I know I said I was going to write about flushing my Social Security Insurance savings down the drain or the effect that power has on government, but I can't remain silent on the Arizona craziness. I was fuming most of the last 2 days as "friends" of mine on Facebook compared the new law in Arizona to Nazi Germany and called those who support it racists. I guess the term "racist" is the go-to slander now for all things not in alignment with Progressive thought. But be warned race-baiters, the more you throw that term out willy-nilly the less effective it will become and the less attention people will pay to actual instances of racism, a la "The Boy Who Cried Wolf".
But it's not just lefty kool-aid drinkers on Facebook hurling these slanderous and fallacious comparisons. Here's just a few gems that I picked up from news stories this week:
* "There is now a racial reign of terror spreading across the country and it has to be stopped," Joshua Hoyt, director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights and one of those arrested, told the Chicago Tribune.
* "We cannot go back to the slave trade, slave patrol era, where ... free men or African Americans that were free were arrested, put in jail and then sent back to the plantations," said Juan Carlos Ruiz, advocacy director of the Latino Federation of Greater Washington. - Reuters
* Even some Republicans joined the bandwagon: "This law of 'frontier justice' – where law enforcement officials are required to stop anyone based on 'reasonable suspicion' that they may be in the country illegally – is reminiscent of a time during World War II when the Gestapo in Germany stopped people on the street and asked for their papers without probable cause," said Rep Mack (R) Florida. - The Hill
I feel like I woke up in the Twilight Zone (not the one with Edward Cullen), where a law that makes something illegal a crime is suddenly the same thing as slavery and the Jewish Holocaust.
So let's all calm down, take a deep breath, and look at the facts.
1. The new AZ law does not allow for race to be a determinant in asking to verify someone is here legally. Matter of fact, it expressly forbids it.
2. The officer has to have had some other lawful reason for coming into contact with the person before asking to verify legal status (i.e. pulled over for a traffic violation or detained for another crime).
3. The vast majority of illegal immigrants in Arizona are from South of the border. So therefore the majority of illegal immigrants affected by this law will be from south of the border. It doesn't mean that the law targets Hispanics, it means that the majority of the people being affected are Hispanic. A HUGE difference. If I was pulled over and couldn't provide a driver's license, green card or visa and spoke little English, I would expect the officer to inquire on my legal status as well. Equal justice means that nobody is too white, black, brown, rich or poor to be subject the law equally.
Roughly 65% percent of Americans support this law according to a Rasmussen Poll. But Rasmussen found in another poll this week that also 65% favor "a welcoming immigration policy".
Let me 'splain.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Who's your daddy?
My mom just called me on her way to sign paperwork with a new tenant in a building that we own together. She was calling me to vent. Let me introduce her new tenant to you. We will call her "Alice" since I think we have all gone down the rabbit hole...
Meet Alice:
Alice is a 40-something year-old single mother of two daughters. My mom said she is sweet and well-spoken and friendly. Alice is renting our 3 bedroom apartment in Huntington Harbor. It's a very nice place. I used to live there. We remodeled the kitchen. Spared no expense. Alice is moving in with her two daughters, age 15 and 23 and her two grand kids (from the 23 year-old). Alice's "proof of income" statement for my mom showed her and her older daughter getting a combined $1000+ in welfare, $600 per month in food stamps and $2100 per month in housing (that's $3700+ total if you are counting). By the way, Alice has been receiving housing subsidies from the government for 12 years.
My step dad Gil noticed a wedding ring on Alice's hand and asked her if she was married. "We don't live with our men," she replied, "because then we wouldn't get government assistance anymore." So Alice chooses not to get married or live with her long time boyfriend because then she and her husband would have to start taking responsibility for their own financial needs.
And the reason they are moving? When her 23 year-old daughter had another baby a few months ago, Alice qualified for a 3 bedroom apartment instead of a 2 bedroom apartment. By the way, the daughter that has two children by two different men chose not to live with or marry either of her baby daddies either.
Before my mom called me, I was watching a show called "Life" on the discovery channel. A mama orca was teaching her baby how to hunt for seals in shallow water and avoid getting beached. The commentator mentioned that one of the things that makes mammals unique is how we pass down information from generation to generation; teaching our young by example. It then is easy to understand how Alice never graduated high school and neither did her daughter. Alice never married the father of her children, and neither did her daughter. Alice has lived more than a decade on government assistance. What should we expect from her daughter?
So then I read today that the FDA wants to outlaw too much salt in foods. (Stay with me here, I promise it's connected). The government can now mandate that we buy health insurance. Maybe they should mandate that we all buy gym memberships too?
Here's my point: The government cannot legislate good decisions. All they succeed in doing is stripping away at the sense of personal responsibility and accountability that teaches good decision making through positive and negative consequences. The federal government got involved in providing school lunches decades ago because kids were malnourished. Now the government wants to try to fix the fact that kids in school are obese because the government has been feeding them processed food high in fat, salt and calories. How about this? Let the parents feed their kids and take responsibility for their weight. Let local government fill in any gaps in a smaller community setting where parents can get involved in the decisions of what foods are provided to their children.
Now back to Alice. The government cannot legislate common sense or good decisions. But the government can and does encourage bad decisions though enabling those behaviors. The government inadvertently encouraged Alice and her daughter not to get married to the fathers of their children by providing them a financial incentive not to. The government made the decision not to graduate high school easier by providing a means of income that requires no diploma and no work. And the government encourages people everyday to not go look for a job when they extend unemployment benefits from weeks to years.
My money, your money is being involuntarily collected to enable unproductive and unhealthy habits and behaviors. Even worse, we are creating a class of people dependent on the government for their every need, regardless of ability or desire to better themselves.
I believe in charity. I believe in giving to those less fortunate. I give to causes and organizations all the time that support people (and animals, because I'm a sucker for animals) in need. Every dollar that the government takes out of my paycheck and wastes in their misguided attempts to help "Alice" is a dollar that I don't have to donate to a charity that gives a hand up out of a bad situation. The government's hand holds people in a bad situation: dependence and lack of responsibility.
Next blog (you pick):
Why I will never see a dollar of the $80,000 I have paid into Social Security Insurance
or
What happens as government's power grows?
Choose your own adventure.
Meet Alice:
Alice is a 40-something year-old single mother of two daughters. My mom said she is sweet and well-spoken and friendly. Alice is renting our 3 bedroom apartment in Huntington Harbor. It's a very nice place. I used to live there. We remodeled the kitchen. Spared no expense. Alice is moving in with her two daughters, age 15 and 23 and her two grand kids (from the 23 year-old). Alice's "proof of income" statement for my mom showed her and her older daughter getting a combined $1000+ in welfare, $600 per month in food stamps and $2100 per month in housing (that's $3700+ total if you are counting). By the way, Alice has been receiving housing subsidies from the government for 12 years.
My step dad Gil noticed a wedding ring on Alice's hand and asked her if she was married. "We don't live with our men," she replied, "because then we wouldn't get government assistance anymore." So Alice chooses not to get married or live with her long time boyfriend because then she and her husband would have to start taking responsibility for their own financial needs.
And the reason they are moving? When her 23 year-old daughter had another baby a few months ago, Alice qualified for a 3 bedroom apartment instead of a 2 bedroom apartment. By the way, the daughter that has two children by two different men chose not to live with or marry either of her baby daddies either.
Before my mom called me, I was watching a show called "Life" on the discovery channel. A mama orca was teaching her baby how to hunt for seals in shallow water and avoid getting beached. The commentator mentioned that one of the things that makes mammals unique is how we pass down information from generation to generation; teaching our young by example. It then is easy to understand how Alice never graduated high school and neither did her daughter. Alice never married the father of her children, and neither did her daughter. Alice has lived more than a decade on government assistance. What should we expect from her daughter?
So then I read today that the FDA wants to outlaw too much salt in foods. (Stay with me here, I promise it's connected). The government can now mandate that we buy health insurance. Maybe they should mandate that we all buy gym memberships too?
Here's my point: The government cannot legislate good decisions. All they succeed in doing is stripping away at the sense of personal responsibility and accountability that teaches good decision making through positive and negative consequences. The federal government got involved in providing school lunches decades ago because kids were malnourished. Now the government wants to try to fix the fact that kids in school are obese because the government has been feeding them processed food high in fat, salt and calories. How about this? Let the parents feed their kids and take responsibility for their weight. Let local government fill in any gaps in a smaller community setting where parents can get involved in the decisions of what foods are provided to their children.
Now back to Alice. The government cannot legislate common sense or good decisions. But the government can and does encourage bad decisions though enabling those behaviors. The government inadvertently encouraged Alice and her daughter not to get married to the fathers of their children by providing them a financial incentive not to. The government made the decision not to graduate high school easier by providing a means of income that requires no diploma and no work. And the government encourages people everyday to not go look for a job when they extend unemployment benefits from weeks to years.
My money, your money is being involuntarily collected to enable unproductive and unhealthy habits and behaviors. Even worse, we are creating a class of people dependent on the government for their every need, regardless of ability or desire to better themselves.
I believe in charity. I believe in giving to those less fortunate. I give to causes and organizations all the time that support people (and animals, because I'm a sucker for animals) in need. Every dollar that the government takes out of my paycheck and wastes in their misguided attempts to help "Alice" is a dollar that I don't have to donate to a charity that gives a hand up out of a bad situation. The government's hand holds people in a bad situation: dependence and lack of responsibility.
Next blog (you pick):
Why I will never see a dollar of the $80,000 I have paid into Social Security Insurance
or
What happens as government's power grows?
Choose your own adventure.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Why the government thinks that Americans suck
You will have to excuse the hyperbole in the title of my blog this week, but allow me to explain. The policies of this administration and progressives in general are based on an idea that Americans need the government to take care of us, tell us right from wrong, and protect us from ourselves. The foreign policy of this administration holds the hint of the suggestion that America doesn't deserve to be the largest military super power on the planet. The growth of government entitlement programs infer that Americans cannot be counted on to take care of the needy in our society unless the government takes our money and does it for us. Let's look at each one of these things individually, shall we?
1. We need the government to take care of us:
There's a video circulating around schools taught as part of the curriculum called "The Story of Stuff". In this video the narrator says that "it's the government's job to take care of us." Do you believe that? Is that the government's job? When did we move from our founders' principle that the government is the protector of our freedoms, not the provider of our needs? Matter of fact, it was Thomas Jefferson who said "I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them."
2. The government needs to help us make the right decisions:
With freedom comes personal responsibility. That liberty is the freedom to make good choices and reap the rewards, or to make bad decisions and pay the consequences. I don't need the government outlawing trans fats or alcohol (as progressives did in the 20's). If I eat or drink things that are bad for me, then I will pay the consequences. If I become an obese, out-of-work alcoholic who then expects the government to pay all my health care costs and treatment options along with my housing and food stamps, then the government has sheltered me from the consequences of my actions and I will never learn.
Another aspect of this lack of confidence in Americans is seen in environmental policy. I bet that one day in the not too distant future all cars will be hybrid of some sort. That is because the demand for fuel efficiency and the public's awareness of energy conservation and the environment drives us to be more "green". Give people the facts and an affordable solution like compact florescent light bulbs or hybrid cars and people will buy them. When solar energy reaches that sweet spot where the benefit outweighs the cost, people will adopt en masse. We don't need government nanny to force us towards environmental friendliness, people will move there on their own.
3. America is not deserving of military dominance:
Since the early 20th century America has been a military super power with little rivalry. We have used our power to defend and protect but never to colonize or destroy. We haven't been perfect in all our military decisions, but we have a core principle that America's might would not be abusively used for imperialism or terrorism. We live in a world that includes some evil people. Unfortunately some of those people hold positions of power in the world. Some have and would use military power to colonize or terrorize. Others would like nothing more than to see "the great Satan" wiped off the map. Obama's new nuclear policy for America limits our options for defending ourselves and our allies and reduces the deterrent created by nuclear weapons. In a time where nations with very dangerous leaders, like North Korea and Iran, stand on the cusp of nuclear armament, why on earth would we chip at America's status as the country willing and able to do anything to stop threats to ourselves and the world? I wonder if Iran actually believes at this point that we will do anything to stop them besides the last 6 years of resolution begging and bartering in the UN and with Russia and China.
4. Nowhere is the government's lack of faith in Americans more evident than in the transition from charity towards entitlements as a source for the needy. Americans have proven time and time again that we are the most generous people on planet earth. We take care of our neighbors, our family, our friends, our community, our country and even other countries' needy and desperate.
While some safety net is good to catch those who fall through the cracks, we are moving from a safety net to a government harness on each and every one of us. The government will take our money and use it to help with the causes that they see deserving. And since huge bureaucracies are never good at nuance, the government will offer enormous entitlement programs that will act as the teat that the American public will nurse from. Did you know that a baby mammal will nurse far longer than it needs to if their mother does not forcibly wean it?
My real concern about this unconstitutional shift away from personal responsibility to government care and control is that people become what others expect of them. We all know the kid who was told by abusive parents that he would never amount to anything. Then when the kid turned into a loser or a criminal the parent would say "I told you so". It's a self fulfilling prophesy. We are losing the generation that truly understood personal responsibility - the "up from your bootstraps" generation. We are raising a new generation that believes that the government will take care of them and that it's "the government's job" to do so. Our liberties will disappear as politicians realize that they can buy the votes of the lazy and entitled with the money of the hard-workers.
We must be vigilant to never believe the lie that government can or will take care of us. We must live the principles of charity, military might with honor, self-reliance and acceptance of the consequences. We must never become the people that the progressives expect us to be.
1. We need the government to take care of us:
There's a video circulating around schools taught as part of the curriculum called "The Story of Stuff". In this video the narrator says that "it's the government's job to take care of us." Do you believe that? Is that the government's job? When did we move from our founders' principle that the government is the protector of our freedoms, not the provider of our needs? Matter of fact, it was Thomas Jefferson who said "I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them."
2. The government needs to help us make the right decisions:
With freedom comes personal responsibility. That liberty is the freedom to make good choices and reap the rewards, or to make bad decisions and pay the consequences. I don't need the government outlawing trans fats or alcohol (as progressives did in the 20's). If I eat or drink things that are bad for me, then I will pay the consequences. If I become an obese, out-of-work alcoholic who then expects the government to pay all my health care costs and treatment options along with my housing and food stamps, then the government has sheltered me from the consequences of my actions and I will never learn.
Another aspect of this lack of confidence in Americans is seen in environmental policy. I bet that one day in the not too distant future all cars will be hybrid of some sort. That is because the demand for fuel efficiency and the public's awareness of energy conservation and the environment drives us to be more "green". Give people the facts and an affordable solution like compact florescent light bulbs or hybrid cars and people will buy them. When solar energy reaches that sweet spot where the benefit outweighs the cost, people will adopt en masse. We don't need government nanny to force us towards environmental friendliness, people will move there on their own.
3. America is not deserving of military dominance:
Since the early 20th century America has been a military super power with little rivalry. We have used our power to defend and protect but never to colonize or destroy. We haven't been perfect in all our military decisions, but we have a core principle that America's might would not be abusively used for imperialism or terrorism. We live in a world that includes some evil people. Unfortunately some of those people hold positions of power in the world. Some have and would use military power to colonize or terrorize. Others would like nothing more than to see "the great Satan" wiped off the map. Obama's new nuclear policy for America limits our options for defending ourselves and our allies and reduces the deterrent created by nuclear weapons. In a time where nations with very dangerous leaders, like North Korea and Iran, stand on the cusp of nuclear armament, why on earth would we chip at America's status as the country willing and able to do anything to stop threats to ourselves and the world? I wonder if Iran actually believes at this point that we will do anything to stop them besides the last 6 years of resolution begging and bartering in the UN and with Russia and China.
4. Nowhere is the government's lack of faith in Americans more evident than in the transition from charity towards entitlements as a source for the needy. Americans have proven time and time again that we are the most generous people on planet earth. We take care of our neighbors, our family, our friends, our community, our country and even other countries' needy and desperate.
While some safety net is good to catch those who fall through the cracks, we are moving from a safety net to a government harness on each and every one of us. The government will take our money and use it to help with the causes that they see deserving. And since huge bureaucracies are never good at nuance, the government will offer enormous entitlement programs that will act as the teat that the American public will nurse from. Did you know that a baby mammal will nurse far longer than it needs to if their mother does not forcibly wean it?
My real concern about this unconstitutional shift away from personal responsibility to government care and control is that people become what others expect of them. We all know the kid who was told by abusive parents that he would never amount to anything. Then when the kid turned into a loser or a criminal the parent would say "I told you so". It's a self fulfilling prophesy. We are losing the generation that truly understood personal responsibility - the "up from your bootstraps" generation. We are raising a new generation that believes that the government will take care of them and that it's "the government's job" to do so. Our liberties will disappear as politicians realize that they can buy the votes of the lazy and entitled with the money of the hard-workers.
We must be vigilant to never believe the lie that government can or will take care of us. We must live the principles of charity, military might with honor, self-reliance and acceptance of the consequences. We must never become the people that the progressives expect us to be.
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Arizona was driven to this law by a federal government that for decades has been unwilling to address the politically tenuous topic of border security and immigration. Republicans and Democrats alike have done nothing because either they don't want to upset millions of potential future voters or millions of current voters. Drug and border violence is out of control and our borders are a weakness that terrorists, criminals, and drug traffickers use against us. Did you know that Arizona is now 2nd largest kidnapping capitol of the world, behind Bogata Colombia. Phoenix averages 1 kidnapping per day. An Arizona Rancher was killed on his property by an illegal. Just today, a sheriff's deputy was shot in the stomach with an AK-47 by illegal human or drug traffickers along a corridor known be be used for both. What racists we are for wanting to put an end to the insanity!
So when you see rallies this Saturday with signs that say "Si se puede", let's ask "yes we can.... what?" Ignore the law? Call people who support the law racist Nazis?
I say Si se puede to being a nation of laws applied equally to all and enforced for all. Si se puede secure our border and keep the criminals, vagrants and terrorists out. Si se puede create a welcoming system of legal immigration to allow the law-abiding, hard-working people of the world aspiring to become Americans a better, easier path to that goal.
1. Secure the border, 2. enforce the law, and 3. have a good legal way for people to enter our country that are decent, hard-working people wishing to become Americans. That is the proud heritage of this country: people coming from all over the world to join our land and culture of freedom, hard work and values begetting success and happiness. That is what it means to become an American. The more the merrier.
Yes we can.