One regret I have was selling my Minimoog for $400.00 in the late 1980's. It worked perfectly and its oscillators were temperature stabilized. I had an Anvil Forge ll case made for it, which was another $200.00. If you are a gigging musician, especially a keyboardist, your cases are as important as your keyboards. The Anvil Forge ll was a light flight case made of ABS plastic with a metal frame, so it was not heavy. The interior was lined with custom sized foam, so you open its latches and popped your keyboard in. It took about 30 seconds to pack up your expensive, prized, gigging keyboard. They never failed me, except twenty years down the pike, like Hammond organ "sticky foam," this foam would deteriorate into a gooey mess. I ordered replacement foam from Cabbage Cases in Columbus, Ohio after meticulously measuring the dimensions of each individual piece. I still have it, but I no longer "gig." It is interesting that two decades ago, companies such as Anvil and Cabbage Cases were solvent. They manufactured products that were needed and used. There are other companies from our immediate American past that once also were solvent and lucrative. Blockbuster Video is the biggest example. If we ask ourselves why the American economy no longer works, then this look back is crucial. Vividly I remember Cross Creek Mall in the 1980's, and at Christmas time it was like fantasy. The Christmas season, while moderately driven by commerce, was a time of pure escapism. It was escapism of the best kind, because the Christmas holidays were a celebration of Christ's birth. We invented Santa Claus and the North Pole, metaphors, and we reveled in this altruistic goodness. It was Walt Disney at his best, good, honest, wholesome American life. It was encased and protected by the awareness of God and the birth of His Son, Jesus of Nazareth. It was the most fulfilling dichotomy we have. The Christmas season no longer is like that, because there is a stark absence of Godly spirituality. I have been to church, since I can remember. It was Synder Baptist Church first but quickly changed to St. John's Episcopal. It was important for my father to be able to sing tenor in the church choir, which he did until he was no longer able. They call Episcopal "high church" only because it follows the traditional prayer book. After they revised this prayer book and attempted to modernize the language, they now print the entire service in the bulletin. You don't need to use the prayer book. It is not a mass in Catholic terms, but it is similar. There are lessons, psalms, and a sermon. We sing hymns and responses to the rector. I will say Episcopal is very different from Baptist. Comically some would describe some Protestant religions as "Jesus is your boyfriend," so the "high church" represents a more formal type of worship. The diversity of religion is an interesting and wide field of study, and its absence parallels the downfall of America. An original premise of the escape to the New World was freedom of religion. The continued absence of God and accompanying spirituality has contributed to the rise of evil in America. It is manifesting itself in and trying to destroy the core tenants of American life. If one went to church the basics are not complex. They are the Ten Commandment and the Golden Rule. I failed the naturalization test recently published by the Washington Post. I got 4 out of 10 possible answers correct. I did not know what the Federalist Papers were. I said John Adams wrote the Declaration of Independence. Few days go by where I do not recall the Ten Commandments, because ironically they apply to homeowners. Shall we reflect?
Thou shalt not bear false witness against they neighbor.
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Thou shalt not covet they neighbor's wife.
Honor they father and mother.
I have learned that the latter still applies even after their deaths. One continues to honor thy father and mother after they died. This is a bit of a revelation to me, but it makes sense and it is comforting. The values your parents instilled in you are fortified by your continued honoring of their achievements in life. They are a part of your soul, but as family disappears and the world moves toward evil, it becomes more difficult to find goodness. A godless nation will not last long. The Christmas season is upon us, and like many single adults whose parents have left, I don't feel it. That feeling and spirituality largely are absent in mainstream media's depiction of American life. That is because media, like government and business has fallen prey to this lack of God. There is no moral conscience or compass. Money has become the graven image of God.
I am the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not have other gods before me.
If one is familiar with the teaching in the Bible, we know that Satan is alive and well and doing his business on earth. That business is rebelling against God and trying his best to tempt humans to sin. Christians often identify the serpent in the Garden of Eden as Satan. He has temporary power over the fallen world and a host of demons. On earth this is manifested through man. Lucifer can represent the lower nature of humans.
I do not dislike past President Bill Clinton, but as the years pass and American continues to plunge into despair, it is impossible to ignore the seminal decisions he made while President. The auctioning off of the previously deemed dangerous frequencies of the electromagnetic spectrum was the beginning of the end. I am sure he was lobbied full force to do so, and perhaps the revenue from these sales did balance the federal budget, but America's transition to wireless communication has become our downfall. Electromagnetic waves can cause cancer, because a field of vibrating, magnetic, electrical energy, when applied to human cells causes them to become unstable and break down. Often this become cancer. This is a well known premise and has been proven, but the fallen American regime wants to disguise it. Aside from being physiologically dangerous, the shift to wireless communication has decimated traditional businesses that once were the backbone of American culture. The American Dream, if it did exist, was championed by smaller businesses with big ideas. It was not a corporate skirmish organized in a board room and implemented with the drugs of Wall Street. It was ideas born in neighborhoods of the middle and lower classes by intelligent, hard working, God fearing citizens. In what was America's "Free Market" system, once it was possible to conceive a product or service, develop it, produce it, and sell it for a profit. The main stipulation for this success was freedom from corporate tyranny. It was necessary to police and regulate corporate America to locate and mitigate corporate oppression. First we broke up the Bell telephone system and then Microsoft. Antitrust activity is taking an extended vacation, and consequently Big Tech, with the help of Bill Clinton, has become the ruling oligarchs of America. The idea that something as simple as wireless communication could completely dismantle traditional industries, products and services that were the roots of American soul, is unconscionable. What do I mean? In additional to Blockbuster Video, which was part of our culture to "go rent a movie," home stereo systems and car stereos were the only means available to play recorded music that was purchased in a record store. The music industry as a whole, along with its content, influence, and spiritual awakening was disenfranchised. The largest and most prosperous fields of American ingenuity, Hollywood and music, were castrated and replaced a thin stream of media controlled sound. There is no comparison. Print material on paper and recorded music on plastic film, vinyl or CD with accompanying "liner notes" were staple parts of American consciousness. They were tangible, visible, and audible property that we paid for the opportunity to own. They became our own and as such a part of our souls. It is impossible to achieve that same result streaming from a corporately owned and controlled common source. It is "Big Brother." America "Ain't What She Used to Be," and the only things that needs to be gallantly streaming are our ramparts against the well accrued muscle and billions of now evil tech companies. What good is all of that money if it is not allowed to flow through the economy? It takes a village of all classes to make a nation. If a three hundred million dollar ballroom is the pinnacle of American ingenuity, then try to remember the pet rock, the Veg-o-matic, the pocket fisherman, the blow dryer, the chia pet, and myriad of other lowbrow products that made millions when the market allowed it. Oligarchs are not forged from virtue, honesty, or concern for their fellow man. They exploit us.
