Aristocracy and Leadership

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Someone once told me that an aristocrat is he who controls more than one vote. Historically, this has been the basis for all forms of representative government, and it is both the boon and the bane of participatory governance.

Aristocrats often governed the land. That meant they governed all that arose therefrom, and we all know that the feudal law rephrased the Golden Rule to "whoever has the gold makes the rules". To a degree that trend continues today, as in order to make money or gain office, you must generally be possessed of large means in order to mount any kind of effective campaign, particularly against an incumbent.

However, I learned at the polls last year and as I went into the election that I have the power of an aristocrat by virtue of riches I possess that no man can take from me. If aristocracy is the seat of power, and if aristocrats were once the only ones to be educated, he who is truly educated has power now, his material status notwithstanding. So, where others read Twilight, Harry Potter, ad infinitum, I read Locke, Montesquie, Smith, von Mises, Jefferson, et al., and possess a wealth of knowledge that counters any specie.

Many people came into the polls completely ignorant. A man of integrity myself, I refrained from the opportunity to sway them at that juncture. Prior to the election, I took the opportunity in my sphere of influence to share my thoughts. One coworker wrote: "Your patriotism is infectious; I have never before fully understood what it means to be an American...You are equally inspiring as the great people in history that you admire." Talk to people about what you believe and why. Get informed. Read. Don't let other people tell you what you think, and tell as many people as you can why you think the way you do.

Become the person to whom your friends, family and associates turn when political, economical, and social topics arise. You may think they are joking when they come to you and seriously ask you what's wrong with socialism. They really don't know. Be that person who can explain it to them.

Aristocrats were believed to be superior. At one point it was for their money. Let it now be for the knowledge we possess that surpasses the average understanding.

That being said, there are two kinds of aristocracy. In the first, by virtue of the truncheon or in promise for pelf, a man exerts power and control via unrighteous dominion over those who know no better. In the latter, a man educates, informs, and expounds, teaching correct principles and lets the people govern themselves. Let it flow without compulsory means and be a true leader.

Apparently Not a Parent

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Last Tuesday night while I waited for the meeting to start that I attend every week, I overheard a conversation that made my blood boil. Although I held my tongue, I came this -- close to speaking my mind to the women immediately adjacent.

I know none of them personally and only one of them by name. Despite being no more than six feet away from me, they made no attempt to hush their comments or keep it to themselves. Immediately prior to the comment, the youngest of the women remarked that she would of course be able to make it to such-and-such because she had no children, to which the eldest among them (and the only one whose name I knew) quipped, "I wish I could say that."

To be fair, this woman was previously married in an abusive relationship. However, I have always been struck by how stern she seems, even when she is "happiest", born apparently of bitterness towards a previous relationship. It also manifests in misogynistic comments she makes denigrating her current husband whom she ostensibly loves. Some people have no interest having children.

Her children are not responsible for the way her husband treated her. A close friend of mine was physically abused by her mother because she reminded her mother of the father who cheated on her mother. When innocents bear the brunt, there is no excuse for that.

How could any woman wish she had not had her children? They are a part of her. She is a part of them. I have about a dozen friends who consider me their surrogate parent because their parents admitted in a moment of weakness that they were accidents. How can you accidentally have a child? I admit abstinence isn't easy, but I am proud to say there are no illegitimate children of mine out there and that any woman who claims I had sex with her or anything like unto it who is not my former wife is a liar.

I would give all that I have for a family. I wish this woman would realize how blessed she is. Any biological can donate a gamete, but it takes a human being to be a parent.

God Bless Our Troops

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Anyone who knows me knows that my patriotism is real. Three generations alive of my family have served in arms.

I know that not all veterans are created equal. However, I know that you went out and made sacrifices for us. Some of you I know intimately and I know that you gave up your life and your livelihood for something greater than yourself. At the polls last year, I met a man who stormed Normandy over 60 years ago. When I thanked him for his sacrifice, he cried.

May God grant unto us an early peace and victory found in injustice and instill into the hearts and minds of men everywhere a firm purpose to live in peace with good will toward all.

For all the Veterans who have, or are now, serving in our military: words really cannot do justice for all that you've sacrificed for the people of our country. As humble as it is, please accept our heartfelt THANKS!! To all the men and women who are out in the fields tonight, please, BE SAFE and GOD BLESS YOU!

God knows I would like to be over there in your stead.

JD Buyright

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My dad and I went out in search of a replacement for my 1995 Saturn SL1 "Car2-D2". After an entire morning on the hunt, the only place with a car I liked refused to sell it to me under the terms I like.

Warned by another dealer, we stopped at JD Buyright anyway. The salesman wasted no time and informed us that he would not sell me a car unless I took their finance terms. I ran the numbers...a 3-year loan at 21% interest for $350/month means that over the life of the loan I will pay $12000 for a car worth less than $4000, or almost sticker price for the car as if it were brand new.

I have a new reason to dislike the NASCAR driver affiliated with this program. Predation on the desparate for cars makes for unethical business practice. I could never bring myself to contract this kind of commerce. That's partly why I became a teacher. Research science resembled practical science which resembles the rest of the corporate world- it focuses too much on self-aggrandizement. I will never patronize this establishment or endorse the driver who owns a major stake in it.

They could have made a sale. The irony is that the particular car I liked has an extremely limited demographic to which it appeals. I seek a manual transmission Saturn with cruise control. How many people do you know who like Saturns? How many people do you know who can drive a stick? Good luck with the sale of that car. It was perfect for me.

The Bottom Line of Life

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My friend came up with this, and I really like it, so I posted it here to remember.

Live with awareness

Opine with caution

Decide with knowledge

Doubt with reason

Judge with empathy

Teach with patience

Guide with compassion

Lead with wisdom

Support with hope

Achieve with humility

Serenity Prayer

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When I first heard about the Ft. Hood shooting, it made me angry. I wanted to do something about it. By that time, however, there was of course nothing I personally could do to change anything about what happened. So, I came to accept the fact that although tragic there was nothing I could do about that particular event and I let it go. I have applied as much as I am able that same principle to other things in my life over which I have no control.

The Year of Our Lord 2009 has challenged me in many ways, and although I have grown the growth has sometimes come at great cost and pain. My one consolation through all of the perterbations and usurpations has been that I did the best I could with what I had and that I acted on promptings from God. I did what I controlled, and then every day I hand the ruins to him and ask him to make something of them.

May God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

I opine missed opportunities this year, but not those that I missed. I seized upon every opportunity to do the things in my life that really mattered to me. That other people elected to stay at the station or board another train entirely is up to them. During some of my darkest days and from some of the most unlikely and unexpected places, God has brought people into my life to buoy up my faith and speak comfort and hope to me. I thank him for those tender mercies. I thank those people that they were the miracle for me.

I know where I am headed. Maybe the route changes from time to time, but I make the connections, hold the conversations, go to the places, do the work, and assimilate the concepts to which I feel inspired, and I have the proud consolation that God approves of what I do with my life. I echo the sentiments of Abraham Lincoln who, of his own literal fight, said:

But if, after all, we shall fall, be it so. We shall have the proud consolation of saying to our conscience, and to the departed shade of our country's freedom, that 'the course approved of our judgments and adored our hearts, in disaster, in chains, in torture, and in death, we never faltered in defending.

It takes a great man to face great obstacles, to run where the brave dare not go. It takes a great man to do what is right even when, at least in a Newtonian way, he sees no fruit of his labors. I will die doing what is right. I know my place. It is time you learned yours.

Part of the Solution

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On the way to work this morning, I was slowed down quickly by a huge wreck just after I entered the freeway. About a half dozen cars were involved, and although it had happened relatively recently, some of the cars still sat in the lanes, despite the fact that they could be moved to allow for the flow of traffic.

I knew that the NHP would clear the road as soon as they arrive. I also know that they don't have to see the scene in order to evaluate the incident. I also knew that hundreds of cars depended on the flow of traffic and that as long as these cars sat here more people ran the risk of accident, delay of arrival at work, and other frustrations. So, I pulled over and helped clear the road.

When I told a friend of mine about this, he praised me. I could either go by and let other people suffer the wait as I had or get out and eliminate the constraint.
Most people would rather sit in their cars honking the horn, but if I help clean it up then some people would never know there had ever been a problem.

You can either be part of the solution or contribute to the continuity of the problem. There is no spectator section.

How I Learned to Love France

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There was a time when I didn't care much for France or the French. I have never actually met a frenchman I liked or with whom I got along well. I've met some French people who are decent and average. I have learned over time that France is full of our Heavenly Father's children who warrant my concern, compassion and charity just as much as those whom I consider to be my closest friends and associates.


Some people I know have lately taken to obscene criticism of the French. I reminded them that without the French America might not have ever come into existence. It was LaFayette who helped Washington train, equip, and lead his army. Without that service, the third of the colonists who supported revolution would scarce been able to even by weight of numbers overturn the Benedict Arnolds, the Torries, and the Redcoats who overran the land.

I have a new French hero. Current French President Sarkozy has impressed me with his rhetoric, his politics, and his stalwart defense of all that is good and brave and true. If all Frenchmen were like him, France might well become our staunchest ally. They have been so before. They may be so again.

There are many good and brave Frenchmen. There are good and brave and true men in every nation and every culture and every clime. There is weakness there too, but if we look for the good in mankind and expect to find it we will. Vive la France!

Join the Navy

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A close friend of mine recently set about a serious effort to join the Navy. He has met with the normal diatribe of accusations about him being a baby-killer, notwithstanding the fact that the people who slander him so know him better than that. When he asked my opinion, he knowing about my affinity for the military, I said, "the Navy, like any other organization, is only as good as the officers and men who people it".

If you find an organization bereft of the kind of people of whom you think it best comprised, the best way to fix it is to fill it with people of that moral fiber. If you are one of them, lead the way.

Our soldiers are great men and women. There are people there true who go for the scholarhips, the training, discipline, or to see thw world, but the large majority of them are willing to give their lives, even if they survive and serve as a career, so that we can live in peace and freedom. As we consider on those rare stories that transcend the media firewalls and make the front pages of the news, remember that millions of nameless, faceless youth have fought and bled and died on soils far from their homes for the idea that man has value and that what man does is valuable.

Always remember them. And if you feel so inclined, join and serve with them.

Tender Mercies

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Over the past few weeks, I have been struck by a particular and favorite verse of mine. At the end of 1 Nephi 1, Nephi tells us the theme for his entire record that he will write, and he says, "I Nephi will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are on all those whom he hath chosen because of their faith to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance." As I think about my own journeys, privations and trials, I think of the times when I have seen the Lord's hand and felt his Love in my own life as I struggle across the wilderness. Although there may not be Labans, brothers who beat us with a stick, broken bows, or storms while we sail on ships, there are plenty of rough seas, adversarial people, and dashed dreams that combine in our minds to hedge up our way and dampen our faith. In those times, I remember Nephi.

There are tender mercies. I cannot tell you how many times I have been spared from what I wanted and discovered that if I had received what i wanted it would have made my happiness harder, if it was in the aftermath even possible. Sometimes, I have been sent help in the nick of time. Sometimes, I have had doors open which I did not expect and miracles happen for which I did not ask and of which I was not worthy. Yet, they came anyway because of faith. What times in your life have you seen the Lord bless you with tender mercy in spite of the choices you have made? Write about them in your journal.

Faith is more than just a declaration of belief. Faith is a lifestyle. Like Nephi, I have often "been led of the Lord, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do". Yet, like Nephi, I went and did, for "I know the Lord God giveth no commandments unto the children of men save he shall prepare a way for them whereby they may accomplish the thing he commands of them." You show your faith in the choices you make every minute of every hour of every day.

Out of faith comes might and deliverance. I recently read about how Alma and Amulek broke their bonds and the prison tumbled to the ground. Then there's Jericho. This past summer, I had several Courageous Conversations with friends that on the surface seemed to end badly for me. In the end, they flatly rejected my words and concern. I said what I felt led to say anyway, for I considered to do anything else a betrayal of friendship. As I watch where they take their lives, I realize that I was "cursed for my sake", cut off from their lives as a means to spare me from the consequences of their choices until they learn for themselves to know good from evil.

In the end, no matter what storms you may face, the Lord has a land of promise for you. If you remember my last message, Elder Holland promises in his talk that you will inherit your goodly land as you remain true to the truths that your parents have cherished and for which martyrs have perished. May you find strength and comfort in Christ as you cross the wildernesses of life. May you recognize his hand and feel his love always. Godspeed, and all my best wishes.