Democracy...but not.

We live in a country where the people run the government, right? No, of course not...it wasn't set up that way and doesn't exist today. There are elements, however, that run on 'direct democracy.' These are purportedly at the state and local levels with specific concentrations in states that were overwhelmingly Populist or Progressive just over 100 years ago. Alas, the tides have turned against this noble, American tradition, we see its demise in Saugatuck...

When a millage is voted down as the Saugatuck school millage was on the basis of school administration mishandling money, is it really democracy to propose the millage over and over until it passes? There shouldn't be anything as a 'routine election result' in this country...it's bad for democracy and horribly for our government.

Routine elections breed complacency with problems and an opposition to new ideas. This comfort of position is the singular reason it took 25 years to add a new lane to the runway at the Atlanta airport...and why it's necessary to shut down the bureaucracy in Michigan to effect change. This is not a sustainable path we are on...it is our responsibility as citizens and conservatives to break the machine...

Do it...teach the kids fancying themselves administrators in Saugatuck a lesson and vote no. Speaking as a former student in Hamilton, it would be great for the Saugatuck imports to attend the state's finest high school.

FD-Obama?

Just thought I'd write a short post to put a few predictions on record...S.L.P (Standard Liberal Procedure) is going to govern the defeat of Obama's health care takeover as it will Obama's Cap and Tax (is that what people are calling it?). Newt Gingrich has foretold the end of Obama's health care tyrannization and has chalked it up to taxes...this means conservative roots still draw pract in America, but they need to be fertilized...same goes, in my opinion, for Obama's euthanization of manufacturing in America.

Americans want health care reform and we want to serve as good stewards of the environment both for our children and for our future selves, but we are too smart for Obama and see past these EuroFail-inspired plans.

My predictions:

Obama's failures are going to be blamed on the "American unwillingness to sacrifice" for our "fellow citizens of the world." Basically, "you dont want higher taxes and that's a bad thing." They're going to pull out all the liberal stops in 2012 (this guy is the Democrat Machine's greatest hope of survival in the 21st century) and call in race, media, etc. etc.

We'll be told we are a backwards nation, that we have to "give to ensure the independence and prosperity of all" (commit to a welfare state). He'll probably even make a "Four Freedoms" deal with the nation (FDR's speech focusing on the "Freedom from Want" outlining his hopes for a New-Deal-Inspired welfare state....the "Four Freedoms" were freedom from want/fear, freedom of worship/speech).

They'll tell us that we've never known a "peace in the world so sweet" or a "prosperity so rich;" maybe it'll be that we are, due to the ARRA, on a clear "launching pad into the future."

We can beat all of this...with campaign contributions and banding together as Republicans :) This same process has played out numerous times over the last century...we beat it in '20, '68, '80, and 2000: we can do it again...we just have to try this time.

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I hope you're all well...I suggest tuning out of the news for a few weeks if you want to feel better about your world :P

A Full Moon, A Lasting Peace

I've been sitting here under a brilliant full moon pondering those unanswerable questions reserved for the night when I happened upon the concept of the moon's phasing, constant vigil over our horizons...this Creator's Peace, if you will, is something we should always seek. Of course, our human flaws will prevent us from ever finding an eternal peace on Earth, it is in the quest for a lasting peace that we must find our purpose.

Here the lyrics of a country song come to mind: "Somewhere in the race we run, we're coming undone...." We strive, more and more, for personal gratification; socialists and liberals who subordinate a man's entire meaning to his economic position will tell you we, in our greed, strive for economic prosperity and personal enrichment. I've never understood why this is bad...economic gain is a tool, the use of which is very diverse and very individual. Broadly, however, we use our economic wealth for personal gratification in one form or another.

The Xbox game that costs $60, buying processed wood to construct a piece of furniture, smoking, "tricking out" your car: all examples of personal gratification purchased through economic welfare. Where I propose we are 'coming undone' is in the progressive expression of this prosperity. At this point, you are shaking your heads saying, "I buy what I want with my money!" and that is all fine and well. But we are losing our way, 'coming undone,' by being idiot consumers in our quest for gratification.

I, myself, fall victim too often to the powers of laziness and disregard the impact of purchasing something small from a company that abuses its workers overseas. As a conservative (oh jeez, a political word), I am committed to a lasting peace, my fellow man, and the idea that a rising tide lifts all ships: prosperity. These are all undermined by ignoring the ripple of buying shoes from an Indonesian Reebok supplier refusing to put finger guards on sewing machines or picking up jeans from a Levi Strauss supplier which employs children (both abuses have been targeted and solved). We dont think much of it, but when you and I empower the belief in state-run living by buying the "Made in China" label, we add to the growing mountains of lead-ridden plastic crap piled on our vessel of peace, pressing our hull deep into the dark waters of war.

We are, even now, embroiled in a cultural and military war with radical Islamists; they fight against what we have allowed ourselves to become: conformist, slavish, Tickle-Me-Elmo, YES-WE-CAN maniacs. I am weary of this war. A lasting peace with Moslems and the world comes not from Washington nor from any of the powers that be. Our endowed freedom comes with the responsibility of self-determination: we have to decide who we, individually, are going to be.

This is the rendezvous with destiny of our time: when people are tired and hungry and scared, they turn to liberals, socialists, and fascists who promise them food, freedom, and power yet deliver none. Free markets and free enterprise always deliver prosperity, but it is up to each of us to decide that it will be the right kind of prosperity to make people free and to promote a lasting peace on Earth.

100th Post: In-Dependence Day

Happy 4th, everyone....As a student of history, I enjoy celebrating a band of hardy revolutionaries out to create a nation 233 years ago. Not only is this a special milestone for our nation, it's a special milestone for our small Conservababble family...you've survived 100 posts (according to Blogger's counter, not my own)! Anyway, while we have illustrated our independence daily by living out those beliefs opposed to the concerted machine, there is a certain irony to celebrating our nation's independence.

On this day, I ask you to celebrate our rich, independent history while expressedly mourning the dependence of our people. Is it not the people that make this country America? Why, then, do we celebrate American independence when so many are and will be dependent on government for their economic (and, for liberals, spiritual) well-being? The Congressional Budget Office released a report titled the "Long-Term Budget Outlook," a lengthy report from which media outlets get their doom-and-gloom numbers. It details how defecits will hit 7.5% of GDP in 2020, 15% in 2035, and "well over" 45% at the end of the 75-year budget window. The CBO blames grandma's and Mr. Schuur's dependence on government for these defecits.

Are they right? Of course...in the report, they detailed that retirees are to blame for 64% of entitlement growth (which is interesting to note...who makes up the 46%?)...this number will, of course, grow as baby boomers begin to retire. This is the situation we're seeing in California right now....they've exceeded the ability to keep people dependent...therefore are abolishing totally a working framework in favor of unsustainability and destruction of wealth.

I read somewhere that 32% of Americans directly derive their economic well-being from the government...I'd really like that stat's location, but I cant find it. These people were described as teachers, police, bureaucrats, politicians, military men and women, among other things. I think that number is too high...this is not France or Sweden...this is something we need to fix.

So, tonight, when you are 'celebrating with great revelry' and launching your fireworks, remember those indignant souls culturally brainwashed and accepting your money. Happy In-Dependence day, folks, lets hope we have another.

Cobo Update

Updating the Cobo Center situation from "Drip Drop in the Cobo" ...

This was posted at the Detroit News...no matter if Detroit is a complete and total failure, this is a dangerous precedent against federalism. I suppose the Left is trying to save face on the Detroit issue...it is their culture and their government, after all, that have let it fail.

I hope youre all well...I have another metaphor in the works at the moment :)

Blood on the Potatoes: To Gov. Sanford

The title of this post (and its brevity) descends from my peeling my index finger while preparing potatoes at work today...and I'd like to relate it to Gov. Sanford's 'sex scandal.'

Maybe its just because I've lived with the fact my father had an affair nearly all my life, but I don't think Gov. Sanford ought to resign.... So what? He peeled his finger while doing a good and fast job peeling the potatoes of superfluous government and exposing hearty liberty. When I nicked my finger a little, I didn't simply stop peeling potatoes, that would have been the coward's way out: my fear would have won; instead, I continued what I had been doing before albeit a little more carefully at first.

Governor Sanford has been doing a great, fearless job in South Carolina...his mistake merely reveals that he is human. To give up and resign now lets Democrats, the media, GOP leadership, and his own fear deny all the good he's done in subordination to something half of them are doing right now.

This is my open statement to Gov. Sanford: hang in there...these things pass: look at Newt Gingrich's marital history, it's 100 times worse than yours yet he's still a name routinely mentioned to lead the party of reform. We may be silenced by a political establishment that shuts our brand out, but don't let them shut you down...we still have strong fingers to type strong and clear words to the American people: you, Gov. Palin, Gov. Romney, and others....if you give into them, that's one bloody stump closer to an unclear, muddled, and losing message. And if that happens, the potato skin of tyranny will block the enjoyment of liberty until the whole crop rots in a thousand years of darkness.