New Random Thoughts

Some random thoughts on our passing scene, political and otherwise:
 
Nothing illustrates superficiality of our times better than enthusiasm for electric cars. They are supposed to greatly reduce air pollution but the electricity that powers them has to be generated somewhere. Nearly half our electricity is generated by burning coal but the Fed. Dept. of Energy is wasting our taxes by not learning how to burn coal cleaner.
 
The 2012 Republican primaries may be a rerun of the 2008 primaries where various conservative candidates split the vote so many ways the mushy candidate of the middle got the nomination then lost the election. Conservatism wins when it is tried.
 
Morality doesn't always prevail but many intelligentsia act as if it has no effect. We still have laws against murder, rape, theft, etc. on the books but those crimes still occur. Of all the arguments for giving amnesty to illegal immigrants, the most foolish is that we can't find and expel all of them. There is not a law on the books that someone has not violated and we certainly have not found and prosecuted all violators whether murderers or traffic law. Do we then legalize all illegalities we've not been able to detect and prosecute?
 
If you don't like growing older, don't worry about it. You may not be growing older much longer.
 
When someone steals someone else's money secretly, it's theft, by force - robbery, but when politicians take people's money in taxes to give to those more likely to vote for them, it's "Social Justice."
 
When organizations have their decisions made by committees, more influence is given those having most time available to attend meetings and to drag out each meeting longer. In other words, influence of those who work is lessened, while those who don't become more influential.
 
Anyone studying history should note how much more often people on the political left denigrate and demonize those who disagree with them -- instead of answering their arguments.
 
The wisest and most knowledgeable human being on the planet is utterly incompetent to make even 10 percent of the consequential decisions required of a modern nation yet all sorts of people want to decide how much money other people can make or keep and to micro-manage how other people live their lives.
 
Real egalitarians are not people wanting to redistribute wealth, but those who want our poor to have the ability to create their own wealth, to lift themselves up, instead of tearing others down earning self-respectwhich is always better than being a parasite.
 
In the 1920s, Congressman Thomas S. Adams referred to "the ease with which the income tax may be legally avoided" but also said some Congressmen "so fervently believe that the rich ought to pay 40 or 50 per cent of their incomes" in taxes that they would rather make this a law, even if the government would get more revenue from a lower tax rate that people actually pay. Some also prefer class warfare politics that brings in votes, if not revenue.
 
Can you imagine a man who had never run any kind of organization, large or small, taking it upon himself to fundamentally change all kinds of organizations in a huge and complex economy? Yet that is what Barack Obama did when he said, "We are going to change the United States of America!" This was not "The Audacity of Hope." It was the audacity of hype. As the Bumper sticker says,"If Obama was the answer, how stupid was the question?"
The economic stimulus pipeline from Washington to the states is about to run dry. Many governors will ask their legislatures, or voters, to raise taxes for "essential" programs. To government, all programs are "essential."
 
California voters are likely to vote in November on raising taxes. California is certifiably insolvent, deep in debt because Democratic politicians won't stop spending, not because taxpayers aren't paying their "fair share."  Are we next? We hear state governments have cut spending to the bone and disaster will occur if more is cut. It's never true, but fear works to squeeze more money out of the people who earn it. True, Medicaid continues to be the main driver behind state spending, but that's a reason for fixing what ails Medicaid, not pouring more money into it.
All government should be regularly audited by outside auditors whose sole interest should be saving taxpayers money. Any program or agency that wastes money ought to be updated or eliminated. If taxpayers don't force government at state and federal levels to go on a diet, the bloating will only continue to the detriment of our economic health. Politicians are incapable of auditing themselves.
 
Recently Christmas has brought holiday cheer and attacks on the very word "Christmas" chasing it from institutions and most "holiday cards." Like many social crusades, this is based on a lie that the Constitution puts a wall of separation between church and state. It also shows how easily intimidated we are by strident zealots. This mockery and hatred of Christmas testifies not only to the character of those engaging in it but speaks about who is winning the culture war for the soul of America.
 
Not long ago, the Supreme Court (1892) and three U.S. presidents -- Woodrow Wilson, Harry Truman and Jimmy Carter -- all declared America to be a "Christian nation."As late as 1990, 85 percent of all Americans described themselves as Christians. How did America's Christians allow themselves to be dispossessed of a country their fathers had built for them? The question for Christians is simple: Do they have what it takes to take America back?
 
 PL Booth, The Blue Eye View of MO, 12-27-11

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