Comments for Common Sense

Comment on Understanding Being an Appleseed Volunteer by George Donnelly

George Donnelly — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:29:52 +0000

Great essay! Very motivating.

Comment on Appleseed and You… by Terry

Terry — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 03:20:56 +0000

I’m one of the 50,000 persons . . . I have attended four Appleseeds and hosted a fifth. I plan on attending many more and bringing friends with me. SUPER fun!!

featherblue

Comment on Can Marksmanship ‘Save’ a Nation? by CarrieB

CarrieB — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 05:30:38 +0000

Fred,
The one thing about becoming a Rifleman that isn’t mentioned much is the amazing epiphany people have afterwards… “I can fire at - and hit - ANYTHING within 4 football fields in a full circle around me…”
They blink a few times, and it sets in, and then there’s the “Wow” moment. A level of pride and self-confidence they never had before steps up to the plate. They DO have a valuable, and very cool, skill. They CAN do something if worst comes to worst. It’s an amazing feeling, and it can change your whole outlook on life. That is a pebble thrown into a pond, and the ripples are far-reaching.

Recently a young, pretty 9yo girl received her Rifleman’s badge along with her two teenage sisters. Now, I remember being a 9yo girl. It was absolute hell. Kids are cruel, and being a girl - especially a lanky, bony, glasses-wearing girl - was looked down upon. Girls couldn’t do things as well as boys could. Boys got to do all the “cool” stuff and we were held back because we might get hurt. If you weren’t popular, you were lower than dirt.
The message to girls has changed and now it’s all about “girl power”, but the reality of the school setting is still the same. There, it’s dog-eat-dog, and raising yourself up by putting someone else down.

Imagine the power to boost the self-confidence of young kids all across the nation by taking them to an Appleseed and having them work hard and achieve Rifleman status. It would be phenomenal! No matter what the other kids at school could say or do to try to tear a kid’s self-esteem and self-image down, that child could always, ALWAYS look at their Rifleman patch and know that they’ve done something that most (if not all) of the kids in their school have never done. Even at their young age, if they had to, they could pick up a rifle and defend themselves and their family in a full circle for 400 yards, or even 500 yards. That’s power.

The commenter you referenced in this article wanted to know how Appleseed can possibly help when things like the educational system needs to be completely overhauled… this is how. You strengthen up the family, and the individuals themselves, and no matter their age, those individuals have a new fire burning deep inside of them. They’re no longer “sheep”, they’re no longer meek. Even thrown into the environments of schools or favoritism-addled workplaces, surrounded by corrupt media that discourages them to think of themselves as worthy if they don’t look like supermodels, and all of the other problems the commenter referenced - these people will have a new sense of themselves and something to always be proud of.

And I haven’t even mentioned how learning about the goings-on of April 19th, 1775 and the actions of those courageous folks can stir up people so that they’re no longer content to play couch potato…

Appleseed is truly invaluable. Personal responsibility may be taking a vacation in society at large, but give someone their self-esteem and pride back (something they may have never had at any time in their lives), and that person can change the world. If not the world at large, then at least *their* world, the world directly around them.

Many branches come from one tiny planted seed, and many ripples come from one small stone. To borrow a quote… don’t ask what Appleseed can do for you, ask what you can do for Appleseed. Touching lives one at a time has an exponential effect, and only good can come of this.

Comment on In the land of the Pharoahs… by Calin Brabandt

Calin Brabandt — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 00:18:49 +0000

Thanks for your reply to my previous comment, Fred. I finally heard a figure that I’ve pondered for a long time–on National Public Radio, of all places. An economics historian was a guest on NPR on July 4th, 2009. On the program, he compared the economic state of our nation today to economic state of the U.K. and he also compared the economic condition of the American colonies to England at the time of the American Revolution, to see how “it’s all turned out”, so to speak. Without going into the major point of his argument (which is Americans have ended up in approximately the same position as the current day English, or they will soon be in the same position), I’d simply like to quote a figure he provided. It’s a figure I’ve wanted to know for a long time: the King’s tax rate on the American colonialists at the time of the American Revolution. All told, the Professor and NPR guest claimed the taxes imposed by the King of England on the gross output of the colonialists amounted to about 2%. TWO PERCENT! Yes, the colonialists pointedly objected to their lack of representation in the government but that doesn’t mean the system we endure today is any more rightous than the system the colonialists endured. Taxes destroy liberty. Absolute taxes destroy liberty, absolutely (to rip-off Lord Acton). Colonialists sure did recognize and value liberty when they drew a line in the sand at only 2% and put an end to the King’s rule!

Comment on Big Mean Dogs by cobie

cobie — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 09:27:17 +0000

i have been following your posts for a while now all i can say
is they are great. I look forward to reading more from you.

Comment on Mowing the lawn: Could it be the death of Liberty? by MarkinPNW

MarkinPNW — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 07:06:47 +0000

Well, I spent my free time today preparing and cleaning my main and backup LTR’s while ignoring the weeds in my lawn. Of course, now I actually need to get to an Appleseed shoot, and to get some of my friends, especially the one who recently complained that there is “Nothing you can do” out to a shoot also.

Comment on In the land of the Pharoahs… by Fred

Fred — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 01:20:01 +0000

Denver, sorry to disappoint you - I’m not that Fred - but that is really good news, right? Because now, you have two “Freds” out there, commenting on modern America. pretty much in the same skeptical vein - even if I am positive we can save things, and “the other Fred” has pretty much decided “it’s too late”…

Cal, I don’t know how they calculate Tax Freedom Day - only that I checked the Tax Foundation site to see what the date was this year as I was writing the blog.

You’ll have no trouble getting me to agree “things are even worse then they appear” even as I remain optimistic (somewhat) that it’s not too late, that it’s never too late - if enough Americans can be woke up to see what’s happening, and where the train is heading.

I say it often: “If Americans want to save their country, then by gum, they will…”

Comment on In the land of the Pharoahs… by Calin Brabandt

Calin Brabandt — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 08:49:51 +0000

I’m not so sure Tax Day doesn’t occur later than May 29th. Many years ago (perhaps 20), I read that the the average U.S. citizen paid 49% of their earnings in taxes. Obviously, things have grown worse since then. The problem is so many taxes are “sneaker taxes.” They are hidden from us by design. As just one example, unless a tax payer has been self-employed at some point during their lives, they usually aren’t aware that 1/2 of their social security tax doesn’t even show up on their W2 forms because it’s paid by their employer–and this means employees and owners of companies (stock holders) earn less money and goods and services cost more money. It’s the same for corporate and business taxes.

Then there are the countless other taxes hidden in the price of nearly everything we purchase. For example, FET even applies to cooking oil! Countless taxes are “rolled into” the price of goods and services for citizens to pay. Finally, there are the “user fees.” User fees are simply another name for taxes. They support our bureaucratic government in the same manner as all the other taxes. Of course you already know the point I’m making here but it’s the same situation that we have with U.S. tax code, itself; no one has read the entire code. It’s too huge! What large is the federal tax code now? 5000 or 8000 pages or something? No one is aware of even a small fraction of all the types of taxes that we pay. You and I realize that taxes imply loss of freedom. When we don’t control the “fruit of our labor,” we lose freedom. We don’t even care one way or another how “good” the economy might be as a result of government spending, or what we receive from government, or that it’s a zero sum game–we lose freedom and we value freedom above everything else. Too bad more people don’t share our values.

I recently heard a quote that was attributed to Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is eventually you run out of other people’s money.”

Thank you for Appleseed and I wish you well,

-Cal

Comment on Notes from a recent trip… by Terry

Terry — Thu, 21 May 2009 04:20:45 +0000

Thanks for the post Fred. My wife and I now want to visit Lexington and experience what you did.

Never thought we would ever want to go anywhere near Mass before!

featherblue

Comment on Notes from a recent trip… by scuzzy

scuzzy — Thu, 21 May 2009 02:49:14 +0000

One women spectator had a UN flag - maybe she wanted to show where her real loyalties lie?

Heh, UN Flag? I saw a sign in Texas years back that said:

UN out of the US.
US out of Texas.

While I do believe in the union, I sympathize with the sentiments of the sign from Texas.

Glad to hear you got some more of the magic water from under the bridge. Maybe Scout will douse my trigger finger next time at Davilla and also let me take a big drink to boot.