Product of my upbringing

I received an e-mail from my brother the other day, which he sent after being in Afghanistan for 5 days of a 365 day tour. We are not close, never really have been, but I am proud to be his brother nonetheless. The note has a line in it that exemplifies our upbringing; "Remember that I wanted to do this.  Don't feel bad for me or my family." That is the type of man my parents raised. No pity, no remorse, just getting the job done and supporting his family.
That being said, while he is doing his duty in Afghanistan, I will be doing mine on the home front. I am going to make sure that he has something worth protecting and that our kids have a country that they can be proud to live in. We are The United States of America, not the European Union, Red China, or any other collectivist nation on the planet. We are a nation of free men who intend to stay that way. The oath taken by military members includes "defend the Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic". While he is taking care of the foreign ones, I will deal with the domestic ones.
I am hereby serving notice to all of the feeders at the public trough, individuals and corporations, that you are on the list. You are domestic enemies of The Constitution and will be called out for what you are. For those of you that think that feeding from the same trough is acceptable, you make the list too.
For those of you that will be way too quick to play the race card, I would like you to consider the following; During a conversation the other night about people claiming that I might have a particular issue with people of a certain race, my son came up with one of the most astute statements that I have ever heard him make. He said, "Dad, anyone that knows you knows that you only judge people by the color of their work ethic". That will make a dad proud.
Those of us that believe that this country is great because of The Declaration of Independence and The Constitution are now serving notice to all of the domestic European Socialists, Marxists, and Statists in general that we are not going to allow this to continue any more. Hopefully, I can make my dad proud as well.

A note to the media race baiters

 You, along with all of the other progressive liberals, are afraid to discuss the real issue and find it much easier to play the Wallace, Duke, KKK, racist card instead of talking about the real issue here, slavery. The health care bill, along with its 1964 counterpart Medicare/Medicaid, are clear violations of the 13th Amendment of the Constitution. Whenever the product of another individual's labor is referred to as a "right", slavery is imminent. This bill forces the healthy and able to take care of the unhealthy and unable, it forces doctors to take government mandated payment amounts (say it with me, "wage controls"), and best of all, it forces individuals to purchase a certain level of health care or faces fines and imprisonment. That sounds like a 13th Amendment violation to me. Oh, wait, you are a progressive liberal which means that even though you talk a lot about rights, you have probably never read the Constitution or the Declaration of Independence, so let me help you out;

13th Amendment, Ratified 1865, Section 1 reads: "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."

Which part of what I mentioned above is not a violation of that law? What crime have I committed such that this does not apply? It is, as Ayn Rand puts it so eloquently, "punishment of the able for being able". Your comparison to the Civil Rights movement of the 1960's and the resulting legislation is not only incorrect, it is intellectually lazy. The movement in the 1960's was about true injustice and the legislation was to prevent one individual from infringing on another individual's right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness based on the color of their skin. That is very different from demanding that individuals purchase a product whether they want to or not. Note: I have consciously chosen not to elaborate on all of the government violations of private property rights associated with the Civil Rights Act, which had severe issues of its own.

By the way, before you even attempt it, this is not the same as automobile liability coverage. Those rules are in place to guarantee that, in the event of an accident, you have the financial ability to cover damage that has been done to another individual and/or their property. The more abstract way to look at it is that it is coverage to guarantee that you have the ability to compensate another individual when you accidentally violate their rights. That, sir, is the appropriate role of government, to protect the individual's rights. While I am enhancing your education, a couple of more general points; 1) The only indivisible minority is the individual, 2) There is no such thing as collective rights, only a collection of individual's rights, and 3) Racism is the most basic form of collectivism, which is why progressive liberals will not let it die, it plays right into their overall agenda.

If you want predictions of how this all eventually plays out, read Kurt Vonnegut's "Harrison Bergeron" or Logan's Run by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson. While you are at it, read William Graham Sumner's What Social Classes Owe to Each Other and Herbert Spencer's Man vs. the State. Those might have a chance of curing you of the social disease whose classical symptom is punishment of the most able.

Welcome to the End of the Beginning

Now that the progressives have put their pet legislation into place and think that they have won the fight, it is time to show them that we have not yet begun to fight.
Today, President Obama will sign into law, the great travesty known as the health care bill. It marks the single largest government expansion since the creation of Medicaid/Medicare and it doesn't take a genius to see how that program went. This will destroy real jobs and create more government jobs, it will destroy the individual's ability to make their own health decisions, and it will open the door for nanny state legislation like nobody has ever conceived. This is the single largest step toward socialism that has ever occurred in this country, which I remind you, was founded on the rights of individual liberty, not collective good.
But fear not, this is the time for the true patriots to stand up for what they believe. Refuse to accept defeat and make sure that your voice is heard. Do not let the media whores dissuade you with hearsay about what does or does not get said in large crowds or let the condescending political elitists chide you with their supposed victory. They may have won the battle, but we will win the war. We have truth (real factual truth, not the popular opinion crap) and justice (once again, the real thing, not some happy utopian construct) on our side.
Truth: As soon as you call the product of someone else's labor a right, you have crossed the line to slavery and/or involuntary servitude. I don't care if you are talking about the services of a doctor or the taxes being stolen from each and every American worker every day to pay for someone else's crap, it is slavery.
Justice: Justice being the receipt of what is earned, either positive or negative, is what is now due the political elitists in Washington. It is time to give them what they have so vibrantly earned, a trip to unemployment. Keep in mind that they all have lobbyist jobs lined up when we vote them out, so we have to focus on voting in individuals who believe in limited (severely limited) government as that is the only way to strip them of the power they so vehemently seek.

Quick update on Walt Minnick - Rep. ID(1)

In a previous post I had mentioned that Mr. Minnick was a Democrat that actually voted in favor of his constituents. I am officially and publicly withdrawing that sentiment. Open Congress has Walt Minnick listed as one of the co-sponsors of HR3590, the Senate version of the Health Care fiasco. I am disappointed that he duped me into believing that he was a real statesman and not simply another politician.
I will now do my level best to insure that he does not see a second term.

They must think you're stupid

Yes, I stooped so low as to use one of President Obama's campaign slogans as the title of a post, but nothing else fits quite so well. The leadership of the Democratic party is so enthralled with their health care bill that they are resorting to any means necessary to get it through Congress and onto the President's desk.
Senate Majority Leader Reid "amended" the bill that came out of the House of Representatives by replacing all of the text in the bill. Then he proceeded to buy votes of individual Senators by inserting "special dispensation" for states to insure that the appropriate senators would vote in the affirmative.
Speaker of the House Pelosi has stated "you'll find out what is in the bill after you vote for it". Has she lost her mind? A bill that takes over one sixth of the US economy to the tune of $1T and she doesn't want anyone to read it until after it's been passed. What happened to transparency? Any member of the House of Representatives that allows this bill to be voted on without reading it should be run out of office in November. I don't care which party they belong to.
Now, they are going for the "Slaughter Solution". Some under-handed trick to get the bill through the House of Representatives without it ever being voted on with some procedural gimmick known as the "self executing rule". Steny Hoyer said "I don't think any American, real American, out there is going to make a distinction between the two." when asked if the Slaughter Solution was an appropriate replacement for a full chamber vote. I have news for you Mr. Hoyer, most Americans don't like this bill and "real Americans" understand that the Constitution was designed to make it slow and painful for legislation to get through the Congress to insure that there was sufficient debate and discourse.
What we have here is a political class intent on controlling every aspect of our lives. Health care is their inroad to total control. Keep in mind that once they are paying for your health care, it is inevitable that they will start dictating what you can eat, how much you must exercise, whether or not you can smoke, and at what age you are no longer a "sound investment". Remember the book and movie "Logan's Run" where you were implanted with a timer when you were born and at the age of 35 or 40 your timer turned red and you submitted yourself to be "recycled". Pick up the book or rent the movie some time and see what nationalized health care eventually leads to. I intend to live until nature decides that I am done, not a politician.

The debate is over?

The statement "the debate is over" seems to be gaining popularity with the political elite in this country. It started with Al Gore and the global warming issue (notice it's now "global climate change") and now the president is playing the same card with health care. This is akin to a child having a tantrum, sticking their fingers in their ears, and going "la la la". It is not only childish, it fosters an environment of divisiveness and context dropping when attempting to have an honest debate. In this environment, anyone who disagrees with your position automatically becomes a naysayer, denier, or better yet, if you are a member of a recognized minority class, you get to play the racism card. It is simply not conducive to constructive debate. The definition of debate is "formal, oral confrontation between two individuals, teams, or groups who present arguments to support opposing sides of a question, generally according to a set form or procedure". That does not describe what we have seen to date on either of the aforementioned subjects since the opposing viewpoint is derided as opposed to being encouraged.
Let's start with the global warming crowd and their claim that the debate is over. First and foremost, scientific debate is never over. New data leads to new models which lead to new discoveries. Anyone who makes the claim that there is nothing left to debate is admitting that they have chosen to stop thinking, to stop integrating new data into the model, and to start acting based on emotion. Scientists, engineers, and anyone else who values the ability of the human mind should take offense at that statement, whether they agree with the stated conclusion or not, as it is an open statement declaring that you should quit thinking. It is akin to the Wizard of Oz; "pay no attention to the man behind the curtain".
More disturbing is the president's claim yesterday that the debate on health care is over when there was never an actual debate. The supposed debate was really a volley of out of context sound bites with no serious discussion of details or, more importantly, pretexts. The bill that the President, Speaker of the House, and Senate Majority leader are pushing has a price tag of $1 Trillion dollars. Let's put that in perspective a little, that is the combined net worth of the 373 richest people in America today (source: Fortune 400), or to make it more personal, $3278 per person in the USA. When you take that same number and apply it to number of households, which is the easiest way to account for children, it works out to $7182 per tax return. Doesn't really sound like much unless you are willing to have an extra $138 come out of your paycheck every week. How can you claim that you can spend $1 trillion of the taxpayer's money (that's right, it's ours, not yours) based on what I like to call "the sound bite tango" without a lengthy, open, and honest debate?
Bottom line is that politicians in this country gave up debating major legislation over 40 years ago with the last 20 years going downhill at an ever increasing pace. We have achieved the fears of The Founding Fathers where the political class is dictating legislation and appointing unelected officials with the power to make laws. This is a travesty and an insult to the electorate. The only way to save this country now is for all of the people who still believe that this is the greatest country on the planet because it was founded on the rights and responsibilities of the individual to get candidates who; understand The Constitution as written, and believe that it is their job to represent their constituents, through the primary elections. This is where the biggest hurdle for the true fiscally responsible politicians lies. The DNC and RNC both want to maintain the status quo where they get to dictate to the American people and line their pockets with lobbyist cash while they hand out favors. They do not want people of conviction in their congress, but it is time to remind them that it is our congress, not theirs.

I want a refund

A kind of multi-faceted posting this week with the common theme of money. Not just arbitrary money, but the money that we all earn going to work every day.
I would like to have all of my Social Security contributions returned to me in one lump sum. Just the 6.25% that I see come out every payday, then the 6.25% that my employer must put in can be held for funding existing commitments. Not only do I want a refund of monies paid to date, I do not want any future withholding from my pay. I will use that money as I deem to be most appropriate for my particular situation; save, invest, or spend, it's my choice. In return, I will not collect Social Security when I turn 65 and be a burden to future generations when I get older. I will plan for my own retirement and if I do not have enough money saved to live comfortably, I will keep working. I will not apply for Medicare either as I will be negotiating with one of the "evil" insurance companies for catastrophic care coverage that will extend until I kick the bucket. It is not the government's role to plan for my retirement, it is my responsibility. For the current generation of Social Security collectors, I apologize, but you were duped into thinking that the system was set up as a type of savings account, but it wasn't. As the baby boomers have started retiring, the system is paying out more money than it is taking in and the government has been dipping in to the kitty for decades. A significant portion of the national debt is "owed" to Social Security and since the debt keeps climbing, the system is broken.
While I am at it, I would like to see a place on my Federal Income Tax Return where I get to decide where my money goes. I would like to have the ability to decide how much covers defense, how much covers entitlements, how much goes to foreign governments, and how much goes to paying down the debt. If this were to happen, it could be used as a referendum for Congress to determine what should receive funding in the Federal Budget. I think most people in the United States are convinced that money goes to undeserving line items and this would be their opportunity to state their preferences clearly. Keep in mind that this means that the more taxes an individual pays, the more their opinion matters. The referendum needs to be a weighted average. Those who don't pay any taxes do not get to decide where the money goes.
I am sick and tired of the nanny state politicians thinking that they know what is best for the country and that spending money that doesn't exist will solve all of the problems. Anybody who has to manage their own lives understands that you can not continually spend more money than you take in. Some day the bills come due, yet the Congress does not seem to get it.
When the Congress and the President acknowledge that printing money only causes inflation (more dollars chasing the same amount of goods) and that the best way to stimulate the economy is to quit proposing more regulation and taxes, this country will be on the road to recovery. If they choose to maintain the trajectory that they are taking us on, we are in for a depression of historic magnitude. Inflation will skyrocket and all of the "green jobs" on the planet will not save us.
As Thomas Paine wrote; "These are the times that try men's souls." We are heading into the most trying time endured by most Americans alive today and our government is taking us their. Paine, in the same essay, also wrote "Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered: yet we have the consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph". It is time to take our country back from the egalitarians who have decided that they have all of the answers and know where our money, not theirs, should be spent.