January 5th, 2025
January Meeting Update
Happy New Year, Patriots! I know, it’s hard to celebrate when we’re in the middle of Icemageddon 2025 here in Cass county. More on that later. I hope you were all able to set some time aside from work and politics to just be with friends and loved ones during the holiday season. Unfortunately for me, my work load at my job blew up in mid-November, and has been crazy ever since. As much as I wanted to comment on all the recent events, both nationally, and here in Missouri, I just haven’t had the time. I’m hoping it will get better later in January, but we will see.
Due to my crazy work schedule right now, and some fallout from this storm that will push into late this next week, We The People of Cass County MO will not be meeting in January. Please pass the word! We are working on getting a speaker for the February meeting that will share some very important information with us. I will make an announcement via the newsletter once we have confirmation. In the meantime, thank you for your patience, and know that we appreciate every one of you, and look forward to working with you in 2025 and beyond!
Icemageddon 2025
No matter how you slice it, this one is bad, and it is getting worse by the hour. As I write this newsletter on Sunday morning (January 5th, 2025), conditions in Cass county, and frankly all over Kansas and Missouri, are positively awful, and the next 24 hours will be rough. If you don’t know where to go to stay informed, here are a few links you can bookmark to keep track of changing forecasts and road conditions:
National Weather Service Forecast Office - KCMO
KC Scout (Metro Road Conditions)
If you have spent much time around me, you know that one of my core beliefs is in being prepared for emergencies. Our culture poo-poos that idea, if not in word, definitely in deed. Right now, we are all getting to test our preparedness, both in our choice of emergency supply inventory, as well as skills, knowledge, and capabilities. For those of us that have been at this a while, it is an opportunity to evaluate, document, and refine. For those of us that are not prepared or supplied at all, let this be a wake-up call. There is a life principle that I quote often, in the hope that it will trigger enough of a concern in the average person that they will take emergency preparedness seriously, or at least more seriously than they did yesterday, and do something, anything, to be more prepared than they were yesterday.
No one is coming to save you. Prepare to self rescue.
Remember this life principle. There is more truth to this than even I want to accept. This isn’t about, “I told you so”, or the prepared gloating over the unprepared. This is about returning to, and preserving, core values and principles that previous generations understood. Our culture has become so ignorant and lazy that it depends on government for everything when emergencies occur. This is foolish for two reasons.
First, no government can be all things to all people. Anyone who was trapped on one of the many highways last night, or was involved in a car accident last night and had to wait an inordinate amount of time to get help can attest to that fact. There are simply not enough emergency responders of any stripe to be everything to everyone. If you review the emergency plans of any given political subdivision, up to and including the state of Missouri, or the federal government, there is no path to serving everyone, even when timing is critical. The bulk of those plans are to guide personnel on who gets priority, because they cannot help everyone.
Second, even a cursory examination of history will show that no government, the United States included, is worthy of that kind of blind trust and faith. Don’t get me wrong, I love my country, but I do not trust government, nor did our forefathers. A government that can provide all your needs can take everything you have.
So then, what? Do each of us need to give up all modern conveniences, and quit our jobs to become subsistence farmers, living as off grid homesteaders? No, that is not what I am suggesting, although I know people who have done just that, and are more fulfilled than they ever were in the rat race of corporate America, keeping up with the Jones’ in modern suburbia.
What I am suggesting is that each of us take some time to look back to some of the survival skills our grandparents had. There were self-reliant practices there, to be sure, like gardening, canning food, hunting for meat, etc. But, our grandparents weren’t hermits. They had robust and resilient communities that attended church together, socialized together, and looked after one another. That was also a survival skill. We were designed by God to need each other. People helped each other, not because government made them, but because it was the Christian thing to do. Government cannot replace the love of Christ. Insisting that caring for those in need should be done through government programs and services is idolatry in the eyes of God. The Good Samaritan was not a government employee.
Please reach out to the people you know and care about during this time. If you’re feeling especially generous, you might even reach out to the people you know, but don’t like. Even if you can’t get out of your house to check on them, you can call, email, or text. We have dozens of social media apps to communicate. Even if you cannot meet a physical need, you can pray. Prayer matters, too.
‘For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.'
Then the righteous will answer him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?'
And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.'
Matthew 25:35-40
Please stay safe everyone!
Coram Deo