First.......and last???

So of course Charity wants me to participate in this experiment of hers called blogging. She thinks it will be fun. The "for who" is what I'm not certain about. I'm sure she thinks this will be my first and last entry and who knows she may be right. I actually have spent time thinking about people that write down all of their thoughts for others to read. Such a foreign concept but hey I'll try anything once. So as I am sitting here tonight, Charity and her sister Anna are in the other room watching Mad, Mad, Mad World the movie. I might have missed a Mad in there somewhere, I never can tell. It's about the least interesting movie for me and yet they love it. Movies in general are a hard subject for me since Charity doesn't like to watch many, and like in any great marriage, I am the opposite and really like them. Any guesses who gets their way most of the time when it comes time to decide what to do at any given time or evening? I won't even bother answering that.
Lately, I have really been thinking about the future of my country. I am greatly saddened by the unwillingness of our leadership to make the hard choice and allow the economy to "tank" in the short term. Most people will disagree with me here but our economy has been living in a fantasy realm and has been turbo-charged by the easy credit and HELOC's. This has created an artificial level of demand and therefore prices. Pricing and affordability have gone way beyond what they should be for our level of production in this country. I for one, am not in favor of all of this intervention. Everybody seems to believe that we need to buoy up this artificial level of demand or we're in a crisis. I am certain that if we continue to do so, then it will be a short term fix and we'll end up no better off in the long run. The day of reckoning will always come eventually and ours is coming. I'm not predicting the end of the world or anything, but I know that this is going to end up hurting a lot of people. The problem that I see happening is that the wrong people are going to get hurt. This again is an area where people will think I am unfeeling but I'll say it, the people on the bottom of the economic spectrum need to feel some pain and not get freebies at the expense of the wealthy. This will only prolong their being in that situation and will not create the desire necessary for them to ultimately pull themselves out of that situation. Engineering will teach you that the path of least resistance is usually the path taken. In this case, if we make the path easy(ier) then as a direct result I believe there will be an increase of those that do little to nothing to change their station in life.
When I was growing up, I saw how having less income/wealth led to an increase in the tension level in our home. As a result of seeing this, a drive began to build within me to go out and change my own future for the better. I was able to learn from the mistakes of others and I am grateful to my parents for helping me learn some of these lessons. Ever since then, I have worked very hard to be a producer in this world of ours. Now I see our society leaning towards the penalization of those that have worked hard to produce. The fruits of their labor is being forcefully (taxes) taken from them and in a classic re-distributive fashion going to raise the standard of living for those that haven't been producers. I am all for taxes and some of the benefits that we all receive from our government. What I am against is fiscal discrimination. People that "produce" more, are taxed at a higher rate? If the tax rate were equivalent across the board, they would still be paying far more into the system that the less productive. This form of discrimination is so heinous that I see very little difference in it and discrimination of almost any other form. These other forms of discrimination get most of the publicity and the press dramatizes a lot of it. Fiscal discrimination gets a lot less press outside of a lot of articles stating that the upper class can "afford it". Affordability of a tax is not the issue. I see this as an incredible competitive disadvantage on the world stage if we continue to pursue these ideals. It reduces the motive of our most productive citizens to go and do that which makes our nation great. PRODUCE!!!
In this same vein, it is unfortunate that we have a nation of ignorant (not necessarily stupid, only uninformed by their own choice) voting blocks. I have a new favorite quote after witnessing this past election. “A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine.” This was written by Thomas Jefferson and I couldn't agree more. A close second is "The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those willing to work and give to those who would not." I feel like I am witnessing a monumental change in the mindset of America. American citizens are willing to vote simply in anticipation of an potential increased quantity of government aid. Make no mistake, when the government "gives" to one, it is at the same moment "taking" from another. This is a form of stealing in my opinion and in my humble opinion, despised by any and all who believe that this is truly the land of opportunity. The opportunity spoken of in that expression did not come about as a result of receiving a lot of "free" (stolen) goods. It came about because our country became known as one where anybody could come and regardless of station, could work hard, take advantage of the public works such as a library and advance their cause. Abraham Lincoln himself was mostly self taught at home through books. I sincerely wish that everyone would simply believe in themselves, turn off the TV, eliminate the distractions that are so prevalent in life and begin moving themselves forward. I am confident that they would experience the self satisfaction and happiness that comes from becoming a producer and not a parasite. Teach a man to fish..........
There are so many other things that I would love to delve into on that subject but I will stop there for today. Maybe at some point I will go into the immorality of declaring bankruptcy when the individual is fully capable of paying their debts. It may be painful and you might have to make some sacrifices but I think it horribly indecent to absolve debt for no other reason than it will be "difficult". I am certain that many will think me harsh in my opinions but I say these things only out of love for my fellow man. There are obviously circumstances where we need to take care of each other, but I sincerely believe that without learning to work hard we will lead unfulfilled lives. Every person should have the goal of creating/producing more than they consume in their lifetime. I hope that everyone can stand a little taller each day and be an example of integrity. We only change the world by first changing ourselves, then the areas in which we live, which in turn change regions, etc. etc. etc.