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Charlie Traffas
Charlie Traffas has been involved in marketing, media, publishing and insurance for more than 40 years. In addition to being a fully-licensed life, health, property and casualty agent, he is also President and Owner of Chart Marketing, Inc. (CMI). CMI operates and markets several different products and services that help B2B and B2C businesses throughout the country create customers...profitably. You may contact Charlie by phone at (316) 721-9200, by e-mail at ctraffas@chartmarketing.com, or you may visit at www.chartmarketing.com.
What's New
2008-10-01 08:48:00
What's new?
Question: What’s new?
Answer: Over the past several issues I have written about a host of topics dealing with this election; the candidates; our current executive and legislative branches of government; the fiscal irresponsibility that is being exhibited by so many; the economy; the price of oil; and others. In doing so, I have received all sorts of mail. We have had more than 2,200 extra copies of these past issues ordered. That’s good. We have had 78 individuals or entities, from the thousands that we mail, request their being removed from our mailing list. That’s not good for the publication. 16 of these have not given any reason. 39 have noted a reason such as, “Your publication’s obvious leaning towards the “wacky right” and/or “Christian dogma” is too much for me. 23 have noted reasons like, “You walk the center far too much for me. Take a position,” or, “You’re too tough on the ‘right.’ Give ‘em a break already.” I guess overall we’re not doing too bad in being “fair and balanced.” November 4th, 2008 seemed like such a long way off for so many months. Now we’re here. Although it has been said before in prior elections, what happens this day, may make it the most important election in our country’s history. Why do I say this? Because at no time in our country’s history has the serving of personal agendas, instead of serving an agenda for the common good, been more prevalent. Many congressional members, financial institution executives and Wall Streeters lead this “parade,” but most everyone is guilty, including you and me. If it is possible…back off and view this mess from a distance. Most of the time, our world looks pretty much like a pack of starving hyenas, over a fresh kill, with not enough to satisfy even one of them, furiously fighting and screaming to get more than any of the others. There are dozens of societies, civilizations and empires in history that fell because of many of the same things we are experiencing in the world today. As I read about them, I cannot help myself from going back again and again to a couple of quotes from two guys named George. George Santayana said, “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” George Bernard Shaw said, “We learn from history that we learn nothing from history.” I will briefly tell you about two of these societies…the Roman and the Athenian Empires: The Roman Empire One of many civilizations that did not learn from history was the Roman Empire. There was nothing like it in its day. Its people built libraries, amphitheaters, public baths, basilicas, theatres, circuses, aqueducts, fountains, and more. Nothing could compare to it. Yet for all its grandeur, it fell in 476 A. D., more than 1,500 years ago. There were many reasons for the fall of the Roman Empire. Most were connected and intertwined with each other. According to one source, here are those interconnected reasons: Decline in Morals and Values: Those morals and values that kept the Roman legions – and thus the empire – together could not be maintained toward the end of the empire. Crimes of violence made the streets of the larger cities unsafe. Even during Pax Romana, the greatest period of prosperity, there were 32,000 prostitutes in Rome. Emperors like Nero and Caligula became infamous for wasting money on lavish parties where guests ate and drank until they became ill. The most popular amusement was watching the gladiatorial combats in the Coliseum, which were attended by the poor, the rich, and frequently the emperor himself. As gladiators fought, vicious cries and curses were heard from the audience. One contest after another was staged in the course of a single day. Should the ground become too soaked with blood, it was covered over with a fresh layer of sand and the performance went on. Public Health: There were many public health and environmental problems. Many of the wealthy had water brought to their homes through lead pipes. Previously the aqueducts had even purified the water but at the end, lead pipes were thought to be preferable. The death rate of the wealthy was very high. The continuous interaction of people at the Coliseum, the blood and death probably spread disease. Those who lived on the streets in continuous contact with each other allowed for an uninterrupted strain of disease, much as we see happening with the homeless in today’s more poorly run shelters. Alcohol use increased as well, adding to the incompetence of the general public. Political Corruption: One of the most difficult problems was choosing a new emperor. Unlike Greece, where transition may not have been smooth but was at least consistent, the Romans never created an effective system to determine how new emperors would be selected. The choice was always open to debate between the old emperor, the Senate, the Praetorian Guard (the emperor’s private army), and the army itself. Gradually, the Praetorian Guard gained complete authority over choosing the new emperor, who rewarded the guard – which then became more influential, perpetuating the cycle. Then in 186 A.D., the army strangled the new emperor and the practice began of selling the throne to the highest bidder. During the next hundred years, Rome had 37 different emperors – 25 of whom were removed from office by assassination. This contributed to the overall weaknesses of the empire. Unemployment: During the latter years of the empire, farming was done on large estates called latifundia, which were owned by wealthy men who used slave labor. A farmer who had to pay workmen could not produce goods as cheaply. Many farmers could not compete with these low prices and lost or sold their farms. This not only undermined the citizen farmer who passed his values to his family but also filled the cities with unemployed people. At one time, the emperor was importing grain to feed more than 100,000 people in Rome alone. These people were not only a burden but also had little to do but cause trouble and contribute to an ever-increasing crime rate. Inflation: The Roman economy suffered from inflation beginning after the reign of Marcus Aurelius. Once the Romans stopped conquering new lands, the flow of gold into the Roman economy decreased. Yet gold was being spent by the Romans to pay for luxury items. This meant that there was less gold to use in coins. As the amount of gold used in coins decreased, the coins became less valuable. To make up for this loss in value, merchants raised the prices on the goods they sold. Many people stopped using coins and began to barter to get what they needed. Eventually, salaries had to be paid in food and clothing, and taxes were collected in fruits and vegetables. Urban decay: Wealthy Romans lived in a domus, or house, with marble walls, floors with intricate colored tiles, and windows made of small panes of glass. Most Romans, however, were not rich. They lived in small, smelly rooms in apartment houses with six or more stories, called islands. Each island covered an entire block. At one time there were 44,000 apartment houses within the city walls of Rome. First-floor apartments were not occupied by the poor. The more shaky wooden stairs a family had to climb, the cheaper the rent became. The upper apartments that the poor rented were hot, dirty, crowded and dangerous. Anyone who could not pay the rent was forced to move out and live on the crime-infested streets. Because of this, cities began to decay. Inferior Technology: During the last 400 years of the empire, the scientific achievements of the Romans were limited almost entirely to engineering and the organization of public services. They built marvelous roads, bridges and aqueducts. They established the first system of medicine for the benefit of the poor. However, since the Romans relied so much on human and animal labor, they failed to invent many new machines or find new technology to produce goods more efficiently. They could not provide enough goods for their growing population. They were no longer conquering other civilizations and adapting their technology, they were actually losing territory they could no longer maintain with their legions. Military Spending: Maintaining an army to defend the border of the empire from barbarian attacks was a constant drain on the government’s resources. Military spending left few resources for other vital activities, such as providing public housing and maintaining quality roads and aqueducts. Frustrated Romans lost their desire to defend the empire, which then had to begin hiring soldiers recruited from the unemployed city mobs – or, worse, from foreign countries. Such an army was not only unreliable, but also very expensive. The emperors were forced to raise taxes frequently, which in turn, led again to increased inflation. The Final Blows: For years, the well-disciplined Roman army held the barbarians of Germany back. In the third century A.D., the Roman soldiers were pulled back from the Rhine-Danube frontier to fight a civil war in Italy, leaving the Roman border open to attack. Gradually Germanic hunters and herders from the north began to overtake Roman lands in Greece and Gaul (later France). Then in 476 A.D., the Germanic general Odacer (or Odovacar) overthrew the last of the Roman emperors, Augustus Romulus. From then on, the western part of the Empire was ruled by a Germanic chieftain. Roads and bridges were left in disrepair and fields left untilled. Pirates and bandits made travel unsafe. Cities could not be maintained without goods from the farms, trade and business began to disappear, and Rome was no more in the West. How long do you think WE have? The Athenian Empire Western Civilization derives much of its cultural heritage from Classical Greece, a civilization that emerged from a long dark age sometime between 750 and 700BC, and reached its apex in the Age of Pericles (461-429) BC. Greek art, architecture, philosophy and literature reached its peak in this period. The grand public buildings of Athens, such as the Parthenon, Parthenos and Propylaea were constructed at this time, which was also a period of Athenian political and military supremacy. By the end of the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC) Athenian naval power collapsed, her empire was lost, her great wealth and revenue was gone, her monetary system was in shambles, and her government was reorganized under Spartan occupation. After a brief period of Spartan hegemony, Spartan power was also relegated to the dust bin of history. About the time our original thirteen states adopted their new constitution in 1787, Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh, had this to say about the fall of the Athenian Republic some 2,000 years earlier: “A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government.’ “A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury.’ “From that moment on, the majority always vote for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship.’ “The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years.’ “During those 200 years, those nations always progressed through the following sequence: 1. From bondage to spiritual faith; 2. From spiritual faith to great courage; 3. From courage to liberty; 4. From liberty to abundance; 5. From abundance to complacency; 6. From complacency to apathy; 7. From apathy to dependence; 8. From dependence back into bondage.” As one views our current economic, social and global woes, he or she may come to the conclusion that Tyler may have been more than just a Scottish history professor. My take I am certainly not perfect. I never have been. I am far from it than most. In my life I am sure I have also done more things wrong than most. I am just as guilty of serving my own agendas. The only difference between me now and those I have described above is that I have taken the time to back away and see the bigger picture. This hate, partisanship, greed and the serving of self interests…has got to stop. We need to replace it, as quickly as possible, with a mission to serve others, and a genuine love of country and neighbor, having God the center of it all. To those of you who just experienced the hair on the back of your neck stand up because I brought God into the picture, let me help by giving you a little “morsel” you can carry with you from this day forward. It comes from Albert Camus, a noted French playwright and novelist. When asked whether or not he believed in God, after taking a few minutes, he said, “I would rather live my life as if there is a God, and die to find out there isn’t, than live my life as if there isn’t a God, and die to find out there is.” That quote may not mean much to you now…but I promise…someday it will. I can’t tell you how much I long for days past, when millions of Americans would act civilly towards one another, much less celebrate a national holiday together, showing respect for each other, our flag, our country, our leaders, and the brave men and women who gave and are giving their lives…and risked and are risking their lives…so we can have the freedoms we enjoy. I remember when our leaders were referred to with respect, and called Mr. President, or the Distinguished Senator or Representative from… I am fearful those days will never return. I pray they will…but then that’s what I want. That brings me to the last thing I want to talk about in this article…that of prayer. Take a good look at the world today. Do you see the calamity, war, sickness, pestilence, poverty, hate, crime, violence, morality and greed? Any sane person will agree they are more prevalent today than ever. Any sane person knows these are bad and they have to be fixed. It will take a lot of sane, reasonable and intelligent people, coming together to fix them. I have never been more convinced that it will take a lot of prayer to make that happen. Like most who pray, I habitually pray for a litany of things I want. I pray for people who are sick to get well. I pray for God to bless my marriage, my family and all of those, whether near and dear, or far away and removed from me. I pray for the success of things I am involved with. I think everyone who prays, prays most of the time for things he or she wants. However, as one continues to pray, I think he or she must mature in his or her prayers and pray for the will of God to be done. I promise, it is an intention that will ALWAYS be answered…because God’s will…WILL ALWAYS be done. And while we’re praying, let’s position ourselves in accordance with what President Reagan said, “It would be presumptuous to think God is on our side as we walk into tomorrow. Let’s just hope we’re on God’s side.” So, in closing, and on the eve of what I again believe to be the most important election in the history of our country, let me offer this more “mature” prayer. The first part is from Reverend Billy Graham, sent to me by Leroy and Kay Goodknight a few days ago. The last sentence is an addition from me. “Heavenly Father, we come before You today to ask Your forgiveness and to seek Your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, ‘Woe to those who call evil good,’ but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values. We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. We have killed our unborn and called it choice. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable. We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self esteem. We have abused power and called it politics. We have coveted our neighbor’s possessions and called it ambition We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. Search us, O God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free. O God, may Your Will be done in all things, and may all of the current and soon-to-be-elected local, state and federal officials always operate, govern, execute, legislate and/or adjudicate in accordance with Your will. Amen.”
 
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