Where is America going?

I’m a registered Republican and an unabashed supporter of President Trump. As an American, I am free to choose my party affiliation and candidate. Under the United States Constitution, it is my sacred right as it is for any Democrat to support his or her candidate of choice. Indeed, historically we have always come together as Americans regardless of which side won the election. Casting the vote for one’s candidate of choice has always been a personal one, and as such we used to respect each other’s choices despite opposing political beliefs. I still do, but sadly that sentiment is no longer shared by everyone. Friends and family never used to feud over politics let alone allow it to destroy friendships or break apart families. Tragically, however, that is precisely where we have gone.

Trump coined the term “Fakenews” for which he has been maligned unrelentingly for his entire four years in Washington. But until you’ve been the direct recipient of “journalism malpractice,” you may still be skeptical as to whether his label for the national media is fair. I have now experienced this “Fakenews” firsthand. On January 6th in Washington D.C., along with a million or more fellow Americans (by my estimation), my wife and I went to our nation’s capitol to support our President. We were maliciously smeared by the very journalism malpractice for which President Trump had been the target during each and every day of his four years in office. The national media painted a bullseye on our backs and labelled us “rioters and anarchists.” This is the same national media which eagerly defended Leftwing anarchists like Black Lives Matter (BLM) and Antifa that rioted, looted, burned and terrorized cities across the nation in the summer of 2020. When with a city block ablaze as a backdrop, a CNN correspondent reported, “the protests were mostly peaceful…”

The truth regarding the January 6^th rally is Trump supporters were not those who caused the violence inside the Capitol. In fact, we now know that Leftwing agitators were bussed in to infiltrate the rally as reported by multiple news sources including One America News and the Gateway Pundit. Some of these perpetrators have been identified as known Antifa and BLM operative dressed up to blend in with the pro-Trump rally. Yet, the only news one sees on national media is, “Capitol under siege, Trump rioters force D.C. lockdown.”

The massive crowd was a cross section of America: People came with their families, bringing their children and grandparents. Countless business professionals, students, teachers, small business owners, construction workers, union people, home makers, retirees, ex-law enforcement, veterans, and healthcare professionals made the trip. Blacks, Latinos, Asians, Indian Americans, Native Americans; people from all races, ethnicity and walks of life were there. This crowd was quite literally a slice of America that went to D.C. to support President Trump. The mood was upbeat, festive and absolutely peaceful. Folks waved flags, they danced to music that was blaring over the loudspeakers. They listened to the lineup of Republican speakers leading up to the President’s address. They cheered and applauded the speeches which can only be characterized as pro-America, Pro-fair elections, Pro-rule of law, and Pro-America 1^st. The President marveled at the size of the crowd, thanked them for their support and concluded his address by saying, “stay strong, America… we will continue to make America great and the best is yet to come!” Yet, somehow, the national media twisted his words to falsely report that the President was calling for “insurrection.” It’s a bald face lie! He did nothing of the sort. I was there.

It is clear, however, the smear achieved its intended objective as it gave the Democrats and Trump haters the excuse they needed to once and for all destroy President Trump. Four long years of smear campaigns including conspiracy fraud perpetrated to oust a duly elected President was still not enough for Democrats, with 13 days remaining in Trump’s presidency, they had to concoct an excuse such as this malevolent lie at the eleventh hour to invoke the 25^th Amendment!

With all that we have endured for four long years as Republicans and Trump supporters: the slander, the baseless accusations, the smear campaigns, the outright hatred and vitriol, are we now to believe that Biden and the Democrats are sincere about their call to unity? Is this how you unite the country you have done so much to divide? By falsely accusing Trump Supporters for this crime inside our Capitol and to figuratively “assassinate” our President by smearing him with these lies, are we now to believe you are sincere about all of us coming together in unity?

On a personal level, we lost friends over the media’s false and malicious portrayal of the D.C. Rally. We enjoyed being there amongst fellow Americans from all walks of life and from all over the country in what was much more of a celebratory event than a “protest.” We met folks from: California, Hawaii, Colorado, Washington state, Oregon, Wyoming, Wisconsin, Texas, Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, Ohio, Georgia, South Carolina, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, etc. When we left the rally I posted pictures on my Facebook page to share with those who couldn’t make the trip. That was before we knew there was any trouble inside the Capitol. Then to my dismay, we lost friends because of my post. I was shocked one friend commented: “sad that you are part of this disgraceful exhibition of treason at the Capitol.” Indeed I am sad to see what Fakenews has done to us on such a personal level. This should never happen and it certainly was never like this in the America that I love.

So, what’s the Democrat’s endgame? For years too many have been conditioned to believe Republicans are Evil. They have been led to believe those who vote Republican are morally bankrupt and hate worthy. You don’t have to go back very far to see the numerous examples of where the Democrat political machine including their partners in national media and social media routinely slander Republicans. The years of constant anti-Republican propaganda served to continually fan the flame of hatred and vitriol. Remember the protests against President Bush with rioters burning effigies of his likeness? Remember Code Pink protesting in the Senate chambers with some dragged out for screaming obscenities at Republican Senators? Remember Democrat campaign ads of a Paul Ryan lookalike pushing granny off a cliff in a wheelchair? Our political discourse has not been civil for a long time and through Trump’s tenure it has now escalated to an unprecedented level of hatred and vitriol that dwarfs even the vicious anti-Republican propaganda of years past.

So is it any wonder my Democrat friends believe we are traitors for participating in what they have been told by the national media is “sedition?” It is clear to me the Democrats aren’t satisfied until they have completely destroyed their political opposition until America is under permanent Democrat control. Now that they have control of the White House and Congress, is the endgame “One Party Rule” for America? Draw what conclusions you will, for there exist too many terrifying historical examples of what happens to nations when the concentration of absolute power is held in the hands of a single political party. I pray that despite the terrible place we find ourselves today politically that America shall remain strong as a nation, and free as a people. I pray that our leaders who hold positions of authority and influence both in the public and private sectors regardless of your political affiliation shall have the wisdom to genuinely work towards healing this toxic divide between us. I pray that regardless of our political differences that we shall all work hard towards healing as a people, unity as a nation and to keep all of America great.

Race in America: the truth

One would think that eight long years of the first black President in American history would finally closed the books on racial division in the country. In the post-Obama America, were we not promised an era of enlightenment free from racial strife? After all a black man was elected to the nation’s highest office, not once but twice. Instead, our cities are burning, businesses ransacked, citizens assaulted and communities terrorized across America. The truth is these grievances have been fueled by decades of propaganda that deliberately pits blacks against whites and Americans against each other with the media as the distribution mechanism plus our universities have for too long been a breeding ground for militant social-justice warriors. With the killing of George Floyd, these self-avowed revolutionaries seized on the opportunity to launch their orchestrated insurrection across America. Thanks to Rohm Emanuel, Obama’s ex-chief of staff, who once quipped, “never let a good crisis go to waste,” we now know those seeking political advantage routinely exploit tragedies to advance their agendas.

There is no doubt today’s American politics is utterly toxic, made so by the underhandedness of those with an insatiable appetite for power. Their willingness to accept collateral damage at any cost in their quest for political power is quite literally ripping the nation apart. Clearly, we must detox our politics, return to civility and heal the divisions in America not only for our peace and tranquility, but also to deny those who weaponize racial grievances to declare war on our institutions, our traditions and our very way of life. To permit anarchy to be unchecked as weak officials have done is an afront to the rule of law and an existential threat to our Constitutional Republic. That must change.

There exists an obsession about race that’s routinely forced upon us along with the unrelenting drumbeat of racial injustice. Much of these grievances however are politically motivated deliberately fanning the flames of rage. Black Lives Matters originated from the Michael Brown shooting in Ferguson, but “hands up don’t shoot” never happened. The officer involved was cleared by Obama’s Attorney General for self-defense against Brown’s attempt to go after his weapon. Despite the truth an angry racially charged Social-Justice movement was born becoming yet another political tool aimed at achieving a specific partisan objective, in this case, to defund America’s Police.

Regardless of the motives or whether the movement is grass roots or Astro Turf, they’re driving real policy changes. Legitimate or not, the race baiters are achieving their objectives. It’s hard to know exactly where the latest racial crisis will take us. But one thing is certain, we’re still not having an honest conversation about race relations nor has any genuine solutions been forthcoming. Instead what we are witnessing is shameless pandering and political gamesmanship with no attempt to lower the temperature.

I am an American of Chinese descent. My parents were originally from Shanghai, China. Our family lived on four continents before permanently residing in America. My personal journey as an ethnic minority in most of the places where I lived may offer a unique perspective as to how one deals with racial bias. After immigrating here in 1968 and having gone through the naturalization process, I am now a proud American citizen.

According to government documentation, I am labeled “Asian.” Our system goes further, we categorize citizens as “Caucasian, African American, Latino, Hispanic, Pacific Islanders, or Native American.” This has always puzzled me. Why make these racial distinctions? Why the obsession with race categorization? Isn’t the artificial use of race as the category label itself creating differences and division? What is the relevance of racial identity particularly when our Declaration of Independence made it clear that “all men are created equal?” The Bible also taught that all men and women are created in the image of God and we are all equally God’s children. Further more, wasn’t it the late great Martin Luther King Jr. who said that we must not judge one by the color of their skin but rather by the content of their character? Yet when filling out a government form to apply for a passport or any official documentation, I must declare my race.

Sure, the argument for “bureaucratic segregation” comes down to the government’s need to monitor the percentage of each race within the overall population. Presumably this provides government social engineers the tools necessary to combat racial bias and ensure racial harmony. So, how’s that working out, America? If that indeed is the reason behind the need to identify every person racially, then we can declare with certainty that the government has failed America miserably. That is unless there’s a hidden agenda designed to divide us into separate groups, in which case it’s working. Of course, government documents alone don’t incite racism, that’s not the point, what is at issue, is the attitude our society has been conditioned to have about race. Instead of accentuating what we all share in common, those seemingly innocuous bureaucratic forms serve as constant reminders of our differences. I’m not suggesting a fix for this flaw in our bureaucracies. I merely use it as one example of problems in our system that in my view exacerbates what is already a divisive issue plaguing America.

What is racism and how does one deal with it? The dictionary defines racism as: “the belief that inherent differences among various human racial groups determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one’s own race is superior.” This belief is racial prejudice or racism. Clearly it is ugly and grounded in ignorance, but tragically, history has taught us that racism has been the catalyst of monstrous and unspeakable acts by those claiming racial superiority such as the Holocaust and slavery. In modern America, however, how should we deal with racism? We do live in a nation of laws and the laws are clear. Our Constitution is unequivocal in the equal protection of rights regardless of race, creed, ethnic origin or religious affiliation. But what if you are confronted with racism, how should you deal with it? And as a nation, how should America deal with it?

Before addressing these questions, let me share my personal experiences growing up as an ethnic minority on three of the four continents where we lived. My father was a career naval officer in the Nationalist Chinese Navy prior to the Communist occupation. He studied in Great Britain before WWII returning to China as a young wartime navy officer. With the fall of China in 1949, the Nationalist Chinese government took refuge on Taiwan where it remains today. In part due to his English education my father was tapped as an envoy for Taiwan’s Nationalist Chinese government. His assignments brought our family from South East Asia to West Africa, Europe and the United States. An important foot note regarding life as a son of a diplomat: The Government of the Republic of China which took refuge on Taiwan in 1949 had a virtually empty national treasury. While a transient lifestyle on four different continents as diplomats may sound glamourous, this was entirely not the case with us in those days. Life even as ambassador was financially challenging as salaries were modest to the point of near poverty. My father may have been an ambassador, but we lived a modest existence.

As a young boy having to switch schools from Thailand in South East Asia to Sierra Leone West Africa was terribly traumatic. Besides the obvious difficulties of leaving behind friends there was the cultural shock of living on another continent. This was especially so in the early sixties when communication with friends were by snail mail, and the world was far less culturally connected unlike today. I had never met an African before moving to Sierra Leone West Africa. Although my father was away at the time, upon our arrival and as a courtesy, the government of Sierra Leone sent an army major to greet our plane. That was my very first encounter with a black person. As we deplaned the major greeted my mother and sister then held out his hand to me. He was an imposing man as I had to look up to the sky at him. He had a great smile and was very pleasant. I shook his hand but no sooner then I did that I pulled my hand back to see if any color had come off. The major knew exactly what was happening and let out a laugh. He was amused despite my mother being mortified! Without a hint of being bothered, he joked and put us all at ease. As a young boy who had not met an African before that day, my actions were completely innocent albeit terribly ignorant. I wasn’t frightened by the major nor was I in anyway thinking of him as inferior, I was genuinely curious. The major was a distinguished man and projected great confidence. He never thought for a second the actions of a young boy was insulting, to the contrary, he was amused by the innocent faux pa of a naïve young boy. To this day, I have many fond memories of our years in Sierra Leone. My sister and I went to the local school with friends of many nationalities and cultural backgrounds. Our circle of friends included Sierra Leonian, Lebanese, American, Chinese, German, Israeli, English, and French. I even invited the Russian Ambassador’s daughter to one of our teen socials. When you consider this was during the Cold War, that was a big deal! But none of us cared about skin color, race, ethnicity, politics, or religious affiliation. None of that mattered or even crossed our minds. We simply enjoyed each other’s company and shared a truly wonderful time as friends and school mates.

In the Fall of 1968, I left Africa for the United States. Thanks to my brother who graduated Magna Cum Laude four years earlier, I was able to go to the same boarding school on a full scholarship. Life in a Connecticut boarding school was yet another major cultural shift. I missed home, my folks and friends I left behind in Africa. As I settled into boarding school life, I began observing something that troubled me even at the age of 14. I noticed that black students socialized mostly with each other and rarely with white students unless they played sports together. I wondered why the blacks seemed to prefer self-imposed segregation. Had they been ostracized? I certainly saw no evidence of that. While I found it strange at first, eventually I was resigned to the fact that in America there appeared to be a level of tension surrounding race relations. What was curious to me was not that blacks were treated badly per se but that there seems to be an attitude by many whites to patronize rather than engage and embrace blacks as peers. That maybe based on a variety of factors but it comes down to an uneasiness to engage and to treat one another as equals. Sure, there were certainly exceptions and over the decades I was glad to see that the exceptions have become much more the rule. Being much more accepting of one another, however, took many years since my arrival in 1968. Conversely, I had always observed an air of resentment on the part of the black students that contributed to that tension. Much of it is in how black kids talked to each other in ways white kids would find difficult to be comfortable with. There was a deliberate effort to be different, to speak differently, behave differently in a way that screams their “blackness” or project their “black experience.” It was as if a barrier of attitudes and words were erected as a counter measure to the patronizing whites. That barrier made it more challenging for both sides to get to know one another, overcome preconceptions, build lasting trust, and become friends.

In some ways, I do empathize because no one wants to be patronized and treated like children or worse, like a second-class citizen who only deserves pandering. That is most offensive and is indeed prejudicial. I recall on one occasion when I was introduced to a family in waspy Fairfield County Connecticut. A lady I had just met was offering me treats, looked me right in the eyes and spoke to me at half the normal speed but at twice the normal volume. She enunciated every syllable as though I was either hard of hearing or had a cognitive impairment. She must have known I understood English, because I was her nephew’s classmate. So why the grossly patronizing tone? She clearly had no idea that the way in which she was offering me tea and cupcakes was so offensive. I felt sorry for her, because she obviously had little to no exposure to non-white persons like me. Her behavior could only be described as ignorant. I had a choice, I could be angry and embarrass her nephew, my friend and classmate, or I could simply ignore it. I chose the latter.

The Royal Naval College in Greenwich England was an exclusive school dedicated to the best and brightest young officers from the British Royal Navy. It was historically unprecedented in 1937 when my father as a young Chinese navy officer was sent there to study. No doubt he dealt with issues relating to racial prejudice, so when I experienced a couple of upsetting incidents in school, I turned to my father for advice. What I learned was both enlightening and liberating. He said if someone insulted me because of my skin color or nationality, while my instincts may be one of anger, I should stop to think, “are you what they said, or is the insult baseless?” I would bristle, “but how dare they…” to which my father said, “if you’ve nothing to be ashamed of or have done nothing wrong, you’re not the problem, they are.” He continued, “When someone insults you and treats you as something you know you’re not, it’s a clear a reflection of their ignorance and character flaw, so you have two choices, you can either let it get under your skin or you can ignore what isn’t true. And instead of being angry, you should have pity on them. Their character flaw deserves not your anger but rather your empathy.” If only we taught everyone who have been racially victimized this very lesson.

In college I noticed that those racial tensions were even more intense. I remember my first day as a freshman, my roommate asked if we could go to see the Dean of Students together. I said yes since I too had a date with the Dean. But when we compared notes, turns out I was to see the Minority Dean and my roommate from Greenwich Connecticut was to meet with the regular Dean of Students of the college. I kept my appointment but what I was subjected to I found most disturbing even as an 18 year old freshman. I was told I needed to join the Minority Student Union where I would meet other minorities and participate in the special activities uniquely suited to African Americans, Asians and other minorities. I was told there were programs for minority students that were only available to us. Then I received a pep talk about solidarity with minorities on campus. That was my first and last meeting with the school’s Minority Dean. I was familiar with Affirmative Action but for the life of me I could not reconcile why a college would deliberately treat minority students differently from the rest of the student body. Why was I told to “belong” to a specific group? Why are there “special” programs designed for me and to which my roommate from Greenwich would not have access? Was it a special workaround that gave me an edge over white students or was it a perk just because I was a minority student? I didn’t want a crutch nor did I want any special treatment. Either way was wrong. I valued my dignity too much to accept a handout. As a freshman I was ready to take on the challenges of college and needed to succeed on my own merits. I was appalled.

Decades later I now see with clarity that what I was experiencing in my school years was in fact the systemic separation of minorities from whites. Regardless of the motivation for these policies, it is clear that our educational institutions have deleteriously contributed to the appalling race relations in America. This is particularly sad to me personally because almost a half century later I am witnessing a backwards march towards more racial division compared to those years as young teenagers when we enjoyed a much more enlightened and racially harmonious existence.

It doesn’t have to be this way. The problem is obvious, Institutions are talking out of both sides of their mouths. On the one hand they honor and revere Dr. King and his teachings that we are to be judged by the content of our character, yet they implement policies that are completely antithetical to those very principles. As parents we know we must be consistent. You don’t tell your son not to do something then turn around and allow your daughter to do exactly that. What do you think that does to your children? Do that often enough and what do you think happens to your sons and daughters?  Is there any wonder why there’s so much cynicism, resentment, distrust, disrespect and rage today?

So what’s the solution? The answer, we are! Each and every one of us! It’s a terrible cop out to wait for the right political leadership to come along to fix everything. That day may never come. Instead it is up to each and every one of us to do our part to heal the cancerous racial divisions in America. We must speak out against the heinous exploitation of the hatred created by those seeking political power at any cost. We have a duty to God and country to do what is right and to ensure our future generations may truly enjoy a society free of prejudice and hatred because we will have passed on to them the wisdom of judging one another only by the content of our character and not by the color of our skin.

Thanks and a farewell to my friends at the Newport Rifle Club

July 15, 2016

Dear Friends and Fellow NRC Members,

Forgive me for being sentimental, after all we gun-owners are supposed to be “insensitive gun-totting rednecks” devoid of emotion, compassion and morality, right? But, today I wish to break rank and express my sincere thanks for the wonderful gift and the outpouring of good wishes that you had so graciously bestowed upon my family and I. It is truly humbling.

While I appreciate the complements for fighting attacks on our liberty, I was certainly not alone in this effort. In fact I remain grateful to so many who continue this important fight such as Bill Welsh, Tom Frank and many others.

The truth is, it is I who was the greatest beneficiary of my association with all of you because it’s been an honor and a privilege to have known some of the most wonderful people I’ve ever met during my time with the Newport Rifle Club.

After 30 years in Rhode Island, we will miss our friends at the NRC and our “home state,” but we leave with the greatest gift of all, the recognition of our piers and the knowledge that our time here mattered albeit modestly.

Sincerely,

Dexter Liu

Driven away by R.I. politics

Rhode Island has been home for 30 years. I’ve enjoyed working in Newport, raising a family in Portsmouth and being part of the Aquidneck Island community. Our roots run deep here, so the decision to move to North Carolina is terribly bittersweet. We’ll miss friends and favorite haunts, but alas, it’s farewell, Rhode Island.

I ran successful businesses for nearly two decades while my wife worked for Hasbro. We worked hard and played by the rules. Yet our return on a 30-year Rhode Island investment is higher taxes, crumbling roads, and free entitlements for illegal immigrants while fellow citizens struggle with an economy on life support.

The chronic indifference of politicians, despite our protests, is infuriating. Like many, I’m tired of supporting a system that doesn’t advance the interest of its citizens. With the adoption of RhodeMap RI and RhodeWorks, the message is clear — our rights and interests matter little to Smith Hill.

Too many graduate from college only to leave the state because of a lack of opportunity. Many who stay work in restaurants or grocery stores. My son graduates from high school this year; we refuse to let him face a similar fate. Rhode Island’s problems aren’t that insurmountable. What stands in our way is the absence of public leadership that genuinely has our interest at heart. Forgive the sarcasm, but if we put the “I know a guy” tradition on ice, Rhode Island would improve immeasurably!

The solutions are obvious. We know how to create jobs. Businesses and entrepreneurs are the engine of the economy, and its fuel is investment capital. Government’s role is to create a pro-business environment where the business powered by capital drives the economy. Businesses require human capital, and voila, that creates jobs!

So where’s the real job creation? RhodeMap RI is a sham. Does anyone believe the federal government that gave us a near $20 trillion debt is the answer? Is its policy “Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing” the panacea for our economy? Our leaders seem to think so. Now they’re borrowing more federal money for RhodeWorks, which they say will create jobs and fix the state. Really? What we’ll get is more enormous debt service!

Narragansett Bay is among the best seaports on the East Coast. We have highways, rail systems and airports ideally situated for domestic and international commerce. Flanked by major financial centers from Boston to Hartford and New York, we also have access to the best universities to build the most talented and educated workforce plus a highly skilled labor force. Rhode Island has industries and technology centers within an easy commute and offers some of the best quality of life of any coastal community on Earth. Given the state’s assets, have you ever wondered why corporations with deep pockets choose not to invest here?

Here’s one reason. No one appreciates being labeled “greedy profiteers,” least of all investors. Yet our politics perpetuate the narrative: corporations and business owners are charlatans whose profits are built on the backs of the working class. Thus we must extract a pound of flesh from them to spread the wealth around, and government is the fair arbiter of economic justice.

Sound familiar? The trouble is that this produces destructive policies that keep holding us back. This divisive political rhetoric isn’t only antithetical to American values, it also obliterates ambition and achievement — a curse on productivity. You’re rewarded with higher taxes and lower returns for hard work. So who are the real charlatans?

Sadly, the politics of envy and lack of competent leadership remain the bane of Rhode Island’s “economic recovery,” so generations continue to suffer. The blame, however, isn’t Smith Hill’s alone. After all, voters keep supporting the status quo.

For the sake of future generations, Rhode Islanders must reject cronyism and destructive big government progressive policies that repeatedly undermine the enormous potential of the Ocean State. This November, take your government back. It’s time to fire up the free-market engine again! It can be done!

Hope springs eternal, after all. And “Hope” is the state motto, is it not?

Providence Journal: Posted Mar. 12, 2016 at 2:01 AM
http://www.providencejournal.com/opinion/20160312/dexter-liu-driven-away-by-ri-politics#dexter-liu-driven-away-by-ri-politics/?Start=1&_suid=14580517346090584640050092551

The 2nd Amendment Debate

Firearms and the 2nd AmendmentLiberty Project Presentation(FINAL)

A. Guns Facts

100 million Americans legally own and use firearms responsibly. Estimates suggest more than 300 million firearms are privately owned in America today. Approximately 2.5 million cases on average are reported each year where lawfully armed citizens save lives and foil crimes(1). By contrast, 30 thousand firearms related deaths in America are reported each year, of which 11 thousand of these are homicides and the balance are suicides or accidental shootings(2). The Federal Government also reports that the vast majority of the firearm-homicides occur in inner-city urban America where the strictest gun-laws in the country exist. The government has identified the principle causes of firearm-homicides: high recidivism rate, drug trafficking, inner-city drug cartel infiltration and urban street gang-violence(2). From 1980 to 2012, the victims of mass murders in schools compiled over 32 years including Columbine, Virginia Tech and Sandy Hook, total 297(3). “The Gun Free School Zone Act,” a Federal gun-ban was enacted in 1994. Sandy Hook was also under the 1993 Connecticut “Assault Weapons Ban.”

B. Gun Politics

The politics surrounding firearms in America is divisive and dishonest. The debate is nearly always about the “gun,” with far less attention paid to how best to stop criminal-violence or even the failures in mental health care. This debate has been driven by a political agenda that advocates for more restrictions of guns and gun ownership in America but is not dedicated to eradicating criminal behavior. Sadly the rhetorical attacks on lawful gun owners seem to intentionally blur the distinction between criminals and law-abiding citizens despite the fact one third of the citizens of the United States own firearms legally and use them responsibly. When evaluating the statistics surrounding firearms use compared to deaths due to firearms, you quickly see the enormous disparity between the safety records of the overwhelming number of lawful gun owners and lives saved verses the much fewer gun deaths due to criminal or irresponsible behavior. In the contentious gun control debate, we are always forced to accept more restrictive gun laws as an “obligation of society” due to the heinous acts of the very few even though these would infringe on the liberties of the overwhelming majority of responsible Americans. Over the decades the cry for gun control has spawned what is now an anti-gun activist industry. It is made up of numerous well organized and well funded political organizations like the Brady Campaign, Mayors Against Illegal Guns (now re-invented as Every Town for Gun Safety), Violence Policy Center, The Joyce Foundation, Freedom State Alliance, Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, Moms Demanding Action, Media Matters, Moveon.org, to name but a few. Locally in Rhode Island, there is the RI Coalition Against Gun Violence, the Institute For the Practice of Non violence and various chapters of national anti-gun groups. Although the National Rifle Association (NRA), the arch nemesis of the anti-gun coalition, has become the principle villain of the anti-gun industry, the organization is the oldest American institution dedicated to defending gun-rights and liberty. It was established following the Civil War in part to arm and train freed slaves to defend their lives and liberty against lingering pro-slavery factions. Today, with the exception of NRA-ILA which is the lobbying arm, the bulk of the NRA organization, is dedicated to education, promoting the shooting sports and teaching firearms safety. Other pro-gun groups such as the Gun Owners of America and the National Association for Gun Rights are organized as well and unlike their anti-gun opponents, direct their lobbying efforts primarily at the legislatures. There is a media bias against guns. It is rampant and dramatically one sided favoring gun control. The media doesn’t necessarily mislead intentionally, although there has been those cases, it is the deception by omission that much of the media is guilty of. Those in the media who hold an anti-gun bias down play or omit positive stories of lives saved by armed citizens but devote a grossly disproportionate amount of air time to stories like Sandy Hook or sensational and racially charged cases like Zimmerman vs. Martin (local media does a better job of reporting stories where armed citizens prevail). The practice of selective reporting is nothing new. A recent example is in the gross underreporting of the crimes of the knockout games and of black on white violence. Another tactic typical of the anti-gun industry is to present data out of context for dramatic effect. For example, they would proclaim: “more children have been murdered by guns in America than US soldiers killed in the Viet-Nam War” (80 thousand children vs. 50 thousand soldiers). What they don’t tell us is that this number was compiled over 35 years and the fact that, overwhelmingly, these children died in inner-city criminal-violence. The anti-gun coalition routinely exploits the deaths of children from what they call “gun-violence,” a term they created to implicitly suggest, “guns-equal-violence.” When you put actual data into context, however, the true picture emerges. For example, anti-gun activists would say, “guns in homes cause an unacceptably high rate of accidental deaths among children” but they provide no context or comparison to other much greater risks. In 2010, the CDC reported the annual number of deaths with children under the age of ten, 602 died of accidental drowning; 262 died by accidental home fires and 36 from accidental shootings. They would also say, “firearms deaths among children are higher than the rate of cancer deaths.” First of all, children have the least mortality rate due to cancer, so that statement is intended to mislead. Secondly, they ignore the deaths among children resulting from sports injuries which overwhelmingly overshadow those by firearms. For example, twice as many children die from football injuries alone than from firearms(8). The routine hyperbolic rhetoric intended to instill fear, coupled with half-truths and manipulation appears to be the anti-gun coalitions’ playbook of choice. In fact anti-gun groups employ professional marketing and public relations firms to create campaigns that implicitly shape public opinion by selling the notion that “guns are evil” (regardless of the user) and that they are deadly instruments to be feared, reviled and thus they must be targeted for restriction or be banned. It has been exposed that the anti-gun coalition has created just such a handbook, “Preventing Gun Violence Through Effective Messaging”(5) (produced by Bloomberg et al). It has been widely distributed nationally as a standard for the anti-gun industry to deliver a uniform and highly scripted message across America. This handbook stresses, among its many techniques and talking points, the need to never talk about the facts and the law, “Always focus on emotional and value-driven arguments about gun violence, not the political food fight in Washington or wonky statistics.”(4) You are to focus instead on the emotional message about the carnage that guns cause. The effects of years of anti-gun campaigns, has put “guns” on trial in the court of public opinion. This has resulted in America’s culture being transformed from a “John Wayne’s America” which believes in self-reliance and individual responsibility to a “Sean Penn’s America” which does not accept personal responsibility and one with contempt for the Constitutional freedoms of their fellow citizens. The cultural biases and dishonest discourse has manifested for example in the absurd and hyperbolic reactions of school officials when our children bite a Pop Tart into the shape of a pistol.

C. Gun Debate vs. Public Safety

The fact that the gun debate is disingenuous can be surmised by examining the numbers and the facts in their proper context comparing all issues relating to public safety. What the debate really ought to be about is saving lives. Perhaps the biggest victim in the entire gun debate is public safety. What we should be having is an honest and productive dialog about how we may optimize public safety and address the litany of issues that contribute to undermining the safety, peace and prosperity of our communities. Sadly the valuable “oxygen” continues to be consumed by the debate that targets only the gun. The government knows where the violence occurs overwhelmingly, and who’s doing the killing yet we are distracted from addressing the out of control recidivism rate (85% in Rhode Island(5)); reforming our criminal justice system; targeting the criminal drug trafficking and gang violence that hold our urban communities hostage; eradicating the desperate poverty that fuels criminal-violence; bringing hope and opportunity to families in those neighborhoods; enacting educational reform particularly for children in these communities; unshackling the healthcare professionals to address mental health concerns; and enforcing current laws already on the books. Unless we address all of those issues, debating gun control wastes valuable time, squanders our resources and continues to be a deadly distraction.

D. The Philosophical Divide

The anti-gun advocates want a utopian “violence-free” society and to them it must be “gun-free.” They view the lawful gun owners, sportsmen and women as being the obstacle to that utopia because of the American “gun culture” which must be dismantled. This is insulting because clearly all law-abiding citizens want safe communities. The trouble is the anti-gun coalition has hijacked the narrative and made the issue of violence in our society all about “guns.” Most Americans, however, do not share that point of view because they believe that in order to have a society where its citizens are free and our civil liberties preserved under the Constitution, the “violence-free society” is a fantasy and is utterly unattainable. The proof is in the failures of nations that have imposed all out gun bans like Great Britain and Australia(7). Their respective crime rates and violence with guns have soared instead. Conversely, in Switzerland, all citizens are mandated by law to possess firearms both for crime deterrence and for their national security. Not surprisingly, Switzerland has the lowest crime and murder rate in the world. Another point in the gun debate that is rarely discussed is the overt discrimination against lawful firearms owner and the willingness to infringe on their civil liberties. Let’s use for example the recent cases involving the random crimes of the knockout games where innocent victims have been killed from these vicious assaults. Of the cases reported, in most if not all of them, the attackers were young blacks ages 14 to 24. So, imagine calling for the passage of legislation that would restrict the civil-liberties of all black youths ages 14 to 24 based on the reprehensible acts of the very few. Of course that would be completely outrageous, but that is exactly what anti-gun proponents are pushing for when they target firearms and lawful gun owners. Despite the fact that overwhelmingly the majority of firearm owners are law-abiding, they overtly and openly call for the discriminatory and the unconstitutional restrictions of the rights of lawful citizens because of the criminal acts of the very few. Because the anti-gun establishment targets guns, they will never be satisfied until they ban all guns and that is why the war of words is so divisive and dishonest because they always hide their true intent. Responsible gun owners believe in personal responsibility (that goes beyond guns); they know firearms safety better than anyone because they live by the “safety is number one” golden rule. Their opponents do not believe lawfully armed citizens can be trusted and there in lies the rub! Anti-gun advocates believe we must “collectively” sacrifice our civil liberties to ensure a “violence-free society.” The truth is, they want lawful gun-owners to give up guns and civil-liberties so they could “feel” safer and be able to say they’re doing something about it. But that’s only an illusion because every time more gun laws pass they only burden law-abiding citizens and not the criminals. What’s worse than criminals not obeying laws, is the fact restrictions that burden law-abiding citizens actually has the opposite effect. Instead of protecting innocent people, gun-control empower the criminal. In fact, more gun-laws actually result in more deaths(6).The question that needs to be asked is: “Would you cut the antlers off a deer to protect him from a pack of attacking wolves?” Of course not! “Then what makes you think by disarming innocent citizens you could protect them from predatory violent criminals?” Why anti-gun proponents do not get the fact that criminals fear an armed citizen is absurd and utterly baffling unless there is a nefarious motive behind the agenda. The anti-gun establishment operates on the premise of a “collectivist” ideal where the “collective-welfare” supersedes the rights of the individual. The proof of that assertion is the Supreme Court ruling in the 2008 case: “District of Columbia v. Heller.” The court ruled against the plaintiff’s assertion that Heller’s right under the 2nd Amendment may be restricted because the government may effectively render the 2nd Amendment extinct. The plaintiff’s position suggests that the collective-welfare of the city superseded Heller’s individual right to keep and bear arms. The ruling reaffirmed a basic principles upon which the United States was founded, which is the rights of the individual must be protected against the will of the majority and that 2nd Amendment can not be rendered extinct based on policy or government edict because it is not a right “granted” by government. The Heller ruling exposed a philosophical divide between the belief that the US Constitution was intended to defend and preserve individual liberty verses those who aim to undermine those rights and reinterpret our founding document to permit the tyranny of the “collective.”

E. The Bill of Rights and RI Gun Laws

Unfortunately for the anti-gun industry there is a pesky document called the United State Constitution. The Bill of Rights has ten Amendments which were “codified” into and not “granted” by the US Constitution. That distinction is critically important to American liberty, because the Founders noted that the rights described in the Bill of Rights do not come from government but rather are granted by God. The Founders believed these are natural-rights every human being possess that pre-date America’s founding. That’s why these rights were “codified” into the Constitution and are not negotiable. Fast forward to the anti-gun debate today that suggest “restrictions of firearms are necessary adjustments because we live in a very different modern day America than when she was founded.” This argument is a ruse and a deliberate tactic to undermine the original intent of America’s founding document. Rhode Island’s own constitution is even more explicitly unequivocal about the rights of its citizens to keep and bear arms. Article I, Section 22 states: “Right to bear arms.~ The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” RI General Law 11-47-11 obligates the issuing authorities in each town and municipality to “shall” issue conceal and carry permits to citizens who apply for permits provided they are not felons or a threat to society. Sadly, this law is openly violated by the various towns and municipalities (notably the Exeter controversy) entirely due to a political bias against lawful carry of firearms for personal protection.

1 NW University Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, Gary Kleck & Marc Gertz
2 CDC, FBI, USDOJ, NIJ
3 State.com (interactive chart of every school shooting)
4 Preventing Gun Violence Through Effective Messaging, O’Brien, OMP; Neffinger & Kohut, KNP; Quinlan, GQRR
5 Rhode Island Alliance for Safe Communities
6 Harvard study, “Would Banning Firearms Reduce Murder and Suicide?” Kates & Mauser
7 http://www.military.com/video/guns/small-arms/australias-gun-ban-not-working-so-well/1775480805001/
8 Frederick O. Mueller, Annual Survey of Football Injury Research: 1931-2001, Nat. Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research

Citizens are concerned about RhodeMap RI

Fellow Rhode Islanders: If you haven’t heard of RhodeMap RI, the so-called economic development plan, you’re in good company. Most elected officials are in the dark, as well!

Under the cover of election-year politics, the Rhode Island Division of Planning held two hearings, with virtually no public awareness, to adopt this massively transformative plan. If adopted tomorrow at a 9 a.m. meeting (at One Capitol Hill, the William E. Powers Building), RhodeMap RI could profoundly change life in Rhode Island — and not necessarily for the better.

In 2013, the General Assembly passed legislation for the Division of Planning to develop an economic plan to tackle our economic morass. The legislation was open-ended — that is, we had to begin the planning process so we could find out what’s in it.

The Division of Planning appointed a committee, assembled a “consortium,” and RhodeMap RI is the product. It was originally scheduled for a Nov. 20 adoption, but fortunately, some people who have been paying attention spoke up in loud protest. House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello stepped in to request a postponement so lawmakers could examine the plan in greater detail.

This, however, does not provide nearly enough time for a proper public vetting, especially because of the breadth and far-reaching impact of RhodeMap RI.

In a nutshell, RhodeMap RI is a Trojan horse, courtesy of the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Department of Transportation. If adopted, it would profoundly transform Rhode Island. The plan would advocate that towns and municipalities effectively abdicate their constitutional authority for self-determination, and be instead governed by federal bureaucratic fiat.

RhodeMap RI is not at all an economic development plan. It has no economic growth metrics or even a cost-benefit analysis. What we have is a “social-equity” scheme that seeks to control and redistribute wealth and all of the state’s resources by following HUD-EPA-DOT policies and guidelines. If the plan is followed, your duly elected local governments would lose their ability to act in your interest or that of your town.

Here’s an example of the consequence of a HUD mandate, a large component of RhodeMap RI. Current HUD policies are derived from the agency’s interpretation of an old federal law, the Fair Housing Act. It has evolved to the point that HUD has begun working to dismantle the single-family zoning model because, according to some advocates, most American suburban single-family homes are unsustainable and unaffordable to those with low incomes, so they are deemed to be unfair and even racist.

Therefore, past encouragement of single-family dwellings must make way for encouraging urban-style multi-family low-income housing or Section 8 government housing. HUD has thus been actively incentivizing developers to build affordable housing and has a mandate to do so across the United States.

RhodeMap RI will be a milestone to accelerate the expansive development of multi-family low-income housing, beginning with what it designates as “opportunity zones,” or wealthy suburbs. The plan calls for strict adherence to HUD guidelines and for building affordable housing within the regions as statistically determined by “census blocks” and not by local zoning or town planning.

If towns do not adhere to HUD guidelines, they will be sued by the federal government, as has happened across America. A prominent recent case involved Westchester, N.Y.

Why is this important to you as a citizen? If you like centralized, top-down control by the federal government along the lines of the old Soviet Union, then this should not trouble you. But if, like most Americans, you take issue with that, then you must speak up and help defeat this power grab by those with an extreme agenda to deny all of us basic liberties through the planning process.

I urge my fellow Rhode Islanders to urgently engage their representatives and senators. Call your local authorities to stop this attempt to destroy the American dream in Rhode Island.

Dexter Liu, of Portsmouth, is a retired entrepreneur and business consultant. He worked for 35 years in the design, manufacturing and sales of consumer products in children’s entertainment.

Unshackle Humanity from Oppressive Control

If you get your news from the mainstream media, read publications like Rolling Stone, US, People, the New Yorker, Time or Newsweek, and if you believe the “Progressive” dominated educational system in America is beyond reproach, then you will likely believe the propaganda of the United Nations that controlling human population growth is one of the true global challenges of our time.

“Progressives,” many of whom subscribe to eugenics, chief among them the founder of Planned Parenthood Margaret Sanger, believe human occupation of the planet is the problem and thus humanity must be controlled. We are told that our behavior and our breeding habits must be managed lest we exhaust all of the planet’s resources to our own detriment. It’s not a conspiracy to say, many if not all “Progressives” believe in population control. In fact they tacitly condone the one-child per family policy in Communist China as a legitimate solution for managing the most populous nation on the planet.

Let’s imagine giving each of the 6.6 billion human beings on the planet 1,000 square feet of space. Did you know that we can fit every man woman and child into the state of Texas? Texas has 267,339 square miles or 7,452,983,577,600 square feet. Each man woman and child may occupy 1,000 square feet of the Lone Star state with plenty of land left over. So is humanity and its behavior really the blight of our planet as all the “Progressive” prognosticators of global gloom and doom profess? Ask yourselves, do those champions of population control really have the best interest of their fellow human beings at heart? Or do they perhaps have an ulterior motive?

Is humanity really destroying the planet, so we must control its expansion and behavior to role back its ill effects? Put another way, “they” want to control the population because the planet’s precious resources are scant and there is not enough to go around.

I submit if we have honest brokers creating the right policies to manage resources responsibly there would not be population control nor the need to curtail and penalize the advancement of the human species. Instead we have power brokers and dishonest politicians who perpetuate the fear of an impending crisis such as Global Warming now renamed due to the embarrassing decade long cooling trend to “Climate Change.”

The truth is there isn’t a shortage of resources to sustain the Earth’s population. What we have is a shortage of honesty, integrity and a deficit of real leadership which works on behalf of humanity’s best interest. Those who propagandize to instill fear that humans are destroying the planet do have an ulterior motive. Their aim is the re-distribution of wealth from the rich to the poor, and to strategically position themselves to be the authority in charge. Their tactic to force the rich to relinquish assets is with “guilt & shame” while they indoctrinate the poor with the idea of “victimhood & entitlement.” The result is the divisive and hate filled discourse that has set the world on fire. It’s all about power and not about improving the human condition or even protecting the planet.

Imagine instead, if we could enable humanity to live in liberty where all individuals are able to pursue their own happiness. Imagine all leaders working to establish government of the people, for the people and by the people, as our Founders intended for America. The American “miracle” profoundly uplifted humanity in a mere two centuries when for 5,000 years people lived under elite monarchies and oppressive tyranny.

Humanity subsisted in abject poverty for over fifty centuries, yet within a scant 200 years of America’s Founding deadly diseases were eradicated, basic necessities of life became abundant, technological advancement profoundly improved the quality of life for ordinary people, and we put men on the moon. This was no accident because America liberated the human spirit in ways never before in human history ~ Freedom delivered miracles! Now, imagine if that is the pervasive message for humanity today instead of Climate Change and one of blaming our natural inclination for the advancement of the human condition, think of what we can accomplish in the next 200 years.

5th Rhode Island Tax Day Tea Party

I will deliver this speech tomorrow during the 5th Rhode Island Tax Day Tea Party Rally at the State House.

Tax Day Tea Party Rally 2014

“If you like your healthcare plan, you can keep your plan… If you like your doctor you can keep your doctor… period!” These words will go down in history among the greatest lies ever told.

These words didn’t come from just anybody, however, they came from the President of the United States, the Commander-in-Chief. Yet these lies didn’t target our enemies, they were directed at us ~ the American people.

Like so many lies from this Administration, these targeted us for the purpose of advancing a political agenda that is antithetical to the founding of the United States.

This agenda contradicts our constitutional principles of liberty and justice for all Americans. Yes, Obamacare like so many policies from this White House attacks our unalienable right to pursue happiness ~ on our terms.

Today, we’re constantly told to be socially responsible. We are forced to surrender an ever increasing share of our income to government to redistribute to all those important social causes we all must care about, lest we be called greedy, racist, bigots and other hateful names.

But that is not enough, for we need to believe that we must collectively solve the World’s social ills because, according to them, we created these problems in the first place due to America’s successful way of life.

But even that is not enough, because although we don’t have enough money to pay for it all, we must indebt future generations of Americans to pay for ‘social-justice,’ ‘economic-justice,’ ‘environmental-justice,’ ‘income-inequality’ and all of the injustices because of American imperialism, our arrogance, our Capitalism ~ so we are told.

You see, we avoid confronting the lies and the consequences of not holding them to account has given us $18 Trillion Dollars in debt and an unfunded liability that rival the value of the entire Stock Market.

The deception of the corrupt politicians and their anti-freedom agendas have given the United States of America the single largest debt in human history.

Yet, they keep piling on the National Credit Card a debt that will take generations of Americans, your children and their children’s children to pay off, if ever they could.

But it’s not just about our gargantuan national debt. It’s also the government’s corrupt agenda that endangers the safety of our nation, our very well being and threatens the freedom and prosperity for all of mankind.

America’s debt has profound global implications that go far beyond our pocketbooks. Our debt makes us subservient to China, Russia, Saudi Arabia and people who do not necessarily like us very much.

It’s the out of control spending by Washington bureaucrats and their anti-freedom policies that are weakening America and diminishing our international stature.

An America that suffers from a lack of domestic tranquility and incapable of a coherent foreign policy projects weakness. This emboldens the villains around the world to have their way with peaceful neighbors as well as oppressing their own people… the evidence is overwhelming.

Just look at Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Iran’s defiance in pursuing nuclear-power causing instability in the Middle East and around the world. Syria in chaos, unrest in Egypt, al-Qaida in Libya, Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan, all are existential threats to our friends in Israel.

Then there’s the global persecution of Christians, riots in Venezuela, Russian war ships in Cuba 90 miles from Key West. China’s modernizing military, their growing global influence, the resurgence of Marxist dictators in Africa, South America, and increasing tensions in South East Asia as well as the Korea peninsula.

All of this making the world a far more dangerous place because the current occupant of the White House is like the Emperor with no cloths!

This Administration has worked hard to diminish our influence all over the world. They call this “leading from behind.” But when you’re staring at the behinds of others, that’s not leading, that’s following. And we don’t follow Marxist dictators or any tyrants who have contempt for human liberty!

America doesn’t have a foreign policy today. What we have is an abdication and a surrender by cowards!

The United States of America does not lead from behind ~ We – lead – by – example!

But our broken government has weakened us economically, politically and militarily. Yet if you only get the news from NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN or the NYT, you might think all is well with the World and the Obama gang is doing a fine job.

Nothing can be further from the truth:

• Just ask Nevada Rancher Cliven Bundy, if the BLM is doing a fine job.
• Ask the family of Brian Terry who was killed in Fast & Furious about the DOJ.
• Ask the families of our Benghazi heroes about defending Americans abroad..
• Ask Catherine Engelbrecht of True the Vote about the IRS, ATF and OSHA.
• Ask all those who lost their healthcare insurance about Obamacare.
• Ask those who have given up looking for work about how they’re doing.

Why do we put up with these deceptions? Why do we accept these lies? Why do we permit the destruction of the United States by corrupt politicians who clearly do not have America’s best interest at heart?

Well, these are of course rhetorical questions, because in fact we have been doing something about it… It’s called the Tea Party and for the past 5 years,

• We’ve been calling out dishonest politicians!
• We’ve pushed back against corrupt media!
• We’ve rallied fellow Americans who have not been paying attention till now!
• We’ve run Tea Party candidates for office successfully!
• We’ve organized grassroots initiatives to hold elected officials to account!

And for our troubles, we’ve been reviled, smeared, maligned, vilified, ostracized, criminalized and even targeted by the IRS. That’s because they’re desperately trying to protect the corrupt status quo!

But ladies and gentlemen, America is worth the fight for! There is no doubt, the United States of America is still the greatest nation of earth. Take it from one whose family suffered unspeakable savagery under a brutal Chinese Communist dictatorship.

Having also lived in West Africa as a child, I’ve seen first hand the oppression of a corrupt 3rd world government and know friends who grew up without the freedoms and blessings we take for granted in the United States.

America’s Founding was a profound event in human history. Mankind lived under the indignity of tyrants for centuries with entire populations serving their elite masters for countless generations until the Founding of the United States.

Our Constitution and Bill of Rights restored human dignity and liberated ordinary people to live free as never before!

Our system of governance “of the people, by the people and for the people” not only defended liberty, it unleashed the power of the human spirit to create, prosper and reach for the stars!

In a free America the sky had truly become the limit and that is why America has been the beacon of hope for humanity for over 200 years!

And that is why I am a naturalized American citizen by choice!

You bet our Constitution, American Liberty & Justice is worth fighting for!

2014 is a critical election year. let’s make this the year of America’s restoration!

Ladies and gentlemen we have much to do before November ~ let’s roll !

An Open Letter to Candidates for Political Office

Dear Candidate:

Defend the 2nd Amendment and the Constitution and we will have your back!

As with all citizens, we the firearms owners want safe communities. Many of us have become cynical, however, seeing our rights relentlessly attacked while criminals get a pass. We know the responsible and lawful use of firearms better than anyone. Besides our constitutional rights being undermined, we view the obsessive attacks on our legal gun ownership as political, dishonest and a deadly distraction. What we need is to address the litany of real issues that undermine our public safety while preserving the civil-liberties of lawful citizens.

Our rights as law-abiding Americans under our Constitution and the Bill of Rights are non-negotiable. You need to know all the facts surrounding criminal-violence with firearms. They simply do not support the assertions of the gun-control industry that push the narrative, “more armed citizens equal more deaths.”

There are numerous credible research studies that prove unequivocally that pervasive firearms ownership is not the problem. To the contrary, we the lawfully armed citizens are the solution. In fact, it has been shown more gun-control laws that burden us actually put society at greater risk while more legal gun ownership have been shown to reduce deaths.*

Despite empirical evidence including the government’s own data (CDC, FBI, DEA and the USDOJ), the burden continues to be unjustly placed upon us, the lawful citizens, while real solutions that target criminal behavior are routinely ignored.

The attacks on lawful gun owners like us take many forms that go beyond the legislature, this includes the intentional blurring of the truth by propagandists who implicitly equate criminal behavior with legal gun ownership. These are a result of well funded campaigns orchestrated by the powerful gun-control lobby** in partnership with anti-gun politicians and many in the mainstream media.

Further more, anti-gun regulations deliberately force firearms manufactures out of large markets reducing their production amortization capabilities. There is also the political arm-twisting of banks to deny banking services to those in the firearms business. In addition, there are the unrelenting attacks on ammunition production and availability from the Obama EPA.

While the optics of political campaigns may be often challenging, to cede even a rhetorical defense of the 2nd Amendment and lawful use of firearms will utter frustrate those of us in the firearms community. We will believe that the candidate or public official does not have our backs. This is rooted in the fact our rights have been unfairly and routinely attacked by those who are either ill informed or have an anti-gun and anti-freedom agenda.

What we want are champions of liberty and courageous leadership that will not fold under corrupt and dishonest political attacks. We will in turn passionately support those who are truthful, have a sincere interest in real public safety solutions and who will stand firm with us to defend the Constitutional rights of all Americans.

Sincerely yours,

The American Sportsman
The American Patriot
Law-abiding Firearms Owners of America
Americans for the Defense and Preservation of our Constitution
The American Tax Payer

* 1) Harvard Study titled, “Would Banning Firearms Reduce Murder and Suicide?” Kates & Mauser; 2) Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, NW University, “Armed Resistance to Crime: The Prevalence and Nature of Self-Defense with a Gun,” Gary Kleck & Marc Gertz; 3) “More Guns Less Crime”, Dr. John R. Lotts, Jr., PhD.

** 1) “Preventing Gun Violence Through Effective Messaging,” Frank O’Brien, OMP: John Neffinger and Matthew Kohut, KNP Communication; Al Quinlan, Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research; 2) Members of the anti-gun industry: Mayors Against Illegal Guns, Bloomberg et al; The Brady Campaign, Sarah Bady; Moms Demanding Action (formerly Million Moms Against Gun Violence); The Joyce Foundation; Moveon.org; Violence Policy Center; Freedom State Alliance; Media Matter; American Academy of Pediatrics; Americans for Gun Safety; Coalition for Peace Action; Gun Free Kids; National Gun Victims Action Council; Protest Easy Guns; Real Hunter Real Conservation; Students for Gun Free Schools; Tides Center Foundation; DCS Congressional; David Bohnett Foundation; Crime Gun Solution; Wounded in America; Third Way; Coalition to Stop Gun Violence; RI Coalition Against Gun Violence; Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence (RI).

Can we afford to keep raising the cost of doing business?

Those who don’t understand the free-market model or even care to because they hold a redistributive world view, will not care why businesses require profits. The divisive “evil-rich” or “greedy-profiteer” smears are lies told to the gullible masses who do not know what businesses require to keep going or even more importantly, how it must grow to be viable. So it’s easy to fall for the class-envy rhetoric which is sadly destroying the American Dream.

Government is a consumer of tax revenue paid by big and small private sector businesses and individuals who work for a living. In fact government produces nothing. It spends our money ostensibly to provide us services. Which in today’s bloated Monster Government, we’re actually working for our “slave-master,” because much of our working life is devoted to paying taxes. When the White House and those in Congress engage in class-warfare, and use government to pit Americans against Americans in order to extract more taxes. We as tax payers, are quite literally funding the assault on our own liberties.

When government mandates businesses to pay more in wages regardless of the actual fair-market values of “minimum-wage” labor, it artificially forces businesses to increase operating overhead. Anyone who’s ever run an enterprise knows increasing overhead costs adversely effects products and services they provide their customers. When costs go up, one of four things must happen: 1) cost of your goods or services to your customer goes up; or 2) the quality of your goods or services goes down; or 3) cut workers’ hours or impose a hiring freeze; or 4) cut profits or operate at a loss.

The big government pushers believe businesses are greedy and can always afford wage increases. ‘Look at the rich owner’s Mercedes; he needs to spread the wealth around.’ They would say. The reality is when you increase the wages of minimum-wage workers (or entry-level jobs that should be determined by the free-market) that means, for example, the low cost food services, who’s customers are those who can’t afford fancy restaurants, will have to buy food at higher prices or lower quality. So those who can’t afford caviar will now be penalized by the government mandate.

If the owner keeps the price the same and lowers quality to try and survive, they’ll lose customers because of bad burgers. Eventually they will lose their business anyway from a lack of patronage. Alternatively, he can freeze hiring or cut workers’ hours, but that of course hurts his employees. Then there’s the option of operating at zero profit or at a loss. Now, try to keep up with inflation – another government caused disaster. The landlord certainly won’t stop raising the rent and eat his tax hike and his suppliers are also subject to inflation as well.

By imposing more mandates like raising the minimum wage, the government makes burgers unaffordable, and puts shops out of business. But wait, aren’t the people who want to raise the minimum wage the same ones who blame businesses for sending jobs overseas? So, you’re not allowed to make a profit, that’s greedy, but you’re supposed to sustain your business because you must have some hidden profits you’re not telling the government. So government forces you to operate at a loss so entry-level workers gets a higher wage because that’s what’s “fair?” And we haven’t even touched on the deleterious effects on business of the unaffordable Affordable Care Act best known as Obamacare.