As I started posting to “theDB”s thread about Donald Trump, I felt inspired (as I often do) and started writing a book of sorts (sorry, read it if you will, otherwise ignore it). Since I went off on a huge tangent, I figured I would make a separate post. If you don’t like it… then oh well…
I would have absolutely no problem voting for Donald Trump as a president. Although he has in the past filed for bankruptcy of certain corporate arms he has created, he still has the business acumen to understand what is needed to run a fiscally responsible country. We are beyond reproach when it comes to what this country needs.
People need to free themselves of the idea that the US Government is here to help the people, it's not... that's not what it was created for. It is here to protect us militarily, regulate trade (in our benefit), and to maintain the union. That's it...
Trump is completely correct... we have become an entitlement nation. I'm sure it's easy for me to say since I'm not currently reliant on any kind of subsidy... but as far as I'm concerned, if you're an able bodied man or woman, there is no reason why you should be getting any money from the government.
60% of the nation's budget is entitlement.
My grandfather was an author (among other things). He wrote several books, and was a regular author in the 70s for the National Review. He wrote in a book (just for the family) his experiences growing up through-out the great depression. He was raised in Missouri, particularly in an area that was hit hardest due to declining industry from the re-routing of a commercial train route. His parents (my great grand-parents) didn't get anything from the government, they were poor, very poor. They lived in a home that had peeling paint, had three rooms, and one bathroom. Although they were considered to be fairly well off for “that side” of the tracks... one of those abandoned homes in Detroit would be a mansion compared to what they lived in. In any case, they didn't get food stamps from the government... they didn't get FREE money to go to the grocery store and buy candy, snacks like people get today. Why, even your average college student working a part-time job can apply for food stamps (and will get it).
What they did was work every possible job they could find (my great grandfather) and earn money to buy food. Since jobs were few and far between during that time, they actually grew their own food when they could. They grew vegetables, they grew whatever they could that would yield some kind of crop on their 1/4 acre property. They also went in halves with a neighbor to build a chicken coop and had like 5 or 6 chickens that gave them eggs, so they could have protein. This is what they did...
And you know what? They survived the great depression. My grandfather was raised with conservative values, worked hard while going to school and became the valedictorian of the University of Missouri (Mizzo). They gave him the "key" to the school, and he went on to have a very successful career and produced three very successful children (my mom / aunt / uncle) and they instilled those same values into me as well. I don't care how bad my life gets, or how screwed up things might end up for me... that's how I was raised, and I will never stop trying or working hard.
On the other hand, people are raised today to DEMAND and EXPECT that the government owes them... the ONLY thing the government owes us... is our freedoms, and our protection as a nation from foreign invaders.
It really, really upsets me to see where this nation has drifted... and it's not really about Obama. Obama is not the cause, he is the result of what we as a nation have become. It's about where we've all been heading for decades. 10 years ago, a person wouldn't DARE speak out and say that they were socialist. That's not because they didn't have freedom of speech, but because even 10 years ago, people had a stronger work ethic and to be a socialist was to be considered lazy... (Which it most certainly is). Now, people don't really think /that/ much about someone who says they are a socialist... I've run into these people... and THAT scares me.
I can only hope, perhaps... that we are entering into a new age of enlightenment. I suspect that the majority of people who think government entitlements are acceptable, are born from baby boomers (I mean, that would make sense). Likewise... the baby boomer generation is also the generation that protested Vietnam and spat upon our soldiers. The Tea Party movement, as much as Democrat constituents would like to have us believe that they are the radical right, really is more about returning to the foundations of our country than it is anything else.
It would be silly for me to ignore the fact that the Religious Right has a very different opinion about what the Tea Party movement is. As a church-going Catholic, I certainly understand where they are coming from, but they are, as well, misguided. The Tea Party movement has nothing to do with God... unlike Glenn Beck's "awakening", the Tea Party movement is about eliminating the entitlement nation mentality... reducing taxes... ending the socialist movement in America. Nothing more, nothing less...
As has been the case for many countries, in many generations, socialism only serves to nominalize its people… to erode away at the foundations of what made each country great. Sometimes they say that the best critic, is a foreign one. As an American citizen, I can clearly see the failures of the once-great nation of Holland, the Netherlands. This nation, made almost entirely of hard-working men and women with business ethics ingrained from birth, has since become the focus of failure for all that is wrong with socialism.
I do not want this for America, and I wish more than anything else on this Earth that people could really see what's happening to this once great nation. Over my very short life, I heard quotes from various people… some famous, some not. Some stick with me, and others get ignored. There are two however that I’ve never forgotten… the first I heard from a Democrat politician in the 90s… a blue dog. He said, before you can take care of others, you must take care of yourself. Although people can misinterpret what he said, he meant that as an American, we must become self reliant. A man or woman who is without debt or obligation, will be better to care for someone who is. That means that we must all work hard to be free from government subsidy, we must all work hard to live within our means so that we can free ourselves from the shackles of dependency. How can we be expected to raise our children, when we ourselves are still dependent upon someone else (an institution)?
The other quote which really stood out to me… was from a complete stranger. I was not even 7 or 8 years old, standing at a street corner with my mom waiting to cross the street in down town Richmond, Virginia. An elderly man coming out of a concert hall said to me… “Whatever your goals are in life, you must remember two things; perseverance, and honor. That really hit home for me… more so in my adult life than anything else. A random comment by an old man whom I never knew, and will never see again, has stuck with me.
I want this country to return to the greatness that it once was… I want our country to be inspired as it was during the Kennedy administration… “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what YOU can do for your country.” and… “We do these things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard…”
I want our country to return to the ideals and respect we had under Ronald Reagan.
When you guys go to the polls this November, I want you to remember what made this country great. I want you to understand where we are headed, and what that ultimately means not only for America, but for the entire world. I refuse to believe that we are entering into an age where a one-world government is inevitable. Please vote to return our country to greatness… vote for fiscal responsibility, and self governance.
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Todd,
2008 Jeep Patriot Limited 4x2
2002 Ford Explorer Sport 2dr 4x2
2002 Ford Crown Victoria LX
1987 Pontiac Fiero SE / V6
1973 Volkswagen Type-2 Transporter
