My feelings about rain began when I was a kid. We ranched on the sagebrush plains of eastern Montana and during the 15 years we called Ingomar home we droughted out twice. I was too young to understand the emotional toll on my father as trucks carried our cows to greener pastures, but I have since learned the cow business is not the place for the faint of heart. Fortunately, I also remember the euphoric times when it did rain and I watched Dad stand on the front porch sucking in every glorious moment knowing grass would follow thereby keeping our operation afloat another year. Hence, even 50 years later, when it rains I’m smiling on the inside.

I must admit, the rains of last spring tested me. Although I kept my thoughts to myself, there were moments when I wondered if the rain would ever stop. The grass on the butte behind my house, grass which I never expected to ever grow above my ankles, was waist high and still growing. July came and just like every year since God created heaven and earth, the rains stopped, the grass turned brown and the coffee shop conversation flipped from floods to fire suppression. The summer heat has not been extreme and on July 19th Billings set a new official weather record. It has been over two years since the temperature broke the 100 degree mark. As we dried our way into August, once again I began to wonder if it would ever rain again. Then it did.

Thursday evening the trophy wife and I were fixing dinner as we watched the heavy clouds swallow the east face of the Beartooth Mountains. Getting darker by the moment, this was not going to be a quick summer cloudburst. Instead, the air felt like it was going to set in and really rain. As the drizzle started, I found myself standing on my new porch sucking in every glorious moment knowing fall grass would follow the rains. Rain, especially August rain, brings a peaceful optimism to those weary of battling the summer heat. It is as if God is reminding us there is a reward as we near harvest; be it grass, calves, corn, wheat, or sugar beets. There is always hope and this brings me to my point.

American liberty is trapped in a century long drought. The wealth redistribution principles of Marx infected our nation in the late 1800s and political party “A” wholly endorses that philosophy. Sadly, the cocktail caucus of political party “B” wholly endorses the principle of compromise so a majority of elected officials think the proper function of government is to take from each according to their deeds and give to each according to their needs. Pandering to voters with other people’s money is so intoxicating the small liberty caucus of party “B” is freedom’s last line of defense.

Program after program has imprisoned the producing class in debt, the non-producing class in dependency while the ruling class jets from coast to coast on golf vacations. America is rapidly becoming a two tier nation; the ruling class and the unwashed rendering it nearly impossible to move up the ladder. Because I was raised in the cow business, I am hopelessly optimistic, so I think eventually the majority of Americans will join the liberty movement viewing government and its ruling class just as our founding fathers did in 1776. When we finally stand up and embrace freedom over freebies the ruling class will shrink into the shadows. Once again America will be free. When that day comes I imagine it will feel like an August rain and I expect to be standing on my porch sucking in every glorious moment.