|
| Search this site. |
Custom Search
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
Hoping For What? Change From What We Have To What...? Is Your Life Really So Terrible? |
|||||||||||||||
| Each American, natural-born and immigrant alike, should comprehend and acknowledge that all that he and she is, all that they possess, all that they ever hope to achieve, has been and will be made possible by all that is provided at little cost to each by the free, democratic, and capitalistic system of the United States of America. | |||||||||||||||
| American style liberty and capitalism provide prosperity for all who work. The American Dream must be preserved and cherished. | |||||||||||||||
| Wise Americans who understand this refuse to be confused or dissuaded by falsifiers of the American Dream. Wise Americans will not abdicate control of America to an un-American, socialist regime. | |||||||||||||||
| Did you know that the world was provided with a refuge where hundreds of millions have already come hoping for change? Most who are willing to work get change from their hope beyond their wildest dreams. | |||||||||||||||
| This refuge was invented and built in 1776 by America's Founding Fathers. It is called The United States Of America. | |||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||
| It
Can't Get Any Worse?
By David Bueche |
|||||||||||||||
| Idling behind a Lexus this morning I saw the latest bit of agitprop from the Obama campaign -- a "Got Hope?" bumper sticker. The first question that popped into my mind was, "How bad can it be if you're driving an ES 350?" | |||||||||||||||
| It seems that the racially polarized, economically dysfunctional country our Obama supporter is so keen to change has treated him pretty well. Maybe he's in it for the other guys. You know - the 95% who keep making their mortgage payments on time, the record breaking numbers of college graduates, the millions of Americans who consume iPods, flat screen TVs or hundreds of other accoutrements of a society so wealthy it has no historical parallel. | |||||||||||||||
|
I hate to burst the dystopian
bubble the Leftists have persistently inflated during the
nightmare known as The Bush Administration, but people have
never had better food, medicine and housing than they do at this
very moment. A typical home in America today has central heat
and air, the cheapest car is a paragon of safety and efficiency
compared with its ancestors, and people are routinely treated
for, and survive, conditions which were fatal less than half a
century ago.
|
|||||||||||||||
|
Yes I'm aware that there's a
mortgage crisis -- if by crisis you mean a lot of people buying
houses way beyond their means while a sub-set of financially
myopic lenders goaded them on. But looked at another way, for
those of us who didn't drink the Kool-Aid and purchase radically
overpriced real estate so we could use the equity to finance
trips to Vegas, what's so horrible about falling home prices?
For many, when speaking of housing, couldn't we reasonably
substitute the word "consequences" for "crisis"?
|
|||||||||||||||
| Yes I'm aware there's an insurance coverage crisis -- not medical access, (which is available to anyone who presents themselves in a emergency room), or quality, (which no one really debates is still the benchmark for the world). But I do find it puzzling that the majority of the people you see in public emergency rooms can somehow afford cell phones and top of the line running shoes. | |||||||||||||||
| As a matter of fact, the U.S. Census bureau estimates that 20% of the uninsured can actually afford insurance, and another 25% are eligible for government coverage, bringing the estimated total of 47 million uninsured down to 26 million. An issue to be worked on, most definitely. But a county that current does, or can, provide access to the best health care in the world for 91% of its population, (including a large percentage of non-citizens who significantly skew the statistics), is, by definition, not a country with a health care crisis. | |||||||||||||||
| As to the issue of food, do you know what the food crisis looked like in the early twentieth century? It looked like a lot of very thin, hungry people. No talk of banning trans-fats I can assure you. As Greg Easterbrook points out in "The Progress Paradox", if you traveled back in time and spoke to your not so distant relatives about the crisis of obesity in poor people, they would be completely confused because in their day being poor meant going hungry. If there is any crisis surrounding food in the United States it is the result of incredible prosperity and abundance; all in all, not a bad problem to have. | |||||||||||||||
| When you look at these "big picture" issues you can generally divide society into two opposing worldviews; the romantic and the tragic. | |||||||||||||||
| The romantic looks at the United States, compares it to perfection, finds it wanting, and demands that we start over from scratch. Arguments for moderation and caution are dismissed as greed or indifference. "Obviously anyone who can accept the wretched state of healthcare in this country is an idiot or a monster". | |||||||||||||||
| Romantics are generally the ones you see with the communist-inspired art advocating one word solutions like Hope or Change. It doesn't get much more transparent, (or vacuous), than that. | |||||||||||||||
| The tragic perspective takes exactly the opposite approach. Instead of saying, "What a mess, how can I make this better?", the response is something like, "Thank God this works so well, lets be careful not to screw it up!" | |||||||||||||||
| And when you think about it, there's a hell of a lot we can all be thankful for. | |||||||||||||||
| Thank God I was born here and not in North Korea. Thank God I've never seen a tank come rolling into my town. Thank God there's so much to eat, and so many jobs, such access to information, and on and on. | |||||||||||||||
|
There are many things, even in
our "crisis" areas that work very well in the United States of
America. This is not pre-ordained.
|
|||||||||||||||
|
It's perfectly possible for
self-righteous, naïve idealists to destroy an excellent system
in the process of "improving" it. Anyone who doubts me should
take some time and read up on the imposition of socialism to
British healthcare. How about Stalin and collective farming,
Mao's Great Leap Forward, and Pol Pot? Don't even get
me started on the Schwarzenegger Administration...
|
|||||||||||||||
| Even though liberals like to see themselves as the thinking man's alternative, anyone with moderate intelligence and the willingness to do even minimal research will inevitable conclude that there is much, much, more right than wrong about present-day America. The glass is, most assuredly, well more than halfway full. | |||||||||||||||
| Next time you feel hopeless and swept up in an emotional desire for change remember the ultimate conceit in the words - "It can't get any worse". | |||||||||||||||
| Trust me: it can. | |||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||
| Looking For Friends In The Streets | |||||||||||||||
|
August, 2008 -- The number of chronically homeless
people living in the nation's streets and shelters has dropped
by about 30% to 123,833 from 175,914 between 2005 and 2007. These statistics have been collected by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development each year from over 3,800 cities and counties. Officials attribute much of the decline to the "housing first" strategy that has been promoted as federal policy and increasingly being adopted across the country. |
|||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||
| Salvaging | |||||||||||||||
|
August, 2008 -- A report by the
Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington-based think tank,
states that the number of illegal immigrants dropped about 11%
between August and May, 2008. This is a decline from 12.5
million to 11.2 million. The study was based on analysis of census data. It concludes that if today's rate of decline is sustained, the number of illegal immigrants will be halved in five years. The federal government started more aggressively enforcing workplace laws after Congress last year failed to pass immigration overhaul. In the months since, thousands of workers have been arrested in scores of raids and many illegals have left of their own accord. |
|||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||
| Fight To The Death For Peace | |||||||||||||||
|
Travel back with me to the presidential election of 1864 where the
Democratic Copperhead movement inserted this plank in the party’s
platform. “…after four years of failure to restore the Union by the experiment of war … justice, humanity, liberty, and the public welfare demand that immediate efforts be made for a cessation of hostilities, with a view to an ultimate convention of the States or other peaceable means, to the end that at the earliest practicable moment peace may be restored on the basis of the federal Union of the States.” Substitute U.N for States and Iraq for federal Union of the States and you’ve got Reed, Pelosi or Obama in 2008. Aside from the interesting historical parallels - (I wonder if the Copperheads were indignant with people questioning their patriotism?) - the salient point is the definition of peace. The 1864 party platform goal was, “that at the earliest practicable moment peace may be restored”. And this was to be accomplished through “cessation of hostilities” and a “convention of the states or other peaceable means”. If the Democrats had won the day in November of 1864 they would have called a cease fire and negotiated with the Confederacy arriving ultimately at one of two possible outcomes: 1.) Dissolution of the Union, with the Confederacy continuing as a slave holding enterprise in North America; 2.) Restoration of the Union with some form of slavery tolerated and continuing in the Southern States. So in reality, the “peace” so valued by the Copperheads was a relative term for it would have been purchased with the continued enslavement of others. The modern day equivalent is a “peace” that is secured through the almost certain ethnic cleansing that would ensue if we were to hastily retreat from present day Iraq. The lives of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians, many who bravely stood up and fought by our sides, would be sacrificed so we could declare peace. All this seems fairly obvious. How is it that the Copperheads and their contemporary counterparts reach totally alternate conclusions? It has to do with the difference between self definition on a personal level - the realm of preference and fashion - and mature, objective moral judgment. When I buy a leather jacket and motorcycle boots instead of a polo shirt and dress pants I’m making a statement about who I am and how I see myself. In another case, the purchase of a minivan or station wagon projects a whole different set of values and priorities than a sports car or a motorcycle. In both cases, the result, (other than a potentially annoyed spouse), is ultimately inconsequential and not linked to the fate of other parties. However, the same cannot be said for political and policy positions. In this case, the choice to be “for peace” is not a private decision in that its consequences could be potentially disastrous for other individuals with no say in the matter, (i.e., a 12 year old Sunni boy in Fallujah). In this case - the choice of peace could very well be someone else’s death sentence, and viewed in light of this reality - not very peaceful at all. It would be nice if we could choose peace as simply as picking out a shirt. It would be great if there was a policy equivalent of taking the old wardrobe to the Goodwill and starting over with a totally new look, (which seems to be the appeal of some candidates running on platforms suspiciously similar to the Copperheads of old). Needless to say - the world is a messy place, not at all like a mall or retail outlet. Political choices are more than fashion statements. They set in motion a chain of events impacting other people - most of whom have no say in the matter - who desperately need us to make the right decision. Being a citizen of the United States in the 21st century is an enormous blessing which carries an equally large responsibility. Like our distant, departed cousins in New England, we too are facing momentous choices in a war which has become tiresome and unpopular. And like them we must ask ourselves - Is this choice really going to bring peace? Am I being honest about what will happen if I get my way? Am I truly standing on the moral high ground or simply the space which casts the most flattering reflection? (Originally published on Primetime Politics - 5/29/08) |
|||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||
|
|
||
| Comments | ||
|