Tuesday, July 3, 2012
On Liberal Charisma
When I express my views to other people, quite a few bring up the argument "Well if what you believe is so good for everyone, then why isn't it more popular? Why are so many people liberal?"
First of all, do not be offended that I don't agree with you. I didn't say liberalism was bad, I said I didn't agree with it. Secondly, the reason why I believe that few others share my opinion is because our society is very self-centered. If you think about it, we have two super powers that comprise our actively voting population: conservatives and liberals. I am not saying that every conservative or liberal does this, but those groups of people as a whole tend to try and pass laws that suit their own agendas. Both are guilty of trying to remake our country in their image, both are jepordizing our freedom.
However, it does seem that the liberals have a more...advertised following. And by that I mean that the great majority of newspapers, television shows, movies, and newscasts seem to be liberal. I don't actually know if there are more conservatives or more liberals in our country, and quite frankly I don't give a rat's ass. My point is, a lot of the media that we come in contact with seems to be liberal. This gives the liberal operation quite a lot of charisma. To see movie stars and famous authors as avid advocates of the liberal agenda kinda makes you want to join in.
The liberal agenda also has aspects that appeal to everyone. The poor are drawn in by the promise of being taken care of, the well-off are drawn in by the thought of being charitable and taking care of others, the young student is drawn in by the desire to be enlightened. I will say this: it IS appealing, and it DOES have good intent.
But here is the problem with it. First of all, when you take care of people, you promote a sense of entitlement. The Americans of today are not accountable or responsible (on the whole, not individually), fiscally or politically. Also, if the government takes care of everyone, it erases the motivation for community, charity, and selflessness. It is impossible to eradicate bad situations from this world. As long as human beings have free will, there will be bad choices being made, and someone will suffer. It is cruel, but the beautiful thing about it is that when terrible things happen, it has a way of drawing people together. I think that we are hindering our potential as citizens of this country.
Secondly, there is a problem when someone drafts a law or policy when they have no idea what it is implying for the people "at the bottom of the food chain". For example, I work in insurance, and when Obamacare was first being talked about, a lot of people thought that it would help our healthcare system. I'll admit that our healthcare system sucks, but it is still the best in the world. A federal mandate presents many issues for us pee-ons. Though I do not understand all of this bill, I do know that the government already handles its paperwork very poorly, having dealt with several government-related insurances, and I seriously doubt that Obamacare will make it easier for doctors to get paid for services rendered or for patients to recieve coverage. If Obama really wants to reform the healthcare system, the first thing he should do is abolish UCR (Usual and Customary Rate). This basically means that your insurance company can decide how much the services redered are worth. So, if you have a 100,000 dollar surgery and your insurance decides that it was only worth 20,000 and they will only pay 60% of that, then you are either stuck with a gigantic bill (if your provider was out of network) or your doctor can barely cover his costs (if your provider was in network). I know it all seems like gobbledegook, but that is what we have to deal with every day. Another example is that of the welfare system. It looks good on paper, but (and if you read my "On Welfare" post, you already know how I feel about it), it is so easy to take advantage of, it encourages laziness and entitlement, and it drains a lot of taxes when America's already in a heap of debt. Don't get me wrong, I think that there needs to be some program for people who can't find work, I just don't think they are entitled to cable T.V. That is a luxury.
Also, the problem that I have with liberal agendas (sometimes conservative ones too, but I notice this happening more with liberal ones), is that they try to make everyone be a certain way. For instance, if I am conservative and I don't agree with being abortions, don't force me to say that abortions are normal or you'll hate me forever. We have enough hate in the world. Does that give me the right to judge someone who has had an abortion? No. But, you have no right to tell me what I need to accept. You're preaching acceptance so much, why can't you accept that we have a difference in opinion and be friends anyway? And I know that conservatives are VERY guilty of trying to make people be a certain way, but the difference I have noticed with liberals, is they turn everything into a political issue. Gay rights, abortion, gun control...none of it is a political issue. You want to go be gay? Be gay! That is your own business. You want an abortion? You know what? That is between you and your doctor. You don't like guns? Don't own one. Takes no effort really, you just don't have to walk into a gun store.
So, please don't think that I am hating on anyone here, I am just trying to understand and articulate my feelings about the general madness that is our country. We need to stop trying to make everyone be a certain way, and unite as Americans.
On Why I Think I Am Right
It has been a long time since I have posted anything. I have been struggling with my own fears, disappointments, and insecurities. I grew tired of the anger I felt roiling in my heart each time I penned a fresh post. I will just say this before continuing to the actual point of this post, that I felt as though I had become exactly what I had been fighting: bitter, selfish people. Though I still believe in everything that I wrote in the past, I feel that there is more that I can bring to the table than just anger. So, without further ado:
Why I Think I am Right
As we all know, many people suffer from the pathetic dilusion that they are always right. Let me be the first to tell you that I am not one of those people, although I do have those days. Do not misinterpret the title of this post. I am not always right. I've made numerous mistakes and plan to make numerous more, and I do not think that everyone should agree with my personal opinions.
HOWEVER...when it comes to politics, I am neither an expert nor involved in any type of politics, but I experience the direct result of what some narrow-minded, self-serving polititian put into legislature every day. What I see happening over and over, is legislation with good intent, but poor research and failure to see the bigger picture.
As you have probably guessed, I am conservative. I am Christian. These one-word identifiers make it easy for people to judge my character, but they know not that they are grossly mistaken. I believe that the government should be minimal. Law enforcement, transportation, education. I do not believe that the government should have any say on gay marriage, abortion (except late term, I will explain that later), prayer in school, healthcare, religion, or personal property. Being gay, for example, is not something that I personally agree with, but I have plenty of friends who are and I love them whether they are gay or not, and I do not believe that I have the right to make someone be a certain way.
This is why I believe that I am right. I can remove my political opinion from my personal and moral opinions, and try to find a middle ground that ensures fairness for everyone. No, there is no solution, no perfect system, but in a country that is known around the world as the land of liberty, it is our inalienable right to pursue our own happiness, and the government should have no say in it. (The only catch being that your pursuit of happiness cannot interfere with someone else's. Like, if you enjoy killing people, sorry, you are SOL. Not okay.) I do not mean to say that I am the only one in the world who can think of a middle ground, please do not think that I am arrogant or rude. I just mean that I will not apologize anymore for my inability to agree with others, but I also aim to stop approaching our political strife with such a negative attitude. True, it is discouraging, but that does not give me the right to spread more hate, more arrogance, and more closed-mindedness into the world. I will try to abide by this realization, but if I disagree with you, please do not think that it is the direct result of closed-mindedness or stubbornness. If I disagree with you, I have thought long and hard about the issue you have presented and found it to be incapable of preserving the freedom of ALL Americans: gays, rednecks, Christians, Witches, conservatives, liberals, students, CEOs....everyone.
So, it is my humble opinion that I am right about this. Feel free to disagree, but don't take away your freedom to do so.
Friday, August 5, 2011
On Welfare
It has been far too long since I have penned my thoughts on this once-great nation. This being said, there is one subject that has been constantly occupying my thoughts. The welfare system of the United States of America is, well to put it bluntly: idiotic. It is just another tax-sucking way that our government has found to coddle its population.
There was a time, my fellow patriots, when Americans had dignity, and not this self-serving sense of entitlement. If a U.S. Citizen was down and out, he or she would work hard to pull themselves up, and if asking for money was absolutely necessary, he or she would ask his or her family for help. Now, I am told that the reason this is not a practice today is because “it’s humiliating.” What? So as a person on welfare, you would rather be a burden to the millions of hardworking taxpayers than to your family who knows and loves you? That’s cowardice. All the government is doing is building a faceless system so people feel better about taking money that isn’t theirs. Call me a cretin, but I think you are supposed to feel bad when you take money that isn’t yours. That’s how it works. That is your good work ethic saying “Don’t freeload!”
Now, I understand that not everyone has a wealthy relative to ask for money. I don’t believe the welfare system should be abolished, I just believe that it should be radically revolutionized, but then again, I am a person who thinks that government should be run like a business and not a babysitting service. I believe that if someone is in need of welfare, then they can have it until they are back on their feet, but as soon as they are, they have to pay all that money back. I am convinced that this practice alone would eliminate about 80% of the people on welfare. If you don’t pay the money back, you go to jail (This makes sense, since not returning money that you borrowed is stealing.). If the government makes being on welfare uncomfortable, people aren’t going to want to stay there like bloated pigs getting iphones and manicures and demanding cable T.V.
I don’t think that you should have everything a middle class family has when you are on welfare. The idea that everyone is entitled to have cable T.V. whether they work for it or not is a very communist idea and it is unfair to the people who worked hard so that they could have cable T.V. If you are on welfare, you shouldn’t have a new house, a cell phone, a fancy manicure, or a new car. You are not entitled to those things, they are the things one earns from working hard. On the other hand, I don’t think that the government should regulate what welfare money is being spent on. As I said before, if people had to pay the money back, they would make things like food and shelter priorities over iphones and Prada bags.
If the welfare system I have proposed were put into action, families would become more humble and develop closer relationships with one another. Families need to depend on one another. It is part of what makes a family so strong. The problem now is that a lot of families are too aloof to help one another. Without the government as a crutch, this would be a smaller issue. Also, there would be a greater sense of community; people would go to churches or public charities if they needed help, not to a suited beaurocracy run by tax-hungry pompous morons. Lastly, taxes would significantly decrease, stimulating the economy and lessening the burden on the middle class families.
Maybe I should end this with “Hope” and “Change” so the idiots will listen too.
There was a time, my fellow patriots, when Americans had dignity, and not this self-serving sense of entitlement. If a U.S. Citizen was down and out, he or she would work hard to pull themselves up, and if asking for money was absolutely necessary, he or she would ask his or her family for help. Now, I am told that the reason this is not a practice today is because “it’s humiliating.” What? So as a person on welfare, you would rather be a burden to the millions of hardworking taxpayers than to your family who knows and loves you? That’s cowardice. All the government is doing is building a faceless system so people feel better about taking money that isn’t theirs. Call me a cretin, but I think you are supposed to feel bad when you take money that isn’t yours. That’s how it works. That is your good work ethic saying “Don’t freeload!”
Now, I understand that not everyone has a wealthy relative to ask for money. I don’t believe the welfare system should be abolished, I just believe that it should be radically revolutionized, but then again, I am a person who thinks that government should be run like a business and not a babysitting service. I believe that if someone is in need of welfare, then they can have it until they are back on their feet, but as soon as they are, they have to pay all that money back. I am convinced that this practice alone would eliminate about 80% of the people on welfare. If you don’t pay the money back, you go to jail (This makes sense, since not returning money that you borrowed is stealing.). If the government makes being on welfare uncomfortable, people aren’t going to want to stay there like bloated pigs getting iphones and manicures and demanding cable T.V.
I don’t think that you should have everything a middle class family has when you are on welfare. The idea that everyone is entitled to have cable T.V. whether they work for it or not is a very communist idea and it is unfair to the people who worked hard so that they could have cable T.V. If you are on welfare, you shouldn’t have a new house, a cell phone, a fancy manicure, or a new car. You are not entitled to those things, they are the things one earns from working hard. On the other hand, I don’t think that the government should regulate what welfare money is being spent on. As I said before, if people had to pay the money back, they would make things like food and shelter priorities over iphones and Prada bags.
If the welfare system I have proposed were put into action, families would become more humble and develop closer relationships with one another. Families need to depend on one another. It is part of what makes a family so strong. The problem now is that a lot of families are too aloof to help one another. Without the government as a crutch, this would be a smaller issue. Also, there would be a greater sense of community; people would go to churches or public charities if they needed help, not to a suited beaurocracy run by tax-hungry pompous morons. Lastly, taxes would significantly decrease, stimulating the economy and lessening the burden on the middle class families.
Maybe I should end this with “Hope” and “Change” so the idiots will listen too.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
On Drilling Alaska and Oil Regulations
With the recent oil leakage in the Gulf, I have been thinking a lot about oil. I think that the long-going dispute over oil illustrates a lot of what is wrong with our country: an unwillingness to compromise among ourselves.
Let us examine the situation. Right now, gas prices are rising again. We are in the middle of a war with the very countries that we import oil from. Instead of tapping our own resources, we are transporting the gas overseas, which increases what our own citizens have to pay for petroleum products.
We are also in the middle of cleaning up this great oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, which is a risk of drilling off shore, instead of drilling on our own soil where it is safer for the environment and for the economy. How much life in the ocean has been affected by this spill? There are only guesstimates, but it is obviously significant enough to cause worry. How much has our economy suffered? I can tell you that the states that border the Gulf have suffered greatly. Fishermen are having a hard time in the Gulf cities and tourism has dropped because no one wants to visit a black oily beach.
According to the USGS in 1998, Alaska had between 5.7 and 16.0 billion barrels of recoverable crude oil. I would say that is a significant amount. Environmentalists do not want to drill this because it is on a wildlife refuge. Well, the wildlife refuge itself is 19,000,000 acres, and the area in question is only 1.5 million acres of that. I know that's a significant chunk, but instead of refusing to drill it altogether, can we not proceed drilling with great caution. On the environmental side, there would be regulations to ensure that the risk was as minimal as possible, and on the economical side, we would be saving money by drilling on our own soil. Instead, the environmentalist are whining because they want all or nothing, and the economists are angry because their interests aren't being considered. This is only one example of the many untapped oil reservoirs that exist in the United States. We have the means to support ourselves as a nation. We shouldn't be leaning on another nation.
So let's face it: America is dependent on oil, so we might as well face it. As terrible and un-green as it sounds, we need to drill oil, and we might as well do it right.
By drilling on our own soil, we would decrease our dependency on the Middle East. That's common sense, you should not be dependent on a country you are at war with. When are forefathers came to America and the British taxed their tea, they boycotted tea. We need the same attitude today. We used to be united as a nation, and our pride was too strong to let anyone tell us how to be. We need to get into that mentality once more if we are going to unite and fix the downward spiral that our country has fallen into.
Drilling our own oil would also create American jobs. A lot of people are out of work right now, and instead of looking for ways to generate revenue, the government is spending more money trying to regulate the oil industry. Instead of supporting Middle Eastern workers, we should be supporting American workers. The people of the Middle East can take care of themselves. We need to take care of ourselves. It's illogical to let our own country suffer to help another country.
Drilling on our own soil would also decrease the risk of spilling oil into the ocean. Oil spills on land would also be a lot easier to control than those on the ocean. On the ocean, strong waves, wind, and storms can carry spilled oil for hundreds of miles. On land, the oil would move much more slowly and it would be easier to contain the spilled material.
As far as I am concerned, the argument that we are preserving wildlife by importing oil and drilling offshore doesn't fly for two reasons. One, we import oil from foreign countries who drill on their own soil. What, the wildlife over there doesn't matter? Two, oil spills in the water can be way more disastrous than those on land, so it confuses me that environmentalists advocate off-shore drilling when this can be the most hazardous.
The environmentalists' response to the oil spill on the Gulf was "we need more regulations." Well, that's not going to help the economy either. The harder you make it for someone to do their job because of all the hoops they have to jump through, the more time they'll take...and, well, time is money. Plus, you can regulate something as much as you want, you aren't going to prevent accidents from happening or disaster striking. You aren't going to prevent people from being idiots either. Sometimes, someone just doesn't do their job. That's a sad fact that we have to face and no amount of regulation is going to fix that. I'm not saying there should be no regulations. On the contrary, but they need to be reasonable.
Environmentalists, economists, put your egos, and your whining, and your political bull cookies behind you. Realize that you are never going to agree completely, but for the good of the country and for the sake of being unified, learn to get along. Find a happy medium. Environmentalists, stop whining because you aren't getting everything you want. Economists, let the environmentalists have their opinions and respect that they wish to keep a wildlife reserve. It's time for the selfishness to end. We are in desperate need of some American spirit.
Let us examine the situation. Right now, gas prices are rising again. We are in the middle of a war with the very countries that we import oil from. Instead of tapping our own resources, we are transporting the gas overseas, which increases what our own citizens have to pay for petroleum products.
We are also in the middle of cleaning up this great oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, which is a risk of drilling off shore, instead of drilling on our own soil where it is safer for the environment and for the economy. How much life in the ocean has been affected by this spill? There are only guesstimates, but it is obviously significant enough to cause worry. How much has our economy suffered? I can tell you that the states that border the Gulf have suffered greatly. Fishermen are having a hard time in the Gulf cities and tourism has dropped because no one wants to visit a black oily beach.
According to the USGS in 1998, Alaska had between 5.7 and 16.0 billion barrels of recoverable crude oil. I would say that is a significant amount. Environmentalists do not want to drill this because it is on a wildlife refuge. Well, the wildlife refuge itself is 19,000,000 acres, and the area in question is only 1.5 million acres of that. I know that's a significant chunk, but instead of refusing to drill it altogether, can we not proceed drilling with great caution. On the environmental side, there would be regulations to ensure that the risk was as minimal as possible, and on the economical side, we would be saving money by drilling on our own soil. Instead, the environmentalist are whining because they want all or nothing, and the economists are angry because their interests aren't being considered. This is only one example of the many untapped oil reservoirs that exist in the United States. We have the means to support ourselves as a nation. We shouldn't be leaning on another nation.
So let's face it: America is dependent on oil, so we might as well face it. As terrible and un-green as it sounds, we need to drill oil, and we might as well do it right.
By drilling on our own soil, we would decrease our dependency on the Middle East. That's common sense, you should not be dependent on a country you are at war with. When are forefathers came to America and the British taxed their tea, they boycotted tea. We need the same attitude today. We used to be united as a nation, and our pride was too strong to let anyone tell us how to be. We need to get into that mentality once more if we are going to unite and fix the downward spiral that our country has fallen into.
Drilling our own oil would also create American jobs. A lot of people are out of work right now, and instead of looking for ways to generate revenue, the government is spending more money trying to regulate the oil industry. Instead of supporting Middle Eastern workers, we should be supporting American workers. The people of the Middle East can take care of themselves. We need to take care of ourselves. It's illogical to let our own country suffer to help another country.
Drilling on our own soil would also decrease the risk of spilling oil into the ocean. Oil spills on land would also be a lot easier to control than those on the ocean. On the ocean, strong waves, wind, and storms can carry spilled oil for hundreds of miles. On land, the oil would move much more slowly and it would be easier to contain the spilled material.
As far as I am concerned, the argument that we are preserving wildlife by importing oil and drilling offshore doesn't fly for two reasons. One, we import oil from foreign countries who drill on their own soil. What, the wildlife over there doesn't matter? Two, oil spills in the water can be way more disastrous than those on land, so it confuses me that environmentalists advocate off-shore drilling when this can be the most hazardous.
The environmentalists' response to the oil spill on the Gulf was "we need more regulations." Well, that's not going to help the economy either. The harder you make it for someone to do their job because of all the hoops they have to jump through, the more time they'll take...and, well, time is money. Plus, you can regulate something as much as you want, you aren't going to prevent accidents from happening or disaster striking. You aren't going to prevent people from being idiots either. Sometimes, someone just doesn't do their job. That's a sad fact that we have to face and no amount of regulation is going to fix that. I'm not saying there should be no regulations. On the contrary, but they need to be reasonable.
Environmentalists, economists, put your egos, and your whining, and your political bull cookies behind you. Realize that you are never going to agree completely, but for the good of the country and for the sake of being unified, learn to get along. Find a happy medium. Environmentalists, stop whining because you aren't getting everything you want. Economists, let the environmentalists have their opinions and respect that they wish to keep a wildlife reserve. It's time for the selfishness to end. We are in desperate need of some American spirit.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
On Being Free
As today is July fourth, I found it appropriate to honor the tradition of celebrating American independence by examining what exactly it means to be free.
Definition of Freedom: 1)the state of being free or at liberty rather than in confinement or under physical restraint. 2)exemption from external control 3)the power to determine action without restraint 4)political or national independence...13)the right to frequent, use, or enjoy at will.
(Webster's College Dictionary. Random House. New York. Copyright 2001)
I suppose this pondering about being free began with a conversation with a Lebanese exchange student. I asked him how he liked America so far, and his answer surprised me. He said "Eh, is okay, but I come from a country where we are free. Here you are not free." This jarred me, because I had always thought that we were a free country.
Are we free? Well, we certainly started out so. As a young country, America had a stable, but small government, and every American citizen was entitled to certain rights. I think the most important ideal that helped shape this country was that every man was equal. By this I mean that every citizen of the United States of America had equal opportunity to pursue his own happiness. Whether this was found in starting a business or participating in politics, each person had the equal opportunity to do so by law. The government simply served as a guide in the least oppressing sense. The government was simply there to protect the rights of its people.
We may still have the rights that we did as a young country on paper, but the power of those rights is dwindling as the freedom to act upon said rights is drowned out by certain restraints of the law. More and more we are oppressed by laws that are seemingly put in place to protect us from ourselves. The intent may be good, but what are we really accomplishing by setting these laws into motion? When a government becomes powerful enough to reach into every aspect of the lives of its citizens, then its power begins to whittle away at the freedom of the people.
My example: Seatbelt and helmet laws. I realize that it is important to be safe while operating fast-moving or heavy equipment, but I still think that it should be up to the individual whether he or she wishes to practice safety. These laws are meant to protect us from ourselves, but what they are doing is taking away our ability to think and act of our own free will. Common sense is a lot less common than it used to be. When the government thinks for us, we lose the ability to think for ourselves. If one chooses not to wear a seatbelt or a helmet, one is also choosing to accept the consequences should he or she crash.
By saying this, I am not advocating all abandonment of safety. In fact, when laws involve the safety of others, I am willing to consider them, but I do not think that it is the government's job to protect me from myself. That is no one's job but mine.
Nor am I saying that it is not practical for a company to require hard-hats for its workers if conditions call for it. But, that is up to the company to create such a policy, and not up to the government. And, if said company has no such policy in place and a worker feels endangered, he or she is FREE to wear equipment that will ensure his or her safety.
I know this is a small issue (helmets and seatbelts), but I think its political status right now illustrates the dwindling freedom of the citizens of this country. It mirrors the larger issues that are threatening our freedom as Americans, such as the new healthcare bill. By socializing medicine, we will no longer be able to choose our own health insurance or our own doctors. That is not freedom.
So I have come to the conclusion that we are not a free country anymore. Yes, our rights (for the time being) are still in place, but they are slowly being overwritten by the government's need to "take care" of everyone.
This made me realize why for the past few years I have felt hollow on Independence Day. We are regressing and becoming the very thing we worked so hard to escape in the American Revolution. Now, I invite all you true patriots to celebrate hope. Hope that one day, we will take back the freedoms that we have lost. Let it fill your hearts this Independence Day and let Freedom ring!
Definition of Freedom: 1)the state of being free or at liberty rather than in confinement or under physical restraint. 2)exemption from external control 3)the power to determine action without restraint 4)political or national independence...13)the right to frequent, use, or enjoy at will.
(Webster's College Dictionary. Random House. New York. Copyright 2001)
I suppose this pondering about being free began with a conversation with a Lebanese exchange student. I asked him how he liked America so far, and his answer surprised me. He said "Eh, is okay, but I come from a country where we are free. Here you are not free." This jarred me, because I had always thought that we were a free country.
Are we free? Well, we certainly started out so. As a young country, America had a stable, but small government, and every American citizen was entitled to certain rights. I think the most important ideal that helped shape this country was that every man was equal. By this I mean that every citizen of the United States of America had equal opportunity to pursue his own happiness. Whether this was found in starting a business or participating in politics, each person had the equal opportunity to do so by law. The government simply served as a guide in the least oppressing sense. The government was simply there to protect the rights of its people.
We may still have the rights that we did as a young country on paper, but the power of those rights is dwindling as the freedom to act upon said rights is drowned out by certain restraints of the law. More and more we are oppressed by laws that are seemingly put in place to protect us from ourselves. The intent may be good, but what are we really accomplishing by setting these laws into motion? When a government becomes powerful enough to reach into every aspect of the lives of its citizens, then its power begins to whittle away at the freedom of the people.
My example: Seatbelt and helmet laws. I realize that it is important to be safe while operating fast-moving or heavy equipment, but I still think that it should be up to the individual whether he or she wishes to practice safety. These laws are meant to protect us from ourselves, but what they are doing is taking away our ability to think and act of our own free will. Common sense is a lot less common than it used to be. When the government thinks for us, we lose the ability to think for ourselves. If one chooses not to wear a seatbelt or a helmet, one is also choosing to accept the consequences should he or she crash.
By saying this, I am not advocating all abandonment of safety. In fact, when laws involve the safety of others, I am willing to consider them, but I do not think that it is the government's job to protect me from myself. That is no one's job but mine.
Nor am I saying that it is not practical for a company to require hard-hats for its workers if conditions call for it. But, that is up to the company to create such a policy, and not up to the government. And, if said company has no such policy in place and a worker feels endangered, he or she is FREE to wear equipment that will ensure his or her safety.
I know this is a small issue (helmets and seatbelts), but I think its political status right now illustrates the dwindling freedom of the citizens of this country. It mirrors the larger issues that are threatening our freedom as Americans, such as the new healthcare bill. By socializing medicine, we will no longer be able to choose our own health insurance or our own doctors. That is not freedom.
So I have come to the conclusion that we are not a free country anymore. Yes, our rights (for the time being) are still in place, but they are slowly being overwritten by the government's need to "take care" of everyone.
This made me realize why for the past few years I have felt hollow on Independence Day. We are regressing and becoming the very thing we worked so hard to escape in the American Revolution. Now, I invite all you true patriots to celebrate hope. Hope that one day, we will take back the freedoms that we have lost. Let it fill your hearts this Independence Day and let Freedom ring!
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