All That Is Necessary

Choice is Hard

Having to make a decision, or choice, is hard. You must use available information, or search out this information on a particular matter, think about the information, and then, based on your own unique set of circumstances and beliefs, make the decision that is best for you, and live with the consequences.

This is why most people would rather be told what to do.  This is why most people want the government, mosque, town hall, ANYONE, to make the decision for them. 

Government has not grown on its own.  Yes, politicians ALWAYS want more power, but they rely on the lazy "non-individuals" to grant them that power.  Take pretty any government program. The purpose is usually to allow a person to abdicate the need for decision making and pass that duty on to a government official.

I think that may be why Islam is so popular in a lot of the world.  In Islam there is no thinking allowed, no choice, no individualism.  There is only sharia law based on the Koran and related teaching.  Islam is the extreme, but other systems are close like some other deeply fundamental religions, communism, etc. 

People give up the natural right to freedom all too easily these days, and then demand others to give up their freedom as well.  They must know, deep down, they are making the wrong choice, so they require others to do so, too.  When you submit to your slave-master you do not want to see others enjoying any sort of freedom.

Look around the world today.  You can see the result of the fall of freedom, of liberty, of choice. 

Yes, choice is hard.  Slavery is easy. 

"You can choose a ready guide in some celestial voice.
If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.
You can choose from phantom fears and kindness that can kill;
I will choose a path that's clear
I will choose freewill."

(The band Rush - Freewill)

 

We Lost Our Sense of Purpose

It does seem at times that everything is falling apart.  All that was accomplished in this great country over the past two hundred years is unraveling before us.  People no longer believe their children will have better lives than they did.

I can't disagree with this assessment.  But how did it happen?  I think I have a partial answer.

We achieved a sort of national success, where all the dreams of our ancestors came true.  We were the richest, most powerful nation on earth.  We arrived at our peak, and then lost our sense of purpose.  We became lost in our success. 

It is like when you strive your whole life to achieve some single result, then, upon reaching your goal, you think "what now?".  You flounder around looking for some new purpose.

I think the USA had that happen in the 1960's through 2000 or so.  From our founding through a good part of the 20th century there was no doubt on our purpose, our manifest destiny to reach from sea to sea and build, invent, succeed.  Failure was a part of success.  Some did better, some worse.  As individuals we took our best shot and dealt with the results.  That was life. But we knew we were building a better world for our kids.

Since we were growing and sometimes fighting for our very lives, the nation had a purpose that kept individuals busy and thriving.  However, once we reached our "goal" we were left standing there wondering, what now?

People lost their purpose.  That is where we started our decline.  A rot set in.  When you are on a tough journey, there is no time for the whiners, moochers or looters.  Once you reach your destination, though, these types always begin to appear.  Risk taking was now "too risky", success for one meant someone else had to fail, no one should have more than another, the pie could never get bigger, pay your fair share, don't be greedy.

Looking back through history you can see many examples of great civilizations that grew, flourished and then died.  We are no different.

We have no sense of purpose.  We will continue to flounder and mooch and whine and loot until we have a new sense of purpose.

I am not talking about a unified, national goal determined from "on high".  I am talking more of an idea that pervades the nation.  That individuals, using their minds, hands and talents can achieve anything, ANYTHING, they set their minds to.  That government is only there to provide a basic, simple framework for individuals to takes their best shots, come what may.  Maybe it is curing a form of cancer, or leaving this planet for space, whatever.  It is the belief that it is possible and I, as an individual, can do it and leave the world a little better off for my kids.

Maybe we can get back to that after some painful lessons we need to learn.  I hope so.

 

 

The Main Reason For All Our Troubles

What is the main reason for all the troubles we face in the USA, and what citizens all over the world face?

GOVERNMENT!

I don't care what sort of government you have, communist, socialist, crony-capitalism(USA), whatever.  Virtually all problems can be traced to the impact of government once it goes beyond the very minimal duties required of it.  Even our Constitutional system, which was as close to as perfect a system as the world have ever seen, was almost immediately under attack by the very people who wrote it.

Government does one thing - control.  Under its control it forces private citizens to hand over money or assets to a central authority at the point of a gun, federal state and local.  The central authority then spends this wealth as it sees fit.  Over time the central authority grows and grows.  It never willingly shrinks.  After it gets the money it goes on to rules and regulations. 

As government takes more control of the economy things deteriorate.  Government produces nothing, it only consumes.  It is a dead weight, a drag on the economy.

In the USA we started off with a relatively "clean slate" after much sacrifice.  We have lost freedoms ever since.  Now we are at the point where government is so massive and so powerful that the individual is lost.  Don't believe me?  Today, as you go through you day, pay attention to all the rules and regulations you have to comply with, how much you pay in taxes on everything you buy and any money you make.  Then tell me you are free.

Damn, depressing post.  But all of it true.

They Willingly Give up Freedom

Have you ever noticed that government, at all levels - federal, state local, city, town - never shrinks?  It only gets bigger and bigger.  Sometime by huge leaps, as with ObamaCare, but mostly by new laws, rules and regulations that are added every day at every level. 

As these laws, rules, and regulations increase, your freedom and liberty decrease - every day.  Here is a story that illustrates what is happening  (I can't find the original but my attempt will make the point):

A private collector wanted to capture some rare animals for his collection.  These animals were extremely hard to capture.  No one had ever done it.  A hunter came to the collector and said he could capture the animals, alive, for the collector.

The hunter found the area the animals were known to frequent and put down some food.  This went on for days, then one of the animals appeared.  Each day more animals would appear for the easy food.  After a few days, the hunter started putting in short sections of fence.  The animals didn't notice or seem to care.  Day after day as the animals left he added another section of fence, slowly encircling the animals.

Then, one day as the animals were eating more of the free food he added the last section of fence.

The animals willingly gave up their freedom for some "free" food.

Sound familiar?

We Can Take One Of Two Paths

Saw this in one of the comments over at The Market Ticker:

"More than any time in history mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness, the other to total extinction. Let us pray that we have the wisdom to choose correctly."

Woody Allen

Now NASA Can Work On Its Real Mission

Now that the pesky space shuttle program hase been ended, and all or other manned space missions have been scuttled, NASA can concentrate on its true mission:

"NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said in a recent interview (last year) that his "foremost" mission as the head of America's space exploration agency is to improve relations with the Muslim world."

Good thing he can now let the Russians get our guys and gals up to space as long as we pay a gazillion dollars for each trip.

Ah, what leadership!

 

Do You Trust Our Government?

Simple question.  Do you trust our government? 

I do not trust our government.  Why? 

My distrust is based on 50+ years of actually living under our government, watching its actions, seeing the results of these actions, watching the character of the politicians, seeing the inexorable growth of its power and reach into every aspect of our lives, knowing that people do not become angels upon their election to office.  That's only a partial list of why.

Based upon the above, and just general knowledge of history, our government has done absolutely NOTHING to earn my trust.  In fact, they generally do the exact opposite.

If you do not trust the government then you must continually vote and do everything in your power to reduce the power of the central government.  That means NEVER voting for a democrat, liberal, socialist, RINO or ANY big government person.

Ask yourself - do you trust our government?

Our Potential Is Being Wasted

I was watching this video over at Q&O that showed incredible time-lapsed videos of the night sky.  Got me to thinking.  Here we are, over 40 years (!) after landing on the moon and what have we done?  Sent some rovers to Mars.  Great, yes.  Amazing technology, yes.  But rather pathetic in the great scheme of things.

We have an entire universe to explore and colonize, and we sit here on Earth squabbling like chimpanzees over some fruit.  We celebrate dancers and singers and athletes with huge audiences, million dollar contracts, star status.  Garbage!  We should be honoring inventors, risk-takers, adventurers, scientists, etc.

Our priorities are screwed up.  Environmental wackos scream we are running out of resources.  What?!?!  We have a whole freakin' universe out there.  More resources than we can possibly imagine!

There are worlds out there.  Don't like this one?  Hell, colonize your own planet, or moon, or whatever.  (Hey, a possible solution to the muslim problem!  They get their own planet and all infidels stay away.  That planet would be a real Garden of Eden in no time, I'm sure.)

We should be out there by now.  I hope private industry can get us there, because government, as usual, is hopelessly inefficient.

A real waste of our potential as a species.

Anyway, that is what I think of when I see all those stars in the night sky.

Thinkin' 'bout Being Free

I've been surfing the web looking up stuff on Natural Rights, Sovereign Individual, etc.  Some very interesting stuff.  It is the fault of Mayberry over at Keep It Simple Survival.  He had a post about each of us is an individual being and "our world is what we make it".  Go read it.  Only takes a couple of minutes.

It ties in with natural rights - those rights we are born with that no one else, including government, should be able to take away without our consent.  Life, liberty and property are the three biggies. 

Anyway, I'm thinking we are all a very long way from living as free individuals any longer.  We are controlled from the day we are born, with new rules and regulation added daily.  Just go through your day today and think about all the things you are not allowed to do.  Some obviously make sense, like stopping at a red light at a busy intersection, but most do not.  We are controlled by the Ruling Class and most don't even seem to mind that other individuals have basically the power of life and death over you, for no other reason than we allow them to.

How free are you?  I would wager you are not very free at all.  I often wonder how to live free in an unfree world.  I google it a lot but never seem to see how to do it.  Mayberry's suggestion is that it is all in your mind.  Could be.  I'll keep thinkin' on it.  You should, too.

There Is Some Hope Amongst College Students

A very smart, conservative college student I know was given a project by a teacher to pick a topic and create a presentation that shows how you feel about it.  This young lady chose "pride in being an American".

Here is the result.

Gives one hope for the younger generation, doesn't it?