NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW...AND OTHER MUSINGS

Larry's blog for April 6, 2013  NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW...AND OTHER MUSINGS   We profess, and loudly to anyone that will listen, that we are a nation of laws...but we allow a lawless president to get away with murder, figuratively speaking, of course.   The Congress is entrusted with making the laws, the Supreme Court is supposed to interpret them, and the executive branch is supposed to enforce them.   What we have now is one-man rule, and no dissenting voices that can accomplish anything.   Committees "look at" and "investigate" and "make recommendations"...but nothing is actually done.   High-ranking officials, in many agencies, give the one-finger salute, again, figuratively speaking, when they are cited for contempt, or are issued subpeonas.   Any ordinary citizen, when confronted with a subpeona, complies or faces a fine or jail time...maybe both.   Any ordinary citizen, when confronted with being in contempt of a court, may be fined or put in jail...or both.   Why then, are members of the federal government, it's various bureaucracies and agencies, not paying any attention to these legal summoneses or citations?   Where, in any American document, does it say that we have people who are above the law?   Not in any of the myriad of papers that I've ever read.   Equal justice under law is what is inscribed on the front of the Supreme Court...but do we have it?  No.   Our founding fathers, in their wisdom, put in checks and balances so that no one branch of government, much less one person, could become a dictator.   They fought a war to separate themselves from a king who ruled on whims, and they didn't want that any more.   Through our ignorance and apathy, we, the American people, have given rise to a wannabe king/emperor/dictator...or any other such name as you might want to apply.

            My Navy career took me to many countries and even as a "greenie", it was plain to see that the United States was something different, something that the world hadn't seen before.   We had peaceful transitions of power through elections.   We had an industrial force that had, at one time, kept the world free from the Axis domination.   Our people were blended, but able to retain customs of their own backgrounds.   We were, for the most part, both feared and loved, around the world.   People wanted to come here...and they still do because the remnants of "that" America are still around.   For many years, a career in the armed forces of this country was something that could be counted on for some benefits.   If you retired honorably, you could be sure of good medical care, services at various bases could be utilized and, although the Vietnam war changed things somewhat it was still a good thing because you could retire early and make a decent living.

            Somewhere along the way, and I'm not sure where, things changed.   Maybe the Vietnam war WAS a bigger change than I thought.   At any rate, through various administrations, the current one being the worst, the armed forces have become a political tool, an embarrassment, and an albatross around the neck.   Plans are now in the works to reduce the armed services to the point where almost any country that could be considered a peer, could take us over.   Teddy Roosevelt was the one I give the credit to for making the world aware of the American giant.   He sent a flotilla of ships around the world, "showing the flag" is what it's called, and the other countries took notice.   Even earlier, when the Barbary pirates were seizing American ships and crews Thomas Jefferson sent US Marines to Tripoli to suppress them...and suppress them he did.

Our military, and the might they represented, could always be counted on...but now, I'm not so sure.   Mid-level officers and non-coms have been fired, leaving what I consider to be a rather ineffective core.   At a time when our potential enemies, some of whom used to be our friends, are soldiering-up, we're cutting back.   That's not a good thing.

            My first car was a LaSalle that I bought from a funeral parlor.  It was in excellent condition because it was only used now and then.   The important point to be made here is that when you bought an American automobile, it WAS an American automobile.   It was designed, assembled, and sold by Americans, and most of the time it was the best in its class.   Today, even the Ford products, and I’m a Ford guy, have foreign parts in them.   My 22 year old Ranger truck is still going strong and probably will outlast me.   On any given day, at any hour of the day, watch the highways and you’ll see a parade of cars from Japan, Korea, Germany, some British, and now and then a French car.   When a vacuum was created because Detroit figured it didn’t have to listen to the warnings, the little cars with good gas mileage and reliability, filled that vacuum.   There have even been rumors that General Motors might be taken over by a foreign automaker, but so far that’s just a rumor.

            Think about some of this stuff, folks.  The world is going topsy-turvy, and we may not be prepared for it.

            Larry Usoff, US Navy Retired     www.AirHumanityRadio.net