Neurotics complain of their illness, but they make the most of it, and when it comes to taking it away from them, they will defend it like a lioness her young. The neurotic in his search for glory goes astray into the realm of the fantastic, of the infinite, boundless possibilities. To all outward appearances, he may lead a “normal” life as a member of his family and of his community, attend to his work and participate in recreational activities. Without realizing it, or at least without realizing the extent of it, he lives in two Worlds—that of his secret private life and that of his official life. And the two do not jibe; to repeat a patient’s phrase quoted in session: “Life is awful; it is so full of reality!” No matter how averse the neurotic is to checking with evidence, reality inevitably obtrudes itself in two ways. He may be highly gifted, but he still is in all essential like everybody else—with general human limitations and considerable individual difficulties to boot. His actual being does not jibe with his godlike image. Nor does the reality outside himself treat him as though it found him godlike. For him, too, an hour has but sixty minutes; he must wait in line, like everybody else; the taxi driver or the boss may act as though he were simply an ordinary mortal. The indignities to which this individual feels exposed are nicely symbolized in a little incident a patient remembered from childhood. #RandolphHarris 1 of 22

 She was three years old, and daydreaming of being a fairy queen when an uncle picked her up and said jokingly, “my what a dirty face you have!” She never forgot her impotent and indignant rage. In this way, such a person is almost constantly faced with discrepancies, puzzling and painful. What does he do about it? How does he account for them, react to them, or try to do away with them? As long as his personal aggrandizement is too indispensable to be touched, he can but conclude that there is something wrong with the World. He is entitled to be treated by others, or by fate, in accord with his grandiose notions about himself. Everyone ought to cater to his illusions. Everything short of this is unfair. He is entitled to a better deal. The neurotic feels entitled to special attention, consideration, deference on the part of others. These claims for deference are understandable enough, and sometimes obvious enough. However, they are merely part and parcel of a more comprehensive claim—that all his needs growing out of his inhibitions, his fears, his conflicts, and his solutions ought to be satisfied or duly respected. Moreover, whatever he feels, thinks, or does ought not to carry any adverse consequences. This means in fact a claim that psychic laws ought not to apply to him. #RandolphHarris 2 of 22

Therefore, he does not need to recognize—or at any rate to change—his difficulties. It is then no longer up to him to do something about his problems; it is up to others to see that they do not disturb him. It was a German psychoanalyst, Dr. Harald Schultz-Hencke, who was the first among modern analysts to see these claims which the neurotic harbours. He called them Riessenansprueche (gigantic claims), and ascribed to them a crucial role in neuroses. While I share his opinion of their importance, my own concept differs from his in many way. I do not think that the term “gigantic claims” is fortunate. It is misleading because it suggests that the claims are excessive in content. True enough, in many instances they are not only excessive but plainly fantastic; others, however, appear quite reasonable. And to focus on the exorbitant content of claims makes it more difficult to discern in oneself and others those which appear to be rational. Take, for example, a businessman who is exasperated because a train does not leave at a time convenient for him. A friend, knowing that nothing important is at stake, might indicate to him that he really is too demanding. Our businessman would respond with another fit of indignation. The friend does not know what he is talking about. He is a busy man, and it is reasonable to expect a train to leave at a sensible time. #RandolphHarris 3 of 22

Surely, his wish is reasonable. Who would not want a train to run on schedule convenient to his arrangements? However, we are not entitled to it. This brings us to the essentials of the phenomenon: a wish or need, it itself quite understandable, turns into a claim. Its nonfulfillment, then, is as an unfair frustration, as an offense about which we have a right to feel indignant. The difference between a need and a claim is a clear-cut one. Nevertheless, if the psychic undercurrents have changed the one into the other, the neurotic is not only unaware of the difference but is indeed averse to seeing it. He speaks of an understandable or natural wish when he really means a claim; and he feels entitled to many things which a bit of clear thinking could show him are not inevitably his. I am thinking, for instance, of some patients who are furiously indignant when they get a ticket for double parking. Once again, the wish to “get by” is completely understandable, but they are not entitled to exemption. It is not that they do not know the laws. However, they argue (if they think about it all) that others get by, and that it is therefore unfair that they should have been caught. For these reasons, it seems advisable to speak simply of irrational or neurotic claims. They are neurotic needs which individuals have unwittingly turned into claims. And they are irrational because they assume a right, a title, which in reality does not exist. #RandolphHarris 4 of 22

In other words, they are excessive by the very fact of being made as claims instead of being recognized simply as neurotic needs. The special content of the claims that are harboured varies in detail, according to the particular neurotic structure. Generally speaking, however, the patient feels entitled to everything that is important to him—to the fulfillment of all his particular neurotic needs. When speaking of a demanding person, we usually think of demands made upon other people. And human relationships do indeed constitute one important area in which neurotic claims are raised. However, if we thus restrict them, we underrate considerably the range of claims. They are directed just as much toward man-made institutions, and even beyond that, toward life itself. In terms of human relationships, an overall claim was fairly well expressed by a patient who in his overt behaviour was rather on the timid, withdrawn side. Without knowing it, he suffered from a pervasive inertia and was quite inhibited about tapping his own resources. “The World should be at my service,” he said, “and I should not be bothered.” An equally comprehensive claim was harboured by a woman who at bottom was afraid of doubting herself. She felt entitled to have all her needs fulfilled. “It is unthinkable,” she said, “that a man whom I want to fall in love with me should not do so.” Her claims originally emerged in religious terms: “Everything that I pray for is given to me.” In her case the claim had a reverse side. If a wish were not fulfilled, since it would be an unthinkable defeat, she put a check on most wants in order not to risk a “failure.” #RandolphHarris 5 of 22

People whose need is to be always right feel entitled never to be criticized, doubted, or questioned. Those who are power ridden feel entitled to blind obedience. Others, for whom life has become a game in which other people are to be skillfully manipulated, feel entitled to fool everybody and, on the other hand, never to be fooled themselves. Those who are afraid to face their conflicts feel entitled to “get by,” to “get around” their problems. If they insist on a square deal, the person who is aggressively exploiting, and intimidates others into letting him put something over on them, will resent it as unfair. The arrogant, vindictive person, who is driven to offend others but yet needs their recognition, feel entitled to “immunity.” Whatever he perpetrates on others, he is entitled to having nobody mind anything he does. Another version of the same claim is the one for “understanding.” No matter how morose or irritable one is, one is entitled to understanding. The individual for whom “love” is an over-all solution turns his need into a claim for exclusive and unconditional devotion. The detached person, seemingly quite undemanding, insists on one claim, however: not to be bothered. He feels that he does not want anything of others, and is therefore entitled to be left alone no matter what is at stake. “Not to be bothered” usually implies being exempt from criticism, expectations, or efforts—even if these latter are in his own behalf. #RandolphHarris 6 of 22

This may suffice as a fair sample of neurotic claims operating in personal relations. In more impersonal situations, or with reference to institutions, claims with a negative content prevail. Benefits accruing from laws or regulations, for example, are taken for granted, but it is felt as unfair when they turn out to be disadvantages. There are many ways that this so-called boundary between self and others is crossed. Love is one way, friendship another. In love it is as though the self and the loved one are a one which cannot easily be separated. Any relaxed (ego-less) perception is an example of this crossing. Watch, listen, let the other come forth. Enjoy the lovely nuances, the moods, feelings and concerns of the other one. Death to self is the birth of all else. When an empathic therapist is with a patient, there is little sense of self. The mild self present is mostly the other one. The weighing, measuring, worrying of one’s self is undone by opening into the life of the other person. It is easy for me to sit in my study and write neat little theories about mastery. However, it does not do much for you, does it? The first thing you have to deal with is time, which consists of only three elements: past, future, and now. I suggest you work primarily with the moment, the now. The now is your road map for the journey. When you live in the moment, the moment brings ideas into your mind, ideas which you will want to put into effect later on. The beauty of it, when an idea comes to you spontaneously, you will enjoy doing whatever is involved in making the idea happen. You will be living for the now while you are working toward a future goal. #RandolphHarris 7 of 22

It is inborn in the human mind to wish to know. If this begins with the endless surface questions to a child’s curiosity, if it continues into the deeper questions of a scientist’s probing investigation, it cannot and does not stop there. For the higher part of the mind will eventually come into unfoldment, that union of the abstract reflective thought with mystical intuition which is true intelligence, which needs and sees a view of the whole of things. And so, the knowing faculty enters the realm of philosophy. Let us honour intelligence, and not insult it, for it is as much from God as piety. The intellect cannot lead us to infallible truth, yes, but it can keep us from straying into roads that would lead us to utter falsehood. What is called “Reason,” is a mystical plus intellectual faculty and not merely an intellectual one. It is not merely a coexistence but a fusion of the two capacities. If we reverse the words of Descartes, whose thought helped usher in the age of science, and proclaim, “I am, therefore I think,” we come nearer to the truth. True intelligence is the working union of three active faculties: concrete thinking, abstract thinking, and mystical intuition. The intellect can only speak for the Overself after the Glimpse has vanished and turned to a mere memory. That is to say, it is really speaking for itself, for what it thinks about the Overself. It has no really valid authority to speak. The wisdom of God cannot be found by the intellect of man. The fragment of knowledge which the finite mind can absorb and hold is so little that we must remain humble always. He may recognize the truth with his intellect and yet be unable to realize it with his consciousness. #RandolphHarris 8 of 22

For traditionalist, they stand at one extreme. To him, work means redemption and anything else is wasteful, if not immoral. Pleasures of the flesh is for procreation, not pleasure. A man and a woman who share this philosophy, fortified by their religious convictions, ought not be seen as caricatures. Measured by their own values, they can and often do live full, rich lives. The situation is not the same for couples less totally committed to religious principles. When they assign the highest priority to work and the lowest to pleasures of the flesh, they do so for materialistic reasons. In effect, they turn the work ethic upside down. They do not work in order to live. They live in order to work. They are the husbands and wives who search endlessly for ways to occupy their time and use their energies profitably: making more money, advancing in a career, improving homes, accumulating possessions, engaging in community affairs—in short, doing anything that feels like work, which affords them the only justification they can accept for their lives. A relationship with pleasures of the flesh has little chance to flourishing between a wife to whom polishing the floor takes priority over sitting in the room and talking, and the husband who busies himself polishing the car instead of driving off with his wife for a quiet hour together. Such a couple, of course, may be hiding behind work to avoid confronting their problems that involve intimate passions. (The husband who spends as much times as he can at the office and the wife who is “too tired” to indulge in pleasures of the flesh at night are all-too-familiar figures in American life.) #RandolphHarris 9 of 22

However, it is also likely that the couple may honestly be unaware that simply talking and being together could have any bearing on pleasures of the flesh. They may just think of pleasures of the flesh itself as a job to be done, at the appropriate time and place. Such an outlook is basically antisexual. The husband and wife cannot be comfortable with their sexual natures and are too insecure to permit free expression of feelings of pleasures of the flesh. When coitus takes place, they prefer it in silence and the less emotional involvement, the better. If, deprived of emotional sustenance, the impulse for pleasures of the flesh eventually withers and dies, either partner or both may secretly feel a sense of relief. For other couples another pattern of deprivation of pleasures of the flesh develops—not from antisexual attitudes, but from misuse of the principle of self-discipline. This is the most insidious element carried over from the work ethic to the relationship of pleasures of the flesh. The mood of the individual is expected to be subordinate to the task at hand. It could hardly be otherwise. How many people, for example, wake up happy and eager to start the day’s work? Except for those who are fortunate enough to be doing what they really want to do, men and women must disregard their feelings about the tasks at hand to get them done well and efficiently. This is as true for the woman in her home as it is for a woman or man in a factory of office. Such self-discipline takes its toll. Let a man at the office keep his emotions under tight reign eight hours a day while he concentrates on getting his work done, let a woman at home do the same for twelve hours a day—or for longer if she has an outside job as well—and the transition to becoming an individual who acts according to spontaneous and authentic feelings becomes difficult. For some persons it becomes impossible. #RandolphHarris 10 of 22

Actual death scenes result from either force majeure or script directives. The untimely death due to ineluctable forces of fate—disease or violence in time of peace or war—is always a stark and simple tragedy. Scripty deaths are usually marked by the gallows smile or gallows humour. The man who dies with a smile on his face or a joke on his lips is dying the death his script calls for, and the smile or the joke says: “Well, mother, I am now following your instructions, ha ha. I hope you are happy.”  The criminals of London in the eighteenth century were true disciples of gallow humour, often entertaining the admiring crowd with a final epigram as the trap was sprung, because their deaths followed their mothers’ injunction: “You will end on the gallows as your father did, my boy!” The last words of many famous men were also jokes because they were likewise at peace with their mothers: “You will die famous, son.” Deaths due to human force majeure are not accompanied by such levity, because they may be in direct contradiction to mother’s injunction: “Live long!” or “Die happy!” There are no stories of gallows humour in German concentration camps (as far as I know). There is also a special injunction, “Enjoy death as you enjoyed life!” which permits a deathbed joke even if death comes sooners than mother could tolerate. Such a joke is, in fact, an attempt to ease the mother’s bereavement. All this means that in most cases the witch parent plans Jeder’s life span and the manner of his death, and barring internal or external upheavals, he will, by his own decision, carry out the parental decree. #Randolphharris 11 of 22

Children who are told that they are weak, hungry, or sleepy by loving, overprotective parents may lose the ability to construe their bodily states and possibilities. Consequently, they may eat when their parents say they are hungry and not be allowed to stop eating until the parents say, “You have eaten enough.”  If their parents’ estimates of their food needs do not coincide with what their bodies actually need for maintenance, such children may become very much above average weight. If persons underestimate the capacity of their bodies to endure stress and hardship, they may sicken or die long before it becomes a physiological necessity. “Outward Bound” training, for example, teaches young people that they can endure and survive well beyond limits they had been taught to believe were inflexible. In short, one’s body is very plastic indeed—it does what one expects of it. One should be careful what one expects of one’s body, because that, likely, is what one will get. Clearly, the Olympic records of endurance and speed, which change periodically, show that we seldom expect enough of our bodies, but instead overestimate their fragility. Actually, our potential toughness and endurance have yet to be put to the ultimate test. If persons believe with utter certainty that they are going to die—for example, if they learn they have “terminal and inoperable cancer” or fatal heart condition—then they are likely to imagine, even wish themselves dead, thereby hastening the advent of their physical demise. #RandolphHarris 12 of 22

“Spiritual” death or imagined nonexistence become prophesies to which the organs and cells of the body respond. There is no way of estimating how many people die, as it were, through being hypnotized or persuaded by symbols and other people’s nonverbal expressions that signify, “Your life is finished.” Furthermore, cultural expectations about the “right” age to die function in the same way, as hypnotic suggestions or invitations to die; when persons reach eighty or ninety-five years of age, there is nothing for them to do, and they are expected to view each day as their last, thereby hastening their end. If they remained involved with the pleasures and challenges of life, then death would take them by surprise. The epic poem Gilgamesh celebrates Babylonian breakthroughs in science, mathematics, astronomy, medicine, and technology. Gilgamesh was a king of Uruk who lived about 2700 B.C. on the River Euphrates in Iraq. He personified the search for the seed-flower of immortality. His is a story of going beyond limits, beyond chartered realms, beyond the territories of the known to scout out gene pool futures. Concurrently, when the Greek wave migrated, Sophocles and Aeschylus wrote their plays; Phidias sculpted; Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, and the physical mathematical philosophers raised Greek civilization to its highest point. Next, the Intelligence Frontier moved to Rome. Virgil sang the song of the Migrating Aeneid. All the great epics are “trip” stories of classic heroes surfing genetic waves and of voyagers moving out beyond hive limits. #RandolphHarris 13 of 22

After Rome, the Arab empire explored from the Middle East across the North African coast. The great achievements of the Moslem wave came in the universities of Cordoba and Seville where Arab mathematicians, philosophers, musicians, and astronomers made their great contributions to the evolution of intelligence. When successful gene pool migrate, expand, explode outward, westward, they propel their seed-style into the future. For the last 2000 years, a wave of mutation and migration has moved the highest intelligence follower of our species relentlessly from East to West. The Phoenicians, and then the Greeks, pushing their risky spacecraft out across the Mediterranean, their brows cleaving the unknown sea. Marine technology started the movement of gene pools West towards the unknown future. The ecological niche inhabited by a gene pool stimulates specific survival skills. Where you live determines how you behave and how your gene pool evolves. When out marine ancestors crawled out of the water the new ecological niche—the shoreline—activated improved survival tactics involving new, more complex brain circuitry. Different shoreline environments stimulated different neurotechnological skills. Up on land, mobility and communications systems are determined by the climate and geological considerations of the pathways alone which gene pools evolve. #RandolphHarris 14 of 22

As the importance of geography in shaping human behaviour has become clearer, human ethologists have begun to study the effects of migration upon neural development. They have concluded that the location of the large landmasses has an effect in the evolution of human technology. Asians back East manifest survival techniques—especially in social organization and in the amount of power allowed the individual—which are different from Europeans. North Americans are a different species in their behaviour from South Americans. Two hundred and twenty years of metaphysical rebellion and of nihilism have witnessed the persistent reappearance, under different guises, of the same ravaged countenance: the face of human protest. All of them, decrying the human condition and its creator, have affirmed the solitude of man and the nonexistence of any kind of morality. However, at the same time, they have all tried to construct a purely terrestrial kingdom where their chosen principles will hold sway. As rivals of the Creator, they have inescapably been led to the point of reconstructing creation according to their own concepts. Those who rejected, for the same of the World they had just created, all other principles but desire and power, have rushed to suicide or madness and have proclaimed the apocalypse. As for the rest, who wanted to create their own principles, they have chosen pomp and ceremony, the World of appearances, or banality, or again murder and destruction. #RandolphHarris 15 of 22

However, Sade and the romantics, Karamazov or Nietzsche only entered the World of death because they wanted to discover the true life. So that by a process of inversion, it is the desperate appeal for order that rings through this insane Universe. Their conclusions have only proved disastrous or destructive to freedom from the moment they laid aside the burden of rebellion, fled the tension that it implies, and chose the comfort of tyranny or of servitude. Human insurrection, in its exalted and tragic forms, is only, and can only be, a prolonged protest against death, a violent accusation against the universal death penalty. In every case that we have come across, the protest is always directed at everything in creation, which is dissonant, opaque, or promises the solution of continuity. Essentially, then, we are dealing with a perpetual demand for unity. The rejection of death, the desire for immortality and for clarity, are the mainsprings of all these extravagances, whether subline or puerile. Is it only a cowardly and personal refusal to die? No, for many of these rebels have paid the ultimate price in order to live up to their own demands. The rebel does not ask for life, but for reasons for living. He rejects the consequences implied by death. If nothing lasts, then nothing is justified; everything that dies is deprived of meaning. To fight against death amounts to claiming that life has a meaning, to fighting for order and for unity. #RandolphHarris 16 of 22

Effective leaders are steady, levelheaded when under pressure and fatigued, and calm in the face of danger. These characteristics stabilize their team members, who are always looking to their leader’s example. The Sacramento Fire Department models the emotions for others to display, they do not give into temptation to do what personally feels good. A question they often ask is, “If you are under great stress, it might feel better to vent—but will it help the organization? Because the Sacramento Fire Department wants to make sure others are calm and rational under pressure, this is the same stability that they display. Domain knowledge requires possessing fact, beliefs, and logical assumptions in many areas. Tactics is the art and science the Sacramento Fire Department uses to employ available means to fight fires and deal with other emergencies. The science of tactics includes capabilities, techniques, and procedures that can be codified. The art includes the creative flexible array of means to accomplish missions, decision making when facing an emergency situation, and the effects of firefighting on the firefighters. “My wife has never expressed any feelings of apprehension about the fire service, not out loud, anyway. In a sense, I met my wife through the fire service. She used to spend a lot of her away-from-work time in the mountains in the area where I worked. That’s where I met her. She became interested in the forestry fire service and worked two summers as a lookout. So she kind of learned the business and what it was about, understood the training program, and knew lots of the Forest Service people. So she kind of grew up with it at the same time I did. #RandolphHarris 17 of 22

“I think that made a great difference. I’m sure she worries at times when I’m gone, but she’s been around the system long enough to know that the guys are not a bunch of dummies out there deliberately trying to get themselves hurt, and that it doesn’t happen that often. She knows that I’m cautious, that I’m not going to go out there and do something dumb, that I’m a little more conservative than most people, and that I’ve never really been hurt in this business. So she never really worries about that. Being away ten or twelve days is not unusual in this business. So the wife raises the kids. When I come home, I paint the house, fix the washing machine, and the cars get taken care of. The wives become very self-sufficient and independent, however. We have three children, all gone from home now. My son is in the Navy, and I have two daughters. The youngest spent a summer as a seasonal firefighter. She’s kind of the renegade of the family, very small, five-foot-four. She became more interested in the fire service than the other two. She spent one summer chasing brush fires around Sacramento and just totally fell in love with it. That’s what she wanted to be. But unfortunately, at the same time, she also met a young man and fell in love with him. And one thing led to another, and they got married. Now she has a youngster, and her family position doesn’t allow her to be in the fire service. She’d like to be. She still talks about it.” #RandolphHarris 18 of 23

One thing we witness all the time during emergency situations is people ignoring the sirens of fire trucks and ambulances. Often times, people even try to out run the emergency vehicles and this can create dangerous situations. Citizens, remember to give the right-of-way to any law enforcement vehicle, fire engine, ambulance, or other emergency vehicle using a siren and red lights. Failure to pull over may result in a ticket. Drive to the right edge of the road and stop until the emergency vehicles(s) have passed. When approaching a stationary emergency vehicle with flashing emergency signal lights (hazard lights), move over and slow down. If you are in an intersection when you see an emergency vehicle, continue through the intersection. Drive to the right as soon as it is safe and stop. Obey any direction, order, or signal given by a law enforcement officer, or a firefighter. Even if they conflict with existing signs, signals, or laws, follow their orders. When their siren or flashing lights are on, it is against the law to follow within 300 feet of any fire engine, law enforcement vehicle, ambulance, or other emergency vehicle. If you drive to the scene of a fire, collision, or other disaster, you can be arrested. When you do this, you are getting in the way of firefighters, ambulance crews, or other rescue and emergency personnel. Moral courage is the willingness to stand firm on values, principles, and convictions. It enables you to stand up for what you believe is right, regardless of the consequences. #RandolphHarris 19 of 23

The concept of professional courage does not always mean being as tough as nails, either. It also suggests a willingness to listen to other peoples’ problems, to go to bat for them in a tough situation and it means knowing just how far they can go. It also means being willing to tell the boss when he or she is wrong. As a reminder, parents, pleasure teach your children love America and be patriotic citizens and to buy goods and services made in America. It is also important to respect law and order and treat your elders with respect. Having the Southern American boarder open and not having American farmland protected, not producing beef, poultry, fish, fruit, produce and dairy in America, and without American goods and services being our number one manufactured and selling items, America has created a dangerous and significantly elevated risks to national security, national economic security, and national public health. Some people may believe that these claims are overstated, but by not routinely monitoring Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CEVs) or other security relevant alerts, such as end-of-life of machinery is how the Oroville Dam Crisis occurred in 2017. Other crises that have occurred due to neglect of critical infrastructure is the 2025 Palisades fires because Southern California ran out of water, when they are located next to an ocean, and they could have simply created desalinating plants to help with the water shortage. The water is so plentiful that it is currently eroding land and causing homes to fall into the sea. #RandolphHarris 19 of 23

The American government should know all exploitable vulnerabilities and fix them prior to the situation becoming a crisis. Failure to take such mitigating actions is dangerous and significantly elevates risk to national security, national economic security, and national public health and safety. The American government must understand that significant time and resources must be invested in America. They must also encourage corporations to plan for both mitigating safety vulnerabilities in the short term and eliminating them in the long term. For instance, a company might begin by reaching out to the federal, state or local government and requesting tax incentives to provide security to dangerous communities, to help the government repair bridges and potholes. America needs an approach to eliminate safety vulnerabilities in American cities. There needs to be a road map by the end of 2025, outlining a prioritized approach to eliminate crisis situations in America. There is enough money to send aid to foreign nations, but the American government does not have enough money to care their infrastructure, provide adequate resources, nor end the affordable housing crisis. Nor is there enough money to fund other national critical functions (NCFs). These bad practices of putting America and Americans last is considered exceptionally risky, particularly to national security, national economic security, and national public health and safety. In 2024, Americans spent $100 billion on Japanese cars. #RandolphHarris 20 of 23

In an effort to help America pull through the massive national deficit, please buy American made cars. American made cars used to be the envy of the World and because American car brands are offering a wide range of options, from family SUVs to electric vehicles and luxury sedans, we are now seeing a resurging interest. American made cars are equal or superior to those made overseas. The Chevrolet Trax, for instance, is a well-designed, fuel efficient, and safe SUV. And as you know, there is no better car on Earth than 1950-1970s American Muscle Car. Americans make sure superior product, but we are buying things from other nations. American food imports have risen by 300 percent since 1999. American farmland declined by nearly 20 million acres between 2017 and 2022. As of 2022, there were 880.1 million acres of land dedicated to farming, compared to 900.1 million in 2017. The data shows there are now little more than 1.9 million farms in the country.  Americans and American corporations spent $136 billion on food and beverages from other countries. It is a national security risk to lose American Farms and farmers. If there is a war, and most of our meat, produce, poultry, dairy, and fruit is coming from foreign counties, we stand the risk of starving. With war breaking out all over the World, in these uncertain times, it is very important to bring American farms back. Las Vegas is running out of buildable land and is expected to reach its maximum number of homes in 2032. So, home prices are expected to rise dramatically. #RandolphHarris 21 of 23

Additionally, State Farm did ask the California Department of Insurance if they could raise homeowner insurance rates by 22 percent, but this request was denied. However, in 2022, California Govenor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 1107, also known as the Protection California Drivers Act, into law which increases the minimum auto lability limits for bodily injury to $30,000 per person and $60,000 per accident. Senate Bill 1107 also increased the minimum liability limits for property damage to $15,000 per accident and the DMV deposit for uninsured drivers to $75,000. The bill went into effect on January 1, 2025. This means that drivers with existing policies with lower limits will renew at the new minimum limits on or after January 1, 2025, and insurance premiums could increase by as much as 54 percent. America is in a state of crisis right now because of mismanagement by democrats. If elected for an unprecedented third term, to make housing more affordable and to offset the cost of homeowner’s insurance and auto insurance, President Trump plans to abolish property taxes. Much like the land crisis in Las Vegas, we could also run out of land to farm and will not be able to grow or cultivate our own food. We can protect American farmland and support American farmers by buying American made beef, poultry, dairy, and produce. Also, country of origin labeling is very important so Americans can know where their food is coming from and have the ability to support American farmers and ranchers. As money flows, it influences further investment. Save the land that sustains us by protecting American farmland. Once the land is built on, we lose it forever.  And in the future, there may be food wars. Also, to ensure that we have farmland and buildable land for future use, we need to start limiting the number of people allowed to immigrant to America. Perhaps with the immigrants we do allow into America, there needs to be a diversity program to make sure we have a population that equally represents all races of people. If Americans continue to spend money on American products, then more need to be made to keep up the inventory. When investors notice these goods are selling, it gives them the confidence to pour more money into that local business. It shows that people want these goods made in America and pressures investors to keep these goods and services in America. The jobs stay here, the business stays in American, wages naturally increase, and more money is invested to keep up with demand. This reduces the burden on the taxpayer. #RandolphHarris 22 of 23

When you support American businesses, that money stays in our economy and can help to reduce the national debt. The government creates debt by borrowing from businesses in the private sector or from foreign countries. It also increases the national debt by spending more than it gains in tax revenue in a fiscal year. When people shop locally, more tax money stays in the economy and goes to the government. This way, it keeps more money in our national economy and keeps more jobs located in American which also sends more taxes to the government, which can again help to reduce the national debt. When you buy foreign goods, these companies usually have lighter tax loads or exemptions, meaning less money for the nation debt, plus you are helping to strengthen these foreign nations by send more money overseas. Buying American made products is also better for the environment and helps to reduce the carbon footprint because these products do not have to travel nearly as far. Furthermore, American companies and manufacturers are held to much higher standards in regard to pollution. American companies have to be more careful about air, land, and water pollution and have proper ways to dispose of waste. Moreover, please remember to respect law and order and treat your elders with the utmost dignity and kindness possible. And take your education seriously so that you will be successful in life and make your family proud. It is inborn in the human minds to wish to know. If this begins with the endless surface questions of a child’s curiosity, if it continues into deeper questions of a scientist’s probing investigation, it cannot and does not stop there. For the higher part of the mind will eventually come into unfoldment, that union of abstract reflective thought with mystical intuition, which is true intelligence, which needs and sees a view of the whole of things. And so, the knowing faculty enters the realm of philosophy. As a reminder, parents, pleasure teach your children love America and be patriotic citizens and to buy goods and services made in America. It is also important to respect law and order and treat your elders with respect. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic, for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. #RandolphHarris 23 of 23

The Winchester Mystery House

Experience an unforgettable journey back to the time of kings and queens with this entry ticket for The Winchester Mansion in Santa Clara, California which was the residence of Sarah L. Winchester. Take advantage of this fascinating experience. After tour, there will be time enjoy the mansion’s splendor at your own pace. You might even discover secret passages.

Please come and enjoy a delicious meal in Sarah’s Café, stroll along the paths of the beautiful Victorian gardens, and wonder through the miles of hallways in the World’s most mysterious mansion.

For further information about tours, including group tours, weddings, school events, birthday party packages, facility rentals, and special events please visit the website: https://winchestermysteryhouse.com/

Please visit the online giftshop, and purchase a gift for friends and relatives as well as a special memento of The Winchester Mystery House. A variety of souvenirs and gifts are available to purchase. https://shopwinchestermysteryhouse.com/

The Winchester Mystery House is full of surprises. What was your favorite, “Oooh!” moment during your visit at the mansion? (And for those of you who still have to check it off your bucket list… we will hopefully see you soon.)  https://winchestermysteryhouse.com/

This mansion not only provides a luxurious lifestyle but also offers a chance to immerse oneself in the timeless beauty and cultural heritage of what some call Winchester Valley, making it an exceptional residence or an exquisite retreat in the heart of California. This stately property presents itself in an absolutely spectacular, dreamlike manner. With every tour, every purchase, you are contributing to the preservation of this privately owned estate. Ever wish you could go behind the ropes and explore the mansion freely? You can with our virtual 360 tour! This online tour lets you wander through the home at your own pace and admire every intricate detail up close ✨ Only $8.99. https://360tourwmh.com/