Dakota Beacon

Eat your Slice of the Federal Pie but Don’t Spill

Grover Norquist once asked me why North Dakota had a state owned bank and mill & elevator. He also wanted to know why North Dakotans vote for the Republican candidate for president as well as most state elected offices… but keep sending Democrats to the U.S. House and Senate.

The answer to the first question was relatively easy to answer; out-of-state millers were paying farmers less than the cost of production for their wheat, causing farmers to go broke by the thousands. The state mill was constructed to insure farmers were paid a minimum price for their wheat and the state bank was chartered to provide low cost financing so farmers could remain on the land. North Dakota’s self-preservation was assured.

I answered the second question by explaining that, like most decisions made in a capitalist system; the decisions of voters in North Dakota were motivated by greed. They choose Republicans for statewide elected offices to keep state taxation as low as possible while electing Democrats to the U.S. House and Senate to bring home an optimal slice of the federal pie. Further, they vote for a Republican president to insure that a minimal amount of the pie is wasted.

The results of this week’s election prove that this method of optimizing the money in one’s pocket is not unique to North Dakota. Too many Americans, on November 6^th, 2012 elected “Scrooge” at the state level and “Santa Clause” to the U.S. Senate.

Who will pay the Piper?

Unfortunately, however, since 1999 the federal funds that find their way into our pockets are being borrowed from the neighbor (China Japan, etc.) to be re-paid by our grandchildren, a sickness with no apparent cure. America’s ailment is perhaps best described as a form of “dementia” caused by decades of hangovers due to over-indulgence and impulsiveness.

During the final stages of dementia, which occur five to 10 years after diagnosis (2017 to 2022), people lose the ability to respond to their environment, the ability to speak, and, eventually, the ability to control movement. Knowing what to expect during the final stages of dementia can help the caregiver as well as the person suffering from dementia to understand how the disease may progress and to make plans accordingly.

Socialism, the Equality that is Poverty Itself

The first symptom, the inability to respond to their environment, was evident this week as the “takings coalition” attempted to vote itself a limitless credit card. The next symptom will become evident during the next two years as many of us will seemingly lose our ability to speak out due to an increasingly oppressive executive branch that renders the legislative branch (our “brains”) powerless. And toward the end of this national dementia, even our ability to move to where the jobs are may well be discouraged by “big brother”.

Understanding what is happening, though, helps us realize that we have the opportunity to formulate plans for the end game of socialism. We have only to look at the collapse of the Soviet Union to realize what our national future looks like and to act to minimize the damage to our own individual lives. Again, unfortunately, those actions we must take are the opposite of what our national economy needs, as you will see below.

Individual Responsibility

First, we must, each of us, continue to salt away earned resources which will enable long term survival. Buying gold to secure our personal wealth will not necessarily be enough. As we have seen from the European model, eventual riots and unrest are seemingly inevitable, at least in concentrated centers of population. The experience of those patriots who came before us indicates that weapons and ammunition may well be what enables us to remain independent and free.

Standing together as a “state” will also be important, maintaining a “posture” that prevents those from outside our borders from destroying our economy and way of life. Learning how “nullification” of oppressive federal acts can insulate us from potential heavy handedness of our federal executive branch will also be important.

During the stages of this national dementia, economic growth will stagnate, debt will burgeon, and respect for authority will continue to be steadily eroded.

Rebirth

Finally, prayer will sustain us when everything else seems futile. And when the end game of socialism becomes evident to even the “takings” coalition, we, the “leave us alone” coalition will be morally, ethically, and physically capable of picking up the pieces. God help America in the troubling days to come.