America and her Wars

     Lets face it, out government loves war. Its sad to have to say but they have declared war on almost anything. Its a popular euphemism our government uses to say they are going to throw our money at a problem to eradicate it. The war on poverty! That's right, poverty better be scared because the government is coming after you. The war on drugs! Success, drugs have been eradicated. The war on terror! I know I feel safer already.
    1971 President Nixon declares a war on drugs. During his press conference he states that drug abuse is public enemy number one. Decades later, have we won the war on drugs? This is one of the most unsuccessful undertaking the government has taken on. Put aside the fact that the war on drugs is basically unconstitutional; how are we the people better served because of this war? Prison incarceration rates have rose dramatically since this war was declared. We have turned recreational marijuana users into convicted felons. America has the highest incarceration rate in the world, much of which can be directly linked to the war on drugs. And yet still, billions and billions of dollars spent later, people still use drugs. Who is the herion addict hurting when they inject heroin into their own bodies? Themselves! If it is their body, then how can the government regulate what they put into it. Admittedly, if that heroin addict robs a store seeking money to support his addiction, then incarcerate him for the robbery.
   In 1964 President Lyndon Johnson declared a war on poverty. Since this time our government has spent between 8 and 10 trillion dollars on the war on poverty. Each new president has added more to this cost. Clinton with 191 billion and Bush to 368 billion. Are there less poor today than in 1964? No. Today, we still have around 37 million americans living in poverty. All the wasted money for government programs that were supposed to help eradicate the poor, have in fact failed. They have only increased government dependence on these programs. We have seen generational poverty as a result.

   In September of 2001 President Bush declared a war on terror. Success in this instance can only be measured in terms of whose definition of success we look at. For terrorists, its been a success. For Americas, it has not. We have watched our civil liberties erode due to fighting this war on terror. So many have sacrificed liberty for the solace of temporary safety. They think this their duty as good Americans. Similarly to the other wars the government has declared, this one has no clear end. Who surrenders in the war on terror? There is an undefined enemy and no traditional battleground. In turn, our own government has elected to declare Americans terrorists and America a battle ground in the war. It seems to me that Americans have waived the white flag in surrender to our government.

  At the end of the day, when America declares war on something the victims seem to be the American people. These wars have not benefited any of us. They have kept us poor, jailed and blindly led some to give up their civil liberties. Maybe our government has declared war on Americans??

The Gift

I am a libertarian and most of my beliefs stem from this ideological slant. Many issues split the libertarian party as they do with other parties. Abortion is one of these issues. For most of my life, I am saddened to admit that I have fallen into the camp of pro-choice. I believed that this is a personal decision for a woman to make and that the government should not be involved in this decision. It was her body, her choice. However, slowly things started to look different for me. I began to realize that the government does participate in this decision through money given to places such as planned parenthood and with the decision of Roe vs. Wade. This essential told woman they had the right to an abortion. I struggled to find my meaning in support of a woman's choice.
I have heard the arguments..I made them myself for a long time. "If a woman was raped" etc arguments. I could not imagine what is would be like to be raped by someone and then have to carry a baby for nine months as a result. I truly feel for these woman. I have recently felt myself waiver in my beliefs though. I read a discussion recently where a woman argued her pro-choice stance by stating "what if the baby was going to be special needs or mentally ill in some way" This statement rocked my beliefs to the core. I had never even really thought about this idea. This is a disgusting sad effort at social engineering in my opinion. It is also a slippery slope. Who then is not fit to live? The deaf? The blind? The autistic? Anyone who has ever meant a special needs child knows that not only are they human, they are lovable and special and contribute to society.
I started to reflect on my belief system and I could not come up with a defense any longer for being pro-choice. I am pro-life. Who cares about a woman's right to choose...what about a babies right to live. All humans have a right to life at the most basic level. People can continue to argue the when does like begin conundrum? I do not think that really matters. A life is a life. The minute an egg is implanted, a life is taking form. What does it say about us, as a society, that we are willing to kill our most innocent? Regardless of the means of conception, the baby is innocent. If you cannot face raising that baby, for whatever reason, consider giving the baby to someone who wants to.
I reflect back to my own decision. This is highly personal, and I do not share this often with people. I became pregnant when I was just fifteen years old. Obviously this was not a planned pregnancy, and I should have been more responsible. However, children rarely are capable of truly appreciating the consequences of their behavior. I had people tell me that I would ruin my life and that abortion was not murder but something I should consider. They were worried that I would ruin my future.  People wanted me to think with my head..but I chose to think with my heart in this matter. In my mind, even though I considered myself pro-choice at the time, I could not imagine not continuing my pregnancy and raising my child. I heard his heart beat and felt  his movements. He was a life. Today, it is still the best decision I ever made. My son has enriched my life in only the way a child can. Being a mother has taught me more about myself than I ever could have imagined. Yes, it was hard and it changed the course of my life but I have no regrets. It was harder for me to finish high school..but I did. It was harder to work and attend college...but I am. In some ways, I hurt that he had to have a mother who was still learning and growing up with him. He has missed out on some material things I simply could not afford because I was too young to be settled financially. But he has never missed out on all the love and support that I give him.  No parents are perfect and kids do not come with instructions, no matter how old the parents are.  A child is not a burden but is a gift. How many gifts have we lost..How many more are we willing to lose?

Good Intentions- Unintended Consequences

The road to hell is paved with good intentions or so the saying goes. In general, when people do good for other people that is a great thing. Sometimes there are people down on their luck or struggling and because we are a compassionate and caring people we want to help them better their lot. Americans are some of the most charitable people on Earth, despite what you hear. When there is a natural disaster, we are first to help out. We give our time and money to those in need.
But what about when government has good intentions? Government takes money from one group of people and gives it to the less fortunate group regardless if the first group wants to help or not. Maybe at heart they have good intentions to help others but why force one group to do it. Moreover, they do not actually seem to know the solution to help others. Giving someone a handout does not help them, giving a hand up does. Government starts programs such as welfare with the good intention of helping those who need it. But there are unintended consequences.
For instance, some people do not go out and find jobs because they choose to stay on welfare. Couples may not marry because this will affect the woman's benefits. Leading to the father of this child to be less likely to be involved in the child's life. Minimum wage, as I previously discussed, was brought in the idea of good intentions. However, its unintended consequence is that it removes jobs for the very people it wants to help. Foreign aid is another one of those good intentions. Our government gives our money to another government to help out its people. But, rarely does this money ever reach the people in need in those nations. Other governments keep it for themselves well the people of their country live in abject poverty.
Good intentions usually begin because of the someones heart and compassion to help people. The government rarely knows how to do this efficiently. Their programs often leave people worse off, or dependent on the program. If the government stopped "helping" people would be better off. People would not starve in the streets or be without medical care. Before we had these programs this was not the case. Americans are generally good people who will help each other out. Many donate their time, money and goods to those in need. Private organizations could function through charity donations from people who want to help.  Governments good intentions often have unintended consequences they do not think about. We would be better served if the government got out of the "helping" everyone business.

Is our government filled with psychopaths?

The word psychopath sparks many images for most people. Most automatically picture someone obvious such as Ted Bundy or Dennis Rader. Of course, your assessment of these men is correct. However, there are the psychopaths that most do not think of when they hear the word. This would include doctors, lawyers, judges, CEO's and politicians. Of course, not all people in these professions are psychopaths but some are. Dr. Robert Hare believes there are about 2 million psychopaths in North America.
My question is, then, how many of them are in our government? The following list of traits are common among psychopaths: ( This list is derived from Dr. Hares Psychopath Checklist PCL-R)

1. Glibness/Superficial Charm

2. Grandiose Sense of Self-Worth

3. Need for Stimulation/Proneness to Boredom

4. Pathological Lying

5. Conning/Manipulative

6. Lack of Remorse or Guilt

7. Shallow Affect

8. Callous/Lack of Empathy

9. Parasitic Lifestyle

10. Poor Behavioral Controls

11. Promiscuous Sexual Behavior

12. Early Behavioral Problems

13. Lack of Realistic, Long-Term Goals

14. Impulsivity

15. Irresponsibility

16. Failure to Accept Responsibility for Own Actions

17. Many Short-Term Marital Relationships

18. Juvenile Delinquency

19. Revocation of Conditional Release

20. Criminal Versatility

This is the first part of the checklist. Glance over this list and think of some members of congress...presidents..etc, and ask yourself, do they fit into many of these traits. I would have to say that a few definitely come to my mind. One could argue sending other peoples children to fight in wars that are self serving to only the government would classify a person a psychopath. The government makes many decisions and passes laws that are either self serving or serving of the interest groups that lobby them.
I am sure we could come up with a long list of congress members who have been caught up in sex scandals. How many congress members can you name that take responsibility for their actions? How many have American leaders have been blindly followed because they are just so charming! I think the list would be enormous if we took the time to name all the members of government  who have a grandiose sense of self worth.

Psychopaths are not just the serial killers we often hear about on television. Many members of our current and former government can be classified as psychopaths. America we need to take better care of who we elect and why they want to be in office. Their personal lives should scrutinized to a a certain degree. It is less important then their records but it does lend some insight to their character. Politicians are supposed to serve the people, we have to stop electing psychopaths who serve themselves!

Defending Capitalism!!

Remember some decades ago when we had this thing called capitalism? Our country prospered and flourished. I also recall a time when conservatives supported capitalism- even out loud. However, along with the rest of the ideals the republican party used to believe it- capitalism is not one of them anymore. We have recently seen Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum attack Mitt Romney and Bain capital. Now, I am far from a Romney supporter but are you kidding me?
They are attacking the fact that he fired people, hired people and made money!? Is that not what capitalism is? Sometimes people do not do their jobs and so they get fired. It is a goal of companies to make a profit. Making money, despite what liberals the the media want you to believe, is not evil. In fact, greed is good too! Imagine that. Greed drives capitalist to make products that the public wants to buy. It also creates job for people to make those products. All because of one persons self interest and greed.
Now there are many reasons one could attack Mitt Romney. I am sure if we looked into Bain a little closer, there may even be valid criticisms there as well. My point is when did the republican party start vilifying capitalists. Is that not the job of democrats? How are these two parties any different anymore? I cannot tell them apart at this point. Lets find some real criticisms of Mitt Romney to take him down with. Lets not attack capitalism because we need it desperately right now. Not crony capitalism (which we do currently have). But real free market capitalism. We need it if we are ever going to get this country back on track.

Capitalism has become such an evil concept, Romney does not stick up for himself on this cause. He should say, yes I made money and created jobs. He should not shy away from that. However, he is worried that if he comes to his own defense, and that of capitalism, it will make him look bad. Come on! This is one of the few times he could defend himself and be right. Why does he pass up the opportunity? Pay attention, Patriots, because we are being fooled and we need to make sense of all of this.

Nanny State

Law makers and the government should respect Americans rights to control their own lives and the lives of their children. However, they obviously do not. They believe that they know what is good for us, and that we do not. They claim they only want to keep us healthy and safe. Of course, people do not always make the best decisions. Sometimes that is a judgement call based on ones own beliefs about what is right and wrong. That being the case, the government should not be that moral compass. People have to suffer or deal with the consequences of their actions. When this is the case, people will make better decisions so as to not suffer negative consequences. Sometimes people have to make a mistake to know what the right thing to do is. They should be free to do this, as long as it does not hurt anyone else. 

Every state, except one, requires people to wear seat belts. What is the consequence of not doing so? Increased risk of injury in a car accident. The person who choices not to wear the seat belt is the one incurring the risk, so shouldn't they make that choice. At one Chicago school bringing your lunch from home has been banned. Why? Because it may be an unhealthy lunch. In another city, girl scouts were shut down after selling cookies in their own front lawn after the city cited a law that bans people from selling commodities from their homes. 

Moreover, there is a war in our country on things the government considers sinful hence bad for us. Smoking these days has made one a leper. Cities everywhere are banning smoking in public or anywhere else they can. Alcohol has some fairly strict prohibitions on it, depending on where you live. Here in Indiana, stores are not allowed to sell alcohol on Sundays. Trans fat and salt are under attack as well. Some cities want to add an extra tax to pop. If they are not able to directly outlaw something, they try to kill it with taxes. Consider a pack of cigarettes in Cook County Illinois. They are almost ten dollars a pack after all the taxes are added in. New York's cigarettes are even more! Some states are adding a tax to tanning because it is unhealthy for you to do. 

The government is not good at micromanaging itself, why would we want them to micromanage our lives. They are out of control with laws, rules, regulations and ordinances. They all fall under the guise of keeping us healthy or safe. However, Americans are smart enough to figure this out on our own. We all know that smoking is hazardous to your health. If I still choose to smoke, I incur those risks. Not the government. The government cannot and should not regulate morality. If we are to be truly free individuals then we need to be allowed to make our own choices, right or wrong. We do not need a nanny state to babysit us and tell us not to use a hair dryer in the bath tub. A few years ago, they outlawed a baby bath seat not because it was unsafe, but because it was TOO safe! They worried it would cause parents to become complacent about bath safety! When does it end Americans? When do we say enough is enough. We can make our our decisions and we want to be free to do that. With a little common sense and self responsibility we will do just fine.

The New Year...Better or Worse?

Soon 2011 will be behind us and we will be ringing in 2012. Will 2012 be any better than 2011? I am not so sure. We are still waiting for President Obama to sign the National Defense Authorization Act. We are also waiting to see what will happen with the Stop Online Piracy Act. Personally, I think these are two of the most egregious attacks on our liberties and freedoms. I am not so sure the rest of Americans agree with me. Many of my friends on social networking sites have been wrapped up in the holidays or the upcoming primary elections. They are completely apathetic to whats already happened and whats ahead.
So where do we go from here, into this New Year? Americans need to wake up! This country is quickly losing resemblance to the country we inherited. In this new year, we need to remind Congress that they work for us. In case you had not noticed, they do not even pretend to care if the bills they are passing are constitutional. They do whatever they want and then they wait to see if anyone is going to stop them. If they cannot remember what their job is, then they need to find themselves in the unemployment line. You need to look at your Senators and Congressmen and see who is up for re-election. If they are, and they are offenders of growing government and not following constitution, help get someone new in their seat. Moreover, see if your state can follow Montana's lead. Montana is recalling some of the members of their government. This is allowed in some states. Local elections are important! If you do not believe me, just look at Congress right now and ask yourself what good have they done this year? They have been working without a budget, expanded executive powers, expanded their nanny state, cut NOTHING and they kept their jobs.
In the new year, I would like to see more people abandoning the two party system in favor of having more choices for president. There was a point in time when one party stood for A and the other party stood for B. This is what defined them. Today, however, if you look at both parties...what difference do you see? Minor differences in terms of social issues i.e abortion and gay marriage. And they keep the general public busy arguing these marginal issues so that we do notice the big issues i.e economy and jobs. Both parties vote yes for warfare and welfare. Both have showed bipartisanship this year in trampling on our rights.  I certainly do not feel like their is some significant difference between the Bush-Obama-Romney's of our government. Third parties have traditionally been unsuccessful because people rarely  vote for a third party candidate. They are lucky to get 1% of the vote. A third party can be successful..if we all vote for a third party! I challenge Americans in this new year to look beyond the two parties. What better way is there to tell Republicans and Democrats we will no longer let them run our country into a ditch. We need to fire them both! All the talk of cuts this year and did we cut anything? NOPE. Actually,  "cuts" is a tricky political word our government uses to fool us into believing they are actually cutting things. What this term really means is they are talking about cutting the increase of spending!
Our own government ended the year by declaring America a battleground in the war on terror and by labeling Americans as terrorists. Is this okay with you? Do you enjoy the  near sexual assault we endure at the airport? More of us have to stand up and say no more. If we do not do it in this new year, we are doomed to watch America become a police state. I am both optimistic and pessimistic about this.
I see far more Americans saying we can no longer let government grow out of control. They are doing anything they can to help stop this from happening. I hear them coming up with solutions. They know what needs to be cut and what is no longer sustainable for us. I applaud them.
But, I still see so many who say "oh yea cut defense" but do not touch my medicare. They are willing to cut someone else's entitlement but not their own. Unfortunately, I still hear Occupy groups calling for wealth redistribution. "Don't bail out banks but pay my student loans." I am worried for the future of this country when their is a mentality like this.
I am trying to remain optimistic about 2012. I do hope more of us will wake up and continue to try and hold this government accountable. This has not been a good year for liberty and lets hope next year is better!