I Have Quietly Watched this Unfold … and now must speak! Part 1

While COVID-19 has unfolded I have mostly, quietly watched.  I have listened to all sides, and I have looked back on history.  The Fourth Turning has a climax.  This is the beginning of it.  We will have economic and social impact from this single event that will impact our lives, our economy and our freedom worldwide.

This blog has sat silent for years, because I walked away from the negativity of politics and totally changed my profession. I became involved in the manufacturing of food.  My company was one of the first affected when the biggest expos, Natural Foods Expo West,

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was shut down in Aneheim on March 3, voluntarily and not by government madate.  With tens of thousands of dollars put into this event by our company and having it cancel the day we arrived from Utah, needless to say, it was quite a disappointment.  So we did what most Americans would do …. we went to Disneyland.

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We were not afraid, and felt good about spending time with our family since our plans had changed and we already had hotels booked and paid for.

We came home and got busy revising our outreach program for our company so we could still have growth in 2020.  And then things just kept getting worse.

I am an eternal optimist.  I try and find a silver lining in everthing.  I watched this video, and I kept trying to decide “is it good or is it bad” that the event was cancelled?  Financially it didn’t seem like it, but I’m trying to see a bigger picture.

I didn’t freak out. I didn’t go to Costco and buy 5 cases of toilet paper. I didn’t even go to the grocery store for 2 weeks. We had enough and everyone was starting to freak out. I thought, “This should pass, and people will come back to their senses.” I was wrong. I was sad. Instead of being a people that govern themselves, I watched people hoarding, and panicking, and becoming totally selfish. Then what happens? Governments step in, and freedom detriorates quickly.

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I found myself having a minor panic attack one day, changing a roll of toilet paper, and decided to head to the stores, while my husband purchased a bidet seat. (Benefits of being married to a plumber)

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What I found was shocking. This isn’t new to anyone by now, but wanted to share for context.

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Following this, Utah and then Idaho experienced earthquakes.

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So where do we go from here? What can we expect, and how do we stay positive and move forward, creating, like we’ve been sharing for decades, to create a NEW FOUNDING. And what does that look like? Who are the leaders? Do we capitulate to the government oversears, or be responsible citizens that can govern ourselves?

I’m not here to say you should or shouldn’t social distance, I’m not here to say I am buying into the media hype, (even though I am not.) I’m here to offer some perspective based on history about where we are in the cycle known as The Kondratiev Wave, specifically The Fourth Turning. This is real, and the consequences are real. But fear is the biggest enemy of all. Fear drives markets, governments, and people into panic buying, and panic restrictions. Do not be afraid. Get self sufficient. Pray for those who are alone or away from their families, or who really are at risk.

For those of you new to this blog, I invite you to back up and read all about the blog posts relating to The Fourth Turning. I will be announcing an online event as well, so we can review The Fourth Turning together in the comfort of our homes while social distancing continues. And here is another blog post to read taking a closer look at the Fourth Turning.

Since these original posts were written decades ago, the timeline looks a bit different since most scholars believe 2008 was the catalyst, and not 2001. So add 7 years to every other part of the cycle, and it puts the Climax at 2020 without a hitch.

This is the beginning of the CLIMAX of the Fourth Turning. If you aren’t prepared mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and physically, it may be a bit harder but not impossible to be ready. Don’t panic. Just get prepared for the days, weeks, months and years of the coming CLIMAX. They generally last between 5-7 years historically.

I invite all who are looking for a message of peace in these troubled times to tune in to a public broadcast beginning tomorrow and running through Sunday of The Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints General Conference.

Stay Tuned!!! I will be doing an online event shortly. Mark this blog and sign up for the newsletter. This will be an online 2 hour class looking at the Fourth Turning in depth.

Pennies — by guest writer, Jamisyn Smith

The following story was written by a 15-year-old.  Our children are watching.

Pennies

by Jamisyn Smith

How do you get a penny across the room without anyone noticing?  You do it slowly.  You distract. And the people who notice, just call them “crazy.”  You don’t do it all at once.  You do it an inch at a time, and you distract them while you are moving it.

You tell them that there is some crazy disease, or there was a shooting, and then you move it while they are caught up in all the media around it. You tell them that Donald Trump is winning the presidential race, or you tell them Kylie Jenner has had plastic surgery.

Nobody cares about the penny as long as you don’t let them see it move. They are too focused on the things that you let them see.  And the people who do see the penny move, just call them crazy, because then people can sit and make fun of them while you move the penny a little more.

How do you stop the penny from moving all together?  You don’t.  There will always be someone who is going to move this penny, so you can either buy the lies that are being sold or you can separate yourself from the media and everyone who is caught up in it.

Who cares that “Love wins,” when we are brutally murdering people in another country? Who cares that Bruce changed his name to Caitlyn?  Someone is moving that penny while we bicker about “morals” and “equality.”  Love wins, when we stop invading countries and killing people over money and greed.

     That’s how you move a penny across the room without people noticing.

     If you didn’t get what I was trying to say then you are the person who is more worried about Kylie Jenner than the important penny I call America.

 One side of the room is free and the other side is a confined cell that is so tight you almost can’t breathe, but when it slowly gets smaller you don’t notice, until it’s too late to go back.  

We need to wake up before we are confined in that small cell, and we need to stop worrying about who is winning the Oscars and worry more about who is winning the war on freedom.

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Jamisyn Smith was born in 2000.  She has been homeschooled her entire life and takes a few classes at the high school.  She has four siblings and lives with her parents in Summit County Utah.  Jamisyn has won awards in photography, and writing at the county level.  She has participated in 4-H since 2010.  She loves architecture, fashion design and philosophy.

Representative Government Does Not Mean Secret Government

There was a bill (HB 0362) http://le.utah.gov/~2013/bills/hbillint/HB0362S02.htm  in the Utah House Operations Committee recently that had to do with transparency in the collective bargaining process.  We all want transparency, right?

Well, apparently not everyone.

I recently heard a clip sent to me by a concerned citizen in Wasatch County, Utah about their representative and what he said regarding transparency.  Kraig Powell, the current House Representative for District 54 is on record calling the tax-payers wimps, and comparing transparency in government to transparency in a private business.  BIG DIFFERENCE!

Here is a portion of his remarks.

 

I have typed out this Representative’s statements for ease of reading if you don’t have access to the audio, below my remarks.

The discussion is on a bill that would allow public access to meetings when discussing reform of public pensions or salaries.

Key points:

•  A shareholder of a company and a tax-payer are two very different things.  If a shareholder is not happy with a company he simply sells his shares or votes out the CEO or board of directors.  If a tax payer isn’t happy, he can’t simply “sell” away his shares.  He is taxed involuntarily and cannot simply “opt out.”  Yes, he can vote out the current Representatives when unhappy, but taxation will always occur.  And a CEO would have a fit if labor were dictating to the CEO what their pay scale had to be.  This is why collective bargaining is often seen in a poor light.  Employees don’t call the shots.  It is the job of those footing the bills to call the shots.  In the case of CEO’s, it is the board and the shareholders.  In the case of the government, it is the elected representatives and the tax-payers.

• A CEO who has shareholders must make sure that whatever they are creating  makes a profit.  Government doesn’t actually “create” anything, but uses our money to do the bidding of the tax-payers, and should not be doing the bidding of the employed.   Government employees  have a right to negotiate, but the tax-payers have a right to listen to the process.

• To use the terms Republic and Democracy in the way Representative Powell used them, was a gross misrepresentation of what our founding fathers discussed.  He made some true statements, but misrepresent the bill, by making it sound like if the public attends the meeting, they get to vote.  Just because meetings are open and transparent does not give everyone a vote at the meeting.  It is still a representative government (A Republic).  It is only when each and every person has a VOTE that it becomes a Democracy.  That is not at all what this bill would have done.  It was simply to open up the process so that taxpayers could understand the bargaining that was taking place with “OUR” money.

• Mr. Powell was very upset with me and others when we went to the tax-payers  and put forward a signature petition to stop a tax increase in Summit County.  He claimed we were trying to legislate through a democracy. (I called this petitioning   my government for redress). However, he feels getting signatures to put yourself on the Republican ballot somehow is not the same thing.  I think we can clearly see that Mr. Powell uses these terms to fit his agenda, not to discuss the actual principles behind the words.  For more information on a Republic vs. Democracy please click here .

• My next point would be that people are busy, Mr. Powell.  We are not WIMPS as you called us.  There are so many meetings.  County Council meetings, School Board Meetings, City Council Meetings, Planning Commission Meetings, Rec. District Meetings, and on and on.  There is no time for simple living anymore.  To keep up with all the bills the legislature puts forward is more than a full-time job.  This is why we have watchdog groups, like Utah Tax Payers Association, to watch the bills you vote on and give you a score.  (Which was about a 50% I believe.)   The “tax-payers” you chastise for not running for these positions simply want to attend their daughter’s piano recital, or coach their son’s baseball league.  They simply want to keep the fruits of their labor and be left alone to govern themselves.

As you listened to the audio, I’m sure there are other points you know I could make.  But it is left to you to decide.  The point of this article?  Know your representatives.  Learn what they are saying when they think the “public” isn’t paying attention.  You the tax-payer are not wimpy, you are busy.  You want to trust these people with your money and your liberty.  And maybe, sadly, you simply cannot.

I encourage you to vote for Wylder Smith, the person running for District 54, that simply wants to protect your money, protect your liberty, and allow you to govern yourself.

 

Transcript of audio:

 (Vice Chairman) “Representative Powell”

(Kraig Powell) “Thanks very much Mr. Vice Chair, I will try to be brief.  I have listened to the arguments, there are lots of good arguments on both sides.  What we do here in public policy and government is usually balancing, so anybody who is on one side of this issue, please don’t think you have the complete truth.  Um, we have to always find something somewhere in the middle.  This has been a policy in Utah for a long time as near as I can tell.  And what the Representative is proposing seems to be a major change.  In order to make a major change I think that there needs to be a major justification.

Here are the problems that I have with what has been proposed today.  First of all I think that the meetings will be unworkable.  Because there will be different sections of the meeting and will be continuing going in and out and in and out, and …well wait a minute that’s not salary, that’s not benefits.  Can we do that.. closed, … can we do that closed, I don’t know can we do that closed or not.

 

The analogy has been made that the taxpayers being as shareholders basically.  I don’t think that corporations and CEO’s bring shareholders to every meeting when they are setting the employee salaries.  In fact I think that the corporations and CEO’s would probably resist that.  The shareholders certainly have a voice in the corporation but they don’t negotiate the salaries and benefits of the employees in the corporation.

 

Next, there has been this discussion that somehow the taxpayers have some right to be there in the room at every minute of these negotiations.  What I want to remind the members of committee is our constitution set up a government form that’s called a Republic.  A Republic is different than a Democracy.  In a Democracy what you do is you get everybody and they come to all the meetings and they make all the decisions.  And our constitutional founders made a very specific decision not to have a democracy.  They thought there was some decisions that are better made by our elected representatives.  And that those are things the elected representatives need to make.

 

Basically, I think what’s happening in this instance is the taxpayers are wimps.  Taxpayers are not going to their local school boards and their not going to their city councils and getting elected to these bodies.  If there are decisions that are being made there what is wrong?  Why aren’t you going and stopping this from happening? I would suggest that you do that and go get elected there and make sure that these decisions that supposedly are not being made in the tax-payers interests.”

 

(Vice Chairman) “Representative, can I ask that you wrap up?”

 

(Kraig Powell)  “I will be very quick.  It’s a failing of our Democratic and Republican democracy system, not a failing of labor.  In fact one way to make sure you do that is make sure they are not taking any campaign contributions from these types of organizations.  I mean that is one of the biggest concerns right there.  Maybe that’s the problem,  I would make sure … try clean up the process.  And run for the offices yourself.

 

This is my last point Mr. Vice Chairman.

 

The legislature is in complete control of our cities, our counties, and our school districts. We pass laws all the time here that change everything that our school districts do.  We can pass a law and change the pensions, we could completely remove the pensions if we want to, so let’s just do that.  Rather then get involved in very sensitive meetings that are going on and are working well, that we could change if we wanted to.  Instead we are going to inject ourselves at the legislature.  I think the legislature is wimps as well.  If we are not passing the pension reform that we need to solve this problem and instead we say we are going to disrupt your meetings. For those reasons I just can’t support the bill.”

 

(Vice Chairman) “Thank you Representative, I didn’t realize your last point was going to be a planet instead of a dot.”

 

 

 

One Party in Utah? Hardly.

Many believe that Republicans dominate the state of Utah.  Well, that isn’t completely true.  Yes, every elected statewide official has an R behind their name, but that doesn’t mean we are a one party state.  Just look at the party.

Last Saturday at the Republican State Convention, the Count My Vote group (read Buy-my-Vote) wanted to change the Republican system.  This group is headed up by LaVarr Webb (big-money interest), Kirk Jowers (wanna-be candidate for something), former Republican Governor Mike Leavitt (Progressive), Dave Hansen (Former chair, Orrin Hatch and now Mia Love campaign manager), and touted on the air waves by Doug Wright (wanna-be candidate and Progressive).  http://www.deseretnews.com/article/765630111/Why-moderates-lost-the-caucus-vote.html

You see, there really are two parties in Utah, they just all exist under the name Republican.  It is true the Democrat Party is not getting a lot of traction in Utah, so that is not the other party I’m talking about.  However, there is the liberal, almost Democrat-wing of the Republican Party.  Then there is the Republican Party platform group, where most of the actual Republican Party resides.  The first group of Republicans are actually called Progressives.  Delegates, who represent the average Utah voter directly from a neighborhood meeting, would never elect them.  However, their name recognition, and their big special interest money could fool many in a primary.  They would never be elected with D behind their name, so here they are in the Republican Party.

Delegates may have aligned themselves from time to time with what they believed to be Republican values, and found out they were electing “progressive” Republicans.  When Utahns had finally had enough, the “secret” of the caucus was unveiled, and record attendance occurred.  Suddenly neighbors woke up and realized they did not have to wait for a primary, or the general election to “shape” the landscape in choosing candidates.  This is not about delegate power as many have professed, but about neighborhood responsibility.  As any delegate that has served will tell you, the system is different inside than it appears on the outside.  There is so much to learn about the candidates, and the real issues of the day.  The discussions are deep, and the integrity, honesty, and viability of a candidate are more easily accessed one on one, face to face.

The Count My Vote / Buy My Vote alternative is to rush things to a primary where people are elected on how many signs, billboards, radio and TV ads they can get out.  30-second sound bites, little catchy phrases, and worst of all some big name endorsement become the deciding factors in a primary.

Kirk Jowers calls our system antiquated.  While we can always do things to improve upon the system, these neighborhood meetings are vital to maintaining our Republic.  We are a Republic, after all, and NOT a Democracy, as is a common misconception.  He has compared himself to “George Washington” wanting to see delegates give up their power.  George must be rolling in his grave.  George Washington, along with all of the founding fathers recognized that the government closest to the people was the best.  How much closer can you get elections than a neighborhood meeting?

Saying we are not allowing many to participate is not true.  Most people can plan to be there.  Someone will always have SOMETHING that may override their desire to be there.  Yes, there will be young men and women on missions, and in military service.  Their service is valuable to their church, and to our country.  Moreover, they have a vote in the primary and the general election as an absentee ballot when the election is for someone that will actually affect policy.  Their vote is counted for elected governing officials.  Nevertheless, because they cannot attend the meeting, they will not be able to be involved in the discussion; they will not yet know the candidates that are running.  If we open the door in these simple and wonderful meetings to corruption through proxy voting or absentee voting, it will ruin the entire purpose of meeting with your neighbors to discuss the direction YOUR neighborhood would like to see the party move.  The Republican Party is a private organization.  If Count (Buy) My Vote want to control the outcome, they should get elected in their neighborhoods, or start their own organization.

You have heard the accusation that more involvement is needed.  We have had record turnout at the neighborhood meetings for the last 4 years.   This is a red herring.  Turnout is not the real issue.  Control of the party is.  It is hard to control so many engaged neighbors who are electing someone to represent them, and study out the issues, and the candidates in depth.  It is much easier to control the masses with a primary.  The “old-guard” of the Republican Party is not happy with their results, so they want to change the game.  I would love to see more involved.  And I plan to continue to educate people so they can be more involved in the process.  But, apathy will continue until voters decide to not be apathetic.  Changing the system will not change apathy.

Last point, this has nothing to do with any “tea-party” or any other Washington DC group controlling Utah.  This is about Utah values.  This is about Utahns standing up for those values.  It’s about more Utahns reading the Republican Party platform and recognizing its absolute beauty, and then scratching their head and saying, “Why doesn’t my Republican representative stick to the platform?”  It’s about average Utah Republicans taking back control of their own party from the Progressives.

The system works, for incumbents and challengers alike.  The system produces good candidates.  That is why the Progressives want to change it.

Republicans & Democrats Agree

Republicans and Democrats agree.  Even if the caucus system (neighborhood meeting) is not perfect, changing it too much according to many Republicans, and even the Chair of the Utah Democrats, will not be a good thing. Jim Debakis said,

“Maybe the Utah caucus system needs to be changed or revised. Maybe not.  But the recently announced initiative proposal to reconfigure  the way Utah’s political parties pick candidates, is certainly NOT a good idea.”

http://www.utahdemocrats.org/newsletter-letter-from-the-chair

Ask yourself the question, who benefits from the primary?  We can answer that later.

Sure, we need to streamline credentialing and check in.  Knocking an hour or more off the time-frame for the night is seen by a positive for all.  But many of the so-called proposals have not been well-thought out for their long-term consequences.  Gutting the system will be the same as eliminating it.

Why exactly do we have a neighborhood meeting?  Let’s answer the first question, by quoting the LDS Church on this meeting for their answer.  http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/first-presidency-issues-letter-utah-precinct-caucus-meetings

             “Precinct caucuses are the most fundamental grassroots level of political involvement. They are best served by a broad representation of Utah citizens. Those who attend play a critical role in selecting candidates for public office.”

Are many of Utah’s Republican and Democratic voices being heard?  The answer can be seen by the enormous growth of caucus attendance over the last (four) 4 years.  Let’s look at one precinct in one tiny place, mine, in Wanship.  For years when I first moved here, the big secret was the caucus night.  A select few individuals showed up.  They held all of the positions for that precinct; Precinct Chair, Vice Chair, County Delegate and State Delegate were all voted on, or assigned.  You see, only three (3) people ever showed up.  But in 2010 things changed in American politics.  Americans began to wake up, and began to re-energize their ideas of liberty from the days of our founders and beyond.  They started studying the votes of their Senators and Congressman; they started watching their State Legislators with more vigor.  Therefore, in 2010, the people of Utah, came forward, and attended their meetings.  My little precinct had 68 people in attendance.  It mattered, and so, people showed up.  Then in 2012, they did it again.  48 people showed up.  Two years of record-breaking attendance.  And yet, the naysayers of the caucus system cried that no one was participating.

In Utah, many showed up to their caucus meetings without a full understanding of the process.  They had a strong agenda to see Orrin Hatch re-elected, since the last time it was to see Bob Bennett ousted.  The job of a delegate is bigger than just one office.  There were many good candidates running in a variety of offices, from Auditor, to Governor, to State Legislator and Utah State Senator, as well as the Senate and Congressional candidates. 

The delegates should only choose to run, if indeed they are going to participate.  This is what sets Utah apart from every other state – the caucus system.  Even when a no name, like me, ran for Congress against the well-liked Congressman Rob Bishop, I had a chance.  (Not a big chance, but a chance.)  The caucus system is the only place in the world that can happen.  And winning or losing isn’t always what makes it so great.  It is the fact that the delegates become very educated in the issues of the day.  Let’s look at the issue in my race, specifically.

The NDAA 2012 was a virtual unknown to many delegates until there was a challenge in the Rob Bishop campaign.  Once the dangers of this bill were made public, many people began to understand our liberty is more important than our safety.  This is a basic tenet set out by Benjamin Franklin when he said,

“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”

This wasn’t a Republican or Democrat issue, but an issue of civil liberty.

The delegates received letters from Rob Bishop explaining his vote.  I explained why he was mistaken.  This became a national issue, and was even the source of the 13-hour filibuster with Rand Paul.  You see, the little clause known as 1022, and 1023 in the NDAA 2012 language gives the president too much power over our citizens.  Rand Paul’s stance was to get clarification from our president that non-combatants who may be deemed by this language as terrorists could not be fired upon on American soil.  These are our liberties and they are at stake.  Thank you Rand Paul, and our own Senator Mike Lee for standing up for our liberty on this day.  It was nice to have this threat under NDAA 2012 and the Patriot Act brought to the forefront of the American people’s minds again.

Other debates began to emerge as campaigns announced.  School trust lands became a hot topic of the Governor’s race in Utah.  Morgan Philpot and Ken Sumsion each giving their ideas on how best to handle our land.

We heard about social security reform, debt ceilings, the war on drugs, the wars overseas, ending of federal departments, etc.  This is what makes the caucus system work.  People that have very little knowledge of government and the “great debate” begin to be involved in that great debate.  They begin to see that the media (the ones that make the money) aren’t always truthful.  They realize that just being a voter at the end of the day isn’t where the real decisions get made.  They also realize that being a delegate (especially a state delegate) requires a lot of focused time, consideration, and effort on their parts to do their precinct justice in being represented.  Not everyone can do this job.  Not everyone has the time to give to it.  Not everyone wants to do it.  Not everyone is educated in government enough to do the job.  But at your neighborhood caucus you can talk to your friends and neighbors and find out who in your neighborhood is qualified, has the time, and will be fair to all the candidates for office.  Each candidate deserves to be taken seriously and treated with real respect.  Even if you love your representative, the ideas that are brought forward for discussion make the system work that much better.  Citizens become informed directly from their representatives as they vie for votes.

Do not water-down the caucus system with proposals that make it possible for coercion at any level.  The votes need to take place in person.  The votes need to be by secret paper ballot.  The only thing that needs to change is check in.  It should be electronic and quick.

So let’s go back to our original question, who benefits from a water-down or elimination of the caucus system?  The media, and the wealthy.  They win, and you lose.  The people that make radio ads, TV commercials, and newspaper ads win.  They want you, the people, to be persuaded by sound bites.  There is big money in campaigns.  People spend hundreds of thousands of dollars before it ever gets to a primary and then millions at the primary level.  Follow the money.  The primary election does not create a more informed voter, just a voter that has been marketed to the most.

In the Lincoln-Douglas debates, it was hours of discussion on a topic to be rebutted for hours.  We must stop asking our society to make important decisions about the future of our state or country,  based on sound bites.  If we are in a primary mentality only, that is all we have left, and the guy with the most money, most of the time, will always come out on top, principles be damned.  This will end our Republic, and we will become a straight democracy.  Ask anyone who has studied history, a democracy is the first step toward socialism.

Save our caucus system, and maintain our republic.

Less Waste Not Fewer Police Officers — Sign the Petition Now!

Thanks to the Park Record for writing two stories  (one here and one here) on our efforts to get the two recent tax increases in the County on the ballot in 2014.  Sometimes “We the People” must show our elected officials who is boss.  As Councilwoman Elliott pointed out, the tax amounts are relatively small on an inexpensive home.  Motivation behind the referendum was the ease at which the Council moved forward to pass the tax increase, for a few to bear, and the fact the money was spent before the tax was even finalized.

Mssrs. Hanrahan, Elliott, Robinson, and McMullen (Dave Ure voted no) fail to understand that increasing taxes has a long-term impact on several aspects of our County development. This tax increase comes on top of a school tax increase, and unless the Council balances the budget, we will likely see more County tax increases in the future. Property values normally go down as tax rates go up, because new buyers are reluctant to purchase homes in areas where taxes are increasing. That will discourage companies from moving to Park City, as it becomes a higher cost place to live.  The people of Summit County have had to tighten their belts.  It’s time the County Council do the same.

Here is a picture of a Summit County Truck that is parked in front of the Boot Barn in Evanston, Wyoming where the County employee drove a heavy-duty vehicle at the expense of the County (translated the tax-payer) to Evanston to go shopping. The picture illustrates that the County Council could do a better job of cracking down on waste in their budget before they start raising taxes.

I got a call from Sheriff Dave Edmunds intimated to me that the County was planning to cut a number of his deputies if the tax increase did not go through. As a County, I hope everyone comes out to sign my petition so we can send the message to our tax-and-spend Council to take care of waste before they fire police officers.  We have plenty of places to cut from non-essential services before we take from the “proper role of government.”

Stay tuned to a bit more on this story in the next few days.  The next story just might make your blood boil.

If you would like to help and cannot take around petitions, you can help by sending a check to a PAC helping with this effort to the address below. (This PAC is registered with the State of Utah.)

Citizens for Fiscally Responsible Government, c/o Jacqueline Smith, 1965 S Hoytsville Road, Coalville, UT  84017

You can also contact me by email and I will get you set up to help.  You might even be able to earn some money.  We have a few weeks left to make this happen.

Where are the Washingtons?

Many of my followers are not necessarily Glenn Beck fans, but recently Glenn Beck said something on his radio show that I would like to share with you.  His words represent the direction I have wanted this 9.12 project The STAR Forum to turn.  We must be educated to win.  We must change our very lives and decide we are willing to make sacrifices so that our children and grandchildren can live under freedom.  We must receive a liberal arts education.

Those that know me are aware that this has always been my goal.  While the politics of this movement can be exciting and interesting, and important, we must not forget the things that will change our society from the bottom up.  We must begin educating ourselves and our families, changing the way schools teach, and how they prepare our children for the world we live in.  Skills will never be enough.  We must have amazing young men and women of real character. We have been raised ourselves in a society that has not taught us to think sensus plenior, we have not learned to look to the great minds of the past that our founders studied.  We are in a 4^th Turning, and honestly time is running out.  What an exciting and important time to live in.  We will only make a difference if we are educated.  This education can come many ways, but I have one solution, that although costs money, will not break the bank.  I have invited Dr. Shanon Brooks, who holds a PhD in Constitutional Law to begin to mentor us through a series of lectures beginning on June 26, 2010.  We only have room for 50 students.  This first of 5 lectures will open our minds and begin the process of all of us thinking on a different level.

To find out more about the Foundations of Liberty Seminar #1 , click here.

Here is the message from Glenn Beck:

May 10, 2010 – 15:29 ET   

GLENN: I’m going to say some things here that are not going to be for everybody, and that’s fine. And if it means that I shake some listeners loose, that’s fine. I’m charting my own course and I am trying to, I’m trying my hardest to preserve the voice of — or a voice of man a’s freedom, individual freedom for as long as possible. And I’m also trying to create other voices that understand the difference between individual freedom, individual rights and human rights. There are two kinds of rights and they are both important. But I’m going to chart a different course than others. Others are going to say get involved in politics and everything else. And while I think that I don’t have any problem with that, not a lot of people have been doing as much research as I have for the last five years. And a lot of people, I mean, everybody has gotten this wrong every step of the way. They’ve had pieces of it here and there but I don’t know anybody that has had the majority of pieces. We have.

This, I don’t even know what you would call it. This plan, this hijacking of our country. It didn’t start with Obama. It’s not about Obama. It’s not. This started a long, long time ago. And you are much farther behind than you think you are. I know. The only thing that gives me peace and comfort is I know what this land is. I know whose rights these are. No sword formed against thee shall prosper. He will destroy the devourer, not you. Not me. For our sake those who want to devour man’s individual rights will be destroyed. My guess is they will destroy themselves. It’s the way it always happens. These people are radicals. They are not rulers. However, I will tell you this, Cass Sunstein is the man that is wildly important. Because I see his fingerprints on almost everything now. So here’s my recommendation. The 9/12 project started a year and a half ago. I haven’t talked much about it because I don’t do anything with it myself. I mean, I’m not — I’m a proud 9/12er but I’m not involved in running it or anything else. This was yours. I will advise the 9/12 group, double your efforts. Get more people into the 9/12 project. Tea parties, while you play a valuable role, be very careful because you are not rooted in values and principles. What are your charting values and principles? 9/12 members, if you are not studying the values and principles and the founding fathers, it was set up as something different. It wasn’t a tea party. It wasn’t a political action committee. It was a preservation committee. As I saw it, it was a way for people to get together and learn and teach each other what values and principles were important. This is important because just like any kind of rights movement, there will be others just like with Martin Luther King, there was Malcolm X, there was William Ayers. Only one succeeded. People are going to be going through — when Europe begins to fall and you are seeing the very beginnings of it now, when Europe falls, the thing will come down, crashing down quickly and people are going to be herded into one direction. And it’s going to be a global direction. You need to be values and principles. You need to teach your children. You must see yourself — how many years have I said this? Wives, mothers, you must see yourself as Sarah Connor. You must. As Ronald Reagan said, if this country falls, where does the rest of the world go for freedom? But he also said this: This is the last stand. On the globe this is the last stand. And if this generation loses man’s freedom, this generation will not see it again.

I just read a letter from Thomas Jefferson, between Thomas Jefferson and James — or John Adams, 1823. I read it this morning. In it Thomas Jefferson said, if they lose freedom — speaking of us, future generations, if they lose freedom, there will be rivers of blood back and forth, back and forth. There will be a first attempt and a second attempt and a third attempt. And maybe after the third attempt they will win it back again. You must see yourself as a guardian, as someone who will preserve what is true and pass it on and not be a guardian — not be a militant but a guardian. A leader. Where are the — there are plenty of minutemen. Where are the Washingtons? Where are the Franklins? Where is Sam Adams? Where is John Adams? That is what the 9/12 project is. Not to create a warrior but to create great minds that understand it. To be able to create the next George Washington. That is your role. It may not be you. Find them. Teach them. Guide them. Shape them. Live principles and values. Almost no one in this country is.

The next step, you must know ten people. You must know ten people out of your circle of friends in your area that think like you do. Know them. This Internet nonsense of a public utility and this speech that the president gave over the weekend is positively chilling, especially if you couple it with the knowledge that we have been trying to impart to you for the last year and a half about what they are doing with the Internet and control of language and control of — I’ll show you tonight at 5:00. It is positively horrifying. You say it can’t happen in America. I hope to God it can’t. But it might. It could. All they need is an emergency. Know ten people because those ten people know other ten people. There’s got to be lines of information. If they control everything, you must have lines of communication. But God, I can’t believe I’m saying this stuff. This is the territory of the insane. But you better prepare and then hope for the best. You must prepare a freedom library. You must have the books on paper, have them on paper. You must have the books that are essential. You must have the Federalist Papers, the Constitution, original intent. The 5,000 Year Leap, please, if you haven’t gotten that yet, please get that. You must know, if you are working on the Internet and you see something, don’t just e mail it. Screen shot it. Pull it off. Put it onto a DVD. Save it. I can’t tell you the number of things that we have gone back and they have scrubbed. Things are disappearing like you would not believe. Learn the truth. Live the life of our founders. Be a decent, righteous, forthright honest man or woman in all of your business dealings. Demand it of yourself. Demand a higher standard for your children and do it now. Your children need to know. Your children must be prepared. Your children need to know what is true, what is not, how to work, what merit is. And here’s the part that is going to seem so simple and everybody’s going to say no, it’s better to organize, it’s better to, you know, get behind a candidate. Look, you’ve got to do that, too. When Moses was out in the wilderness, my gosh did the Israelites just, they were constantly complaining, “It’s hot, I’m cold, are we there yet,” over and over and over again. And Moses got to the point to where he was like, okay, you know, God, just kill me, just kill me, I can’t do it anymore with these people. When are you going to do it? Because just kill me, I can’t take it anymore. God didn’t. At some point God was like, I’m sending snakes or scorpions, I’m sending fiery, fiery snakes, man, just kill you all; I can’t take it anymore. He told Moses, put one, put a symbol of one up on a stick and tell everybody to look at it. They will be fine if they just look at it. A lot of them died because they didn’t look at it. It’s too easy, doesn’t make sense. What is the message? The message is look to God and live. Look to God and live. Please, please. It’s not you and me. It’s our children. It’s man’s freedom. Look to God to live.

Who is On Our Side…Newt Gingrich or Ron Paul?

As someone who teaches regularly the Cycles of  History, I am familiar with Alvin Toffler’s The Third Wave.  I do not believe Mr. Toffler has the right idea on our government policy, but he is correct in his teaching of the Information Age.  In political thinking, we part ways.  However, we need to look at the different ideologies and recognize that claiming to be a Republican, or a Conservative will not be enough.   These first videos are lengthy, but I ask that you take the time to watch them all.  We must become an informed society, not one that listens to just sound bites and makes decisions.

This is from the John Birch Society.  They’ve had it right for a long time, but they began in 1958, after a global institutional founding (Spring) had occurred in our country.  This time in the cycles makes it difficult to change society.  But now that we are in a Fourth Turning, change comes quickly.  People will gravitate to societies such as these, and unite under common goals. 

Learn who one of the “leaders” of the conservative movement is, and why he is not really a conservative at all.

These recordings are not as good as the original, but I could post them here.  If you would like to watch the entire clip uninterrupted, and with the sound matching the video, please visit http://vimeo.com/6445068 

Do not be fooled by people who hold up the Founding Fathers in speeches and vote against our founding principles.  Do not let the words pull you into their political dichotomy.  Watch them.  Watch how they vote.  Newt Gingrich is a party guy.  He threw his support to a Republican in the New York race, who then threw her support to the Democrat over the independent, when she dropped out of the race. 

Newt Gingrich supports Bob Bennett in the Senate race for Utah.  Look at his voting record.  Bennett voted against the health care bill, but has one of his own he’d like to put forward.  It’s not his right as a Senator to promote health care programs on a federal level.  This is a state right.

It will be important to truly “get to know” candidates on every level.  Choose good people right from the beginning.  Do you have any say over the people who run for Senate on the Republican ticket?  Maybe.  That depends on your role.  We are a Republic.  We choose individuals to represent us.  It starts right in your neighborhood.  On March 23, 2010, for Utahns, your duty as a citizen begins.  Attend your local caucus and vote in the representatives from your area that are the most informed, the most willing to serve, and the most willing to elect candidates that will adhere to the Constitution of the United States, and the principles found in The 5,000 Year Leap.  If you would like help connecting with other like-minded individuals, go to www.utahrising.com and find a group near you.  If you are in a very rural area, we can help you set up your own STAR Forum group as well.  Just contact us and we’ll get you started.

Now watch the next video.  It’s very short.  Only 5 minutes, and you will understand what we are looking for in statesmen.  Ron Paul has consistently voted according to the Constitution, not party lines.   This video describes likely events that have been predicted by The Fourth Turning, and many economists.  Special thanks to Andy Whitehead, a member of our group, for sending this in.  Educate yourself, help educate others, prepare for the worst, and hope for the best.  We are a great nation that will overcome it’s challenges when we continually stick to our principles.

We Must Be Educated to WIN.

This video shows parliamentary procedure, or Robert’s Rules of Order being used.  If you do not understand this system, you cannot win.  We must educate ourselves in the process of liberty, because these same rules are used on the local levels as well.  This video shows, however, that when you have corruption at the very top (the speaker), even knowing the rules won’t help you.   If you are interested in a class on Robert’s Rules of order, please contact a parliamentarian and start a class in your neighborhood.  Even better, start a STAR Forum near you.

Our Gun Culture in America

Labor Day, the Border, and Our 2nd Amendment Rights

Written by Jacqueline Smith

We were well on our way to Washington DC for the 9/12 March.  Our children received wonderful memories and lots of history.  We thought it would be wonderful to see Niagara Falls.  We planned on seeing Niagara Falls the entire time, but figured we would travel through Buffalo NY and then backtrack and see Palmyra on our way to Boston.  Our KOA situation became grim as it was Labor Day weekend and really didn’t know how far we would get until the day we needed the rental, so we traveled North into Michigan to stay at a KOA that could accommodate us.  This took us off the original track.  The next day we plotted Niagara Falls into the Garmin and it took us north to the Canadian border.  Oops.

Having traveled to Canada in the past, I remembered that my Driver’s License was a valid form of ID for crossing the border.  Wrong.  Just this June 2009 a new law went into effect that even though getting into Canada is fairly easy, without a passport or birth certificate, you can’t get back into the U.S.

Well, when asked if we had any firearms, we were honest and explained we had a handgun, and a shotgun.  Remember that because we are in a motor home, in the U.S. we have the right to bear arms according to the second amendment of the Constitution.  What ensued next, surprised us.  We were sent to the immigration office on the Canadian side.  Women in bulletproof vests escorted us (with our little children in tow) out of the motor home.  They inspected the motor home and confiscated our handgun.  (Apparently, handguns are illegal in Canada.)  We were told if allowed to stay and pass through Canada, they could not guarantee we would allowed back in the United States.  However, if we turned around here at the checkpoint, we would have to be allowed back in.  We thought okay, it completely throws off the schedule, but we love the United States and like our rights here.  Therefore, we opted to turn around.  After being escorted back to our RV, the woman in heavy protective clothing, reached into her pocket and placed our handgun in a rag in the outside compartment and watched us lock it.  They would not allow it back on board.  Nor would they allow us to touch it. 

Heading back to the U.S. I felt relieved, but also felt nervous.  Border agents walk by cars and ask them what brings people to the U.S.  Knowing honesty is always the best policy, we told them what happened.  The feeling of dread instantly left us.  Not only were we treated wonderfully, but everyone wanted to know about our guns, telling what kind they had.  A completely different feeling pervaded.

Upon entrance to the U.S. because we were Canada rejects, we have to go back through U.S. customs.  Not something that is normal.  They had a TV going and what was on but FOX NEWS.  This was a sigh of relief for me.  Once inside they had to clarify our rejection, check ID, confirm our concealed carry permit, and inspect our guns.  They also took down our serial numbers for the books.  Not sure how I feel about that, but we weren’t in a position to argue.    I proceeded to ask many questions to the officer that was processing us.

We found out that Garmin and the navigation system that gives the shortest route to Niagara Falls is responsible for catching quite a few illegal aliens and criminals.  But that’s redundant.  Because once they cross, if they are turned away, they are caught on the way back in.  They said this happens all the time, every day.  They were especially busy with Labor Day.  We also found out that the reason the Canadians were so freaked out by us, is that their Border Patrol agents are not armed at all.  They aren’t allowed to carry weapons.  All the Canadian agents had bulletproof vests on.  American agents, just wore their blue shirts, with a beautiful weapon strapped on their side, showing anyone looking who is boss.  The officer told us that, as I stated earlier, handguns are illegal, and that’s the real reason we were turned away, but because we didn’t have proper ID that made it a sealed deal. 

They were required to inspect our vehicle to see our guns, and when my husband opened the side compartment on the outside of the RV, the officer said, “Why are you putting that nice of a gun in a rag outside your vehicle?”  My husband explained the border patrol agent incident in Canada.  He told us to just put it back in our RV, and not worry as long as we had the ammo in a separate place.  My husband and the officer talked for a bit about different guns they both owned and we were sent on our way.  We were treated with great respect.

The gun culture of America is wonderful.  In Canada we were seen as such a threat, and in America in was almost exciting for these agents to meet responsible, gun-toting citizens, that were behaving in a respectful and responsible manner. 

 What a wonderful country we live in.  Our rights are what make us a great nation.  It is imperative that we continue to stand for liberty and freedom in all aspects of our lives.  Our Constitution was founded on principles that will stand forever, but as citizens of this great land, it is important to remember that it will only remain when we understand our freedoms, and when we quickly put our policies and our elected officials back on track when we notice our freedoms being eroded.

FREEDOM CAN WIN!