"Wish not so much to live long as to live well."
-- Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack, 1746
I guess there is wisdom uttered in this quote by Franklin. As one ages the quality of life, in most cases, does diminish and ends with wishes of youthful vigor. The fortunate times from Franklin’s day until now has been individuality in how one’s life was spent. Now our government delves into our personal lives to such an inordinate proportion that we may not always have the "right" to live as well as we choose.
As we hit mid-stride in the age of the "boomers," it is more apparent that our government is still taking much from us and at a more rapid pace than ever before. Our Congress has taken our Social Security, medical decisions, and soon they may even "incorporate" our personal investments to help their quest to redistribute the wealth. This does not include the unconstitutional government giveaways of disability, food credit cards and welfare that overtax us. I do not question that some need a hand up but not a lifetime of handouts.
Our Declaration of Independence says, and I paraphrase, that when the just powers of government is no longer at the consent of the governed, it is time to remove those in power and replace them with those most likely to give back to us our rights. It should be your right to live as you choose always remembering that your rights end at your neighbors person and property. Let us not fail in this trying time to restore our right to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.
Those now in power, passing unconstitutional laws and ordinances daily, do not deserve to return to office! When you vote to fill an empty office, remember to ascertain if the next candidate is handpicked by the resigning office holder. If the one leaving office did not meet your expectations, don’t expect their chosen one to either.
--Steve Ramey, American, USMC Vietnam Veteran and freedom lover.
08 October 2012
Semper Fidelis et Vigilo!
A good read. I recommend it for three reasons. 1. A lesson about History. 2. A lesson about today. 3. A lesson about the future.
So you think by providing lazy people with free stuff, they will be satisfied and not commit crimes? Is this theory something you dreamed up or proven fact? Clearly the thinking of an Obama supporter. Apparently there's a lot of redistribution happening in Chicago and Detroit and your theory doesn't hold water in those cities. I don't expect you to understand but have you ever heard the "teach a person to fish" metaphor? And remember, Obama and all his corrupt hommies are from the most awesome city of Chicago. It's a failure. Why would we expect success from Obama as President? Answer? We wouldn't. You would.
We need another party. One where left and right can be comfortable with each other. One that the FAR left and the FAR right have no power controlling. The current system is a breeding ground for constant, never-ending, incessant bickering over nuance and skewed perspective. I am really sick of it.
Everybody is talking about creating jobs. Well, I have news for you. There are jobs. What we lack is people who are willing to work. I think it is preposterous that the unemployment numbers do not include those who "gave up" looking (still trying to figure out how you can do that and survive). Many companies and wealthy American citizens are looking at moving to Panama now and bailing on the US altogether. This due to not being able to compete with the government for employees. People would rather sit on their butts for 25% of what they could make by working. It is a very sad truth. We are breeding a nation of entitled, lazy, spineless, self-centered, over-educated, under-skilled, politically correct, whiny, spoiled children. My biggest fear is living in a nation whose leaders weren't spanked as children.
If you only slash funding for safety net programs, you only end up with more dependance on the government, not less. MORE people will be living not just at the poverty line, but in abject poverty and/or homelessness. At which point, they are entirely dependent on the state through shelters or prison and we have enough people in prison already.
Republicans were originally responsible for denying those days of voting to everyone with the passage of House Bill 194 last year. They had to go back and add those days back for members of the military only to comply with Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voter Act. The Obama administration sued to end this arbitrary division of voters and just let everyone vote early if they need/want to. If you have any other reason to suggest that Obama hates the military, please share it.
History of wars is written by the winners. My education in Philadelphia, which taught an alter reality, was disgracefully tainted by governmental influence. If you really believe the Civil War was about slavery you are ignorant of the truth. There are many excellent and credible books on the subject. It makes for fascinating reading.
Tammy only brought up Hitler to illustrate a point she was trying to make about indoctrination. It wasn't until David and then Chris that anyone suggested that anyone here (or in the White House) are secretly members of the Nazi party. So please direct your (well deserved) scorn at David and Chris, leave Ramey out of it.
If you want to really broaden your horizons you might find a truthful book about the Reconstruction of the south: a brutal hell for people in the south for eleven years. 98% of southerners never owned a slave but all were accused of it. Their land was confiscated or purchased for pennies on the dollar. So all total the souith was brutalized for about 16 years.
Couple of thoughts here - just because others brought it up... The wealth is going to be divided by income rank. It makes sense. If you have those that make money and those that make less, more money is concentrated in the upper echelons of the range. The important thing here is the amount of income or wealth by group vs taxes paid. The top 1%, while having 35.4% of the income (depending on your source) pay 40% of the taxes. The bottom 50% of wage earners only pay 2.5% of the total taxes paid. So much for the rich not paying their fair share. I also love how those people that rail against the ability of corporations to donate money have no problem with entities such as labor groups doing so. So let me see if I have this right - we have THE highest corporate income tax rate in the developed world, and there's somebody that would like to RAISE that rate? really? You do realize that corporations pay tax on incomes, right? And they would rather take the hits in other countries with lower rates before they make the claims here? And there's really nothing we can do about that, since income is, by definition, income, and spending that money in one place influences their income? Would it not be better to lower the rate, remove any deductions, and take their money here? Money we're not currently getting?
One, for those that argue against corporate personhood, yet want them to pay income taxes, isn't that slightly hypocritical? Two, corporations pay income taxes on profit - money that would be spent elsewhere. This adds to costs, and drives up prices. Anybody that thinks corporations don't pass on all costs, be it labor, materials, or taxes, really isn't paying attention. Three - if the money from a corporation isn't taxed as income, what happens to it? There's only three choices. The company can hoard it, which, really, it's not going to do. Benefits them in no way to do so. They can spend it on labor - raises, bonuses, additional labor. Which we would see as taxable income. No down side there. Or in infrastructure, be it expansion, renovation, hardware, software, office furniture, whatever. Which, guess what, stimulates the economy and gets taxed. Again, no downside. So tell me again why we even have a corporate income tax and why it benefits us at all?
I will copy/paste what I wrote far above so you don't have to scroll up: I can't force anything. I can only point out that revenue collection by the government is historically low. Republicans always point out that we have one of the highest corporate tax rates in the world. The problem is, multinational corporations never pay that rate. The high rate is only inflicted on those who can't get out of paying it by lobbying for loopholes. I am all for rate reductions offset by deduction elimination. So is President Obama. However, politicians of both parties have a HORRIBLE track record of actually following through with the unpopular part of any two part solution like that. We know all that will happen in a Republican controlled congress is that the rate will be reduced and the deductions will remain. Got to keep starving the beast! Even if it means our sewers, bridges, power grid, roads, and schools continue to fall behind the rest of the developed world.
You live in the South. Here, the Federal troops were the enemy, not the CSA. Boy you really swallowed the whole official version of what happened during and after the Civil War didn't you? I believe your entire education regarding the Civil War was learned by watching "Roots" 30 years ago. That, and the BS they fed us in school. -Mike
Actually, thanks to Amy for clarifying what I was trying to say. I was trying to make the point that unless we are not vigilant and question what we hear from our leaders, we could develope a sense of being indoctrinated without knowing it. With that kind of attitude (pretty complacent in past years), what would happen if we really did get an evil man in the white house? They could do anything and we'd allow it. Beachski- great post!
"Gish Gallop" look in up on google
http://www.businessinsider.com/who-pays-taxes-2012-8?op=1 The takeaway for those of you who refuse to read is that yes, rich people pay most of the taxes in this country. But, they only do so because wages for the rest of us haven't increased in 50 years. 96% of the income growth over the past 30 years has gone to the top 10%. And it is not because companies are doing poorly. Corporate profits as a percentage of the economy are at an all time high while wages are at all time lows.