Rights are like soil; mitigate erosion or lose them

I watched a video about a DUI checkpoint where the driver refused to answer questions and some of the subsequent comments were scathing. “All you had to say was that you hadn’t been drinking.” “Dude, you had your kid in the car, so you should have just cooperated.”

It disturbed me most to read some of those ignorant comments, so I made one of my own, thanking the person for posting the video.

[ Watch the video ]

Thank you, Corrie! In my opinion making an oath to the US Constitution means not conning or pressing people into forfeiting the very rights guaranteed by it, whether on a wholesale level such as this or individually. These suspicionless checkpoints are akin to the tactics British and Nazi officials used to use make people prove their innocence.

It's startling to see how many people that comment here lack even a basic understanding of American civics and why the revolutionary war was fought. Because our freedom was paid for with human lives throughout American history, the least we owe to that bravery is to not capitulate when someone with the government tries to trick us out of our just rights -- or at least not criticize people like you who exhibit the courage to stand your ground and refuse to capitulate.

This is how I feel when I believe our rights are being eroded. I see it as a slap in the face to anyone who ever served in our fighting forces because the very thing that’s fashionable to say about them, that “they’re fighting for our freedom,” is completely and irretrievably lost if we continue to bow to those who believe they have authority over us, or who would regard our rights as optional and conditional.

Those of us who self-govern, and would never contemplate trespassing on the rights of others, behave ourselves because we feel it’s a moral obligation to fellow men and women.

As someone who grew up in an agricultural community, I liken our natural rights to the top soil of our land, both of which will erode unless we take careful and deliberate steps to mitigate it.

I thanked Corrie from the video because I see him as one of the good people who is helping to mitigate the erosion of our rights and is very deserving our thanks.

Throughout history, people have paid with their lives so that you might enjoy the freedoms for which they made the ultimate investment. No one is asking that you thank, or even recognize, those brave souls, but you might at least honor them with a little integrity.

Would you rob freedom from your fellow citizen freedom is you were paid to do so? Would you use artificial authority to oppress your neighbors?

Please think before you blindly relay an unjust warrant upon those you pretend to protect.

I will tell you that I cannot afford the cost of your protection if the cost is my freedom.

If the cost of your protection is my freedom, then keep it.

As we bicker with each other, we fail to notice the elephant in the room

I feel somewhat obsessed following some of the partisan bickering I encounter, although I can't say I have a stomach for it.

It sounds like some of you on the right are just as ignorant as your counterparts on the left; you both either have your heads in the sand or have been programmed by your favorite flavor of crony capitalist-owned media, who apparently manage public opinion and subsequent dialog -- which I'm sure is just as the absentee crony capitalists want it.

If they keep us fighting with each other, maybe we won't notice the elephant in the room.

On one end of the economy they pay their workers inequitable wages and on the other they steer Washington by the nose ring on tax (and other) policy, ensuring that they keep the wealth and the power to themselves. All the while we in the cheap seats get squeezed at both ends.

Look around. They don't live here. They're not your neighbors, they don't shop where you do, they don't go to your church, and they're definitely not your friends. They are, however, throwing lavish, celebrity-laced parties for your delegation.

But the poverty they are cultivating ultimately creates no demand ... and that's where we are headed as a collective, thanks to the gutless partisans we keep re-hiring.

Poverty creates no demand

Every year I have to unload on Walmart. It may be a sickness, but please bear with me just the same. The doctor says it’s therapeutic.

When someone admits to you who they are on the inside, believe them.

According to Walmart's own numbers, they employ 1,300,000 people across the country. By my math, a worker likely making under $13,000 per year needs to recognize that the fruits of his or her labor are padding the pockets of its owners to the tune of $13 billion in pure profit.

Again, this is by Walmart's own admission. If you got out your calculator like I did, you probably figured out that $13 billion equates to an average of $10,000 per year skimmed from the pockets of each and every Walmart employee across this bountiful land. And these poor people are on welfare, which is, as you well know, an array of taxpayer-funded programs.

While a manager gets to make a living wage – or at least today's median salary – which is $50,000, how do you suppose you'd feel as an associate knowing your supervisor is making at least 3 times your salary? Or that another manager is earning more than a dozen times what you're paid? Do you suppose any manager does 3-12 times the work of an associate? Or earns for the coffers 3-12 times more in revenue?

But wait. Walmart says they’re good citizens and they give to charity.

That's partly true. They do say they give to charity. But not much. And at the end of the day they’re absolutely not giving of themselves because taxpayers subsidize the right-offs.

Here’s how it plays out with Walmart’s own figures: 21% of this workforce, or 275,000 8-dollar-an-hour Walmart associates, were asked to donate a day's work to charity. The value placed on that herculean effort by the Walmart execs is $18 million.

Do the math on the numbers Walmart provides: 2.2 million hours at $18 million. That comes to $8.18 per hour. At 8 hours a day, that's 275,000 worker days.

I know that $18 million is a lot of money to most, and that's by design. But it’s really only .004% of the company's share of the American dream they capture annually. Not 10%. Not even 1%. I said it right; I did the math three times. $18 million is.004% of Walmart’s revenues, which they donated in the form of ... well, they presumably sent a few of its employees to help clean up Habitat for Humanity building sites, undoubtedly sporting blue smiley-face t-shirts, for a day … at a rate of $8.18 per hour. All expenses paid, mind you, by the US taxpayer.

This is what Walmart freely admits to. They've provided all the rope they need to hang themselves -- right on their own website! All I'm doing is a little math to give it some context and real-world prospective.

They said their foundation gave more than $1 billion in cash and "in-kind contributions around the world." That sounds pretty generous, right? Again, it's an impressive sum of generosity. But how much of that was actually cash and what portion was considered "in-kind"? And what precisely does "in-kind contributions" mean, anyway? Is that merchandise that fell out the backs of trucks? Floor scraps? And was it a tax write-off?

Bet on it.

Listen, if you think for a second that this might be a propaganda piece, then I invite you to go see the information with your own eyes: news.walmart.com/walmart-facts. (archived screenshot.)

I've heard a lot of arguments and many seem like logical points at first blush. Walmart employees should be happy to have jobs. No one is forcing them to work there. Lots of them get raises and promotions.

Well, that's sort of true. Kory Lundberg, a Walmart spokesman, told The Hill last month that the retailer promotes an average 430 staff per day. That’s basically true. I did the math. The precise daily average, using their figures, is 438.36 employees that are getting "jobs with more responsibility and higher pay."

I'll assume that's not an outright lie, but it might be veiling the real story. Isn’t it plausible, perhaps likely, that “higher” means some along the lines of 25-cents an hour – a measly $500 a year?

If the the details had been remotely impressive, we all know the Walmart spokesman would have shared a more revealing tale, but he remained ambiguous in his answers. If the average salary increase was $1 and 68% of employees got one, they'd be screaming that from the tallest buildings.

Lundberg says there are "...many associate positions that pay more than $25,000 per year." But again, the devil's in the details, isn't it? What percentage of non-supervisory associates earned more than $25,000 last year? Perhaps it's half of them. But more likely is closer to 50 people. And that would still qualify as a lot, even though it's only .00004% of their workers that can now afford to live in a trailer park instead of under the bridge thanks to the Walton family’s generosity.

The 'Hill' story’s here.

Hey, corporate America, in case you weren’t sure, poverty does in fact create no demand for the products and services you’re so incredibly proud of!

I believe more now than ever that the absentee big-box owners will not be satisfied until they lower the standard of living for everyone around the world. And eventually they will finally stop ... but only because it implodes from the very poverty it helped to create.

Meantime Walmart and others will wield their awesome power with schemes to force suppliers to all-new price lows, ensuring their places in the pockets of poor families' and the tax-payers who help feed them, as they continue to depress wages for workers, and of course continuing to enrich the absentee owners.

To conclude, I borrow the wise words of country music legends Alabama: “The fruits of their labor are worth more than their pay.”

I've changed the lyrics a little. I hope they don't mind.

There are people in this country who work hard every day
Not for fame or fortune do they strive
But the fruits of their labor are worth more than their pay
And it's time a few of them were recognized

Hello, Detroit Walmart tire & auto center workers, let me thank you for your time
You work a 29-hour week that's hardly a living, but you still send it on down the line

Hello, Pittsburgh Walmart warehouse workers, let me thank you for your time
You work a 29-hour week that's hardly a living, but you still send it on down the line

This is for the one who swings the broom, sweeping up the spill
Or the one behind the counter, ringing up the sale

Or the one who stocks the shelves, the one who polishes the rails
For everyone who works behind the scenes

You can see them every morning in the trucks and in the stores
In the city streets and the quiet country towns

Working together like spokes inside a wheel
They try to keep their families afloat

Hello, Kansas Walmart associates, let me thank you for your time
You work a 29-hour week that's hardly a living, but you still send it on down the line

Hello, West Virginia Walmart pharmacist, let me thank you for your time
You work a 29-hour week that's hardly a living, but you still send it on down the line

This is for the one who drives the big rig, up and down the road
Or the one out in the warehouse, bringing in the load
Or the waitress, the mechanic, the loss prevention specialist on patrol
For everyone who works behind the scenes
With a spirit you can't replace with no machine

Hello America, let me thank you for your time