Patriotic Reader

All elected officials are corrupt. That’s not exactly a news headline. We all know it. We don’t bat an eye at stories that reveal the latest “scandal”. We merely cringe if the person involved is of the same political party, or scream really indignantly if they’re with the other party. I hate partisanship. They’re ALL a bunch of scumbags!!!!!!! Who cares if there’s a D or R after their name?!!

So why have we allowed ourselves to just accept our politicians as crooks? When are we going to stand up and look for candidates who have principles and stand by them??

It won’t be easy, since anyone with principles doesn’t want the job. Who wants to be labeled a racist if you disagree with someone who happens to be black (even if the subject has nothing whatsoever to do with race)? Who wants to be called a homophobe, bigot, anti-Semite, etc. just for having an opinion that doesn’t fit with the “mainstream”?? Who wants all of the mistakes they’ve made in their life thus far published in newspapers for the country to see and judge them on? Who wants their every move – their clothes, hairstyle, every word – scrutinized?

Why does the media focus on non-issues and incendiary labeling of people? When will Americans say “NO MORE B.S.” and find out where candidates stand on issues that really matter??

I understand why our founding fathers wanted voters to be land owners. They wanted the people who voted to be educated. To know enough to learn the facts of the people they were voting for. I believe we should institute a test before anyone is allowed to vote. Nothing hard. Just multiple choice questions on where the candidates stand on the issues to make sure the voter has been paying attention. Hell, maybe that test should be the ballot – instead of voting for a candidate, you mark where you stand on the important issues, and then your vote is cast for the candidate you agree with the most – whether you realize you agree with them or not.

So many people get so caught up in labels (oh, I would never listen to him – he’s a conservative … he’s too liberal for me) they don’t see anyone clearly any more. Take the blinders off!!

Who are your representatives? Where do they stand on the issues you care about? Ah! First you need to have a firm understanding of the issues and then form your own opinion of them. That’s hard to do with our biased media spoon-feeding us their opinions. The reporters believe you are too stupid to think for yourself so they frame their words in a way to tell you what to think.

Don’t be a sheep! Research the current issues – don’t read the newspapers or listen to TV reporters. Read blogs. Look up facts from the original source. Don’t tune out when someone from another political party speaks. Listen. Really listen. Don’t block out their words by thinking of how much you disagree with them. Don’t let your political party guide you. Guide yourself. Think for yourself.

The only principle that our parties really seem to care about now is a principle called “Get elected at all costs.” That’s it. Do not believe their lies and propaganda that our parties still matter – they don’t.

Our politicians need to live like regular folks. Our founding fathers knew this. They assumed congressmen would serve a term or two and go back to their communities, keeping them in touch with the realities of the community they were serving. I believe this was their only mistake when writing the constitution – they should have set term limits for all public offices.

And, I can’t believe it needs saying, but all laws passed by congress have to be obeyed by congressmen as well. If they don’t obey their own laws, they should be booted right the hell out of public service.

Did you know that when the income tax was started (in 1913) it only applied to the wealthiest 1 percent? Blind are the people who think that government will just tax the “rich” and no one else! When you give the government an inch they take a mile … and then another mile … and on it keeps going.

I keep hearing how Obama wants to pay for his programs by just taxing the wealthiest 1 percent … yeah, for now … until they feel like spreading that tax on down to include everyone. (Not that I’m okay with the wealthiest 1 percent getting all the tax burden … but I’ll rant about stealing from the rich another day.)

How do you think government is going to pay for “free” healthcare anyway? Where does government’s money come from???? From the sky? From a money tree?? ARGH. How I hate hearing the term “free”-anything related to government. People have gotten completely out of touch with their own money.

Of course I believe government needs to collect a tax in order to provide what it’s supposed to provide – protection of our freedoms. Why not a flat tax? Seriously. Why the hell was Forbes laughed at when he brought up this idea as a Presidential candidate? What is so ridiculous about a flat tax?

The Russians were having difficulty collecting taxes under a progressive income tax system complete with different tax brackets, deductions, and exemptions. So Russia converted to a flat tax and the results were amazing and immediate.

With a flat tax the government would have more money & Americans would save a boatload of time every year.

Wake up, America! You have bought into the lie that capitalism is only about money, corporations, greedy businessmen, and corrupt politicians who cut backroom deals. Capitalism isn’t about money, it’s about freedom – the freedom to try and fail that made the United States the richest industrial nation in the world by 1905 and the freedom that has kept us there ever since.

You remember the ’90s movie, Dave, where an ordinary guy fills in for president because he looks like him? I always think about the scene where he tackles the budget. That’s what we need – an ordinary person who can balance their own checkbook, who has a firm understanding of where government’s money comes from (ie, hardworking Americans – not an ever-growing money tree) – going over the budget line-by-line.

Except on rare occasions, I’ve stopped carrying cash in my wallet. A credit card is so much easier to use. And it hurts less because it doesn’t feel like I’m really spending anything. That’s the problem with Congress. They don’t feel the pain associated with their spending. It isn’t real to them – or to the average American, who has forgotten that Congress is using OUR money. Actually, they spent our money long ago – now it’s our great, great grandkids’ money that they’re spending with reckless abandon. When the hell will everyone wake up and say STOP!??

According to Beck, our debt is so our of control, that with just the interest we’re paying on it annually ($300 billion!!), we could fully fund the annual budgets of the Departments of Commerce, Education, Homeland Security, Housing & Urban Development, Energy, Justice, and Labor combined. Hell, I want to see some of those departments cut too.

What is a government for?? Protection! Protection of our rights. That’s it. So, as I see it, our taxes should pay our elected officials (who should be compensated per the average income of their constituents – not a penny more), the armed forces, and the Justice Department. What else is really necessary??

So-called experts cite the historical consequences of grotesque overspending, but then go on to conclude that our own destiny will be different from those who previously went down this same path.

Stop the insanity! Please!

Okay, so my intention for this blog is to read books (generally American history or political in nature) and share my thoughts. Hopefully engage in some intellectual discussion along the way. I’m not looking to agree with everyone (or anyone really). Honestly, I think I take after my father whose main mode of communicating was arguing. He literally tried to bait me into a political debate while on his deathbed. He definitely passed on to me that wonderful “show me you care by arguing with me” gene.

So with that said, I just finished reading Glenn Beck’s Common Sense, which prompted the idea for this blog. I read it very quickly and want to re-read it … so it seems right to blog about that book first. I’ll take it a chapter at a time, turning to the keyboard as the mood strikes, rather than summarizing at the end.

I only just discovered Beck about a month ago. I work at home, so I no longer have a commute that I need to fill with talk radio. I don’t watch a whole lot of tv – and when I do watch, it’s usually kid-friendly, but not specifically kid programming. Stuff like the Food Network, Discovery Channel, Science Channel, etc. Although I grew up watching the news with my parents, I don’t feel that the news is kid-friendly. It’s always just depressing. I don’t want my kids to have that kind of sour view of the world.

So, while the only tv news I’ll watch is Fox News, I don’t get to see it often. I finally caught one of Beck’s shows and I was instantly engaged. He says what I’m thinking, finds out what I’m curious about, and is entertaining and trustworthy. I instantly put him on my DVR list and now watch him while the kiddos are sleeping.

I had not read Thomas Paine’s Common Sense before, so I didn’t know what to expect from this book. Beck sets up my expectations on the very first page by describing Paine’s work as – “extraordinary logical, straightforward, indisputable arguments.”

I have been saying a revolution is coming for a while now … hoping one is coming, anyway … hoping the “silent majority” won’t keep standing idly by, too polite to do anything but watch as our country becomes a socialist nightmare. I was shocked to read my thoughts on paper. Have others been thinking this too? It gives me hope that my husband has been wrong – that there are enough people who give a damn to fight back.

I figured it would be a scary, bloody revolution. Beck says it needs to be peaceful. He’s right. Our Founding Fathers gave us the framework for a bloodless revolution – our government. We’ve had 44 successful peaceful transfers of power. We need to get a 45th transfer that puts this country back on track.

I have many favorite quotes from this book, but I think I want to get this one in particular engraved and hung somewhere obvious so I don’t go back to just hoping all our troubles go away:

The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict. –Martin Luther King, Jr.

I’m struck by how he’s writing from the point of view of anyone. There is no partisan B.S. He doesn’t subscribe to the “Democrats=Bad Guys / Republicans=Good Guys” crap that I see with most conservatives. Good. I was no fan of President Bush. I only registered as a Republican because I thought it’d be good to vote in primaries, but I’m a libertarian at heart. Both major parties are full of crooks and liars.

When people can start admitting that to themselves and get past their ingrained biases, they’ll see our politicians with clearer eyes. There will be more libertarians and that third party will finally get a chance at having a voice!

The government of, by, and for the people has been turned on its head. It is now a government by the government, of the government, and for the government – the people be damned.

Our Founding Fathers saw government as a necessary evil – necessary only to protect our freedoms. They thought they had enough checks and balances in place to keep it from becoming what it is today – a spendthrift, free-market destroying, private-company gobbling country intent on making the people dependent on the government for every aspect of their lives. How did this happen??

Do you believe that our “public servants” have your best interests at heart and will defend your life, liberty, and property?

Anyone say yes?? Anyone believe politicians still consider themselves public servants??

I was raised in NYC, a bastion of liberal thought.  I voted for Clinton and Gore.  Although I lived happily in my bubble of thinking that the President didn’t really matter to me – he couldn’t affect my day-to-day living.

I had a basic public school understanding of “social studies” (ie: Washington was a slaveholder, the Founding Fathers were a bunch of old white men, Abraham Lincoln was our greatest President, JFK was a close second, Reagan was an old fool, etc).  I thought conservatives were the hicks living in middle America that kept getting in the way of tornados.

Fast forward to 2001.  September 11 opened my eyes: We had been lied to by those in power for years. There wasn’t a huge sudden shift in my thinking … but the gears had been set in motion.

A few months later, our first son was born. Kids change how you look at the world … again, not immediately … but more gears shifted.

Around that time, a friend suggested I check out Michael Medved’s radio show – my buddy said he was a Jewish intellectual movie reviewer. Sounded interesting and I had a long commute home from PA to NJ each day that I had to fill with something. My commute was longer than his show ran. Sometimes I’d stay tuned to hear the Christian programs that came after him. A light bulb went off when day when I realized I agreed with their conservative views. I tried to fight that feeling. Conservative was a dirty word, wasn’t it?

I started really listening to the world around me. I watched the news more closely. I started having heart-to-hearts with my hubby who wasn’t going through the same transformation.

Fast forward to now.

I’ve become increasingly interested in history. Heck, my third son is named Jefferson in honor of Thomas Jefferson. Our Founding Fathers were great, great men. They wrote a LOT. Lots to learn from.

I’ve become increasingly interested in our government. How it works, what powers they have and why.

And I’ve started to read more. With three little kids, I haven’t had many chances to read much more than kiddie books for the past few years. But I’ve decided it’s high time that changed.

So I read Glenn Beck’s “Common Sense” recently. And I now feel a call to action. To do something. But what? What the hell can I do to stop the madness I see all around me?? I don’t know.

I’m starting by reading as much about our history and politics as I can, in order to have a better understanding of what the hell is happening to our great nation. And I figure I’ll blog about what I read. I need an outlet to share what I learn, so that I can feel like I’m doing something … however small it might be.