My feelings about rain began
when I was a kid. We ranched on the sagebrush plains
of eastern Montana and during the 15 years we called
Ingomar home we droughted out twice. I was too young
to understand the emotional toll on my father as
trucks carried our cows to greener pastures, but I
have since learned the cow business is not the place
for the faint of heart. Fortunately, I also remember
the euphoric times when it did rain and I watched
Dad stand on the front porch sucking in every
glorious moment knowing grass would follow thereby
keeping our operation afloat another year. Hence,
even 50 years later, when it rains I’m smiling on
the inside.
I must admit, the rains of last spring tested me.
Although I kept my thoughts to myself, there were
moments when I wondered if the rain would ever stop.
The grass on the butte behind my house, grass which
I never expected to ever grow above my ankles, was
waist high and still growing. July came and just
like every year since God created heaven and earth,
the rains stopped, the grass turned brown and the
coffee shop conversation flipped from floods to fire
suppression. The summer heat has not been extreme
and on July 19th Billings set a new official weather
record. It has been over two years since the
temperature broke the 100 degree mark. As we dried
our way into August, once again I began to wonder if
it would ever rain again. Then it did.
Thursday evening the trophy wife and I were fixing
dinner as we watched the heavy clouds swallow the
east face of the Beartooth Mountains. Getting darker
by the moment, this was not going to be a quick
summer cloudburst. Instead, the air felt like it was
going to set in and really rain. As the drizzle
started, I found myself standing on my new porch
sucking in every glorious moment knowing fall grass
would follow the rains. Rain, especially August
rain, brings a peaceful optimism to those weary of
battling the summer heat. It is as if God is
reminding us there is a reward as we near harvest;
be it grass, calves, corn, wheat, or sugar beets.
There is always hope and this brings me to my point.
American liberty is trapped in a century long
drought. The wealth redistribution principles of
Marx infected our nation in the late 1800s and
political party “A” wholly endorses that philosophy.
Sadly, the cocktail caucus of political party “B”
wholly endorses the principle of compromise so a
majority of elected officials think the proper
function of government is to take from each
according to their deeds and give to each according
to their needs. Pandering to voters with other
people’s money is so intoxicating the small liberty
caucus of party “B” is freedom’s last line of
defense.
Program after program has imprisoned the producing
class in debt, the non-producing class in dependency
while the ruling class jets from coast to coast on
golf vacations. America is rapidly becoming a two
tier nation; the ruling class and the unwashed
rendering it nearly impossible to move up the
ladder. Because I was raised in the cow business, I
am hopelessly optimistic, so I think eventually the
majority of Americans will join the liberty movement
viewing government and its ruling class just as our
founding fathers did in 1776. When we finally stand
up and embrace freedom over freebies the ruling
class will shrink into the shadows. Once again
America will be free. When that day comes I imagine
it will feel like an August rain and I expect to be
standing on my porch sucking in every glorious
moment.
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