Quickie Post #2: Whatever happened to classical liberalism?

Classical liberalism: a political philosophy that places high value on individual freedom based on a belief in natural rights that exist independent of government. In its pure form, for example, in contemporary libertarian thought, it holds that the best government is minimal in scope, providing security, but promoting laissez-faire policies towards morality, religion, the economy, and the rest of social life.

It seems to me that classical liberalism is not the same “liberalism” we recognize today. In fact, its definition is actually closer to that of conservatism and is pretty much identical to libertarianism, which is the category I place myself in. I just want to know one thing. How the hell did we get today’s liberalism out of its classical form? It just seems like modern liberal views and classical liberal views are… I don’t know… the opposite? With the exception of social freedoms. Shouldn’t we at least change the name, seeing as a classical liberal and a modern liberal would likely go head to head in a cage match these days? I mean, I have argued with liberals before, and it seems like they very strongly disagree with my economically conservative viewpoints. But it seems to me that if they were the same liberal that existed when liberalism began, they wouldn’t be disagreeing with me. They’d be high-fiving me. I don’t care if they don’t agree with me, I’m just saying.

More on political philosophies later.

Classical liberalism definition

30 things I could have done with $39,190.81

As of 8:50 PM on this night, Wednesday the 19th of November, our national debt totals $12,043,819,854,073.75. AKA, about 12 trillion dollars. And each of us, including you and me, officially owes $39,190.81 to our creditors. Not as a whole do we owe this amount. We are each expected to pay that amount because our government is out of control.

Thus I present to you, 30 things I could have done with $39,190.81

30. Get another bachelor’s degree.

29. Get a master’s degree and a PhD.

28. Shut down a puppy mill.

27. Purchase a 2010 Lexus RX 350.

26. Feed 400 hungry American families.

25. Remodel my parents’ kitchen.

24. Build a small bungalow.

23. Pay back 2/3 of my student loans.

22. Take a vacation to Hawaii … 8 times.

21. Hire a maid and a butler.

20. Install 8 swimming pools.

19. Purchase about 52 of these.

18. Order 400 pounds of Godiva chocolate truffles.

17. Buy a California King  Tempur-Pedic GrandBed mattress for everyone in my family.

16. Cover the cost of chemotherapy treatments for several struggling cancer patients.

15. Buy a laptop for everyone in Johnstown.

14. Fix 488 potholes.

13. Eat 1500 quarts of Tukery Hill’s Skinny Minty ice cream (and gain 560 pounds. Not joking. I did the math.)

12. House a homeless family.

11. Put 1000-thread count sheets on 390 beds.

10. Adopt at least one American child.

9. Take 181 hot air balloon rides.

8. Buy a hot air balloon.

7. Start a small business.

6. Take my family to Super Bowl XLIV.

5. Swim around in it (just because)

4. Rent a beach condo for 26 weeks.

3. Hire a part-time assistant for several years.

2. Buy a dozen horses. Just for kicks. GET IT? Because horses kick people sometimes.

1. Make my backyard look like this.

 

Perspective, people. Perspective. Start being pissed off if you aren’t already.

Quickie Post #1 : Wake Up

I just want everyone to wake up. I don’t care what party you are in. It doesn’t matter. Just wake up and realize what is happening in this country is very, very wrong and must stop. Seriously, I just want to shake everyone who doesn’t realize the damage that is being done.

When it was announced that our unemployment rate is the lowest since the Great Depression, I thought everyone would wake up. They did not.

When we were told of our national budget deficit (currently $11,995,420,770,680.95) and what each person must pay towards it (currently $39,037.87 per person), I thought everyone would wake up. They did not.

When Nancy Pelosi called in a sneak vote on a Saturday night for fear of losing American support of the health care reform, I thought everyone would wake up. They did not.

When it was announced that an extremist shot and killed 13 American soldiers, I thought everyone would wake up. And to my bewildered disbelief, they did not.

WAKE UP. Whether you are a Republican or a Democrat does not matter. What matters is that we are all getting screwed over and being ignored  … Republicans and Democrats alike … and we are not doing anything about it. Instead of yelling at each other, we should be yelling at them. For God’s sake, it’s like there’s going to be another civil war with the way we are arguing with each other. It’s all a distraction! But our government needs to know we are not going to sit here and just take it. We are the citizens of this country and we should be in charge of where our own money is being spent. They need to know that their duties should only lay in defending the country and protecting our rights. Period.

P.S. Regarding the national debt number… Yes, each of us officially owes an entire college education to pay towards the national debt. If that doesn’t give you a perspective that makes you inconsolably angry, I’m not sure what else to say to you.

References

National Debt Clock – My number was taken at the time this post was written.

Best-Base Scenario: Unemployment Rates – It’s 10.2%. More than 1 out of every 10 Americans is unemployed.

House expected to vote on health bill Saturday – The “sneak vote” comment was merely educated opinion.

Why aren’t you angry?

I was never really angry with our government before. I figured I wasn’t smart enough to understand the reasoning behind the mortgage crisis, the struggling economy, the withering quality of education, and so on. Like so many others, I placed my trust in the government and figured “Hey, they’re the experts.” My belief was that if anyone were fit to handle the situation, it was them.

Then I started reading books. Watching the news. Listening to political radio. In a flash, it all came clear to me that these issues were not complicated. In fact, they were very, very simple. It didn’t take much to understand. All it took was some logical thinking, good reasoning, knowledge of history, and common sense. I underestimated my ability to grasp the agendas of our country, so I never got angry. I had no suspicions that my government was making bad decisions. After all, they’re the ones who graduated from ivy league schools whereas I was attending the school best known for its beer bonging talents.

The drawback of paying attention to politics is that you sleep a hell of a lot less. The anger is just too much. And when you do sleep, you have nightmares about the decreasing value of your money, the overwhelming debt of the country you have to pay for, waiting for hours in crowded clinics, being forced to give half your paycheck to the government, and the fact that your taxes are paying for Nancy Pelosi’s stupid face.

Are you angry yet?

What’s more is that there are so many reasons to be unbearably pissed off at our government and its growing power, yet they are still getting more power. There are Americans who still trust them enough to keep these people in office. Why would you trust an entity that spends assloads of your money, gets little to no positive results in return, and then asks you for more money so they can do it again? Why do you trust people who insist upon doing the same things over and over again when history proves that it does not work and probably never will? They are wasting our money, increasing our debts, and devaluing our dollars. How could any sane person be supporting them?

And the cherry on top of the shit sundae that is our current government: They claim they are doing what is best for the common good. That is how they are justifying government run health care. That is how they justify everything the government sticks its face into, things it had no business of being in in the first place.

The government just loves to cite this preamble to the Constitution of the United States in order to justify government intervention in health care:

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

Good point, government, but you overlooked one small yet vital part of this preamble. We the People. I think you’ll find that nowhere in the Constitution does it say that the government should force mandates upon people in order to promote the greater good. In fact, I’m pretty sure the founding fathers made it very clear that government had no other place except for national defense, criminal justice, and protecting our freedoms. (Note: Protecting our freedoms. Not taking them away)

Oh I know. The Constitution was written sooo long ago and the times, they are a changin’. The funny thing about the people who say that is, whenever the Constitution supports an issue they are passionate about, it suddenly becomes important to them. It isn’t until they are pushing an agenda the Constitution doesn’t support that they discredit it for it being such an old document. Well, it may be old, but the founders who wrote it weren’t drooling idiots and knew that a truly free country was one run by the people and for the people with little government intervention.

And what is our government doing now? Well, they are pretty much intervening with everything they can get their hands on. As long as we allow them to do this, they will be under control of anything they so choose to control. And we will be left wondering what ever happened to America.

Are you angry yet?

Here they are, telling us they are going to do what is best for the population. They tell us we can have free health care and free education. They tell us these things while claiming our national debt will not grow. Well then, where is the money coming from? Their own pockets? Right. It’s coming out of our pockets. Either that, or they are printing more money for which we have no collateral for, thus devaluing our money more and more.

Here they are, telling us that the rich are too rich. They force them to give money to the “poor,” which includes people who are living off of welfare money that they use to buy cartons of cigarettes, consume gallons of booze, and throw at strippers. They are taking away from the wealthy who have worked, stressed, and lost days of sleep in order to get where they are, and giving it to people who rarely get out of bed before noon. They are slowly but surely killing off the incentive to succeed because to them, success breeds from selfishness and greed. They say this while spending their incomes on summer villas in Malibu and Bentleys for their children. They absolutely refuse to admit that succeeding is a good thing that breeds what? More success.

Here they are, insisting that we abide by what they say and vilify anybody who questions them. Their supporters call us un-American. We are attacked when we criticize them. What is it called when people stand silently by while their leaders force unwanted rule over them? Oh yeah, tyranny. I apologize for not wanting to live the luxurious life that one lives under a tyrannical empire. Forgive me for wanting to prevent my country from losing its freedom. I should be ashamed of myself.

Are you angry yet?

I realize these are my opinions, but they are based on realities. You can give me an argument based on the same realities but in a totally different direction. You can render the Constitution useless and outdated. If only we would forget about the Constitution and live in a society where the government takes care of us and there is no incentive to succeed, we could be as prosperous as say, Cuba. Dammit! We could be as great as Cuba right now and that darn Constitution is holding us back! Curses!

Seriously though, if you can present a reasonable argument to me about what good the government is doing right now and why in God’s name we should trust it without question, me and my pet flying pigs would love to hear it. If you can give me a good enough reason to not be enraged by the way our country is being run, fire away. But until then, I’m going to continue being pissed and continue being baffled by those who are not.