Everything seems to be under attack. Someone somewhere right now is plotting a protest or writing an article to help make life better for all of us. Making people more aware of the adversities we face in this world, people are constantly on some tip telling the rest of us how to live. Some things require our utmost attention while others are simply annoying tidbits to add to our endless list of things that will either kill us, ruin us or cause our children to resent us. Correct decisions are hard enough to make with all of the accurate information, but rarely do we get a straight scoop. Activists concerned with changing the way the rest of us live seem to think they need to lean heavily on their conclusions and answers with hyped up, false representations of numbers, statements and findings to get people to think their way. Agendas waging war against all that is wicked and offensive to them rarely supply accurate accounts or offer realistic solutions.
 
 Spend it if you got it
 
 Issues concerning financial and economic struggles are hilariously random. For years, we‚ve been urged to save money. People were constantly being made to feel inadequate if they weren‚t putting enough money back for retirement. At one time, a million dollars was what the average person needed to enjoy a comfortable retirement. Realistically, to save a million dollars, a person would have to put away one hundred and fifty dollars a month for about thirty years at sixteen percent. Not bad if you're thinking about retirement early enough to catch the time frame. Advice for saving money ranged from using slipcovers on furniture rather than buying new to purchasing a bread maker and saving money per loaf. After hearing all about how to save money and why we should, new information came our way. The all-knowing financial wizards came up with an idea that one million dollars wouldn't be enough for a person to retire comfortably. All of a sudden the magic number became two million. Inflation and cost of living in the years to come were blamed for throwing off earlier calculations. But, the real punch-line happened a couple of years ago after we were attacked by terrorists. The solution to our problems immediately became our spending habits. We were being prompted to shop and spend the small savings we had finally started putting back because our collective consciences had been overwhelmed by the constant pelting of guilt trips. No we weren't being told to spend it all, but what an ironic switch of gears. The truth is you better hit the lottery, save five thousand dollars a month for a hundred and forty years or simply realize that you will never be able to retire because all of your social security money has been spent and your 401k will only be enough to pay off the mortgage on your house. Better find employment you love.
 
 Nothing beats the good old fashion spanking
 
 A growing trend in the American psyche is the reversal of the beliefs that were once the foundation of our civilization. Proper parenting hits the top of the list. When Dr. Spock introduced "Permissive Child Rearing" to our modern-day minded parents, the whole nation started on a downward spiral. The presumption that children are friendly and reasonable throws an entire theory off-track. It‚s not that children aren't friendly, but they are selfish. And we all know that selfishness pushes friendliness to the side when something comes between a child and the thing he or she wants. The thing is that the permissive child rearing theory evaded every facet of our nation's disciplining boundaries. So much so that administering the good old fashion spanking can result in having your child removed from your custody. Kids are running all over their parents and the only course of action parents have left is to take away the television or reward their kids somehow for good behavior. Thus, creating a system where good behavior can only be expected when there is some kind of financial gain. The truth is permissive child rearing offers no memorable consequence for bad behavior and anyone who opposes spanking should reflect on how effective it personally was. Anyone my age got spanked when we were younger and none of us would dispute that the "find your own switch from a tree out back," "Bend over the end of the bed and wait for the belt" and grab you up by your arm for a spanking in the middle of the grocery store was effective child rearing. At least we were good kids. I bet every judge on the stand got a spanking and deep down inside wouldn't think of disagreeing with that appropriately administered form of discipline. I tell you this, we wouldn't have a nation full of whining hypocrites arguing about everything from how hot coffee should be served to what constitutes acts of adultery.
 
 Quit your whining
 
 Taking that a step further, what happened to the land of the free? We found out it wasn't so free. We live under some premise that we are free to live as we want. That is until the government wants to put a road through your land, someone disapproves of your affinity for pain killers or a neighbor shuts your daughter's lemonade stand down because she doesn't have a permit. The squeaky wheel gets the most attention and insignificant numbers have a way of making their point seem more important than everyone else's. Smoking has been removed from many public buildings, which is something I actually agree. But the agenda is extending itself to cutting smoking out altogether. Courts are having such a hard time allowing marijuana use for medicinal purposes when it could actually be our largest cash crop if we were to legalize it. Drinking in your own front yard is illegal in many places. Having music too loud can get your party wrecked. Not mowing your lawn can get some city commissioner coming down on you. There isn't much of a free land left. They take our rights and leave us with the bill. That's what the Bill of Rights is really all about.
 
 The burden of tolerance
 
 Ultimately, the most absurd notion is the attack on Christianity. I'm no religious fanatic, but I certainly don't mind that there are some in this world. People actually got offended because children were being prompted to pray in school, every public meeting had a prayer in the opening festivities or religious artifacts and symbols were being displayed in public spaces. Ironically, the alternatives to Christianity are being shoved down everyone's throats on a constant basis. The truth is tolerance is taking a backseat. People are being preached to about tolerating, sometimes embracing things they have long opposed. Some for the good. Homosexuality, other races, women in business and government are all good changes from my perspective. But, going too far is an attempt to eradicate all that is Christian in our lives. Removing the "Ten Commandments" from a city building, removing excerpts of the Holy Bible from English literature books and removing prayer from graduation ceremonies are the successful initiatives while "Character Education" is being packaged and sold to education boards with Christian principles, just without the Christian stamp.
 
 Out of my cold, dead hands
 
 I don't think we would all be so tense if we weren‚t always being told how wrong we are. Parents fighting at their kids‚ games. Massive protests over telemarketing and Spam when commercials interrupt our shows and door-to-door use to be the staple of marketing products. Helmet laws stalling an individual's right to choose. Ah, "choice" being a keyword. Anti-gun legislation taking firearms out of the hands of law-abiding citizens. When will it all stop? When we have totally converted back to the state we ran from when we left England, the one we protested when we waged the Revolutionary War? When we are acting like the big brother of the world and all other countries see is a confused nation trying to tell everyone else how to be free? If we can't learn the essence of freedom, our great experiment will end as the last shackle is placed on the final word of our Constitution. Being American and feeling the full effect of what America should be about, I'm going to grab my rifle, light my cigarette and drink my beer in my front yard. Come and get me!
 
 - Michael Allen, Cumberland
 
 Michael Allen is the author of "A Danger to Society." The story of a man mistaken for a common criminal forced to experience the hypocrisies that exist throughout the legal system. Available exclusively through the publisher, Lulu Enterprises. Soon to be available at Amazon, Barnes&Noble, Waldenbooks...etc. (ISBN 1-4116-0232-3, lulu.com)