Character

Character is something I don't see to often these days. Call me a crazy, but my Character is one of the most valuable things I have. The reason... on my judgment day I don't want to have to answer for my wrong doings. That is my ultimate fear, loosing my soul. Any consequence I receive for doing the right thing, never seems to great that I would not do the right thing.

Oh, I think about the other side sometimes. I am human and in the past, I have done the wrong thing, ohhhhhhh have I done the wrong thing, but... I learned. I learned that doing the wrong thing not only felt bad, but the consequences were not worth the gain of doing the wrong thing.

So I learned that when I look someone in the eye and tell them I will be there, or I will do something or that they can count on me; I would do anything to do just that. That when someone asks me a question, I will be honest, regardless of what I believe they will think of my answer.

This is the core dysfunction with this country right now. We have allowed to many to do the wrong thing and have rewarded those who do the wrong thing, including our Government. Normally people tell me that I shouldn't expect out of others, what I expect out of myself because I will just be disappointed... that may be the case. But I choose to not just expect, but demand the same from my elected officials. If we all find our Character and hold ourselves accountable, we can do the same for others. We need to get back to a time when your word is your bond and the content of character is your wealth.

I think I understand a little more....

I made a connection this weekend, with a Liberal, if you can believe that :-)

I was talking with a friend who is a self-proclaimed Liberal and I really dove into her beliefs. What she thought about the issues of today, what she thinks are the solutions and I understood her main objective, to make this country and world perfect. Where no one is hungry, everyone lives a long and happy life, no child is unwanted and no one goes without clothing and shelter.

Can I relate to her... YES!

I would want all of that too; the difference... I know that is not reality. She truly believes that through government we can accomplish all of those things. That it is people who are bad and do not want to help others and that the select few who are in power can force charity on others.

The problem is, how do you know the people in power are not subject to the same greed and power hunger the rest of us are? You don't. Power over others is one of the most attractive trait most would want. Unfortunately most do not want that power for good, but for selfish reasons of fame, notoriety and forced adoration.

I on the other hand believe that "The People" have a better moral compass than the Government; in fact I believe the government's compass has been broken for quite some time. The thing is, I believe that the Government running things leaves too much power in the hands of few and that a capitalist Republic, places the power in the hands of the people. Although there may be evils that come with Capitalism, I would never deny that, I think those evils are few compared to the advantage of the system.

I believe what we have to make clear to those who believe "Government knows best" is THAT government does not exist. A limited government is a good government, that the People's Government is the best government. If we can convince them this Utopia does not exist and actually the closet we got to it was under the Founding Fathers of this country. That is how they will accomplish what they want for everyone, is by letting The People be the driving force behind the charity, not the Government.

The way to beat the Progressive Movement is to first understand the progressive Movement.

You know that old saying; "keep your friends close, but your enemies closer." Now I am not suggesting that you make a friend with a Progressive so you know what makes them tick... well actually, yeah that is what I am saying.

My parents are raging Liberals. They choose to believe everything the party on the left says and take it as fact. They never do their own homework and they too have been sucked into the false history most of us have been taught in the public school system and then Progressive colleges.

For years I used to argue with them, until I realized it was never about them listening to me, but trying to convert me and that is when I made a bad decision. I decided to stop listening to them. We would avoid political conversation all together because we just couldn't get along. Tempers would flair and then we would end up having to agree to disagree, but no headway was made on my part or theirs.

But then I made another decision, to start listening to them, not debating, not arguing, just listen to them. How am I to understand the other side when I don't listen to the other side? Through this decision I have deepened my beliefs and broadened my knowledge on what I already knew was true and that is the Conservative point of view. The more I listen the more I learn how they think, the more I realize that most Everyday Progressives are very trusting people and still believe that politicians are people of integrity and trust. When I listen to progressive speak (without interruption from me) Most "facts" they site or the words of politicians, not their actions. The problem is that Progressives place their trust in the wrong people. They place their trust in Governement, in Politicians, I place my trust in the people.

A perfect example... I was talking with a Liberal friend in a conversation, "In the State of The Union Address by President Obama this week, it frustrates me that he thinks that Government creates job. The Government doesn't create jobs; business create jobs. Government can only hinder job production the more they get involved, so they should just get out of the way and let Capitalism work." She stated, "I actually heard him say those exact words, that Businesses create jobs, so he thinks the same way." That’s when I realized we can listen to the exact same speech but because of her "trust" of the politician she heard that statement and then shut off listening after that. What she missed was how directly after that statement, the President explained how Government was going to make it possible for job production and how we need to pass the "Job's Bill" ASAP and have it on his desk (i.e. a 3rd stimulus, but that is a topic for another day). So what I heard was the president is going to say this first statement, so technically he can say he said business create jobs, but in actuality, he want Government to be responsible for creating those jobs, because when they control the job market they control the people.

We think so differently than they do. We really do want what the Founding Fathers laid out for us in the Constitution; a Government of limited powers, to protect the Individual’s inalienable, God-Given rights to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. They didn't include what the Government should do on our behalf, because that is when tyranny can creep in and that is not a free nation.

Just as I research history and just as I look to the past for answers to today’s problems, I am also researching the other side. Talking to people and understanding what makes them tick. Find the different degrees of progressives, Liberals and Radicals. It really is a portal to our understanding on how to defeat those who wish to squash the freedoms our God has granted us.

The Mind Frame of the Everyday Progressive

I had an epiphany over the weekend. My boyfriend was walking our dog at a park. It was in the middle of the day and there was no one at the Park. There was a sign that said keep your dog on a leash and there is a law in the county we live in that all dogs must be on a leash.

The thing is, my boyfriend and I have spent a lot of time training our Dog to be obedient. He stops when we say stop. He stands by our side when we say heal and he doesn't do anything when he is around us, unless we give a command to do it. So when there is no one at the parks, we let the dog run around and get some energy out, fully aware, that if anyone where to come or any situation should arise, the single command of "Come" would put him in a mad dash to be right by our side at the drop of a hat and we would put him on the leash.

So my boyfriend is doing just that, playing with the dog running around the park. The park is placed right next to a school play ground at a school. One of the "Playground Attendants", a gentleman, yells at my boyfriend, "Hey, put that Dog on a leash!" My Boyfriend hears this and chooses to ignore it because like I said, we have thought out the letting the dog run off the leash and we figure we have it covered and are responsible owners and know that nothing will happen to anyone or the Dog because of our responsibility to train our dog. The man proceeds to yell at my Boyfriend, in front of the children on the playground.

At this point all of the Children are looking at the my Boyfriend and the Dog, and my Boyfriend responds back, "Why don't you mind your own business, obviously he is trained and obedient and we are doing no one any harm, in fact I just walked around and picked up other people's dog droppings to clean the park up. So they way I see it, I am helping here not hindering.” The man begins to yell at him about the law and some colorful language was exchanged and it resulted in the Playground Attendant calling into the School office to call a cop out to give my Boyfriend a ticket for having a dog off a leash. At that point my Boyfriend said, "You have spent about 20 minutes trying to get my attention and making a spectacle out of me, when for that 20 minutes you have not been watching the children. Something could have happened to one of them, and because you are so worried about policing me, someone who does not need it because I am a responsible pet owner, you have neglected your duties that are much more important." Long story short my boyfriend walked the dog home and nothing happened.

But isn’t that the mind frame of the “Everyday Progressive”. They want to make laws to regulate us and they want to spend and waste an exurbanite amount of time enforcing those laws, all the while they are neglecting the very things we should be watching and keeping safe. They believe know what is better for us then what we do. They feel the need to tell us what is better for us and think we are incapable of taking care of ourselves. They also tend to leap before they look. If that gentleman would have watched my Boyfriend and our Dog for even a little while, he would have seen that my Boyfriend had full control over the dog at all times. That there was no one else at the park and it was just a dog and an owner having a fun time together. Instead he felt the need to neglect his duties as a "Playground Attendant" and try to police something that didn't need policing.

The funny part of the story is when we went to go and pick up our niece and nephew that live with us, from that very school, the man recognized my boyfriend and proceeded to follow him to his car and take down his license plate number. What would be the need of that? That is just as the progressives do. If they cannot beat at reason, because their reasoning is usually unreasonable, they try to find other ways to retaliate. And use the laws they help create to do it. Don’t get me wrong, I know there are some crazy dog owners out there who shouldn’t have their dogs off a leash, I have seen them. But I don’t believe my right as a responsible pet owner should be taken away because of a couple stupid people.

The point is they put themselves on a pedestal, that they are smarter than the majority. It is funny that they have been given the title of the "People's Party" when they are anything but. They think so little of us, which they feel we need to be told what to eat, how to live, what to drive, what temp to keep our house at, what kind of health insurance we should have, etc. etc.

The difference is, they underestimate "We The People". I know if we rise up together, we will tell these people, you can do what you want and I will never tell you how to run your life... But I'll be damned if you tell me how to run mine!

Ronald Reagan's 1961 speech on the perils of socialized medicine

"Now back in 1927 an American socialist, Norman Thomas, six times candidate for president on the Socialist Party ticket, said the American people would never vote for socialism. But he said under the name of liberalism the American people will adopt every fragment of the socialist program.

There are many ways in which our government has invaded the precincts of private citizens, the method of earning a living. But at the moment I'd like to talk about another way because this trip is with us and at the moment is more imminent.

One of the traditional methods of imposing statism or socialism on a people has been by way of medicine. It’s very easy to disguise a medical program as a humanitarian project. Most people are a little reluctant to oppose anything that suggests medical care for people who possibly can't afford it.

Now, the American people, if you put it to them about socialized medicine and gave them a chance to choose, would unhesitatingly vote against it. We had an example of this. Under the Truman administration it was proposed that we have a compulsory health insurance program for all people in the United States, and, of course, the American people unhesitatingly rejected this.

So with the American people on record as not wanting socialized medicine, Congressman Ferrand said, if we can only break through and get our foot inside the door, they can we can expand the program after that. Well, let's see what the socialists themselves had to say about it. They say once the Ferrand bill is passed, this nation will be provided with a mechanism for socialized medicine capable of indefinite expansion in every direction until it includes the entire population. Well, we can't say we haven't been warned.

James Madison in 1788, speaking to the Virginia Convention said: “Since the general civilization of mankind, I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachment of those in power, than by violent and sudden usurpations.”

Now in our country under our free enterprise system, we have seen medicine reach the greatest heights that it has in any country in the world. Today, the relationship between patient and doctor in this country is something to be envied any place. The privacy, the care that is given to a person, the right to chose a doctor, the right to go from one doctor to the other.

But let’s also look from the other side, at the freedom the doctor loses. A doctor would be reluctant to say this. Well, like you, I am only a patient, so I can say it in his behalf. The doctor begins to lose freedoms; it’s like telling a lie, and one leads to another. First you decide that the doctor can have so many patients. They are equally divided among the various doctors by the government. But then the doctors aren’t equally divided geographically, so a doctor decides he wants to practice in one town and the government has to say to him you can’t live in that town, they already have enough doctors. You have to go someplace else. And from here it is only a short step to dictating where he will go.

This is a freedom that I wonder whether any of us have the right to take from any human being.

In this country of ours, took place the greatest revolution that has ever taken place in world’s history. The only true revolution. Every other revolution simply exchanged one set of rulers for another. But here for the first time in all the thousands of years of man’s relation to man, a little group of the men, the founding fathers for the first time – established the idea that you and I had within ourselves the God given right and ability to determine our own destiny.

This freedom was built into our government with safeguards. We talk democracy today. And strangely we let democracy begin to assume the aspect of majority rule is all that is needed. Well, majority rule is a fine aspect of democracy, provided there are guarantees written in to our government concerning the rights of the individual and of the minorities.

What can we do about this? Well, you and I can do a great deal. We can say right now that we want no further encroachment on these individual liberties and freedoms and that you demand the continuation of our traditional free enterprise system. You and I can do this. The only way we can do it is by writing to our congressmen, even if we believe that he's on our side to begin with, write to strengthen his hand. Write those letters now. Call your friends and tell them to write. If you don't, this program, I promise you, will pass just as surely as the sun will come up tomorrow. And behind it will come other federal programs that will invade every area of freedom as we have known it in this country... until one day as Norman Thomas said, we will awake to find that we have socialism. And if you don't do this and if I don't do it, one of these days you and I are going to spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it once was like in America when men were free."

This is just a tatic, don't lose focus!

I am embarrassed it has taken me this long to post! But, that's what niece and nephew living with you and two jobs create...not enough time for much else :-)

I just had to talk about what is going on right now with healthcare and the "Climate Summit" in Copenhagen. They are doing what we have heard they were going to do and that is overwhelming the system. They are a’mping up their tactics and their threats as the time to make the decision draws near.

Think about how the they are making several amendments to the healthcare bill in the Senate right now. They will do anything to get their bill passed, their "foot in the door" because once they do, they are going to barrel through that door with whatever they want.

If they make so many amendments that we cannot keep up with the changes, it becomes too much to keep track and they will confuse those they want to vote yes. It is a slide of hand trick and I pray it won't work. It is a tactic, no doubt. We, along with our elected officials need to recognize.

That is what they have to do, they have to have strategies, they have to use tactics, because if they were up front and honest about what they wanted, we would never go for it.

Think about what they are saying in Copenhagen... Gore is stating that there will be no ice caps by 2014... that's only 4 years away??? A pretty bold prediction if you ask me. One might question why he would make such a prediction, when we all know it isn’t the case. Because they just need their foot in the door. If they can convince people that they must act right this second, then it doesn’t matter if it actually comes true. They got their Climate regulation and I guarantee they won’t give us our $ back if they turn out to be wrong. The thing is, he will say anything now, including lies, to get it passed now. Because if it doesn’t pass now, it most likely will not for a very long time…so what do they have to loose… Nothing. This is another tactic. The must rush it through so we do not have time to think. I say we don’t pass a thing until we have time to think. Just a little thing I remember our Founding Fathers encouraging us to do and that is thinking for ourselves.

I don't think the words Thank You are enough

The fact there is only a day for the Brave Men and Women who fight, have fought and paid the ultimate price for our freedoms, seems a shame to me. These brave soldiers give their entire lives, for many years at a time, so I can go buy groceries or be able to work and spend time with my family. Many of them will be working a 12 hour shift or longer, when we will be sitting at a table with our families on Thanksgiving. Or when we get to wake up to a tree full of presents underneath, they will be waking up on a cot and hoping they have enough water in a bottle to be able to brush their teeth. They don't just give their time, that time they spend would be unbearable to most, yet they do it with honor and bravely go out day-in-day-out knowing very well, they may not come home.

These men and women don’t just deserve a thank you or a facebook status update thanking them. We owe them our time and our appreciation. Even if all you can do is send a soldier a letter, or care package or if you can raise money to send troops items they need, anything helps. I think we all need to take the time to realize that someone else gave up his or her daily lives in comfort, so I can have mine. Please, find an organization; find a way to help them out. Because even if we can bring them just a glimmer of home while they are over seas or just a little happiness, we must.

(I actually became a Soldier's Angel: http://www.soldiersangels.org/ It is an organization that just gives you a soldier's address and you commit to writing them once a week and sending a care package once a month. It is more than worth the time and the effort is small. Please join and help a soldier's moral today)

Think outside the box

I was talking with a friend last night that categorizes himself as a Republican. Talking with him on Politics gives me new perspective on my own views. I don't think I am Republican. I would have considered myself a Republican when Reagan was president, yes, I do believe a lot of my views were in line with the Republicans in the 80's, but today… I am having a hard time associating with the party. Why?? Because I do not believe they are holding true to their values, but I believe they left me, not the other way around.

But in my conversation with my friend I realized that today’s Republicans actually have a hard time thinking "outside the box". My friend proceeded to tell me that Romney was going to be our ticket to a republican in office after Obama and we need to put our support behind him to get Obama out of office.

I was listening to Glenn Beck the other day and I heard him say something to the effect that for the last couple decades we have been voting for the lesser of two evils, that is more than true. I have never voted for a candidate for as long as I have been voting because I believed in him. I just believed that he was not as bad as the other guy. For so long we have been voting, I have been voting that way. I have heard the term, “lesser of the two evils” hundreds of times in the past elections and you know what, I am tired of it.

Why do we have to only pick the lesser of the two evils? Why can't we have a choice of 2 qualified candidates that actually believe the views and will vote the views of the country? Why can't we demand that our candidates be held responsible for their actions? Why can’t WE hold them accountable to what we want them to vote? The thing is we can, but we just expect other to do the dirty work. But how can we do it?

The first step is we need to squash the media that tears apart new candidates just because they are viewed as a threat to those in office. The Obama campaign was a great example as to why we need to stop watching these news stations, even if they are the only new stations left, we cannot let them have our money and lie to us at the same time. We need to start to do our own homework and be our own watchdogs for this country. We have to bury them or make them see we will no longer accept smear campaigns like those forged against Sarah Palin during the 2008 Presidential election.

We also need to take detailed notes on what is promised by candidates in the campaign and then hold them to it once they get into office. I have emailed my Senators and Representatives videos of them promising one thing and then doing another and telling them I will not vote for them or support them if they continue to lie to me and my fellow constituents. I then email as many people as I can find and post information to show they are not keeping their promises. It is hard to deny videos (although they can claim the are edited… right???)

Can you imagine if we all did that, what a difference it would make? Think about it. If you constantly catch a child doing something wrong and you call them on it every time; they begin to think you are watching every move they make. When in fact you can't watch every move, but they are always aware that you may catch them and the punishment isn't worth the risk. We must do that with our politicians; treat them as children, because quite frankly they act like children.

So that brings me back to Romney... I choose not to throw my support behind him because it looks like he could win; I choose to throw my support behind a candidate I believe in. When I told my friend that Romney was about as political and shady as Obama in my opinion. He would never give a straight answer in the debates or when questioned and he actual tried to say that his Mormon faith would have no bearing on any decision he would make as President. That statement alone pretty much ensures he would never receive my vote. Last time I checked I am a Christian before I am an American and if I were President, my faith would be involved in every decision that I make. When I had made that statement to my friend, he said, "Well of course his faith would play a role, he just says that to make the homosexual community and abortion community happy, but once he gets into office he will do what he wants, they all do."

I believe that statement is what is wrong with this country. How can we ever get back to the America that was founded when we allow politicians, right or left, act in this manner. They can lie to us to get in, but once they get in, I know they will do what they want.

Is it too much to ask that I demand a candidate that tells me what they are going to do and then do it when they are in office? Is it too much to ask of us to not criticize every little aspect of a candidate’s life, because as we all know we are not perfect, right? I just want honesty. I want a person who will own up to their mistakes. To me if someone has made a mistake, I do not judge them on the mistake, I tend to look at how they handle the mistake, what they learned from it and how they have moved on from it. To me that is a measure of a person's character, not the mistake it's self.

We need to come back to being human beings and we need to, as American Citizens, demand our leaders be those with integrity and with morals and with faith, otherwise this country we know, will be lost. It will not be lost because of what the Politicians have done to it, it will be lost because we did not hold them accountable and because we didn’t think outside the box they created. Think like our Founding Fathers; dream the dream of a better Nation. We need to draw from their strength, they were against all odds, but because they were a Nation Under God, they prevailed and as bleak as it may look, if we return to that thought, a Nation Under God, this country will be what it once was.

The entitlement generation

I am not a parent. Nor do I want to be. But, our family needed help and my boyfriend and I took in his niece and nephew to our home full-time until their Mom could get back on her feet. Boy have I learned a lot about the world of children. I give it to you parents, it is a bit over whelming at first. Trying to teach them right, making sure you keep up with what they being taught in school and that it is what you want them taught, etc, etc. Wow, it is more than another full-time job that is for sure. But also what I have learned is that the world of children is much different today then it was when I was a kid and I was a kid not too long ago.

I have noticed two things, kids thought process is the same... they still want the latest stuff, they still want to be the cool kid and they still want to use toys and clothes and material things to do it. I remember asking my Mom for stuff, wanting Guess jeans or Stussey t-Shirts, but there was a difference…My Mother told me no. Things like that were a luxury we couldn’t afford and the famous saying was, "You don’t need things to be happy. You'll learn that what you have even now is much more than you need." I remember that lesson and I have decided to heed that advice in my life. And I believe it is the key to my happiness.

The difference with today's children isn’t the children; it's the Parents. The parents don’t say no, they say yes. Even if the Parents can't afford it, they still give it to their children and what does that teach them; It's ok to be in debt to have the things you want. Which is the key to unhappiness. We are teaching our children that it is ok to be in debt, it is ok to be a slave to that debt and it is ok to live your life to acquire things. Which, user in the nanny state and that’s where you get the following of the socialist movement by young people that is disguising it’s self as democracy.

What happened to saving for something before you got it? Instead people put it on a credit card because they want it now. Then Parents act shocked that their kids want things now…well that would be because you are showing them that is the way to act. The single best parenting tool is to live the word you preach. If I don’t think my children should lie, then I shouldn’t lie. If I want my kids to be respectful of people then I need to show that respect and appreciation so they will learn it based on my actions. The "Do as I say not as I do" approach to Parenting will never work.

But parents just don't care, they want things, so both parents work out of the home so they can afford things, instead of living more modestly and having one parent stay at home. People have children out of wedlock and then separate and the broken home becomes the norm.

We, the adults, are to blame for this mess we are in and the entitlement generation. We have taught our children to expect things. No chores, no contributing, they just get money; they just get things when we feel like we want to buy their love. How about making them earn it, making time with them instead of giving them something to make up for our lack of time with them. Spending some time getting to know your children and creating that bond instead of handing over an Ipod or new Iphone would mean so much more.

I know one thing, I may not be a favorite Aunt by not giving the niece and nephew things, but they will grow up better kids because I would have given them something more valuable then any item, love and time. That is the best gift of all. If our country turned back to some old school values, we would be the country we once were, but until we take responsibility for what we have done to this generation it will never change.

It's been a while...

So I haven't posted in a while and I have a great reason. I am no longer awarded bonuses at my job because of the failing economy and I took on a second job to make up for the lost income. Then we learned that we needed to help my boyfriend's sister out by taking his niece and nephew in to our home full-time. So needless to say, my time is pretty short now... but that got me to thinking. I made the decision to find another job and within 2 weeks, I found a great second job and I make great money doing it. My employer told me after I had started they were happy to have found me, because they were having a hard time finding applicants for the place... yeah, you heard me right. They couldn't find someone to even apply. So I thought to myself, why, when so many people are "hurting" in this economy, how could an employer not find an employee?

Then it came to me, it isn’t that people don't want a job, they just don't want to have to work once they get the job. The job I am doing is a server and I have to do most everything when I am there, even clean the toilets when my shift is done. People just don’t want to do that; living on government funds is a much easier route.

I had a friend who decided to go on unemployment and food stamps after they lost their job and they said, with all the government benefits for those out of work, they were able to make bills, feed their kids and not have to work. They could stay home all day. They however, have pride and don't want to continue living that way, but many people are finding out, hey... I don't have to work and I can make pretty good money.

The sad part is, it is never enough. Those who work for their money can be satisfied with less. When you have to part with your money that you worked long and hard for, you tend to think about the purchase. Is it a "want" or is it a "need". Can I make due with what I have, do I really need to buy this right now, etc, etc? But if you are given money, you tend to not ask those questions, because it isn't your money, so just spend it. That is how the system fails us. The fact that government funding can become a way of life is disgusting. If you can work, you should. I don’t care if you flip burgers, if you pick up trash, if you are the guy who cleans the sewers, if those are the only jobs that are out there, then take them, until something else better comes along if that's what it takes.

People ask me, so your salary got cut huh, that's why you're working a 2nd job? I say no, I am working a second job because I want to be able to save money every month, so I am not racking up debt and I will have a retirement at some point in my life. But people don't grasp that concept, they genuinely look at me, why kill yourself for your retirement and savings?? I say, because I only want to depend on me for what I need. That way if something happened to my jobs or health, I have money to support myself, not expect someone else to do it. That is one of the many things wrong with this entitlement generation and I fear it will only get worse.