Why we fight-The Prelude

Why we Fight-Prelude to war series Made in 1942 narrated by Hollywood star Frank Capra working in co-operation with the US War Dept a series of vital must see movies were made and seen by those brave American men who fought in those WW2 conflicts. Unfortunately omitting the pictures here is the script of part of this first movie. ‘There is a fight between a Free World and a Slave World’ Vice President H Wallace May 8th 1942. And what are these two worlds of which Mr Wallace spoke? The Free and Slave? Let’s take the free world first –our world. How did it become free? Only by a long and unceasing struggle inspired by men of vision; Moses; Muhammed; Confusis; Christ; All believe that in the sight of God all men were created equal. And from that developed a spirit among men and nations which is best expressed in our declaration of freedom (Picture of handwritten Document highlighting) We hold these truths to be self evident –All men are created equal- The cornerstone upon which our nation was built and the ideal of all the great liberators. Washington, Jefferson, Garibaldi, Lafayette,…. Lincoln; Lighthouses lighting up a dark and foggy world . the government of the people, the government by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth. Fighting Living Dying for what? For freedom that which men have fought since time began- To be free! Is life so dear or peace so sweat as to be purchase at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it Almighty God I know not what course others may take but as for me ‘Give me Liberty: Or give me Death’ Well unusual for me I am at a loss for words!- What could be said about this remarkable and critical for men who watched and heard this –then went out to die or surviving suffering in what happened for Americans involved in truly global conflicts… It would be almost obscene as these men agreed with what we have just read to begin to rip it apart. But as Theologian and Bible Scholar I must be honest and say that Christ never stood for the cornerstone of Equal Rights-never!. Confusis taught a system which ensures that people are not and never will be equal. Muhammed most definitely never could have considered such Not Middle Eastern ideas! And as to Moses; Never as I remember it mentioned equal rights – But the best I can say, Moses prophesying about USA are his words; ‘I will use a so called nation to make them (Israel) angry I will make them jealous with a nation of fools’. That is the prophetic opinion of Moses of USA! Then speaking on behalf of people who since First President Peter Minuit built the fort to fight against them-In Lower Manhattan- These very nearly 400 years USA has had a sizable population who are suffering abuse and have not experienced this ‘Freedom’. Then finally this impossible to square with reality statement ends with the ultimate terminal curse; tens of thousands of men who watched that movie and heard it, Agreed- and died cursed!

Myth Making

Myth making ‘The social picture was changing fast, with the rising commercialism and city life; Chicago had 350 inhabitants in 1833 and 300,000 in 1870. And the westward push warned of even more changes to come. The nation was ‘growing too fast for its virtue and its peace’-Emerson. It needed interpreters of its life more penetrating than the genre of painters –a national literature which read the meaning of the new American realities to the American common man. But this order as yet could not be filled. Even before the Civil War the changes were too rapid and close and the aim of the nation to divided. The Americans tried to build their house in the middle of a landslide and the governing classes of the Eastern Seaboard naturally clung to stability in literature no less than in politics. Their American ness was only a minor addition to their British culture….These writers timidity in handling national characteristics was demonstrated by Washington Irving….But all these writers moved with the same peaceful and somewhat tepid atmosphere, and this was in particular the case with the Boston professors and poets who set the standards of American literary life to the end of the (19th) century …. P92/93 Time Life –The United States Writing in chapter five of The United States the born again American formerly from Norway- Sigmund Skard struggles to say anything meaningful on the topic of American literature. Now he doesn’t as I would have done mention the outstanding journalism found in- until Rupert Murdock killed it- The TV Guide or books by Grace Metalous but as we see the unwillingness of Americans to critically define and interact with the reality of what they were doing and had been doing for two hundred years by this critical 1830 decade- Is Taylor Made for Myth Making- Comic books instead of serious and complex 1200 page dramas. And that as he says is because Boston professors are setting the standards therefore dictating what will be published and what will not be published. which reminds me of the healthy Unreality found in the New England photo essay p17-19 showing the Neptune Fireman’s band leading the American legion color guard Memorial Day parade 1963 in the town of Ipswich Mass and the still waters of Cape Porpoise and just around the corner from the Bush family hideaway holiday home -‘delightfully peaceful Kennebunkport’ and ‘Spring’s blossoms bring an unexpected gay.. to the spare, orderly townscape of Yarmouth Me’. But finally when some real literature got published in 1956- ‘Peyton Place’ then set about demolishing that New England Myth and despite being slandered as trash the book deservedly sold over 12 million copies and is still profitably read by those seeking to study literature and reality for USA. When I grew up it was in the study of The National Geographic but by my early teens I knew that the similar magazines I avidly read telling of life in USSR and ‘China Reconstructs magazine’ were considered to be propaganda – Which then raised the question as to why Nat Geo wasn’t! So from that time onwards I began to store in my brain vast files of material by reading as widely as possible so that I could compare and cross reference and thus begin to go around the back of the myths and see the backroom reality behind; generating all the images. This is not to say we cannot find in the American 1830s many fine sources of literature to study. Thanks to the hard work undertaken to micro film the historic contents of Mormon Church Archive we have a real insight into what was really happening at that time. And so the finest piece of American Literature produced at that time would have to be The Book of Mormon. As a work of fiction I have seldom seen better! And do some people think man made myths are real? Well yes! In 2012 the people of USA narrowly avoided having a rich white man who actually believes the Book of Mormon is genuinely God’s Word- Deluded candidate for Myth Making President! Oh well back to my studies- paul.

America's Richest man Take Two

America’s Richest Man Take Two In his novel Martin Chuzzlewit Dickens took his vengeance on America’s fast talking, profit orientated society. Martin becomes an unwitting partner in the Eden Land Corporation, a shady group which has enticed him with a giant plan depicting the flourishing city of Eden, replete with banks, churches, markets, theaters and a daily journal The Eden Stinger. The real Eden (modeled on Cairo Illinois) turns out to be a miserable slough: ‘There were not above a score of cabins in the whole, half of these appeared untenanted; all were rotten and decayed’ For one of them, Martin’s companion ‘brought forth a great placard…bearing the inscription Chuzzlewit & Co, Architects and Surveyors which he displayed in the most conspicuous part of the premises. With such gravity as if the thriving city of Eden had a real existence. – In the history of USA coming at the start of the 1840s to New York and then travelling on into the interior Charles Dickens has come at low point in the migration. Soon the Irish Potato famine is going to like a scythe and then changes in Germany- both events bring a deluge of new migrants and easy money for those earlier land owners who have picked the right locations where to put the unfortunate souls who desperately need a new place in the new land. But even in spectacular growth which again characterized the last half of the never to ever be repeated just past 20th Century some places are cursed and will never produce easy quick profit; Some places lack the infrastructure to make life there viable: And some miss out when another developer gets in ahead; And sometimes society swings in some new direction making predicting where will growth will develop next impossible…. About this period in respect of the previously mentioned in a blog in this series- America’s Richest Man Virginia Cowles tells us in ‘The Astors’ – ‘Yet in the panic of 1837 many people believed that the market would never recover and regarded the old man as quite mad to go on plunging his capital into a bottomless pit’ p57 The Astors Now I like to see the piece of land where I live in exactly these sorts of terms. In terms of a curse the local natives were so convinced the land was cursed that the got the missionary Fairburn to stand on the local hill over looking where Hoturoa dragged across the from Cook Islands –Tainui Canoe and to raise his holy hands and pray for the land. While convinced that cannibalism had blighted this harbor crossing region I was not the least bit surprised to find human bones in among the fire pit material in my backyard… And yes elsewhere around here heads turn up without the bodies….Moving on- The first well advertised development for this land which had been swapped for opposite Onehunga – brought in just a couple of buyers, then a decade or so later there were a dozen or so houses and properties purchased. Next Communism in China and the failure of Mao’s Great Leap Forward brought Chinese market gardening and gambling dens. And on and on it goes. Each new breathless profit making opportunity consistently sending every developer away losing money or reputation –Cursed. So was John Jacob Astor despite making the greatest amount of money from Manhattan ownership and development on that land- cursed? Well when it comes to ‘Aristocracy’ the quick way to check that is to look at the family tree over six or more generations and see where 200 years later people have got to…. Jesus puts it this way when he tells a land development story- ‘there was once a rich man who had land which bore good crops – he thought to himself I haven’t got room to store it all what to do? I know! I will pull down my barns and build bigger ones ….Eat drink and be merry but God said to him ‘You fool this very night I will require your life then who will get all the things you have kept for yourself?’ Luke 12:16-20 and ‘what if you gain the whole world but lose your soul?’ Luke 9:25

Charles Dickens Prophecy

Charles Dickens Prophecy OK here us the deal with this particular blog post. You read what Charles Dickens has to say- hey you might learn things –I did. And then when you get to the very end of it- he has a prophecy for us- But promise- no racing to the end- Read all he has to say first just to get a feel for what he is saying and how he is saying it. No Cheating! Promise me- Oh well you win. So I will just now start writing some American Charles Dickens stuff compiled by Smithsonian for their 1976 …. The American Press between Dickens and which a mutual loathing have developed played a predominant role in his relationship with America. There is much in the novel about news- papers filthy black mail and use of forged letters. Independence- ‘we do what we like’ is the excuse for libel and tyranny. Party feelings, erupting violence and political immorality, corruption and trickery are vividly presented. In commercial and public life tooo swindling is tolerated in the national worship of ‘smartness’- ‘We are a smart people her and can appreciate smartness’ …Private and domestic manners and customs are similarly presented in Martin Chuzzlewit, in their ludicrous aspects. Tobacco spitting and chewing and spitting –that constant theme in American Notes and other travel books by Englishmen…so do picking one’s teeth in public…and everyone bolting their food in a hideous race of Voracity. The bad manners and lack of amenity and indifference of the arts and graces of life are automatically defended by the slogan; ‘We are a busy people, sir and have not time for that’. Americans have queer customs- gotten by using and stressing the wrong words, yea and using expressions unfamiliar to Englishmen unfamiliar with hearing that such and such a person is a ‘mother fucker’ or a ‘pain in the arse’ (And yes my Editor is correct in that I am adding to text!) giving every man a military or other title. Pseudo –distinction is so widespread that in a single chapter, Martin three times hears that he is meeting ‘one of the most remarkable men in our country’: but this is an example of American excitability and overstatement- America is always ‘depressed’ always is stagnated, and always is in an alarming crisis-…the people are strangely devoid of individual traits of character- Well except for a sizable minority who are the most remarkable people in the country- this partly because of the national spiritual emptiness (A fascinating example of that is the Mormon Church and the very sincere belief in things which are utterly absurd-Ed) partly because of the pressure of public opinion. All these points are made in the first American chapter …. ‘I am a Lover of Freedom-disappointed –That’s all’ Dickens wrote in 1842. This is not the republic I came to see. This is not the Republic of my imagination’ and elsewhere: ‘I tremble for a radical coming here, unless he is a radical on principle, by reason and reflection, and from a sense of right. I fear that if he were anything else, he would return home a Tory (English Conservative-Ed) I do fear the heaviest blow ever dealt at liberty, will be dealt by this country, in the failure of its example to the earth’ In 2008 after President George W Bush had brought the world ‘The War of Terror’ based on a building collapsing in a pile of dust in New York city and an explosion outside the Pentagon in Washington. And then people were held in Guantanamo- So in 2008 a new Black African President swept into the White House with the intention of freeing those people …. 2014 In Todays Newspaper that they are still being held there! And worse when this is published within seconds a computer based in USA snaps it up- why… Well the USA-NSA feel duty bound to intercept and process everything happening in New Zealand –God knows why. Dickens said it. ‘The largest blow to freedom in human history would be dealt by USA claiming to have built their empire on ‘Freedom’ And I will give the last word to the chief judge of history; USA the way that you have judged and dealt with others is the way that you will be judged and dealt with-Matthew 7:2 Be Afraid!

Aristocracy Free (3)

Aristocracy Free? (3) Democracy: A poor black boy Can Become the President, potential equality of wealth are as we see from the previous discussion The Driving Force of the American Myths…. And over and against this genuine European Aristocrats have as we have also seen visited USA- Found the flaws, picked faults or in the case of Charles Dickens got so –Mr Dotcom style upset at the way he has been treated that he fights back- and with good reason because the New York which Dickens investigates is rapidly becoming the worst place on the planet for any new migrant to arrive at and attempt to survive if they go into free fall to the dying extremely quickly evil bottom of Five Points- Current NY Chinatown… So as one previous writer in 1965 identified- (confirmed at that time by an excellent photographic record I mentioned in Aristocracy Too!) USA actually has the world’s strongest and most secure aristocratic system- but the nature of the beast is extremely hard for someone outside of it to explain especially when the purpose of Essential American Myth is to make everyone on the outside think that if they play by society rules they will also gain success. Myth for Deceit. Anyway the world’s largest and best collection of historic Ferrari motorcars came together in the summer of 1994 at a Golf Club called Pebble Beach not too far from the historic Pebble Beach racing track at a small seaside town called Monterey and the owners of these Italian made autos where as interesting to study- And the photographers did at times focus in on beautiful women to a lesser extent than following the beautiful car shapes and engines… some can see similarities between the two I have been reliably informed – And in ‘Ferrari Festival’ DVD –Duke Video USA I have been able to study as an important historic event the cross over from the Aristocratic Elite of California and Middle America (West and Middle) from those who made their wealth in construction, transport and manufacturing- car design etc to the then new emerging Silicon Valley and Associates entering that elite with those interviewed regardless of how boring they actually are giving us the vital clues of that shift in power. And that shift seen in this 1994 event with the olde wealth of the 1960s meeting the new wealth of the 80s and 90s made in computers and media raising the vital question as to whether or not there is a ‘Free’ ticket which lottery style allows a ‘nobody’ to become a genuine member? And a name which automatically pops up is the Pebble Beach club racing driver Phil Hill who began this Ferrari discovery for USA; And in the 90s media- The richest women in USA- now Gone to Hawaii –Oprah Winfrey? (I just put a question mark there because there will always be questions about Oprah!) You see we who actually understand the high speed with which automobile design and development took place immediately post WW2 which is when Enzo Ferrari or Sachiro Honda both got going both making it to the top in fifty years by the 1990s-Well some cars are literally Heaps of Shit. Appalling to attempt to drive- incredibly unbelievably overpriced even when brand new in the case of the Ferrari brand- now stratosphere – well accidents of, or more likely deliberate corruption and the use of sex by Enzo to get what he wanted from people lead to him winning thus otherwise deeply flawed design getting a vital race. With the all time best Ferrari engine- The V6 Dino and design wise the 250 series of cars, with the Ferrari Californian the American favorite. You see people like Denny Hulme World Champion racecar driver, or those ordinary New Zealanders who won at times The America’s Cup- We do understand the weakness of each and every Aristocratic system and where the door at times is unlocked unguarded and how to ‘every man is equal’ to Jesus Christ style just walk in. I was talking to a veteran protestor recently against whom millions of dollars has been spent by an industry being protested against- and he tells me that again and again he takes the fatherly advice given by New Zealand’s Jewish Banker Prime Minister and therefore member of the world’s elite clubs- ‘when you are winning don’t pull back keep going keep pushing’. Can we as readers get Aristocracy Free? Sure by faith!- Never ever have the slightest doubt that you will not make it in- Mike Moore a New Zealander head of the World Trade Organization – Yes Sure Equality!

USA Business Special

USA Business Special! Lets take a break from the distress that young Dickens has with what he is discovering- American Myths lain aside and instead sit back and enjoy the wisdom of an Economics Professor at a time when as he shows elsewhere to his students the American economy had in 1964 gone from a Pyramid with a small elite at the top supported by the broad base of the vast un-numbered poor- That it has instead gone to become a diamond. Small number of poor at the bottom- small number of super wealthy at the top and in the middle most of the American people. ‘The distinctiveness of the American economy is related first of all to the American Way of Life. It derives from values and ideas that are prevalent in the American culture today- and where prevalent for a long time during the formative period of the nation. The economic tone was set by a body of citizens- not necessarily even a majority –whose values and ideas led them to create institutions characteristic of the American economy. The institutions in turn molded the rest of the nation. The stock market and trade unions (This writing reflects the historic situation fifty years ago-Ed) to the federal regulatory agencies (Again a piece of history!) and business organizations. There is less awareness of the values and ideas that made these the key elements in the ethical and conceptual framework (Note –an ethical and conceptual framework which collapsed and changed in the 1980/90s decades such that we non Americans are utterly appalled at the immorality of ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ and confidently expect that system to collapse soon) prevalent among influential sections of the American nation. Rugged individualism is part of the American myth, although there has been less of it than many think (A very well made Myth!-Ed) beginning with New England Puritans and Virginia planters and coming all the way down to the 20th century corporation managers and economic committees at all levels, team work and collaboration has been an important feature of American economic life. Even so, individualism has played a stimulating role in the American economy. American culture has made the individual responsible for his actions and thus promoted his independence and initiative. ….the conceptual framework that set the tone for the nation was a type of dogmatic rationalism: as such it has been forward-looking exploratory, experimental and pragmatic. It has made the fullest use of scientific method, the method that best helps man to achieve control over nature. (As a Bible Translator I was commissioned recently to translate Genesis chapter one for readers to see if current ideas derived from that relevant to these words ‘control over nature’ are there in fact-translator) …has been the belief in the dignity of work, a value despised or ignored by the majority of human beings. Work, however humble, was held in high esteem among early American settlers (Don’t you just love how these days Senior Pastors of vast mega churches can remember the time they ended up cleaning toilets!-Ed) For many generations this produced a widespread compulsion to be active, to have a career- even when this was strictly not necessary. Gentlemen of leisure, parasites and idlers there have always been, but they remain fringe elements…. Materialism has been a major element in inducing millions to make the extra effort needed for passing from, a stagnant and therefore restricted economy to a dynamic and affluent one. (When this was written USA had just been through years of six percent grown rates. What happens in those times is that everyone who wants to work can. And new migrants can work two jobs- double shifts and they do- to get ahead! Labor shortage becomes the critical issue. One year when normally the economy would stop at Xmas for at least two or three weeks- well it never stopped! Everyone was joyously buying and selling…-Ed) A strong belief in success as something worth aiming at also pushed people to work hard. The sense of individual autonomy and responsibility fostered an attachment to liberty, stimulating millions of Americans in all generations to lead independent lives, to start independent careers and to rely primarily on themselves rather than on their family, friends, the community or the state. It also stimulated Americans to agitate for their individual rights, which they understood to include the right to include the right to get the maximum return for their labor, their skills and capital. (These words must be seen in the global context. When they were written the American Economy was self contained. It fed on a vast continent still rich in resource- outside of USA debt or expansion still lay ahead. It was in human history a magic time, and a magic place-Ed Yes good for creating and believing Myths-translator) … The ambitious, energetic individual who prefers independent economic activity to private or public employment can set up his own enterprise. He will find obstacles but whatever he starts at the bottom of the economic ladder or further up the difficulties are probably no greater or no less than they were 100 years ago’ Prof Salvadori The United States 1966. My final word for this and for the future is which is agreed by all the great religions; “The righteous shall live by faith”

Dickens and New York Newspapers

Dickens and New York Newspapers Dickens wrote a novel about a migrant arriving in America under the above name, and I do wonder if Dicken’s opinion of New York newspapers mirrors what an Austrian German patriot –Herr A Hitler wrote concerning newspapers quoted somewhere in one of my previous blogs- Discovering Hitler. That aside - certainly New York newspapers are indeed amazing and earlier in this blog we saw the occasion when the Editor of The Tribune –Greely was the focus of a determined attempt by unhappy readers to burn down the newspaper building and hang the truly hated editor. So opinions as to what these remarkable newspapers publish can be indeed- intense! My all time favorite New York front page for one of these many publications came a few days after Superstorm Sandy had swept into the very heart of New York pushing back the tide to such an extent that inner city suburbs were flooded and fires could not be fought. Then The New York Marathon cancelled a snow storm swept into the already damaged city and the newspaper rightly claimed on the front page; ‘God hates us’ Well yes reading the last book of the bible chapters seventeen and eighteen the editor could well have a good point as we Non New Yorkers have been appalled by the low or no morals of Gatsby, The Wolf of Wall Street, and most recently the book- Flashboys. But as promised some writing on this topic by the writer who mocking Americans repeats; ‘one of the most remarkable men in our country’; Chuzzlewit’s first experience of America, like Dickens , was the invasion of his ship by newsboys…. ‘Here is this morning’s New York Sewer! Cried one. Here is this morning’s New York Stabber! Here is the New York Family Spy! Here’s the New York Private Listener! Here’s the New York Peeper! Here’s the New York Plunderer! Here’s the New York Keyhole Reporter! Here’s the New York Rowdy Journal! Here’s all the New York papers! Here’s full particulars of the patriotic loco-foco movement yesterday, in which the republicans were so chawed up and the last Alabama gouging case; and the interesting Arkansas dooel with Bowie knives; and all the Political, Commercial, and Fashionable News. Here they are! Here’s the papers.. Here’s the papers. It is in such that enlightenment means said a voice in Martin’s ear, that the bubbling passions of my country find a vent’ p87 Charles Dickens -Abroad in America. Smithsonian 197

And Charles Dickens visits USA too!

And Charles Dickens visits USA too! I began this myth of America blog with a report of the deep ongoing disquiet among New Zealanders at American attempt to hijack the TPP (Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement) by inserting into that document American law in defense of alleged copyright violations …A situation that resulted in the traumatic to our nation home invasion of Mr Dotcom’s mansion on the instructions of the American FBI. But reading about Charles Dickens I immediately asked myself; ‘What is new?’ Because after only a month in America the brilliant English novelist and short story writer C. Dickens (1812-1870 was writing this; ‘I have never in all my life been so shocked and disgusted , or made so sick and sore at heart as I have been by the treatment I received…in reference to the International Copyright question… (with) scores of newspapers attacking me in such terms of vagabond scurrility as they would denounce no murderer with’. And speaking here for Mr Dotcom- a welcome resident in our nation, the New Zealand spy agency- GCSB illegally spied upon him…and others too! He was thrown in jail and when he asked his good friend the former Police Minister – a man who he gave a donation of fifty thousand dollars to- Asked Hon John- a good christian for a blanket when he was cold in jail (Matt 25:38,39) John denied knowing …well the bible says-Jesus… So his wife left destitute, things from the mansion confiscated for no good reason, computer files illegally sent to the FBI contrary to our law and sovereignty as an independent nation, with the US Attorney General having already contacted out Attorney General thus thinking that an extradition would be straight forward and prompt… And now we see that there is an email from the head of one of the big Hollywood companies telling of his discussions with the Prime Minister of New Zealand to arrange things here rather than hiring a Chinese hitman in Hong Kong… Well Mr Dotcom must feel just like Charles Dickens at the treatment and abusive things said about him by Americans! And it only took one month for Dickens to discover what Americans were really like, him arriving expecting to be favorably impressed but by Feb 22 1842 he knew what he was up against- And next time we will read what he wrote of the visit. Chapter 9 Abroad in America- 1976.

Do we really Care?

-Do we really care? David Wilkerson for a typical Pentecostal loyal to USA to the end Republican mindset founder of Time Square Church in New York surprised me when in ‘America’s Last Call’ he complained that tax cuts had reduced the amounts of money paid to poor- A point well made in the documentary film by Michael Moore ‘Bowling for Columbine’ where a young mother travelling long distances to work for low wages in a shopping mall was neglecting the care of her six year old son who took a gun and went to school and shot dead a fellow student as a result of all that saving of money by the government… Look honestly do any of us reading this give a fig about the conditions that the poor of USA live in? In New York in the critical 1860s the historian Mark Kurlansky writing in The Big Oyster tells us ‘In 1864, a New York citizens association undertook a block by block inspection of the city. In 1865 published its three hundred page report which was widely distributed …the goal of the report, which was largely sponsored by the wealthy, was to clean up the sanitary and moral conditions in the slums that caused disease. The report pointed out that ‘The mobs that held fearful sway in our city during the memorable out-break of violence in the month of July 1863, were gathered in overcrowded and neglected quarters of the city’. P206 We get to the absolute heart of the issue. Can the American Economy continue? Well yes as long as those who are poor and disadvantaged within that economic system do not rise up as happened that Fateful for the American Civil War; Fateful for the emerging out of New York –Empire State- world wide movement; Do not emerge to loot and burn the city and open up USA to’ Chinese Peace keepers’ coming into USA to take charge…. Well God alone knows what happens then! The Torah if one were to take it seriously pays attention to the plight of foreigners, of the widow, the orphan, the disadvantaged, those who have lost their land and makes redress and essential seven year and fifty year Return. A lot has happened since that fateful week July 1863 in New York. In the century 1864-1964 when our current report into The United States was published. In these past 50 years? Does anyone care for those living in slavery in New York’s Chinatown- exact same location as where one fifty years ago the riots that almost destroyed New York and The Union came from. Will it come again. Equality.. Gone? ‘Of great importance for the democratization of the American economy is the trend towards a narrower range of incomes. There is still considerable poverty (1964) at the bottom of American society, and there are huge fortunes at the top. Poverty is a problem- even in Franklin D Roosevelt’s famous ‘one third of a nation ill housed, ill clad and ill nourished’ of 1937 had been reduced to less than a fifth by 1965, and even if among the poor are included many who elsewhere would be considered well-to do. For several decades the range of incomes has been narrowing, while at the same time there has been a rapid general upward movement. Between 1941 and 1963 the increase of average incomes, measured in goods and services purchased was 79% of the lowest 20% of the population and 30 percent of the top 5% of the population. The numbers of families in the middle income groups has been steadily increasing… p71-72 Professor Salvadori The United States. Time Life 1965. But fifty years later the trend is; Disappearing middle..

Democracy? Or is Anarchy a better word for it?

Democracy? Or is Anarchy a better word for it? Chapter six of Abroad in American introduces us to the 1835 and second volume 1840 ‘Democracy in America’ written by the intelligent and observant French aristocrat Alexis de Tocqueville. Among his many observations he said; ‘Americans are in a sense hardly civilized, which is only to be expected, since there is in America no aristocracy and for that matter, no class distinction of any sort…the whole society has melted into the middle class …feverish activity prevails the poor of today are the rich of tomorrow and ‘I never met a person too poor to cast a glance of hope and envy towards the pleasures of the rich, or whose imagination did not snatch in anticipation things which fate had obstinately refuse to him’ Thus the concept of class does not apply in America and neither for that matter does the concept of family….In America the authority of the father is reduced to almost nothing, there is less of rule and authority. Bonds of affection survive, to be sure since relations between father and sons become more intimate and gentle when the mores and laws become more democratic but the fact remains that individualism in America prevails over family ties. Flux and rampant individualism are the law of life in this country, where everyone moves feverishly up and down on the social scale and exercises in rapid succession, a bewildering variety of trades and professions. The American has no time to tie himself to anything. He grows accustomed only to change regarding it as the natural satae of man. He feels the need of it, more he loves it, for instability instead of meaning disaster for him, seems to birth only to miracles all about him. Nor is this surprising: In American social conditions depend upon wealth, and wealth is constantly created…. But he did see a dark side to the democratic freedom- ‘ignorance as much as equality will increase the concentration of power and the subjection of the individual’ despite ‘hatred of being ruled by one’s neighbor being the general and permanent sentiment in democracies’…. And he sees a conflict occurring between individualism in society and liberalism in politics…. Saying; the fundamental reason for this is that Americans are just as selfish as the next man and far more greedy but they are at the same time moved by genuine concern for the liberty of others and the well-being of their community. When individualism makes allowances for the rights of others, liberty may triumph…. And on religion said; I’ve never been so conscious of the influence of religion on the morals and the social and political state of the nation. Americans are genuinely pious especially in the then frontier states (of middle America) where people turn in relief from excessive materialism to religion…it is almost as if the spirit of religion and the spirit of freedom marching in the opposite direction in France but in America are intimately united. Religion forbids them to commit what is rash and unjust’ Edited excerpts chapter six ‘Abroad in America’ 1976 Smithsonian Institute. In spite of aristocratic beginnings and oft times hall mark features my own religious ‘Brethren’ movement established out of seeking to be true to what so ever is found by a deep understanding of the bible as primary source has created in our community many of the features which Alexis de Tocqueville saw in his discovery of Americans in the 1830s. A community which lacks clearly defined leadership but is under the oversight- ‘Episcope’ of elders and works most brilliantly when in a time of crisis, disaster, or social change when individual saints from the heart do for themselves and for their families and community whatsoever ‘The Lord’ has lead them to do and to be and become –More than Democracy- Pure Anarchy without centralized or hierarchical leadership as we serve one another in moral piety –Idealism? No actually that is how I operate in the work place! For the past five years on projects where there is never less than a hundred other workers I get no direction apart form ‘Keep doing what you are doing’ and attend to the things in vast and complex operations where I can do best and most efficiently so others do not need to attend to; They preferring to be doing other tasks… And as long as I can be successful in that approach-Productivity safety morale as well as profitability improving- well that is good and the reward deservedly belongs to our Lord Jesus Christ for giving me his spirit! A strange approach to life? Well two Brethrens have caught my attention. One who went onto become England’s Most evil satanic authority… So forget him! But the other the son of aristocracy fluent in the Arabic environment nephew of the Governor of Egypt young Orde Wingate combined the best of hard work and brilliance in his nonconformist approach to life and The Bible in teaching Jews how to defend their settlements in Palestine in the late 1930s. Is what Tocqueville is struggling to describe and hopes will work- Democracy? Well hardly! Rather as I suggest we need other words to describe a selfless serving approach which produces a solid but vibrant and healthy community. Marx suggested the word Communism but Americans struggle with that word.. So dear reader. The prognosis for America given her myths might be overall bad- But what are you doing which is real and lasting ?

Charles Dickens visits USA too!

And Charles Dickens visits USA too! I began this myth of America blog with a report of the deep ongoing disquiet among New Zealanders at American attempt to hijack the TPP (Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement) by inserting into that document American law in defense of alleged copyright violations …A situation that resulted in the traumatic to our nation home invasion of Mr Dotcom’s mansion on the instructions of the American FBI. But reading about Charles Dickens I immediately asked myself; ‘What is new?’ Because after only a month in America the brilliant English novelist and short story writer C. Dickens (1812-1870 was writing this; ‘I have never in all my life been so shocked and disgusted , or made so sick and sore at heart as I have been by the treatment I received…in reference to the International Copyright question… (with) scores of newspapers attacking me in such terms of vagabond scurrility as they would denounce no murderer with’. And speaking here for Mr Dotcom- a welcome resident in our nation, the New Zealand spy agency- GCSB illegally spied upon him…and others too! He was thrown in jail and when he asked his good friend the former Police Minister – a man who he gave a donation of fifty thousand dollars to- Asked Hon John- a good christian for a blanket when he was cold in jail (Matt 25:38,39) John denied knowing …well the bible says-Jesus… So his wife left destitute, things from the mansion confiscated for no good reason, computer files illegally sent to the FBI contrary to our law and sovereignty as an independent nation, with the US Attorney General having already contacted out Attorney General thus thinking that an extradition would be straight forward and prompt… And now we see that there is an email from the head of one of the big Hollywood companies telling of his discussions with the Prime Minister of New Zealand to arrange things here rather than hiring a Chinese hitman in Hong Kong… Well Mr Dotcom must feel just like Charles Dickens at the treatment and abusive things said about him by Americans! And it only took one month for Dickens to discover what Americans were really like, him arriving expecting to be favorably impressed but by Feb 22 1842 he knew what he was up against- And next time we will read what he wrote of the visit. Chapter 9 Abroad in America- 1976.

Population doubled and doubled again

When growth doubled and doubled again Alan Greenspan one time governor of the private bank in USA known as ‘The Federal Reserve’ which produces out of nothing the money needed to keep the US economy or disappears the money- Well he wrote a book in 2007 just before the system collapsed- ‘The Age of Turbulence’ And says among other things ‘There is no denying capitalism’s record. Market economies have succeed over the centuries by thoroughly weeding out the inefficient and poorly equipped and by granting rewards to those who anticipate consumer demand and meet it with the most efficient use of labor and capital resources. Newer technologies increasingly drive this unforgiving capitalist process on a global scale. To the extent that governments ‘protect’ portions of their populations from what they perceive as harsh competitive pressures, they achieve a lower overall material standard of living for their people’ p268-269 And in “An Economy Born of Democracy’ Prof Salvadori continues ‘Where the policy making process is concerned there is not small group in the united States today with the power to make arbitrary economic decisions. Even in the cases of large corporations with thousands of millions in assets controlling a large share of a given market…. ‘ p71 TimeLife 1965 What is missing from this is the critical Marxist style overview as to where this unique period in human history fits. Post World War Two USA had deliberately taken control of Western Europe dictating how that potential markets and export competitors developed. And the ‘Baby Boom’ had begun in this post war world with many of the now focused former American soldiers heading to universities to develop skills as engineers or managers, accountants, and so on. And stalled economic growth coming out of the difficulties of 1946 once ‘The communists’ were identified as holding things back- Began to Take Off. The problem we as readers of these economic tracts based on Adam Smith’s ideas have is that what appears to be ‘normal’ Economic Democratic ‘Free Market Ideology’ thinking occurs in the one time in human history where doubling population and with it economic growth then promptly doubles again. A few days ago The New Zealand Herald published typical ridiculous large spread planning map- suggesting that investment in Westgate- an area on the extreme northwest of one of the world’s most spread out cities would be a winner. And yes for planners and population experts who see a continuation from current world population from 7 billion to 12 billion- they would be right. But to the east in the Hauraki Gulf waters lies an active volcanic field–volcano producing – small deep earthquake region which has the capacity to biblically destroy most of current Auckland New Zealand… So what if in this new population trends reverse and population Declines Catastrophically back to below the 1964 2 billion level? You see how fragile and dependent upon resource accessibility and healthy population growth and high states of human enterprise as well as The Critical Foundation of USA- Equality- Are the ideas of Adam Smith, Alan Greenspan…

Freedom is good for business

Freedom is good for business The fifth chapter of Abroad in America charts the visits by two Hungarians to USA in 1830s and beginning of 1840s –S.F. Boloni a socialist political idealist who fell in love with all things American- her political freedom. But much more perceptive as to what powered USA as an emerging empire with New York already by that time- The vital infrastructure of the Eire Canal in place- calling herself as the lead State of that empire-New York Empire State- is Agoston Haraszthy ‘A journey to North America’…… Haraszthy fully shared Boloni’s admiration of American liberty, but for him, the most important aspect was freedom of enterprise. He saw industry, self reliance and endurance as the characteristics of a practical country. In his view the driving force in American life was the quest for private wealth; thus he attributed the underdevelopment of Washington DC to it’s lack of private industry. Liberty meant to him limited government interference with private enterprise. Both Bolonii and Haraszthy recommended emigration to America for different reasons. Haraszthy felt that self reliant resourceful people could take advantage of America’s unlimited economic opportunity. Boloni was convinced that America had something more important to offer than material welfare: the magic appeal of its democratic institutions. Each traveler responded to one strain in the American character. Boloni to its passionate idealism, Haraszthy to its aggressive materialism (he brought land, made money, and founded a settlement, Szeplak in Wisconsin; and as a later immigrant, he was one of the pioneers in California’s wine industry) Boloni also admired American prosperity, although he felt that much of public wealth came from saving the money spent in Europe on monarchy, armies, government officers and police….. Measured against reality the American dream did reveal some unmistakable flaws. The New Adam, like the Old, was not late in spoiling his ‘Paradise’ said Haraszthy. Boloni encountered American ‘moneyed aristocrats’ in New York’s Albany and in Boston and was dismayed by their display of luxuries ‘incompatible with republican simplicity’ Yet he allowed , wealth was a ‘rightful benefit of Liberty, of industry and Ambition’. Haraszthy was even more lenient, wondering what else rich Americans could be expected to do with their money… the plight of Indians troubled both of them. ‘The poor Indians they are already strangers in their own land’…;and those enemies who had massacred your ancestors already consider you strangers.’ ‘All means of cheating and terro were used against them by white people’ Bolone wrote. And Haraszthy who lived among them for a time held the white men responsible for the misfortunes of a whole race whose rightful land they had invaded and occupied and whose natures they had corrupted with alcohol. And if the Indian cast a shadow over the New Eden, so much more did the Negro slave. When Boloni noticed in Maryland, an advertisement for the sale of a Negro, he felt ‘as if an icy hand had clutched my heart’ p49,50 Abroad in America. These mid term visitors charting the halfway progress of USA from the First President Peter Minuit’s New York’s Establishment to the 2008 Collapse in the same lower Manhattan location; Give a good structural insight into what USA has done right and what it has done wrong- and how the American system works- and what are the flaws of that system. Currently aging infrastructure dooms USA and a decent sized middle of the continent size 9 earthquake as happened New Madrid 1809 would bring the place to a disastrous and devastating halt. And Boloni notes that fatal under expenditure yet marvels that the critical for the success of New York and USA- Erie Canal had in fact been built! And likewise would have been impressed four decades later by the sudden rush of railroad building. The downside to freedom and low or no taxes was that things which should have happened didn’t or happened poorly leaving until just 60 years ago Texas without infrastructure needed to function as part of USA which then had to be built by Haliburton and fortunately at a time when USA and the state of Texas could do that easily from oil revenues. Both men saw the emergence of American Aristocracy, the uncaring irresponsibility of the super wealthy. Both were deeply pained by plight of American Indian and Negro. Both saw even in that period the destruction of the environment by irresponsible and selfish-careless Profit Driven Development-PDD!. So while both these visitors were enthusiastic as to the potential of USA, they tell us enough for us to be able to predict that given another 200 years -USA would fail!

Free Enterprise Myth?

US Business/Economy –Why is it so strong? Can it survive? An Italian born in London in 1908 arriving in USA in 1938, having taught in the University of Rome here writes for us a good wide ranging article on the economic strength of USA ‘An Economy Born of Democracy’- writing in 1964 when the engine of the US economy is roaring along at race speed- Massimo Saladori telling us that from 1961 to 1964 both GNP Gross National Product and total personal incomes increased about 20 percent. In three years USA was one fifth bigger, more productive, more wealthy- Wow! 6-7% growth rates happen rarely in human history! So it is in this special context that he writes; ‘The high level of production, the continued expansion and the constant change have for a long time been features of the American economy. As a result the entire economic system has undergone deep transformations. The present variety of American free enterprise differs from previous ones and from those existing in other countries. It is sometimes called neo-capitalism, social capitalism or people’s capitalism, but names matter little: what counts are the systems distinctive elements. Considering the numbers of people having a voice in the economic process through their ability to decide such things as what to produce, what to consume or how much to work, the American economic system is the most democratic of any in a major country. Authoritarian tendencies are inherent in all economies in which the public or private capital plays a dominant role. But in the American free enterprise economy these tendencies have been curbed by forces operating within the system and working towards improving it. The improvement has been effected through the diffusion of ownership by means of production and exchange, by wide participation in what economists call the policy making process by emphasizing consumer spending and by the gradual reduction in the range of average incomes of the various sectors of the population’ p70,71 TimeLife I end there with those words before your eyes glaze over- because while the next paragraph adds to understanding But the key point is there in those last words. Currently when I go to work and do an hours work I receive about one hundred times less for my productive hour than does the man in charge of the company- yet in experience wisdom, my input into policy direction, work morale and so on I am perhaps putting in only a tenth of what overall the CEO can contribute in the same hour worked. I am receiving so little from the enterprise that if it goes out of business I will be not sad- but as a loyal servant of God I must work to ensure that our part of the international company is the safest and most productive to be found anywhere in our entire industry. But my father doing much the same job as me in when this was written -1964; He was receiving not less than a tenth of the salary that Jack Newman- organizer of Transport Nelson was getting and the potential for relationship between the two- the working together- both equal aspect of democracy was then fifty years ago much closer. What I am saying here is I entirely agree with everything our economic professor is telling us and –Yes it was a magic time for USA and for all those succeeding in the Free Enterprise System seen both in USA and in my New Zealand at that time. And why was it magic? Well the 1930s depression had smashed the previous economic system undermining the power of the Real American Aristocracy such that anyone could, and they did participate in and have an opportunity to succeed in being part of the economy. My father was developing a photography business as well as being a wage worker doing the same sorts of thing I do and his grandsons has done in the same industry… But the wage inequality! Super wealthy and people working for wages less than those needed to maintain slaves in a proper slave labor system- That couldn’t be seen in USA- But it can be seen now!- Such that vexed articles about the vast inequalities regularly turn up in the newspapers…. What has killed the American system/economy in the past 50 years firstly is a lack of laws and regulation dismantled after they were put there by the 1930s New Dealers. Secondly tax avoidance so that the workers pay for the government but those with the largest amounts of wealth and power do not support the government or manipulate it to their own ends. Thirdly the shifting of manufacturing –in 1964 USA produced 33% of the world’s goods- out of USA and loss of control in that process so that small backyard startup manufacturers cannot succeed and grow. Fourthly the ‘Tithing Debate’ Americans making a religion out of ways to do very little but effectively tax the world to become super powerful and wealthy- Facebook. Google – both take large amounts of money from New Zealand but pay no tax for that! We hate em. And Finally the unwillingness seeing these and other situations develop destructive of USA to take action! Gone!

Special Bonus Feature

Extra Special Bonus Feature- Yeshua! For someone perplexed and upset reading through this Myth America thingy I have dreaming about this decided that you should have this bonus feature –For You! Now I follow and am loyal to three different religions in equal amounts- Islam, Christianity and Jewish religion. So I read and translate the Hebrew book and have deep understanding as a Rabbi would of what is going on in Hebrew and how to think and argue like a Hebrew Rabbi. I spent seven years as a Muslim and am happy with that religion and my ancestors embraced- my family being Christian these past almost 1500 years since that first came to our island in Scotland. But what is common to all three religions- in the Hebrew Prophets and Torah- In Islam Sura 103 is an example- And in the christian gospel is the same salvation formula namely –Have faith…and you get righteousness the demonstration of survival/life. The three elements interacting as one package once you reading this do something in the faith area. Some action based upon and intuitive but irrational decision which could well have come from God- if you were to per chance believe that such a concept was possible. And the Hebrew word for the entire process- Salvation is the word; Yeshua- Active salvation which is the name of a Jewish fellow –a demonstrator who upsetting religious authorities was handed over to the Romans and as a result was crucified –dead. But whose followers found three days later to have come alive again apparently because being righteous- unwound all the evil of mankind/Adam his ancestor –providing through himself entry for all who believe to the salvation process…. OK that takes Some Believing! But Faith-Believe. Do something that goes quite beyond what is normal for you- A Life Changing Event. First of many…. And out of that comes the feeling that your failure is somehow or other taken away in what so ever Yeshua/Jesus did in his death. And the concluding sura of the Quran is Malik Annas –King of mankind- you have joined with him which God being one we Muslims and Jews see this man, this king as being- Zionist style the political solution to all we as middle easterners have been aspiring too…. Look intellect will not cut it here! To get Yeshua –You reading this need to do something. What?- well only you know! The first time this story is found in the Hebrew Bible is at the start of Genesis chapter four where two words occur side be side. Yeshua Yahweh: Because a man called empty who gets killed by his brother for doing that- gives a lamb to God and in exchange we have these two words-Yeshua Yahweh; Name of God salvation is a way you could translate that. For the first person in the Torah to die on earth- he has already received from God salvation in association with a lamb given to God as a sacrifice. Shem continues as Noah’s son that tradition. Abraham does accepted by all three religions the mad thing of offering his son as a sacrifice and gets given a lamb by God to sacrifice. Finally in the Passhur/Passover/Easter season Jesus of Nazareth gets to become for that year the Passover Lamb when he comes first up the parade route on a donkey ahead of the High Priest bringing the special lamb born in Bethlehem for that event. Just Do it! Yeshua!