~
No, not the kind that attacks your computer.
The kind that attacks the mind of liberals.
As Michael Savage so aptly phrased it:
Liberalism is a mental disorder,
and Political Correctness is its most obvious symptom.
It has got many otherwise good people thinking foggy.
Afraid to acknowledge what they really think.
Afraid to even admit they have "certain thoughts."
In this year of presidential election shoot-outs,
PC has suddenly focused itself on the issue of race.
One can't help noticing that the liberal press
(I know, the press does not see itself as liberal,
which in itself is bizarre manifestation of PC-ness)
has been chanting Barak! Barak! Barak!
Despite the fact that it becomes clearer every day
that, as Pat Buchanan put it: "He's not one of us."
Obama's "mentor," the Rev Wright, tells it like it is.
Annointed black leaders like him and Sharpton and Jackson
feed the lucrative Black Grievance Industry
by finding all kinds of reasons why America
(that would be you and me) is a bad country
which does bad things all over the world.
And somehow it is they who suffer more than the rest.
Therefore we owe them something.
Maybe even the reins of government.
Sharpton, Jackson... and now Obama...
all have had presidential aspirations.
Infected by PC, the press and the Left
(excuse the redundancy), can't find it in themselves
to challenge Obama on his essential feelings
about the country he wants to preside over.
But Mrs. Obama has made herself perfectly clear:
she has a visceral disdain for America.
Rev Wright has made himself equally clear:
God damn America!
Obama associate, Professor Bill Ayers,
has made himself perfectly clear:
he wishes he had blown up America more than he did.
These are classic America-haters.
With Mr. Obama at the epicenter of the hate storm.
Make no mistake, the relationship among these
four individuals goes back a lot farther
and a lot deeper than you have been led to believe
by a liberal press silenced by the PC virus.
But as with all such things,
it will eventually come to light.
One can only hope that the few remaining
adults in the Democratic Party
will finally find the courage to speak up and say "enough!"
"This fiasco is over."
Which leaves us with Hillary.
I never thought I'd be saying this,
but compared to limp-wristed, luke-Warm-on-America,
obviously henpecked Barak,
Hillary almost looks like a "real" American.
Almost.
Political Correctness is suffocating Americans.
It's limiting your ability to say what you think
and what you really believe
far better than any law could.
It leads us to run screeds and comments
here on the internet
under assumed names because we somehow fear
our true feelings are seen as the products
of bigoted or racist minds.
Poppycock!
You think what you think.
Anything else is a lie.
So vaccinate yourself from this virus.
I'm not suggesting you start running around
spouting racial epithets. No. That's bad.
But when you hear a PC infected liberal repeat
the illogical rationales and excuses
for Obama and his cohorts' proclamations,
...things like "It was taken out of context"
and all the worn-out cliches of political consultants,
don't let them get away with it.
They said what they said.
And they said it over and over.
That tells me they believe it.
If that's what they believe,
they live in the wrong country.
They may be fit to lead some America-hating
third world country,
but the White House should be off-limits to them.
4.29.2008
4.14.2008
The Merchants of Fear
~
We live in an age where it has become a full-blown and evidently an extremely profitable industry. We are becoming the eager customers of fear, or perhaps I should say eager victims.
How many doses of fear do you receive daily? Doctors and "researchers" invent threats of new illnesses which you are urged to fear you "may" have. But have no fear, these good Samaritans tell you, they can now offer you another pill, another formula, another solution - for a price. And for some reason, because these things are not generally available over the counter, they cost a lot more. But, hey, they can deliver them right to your door. They even want to make money sending you monthly or even daily news alerts. Every alert comes chock full of new discoveries to stoke the flames of our fears. What a deal!
Political operatives feed us daily fears - that our very belief systems are in danger of collapse under the weight of a whole litany of things to fear. Congress is making it easier for illegals! The Chinese are eating our lunch! Terrorists are moving into our neighborhoods! The liberals are taking away our right to own guns and bringing Marxism to America. The Republicans are making Christianity the official religion of America and killing the last polar bear! There's some secret highway to hell that will make America a non-entity. Be a patriot, join our group! Donate now!
The news media does its best to capitalize on our fears. Look at the daily headlines. Kidnappers are lurking outside our windows trying to steal our babies. Rising gas prices will collapse the economy. Drive-by shootings are targeting us at random. The housing crisis will have half of America living in cardboard boxes under freeway ramps. The flu is worse this year - every year. The bird flu. Mad cow. STD's are everywhere. Airliners aren't safe. Every campus has loose cannons just waiting to go off and gun down another two dozen innocent students. The Federal Government can't protect us from 210 mph hurricanes, floods, earthquakes and volcanoes. Subscribe to our news alerts. Join now!
Our children are not safe in school, we are not safe on the highways, in our offices, or napping in front of the tv. Learn why, open your account now!
Be afraid, be very afraid. There's mercury in our tuna, in the fillings in our teeth. There's rodent droppings in our cereal, dangerous fumes at the gas pump, bad chemicals in our tap water, and in the very air we breathe (cough-cough).
NO DOUBT MANY OF THESE THINGS ARE TRUE. But while it's understandable that we may fear some or all or none of them, why in hell should any of these fear merchants make a damn nickel off our fears? They are the lowest form of scoundrels. Profiting from fear. They are not modern day Paul Revere's. They are fear mongers. And I say damn them!
The way I see it, what we are experiencing in our culture is like this: did you ever do the child's science demonstration where you take a sheet of blank of paper, sprinkle a handful of fine steel shavings on it, then pass a horseshoe or bar magnet under the paper? Because of the way steel molecules are aligned, the tiny shavings easily form a "north" and a "south" pole - a negative and positive end. As the magnet passes beneath them, the filings will suddenly spin or turn on the paper until their poles align with the lines of magnetic force of the magnet; positive attracted to negative and visa-versa.
This is similar to how the force of human destiny works. I will cautiously avoid attributing the magnet to the hand of God. Let's just call it nature. The filings in this crude analogy represent people. The magnets are "new ideas." When the ideas pass through the world's population, people are attracted to them and line up, for reasons unknown. As they spin toward the magnet, a pattern emerges in the filings on the paper along the curving lines of force eminating from the magnet's poles. These formations on the paper are what we might call cultural "movements." But there are some bits on the paper which don't seem to be affected. These are non-magnetic bits, which in our analogy would be those of us who are "different" and do not follow the general sentiments of the elite sheeple in our culture for whatever our reasons may be.
If the magnet (or new idea) is strong enough, the attraction is virtually irresistible for the majority. Such movements sweep the world, change the prevailing sentiments of the majority, and we experience a new cultural era. Such movements have swept across civilizations many times in the past. Greek rationalism. The Enlightenment. The French Revolution, to name a few. Then there is The New Marxism and its attendant drug culture which exploded on the American scene during the 1960's, championed by so many of the "new thinkers" from Dillon to Leary to the Ginsbergs to the Beatles... or at least John and Yoko.
I believe we are now in just such a period of time. There is a major magnet passing through the aether around us - permeating the air and the thinking of so many of the world's people. The weak-minded sheeple are being attracted in great numbers to its poles. The rest of us resist it with all our might, screaming into the maelstrom, where no one but the like-minded seems to hear. I don't know if the magnet will pass again in the other direction, but if you look at it this way, as the lines of force of human destiny, you may find some relief from the unscrupulous merchants who are trying to capitalize on your fears.
Only when there is an equal or greater magnetic force pulling in the opposite direction, can these movements be reversed or at least stopped. In nature, almost always, an equal and opposite force somehow shows up to stabilize things. There is cause for intelligent concern today, but not for fear.
In the end, there may be nothing to fear other than, as FDR so succinctly put it, fear itself.
~
We live in an age where it has become a full-blown and evidently an extremely profitable industry. We are becoming the eager customers of fear, or perhaps I should say eager victims.
How many doses of fear do you receive daily? Doctors and "researchers" invent threats of new illnesses which you are urged to fear you "may" have. But have no fear, these good Samaritans tell you, they can now offer you another pill, another formula, another solution - for a price. And for some reason, because these things are not generally available over the counter, they cost a lot more. But, hey, they can deliver them right to your door. They even want to make money sending you monthly or even daily news alerts. Every alert comes chock full of new discoveries to stoke the flames of our fears. What a deal!
Political operatives feed us daily fears - that our very belief systems are in danger of collapse under the weight of a whole litany of things to fear. Congress is making it easier for illegals! The Chinese are eating our lunch! Terrorists are moving into our neighborhoods! The liberals are taking away our right to own guns and bringing Marxism to America. The Republicans are making Christianity the official religion of America and killing the last polar bear! There's some secret highway to hell that will make America a non-entity. Be a patriot, join our group! Donate now!
The news media does its best to capitalize on our fears. Look at the daily headlines. Kidnappers are lurking outside our windows trying to steal our babies. Rising gas prices will collapse the economy. Drive-by shootings are targeting us at random. The housing crisis will have half of America living in cardboard boxes under freeway ramps. The flu is worse this year - every year. The bird flu. Mad cow. STD's are everywhere. Airliners aren't safe. Every campus has loose cannons just waiting to go off and gun down another two dozen innocent students. The Federal Government can't protect us from 210 mph hurricanes, floods, earthquakes and volcanoes. Subscribe to our news alerts. Join now!
Our children are not safe in school, we are not safe on the highways, in our offices, or napping in front of the tv. Learn why, open your account now!
Be afraid, be very afraid. There's mercury in our tuna, in the fillings in our teeth. There's rodent droppings in our cereal, dangerous fumes at the gas pump, bad chemicals in our tap water, and in the very air we breathe (cough-cough).
NO DOUBT MANY OF THESE THINGS ARE TRUE. But while it's understandable that we may fear some or all or none of them, why in hell should any of these fear merchants make a damn nickel off our fears? They are the lowest form of scoundrels. Profiting from fear. They are not modern day Paul Revere's. They are fear mongers. And I say damn them!
The way I see it, what we are experiencing in our culture is like this: did you ever do the child's science demonstration where you take a sheet of blank of paper, sprinkle a handful of fine steel shavings on it, then pass a horseshoe or bar magnet under the paper? Because of the way steel molecules are aligned, the tiny shavings easily form a "north" and a "south" pole - a negative and positive end. As the magnet passes beneath them, the filings will suddenly spin or turn on the paper until their poles align with the lines of magnetic force of the magnet; positive attracted to negative and visa-versa.
This is similar to how the force of human destiny works. I will cautiously avoid attributing the magnet to the hand of God. Let's just call it nature. The filings in this crude analogy represent people. The magnets are "new ideas." When the ideas pass through the world's population, people are attracted to them and line up, for reasons unknown. As they spin toward the magnet, a pattern emerges in the filings on the paper along the curving lines of force eminating from the magnet's poles. These formations on the paper are what we might call cultural "movements." But there are some bits on the paper which don't seem to be affected. These are non-magnetic bits, which in our analogy would be those of us who are "different" and do not follow the general sentiments of the elite sheeple in our culture for whatever our reasons may be.
If the magnet (or new idea) is strong enough, the attraction is virtually irresistible for the majority. Such movements sweep the world, change the prevailing sentiments of the majority, and we experience a new cultural era. Such movements have swept across civilizations many times in the past. Greek rationalism. The Enlightenment. The French Revolution, to name a few. Then there is The New Marxism and its attendant drug culture which exploded on the American scene during the 1960's, championed by so many of the "new thinkers" from Dillon to Leary to the Ginsbergs to the Beatles... or at least John and Yoko.
I believe we are now in just such a period of time. There is a major magnet passing through the aether around us - permeating the air and the thinking of so many of the world's people. The weak-minded sheeple are being attracted in great numbers to its poles. The rest of us resist it with all our might, screaming into the maelstrom, where no one but the like-minded seems to hear. I don't know if the magnet will pass again in the other direction, but if you look at it this way, as the lines of force of human destiny, you may find some relief from the unscrupulous merchants who are trying to capitalize on your fears.
Only when there is an equal or greater magnetic force pulling in the opposite direction, can these movements be reversed or at least stopped. In nature, almost always, an equal and opposite force somehow shows up to stabilize things. There is cause for intelligent concern today, but not for fear.
In the end, there may be nothing to fear other than, as FDR so succinctly put it, fear itself.
~
4.06.2008
CHAOS
“Civilization
is like a thin layer of ice
upon a deep ocean of chaos
and darkness.”
~Werner Herzog
It stings our faces like driven snow these days. It’s not a new phenomenon, it’s been getting stormier every year since the 1960s.
We are pelted by skewed propaganda by our media in each day’s news, in films, tv and music. Our politicians long ago succumbed to the stormy climate. They can’t see beyond the next fund-raiser, side-stepping their own inability to change things by throwing icy slush at the other guy.
It’s as if America has become suicidal. Political Correctness is its poison pill. I’m sure you are no less aware of this daily barrage of psychosis than am I. Corruption over goodness. Our culture has become inured to the slush of life. Chaos grows in our land, and spreads like disease. Typhoid Mary is in the domed Capitol. Instead of inspiring our nation with clarity and right, our leaders fuel the flames of chaos with their well-practiced winks, lies and corruption.
Unlike for those who came before us, life in modern America has become too easy. To governments and corporations, vast sums of money seem to have no meaning beyond massive numbers on screens. Millions. Billions. Now trillions are tossed about with only vague accountability. There are not enough printing presses in the world to print a quadrillion actual paper dollars, and rumor has it that Fort Knox is empty. Our system operates on promises and an endless fountain of fools’ funds.
When nations are not working hard, sweating, struggling toward some lofty goal, they and their leaders tend to become fat, lazy, and eventually self-loathing.
How does it happen that the leaders of a nation in which personal wealth for some is now measured in tens of billions go to sleep at night purposely leaving the nations borders unlocked? C’mon in, wolves, they say; the sheep are asleep. Enter, Lord Chaos, you are welcome here. The forerunners of our own civilization, the Mesopotamians, Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans would surely warn us this is how they each fell. Not so much by the sword as the sordid.
So many of our own are boiling inside and secretly want to punish our culture for its lack of goodness, for the corruption. Why do you think movies and books about apocalypse sell so well, and the New Testament pages of St. John’s “Revelation” are so well worn?
It’s no secret that many in the wealthy Hollywood world, rich politicians, lofty educators, judges and journalists are virulently anti-traditional America. They tell us we are racist, homophobic, misogynists, knowing full well they are describing the traits of our enemies. They seem to harbor deep feelings of guilt for their own success – for the success of this nation in general, and they want to make us pay the price of their own guilt.
Yet, knowing all this, we seem so powerless to reverse any of it. As if history and destiny are pushing us toward some inevitable tipping point. The levees separating chaos from harmony are collapsing. Will the next generation reign over chaos, unable to straighten out the mess we have left, just going through the motions, endlessly recycling the divisive cliches of the past, sticking its well-manicured, decorated, plump fingers into holes in the dike? Or will they pretend everything is wonderful because they can’t make it better... wearing blinders and putting bandages on the wounds by nervous cheering at ball games, rodeos and estate sales, whistling past the graveyard while our nation collapses from a thousand cuts?
Every election period is an opportunity to change. To wipe the slate clean. To disavow the devils who profit from chaos. Politicians, media people, everyone – ask yourself; are you on the side of goodness, selfless good sense and harmony? Or have you knowingly joined the forces of evil who, either psychologically or financially, benefit from chaos? For too many, the answer is not a good one.
3.23.2008
SCI-FI
“If the facts don’t fit the theory,
change the facts.”
~Albert Einstein
~Albert EinsteinIf the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts.
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_science.html
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_science.html
If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts.
Albert Einstein
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_science.html
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_science.html
If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts.
Albert Einstein
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_science.html
I've been a sci-fi fan since the late 1940's, when in grammar school I first started reading sci-fi comics, and later reams of pulp fiction short stories by masters like Bradbury, Heinlein and Lester Del Ray. I loved hiding under the covers at night listening to fascinatingly weird sci-fi radio shows like "Quiet Please." Old sci-fi movies were great (the original black-and-white "The Thing (from Outer Space)” starring James Arness is still one of the best. Even early tv offered primatively produced sci-fantasy series such as Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon, and of course "Outer Limits."Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_science.html
Like many fans, I thought sci-fi had reached its pinnacle with movies such as Arthur C. Clarke's "2001, A Space Odessey," "Forbidden Planet," the original "War of the Worlds," and others of that period. Personally, I prefer Clarke's "2010" - the follow-up to "2001" - to the earlier opera grande.
There is no doubt that Clarke was a talented visionary; we have lost a man with a very fertile imagination. While it's true that many of his ideas were based on those of earlier thinkers (there’s little brand new in this world), Clarke had the ability to transform a cold idea into an interesting saga which put behinds into seats at movie theaters.
At some point along the way, I lost my taste for sci-fi stories and movies. I suppose the main reason is America's changing culture. Whereas earlier sci-fi tales were essentially dramatizations of scientific ideas, with just enough "life-style" of their characters thrown in to give them dimension, Hollywood decided it needed to appeal to a broader audience (a euphemism for greed), sci-fi scripts heavied-up on human foibles as complex romantic relationships entered the story lines. As kids usually put it; yuck, kissing. Then, sci-fi began injecting insufferabe politically correct themes. If I want that sort of thing, I'd much rather watch any movie with Bogart and Hepburn. The minute you introduce sex, complex relationships or political correctness into a sci-fi movie, you can start deducting stars and thumbs-up for that flick.
Of course there are some notable exceptions. "Blade Runner" has strong sexual and romantic content, but with a difference. The human protagonist (convincingly played by Harrison Ford) isn't sure if the beauty he falls in love with (portrayed with cool heat by Sean Young) is or isn’t, well... really human. It's the crux of the story; when androids become convincingly human, will we “real” humans develop romantic relationships with them? It’s not an incidental side trip.
But the primary reason I lost interest in sci-fi, I'm sorry to say, is that most of it just devolved into plain boring crap. So-called “big ideas” which are nowadays so highly touted are in reality simply simple-minded. No more science-based than the fire-breathing dragons or magic swords so prominently featured in sci-fantasy, the sister genre of sci-fi.
One of Clarke's big ideas was the space elevator. The concept preceded Clarke's writings on the subject by decades. Be that as it may; here we have a large space station parked in a geo-stationary orbit, physically connected to the Earth by - let's call it a tether - a large tube. The tube acts as an elevator shaft (90 or more miles long!) wherein heavy objects and people can be lifted into space without the use of massive fuel-gulping spaceships. At the time of this writing, we were told that NASA has plans on paper for this kind of contraption. Okay fine. Look, there are so many holes in this space elevator concept that we ought not waste a nickel of taxpayer money on it.
The science which is most interesting today is not what's on the minds of sci-fi writers, but on the production lines of real manufacturing companies. It appears that few if any sci-fi writers ever envisioned something like a wireless laptop computer which works at the speeds we now commonly experience; everybody connected via a world-wide internet where almost anything you want to know or see is available with the tapping of a few keys, within seconds. We can’t include Dick Tracy’s wrist-watch radio since it did little more than a two-way radio. But I'm sure you can think of other amazing things to come down the manufacturing conveyor belt of ingenuity in recent years, things which were not conceived in the pages of sci-fi.
Today, accolades for creativity should go not to sci-fi writers or theoretical physicists but to the manufacturing geniuses of our era. They are so amazingly good they have forced sci-fi writers and theoretical scientists to go farther and farther out on the limb - into true borderland science - where most of the ideas are just plain, well... borderline.
Who fills you with wonder more? People who can fit something that used to be the size of a two-car garage onto a tiny silicon chip the size of a Sen-Sen... or people who preach "dark matter" as mediator of the Cosmos’ movement (when they can't even really explain what gravity or electricity are)?
Theoretical scientists may still be scratching their heads about exactly what electricity is... oh they can define its properties, interactions, et cetera, but as they say, let’s not confuse the map for the terrain. Manufacturers and their engineers, on the other hand, aren't allowing any of that to stop them from bringing more and more amazing electronic marvels to market.
Electronics product engineers may not know exactly what electricity is but they sure know how to make it do somersaults, don’t they?
1.14.2008
The Gravy Train
~
The other day, I was thinking, okay I'm a traditionalist and I find myself more attuned to conservative Republicans than I do to Democrats of any stripe. But, hey, what if (granted this is a BIG what if) what if the Democrats can be taken at their word? What if they mean it when they say they will raise the taxes of the rich and give more breaks to the rest of us? What if they can actually bring prices down for gas and medical care, and food, and all the rest? Wouldn't that be great? Wouldn't that make the electing of a Demon... oops... old habits die hard... Democrat easier to take? I mean it would be nice to be able to save some bucks on all this day to day stuff. Maybe we could live with these folks, as long as they promise not to drop their trousers (or panties as the case may be) in the oval office and stain the White House again.
But then I exit the Twilight Zone. Reality comes back. I sober up. I have lived long enough to see both Democrats and Republicans in the White House. I was born when FDR was President. And then another Democrat, Harry Truman. Then Republican Ike. Then Dem JFK and LBJ. Then Republicans Tricky D. and Ford. Then Dem Jimmy the Peanut Farmer Carter. Then Republicans Death Valley Days Reagan and Bush the Elder. Then eight interminable years of the first black President, Devil-in-the-Blue-Dress Clinton. And now the first Mexican President, GW Bush. And in all those years, with all those Democrats in office, did the price of ANYthing ever go down? Did my total tax burden EVER go down? Those are of course rhetorical questions.
Everything goes up, it never comes down. There is no gravity in the universe of consumer pricing. The Democrats give with one hand and take more with the other. They say they will tax the rich and give the rest of us a break. Like when? Show me a year when I paid less in taxes in the last sixty years. Like when they lower the income tax on the poorest people but raise the "hidden" taxes on everything else? If you calculate the total amount of taxes you pay to the government through hidden taxes such as those on virtually everything that is made, sold or consumed in America, you are turning over maybe 50% or better of your income to the government so they can squander it and give it away to the undeserving. As long as the undeserving will keep on electing the Ted Kennedy's and Barney Franks and Barbara Boxers.
But the Republicans make me laugh, too. I love when they tell us that they will lower corporate taxes so large companies can invest in more cost-efficient equipment, plants, research, and create new jobs. Then when these companies save all this money we will benefit because they will pass along the savings to us in the form of lower prices for the products and services we purchase from them. Hahahahahahah! Hold on while I get up off the floor.
When in the history of marketing has a company EVER passed along their savings to the consumer in the form of lower prices!? Like gasoline? Like food? Like automobiles? Or insurance or tuition or medication or medical care? Or the interest your bank pays you? I once had a bank account that paid me 10% on my savings. What is it now? 1 or 2% - if you are lucky? And the government has the temerity to tax that! Can bank interest rates go any lower? How long before we have to pay THEM to hold our money for us? Oh sure you can buy fluff a lot cheaper now - stuff made in China - but only junk you really don't need in the first place. Chachkies that never even existed ten years ago. Anything you really need, including the shirt on your back, is gonna cost you more, Bunky.
The government - and particularly the Democrats - wants all the money to be channeled through it - medical care, education, transportation and all the rest - so they can regulate it because we poor souls are unable to do it ourselves. That's what they say. But what they MEAN is it gives them an opportunity to skim much more off the top of this much longer gravy train.
Face it folks, when it comes to taxes and otherwise taking as much of your money from you as they can, don't look to either party for relief. If you are looking for a reason to vote for one party or the other... believe me you need to find some reason other than economics. The only way out of this vicious cycle is to make enough money so that even if they take 50%, the remaining 50% still leaves you plenty.
Now most of us will never get to that point. But for those who are able and willing to take a risk, your best bet is Republican. Because they fundamentally understand that new and small businesses still make up well over 50% of the employment in America. They craft their economics to try and benefit upstarts. Less regulation, lower business taxes, fewer lawsuits and so on. You know - things like when Democrats force business establishments to spend tens of thousands of dollars to install access ramps and other facilities for handicapped people, none of whom will ever actually ever visit that particular establishment.
Before you holler "Oh yeah..." let me add this: the fact that many or even most new businesses fail in their first year has nothing whatsoever to do with either Democrats or Republicans. It has to do with people starting businesses designed to fill needs that others are already filling better, or needs which don't really exist, or not having a real business plan, short-sighted under-capitalization, or just plain not having business acumen, or one of many other faults common to the new business owner.
Bottom line is still the same. The Democrats will do whatever they can to keep you trapped in the never-ending cycle of taxation and dependency. The Republicans will make the cost of goods and services climb just as fast but they don't want you depending on them for anything. So they offer you the possibility, small as it may be, of getting on the gravy train by starting your own business.
The other day, I was thinking, okay I'm a traditionalist and I find myself more attuned to conservative Republicans than I do to Democrats of any stripe. But, hey, what if (granted this is a BIG what if) what if the Democrats can be taken at their word? What if they mean it when they say they will raise the taxes of the rich and give more breaks to the rest of us? What if they can actually bring prices down for gas and medical care, and food, and all the rest? Wouldn't that be great? Wouldn't that make the electing of a Demon... oops... old habits die hard... Democrat easier to take? I mean it would be nice to be able to save some bucks on all this day to day stuff. Maybe we could live with these folks, as long as they promise not to drop their trousers (or panties as the case may be) in the oval office and stain the White House again.
But then I exit the Twilight Zone. Reality comes back. I sober up. I have lived long enough to see both Democrats and Republicans in the White House. I was born when FDR was President. And then another Democrat, Harry Truman. Then Republican Ike. Then Dem JFK and LBJ. Then Republicans Tricky D. and Ford. Then Dem Jimmy the Peanut Farmer Carter. Then Republicans Death Valley Days Reagan and Bush the Elder. Then eight interminable years of the first black President, Devil-in-the-Blue-Dress Clinton. And now the first Mexican President, GW Bush. And in all those years, with all those Democrats in office, did the price of ANYthing ever go down? Did my total tax burden EVER go down? Those are of course rhetorical questions.
Everything goes up, it never comes down. There is no gravity in the universe of consumer pricing. The Democrats give with one hand and take more with the other. They say they will tax the rich and give the rest of us a break. Like when? Show me a year when I paid less in taxes in the last sixty years. Like when they lower the income tax on the poorest people but raise the "hidden" taxes on everything else? If you calculate the total amount of taxes you pay to the government through hidden taxes such as those on virtually everything that is made, sold or consumed in America, you are turning over maybe 50% or better of your income to the government so they can squander it and give it away to the undeserving. As long as the undeserving will keep on electing the Ted Kennedy's and Barney Franks and Barbara Boxers.
But the Republicans make me laugh, too. I love when they tell us that they will lower corporate taxes so large companies can invest in more cost-efficient equipment, plants, research, and create new jobs. Then when these companies save all this money we will benefit because they will pass along the savings to us in the form of lower prices for the products and services we purchase from them. Hahahahahahah! Hold on while I get up off the floor.
When in the history of marketing has a company EVER passed along their savings to the consumer in the form of lower prices!? Like gasoline? Like food? Like automobiles? Or insurance or tuition or medication or medical care? Or the interest your bank pays you? I once had a bank account that paid me 10% on my savings. What is it now? 1 or 2% - if you are lucky? And the government has the temerity to tax that! Can bank interest rates go any lower? How long before we have to pay THEM to hold our money for us? Oh sure you can buy fluff a lot cheaper now - stuff made in China - but only junk you really don't need in the first place. Chachkies that never even existed ten years ago. Anything you really need, including the shirt on your back, is gonna cost you more, Bunky.
The government - and particularly the Democrats - wants all the money to be channeled through it - medical care, education, transportation and all the rest - so they can regulate it because we poor souls are unable to do it ourselves. That's what they say. But what they MEAN is it gives them an opportunity to skim much more off the top of this much longer gravy train.
Face it folks, when it comes to taxes and otherwise taking as much of your money from you as they can, don't look to either party for relief. If you are looking for a reason to vote for one party or the other... believe me you need to find some reason other than economics. The only way out of this vicious cycle is to make enough money so that even if they take 50%, the remaining 50% still leaves you plenty.
Now most of us will never get to that point. But for those who are able and willing to take a risk, your best bet is Republican. Because they fundamentally understand that new and small businesses still make up well over 50% of the employment in America. They craft their economics to try and benefit upstarts. Less regulation, lower business taxes, fewer lawsuits and so on. You know - things like when Democrats force business establishments to spend tens of thousands of dollars to install access ramps and other facilities for handicapped people, none of whom will ever actually ever visit that particular establishment.
Before you holler "Oh yeah..." let me add this: the fact that many or even most new businesses fail in their first year has nothing whatsoever to do with either Democrats or Republicans. It has to do with people starting businesses designed to fill needs that others are already filling better, or needs which don't really exist, or not having a real business plan, short-sighted under-capitalization, or just plain not having business acumen, or one of many other faults common to the new business owner.
Bottom line is still the same. The Democrats will do whatever they can to keep you trapped in the never-ending cycle of taxation and dependency. The Republicans will make the cost of goods and services climb just as fast but they don't want you depending on them for anything. So they offer you the possibility, small as it may be, of getting on the gravy train by starting your own business.
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