Washington and Hamilton

Alexander Hamilton

Washington in his favorite position.

“Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and fearful master.  Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action.”  George Washington

“I never expect to see a perfect work from imperfect man.” Alexander Hamilton

Two hundred and thirty nine years ago a small group of men of European descent, some holders of slaves, set the world on fire with a truly revolutionary idea.  They took on the greatest economic and military empire in the history of the world at that time to proclaim to the world and future generations the supremacy of the individual.  That governments were instituted to serve not be served by the populace.  It was not an original American idea but an evolving one throughout human history.  The individual has been under attack since the dawn of man and even some of our Revolutionary Fathers were not friendly to the concept of individual liberty trumping the government.  Alexander Hamilton, the first Secretary of Treasure was a fervent supporter of the Revolution and also a firm believer in a strong federal government or even a king.  He was a George Washington loyalist who tried talking his idol into becoming what would amount to a dictator.  How fortunate is this Nation to have had such a wise and honorable leader at the start.  He had his faults but knowing that America had to be different because even though Americans were direct decedents of the major European countries, Americans were different.  Highly independent and individualistic than their ancestors could ever have been, Washington understood that should a European style government be established then there would be civil strife in the near future.  He was a Federalist but like most of our Founders he did not like political parties.  He understood what they could do to a nation but he believed in a centralized government with restraints on it to preserve the individual liberty that they fought so hard to achieve.  Humility not hubris was his dominant trait and no President since has ever come close to the standard he set for that office.

Alexander Hamilton would fit comfortably in the Washington D.C. of today.  A very intelligent man who rose above his poor upbringing and exhibited more hubris than humility.  He was the guiding force behind our Constitution and worked tirelessly for it’s passage.  He viewed it as a grantor of government rights and fought the inclusion of the Bill of Rights but compromised when he knew that it’s passage would only occur with the inclusion of the first ten amendments.  He would have been ecstatic if he were able to get the Congress to pass the Constitution without reading it first and had left the Bill of Rights out; but that was a different time.  The struggle for power between Hamilton who represented the mercantile class and Jefferson who represented the small government agricultural class has continued to this day.  As much as I dislike Hamilton’s governmental view I do recognize that he served a purpose in the formation of this Nation.  But we can all be glad that Arron Burr was a better shot.  In fact it could be argued that Congress did away with term limits when they outlawed dueling; it would be to our benefit that they reconsider.

The Flags

“South Carolina – Too small for a Country and too large for an insane asylum.”         President Andrew Jackson 

Well, we can see that not much has changed in the last 183 years. The past several weeks we have been swamped with stories concerning the flying of one of the Battle Flags of the Confederacy.  I do not believe that it flies to be racist and I do not believe that blacks are that offended by it.  Do some racist fly it? Of course.  Are some blacks offended by it? Of course.  So what.  Being offended has become a national past time and people should get over themselves.  Americans have a right to be racist.  It is wrong and pretty stupid to hold another’s race as being superior to another and there are a lot of people – white/black/brown and pink that fall into that category.  It was racism that gave us Obama.  As much as they try to outlaw racism the worse it is; at best you only drive it underground and you then  have evil fermenting in the minds of people like Dylann Roof.  It would be better to get that in the open.  To tie Roof to the CSA Battle flag and say that it is a symbol of his racist views is pure nonsense.  I contend that the attack on the Church was more evil attacking Christians than a white attacking blacks.  In spite of his racist mutterings if it were just racism he could have gone to any large inner city and done as much harm if not more.  It has all the earmarks of a Satanic attack on a Church with good Christians worshiping and a sign of the times.

The uproar is just another phase of the NAACP’s war on the South.  They have tried boycotts and all sorts of legal action to remove the flag with little luck and frankly it is rather disgusting that they stoop to use a massacre in a Christian Church to further their goal.  A once proud and decent organization has fallen to the ranks of the left’s “useless idiots” and unfortunately they are not alone.  Was it so long ago that the cry from the left was “tolerance”.  You couldn’t get through the day without being lectured on being tolerant.  Someone didn’t send them the memo apparently.  The leftist bullies (and the NAACP is one) are the most intolerant group in society.

  A voice of reason in the South Carolina legislature put the answer to the problem right where it should be  – place it on a referendum for the people of South Carolina to decide it’s fate.  It is after all, their state so they should decide.  If I were in charge I would have quietly exchanged the CSA Battle Flag with the CSA National flag as seen above on the right.  I would bet no one would have noticed it at all.

Pa. Governor Tom Wolf

Pennsylvania Politics As Usual

Eyore, the old grey Donkey, stood by the side of the stream, and looked at himself in the water.
“Pathetic,” he said. “That’s what it is. Pathetic.”
He turned and walked slowly down the stream for twenty yards, splashed across it, and walked slowly back on the other side. Then he looked at himself in the water again.
“As I thought,” he said. “No better from this side. But nobody minds. Nobody cares. Pathetic, that’s what it is.” From Winnie the Pooh

In Pennsylvania one of the quaint little customs we have is state controlled liquor sales.  The reason that this outdated throwback to the days of Prohibition is usually placed at the feet of unions.  While it is true that the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1776 led by the very able Wendell Young IV has thrown money galore at key politicians like a drunken lottery winner in a cheap New Orleans whorehouse; he is not the problem.  He is only doing what a labor union boss should do – buy votes to protect his income.  Wendell is no different than the big corporations that buy influence at the expense of smaller businesses, employees, consumers and taxpayers.  The problem is of course the legislature or in this case Pennsylvania’s politicians.

Even if one could disregard and forgive the self serving “vote for sale” signs ( it seems that many voters do ) what is unforgiveable, or should be, is the complete arrogance of their belief that we are stupid and can not think for ourselves.  Unfortunately for a lot of voters that is the case.  Take for instance our republican controlled legislator which has been in control for what seems like forever; in the first budget they passed since the newly elected democrat, Governor Tom Wolfe, took the oath of office they included an amendment that would privatize liquor sales in Pennsylvania.  Awesome! Great! Way to go Republicans – looking out for the Pennsylvania consumer!  That will show ’em!  But wait, didn’t you just have four years of a Republican Governor ( Tom Corbett ) who was waiting for such legislation in order to sign it?  It was one of his campaign promises and surely having the majority in both houses the passing would have been a slam dunk.  While the rest of Pennsylvania waited for the State to move on into modern times along with a Republican Governor; the Republican legislature banked their earnings from the unions and kindly waited for a Democrat to replace Corbett knowing that they could safely pass it and then have it vetoed. Whew! That was a close one.

The arrogance doesn’t end with the Republican legislature as the new Democrat Governor Tom Wolfe released a statement concerning his veto and why he opposes privation of the liquor system.  Prior to his purchase of the Governorship, Tom Wolfe made himself a millionaire with his family business which makes him very smart or very lucky.  After hearing his statement I believe he is the luckiest man in Pennsylvania.   In his statement he gave the reason why as, “In the most recent case of another state that pursued the outright privatization of liquor sales, consumers saw higher prices and less selection.” The other State was never mentioned so we could not check the veracity of that part of his statement but what is stunning is that he believes that Pennsylvania is immune to economic laws that shows that when fair competition (meaning no government picking sides) prices drop and selection is better.  One is almost embarrassed to say this but if you look east to our neighbor New Jersey you see the lie or stupidity in his reasoning.  When will he start requiring Pennsylvanians to wear ankle weights so we don’t float away.  Gravity? What gravity?   If a union or big company made big enough contributions even some republicans will support it.

Happy Birthday Hatboro!

Our little town of Hatboro, Pa. (pop. 7500) just celebrated it’s 300th. birthday.  We are relatively new to the area, 35 years and while it isn’t perfect it is one of the better places to live outside Philadelphia.  But I guess just about any place outside of Philly is good.   My kids attended the local Catholic School (St. John Bosco and Archbishop Wood High School); the public schools are good but I am totally against government education and we paid the extra tuition which was a struggle at times.  Through Little League, soccer and basketball we met some really good people.  If you are an outgoing person you could probably get to know a good percentage of the 7500 people.  I am not so I do not.  There was one neighbor who I really enjoyed talking to over the fence.  Cal was not too much older than what I am now when we moved into this home.  What a great guy and good neighbor he was; always had a good story about growing up in Utah or WWII.  Cal and his wife Marion had to  sell their home about 5 years ago because of health reasons and Cal passed away last year.  He came back to Hatboro though to be interred.   All small town’s have Cal’s sprinkled in their population to give them that flavor that is so well known.

There has been a lot of history that this town witnessed in the three hundred years and most notable was the Revolutionary War battle that took place not far from where we live; The Battle of Crooked Billet.  A small battle to be sure but a decisive win for the British and Tory forces who took advantage of a very lax Pennsylvania militia who were literally caught sleeping.  An interesting note is that the British commander of the battle was none other than Major John Simcoe of the Queens Rangers.  Anyone who watches the very good AMC show “Turn” will recognize the name as the major villain of the series.  There must be some truth to that as several of the American wounded and captured were brutalized by being set on fire and bayonetted.  There is an elementary school at the site and every year they celebrate with period costumes worn by the children and adults and exhibitions of the time.  I am not sure that George Washington slept here but he did eat in Hatboro at The Old Mill which is still standing and he bought grain there also.  The Old Mill Inn has been closed since 2011 because of flooding damage.  Being the first building in Hatboro I am sure that the new owners will keep it up.

Like all small towns the shop owners and business people struggle to maintain their businesses during our current economic depression.  One of my favorites is Burdick’s News Agency.  It has a soda counter where they serve shakes and ice cream sodas, a good selection of cigars and candy for the kids, newspapers and greeting cards.  It goes without saying that a friendly chat is always there if you want to imbibe.  The building and business itself would fit comfortably in a small town in New Hampshire or North Carolina.  As would the annual Christmas Parade held the Sunday before Thanksgiving.  I guess the only really bad aspect of Hatboro is the presence of the very large dump to the South of us also known as Philadelphia.  But I guess we can’t have everything!