What do college girls and bottled water have to do with the emerging American police state? Quite a bit, it seems. Public outcry has gone viral over an incident in which a college student was targeted and terrorized by Alcohol Beverage Control agents (ABC) after she purchased sparkling water at a grocery store. The girl and her friends were eventually jailed for daring to evade their accosters, who failed to identify themselves or approach the young women in a non-threatening manner.

If politicians introduced a bill mandating the slaughter of all human babies under the age of two years; but called it, “The Little Babies Protection Act”, establishment conservatives and unthinking people all over the Country would be clamoring for its passage. We have become a shallow and easily deceived people. The name, “parental rights amendment” (PRA), sounds so good! But it actually strips parents of their God-delegated authority over their children, and transfers that authority to the federal government.

Today, we bluster and dance about the particular method or issue which unknowingly can cement our American demise while being completely unaware that our incoherent dancing will insure an everlasting precedence. We have been caught up in the fabric of discontent, of micro condemning our dysfunctions while all about, we are beset by the outsider; those that are anxious for our downfall but at the same time refrain with the typical patience of vultures.

The U.S. markets are doing well this year. Many other asset classes are not. The S&P 500 was up 16.9% at its peak on June 18. Then it dropped 2.9% in the last 10 days of the quarter. This gain in the U.S. markets has some people questioning the merits of a global portfolio. But the track record of diversification is impressive.

On Saturday, July 13th, 22-year USAF veteran Dennis Edwards will talk about a longtime interest in the Tuskegee Airmen who fought during World War II in escort fighters to help bombers in Europe reach their targets. The visual presentation will begin at 9 am at the Western Dakota Technical Institute in Rapid City. Sponsored by the Black Hills Veterans Writing Group, the event is open to the public at no charge.

What we need is an American Spring. We need Americans to act like Americans and demand the freedom that is their birthright. Freedom is not just another word for nothing left to lose. The center no longer holds. We must all work to influence our States, our home republics, to reign in the runaway Washington-centered bureaucracy machine before we are strangled in the red tape and buried in regulations. The States must prove their relevance or perhaps the States are out of date.