Robert Dickie CEO Newswire

Let's Break Up the Fed?

Amar Bhide had an interesting article in the Wal lStreet Journal July 29th titled "Let's Break Up the Fed." You can read it here. He makes a clear point that the powers of the Fed have grown over time to such a ponit where no one can really oversea the vast powers of the Fed and hope for a truly successful outcome. The history he gives of how the Fed's powers have grown is very intriguing. What are your thoughts?

Welcome to the real world kid

Two trustees quit amid scandal that is rocking the state of Illinios and the Univeristy of Illinois. Apparently, people who were politically connected, elected officials, and major donors to the university had a special secret admission process for their children or friends that was not based on academic records or potential. Basically, it wasn't based on EARNED merit but rather a specail deal becuase of who you were, who you knew, or how much you gave the univeristy. We certainly seem to be living in an age of special deals.

I love this quote by John Suo, a 4.0 grade point average student whose admission package to the university was rejected. "It makes me angry to think that someone who didn't put in the hours or work as hard as me has my spot." I am not a fan of special deals but rather merit based systems that reward achievement. John will be in for a shock when he sees how the government taxes him in his first job and uses that money to take care of their "special friends and projects." We as a country need to make some changes and get back to principles of our founding fathers.

Entrepreneurial Nation by Amy Wilkinson

This is a great article by Amy Wilkinson in the July 16th USA Today Newspaper.  I love this quote.

"Our prosperity depends on inovative thinking. Instead of bailing out behemoths that are "too big to fail", we must remember that mom-and-pop businesses, garage start-ups and small ventures are the reason we succeed."

No spin, just the facts

We need some of this simple straight talk from our leaders in Washington!

When Government Can't Do It All For You

After reading this article in the Wall Street Journal (California's Pain Is Only Beginning) one might think of the tough economic times we are in and the many ripple effects around our country as special programs get closed and canceled. I feel the pain. I do. However, I can't help but to think this is the after affect of decade’s long binge where everyone looked to government to do everything and to fund every little project that local, state, and federal officials thought was good.

Here is the problem. All those projects are good! Tracking sex offenders? Yes! Funding after school programs? Yes! Funding state parks and bridges? Yes! The list goes on. The problem is we don't know how to say no to anything. People want government to pay for it all...everything! We want them to take care of every problem....EVERYONE! As we are seeing we just can't do it. We can't afford it. This lifestyle of excess that we all have lived is coming to an end. We have tough choices to make. Americans are going to have to be more self reliant and everyone is going to have to pitch in together to make it through. I hope the learning lesson here is that government can't do it all. People need to start making some tough choices and we need to support our elected leaders who are trying to trim some of these outrageous budgets. Americans have been living on a debt binge for years and this bill is coming due. You can't live like that forever. I hope we all learn our lesson and see this for what it is. Heaven help us if we don't and people continue to think that government is the answer to all our problems. 

Right now is a good time to look at all these issues.  Our bloated government budgets and programs need to be reviewed and we should only be funding items that are necessary and best done by the government.  Everything else that can be handled by the private sector should be.  As a former government employee I can tell you that government is extremley wasteful and generally the most inefficient way to do anything.

The Cycle of Democracy

The following blog post is written by Orrin Woodward. It is very thought provoking, extremely well researched and written, and I highly encourage everyone to take the time the time to read it. At the end, I would love to hear your view points and comments if you would like to share them with the group.

The following quote is from Alexander Fraser Tyler - (in his 1770 book, Cycle of Democracy). I have been thinking about this quote and the state of our union for many months. I do not write this article in an attacking spirit, but in a spirit of searching for the right path in a world wandering down blind alleys.

"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising them the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over a louse fiscal responsibility, always followed by a dictatorship. The average of the world's great civilizations before they decline has been 200 years. These nations have progressed in this sequence:"

Here is Tyler's "Cycle of Democracy" with my thoughts of of America in the cycle.

From bondage to spiritual faith;

The Great Awakening of the 1730’s in the American Colonies was a time of revival and spiritual longing. Jonathon Edwards, considered by many to be America’s greatest mind, led the revival with Biblical sermons and a fire for truth. Edwards taught the unvarnished truth about sinful man and our accountability to an Almighty God. Not surprisingly, he is mocked and laughed at today, but that is more of an indictment of our society than Edwards preaching. Pastor Edward’s magnum opus, Freedom of the Will has never been refuted by any scholar. This was a critical step in developing the conviction to fear God and not man. Even if man happened to be the largest empire in the world in which the sun never set – the British Empire.

From spiritual faith to great courage;

Spiritual faith leads to great courage based upon convictions worth sacrificing for. A person who will does not stand for something, will fall for anything. Think of the true heroes throughout history. One of the uniting principles that all heroes have is a willingness to stand for truth and convictions in a world of untruth and apathy. The Founding Families had great courage to stand for the truth of against tyranny and oppression. They did this because they knew the Bible said, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Liberty.” The British were moving in the direction of excessive taxation (1 %) and the Colonist would not sit back and allow an offsite government to tax local colonist.

From courage to liberty;

The Colonist defeat of the British Empire was not a defeat of British military forces as much as a victory over British will. The Colonists were fighting for their deeply held principles that they were willing to give their life, wealth and sacred honor for. The British were fighting for some extra taxation in one of their many colonies. The American will defeated the British will because of an imbalance in the convictions involved. With the defeat of Cornwallis and the subsequent genius of our American Constitution, liberty reigned in the United States under rule of law.

From liberty to abundance;

The abundance generated by free enterprise and limited government was one of America’s biggest blessings, but also one of our biggest challenges. One of the few standing economies after WWII was America’s. Our products flowed to nearly all foreign markets creating the wealthiest society in the world’s history. It takes incredible discipline to remember where our blessings come from with abundance heaped upon further abundance. Over time, people forget the principles that created the liberty and the fruit of that liberty. Seeing the inequalities in the blessing of individual citizens, an envy of our fellow Americans germinates. The fruit of this unholy thinking is a desire to take our brothers and sisters abundance and give to those less abounding. Government would have to intervene and right this wrong according to the envious.

From abundance to selfishness;

The 1960’s were a decade of self masquerading as a care for those less fortunate. Free love, destruction of society’s norms, and a drug culture prevailed in the youth. The 1960’s were a rebellion against the plastic society of abundance without the belief in the principles that created that abundance. The Church, having lost conviction of the truths of the Bible, ossified into ghetto culture within America. With little truth in the Church, the youth were left on their own to search for answers to the hypocrisy that engulfed them. Instead of returning to the Biblical principles and the God that created the blessings, society entered into the worship of self and self-actualization. The youth of the 60’s saw the hypocrisy, but in their endless faith in their own holiness marched America even further from its Biblical roots.

From selfishness to complacency;

Without a Biblical foundation, the rebellion was bound to produce worse fruits than the plastic culture it attempted to replace. With no firm convictions to stand upon, the rebellion dissolved into peace and personal affluence. The loss of Biblical absolutes is bound to lead from convictions to surrender to complacency as no one is sure what the truth is. What is the use of standing for anything, if we are not sure that what we are standing for is truth? The 1970’s saw this complacency as the youth joined the “system” and pursued peace and affluence with little understanding of original principles that America was founded upon.

From complacency to apathy;

1980’s were a brief respite in the cycle. Thanks to the leadership and convictions of Ronald Reagan, America stood its ground against Communism and found that Communism was a paper tiger. The respite was short lived because the President, even with his bully pulpit, cannot consistently educate Americans on Biblical truths. This must be a function of the church, which has abdicated their responsibility in an effort to be relative to a lost generation.

The 1990’s saw a near complete surrender to apathy and personal fulfillment. With a near complete rejection of absolute values, people defined their own values and pursued fulfillment in the myriad of choices available to them. People did not care who was running the government as long as they were left alone to pursue the own personal agenda. Government performed by doing focus groups to ascertain what the people wanted and giving it to them, surrendering all leadership responsibilities to the disparate wishes of the people. Government, instead of playing the role of umpire and defender of our freedoms began to play the role of a benevolent dictator. The dictator studied to learn what we wanted and offered that to us with only a presumed token price of submission to the almighty sovereignty of government in the affairs of the citizens.

From apathy to dependency;

The 2000’s will be remembered as the decade of complete submission to the government’s largesse. The American citizen’s depend upon government for their welfare, health care, social security, etc. It would be unthinkable for most Americans to live without the direct involvement of our beneficent Big Brother. The price of dependency is submission of our freedoms to the dictates of Big Brother. The old saying that you boil a frog one degree at a time aptly fits here. If you take a frog and throw him into boiling water, the frog will have enough sense to jump out. But if you turn up the temperature slowly, the frog will open up its pores and will literally be boiled without an attempted escape. Americans are now boiling in our dependency on our government.

From dependency back again to bondage.

Eventually in our dependence, we see our status falling in the free world as slaves can never perform the functions of free men and women. Although the government still mouths the words of our founding fathers, the words have new meanings. The citizens cannot put a finger on the malady, but they know something is not right. In their desperation, they look for a messiah to save them. Because the Churches are not sharing the message of the true messiah and the true way to liberty, the citizens look for a worldly messiah. A perceptive leader, with words that tickle the ears promises to be the searched for messiah. With the republican form of government torn asunder and transformed into a nascent democracy – the powerful words and promises of deliverance speak directly to the masses. A savior is born unto the people and salvation is just around the corner.

A shocking truth is learned too late that man cannot save man and only Jesus Christ can liberate the soul in bondage. A people held in bondage to sin can never be responsible to run a free government. The people in bondage will look to the government the way Christians look to their Savior. Government cannot be the savior to the people and was never intended to be so when created by our Founding Families. America’s national debt is now over $10 trillion and to service the debt on the interest is over $450 billion per year. This makes interest on debt the 3rd biggest item on our governments budget! We are bankrupting our children's inheritance on the altar of self indulgence! Ben Franklin said after the creation of our Constitution when asked what type of government was created, “A republic, if you can keep it.” A republic was formed to keep the masses from directly running the government and voting the government into bankruptcy. How far have we traveled from our founding principles and roots?

I did not write this to scare people into inactivity, but to awaken our consciences to the choices that face us. We do not have to complete this cycle and just as Ronald Reagan interrupted the cycle, we can too! Will it take convictions and guts? Yes, but a Godly people that have studied the truth of our founding principles will not be swayed by the promises of an almighty government. Examine yourself. Where do you stand at this historic time?

Let me close with one of my brothers favorite authors. The science fiction writer, Robert Heinlein called this issue "Bread and Circuses" - a reference to Roman Emperors providing food and entertainment to distract the masses. In "To Sail beyond the Sunset" the character Lazarus Long discusses this problem:

"A perfect democracy, a 'warm body' democracy in which every adult may vote and all votes count equally has no internal feedback for self correction. It depends solely on the wisdom and self-restraint of citizens...which is opposed by the folly and lack of self-restraint of other citizens. What is supposed to happen in a democracy is that each sovereign citizen will always vote in the public interest for the safety and welfare of all. But what does happen is that he votes his own self-interest as he sees it...which for the majority translates as 'Bread and Circuses'

"Bread and Circuses is the cancer of democracy, the fatal disease for which there is no cure. Democracy often works beautifully at first. But once a state extends the franchise to every warm body, be he producer or parasite, that day marks the beginning of the end of the state. For when the plebs discover that they can vote themselves bread and circuses without limit and that the productive members of the body politic cannot stop them, they will do so, until the state bleeds to death or in its weakened condition the state succumbs to an invader--the barbarians enter Rome."

Where do you think America is on the cycle and what do you think we must do to address and fix? I will close this article with the Biblical passage from Hosea 4:6-10, which I believe captures the crossroads where America stands. I will address proposed solutions in several future articles. God Bless, Orrin Woodward

6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

Because you have rejected knowledge,

I also will reject you from being priest for Me;

Because you have forgotten the law of your God,

I also will forget your children.

7 “ The more they increased,

The more they sinned against Me;

I will change[a] their glory[b] into shame.

8 They eat up the sin of My people;

They set their heart on their iniquity.

9 And it shall be: like people, like priest.

So I will punish them for their ways,

And reward them for their deeds.

10 For they shall eat, but not have enough;

They shall commit harlotry, but not increase;

Because they have ceased obeying the LORD.

Time to make a difference!

“Have Fun, Make Money, Make A Difference” This is a great slogan we have all heard many times and I am always interested in how we put those words into action. One thing I know about members of the Team is that we all value action above all else and we all desire to make a difference in America in all that we do. Here is how I personally plan on making a difference right now.

As you all know, we are in the midst of an election year. We have seen what great leaders can do and know the devastating consequences of poor leadership. There has never been a more important time in our country’s history than right now for the American people to send great leaders to Washington DC to SERVE the people of our nation and to ensure our national security and economic prosperity of this country. We might be faced with some challenging issues both economically and politically but this is no different than in times past and with the right leadership we will be able to overcome those issues and build towards a bright future for our children and grandchildren.

I know of a fine businessman and leader in New Mexico named Ed Tinsley who is running for Congress and I am giving him my full support in his congressional run. I encourage each of you to visit his website that I have included here to learn more about him and his campaign on the Republican ticket in the 2nd Congressional District of New Mexico.

I met Ed and his family while I was in the military. I attended a convention in Chicago for the National Restaurant Association of which Ed was a board member. I quickly fostered a friendship with him and was very impressed with what he had accomplished, his goals for the future, and his desire to help the men and women of our military. Since our first meeting in Chicago, Ed was elected as the Chairman of the Board of the NRA. He truly has a servant’s heart and he has made a great impact serving in that capacity. As chairman, he helped lead this organization in its efforts to support our military troops around the world. Ed Tinsley is a successful restaurant owner with a vast operation that spans Texas, Colorado, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. He is also life long rancher and is involved in the oil and gas industry, which enable him to bring his breadth of experience and common sense business approach to Washington, DC to help foster change where it is needed most. However, what I find most impressive about him is that he is a great leader with character and integrity and we need that type of leadership in our nation’s capital now more than ever. I personally believe Ed will do a fantastic job not just representing the state of New Mexico but doing what is right for our entire country.

If you are a resident of New Mexico I highly encourage you to read more about Ed and what he stands for on his website. For those of you who can not vote in the New Mexico second congressional district election but believe he will be a great leader in Washington you can still support him with a financial donation to his campaign. Please read over his bio and background (link here) to see what issues are important to him.

I truly believe that Ed Tinsley will make a fine Congressman representing New Mexico and our entire nation. If you believe the same and would like to support this campaign you can (click here) to make a donation.

Leadership equals greater responsibility not greater perks!

I have always been taught that with greater leadership roles comes greater responsibility not more perks and special treatment. This is so hard for many people in today’s society to understand. They feel that once they reach that certain position within the company, achieve a certain rank in the military, or in case of many of our political leaders...get elected to office...that they now have special perks and privileges that allow them to roam free unchained by the laws and regulations of the common man.

Look at the Hollywood elite that seem to live above the law endlessly getting a slap on the wrist for things that the common citizen would do jail time over. Our politicians think they can break the law, take bribes, and operate totally independent of the judicial system with impunity. It has become so reckless on both sides of the aisle one has to think that we need a good house cleaning from top to bottom for both parties.

I am still amazed at the total disconnect many people have when discussing leadership positions. They almost uniformly talk about the perks and special privileges one should get or demand. Is it any wonder our politicians take so many liberties with their positions...they feel as if the public is giving them the license to do so. Well the time is changing! I hope the jail sentences handed down to Enron CEO's Jeff Skilling and Ken Lay set a new tone of corporate and political responsibility wth leaders who serve in those roles!

To use the terminology of the roaring twenties we have too many “goodfellas” fleecing their pockets at tax payer expense with little to no regard to serving their country as they have been elected to do. We need some old fashion justice to clean up the place. We need people with character and integrity who stand for what is right and will serve this country in those positions properly. We need leaders who are interested in serving their country and not serving themselves. I know a group of guys about ready to take on that assignment.

In lieu of this subject regarding leaders not accepting responsibility and not faithfully discharging the duties of their position but rather looking for ways to further their own personal causes and trying to operate above the law, Rich Karlgaard has written an excellent piece on Dennis Hastert who he suggests should step down as speaker of the house.

Throw The Bums Out
Writes Quin Hillyer in the right-leaning The American Spectator:
“It's time for Dennis Hastert to go.
“Rep. Hastert, R-Ill., ought to announce sooner rather than later that he will not be a candidate for re-election as Speaker of the House when the next Congress convenes in January, 2007. He should do so for reasons both principled and purely political. He should do so because, in practical terms, his effectiveness is reaching -- or probably has already reached -- an end.
“And the recent embarrassment of his wild over-reaction to the FBI's search of Rep. William Jefferson's office is merely the 100-pound load that, combined with tons of ethical dead-weight, broke the elephant's back.

“Hastert has exhibited the arrogance of power that leaves him clueless both as to ethical concerns and as to the political damage such arrogance can cause to his own party. The House GOP's hubristic culture, the culture that makes its members feel immune to expected mores and to any blowback from a disgusted public -- the culture that, even after the Abramoff and DeLay scandals, makes them unwilling to pass serious reforms on ethics, lobbyist disclosure, and earmarks -- is what has led the House overall into even-worse poll ratings than the stupendously low scores President George W. Bush has been receiving in recent months.

“If Hastert's outburst against the Jefferson search were an isolated incident, a rare lapse in judgment, it certainly would be forgivable. Because, however, it is part of a consistent pattern of abuses of ethical norms or of simple fairness, and because Hastert's own compromised image is helping drag down his whole party's electoral prospects for November, this Speaker should silence himself politically.” Full story here.

We agree … but let’s stop right here, take a breath, and in our relentless bipartisan spirit point out, as our friend Larry Kudlow does today, that “corruption has no party loyalty.”
Kudlow cites the ethical lapses of Dem pols such as William “How’d that cash get in my freezer?” Jefferson and Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid who “accepted free ringside tickets to three boxing matches from the Nevada Athletic Commission, while the agency was trying to influence him on boxing regulation. (To make matters worse, two Republicans who attended the fights with Reid dealt with matters above deck -- Sen. John McCain insisted on paying for his tickets, while Sen. John Ensign (R-NV), recused himself from participating in Reid's pending legislation.)” Full column here.

Yep -- time for a summer cleaning.

By: Robert Dickie