The Differences In Thinking Between Liberals And Leftists, Pursuing One's Dreams, And The Move Toward A Marxist Orchestrated World Wide Revolution To Overthrow The United States Government In The Name Of "Humanity."

What a mouthful for a title for this rant. However, it's time to bring some things out in the open. The problem is, most Americans are asleep at the switch. They have been brainwashed. They have been brainwashed by a Leftist controlled media. They have been brainwashed by a Marxist controlled education system that promotes mediocrity through a "dumbed down" curricula. There are dark forces at work using every means in their power, including the scourge of Islamic Terrorism, to bring down the United States of America. Why? Because, we represent what they despise—Freedom! Freedom of any kind means less power for them, and that includes freedom to pursue our dreams. Socialism and eventual Communism are their goals, and they will use any means at their disposal to achieve them. If they need to create an environment where terrorists can take out New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and especially Washington, DC, with nuclear weapons in order to advance their cause, so be it. For the far Left, hatred of America, and everything that we represent is tantamount, because they are blinded by their self loving egotistical elitist beliefs. They truely believe that there needs to be a world wide revolution that results in America being reduced to Third World status. After that, all our wealth needs to be redistributed "fairly" through a one world government under the control of the United Nations.

The part of the equation that they forget to tell you is that THEY are to be in charge. Since they will be managing the program, most of the wealth will be redistributed to THEM. If you have worked hard and made yourself successful, the fruits of your labor are to be taken away from you and divided up "fairly." That means that a few crumbs will be distributed to the masses, and the rest will go these self-rightous, pompous Elites. Afterall, they are smarter than us, better educated than us, and therefore entitled to more...without having had to work for it...Oh, excuse me, the "work" they did in college between attending protest rallies, peace demonstrations, passing out drunk at fraternity parties, and bar hopping on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights, qualifies them for a bigger chunk of change than the person who goes into business for him or herself or gets an MBA, works 18 hours a day for 10 to 20 years in the corporate world, and becomes financially successful. After all, these Elites just might have a PhD in a "market driven" degree like Sociology, Philosophy, or Womens Studies... not that there is anything wrong with a degree in these disciplines. They are just not going to reap the same financial reward as a degree in Finance or Business Administration. Also, they are not going to reap the financial reward of someone with a high school education who takes the risk of opening up their own business, and works 16 plus hours a day, seven days per week, for their piece of the pie that is the American Dream.

I know, the next question for me is, "Gee, Chip. What is your degree in?" What is it in? Nothing. I don't have a degree. I have 98 credits toward a Bachelor of Arts in Music, which will get me a cup of coffee at Starbucks for a couple of dollars. I also spent a lot of time bar hopping on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights, as well as many afternoons on the other days of the week. I spent a lot of time passed out drunk without attending any fraternity parties. Most of the protest rallies were gone by the time I got to college, but I'm sure that with the Leftist brainwashing I had had, I would have been right there screaming like a lunatic along with the other spoiled brats. However, unlike many of those cretins, I didn't grow up in a life of privilege. I grew up middle of the road, middle class. I left college after three years in order to pursue my dreams, and I haven't looked back since. I am planning on going back to school to finish it up sometime over the next few years. It will be to finish a "project" that is still in progress, so I can close the book on that chapter. However, I'm also fully aware that a degree in music is; one, not going to guarantee me a high paying job in the music field and two, only going to give me a start toward a low to medium paying job in the world of academia. That, of course , is dependent on me taking all the agent of change brainwashing courses and getting my degree Music Education. If I want to have a successful academic music career, I'm going to have to continue on to get a minimum of a Masters Degree, and if I'm interested in a college or university postion, I'm going to have to go on to a Doctorate. Will I at that point make what a person with a BS in Finance who is in middle management of bank makes? Probably not. Life is not fair, and this is what the Left has to get use to. It's not fair. There is no guarantee of outcome in a society driven by Market Capitalism.

A one world Socialist government is not going to make things fair. it is only going to redistribute hard earned wealth to the underserving, yet self ingratiating Elites. These people scream about class warfare when it is they that are the true proponents of class warfare and class division. They want everything for themselves, and want to make sure that they have a system in place that will prevent anyone, but them, from achieving success. The fear mongering cries of the Far Left, are for the most part red herrings. While there is no guarantee of outcome in a Capitalist society, there is a guarantee of opportunity. If there wasn't, why is it that so many immigrants come over here, open up small businesses, and through hard work achieve financial success? Because they have a dream and put the 99% perspiration behind their 1% inspiration.

It has taken years for me to be comfortable with this fact of life. I also had a shift in my way of thinking from Liberalism to Conservativism. When I was younger. I was much more liberal that I am now. I was never a dyed in the wool Leftists, but I was a Moderate Liberal. I believed that there was too much discrepancy between the incomes of the rich and the poor. Why was it that some people seemed to get ahead, while others didn't? Why did some people just seem to attract success while others failed? Why wasn't I successful? It had to be a flawed system. It took years before I realized that it wasn't the system that was flawed, it was my way of thinking. I wanted things to be fair and equal. I didn't realize how much control I had over my own future success, and that there were different avenues to pursue my dreams. I also didn't have the motivation at the time to put the sweat equity into realizing those dreams. This is one of the tradmarks of the Far Left Elites. They are spoiled and lazy. They don't want to work for their dreams. They wan't them handed to them on a silver platter, because that's how things have been for them over the years. This is the main difference between Liberals and Leftists. Liberals, don't hate America and are willing to work hard, while at the same time long for a system where things are more fair. If it takes big government social programs to make sure things are fair, so be it. . Leftists do hate America and want it destroyed. Also, the Far Left wants to destroy dreams and create dispair, because they don't want anyone else to succeed except for them. It's part of their move toward total control and ultimate power under a smoke screen of creating a Utopian society. Liberals lean toward a Western European style Social Democracy, while Leftists lean toward Anarchy, Fascist or Marxist Socialism, and Communism.

Every young person that goes into the arts in one capacity or another, dreams of stardom. They dream about themselves on a big concert stage in an arena performing before 350,000 screaming fans, or living in Hollywood with their names being household words. However, stardom is achieved only by a privileged few. In addition, it is also not necessarily the best of the best that rise to the top of the entertainment field. There is a thing called luck. This is a fact of life. Does this mean that you shouldn't pursue your dreams? Of course not. There is a one millionth of one percent chance that you just might reach those lofty goals. In Socialist countries like England, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, France, etc., being a musician is considered a very prestigious occupation. It may not pay top dollar, but it is considered a profession and held it high esteem just like being a teacher, doctor or lawyer is. Here in America, the usual question you get asked as a musician is, "What is your day job?" It is much easier to make a living in the arts in a Socialist country than it is in a country driven by Market Capitalism. Experienced and competent Musicians, Teachers, Doctors, and Lawyers all make about the same income in Socialist countries. Less experienced and less skilled musicians still make a decent living. This is why most musicians tend to be Liberals or even Leftists in their way of thinking. Afterall, if it's possible in Europe, why not here in America? Why not prop up the poor financially with government subsidies that come from outrageous income and value added taxes, so they merge with the middle class? Have you noticed, however, that a vast majority of British music superstars don't live in Britain anymore? Why is that? Why do they live in tax havens like the Canary Islands, or in places in evil Capitalist America like New York City or Los Angeles? On the other side of the coin, many American jazz musicians go to Europe and live there. Why? Because as I said earlier, being a musician is a highly respected occupation there, and if those jazz musicians need to feed their egos, it's easier to do that in a Socialist country where the masses are more equal, even if they are more equally lower middle class. Over here, that jazz musician would more than likely work a day job and play music on a Friday or Saturday night. No matter how good that person was, there is a good possibility that if he or she was to pursue a jazz music career in America without some other source of income, he or she would be living below the poverty line. Very few achieve financial success. This is not the case in Socialist Old Europe. Over there, they would be subsidized by the government so they could live a nice comfortable upper working class, or middle class lifestyle. The trade off to this is that lifestyle would have limited chances of upward mobility regardless of talent. However, they would be free to pursue their art in its entirely without having to subsidize it with other employment.

For the most part, a subsidized music career is the case with 99.9999999% of all musicians, just like it is the case with the same percentage of people that pursue their dreams in acting, art, or sports. It can either be self subsidized or government subsidized depending on whether or not you are in a free market or Socialist system. For the musicians here in America, many of them are music educators who play music on the side. Many work as plumbers, electricians, or other trades, and moonlight in bar bands on weekends. Many make the majority of their incomes teaching private lessons and playing occasional gigs. For classical musicians, a very highly skilled few win high paying jobs with major symphony orchestras. Most of the college educated classical musicians won't even make the first cut for those orchestras during the auditions. They just don't have the skills. In the commercial music field, except for the occasional "got lucky" rock band that rises to stardom, the vast majority of successful musicians are also highly skilled at their trade. They are master craftsmen. The level of competence needed for success also has to do with demographics. You need a much higher degree of ability to succeed in a city like New York than you do in a city like Hartford. Consequently, there is also a much larger income potential in the major market city than in the minor market town. The competition is also much keener. Chances are, in Hartford you can be the first call drummer for every contractor in town, yet you still might need to have a day job, or another source of income in order to make ends meet. In New York, if you are the first call drummer for one or two of the major studio contractors, you are probably going to be a millionaire. Is this fair? It depends on your viewpoint. From a Conservative's it is. It's market driven. From a Liberal's it more than likely isn't. Things need to be made more fair and equal, and if it takes a government program to enforce that, so be it. From a Leftist's point of view it shows the evil inequality of the Capitalistic system perpetuated by George W. Bush and his Nazi, Fascist, Republican, Neo-Con buddies who are bound and determined to enslave the world with their Global Imperialism. What the Liberals and the Leftists forget, is it is the quality of the product and the market demand that determine the price. The better musician you are, the better chance you have of becoming that first call player in a city like New York or Los Angeles, and becoming wealthy...and guess what? You are going to have to pay some dues to get there. Success is not an evil symptom of an opressive society bound and determined to enslave the world. Socialism and Communism are the opressive societes that are bound and determined to enslave the world while pretending to be for the "common good. " Dreams must be destroyed in order to create envy and despair. Hatred and jealousy, along with resignation to fate must be forged, because success starts with a dream. Dreams mean there will be competition, and that is the one thing that the Left hates. Competition means that THEY just might have to measure up, and that means that there is a chance that they just might not be the ones in charge. Gee, how ego deflating...

Here's how I achieved my dream...or I should say, am in the process of achieving my dream, because dreams evolve, grow over time, and never die:

I took my first drum lesson when I was in third grade. I started on a drum pad and the Haskell Harr Drum Method Book One. There was no drum set. I played in the school band starting in the fourth grade, and continued to play in the school bands throughout junior high school and high school. I didn't even touch a drum set until I was in seventh grade. Rather than buying me a complete drum set, my parents bought the kit piecemeal. After the snare drum came the bass drum and a 12 inch cymbal. A used hi hat stand followed with another 12 inch cymbal to make the pair of hi hats. After that came a 19 inch ride cymbal that sounded like an old pot. Somewhere along the line came a nice 17 inch crash that I had for years, until it cracked one day after falling off a stage when the wind knocked over a cymbal stand during an outdoor concert in 1978. The point being, I didn't just get handed a drum set and start playing by ear. I had a well grounded formal education in drums and percussion.

My first drum instructor was the local elementary school and junior high school band director. After that, I studied at the Hartford Conservatory of Music through my junior high school and first two years of high school. When the instructor I had at the conservatory left, I switched to another local pro percussionist who got me ready for music college auditions. I spend three years in college as a Music Education major, and then headed to New York City to study with another pro. This time, however, it was to hone my drum set abilities, which had been neglected all along with an almost universal aproach to "legit" percussion study. This was the standard approach to percussion for those going on to college music programs. However, drum set was my first love, and I knew that if I stayed in the Music Education based total percussion world, I wasn't going to receive the training I'd need in order to at least have a shot at being competitive in what I wanted to do. I was also facing reality. I knew that I didn't have the percussion skills that would allow me to seek professional level work. I wanted to at least make the attempt to develop skills in a certain aspect of the world of percussion that would allow me to realize my dream of making a living as a musician. Drum set was the one part of the equation that I hadn't yet fully explored, and as my skills developed, it became the turning point in my musical dream. Next I had to find a vehicle to pursue it.

My New York teacher had played with the Benny Goodman and Woody Herman big bands, and had been a staff drummer with the NBC and CBS orchestras. Prior to that, he had played drums in the United States Marine Corps during World War II. One day during a lesson, he suggested to me that if I was interested in gaining some professional experience, that I might want to consider trying to get into one of the military bands. I had never thought about that. Joining the military was the farthest thing from my mind. I currently had three years of college under my belt, but wasn't happy with the direction that my education was taking me. I was also playing in a local bar band, but wanted more. All the other members of the band were either in school pursuing their teaching degrees, or had graduated and were employed full time. Music was a part time occupation to them. I wanted a chance to try to become a full time drum set player. I decided to investigate what the military band system had to offer. At that time, I didn't know the difference between the line military bands and the premier military bands either.

When I was in college at Bowling Green State University, I remember someone talking about one of the violin students going to Washington, DC to audtion for the US Air Force Strings. I didn't even know that the military had those kinds of musical opportunities. I ran into this violinist a week later, and asked him how it went. He said that he didn't get hired. The competition was very high, but he did make the finals. Again that was news to me...competition for being a musician in the military? What was that? I didn't realize the caliber of the musicians that the military hired. I was totally ignorant of the military music system. I didn't pay any attention to military music opportunites again until my teacher mentioned it during that lesson.

The military music system has two kinds of bands. They have what are called line bands, which are post bands in the Army, fleet bands in the Navy, regional bands in the Air Force, and the US Marine Corps bands at the various bases throughout the world. You also have your special duty or premier bands: The United States Army Band, The United States Army Field Band, The United States Air Force Band, The United States Navy Band, and The United States Marine Band, all based in the Washington, DC area. There is also the United States Coast Guard Band based in New London, CT, and the various service academy bands; The United States Naval Academy Band in Annapolis, MD, The United States Military Academy Band at West Point, The United States Merchant Marine Academy Band in Kings Point, NY, and The United States Air Force Space Command Band at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs. These bands have special duty designations, special promotion systems unique to themselves, and controlled tours of duty. The Coast Guard Band and the US Marine Band in Washington, DC, also exempt their members from recruit training or boot camp. The other special duty band members do attend basic military training. There are other "perks" that go along with a special duty band that the line bands don't have like authorization to live off base and draw quarters allowances, which you normally don't get as an enlisted member of the military until you reach the rank of E-7. It's the old saying: "If you want to attract the best people for the job, you have to make it worth their while," and for the premier bands, they do. Where do the military bands fall in the music business hierachy? If you look at the music industry as if it was like professional baseball, there are similarities.

Let's take the Air Force Band program for example and compare it's ranking in the world of professional music. While there is some overlapping, this is a simplified look at the picture: At the top of the heap are the major orchestras like the Boston Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, National Symphony, and the top national and international touring commercial acts, etc. Playing for them would be like playing major league baseball. Below that you have the premier miltary bands and the smaller city orchestras like the Hartford Symphony, Portland (Maine) Symphony, Savannah Symphony, and the lesser known commerical regional and lower end national acts that perform as the opening acts for the top acts, or headlining at the smaller venues, sharing the next rung down on the ladder. The difference is, the premier miltary bands have a much better pay and benefits package than many of the smaller national and regional acts. Many of the minor league orchestras also pay on a per service basis rather than a salary. Those acts, including the premier military bands, would be the equvalent to playing AAA ball. Below that are the line military bands and the small city orchestras. That would be like playing AA ball. Again, the military bands have better pay and benefit packages here too. Below that are the community orchestras, college music ensembles (except for the top music schools), and the baseball farm system teams. Not everyone playing in the farm system is going to make it to AA ball. Not everyone playing AA is going to make it to AAA, and as good as AAA ball is, only a small percentage of AAA players are ever good enough to make it into the major leagues. I have only known a handful of premier military musicians that have gone on to major orchestras or national and international touring acts. I have, however, known many very fine minor league orchestra musicians that have left the civilian world and had great musical careers in the premier military bands. First of all, the military band system pays better than what they had before in the civilian world. For many musicians, myself included, it is a great way to realize your dreams, get paid for it, and build a foundation for the next step in your musicial career. I spent 26 years in the Air Force music program, with 24 of them with a premier band, the United States Air Force Band in Washington, DC. I served as a drummer with a small three piece combo, as a section percussionist with a concert band and symphony orchestra, as a drum set player for pops shows, as a substitute drummer for a big band. I finished my military music career as the drummer for the Air Force's premier country band, Silver Wings. I am now retired with a pension, only 50 years old, and enjoying a fine second career as a freelance drummer in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. My pension, which I started to draw at age 48, is my day job. All the work and "paying my dues" paid off with me being able to realize my musical dreams according to my abilities. I found myself a wonderful niche in the Washington, DC blues community. If I had listened to the "advice" of some of my Liberal and Lefists friends about the military, I would not be doing what I am doing now. The United States Air Force provided me with a vehicle to realize my dream of being a full time musician.

Liberals don't hate America. Leftists hate America, and they look at the military as a tool of oppression, especially when Republicans are in office. They won't even consider the fact that it was the US Military stationed in Europe, that prevented the old Soviet Union from swallowing up all of Europe under the blanket of Communism. As far as they are concerned, that would have been a good first step with the US becoming the eventual conquest. They won't look at the fact that over 200 million people have been killed by Communists in their quest for world domination. Do they condemn Stalin for starving to death over 20 million of his own people? Do they look at Kim Jung Il as a madman who tortures and starves his own people, and has said that once North Korea develops a nuclear weapon he will sell it on the international black market to whoever can use it against the United States? No they don't. Many of them also claim that the Holocaust was a hoax created by the United States and their other enemy, Israel. When I hear these spoiled elitists talk about Saddam Hussein and his murderous sons as being "misunderstood," I start to question whether or not they are mentally stable. They won't even look at the torture chambers where people were routinely fed into industrial plastic shredders feet first, had their tongues cut out and their limbs amputated. Saddam's rape rooms, where girls as young as five or six were gang raped by up to 50 men at a time while their parents were forced to watch, never gets mentioned. Nor does the Hussein Government's use of chemical weapons against Iran and his own people, the Kurds, constitute proof that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. However, they will scream bloody murder about American soldiers "abusing" prisoners at the Abu Ghraib Prison, making it seem like the occasional abuse of the system, by about 30 out of about 150,000 troops, is the normal way of conducting business. In addition, they won't tell you that it was the Pentagon that first discovered those abuses, and started action on them before they were reported in the press. The Pentagon sent out press releases on the matter, and the Leftists in the main stream media "sat" on them until they felt that they could use the stories to make the President and the Administration look bad. There were screaming articles about Haliburton overcharching the military for the cost of fuel. What they don't tell you is it was an internal audit by Haliburton that discovered it. Haliburton brought it to the contractors' attention in the Pentagon to see if they needed to reimburse the government. The cost was found to be within cost guidlines agreed to for the transportation of fuel in a war zone, but you won't hear that from the Left. All you hear is, "Chaney's Haliburton is profiteering on the spoils of this illegal war." Captialism is always their enemy. America is always their enemy, and any enemy of America is their friend. America stands in the way of the advancement of a world wide Communist government with them being in charge. The American military to them, is the muscle arm of evil Capitalist Corporate America, and any job in the military is bad.

I have been told many times by many on the Left that I sold myself out by making a career out of the military music program. Maybe I did, but guess what? I'm now doing what I always wanted to do. I am not sitting behind a desk in an office somewhere during the day, or cleaning gutters for a living, and playing music on the side. Yes, it took 26 years of "paying dues" by being in the military band program—dues that included middle of the night recall exercises, random drug tests, height/weight and physical fitness standards, hair length and uniform regulations, as well as the honor of participating in six presidential inaugurations, performing a joint concert with the Russian Army Band in Red Square in Moscow to celebrate the 50th aniversary of the end of World War II, concert tours all over the United States, concert tours in Europe, Asia, and Canada, television and radio broadcasts, but so what? Here I am, 50 years old, gigging an average of four or five nights per week on a freelance basis. I give back to the musical community by teaching ten to twelve private students per week, and I'm very happy with what I have become. Yes, I did dream of making it to the major leagues, and maybe one day I will, but I'm perfectly content at this point "settling" for what I "sold out" to get. Oh, and unlike most of "THEM," I don't need a day job.