Dose of Clarity

The pursuit of ideals such as social justice as a political objective completely discounts the contribution afforded by disparate results among members of society. It is through these contrasting outcomes of success or failure that serve to drive and inspire greater efforts in the future. If a citizen perceives their result as inferior to another, this becomes a motivating factor in their future pursuits. Being associated with the “have-not crowd” is not necessarily a permanent outcome; in fact, it should ardently focus one’s efforts to bring about a different and more desirable outcome going forward. Imagine a whole nation of individuals striving to better their own circumstances and the effect that has on the aggregate. No amount of guaranteed or promised results could begin to arouse the spirit unleashed by millions of people striving to exceed their own condition. This truth is evidenced by the greatness that the United States has attained through its history. It has resulted from the ambition created in our nation by allowing unequal results to [Read the rest of this entry...]

It seems evident that all creatures in nature have been endowed with the same natural rights as humans, the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Although these may take on different forms among the various species in nature, nonetheless, they are present. All living creatures freely explore their own pursuits and fully decide how and when they will undertake these desired activities. This is the natural state of life until some force such as humans interfere by capturing them to satisfy their own purposes of research or to simply be entertained while relegating them to captivity in a zoo. Suddenly, these creatures no longer determine any aspect of their lives because their freedoms have been revoked and replaced with a predetermined existence courtesy of humans as their keeper. Once in a zoo, they become property to be controlled in any regard its keepers consider expedient. This is vastly different than the freedom provided from nature [Read the rest of this entry...]

Round and round we go on the everlasting debate about supply-side economics. We all choose which side of the argument we would like to believe and then hop on the merry-go-round arguing about something that seems so straightforward. Supporters of this concept believe that if incentives or benefits are given to investors, they will in turn invest their money in productive endeavors that will provide jobs and value to the community. Central to this belief is that any money invested in an enterprise is first applied to employee compensation and then all other expenses of production, and only then does it return to investors if a profit has been realized. The opposing camp to this debate believes that all the focus should be on making the masses prosperous and the resulting bounty will raise the whole class and all those above them. This common viewpoint provides a good sound bite, but it lacks logic and any basis in reality.

It is very interesting to see our own Government’s vicious opinion regarding supply-side economics and how it is nothing more than [Read the rest of this entry...]

Could it be that Americans are unfairly criticizing the recently passed health care legislation in the House of Representatives? Is there any doubt that the optimal health of each and every American is the utmost concern of our elected officials? Are we letting negative assessments cloud our judgment regarding the altruistic intentions of our leaders that certainly care for us so unselfishly? Should we be apprehensive concerning the Government’s ability to deliver quality health care to the masses, after all, they are the U.S. Government and they claim to be helping. The best indication we have in these regards is a clear illustration of the alleged value of this proposal, for it has already been conclusively graded for quality and the results are indeed significant and worthy of consideration, this certainty can not be emphasized enough and is expressed by the following truth. Our Congressional leadership rejected amendments in both the House Ways and Means Committee and the House Rules Committee that would require members of Congress and other governmental officials to enroll in the exact same plan they are proposing for us. This absolute lack of an endorsement should speak volumes about the quality that can be expected from this legislation that is supposedly the solution for the rest of us Americans. Their personal objections undermine any and all credibility, but then again maybe we should consider that perhaps Congress is just being thoughtful of the American people by not diverting any of the sheer abundance of benefits from this proposal to themselves. Yeah! That must be it.

Health care can not possibly be a right in our society unless it is considered acceptable to retract the rights of others to pursue their own livelihoods. Typically, health care being a right is an assertion that usually follows any discussion about one’s ability to pay for such services. For one citizen to believe that they have a right to complimentary health care is to further believe that another citizen must have the obligation to provide that care, thus denying that person their own rights as a citizen. Nobody in our society should have the expectation of entitlement that depends on the efforts of others, or alternatively, no citizen has a right to infringe on another person’s living. It is no different than believing that a homebuilder should not be compelled to build a house for another because they are homeless, nor should a car dealer be forced to provide a car to someone that does not have one. In general, most rights that are recognized are regarded as negative rights [Read the rest of this entry...]

Socialism may very well arrive in our nation by the simple annexing of private industry incrementally using the disingenuous ploy of supposedly “saving” us from economic disaster, but it may be more likely to arrive with a sudden crash provoked by bad public policy that conveniently creates an unforeseen emergency. Upon its advent, it will be popularly accepted that only the massive resources of our enormous Government will have the capacity to solve this emergency. They in turn will be more than happy to intervene using our public funds to take command of any remaining industries not already in their domain, and instantly socialism has arrived by default. The Government already controls a large percentage of our economy through the banks, mortgage companies, automotive industry, and they are diligently working to include health care which represents a large segment of our economy. One would have to honestly admit that we are effectively socialistic at that point. How could so much of the American economy be controlled by the public sector and it [Read the rest of this entry...]

The world is so eager to write off capitalism and free markets as the root of all evil proclaiming that it fosters greed at the expense of the common people. It supposedly gives license to the wealthy to plunder and pillage society at will in the unchecked pursuit of their own interests. Many believe this is solely responsible for the economic disaster that we are now experiencing, and politicians as well as advocates of socialism are seizing upon this popular conviction to advance their agenda of increasing the scope of Government. The campaigning is in full force asserting that our economy and financial system are much too important to leave in the hands of the greedy capitalists that have failed us hence it should be managed by our compassionate politicians. This is nothing more than a pipe dream, our Government has a very clear history of failure in most everything they touch. The list would be lengthy if it were understood that they have a hand in much [Read the rest of this entry...]

As the grasp of governmental control has become more extensive consequently resulting in the gradual erosion of our freedom, it has become essential for elected officials to manage the blame game. Being able to assign and advance the assessment of blame has allowed the Government its opportunity to absolve itself of any wrongdoing while simultaneously crafting a self-serving remedy. Its favorite villain once again is capitalism and the free market, this seems fitting because these are the principle obstacles to absolute governmental control. Promoting the perception that capitalism has failed our nation allows politicians to expand their dominion by promising a more economical and benevolent outcome with public intervention. Funny how that works, capitalism stands in opposition to an expansionary Government thus it becomes constructive to discredit it with the goal of strategically promoting public solutions. The problem with this scheme is that it often [Read the rest of this entry...]

All around the world today people are increasingly looking to their Government to take care of them, to provide for their existence and secure their futures. This trend has really been gaining steam here in the United States in recent years as we seem all but destined to join the majority of other nations. The question that remains to be answered is whether it is a good idea to emulate these other economic systems despite knowing that America was purposely structured differently, and it resulted in the greatest and most generous nation the world has ever seen. Plus, it has been shown time and again that other systems consistently inhibit their own growth and prosperity. America became the destination of choice for many immigrants from these other nations, yet here we are ready to proclaim failure of our free market system and allow our Government to take a larger piece of our freedom in favor of promised security, and as Ben Franklin said long ago, we [Read the rest of this entry...]

There has been a lot of public debate lately about having an insurance mandate as part of the health care reform proposal, and the characterization of it has been met with varying opinions. The main disparity is centered on whether this should be considered a tax increase hence breaking the campaign promise of not raising taxes on people making less than $250k. Supporters of the mandate are feverishly defending it as simply providing for one’s own health care or being assessed a penalty upon failure to obtain such coverage. Critics are countering with the fact that the Government is mandating this on its citizens thus it is effectively a tax. While the politicians, pundits, and the media are debating how to label this forced participation, it should not be difficult for us citizens to characterize the end result. Regardless of what official label is ascribed to it as the political games continue, the one certainty is it will extract money out of the pockets of citizens. This will surely [Read the rest of this entry...]