OCPAC Weekly Newsletter Published Monday, May 4, 2020
Table of Contents
BOB LINN FEAR Not an American Value
STEVE ANDERSON Preventing State Tax Hikes Through Creative Agency Incentives HENRY KISSINGER Linking COVID to a One World Order
POLITICAL AD OF THE CENTURY THE ICONIC DAISY AD OF 1964 How LBJ changed political ads
REMEMBERING RALPH BULLARD From Last Week
STEVE ANDERSON Newly Published Book The First Level of Reality
| BOB LINN FEAR Not an American Value | Underlying our economic demise is a secular foundation of fear which has become a shroud obscuring the original foundation of the American Republic. Our demise will go much deeper if we fail to recover the Biblical foundations of Western Civilization.
It is now well established that the entire world population is so fearful of death that they will surrender themselves to complete government control in order to continue to have the possibility of life. | This only confirms what we have known for some time. Christendom has collapsed. God’s people have lost their vision to pursue the Biblical mandate to disciple the nations.
Consequentially, we are now a secular culture. We no longer look to our Creator but to government to address any and all problems we face. | Alexis de Tocqueville Award-winner, Dr. Robert Higgs, is Founding editor of The Independent Review. Speaking of the decline of the American cultural landscape, he spoke of the welfare mentality now such a prominent feature of the culture. | He states that since the welfare state began to take shape, “people were told that the government can and should protect them from all sorts of threats to their lives, livelihoods, and overall well-being. Threats of destitution, hunger, unemployment, illness, lack of income in old age, germs in the water, toxins in the food, and so forth. Nearly everything the people feared, the government then stood poised to ward off."
"Thus, did the welfare state anchor its rationale in the solid rock of fear.” | He goes on to say that the government uses what he calls artificially heightened fear as a foundation for additional “taxation, regulation, surveillance, reporting, and other invasions of the people’s wealth, privacy, and freedoms."
As we have been suggesting for the past few weeks, we are being herded by the irrational rhetoric of local and national news. Dr. Higgs closes by stating, "Left alone, relieved of this ceaseless bombardment of warnings, people would come to understand that hardly any of the announced threats has any substance and that they can manage their own affairs quite well.”
~Robert Higgs, Research Article, The Independent Review Fear: The Foundation of Every Government’s Power | Eighty-Seven Years ago, America's 32nd President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR), delivered his first inaugural address (1933). His speech contained one line America has never forgotten:
“We have nothing to fear but fear itself.”
Regrettably, many Americans no longer wish to remember the line. | The second President of the United States, John Adams, wrote about the inappropriate role of fear in government.
He said that fear is a “sordid and brutal passion, and renders men in whose breasts it predominates so stupid and miserable.”
~John Adams, APR 1776. Papers 4:86-93 | Fear has proven to the Achilles heal of an American culture steeped in dependence on government.
The growing data from research labs all over the U.S. now contradict and debunk the rhetoric of fear from Dr Fauci and World Health Organization (WHO).
Like the leftist media, the government is sticking to its original story. A story nothing short of a fairy tale which continues to justify the many liberties transferred from the domain of “we the people” to the domain of the state. | As California’s Dr. Daniel W. Erickson said, “I am not going to speculate why the government continues the shut down. I am saying that it has nothing to do with science. And, it has nothing to do with the coronavirus."
As I noted last week... | “The world is ablaze with governmental schemes to remedy the ravages of government”
~Dr. Angelo M. Codevilla The Character of Nations, P 35 | To see the information OCPAC has published in the past few weeks on the medical and scientific data which overwhelmingly supports an immediate return to normality, see these past issues:
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“Never Again!” | STEVE ANDERSON How Oklahoma Can Avoid Tax Hikes Improving Agency Efficiency and Moral | With only a few exceptions, the largest variable cost in any government program is labor. | Factions in both parties see government as an employment mechanism instead of a service delivery mechanism. |
The one missing element of Government Accounting Standards is an imbedded instrument to measure efficiency.
It is missing in government management strategies as well.
Today, I will demonstrate how opportunities for efficiency can be matched with aggressive retirement opportunities to solve the state’s budget problems. It is a process which will greatly benefit agency employees and retirees. Most importantly, it will greatly benefit the taxpayer.
Oklahoma is facing a very tough budget year. There is opportunity to overcome the challenge. I propose we look first at the demographics of the state’s labor force. | PART ONE OF THE PLAN Adjusting Retirement Benefits | We begin by looking at the aging portion of our state’s workforce who are working under the pre-2014 version of the Oklahoma Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS) retirement plan. | It is a plan which presents opportunities for voluntary buyout options in this age group. | Oklahoma has used a voluntary buyout (vobo) more than once in my lifetime. In a “vobo”, the state offers financial incentives to induce the employee to voluntarily retire or leave service.
The “vobo” can be incentivized in a variety of ways. | I suggest that the state offers to add 10 years to their time of service. The offer would beef up their monthly retirement check. This is in lieu of healthcare plans or cash. Those most likely to take the offer will be those over 65 who are already covered by Medicare.
Fortunately, the Oklahoma Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS) is on very solid ground fiscally. Just prior to the market crash, OPERS was nearly 100% funded. It has no issue with solvency. ___________ | A bit of technical information:
This can get a bit technical, but since 2014, the percent of state employees under the defined contribution plan (as opposed to the defined benefit plan) has grown annually. The state matches the employee’s contribution to the fund. So, this costs the state less. Through its financial discipline, the difference has been used to remove the unfunded liabilities of OPERS.
Those curious of actual rates can go to the OPERS site and read the actuarial report for all the information that is too long to list here. __________
A Bit of Common Sense:
In a system that rewards longevity by providing pay raises based on length of service, this offer would appeal to the higher paid agency employees. The underling who refills these positions will be less costly. | A key element in the equation of future benefits is the shrinking dollar.
I think we all know that the present value of the dollar is greater than its value in the future. Hence, the calculus of retirement benefit costs includes a factor known as the “present value of the dollar.” |
Those not familiar with the concept should think about what a Baby Ruth candy bar cost you ten years ago. And what it costs today. The “cost” of the candy is the same. The value of the dollar is not.
Since these benefit payments will be over a course of many years the cost to OPERS actually goes down the further into the future you go.
This makes the early retirement package more attractive to the state. __________ | PART TWO OF THE PLAN Authorize Generous Incentives | Phase two involves an approach I used as Budget Director in the state of Kansas to save money in my agency instead of just promoting everyone up one rank when the “vobo” recipient leaves. | When an agency employee retired, I offered one or more of the remaining employees the opportunity to assume the responsibilities of the retiring staffer.
They were rewarded for their role in improving agency efficiency. I authorized the state to pay half of the departing employee’s salary to the person or group of people who volunteered to take on the added work. One caveat: services must improve or stay the same. | If the salary of the open position was $80,000, the employees shared $40,000. The state saved the other $40,000 in salary. The state also saved the additional 25% in employee benefit costs (things like retirement and healthcare).
Employees are the ones that understand the processes. Agency employees are the best source for improving services. I found that services improved. Morale went way up as well! | The state has a golden opportunity to deal with the current economic crisis without any fiscal blood-letting. They can impress their tax-paying voting base. They can be heroes to agency staff. And, they can demonstrate compassion to those over 65 who are seeking to maximize their retirement. ~ by Steve Anderson edited by Bob Linn | NOTE TO AGENCY AND LEGISLATIVE STAFF:
This is a plan that Mr. Anderson successfully implemented in Kansas. For most, the actuarials are a bit complicated. Should there be an interest in discussing implementation in Oklahoma, respond to this email and we will arrange a meeting with Steve Anderson. | HENRY KISSINGER Proper COVID Response: A One-World Political Order | Former U.S. Secretary of State & National Security Advisor for the Nixon and Ford administrations, Henry Kissinger continues to hob nob with high-ranking members of both political parties.
He served as an advisor to many U.S. Presidents including Kennedy, Johnson, Reagan, and Bush. He has also met with Obama and Trump. He has deep connections in China. His influence in the field of geopolitics has not waned. | First, Kissinger's Globalist Objective | The final chapter of Kissinger's newest book, World Order, considers the nature of a statesman in quite a different way than we find in classic Western thought.
The ideal statesman in the flow of Western Civilization is a Christian who seeks to disciple the nation he serves by guiding it to a foundation of Biblical principle. In this way, God's promises to Abraham are being fulfilled (Genesis 12-50) and obedience to Christ's command to disciple the nations is being obeyed (Matthew 28). This was the vision of our Puritan forefathers.
For Kissinger, a statesman is someone who, like Nimrod of old, seeks to establish a one world government (Genesis 11). Kissinger states in his final chapter that, "A reconstruction of the international system is the ultimate challenge to statesmanship in our time." (Page 371)
Last August, just prior to publishing World Order, Kissinger wrote in the Wall Street Journal about how the United States must prepare to establish the New World Order. See the article here. | "The Coronavirus Pandemic Will Forever Alter the World Order" | This was Dr. Kissinger's title to his recent submission to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ). In it, he states, "The U.S. must protect its citizens from disease while starting the urgent work of planning for a new epoch ... The reality is the world will never be the same after the coronavirus ... The crisis effort ... must not crowd out the urgent task of launching a parallel enterprise for the transition to the post-coronavirus order ... the U.S. is obligated to ... safeguard the principles of the liberal world order." [Emphasis mine.]
Read the WSJ article here. | Like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Dr. Kissinger has high hopes for the political leverage produced by this fake pandemic.
There are two clear visions for the world. One is the divine plan for nations who will bow the knee to Christ (Micah 4:2). The other, like Nimrod (Genesis 11), desires that impossible dream (Psalm 2) of a one-world government devoted to the worship of the state. | POLITICAL AD OF THE CENTURY THE ICONIC 1964 PRESIDENTIAL AD LBJ's Daisy Ad | Continuing the theme of fear and politics, this is a look into the past at an ad that many would say changed American politics forever.
It was a 1964 political ad using a daisy, a 3-year-old girl, and a shocking video of a massive nuclear mushroom-shaped blast. Suggesting that if Republican Barry Goldwater was elected, America might be destroyed in a nuclear disaster.
It was a stunning ad. Goldwater was already struggling. This ad absolutely buried him.
It ran one time only on Monday Night at the Movies on NBC. Yet, it has gone down in history as one of the most effective political spots ever. It struck fear into the hearts of the American voter. LBJ won in a landslide! See the 60-second ad here.
Two weeks later, TIME MAGAZINE dubbed its September 25, 1964 publication as The Nuclear Issue. The "daisy girl" appeared on the cover. It was 60-seconds that changed the future of how politics is played in America.
In 2020, fear continues to be a powerful tool in the hands of a cohesive media message coordinated with political elites. It is our job to counter this through the faithful presentation of truth as spoken to us by our Creator. After all, "Our God Reigns." (Isaiah 52:7) | REMEMBERING RALPH BULLARD and the legacy he left Oklahoma | The vision of Christian Heritage Academy To train American Christian leaders for every sphere of society. | From last week...
Last week, we wrote about the life and mission of Ralph Bullard, the man who brought Christian Heritage Academy to such academic prominence in Oklahoma. We will let you know when his memorial service is scheduled.
Please consider participating in the memorial fund which will be used to enable more of CHA's teachers to travel with the students to tour first hand the areas of our nations founding.
A MEMORIAL SERVICE WILL BE ANNOUNCED LATER
Give to: | | STEVE ANDERSON Publishes New Book The First Level of Reality | | FIVE STAR RATING!
Science meets mysticism in a hidden war waged within the complexities of time and space to control the course of humanity.
Four young people enter a world where reality is not always what it seems. Once swept into the fray they find themselves as the primary weapon of one side of the conflict even as they try to determine who or what is using them and why.
The reader will join the four as they find that mysticism is layered within the fields of mathematics and physics in a way that may leave you wondering how much is really fiction.
Steve Anderson is the OCPAC Political Analyst
ORDER STEVE'S NEW BOOK HERE | | | | | | |
