The Hack Off

This was going to be 'The Frustration' but then I realized that every else was 'The H----' and figured I'd sync it all up.

I don’t view myself as an emotional person, though the official definition might qualify me as such; passionate is the word I prefer, defined as: the emotions as distinguished from reason b: intense, driving, or overmastering feeling or conviction.

I have a good life: a beautiful daughter, a wonderful wife, a job, a home, my health, winning BYU athletics...yeah, things are nice. This does not, however, change the fact that my passions have been stirred insomuch I have not had feelings of joviality as of late.

The topic that has me so passionate is the current and future state of our country as highlighted and enunciated by the political happenings and attitudes within this country. Any who are not familiar with my feelings about the United States of America can find them contained in the virtual pages of this post.

Even now, I don’t know what to say and where to start. I'm just going to try and not swear profusely as I do it.

Tax Rebate? How about this tax ‘rebate’ that the government is ‘giving’ us? What a joke! Thank you, Mr. Government, for redistributing the money of the rich to the middle class and poor. Rebate…please. This money is going to people who didn’t even pay taxes (earning $3000, people on disability, collecting social security) and not going to those who did (individuals earning over $75,000). This crap is nothing more than wealth redistribution – and being redistributed by a REPUBLICAN President!

Everyone who is getting this thing (I refuse to call it a rebate) should send an email of thanks to people like my brother who put himself through college, got great grades in a difficult area, nearly aced the LSAT and works his tail off 12-13 hours a day. He’s not getting this government redistribution because through he’s worked like crazy and is successful. Meanwhile, people who sit on their backsides collecting welfare checks are getting it. And they never put anything in the pot!

Progressive Hypocrisy? No... I made the 'mistake' of starting to listen to conservative talk radio via the internet during the day at work. Mistake is in quotes because the only reason this is a mistake is because it reminds me how big of idiots people are for drinking the Kool-Aid big government proponents keep pouring. Anyway, I was listening to Glenn Beck and he had some interesting facts about John '$400 Haircut' Edwards, Bill 'That Woman, Ms. Lewinsky' Clinton, and Michael 'Evil America' Moore. You can read the entire thing here, but to sum up, all three of these men came from absolutely nothing and made it big in America because of their own hard work.

• Edwards was the son of a textile worker and postal worker; he was the first person in his family to attend college and graduated with honors.
• Clinton never knew his father - a traveling salesman who died three months before his birth. His mom had to go back to school and married a drunk who gambled and beat her. He got scholarships and went to college, became an intern for a US senator who helped him become a Rhodes scholar. He studied at Oxford and later got a law degree from Yale.
• Moore, the son of a secretary and an automotive assembly line worker, dropped out of college and worked at an automotive plant. Eventually he quit working at the automotive plant and was hired as an editor of a political magazine. he was fired, went to court and settled for $58,000. He used that seed money to create his first movie.

The irony is that none of these guys got any help from the government and managed to be successful, yet they are all big proponents of big government. Basically, the message is 'Sure, I can make myself something out of nothing, but you can't. So turn over your money and choices to us and we'll make sure you get the basics.' Doesn't this seem unsettling to anyone besides me?

The Forgotten Man. I came across this essay, written by William Graham Sumner in 1883, and I think it is spot on. I had to read it a couple times because the language is, well, from 1883. But the content is truer today than it ever was. Ever. I'm going to sum up by quickly paraphrasing the opening paragraph, but I encourage everyone to take a look.
Most schemes of social welfare goes like this: A and B put their heads together to decide what C should do for D. The ridiculousness is that C isn't given a voice. His position, character, and interests - the ultimate effects on society through C's interests - are entirely overlooked. Sumner call's C the Forgotten Man.

Anyway this is what I've been thinking about and how there are few who will take a step back, think about all this and then make their voice heard. If things are going to change, we need make our voices heard. And by more than just casting a vote, because there's no one running for President right now who - in my opinion - has any interest in taking decision making from the government and giving it back to me and you.