason. Being parked by itself made the car a target.

I would submit that in the Middle East it is easy to motivate and direct the anger of those who are already depressed toward a target. We use the term suicide to denote those who kill themselves and suicide bomber to denote those who kill themselves and others with a bomb but we would never refer to solider that stormed a hopeless position as a suicide solider. Manipulators in the Middle East have found a personality trait that they can exploit. People who not afraid to die make good solider people who are not afraid to die and are already likely to kill themselves to escape their depression make terrifying weapons of mass destruction. Morality does not enter into the equation they just want to die and have no problem taking anyone with them. Why should this is just a temporary existence and the next world will be perfect and they will be free of depression.

The internet now gives the manipulators in the Middle East access to many depressed people in America. They can locate those who already are depressed and already have a high chance of committing suicide. They can give their suicide a cause, a purpose and make their death meaning. They can become not just a suicide but a martyr for the greater good of God. We have learn to understand the profile of suicide bombers as well as we do that of a serial killer.

One Sunday morning in October 40 years ago my wife got a call from her family that they believed her brother had jumped of the bridge over the Ohio River. Witnesses has seen a man climb the railing and wave to traffic as he jumped. His car was found parked at the foot of the bridge which led Police to believe it might be him. I didn't believe it could possibly be him. He was a Vietnam Vet and had a beautiful girl friend. I had seen no outward signs of depression. We spent days looking for a body with no results. One man told us what day the body would surface using the temperature of the water. His body was found on that day. Depression is a far bigger problem than we would like to admit.

Depression is the number 1 cause of disability for those 18 to 44.3 years of age. Six point seven present of the population suffers persistent depressive disorder with bout of depression usually lasting up to two years. That is 14.8 million people in the United States who suffer from this disease. Eighty percent of the people with depression never seek treatment though many self medicate with drugs and alcohol. Most people would seek medical treatment if they had symptoms of a physical disease but there is still a stigma for seeking treatment for a mental disorder.

Have you ever followed a drunken driver down a rural highway and watched him swerve into the oncoming lane when headlights approach? I always thought that it was just the drunk unable to control the car but studies from California documented that after a published suicide the single car accidents where one person died rose for a month. After a murder suicide where several people were killed the number of multicar accidents where several people were killed went up dramatically. It seems the drunks may well be rehearsing their suicide and the murder of the oncoming driver. They just ran out of nerve and got back on their side of the highway before the accident.

These are the people that ISIS will try to reach with their religious ideology over the internet. Just like the conman handing out fliers door to door they can size up their victims on the internet. The internet will let ISIS reach those they can manipulate. ISIS is likely only to reach a tiny fraction of those in the United States but even a tiny fraction can do major damage with weapons of mass destruction. A fake ISIS web site might allow us to locate people who are likely to be vulnerable to ISIS' manipulation and special attention must be paid to those who are subject to depression because it is a contributing cause.

Studies in France comparing 34,896 drivers found at fault with 37,819 drivers who were found not at fault showed that 4% of the at fault drivers had just started treatment with antidepressants or recently changed their medication. The medication may not be effective at first or when it is changed. But the real frightening statistic is that 80% of the people suffering with depression do not seek treatment. It is frightening to think when you are coming down a highway that a driver coming in the opposite direction would deliberately swerve into your lane in an attempt to end his life. Your life would just be collateral damage.

Reckless driving is often associated with a unconscious suicide wish but there are others where the suicide wish is not unconscious. This should in no way surprise us as suicide in our society is not uncommon over 49,000 people commit suicide in America each year. Car "accidents" are a frequent cause of death like guns. Each individual can chose the method of killing himself and since people die in car accidents it seems a reasonable choice. Those who reported two more previous periods of suicidal ideation were significantly more likely to be involved in an injury causing car accident.

It seems that we are all vulnerable to depressed people behind the wheel of a car but the danger increases a hundred fold when these same people have access to a gun. You might have the last clear chance to avoid an oncoming car that had targeted you and you might survive the crash but guns change the scenario now the depressed person is not attempting suicide as much as targeting you. He wants to die but lacks the courage to do it himself by killing you and your family he becomes a hunted target and his death wish will be answered.

In America psychological testing should be required before any purchase of a gun. Those that show significant psychological defect should be denied. Those that also display unconventional political ideation should be put on the terrorists watch list. We know there is a psychological profile for a terrorists just like there is one for a serial killer it is possible that a psychological profile gathered from those who purchase guns might help locate these people before they become mass killers. In other words it might be useful for finding others not just terrorists. The gun manufacturers association would of course go nuts, they just want to sell guns. They want to sell guns to every serial killer, mass killer and terrorists in America. It is mot personal it is just business.

It is important to note that depression is a catchall term describing a number of different diseases and even a natural reaction to one's life circumstances. For instance depression is a natural part of the grieving process when a loved one dies. Someone that loses a mate or a child is likely to be depressed but the depression will end in time. Many women will become depressed after age 40 but they are not likely to become a mass killer. However more serious types of depression are a problem. A full twenty percent of the people with bipolar disorder commit suicide and the average life expectancy of someone with bipolar disorder is lowered by 9 years. Major depressive disorder is another form of depression that affects people. People with major depressive disorder may have actual psychomotor retardation (an actual slowing of speech, moving and thinking) think of the cartoon character Droopy. Major depressive disorder may also lead to psychomotor agitation (observable pacing and
restlessness).

It not necessary that everyone with depression be subject to increased monitoring. Depressed middle age women are not likely to be influenced by ISIS. The elderly that have lost a mate and become depressed are not likely to buy automatic weapons and kill large number of people. Those that are so deeply depressed they can't get out of bed will never make to the gun store. Depression is the six leading cause of disability worldwide and may explain why some people never work. It is not that they a lazy but suffer from a sickness. Mental illness often mistaken for bad character.

The average onset of bipolar disorder is 25. This is a time when a young man or woman is looking to find their place in life. Adding to the problem is the fact that most people suffering from depression are misdiagnosed for ten years. Major depression drastically alters one perception of their life circumstances like putting on very dark glasses. Altering the perception of life of course alters how one reacts. There is a period of time when these people will be far more subject to influence of groups like ISIS and ISIS will troll the internet trying to locate these people in the United States. The major depression will be but one factor in a future terrorist, as feeling of being disenfranchised in our society and being devoutly religious but it is an important factor. After all for someone who deeply depressed may already be fantasizing about mass killings if ISIS makes the depressed person believe the killing for the greater glory of god they might not need a lot of convincing.

For years we accepted mass killings in America as unfortunate but an ordinary part of life. We turn a blind eye to suicide and murder on our highways. Terrorist's killing on American soil are becoming more common. But we can ignore the elephant in the room only so long and that elephant is depression.

The greatest problem we are facing in America now is drug addiction. Depression is a major player in drug addiction also as many drug users start because they are self medicating depressives. Curing and treating major depression may be far more important in the long run then curing cancer.

Iraqi forces have taken back control of Ramadi it remains to be seen whether they can keep control of the population center only 90 miles from Bagdad. Iraq is now a war torn mess, buildings and bridges destroyed. The neoconservative think tanks made a war with Iraq their highest priority back in the 90s trying to push Clinton into invading Iraq. Clinton of course refused but Baby Bush made war with Iraq an absolute priority. Bush lost the popular vote but won the electoral college an ancient hold over from a far different time. Bush's first security council meeting was about how they could convince the American people to start a war with Iraq. Rumsfeld stated they need an "incidence" as excuse to attack Iraq. The security council meeting was 8 months before 9/11 but once that happened the war against Iraq was off and running. The Baby Bush administration ignored the facts that Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11 not one hijacker was from Iraq.

Now the republican neoconservatives had their war they pushed for so long. Vice President Cheney assured the American people that the Iraqi civilians would throw rose pedals at the feet of our soldiers when we deposed Saddam that evil dictator whose black marketing of oil was forcing oil prices in the United States. But the Iraqi people did not throw rose pedals at the feet of our troops they threw improvised explosives.

When Saddam was deposed by a foreign power an ancient religious war was rekindled. With no secular government to keep the religious groups in line natural selection took over and it was going to be survival of the fittest. How different the world might have been if once cheerleader had not been handed the presidency he never won. The wisdom of the American people decided Baby Bush should have never been president. The mess Baby Bush made in Iraq for no reason has taken much of America treasure in money and lives and may lead to the destruction of the United States by bankrupting it by involving in a religious war that has been going on for centuries. Rose pedals and visions of sugar plumbs dancing in conservatives heads put America at risk and made a player in a religious war.

It was called a Project for a New American Century and indeed created a New American Century. The Project for a New American Century (PNAC) was a neoconservative think tank that founded in 1997 by William Kristol (Fox News) and Robert Kagan. PNAC stated goal was to "promote American global leadership abroad (read that to depose middle east leaders and replace them with leaders that are more friendly to US interests. In a few words they wanted to do a make over on the middle east. They believed that as the last super power left standing we were entitled to make the world over to suit large economic interests.

After WWII the Seven Sisters(the major oil companies) carved up the middle east for maximum profit. The oil companies paid the middle eastern countries less for the oil then it cost to transport it to market. Dictators were routinely installed and if they didn't cooperate they were simply assonated by hired CIA killers. After decades of business as usual the middle eastern countries began to reject the puppet government installed by the CIA and the Seven Sisters by the 70s the Middle East was changing and many middle eastern governments were no longer friendly or out right hostile to US and the US interest. Support of Israel bought us OPEC and the energy shortage.

After decades of controlling middle eastern governments it was no wonder that the neocons believed that it was our birth right to control the middle east. After the Baby Bush administration stole the election the neocons were in power and it was a forgone conclusion that we were going to start the new American make over of the middle east with Iraq. This was not a secret in this country or in the middle east. The attack on 9/11 may have been at least preemptive strike to let us know that if America attacked the middle east their would be a price to be paid. They were simply no longer going to suffer quietly under puppet dictators installed by American neocons.

Of the 25 people who signed the PNAC founding statement 10 went on to serve in the Baby Bush administration including Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, and Donald Rumsfeld these were architect of the Iraq war. Cheney told American people how rose pedals would be thrown at the feet of our soldiers after we overthrew Saddam. Cheney was wrong then and the lives and treasure it cost America was tremendous.

Now people like Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Wolfowitz are waiting in the wings to take control of our government.

Next year is an election year. The primary season starts in February. Most people think when they vote for president that they are voting for a particular person but in fact you are voting for a political philosophy and hundreds of unseen people who will be put in position of power. Many of those who gave us the Project for a New American Century (PNAC) are still political active and will back political candidates who will put them back in position of power. Did Dick Cheney ever admit how wrong he was about the rose pedals thrown at our troops feet? Not a chance he is still hoping to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

PNAC was based on Dich Cheney writing in 1992 when he was Bush I Secretary of Defense. "His writings set out a new doctrine that called for U.S. power in the 20th century, to be that of an aggressive and unilateral approach that would secure dominance of world affairs by force if necessary."

This policy of aggression and force was put into full effect when Cheney became Baby Bush's VP. Aggression and force? Were we becoming WWII Germany? America spends ten more on its military than any country in the world. When we started the Iraq war the military spending went through the roof. We are now approaching 13 years of war with Iraq that shows no sign of ending The military cost is tremendous and it is costing us the ability to maintain our infrastructure and educate the next generation. The neocon's greed for control of Iraq oil and power through force is destroying America.

Politics like religion is all about philosophy it is not about the individual. When Baby Bush placed 10 people from the Project for a New American Century (PNAC) in key places in his administration it was about political philosophy. Baby Bush actually believed that since America was the worlds only remaining super power that he should rule the world by "aggression and force." The Iraq war was only the first of many planned by the Project for a New American Century until Iraq literally blew up in their faces. Reagan never bankrupted the Soviet Union an expensive 10 year long war in Afghanistan did. The Mujahideen received support from several western countries as well as several Muslim countries. America supplied the rebels with rocket launchers to take down expensive Russian gunships. Despite the lessons of the Russian-Afghanistan war from 1979-1989 the PNAC could not wait to repeat it.

When the book "The Decline and Fall of the American Empire" is written it will trace the beginning of the fall to the Reagan Administration. Reagan changed the prevailing paradigm from a peace time economy to a perpetual war time economy. Up until Reagan higher education was a priority in America. Reagan traded books for guns. A higher education was affordable in America. I could easily pay my $129 tuition mowing lawns or working part time. We were able to pay for my daughter's college education by selling rental property but those who she works with owe hundreds of thousands. India a third world country now supplies a good portion of our engineers in America few can afford and engineering degree of course India does not pay having a standing army 10 times bigger than any country on earth. American children now realize that they may never make enough money to make a college education worth it.

Political philosophy is far more complex than simply voting for the candidate who is against abortion. Political philosophy is complex and reaches into every corner of our lives and our children lives. Reagan squandered the future of our children to start a fight down the street. Even though America was not "officially" fighting against Russia in Afghanistan our treasure was funding the Afghanistan rebels. Reagan is thought of as a tax cutter despite the fact he raised social security five time during his term in office and squandered the money in places like Afghanistan. He all but destroyed affordable higher education he set a trend that continues to this day, he changed the paradigm. There are countries who pound swords into plow shares but Reagan pounded plow shares into swords. Political philosophy is complex and shapes the future.

Once America Military got so big it was inevitable that people like Dick Cheney would look at the world and say we should rule by "force and aggression." How did that work out?
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Reagan shifted the political paradigm he wanted more guns and fewer plowshares. When a country increase spending on military it has to cut domestic spending. The political philosophy we adopt decides how the country's taxes will be spent. When America spends 10 more than any country on earth on the military we have to cut back on domestic spending and higher education which had been a priority in America was an easy target for Reagan and the conservatives. Reagan believed that the cost of a college education, that was primarily paid for by tax payers, should be shifted so college students and their parents to free up more money for military spending. Once Reagan shifted the political paradigm state authorities realized tuitions could be just like any other tax but with an important difference. People's taxes were usually taxed on what they had and percentage of what they made but now college student must borrow $100,000 or more to pay their taxes to run the colleges up front. The tuition borrowing was a multi-billion dollar windfall for bankers as most students now struggle a good portion of their working lives to pay student loans. Reagan bought back indentured servants like in days of old when immigrants would work for years to pay for their passage to America.

Prior to Reagan and the conservatives paradigm shift the operating cost of State colleges was primarily born by taxpayers and students paid a small tuition. After the student graduated he paid taxes to the state to operate the college for others. Of course this type of system cuts the multi-billion dollar Banker windfall out and Reagan and conservatives were big on big business.
Long after Reagan was dead and buried his political philosophy continues to do real damage to generations of Americans. Reagan wanted to make sure America military was more than 10 times bigger than any other country's so we could police the world with a policy of "aggression and force" but to do that there would be a cost and that cost was America's future and as old man he and the conservatives were willing to pay that price.

The tuition at Marshall University for an instate student is now $6,526 when In 1968 it was $258 year. It has increased far faster tan inflation. The increase is 2529%. The actual inflation rate for that period of time 671%. The cost of tuition has increased 4 times that of the inflation rate and tuition across America continues to increase at least twice the rate of inflation. Almost every year since Reagan was in office the state cuts the funding to colleges and increases tuition to make up the difference and the students borrow more money to pay it. America is becoming more like the classic conservative, just an ignorant red neck gun nut who thinks a gun is the answer to every question.

Once one decides to adopt a particular political philosophy they have to adopt a myriad of other political positions, in other words it is a package deal. I have been a life long liberal but abortion never concerned me. Abortion was still illegal until after I was married. When the girl got pregnant there was a typical understanding that you would do the right thing and marry her. This probably contributed to the high divorce rate, it is easier to like the girl for one night than put up with her for the next 50 years. Girls that didn't marry the father were sent out of town to unwed mothers home or to home of relatives. If a girl became pregnant she was not allowed to attend school. I will always remember being handed a close friends books after she had to leave school in her senior year. She married the father and from what I heard years later it was not a good marriage. Abortion simply never concerned me for most of my life I stayed out of the debate. I had no strong feelings one way or the other. But once I became more involved in the political process especially after working the 2004 presidential campaign abortion became an issue I would have to deal with.

Union support of democratic party was taken for granted during most of the twenty century but republicans had started to use wedge issues to divide and conquer and their has never been a wedge issue like abortion. The abortion issue broke the united front of labor. We went door to door but only to union households we were not to argue with the resident but to ask for their vote. When you encountered someone who was antiabortion no other issue mattered if the presidential candidate had been a certified mad man these people would vote for him based on that one issue. America had long prided itself on the separation between church and state. But now the churches entered the political process full force. There was no longer any separation between church and state in America. The founding fathers would have been appalled. The church I had attended as a child would put out 13,000 tiny crosses at election time to play on the emotions of people and manipulate the vote.

To argue politics on line I was forced to adopt a prochoice position on abortion. I would never really be completely comfortable with the position but it is a package deal. That one issue voters changed the face of America. America became an international bully killing hundreds of thousands and destroying a country that had nothing to do with 9/11. The war of aggression in Iraq bequeathed a monster forged from an ancient religion that threatens to destroy us economically. Higher education in America became a luxury that only the rich can now afford. The more $250,000 bombs we detonate the less we can spend on higher education. Their is an economic pie in America and if a bigger slice come out to buy guns and bombs all of the other slices must get smaller. By 2007 America was spending 20.9 % of the budget on the military. In 1996 Clinton spent $266 billion on the military in 2008 Baby Bush spent $696 billion on the military. Baby Bush increased military spending by 266%. These extra billions are taken by robbing from the future. These wars are fought with borrowed money.

The public is being manipulated from the word go. Military spending is most often referred to as "defense spending" while much of that budget is spent for "aggression and force."

We inherit a lot more from our parents than just money and property. When it comes to religion the vast majority throughout the world follow the religion of their parents. Economically most children end up in the same economic niche as their parents. Studies also show that a person's political philosophy is also most likely inherited from their parents. Our parents are simply the window to a more complex world beyond the family and our neighborhood. Our parents are also our first role models. They pass along not only what they see in the more complex world at large but more importantly how they interpret the interactions in that complex world. We learn not only to see what they see in the external world but think about it as they think about it.

My parents were good Catholic you had to be seriously ill to miss church. I escaped Catholic school by the skin of my teeth but every Wednesday evening I had religious classes. At seventeen I told my mom that I would never attend another church service and nearly five decades later that is true except for funerals and weddings. A Catholic priest once told my mom if she would send me to Catholic school I would be his for life. I suspect it might have been more likely that I convert him than him have converted me. In High School our electronics teacher had quit and since the subject was electronic theory they were never able to replace him (electronic theory was a new field at the time). To start with we did not even have a teacher to baby sit us and we used the time to argue religious philosophy. I was an army of one arguing that God did not exist and in fact had never existed. As I look back it is a wonder that our discussions never reached the attention of the principal but it was difficult to be admitted into that program and only a tiny fraction were admitted from the 1500 students. The red neck element didn't make it.

But my politics and economic niche remained pretty much that of my parents I was not politically active in college. I didn't take part in Vietnam War protests with its riots and thrown molotov cocktails. I did not even register to vote until I was 25 and that was over a local Civic Center bond issue. I was not interested in national politics but I was interested in union politics where I worked. After going back to college for a couple semesters of business law I managed to be president of the local. My union politics led me into participation in state politics and from there to national politics. My political party remains the same as my parents but after many years spent studying politics and political philosophy it didn't change my politics it affirmed them. I have often wondered if my parents had been republican would my life's experiences have reputed it or would I have altered my life to affirm their point of view.

Each of us has a life narrative which defines who we are and we are who we tell ourselves we are at least in our own. We in effect define ourselves, we pick bit and pieces of life and compose this narrative. To be sure our parents made important contribution to this narrative when we were children. This narrative has a lot to do with how we se the world at large and how we interact with that world. Had my parents been republican and shaped my early narrative so that I believed unions were corrupt it might have changed my life. As it was I was well aware that there were corrupt union officials as well as corrupt individuals. In my mind the problem was not corrupt unions as much as corrupt individuals. Unions provided better wages and better benefits and in a time of runaway inflation that was important. Our narratives not only defines ourselves but the world around us and how we interact with it.

Just as parents help shape their children's narratives leaders and manipulators help shape people's narratives later in life. Take someone who a religious leader convinces them to alter his narrative to believe that he is an ISIS fighter. Once he believes he is on earth to do God's bidding he will drastically alter not only his life's course but the course of other's lives as well. What we tell ourselves about ourselves is important and what other's tell us about ourselves always pass through a filter and having a good filter is also important.