I am alone. I just want to know what it is that I can’t seem to get right. I cannot make a relationship work. Love, to me, is stepping out from the bushes into the most beautiful view you have ever seen, only to find out you have stepped off the edge of a cliff and are now plunging to your imminent demise.
I live, I love, yet I am alone. I seek, I find, yet I am alone. I struggle on without shame or pity; the world’s problems are far bigger than anything I could burden them with, yet I am alone.
I do not choose to be alone. I flirt, and engage. Yet I rarely get a response. Then, once in a while, I do get a response. And it fills my soul with a passion not rivaled by Mars. I push it further; perhaps I don’t push it far enough. But I expect a self-respecting woman to put in her fair share of the work.
Something happens every time that I cannot explain. I recognize it, yet I can’t make out it what it is. I try to stop it, yet I know it can’t be stopped. The Great Cosmic Reality offers no protection against this rampaging demon.
What is this love they tell me about? What is this fairy tale that is the true leading cause of divorce? How do I combat its evil, destructive power? What can I do to make them realize the power of true, lasting love? Monogamy is a fraud to all but the hopeless.
I still believe in the noble qualities; honesty, fairness, willingness to confront and overcome one’s demons, trust, empowerment, sacrifice, generosity. But they don’t seem to impress anyone.
Do I expect too much? I don’t expect anything. I hope for the best. But, after a fortnight or two, she always comes to realize she doesn’t want to be with me. Why? What have I done to be burdened by this curse?
I am alone and for strength I give my love to the world.
This is it - the last ask in the last days of an amazing journey of 20+ months of volunteering.
All I have to say is: PLEASE VOTE!
Do it now if you can!
Do it this weekend if you can!
Do it by Monday if you can!
Make sure you do it by Tuesday, because
-- after that you don't get another chance to change the world.
Almost every day, I get e-mails from my mother. They say things about how Barack Obama is a Muslim, how he's going to join efforts with Taliban members to destroy not just America, but the world if he is elected President. They say he is the Anti-Christ. That he's friends with terrorists. That he hates America.
I retort every time. I tell her factual information. I correct her errors. She doesn't want corrected. She wants a reason to hate. She's always had a prejudice against Muslims, since she moved to Detroit in 2003. Not only is she prejudice, she's also a fanatical Christian. And for whatever reason, Christianity has become synonymous with Republican anymore, compliments of George W. Bush and his holy war.
My entire family - every one of them, even extended, are die-hard Republicans. They pray for the Republican party. They spread their right-wing propaganda to all their friends and to their churches. What used to be "vote issue" has somewhere along the way turned into "vote party", and has reached it's pinnacle at "vote for the old, white, Christian guy who's ordering wars while giving you tax cuts."
I live in Ohio, like all of my extended family with the exception of my parents in Detroit. I don't worry about my parents' vote, since it's unlikely that Michigan will go to the Republicans. It's the moral of it when it comes to my parents. They think they're preaching God's love, but they're siding with, dare I call them, warmongers. They loyally defend Bush and his decisions as President. They see no wrongdoing there. They base nothing on any real data, and spew prejudice rumors. Even my sister, who couldn't care less about politics, forwards the propaganda right-wing e-mails to everyone she knows. I ask her why, since she doesn't care. She has no answer except that I should "drop it".
It's always been frustrating being a part of a family who doesn't think. Who are so weak that they cling to lies and what appears to benefit them most on the surface. I am married now, to a man who cries when he reads the U.S. Constitution, with two daughters of my own. We are breaking the chain of thoughtless following. I am campaigning for Barack Obama. I have printed out fliers with information in them taken directly from barackobama.com, info that I think really applies to people in our neighborhood. People without a ton of money. Elderly people who are retired or are trying to retire. Twenty-somethings like myself with very young children. I am taking Obama-Biden '08 stickers to my college and handing them out. I want Obama to win this election, not because I want to team with the winner. But because I want the best for our country, for our future, for our children, for the world. My children are insured through Medicaid. I am looking toward grad school. Our world is pointing fingers our way and protesting our actions.
Something has to change.
Now.
Obama-Biden '08
You never know unless you ask.
A very wise man from Ohio gave me some of my all time favorite advice in life – it was his “you never know unless you ask” story. His story was all about dating girls – how guys worry about not being cute enough or smart enough for the girls to like them and want to date them. But he finally figured out – you could sit at home wondering about lots of things – or you could get out there and ask lots of girls for a date and eventually one would say yes. It was about how action trumps! No girl will ever go out with you if you don’t ask. Simple as that really. You have to ask to get what you want. And the worst that happens is they say no. But if they say YES! – Then you have a date and isn’t that the goal.
Well, we have a date – the date is Nov. 4th and we need the American public to make a date to vote for Barack Obama as our next president. What I need from each of you is for you to help me do the asking all across America in the last 4 weeks of this campaign. Here’s what I need your help with:
We need Registered Voters! Deadlines are approaching as early as tomorrow.
We need Votes – many states can vote early.
We need to Get Out Voters On Nov. 4th
We need more volunteers to help with all the above.
We need donations.
We need you to continue to speak to your friends, neighbors, and family.
And, we need you to ask your fellow American’s to do more in the following ways:
You never know if someone will volunteer for the campaign – unless you ask.
You never know if someone will donate to the campaign – unless you ask.
You never know if someone will travel to another state to help – unless you ask.
You never know if you friends are registered to vote – unless you ask,
You never know if your neighbors know about early voting – unless you ask.
You never know if they will vote for Obama – unless you ask.
How the circles of influence grow via grassroots campaigning
The campaign officials like to talk about sewing the seeds to grow the grassroots of the campaign –a great metaphor, but I actually think it is more fun than this farming metaphor proposes and takes less time than waiting for the seeds to germinate– I think it is a lot more like skipping stones on the water- or dropping a pebble into the pond and watching the ripples grow.
And it is amazing to see how quickly the ever widening ripples reaching out to spread from sea to shining sea. Each pebble into the water sends out a ripple that grows and hopefully touches another. Each pebble represents a volunteer who will help reach out to at least 10 more people. And that is how we grow a grassroots campaign all across America.
Just to show you how something as simple as this blog has grown the grassroots in just one week, here’s a list of what you’ve been inspired to get involved doing for this campaign – and for America! – THANK YOU!
Grassroots means it is up to you!
Here are some ideas to inspire you to help in creative ways. If yard signs are in short supply – make your own.Have a painting signs party. OR…The BarackObama.com website even has downloads of Logos, signs, and posters to use: http://www.barackobama.com/downloads/
Here’s an eco-friendly way to share your support:http://steppingstonesforobama-barb.blogspot.com/ If it is buttons you need – button making parties are going on too all across the country – look on the MYBO site for an event near you: www.My.BarackObama.com Many schools and scout troops have the machines – all you need is the time.Here’s a link for some artwork on Registering to Vote for the next 2 weeks. REGButtons.pdf321K View as HTML Download
Special thanks to Chet Farley for helping with this artwork.
Lastly, here’s my latest idea: do you remember the days when trees all across America had big Yellow Ribbons tied around them? It was all about supporting our troops coming home from a different war in another era. They were everywhere – all across America!
What if we all tied big Purple Bows around our trees this time? – in support of Barack Obama?
Purple – because we no longer want to be Red versus Blue!
Purple – because we want to bring home another generation of our troops!
Purple – because it is my favorite color!
I will work on getting Tony Orlando to re-write the lyrics to the song too!
Now it is up to you to get creative and come up with your own idea of how to spread the word and show your support for this campaign.
Please write back with your ideas and I will happily spread the word.
But, everyone I know is already registered to vote!
I know we hope and pray everyone around us is registered to vote, but guess what the numbers say this can’t be so. The national statistics say that only 6 out of 10 women are registered to vote. So that leaves 4 out of 10 who need to register soon to be able to vote in this upcoming election.
Maybe they moved. Maybe they forgot that you have to both register and vote to stay on the registration rolls. If you haven’t voted in the last 5 years – you may not be able to vote this year—even if you were registered in the past.
So it is a simple thing to do in over the next few days – ask everyone you know if they are registered to vote. If they say yes – thank them and move on. If they say no, please help them get registered to vote.
Here’s the link we like to recommend:
http://www.voteforchange.com/
Remember – friends don’t let friends get to November 4th without being registered to vote!
Only 14 days to make sure you can vote!
We are only 14 days away from the voter registration deadlines in most states. So this is your chance to register to vote if you are not already registered, as well as to make sure you can vote—that your registration is still on file, accurate, and has no errors.
Take a look at our web link to help you in the process:
http://www.voteforchange.com/index_obama.php
This website allows you to register to vote, request an absentee ballot, and to find your polling location for November 4th’s Presidential election. Please take the time now to make sure your right to vote is in place!
Reach out and touch your neighborhood today!
The other day I asked you to reach out and touch the campaign, to get to know what resources are available on the website and how to find answers at www.BarackObama.com and create your own site on www.My.BarackObama.com or MyBO – which will help keep you in the info loop with the campaign as well as give you ways to get involved each day.
Today, I would like to share with you another tool to help you to get involved right in your own neighborhood:
Neighbor to Neighbor. This internet tool is easy to use and oriented towards get you to reach out to others in your local area.
http://my.barackobama.com/modules/votercontact/login_signup.php
Neighbor to Neighbor is a new campaign internet tool that allows you to put in your own address and obtain a list of local undecided voters for you to reach out and touch in your very own neighborhood. It will either give you a list of names and addresses for a walking around the block, door knocking, canvassing for the campaign locally or a list of people to call. These are people who are mostly UNDECIDED as of yet.
The information provided to you will also include talking points, or a script, and even some questions to get the ball rolling easier. It is always a good idea to read through all the info first – before you head out or pick up the phones. Sometimes there are flyers to print out as well if you are knocking on doors. Other times there are key questions to ask in your calls.
The key thing this does is make the political neighborly; and therefore, personal – in a very friendly and open way. It is about neighbors reaching out to neighbors about issues that affect them and their communities. It is about friends reaching out to friends, and it is about family reaching out to friends. .” This is not about badgering anyone – it is all to be done with kind persuasion as well as listening.
It is about you stepping forward and saying “Hey, I am your neighbor, here’s why I support Barack Obama, and I am hoping you will too! Now how can I address any issues or concerns you might have before you vote?”
Reach out and touch this campaign
Remember the old ads for telephones that asked you to reach out and touch someone today, well today is the day to reach out and get in touch with this campaign. It will help you in the days ahead to reach out to others, if you first get to know the campaign a bit better.
Step one: go to our website at www.BarackObama.comYou may or may not get a cover page that asks you to sign in with your name and email address. Scroll down to enter without the sign-in, if you need to, but I can assure you we won’t sell your info and we will be done sending info once we get to Nov. 5th! So I would recommend that you do sign in. AND, create your own MYBO account.
Step two: look around the site on your own – check out the whole list of tabs across the top of the page. Look at your own STATES especially. Or, here’s the link: http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/statepages
Check out the ISSUES tab. Or link via this address:http://www.barackobama.com/issues/
And get to know Senator and Mrs. Obama – listen to their stories. http://www.barackobama.com/learn/meet_barack.php
http://www.barackobama.com/learn/meet_michelle.php
And, let’s not forget Senator Joe Biden and his wife Jill… just click on the LEARN tab across the top of the page.
Step three: take the video tour of the site to learn about some of the best features for the newbie’s to learn about – they will help you get involved easily. Here’s the link if you didn’t already find it.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRY720HE0DE&feature=user
Step four: sign up for the campaign events near you via this link http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/seml?source=SEM-lb-google-sitecpc-portals&gclid=COPeqO6K0pUCFQZeswodFhjsjQ
We hope to see you at an event soon! But also look for local events under the www.My.BarackObama.com link (or MYBO as we like to call it). All you need is your zip code to find an event or group of like minded volunteers near you.
Here’s the ask – straight from the Candidate! Monday, Sept. 15th, 2008 in Pueblo, Colorado Senator Barack Obama asked the crowd to do these 4 things to help him get elected:
1. Knock on doors
2. Make calls
3. Do some community organizing
4. Vote
Today I will only ask you to do one thing –make sure you can VOTE!
I need you to register if you are not registered. Here’s the link you need to make sure you can vote this year. Do this soon as; deadlines are coming up in all states. http://www.voteforchange.com/index_obama.php If you are already registered, I need you to make sure it is still valid and you are still in the system, Many states have changed computer systems, have purged voter rolls, are now using foreclosures to try to deny citizens of their right to vote, and sometimes mistakes just plain happen.
So take the time now to find your voter registration card, or get a replacement; check your registration and update it if needed – have you moved in the last 4 years?; and lastly make sure a mistake won’t prevent you from voting or force you to vote on a c provisional ballot. http://www.voteforchange.com/index_obama.php
If you know you will have a problem voting on Nov. 4th do take the time now to learn how to vote early or request your absentee ballot.
Why not guarantee your vote happens by taking care to check today? http://www.voteforchange.com/index_obama.php
50 days and 50 ways to be involved- Please give America ONE!
This election is just too important to not get involved. Today’s the day to commit to helping make America better for all. Today is the day to know you can’t just sit idly by waiting for someone else to do the work. Today is the day to think about how you will commit to GIVING AMERICA JUST ONE! -- one day, or one half day, or one hour, or one phone call, or letter to the editor, or one email blast, or even one dollar -- yes, I am only asking for 1 from each of you. Each day I will try to share ways to get involved—but today I would like to start by giving you the 3 guidelines and 5 basic goals to keep in mind in the days ahead as you step into involvement in this critical election. This campaign has the 3 guiding principles and we sure hope each and every one of you can not only agree with them, but honor them as you commit to getting involved:
1. Respect 2. Empower 3. Include
We work to show Respect to all people we encounter, no matter what their views --- we show proper, polite, respect for all. We also work towards Empowering all, giving all people the ability to work towards a better America within this political process. Lastly, we try hard to Include all who want to help in these efforts to make America better, no matter what color, creed, party, beliefs, orientation, or economic place in the great American Dream.
The five goals in the last few weeks are pretty easy to outline:1. Register voters – and make sure all who want to vote in this election can and will vote in this election;2. Make this an election about the issues (– not the lies) by broadening and deepening the discussion;3. Reaching out to your fellow Americans to encourage their involvement and inclusion—listening to their concerns;4. Building up our communities via organizing; and,5. Making America a better place for all.These efforts stand a chance of really changing America for all Americans, but it can’t happen without your help and involvement. I believe in each or your abilities to help America!
The republican activists are beginning to come out of the woodwork. Soon their tyrades of dishonesty and scare tactics will threaten the progress of this movement. It is up to us to counter back, hard, with the Truth. We cannot afford to sit by with complacency anymore.
I was reading this article (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/going_after_obama) discussing the recent resignation of Jim Johnson, and the mounting attack on Eric Holder. The contention is that people so connected to the nation's largest mortgagers shouldn't be a member of the team to find the vice-president, especially in this housing crisis. Though these people wouldn't be attacking fannie-mae if they had anything else to stand on, I'm going to have to say I agree with them.
I don't know all the details of this story, but, appearances are everything. If our message is against lobbyists and corporate representatives, the last thing we want is one high in our ranks. I don't know, I would love to hear some more detail from you.
The story then goes on about Obama saying it would have been easier on us had gas prices not rose so sharply so quickly. I was reading an article I wrote four years ago that was complaining about $2 a gallon. I think its apparent that the speed of the rise was the real problem. We can watch prices rise by the day... that sounds like the Soviet Union.
And even though Barack said if fuel efficiency rose along with prices "(encourage the market to adapt, particularly US automakers)" the problem would almost be moot, that is not going to get a mention by these dellusional partisans. The good of any message is lost when people see only what they want to see. We cannot cease in our efforts to get the message of the strength of brotherhood our to the people.
For far too long in history have the zealots and autocrats threw tantrums to get their way. It is time for reasonable people to stand up, put our foot down, and push the self-centered back to where they came from.
This was posted a few years ago in the Daily Kent Stater. I think it still has complete relevance today.
"Corporations to blame for the media’s bias
Dear Editor,
It would blow me off of the face of the Earth if this story was actually printed in any of the corporate media outlets, but they have this entire country hustled. Trying to figure out if the media is left or right is like getting stuck in M.C. Escher’s House of Stairs; once you finally think you have picked the right way, you find yourself right back where you started.
Conservatives blame the media for pushing the liberal, socialist agenda and coddling liberal representatives. It’s all Hollywood Communists and traitors in the form of peaceniks. They go on all day about the so-called global warming and “evolution,” all while doing everything they can to render God non-existent.
And yet liberals blame the media for cow-tailing to Republicans. Just watch any FOX or MSNBC “news” program; the “debates” are two or three hard-nosed Republican ideologues against one weak, easily intimidated little girl who is more likely to agree with them then stand up for herself. (This is what they call the “FOX effect.”) Liberals say the media loves to jump on any pseudo-scandal involving a Democrat (Monicagate, etc.), but they won’t even touch a Republican one (the propaganda for Medicare, Tom DeLay, the weapons of mass destruction fraud, etc.). They say the media shows nothing but sensationalist crap designed to scare us into obedience. When you can’t trust your fellow man, who are you going to team up with to take what’s rightfully yours back from the establishment?
Trust me, left or right, the media’s not on either side. They’re on their own. They push the agenda of those who pay their bills. Corporate sleazebags like Rupert Murdoch who care for nothing more than the size of their pocketbooks and how much power their wealth gives them over others.
I think it’s time we un-mortgaged the deed on the fourth estate! I always thought they were supposed to help us keep a check on government and elitist exploitation, not be an agent to it. We’re looking at the left and calling them traitors; looking at the right and calling them chauvinist idiots; and all the while we’re getting something from behind — a hand in our wallets that isn’t ours!
Adam ZandarskiSophomore history major"
Herein is a recent debate I had with Dmitri Chernekov. If you ever wanted to know how "libertarians" can justify themselves, I believe you will find it here. It begins with Dmitri responding to a contribution of mine to the Daily Kent Stater. It gets a little heated, so it is edited for over-reaction on my side.
"Responding to a column by a member of our College Libertarians, Adam E. Zandarski writes that with the advent of the New Deal “[w]e, the people of America, said to the rest of the world, ‘gone are the days of a fend-for-yourself society. We recognize an obligation we have, as brothers and sisters of the land, that each one of us, rich or poor, will pitch in for the betterment of humanity.’” (Daily Kent Stater, Nov 19, 2007)
Now the problems with this are legion. First, as the title suggests, it confuses slavery to the state, having one’s goods forcibly confiscated and distributed, fear of being looted, with charity, where one person helps another out of love for him. As Rothbard writes, and let me quote him at length,
Heavily influenced by Jakob Boehme was the mystical English communist, Gerrard Winstanley, founder of the Digger sect during the English Civil War. Son of a textile merchant who had failed in the cloth business and then had sunk to the status of agricultural laborer, Winstanley, in early 1649, had a mystical vision of the ideal communist world of the future. Originally, according to this vision, a version of God had created the universe; but the spirit of “selfishness,” the Devil itself, had entered into man and brought about private property and a market economy. The curse of the self, opined Winstanley, was “the beginner of particular interest,” or private property, with men buying and selling and saying “This is mine.” The end of original communism and its breakup into private property meant that universal liberty was gone, and creation brought “under the curse of bondage, sorrow, and tears.” In England, Winstanley absurdly held, property had been communist until the Norman Conquest of 1066, which created the institution of private property.But soon, declared Winstanley, universal “love” would eliminate private property, and would thus restore the earth to “a common property as it was in the beginning… making the earth one storehouse, and every man and woman to live… as members of one household.” This communism and absolute equality of possessions would thus bring to the world the millennium, “a new heaven, and a new earth.”At first, Winstanley believed that little or no coercion would be necessary for establishing and maintaining his communist society. Soon, however, he realized, in the completed draft of his utopia, that all wage labor and all commerce would have to be prohibited on the penalty of death. Winstanley was quite willing to go this far with his program. Everyone was to contribute to, and take from, the common storehouse, and the death penalty was to be levied on all use of money, or on any buying or selling. The “sin” of idleness would of course be combated by forced labor for the benefit of the communist community. This all-encompassing stress on the executioner makes particularly grisly the declaration of Winstanley that “all punishments that are to be inflicted… are only such as to make the offender… to live in the community of the righteous law of love one with another.” Education in “love” was to be insured by free and compulsory schooling conducted by the state, mainly in useful crafts rather than in liberal arts, as well as by “ministers” elected by the public to preach secular sermons upholding the new system. (”Karl Marx: Communist as Religious Eschatologist,” 131ff)
Heavily influenced by Jakob Boehme was the mystical English communist, Gerrard Winstanley, founder of the Digger sect during the English Civil War. Son of a textile merchant who had failed in the cloth business and then had sunk to the status of agricultural laborer, Winstanley, in early 1649, had a mystical vision of the ideal communist world of the future. Originally, according to this vision, a version of God had created the universe; but the spirit of “selfishness,” the Devil itself, had entered into man and brought about private property and a market economy. The curse of the self, opined Winstanley, was “the beginner of particular interest,” or private property, with men buying and selling and saying “This is mine.” The end of original communism and its breakup into private property meant that universal liberty was gone, and creation brought “under the curse of bondage, sorrow, and tears.” In England, Winstanley absurdly held, property had been communist until the Norman Conquest of 1066, which created the institution of private property.
But soon, declared Winstanley, universal “love” would eliminate private property, and would thus restore the earth to “a common property as it was in the beginning… making the earth one storehouse, and every man and woman to live… as members of one household.” This communism and absolute equality of possessions would thus bring to the world the millennium, “a new heaven, and a new earth.”
At first, Winstanley believed that little or no coercion would be necessary for establishing and maintaining his communist society. Soon, however, he realized, in the completed draft of his utopia, that all wage labor and all commerce would have to be prohibited on the penalty of death. Winstanley was quite willing to go this far with his program. Everyone was to contribute to, and take from, the common storehouse, and the death penalty was to be levied on all use of money, or on any buying or selling. The “sin” of idleness would of course be combated by forced labor for the benefit of the communist community. This all-encompassing stress on the executioner makes particularly grisly the declaration of Winstanley that “all punishments that are to be inflicted… are only such as to make the offender… to live in the community of the righteous law of love one with another.” Education in “love” was to be insured by free and compulsory schooling conducted by the state, mainly in useful crafts rather than in liberal arts, as well as by “ministers” elected by the public to preach secular sermons upholding the new system. (”Karl Marx: Communist as Religious Eschatologist,” 131ff)
The reason for the confusion is that in both slavery and charity self-interest plays no role. In slavery, because the “incentive” of the slave is fear of punishment; he is not free to choose what he wants to do but must obey the law that his master laid down for him. He is not a man but a tool being used according to the wishes of the slavedriver. Just as a falling body cannot disobey the law of gravity, neither can a slave disobey the command of his owner ordering him to do this or that or the other.
But in charity, because all of your desires are satisfied, and you are filled with the fire of creative love. This error, the idea that slave labor is equivalent to works of mercy, has brought untold misery into the world and must be combated at every opportunity.
Thus, even if we have an “obligation to pitch in,” it is a voluntarily incurred one, to be discharged at the time and in the manner of one’s own choosing.
Second, as Mises writes,
But the recognition of this duty [to help the poor and the disabled] does not answer the question concerning what methods should be resorted to for its performance. It does not enjoin the choice of methods which would endanger society and curtail the productivity of human effort. Neither the able-bodied nor the incapacitated would derive any benefit from a drop in the quantity of goods available. (Human Action, 839)
In other words, welfare is not a system of production. And entrepreneurs are pitching in for the betterment of humanity; it is through their activity that wealth is generated and consumers are served.
Third, there were plenty of “people of America” who disagreed with the policies passed under the New Deal. Why not, for example, exempt them from paying the taxes that financed those policies?
Fourth, why limit the spending to the territory of the United States? Don’t the non-residents have a claim on the wealth of Americans? If not, why not? Must not we put most of China, say, on welfare?
Fifth, the New Deal was implemented 70 years ago. That’s also how long socialism lasted in the USSR. Isn’t it time for another rEVOLution?
This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 20th, 2007 at 6:20 pm and is filed under Philosophy, Political. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
(I DELETED ONE OF THE SEVEN RESPONSES BELOW. IT WAS MINE, AND IT WAS IRRELEVANT.)
First, “Capitalism itself, though a great advancement for the improvement of society, is not sufficient to provide for the enhancement of the common man. A completely free market, which allows corporations to run wild, establish monopolies, and set its own prices has only one difference than the feudal societies of old; private property. Capitalism only works if the people (i.e. the government) step in to protect and provide a free and fair market. It is in the best interests of our nation to keep competition alive. And the monopolies quickly being established today provide for no competition.” Your argument that I believe in Russian communism, or communism of any kind, is absurd. That’s just another way of justifying your heartless beliefs.Second, as you should know, the authors of the letters to the editors do not write the titles. I didn’t even title my paper, they did it for me. (On a side note, a slave CAN disobey his master if he chooses to. He may be punished but, as a Daoist would say, “we can only be ruled by those we choose to rule us.”)Third, we are all brothers and sisters here, and we love one another. Would you say that you don’t love your American bretheren? Then why would you disagree to helping out your less fortunate family members? Do you not love them? Probably not. You probably see the poor as lazy good for nothings who could get rich if they just stopped doing drugs. I hope I’m wrong in that assumption, but I fear that I am not.Fourth, never once did I claim to be against entrepenuers or market capitalism. I’m an entrepenuer myself; AZCC Inspections. What seperates us is that I’m not so blinded by the pursuit of profits that I forget what the real priorities in life are; peace, love, and charity.Fifth, according to your argument, I should stop paying taxes because a small portion of it goes to pork spending and far too large amounts of corporate welfare to corporations that don’t need it (we should help corporations just like citizens but, if you think the amounts we give out should go to the companies they go to, you’re insane and highly dellusional).Sixth, yes, we should help the poor of China. But not before we help the poor of America. I’m sorry for the people of Brazil but, they’re not United States Citizens. This is about priorities. If you want to talk about giving the UN actual governmental power and creating one world-wide tax base that’s a different argument. But, I know you probably think the World Bank should rule the world.Seventh, (I DISAGREE WITH) RUSSIAN COMMUNISTS! They helped their citizens about as much as you would if you ruled. (I WILL FIGHT) any kind of totalitarian state. And (THINK ABOUT) any kind of non-state, that’s what we call Anarchism. And that is virtually impossible to obtain. I believe in government; I believe it works if the people in charge have the best interests of the people at heart. I know it makes you upset that self-centered, heartless twits like you get elected and (MESS) everything up but, that’s life. Whether you like it or not, some people do use power for good.Eighth, anybody can list things and quote people, and act like they’re intelligent. But, you sir, are dellusional. I would like to leave you with the same quote I left your friend Mr. Hamilton with, “I encourage you (Libertarians) to really look inside yourself, and see if it is America you support. Or is it Capitalism to which you hold allegiance? They are not the same thing.”
The more you allow corporations to “run wild,” the less chance there is for them to form monopolies. Monopolies are extremely rare on an unhampered free market. Almost all real-world monopolies arise due to a government-granted privilege, such as to the Post Office.
> Third, we are all brothers and sisters here, and we love one another. Would you say that you don’t love your American bretheren? Then why would you disagree to helping out your less fortunate family members? Do you not love them?
Voluntarily, sure. After being coerced to help, no. You promote and glorify legalized theft and violence under the guise of holy charity. This is demonic, and you are being a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
> Sixth, yes, we should help the poor of China. But not before we help the poor of America. I’m sorry for the people of Brazil but, they’re not United States Citizens. This is about priorities.
Wow, so you are consistent! According to your logic, we should put a billion of Chinese on welfare. What’s so special about being a US citizen, aside from an accident of birth? How does being born here qualify you for government loot, while being born miserably poor in China does not? So much for your “peace, love, and charity.” Of course, I am against forced “welfare” for both foreigners and residents of the US.
> I believe in government; I believe it works if the people in charge have the best interests of the people at heart.
That’s just not true. Government planning and taxing and regulating would not work even if the bureaucrats were angels. Which, of course, they are not. In other words, government fails at practically everything it does. What does work is freedom.
So wait, we shouldn’t pay taxes for national defense because that’s coercion? I mean, we can defend ourselves from foreign governments on our own. It’s called a public good. It’s something no private citizen can do on their own. I don’t know why you see government as some far-off ruling body but, government is YOU. That’s what America is all about, SELF RULE. We the people are the government.Umm, I have a package arriving today from UPS so, maybe the post office once had a monopoly but… Now, the government does allow monopolies on energy, phone, and television. And that’s stupid. But, governments make mistakes. I’m sorry that people like you trick people like you into voting for them but, that’s life. You have to accept the good with the bad. Plain and simply, No entity should control more than 40% of the market on non-public goods.Which brings me to two points. First, Unbridled Libertarianism allows corporations to monoplize markets to the point of allowing them to control public goods; thereby they become the state. That’s Fascism. Are you a fascist?Second, like defense, private entitiies could never defeat poverty. Only WE the people, all of us together, could ever hope to do that. We need your cooperation. Stop letting your greed cloud your judgement. You are the government. Have some responsibility. Govenrment exists, and it always will. And it is people that control it. Either we can have a collective of us, together, controlling it. Or we can put it into the hands of some small collective of individuals, either nobles or board members, or party members, or some cabal of “wise men” who rule our lives for us. That’s what happens when the people don’t control the state through SELF RULE.Seriously can I ask you a question? How did you twist your mind around writing that paragraph about Chinese welfare? First, there are almost 2 billlllion people in the state of China. Second, as I’m sure you didn’t know that, you were probably saying that I think we should put all of China on welfare, which is not how the welfare system works. Second, as I said in my response, accidental birth (or a long and vigorous naturalization process) is the only thing special about being an American. And I’m sorry for that. In my response I said, we could create a world tax-base to combat that but, I’m sure that scares the bejeezes out of you.I want you to wrap your mind around this concept for me. YOU ARE THE GOVERNMENT. I AM THE GOVERNMENT. MR. HAMILTON IS THE GOVERNMENT (Ted and Alexander). YOUR NEIGHBOR IS THE GOVERNMENT. WE THE PEOPLE ARE THE GOVERNMENT. AND THAT INCLUDES YOU. I don’t know how many times I can reiterate that for you; YOU ARE THE GOVERNMENT. And just like you, me, and everyone else, mistakes are made. It sucks but, we have to work to stop that. And it will only stop when people start looking at the world responsibly.
Adam, see Murray Rothbard’s “The Anatomy of the State” for a contrary opinion, as well as his The Ethics of Liberty.
look, I know you have no further argument so you’ve resorted to redirecting me to the (works) you’ve read in the hopes that it will strike me like it struck you. what you don’t understand is, i’ve already read that, Anatomy anyway. But, unlike you, i use reading to help me form my own opinion, instead of just spitting out passages someone else wrote. you fancy yourself a defender of capitalism, go read An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. You’re probly going to find something you didn’t expect, and you just may not like it. See, but you’ll probably only see the lines justifying your greed-clouded mind. i’m not arguing politics with you brother, i’m arguing with your entire world-view. your mind is clouded by greed friend, you think maybe one day you would have a 500 million dollar bank account, and you don’t want no damn government stealing your hard-earned money and giving it to some lazy free-loaders down in the ghetto. and you know what, you did work hard for that money. so did your employees, your family, the guy at the store where you get your cofee, the guy you pass on the street… you didn’t do it on your own.Look, charities are a waste of time. most are innefecient, and they could never reach the size needed. you could go out to do charitable work yourself, which is great but even that’s not enough. what we need is a system where all of us, together, can contribute and develop methods to fight it. o wait, we have that. It’s called a self-ruled government, established among men, to create a more perfect union.
Trilllion dollar deficits, the drug war, the PATRIOT ACT, the loss of manufacturing to unorganized, cheap, foreign labor, these are all right-wing constructions. The left may have some problems with organization but, is fighting poverty really the biggest problem we face?
Over the past 30 years our legislature has lost its connection to us. On all sides of the political arena there is fear and discontent for our government. We have no personal connection, no say in the matter, and no idea what is really going on. This, sounding an awful lot like governments of old, does not bode well for our representative democracy. If we ever want to turn this around, it is up to us, the people, to do it.
Contrary to the extremist news media's coverage of us, the vast majority of Americans are decent, generous people. If we want to continue America's course in a positive direction, we have to figure out how to get these people involved. We, as supporters of this movement, need to get out and show people that the world isn't as bad a place as they are led to believe. We need to show them that to live in fear is only to compound the problem. We, as a country, need someone who will shatter the dome of secrecy surrounding our government, and encourage our citizens to see just who there leaders are representing.
Our defecit has gone out of control. And the so called leaders who claim to want to cut spending, only want to cut it for social programs. They want to continue giving welfare to corporate america, but real americans are just lazy to them. They continue spending money on intelligence and warfare, but abhor the idea of sanity and diplomacy. They cut taxes as a courtesy to us, knowing full well they don't have the resources to do so, which just makes everything else more expensive (have you tried buying license plates recently?). It's time we had a leader who will bring about sound economic policy that is dedicated to peace, prosperity, and the future of human advancement.
But, as we have seen in the past, we can't rely on our leaders to represent us. As much as I have supported Obama, it is up to us, the people, to assure our rights are being protected. When the election season is over we cannot afford to go back to sitting on the couch. We have to become actively involved. And our involvement shouldn't just be standing around a square, complaining. If we don't like something, we have to interrupt it. If we like it, we have to support it. We have sat on the sidelines for thirty years, and for thirty years the right to prosperity has gradually disappeared.
If we dedicate this country to bringing wealth and knowledge to the great mass of people, and to breaking up consolidated power structures, I can assure you this nation will usher in an era of hope unseen in this world.
I don’t know why I didn’t hear about it from David Plouffe first, but it is great.
http://factcheck.barackobama.com/
Enjoy,
Michael Rupp
aka:WNYmathGuy
The documents subsequently linked below should be redistributed to any Obama Supporter you know. The documents are the official rules for delegate selection and petitioning in New York State. This is vital to getting our favorite on the ticket for the primary race.
“The Guide to Becoming a Delegate to the 2008 Democratic National Convention is at
http://www.geocities.com/wnymathguy/GuideToDelegate08DNC.pdf
“Overview of Becoming a Delegate to the 2008 Democratic National Convention is at
and “A Fact Sheet about the 2008 Delegate Selection Plan” is at
http://www.geocities.com/wnymathguy/2008delegateFactSheet.pdf
I noticed this final version of the rules isn’t so long and lawyerly as the proposal was.
Enjoy and good luck to you.
Sincerely,
a.k.a. WNYmathGuy
