| |
Thursday, February 14, 2008
:
Where I Stand
Before I get this ball rolling on my own little political arena, I think I should stop and take a moment to explain myself.
You see, I have no intention of being objective or unbiased. If I were a newspaper or TV reporter, that would be a different story. But this is my blog. I am not doing this to be professional and restrained. I am here to piss, moan, and throw tantrums as I see fit. I will be offering my distention free and without shame. If I am compelled, at any point to refer to a candidate as "a fuckhead from mars" that is my prerogative as this is my house. If said candidate should become president someday...well, I'll just have to amend that to "Mr. Fuckhead From Mars, Sir."
But, I think it only fair for me to let you know where I'm coming from before I subject you to my rantings. I'm not here to blindside or offend. I'm just here to offer the alternate point of view, and it just seems to be bad form of me to not lay out the groundwork of where that view is pointed from.
I don't consider myself to be a part of any one political party. Most of that has to do with the fact that whenever I chose to take membership in any of the many parties that choke up our political process, I usually found that they talk a good game...but usually act just as selfish and power-mongering as the others. So, screw them, I'm an independent. I will vote on my candidates and bills on a case-by-case basis.
1. Economy: I will confess, I'm a fan of capitalism. I like the idea of starting my own business, being my own boss in an industry of my own choosing, and letting the public at large decide my fate based solely on the quality of my work.
However, I'm not a fan of Greed. That whole "Greed Is Good" thing never sat well with me. I'm fine with rules on how I conduct my business. If I'm not allowed to pour my poisonous waste into the water or air, I can live with that. Minimum wage? Groovy. No stealing from my customers/clients. I'll resist the urge. No lying about what I'm selling. Why would I? No systematically murdering my competitors in their sleep. Fine, if you insist. No gambling, drugs, or prostitution. I can live with that. There's plenty of other businesses I can get into (or I can move to Nevada).
I'm cool with these rules so long as they apply to everybody. The problem I have with our economy right now is that are separate sets of rules for different companies, based on how big or small they are. When a small company breaks a law, they are fined into non-existence. When a big company breaks the law, they are not punished nearly as hard, under the false guise of not wanting to create a greater impact on the economy that they supposedly hold up.
Some businesses are impossible to get into on the ground floor, because the "licenses" required to operate these business are impossible to get without exorbitantly priced fees, or approval from a committee of sons and nephews of the people that already dominate said industry.
In short, I'm all for free capitalism. I just don't jive to Economic Hegemony or Social Abuse. Taxes should be the same for everyone across the board, and not have a bell curve to them. Minimum wage should apply to all industries, and not be lax for Food & Beverage establishments, just because "they're making it up in tips anyway."
I would like it if people would stop falling for that bullcrap that raising the minimum wage causes cost of living to go up. I've seen with my own two eyes that the cost of living goes up whether the minimum wage does or not. The only reason the price of your latte went up by ten cents a cup, was because the fuckers at Starbucks knew they could get away with it. The extra profit they made on that price hike is several times more than what they lost in the "cost of living" wage increase.
2. Taxes: The role of the government is to establish and maintain the society as a whole. Establish laws and regulations, and enforce them. This requires the full time commitment and many hundreds of thousands of educated, trained, and sometimes armed people. These people need to feed, shelter, clothe, and maintain the sanity of themselves and their family. This requires money. It only makes perfect sense to me that this is paid for equally and evenly by those of us that benefit from the social stability they enforce for us.
Part of a responsible government's job includes things that might not be entirely popular, but necessary for social stability. For example; giving free shit to poor people. Yes, there is a line between "unfortunate" and "lazy." I'll be the first to admit it.
Once upon a time, I was the recipient of Government Cheese. I was given grants, subsidies, waivers, and food stamps based on the fact that I was supporting a wife and two kids on a job that only paid $7 an hour. I got money to feed and cloth my kids and put myself through a limited amount of schooling.
Roll the clock back, and my prematurely born daughter was kept alive for over a month on some very expensive looking machinery, which I did not have to pay for thanks to The Oregon Health Plan.
Further back than that, I attended public school. Further still, for my first few years in school I received a free lunch from the state.
My whole life, millions of dollars have been spent on me by the nation or the state to ensure that I was able to operate within the boundaries of civilized, and not prone to violent or criminal outbursts. I am thankful for this, and a big supporter of it's continued operation.
The problem is, people tend to get pissed when they find out that A) the tax money is going toward something that doesn't directly benefit them, or B) having to pay those taxes means they can't get that Plasma-screen TV for another two months. This is selfish, and detrimental. Cutting back on social benefits causes social unrest. You may think that it may not apply to you, but keep in mind that there are way more of them then there are of you. Marie Antoinette learned first-hand what happens when you refuse to share.
My father once told me why he still holds on to his old "farm" clothes, even though he now spend less and less time getting his own hands dirty. "One of these days, son," he said to me, from inside his gated community, "they're gonna come right over that wall to eat the rich. When they do, I'm going to put on these ratty old clothes and join their side."
I say we educate and feed them, and I expect you to pony up your share of the bill too.
As for those of you who think taxes should be abolished because they aren't mentioned in the constitution; if I remember correctly, the Constitution doesn't really have a direct stance on Murder, either. So, would it be okay for me to kill you for saying that? Technically, that doesn't go against the First Amendment, since I'm not a governing body.
3. Education: I don't know about you, but I'm sick of all the stupid people. Like I said earlier, I feel that the role of a responsible government is to provide a stable society for it's people. One of the necessities towards that is a proper education.
It can be clearly mapped out that any and all cities, towns, counties, states, and even countries that do not have a solidly educated populace, also have an exponentially larger amount of violent crime, domestic violence, health issues, economic instability, and religious zealotry.
I'm not an expert in education, so I never was able to understand the finer points of the National Curriculum or that "No Child Left Behind" junk. What I do know is that smarter people than me have come up with a lot of great ideas that are never used because they cost money. And even with an already established curriculum in place, it can't be met because money is not being sent to the schools that need them.
The results are practically unanimous all over the country. In predominantly white communities, widespread lack of education results in sex with family members as well as involvement in the KKK and/or the NRA. In predominantly black communities, it gives rise to a greater number of Rap artists.
I am also not stupid enough to think these things can be fixed overnight. I know that even if the education system were to suddenly get all the money it could ask for, it would still take upwards of a decade to see any clear results to the effort. I also know that sometimes, those plans will have to change from time to time. We can't expect there to be one magical formula that you can just devise, apply, and *bing* our kids are smart for the next thousand years. One of the things we all need to learn is that it's okay to fail, so long as we never give up trying to do better the next time. For some reason, we stopped teaching that in school.
4. Religion: Religion has no place in a stable government. A government should base it's laws and regulations off study and logic. When laws are created and enforced based on ancient and out-of-date rhetoric, it becomes detrimental to the stability and advancement of the society as a whole. Plus, I'm sick of these Judeo-Christian fuckheads telling me what to think, how to feel, and who to hate. I especially don't want to be told that one or another type of sex is bad just because it makes some pope feel icky.
It becomes especially sticky when you consider the idea of any one religion taking predominance in government that dictates the lives of millions of people, each believing in a completely different, yet equally insane dogma.
I certainly don't buy this crap that people need to have an imaginary, angry deity looking over their shoulder in order to decide right from wrong. I stopped believing in God many years ago, and I still haven't raped or murdered anyone.
Well, those are the big four. There are hundreds of other little issues that I have opinions on, but I've already wasted enough time just on the Big Ones. As for the rest, I'm sure I'll get to them over time, as I discuss other parts of these here elections.
Smile Naked.
| |
Previous Posts
Inward Glances
You're Dead To Me Now
2008....Already?
Self Sabotage
Paving The Road To Hell
Next To Godliness
Smile Naked
Cruising The Strip
She's Family And All....
"Nothing Much. What's New With You?"
Archives
December 2004
January 2005
April 2005
May 2005
August 2005
September 2005
October 2005
November 2005
December 2005
January 2006
February 2006
March 2006
April 2006
May 2006
June 2006
July 2006
August 2006
September 2006
October 2006
November 2006
December 2006
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
April 2007
May 2007
June 2007
July 2007
August 2007
September 2007
October 2007
November 2007
December 2007
January 2008
February 2008
March 2008
April 2008
May 2008
June 2008
July 2008
|
