The Year Behind and the Year Ahead

Of course I'm a week behind in getting up a New Year-style post, so I'll make it a good and thorough one!

So here goes...

Last year was definitely my best year yet author-wise.  It saw the release of Spirit of Fire, the third book in my Fires in Eden Series, and there were  a number of  very enjoyable and successful convention appearances ranging from Mid South Con, to ConNooga, to MystiCon and others.  I also served as the literary track director for Fandom Fest during what was a breakthrough year for the event that saw over 16,000 attendees and guest stars like Sean Astin, John-Rhys Davies, and many others.  I did my biggest ever promotional campaign for Spirit of Fire in a 48 day blog tour, which involved a number of fun posts and videos.

I made many new friends, some of whom I will be doing some close work with in the future.  In the last part of the year I was part of a Kickstarter Campaign that secured a wonderful project for Seventh Star Press called the Writers Workshop of Science Fiction and Fantasy, which features contributors like Neil Gaiman and Orson Scott Card.  The editor for the project, Michael Knost, is a wonderful fellow and I definitely hope we work together more in the future. I'm looking forward to working on the promotions for the release of this project very soon.

2013 looks to be extremely productive on the writing front.  A new Rising Dawn Saga book will be out sometime in the Spring, and we are hoping to squeeze in the next Fires in Eden Book before the year is out.  In addition, there will be a number of short stories released, from steampunk (latest Harvey and Solomon tale Gift of Light to appear in Dreams of Steam III), to horror (my new Hellscapes series), to epic fantasy (several new additions coming to the Chronicles of Ave), to urban fantasy (several new additions coming for the Annals of the Rising Dawn).  There is also a very good chance that the first book of a new YA cross-genre trilogy will move forward this year.

With all of the writing and commitments I have, my appearance schedule may be a little more modest than it has been in the past.  I am slated for several wonderful events, and will be returning to ConNooga, Mid South Con, MystiCon, and others, as well as doing a literary track again for Fandom Fest.

I also plan to do a little more blogging, especially with some non-fiction topics.  As those who read my Rising Dawn Saga would probably guess, I don't have the most positive of outlooks regarding the direction the world is heading in.  Along those lines, I think my home country, the US, is chugging straight for the proverbial iceberg.  Even worse, it appears that the US is accelerating towards a very disastrous situation.

While all of this gives me a great deal to think about in regards to the themes I write on, there is a frustrating side to it as well.  I've long thought that true journalism is largely dead when it comes to the mainstream media, and this is a travesty as many people are not being warned of the consequences regarding the things politicians in Washington are doing.  The whole "Fiscal Cliff" issue recently was a big charade and prime example of political theater.  It accomplished nothing, in terms of addressing the real problems.

To add insult to injury, it added a ratio of 41 dollars in spending for every 1 dollar raised in "revenue" (I despise the term revenue when it comes to taxes, as it makes it seem like the government is engaging in market-based transactions of a voluntary nature.  Let's call them what they are: Taxes.  Language has suffered enough casualties in this age of spin and sugar-coating.)

The real fiscal cliff is crossing the 17 trillion bridge and soaring higher.  It baffles me why so few people put the same urgency and focus on this monstrosity that they did on the political theater version of the "Fiscal Cliff".  We are heading right towards inflation, downgrading of our national credit rating, devaluation of the dollar, and a whole lot more while we are on this entirely unsustainable path.

The economy is worsening.  Make no mistake about that.  As I've mentioned before, every small business person I deal with is closing, consolidating, and downsizing.  I rarely see startups and almost never encounter a small business expanding.  Small businesses are the engine of employment in the USA, and when you have the small business world in decline nothing good is going to come out of it.

Further, when economies are in decline and hardship spreads, crime begins to rise fast.  This is the untold story across the US.  Also, residents of many cities are facing a fast-rising nemesis in the form of gangs.  Common estimates are that there are well over 1.4 million gang members in the USA and their numbers are increasing fast and will continue to rise with widespread unemployment among young adults.  Gangs are behind the bulk of gun related murders in cities like Chicago.

So what kind of discussion are we having here in the USA right now?   Disarming law-abiding citizens aka gun control.  I always find it disturbing that the actions of a crazy individual inevitably turns into an outcry to take rights away from law abiding individuals.  Do you really think that the gangs and criminals are going to be disarmed?  Laws have worked so well in keeping illegal drugs out of their hands (heavy sarcasm intended).

This debate has also put on display an appalling lack of knowledge in the American public about the 2nd Amendment and why it was placed in the Bill of Rights.  I plan on doing a major post about this in the hopes that people will research this for themselves, but the 2nd Amendment is not about sporting or hunting, or just home defense.  It is a unique recognition of the right of free people to have the means to defend themselves against a government gone tyrannical.  This reality of the basis for the 2nd Amendment has largely been ignored in the mainstream media.  In my opinion this is because it does not fit their agenda to advance gun control legislation.

If the 2nd Amendment rendered worthless, the way is clear to roll over any other right that is inconvenient at a given time.  There is also a terrible side effect of this gun control agenda.  The efforts to disarm law-abiding citizens are successful, it will give rise to countless tragedies as people who otherwise might have had a chance to defend themselves and their families are going to be subjected to home invasions, burglaries, assaults, and rapes, all of which are going to rise greatly in number with the lethal combination of a terrible economy and disarmed, soft targets everywhere.

Of course, the Feinstein and Bloomberg types out there who believe they know best how you should live your life will not take any responsibility for the proliferation of tragedies in the wake of their draconian gun control agendas.  Also take particular note that these kinds of elites are always protected by armed guards, and send their children to schools that have armed guards.  They just don't want the masses to have the same kinds of protections for their kids or themselves. This hypocrisy is mind-boggling to those who are willing to see it for what it is.

To put it simply, the bad guys are not going to cease what they do.  If anything, a disarmed US populace is a criminal's dream situation.

There are times when I stop and think of the kind of fiber in the leaders at the foundation of this country and the clowns we have in Washington today.  It is debilitating to think we've gone from individuals such as George Washington, Ben Franklin, John Adams, Patrick Henry, George Mason, Thomas Paine, and the like to those such as Nancy Pelosi, John Boehner, Harry Reid, Chris Christie, Chuck Schumer, Dianne Feinstein, and Eric Cantor.

The contrast between the two groups couldn't be more stark, and it would be laughable if it wasn't both sad and distressing to see how the quality of leadership has sunk so very far  One set in motion a nation that embraced individual freedom like no other an history, the latter illustrate Franklin's warning when asked what kind of government had been formed.  He had responded, "a republic, if you can keep it."

Well, we are well on the way to losing it, and we are also facing another of Franklin's declarations, namely that those who "can give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."

So I hold to the thoughts I expressed after the election, in that we are going to see a major military conflict in the near future, continued economic erosion, and nothing being done to address the fundamental problems.  I know this sounds gloomy, but how can you expect anything different when you make no changes in foreign policy, in economic policy, and double-down on the things choking entrepreneurship and small businesses like rising taxes and unnecessary regulations.

Our inane foreign policy continues.  On one hand we are told relentlessly that intrusive surveillance and heavy-handed security presences are there to "protect us" from Islamic militants, and in the next breath the US aids and assist the very same kind of Islamic militants in taking over Libya, and gives the same support to the same kind of militants in Syria.  From Tunisia, to Egypt, to Libya, to Syria, and all across this region government authority is falling under a united and much more extreme ideology that is not going to lead to anything good for he world.  Yet even after the Benghazi incident most people still can't see what's going on or who's coming to power across the region.

Iraq is still highly violent and unstable, the Taliban is alive and well in Afghanistan, and at the end of the day one has to ask why so many good men and women are dying at the behest of the politicians who do not even have the decency to follow the Constitution and declare war.

I could go on and on, but seeing all this insanity at home and abroad can be pretty frustrating, especially in the light of history.  Great lessons are there to be learned, and what they have to teach bodes very ill for the United States.  One can only hope that the Liberty Movement continues to educate and gain steam, and that sovereignty is pulled back to local levels, that individual liberties are defended, that people regain self-determination, and much more.  A stop can be put to the ills that plague us and the things that made us strong  can be restored.  It just takes people with willpower to make it happen.

As for me, I will move forward, and do my best in everything I do.  Nobody can say for certain what the future holds, but at the end of the day it is about what you choose to do, not what others choose to do.

I do hope that success, peace and happiness finds everyone this year, but I think a time of struggle is ahead.  Yet sometimes hardship brings out the best in men and women, and many heroes will rise to the occasion.  Hang in there, keep your head up, and continue to pursue your dreams!

Developing a Sustainable Tyranny: The Subtle Agenda

Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are best served through the sanctity of individual rights and private property.  Societies are made up of individuals, and empowering individuals has the direct result of best serving the community as a whole.  The collectivist will say that big government is required to serve the needs of a population the best, but history shows that it is quite the opposite.

Whenever I hear someone talking about things being done for the "common good", I brace myself, as there really is no such thing when a populace is comprised of distinct individuals.  Individuals know what is in their best interests, not government bureaucrats.  I always advise people to watch their property and hold onto their wallet when you hear some political sycophant talking about the "common good", as far more often than not it means that you are about to see rights reduced and the fruits of your labor siphoned off.

All countries and societies have flaws, and I won't be sidetracked by the mistakes America has made during its history. The founders of the country left mechanisms in place to deal with significant flaws, and a number of wrongs have been corrected through the years through things like constitutional amendments (though in some cases this has given rise to other evils, but that is the topic for another discussion).  None of these things should diminish or obfuscate the irrefutable truth that the majority of those in a low economic bracket do have a much higher standard of living than their counterparts in other nations.

A person in America can be deemed to be poor and still have a house or apartment, air conditioning, television, a car, and other things that are not possessed by the poor of most other countries.  Further, at least in the America that was for over two hundred years, that poor individual could climb into the middle class, and perhaps even rise to the upper class in economic terms.

My own family history on my father's side testifies to this, starting with a dirt-poor, uneducated German immigrant to the USA who left his homeland with nothing. He set roots in place, using the blessings of freedom to forge a better life than he could have had in Germany and provide for his family, beginning a line that led to someone like my father, who was a cutting-edge, world-respected cancer researcher in the middle class. 

That is a wonderful story and testament to what freedom empowers, and the history of America is filled with countless such individuals exhibiting upward mobility.  The trend between generations was that sons and daughters were able to attain a better situation than their parents before them. Life in America for individuals and between generations was anything but stagnant, something that is now occurring as things go badly awry and the nation increasingly embraces collectivist ideologies.

One of the bedrocks involved in life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is private property, and anything that seeks to undermine or corrupt the sanctity of private property needs to be resisted and overcome.  This brings me to the very cleverly termed "sustainable development", which sounds much nicer than its earlier incarnation, Agenda 21 at the UN, all of which is a sugary sweet cover for that noxious monstrosity known as collectivism.

What really is taking place where you hear these terms bandied about is the development of a sustainable tyranny.  It is engineered by individuals who think they know what is best for you, at the nicest level.  Many of them, especially the far-left environmentalists who are at the core of this movement, are virulently anti-human.  This latter group include the types who would like to see the population reduced swiftly, and some have openly wished for things like pandemics to make this happen (you can look up unapologetic miscreants like "Dr." Eric Pianka, who wished for 90% of the world's population to be killed off for the sake of the environment, even preferring an ebola-like virus to be the method.  Not surprisingly, he didn't volunteer to lead that idea by example).

Living in Kentucky, I have seen the real environmentalists who engage in real sustainable development, in the true sense of the terms.  They are the country folk, those men and women who love camping, hunting, and fishing, and who own small farms all across the state.  It is they who achieve harmony between humankind and the environment, embracing American individualism while supporting a responsible use of the environment so that the activities their fathers and grandfathers enjoyed and introduced them to can be passed onward to their children and grandchildren.

People that live in the rural areas of the state know far more about what threatens the environment, and what should be done than does some bureaucrat in a UN office.  They honor the environment, respect it, preserve it, and better it, all the while upholding the ideals of individual freedom and natural rights.  They have demonstrated, without question, that environmental responsibility and private property/individual rights are not mutually exclusive.

It is these very people that the cockroaches behind things like Agenda 21 would like to see uprooted and moved into dense-population zones, using tools ranging from zoning, to property taxes, to conservation easement to pressure individuals to go along with their agenda.  The plan has been hidden in plain sight for quite some time, put forth in publications such as the Global Biodiversity Assessment and the Agenda 21 publication that you can order in softcover from the UN itself.

There is a long history in the process of moving the UN agenda to the local level here in America.  Several administrations, both Democrat and Republican, are guilty in facilitating it.  George Bush Sr. signed a soft treaty while both Clinton and Obama issued executive orders that greatly empowered this agenda, doing an effective end-around elected representatives to be carried out by regulatory agencies like the EPA.  Growing numbers of property owners have had rude awakenings and experienced the ugly reality, from seeing their property reclassified, to losing it outright, to finding that they can't do anything with the land they own.  It is a terrible transgression of Constitutional Rights, and I know in my heart the Founders would be outraged by tragedies like this.

Yet, there are encouraging signs, as increasingly I see resistance forming.  Non-Governmental Organizations like ICLEI (International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives), who are instrumental in carrying out this agenda, are being resisted and even driven out from many local communities.  Unfortunately, entities like ICLEI have their tentacles in many more.

If you should discover something like ICLEI in place within your own community you should do everything that you possibly can to get them removed.  Educate your officials, raise awareness, and strengthen opposition to them.  They are antithetical to freedom, and they have no place in a free society with the authoritarian system they work to see implemented.

This is not a situation of co-existence.  It is a situation of whether you want to live the one life you have a free society, or one that is collectivist in nature.  If you want to honor those who fought for freedom across history, then this is a great way to do that.  

History is very clear about which of the two models benefits a given population.  The more free a society, the better it tends to be for all, while the more collectivist a society is, the more draconian and tyrannical it becomes.

We are most certainly at a dangerous crossroads, and those who understand what freedom means and what blessings it brings to a country must keep their eyes open and minds vigilant.  It is time to roll up our sleeves, and roll back collectivism, and stamp it out wherever it shows its hideous face.