Please Don’t ASSume

I’m sure you’ve heard the old saying, “Please don’t ASSUME.  It makes an ASS of U and ME.”  Lately, I’ve noticed an ugly trend by certain people to dismiss others with different political views with a variety of horrible labels.  These assumptions are totally untrue in my case, and I am willing to bet equally unfounded in the case of the majority of people that want to defend the American Constitution as written and do not believe that Capitalism is inherently evil.

Assumption #1:  Capitalists are racist. Because our current President is half black, all of a sudden anyone with a different ideology is racist.  Did we all change our beliefs because he became President?  I hardly think so.  The racist word is usually tossed out whenever it becomes too hard to defend an issue.  It’s a cop-out, and racist in itself.  I must admit, though, that while I’m no racist, I am prejudiced.  I’m prejudiced against racist idiots, and low-lifes that abuse the system.  And these idiots come in many shades and hues.

Assumption #2:  Capitalists are rich greedy pigs. Most of the people I know that believe in capitalism are ordinary middle-class citizens.  They get up and go to work, save for their kids’ education, and donate their time and money to good causes.  As a matter of fact, an overwhelming majority of  truly wealthy Americans, our Hollywood elite, are the ones most vocal against our capitalistic system which has made them so wealthy.  If they really feel so strongly about the evil of capitalism, why don’t they sell their multi-million dollar mansions, quit flying first class, and redistribute their wealth to people that actually get their hands dirty at work.

Assumption #3:  Capitalists are unfair. This is a ridiculous assumption.  The very premise of capitalism is fairness.  You reap what you sow.  If you work hard, you can better yourself.  You will be rewarded for your efforts.  What is unfair is taking from those that are willing to work hard and/or educate themselves, and giving the fruits of their labor to others that are not willing to contribute or work hard.  There will always be those that can’t take care of themselves; those are the only ones that should be taken care of.

From Red To Blue

I try to be a good little Capitalist.  I really do.  I believe in Capitalism.  In its purist form, it most efficiently meets the needs of the people.  Good products are desired; good producers are rewarded.   Throw in a few rigorously enforced laws to ensure product and worker safety and environmental protection and we have our own little Industrial Garden of Eden.  Busy workers providing safe products to happy consumers.  Job seekers free to come and go, paid exactly what their ambition and skill level are worth.  I tried to do my part today to keep those idealistic wheels turning.

I’ve had a 10% discount coupon for Home Depot hanging on my kitchen bulletin board for weeks.  It expires later this week.  I’d like to upgrade my rusty old patio table and chairs.  I’d like to buy a couple more of the really nice chaise lounge chairs I splurged on a couple of years ago.  We want to take advantage of the energy credit and buy a more energy efficient basement door.  I wanted to help the economy and spend, while getting some good deals with clearance sales and my coupon.  I even managed the impossible — to drag Big Daddy shopping to help me lug the goodies home!

The private sector did not end up getting any of my money today.  I found one chaise lounge made exactly like the two I have, and would have eagerly bought it, but they changed the color scheme and it wouldn’t match.  The selection of table and chairs was meager, and of course, in the preferred color scheme of this year, which seems to be black.  The couple styles of doors they carried did not have a window that would look good with the windows on our garage doors.  I couldn’t even find a wooden picture frame at Target that wasn’t black.  We left both stores empty-handed, except for the coupon that was begging to be used.

Instead, I supported the public sector with my hard-earned funds.  I was trying not to burn out my brakes cruising down the hill that leads out of our plan earlier in the day.  The cop said I was doing 41 mph in a 25 mph zone.  I told him it’s really hard to go 25 mph down that hill.  I knew he didn’t much care but he was very nice about it.  He said  he was only going to cite me for failure to obey posted traffic signs instead of a regular speeding ticket, which would save me about $50 and not give me any points against my driving record.  It was my very first traffic ticket.  Big Daddy said I was lucky to have gotten off so easy, but it was better when I was young and cute and got off with a verbal warning.  The only ones that seem lucky to me are the ones who are getting my money:  $10 to EMS, $30 to Medical Care Availability and Reduction of Error Fund, $10 to Judicial Computer Project/Access to Justice, “costs” of $34.50, while the fine itself was $25.  There is no such thing as a bargain in the public sector.

Mulling Over The World’s Problems

“We always did feel the same, We just saw it from a different point of view…” – Bob Dylan from Tangled Up In Blue

I get so annoyed sometimes when people, often older people (like my mom), go on and on about how horrible the world is, and that things were never this bad before.  Like somehow, all of a sudden, human nature has mutated into some unrecognizably evil force.  Do these people forget their history lessons?  Eons of torture, human sacrifice, slavery, and subordination are part of human history.  It all still exists today, but this generation of humans didn’t invent it.

Then again, I look at things today and have to acknowledge that a lot of things really suck.  A lot of the problems in the United States today are due to the culture of irresponsibility.  Fathers (or mothers) don’t want to be burdened with child rearing, so they walk away.  People want instant gratification and rack up credit card bills they can’t ever afford to pay.  Criminals sometimes get away with their heinous crimes by blaming their sad upbringing; litigants often profit on their own carelessness by finding someone with deep pockets.  Meanwhile, the rest of us (and I hope we’re still the majority), are not rewarded for our devotion to our loved ones, our work ethic and self-control, or our honesty.  In fact, we’re left to foot the bill for the deadbeats.

For a while, I thought anyone left of center on the political spectrum was working toward the destruction of the American dream.  I still believe that the free market economy is the most efficient economy.  It rewards excellence, and allows those willing to work for their dream to reach it.  It lifts everyone up by encouraging production, ingenuity, and entrepreneurship rather than creating a disincentive for excellence by taking from the most productive citizens and rewarding those that would rather just have fun.

Many of the blogs I read and love are written by very intelligent people who also hate irresponsibility.  They care about our world and want what’s best for their kids.  Just like me.  But their politics are very different from mine.  I’ve come to realize that, except for the lunatic fringe on both sides of the spectrum, most of us are decent people.  Except for most politicians, we probably don’t have a hidden agenda.  We just want to live happy and productive lives.

Sometimes I hear people wondering what they can do to make things better.  From time to time, I’m probably going to offer my humble opinion on what we, as individuals, can do to counter this self-centered culture of irresponsibilty.  I see it as one of the biggest threats to life as we know it, and I need to speak out.   And I promise to do it in the most nonpartisan way.

Maybe We DID Lose The Cold War

I attempted to comment to this post from An Ol’ Broad’s Ramblings about the decline of education, but since I tend to ramble on myself about things I feel strongly about, it rejected my comment and told me I was sounding a bit too spammy.  But come to think of it, this thought deserves a post of its own.

First of all, I’m very happy that our society has evolved enough to seriously consider both a female (Sen. Clinton) and an African American (Sen. Obama) for President.  Of course, there are individuals that wouldn’t consider either.  And some that would discriminate on the basis of age, looks, or a host of other reasons.  But on the whole, we’re slowly realizing that people are people and should be judged by their character.

As a baby boomer, I remember the Cold War.  I remember people having bomb shelters and worrying that the Soviets would nuke us into annihilation.  We learned facts in school, from teachers who demanded our respect.  They taught us Math and Science and the History of our nation.  We also were taught manners, responsibility, and pride in our country and the freedoms we had here.  And we were a strong nation.  The leftists knew they couldn’t destroy us from afar; they spread their agenda from within.

They got their teachers into our schools and kept them there with their unions.  They weakened our education system by teaching touchy-feeley subjects and self-esteem exercises instead of the basics that would keep us technologically superior.  They tried to abolish competition and grading systems that would encourage true self-esteem through accomplishment and pride in one’s efforts.  Our kids were taught to be ashamed of our own heritage, while indoctrinated with global group-think garbage.  The gulags and human rights abuses were glossed over when discussing the “fairness” of wealth distribution.  Religious tolerance was only allowed toward religions that were a minority in this country so that Muslim awareness classes were fine while the overwhelmingly Christian majority were not even allowed to sing a Christmas carol.

This I guess is why so many of our young people are fawning over the Socialist agenda of Barack Obama.  They’ve been taught that Capitalism is a bad thing, synonymous with greed.  They were not allowed to see that competition spurs us on to greater achievements, creating things that will help solve global warming and cure diseases.  Creating wealth for our families creates jobs for others.  But a lot of these kids weren’t taught that.

We thought we won the Cold War when the Berlin Wall came down, and the Soviet Union dissolved.  We never could have pictured the day that the fruits of our labor would be distributed as our illustrious leaders see fit.  We underestimated our enemies.  And soon, we may have our own version of Chairman Mao grinning at us from the billboards of America.

Some Awesome and Totally Relevant Quotes

I made a list today of things I need to get done, and I just finished one of them. (Run 3 miles).  I’ve been lazy lately and so I actually had to walk a little up some of the hills.  But I was encouraged to see so many McCain/Palin signs up around the neighborhood.  And we are a very middle-class neighborhood.  No rich people here.  Just hard-working Americans who want our kids to be able to dream big and achieve and enjoy the fruits of their labor.

I’m taking the easy way out on another of the to-do’s on my list. (Post on blog).  I found these fantastic quotes on another blogger’s site, Political Housewyf, the other day, and I can’t get them out of my mind.  My favorites are in bold print:

‘If you don’t read the newspaper you are uninformed, if you do read the
newspaper you are misinformed.’
-Mark Twain

Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress . . .
But then I repeat myself.
-Mark Twain

I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a
man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.
-Winston Churchill

A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.
- George Bernard Shaw

A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money.
-G Gordon Liddy

Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.
-James Bovard, Civil Libertarian (1994)

Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries.
-Douglas Casey, Classmate of Bill Clinton at Georgetown University

Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.
-P. J. O’Rourke, Civil Libertarian

Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live
at the expense of everybody else.
-Frederic Bastiat, French Economist (1801-1850)

Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases : If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
-Ronald Reagan (1986)

I don’t make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.
-Will Rogers

If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs
when it’s free!
-P. J. O’Rourke

In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as
possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other.
-Voltaire (1764)

Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn’t mean politics
won’t take an interest in you!
-Pericles (430 B.C.)

No man’s life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session.
-Mark Twain (1866 )

Talk is cheap . . . except when Congress does it.
-Unknown

The government is like a baby’s alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at
one end and no responsibility at the other.
-Ronald Reagan

The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings. The
inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery.
-Winston Churchill

The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the
taxidermist leaves the skin.
-Mark Twain

A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.
-Thomas Jefferson

Some things never change!!

Hillary & The New York Times vs. America

If somehow Satan got on the GOP ballot, and Hillary Clinton was his Democratic contender, well, the New York Times has just convinced me that I wouldn’t be able to vote. They (surprise, surprise) endorse Senator Clinton, which just proves how bad she is for the country. Because the New York Times is as anti-life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as the Communist Manifesto. And so is Hillary Clinton. I always thought Clinton was a little bit scary with her ability to lie about things that were clearly on record. Her desire to reinvent herself and say just about anything she believes will put her in a position of power is beyond frightening.When you’re trying to buy votes to get into power, you will say anything to get there. Because if you are in power, you are not going to have to live with the consequences. You will be in your ivory tower, with your deluxe health care and your guaranteed retirement nest egg.

I understand why Hillary panders to the get-something-for-nothing crowd. But I don’t understand why so many otherwise good-hearted Americans still fall for forced wealth redistribution. Communism/socialism does NOT work. There may not be many homeless people in a socialist society, but everyone else lives in a shack (except for the ruling elite). There is no incentive to create, explore, and invent. The bottom of the rung is where everybody is because there is no way to rise above it. In a capitalist society, there are, of course, going to be people at the bottom. But a lot of times, these people are just starting out. They can have dreams of success and work hard to achieve their dreams. And for the people that are truly unable to achieve a better quality of life on their own due to unavoidable hardship or disability(rather than laziness or a sense of entitlement), the altruistic nature of a happy and fulfilled society will normally ensure them a better quality of life than that provided by “forced altruism”. Remember how generously Americans responded to so many disasters.

So thank you, New York Times for convincing me that my instincts about Hillary were correct. No system is perfect because people are not perfect. But it’s always better to have the individual choice to strive for perfection!