Wednesday, June 29, 2005

Socialism is not Christianity

Being very opposed to socialism, I think those that propose it are evil. But there are many good people that think socialism is a fine idea. I don’t think they are evil, just deceived.
Socialism is not a Christian value. It is not giving to the poor as Jesus commanded. There are many examples of Charity in the life of Jesus and that is the example we should live. Socialism is opposed to all those values.

Jesus said to the rich young man, “Give everything you have to the poor and follow me.” But the young man was said because of his many possessions. The lesson is that we should be willing to give what we have to the poor and follow Jesus. We must love our fellow man more than our gadgets. Giving is an act of charity. It should be done out of love. Jesus did not ask the man to get elected to Congress and pass a law demanding that all people give everything they have and follow Jesus. That would have certainly meant more money going to the poor. But that is not charity. It is communism and it is wrong. Giving is personal. The joy of giving and receiving cannot be achieved by mandated wealth re-distribution.

Is capitalism a Christian system? Not really. It must be restrained by morals. Jesus whipped the money changers from the temple because they were trying to make profit from worship on holy ground. A capitalist economic system includes guarantees of property rights and without property it is difficult to give. One must own something legally in order to give it away.

Socialism involves government control of resources. Implied in that control is government superiority in deciding how to use that resource. “We know better”, should be the name of the federal tax withdrawal system. They can’t dare to let you take it home for fear that you might forget to pay. You might decide you want that new TV instead of a new road sign or schoolbook.

Tuesday, June 28, 2005

Political Compass

I took the test at politicalcompass.org

Here are my results
Economic Left/Right: 6.50
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: 0.77

pretty far to the right, neutral on authority

The test is still inadequate to capture the complexities of political thought. It does not differentiate between economic and social authority. For example, I think free markets and capitalism is good but that marijuana should be illegal. I think alcohol should be illegal. Abortion bad, Walmart good.

Emperor Bush

This socialist at work came over to tell a joke to some friends about how President Bush is like Emperor Palpatine and wants to take over everything. He said he was really worried about this new proposal to scrap the 22nd Amendment that limits Presidents to two terms.

I laughed and said this must be like last year when the democrats introduced a bill to revive the draft after accusing Rumsfeld and Pres. Bush of trying to re-instate the draft to cover the huge losses in the war. Of course it was a scam.

Quick search showed that it was Democrats introducing a bill to repeal the 22nd Amendments. Looks they are the ones hoping the Sith will lead them.

Kennedy waving the flag of defeat

Ted Kennedy is a terrible man. How can this guy stay in office? Throw him out! His latest speech is evidence of his treason or at least sedition. He is stuck on getting Rumsfeld to resign but he is the one that has to go. Go Away!

What is going wrong in Iraq? We have accomplished every mission there. They are about finished with writing their Constitution. We cleaned up Afghanistan and chased those terrorists into the hills and now working on Iraq. It has gone far better than I ever thought it would. Kennedy said we have lost. He claims it is over. He gives all these numbers to show how bad everything is. We have had over 1,700 soldiers killed after 3 years of conflict. That is very sad but actually a very good record. The anti-smoking freaks in Illinois claim that 8 people die from second hand smoke every day in Illinois. If true that means you are 4 times as likely to die as a citizen of Illinois from second hand smoke as you are to be blown up from a car bomb as a soldier in Iraq. How can he seriously claim that the military is crumbling in the face of the assault from the enemy?

add - Victor Davis Hanson does a good job of analyzing numbers from the war

Friday, June 24, 2005

Supreme Court is wrong

The Supreme Court ruling violates property rights. It is an abuse of power. It is not justice. They are wrong.

What is the plan when the Supreme Court is wrong?

Tuesday, June 21, 2005

Jacoby on education

I am opposed to government schools. Here is another great quote from the Patriot.
"There is nothing indispensable about a state role in education. Parents don't expect the government to provide their children's food or clothing or medical care; there is no reason why it must provide their schooling. An educated citizenry is a vital public good, of course. But like most such goods, a competitive and responsive private sector could do a much better job of supplying it than the public sector can. Imagine how diverse and vital American education could be if it were liberated from government control. There would be schools of every description -- just as there are restaurants, websites, and clothing styles of every description. ... With separation of school and state, the roiling education battles would come to a peaceful end. Robust competition and innovation would dramatically lower costs. Teachers, released from their one-size-fits-all straitjacket, would be happier in their chosen profession.
Children would be happier, too -- and, perhaps best of all, better-educated to boot." --Jeff Jacoby

More at Alliance for Separation of School and State

Socialism thru Seatbelts

Walter Williams off of the Patriot.
"The NHTSA's 'Click It or Ticket' program is another step toward making Americans serfs of the state. Let's look at it. I personally believe that wearing seatbelts is a good idea, and I buckle up and remind my passengers to do so as well. Because seatbelt usage saves lives, mandating such is an abomination in a free society. There are many other legislative actions that are offensive to liberty and can have saving as their justification, a matter I'll turn to later. But let's talk about the immorality of mandated seatbelt usage. Let's start with the question: Who owns Walter E. Williams? Is it President Bush, the U.S. Congress, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, or do I own myself? I'm guessing that any reasonable person would agree that I own Walter E. Williams. The fact that I own myself means that I have the right to take risks with my own life but not others'. That's why it's consistent with morality to mandate that my car have working brakes. If my car doesn't have working brakes, then I risk the lives of others, and I have no right to do so. If I choose not to wear a seatbelt, then I risk my own life, which I have every right to do. ... Some might rejoin by saying, 'Williams, if you're not wearing a seatbelt, and don't do us the favor of dying in an accident and become an incapacitated vegetable, society will have to bear the expense of taking care of you.' That's not a problem of liberty and self-ownership. It's a problem of socialism. There's no moral case for forcing anyone to care for me for any reason. When we buy into socialism, we buy into paternalistic government." —Walter Williams


Anything collectivist will fail

Monday, June 20, 2005

Rumsfeld on Gitmo

I pulled these quotes from a aim.org article

Rumsfeld concluded his opening statement at that briefing by saying,
"So, to the men and women who wear our country's uniform, and to their families who support them, I want you to know how proud we are of all of your able service. We are in your debt. And to those who may be considering serving our nation, know that there is no finer calling, no nobler cause, and no greater act of patriotism."

Another
"Much was made recently of a news story falsely accusing service members of flushing a Koran down the toilet," Rumsfeld said. "But little has been said about the great lengths that the military go to at Guantanamo Bay to accommodate the religious practices of detainees in their care," he noted. "There are specific instructions as to how those involved in the custody of detainees should handle themselves with respect to religious matters. Special meals are provided to meet cultural dietary requirements. Schedules are respectful of prayer. Indications of the direction to pray are provided. Detailed guidelines are provided to the service people as to the-which govern the handling of the Koran."


Pretty nice treatment for killers who should be executed once it is determined they have no useful information.

Mark Steyn on Senator Durbin

Senator Durbin is an idiot and Steyn lays it out beautifully

Arizona Governor

Who is running against Napolitano for Arizona Governor? Is it too early to start this election? I wish it was, I don't like the 2 year long elections. But I haven't heard of a good candidate stepping up to challenge her. I know lots of people I would rather see as governor. Who is the game? Isn't this Matt Salmon' job as State party chairman to organize?

Social Security: A Student's Perspective

This the title from a good article written by Amy Davis, an intern at Accuracy in Media.
As a young college student about to graduate and enter that big, mean, financial quagmire of a "real world" on my own, I have started to pay more attention to Social Security. I wanted to know exactly where this money went that was taken out of my paycheck, and how (if at all) I benefited by its removal.

Sunday, June 19, 2005

Privatization of Government

CONSTITUTION
They keep talking about drafting a Constitution for Iraq. Why don't we just give them ours? It was written by a lot of really smart guys, it's worked for over 200 years, and we're not using it anymore.

Funny joke, all the more so since there is some truth to it. The main theme of the Constitution is limited government. We don't have limited government. We have so much government that there is not an easy way to reduce it. Bureaucracies have a life preservation instinct. Perhaps transplantation would work. Instead of trying save the country by killing all the unconstitutional programs I propose spinning them off into the real world. Create a corporation of each program or department or agency. Everyone can keep their jobs and functions. The heads of the agencies would become the CEO of a new company. The new companies would be supported by revenue from their services instead of living off tax payers.
Some examples to help you visualize: The FDA would become the Fantastic Drug Authenticators instead of the Food and Drug Administration. They would function like Underwriter's Laboratories; instead of getting a UL stamp your cough medicine would get an FDA stamp. People will pay for the confidence. The drug companies would support the testing like they do UL. A perfect business model. All the scientists and researchers and doctors and lawyers and writers and admins get to keep their jobs and the taxpayers get to keep their money.

This same pattern can be followed with every government agency. Post Office would compete with UPS and the other company. NASA, HUD, Highways, Forest Service, everything but the military. We could do one agency every six months to allow them to transition and to let Congress lower your taxes and send a refund. EPA would become environmental consultants. Medicare would become an insurance company. I imagine Social Security becoming a big non-profit like the American Red Cross or United Way. (A fantasy I know. To be honest this is the biggest flaw in my master plan because, if privatized, Social Security would be shut down in a week due to fraud)

All these agencies will continue to offer their services in the marketplace.

Friday, June 17, 2005

Pentagon Press Conference

I saw a Pentagon press conference last night that drove me nuts. The General was very impressive and handled himself well. Those commanders are very cool but my wife made me shut it off because the reporters questions were so annoying. She said she is going to ban me from C-span. The general and the pentagon spokesman tried to educate them but they didn't care. I figured he should give them a schooling they couldn't miss - step off the stand and pummel them! I am not talking about infringement of freedom of the press. Just punishment of stupidity. They asked when the soldiers were coming home. Why were so many being injured and killed? Is the "insurgency" becoming a "jihad"? On and on and on. He tried so hard to be nice, it was embarrassing. I should look up his name again. This is what I would have told the reporters:

Our mission was to get rid of Saddam. That was easy and only took a few weeks. Our next mission was to put the country under our thumb until we could figure out if anyone was on our side. We found a couple guys we could tolerate so our current mission is to keep them alive long enough to establish a government. We kill as many terrorists as we can along the way.

The generals best line came from a "Vietnam quagmire" question. He basically recounted the history that Americans were vastly superior in every engagement but that was not the war. It did not matter. The true battle was for support of the American people. The communists and liberals and media (but I repeat myself) were much more aggressive and slowly wore their enemy down until we gave up and left. He said he would leave when the President tells him to and prays for the support of America until that day.
If the press wasn't helping the enemy than that day might come sooner. The question shouldn't be when are the troops coming home but when will we let them win.

Monday, June 06, 2005

Greatest American

Have you heard of the Greatest American contest that Discovery Channel is running?

This is silly. Gearge Washington is the obvious winner. This can only be a contest if you are looking for the second greatest American.

One might argue if Thomas Edison is more inspiring than Lance Armstrong but there is no contest in importance to America between the Father of the Country George Washington and the "Queen of Talk" Oprah

Gilbert Diversity

Citizens of Gilbert are arguing over whether or not to create a "Diversity Office". I don't know the official name. I don't care. It is stupid. Why is this even considered? What is the value of diversity? It's all rubish, I say!

You may have as much diversity as you wish. Pay for your own diversity officer. This doesn't require taxes

Reagan on families

I am reading American Life by Ronald Reagan. It is a good book and I recommend it. Federalist Patriot put together some quotes for the anniversary of his death including this one.

"Families must continue to be the foundation of our nation. Families -- not government programs -- are the best way to make sure our children are properly nurtured, our elderly are cared for, our cultural and spiritual heritages are perpetuated, our laws are observed and our values are preserved. Thus it is imperative that our government's programs, actions, officials and social welfare institutions never be allowed to jeopardize the family. We fear the government may be powerful enough to destroy our families; we know that it is not powerful enough to replace them. The New Republican Party must be committed to working always in the interest of the American family." --Ronald Reagan

Friday, June 03, 2005

Small Green World

Chad and I are trying an experiment. A Team blog. We will both post ideas and commentary. I added the blog to the links. You can find it here