During my life, I have gradually developed a set of things that I believe. As a young person, I received very little in the way of help in developing these beliefs. In general, as a young person I never considered these things to be important. But somewhere along the line, I determined that what I wanted to be was an educated man, and that I wanted to make things, and be successful in business, and to have a happy, healthy, emotionally sound family. As a result, I gradually began to develop things I believe in. Following is a very truncated list of things I believe in. I add and subtract from things I believe in all of the time, and alter it based on things I learn and experience. The reason I have put this list forward is that these beliefs form the basis for my position on most issues. At the moment I am struggling to understand why some people take the positions that they do, as it seems to indicate that their belief set is extremely dissimilar to mine, and so I am confused. I welcome your comments and additions to this list.
I believe:
– in the general decency of the American people
– in the US form of government
– in the resilience of the American people
– in the obligation to conduct business honestly and with integrity
– that if one of my employees has the courage to ask me the question I need to have the courage to respond honestly
– in education
– in education for its own sake
– that the country needs to improve its education in the sciences, math, and engineering
– that governments should not fund college educations in the arts, but should funnel the money into science, math, and engineering
– that the general decency of the American people is being eroded by a growing welfare state
– that each person must be responsible for their own actions
– that each person should be responsible for meeting the costs of their retirement and old age
– in family
– in telling my children and my wife that I love them every day
– in becoming a better person each day
– in acting within the law
– in personal financial responsibility
– in spending less than you earn
– in paying your debts
– in staying debt free, except for financing an education and buying a home
– that building things is a noble pursuit
– in writing my representatives demanding change
– in books
– in reading every day
– in learning something every day
– in peaceful, lawful protest
– in protecting the weak
– in respecting the aged
– in loyalty to one’s family and friends
– in charity
– in being kind to animals
– in leaving a positive future for my children
– that making a profit is a good thing
– in capitalism
– in being polite to those providing me service
– that being rich is not a sin
– that being poor is not a sin
– in buying American-made
– that unions suck
– that everyone should have to pay taxes
– that we pay too much tax
– that the government spends too much
– that we should not be policing the world
– that we should secure our borders
– a man’s word is his bond
– in hard-work
– in no excuses
– in good planning
– in living life so that when I look back I will have no regrets
And this list goes on and on. Thanks for reading.
Colma Rising: I have been popping in to read what’s up. Admin is my favorite author and his point of view is, IMHO invaluable. I’ve also got a book agent who wants my proposal, so I’ve had no time to really blog.
PIG from Portugal
I tend to think markets should be free. But the when I go to buy apple juice at the grocery store I discover the nutritiousness all american Apple Juice is made from Chinese concentrates, bottled in Mexico with Mexican water into a plastic containers made in Taiwan and shipped to the USA. Some how that doesn’t seem right. This apple juice assembled in mexico using products shipped and imported from the four corners of the earth and then reshipped to the USA and re-re shipped allover the place to grocery stores seems like a real waste of energy when we can grow apples right here in the USA.
LLPOH says:
flash – you are the reason I wrote this. You read into it what you want to. I neither said nor implied any such thing. As a matter of fact have said many times that I squeak like mad when things are being shoved down my throat. Sometimes I have even won – at a cost, undeniably. But it can be done. But we are a people of laws, and we have a government that is supposed to be working for the greater good.
I’m the reason …LMAO…Am I also the reason you post “how great thou art, leviathan” 24/7 all while running a mfg business full time.How many people post under the pseudonym LLPOH?Ten?
I was plant manger of a mfg business and hadn’t the time to eat a sandwich much less post inane pro corporatism /crony capitalism/faux freedom worship bullshit 24/7.
How do you do you do it?
As for this form of government, which currently still masquerades Republicanism , but since the days of at least Andrew Jackson have been by the corporate for the corporate instituting wars and debt slavery for one and all across the globe.
The laws are what some corporate owned assholes in black ropes appointed by the corporate whore of the executive and legislative sewer say they are, regardless mine , yours or any other slack jawed Americans’ consent.
There is no consent of the governed. We get the forced choice between fascsit on the right or socialist supported by fascist money on the left.
People build their belief systems based on their personal needs and desires and you’re no different.
That said , please don’t presume to know what I believe based on a the few comments I post.
To save you the stress and maybe prevent you from busting as staitch in your sewed up-tight corporate ass, I’ ll tell you what my beliefs are.
My beliefs are simple. I believe in two things,God and leave people the fuck alone to live ,die, fail, succeed or be reborn all of their own choosing.
.
Of course there is much more than can be handled in one comment rant , but e.g.when a man’s property is respected as his own and not subject to a yearly tribute to the imperial court , then I’ll admit that we as a nation made a step toward individual liberty,but locally I see one neighbor after another falling behind on property tax and hear local representatives of the county’s thugacracy labeling these people deadbeats and forcefully evicting them from their homes.
The current system of buying and selling government is corrupt and archaic and favors those who have the cash to buy influence .It sorely needs an update and a hardy fumigation to rid it’s halls and courts of the vermin infestation therein.
This nation was far better off under the loose agreement the states had under the Articles of Confederation than the false consent of the governed as misrepresented in the US Constitution.
Really , how many people gave their consent for to be taxed , thrust into war , imprisoned and murdered at the hands of one central authority masquerading as representative government.
Representative of whom? Those with the money to buy the vote?
At least ,under state rule, one had the option of moving to another state if the government became intolerable.Now we have to move to another country to find even a semblance of freedom as many on TBP advocate.
Indeed the federal system of government is so desirable that to enjoy it fully one must move to another country and observe the glorious workings of democracy from afar.
Does that work for you?It doesn’t for me.
When you have a wart on your ass that makes it painful to sit, you don’t tape a cushion over it to sit, you cut the damn thing off.Sure, there’s a certain amount of pain involved , but the relief received is worth it…
The answer to out of control Federal corruption is the Tenth Amendment and in fact is the only remedy currently available.
I advocate that the people only vote in state elections and let their elected state representatives pick the POTUS or not .It should be up to the states whether they want membership in all powerful centralized government.
Can anyone honestly point to a benevolent and limited model of centralized government anywhere in the world.
Oh, that The Fourth Reich aka Euro-pain Gewerkschaft is the model of democracy you say and that’s why the United Fascists of Amerika welded our economy at the hip with the EU , using money borrowed from another Centralized totalitarian powerhouse,Communist China.
A the circle narrows until one day we wake up under the all seeing benevolent cover of one world , one government , one bank. Oh joy! The system works, loopy .I get all weepy when I hear you sing it’s praises.
You may think we as a nation are headed up hill, but from my position all see is a sled fools of easily lead dupes headed down a greased hill toward a pit full of man eating tigers.
Calhoun knew it ages before we were born.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/dilorenzo/dilorenzo182.html
Moreover, it is a “great mistake,” Calhoun wrote, to suppose that “the mere insertion of provisions to restrict and limit the powers of the government, without investing those for whose protection they are inserted, with the means of enforcing their observance, will be sufficient to prevent the major and dominant party from abusing its powers” (emphasis added). The party “in possession of the government” will always be opposed to any and all restrictions on its powers. They “will have no need of these restrictions” and “would come, in time, to regard these limitations as unnecessary and improper restraints and endeavor to elude them . . .”
The “part in favor of the restrictions” (i.e., strict constructionists) would inevitably be overpowered. It is sheer folly, Calhoun argued, to suppose that “the party in possession of the ballot box and the physical force of the country, could be successfully resisted by an appeal to reason, truth, justice, or the obligations imposed by the constitution” (emphasis added). He predicted that “the restrictions [of government power in the Constitution] would ultimately be annulled, and the government be converted into one of unlimited powers.” He was right, of course.
The key to true freedom is no central control.
http://home.earthlink.net/~gfeldmeth/chart.art.html
The Hambi article is fabulous. I always enjoy re-reading it.
But this part is ridicules;
“Can you drive a motor vehicle across this ‘free’ country without someone in government approving of you as a driver?”
That’s fucking nuts! What is he suggesting? Hand out drivers licenses like free candy?
Not sure why you’re always up llpoh’s ass, but that’s between you and him. It’s just weird … to hate on someone over the internet.
Stucky says:
“Can you drive a motor vehicle across this ‘free’ country without someone in government approving of you as a driver?”
That’s fucking nuts! What is he suggesting? Hand out drivers licenses like free candy?
He’s implying that you have no freedom to travel unless duly action via state approved license.
And frankly if you has indeed read any of my posts directed at loppy and his essays, you would find most if not all positive……the championing of the current form government is just one area in which we happen disagree.
I don’t hate anyone on TBP or anywhere else for that matter.I hate some vile institutions and hope for change, but people…..nah….most of my friends are maroons.
WP fucks up entire sentences by automatically changing words it thinks are misspelled , even if the spelling is deliberately changed ……damn you wordpress.
Flash – you said “I was plant manger of a mfg business and hadn’t the time to eat a sandwich”. I have done the hard yards – and now I have someone do those yards for me. I watch. I long ago learned that it isn’t always the hours you work but how good you are at using the ones you do work. I make my money from less than 1% of the time spent. It is those things that I can do that others cannot that makes my business succesful. I hire someone to do the other 99% of the stuff.
My comment re “you are the reason…” is because I get sick and tired of people attributing stuff to me that I have never said and implied. I put this together to try to give background.
The issue that I mention above – I get paid for the 1% I can do that others cannot – when discussing the OWS movement and their 99% claim, I think this question needs to be answered. Just how much is someone like me worth? How much should I get paid? I take the risk and I have unique skils. Without me, or someone like me, the business would die very quickly indeed, and 100 jobs, plus the multiplier effect throughout my supplier base and the community, would be lost. How much is that worth? Should I get double the salary of my employees? Five times? Ten times? A hundred times? Without the skills of certain 1%ers, we would be fucked indeed.
Bruce – what I believe is not what I am, and saint is not one of the things I am. I have enough character flaws to fill a very large book.
Davos – glad you are lurking. Really.
PIg from Portugal – I won’t debate the definition of capitalism with you – whatever you want is close enough by me. But the buy American belief is in support of my country, and in support of its citizens. It is a free choice that I make. Which is what capitalism is all about, as you said – a free market. So I can buy what I like from whomever I like. No contradiciton in there at all from where I sit. I like to buy stuff made by an American, a Canadian, A Brit, an Australian, a Portugese, a German, etc. far in preference to goods made in Asia or Mexico, as buying from those low cost nations is driving manufacturing out of the developed world and will ultimately end in tears for us.