RESPONSIBILITY, COURAGE, STRENGTH AND HARDINESS – FORGOTTEN LIFE VIRTUES
The Extraordinary Life of Ralph Moody
Last Sunday, I drove about eight hours south from our home to the largest southern city in Australia – Melbourne, to attend the annual Australian Veterinary Association conference.
Melbourne was the epicentre of the most extreme Australian state government lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Premier of Victoria, Dan Andrews, implemented the most draconian policies of all the Australian states. The people of Melbourne were (in effect) locked in their homes for almost one year. Many small businesses and restaurants were bankrupted.
Dan Andrews held daily propaganda press conferences, telling everyone what a great job he was doing. He also deployed an army of social media activists to amplify his messages. Remarkably, the people of Victoria were grateful for their captivity because they believed, “Dan is keeping us safe.”
Despite the dictatorial approach taken to restricting people’s freedoms and mandating “vaccines”, in the election that took place after the lockdowns were over, the captives voted their captors back into power. With the right propaganda, Stockholm Syndrome is a certainty.
On the long drive to Melbourne, I thought about how we had reached this dire situation, which undoubtedly will return again because of emergency biosecurity government powers. These currently lurk in the background, ready to be resurrected by the government with the next “pandemic”—now the threat of “bird flu”, or “Disease X”.
We have reached our current societal situation partly because of increasing taxes and people’s reliance on the welfare state and government handouts. There seems to be a widespread belief that “the government will keep us safe,” and people are reluctant to take personal responsibility for their lives. Governments employed fear as propaganda during COVID-19 so that people willingly submitted to government overreach.
The situation we find ourselves in today has been slow in developing but relentless nonetheless. Various Western governments gradually gained a stronghold in every family, offering increasing amounts of free “stuff.”
This trend has been accelerating as, more generally, schools have handed out prizes to non-competitors, and disability schemes have classified almost every human condition as needing government financial support.
With the rise of AI, universal basic income (UBI) has been touted as a solution to jobs disappearing as AI takes over all the current jobs. Investopedia explains:
“Universal basic income (UBI) is the concept of a government program in which every adult citizen receives a set amount of money regularly. The goals of a basic income system are to alleviate poverty and replace other need-based social programs that potentially require greater bureaucratic involvement. The idea of universal basic income has gained momentum in the U.S. as automation increasingly replaces workers in manufacturing and other sectors of the economy.”
With the acceptance of UBI, the trap that has been set will be complete. Armed with our newly minted digital IDs, all we need to do is go online and accept all the terms and conditions involving the government tracking our every move. Electronic money will be deposited into government-monitored accounts that can be spent on government approved items (definitely not meat!). Health care will be provided until the cost-benefit algorithms determined by AI health robots indicate the cost:benefit of treatment is too high. Then, we will be eased into oblivion under the direction of government-sanctioned euthanasia.
Already, various Western governments are “grooming” us toward this proposition, with about 50,000 Canadians having been “euthanased’ since new “medically-assisted dying” laws were introduced in 2016.
Of course, this sounds dire, and it is. However, a reality check is the only treatment for a population whose senses have been dulled by the many hours spent on “smartphones.” The average teen spends an average of 40 hours a week on their devices. We should have been more alert when “smartphones” were introduced. It is the phones and their programmers that are smart, not we, the users!
Undoubtedly, President Reagan could see the trajectory of “Big Government” and the dystopian future as government increased in size. This is why at his 12th August, 1986 press conference, he said: “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help’”. It is interesting that Reagan used the phrase “the most terrifying words”. They weren’t, “the most dangerous” or “duplicitous” or “false”. They were “terrifying”. Terrifying means to “fill with terror; make deeply afraid” - Reagan was correct. It is difficult to push back the zeitgeist of our times.
However, as I drove into the heart of Australian “Big Government”, my thoughts turned to the remarkable stories of “Little Britches”.
“Little Britches”
Over the few years that I have been writing this newsletter, I have referred to the series of Little Britches books written by Ralph Moody. Ralph Moody is an American author who wrote a series of autobiographical novels about his life in the early 20th century when his family moved from the East Coast of the US to farm in Littleton, Colorado.
Figure 1. Title Pages for Ralph Moody’s “Little Britches” Book Series
Ralph’s father had a severe lung condition that led to his untimely death when Ralph was only ten years old. Ralph becomes “The Man of Family”, the title of his second book. However, as the eldest of the family and under the tutelage of Father, Ralph learns all the important lessons of life in those two years of challenging ranching life, outlined in his first book Father and I Were Ranchers. Ralph was given the nickname “Little Britches” by one of the cowboys who befriended him. A brief outline of Moody’s books can be read at this link.
Ralph was around 50 years old when he wrote the first of eight books describing his life experiences from when he was an eight-year-old boy until he married. Ralph had no experience as a writer but took a writing class in 1950 and produced his first book – Little Britches: Father and I Were Ranchers. He eventually followed with seven others that describe the challenges of life in the early 1900s farming in the American West.
The books should be prescribed reading for every young person because they describe a time and an experience when there were no government handouts. All you had to rely on was only hard work and the support of family and community.
The books contain myriad life lessons, and many times when something gets tough, I ask myself: ‘What would Little Britches, Mother or Father do?” The books should be read aloud to children and returned to frequently for lessons about life.
The first book opens with this wonderful paragraph that provides a family snapshot and sets the scene for the stories that follow:
“I never really knew Father very well till we moved to the ranch on the Fort Logan-Morrison road, not far from Denver. That was just after my eighth birthday—right at the end of 1906. When we lived in East Rochester, New Hampshire, he worked in the woolen mill, but it wasn’t good for his lungs. He was sick in bed the winter before we moved—the one after Hal was a year old.” Moody, Ralph. Little Britches: Father and I Were Ranchers (p. 11). UNP - Bison Books. Kindle Edition.
In the remainder of this newsletter issue, I’ll share some quotes that (for me) are the highlights of the first book.
Beware of the Salesman When Things Seem Too Good to Be True
Cousin Phil, who sold goldmine stock (a warning in itself), convinced the family to move to a ranch near Denver, Colorado with the great promise to Mother (Mame):
“Why, Mame, there just isn’t any work at all to ranching in Colorado. We have three hundred and sixty-five sunshiny days in a year, and all a man has to do is toss out seed in the spring and harvest his crop in the fall. With my connections, I could make a deal to put you folks on one of the finest ranches in the country, where you’d have all the milk, butter, and eggs you could eat, and half of all the crops you could raise. Why, in one year Charlie’d be a new man—and make as much money as he’d make here in East Rochester in a lifetime.” I guess Father and Mother believed what he said,…(Moody, Ralph. Little Britches: Father and I Were Ranchers (pp. 11-12). UNP - Bison Books. Kindle Edition).
America is the origin and home of great salesmen, and Cousin Phil’s description of the ease and profit of farming in Colorado was, of course, a long way from reality. The experience was much harsher than any of us could ever imagine today.
The family arrived to find the house a virtual write-off, dry land, scarce water and then a tornado comes that destroys almost everything they had. Wonderful neighbours helped get the family back on its feet and the book describes Little Britches’ very difficult road to becoming a “partner” with his father in helping to take care of the family.
The Importance of Character
Little Britches is impulsive, courageous and has an appetite for risk and danger. Early in the book comes the first lesson from Father (probably only 30 years old at the time), who, after Little Britches’ reckless adventure with one of the horses, tells him:
“Son, there is no question but what the thing you have done today deserves severe punishment. You might have killed yourself or the horse, but much worse than that, you have injured your own character. A man’s character is like his house. If he tears boards off his house and burns them to keep himself warm and comfortable, his house soon becomes a ruin. If he tells lies to be able to do the things he shouldn’t do but wants to, his character will soon become a ruin. A man with a ruined character is a shame on the face of the earth.” Moody, Ralph. Little Britches: Father and I Were Ranchers (p. 41). UNP - Bison Books. Kindle Edition.
Where would you hear a father speak such wise words to his eight-year-old son today?
The Best Boss Is One That Bosses the Least
Little Britches gets a job to herd dairy cows at 25 cents per day, and can’t believe his good luck. He says that he would “only have to work from seven in the morning till six at night”!
He learns to ride, work hard and deal with really difficult and demanding employers. He finds it tough to control the cows that want to spread out everywhere over the pasture. Keeping them together and away from the alfalfa (lucerne) fields is really hard.
Then Father tells him how a good cowboy deals with his horses in these conditions. Father says there is a secret to how a cowboy works with cows and at the same time looks after his horse:
“Instead of racing around after every cow that strayed a few yards from the herd, he’d put them all at the back end of the pasture where he could see them from the top of a hill. Then he’d sit down and let his horse graze until some of his cows had wandered far enough away that they might get into the oats. When he did have to go after them, he wouldn’t race as you do. He’d go at a nice easy lope till he was past the strays, then bring them back at a slow walk so as to keep them calm and quiet. Always remember, Son, the best boss is the one who bosses the least. Whether it’s cattle, or horses, or men; the least government is the best government.” (Moody, Ralph. Little Britches: Father and I Were Ranchers (p. 80). UNP - Bison Books. Kindle Edition.)
Little Britches meets an extraordinary array of characters from Hi (a cowboy who features in other books) to Two Dog an old and wise Blackfoot Indian, who didn’t have much English but knew the ways of the mountains and prairies and the treatments and potions to cure animal disease.
Each story in the book conveys life lessons that are unknown today when the only skill that eight-year-old boys learn is how to play video games.
“The only time to feel sorry for anything—or anybody—that dies is when they haven’t completed their mission here on earth”
There is a perilous journey into the mountains to find a secret Indian remedy (from Two Dog) for a valuable ranch horse, a fight over water rights, problems with the chairman of the school board and the challenges of raising animals.
Little Britches has many farm chores (apart from his paying job) and helps to care for the pigs on the farm. One day, he arrives home from school to find that the pigs have been killed. His father could see that he was upset that the pigs had been killed:
“Then he put his arm around my shoulder, and said, “There isn’t a thing to be afraid of, or to feel bad about, Son. The only time to feel sorry for anything—or anybody—that dies is when they haven’t completed their mission here on earth. These pigs’ mission was to get big and fat so as to make food for us. They have done a good job of it and their mission is completed. And I do want you to know this: they didn’t know what was happening, and they weren’t hurt a bit—they didn’t even squeal.” Father could always explain things like that so I’d understand.” Moody, Ralph. Little Britches: Father and I Were Ranchers (p. 135). UNP - Bison Books. Kindle Edition.
I Don’t Want a Sneaky Partner
Life was very tough, and treats were few and far between. However, with some of the extra money that Little Britches brings in from his work, Father buys a block of chocolate, which is put away in the house cupboard. Little Britches can’t stop thinking about the chocolate bar, so he takes the chocolate secretly at night and convinces himself that he isn’t really stealing it because he is contributing to the family finances. He creeps out in the night with an axe to shave a bit of chocolate off the bar, and he persuades himself that no one will notice. Just as he is about to cut the chocolate bar, his father grabs him and takes him to the woodpile for a spanking. This is a teaching moment. Ralph Moody writes:
“I didn’t know anybody could spank as hard as he spanked me with that little piece of board. It felt as if my bottom were going to catch fire at every lick. Then he stood me down and asked me if I thought I’d deserved it. He said it wasn’t so much that I took the chocolate, as it was the way I took it, and because I tried to hide it when he spoke to me. But it was the next thing he said that hurt me worse than the spanking.
He said, “Son, I realize a lot better than you think I do that you have been helping to earn the living for the family. We might say the chocolate was yours in the first place. If you had asked Mother or me for it, you could have had it without a question, but I won’t have you being sneaky about things. Now if you’d rather keep your own money separate from the family’s, so you can buy the things you want, I think it might be a good idea.”
I never knew till then how much I wanted my money to go in with Father’s. Ever since we bought the cows, I had been able to feel I had a part in all the new things we were buying to make ourselves real ranchers, and it looked as though it were all slipping away from me. I had felt I was beginning to be a man, but I guess I was still just a baby, because I hid my face against Father’s stomach and begged him to let me put my money in with his.
Father hadn’t been coughing nearly so much that fall as he used to, but he coughed and it seemed as if he choked a little before he answered me. He said he didn’t want a sneaky partner, but if I could be open and aboveboard he didn’t know a man he’d rather be in business with. I couldn’t help crying some more when he told me that; not because my bottom was still burning, but just because I loved him. I told him I’d never be sneaky again, and I’d always ask him before I did things. We walked to the house together. At the bunkhouse door he shook hands with me, and said, “Good night, partner.” (Moody, Ralph. Little Britches: Father and I Were Ranchers (pp. 153-154). UNP - Bison Books. Kindle Edition).
The World Doesn’t Owe You A Living
After an encounter with a dishonest man who wanted a handout without any effort, and his daughter who thought this approach was smart, Father tells him:
“Son,” he said, “I had hoped you wouldn’t run into anything like this till you were older, but maybe it’s just as well. There are only two kinds of men in this world: Honest men and dishonest men. There are black men and white men and yellow men and red men, but nothing counts except whether they’re honest men or dishonest men. “Some men work almost entirely with their brains; some almost entirely with their hands; though most of us have to use both. But we all fall into one of the two classes—honest and dishonest. “Any man who says the world owes him a living is dishonest. The same God that made you and me made this earth. And He planned it so that it would yield every single thing that the people on it need. But He was careful to plan it so that it would only yield up its wealth in exchange for the labor of man. Any man who tries to share in that wealth without contributing the work of his brain or his hands is dishonest. “Son, this is a long sermon for a boy of your age, but I want so much for you to be an honest man that I had to explain it to you.” I wish I knew how Father was able to say things so as to make you remember every word of it. If I could remember everything the way I remember the things Father told me, maybe I could be as smart a man as he was.” Moody, Ralph. Little Britches: Father and I Were Ranchers (p. 177). UNP - Bison Books. Kindle Edition.
I hope these quotes provide my readers with a “taste” of these wonderful books. They are also available as audiobooks. I have read them many times, and they contain stories and wisdom of a time past when people were independent of government (it was before there was any US Federal income tax, which was only introduced in 1913).
Everyone had to learn the law of sowing and reaping (“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap” Galatians 6:7). Life lessons were real because your very livelihood depended on them.
Man of the Family
Toward the end of the first book, Father dies, and Mother almost dies of blood poisoning. Life was extraordinarily tough for the family with four younger small children and the 10-year-old Little Britches. After recovering from near-fatal blood poisoning, Mother summons the family and says:
“Now let’s not be sorry for ourselves anymore…”. The children are all given jobs and dinner is prepared.
Ralph Moody ends the first of the eight books this way:
“That first supper was the most memorable meal of my life. The big yellow mixing bowl sat in the middle of the table, filled to the brim with well-browned pieces of chicken, stewed until it was almost ready to fall off the bones, whole potatoes, and carrots—with big puffy dumplings, mixed at the bedside, floating on top. Father had always said grace before meals; always the same twenty-five words, and the ritual was always the same. Mother would look around the table to see that everything was in readiness; then she would nod to Father. That night she nodded to me, and I became a man.” Moody, Ralph. Little Britches: Father and I Were Ranchers (p. 260). UNP - Bison Books. Kindle Edition.
The ”Little Britches” books have been much on my mind during the week, as I attended a veterinary conference where there was great emphasis on personal well-being and the need for “self-care”. This is undoubtedly true.
However, just as important these days, when the State wants to take control of our lives, is personal responsibility, courage, strength and hardiness. These qualities are exemplified and taught in the “Little Britches” books.
The “Little Britches” books tell of a past era when these life lessons were learned at an early age. I recommend my readers buy the first of the Little Britches books. Soon, you and the family will want to read them all and learn the lessons of past wisdom, seldom taught in the modern world.
ARTICLES THAT CAUGHT MY ATTENTION THIS WEEK
Globalists Aim to “Peacefully” Depopulate the Word with Mass Euthanasia
This headline from Eugenics.News certainly caught my attention this week. There have been various items in different publications that I have read over the past few years hinting at a future mass depopulation event. The Deagel Report, a purported US intelligence document, indicates massive changes in some countries in the West by 2025. For example, in the Deagel Report, the UK and Irish populations are projected to decrease by more than 70%! The only possible mechanisms are some type of biological or nuclear warfare.
Now, Eugenics.News quotes Dennis Meadows (a co-author of the Club of Rome’s The Limits to Growth who has said:
“We want to have freedom and we want to have high standards, so we’re going to have a billion people. We’re now at seven, so we have to get back down. I hope that this can be slow – relatively slow – and can be done in a way that is relatively equal.”
It’s great to know that this massive depopulation will be done in a way that is “relatively equal”. The article points out that:
“A computer model developed by Meadows and several of his colleagues argues that the critical line for earth’s human carrying capacity was exceeded back around 1980. Since that time, planetary conditions have degraded to the point that even more severe intervention is needed to fix things. Mass depopulation is how the globalists intend to complete their endgame, allowing them to inherit the world through murder and force.”
Who knows what the globalists have in mind but this population extermination sentiment has been around for the last 50 years. Prince Philip famously said in 2009: “In the event that I am reincarnated, I would like to return as a deadly virus, to contribute something to solving overpopulation."
The global planners certainly have population reduction on their agenda, and we need to be alert to any plans that may be afoot.
WHO Pandemic Treaty Negotiations Have Failed to Reach Agreement
James Roguski has almost single-handed, raised awareness of the danger of the WHO seeking to gain more control of international health and to dictate countries’ responses during future “pandemics”. Much has been written about a new pandemic “treat” but it seems as though there has been a failure to reach agreement in the current round of negotiations -
However, Mr Roguski pointed out just a few days ago -
that the game is not over yet. Behind the scenes, a “drafting group” is continuing negotiations to try to reach an agreement that will be endorsed before the 1st June end of the World Health Assembly.
Mr Roguski reprints some important excerpts from the bureau’s proposed text. One of the agreed areas is that in relation to international travel, where under the new regulations, the traveller may be required to undergo “the least intrusive medical examination that would achieve the public health objective” (lots of room for intrusion here); “vaccination or other prophylaxis”; and “additional established health measures that prevent or control the spread of disease, including isolation, quarantine or placing the traveller under public health observation”.
Dr David Bell has also just written a substack post titled Tedros Must Face Reality -
related to the WHO Director-General’s attempts to acquire more power for the WHO. Dr Bell notes that: “the WHO is completely ignoring, and knowingly misrepresenting, what their own data tells them on the risk of natural pandemics. Whilst deliberately misleading countries and the media with claims that the risk of pandemics is rapidly increasing, they are fully aware that deaths from infectious diseases, and pandemics, have decreased over past centuries and are decreasing now. The databases and citations of reports from the WHO, the World Bank, and G20 High Level Independent Panel attest to this.”
Dr Bell concludes: “We must first address the reasons why international public health is now about profit and centralization, rather than the health of populations. This won’t happen under the current version of the WHO, and does not appear on the WHA agenda. We are facing a mass denial of reality by the WHO and its leadership.”
I can see the Australian government’s “Wellness Camps” built during COVID-19 will be prepared for use again when another “pandemic” is declared by the WHO.
One hopes that enough countries are suspicious of the WHO’s desire for global control to scuttle the new International Health Regulations. However, the cunning WHO bureaucrats are persistent, and undoubtedly, the regulations that provide more power to the WHO will keep being returned to the WHO Assembly until delegates vote the “right way.”
An Update on Korea
While we are distracted by various conflicts around the globe, I was reminded by an article published in early June on the site Strategy Page that it is wise to understand what is happening in this international zone where there have been threats and difficulties for the past 70 years.
Strategy Page reports:
“North Korea is trying to reduce corruption in the military logistics system. The government ordered the replacement of many older logistics officers with younger, hopefully more idealistic, and honest officers. Government officials gave speeches about the need for reliable, as in not corrupt or otherwise deficient officers…..
North Korea also has a problem with workers sent to work in Russia. This paid well and, even though the North Korean government took a large percentage of worker pay, what was sent back to families in North Korea made life much better for those families. When Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022, one side effect was massive economic sanctions on Russia. That meant less or no more work for North Koreans working in eastern Russia near the border with North Korea. These North Koreans could not go home and were considered a problem by residents and the government of the Russian Pacific coast city of Vladivostok.”
The article provides detail on the relationship between North Korea and Russia and notes South Korea’s significantly great military capability in terms of weapons and munitions. South Koreans now want nuclear weapons to defend against North Korea.
Strategy Page concludes, “Everyone looks to China because North Korea has traditionally been a Chinese responsibility and, most of the time, a difficult one. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has obediently gone to China several times since 2018 to receive advice.”
The possibility of unintended conflict remains significant because it may be a way for Kim Jong Un to maintain his control in North Korea, which has a GDP per capita 1/20th that of its southern neighbour's economic powerhouse (socialists take note of the failure of planned economies).
Unconventional Warfare
A friend alerted me to the interesting substack of Matthew Smith and Doug Casey. This last week, these two had a fascinating discussion with the title Crisis Investing -
It is worthwhile readers listening to the 40 min interview which covers a range of topics about the “signs of the times”. In the newsletter, there is an interesting section titled: Unconventional War. I have reproduced a section of this below, including a fascinating table that highlights the warfare tactics that are being deployed.
“War isn’t limited to tanks, aircraft carriers, and drones. Much of war is fought by unconventional means. Looking at last week’s headlines, it’s easy to conclude that war is already upon us and ramping up.
Consider what’s happening both at home and abroad, then look at the summary of unconventional warfare tactics below…
Figure 2. Unconventional Warfare Tactics, Outlined by Matthew Smith and Doug Casey.
Unconventional warfare is being deployed against us on a daily basis and it does appear as though we are already in the midst of WW III.
The Trump Trial
The prosecutor and judge in the New York trial of Donald Trump on charges that weren’t even outlined until the prosecutor summed up. This approach would have been completely at home in the former Soviet Union under Stalin. Tyler Durden in ZeroHedge has written a helpful summary about the charges:
“The former president was charged under the statute New York Business Law 175.10, which states that “A person is guilty of falsifying business records in the first degree when he commits the crime of falsifying business records in the second degree, and when his intent to defraud includes an intent to commit another crime or to aid or conceal the commission thereof.”
The second crime in this case was the alleged violation of New York Election Law 17-152: “Conspiracy to promote or prevent election. Any two or more persons who conspire to promote or prevent the election of any person to a public office by unlawful means and which conspiracy is acted upon by one or more of the parties thereto, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.”
The 34 records in this case consist of 11 checks cut to Michael Cohen, a former personal attorney to President Trump, and the corresponding vouchers and invoices. Prosecutors allege these payments, categorized as legal expenses, were reimbursement for money Mr. Cohen paid to Stephanie Clifford, better known as adult actress Stormy Daniels, as part of a scheme to influence the 2016 elections.
In order to prove their case, prosecutors need to show that President Trump had the intent to defraud—more specifically, the intent to conceal the alleged conspiracy—when causing the creation of the business records.”
The case has been stacked against Trump and appears to have been coordinated with input from the White House. Given the bias against Trump in New York, it seems likely that he will be convicted. The judge even gave jurors a range of options for which they could convict him for.
Undoubtedly, the case will go to appeal and there are many grounds on which an appeal is likely to be successful. In the meantime, there is much water to flow under the bridge before the November election day and anything could happen.
Trump is right when he declared that the future of the US is at stake. Once the justice system is politicized, the whole foundation of the US is in peril.
Conclusions
It is challenging to keep our bearings in a world of globalism and supposedly benign “Big Government” that will look after our every need. This last week, I had an interview with Daisy Cousens, covering the retirement of Klaus Schwab and the significance of ‘stakeholder capitalism’. Interested readers can listen to the audio (listen from 29 min)
The video also can be seen at this link (watch from 29 min). The globalists certainly have the edge on us but we are still able to take decisions that assert our own agency and freedom.
Ralph Moody’s “Little Britches” books provide an antidote to the ideas of the welfare state and Big Government.
Read the books and teach the life lessons to your children and grandchildren.