Prop 8

As most of us know, California actually managed to ban gay marriage with Proposition 8 this election. How did this happen? Well, the people of California voted, and more of them decided to ban it than to allow it. But then some of the people of California got angry. There have been protests not only in California, but other states as well, including Michigan. But what's really at stake here? If California actually decides to overturn Prop 8, they are listening to the angry minority rather than the majority. What happens to the votes of the people who voted for the ban on gay marriage? They don't matter. If I get enough of my Republican friends to protest the fact that Obama won the presidency, can we get it changed to McCain? I really want to know.

Great post, Emily

post! We could learn a lot from each other.
I am married to a person whose job it is to enforce the tyrannical tax laws and rules, and it really gnaws at me. She says that she doesn't make the laws, only enforces them, and if she didn't do it the IRS would just get someone else for the job. Sounds like the Nuremberg defense to me.

When I see all the ways in which the federal government purposefully tramples on the individual rights granted by the constitution I wonder if the country is worth defending any more. That's something I never thought I would think or say.

Are we past the tipping point? Can we be saved from the liberal fascism now in ascendance? Is there a free (relatively) country left in the world?

Let's Talk Socialism

In talking about socialism, it’s important to understand a couple of things. First of all, socialism is the perfect solution for a perfect world. However, since we don’t live in a perfect world, it’s pretty much the worst solution. Second of all, socialism is an excellent short-term solution. The Soviet Union saw a time of tremendous growth within the first few years of their socialist system. However, those few years of wealth were followed by incredible poverty that persists to this day. This is why anyone who has ever studied Russian history should be terrified by the words “wealth redistribution,” “government social programs,” and “nationalized healthcare.” Anyone who knows about Russia’s stint with socialism and still voted a Democratic ticket in the last election might as well be saying that two plus two equal fish.

So how does socialism take away our freedom? That’s easy. It’s all about the American dream. People have been coming to America for years with the plan of making a better life for themselves. These people have always known that America is supposed to be a place where they can get a job and keep most of the money they earn. They can save this money and eventually have enough to have a decent life. Of course no economy is as simple as work, earn, save, be financially secure, but people at least get the chance. That is, under a free-market economy. When socialism comes into play, no one gets the chance. Socialism assumes that our money doesn’t really belong to us, but the government, thus making us all slaves to the government.

One might argue that this money comes back to us in public service, which proves that the government is still serving us. This may be true, but it still doesn’t give us the chance to use our money the way we want to. For instance, everyone pays taxes that go to support public schools. But what if you don’t want to send your kids to public school? What if you would rather send your kids to a private school with much higher academic standards and teachers who don’t try to indoctrinate their kids with their liberal ideas? Well that’s just too bad. You have to pay for public schooling anyway. It’s your loss. The nationalized healthcare program in England works the same way. Only the wealthy in England can afford to pay for privatized healthcare because they are also paying taxes for public healthcare. And as we all know, public healthcare in England is quite poor, nowhere near the standards of healthcare in America. By the way, the British dream is to someday achieve straight teeth.

So let’s bring some libertarianism into it. Why do we have government in the first place? Well, here in America it was originally to ensure that we would have our basic human freedoms. It was never meant to control our finances or decide how we get to live. But that is what socialism does.

Is the United States Constitution still in effect?

I've long been dismayed by the fact that most of us have practically no knowledge of the U.S. Conostitution, but lately I've been genuinely angry that constitutional protections are routinely ignored by all three branches of the government. The abuses of civil liberties have been occuring for so long that almost everyone - including me, until recently - has become inured to them. It isn't very hard to come up with examples where each of the first ten amenments are routinely violated by the very people sworn to uphold them.

Lately Ive been wondering why so few seem to care enough to take a stand.