Last week the United Nations and a host of world politicos demonstrated what they are good for. Pomp and rhetoric. Libyan leader Moamar Gadhafi in his flowing robes shook his fist at the Westernized world and at the UN itself for disregarding decades of conflict between smaller nations. Our own President suggested that anti-Americanism was almost axiomatic or a given in most parts of the world based on US unilateral behavior. Funny, Mr. President... wasn't it your side of the political spectrum that floated that canard in the first place? How convenient for you now that you plead your case to the UN for a new world order based on cooperation. How is that "cooperation" going at home? And Mr. Gadhafi, the US is very concerned with civil unrest through out the world, but if every response we take to remedy these situations is wrong in foreign eyes what is our motivation to intervene in a damned if you do - damned if you don't situation? Go in alone, we are acting unilaterally without world consensus. Go in multi-laterally and we are forcing Western values on the world by the point of a sword.
Obama's Lesson
Obama has no doubt learned a good lesson in international relations in his short tenure. That lesson is that no matter what you do on the international stage it is never the right thing to do nor is it ever enough. That is because international affairs proceed in a state of nature, or every nation for themselves. There is no altruism in international politics. By the way this "lesson" that Obama is just now learning is Political Science 101 for your incoming college freshman.
Our Lesson Learned
If you voted for Obama for any reason other than the color of his skin, AND you have some capacity to be intellectually honest with yourself you have just learned or are now learning a very valuable lesson. A politician's rhetoric void of verifiable action is absolutely worthless no matter how sweet and enticing his/her message. If you are the voter I just described you were sold a bill of goods. One that included "hope" and "change" and "unity". Where is that? Our allies that were teaming with joy at the prospect of an Obama era have all but discounted Obama as a charlatan that lacks any political power to accomplish his lofty rhetorical agenda and are quickly hedging there bets by aligning with Russia and China. The same opinion makers that called Bush a "cowboy" are now calling Obama hollow and impotent. (I would normally discount Europe's opinions on just about all our domestic affairs but we are sounding the same calls here at home on both the left and the right when it comes to Obama.)
Lesson Applied
Obama did not invent the political bait and switch, but he is the most recent and most egregious salesman. The political bait and switch works on both sides of the aisle. So how do we apply what we have learned? Number one we must insist on our country back. The one promised to us by our fore fathers and founders. The one based on a government system of checks and balances that works to prevent one level, one house, figure, or party from being too powerful and too big. We do that by voting Conservative candidates into office. I will even spot you a libertarian or two (Notice I didn't say "Republican." It is more likely that your vote will be "Republican" but "Conservative" is really what we are looking for.). You also take your country back by taking responsibility for yourself and your immediate community. Remember that when you are taking money from the federal government for roads, healthcare, education, law enforcement, municipal improvements, child care, job training, etc, etc.
So while our Dear Leader is courting the rest of the world towards his ever failing system (a Socialist system that Europe is fast voting from power for more conservative cadidates), remember that real change starts at home. You want a better community? Build it. Require it of others. Lead by example. Don't take the easy road and take the hand outs from the federal system. That course is what has us in this situation now. All of us are guilty of "taking the money". Not one of us goes without guilt. This prescription is easy to hand out and difficult to swallow but, it is the only cure.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Glenn Beck
Glenn Beck
I tell folks all the time when they stop me to say they enjoy my column to "come by the gun shop and see me." Every once in while someone takes me up on that. When they do we inevitably get into spirited discussions of politics, race, religion and every other "third rail" topic you should avoid if you want to make everyone happy. Well, I don't want everyone happy. I want everyone informed. I think Glenn Beck and I have that in common. He is not concerned with your happiness when it comes to politics, he is concerned with your knowledge.
That fact alone puts him at juxtapositions with the rest of the "media" that is based on serving your baser instincts rather than actually informing you. (Baser-instincts = 7 deadly sins by the way...) Rather, Beck just gives it to you right between the eyes. His loudest critics tell on themselves and confirm my supposition when they call him "loud", "dangerous", "paranoid" and "emotional". Rare is the word "wrong" or "incorrect" used. Because Glenn Beck is usually right, or at least headed in that direction.
Before you think I am a Glenn-head who listens to his radio show then rushes home to catch the TV show and has a life time subscription to his web page you might want to know that I never listen to his radio show and catch a TV broadcast about once a month. I base my opinion on Glenn from previous years of listening to him on the radio and the occasional tune-in on my part to his current show on Fox. It will also interest you to know that I generally detest Fox News, I think Sean Hannity is a media whore and Bill O'reilly is in the twilight of his relevance and career. I find most of Fox News patronizing, tabloid and blatantly one-sided. Just like MSNBC is to the left, so is Fox to the right. I am smart enough to know when someone's marketing plan is just to confirm my bias!
Glenn however I count as an anomaly. A welcome anomaly. He, like Rush Limbaugh, bases his ideas on some very simple and heuristic values. I think both of them are great, and I think both of them get it WRONG a good bit. Glenn lets his emotions get the best of him, and Rush lets his arrogance get the best of him.
Luckily the general message shines through. What is so anomalous about Glenn Beck is that he is as close to a true Conservative as I can find in the media. I also truly believe that HE believes every word he says. I can't say that about Hannity or O'Reilly. Glenn knows that Governments always grow no matter who is in charge and that its growth is accelerated when the Left is in charge, he knows that each individual state is sovereign and that our Federal government has grown past its useful size and is a tyrant over each state, he knows that less taxes are better than more and that more tax stifles growth of the private sector and rockets growth of government. He knows our founders created a base set of laws called the Constitution and that we have strayed far beyond their intentions and timeless wisdom. He knows these things because he is a Conservative. The fact that he is able to synthesis our current state of politics and express it back to us on TV and radio in a way that makes sense to us explains his success. Not because he is a fear monger. Not because his paranoia is entertaining. But, because he makes sense to us.
I invite you to tune in to Glenn on Fox News on occasion. Not just because I like him or that his program is good, it is and I do. But, because it scares the devil out of the left. The true Kool-aid drinkers on the left can't understand Glenn's appeal and they will label you "paranoid" and "bitter" and "clinging" to guns and God. Anytime we can scare the left because of their own paranoia about us, we should. Not just because it is fun, but because it sends them on a fool's errand of trying to pry us from our good senses. This give them less time to grow government, socialize medicine, indoctrinate children, and weaken our strategic defenses world wide.
I tell folks all the time when they stop me to say they enjoy my column to "come by the gun shop and see me." Every once in while someone takes me up on that. When they do we inevitably get into spirited discussions of politics, race, religion and every other "third rail" topic you should avoid if you want to make everyone happy. Well, I don't want everyone happy. I want everyone informed. I think Glenn Beck and I have that in common. He is not concerned with your happiness when it comes to politics, he is concerned with your knowledge.
That fact alone puts him at juxtapositions with the rest of the "media" that is based on serving your baser instincts rather than actually informing you. (Baser-instincts = 7 deadly sins by the way...) Rather, Beck just gives it to you right between the eyes. His loudest critics tell on themselves and confirm my supposition when they call him "loud", "dangerous", "paranoid" and "emotional". Rare is the word "wrong" or "incorrect" used. Because Glenn Beck is usually right, or at least headed in that direction.
Before you think I am a Glenn-head who listens to his radio show then rushes home to catch the TV show and has a life time subscription to his web page you might want to know that I never listen to his radio show and catch a TV broadcast about once a month. I base my opinion on Glenn from previous years of listening to him on the radio and the occasional tune-in on my part to his current show on Fox. It will also interest you to know that I generally detest Fox News, I think Sean Hannity is a media whore and Bill O'reilly is in the twilight of his relevance and career. I find most of Fox News patronizing, tabloid and blatantly one-sided. Just like MSNBC is to the left, so is Fox to the right. I am smart enough to know when someone's marketing plan is just to confirm my bias!
Glenn however I count as an anomaly. A welcome anomaly. He, like Rush Limbaugh, bases his ideas on some very simple and heuristic values. I think both of them are great, and I think both of them get it WRONG a good bit. Glenn lets his emotions get the best of him, and Rush lets his arrogance get the best of him.
Luckily the general message shines through. What is so anomalous about Glenn Beck is that he is as close to a true Conservative as I can find in the media. I also truly believe that HE believes every word he says. I can't say that about Hannity or O'Reilly. Glenn knows that Governments always grow no matter who is in charge and that its growth is accelerated when the Left is in charge, he knows that each individual state is sovereign and that our Federal government has grown past its useful size and is a tyrant over each state, he knows that less taxes are better than more and that more tax stifles growth of the private sector and rockets growth of government. He knows our founders created a base set of laws called the Constitution and that we have strayed far beyond their intentions and timeless wisdom. He knows these things because he is a Conservative. The fact that he is able to synthesis our current state of politics and express it back to us on TV and radio in a way that makes sense to us explains his success. Not because he is a fear monger. Not because his paranoia is entertaining. But, because he makes sense to us.
I invite you to tune in to Glenn on Fox News on occasion. Not just because I like him or that his program is good, it is and I do. But, because it scares the devil out of the left. The true Kool-aid drinkers on the left can't understand Glenn's appeal and they will label you "paranoid" and "bitter" and "clinging" to guns and God. Anytime we can scare the left because of their own paranoia about us, we should. Not just because it is fun, but because it sends them on a fool's errand of trying to pry us from our good senses. This give them less time to grow government, socialize medicine, indoctrinate children, and weaken our strategic defenses world wide.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
The Struggle to Stay Relivant
The Struggle to Stay Relevant
No US President exemplifies failure like Jimmy Carter. Most Presidents can point to something in their tenure as the most powerful man in the world and say "hey, I accomplished something." Carter can not. His presidency was marred from beginning to end with miscues and missteps. From giving away the Panama Canal (China now controls it.) to mishandling the Iran Hostage situation to the creation of the Department of Education, his single term presidency was a black spot on this country's history. (If you don't like my list, feel free to add double digit inflation, gas rationing, etc, etc.)
In his ever public struggle to stay relevant and to seem worthy of the office he wasted, Carter once again puts his foot in his mouth. Now he is suggesting that the majority of those who publicly oppose Obama do so with racial pretenses. I particularly take offense to that and so should you. Not because you have been accused of being a racist. No, that is standard fare if you are a Conservative, but because your first amendment right to free speech has just been attacked by a former President. Your ability to speak truth-to-power is now under attack by a man who put his hand on a Bible and swore an oath to protect that right.
I knew that when Obama was elected those that dared stand up to him and his political machine would be labeled racists. I knew Obama wouldn't come right out and say it, but his surrogates would. Apparently, Jimmy Carter is now an Obama surrogate. While we have been listening to the cry-baby hypocrites blast Joe Wilson for daring to speak truth-to-power and suggesting he has violated some kind of congressional "sanctity", the left trots out President Carter to call me a racist, and you a racist if you dare stand up for yourself. Apparently "sanctity" only extends to Washington politics and not to the United States Constitution!
The good news of course is this is an act of desperation. This my friends is the beginning of the end for Obama and his policies, assuming of course you and I continue to reject the lies and accusations and hold politicians to account. This is what the Obama presidency has become. A presidency that never got started. A president that misunderstood his mandate. A mandate that simply said, " don't be Bush." That is it, that is all. It did not say, restructure everything we know and understand about this country into a Socialist oligarchy. It didn't say out spend what Bush spent in 8 years as president in only 8 months. It didn't say try to force a center-right leaning country to the far Socialist left. These things were not his mandate. Now Obama in his own struggle to stay relevant has enlisted Jimmy Carter, the nations worst president, to carry water for him.
No US President exemplifies failure like Jimmy Carter. Most Presidents can point to something in their tenure as the most powerful man in the world and say "hey, I accomplished something." Carter can not. His presidency was marred from beginning to end with miscues and missteps. From giving away the Panama Canal (China now controls it.) to mishandling the Iran Hostage situation to the creation of the Department of Education, his single term presidency was a black spot on this country's history. (If you don't like my list, feel free to add double digit inflation, gas rationing, etc, etc.)
In his ever public struggle to stay relevant and to seem worthy of the office he wasted, Carter once again puts his foot in his mouth. Now he is suggesting that the majority of those who publicly oppose Obama do so with racial pretenses. I particularly take offense to that and so should you. Not because you have been accused of being a racist. No, that is standard fare if you are a Conservative, but because your first amendment right to free speech has just been attacked by a former President. Your ability to speak truth-to-power is now under attack by a man who put his hand on a Bible and swore an oath to protect that right.
I knew that when Obama was elected those that dared stand up to him and his political machine would be labeled racists. I knew Obama wouldn't come right out and say it, but his surrogates would. Apparently, Jimmy Carter is now an Obama surrogate. While we have been listening to the cry-baby hypocrites blast Joe Wilson for daring to speak truth-to-power and suggesting he has violated some kind of congressional "sanctity", the left trots out President Carter to call me a racist, and you a racist if you dare stand up for yourself. Apparently "sanctity" only extends to Washington politics and not to the United States Constitution!
The good news of course is this is an act of desperation. This my friends is the beginning of the end for Obama and his policies, assuming of course you and I continue to reject the lies and accusations and hold politicians to account. This is what the Obama presidency has become. A presidency that never got started. A president that misunderstood his mandate. A mandate that simply said, " don't be Bush." That is it, that is all. It did not say, restructure everything we know and understand about this country into a Socialist oligarchy. It didn't say out spend what Bush spent in 8 years as president in only 8 months. It didn't say try to force a center-right leaning country to the far Socialist left. These things were not his mandate. Now Obama in his own struggle to stay relevant has enlisted Jimmy Carter, the nations worst president, to carry water for him.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Why Parents are Right... and Obama is wrong.
"parents, don't you want your kids to be responsible, hard working, proud Americans?"
Of course. But how is individual "responsibility" taught via a collectivist (Socialist) agenda? The "hard working" in this country have been demonized. If you make lots of money it is now assumed you did it dishonestly and do not pay your fair share. When in fact, you actually pay far more than your share.
Amy, I can't KNOW these FACTS and know the agenda of the President and in good conscience just give him a pass when he reads a prepared speech to our school children that doesn't follow his agenda. It actually follows MINE. A conservative agenda. He didn't just stop being a Liberal or a Socialist or a Democrat. So why did his message go Conservative?
Why won't he deliver this message to the American people? Why not promote "individual responsibility" to the masses?
Because you will then have a HUGE cognitive dissonance. How can the President ask me to be personally responsible for myself, and then tell me I need to let him be responsible for my healthcare, education, retirement and litany of other things?
"teachers, don't we all strive to push our students to succeed, to be accountable, to fulfill their talents, dreams & possibilities?" Sure. But some of us also serve another master. Ourselves. Some of us are members of a teachers union that spends millions of dollars fighting individual parents rights to have their children educated as they see fit. They do this because they know that if parents get their way teachers who do not perform will be looking for other work. Sound far fetched? Why is school vouchers such a problem then? Why can't you and Jeff take the amount of money spent on your child by the state and local governments and spend it on a private school? Or a better performing public school? Why can't an inner-city mother take that same money and send her kid to a better performing school? Why? Because the Left and the teachers union knows that this spells the end to 1000's of teaching jobs.
You can't say what Obama said to the kids yesterday and also believe the liberal education agenda. You just can't believe in both.
"i just don't understand why people are so scared of letting their children hear our President's speech that aims to inspire & uplift our children."
Because little Suzy and Timmy will come home all wild eyed about our great President. When in fact, our President is shaping up to be a huge failure. Not hyperbole or an overstatement. Use all the old leftist arguments about Bush and apply them to Obama. Don't even use a "conservative" standard and he is one big fat failure. Remember we were spending too much in Iraq and Afghanistan on the wars? Well did you know that his and Bush's bailouts and stimulus are expected to reach at least 1.7 trillion (More like 2.5). The Iraq war will only cost about .550 Trillion.
Average unemployment under Bush... less than 5%... right now we are at 7.9 and rising.
Obama has the lowest approval rating of any President at this point in office.
Amy, kids don't know this. Most people don't know this. They know we are supposed to feel good because America elected a Black Man President. And you know what. Even I feel good about that. But the man, no matter his color, is a failure at President.
Those of us who see it now don't want our children used as pawns in his mess he created. Nor do we want them to mistake Obama as something he is not. Should our kids look up to him for what he accomplished as the first Black President. Yes. But, after that the man must be judged on his actions, not his words. His actions to this point warrant strident opposition.
You will notice I have lumped Bush in this mess with Obama. All politicians have culpability in this mess. Republican and Democrat. Both parties usurp the Constitution for short term gain leaving the next generation to pay the price. Obama is just the most clear and egregious. He is unapologetic for his Socialist policies. Which is why his approval rating is so low even with a media that is still very much in love with him. Our country is a Center-Right country. Not far left.
So, in closing. While his message was true and admirable, you can not separate his agenda and history from it. To do so would be like giving Bush a third term just because he said something you agreed with. Constitution aside, you wouldn't do that would you? You wouldn't forget all of Bush's failures and problems just because he said something that you now agree with. No, you hold him accountable for his past and his current agenda. That is all that most of these parents of these children are doing.
Of course. But how is individual "responsibility" taught via a collectivist (Socialist) agenda? The "hard working" in this country have been demonized. If you make lots of money it is now assumed you did it dishonestly and do not pay your fair share. When in fact, you actually pay far more than your share.
Amy, I can't KNOW these FACTS and know the agenda of the President and in good conscience just give him a pass when he reads a prepared speech to our school children that doesn't follow his agenda. It actually follows MINE. A conservative agenda. He didn't just stop being a Liberal or a Socialist or a Democrat. So why did his message go Conservative?
Why won't he deliver this message to the American people? Why not promote "individual responsibility" to the masses?
Because you will then have a HUGE cognitive dissonance. How can the President ask me to be personally responsible for myself, and then tell me I need to let him be responsible for my healthcare, education, retirement and litany of other things?
"teachers, don't we all strive to push our students to succeed, to be accountable, to fulfill their talents, dreams & possibilities?" Sure. But some of us also serve another master. Ourselves. Some of us are members of a teachers union that spends millions of dollars fighting individual parents rights to have their children educated as they see fit. They do this because they know that if parents get their way teachers who do not perform will be looking for other work. Sound far fetched? Why is school vouchers such a problem then? Why can't you and Jeff take the amount of money spent on your child by the state and local governments and spend it on a private school? Or a better performing public school? Why can't an inner-city mother take that same money and send her kid to a better performing school? Why? Because the Left and the teachers union knows that this spells the end to 1000's of teaching jobs.
You can't say what Obama said to the kids yesterday and also believe the liberal education agenda. You just can't believe in both.
"i just don't understand why people are so scared of letting their children hear our President's speech that aims to inspire & uplift our children."
Because little Suzy and Timmy will come home all wild eyed about our great President. When in fact, our President is shaping up to be a huge failure. Not hyperbole or an overstatement. Use all the old leftist arguments about Bush and apply them to Obama. Don't even use a "conservative" standard and he is one big fat failure. Remember we were spending too much in Iraq and Afghanistan on the wars? Well did you know that his and Bush's bailouts and stimulus are expected to reach at least 1.7 trillion (More like 2.5). The Iraq war will only cost about .550 Trillion.
Average unemployment under Bush... less than 5%... right now we are at 7.9 and rising.
Obama has the lowest approval rating of any President at this point in office.
Amy, kids don't know this. Most people don't know this. They know we are supposed to feel good because America elected a Black Man President. And you know what. Even I feel good about that. But the man, no matter his color, is a failure at President.
Those of us who see it now don't want our children used as pawns in his mess he created. Nor do we want them to mistake Obama as something he is not. Should our kids look up to him for what he accomplished as the first Black President. Yes. But, after that the man must be judged on his actions, not his words. His actions to this point warrant strident opposition.
You will notice I have lumped Bush in this mess with Obama. All politicians have culpability in this mess. Republican and Democrat. Both parties usurp the Constitution for short term gain leaving the next generation to pay the price. Obama is just the most clear and egregious. He is unapologetic for his Socialist policies. Which is why his approval rating is so low even with a media that is still very much in love with him. Our country is a Center-Right country. Not far left.
So, in closing. While his message was true and admirable, you can not separate his agenda and history from it. To do so would be like giving Bush a third term just because he said something you agreed with. Constitution aside, you wouldn't do that would you? You wouldn't forget all of Bush's failures and problems just because he said something that you now agree with. No, you hold him accountable for his past and his current agenda. That is all that most of these parents of these children are doing.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Waking Up Socialist
Waking Up Socialist
You don't actually wake up one day and *poof* you are a Socialist. Heck, how can you be something you don't even understand? Perhaps you are a Socialist via your habits and actions rather than your conscious volition? Perhaps the incremental behavior and choices you exhibit viewed in total make you a Socialist? Or perhaps you buy into the idea of a Utopia, an egalitarian society where fairness and equality rein supreme and are willing to make those who are in the way of that Utopia suffer until they are forced into equality?
Don't think you are a Socialist? Let's test you. When educating your children who do you rely on for guidance and funding, yourself or the government? When buying a home who do you rely on to set the interest rate, underwrite the loan (to any extent, great or small), protect your investment, yourself or the government? Going to college, do you pay for it or do you rely in some part on the government? Looking for a Job, how entangled is the government in that process? Do you receive unemployment? In your healthcare are you paying for it or is the government? Retirement, are you on Social Security? Are you relying on Social Security as your retirement plan? Chances are there is not one among us that can say that he/she does not look to the government for something that they could or should have provided for themselves. If you take the money you are participating in a system of Socialism. You are at the very least a small "s" socialist.
The idea behind government is to protect your freedoms, property and liberties. Not to force equality on the people. We are born equal, and from that day forward we cease to be equal. The concept of Socialism relies upon the flawed concept that we can all be more equal, or in the Utopia, completely equal. We can't be equal. None of us participates in life the same way. The goal of equality is a false goal. What is obtainable and more importantly maintainable is freedom. The end of slavery wasn't about equality, the civil rights movements were not about equality it was about freedom. All men are free. All men are not equal.
When freedom is maintained there is no government obstacle to economic advancement, no matter your race, gender or creed. When freedom is maintained there is no government obstacle to education, no matter your economic background or geographic location. When freedom is maintained the limits on your successes are based on you and you only. An individual. You are the arbiter of your life and designer of your destiny.
By natural design we form governments to protect our freedoms, property and liberties. We do this because we maintain common among us a desire for freedom, property and liberty. There is no need for each of us individually to expend effort and fortune protecting individually what we all seek to protect together. Therefore we institute governments to protect these individual interests via a common law. Note I said "individual interests" not common interests. In effect we give up to government limited and particular freedoms so that it may adjudicate and protect the individual when problems arise among us. We do this, we give these freedoms up to the government, so that the balance of our individual freedoms, property and liberty are protected.
Socialists substitute "equality" for "freedom" and "collective" for "individual". Freedom is sacrificed so that someone deemed less equal might be artificially made to be "equal." Property is seized and redistributed based on station, culture and patronage rather than labor and productivity. Liberty is redefined as a doctrine of fairness rather than doctrine of individuality, labor and production.
The problems our Nation faces now are not the product of Barack Obama or Bill Clinton or Nancy Peliosi. George W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, and Abraham Lincoln are as much to blame. Our problems are the result of incremental deviations from a plan for a "more perfect Union". A plan devised by men who had experienced tyranny, oppression and religious bigotry. That plan was purposefully clear in some places and purposefully opaque in others. In an effort to control the "elite" that inevitably populate government and speed up the natural inertia of all governments to grow, our founders instituted a system of checks and balances to fight that inertia. Socialism is like Crack Cocaine for governments. It puts that natural force a government exhibits towards growth into overdrive. It rewards the governmental "elites" much more than is normal to any governmental system, and it retards the access that the everyday man has to the governmental apparatus. Therefore, without knowing it, our founders were per se against Socialism. There is no line from the Declaration of Independence or amendment to the Constitution that mentions Socialism, but the entire meaning of both documents was to prevent the growth of government into what Socialism is, government-run everything.
In short, we have all become socialists in some part. Suckling at the government teat. It is easy to convince yourself it is ok. The government takes your money and then offers it back to you. After all, it is your money right? Is it? Really? Do you really think you are a net producer or a net user of government services, i.e. do you send the government more money than you use? Even then, if you are a net producer, is that the most efficient way for you to use your money? Give it first to the government? Enough is enough! The time is at hand to hold our politicians to account. If it is not enumerated in the Constitution then the Federal government has no business spending our money on it. Contact your State representatives and Senators and tell them NO MORE. Insist that the state of South Carolina stand up to the Federal Government and protect us from the collection of unconstitutional taxes and mandates. Action is at hand. You might have to get off your chair for this one folks! Or, you can remain in your chair and Obama will be with you shortly to take care of everything your heart desires.
You don't actually wake up one day and *poof* you are a Socialist. Heck, how can you be something you don't even understand? Perhaps you are a Socialist via your habits and actions rather than your conscious volition? Perhaps the incremental behavior and choices you exhibit viewed in total make you a Socialist? Or perhaps you buy into the idea of a Utopia, an egalitarian society where fairness and equality rein supreme and are willing to make those who are in the way of that Utopia suffer until they are forced into equality?
Don't think you are a Socialist? Let's test you. When educating your children who do you rely on for guidance and funding, yourself or the government? When buying a home who do you rely on to set the interest rate, underwrite the loan (to any extent, great or small), protect your investment, yourself or the government? Going to college, do you pay for it or do you rely in some part on the government? Looking for a Job, how entangled is the government in that process? Do you receive unemployment? In your healthcare are you paying for it or is the government? Retirement, are you on Social Security? Are you relying on Social Security as your retirement plan? Chances are there is not one among us that can say that he/she does not look to the government for something that they could or should have provided for themselves. If you take the money you are participating in a system of Socialism. You are at the very least a small "s" socialist.
The idea behind government is to protect your freedoms, property and liberties. Not to force equality on the people. We are born equal, and from that day forward we cease to be equal. The concept of Socialism relies upon the flawed concept that we can all be more equal, or in the Utopia, completely equal. We can't be equal. None of us participates in life the same way. The goal of equality is a false goal. What is obtainable and more importantly maintainable is freedom. The end of slavery wasn't about equality, the civil rights movements were not about equality it was about freedom. All men are free. All men are not equal.
When freedom is maintained there is no government obstacle to economic advancement, no matter your race, gender or creed. When freedom is maintained there is no government obstacle to education, no matter your economic background or geographic location. When freedom is maintained the limits on your successes are based on you and you only. An individual. You are the arbiter of your life and designer of your destiny.
By natural design we form governments to protect our freedoms, property and liberties. We do this because we maintain common among us a desire for freedom, property and liberty. There is no need for each of us individually to expend effort and fortune protecting individually what we all seek to protect together. Therefore we institute governments to protect these individual interests via a common law. Note I said "individual interests" not common interests. In effect we give up to government limited and particular freedoms so that it may adjudicate and protect the individual when problems arise among us. We do this, we give these freedoms up to the government, so that the balance of our individual freedoms, property and liberty are protected.
Socialists substitute "equality" for "freedom" and "collective" for "individual". Freedom is sacrificed so that someone deemed less equal might be artificially made to be "equal." Property is seized and redistributed based on station, culture and patronage rather than labor and productivity. Liberty is redefined as a doctrine of fairness rather than doctrine of individuality, labor and production.
The problems our Nation faces now are not the product of Barack Obama or Bill Clinton or Nancy Peliosi. George W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, and Abraham Lincoln are as much to blame. Our problems are the result of incremental deviations from a plan for a "more perfect Union". A plan devised by men who had experienced tyranny, oppression and religious bigotry. That plan was purposefully clear in some places and purposefully opaque in others. In an effort to control the "elite" that inevitably populate government and speed up the natural inertia of all governments to grow, our founders instituted a system of checks and balances to fight that inertia. Socialism is like Crack Cocaine for governments. It puts that natural force a government exhibits towards growth into overdrive. It rewards the governmental "elites" much more than is normal to any governmental system, and it retards the access that the everyday man has to the governmental apparatus. Therefore, without knowing it, our founders were per se against Socialism. There is no line from the Declaration of Independence or amendment to the Constitution that mentions Socialism, but the entire meaning of both documents was to prevent the growth of government into what Socialism is, government-run everything.
In short, we have all become socialists in some part. Suckling at the government teat. It is easy to convince yourself it is ok. The government takes your money and then offers it back to you. After all, it is your money right? Is it? Really? Do you really think you are a net producer or a net user of government services, i.e. do you send the government more money than you use? Even then, if you are a net producer, is that the most efficient way for you to use your money? Give it first to the government? Enough is enough! The time is at hand to hold our politicians to account. If it is not enumerated in the Constitution then the Federal government has no business spending our money on it. Contact your State representatives and Senators and tell them NO MORE. Insist that the state of South Carolina stand up to the Federal Government and protect us from the collection of unconstitutional taxes and mandates. Action is at hand. You might have to get off your chair for this one folks! Or, you can remain in your chair and Obama will be with you shortly to take care of everything your heart desires.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
What is SOOOO Wrong with Obama Motiva...
What is SOOOO Wrong with Obama Motivating Our Children to do Better?
Before delving into this subject let me first announce with as little fan fare as possible that I am not seeking the Mayor's Office. For personal reasons and because the current Mayor has announced he will not seek re-election I will not be running. Thank you to all that expressed your support. It is very appreciated. Expect me to be attentive to the goings on of the Council and Mayor and hold them to strict account.
This week Obama plans to address our nation's school children and ask them to be responsible for their education. He also plans to appeal to the children and ask them to help him, the President. On its face that doesn't sound so bad. I have mentored children before and the first thing I told them is that even at 13,14,15 years old they are responsible for their own education. So Obama and I don't differ too far from that. Or do we?
Obama might be asking the children to be goal oriented and to excel in school and to take responsibility for their own education, but that is not what he is really saying. The translated version goes something like this: "School children of the United States, look not to yourselves or too your local communities or to your parents for guidance, but look to the Federal government. Only we at this lever can decide for you what is good and fair and worthy. Your individual states are not well suited to provide an educational platform and your parents do not know what is best for you. Surrender to a least common denominator education that seeks first to lift under achievers to the ranks of the mediocre and drag down those that strive and show aptitude."
If Obama really wanted to help our nations children he would shut down the Federal department of education and send every penny collected for education last year to the states. No longer collect taxes for education and let each individual state grow and learn how to best teach its own children. You know, how the Founders envisioned. Rather, what we will get next week is a "kumbaya" moment for Federal intrusion into State and Individual affairs and decisions. Another inch down the road of Socialism. I invite parents to contact their teachers and principals and superintendents and DEMAND to know ahead of time what exactly Comrade Minister Obama has planned for the impressionable future of our country. It is not just what is said, it is also who says it. Context matters.
Our President has NO CHARTER in the Constitution to be presiding over the education of our children. Considering the first 8 months of his Presidency I see no reason to think his moves towards Socialism will not be targeted at YOUR CHILDREN. When will you say "enough"?
Board member's home numbers can be found here:
http://www.chesterfield.k12.sc.us/school_board.html
Superintendent
Dr. John E. Williams
E-Mail: jwilliams@chesterfield.k12.sc.us
843-623-2175
All Chesterfield County Schools
http://schools.mychesterfieldcountyschools.com/
Before delving into this subject let me first announce with as little fan fare as possible that I am not seeking the Mayor's Office. For personal reasons and because the current Mayor has announced he will not seek re-election I will not be running. Thank you to all that expressed your support. It is very appreciated. Expect me to be attentive to the goings on of the Council and Mayor and hold them to strict account.
This week Obama plans to address our nation's school children and ask them to be responsible for their education. He also plans to appeal to the children and ask them to help him, the President. On its face that doesn't sound so bad. I have mentored children before and the first thing I told them is that even at 13,14,15 years old they are responsible for their own education. So Obama and I don't differ too far from that. Or do we?
Obama might be asking the children to be goal oriented and to excel in school and to take responsibility for their own education, but that is not what he is really saying. The translated version goes something like this: "School children of the United States, look not to yourselves or too your local communities or to your parents for guidance, but look to the Federal government. Only we at this lever can decide for you what is good and fair and worthy. Your individual states are not well suited to provide an educational platform and your parents do not know what is best for you. Surrender to a least common denominator education that seeks first to lift under achievers to the ranks of the mediocre and drag down those that strive and show aptitude."
If Obama really wanted to help our nations children he would shut down the Federal department of education and send every penny collected for education last year to the states. No longer collect taxes for education and let each individual state grow and learn how to best teach its own children. You know, how the Founders envisioned. Rather, what we will get next week is a "kumbaya" moment for Federal intrusion into State and Individual affairs and decisions. Another inch down the road of Socialism. I invite parents to contact their teachers and principals and superintendents and DEMAND to know ahead of time what exactly Comrade Minister Obama has planned for the impressionable future of our country. It is not just what is said, it is also who says it. Context matters.
Our President has NO CHARTER in the Constitution to be presiding over the education of our children. Considering the first 8 months of his Presidency I see no reason to think his moves towards Socialism will not be targeted at YOUR CHILDREN. When will you say "enough"?
Board member's home numbers can be found here:
http://www.chesterfield.k12.sc.us/school_board.html
Superintendent
Dr. John E. Williams
E-Mail: jwilliams@chesterfield.k12.sc.us
843-623-2175
All Chesterfield County Schools
http://schools.mychesterfieldcountyschools.com/
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