American Freedom, Fight!

First Published 7/6/2010

Is that what you wanted America, mollycoddled living? Minds melting into mush as you endlessly feed off of stupidity?

Where did your fighting spirit go?

Daring, radiant life

Have we all retreated into dark corners, refusing to be stirred for humanities sake?

Enough!

I would rather live and die by my own two hands then go complacently into socialism.

Think! There are consequences for complacency.

Men and women have fought and died for our freedom, given all that they had so that we could choose.

Do you choose to be swallowed up in wallowing self pity over your lot in life or do you choose to embrace all that you have and fight the oppression of idiotically run government?

Live Americans, breath the air of freedom, taste the soil of salvation.

Do not be oppressed by the hidden crown.

(Elitists that are in control)

Taking responsibility

Why is this country, nay the world, in an economic crises? Why is it that we have so much abundance, yet so much sickness, poverty and suffering?

In general the religious answer is that people need to repent. If you are not generally religious it still makes sense that when people in general act in a dog, eat dog way and make poor choices, in fact the entire country gets to a point where people have no sense of personal responsibility along with a covetous and greedy attitude, it means trouble.

I was thinking about this today as I had two differing experiences. First of all I was in a wholeistic doctors office where the receptionist made a general comment about how enjoyable it was to work there because their clients were happy people. She said, “(you know), those people who take responsibility for their health take responsibility for their lives in other ways…” I tend to agree with that statement, it makes sense to me.

Then ironically, since I am frustrated by this next bit, I went to apply for government assistance with our utility bills.

Sitting in the government agency building where people come to apply for the food bank and utility assistance, the most prevalent sensation is that of grime. I used to bring hand sanitizer with me, when I would go to government offices because they somehow always end up seeming grimy to me. Then there is the prevalent smell of cigarette smoke, and generally the people sitting in government offices applying for assistance are people who have problems, self control problems, mental problems, weight problems, job problems, in the case of the immigrant families problems speaking English and discrimination. So I was thinking about something while looking around at the smokers, the druggies, the large and the small, the immigrants. Each of us had gotten there through the use of decisions and consequences in our lives, and I certainly didn’t feel any inclination to feel like I was above the others because I too was sitting in a government office applying for assistance with my utilities. I too had made decisions that brought me to that point. I too had to live with the consequences.

Am I different? Yes my choices have been different, but I have also failed in big way’s and in small. This world is hard to navigate, it is hard to fully see the consequence of our behavior. I think that it is fair to say that even if there is not a God, though I believe in God, that the things that have traditionally been considered “sins” per say are the very things that lead to the negative consequences that we are dealing with.

Greed, avarice, indulgence, sexual promiscuousness, alcohol, smoking, laziness, idleness (same thing), all of the traditional vices are the logical objects of blame for the situation that we are in. For if people are not willing to take personal responsibility, then there is no way to regulate the effects on other people and for that matter the world.

What gets to me about the attitude of my siblings (older brother excepting) is that they think that nullism is funny, and this is the attitude that is fed our children regularly and generally through the television. I can see the appeal of it, entertainment wise, but it is sending the wrong message. Really what is funny about idiocy, of self indulgence and permissiveness? Not much when it leads to a nation of overweight, self indulgent, people who cannot be trusted to accept responsibility for the decisions that they make. It is not funny, in essence we are making ourselves slaves of convenience, and I argue almost anything that is made for “convenience” sake, i.e. plastic bags, paper plates, fast food, t.v. dinners, self stable milk… it is all going to lead to the un-thoughtful consequence of ruining lives.
It makes me think about the thoughtful peoples of the earth, those people who used to be in charge, who respected themselves and the earth. Like the American Indians, indigenous peoples. They cared, they used everything that they were given, the whole buffalo as it were and they did not disrespect the earth and animals in general. Maybe that is one of the currents that runs through our people and country because now that I think of it there have always been lawless people who would go around killing buffalo, wolves etc. just for the heck of it. I guess that the streak has had its way with us, and now we have the difficult consequences to deal with, everyone does.

What can we do? I guess the only thing is to take a look at what we consider to be funny, what we allow ourselves to do, and gauge how much respect that we have towards ourselves, the earth and others. Then taking action to change and rid ourselves of the vices that have brought us to this point. Responsibility, that’s the answer.

Who is in control?

It is interesting to me as I learn more about real food (why do I even need to do this?) That there are a lot of people out there who theorize that we are being controled. By the Fed, Big Pharma (pharmacutical companies), the Government. If their case is true then who is in control? Who is planning the poor quality of our food (and addictive nature), which in turn leads us to poor health (and the ubiquitous drug commercials), which in turn leads us to apathy, which leads us to ignorance.

Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that there is not a connection, there definantly is. I grew up in a home filled with American style reasoning, cooking and methods. My mom worked, we ate junk food at all times (I am not refering soley to potato chips and candy which were ubiquitous enough, I am refering to the negligible nutritional quality of cereals, boxed dinners and canned vegetables). The television was on all of the time, and we never sat down and had conversations about the world, politics or things of importance. So I grew up with the idea (and I find this attitude to be everywhere) that there is nothing wrong with our food. If you eat too much you get fat, vegetables are generally good for you but you don't need them if you take a vitamin. Plus if you want to lose weight eating all veggies will do it (and that a vegetarian diet with little to no fat is good for you). I also had the idea that if you got sick it was because germs and viruses had invaded your body and that science just hadn't found the answer yet (ie drug) to end our bouts of illness. (Most people that read this if raised in America will not find the irony in these statements).

It and is such an inorganic, clinical view. Since this view is so pervasive it is easy to write off people with a different opinion as radical.

I have heard it said that all of the great dictatorships and regimes were able to maintain control as long as the people were kept in ignorance. Well I can tell you this, I have recieved a Bachelors Degree in Accounting, yet I still feel very uneducated. I can tell you from experience that I felt more like the teachers wanted me to regurgitate the book or information that they gave me and were not interested in real learning, too bad, life would have been a lot more interesting if my classes had been more like a hands on learning experience then an endless recicitation of abstract facts.

I feel cheated somehow, yet I know that real learning comes from the learners willingness to explore their subject. In fact I learned more in Accounting 1010 then any of the other classes on the subject because I got a copy of an old accounting textbook and read it through.

So now that I am off of my rant on how uneducated I feel, which I am attempting to remedy by reading a lot more, I will get back to my original rant about who is in charge. Like I said historically "the masses" have been and are controled through ignorance. Yet it was relatively easy to point out who was in charge, now it is not quite as easy. Is there some kind of corporate conspiracy, where they get together and decide to introduce addictive substances into our foods, or drugs that control our minds, or who decide who should be the next president? How scary is that idea?

I am inclined to think though that the USA is a product of a general mindset that we have had throughout our history of "New" and more "Innovative" ways of thinking and that we lost the conventional wisdom of our ancestors in the process.

Conspiracy theories are unnerving, they might be right, they might be wrong. I find them not to be very productive.

I would rather work towards a better life, for me and my family by trying to avoid as much as possible the cycle of poor eating, ill health, doctors visits and government dependance.

That's all for now.

~Strawberry Girl

Thoughts on Government

*I posted this back in March, but got a dead response... I'll try again. ;D

Note: If you don't believe in open minded, open ended thoughts and discussions please don't send me hate mail and keep it to yourself.

There is a speech given by a Jonathan Krohn, that has been circulating around on the internet, this kid is impressive and he absolutely captures something that I feel deeply, though I didn't know what name to give it. He defines conservatism as "Respect for the Constitution, Respect for Life, Less Government, and Personal Responsibility."

I believe this to be ideologically true. If we all took personal responsibility, respected our bodies, what we ate and whether or not we exercised. Where we were all able to have opportunities to learn, where we have good role models that guide us to do good things with our lives. Where we all have sound minds, opportunities to work and freedom from oppression. This ideology truly resonates with me. The role of government then is to allow us these opportunities. In this world, there are people who take advantage of other people, it is as simple as that. We have behemoth banks, corporations, and individuals who have all of the wealth. As much as I agree with conservative ideology, I have to say that the way things have been structured allow exploitation and I wish it were not so. I really hate the government expansionism that has been occurring, I don't think that it is a good solution for the world ills. I know there is a better way. Yes, personal responsibility, less government, respect for life and the constitution. Also protection from exploitation, and some type of forum of responsible citizens that are set to task to come up with solutions. I see both sides of the argument, and I don't think that they are irreconcilable.

Smoke Rings and Matterings

I have recently been reading some short stories found on this web site:

http://smokeringmattering.blogspot.com/

He's a good author, really insightful and I recommend his work to all you lost souls out there.

In fact I feel inspired to write more. When I get a spare moment I want to see where I can get with my writing.

I also want to explore my thoughts on who should control charitable efforts such as helping the poor and needy and what kind of form the organization of these efforts should take.

I KNOW Your all DYING to hear about this, but I feel strongly that things are heading into a difficult mess of governmental oversight.

Briefly,

I think commities of concerned citizens should take up the matters of feeding and clothing the poor and helping the homeless. Issues should be raised and brought to the general publics attention by honest men and women.

We should work to find way's that people can be more self sufficient, such as working in a communal garden, an issue I have brought up before.

I want to learn more about why Democrats seem to think that the only way of meeting the needs of our countrymen means creating more government programs. I think that taxing people in order to feed the poor etc. is inefficient.

Here are a few of my observations. When you give people food stamps, welfare, "free" health care. Here is what happens. Food stamps, allow you to buy food from designated stores. There are some stores that you can buy really healthy food around here, but there prices higher than the local farms and farmers markets. SO you end up with an inefficiency in that you have to spend your money in a place that charges more for the same goods than if you had earned the money and were free to do with it as you pleased. You don't have an incentive to save, you will be given x amount of dollars every month and it must be used for food. Cutting back to use the money for another purpose is then futile. In the case of health care, you can only see ... doctors on the program, they are generally paid less than they would be on a fair market basis and have little incentive to bring innovative treatments to your attention. There is less of an incentive to take care about what you eat and how much you exercise because there will always be health care. (There are so many inefficiencies and messes in health care that it would take a lot of words to describe them. I don't feel like doing it right now). If the government is in charge of our jobs, you have to pay x amount to ... employee. It sort of distorts the system as well...

Write more on this latter.

~Strawberry Girl

Balance of power

Well, I have been thinking a bit about the balance of power in Washington. I have not really thought too much about politics before. But the last couple of years I have been trying to become more informed. In my classes at UVU I have found that, living in a really Rupublican state, there was alot of tension about the subject of politics. Why? Because a lot of my professors were democrats, really liberal democrats and our student newspaper was really liberal as well. This because the other nearby school is really Republican and there was a lot of animosity that was aparent between these professors and the other school. What bugged me is that most of the students at UVU and most of the surrounding area are Republican and the democrats of the school were always saying and doing things to bug them (it was really aparent).

With that as a background... I had a class, don't remember which one, where we talked about the way that America flip flops from Republican to Democrat, back and forth. The teacher mentioned that he had never seen one party stay in power more than 8 years. He also mentioned how it was healthy for the country to have this shift in idea's and power.

Here are my thoughts on politics. I think that there are too many special interests, too many lobbyists. I like trying to protect the earth and real human rights. But I don't like the liberalness about the current Democratic regime. Obama has got into office and put into place many really liberal policies, he changed the rules about government support of abortions, he put forth even more spending of imaginary money, yet he is a really "green" president I don't know how good this will turn out to be. The power shift has made it possible to talk to countries that we haven't been speaking to for a while, Russia, Iran, I don't know about North Korea.

What my assertation is, and a lot of people I know, is that both of the "reigning" political parties have departed greatly from the constitution and our rights outlined therein. The great ideals of our founding fathers have been ignored, forgotten and changed. This saddens me a great deal, the men who established this country were learned men who had studied the great societies of the past and were trying to set up this country with the best principles that they had learned. But even from the beginning those with wealth exerted an influence upon the drafting of the constitution. It never would have passed and this piece of land would be an entirely different landscape. If they had not included the provision for slavery. Unfortunantly, those southern states would not have come in if the document didn't contain the provisions. I think that a lot of the miscief of politics comes from the compromises, where everyone really know's that what they are compromising on is something that is a bad deal.

I am pro-freedom, anti anything that distorts or takes away that freedom. I don't like corporate rule, I don't like elitist rule. But I do like it when honest and learned men rule. Is that going to happen in my lifetime? I don't know. I am a supporter of Ron Paul, he is a little bit extreme, I can recognize that a lot of his idea's are radical and would confuse and outrage the general public as well as people in congress. He is the closest thing that I know of to my ideal politician however.

Anyway those are my thoughts, for what they are worth (a penny?)

It takes a village...

My friend Eco Grrl brought up the differnce in mentality between these two view points, "It takes a village to raise a child," and "Every man for himself." On the one hand is collaboration and I think the least amount of waste, and on the other is selfishness and a lot of excess. On a small scale I often will cook dinner and I will think it very good and I know a bunch of my friends would like it, but sometimes my kids just won't eat it, or I just cook too much. I try to use leftovers, but... they often get thrown out. But how do I share that? Maybe I need to pay more attention, not buy more than we need (veggies thrown out because they have wilted), call up the neighbors and ask them if they have had dinner yet and if they would like to share some of mine (I did this once, I should do it more often). There are collaborative groups that plan dinners, make schedules and cook for each other on one night of the week. That's great but not everyone likes that kind of a situation and people in that kind of group need to be open minded and have similar expectations about health and cooking. In my case, I would need a group of crazed foodies that like to cook gluten free, sometimes raw, absolutely no refined foods. I have 1 friend that fits the category, their may be others nearby, maybe I should put the idea out there and see who bites. The thing is, there are a lot of collaborative options out there. Like Craigslist and I even know of a yahoogroup called freecycle where people give away their random stuff for free to keep it out of dumpsters. I was thinking about community gardens, I am not sure how they work exactly, but as for myself it would be really hard to work on something like that and then not see the fruit of my labor. That is where the difficulty in collaboration comes up. Who benefits from the garden? Theoretically all of us, but what if you are planning on a garden salad and you want a tomato and cucumber that have been growing then you go to pick them and they are gone? That is the difficulty that people have, that I have. It is a little bit hard to lose that "control" over what you are doing. I would think about how much labor that I am putting into it, about how much labor others are putting into it. How do you divide the produce evenly... I guess that if people worked together, then a community garden could work. People sign up for 1/2 hour - 1 hour time slots and they pull weeds and prune then they are entitled to x amount of pounds of produce for x amount of time, anyone out there with experience on this? What I am thinking about though is what happens when disasters strike, hurricane Katrina and et al. is a good example. I watched a new's report with John Stosal (sic?) reporting, he pointed out the problem with government run programs. An amusing example was an ice skating rink. He showed us the difference between "organized" skating and the natural way people organize themselves. First of all he had people just go out and skate. They naturally fell into a pattern based on ability. People who couldn't skate very well hung near the walls and went slower. People who could skate faster hung near the middle and looked ahead to avoid those who couldn't skate well. Some people helped others to skate. Then he had an "expert" ice skater get up with a blow horn to shout out directions. It confused people, the ones who could skate well slowed down or ignored him, the ones who couldn't skate well got turned around. People started to fall over each other. In other words it didn't work. Then he pointed out the difference between the governments "rebuilding" after Katrina programs and private citizen rebuilding. The districts where the government is in charge are not rebuilt, only a very few people are able to meet the requirements, there are like 10 or so different forms. Even the lawyers that they brought in to sort them out couldn't do it, let alone any ordinary citizen. Then they showed us whole neighborhoods that had been built in under a month by people like Brad Pitt and Habitat for humanity. It is also amazing to me to see doctors and dentists who previously vollunteered in third world country's vollunteering in America. I ask, how well does the government run any program? The answer has always been aparent, not well at all. So in this current climate, with President Obama in charge, I do see some things that are intriguing idea's that he has brought into play. He did ask for a large amount of money, but he has also set up a web site for ordinary people to watch what happens to that money, will it work? He is apparently reaching out and it is clear he is trying to do things differently. I think he did mention in his inaggural speach that we need to work together. Well we need to, there is no other way but letting people fall by the wayside. Even I, and I have no money, can work with others. I will garden, I can share the bounty. I will sew bags for my shopping (I bought some drawstring bags online for vegetables but when I got them I think the fabric is like pillow cases, so I am going to refashion some). I can watch my neighbors little kids if she needs to work (as long as I can). Collaboration can work, we need more of it. I am also thinking that it is my duty to be more involved in the political process. I was really into it before the election, but the ferver died down a bit and so did my sense of urgency. But really I should be learning more about government and how to be involved. Because, as they say evil will win if good men do nothing.

The American Tax System

The way our tax system works....This explanation of how our tax system is "supposed" to work, comes from an Economics professor at the University of Georgia . I encourage you to take the two minutes to read this brilliant explanation, it is well worth the read.

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all tencomes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.So, that's what they decided to do.

The ten men drank in the bar everyday and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. 'Since you are all such good customers, he said, I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20. Drinks for the ten now cost just $80. The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men - the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that every one would get his 'fair share?' They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so:

The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings) .
The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings) .
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings. 'I only got a dollar out of the $20,'declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man,' but he got $10!' 'Yeah, that's right,' exclaimed the fifth man. 'I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than I!' 'That's true!!' shouted the seventh man. 'Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!' 'Wait a minute,' yelled the first four men in unison. 'We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!' The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up. The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill! And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D.Professor of Economics, University of Georgia

OK So that is how I got this e-mail.

This is what I think about it.

This is exactly the Rupublican viewpoint (that I have heard espoused) on this subject. They think unilaterally about it, that everyone is happy "drinking their beer" or living their lives until someone or something comes along that shows in stark contrast what the system looks like.

I think that this explanation, although theoretically true, is shortsighted. Being one of the first four who would be "drinking their beer" for free I want to put in a comment. I would rather be able to earn enough money to be able to support myself, then to have to rely on other people to pay for me. Having a system set up that "supports" me rather than allows me to support myself encourages me to either be lazy or to be stupid. Stupid in that I no longer take the initiative to find ways to support myself as well as I should. Or what if I could find a cheaper "beer" or make my own "beer?" OK I HATE BEER I AM GOING TO HAVE TO CHANGE THIS TO BE Kombucha Tea made with Roobios (an herbal red tea instead of Green tea which is caffinated). So I decied that it is better to drink Kombucha tea but I am stuck drinking beer because I sold my right to make my own decisions when I signed on to this "redistribution of wealth" idea. I say forget that idea, let us all make better decisions and if your stupid enough to believe everything you are told and to not fight for truth and your own individual freedoms then you should not deserve to be wealthy either. But if you are wealthy you also have the responsibility to encourage and teach others what you know. The whole "teach a man to fish instead of give a man a fish idea."

That said, I know there is more to my own personal development that needs to be done on this subject and it is an ongoing process. I know though fundamentally that I would rather be out there being productive and trying to take care of myself rather then sitting around blowing bubbles in my "beer" and letting someone else pick up the tab. Taking care of myself feels better.

~Strawberry Girl