Common Sense America

2007-10-02T14:36:00.000-07:00

“Old School No More”

Well I guess by now everyone that read my blog can tell I’m NO liberal. I would not remotely describe myself as some neocon either. Rather I think I would label myself as a Common Sense American with conservative values. I was raised in a fairly democratic household. My father and mother were in no way registered with any political party but tended to vote democratic not all but the majority of the time. Those that lived during those times especially the early 60’s and 70’s would probably agree that politically things were much different. My father has since past and I have to say by today’s standards he would have been labeled conservative without a doubt. He was a very level headed intelligent man with very strong moral values and work ethics. To me he was the best man I have ever known and the man that for the most part taught me the values that shaped the way I think. There were as with any boy growing up other men in my life that shaped my beliefs, my late Uncle Scottie who was much like my dad and a great patriot for one, but my father was without doubt the major influence. Now in those days democrats and the party were by my account much different. They would have been what are now referred to as “Old School Democrats”. To me it seems that those old school democrats held many of the same morals and values that republicans did at the time. Certainly they’re views were different on many fronts but the basic values or glue that held the country together like love of country, strong family values, and strong religious values were shared by both parties. To me an old school democrat then is like a left of center republican today. Somewhere along the way that old school Democratic Party was swallowed up save a few lost sheep far and few between and its voice seems forever silenced.

Times change is an understatement and the days in which I grew up have become a lost and long ago part of history that many remember fondly and long for. It was a much slower and simpler time without email, voicemail, cell phones, and all make of gadgetry that stymies the human mind if given the chance. Not only did we go and get ourselves into a great big hurry but the values of many seemed to fade into oblivion only to be replaced by absurdity. Like a reverse metamorphosis if you will. Instead of the ugly worm turning into a beautiful butterfly the opposite has occurred. The old school democrat has turned into the liberal or left wing extremist. Maybe it would be easier to say socialist as this is the tendency that is displayed. Like a great plague of locust they have spewed forth from every crook and cranny to devour the country. Ease up you say…..a little melodramatic of me? I think not. Here are few things that far left and liberals have done for the country.

Prayer and the Pledge of allegiance are now banned in most schools. Books and sexual education classes that not only condone but teach that homosexuality is fine and good have become part of the regular curriculum in our elementary schools. College’s such as Columbia University have banned the R.O.T.C. and military recruiting from the campus as well as allowed special interest groups to nearly riot without reprisal when the Minutemen came to speak yet they invite Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran a known brutal dictator and supplier of weapons to terrorist groups that kill our soldiers in Iraq to speak there. This nice man, as far as liberals are concerned, would wipe Israel off the map if he had the means. Left wingers continue their constant attacks on Christianity & Christmas, the word God on our currency or any government property, the ten commandments on government property, and a general attack on all religions. A certain liberally biased news organization (which 95% of them are) just released such a documentary (and I use the word documentary loosely) criticizing and citing religion as the cause of all the world’s problems. It suggest’ that Christianity and Judaism teach violence and hatred and compares and tries to make us believe they are on the same level as radical Islam. They attack anyone with a shred of conservative values for saying anything not “Politically Correct” while all along regurgitating and hiding behind free speech rhetoric when fellow liberals do the same thing with impunity. Hollywood and the music industry run almost exclusively by liberals constantly heap on mounds of immoral sex, violence, greed, immorality, etc. into movies and music aimed at our children. They glorify crime, adultery, promiscuity, single parenthood, and homosexuality while attacking anything conservative that actually may be wholesome for you or your children to watch or listen to. These are but a few examples and I could go on and on and on.

By now you are saying WOW! This guy says he’s not a neocon but it sure sounds like it. If his folks leaned democratic then how could he turn out to be so conservative? Well it’s pretty simple. Like I said…my folks had old schoolers to look to. USE COMMON SENSE AMERICA! The “Old School Democrat” my folks and yours had is gone. Liberals, far lefties, and socialist are what have filled that old spot and look where we are headed. The break down of the American family and the loss of values our country and constitution was framed upon is going to bring us to our knees quicker than any terrorist.

Here are some facts:
Mind you these are from the 2000 census. Things are worse now.

In the year 2000, there were a total of 105.5 million households (both family and non-family) in the U.S.

Of those family households 34.6 million had children under the age of 18.

28% or 9.6 million family households with children under age 18 were headed by a single parent.
These numbers mean that, in 2000:

More than 1 in 4 families with children under the age of 18 were headed by a single parent.

More than 3 out of 4 single parent families were headed by a Mom.

So what does all this mean? Common sense folks! The American family was always the backbone of this country. Without it were doomed as a nation. Children need guidance from a mom and a dad. Liberals will howl if they see this but it is absolutely the truth. Look, I’m not putting down single parents. Some of them do the best they can do between work and looking after the household and kids but unfortunately many don't. With they're lives so hectic they find it hard to cope and without two parents there's not enough time left forthe kids to instill strong morals, values, and beliefs. More often than not it creates a confused child in need of help and support. With both parents in the household the burden of one is shifted to two and the load is lightened for both. Liberal views have made so many things acceptable. Here is the crust of the biscuit. The liberals and socialist believe that most of society is poor and or stupid or both. They think they need to control your lives because you can’t. They believe the government needs to tell you what to do and when to do it and that big government programs can solve all of societies woes. Never mind the U.S. Constitution of course it just gets in the way. They also believe almost any behavior is fine and that punishment for bad behavior is a violation of rights and to harsh. We should all hug and kiss and make up. BULL HOCKEY! I could go in to liberal judges and the breakdown of law in our society but this one is already long enough. We are a country, a Republic based on freedom and laws. Not one or the other but both. For freedom to prevail we must have laws and those laws have to be applied justly. So where are we? Well hopefully you know by now what liberals and socialist do and what they bring with them to the table. Lots of Baggage! For the old schooler is gone and this is what we are left with. Now I’m not saying some republicans are any better sometimes as they to have they’re drawbacks and corruption is in that house as well. But at least they don’t want to fix someone, give him flowers, and hug him after he takes illegal drugs and an illegal gun and shoots and robs his law abiding innocent neighbor that couldn't protect himself because the liberals took his legal under the constitution gun away and left him instead with a subpoena for looking the wrong way at the guy that was shooting him.

P.S.
Please lord give some COMMON SENSE to AMERICA!

Till next time...K. Helms

2007-09-20T15:35:00.000-07:00

"An Ol' Friend"

I would like to take this writing to give a special nod to an old friend.

When I was much younger and fresh out of high school, which was longer ago than I care to admit, I had various friends and acquaintances. People I grew up with and so on. As you leave high school most of the people you see there daily are never to be seen again except maybe at a rare class reunion or a chance encounter. If your lucky you'll gain at most a friend or two that you continue to see or correspond with on a regular basis from then on. Such was the case for me. In the tenth grade I met a tall easy going tobacco chewing fellow with a great sense of humor. I wouldn't say we were the closest of friends then but we did hang out together at school and always seemed to share a few laughs. After high school was over I guess it was a year or more before I saw him again. About that time we had both enrolled in the local community college to try and figure out our futures and it was from there that our friendship grew. Me a newly budding guitarist, and he an already very good banjo picker and guitarist himself. Even when I was very young music intrigued me and it kept my attention span busy far more than most activities. I had been basically beating around on the guitar since I was about twelve and about the time Bobby and I where getting reacquainted at college I had begun taking music much more seriously. Bobby impressed me with his musical ability and later I learned a lot from watching him and my talent grew as a result. I guess it was the passion we both shared for music that struck up our friendship in the first place. With many friends you meet through music the friendship begins and ends with the music but Bobby and I were different. We had a lot more in common than just music. We both shared an interest in history, we both enjoyed fishing, and looking back our views on society and the world where probably very similar. We used to both enjoy tennis, as did his younger sister, and we all played together on many occasions. We hunted for arrowheads together, researched history together, and of course played music together. Lifelong pals I figured we would be. At 21 years old or so both of us still lived at home and the world seemed to all fit together for me. That when it happened. Bobby informed me that his father had taken a job in another state and that he and his family were moving. By this time Bobby, my girlfriend, and I had become close friends and we were both sad to see him go. It’s not often you gain a truly good friend in this lifetime. Time goes by as time does and we get on with our lives. My father passed away, my girl friend became my wife, I began my life in the working world, and the bills and mortgage followed. Through the years I thought of Bobby and his family often and wondered how they were doing......................

The technological era sprang forth from a silicon chip called a processor and the home computer was born. Now email was available to anyone with a painfully slow dial up connection and a funny thing happened. As I sifted through my spam mail one day I saw an email from an old friend. Yep, it was Bobby. He had gotten my email address I think from classmates.com. Now I was surely thrilled to hear from him after all these years and we corresponded for a time. After a while I guess we both got on with our lives again and the emails slowed to a halt. During that time I found that he lived within a few hours of me close to a beach in North Carolina which is a popular tourist spot and had always been a favorite retreat for my family. For the longest time when I would go to the beach my wife and I would look and look for his or his family’s number in the phonebook but was simply stumped every time and couldn't find it. I guess this went on for a good number of years and I pondered whether they had moved again or whether I would ever hear from him. Then to my dismay and once again out of the blue some years later I find another email from… you guessed it… Bobby. Again I was so happy to hear from my old friend and to see he and his family were well. This time we have stayed in contact often enough to inform each to the other how we and our families are doing. To discuss our lives and of course chat a little about music and history. Maybe sometime before we both meet the almighty we will find the time to see each other face to face, share a laugh, and pick a timeless tune. My first few emails from Bobby after our reconnection were pretty standard fare. How are you? Hope your fine and so on. As the emails came every so often I began to see bit of a change in my old friend. First from the words he would write and later a more obvious testimonial. Bobby had found god. I almost felt like he had slipped that fact in ever so gently in his emails so as not to shock me. I have to admit I never really thought about him in that capacity and I may have experienced a brief moment of confusion that lasted a day or so. You see for me I have been a lost soul to faith from time to time in my life. Not knowing sometimes what to believe and all along asking for a sign to show me the way and a wish in my heart to have the unshakable faith that others posses. I guess I still search and struggle a bit even now despite a strong belief in god and what some of my friends call a moral streak a mile wide. For me maybe it’s having never found a church I feel as comfortable in as I do when I’m in the outdoors seeing gods work first hand or simply being with my family. And although I understand that camaraderie and congregation with others of faith would help me solidify my own beliefs I tend to shy away. Maybe I’m a bit of a loner when it comes to something so personal. I confess that the hypocrisy I’ve seen in most of the churches I’ve attended has been a big turn off for me. You see in small town life you know almost everyone and you know almost everything that goes on. It’s probably my own sin of being to judgmental at times that blocks my way to a higher level of faith and something I continue to work on.

Going forward though and enough of me.

As I saw more and more of Bobby’s emails come through Iwas made aware that he was writing. Not cookbooks, novels, or scary fiction but of god. Bobby has written and published two books and many shorts on his own blog and although I have yet to read his books his blog messages are wonderful. As I read through some of his works I was captivated by his stories and the ease at which he relates gods message. He is a truly gifted writer and truly a man of unshakeable faith. I can honestly say I was proud. And as any proud friend should I have bragged on him to many others and given them the web address to his writings so they to can enjoy his talents. He displays the kind of faith I wish I had and delivers it in a way that instills faith in others as well as myself. Thanks Bobby for giving me a stronger faith and inspiration through your readings.

Treat yourself to Bobby’s writings by going to http://www.littlesorrel.blogspot.com/

And so to Bobby. This entry is for you my friend.
Stay strong in your faith and deliver the message.
Pick a tune along the way.

Keith H.

2007-09-18T13:57:00.000-07:00

“THE ANSWERS”

Where do we find the answers to today’s complex political and social problems? Well unfortunately there is no quick all in one cure. I believe though that the solution has to at least begin at the lowest level of government….the people. We have to empower ourselves to effect a positive change for America. By that I mean that we need to be aware of the problems that undermine the fabric of our country and try to correct what we can ourselves. Things like raising our children with the proper morals, beliefs, and values and by applying those same values to ourselves. We need to make common sense choices in our lives. By being involved in positive community based organizations and involving our children in them as well. By only supporting political candidates whose values closely resemble the ones we hold dear. And by speaking out when needed against what we know is destroying America. Let you congressman or senator know how you feel and urge others to do so as well. After all they are supposed to work for us and we should hold them to it.

So what problems undermine the fabric of our nation? Once again we use common sense. I’ve always felt that god gave everyone a strong sense of right and wrong. Deep inside each one of us we all know that “sense” but sometimes it gets covered up, forgotten, or rooted out if never taught or reiterated to us when we are at an early age. I think that sense of right and wrong is what I call and see as common sense. So using common sense it’s easy to see where the problems that plague our society manifest themselves. If you search your own conscience I think you’ll agree. By at least in my opinion, no coincidence, the same problems that drag our nation under are the same evils that the religions teach us are wrong or sins if you will. Willing acts of murder, adultery, thievery, untruthfulness, greed, and so on. It goes much deeper than that though as those same wrongs seem always to be accompanied by acts of immorality and values of a low standard. Maybe this is true evil or maybe not. I believe it more likely to be the result of pure ignorance in most, but not all, cases. In other words the sense of right and wrong was never motivated in these individuals to begin with or it has escaped them due to constant interaction with others that have lost that sense as well. Understand? So using this as a basis and saying someone has no common sense is like saying they are lost to what is right and wrong. Doesn’t it seem to reason that the people you’ve always said have no common sense are the ones that seem to always have some type of moral dilemma in they’re lives. Perhaps they’ve lost that sense of right and wrong or like many people I think they simply choose to ignore it or refuse to use what they are given from the beginning by god. You might be asking where I’m going with all of this. What I am trying to get across here is that we all need to awaken that common sense we all posses. Only then will we truly be able to begin changing things at our own level.

What about the role of government? Well if you are not concerned about this one you should be. The government is becoming more and more intrusive into all our lives and this trend continues to grow. The argument can be made that it is unconstitutional in many cases but nevertheless it is happening and more than we wish. It is difficult in this age. You’ll agree that many people find it difficult to even discipline they’re child without fear of reprisal from an outside entity such as social services or the authorities. The kids are even taught in school in some institutions that simple spankings are abuse. Please don’t get me wrong, in some cases this is warranted when actual abuse has occurred and I certainly agree with intervention in these cases. However, the case where little Johnny talks back to dad and gets his little butt popped is hardly abuse. Time out seems to be the universal rule now and if it works then why not. But it does seem that there comes a time when spare the rod and spoil the child certainly holds true and needs to be exercised. Many liberals would beg to differ with me to be sure. But to be honest who cares whether they differ or not it’s not they’re child. The fact remains that without discipline your child will run over you like a freight train in the fog and it can’t be allowed if you want to instill proper values. In this day of activist judges I guess there are exceptions but I would bet that few judges would ever take your child and put you in jail for a simple spanking. So I say quit being so paranoid and if you’ve tried it all and they end up needing a little pop then give them one. This is just one example and we all know of many others where government intrudes into our lives and makes things difficult. From the constant regurgitation of political correctness to increasing taxes on everything we buy. Once again, and I can’t stress this enough. Let your state and federal representatives know how you feel. And don’t be afraid to let them know that if they can’t support bills that favor your values then you’ll simply vote for someone who can and you’ll encourage others to do the same. After all they aren’t mandated a lifetime stay in office. They need and want your vote and this will open they’re eyes. It’s easy to find your representatives email or office addresses by simply doing an Internet search for your states website.

Well I think I could go forever on the role that government plays in our lives. But I guess the child rearing subject got me going here. For now I’ll just think on it a while and gather my thoughts to address that some more. It doesn't seem like government and common sense should fit into the same sentence sometimes. It seems that way alot actually but there are good things that come from government as well. And even if they are few and far between there are some good politicians. But there is not near enough of either. We the People need to change this.

Well I have to go for now so remember, USE COMMON SENSE AMERICA!

Thanks for dropping by,
Keith H.

Who do I listen to? What do I believe?

2007-09-16T09:10:00.000-07:00

In this day and age full of political rhetoric and spin it's hard to know who to listen to and what to believe. Well folks, only believe half of what you read in the newspaper or see on the tube. Sorry, but that's what it has come down to and part of whats wrong with America. We are bombarded with lies. Now this is commonly referred to as "spin"...but the truth is only the truth... period. There are no grey areas here, either one is truthful or a lies. Politicians, the media, special interest groups, and so on all use spin to make you follow they're agenda. So use COMMON SENSE AMERICA! Don't just sit there blindly hearing the rhetoric...truly listen and analyze the whats being said. Ever hear of reading between the lines? Well now it's reading between the lies. If you truly listen to what you are listening to and use common sense it's easy to see through the veil that is cast in front of almost everything you see or read in the media. Be aware of who and what and who you are listening to. Do these people have an agenda? If your answer is no then your not using common sense. Everyone in today's political arena has an agenda. What type of agenda? Well unfortunately it seems the majority of the time it is a politically motivated monetary self serving agenda otherwise commonly known as greed. Whether you know it or not almost every aspect of our lives is now controlled by politics and politicians. They are the ones with the money and power and the ones that are able to hand that money and power over to others. This all translates to...you guessed it again... more greed. More and more in our society the old saying "money is the root of all evil" holds true. People are plagued by monetary values never stopping to realize that there are so many things more important than money or power. So what do I do about it I'm just one person? Well first don't ever feel that way. One person can become 10,000 people over night if we all use common sense! Look, we all have to live here together and politicians, special interest groups, and the media are here to stay but if we use our brains to analyze the rhetoric and see things for what they really are then at least we have a fighting chance. It seems you will never ever get a 100% truthful politician. But you have to use your common sense to help you choose who the right people to lead this country into a common sense direction are. Look around you. What do you see? In the last 20 years or so this country's values have gone completely downhill at an alarming pace. We have to take back what we have lost and it begins with making common sense decisions. So take a moment this week to think..really think..about what has changed about America. What is dragging America down? Who and what influences American values? What is good about America? What started America and what got us to this point? Read the constitution. The founding fathers are crying right now.

Well until next time use, COMMON SENSE AMERICA!
Thanks for stopping by,
Keith H.

NEXT BLOG: THE ANSWERS

Lets get SENSEatized

2007-09-16T07:42:00.000-07:00

Well, this is my first post on my very first blog. Hold on to your hats ladies and gentlemen the ride is about to begin and I may rant a little.

America......What are we allowing to happen to our country? Notice I said "allowing". Thats right, we have allowed this by sitting in our comfortable chairs in our comfortable lives on our comfortable butts and allowed this to happen. What to happen? You know very well what. Take a look around you. Does anything look familiar anymore? The schools? Your neighborhood? Your job? Look out of the window folks...see any kids playing out there?

So what is it that's happening?

America went and changed on us becouse we stopped caring. Now it's all about political correctness, corporate greed, selfishness, lack of religious faith, uncaring, slack work ethics, and NO COMMON SENSE!

What happened to good ol' American horse sense? Well, we have killed it with all of the above and we need to get it back. It's what this country was founded on and what used to drive our lives. Now social confusion and political spin are the driving forces in America. It's what the politicians and corporate goons use to keep us reeling. Enough is enough. We need to all wake up and use COMMON SENSE AMERICA! The good lord gave it to us now use it.

This is what I Hope to do here is make people aware of the america we used to have, the america we need again, and the america we can have back if we use COMMON SENSE AMERICA!