Who's Fault?

First things first... long time no see. Glad to have both of you that read this blog back for more.

I, like most everyone else in this country, have been reading about, listening to, and seeing the images and video from the Tucson shooting for the past few days. Its been the lead story in every news broadcast, blog, and news site on the web that you can find. Its a tragic story that should never have happened, and my prayers go out to all of the individuals who died or were injured and their families. It was senseless, and I hope that our judicial system does its job and sends the guy to an early dirt nap.

The problem now is just how political the debate has become over who is really responsible for one man's actions. I am still reading today how it is talk radio's fault for inciting violence through their rhetoric and propaganda. If we are going to blame any man's actions on what they hear on TV or on the radio, then why do we even have political discourse in the first place? It would be one thing if Glenn Beck or Neal Boortz was out telling people to go find their local congressman and get rid of them. It is entirely different when we have heated debate over policies and actions that we ABSOLUTELY HAVE to hold our elected representatives accountable for. The liberal pundits in this country want to use this heinous act of one person to put a leash on our ability to have real debate over the issues that matter most to the people of this country. The irony is that those on the left side of the debate use as much, if not more, hate speech than anyone else. They seek to control the debate not by merit of their words or beliefs, but by inspiring fear that their enemies in this argument are too dangerous to be allowed to speak.

I've got an idea... let's focus on the real problem here. In this case, it was a lone, deranged individual. It was not the Tea Party, not conservatives, or those who wish to limit the power of our imperial federal government. If a socialist did this, would I blame George Soros, Harry Reid, or any other liberal leader? (the answer is no, by the way) It was a tragedy that hopefully does not happen again. But let's not draw dozens of conclusions that have no ties whatsoever to what happened in Tucson.

Guns and the Media

On my commute into work the other day, I was listening to one of the morning shows go through their news stories. Typical weekday stuff, then I heard something that caught my attention. Georgia's legislature just passed a new gun bill that allows licensed gun owners to carry their piece into additional places, such as portions of Hartsfield Airport. The woman on the radio made a statement about how gun rights advocates were hopeful that the bill would be signed into law, but that 'gun safety advocates' were firmly against the passage of this bill.

Gun safety advocates? Classic work by the media to frame the argument the way they see fit rather than the way it really is. I would say most gun owners are the most stringent gun safety advocates I know. Study after study has shown how violent crimes are committed with unlicensed firearms and weapons in much greater number and frequency than with a licensed, owned weapon. The media would have us believe that gun owners are irresponsible wack-jobs and that this law would make ATL the wild west. I can't say I'm surprised, but I can't help but think of all the people who hear this broadcast and subliminally start believing the news the way it is presented rather than the way it really is.

Tax Day!!

Just wanted each of you four readers out there to know how special tomorrow is to our American culture. April 15th represents all that is good with America... yeah right. Another year, another tax refund, right? I'm sure you all are very excited about the money you have gotten or are about to get back from our imperial government and state government. But I want you to think about a few things as you spend that refund check or sock it away for a rainy day.

The government is not giving you anything (at least those of you reading this, as I am sure you are all taxpayers, not tax-moochers) with that check you get. That is payment you earned for your labors that the government has taken from every two weeks or so to pay for parks in Oregon, farm subsidies in Kansas, art museums in Boston, and conservatories in California. Maybe one day you will get to visit these fine places.

The top 5% of wage-earners in this country pay more than 50% of the tax revenues that good old Uncle Sam takes every year. I'm not a Mensa genius, but that sounds like they are already carrying quite the tax burden.

Imagine if your employer did not take out your taxes each pay period. Imagine every April that you had to come up with the total amount due to the feds. If you are in the 25% tax bracket, and make $75,000, then come tomorrow you owe nearly a $19,000 check to the IRS. And you wonder why they force employers to deduct taxes every pay period? Imagine the revolt that would occur if you had to pen that check?

Just a few random thoughts for you... So go spend that check while the dollar still has some value. Happy April 15th tomorrow!!

Watch Out

I was listening to some talk radio yesterday and heard a few soundbites from a press conference Obama gave the other day. He was talking about a number of things, most notably the Tea Party movement and its hoards of followers. Little did I know, but the core of the Tea Party movement is a bunch of Americans who only care about Obama's birth certificate and the idea that he is a socialist. These 'birthers' seem to run things on the conservative side of the fence... at least according to the White House.

It's simply a bait and switch tactic to get mainstream America to believe that those of us on the conservative side of the aisle are racist pigs who are convinced that Obama wasn't born in Hawaii like he claims. I have news for you Mr. President, I don't care about that. Neither do 99% of his constituents in the USA. His tactic to characterize those of us that are fed up with out of control looting and spending falls on deaf ears... at least to those with half a brain or more. He and his staff know that if this conservative uprising can be classified as radical and hate-filled, then it can be thrown off course as fast as it got started. What scares me are those idiots on our side of the fence that will make statements and act in ways that prove the Prez to be right. And then the media will have a field day stereotyping anyone of us who opposes this unsustainable agenda as radical racists... and it could work for them.

Its important that those of us who do speak out on the issues do so based on fact. The great news is that logical decision-making is what conservatives do best. We rely on cognitive ability to make decisions on what we do, who we support, and how we view our world. Get into a discussion with a real conservative and reason overpowers emotion. That's the problem with the left in this country. Very rarely can they make a logical argument to support their cause. They rely on the emotional context of an argument to carry them through.

This health care and economic stimulus plan are perfect examples. As a conservative, I cannot support Obama or the left's plans because they are unsustainable, over-reaching, and they hinder the real growth this country needs. "But people need health care" they'll say. "People need jobs" I've heard again and again. And on the surface, I agree. In that they are correct. But Pelosi and crew have let the emotions of the day fester and instead of enabling the private citizens and producers of this country once again put the economy on their backs, they create programs that over time will have negative impact on the country as a whole. All because it 'feels good' to help someone. The problem is all they are doing is enabling Americans to sit on their asses, do nothing, and loot from those of us who achieve.

The Pursuit

Last time I checked, nowhere in our Constitution did our founders expect or require the government to provide rights and privileges to one group by plundering from another. The Declaration of Independence mentioned three 'unalienable rights': life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. These rights are based upon the tenets of a free society that enabled its citizens to succeed or fail by their own hands. These rights do not infringe upon the rights of others by nature. Our Constitution provided protection for its citizen's rights(and states rights, for that matter) from other citizens AND from the federal government. In fact, the tenth amendment, which I will dig deeper into in a different post, states that rights not 'delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited to it by the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.'

Our founders found it necessary to protect citizens not just from themselves, but especially from their own government. They laid the groundwork for a nation that could provide endless opportunity for those who worked to achieve. This also means that the groundwork was laid for people to land flat on their faces in failure. That is the essence of freedom and liberty. Today, our government is taking this basic right away by robbing the achievers and handing out their wealth to the moochers of society as tokens to control them.

The key word to the phrase from our Declaration of Independence quote is PURSUIT. It is not a guarantee of happiness. It is not a guarantee of success. We are not free from failure and we never will be, regardless of what our esteemed President may lead us to believe. Furthermore, we are enabling massive numbers of citizens to exist solely to loot from their neighbors. And the saddest part is that they can do it legally.

This did not start with ObamaCare, but this law brings to light many facets of today's America that are so wrong and detrimental to our lasting success. Without a reward to be had, who is going to pursue? Who is going to achieve? We are being rewarded for laziness, incompetence, and stupidity. We are providing the foundation for my generation to step into our most productive years robbed of any reason to do more than we are, because our efforts will be rewarded by being stolen from us.

We do not need our government to protect us from failure and hardship. It is an impossible task, and it has never been their job. Our leaders today would have us believe that this health care bill and others like it will make our lives perfect and easy. Many are going to learn the hard way that this is simply not true or feasible. Better late than never I guess.

Atlas Will Shrug

So now that our President has signed into law the monstrosity that is ObamaCare, our nation is going to move into the future with great uncertainty facing all of us. I have listened to pundits from both sides argue about the effects this bill will have on our economy. I have heard the arguments about the right to healthcare and the need for all of America's citizens to be insured. I have no idea how this is all going to play out in the long run, but I do know that we have taken a major step towards removing one of our most basic tenets of our American society and culture... the belief that you can achieve through your own means your own life.

This bill represents more than healthcare change. This represents a fundamental and seismic shift in the role our imperial government will play in our everyday lives and decisions. Don't be fooled by the rhetoric that this is about 'helping people in need'. The men and women in Washington are smart enough to understand that handouts = votes, and votes= power. The irony is that the biggest losers in this whole song and dance are going to be the lower class, underemployed workers and laborers. H.R. 4872 states that by 2014, businesses that have employ 50 or more workers will be subject to fines if they do not provide 'affordable' coverage to their employees. Faced with this business decision, a business owner has an easy choice. Don't get bigger. Growing businesses in fast-paced industries will decide to stay small to avoid the fines and bureaucratic red tape that will come with expansion. Inventors, creators, and those that have put the economy on their backs over the past 240 years will choose to harbor their wealth elsewhere. These are smart business decisions, and they have every right to do with THEIR money and resources as they choose. And when they choose to stop producing, our economy, and therefore our culture as we know it, is going to come to a screeching halt.

I recently completed 'Atlas Shrugged' by Ayn Rand. She wrote the book in 1957, but this epic could have been written in 2010. The similarities are beyond eerie, they are absolutely scary. And in this book, the producers of America 'disappear' because they no longer have the opportunity to create. The central government has taxed and cheated and manipulated the laws into such a state that these leaders of industry no longer had reason to take risks and create. The men and women carrying the load of driving growth and innovation simply shrugged that load off.

Rand saw the writing on the wall 53 years ago. Its time we all take a minute to realize where this road is heading. This bill and the policies of this administration are curtailing our rights and limiting the opportunity for America to continue as the world's greatest society. America has been great because we have had the power to succeed or fail by our own merit, not by the redistribution of wealth. And even if you believe that people need help when they are down, this method of redistribution only reinforces their belief that they can't succeed on their own. And on top of that, the cost is unsustainable and too great for our economy to bear.

It will be interesting to see what transpires on the political front over the summer and into the fall election season. I believe this vote has triggered a conservative eye-opening the likes our liberal leaders have never seen. They have no idea the can of worms they have opened.

GM and the Imperial Federal Government

Looks like GM is headed for the toilet, as bondholders decided yesterday that they would not accept an offer to convert over $27 billion (yes, billion, with a b) into a 10% ownership stake in the company. They needed 90% approval from the bondholders, and the story in USA Today said that they got 'considerably less' in approval. Can't say I am surprised. You know its a bad sign for the company when people holding debt are too leery to convert any of it into an equity position. If I was them, I probably wouldn't either. And that is mostly because our lovely federal government is involved, taking a stake in the company on behalf of all of us as taxpayers. So we are going to bail out GM instead of letting them fail. Guess what people? We need cars. We always will. If GM goes away, someone else will step in and produce them more efficiently as demand dictates. Instead, we will continue to prop up a failing company with taxpayer money and continue to support a federal government policy to keep idiots in business. In my humble opinion, its all about the union, but that is another story that would take all day.

On a separate note, I am absolutely enthralled with the NBA conference finals right now. I hate the NBA and most of what it represents, but the defense and hard-nosed play comes out in the postseason, and the conference finals have been great, aside from one thing... the officiating. If I hear anyone say that the refs don't have an agenda, I will immediately label you an idiot. Certifiable. I'm sitting here watching the Cavs-Magic in game 5 and I have had to just laugh about 15 times at the calls. LeBron-Kobe in the finals is the mandate, and the refs are doing everything they can (especially in the East) to make sure it happens.