Some thoughts....

Not knowing where your next meal is going to come from is a sobering realization that something is wrong. So, as many Americans these days do, one will go online and apply for food stamp benefits. And unlike many "conservatives", I see nothing wrong with this. A hard working family who falls on hard times, and has been a productive member of society, has paid taxes, has some right to the "general welfare fund" they have paid into. But as we all know, it is not only those who "fall on hard times" that use these benefits. The system is ravaged with the typical welfare family, who is consistently poor, receives numerous welfare subsidies, and do nothing to improve their station in life. These are the people who are a drain on this society. Not the mother whose husband upped and left her high and dry with a few mouths to feed and no way to feed them. Nor the parents who got laid off  from their jobs because the economy tanked. And certainly not those who through physical or mental disabilities are unable to care or provide for themselves.

But the mentality of today that you are entitled to food, entitled to medical care, entitled to home ownership, entitled to a college education, is foolish at best. Nowhere in nature does an unproductive member of any hive, herd, pride or flock get to sit back and have others feed them or defend them. The queen bee, who is waited on hand and foot, is the sole reason for the hive in the first place. She produces value, the eggs she lays are the product she is paid for. The lion is paid with fresh kills for his role as the pride's protector, and they need his, well, DNA to propagate the pride  and species.But we human animals have negated this, and state that we defy nature, and each man woman and child born in this world is entitled to everything, regardless of their ability to produce it, or anything for themselves.

It is my notion that the very thing that was meant to help those in need, those who by no fault of their own, these programs have been abused and have actually contributed to the crisis we have today. I can't count how many times I have heard, why get a job, we have food stamps. Why get health insurance, we have medicaid. Why not have a baby, medicaid will pay the bills, WIC will provide formula, food stamps will feed us, Section 8 funding will put a roof over our heads, cash assistance will buy diapers and keep the lights on, and I'll figure out someway to claim disability to get my government check each month. So for those with no sense of self reliance, no force making them provide for themselves, why on earth would they?

How do I know this? Because I have seen it first hand. I have sat in the WIC office listening to the angry mothers that WIC didn't provide more formula for their babies, that it didn't provide more cereal, more fruit, more juice. They would yell at the case workers, saying "How do you expect me to feed my baby on 11 cans of formula a month. It ain't enough" or  " What right do you have to tell me what kind of juice I use my WIC check for, it's my bay, not yours" I chuckled hearing that one, and the thought of beggars can't be choosers ran through my mind. Or when I was sitting at a Career Central employment center (a state run employment office primarily for workers on unemployment)  listening to a few guys standing outside smoking, saying how they "won't get out of bed for less than ten dollars an hour", or that "they expect me to come here once a week to try to find a job just so I can get my unemployment check....it's bullshit" Then there's the time we were sitting at the county Health Department, watching and listening to the people get angry at the workers because they couldn't get this test or that procedure done, and how dare they not provide these services to them. That it's their right to have their pap smear done, or their teeth looked at, or their STD treated, and that it's the governments job to take care of it. Im not kidding.

And there I was, sitting in those places, unaware of the welfare culture. Of the lowest of the low, the rotten people who literally mooch their way through life. Who won't get a job because it's easier to work the system to get stuff for free. Who think that it's societies responsibility to look after them. That they don't have to put one ounce of effort into their lives, because it's their right to have food, clothing, medical care, shelter, and money. And here I was, suddenly thrust into this world after losing both incomes, after literally destroying my lower back to take care of my family, paying ungodly amounts in taxes, and trying my hardest to never rely on these programs to which now I was relying.

I listen to people condemn welfare programs, condemn those who are on them. I don't and I never have. And I never will. What I will condemn is those who abuse it. Those who make no plan or action to improve themselves, their lives, and their children's lives. Not those who have fallen on hard times, and were productive members of society before they got laid off, truly disabled, etc.

It is those people who will find jobs again, and rebuild there lives , becoming self reliant once more. But when your parents have relied on welfare, and you rely on welfare, and neither has made a move to improve their lives, what reason do those people have to start being self reliant? They don't, and they rarely won't. They will raise their children that it's okay to be on welfare. That it's their right to have food when they don't at least even try to put it on the table. That it's their right to have kids when they won't even attempt to do the things necessary to provide for them. Welfare used to be a family's dirty little secret. No one wanted anybody else to know they were getting food stamps. Now, it's the in thing. It's their right to get food stamps, because they are an American Citizen. That it's  okay to sit back and collect and make no effort in your own care, yet be taken care of. Because it's your right.

Now you may think that all this is meaningless. But I assure you it makes all the difference in the world for our future generations. If you teach by words or example that it's okay to not work for your own survival, then the children that result will usually be less inclined to work hard, to look after one's self. That it is their right to eat, have shelter, to have their runny noses looked at, but that they needn't bother with a job, because it's their government given right to those things. When one child is taught that, its a shame. When 10,000 are taught that, it is a tragedy. When an entire generation is taught that, it's a catastrophe. An entire generation of children taught that it's their right to healthcare, food, and shelter.... not a privilege earned through work and productivity. You then have an entire generation  of people who don't create the next big thing, who take the easy way out, who stand for nothing but fall for anything.

It is morally wrong to sit back and collect a check just because of who you are. It is not the American way. What if George Westinghouse or Thomas Edison sat back and just waited for a check, or if Henry ford just decided that hard work and innovation was just too darn hard?

Will replacing the tax code fix the economy?

Simply restructuring the tax code will not fix the economy. Nothing will except us becoming a nation of producers rather than consumers. Is there any correlation to the rise of foreign made products and the slow death of our economy? Yes there is.

This one will shake the "gold standard" people a bit.......

Think of it like this. If we were on a gold standard, where gold was the currency of the nations......if we continue to consume and not produce, we would be sending our gold to countries overseas, for things like energy, televisions, cars, you name it, it's not likely to be made in the USA anymore. So if we produce nothing, yet continue to send our gold to other countries, who in turn buy nothing from us because we have no products of value to be bought, where does that leave us? Broke and forced to borrow our money. It's as simple as that. Gold is a finite, paper money is faith, which is proven to be infinite. We can't make more gold, but we can print cash like it's going to rot. Hence the downfall of the gold standard, our government knew they couldn't regulate business to death (as well as finance progressive or wasteful spending measures that have increased spending seemingly exponentially) and remain on the gold standard. It's impossible. Our only major export is cash, lots of it. And we aren't being paid for it either. Walk into any retail store. Look at the copious amounts of products that come from foreign countries, and tell me that you see no relation. We are bleeding our economy dry, one transaction, one credit card purchase at a time. You wonder how China got the money to raise their population from poverty? From us. Mr and Mrs Chang now has a TV, electricity, and internet because our government regulated business to death. We artificially created wealth without doing the work necessary to earn it. We printed money that was not earned, is backed by nothing but faith, and has lost it's value several times over. And the standard of the currency that created our nation is now traded as a commodity on the open market, without regard to actual value, but perceived value. Currency is not an investment, it is the value by which everything is determined.

Now the next question is why has industry left the US? Why do we import steel, food, energy, etc. when we have all those things here? It is because government has regulated capitalism to the point of near non existence. They tell us how we can explore for energy, what and how products are made, and how we must hire our employees, how we must pay them. The government guarantees that no matter how worthless you may be, you are guaranteed a minimum wage. These things are all part of the economy, things that affect how business is done. and that is the power of the government over the economy. It's not taxes, it's nothing but the 81,000 pages of rules and regulations regarding business operations mandated by the government.

If we produce nothing, we have nothing to sell. If we have nothing to sell, we can not make money. If we can not make money, we can not employ people. If we can not employ people to make products to sell, then the economy fails. It's that notion that is the truth of the matter. Until government allows the return of capitalism, our economy is doomed. America was the creator of true capitalism, and it will be it's murderer.

Atlas Shrugged

It took me 32 years to read the book Atlas Shrugged. While the actual reading of the book only took 4 days, I have spent 32 years looking for what I found in those pages. Who would of thought that a Russian born woman who died three years after I was born would have taught me so much through a work of fiction? Certainly I would have never thought it. I see in those pages the culmination of the ideas about life that have nagged me since I was a child. The idea that we truly are the masters of our own destiny. That, as Sarah Conner said in Terminator, "there is no fate but what we make". While this book is a work of fiction, the meanings of it certainly are not. The characters leap from the pages, larger than life, brashly, egotistically, almost over inflated. But they must be this way, to show the whole picture. To show that people like that did and do exist. People like the Wright Brothers, Gottleib Daimler, James Watt, Thomas Savery, Rudolf Diesel, the list goes on and on and on. These great men sought to do something better than the world had seen so far, to invent something completely new and untested; to break from the norm and do the other things. Not because they were easy, but because they were hard. I had lived my 32 years in the belief that what I had was what I had, and somehow, my station in life was just that, the station where I sat.....waiting for something to happen. Never did I go chasing the thing in my dreams, the ideas I had, the thoughts of new things, not yet heard of before. I sat in my station of my own laziness, of my own apathy created by my acceptance of the world around me, looking at life not through rose colored glasses, but through a fog. A fog made of the thoughtless and irreverent devotion to the status quo. Never once did I act on the ideas for the improvements on existing water treatment equipment, the ideas I had for distributing phone, data, and television through the nations already existent power grid. Would they have worked? Who knows. I never acted on them. I may never know. I accepted the fact that I was powerless to change the world, to improve it, to make my mark. 

There is no difference between me and those great men I listed earlier, save two things: want, and will. As in the book, Henry Rearden had an idea for a metal to beat all metals, and it was aptly named Rearden Metal. He spent ten years of his life devoted to the thought that he could make the worlds best metal. Stronger, lighter, and more corrosion resistant than anything the world had ever seen. But this is fiction right? In one light yes, Henry Rearden is a fictional character, but replace the name Henry Rearden with Rudolf Diesel, and change the name of the invention from Rearden Metal to the Diesel engine, and it's not fiction anymore. It's a reality in all forms. But it's a reality that I didn't see. I thought that the age of great men was over. That I could never be one of those men. But now I see that I can. That whatever I choose to do can be done, if I so choose to do it. But choosing to do something great is not merely making a decision, it is a realization. A realization of the old saying "give me a lever large enough, and Ill move the world" means that the lever is not given, it is created by will, by wanting it, by doing the work to make it happen. Such a simple thing it would seem, this realization. But I can assure you, it is not. It took me 32 years to pay it more than lip service, to go beyond what is told to you as a child, that "of course you can be whatever you want when you grow up. The sky is the limit". For my entire life, I paid merely a pittance of thought to that saying, never actually gave it any more than a fleeting glance. I sat back, apathetic, riding through life waiting for the next train, the train that would take me to where I wanted to go in life. But, I lacked the ticket to actually get on this train. No amount of money could purchase it, it could not be given, bartered, traded, or stolen. It's purchase price must be paid with something more valuable than gold; the will and want, the work. So I was left at the station each time the train would come, and yet I blamed everything else, when the blame lies squarely on my shoulders. I thought that by having great ideas that the rest would just magically fall into place. That each great man who did great things started with an idea; on that account I was right. But I never looked at the rest of the picture. I would have a revelation as I call them, an idea on how to do something better, or make something new. I'd play around for a few minutes, jotting my ideas down on scraps of paper, maybe draw a pretty picture of it, then for whatever reason, I'd let it go. I'd resign this next best thing to the depths of my mind, never to be thought of again. It's a hard realization when you know that in your eyes, you have failed. You have failed where others succeeded, because you were too lazy to put in the work to produce that idea into reality. Henry Rearden wasn't. Neither was Rudolf Diesel. They didn't waste their time trying to circumvent the work to produce their great inventions, they just did it. They worked at it, long hours, sleepless nights, to build the better mouse trap so to speak. I see it clearer now. I see that, maybe one day, I'll have an idea, and I'll go ahead and get my train ticket, and climb aboard.

It is through this work of fiction that opened my eyes to the non fiction, the real life stories of great men who did great things. Who stood up for morality, not a twisted faith based morality, but a morality of reason. A set of rules that guided them to their great inventions and ideas. That what they were doing was the culmination of what they wanted, what they dreamed of. Not their neighbor, wife, children or government. It's what they wanted to be, what they wanted to do with their life. They had dreams of inventing, of problem solving, of getting rich. Because they themselves wanted it. Greatness comes in many forms. Great is the man who produces value, who goes to the brink and brinks back something new. I envy those men. So does everyone else. It is those men who power the motor of the world.

This book, as I have found out since reading it, has changed the minds of many people who have read it. Some have revelations, some just look at life a little differently. The core of Ayn Rand's philosophy was what she called Objectivism. I don't know enough about it to say whether I agree or disagree with it. But I will say this, it surely makes one think about how they view life. No doubt about that. For whatever reason, the ideas propositioned in this book make sense to me.







There are a few things she said that intrigue me greatly:

"I trust that no one will tell me that such men I write about don't exist. That this book has been written - and published - is my proof that they do."

"Men have been taught that it is a virtue to agree with others. But the creator is the man who disagrees. Men have been taught that it is a virtue to swim with the current. But the creator is the man who goes against the current. Men have been taught that it is a virtue to stand together. But the creator is the man who stands alone."

And these two are my favorite:

"Show me your achievement, and the knowledge will give me courage for mine."

"Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark. In the hopeless swamps of the not quite, the not yet, and the not at all, do not let the hero in your soul perish and leave only frustration for the life you deserved, but never have been able to reach. The world you desire can be won, it exists, it is real, it is possible, it is yours."

A is A

       A is A. The facts are the facts, and those facts are the undeniable truths of our lives. No political, social or moral view will change those facts. Need is need, want is want, and success is success. You can not change them by changing the yardstick by which they are measured. Nor will changing that yardstick change the value or worth of a person, only that person can decide where they will measure at on the yardstick that has been set by evolution, by the past achievements of man, by the worth he gives himself. We must all decide, through our morals, our minds, our actions here in this life what our measurement will be.

Colorado School Comes Under Fire For Hanging Saudi Flag Higher Than American Flag | FoxNews.com

Colorado School Comes Under Fire For Hanging Saudi Flag Higher Than American Flag | FoxNews.com:

'via Blog this'

So, let me get this straight: An elementary school, here in the United States of America, lowered Ol' Glory to make way for a Saudi flag? I find that disgusting. Not because it happened near the tenth anniversary of 9/11, or because it was the flag of some of the terrorists who committed that atrocious act.....it is mostly because this is America, and for a little over 235 years brave men have spilled blood and given their lives to ensure that a foreign flag is never raised on American soil. This sort of thing is unacceptable. I was glad to see that the principle of the school remedied the situation quickly. But for someone to even do it in the first place is just plain disrespectful. This is America, we speak English, and we fly the American flag. You want to fly the Saudi flag? Do it on your own property, not on public school property where American kids are forced to see Old Glory sitting backseat to another country's flag. I just find it deplorable, disrespectful, and certainly in bad taste. Maybe I am over reacting, but in today's PC world, even the small instances of PC bullshit just set me off.

image courtesy of http://www.greeleygazette.com

Look at us now......

       Around a century ago, our country was nearing completion on one of, if not the greatest, civil engineering projects man has ever undertaken. The Panama canal was a marvel of engineering, a grand masterpiece, a tour-de-force of American will and ingenuity. Our dreams were melted in the furnaces of our strength and will, and cast into the shape of one of the greatest accomplishments man has ever made. We were the masters of our destiny, bending the very earth beneath our feet to our will. Great men said and did great things nearly a century ago.....

       Fast forward a few years, and we were in the trenches in Europe, in one of the greatest wars man had ever seen. We sent our sons to die in the mud to secure freedoms for those who lived half a world away. We defeated evil the same way we had done every other great thing, with shear will and determination. And we won the great war, just as we had accomplished everything else we ever set our mind to. After all, it was the American way.

       In 1929, we suffered the greatest economic downfall that we had ever seen. It certainly was one of America's darkest hours, seeming as though our great country had experienced something that we could not recover from. But, alas, recover we did. We rebuilt our economy, our pride, and our will. We were Americans, and nothing was impossible.We did things like build the Hoover Dam, the Blue Ridge Parkway, and brought electricity to nearly every home in the nation via the TVA and the hydroelectric projects in the west and mid west. We just decided to, and we did. It was that simple.

        In 1941, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, and we entered the Second World War. We assembled the largest army that has ever walked this earth, and we built more tools of war than has ever been created before or since. The United States was called on to send our sons to defend the world from tyranny, and we did, again. We fought a hellish war on two fronts, and just like everything else we set our minds to, we succeeded.

        In the 1960's, we decided that we should put a man on the moon. And we did. In less than a decade, we went from having a nearly non-existent space program, to flying three men to the moon, walked (and drove) around a bit, put up a flag, and flew back. You know why? Because we could. Because we are Americans, and if we can dream, we can do it.

       The year is now 2011, and I am 32 years old. The only way I know that America is capable of great things is because I read about them in books, or watch it on TV. I do not have any first hand knowledge of any of the great accomplishments that our country has achieved, because their haven't been any in my life time. No bending the very earth to our will, no great victories from tyranny. I believe that America has lost faith in herself, that unless you continue to do great things, you will forget that you are capable of doing them. And, I don't see any great things on the horizon for our country. What does that mean for our children? Will their generation be so eager to learn and remember the awe inspiring accomplishments that our nation is capable of? Or will they slowly lose faith in our country and her people, as so many have today?  Are we ever going to have another moment like the final spike in the trans continental railroad, the first ship to pass through the locks on the Panama Canal, or watching Neil Armstrong descend the ladder and step foot on another world?

       I look at the accomplishments that we as Americans have made, and I am proud. We are the greatest nation in the world. We have accomplished so much in our short 235 year history. We've done more than any other nation or people on earth, and many have been around for over a millennium.  Is this not enough to instill American Pride in today's generation? To love their country, and to strive to overcome greater challenges than ever before? To build bigger, to fight harder, and to travel farther than we ever have? It used to be said that if the American people set their mind to something, no power in the world could stop them. But, now we know the one thing that can stop us............losing faith in ourselves as a nation. We owe it our future generations to get our faith back, our will and our mighty ingenuity. Now let's go build bigger, travel farther, and do it faster than ever before. Because,well, it's the American way!


Yours Truly,
Ian 

Wow, I'm completely slack jawed by this one.....

Government Sues Trucking Company for Taking Keys Away From Alcoholic Driver- Fox News

       Just wanted to share a few thoughts on this story, as I am at a loss to understand why in the world something like alcoholism is a protected status with the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act). The average man considers a handicapped person to be in a wheelchair, blind, or have some mental condition that prevents them from leading a normal life. But being a drunk? By your own choice? Come on people, get with it. Does the man born with no legs choose to be the way he is? No, he does not. What about the blind man? Again......no. Surely the man who is autistic, or born with down syndrome, surely he chose to be that way. That's a negative on that one too. This man chooses to be a drunk. He isn't born that way, he chose to put that bottle to his lips. Now some of you will argue that addiction to alcohol is hereditary, and I'll respond to that right now. BULLSHIT. Period, end of story. This man made a choice to put that bottle to his lips and continue to do so. That's the deal. No more, no less.
     
      You can not compare being a drunk to being handicapped. If you choose to do something, how can this be a handicap? It is, as I have pointed out in a few other posts, the slow shirking of responsibility, and what is morally right and wrong. Somewhere, some policy maker actually sat down and decided that being a drunk was the same as not having any legs. Are you kidding me? Have we become so liberal and so bleeding hearted that even the drunks and addicts are now a protected status? That if an employer does not make accommodations to a slovenly drunk that they will face the ire of our government? Not to mention what this guy does for a living, being a truck driver on public roads. The same roads that you and I drive, with our children. I'm sure that I don't have to elaborate on the dangers of a inebriated person driving a tractor trailer at high speed.............

      What this all boils down to is that we have let our government go off the deep end. While I fully believe that the ADA is a valuable piece of legislation, it has gotten out of hand. Just like the rest of our laws and regulations. It reminds me of an old saying..."The road to Hell is paved with good intentions"......and this is so true here. The ADA was passed to protect people like my Dad, who had a debilitating spinal condition, who had to work hard jobs with no concessions or special treatment. He didn't live long enough to see the benefits of the Americans with Disabilities Act, yet some drunk who chose to be a drunk falls into the same category as my Dad, who didn't have a choice. It certainly does strain the mind a bit, doesn't it?

I'll be writing to Old Dominion Freight lines, congratulating and supporting  them in their decision to take a drunk off of our roads, and for standing up to the feds. I hope you'll take a few minutes to do the same.

Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc.
500 Old Dominion Way
Thomasville, NC 27360


or email: Alice.Gibson@odfl.com

I sit here today, worried about my children's future........

       I sit here today, watching my children play; I began to wonder......I wonder what kind of life will they have? When I was a child, we had the Great Ronald Reagan as our commander in chief, and we were fighting communism and projecting our might across the world. "Peace through Strength" was the motto, and Americans were unapologetic about our greatness, our might. We spoke softly and carried a big stick, all the while remaining vigilant in our efforts to protect the down trodden, to be the last beacon of freedom in an ever darkening world. We were strong, and the sky was no limit to us. We were the greatest and we knew it in our bones. But something happened, and we became something less. We became touchy feely, we became a nation of politically correct crybabies. We now speak softly, and have replaced the big stick with advisory groups and political action committees on how not to offend gays, Muslims, the poor, the homeless, the transgendered, the bisexual, the middle class, the tree huggers, Asians, Europeans, Samoans, and don't forget the environmentalists. I know there's more, but, hey, if you are offended that I left you out, well, cry me a river you PC crybaby.

       It's a fact of life that people hate. I hate. I hate a lot of things. I hate anchovies. I hate stupid people. I hate the movie Chicago. And you know what, it's my God given right to hate. I can hate you for your sexual orientation; I can hate you for your skin color. I can even hate you for the God you worship. I can call a black person a nigger, or a gay person a faggot. I can call an Asian a zipper head or a slope or a gook. I can call a white person a honky, cracker, whitey mcwhitey. I can call a Jew a kike, or a Muslim a terrorist if I so choose. It's my god given right, and a right guaranteed to me by the first amendment. Do I do those things? No, I do not. But, if I did, it's my right, and neither you nor anyone else can take that away.  It is not anyone’s right to commit violent acts against anybody, regardless of how much one may or may not like them. It’s the same principle that allows Neo-Nazis to parade in Washington spewing anti-Semitic rhetoric, or the Black Panthers to march, shouting about how whitey is keeping the strong black brother down trodden and how whitey should die. Do I agree with these f'in fruitcakes? No, but it is their right. And I fully support their right to speak their mind, regardless of what trash will subsequently spew out their hate filled mouths. You cannot legislate hate. No amount of legislation will make people love one another. It just won't work. You'll end up with everybody in jail, with no one left to pay taxes to make more anti hate legislation. It's already illegal to beat up on someone, regardless of the reasoning behind it. If a man punches another man in the mouth, does it matter why? No, it doesn't. But that's my opinion, and you don't have to agree, or even respect it. But you do have to tolerate it. It's my right to speak my piece. But that's not the way these days. You'll vilify me, get a few "special interest" groups involved, and then lobby congress to pass a law that says I must sit around a campfire and sing kum-ba-ya and hold hands with someone who wants to punch me in the mouth just as bad as I want to punch them in the mouth. But, hey, that's okay. I can still think freely for now............

       When I was a kid, we hated commies. They were the enemy. We vilified them; those commie bastards were going to get it, one way or another. We had a common enemy, a goal that united us. We had a great leader, the venerable Reagan, who taunted communism, who went to the commies’ doorstep and demanded that they "tear down this wall!" (The Berlin wall for those who don't know) We, in the last century, saved the world, literally. Not once, but TWICE. We spend billions around the world to promote democracy, to end hunger, malaria, AIDS, you name it, and we provide money to fight it. We, on occasion, even provide the blood of our sons and daughters to fight evil. We are the go to guys when shit hits the fan, and that has been proven over and over and over. WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Serbia, Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq, and  many more numerous other conflicts where just the mere presence of our military power has swayed the outcome of many a battle or disagreement the world over. But, today, our commander in chief runs around the world apologizing to the world for America. What the hell do we need to apologize for? For saving the world? TWICE? For being the last great hope of freedom and prosperity? For being American? For excelling at all we do? For being the best? Apparently that's the case. These days you have to apologize for winning. Charlie Sheen didn't apologize for winning. He drank tiger blood on a roof top and shouted he's winning, and never once apologized for it. (That was joke, in case you didn't get it) We have humbled ourselves to the world. We have taken away the American pride, the can do attitude. Jesus, we landed a man on the moon in less than a decade, and now all the sudden we suck? We have lost our pride, and I blame that again on the touchy feely bull shit PC crowd. The fanatics have now turned their nut case intentions on their own country, and have slowly taken away our thunder. They have convinced their fellow Americans that we are the evil ones, that we are the bad guys. I say piss on that. We are the best thing since sliced bread. We are Americans. Our shit does not smell. We all wear capes. We are the best of the best. Don't let your neighbor convince you otherwise. And please, if you have kids, teach them America is great. It truly is. Now, let’s all drink some tiger blood and shout from the rooftops about how great we are. I bet it would be fun.....

The family unit and other related things.....

       I am a conservative. I am fiscally conservative, as well as borderline socially conservative. I believe in the family unit. I believe that children, on average, will do better with a mommy and a daddy, who are married. Who live together, love together, and raise their children together.  I believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. Why do I believe that? Because I do, and I don't have to have a reason. I'm sure that some reading this will call me homophobic, and against gay rights. I'm not. I wish gay people all the best, but I can't at this point in my life condone gay marriage. There, I said it. I said I don't condone gay marriage. Go ahead, call me intolerant, call me what you will. But it seems these days its taboo to actually speak one’s mind if it offends anyone else. I think a gay couple is entitled to legal assurances that they will receive death benefits, insurance payouts, etc. But my belief, again, is that marriage is between a man and woman. Is that wrong to feel that way?  No. Just as it's not wrong for someone else to believe that gays should be allowed to marry. But it doesn't matter if that offends me.......as long as the minority doesn't get their feelings hurt. Again, the liberal touchy feely PC BS crowd trouncing on the average Joe..........and while you’re at it, why not get some legislation passed that says my kid can't call your kid fat, gay, ugly, stupid (or whatever names kids call each other these days) because you have raised your child without a spine, and not taken the time to do your job as a parent and tell your kids that sticks and stones may break their bones, but words will never hurt them. Let’s raise a generation of wimps and touchy feely crybabies that whine when another kid calls them a name...... while the enemies we have in this world are strapping bombs to themselves and teaching their kids to blow people up and martyr themselves for 72 virgins...........

A word on corporations..........and unions.....and a few other things.....

       The left makes corporate America out to be demons and bloodthirsty vampires who will stop at nothing to destroy America. That it's wrong for an executive to make a million bucks while the poor fry cook at McD's makes $7.50 an hour.... So not the case. The far left want to punish the executive for his success, for doing the things necessary to succeed and be wealthy, and that is wrong. He's living the American dream, to exercise his right to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness. To punish him or her is just insane, to take their wealth, the product of their ingenuity and hard work, and give it to the poor who have no drive to succeed? That's just wrong and deep down inside you know it. But if you are a far left nut job, you'll never admit it.  

                You like your paycheck? Pretty sure it came from some kind of corporation (unless you are a public sector employee). Corporations are what makes America and the world go round. What would happen if all of the sudden corporate America just decided to stay in bed tomorrow? To decide to just give up, to give in to the regulations and the pressures from the left. Let’s close up shop......let's just throw our hands up and piss on it. All hell would break loose. Now don't get me wrong, a business will do what is best for the bottom line, no doubt, and the private sector needs regulation, but come on lefties......your vilification does nothing but make you look stupid. I love the union guys for example, shouting the evils of their employer....be lucky you have a job you union jackass. I'm sure some unemployed American will take your place without all the BS union strings attached. In a heartbeat. But they don't realize that they are a slave to the union, not the corporation they make out to be so evil. That the simple act of joining a union has doomed them to a life of union servitude. Ha-ha you pay to go to work. How stupid is that???? Your union is the exact reason that companies ship jobs overseas. Think about it for a minute before you get all mad and start beating your chest and threatening to bury me with Hoffa.....You demand higher pay.......the companies agree. You demand better healthcare, overtime for all if one gets some OT......the companies agree. You keep demanding, and demanding, the cost of production goes way up, the cost of goods rise, etc, etc, etc and before you know it, some kid in India is doing your job and you're all pissed off now because you think you are worth more than you really are, and you can't find a job that will put up with your ridiculous caveats and demands. Not to mention the relationship between unions and the lefties elected officials.........hmmm.......Boeing getting sued by the Gov't for allegedly moving jobs to a state where it's harder to form a union chapter to "punish" the unions.......I’ll leave that one to stew in your brain for a moment.....go ahead and Google it...... you will sooner or later smack yourself in the head when you learn all the connections in that one........but I can't leave out the UAW, one of the major reasons GM and Chrysler went belly up and the Gov't (rather we the people) had to bail them out.....

       ((Oh and by the way it was the republicans who partially repealed the Glass-Steagall act of 1933, causing in part the financial meltdown of 07-08....but the great Bill Clinton is the one who signed it into law in 1999. It was the Democrats and the lefties through acorn that pressured fannie mae and freddie mac to loosen regulations so poor people could buy houses, not to mention Barney Frank and his backdoor dealings (no pun intended) with fannie mae that caused the mortgage crisis. Poor people can't buy houses because they can't pay it back. Duh, home ownership is not a right you idiots....it's something you work for. I'm an equal opportunity blamer. )) Forgive me; I just had to throw in a reference to the government’s role in the meltdown, because everybody blames the corporations. It was a marriage made in financial ruin.......The bottom line is don't bite the hand that feeds you. And don't blame a snake when it bites you. It's just doing what snakes do, and it's your dumbass fault you got bitten. I hope you see the connections in my ranting and raving...

On the debt crisis we face........

      Seriously? Why is this even an issue? WTF is wrong with these people on the Hill? The answer is simple: Quit spending so much damn money!!!! We aren't in this situation because we aren't taxed enough; we are in this situation because we spend too much damn money. The average American knows the solution to this problem. They deal with it on a daily basis in their own lives. Sooner or later, you've got to cut up the credit cards. Live on a cash basis. We borrow 40 cents of every dollar that the government spends these days.......that’s sick. And that number will rise as it already has since I last checked. Take a look at the debt clock. It's scary stuff. My children are already in debt. WTF is that? The government is on a high, fueled by reckless spending of borrowed money. Do these dipshits not realize that we can't tax our way out of this? Tax me more, I spend less. I spend less, business takes a hit. Business takes a hit, then they lay me off and now I have no income to tax. It's simple cause and effect, but these idiots can't grasp that. Quit spending money on stupid crap. The government spends their money on the equivalent of gold teeth and 22 inch rims and. They dump millions (sometimes billions) to dumb things like building salamander tunnels under roads (yes it was the stimulus), giving a few million dollars so a museum could buy art, so California could build ineffective and useless salmon steps on dry creek beds, give grants to study the effects of penis size on the sex lives of gay men…....I'm not joking. they subsidize billions in ethanol production that raises food prices and raises the cost of gasoline and diesel, billions for wind farms that will never break even without the subsidies.......they give Brazil billions for oil exploration yet leave our own natural resources untapped? And this government can solve our problems? Give me a break........The government spends money like it's going to rot. The powers that be want to tax us more and spend the same in the grand scheme of things. They aren't actually saving any money, their savings work like this: Say you want to buy a new SL500 Mercedes at $100,000 dollars, but you decide to buy a $20,000 dollar Hyundai sonata instead. Now to you and me, you spent $20,000 dollars. But the government says you just saved $80,000 dollars....you "cut spending" by 80K....it's a laughable, but it's also so sad that that's actually the way it is. Now if you bought a Mercedes for 20 grand, then that would be savings.....wouldn't it be nice if the Government would actually save some money instead of these fabricated "spending cuts" figures???? These people on the Hill are morons. And the sooner we realize that, the better off we will be. Reagan summed it up like this; "In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem." Couldn’t have said it better myself……

A few more thoughts......

       

        “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a Free State, the right of the people to keep and bear    Arms, shall not be infringed.”

        It doesn't get any simpler than that. Do I believe that your average American needs to have a rocket launcher? No. I don't. But I do believe that Americans have the right to wear a handgun on their hip, in plain sight, or even concealed under clothing, or carry a shotgun down Main Street. It's my right. You may not like it, but you can't bend the constitution to your liking. It's as plain as day. I even quoted the Amendment. I can have no guns, or a hundred. It's my choice. Not yours. But this right is being trampled by the far left and the uninformed, and it is sickening. The framers of our nation know that sooner or later the people may have to rise up against tyranny, and wanted every American to be armed if they so choose. “A well armed people” is the best way to ensure the security of a free state.

                It's time that the average Joe is heard, that our fates not lie in the decisions made by the masses based on talking points and rhetoric. It is our civil duty to take part in our own governance, to ensure the security of our nation, to elect leaders who will do what needs to be done, not because these things are easy, but because they are hard. Because our leaders are an extension of ourselves, they are the hammer which we wield to keep building this nation, to ensure she remains great and free for our children. It sickens me to think of the world my children will grow up in, the things I love about MY country may be gone forever. I have shed real tears over these thoughts. I will not be silenced by the minority, nor will I pander to the masses for fear of hurting someone’s feelings. I will not let my voice be drowned out any longer by the thunderous static of the rhetoric spewed by the leaders of today. I want answers, not political shenanigans and tomfoolery. No more partisan rhetoric, no more crybaby name calling when our leaders have a job to do. Government has failed us; they have dug us into a hole that has cost us dearly in blood and treasure. They have slowly stripped us of our power, while increasing their own. We can no longer stand idly by and let our nation fall. We must all take an active part in restoring America to what she truly is the last great hope in a world gone mad. We must do this for our children. We must do this to honor those who gave their lives in the war to free us from the tyranny of England. Those who spilled blood and lost their lives in the Great Wars of the last century to save not only us but the world from the Axis of evil. To do anything less is to spit on their graves and make light of their sacrifice upon the altar of freedom. And we must do this for the future generations so they too can know the pride and joy that is felt when we say "I'm proud to be an American"

       So it is with this, my declaration, my promise to my children, and my children's children that I will no longer be a patsy to those who would take away my children's future. To saddle them with unbearable debt, to diminish their constitutional rights, to take away their right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I owe it my children, to their children, to be a steward of freedom. I am proud to be an American. I am proud to be at this time, this place, to let my voice be heard, no matter how small it may be.  God Bless America……….we’re going to need it!

Yours truly,

Ian

You know things are wrong when......

       There are parents killing their children in record numbers. We have illegal aliens streaming across the border, unchecked, and an administration that sidesteps congress and sets their own rules for deportation using "executive powers". When we are fighting two wars, and have no exit strategy that will leave a stable middle east. When we are at war with a country (Libya) without authorization of Congress. We have a record number of people on Medicaid, Medicare, food stamps, unemployment, etc.

And what are we doing about it?

Not a god damn thing.

"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results" ~ Albert Einstein

Our government has gone insane. Our citizens have gone insane. We are doing the same things over and over, yet we are completely slack jawed and goober eyed when we get the same results. We elect morons into office, and we see them do the stupidest things, and yet we elect them again because they say they won't do it again, or we didn't finish the job, or whatever reason they spout out of their pie holes. People like Barney Frank, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and all the ones who want to take away our freedoms, who think that the Government can run our lives better than we can. These people belittle America, they belittle you, and they belittle me. They consistently slap us in the face, and we bow down and, just like Oliver, "please sir, may I have some more" What in the hell are we doing to this place? We are letting a few run this great land into the ground. It isn’t the corporations, the rich, the well off, the Tea Party…….. its liberalism. And I'll prove it later

Around 70 years ago, the world was at war and America came to the realization that we must stand and fight. We can't be isolationist anymore. At the time of Hitler’s rise to power, our Military was smaller than the armies of Romania. We had cavalry units. We had WWI era weapons. Not a single tank to be had.  And when we entered the European and Pacific theaters we had the largest standing Army in the world. We had the most aircraft carriers, the most tanks, the most planes, the most of everything. We had the only operational atomic weapons. IN LESS THAN 8 YEARS mind you. We went from a 100,000 man army to at any given time, TWO MILLION BOOTS on the ground. And how did we do that? Sheer determination! The WWII generation isn't called the Greatest Generation for nothing! America had values. Your average teenager was lying about his age so he could go kill the jap bastards that bombed Pearl, or so he could go kill the krauts that were spreading Nazi socialism all over Europe and North Africa. Nowadays you couldn't pry the average teenager's cell phone out of his hands to even tell him he's about to walk into a lamp post. These young men knew that it was their duty to protect their country, to stand up against tyranny. And for those of you that don't know, the Axis powers were saving America for last. Germany, Italy and Japan all had a plan to carve up the world, and America was the prize. Our natural resources are astounding, coal, oil, natural gas, and fertile heartland, and Hitler knew it. He was willing to slaughter every man woman and child here for our resources, yet we don't even exploit them. How dumb is that? Back on topic......we entered WWII and we are the sole reason that Germany was defeated, that Japan and Italy surrendered. The good ol' U S of A. And we did it by sheer will. We willed ourselves to build the largest Army the world has ever seen, build more weapons, and drop more bombs than were dropped, thrown or slung in the entire history of man, combined! Yet we can't even solve the small problems facing us today. Immigration, Healthcare, fiscal responsibility........it's sad. It really is. They were the greatest generation because they had pride, in themselves and their country. They also had morals and values that are nearly nonexistent in today’s world.

We have destroyed ourselves from within. We have shirked personal responsibility. We have taught our children to be what they feel like being, instead of being all that they can be. The liberal panty wasted mindset has infiltrated every level of our society. Schools, home, workplace, politics, even our military. All have fallen to the sapping of values, of right and wrong. It is no longer wrong to be a pedophile, you have a "sickness", and are a "youth attracted" individual. And by the libs classifying it as a "sickness", they imply that it can be cured. Well, it can be cured. By a noose, electric chair, or a well placed shot to the head. It is no longer weird for a guy to dress in women's clothing, it's accepted. It's now the "in" thing to be gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered. Didn't used to be. Now when someone commits a heinous crime, it's okay because their parents didn't love them, or they were abused as a child, or they were bullied in school. They need to be rehabilitated, fixed, cared for, and by all means, not punished. Our justice system is no longer about justice; it's about rehabilitation and fixing people. Men who molest children get probation. Women who sell themselves for drugs get probation. Women who kill their children get off scott-free. What is wrong with this picture? When you look at our country today, is it really better?

Tolerance is a great thing. It allows people to be different, without fear of being killed in the streets, and gives them the basic rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. But legal tolerance and moral and social tolerance are two different things. One is mandated by government, one is mandated by our moral compass. And both have been weighed, measured, and found wanting. We are having our moral compass skewed by the efforts of the liberal movement. It's okay to do and say whatever you wish, without moral repercussions. But tolerance is a two edged sword. It can erode the moral fabric of a society if nothing is considered "taboo". It takes away the people's want to act right. One day people will start sawing off their disabled kid's heads because they feel like their disabled child is taking up too much of their time.  What the hell am I saying, that’s already happened.

Hurricane Katrina was the perfect example of the shirking of self reliance and responsibility. Kanye West was on live TV, saying GWB hates blacks, and moms from the lower 9th ward were standing at the super dome screaming at the cameras "where the government wit food fo' mah baby" Did you not listen to the news? Did you not hear them tell you some really bad weather is coming and you may want to leave? In fact, I think the evacuations were mandatory. Did you not take the time to protect you and yours? No you didn't you lazy ass welfare mom, you rely on the government for your survival on a day to day basis, so why wouldn't you rely on them in when a big ass hurricane is bearing down on you? PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY. It’s not a new concept, been around since man schlepped himself out of the primordial ooze. But it's a concept lost on today's generations. Katrina was the grand example of how lazy, apathetic, and just downright immoral people have become. And, it also showed just how giving those are who haven't lost their moral compasses, who haven’t fallen prey to the erosion of the moral fabric. Who still care, not because they are forced by the government to care, but because they have a moral obligation to help.

Look around at today's world. The media, the government, the political action groups, the human interest groups......and you ask yourself.........are things really better because they exist????? Are we safer? Are we smarter? Are we wealthier? Do we have the strongest military? Do we have coffers full of gold, and every man has a job and every child has a meal to eat? No, no and no. Are we a stronger nation because have accepted the presence of millions of illegals? Are we better off because we trusted a political newbie on his promise of "hope and change”? Are we better off because we have become more tolerant of the smallest percentage of society's views and lifestyles? No, we are not better off. We have allowed the pandering to go on way too long. We have allowed the few to impress their ideology onto us using shame as their weapon. They have shamed our society into unwilling unconditional acceptance of the minority. And I'm not talking race, gender or even religion. I m talking about the things that directly impact our moral fabric. The hip hop culture, saggy pants, you know...thuggin'. The morons who walk around dressed like idiots, wearing dog collars and stuff. On what planet is this okay?  Emos, punks, thugs, alternative, blah blah blah.......their parents should put them in boot camp after beating the shit out of them. But therein lies the problem. The parents don't. They have been affected by the liberal acceptance. They allow their children to "express themselves" however they wish. They allow them to play violent video games, listen to shit for music, and let them wear whatever stupid clothing is 'in" at the moment. They let their kids have mohawks, dye their hair blue, and get giant holes in their ears. They let their kids get piercings, tattoos, and do whatever the hell they want, talk however they want, and think however they want. They say it's not their place to influence their children. What????? It's not your job to influence your children? To raise them with respect? To teach them morals? To teach them that they should be all that they can be? To teach them the sky is NO limit?

We allow our kids to look up to people like Paris Hilton, Kim Kardashian, Michael Vick, Kobe Bryant, Kurt Cobain, Jim Morrison, Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, Justin Beiber, Miley Cyrus, the list goes on and on of shitty role models we allow our kids to look up to. And then we wonder why our children are ill behaved, think its okay to drink, do drugs, and get in trouble with the law and punch out a few kids out of wedlock after making a sex tape. Mom, Dad, you did it to yourself. Your kid is a shit because you, not the school system, not the internet, not the maker of the music or violent game you let them have..........it’s your fault. Your kid gets knocked up at 15? It's your fault. Your kid a drug addict at 12? It's your fault. Your kid get caught stealing? It's your fault. You failed your kids, you failed yourself, and you failed the future generations of our nation. You teach your children to respect money, big rims, and gold teeth and you wonder why your kid thinks its okay to do whatever it takes to get these things? And you think that someone else, like maybe society, is to blame? Well society starts with each and every one of us. We are society. But it wasn’t society that failed as a parent, you did. No one else is going to raise your kids for you. Take responsibility and make your children have a better life. Raise them with values and morals, it isn’t that hard.

When you remove all consequence, you know the true nature of a man. Want to know why the world is the way it is? Because we have removed consequence from the mix, that’s why. We have hobbled the justice system with crybaby judges, and have removed social and moral consequence for all but the most heinous crimes, and even then the courts have become lax in actually serving justice. We have allowed the media to sensationalize, slant, make up, and even lie about the news. We have allowed them to be bias, to influence us in everything we do. We have become sheep; we have lost our pride, our guts, and our sense of right and wrong.  We have allowed our government to have reins on us, instead of us having the reins on government.  We have as a society shunned our self reliant attitude, our willingness to work hard, to make our own way. It starts with something small, such as allowing someone to influence the smallest decisions we make, to something large like letting the government run our health care. We have allowed special interests to shame us into their way of thinking, their way of doing things, their way of raising our children. For shame on you for spanking your children, for shame on you for yelling at your kids, for shame on you for believing that marriage is between a man a woman, shame on you for teaching your kids about something so archaic and non progressive as belief in a God. Shame on you for calling a Muslim a terrorist. Shame on you for not letting your children “express themselves” with stupid clothes and idiotic music. Shame on you for standing by your morals and values. I could go on and on and on. But I think you get the picture.

       Child molestation is on the rise. Parents who kill their own children are on the rise. Pedophilia is on the rise. Rape, murder, theft, drug use, and violent crimes are all on the rise. We have removed the social and moral consequence that keeps man in line, makes him act right. Man has always had the capability to be evil. Legal, moral and social consequence is what (mostly) kept him in line. The liberal, progressive movement of be whatever you want to be, act how you want, and do what feels good has removed the barriers that once kept man on course.  Now ask yourself…..if heinous crimes are on the rise, children being murdered by their protectors at alarming rates, are we any closer to the benevolent society that the progressive movement says we are? Are we any better as people for all this “acceptance” that has been shoved down our throats?  Are we better off now that we have a government department for everything? Are we better off now that we have less control over our own lives and the way we raise our children? Are we better off with hundreds of “rights groups” cramming ideology down our throats? Are we better off because we call them “insurgents” instead of terrorists?  Think about it…….

       It starts when we are children, it starts small, with telling your children to be accepting of everyone and everything, to telling them they aren’t better than anyone else, that they are the same as the child next door. I don’t know about you, but my children are better than the children next door. They are smarter, better, prettier, more handsome, and will be more successful than the children next door. They will be better than me, and I won’t let them be shamed by society. I’ll do my duty to teach them how I want them to be taught, to adhere to conservative values, to be tolerant, but not accepting of ideals that differ from mine. That’s our job to raise our kids how we wish, to be free from influence.

         

       It all boils down to this: take away mans sense of right and wrong, even blur those lines just a little bit, and all hell breaks loose.  It starts with the youngest, most impressionable of us, our children. Let them play violent games, listen to music that glorifies sex, drugs, and money; and see what kind of a child you get. Let them do whatever the hell they want, and set them off into a world that has loosened its moral grip on society and see what that kid does.  Have a young man grow up with no positive male role model in his life and see how much of a man he really is when he grows up. Teach your children it’s okay to have children out of wedlock, and by all means it’s okay to have casual sex. Teach them to do what feels good and offers instant gratification, and see if you have a child that plans for the long term and is successful.  It’s not going to happen.

       Teach your child the values of hard work, education, saving, kindness, giving, etc and you see if your child is a good person. I bet they will be. Mine certainly will be. 

Yours truly,

Ian

Not on My Watch!

There comes a time when average citizens must stand up for the rights that are inalienable to every human being. The rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are at risk of being relegated to the annals of history. Friends; that time is not coming, it is here, and it is now. We face a crafty adversary, one that sneaks in the shadows, masquerading as the will of the people when it is the will of the few. Never before in our country have we seen such degradation in morality, of values, of the family unit. This is happening at an alarming rate, and it will, if we let it, tear down our great nation. Gone are the social and moral blockades that kept the family unit together, that raised our children in a loving environment. Our families used to teach our children to respect one another, and treat others how they want to be treated. Now we as a society teach apathy, love of money, and respect for material belongings.  This very thing will lead to our nations undoing.

History has proven that America has always been a nation of can-do people. We fought and won two world wars. We put a man on the moon. We invented the computer. We have the brightest minds on the planet. We were the last stand for liberty in a dark world. And we were this great nation because of men like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Hancock, and the thousands upon thousands of farmers, tradesman, and bankers, down to the poorest of the poor, who at the birth of our nation decided they weren’t going to live under tyranny any longer. They spat in the eye of the powers that be, and paying with blood and treasure, bought the freedoms we enjoy this very day. But we are losing those freedoms at an alarming rate, handing them over to the tyranny that our forefathers fought and died to free us from. These great men realized that freedom is not given; it is pried from those who seek to oppress us. We have, up until recently, known the dangers of the abuse of power. We fought the greatest war ever fought to free the world from tyranny, yet we are allowing ourselves to succumb to the very government that is supposed to protect us.

                We are not facing a political problem. Changing the guard in government will not prevent the collapse of our nation. Our problems run much deeper than that. We face something much worse. A loss of morality and value, and a loss of will.  No longer are the men and women of this country willing to shed blood for freedom. We think that it’s the governments’ job to preserve our rights, to take care of those pesky battles for freedom. We live in an age where able voters can’t even be bothered to take the time to go cast a ballot to shape our nations’ future. Voting rates keep falling, and our rights and freedoms keep getting taken away. Am I the only one who sees this? We take for granted our rights guaranteed to us in the documents that formed our nation. We don’t fight for them, hell, we don’t even vote for them very much anymore.  We plod through our lives, oblivious to the true nature of the problems we face.

                We allow our elected officials to tell us what to do, how to do it, and when it’s okay to do it. We are letting them run our largest industries. We are letting them decide how best to take care of our healthcare needs. We are allowing them to grab power that belongs rightfully in the peoples’ hands, at an alarming rate mind you. Yet we lie down like dogs, reciting rhetoric and talking points.

When will we as a people realize that the time to fix our problems is now? Not at the next election cycle, but now. To change the very way we think, the way we raise our children. To really look at ourselves and say enough is enough, no longer will I stand idly by and watch our children be faced with a failing nation, a debt that will crush them, and a moral crisis that will be their undoing. When will we stand up and take responsibility for our actions, and find a way to right the wrongs that are so prevalent today?  Do we not fear the tyranny anymore? Do we think that it can’t happen to us? I assure you, it can and it will. History has shown over and over that when a people lose their will to keep their freedoms, they will be taken away by those who have the power. We have the power to stop it, but I fear we do not have the will anymore.

I have fallen victim as well, saying numerous times that our government is taking our freedoms, and spitting on the Constitution. It dawned on me today that it is because they can, and they will. We have not stopped them. We have allowed this to happen. It isn’t Bush’s fault, it isn’t Obama’s, or Congresses fault. It is ours and ours alone. We let them do it, over and over. They weren’t a thief in the night, or a military dictator forcibly stealing our freedoms and rights. We handed them over on a platter of apathy and stupidity, in broad daylight no less. We just threw up our hands, much like in the song, and prayed for someone to take the wheel. Take the wheel they did, and they will not easily give it back. We must pry it from their grip and regain our control as we were meant to have it.

I beg you to look inside yourself, and ask if you are ready to go silently into that dark night. Ready to let the powers that be take control of you and your loved ones. Are you ready to face your children and answer to them when they ask you why you stood, or rather sat, by and let these things happen? More often than not in history the children have had to pay for the sins of the parents, and this time our children will pay dearly for our sins. They will read about the great things our people did, the awe inspiring feats that were accomplished by our sheer will and want to succeed. They will not remember a time when they weren’t saddled with failing government, with minimal freedoms, and the right to succeed or fail as they so desire. They will not know the sweet  taste of free choice, the right to do as you please, for they will be burdened with a heavy handed government and an apathetic nature handed down to them from their parents.

We have the power to stop this before it turns to reality, before it takes those final steps from rhetoric and talking points to becoming a real problem that our children must deal with. I for one, choose the other path. I choose to do something about it. We must choose to be active in our pursuit of a greater society, a society that will guarantee that the generations to come will be better than off than we are. We have to get back to our roots, to the innate senses of right and wrong, the things that made us different from the rest of the world. We have to usher in the era of self reliance, of the can and will do attitude. We have to remember the price paid for our freedoms and morals, and not dishonor that memory because we were too lazy to do anything about the loss of them.  We have lost sight of the prize, and our government and those with power are counting on the belief that we can’t see it anymore. I can, and you can too. This isn’t about politics, race, gender, or whether you’re gay or straight. This is about our future, our legacy that we will leave our most precious commodity, our children.  It is not too late to fix these problems, to secure a free future for our children, and the generations of children to come. But let us not succumb to apathy, or for one second believe that

Someone else will take up this fight for us, because they won’t. There is no one else left to take up this cause. We are the last stand, the last few brave men at the front lines of this battle that will condemn our future to world less secure, more dangerous, and chock full of strife should this be a battle we lose. We cannot lose this fight.

                So this is my proposal to you; my request to those of you reading this who believe in the power given to us by our founding fathers. Look at yourself in the mirror, and say”Not on my watch!”    I won’t be apathetic; I won’t be disconnected from the reality that my generation faces. I won’t shirk my duty, as a free person in America, to stand up for my rights, to spread the word that we are facing dangerous times, to rally under the flag of our fathers and secure our children’s rights to a free and great nation. Now is the time, now is the place to stand up and shout as loudly, as passionately as you can, “Not on my watch!”

Yours truly,

Ian