Man is self interested. This may, or may not, cause concern.
In the history of all the world, man has been most prosperous when he has been most free.
Free to own property.
Free to sell his labor.
Free to sell his products.
Free to sell his land.
Only in those places where government restricts man’s ability to engage in free trade is he most enslaved.
Vote Obama. Vote dependency. Give away your life.
In battle and in ship wrecks the call is the same, “Women and children first.” We know it. We expect it.
And this is because we have come to expect that the women and the children are victims of the evils and brutality of the world. They are innocent and as such, should be spared the atrocities of life.
There are, however, people who fit in the NOT women and children space. These are people who are not innocent of said atrocities. Who are actors. Who willingly participate in the leveling evil and wickedness upon the world.
I sometimes think about what it means to be an American. What it means to say that I love my country. Or that someone is destroying it.
I think that I’ve come to the conclusion that being American means something different than merely being a member of the tribe that lives in this land mass. It means that you have embraced an ideal.
It means that you accept that individual liberty reigns supreme and is the ultimate sovereign. The individual citizen is not ward of the state, rather, the state is subservient to the individual. No other place on earth, in the history of the earth, has struck such an understanding, such a vision and a way of life as we have done.
We love our land, our mountains and rivers and valleys. The towns and the roads. The “things” in America. We love ’em all. But the fact is that you could transport all current Americans to Europe. And all Europeans to America. Nothing would change. The Europeans would be no more American than they were.
Think of this, no where else in the world can a man born in a foreign country move to another country and “become” one of them. I was born in Minnesota. I could move to Japan. I would never BE Japanese. Or German. Or Nigerian.
Only here can you BE American. If only you buy into the ideal that is America. Through hard work, personal sacrifice and dedication to an ideal, anyone can become an American.
We throw our arms open to all.
So when we say that someone wants to destroy America. Or change America. Or hates America. We don’t mean that he doesn’t care for the people, the land or the lives of the citizens. It’s that he hates what America IS. And what it IS is a mindset that differentiates us from all of the world. It is an attitude that I am responsible for myself. Responsible for myself but charitable to my brother.
THAT is what we mean when we say that people hate America.
I mostly try to boil problems down to their simplest form. This may explain why so many people feel I’m so wrong so often. However, in life I find that this way of looking at, and then handling, problems has been rather successful for me.
Over time it has become more of a lifestyle than a management technique.
My problem with the various groups of people who self identify as “liberal” is that they either stop at #1 or skip #2 altogether while failing to continue moving forward.
This sums up my feelings perfectly.
The Supreme Court will have heard two of the most contentious cases that have been heard in the Obama administration by the end of this week. The first, of course, was the case of Obamacare and now the second, the Arizona immigration bill.
I find it fascinating that people are looking at how the court will or should act not based on the legal standing or constitutionality of the laws in question but rather on the policy of the law.
Posted in Government, Politics: National
Tagged Arizona, Barack Obama, Immigration, Obamacare, Supreme Court of the United States
Arizona passed legislation in 2004 that would require individual present photo ID when they want to vote. In fact, Arizona went so far as to require proof of citizenship in order to vote. I’m trying to understand how that whole proof of citizenship thing would work. But clearly I’m in favor of demonstrating you are who you say you are.
At the heart of the case, apparently, is whether or not this requirement presents an undo burden on Latinos. And the court ruled it didn’t:
Arizona is entitled to demand that people present identification before being allowed to cast a ballot, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday.
In a split decision, the judges rejected arguments that mandating would-be voters show a driver’s license or other identification unfairly discriminates against Latino voters.
I can’t think of a circumstance where anyone, Latino or not Latino, would find difficulty in obtaining identification that had a picture on it.
I suspect we’ll see more of this in the near future.
I have been waging a continuous war on taxes and increasing them. I personally think that the best way to cause our elected officials to reduce the size of government is to reduce the amount of money we give ’em. Those on the left feel that the best way to balance the budget is to INCREASE taxes. Now, unless they are pure Marxists who simply will not accept any other form of economic structure than that of transferring money from the wealthy to the poor, what my friends are saying is that we need to increase taxes to increase REVENUE.
The more money IN, the better off the budget/deficit will be.
Sadly, for the second year in a row and for the last 24 out of 30 years, the left has succeeded in growing revenue. In 2011 the United States Federal government will have taken in $2.3035 trillion. This represents a 6.51% increase year over year 2010.
If I’m lucky I can achieve my goal of shrinking government in 2012 but it doesn’t look good. The Tax Policy Center is calling for a 2012 tax receipt increase of $165.1 billion in 2012. And it only looks to get worse year over year after that.
Sigh.
Posted in Economics, Economy, Government, Politics: National
This is an amazing experience. See, normally it’s the left drumming up “victim” scenarios and propping themselves up on the strength of the populist message with not an iota of policy behind it. This has resulted in the right trying to stand for the tough but correct choices required to manage a country. For ever it’s been the the democrats setting up these faux stories and then watching the republicans just whack away at vapor. Again. Again and again.
I’ve been amazed at how well it works, how enticing that “whacking” can be and then, finally, why the right allows itself to get stuck time and time again.
Now it know; it’s human nature. See, it’s happening again.
Posted in Elections 2012, Idiots on Parade, Politics: National
Tagged Ann Romney, Barack Obama, Democrats, Left, Linda Hirshman, Mitt Romney, Republicans, Right, War on Women
Without comment: