STARVE THE FEDS

It is now almost August, and Congress is coming home for recess. We have won the health care battle so far, but we have not won the war. There is still a long way to go.

For the entire month of August, the Congressmen will be coming home to their districts; they’ll be coming home to the people they represent. Many of them will hold town hall and town hall style meetings to talk with many of us one-on-one. Some have already done that, and have been shocked at the results. They can’t ignore the anger anymore. We’re coming for them, and they don’t like it. Some do anticipate it, and succumb to childish political antics in order to make the protesters look bad. Some avoid meetings altogether, knowing the results. Come out cowards! You know who you are! Come out to your constituents! Take what’s coming to you, and take it like a man!

The media also continues to do their part to employ the double standard that if you are against the troops serving in the Middle East, burn American flags, and storm the yards of corporate executives, then you’re a full-blooded patriotic American; but if you are sincerely mad about the progressive government takeover of your daily lives, then you’re a crazy right-wing nutjob. We all see it, we all know it, yet we continue the fight.

I continue to hearken back to mid-February 2009 in my mind. A man by the name of Rick Santelli was on CNBC in Chicago, in front the Chicago Stock Exchange when we all heard the rant around the world. He lashed out at the current administration with full force, without holding back. It was the first time anyone in mainstream media ever said such unthinkable vitriol at the administration that was supposed to be the most loved and revered in recent history. “It’s time for a Chicago Tea Party in July!” he proclaimed to a cheering crowd, and many of us cheered with him.

Many of our hearts weren’t stirred like this since Sarah Palin’s RNC speech. Even more so, possibly, because that’s the moment many of us decided that we weren’t just going to sit and take all this anymore. This wasn’t an “aw shucks, my candidate lost and I’m gonna cry” moment at all. We got over that on November 5th, 2008. This was different. We just didn’t know how different.

Santelli’s rant stuck in my mind day after day, until I decided to do some online research and find out if this Chicago Tea Party was going to be for real, or if this was just a hope that diluted as quickly as it came.

The night of February 25th, I found out the “Chicago Tea Party in July” was going to be held on February 27th. A Friday, no less. Damn it, I had to work.

I’ve never been to a protest before. I’ve always thought protests were stupid and unproductive. I used to poke fun driving through mini-rallies at small towns and egging the people on. Besides, even if I wanted to go, most were held during the week, when people like me had to work. The career protesters didn’t have to worry about making a living, did they?

Still, this was different. In a desperate and spontaneous move, I decided to ask for the day off and go to Chicago. I got the day off with no problem, but who was to say I’d drive 8-9 hours one way starting at 3:00am just to show up and find that only 5-10 people were there? What a waste of time that would be.

I befriended a guy name Eric Odom on a social networking site that night, and got the details: Downtown Chicago, meet at 11:30am, be there or miss the march completely.

Depending on whom you believe, the liberals estimated a crowd of 100, while conservatives estimated 1,000. I think there was 500.

What a day it was. The crowd had some clever signs they hand made. Many of us bonded instantly over this cause. College students apologized on behalf of the state of Illinois for Obama, but also said, hey, we brought you Milton Friedman too so that should even it out. The big screen TV on the side of one of the downtown buildings got booed immediately and loudly when Obama or the mainstream media appeared on it. People driving down the streets looked in disbelief. Some caught on quick and honked (even the Department of Revenue van honked and gave a thumbs up!). We marched the streets not knowing what to chant (being first-timers), but united on “Socialism Sucks!”. We taunted the NBC building knowing we wouldn’t get an ounce of coverage, despite the reporters waving at us with smiles on their faces. A lone woman screamed at us for being against those like her who had financial problems and wanted the government to save her. “Pay your own damn bills!” was the majority response.

I’m almost apologetic for waxing poetic about one simple protest. I felt invigorated, but when the protest was over and it was time to go back home, I felt the rush die down. Is this it? Is this as far as it all goes? Did we all just shout and then go home and go to sleep all over again?

April 15th answered that question. July 4th answered that question yet again. August 1st will also answer it again at our state capital. I once muttered to my young lady about how the Ashland Tea Party seemed much like a church service in comparison to the impassioned shouting in Chicago last February, but I have to say that out of a town of 20,000 people (mostly retirees), it is amazing that 250 came and made sure they found out they weren’t alone.

Every time, we have been honorable. There have been no deaths, and no violence.

We come in knowing that friends will turn against us for our beliefs and for standing up. Still, we press on.

We come in knowing that the media will ignore us or provide negative coverage. We will be slandered as right-wing, hate talking, racist bigots. We know this; and still, we press on.

We come in knowing we’ve slept too long. We come in knowing we are “inconveniencing” our elected officials, because we are awake. We’re coming in knowing that our friends and families who have turned against us are finding out that we can’t be ignored, because we’re everywhere. Maybe the media refuses to acknowledge us, but we know you see us. It is only a matter of time before the cognitive dissonance appears in their collective heads; and then they have to choose whether they believe the media and their government, or if they believe We The People. Still, we press on.

We know that there will be bandwagon jumpers when the tide turns. We know this is inevitable, and we would forgive them for not joining sooner. We are all in this together, and we’re all in it for the same reasons, regardless of how we came upon them. We press on.

And still, there is a long way to go. It’s not over. The Congressmen have to see this with their bare eyes. They can’t just hear about it. They have to know it, and our job is to let them know it. We press on, but it’s not over. If we don’t do this job during the month of August, we will fail, and it will all be for nothing. It will be all our faults, and rightly so.

If we don’t take the seed planted in February and turn this into a Jack-In-The-Beanstalk type monstrosity to put the fear of God into our elected representatives, then we will know we failed when they vote for the health care bill in September. It will be all our faults, and rightly so.

I will always believe in the individual over the government every single time. When the rest of us fight inwardly to win the faith in ourselves, and know that when we want a job done right that we have to do it ourselves, then we will not be stopped.

There is already much disenfranchisement and discontent in the town halls. This is only beginning. We’ve laughed Congressmen off their stages and bully pulpits. They will fight back, and we will be ready. There is nothing like asserting our freedom, which is proven by the record gun sales that have taken place since Obama’s victory. We didn’t just all get into hunting, you know.

If I haven’t been clear before about this, I want peace. Our current divisions have many thinking that a second civil war is not a far fetched idea anymore. I don’t want it to happen. I hate war. Even the most craziest gun nuts I have ever known all agree, the goal is peace. The guns are for self defense – not just self defense against intruders and criminals, but also against our government. We know that our government has been pushing us around for so long that they won’t know how to react when we push back. They won’t like it, and they’ll be ready to retaliate in some way. We just have to be ready for them to be ready, and if they retaliate Kent State style, then we’ll be ready.

You leave me alone, and I’ll leave you alone. You tread on me, and I’ll defend what is right for me and my family.

Everyone I talked to in Chicago last February said that the Chicago Tea Party was their first protest. Ever. We’re awake. You won’t catch us sleeping again. I am very thankful to all of you who have awaken, even if it is for the first time in your lives.

It’s a shame we don’t hear from Rick Santelli anymore. I don’t even know if he’s still employed; does anyone know? He may have been silenced for all I know. It’s ok, though. He’s said enough, and we picked up the slack. Nice job, everyone.

I can’t wait to be able to tell this all to my future children someday.

Fight on!

You know, a lot of this health care argument is kind of insulting. It didn’t take government very long to screw up “Cash For Clunkers”, yet they’re to be trusted with controlling our health care?

A society intelligent with money management would not tolerate this argument going on longer; it would have been put to rest. Therefore, this “debate” proves that there are many of you who are just plain money blind. Maybe book smart, but money blind. I bet over half of you whose solutions for our problems include free health care, free housing, etc. don’t even know how to balance your own damn checkbook. You can’t take care of the world if you can’t even take care of your own situation at home.

Only this government would continue to ignore the economic dire straits that Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security are all getting us into; yet they’ll tell us with a straight face that adding another program will help “cut costs”. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Add insurance companies to the “Two Minutes Hate” list. Obama, Pelosi, and Reid are already trashing the insurance companies in order to make government look like the knight in shining armor that’s going to kiss all your hurts and make you feel better.

I’m tired of those who claim that those of us who oppose the government health care plan don’t have better ideas of our own. So I’m playing my hand. They’re not all my ideas, but they may be new to some of you. If you have something better that doesn’t involve bankruptcy and political interference, then out with it all. Otherwise, put this in your pipe and smoke it.

Idea #1: Cut health insurance loose from the employer. How ridiculous would it be if on the day you got laid off, you’d lose car insurance coverage? Or that you can pay four times as much under the COBRA program? Having health insurance work this way is equally lame. If we can shop for car insurance, we should be able to shop for health insurance as well. If Aetna treats us like crap, we should have the freedom to say “screw you” and sign up with Blue Cross and Blue Shield (or the other way around). This shackling of health care coverage to only full time work has got to go.

Idea #2: Cut health insurance loose from the state border. If Allstate can operate nationwide, why can’t SummaCare? To free them from state borders would encourage interstate commerce, and the subsequent competition would drive down prices.

Idea #3: Tort reform – starve the trial lawyers! If you need evidence of how we have gotten to be a sue-happy society (other than the McDonald’s coffee incident), ask a doctor what his malpractice insurance rates are. If a runaway jury offers an injured plaintiff $47 million in punitive damages, the money has to come from somewhere, and that’s where it comes from. High punitive damages = high malpractice insurance rates = doctors make less = less students willing to go through medical school = less doctors. Those that are left will test you to death in order to cover their ass, which increases costs even more. Lost wages due to injury – yes. Excessive punitive damages – no. States can follow Texas’s lead and put a cap on the punitive awards.

One thing I don’t like about our health care insurance coverage system is that there’s only one minimum rate for a single guy like me. What if I want lower coverage to cover catastrophes only? How cool would it be to watch the free market system unleash so we could pick catastrophe-only health plans? Or maybe we want to cover ourselves and one other person we’re not married to. Or maybe we prefer alternative medicine; why not watch the insurance companies come up with clever ways to package their coverage to include that?

Once again, I invite you to prove me wrong. Government couldn’t be that clever if they tried. What about you?

Yeah, how about that? The IRS doesn’t seem to have any qualms about auditing you and threatening to take away your property if you don’t pay up to their ever evolving tax code. Even if you followed the tax code by the letter, that’s enough to make anyone nervous. You’d have to trust that they won’t make a mistake on the side of confiscation. Why can’t we make the Feds equally nervous by turning the tables on them? Because it seems many of us Americans would rather ignore the situation due to its inherent unsexiness and then proceed to take it up the butt.

For those of you that are a little sore, here’s some logic to back up my previous assertion.

I’m learning that many larger governments like to use funding as a weapon over the smaller governments in their district.

A small case in point: Richland County, Ohio. In the late 1980′s, in a rare quest for government efficiency, Richland County and its associated cities, villages, and townships agreed to let the county handle the 911 emergency system and use the corresponding county sales tax increase to fund the county general fund designed to pay for the 911 system.

Fast forward to 2009, and Richland County’s 15% unemployment rate is causing quite the shortfall on tax revenue. According to some township officials and the county commissioners’ meeting minutes, the commissioners conveniently decided that the townships should have had the 911 system all along and that the county wants to pass along the cost to them.

I don’t have all the facts, but it seems to me that the county likes to push smaller governments around, especially by trying to pass along its shortfalls to the townships, reneging on a 20-year agreement. My suspicion is that the 911 system is being dangled as bait to entice taxpayers to approve of another sales tax increase, which would loosen the incentive for the county to actually, I don’t know, not waste money?

I’m requesting a copy of the current county budget. If my suspicions prove false, you’ll hear it from me first. If you don’t trust me, look up the budget yourself.

This can go further to a larger case in point – the state’s power over the counties and townships. I’ve seen conflicting information as whether or not Ohio Governor Ted Strickland is considering wiping out township governments altogether and replace them with an enlarged state government. If it is true, the state can always dangle funding as a carrot. This might go something like, “Oh, you’re objecting to my plan? Well, let’s see if I approve fixing the potholes of your sorry excuse for a Main Street.”

The largest case in point and star of the show – the joke that we call Obama’s “stimulus plan”. Whether or not you agree with how effective this is in stimulating the American economy, there is no doubt our federal government loved to use the money as a weapon. As it is with Medicaid (which is currently 10-20% of most states’ budgets – hey, I thought this was a federal program!), the money came with terms that completely subjugated the states’ individual programs (such as welfare and unemployment). You had governors that saw this and rejected the money – like Rick Perry of Texas, Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, Marc Sanford of South Carolina, and Sarah Palin of Alaska – and out came the negative politics from the federal government.

Money is power. And as long as you demonstrate that you desire more of it, someone more powerful than you will dangle that carrot as a means to persuade you to do their bidding. This is where most corruption begins in government, because this plays into politician greed.

The only difference is, townships and counties cannot print money. States cannot print money. But the federal government? The Federal Reserve has a printing press ready to go.

Enter in Ron Paul and House Bill H.R. 1207. This bill calls for mandatory auditing of the Federal Reserve. There is no such auditing now. This entity (NOT a government entity, mind you) is free to do as it pleases, funding federal reserve banks throughout the USA, and making economic policy decisions.

The USA did not always have a central bank. Woodrow Wilson was responsible for installing the Federal Reserve in 1913; the same year that the income tax amendment was passed.

This place isn’t audited? If even small-potatoes corporations have to be audited by law, why not the central bank that controls trillions of dollars and has the largest impact on our economy? Especially if the IRS wants to audit you for a several measly thousand.

As for me, I say let’s just abolish the Federal Reserve altogether. I don’t want to even mess with the extra work that comes with auditing such a monstrosity, especially with Obama’s and Pelosi’s continued broken promises for transparency. In addition, as long as the Federal Reserve exists, the concept of states are meaningless. When the federal government wields power with printed money, then state sovereignty is just an illusion.

Therefore, the first step in starving the feds is to starve The Federal Reserve. And I mean starve it to death, permanently. The Congress can handle the slack with all the spare time they have after they stop pushing counterproductive legislation. Yeah, I know it’s Congress and all, but we do elect them. We don’t elect anyone to the Federal Reserve now. So why even have it? We just plain don’t need it.

Even though my writings are my own, they are inspired by the thinking of many. I figure it is only right to name each inspiration one by one.

I don’t know where I would be without talk radio. I guess it seems only fitting that even though the AM stations are largely the scrap heap of mass media, it was where talk radio was born and where it has thrived since the opening days of Rush Limbaugh. What an amazing world we live in where we can get mainstream media news bias junk in HDTV, yet we can also get logic that just plain makes sense on the worst quality media available. Millions of us listeners prove that it’s not the quality of the medium, it’s the quality of the message. Style may pull win immediate-gratification style battles over substance, but substance will always win the long term war over style. One man’s junk is certainly another man’s treasure. Otherwise, why would anyone pay attention to AM radio if it wasn’t perceived as a threat?

It is tough not to indirectly rip off the talk radio folks. They come up with thought after thought for as much as three hours every weekday as their job. I just try to write on one subject at a time in my spare time.

Rush and Sean Hannity are the ones I started listening to when I was traveling cross country. They opened up a whole new world to me, and things seemed to magically make sense again. I don’t hear them too much anymore due to my work schedule, but I have to tip my hat off to them. George Carlin was the man who taught me how to think independently and not rely on what’s being spoon fed; yet Rush and Sean were the first ones to teach me that I didn’t have to agree with George; that logic can even defeat the seemingly iconic ideas of George himself.

Glenn Beck is the man. That guy wears his heart on his sleeve, and he’s the most sincere talk radio guy I ever known. The guy is a complete dork, but yet I admire how he is unafraid to let an embarrassingly feminine quality of his be exposed to the nation. Even without all that, he researches his ass off. He’s not afraid to tell you what he doesn’t know, and then he will spend countless hours finding out. The guy makes some outstanding and startling predictions (Al Qaida attacks, the nationalization of banks, the 2008 economic collapse) although he does get one horribly wrong once in awhile (like his prediction that Rick Santorum would win the presidency in 2008 after his Senate election loss in 2006). You can disagree with Beck if you like, but there’s no way you can attack his sincerity without you being insincere yourself.

Jim Quinn and Rose Tennant from Pittsburgh make my mornings bearable. All I can really say about them is that they make politics the most entertaining. Yes, it IS possible!

Mark Levin is another. The guy takes shit from absolutely no one. I am amazed yet vindicated that his book “Liberty and Tyranny” has topped the New York Times best seller list for weeks on end, and yet the mainstream media has tried their best to ignore that, or give an obviously poor review that blatantly reveals that the reviewer hardly ever read the book. I also noticed that he is quick to point out when his thoughts and book passages are ripped off, so I figured I’d better pay homage here before I’m included in his list of “backbenchers”.

I don’t think Mark even knows who I am, but apparently someone else does.

To the person who created IAmSorryAmerica.com, I don’t know who you are, but thanks for linking to my site and creating something of your own. I don’t look at statistics and IP addresses to see who reads this, because I really don’t care. I’m not here for marketing, I’m here to tell it like it is and do what is right. There are countless others doing the same, but I am not in competition with them, I’m just glad I’m not alone in my path. Yet at the same time, I know people read what I write, even if they don’t want to admit it. Thanks for not only admitting it, but being one of the first of many that are about to come.

Here’s to much more!

I’ve already established in previous posts that we all have good intentions; that we want the best for everybody. I’ve also established that liberals want to get to that goal by way of empowering the federal government further, whereas I want to get there by eliminating most of the federal government altogether.

I may have not been so clear in establishing that government as an entity is inherently flawed, because it is run by the self interest of men (and women).

A country of 300+ million people such as the U.S.A. is also guided by the self interest of men. The only difference is, it’s the self interest of 300+ million individuals, and not just select hundreds of people in Washington D.C.. As any organizer knows, the larger the crowd is, the more difficult it is to unify them. Therefore, I’d have to conclude that I’d rather be guided by the self interests of 300+ million people, because much of one person’s self interest is negated by another’s, and only the true will of the people can serve as the unifying force.

In other words, it’s much easier for several people to collude and conspire rather than large crowds.

Because I am not in favor of eliminating government 100% (anarchy), I’m more in favor of a republican form of government rather than a democracy. It’s the best chance that we have of the overwhelming majority who don’t know squat about economics elect those who do to office. It’s the best chance that those that we elected who turn out corrupt can be put out of office via elections and term limits. The government should be about a philosophy, and not about the officials  themselves like many of our incumbents.

Also, if we had a pure democracy, we would self destruct, and here’s why.

A true economist understands that the wealthy will always be outnumbered by those who are not wealthy. Even if you give everyone a one million dollar stimulus check in the mail, that only means our $100/week grocery bill would rise to $500,000/week. No store in their right mind would continue to charge $2 for a loaf of bread if they knew all their shoppers got one million dollar checks. It’s the same reason car dealers are salivating at the “Cash For Clunkers” clause in our latest troop funding bill, because they know they’ll get a piece of that $4,500 someway somehow.

Anyways, a society with a few rich and many not-so-rich just needs a little class envy to stir up the pot. Whether it be a slow or fast process, eventually the 90% of have-nots are going to vote to confiscate the wealth of the other 10% and give it to themselves because they feel entitled to it. And if I was in the 10% category, I’m moving the hell out so there is nothing more for the 90% to confiscate.

That leaves no haves, and all have-nots, all scrambling for crumbs.

How dare all of you that arrogantly point your finger at me and others and accuse us of being not compassionate because we don’t favor the government health care system! How dare do any of you favor any freebies for yourselves just as long as someone else pays for it!

Besides, we ALL have health care. If we walk into an emergency room because we got a splinter in our hand from holding onto wood railings, the hospital is required by law to take care of us, regardless of our situation or ability to pay.

The system definitely needs tweaking; you get no argument from me there. If we just sever the ties that bind health insurance with our employers, as well as allowing interstate competition instead of the state-by-state system we have now, we’d be fine. I say if we can choose any auto insurance we want by going online or picking up the phone, then we should do the same with health care. If we couldn’t get auto insurance unless our employer offers it, then the problem of uninsured drivers would increase dramatically.

Getting back to the point though – it’s so easy to spend other people’s money, isn’t it? Some of us will drive across town because gas is $2.49 per gallon instead of $2.50, yet have no problem complaining how the owner of the Cleveland Indians baseball team needs to spend millions of dollars more to keep quality players from leaving the team. Many of us also have no problem claiming we should all have health care, as long as someone else pays for it. Why not put your money where your mouth is and pay for it yourself?

The situation gets worse because we have a progressive tax system. Why do some of us pay 15% while others pay 35% or more?

I say if we all paid 15%, then the 20% difference will benefit us greatly. Even if it is a “tax cut for the rich”, I never got a job from a poor person. Even if someone benefited by $2,000,000; some may sit on it but many others want to turn it to $4,000,000 or more; and one good way of doing that is to start or expand their business and hire people to better their business. Even if someone wanted to invest, companies will benefit from the extra infusion of capital, and be more willing to break ground for a new plant with it.

What would you do with an extra $2 million? Spend it on yourself? How would you handle all the have-nots that have plans for your stash?

I say, handle your own financial situation, and stay the hell out of mine and others. To do otherwise is cheap and arrogant, and I will treat you as such.

How about an anecdote to close this entry? This comes from a fellow conservative friend, bandmate, and ally. This is paraphrased due to lack of memory:

Conservative: “What don’t you like about conservatives?”
Liberal: “Because they tell us how to run our lives.”
Conservative: “Well, I choose to ride my motorcycle without a helmet.”
Liberal: “Why would you do that? You should be wearing a helmet!”

I messed up. I have to confess, I put my head in the sand regarding a particular issue and took my sweet old time researching it.

Please bear with me as I explain.

My lights went out on the federal government starting June 23, 2005, with the Supreme Court decision on the Kelo vs. New London case. I had been paying close attention to this, and decided there was no need to worry about the decision because it was a no-brainer. If you’re not familiar with what I mean, I’ll get to that later.

The 5th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution does not just mean the right not to incriminate oneself (as in the phrase “I plead the fifth”). There’s also another part to the amendment that says that government cannot take private property for public use without just compensation.

“Public use” has been traditionally defined as parks, roads, etc.; where the public does benefit. If the government wants to expand the nearby interstate, they can take the land that is needed without the owner’s consent (but giving proper notice to the owner), pay the owner a fair price, and send them on their way. As long as government controls infrastructure (which I am in favor of), this is a good idea.

The definition of “public use” has been expanded to include national historic sites and to condemn blighted areas such as vacant lots in largely abandoned cities. These are debatable, but won’t get strong resistance from me. Let the states decide.

I have no idea when and where, but the government has the authority to delegate eminent domain powers to public utilities in order to control the distribution of energy. This is really pushing it for me.

“Kelo” was a homeowner in a neighborhood in New London, Connecticut. The city of New London wanted to raze the entire oceanfront neighborhood because they wanted to give that land to a private developer so hotels, resorts, and condos can be built in order to increase tax revenue for the city. The neighborhood, from what I’m told wasn’t great but wasn’t horrible either, fought back and took this all the way to the Supreme Court.

The city was admitting that they were willing to kick out lifetime residents of this neighborhood so they could collect more taxes from the hotels and resorts than they could from the homeowners. So “public use” apparently meant collecting more taxes. Like I said before, I thought this was a no-brainer.

The Supreme Court voted 5-4 in favor of New London, Connecticut.That’s the very first day I knew in my gut that something was desperately wrong with our government. I didn’t feel this way that much anymore until the bailouts started in 2008, but this was where it all started. I remember it clearly: Scalia, Rehnquist, O’Connor, and Thomas strongly dissented against the majority opinion.

States rose up and quickly passed eminent domain laws to prevent this sort of crap from transpiring again. I thought naively for the large part that this was all over.

I purposely moved to a rural area partly because I felt the chances of a city annexing my property would be slim and none. I live by a state forest, but I felt no danger of the park being expanded to include seizing my property.

But last year, I started seeing yard signs popping up. “Protect Your Property Rights!” it screamed. I was wrong to ignore it as long as I have.

Then I looked at www.oporr.com and my lights went out again. The Columbia Gas Company (whose parent NiSource is part of the Dow Jones Index) is looking to seize up to 12,000 acres (18 square miles) in my township and a neighboring township for natural gas storage. Apparently, the government has delegated eminent domain rights to this private company so the private company can take away private property and pay what they feel is fair.

Why couldn’t Columbia just ask the property owners themselves if their land was for sale? I don’t know, but it seems as though they have not. In fact, they are rushing this eminent domain battle through a federal government agency to try and avoid the property owners. What’s the “public use” exactly? There is no emergency. What the hell kind of country is this when you can’t even keep the land on which you live?

I picked the place I wanted to buy. I filled out the paperwork. It’s MINE. It’s not for sale.

You may think, “So what if some company takes land away from a bunch of hicks? Why do I care?” Does that mean as long as it is not you, then it’s ok? I’ve already told you that you never know when you’ll be next, and who’ll be on your side when you are next.

My property is unaffected by Columbia Gas’s outright arrogance in forcing owners to sell. However, I’m not going to keep quiet for that reason. I’ve fallen asleep long enough already.

Even if I were President, I couldn’t stop this eminent domain abuse because it’s a precedent established by the Supreme Court; and the Supreme Court has a long history of reluctance to overturn their previous decisions. What makes this worse is that this Sonya Sotomayor fraud that’s going to be confirmed to be the newest judge on the Supreme Court would be in favor of this abuse in a heartbeat. Maybe not, but I’m not holding my breath.

Are you telling me you’re ok with this?

First of all, you don’t need to be an expert in economics to realize that when you continue to spend more than you make, there will be serious problems up ahead. Hopefully, you also understand that when money is taken away from you, then that means you have less to spend.

For some reason, this isn’t obvious to many. How can it be when so many people elect officials with a track record of being stupid with money?

I want to elaborate on something I brought up on my previous blog entry (“Driven by what is right”) because this is something I’ve always suspected, and has only been confirmed by myself recently.

Almost every person who claims to be liberal, when honest, will admit that they don’t understand how the economy works.

That’s all right. Economics is not a particularly sexy subject. For a long time, it seemed to me a word that described some mystic force that operates in a parallel universe that controls how much our food costs and whether jobs will open up in our town. Many of you who read this know that isn’t true, but you have felt that at least once at a younger age, haven’t you?

I’m intending this blog piece to be read by those who do not understand economics, but we’ll see who really does read this. Here goes anyway.

Our current federal government is making it awfully easy for me, because I almost don’t have to prove how horribly they are doing with money. All I have to do is point and yell “Look!” and there you are. Seriously though, as someone with experience in accounting and auditing in the private sector, consider our current government as a warning.

As much as corporations are hated in this country, every public company is required to submit financial statements in an annual report to their board of directors. A financial statement is a way of keeping score of a business. You can see how a company has done in past years, how they’re doing now, and give an educated guess as to how they will do in the future.

An auditor’s job is to independently comb through these statements, testing and verifying the numbers reported by these companies. They act as an impartial referee of sorts. All public companies are required by law to be audited independently by a third party. This is where accountability takes place.

Companies that want to pull real fast ones require auditors to be complicit with the corporation. Either that, or the auditors are plain stupid, ignorant, or lazy from top management on down. In any situation, a bad corporation requires a compromising of principles on the auditors’ part. This is why audit company Arthur Andersen went from a billion dollar partnership to zero in a very short time because of their role in Enron.

You say you don’t think the government is as bad as I say it is because your life isn’t much different than it has been? These financial statements… these score keeping devices… are warning us that depression-like tides are approaching the shores. You have been warned.

Also, another main point from all this is that even the most hated corporations have a system in place for accountability through third party auditing.

The government has no such thing.

Examples:

The concept of a free press was designed in part to keep government in check via criticism and intense questioning. Today’s media is dead. They have proved that to me over and over again with their treatment of Sarah Palin and of the Tea Parties. This media is complicit with the Democratic Party; they favor Democrats over the truth itself. When I see truth and the media reports the opposite, they’re the ones who are dead because I am alive. Verdict: NO ACCOUNTABILITY.

The Federal Reserve does not have an auditing system in place. I know this because Ron Paul has tirelessly tried to push bill H.R. 1207 that requires an auditing of the Federal Reserve. This bill has been ignored or laughed at by those who intend on keeping things the way they are. What about the promise of transparency Obama and Pelosi? What about hope and change? Verdict: NO ACCOUNTABILITY.

The federal government keeps more than one set of books (financial statements). The ex-GAO chief David Walker (the top accountant of the United States) stated that the United States kept four sets of books. Any corporation that keeps more than one set of books will land the company officers in jail, point blank. For all you corporation haters out there, this means the government is being held to a much lower standard than corporations are. We cheer when Enron’s Ken Lay dies and Jeff Skilling rots in prison, but we voluntarily elect the same kind of people to represent us every couple years in November. I think it’s time we treated them like the criminals they are. Verdict: NO ACCOUNTABILITY.

This will make some mad, but I am completely in favor of the idea that if you collect more money from the government than you pay taxes, you lose your right to vote. That means if you paid $1,000 in tax withholdings during the year and get a $5,000 “refund” due to the Earned Income Credit, then sorry, you don’t get to vote until you pay the $4,000 back. I know people do fall on hard times and need help, but if we all vote ourselves free money, then we’re done.

If you disagree, then I challenge you to transfer your bank accounts to a bank that will give away money for free, without any promises of paying you back. That’s what we got here. Accountability starts with the voter, and there’s no way in hell that anyone who received a $5,000 Earned Income Credit  have an equal vote as someone who paid $5,000 in taxes. I realize that many of us need help in hard times, but if we’re going to have people collecting subsidies from the government, then those providing the funds should be the only ones voting. You don’t like it? Tough shit.

You can’t scream “accountability” to others when you don’t have any yourself.

I have had to take a step back and look at what’s happened the past couple months. It’s too easy to get lost in the mess and lose direction.

I have been talking with more people than I ever dreamed of. I spoke publicly at two July 4th Tea Parties. I went to my local township trustee meeting. I’ve talked with those who would provide support, including volunteers, if I commit to running for any office. I have also been disappointed by some whom I thought I’d have support from, but don’t. I’ve talked with military veterans, various political organizers, and even liberals on ideas.

We’re really all on the same side if you think about it. We all want to live happy lives, without hurting others, and without unjust interference from outside parties. If you don’t want that, then what is it that you do want?

Just about every liberal-minded person I have talked to personally are very caring, and want the best for everyone. I can’t argue with that. You’d have to be a monster or a sociopath to argue otherwise.

I just argue with the methodology. How do we get there? Through blind trust, or some similar force within liberals, they believe that government can get us there. By paying taxes to various governments, you are trusting them to fund various institutions that represent your interests. Therefore, the amount of taxes you pay is directly proportional to how much you trust your government. That means when a government calls openly for a tax increase, they are asking you to trust them. When they sneak tax increases in hurried legislation without the bills being read, then we’re being robbed. I’d rather be mugged face-to-face from an attacker, because they have to confront you in order to take your money away from you. The worthless representatives just rob you from their desks in Washington.

Government likes to fool us into being convinced that they’re omni-present figures; meaning they’ll always be there and a significant part of our lives. If we all fight with each other, we won’t be fighting with them. That’s why there’s fierce bickering between Democrats and Republicans, even though both favor government overspending and international law over American law. Many wrongly assume that if you’re not Democrat, you must be Republican. Not me. I refuse to be Republican. No 1994-era “Contract With America” is going to change my mind.

Government also likes to blame corporations for our sour economy. However, the worst of government can be outlined by their back door ties to corporations themselves. You’ve got government running General Motors and Chrysler. You’ll have our health care records run by Government Electric….I mean General Electric….under the name “healthymagination”. General Electric also owns NBC, which could explain their heavily favorable coverage for Democratic candidates. Some may even claim Dick Cheney’s association with Halliburton hurt as as well (though I disagree) and Hank Paulson’s ties to Goldman-Sachs engineered in the Bailout Era (which I do agree with).

Either way, nobody should be giving me any crap about how free markets don’t work. When you have the above examples, we haven’t had a truly free market in the first place. What do you say to that Barney Frank and Barack Obama?

Government also likes to point out that greed pervades capitalism, and therefore should be regulated more intensely. Wrong again.

Name me one society where there greed is minimal. If you can do that, I’ll shut the hell up.

In Cuba, the greed of Fidel Castro overpowered the greed of the citizens his men have imprisoned. In Iran, the power of Ahmadinejad and the Ayatollahs overpower any individual greed of their citizens. In Saudi Arabia, the Saudi king’s oil reserves bring him much luxury, while still advocating the legalization of rape of his country’s women citizens. In the United States, the latest version of the health care bill exempts the US government from participating in the health care system they want to impose upon us citizens.

In a truly free market, everyone has the most equal chance of being greedy. Not only does that truly minimize the effects of greed and misuse of power, but that’s what makes a truly free society. We won’t have 100% freedom (no one does), but that doesn’t mean we can’t raise hell when our level of freedom goes from 60% to less (which is the approximate amount of our paychecks we are “allowed” to keep).

Besides, how many of us can go to Washington at a drop of a hat?

At the local township trustee meeting, one trustee told me that Ohio Governor Ted Strickland was looking to abolish local governments in favor of a stronger state government to save money on this year’s budget. What would happen when that happens and Ohio is hit by a statewide storm? Under our current system, I could call up the trustee and mention any problems such as downed poles and he would alert the local road guy they contract with. If the state has control of the resources, how long do you think we’d wait? A week or so?

If power became more centralized within Washington instead of your town, county seat, or state capital, how often do you think they’ll address our problems?

I only want what is right. To minimize greed within centralized government, we must minimize centralized government altogether. To minimize greed within society, we must all have equal opportunities (NOT equal results – that’s socialism/communism).

To maximize what we can do to look out for ourselves, we must have more tools to do so. When a government with $320 billion left in a TARP fund that many Americans did not want in the first place decides to use that money as they see fit rather than refund the taxpayers or pay off debt, that’s an insult to our intelligence. You’re letting them tell you they know more of what is best for you more than you do for yourself.

Keeping in line with the positive theme of outlining my ideas (even if part the purpose is to totally expose the sham that is President Obama and today’s federal government), I decided to list a “wall of fame” of sorts here. So here are some examples of people who inspire me:

Mikhail Saakashvili

The current President of Georgia was born in Georgia, traveled to the USA to study law at both Columbia and George Washington Universities, and then came back to Georgia in the midst of a bloodless Rose Revolution to lead his country away from civil unrest after the fall of the USSR. Not only has Saakashvili led the new republic on principles he learned from the USA, but he has had to fend off Russian invasions in 2008. The Georgian economy has flourished since he took office. Most notably, he is a true servant who thinks of his country first, which is readily apparent if you ever get to listen to him talk. We could use someone like that here!

Alvaro Uribe

The President of Colombia is moving so close to defeating the FARC terrorist organization that has plagued the country for 40+ years. His refusal to give in to negotiating with the FARC has helped lead to daring rescues of his old election rival, Ingrid Betancourt. To see another successful republic in the making is truly an amazing miracle to behold. To see us Americans take that same concept for granted is what saddens me most. Colombia makes me wonder why we seem to voluntarily throw away what many others have struggled and died for.

Arthur Laffer/Milton Friedman/Ronald Reagan

If our government understood the Laffer Curve, there would be lower taxes and our economy would be in the process of recovering. Then there would be no need to have Obama pretend that things are turning around when the USA is approaching 10% unemployment.

The Founding Fathers

Their ideas are timeless. Any government that overreaches should read their history. I reject any idea that states that their ideas are quaint (in a negative sense) and would not apply to today’s times. Today’s times actually prove that to implement those ideas we need more than anything, because there are many who want them forgotten.

Sarah Palin

If you did not know who this woman was or what she was about before August 2008 (when she was nominated as McCain’s VP running mate), then your opinion doesn’t count, and I’ll tell you why.

I saw several Palin interviews before her VP nomination, and they are quite different from the Palin most people remember. She’s articulate, has great common sense, and a libertarian leader of what is the most libertarian state in the USA (except possibly Texas and Montana). She talks like a human being and not a politician. She is an expert on energy, especially oil. She is an everyday citizen that decided to do something about her surroundings instead of bitching and moaning about them. She may very well be the only real person that just happens to be a politician, and not the other way around.

I know she has weaknesses. Foreign policy may be one, but that is nothing that a Cabinet member couldn’t handle. Although, Obama’s handling of the situations in Iran, North Korea, and Russia could be evidence that Sarah may still have done a better job than he.

Naivete may be another weakness of hers, but on the other hand that may be more of an asset than a liability.

Education is NOT a weakness. She’s clearly not stupid, and she clearly does not follow conventional ways. Obama may talk “hope” and “change”, but Palin walks them. Her interviews prior to August 2008 and her record as Alaska governor prove it.

I knew the mainstream media wouldn’t like her. However, I was unprepared for the sheer hatred that the media unleashed on her. Only live appearances on national TV truly reflect her, because the networks can’t edit and splice her words to make her look bad. It’s the reason why she changed the subject a million times during the VP debate, because that was the only time she could state her points without fear of her words being journalistically mangled. Her RNC speech last year showed all of us how much balls she really has, and you know the media has hated her since.

Her and McCain lost the presidential race, but the Two Minutes Hate on Palin is still out of control. That could only mean one thing: somebody is terribly afraid of her. If no one was afraid of her, then no one would pay attention to her. She’d be just as forgotten as Geraldine Ferraro.

Palin proved to me that the mainstream media is nothing more than a Michael Moore video. Selective journalism is not journalism, it’s unethical. Shame on any of you who see all that and still believe it.

Palin proved to me that she’s resilient. There were 15 ethics charges brought up against her this year, and she came clean on ALL of them. That never happens, does it? Actually, it proves that people are out to bankrupt her because they fear her. If you are in favor of litigating any person to bankruptcy for ANY reason, even if it’s for something or someone you don’t agree with, then you are less than a person. I consider you dead, and of no living use to me. There’s no place in this country for any of you whose ideological ends justify the bankruptcy-by-litigation means.

Palin proves there is rampant hypocrisy in identity politics, although that has previously been proven by Clarence Thomas and Condoleezza Rice, as examples. It’s great to have a woman in office, or a black in office, or a Hispanic on the Supreme Court; unless if that person is a conservative. If Palin was liberal, there’s no doubt she’d have more favorable coverage and everyone would be in love with her.

If you rip on her for not being like other politicians, then you’re really ripping on yourselves. You’d be implying that “little people” don’t have a chance, and shouldn’t have a chance (which also implies that only the ruling class can govern). And have we forgotten that we hate typical politicians? Like Marc Sanford?

I’m hoping Palin runs in 2012, because then I won’t feel like I have to. There is nobody in politics like her, and she is a major reason why I want to run for office.

Our country is heading in a backwards direction. The progressives would like to think that the USA is becoming more “open-minded” with fresh new ideas. In reality, all the “new” ideas from Obama and the Democratic Congress have already been tried elsewhere, and they have failed every time.

I’ll chuck this argument out the window if you can give me an example of a wealthy country with a successful progressive or socialistic government, where the people are truly free and not oppressed. I’ll assume you can’t (because there aren’t any), so I’ll move on.

The most outstanding examples have either been democratically elected (however fixed or not) or emerged as the leader after a revolution, only to turn around and implement socialistic and communist policies that oppress their population, however intentional or unintentional.

There’s Castro in Cuba, Chavez in Venezuela, Jong-Il in North Korea, Ahmadinejad/the Ayatollah in Iran, and Zelaya from Honduras if he can help it. If you’re not familiar with these leaders, you need to look them up, because you would see that Obama’s ideas are not new to everyone; they’re just new to Americans unaware of the world around them.

I want to present my own ideas. Again, they’re not new, but they may sound new to anyone unaware of history. If a major change is to take place, there must be something worth changing to. It’s not enough to be pissed at a system without offering attractive alternatives.

I read the book “The Country Under My Skin” by Gioconda Belli about the Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua during the 1970′s and 80′s. It was a very inspiring read, but what hit me most was that their revolution did not offer any solid alternative ideas. Because of that fact, I could anticipate what was coming, although it seemed to catch the author by surprise. A power vacuum always results unless someone strong enough to lead the new era fills that vacuum. If there is no planned governmental system to be put in place with the backing of the people, then the country is just ripe for a dictatorship.

In other words, because Belli and her co-revolutionaries didn’t have any strong ideas for the new government, all that happened is that one dictatorship-led oppression was eventually replaced with another. When oppression leads to oppression via a revolution, then the revolution is a wasted one.

I’ll be damned if that’s going to happen here. Whether Obama is heading that direction is debatable, but I’ll reserve that for another post.

We’ve got a top-down government now, and that hierarchy should be reversed.

The number one government you should worry about is the household, not the federal government. The head of the household can determine the house rules, how the children should behave, what religion is practiced, and what kind of light bulbs can be used. Obama, or any other president, has no business worrying about what energy he “lets us” use or what type of light bulb he’ll “let us” use.

Whatever the individual households can’t handle will rest upon the local government, whether it be the township, city, or village of residence. The locals can cover local disputes, social program funding, local road maintenance, firemen, policemen, lawn care, open burning, library funding, gun control, etc. All of the above can be handled by local voting and/or funding. Americans wouldn’t have to be terrified if elderly home care will be cut by the state or feds, and Ohio wouldn’t be in a total uproar over Governor Strickland’s proposal to cut the library budget. The towns should handle this, so we wouldn’t have to depend on Columbus or Washington D.C.. Our communities know more of what they need most; much more so than a suit-and-tie who has probably never been to where you live anyway. Either take care of it at your home town, or don’t.

Next in line is the state. The state should cover just about what the feds are covering or are trying to cover now – abortion, euthanasia, casino gambling, prostitution, drug usage, drug trafficking, gay marriage, environmental standards, cap and trade, public retirement, public health care – any hot button issue that people get all worked up about on the federal level. It’s all really unnecessary. If we get 50 different options – 50 different mixes of all of the above that we can all choose from, wouldn’t that be better than just one option we’re all forced to live with?

California does not allow gay marriage. New Hampshire does. Massachusetts and Oregon have public health care of some sort. Texas and Florida have no state income tax. Alaskans get dividend checks from the state’s permanent fund (last year’s was $3,269 per taxpayer!). Nevada has legalized prostitution. New York has casino gambling. Ohio does not, despite the issue appearing on the ballot every single year. South Dakota would have banned abortions if the feds didn’t interfere. Montana passed a law exempting guns made, kept, and used in the state from any federal gun laws.

I don’t care if I agreed with every single law the federal government passes involving the above topics. It is not their place to pass such laws!

The feds shall only take care of national defense, limited interstate commerce, conduct foreign policy, and keep a common currency. The feds should be so small that they’re just enough to glue the states together so that we’re the United States of America, and not the Divided States of America.

What are the feds doing now? They’re using tax dollars for taking over our car companies and disregarding contract and bankruptcy laws. They’re using tax dollars to bail out failing companies that should have fallen flat on their face. They’re using our money to install a czar per day in order to circumvent the Constitution.

They have gone after corporate executives. They have thumbed their nose at bond holders and investors. They have gone after owners of car dealerships. Their current targets are all productive industries and the medical world. Are you going to wait until they come after you personally before you tell them to back off? There won’t be many on your side when that happens. In fact, there will be less on your side than there are on my side now, and there’s not many on my side. You’ll be twice as screwed as I am.

That day may not be far away. The executive branch of the federal government has unilaterally taken over the census. They’re installing GPS trackers on people’s houses without permission. The new census forms are asking very intrusive questions that you wouldn’t answer to your next door neighbor. Washington D.C. is making noise about having “smart thermostats” installed in our homes so they can turn off your heat or air conditioning if they feel you’re using too much energy. I’ve even stocked up on soft light bulbs because they’ll be illegal in the next few years, if not sooner! I might as well be growing marijuana in my back yard.

Back off, federal government! Stay the hell out!

I’ll be at the Mansfield and Ashland (Ohio) Tea Parties on July 4th. Hope to see you there.