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A few days ago I got my hands on Mark Levin’s new book – Ameritopia.

This is an excellent book for those who want to brush up on the history of political philosophy as it relates to those writers who set out to define the nature of man and the arrangement of government in the ideal society. If you’ve read Plato’s Republic, Thomas More’s Utopia, Thomas Hobbes’s Leviathan, Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto, John Locke’s An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Charles de Montesquieu, and/or Alex de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America then this is a refresher as to the nature of the utopian society that each of theses thinkers believe is the best for man.  If you never read these books then Levin’s book is a tight version of “cliff notes” for these thinkers and works.

The real value and crux of Levin’s book is how the framers of the Constitution of the United States were influenced by these thinkers and why the framers embraced one set of ideas on governance  and rejected another in the development of the US Constitution. For those who think that the US Constitution sprang “from nothing” from the framers minds they will find the necessary historical linkage in Levin’s book.

The unmaking of America

The subtitle of Levin’s book is: the unmaking of America. The structure of the book  is excellent to make this point. The latter part of Ameritopia describes the current state of the American political system and demonstrates that it is exactly the set of ideas and principles about man, society, and governance  that the framers of the Constitution rejected.  The first part of the book provides the necessary historical background to demonstrate this point. 

Ameritopia from Mark Levin is highly recommended.  The historical works cited above are in the public domain available for almost any e-book reader.  Levin’s book is available in paper and e-book formats.  Take a read and seee if Levin has the correct analysis against the current context of over-reach of the Federal govenment. 

(Read more: The New American Dream ; When Nudge comes to push and shove ; Michelle Obama and Sarah Palin at the Food Court: the Concept of Libertarian Paternalism )

Read the reviews of Ameritopia here -
http://www.amazon.com/Ameritopia-Unmaking-Mark-R-Levin/dp/1439173249

A short summary from one reviewer

If there is one statement that defines Mark R. Levin’s work, it is that America’s success is based in liberty and that we must not allow ourselves to fall into tyranny. Of course, no one supports tyranny blatantly and so defending liberty is thought to be easy. But the people who support tyranny don’t always do so blatantly. In this book, Levin shows how people throughout the ages have supported tyranny through an ideology called utopianism, and thus ushered in tyranny through “intellectual bankruptcy and dishonesty.”

In the first part of AMERITOPIA, Levin examines the work of four historical figures, Plato, Thomas More, Hobbes, and Marx. In this treatment, Levin shows how each one promoted what was considered an ideal society and how each one of these ideals is no more than tyranny. In each case, the ideal society contains a highly centralized government which controls the masses through various means–persuasion, deceit, coercion, eugenics, euthanasia–and therefore tears apart the family, community, and faith.

In the second part, Levin counters this with a survey of three thinkers that helped introduce liberty to the Western mindset and establish what he calls Americanism–John Locke, Charles de Montesquieu, and Alexis de Tocqueville. Levin shows how each one viewed human beings as autonomous individuals with God-given abilities and rights. With lawyerly precision, Levin details the many examples of how both Locke and Montesquieu influenced the founders of the United States and how Tocqueville spread Americanism to the European culture of the 19th century.

Finally, Levin explains how the America built upon Locke, Montesquieu, and Tocqueville is at risk of being taken over by the utopian ideology in the 21st century, showing how the various modern movements of liberalism and modern socialism disseminate their intellectual bankruptcy and dishonesty.

The argument is powerful and Levin’s penetrating commentary is grounded well by quotes from the original texts. If there is a flaw in the work, it is in the unforgiving denunciation of the utopian literary genre. While it is clear that most of the works technically classed utopia did include tyrannical elements, I cannot deny the fact that some elements of pro-liberty and American texts include visions of the perfect society. Everyone has a vision of what would be ideal–some are made of tyranny, and others can be seen as the “shining city on the hill” and are made of freedom. If utopias are promotions of the ideal society, then it must be said that all active minds engage in the exercise.

Altogether, however, the point of this book is absolutely correct. America’s success is based on liberty and allowing ourselves to fall into tyranny would be catastrophic for humanity. Everyone who is interested in this very important theme and is compelled to do something about it should also consider the excellent Juggernaut: Why the System Crushes the Only People Who Can Save It by Eric Robert Morse.

Updated on February 10, 2012 with links to government assistance programs.  See if YOU qualify for other people’s money and/or how you can arrange things to qualify for selected government assistance programs

About a week ago, Mitt Romney got in trouble for this

I’m not concerned about the very poor; we have a safety net there. If it needs repair, I’ll fix it. I’m not concerned about the very rich, they’re doing just fine. I’m concerned about the very heart of the America, the 90 percent, 95 percent of Americans who right now are struggling, and I’ll continue to take that message across the nation.

Romney is rightly concerned with the middle class – those are the people who create small businesses.  Small business accounts for about 70% of the jobs in the US (read).  If you can’t help the middle class – as the first priority – then who will create the jobs to employ the poor?

The question is, “Do people who are out of work really want to work?”  If the “safety net” is too good then many people might get the idea that it’s easier to not work than to work.  People will do a calculation – Can I lower my standard of living to the point that I can live “comfortably” on the entitlement system?  It seems, that from some recent studies, the answer is increasingly, “Yes”.

We might be entering a new phase in American History when the old idea of the “American Dream” (get an education, have ambition, get a job, work hard, create wealth, own a home, have a family, make a positive contribution to society, leave a legacy) has given way to the “American Dream” as a life of dependency.

Check out these stats and articles to get an idea of what is “trending now” in the re/interpretation of the American Dream

Dependence on Government at All-Time High
http://blog.heritage.org/2012/02/08/dependence-on-government-at-all-time-high/

The 2012 Index of Dependence on Government
http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2012/02/2012-index-of-dependence-on-government

Guest Blog: The Danger of A Nation of Dependents
http://blog.heritage.org/2012/02/08/guest-blog-the-danger-of-a-nation-of-dependents/

• One in five Americans—the highest in the nation’s history—relies on the federal government for everything from housing, health care, and food stamps to college tuition and retirement assistance. That’s more than 67.3 million Americans who receive subsidies from Washington.
• Government dependency jumped 8.1 percent in the past year, with the most assistance going toward housing, health and welfare, and retirement.
• The federal government spent more taxpayer dollars than ever before in 2011 to subsidize Americans. The average individual who relies on Washington could receive benefits valued at $32,748, more than the nation’s average disposable personal income ($32,446).
• At the same time, nearly half of the U.S. population (49.5 percent) does not pay any federal income taxes.
• In the next 25 years, more than 77 million baby boomers will retire. They will begin collecting checks from Social Security, drawing benefits from Medicare, and relying on Medicaid for long-term care.
• As of now, 70 percent of the federal government’s budget goes to individual assistance programs, up dramatically in just the past few years. However, research shows that private, community, and charitable aid helps individuals rise from their difficulties with better success than federal government handouts. Plus, local and private aid is often more effectively distributed

A voice from serval hundred years ago… and perhaps a prediction

A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government.  It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse [gifts] from the public treasury.  From that moment on, the majority only votes for candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship — Alexandar Fraser Tytler (1747-1813)

Resources

See how much “free” (money from the public treasury) you can get from government programs

Read the rest of this entry »

Part of the relevancy of Amateur Radio in the 21st Century is the idea that “When all else fails” Amateur Radio will be there.

From the ARRL

Despite the complexity of modern commercial communications – or perhaps BECAUSE they are so complex – Amateur Radio operators are regularly called upon to provide communications when other systems are down or overloaded.

You can check out what the ARRL has to say here:

http://www.arrl.org/emergency-radio-org

http://frrl.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/whenallelsefails.pdf

What is the “else” in…When all else fails?

Did you ever wonder what has to fail? Curiosity led me to find the Statewide Communications Interoperability Plan for my state – Illinois

Here is the scope of that plan

The Statewide Communications Interoperability Plan, or SCIP, serves as the operational blueprint for the conceptualization, procurement, implementation, and usage of interoperable communications by Illinois’ public safety agencies and non- governmental/private organizations. The development of the SCIP was a cooperative effort by a consortium of federal, state, and local public safety practitioners working through the Illinois Terrorism Task Force’s Communications Committee and the Statewide Interoperability Executive Committee. Annual reviews/updates to the SCIP will be conducted under the auspices of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency.

The SCIP is much more than a user’s guide to radio communications. The plan outlines Illinois’ interoperability vision, its mission, and the goals, objectives, and strategic initiatives that will be employed to achieve that vision. It establishes standard operating procedures that will be followed by public safety practitioners when responding to disasters or significant incidents and underscores Illinois’ adherence to the tenets of the National Incident Management System. The plan sets forth the methodology that will be used to assess Illinois’ current interoperable capabilities, defines the governance role of the Statewide Interoperability Executive Committee, and details funding strategies to achieve Illinois’ interoperability vision.,, Most importantly, however, the SCIP demonstrates Illinois’ uncompromising commitment to bring communications interoperability to all of its governmental/non- governmental public safety agencies.

It’s a fascinating read.  In this plan you will find tons of frequencies providing the opportunity to “listen in” on drills and actual emergency communications

http://frrl.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/ill_statewidecommunicationsinteropplan.pdf  (link)

The Bigger Picture

The bigger picture, for Illinois, is located here

Illinois Emergency Management Agency
http://www.state.il.us/iema/

Disaster Preparedness, Response & Recovery
http://www.state.il.us/iema/disaster/disaster.htm

And then there is FEMA.

Check out the National Response Framework
http://www.fema.gov/emergency/nrf/

FEMA offers more than 100 training courses on-line for free
http://training.fema.gov/IS/crslist.asp

So how does all this fit in with Amateur Radio?

Read the Public Service Communications Manual from the ARRL
http://www.arrl.org/public-service-communications-manual

Here are some resources from an Illinois ARES group
http://dupageares.org/illinoisraces.html

Mystery Projects – FEMA/DHS AM backup transmitters

And finally, this  article from the Radio Engineering Blog

What is the deal with those FEMA/DHS AM backup transmitters?

Back last February, it was reported that FEMA/Department of Homeland Security was mysteriously constructing prepackaged AM transmitter buildings at various PEP (Primary Entry Point) transmitter sites across the country as something call “Primary Entry Point Expansion.” These buildings contain a 5 KW Nautel AM transmitter, EAS gear, satellite equipment (the exact equipment list is undisclosed) and a backup generator all in a shielded (Faraday Cage), prefabricated building placed inside of a fenced in compound at the station’s transmitter site. The buildings are being put in place, but not connected to anything in the outside world. They are planning to have about 80 (the number keeps increasing) of these structures in place when the project is completed by mid 2013.

Read the entire posting here -
http://www.engineeringradio.us/blog/2011/10/what-is-the-deal-with-those-fema-dhs-am-backup-transmitters/

The Take

If all the above is the “else” … and  “If all else fails” I’m not sure I want to be around. Or perhaps, if all else fails, none of us may have a choice to be around or not.

Read a related article on this site –

http://frrl.wordpress.com/2011/01/23/amateur-radio-when-all-else-fails/

For those interested the technical aspects of Radio… and the really big stuff of commercial broadcast transmitters… and radio history … and some editorial comments thrown in for good measure… then this is a heck of a good find… and a tremendous effort by Paul Thurst…

Check out this web site – http://www.engineeringradio.us/blog/