Most people who vote, claim to vote for whom they deem would be the best candidate that would meet their view of what government should be (it what politicians tell them.) I believe people need to pick things apart more then they do. As I've lived nearly a 1/2 century the decay and decline of the republic has never been more present then it is today. Yes, Virginia, we are a representative republic, not a democracy.
The distractions such as the latest Spears tramp getting pregnant @ 16 is one hell of a role model for our pre-teen girls.. Time to block Nickelodeon..
that given, politicians power include things such as, For war, against war, for Global Warming mythos, against global warming mythos, for gun control, for gun rights, for abortion, against abortion, for X, against X. causes that are divisive provide distractions from the substance of who the candidates truly are.
This is the first election year in a long , long time I have taken time to analyze the depth of which our country has collapsed too. When we look at candidates, most take a very narrow view of things, and it was best said by Alexander Tyler after the penning of the Constitution.
About the time our original 13 states adopted their new constitution, in 1787, Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh , had this to say about the fall of the Athenian Republic some 2,000 years prior:
"A democracy is always temporary in nature ; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship."
"The average age of the worlds greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years.
During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence:
1. From bondage to spiritual faith;
2. From spiritual faith to great courage;
3. From courage to liberty;
4. From liberty to abundance;
5. From abundance to complacency;
6. From complacency to apathy;
7. From apathy to dependence;
8. From dependence back into bondage "
I don't adhere to the BELIEF that government should be the cradle to grave provider. I believe individual responsibility requires we seriously rethink this direction and diversion from the basics established in 1787.
Since the 1930s, we've been sliding toward a socialist state. I believe in the 1950's Joe McCarthy had the right message in the wrong messenger. Communists and Socialists exists in our society and at every level of economics and politics. It has been indoctrinated since 1913, GW Bush is to many extents a socialist, using the name "compassionate conservative" allows for the use of the public treasury for feel good programs.
Democracies fail when people realize that they vote for the politicians that can rob from the Public treasury to give favor to a special interest or class of people is wrong. We are witnessing this decay daily and you can disagree with me, that is fine, I can take that, but I have to say what invariably will be the outcome of this decline is absolutist rule. Whether that absolutism is in the guise of a single person or a monolithic bureaucracy is yet to be determined. I believe we are nearing that point. As a student of history, the facts bear my statements out. We cannot continue in this fashion without a thorough understanding of the inevitable outcome. Our country is dying and has been dying since the inception of the Income Tax Act of 1913. This effectively set up a class warfare system that became the way to wedge people. As wedges become more prevalent in a society, apathy and anger go hand in hand. During the Greek and Roman republics public works projects became more and more involved and lavish, (as today) the politicians gain power by making promises of money based projects for services.. I can stomach paying for needed infrastructure, but the service based economy will be our un-doing. The US no longer produces "Goods", the economic incentives of goods production is more cost effective overseas where the tax and labor structure favors it. We no longer produce "wealth" instead we "punish wealth" through our graduated taxes.
Our entertainment culture rivals the beginnings of the gladiatorial arena, TV programs such as COPS, Reality TV, NFL football, hockey, boxing are mirrors only in the extent to which our culture will accept the nature of the violence and as in the days of early Rome the games become more graphic in nature. We are flooded with information generally about celebrities who have little to do with our daily lifes, as a distraction from the mundane existence most people live.
The sheep need to wake up. We have bunch of sponge heads running for the highest office in the free world, and our choices of dumb, dumber and dumbest are not much better then we'd get walking into a homeless shelter and just grabbing a bum.. Most people don't get the picture about basic economics 101 , if you tax corporations by proxy you are taxing the consumers through higher costs of goods, services and investment. Most people just hear "Yea lets soak the evil corporations and make them pay for government. I am sick of this ignorance.
I am not happy with either of the current political parties and the lack of choice for a real candidate that isn't going to slow the dizzying growth of the federal government at the rate is has for the last 40 years. I've lost hope of turning that around. Every turn of the page over the last 20 years has been bigger government not less. We are looking at a nanny state because people are too damned lazy and stupid to wipe their own asses. Here is what we have, we have the democrats, intent on spewing the nanny state, la-la-land, global warming socialist mantra, and "compassionate conservatives" hiding liberal big government spending policies in the guise of a moral conservativism dictating their perception of morality through the run for the executive orifice.. This is not a choice, this is more of the same two types of people. We have politicians of both sides of the political spectrum spewing this junk.
2008 shows the insanity by the choices we have.
On the right we have Mit, Fred, Rudy, John, Mike, Tom, Duncan (and there other brother Ron, almost forgot, the aborted son Alan..).
The mantra of moral conservatism is anathema to my beliefs about limited government. While I may place a high value on moral principles it is not my responsibility nor should it be governments responsibility to dictate to us "what is moral". Moral is something that is God given, the nanny state should not have the responsibility to enforce anything other then the protection of life, liberty and property. On the secular/socialist left we have Barack, John, Hillary, Bill, Chris, (God forbid I miss the aborted brother, Dennis )
Right or Left we have some serious issues facing our country, or division based on political lines is clearly a problem. Most people vote the way their parents did (if their parents even discussed politics) without understanding the basics of our founding documents.
Let me be a bit descriptive as to my assessments of the candidates presenting their wares.. For all intent and purpose, we have 2 viable candidates on the Socialrat side, Hillary and Obama, Not to defame the person but Hillary is riding on the coattails of her husband's presidency, she is a communist with fascist tendencies in the purest sense of the word. She and other Socialrats want to install fascist systems to dictate to businesses how to provide services, (ala Healthcare, Energy, you name it.) Hillary for all her blow is a veritable mine of nothing but political hot air. Maybe she can pay for all that with the contributions from the Chicoms attempt to buy her way into the Whitehouse via her husband's lobbying efforts. She won't discuss specifics of the programs she is proposing from free college, a 401k for every child, free healthcare cradle to grave, she only says that she will increase taxes (on the evil rich ) to make it happen. "Evil Rich", wow, is that me? as a family my wife and I gross over a 100k, does that make us "Rich"? She tells us at every campaign stop how "rich" her and her husband are, well Ms Clinton, get your own damned check book out and write a check to the US treasury.
I for one an sick of you bleeding the rest of us dry with your voting buying programs on the backs of those of us who "really" pay for it. If you don't get it, I don't like Clinton in any way shape or form. Her husband left a bad taste in the mouths of many people. (including "Ms Lewinsky). And more of the depravity in the guise of a bull dyke is about as appealing as getting a proctology exam with a baseball bat. Need we talk about her smugness and the condescending cackle? It's more annoying then "W's" smirk or dumass persona.
Obama, man, don't know where to start with him a Junior house member from Illinois(or indiana.. Not sure which) with the experience of a wet labrador puppy chasing a wounded goose in the mississippi river. He is in over his head in all areas. He wants to get out of Iraq and attack Iran, he bounces like a spastic puppy chasing a ball. And Lord almighty the mighty Okra herself has endorsed him, so in the minds of many Okra viewer "He's gotta be the guy" right? Bill Richardson, the major lard *** in the DNC, for a party touting healthy eating and lowering transfats, Bill's face on the candidacy give me a good reason to chuckle. For god's sake Bill follow Huckabee's example, lose a hundred pounds!! The other unmentionable "White guys" in the race, Chris Dodd, and Joe Biden, both sound more like emasculated sheep. They epitomize the 1990s demonrat party now more vitriolic and communist, spend, tax, spend and more tax. All without restraint.
On the republican side we have two major front runners, Rudy the philandering deviant from NYC that claims to have rescued the city in post 911, his stance on many issues while in his tenure as mayor was anything but conservative, Mit Romney rhetoric has changed as well, but is no less appealing then the unmuff hair on his head. Huckabee, another buffoon from "Hope" Arkansas claims to be a conservative, but looking at his fiscal policy, and policies toward illegals as governor make him about as palatible as another GW Bush, FDR or LBJ guns and butter project. All three of the aforementioned have a history inconsistent with the idea of less government intrusion. Fred, the good ol' boy from Tennessee, is in the back pocket of the favorite target of the leftists, the Right to Life crowd gives him there endorsement. Wow, that is impressive Fred (not).. These people about as much sense as a manic bipolar in an AA meeting. And well, Fred, has the charisma of an 10 year old redbone hound sleeping under the porch before it collapses. His excitement is infectious. Now Tom Tancredo, can we all say ILLEGAL? Yes, I believe we can, and I believe it is an important issue to address. We have 30 million people here illegally and more coming in each day costing our economy $338 billion dollars a year. Need to be addressed? yes, the only issue, NO. Duncan Hunter is so far down the scale of likely front runner people don't even know what he stands for. Hunter is a good man, he has a record that is admirable for his district. That said, it leaves the ones I've not even touched yet.
Here I sit a 1890's style libertarian in 2007, thinking our country has made some serious blunders over the last century. I was born a century too late. My view is if I don't butt into your business, nor do want government to steal from you to pay for something for me, I expect that respect in return. I would prefer to keep my retirement secure and safe from the Rob Peter to pay Paul mentality that is so prevalent in our society today. I would prefer my child have control of their own retirement and not expect 1/3 of their wages stolen from them before they get a paycheck. This means ending a bunch of government spending. Government theft through Ponzi schemes like medicare, social security. Ron Paul the closest thing to a real candidate echoing my economic views and political views, yet he has the charisma of a very loose cow turd floating down the creek. He gathers attention from people like me, yet the message is lost because of the messenger. Ron Paul is saying many things I agree with yet in the political climate that is 2007/2008 carries about as much weight as the dump i took this morning with the masses. Especially when the verbal portion of his followers consist of the ignorant dolts of the Alex Jones, and Stormfront crowds. On the left you have Kucinich smoking dope with Shirley McClain and telling the world he see UFO's, that sure as hell buys credibility don't it. Alan Keyes, the absolute bottom of the moral hoitie toiltie cesspool the repubnicans can puke-up, a nutcase ideologue that makes Alex Jones or Lew Rockwell, look sane.
In a society there are givers, takers and clueless, giving denotes a choice, takers remove the choice from us and clueless assumes takers know better.
Does ANY ONE HAVE ANY HOPE LEFT? Mine has been waining for a long time. My reasons are specific.
Our country is under the control of strong special interests, (buzz word for lawyers and former politicians in DC acting as political lobbyists for profit).
Addressing Lobbyists from the eco-lobbyists that hinder domestic energy production, to the pro-life/pro-choice dimwits that provide distractions for moralistic politicians, lawyers make money off people's emotions. While it may be a feel good thing to send money to "Friends of the Earth" or "Joe's lobbying for Dummies" the only thing that happens is that is greases the palms of the slimey scum. It is time for people to wake up and smell the coffee, the 5% considered rich in this country pay 70% of the taxes, is that truly fair?
. As we live our lives our interdependence on foreign entanglement increases, the Chinese hold in excess of 2 trillion dollars of our debt in US dollars, if they decide to dump this cash in exchange for Gold, or EURO's the US economy will be in deep sh*t. We need to somehow end our dependence on countries outside for goods, and services, US citizens save at a negative 2% rate of their after tax income, while the Japanese citizen's save 18% of their after tax income. US Taxation is structured in such a way as to discourage personal savings.
The hurdles we face in 2008 as a country are pretty clear, unending deficit spending, pork barrel idiocy and deplomacy, illegal aliens at the border and within eroding the fabric of what it means to be American, NAFTA, CAFTA, SPP, GATT, debt held abroad, a federal reserve deflating the value of our dollar, energy prices on the rise, housing markets in a slump, farmers producing ethanol creating the potential for an ecological disaster that would parallel if not excess the dust bowl of the 1930s, all the while, the sheep continue to sleep.
I am voting for Ron Paul, in the primary, Yes, the one with the charisma of the local dogcatcher, I disagree with him on the foreign policy issue, but maybe it's time to unleash Israel and quit playing referree for every playground/ sandbox (pardon the pun) fight that comes around. While the impediments for a presidency with his values would be high at very least we could count on spending bills to be vetoed, (maybe not the override). It is time to flush the shithole on the Potomac, lock, stock, and barrel