Colin Powell is WRONG

According to a recent article on an Atlantic Media page, Colin Powell recently said that "Americans do want to pay taxes for services. Americans are looking for more government in their life, not less."

I hate to tell you this, Mr. Powell, but you are wrong. Certainly you do not speak for ME. And I am an American, and I used to be a strong Republican.

I do NOT want to pay taxes for services. I not NOT want more government in my life. I want LESS GOVERNMENT.

The reason I have left the Republican Party is because they were all for bigger government, not smaller. The government is way too big already.

I want Smaller Government, Lower Taxes, and More Freedom.

Right to Religion - of OUR Choice...

It always amazes me that many Christians are Republicans.

I understand that perhaps the Republican party "champions" the Religious Right. But the Libertarian actually is the party that stands for religious freedom.

So, while the Republicans are going to support what Christians want FOR NOW, what about if Christianity becomes the minority religion? As long as the majority favors what you want, you can be in charge. But what about when the majority DOESN'T favor what you want? Then, would you not want the freedom to practice whatever religion you chose?

Our Founding Fathers of this country specifically did not want the Church to become involved with the State, or Government. You must remember that the early Americans DID NOT WANT the government to be able to tell them what religion they had to practice. At the time the government of England wanted them to practice a religion that they did not agree with.

So, it is a FREEDOM, and even though you may not be persecuted for your religious choice right now, you need to fight to preserve that freedom. Freedom of Religion. You may practice whatever religion you choose. But you may NOT tell me how to think or what to believe. Just as I can't tell you what to think or how to believe.

We, as Libertarians, are not arguing for YOUR RELIGION, we are arguing for YOUR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM.

The government doesn't have any business poking their noses in our FREEDOM. Once they do, you lose the right to choose.

Smaller Government. A good thing.

Moochers in our Lives Today

If you have ever visited this blog before, you will know that I absolutely love the book Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.

In the book, there is one Moocher in particular, James Taggart, president of the Taggart Transcontinental Railroad.

He is a Moocher because even though he is in a position of power, the railroad company is actually run by Dagny Taggart, Vice President of Operations. James is the ultimate Moocher. He won't take a stand on anything, expecting Dagny to make all the decisions. When the decisions work out well, he takes the credit. When he thinks they might turn out badly, he insists that she take the responsibility. When the railroad company starts to lose money, he blames it on everything and everyone but himself. "Economic conditions are terrible," he cries.

In fact, the James Taggart character in the book sounds sooo much like our politians and big company CEOs today that it gives me the creeps to realize that the book was first published in 1957.

How could Ayn Rand have known what these characters would do 52 years ago? Some of the conversations in the book are almost identical to the speeches we are hearing today.

She must have had an idea of where the philosophical trends were headed.

She must have been one smart woman.

When Obama told Joe the Plumber that we needed to "Spread the Wealth,"

it sounded frighteningly like this quote...

"From each according to his ability, to each according to his need."

Know who said that?


Karl Marx. And Marxism isn't socialism, it is communism, as stated on the Marxist's own website.

Scary, huh?

This philosophy will only turn us into a Nation of Needers. And then we can only argue over who is the neediest. No one will want to be the man of ability.

If you haven't read Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, you are missing out on one of the most important books of the 20th Century. And you can buy it from this site for cheap...http://www.aynrandbookstore2.com/

I don't think there is a lower price anywhere for it.

Another great book by Ayn Rand is Why Businessmen Need Philosophy.

If you are a Business Owner and you haven't read these 2 books, you probably don't understand why you feel so bad when you make money. You shouldn't. Not only should you be proud to make money, but you should understand why. This 2nd book will tell you, and help you explain how you feel.

Business Owners are railed against in our society. Everyone thinks that Business Owners who are making profits are evil, and they are not. Without us, our nation probably wouldn't exist, and certainly cannot prosper. But no one stands up for us, and we must begin to stand up for ourselves.

Why are you in business? To make money. You want to please your customers, you say? Why? So that you can make money. You want your business to have a good reputation? Why? To make money. You want to be successful. And what does that mean? To make money.

Is it selfish? Yes. Wonderfully, happily selfish.

I pay my employees as much money as I can. Why? So they will stay with me, be loyal to me, and do a good job, so that I can MAKE MONEY.

I am an honest businessperson. Why? Because that honesty relates to my business relationship with my customers, and they buy more from me. And I make money.

I don't try to cheat my customers. Why? So they will return for my services and I will MAKE MONEY.

Any employee who works for me wants to make money. They don't want to work for the "betterment of their fellow man," heck no. They don't want to work for nothing, they want to EARN MONEY. If my store does not do well, then I will not make money, and they cannot earn money. They want to earn money and be successful for themselves and their families, and when they are successful, so am I. I make money.

Isn't this why our founding father's created this country?

Why would I allow a burglar to enter my home and steal my things? I wouldn't, of course. So why should I sit back while my government steals my hard-earned money?

Hmmmmmm..........

Smaller Government, Lower Taxes, More Freedom

Sounds good, doesn't it? Smaller government, lower taxes, more freedom. In the wake of the Obama presidency and a congress controlled by the insane spending spree democrats, it sounds especially good.

I'm leaning more and more these days to the Libertarian point of view. If you haven't heard much about the Libertarians, you should check them out. You can to to the Libertarian Party website to read more about their views and beliefs.

And, if you haven't read Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, you are but a pup in the growth stage of your political philosophy. Ah, but if only I were the Queen of the world. Atlas Shrugged would be on every human being's required reading list.

Atlas Shrugged is the story of what will happen if the thinkers and creators of the world ever decide to NOT participate in the great experiment of socialism. Just dwell on that for a minute. What will happen when there are no rich people to tax for all of your big government desires? What will happen when they decide that they have had enough?

"Ok, so the government is going to start increasing taxes on everything I earn. I've got enough to live comfortably, maybe I oughta quit earning anything, see where THAT leaves them. Let's see them finance health care for an entire country without the wealthy!"

You see, our society CANNOT exist as it does now without the wealthy to support all those big government programs everybody seems so fond of. How long before the wealthy get tired of supporting us?

As bad as I hate Wal-Mart, I know in my heart that the free market is a good thing. I can choose NOT to shop there anytime I want. And I haven't spent a penny there, not for 2 years now. I choose not to shop there, instead choosing to support other companies. For all my complaining, I want people to follow my path and choose to let them rot. But it still will need to be their choice. As an individual in this supposedly free country, I should have the right to do business with whomever I please, any time I want.

The government needs to get out of the picture. Government and economics just don't mix well, and every time the government steps into the economic picture, we end up with a big fiasco. Like Chrysler, for instance. And GM. If the government hadn't been piddling around with the US Auto Industry for the past 30 years or so, insisting on big labor unions having a say in how they run their businesses, insisting that they follow incredible environmental rules, and generally mucking things up, we wouldn't be facing big bail-outs and inevitable bankruptcies right now.

How about the Republicans? They are not where I want our government to go, either. Always poking their collective noses into my bedroom, my religion, my schools, my local and state government, and other people's nations, I can't help but to believe that they have gotten so far off of the right track that they have also become a bad thing. Fiscal responsibility is NOT one of the Republican party's strong points any longer.

Less government. Lower Taxes. More Freedom. Sounds like the Libertarian Party fits the bill for me.

I've heard all the arguments against voting for third party candidates. But I cannot support the big 2 any longer. The left is so far left they want the government to become the ulitmate nanny state and wipe our collective behinds for us. The right is not really right any longer, they want the government to become the ulitmate nanny state and tell us what to think and believe. I find Libertarians smack in the middle, not wanting the government to do anything for us. I like that.

Smaller government, lower taxes, more freedom.

I've been reading about the tea parties and the people who are "Going Galt." Great idea. Here's some great articles and blogs on the subject....
Freedom Works' Rossputin
Why Going John Galt?
Washington Independent
How to "Go Galt"

And here are some other interesting sites about Atlas Shrugged and the heavier philosophy of Objectivism.
The Atlas Society
The Ayn Rand Institute
Objectivism 101
Objectivism.net
Cox and Forkum
Atlas Shrugs 2000
The Intellectual Activist
The Ayn Rand Bookstore - not just Rand books, but other Objectivist topics as well
The Ayn Rand Lexicon

I know, Atlas Shrugged is a long book. But if you read only the abridged version, or the Cliff notes, you are not going to completely begin to understand Objectivism. You can get it on Audible.com, download it to your iPod or iPhone, and listen to it that way. I really enjoyed this even though I had already read the book.

By the way, while I was listening to Atlas Shrugged, I finished my first quilt. Here's a picture...

Christmas in China

When I was in China, at the Jupiter factory in Tianjin, we had lunch with the
factory supervisors in their lunchroom at the factory.  They feed everybody
everyday.

Anyway, in this lunchroom, which was fairly institutional-looking, sort of like
a school cafeteria, there were all these Christmas decorations.  Hanging from
the lights and walls, Merry Christmas and Happy Santa faces everywhere.

At first I foolishly thought, aw, they still have their Christmas decorations
up.  Then the realization slowly dawned on me, no, these are new decorations,
and the Chinese don't celebrate Christmas.  The decorations were not faded
or dusty.  No, no, they put these up just for us.  And no wonder.  They have
been manufacturing this stuff for the last 50 years, shipping it off to America
because Americans like these decorations.  And they thought we would like them,
not realizing that May/June is a far cry from the Christmas season for us.

They put these pretty gold and red decorations up, because, of course, the
Chinese love gold and red, and it  probably seemed natural to them for us to be
impressed by this stuff.

I was very saddened by the realization that the Americans in the group were
laughing at this effort to make them feel welcome.  And the whole mess was our
fault.  We have been buying this crap from them for decades, so they knew we
liked it.  And the Americans didn't even appreciate why it wasn't funny,
but so sad.

We Are Shopping Ourselves Deeper Into This Recession

When I was a young girl, in about 1968 or so, I traveled with my family from my hometown of Snyder, TX to Fort Worth to visit relatives. While playing with one of my many cousins, I was fascinated by a new toy she had. When I asked where she got it, she said, “K-Mart.” I had never heard of K-Mart.

“What’s K-Mart?” I asked.

“A place,” she answered.

“Is it a store?” I questioned.

“No, it is a PLACE.”

“Like a town?” I was still confused.

“NO, IT IS A PLACE,” she answered impatiently.

Of course, when I asked my aunt about it, she took me there that very afternoon, so that little small-town me could experience the wonders of modern, urban shopping. Turns out that it WAS a store, just a really really big one. Certainly bigger than I was used to.

Back then, most of the shopping I had ever done was at my mother’s side as we visited the stores on the town square in Snyder, or one of the grocery stores on the way to the town square. This was back when there were “register checks,” a stack of books of checks sitting by the register for each bank in town, and you could just pull the one from the bank you used and sign your name. The cashier even would fill out the amount for you if you wished.

At that time, the shoe store on the square in Snyder was one of my favorite places to go shopping. We only went once a year, normally in the late summer right before school started, to purchase my one or two pairs of shoes. In good years, I got one pair of ‘school’ shoes, and one pair of ‘dress’. In lean years, I just got one pair, the ‘school’ ones.

After school started you could always tell the rich kids from the middle class where I resided. The rich kids always had more than one pair of ‘school’ shoes, and you knew exactly how much they had paid for them, because you had drooled over the new expensive styles at the same store where they had shopped. Frequently you would see your friends and their moms shopping there buying school shoes at the same time you were, and the mothers would stand and chat while we children went on to the five-and-dime located next door.

My school clothes were never purchased, my mother made everything I wore. She was an excellent seamstress with a great sense of style, and I always felt that my clothes looked every bit as nice as the stuff the rich kids got down on the square or in Lubbock. My mother was so meticulous in her sewing techniques that most of the other girls thought that my clothes were “custom tailored.” At that time, girls had to wear dresses to school. Jeans and pantsuits weren’t allowed for girls in Snyder until 1972 or so.

My undies and other necessities were normally ordered from either the Sears, Roebuck & Co. or Montgomery Wards catalogs, and I always got those, plus one flannel nightgown, at Christmas under the tree.

One Christmas in the 60’s I asked for and got a pair of white “go-go” boots, even though I received quite a bit of teasing for the extravagance. Those were the most uncomfortable shoes I ever wore as a child.

Later, when I started to turn into a young woman who rode horses, went to dances, and whose feet had stopped growing, my Daddy took me down to that same shoe store and bought me my first pair of really nice cowboy boots. He paid an exorbitant amount of money for them, or so I thought at the time, but I wore them literally for years.

On trips to Fort Worth, we would visit the beautiful Seminary South shopping center. I was always amazed at the gorgeous turquoise blue and silver Christmas decorations, and all the lush extravagant things on display. But we almost never bought anything, because everything was considered by my mother to be just too expensive. We were happy for her to go and get ideas for my stylish clothes that she made later.

I don’t remember Snyder having its own fabric store. But our five-and-dime had a good fabrics department, complete with patterns, so we normally shopped there. Sometimes we would buy fabrics on our trips to Fort Worth, where we visited the many fabric stores, or sometimes my mother would “take a chance” and order fabrics through the mail-order catalogs. If the fabrics didn’t hold up well, she would always berate herself for buying such cheap material. So many hours of work were wasted when this happened. I loved a good fabric store almost as much as my mother did, both of us walking the isles feeling the “hand and drape” of the materials that caught our eye.

Shopping as I knew it as a child will, I’m afraid, never be in the experience of most American children today. Their shopping world is Wal-Mart or other “box” stores, where they buy mountains of cheap imported goods made by their counterparts in 3^rd World countries in return for a meager existence. Crowded stores, walking miles and miles to “find everything in one place,” pushing, shoving, crying babies, and now shootings. Nasty parking lots complete with scattered trash and used diapers. Surly “associates” who are barely making a living themselves. Parents who are totally stressed-out because they lost their good jobs and are having to pinch every penny and do the “shopping” in the late hours of the evening. Mothers hurriedly trying to make choices while also in mortal fear that their child will be out of eyesight and lost to a baby-snatcher forever.

And the things that we buy today cannot match the experience of the things I had as a child. My mother could get away with buying me just one pair of shoes a year, because they were good leather shoes that would last through the trials and tribulations of childhood. Cheap shoes did not permanently maim my feet, because no cheap shoes were available. As cheap goods have become more readily available, parents cannot justify buying expensive goods. Many children today will never experience the luxury of expensive clothes, shoes, linens, or dishes. Even socks. For folks as old as I am, the frustration of not being able to find decent socks is unbearable.

I certainly had fewer “things,” but the things I had were cared for and treasured. I stand now in my grandchildren’s home and I am overwhelmed by the sheer number of “things” they have. And they really care for none of them. It has become extremely difficult to find appropriate gifts for them, because they already have far more than they need. The paltry gifts I can afford don’t make much of an impression, and handmade gifts are not appreciated at all. Why would Granny make a stuffed toy and expect it to be special, when stuffed toys are available by the basket load for $1.00 at Wal-Mart? I understand how they feel.

I spent many years of my life living in discount-land. After living such a Spartan existence in my youth, the extravagance offered by the big-box stores at such a reasonable price lured me in. But I experienced so many disappointments with the quality, and I started searching for better but fewer and more carefully purchased goods.

At Christmas 2 years ago, after the lead paint scare, I began an intensive search for toys for my grandchildren that were made in the USA. This search turned into a treasure hunt, taking months of my time, for most of the American toy factories have closed and moved overseas to cheap labor and materials. I did the majority of my searching online, because the “big-box” stores sell primarily foreign-made toys. I ended up finding some really cool and unique toys that were surprisingly inexpensive.

But I was so saddened and appalled to learn that so many American factories had closed. When you buy a pair of Levi’s jeans, for instance, NOT ONE STITCH of those jeans are made in the USA anymore. There is not one Levi’s factory remaining here. The last one closed in 2004, in San Antonio, and just from that one factory 2000 workers lost their jobs. 20 years ago, Levi’s operated 63 factories in the US. Even the denim is made overseas now.

Oshkosh B’Gosh operated 16 factories in the US in 1996, and now there are 2. Only 10% of their production was domestic by the end of 2001. And NOTHING is made in Oshkosh anymore.

Want to buy your grandchild a red metal Radio Flyer wagon? While its website calls it “Radio Flyer —America‘s Dream Factory for Over 85 Years,” the metal wagons are sadly not created here anymore. How about some Converse tennis shoes, or an Etch-A-Sketch? Want to buy a John Deere cotton picker, or a Bic Pen? Nope, those are now made overseas.

According to a study called “The Changing nature of Corporate Global Restructuring” submitted to the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission in 2004 by Dr. Kate Bronfenbrenner of Cornell University and Dr. Stephanie Luce of the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, the loss of American manufacturing jobs in just the first quarter of 2004 is astonishing:

The region that has seen the most jobs shifted overall is the Midwest, which lost 18,938 jobs to offshoring between January and March 2004. The Southeast lost 8,604 jobs, followed by the Northeast that lost 7,223 jobs. In terms of specific states, the state of Illinois had the greatest number of jobs lost (7,555) almost all of which went to Mexico. It was followed by Michigan, which lost 5,283 jobs, mostly to Mexico. North Carolina witnessed the greatest number of jobs moving to China, with 839 for January-March. There were 773 jobs moved from Ohio to China, 650 from California, and 510 from Indiana during the first quarter of 2004.

This study also says that “Contrary to recent estimates by BLS, we estimate that the numbers of jobs being lost through production shifts out of the US are significant, averaging as much as ……406,000 overall."

And, while I grant you that some of these jobs may have been union jobs, where the workers were paid too much and the employers were over a barrel, more than half were not. They belonged to American workers who were just trying to earn a living.

You want to really be depressed about the economy? Forget the tv, just go to cnn.com and do a search on “Exporting America.” The search will show you a HUGE list of American companies that either already have or are planning to shift their production or technology jobs overseas. Yes, I said technology. It was really easy for me to justify the moving of manufacturing jobs overseas, I could just spew ugly things about the unions doing it to themselves. But technology jobs going overseas hits quite a bit closer to home.

There’s even a magazine dedicated to plant closings, The Plant Closing News. You can go to www.plantclosings.com and read about it, published twice per month since 2003. And there is precious little in the regular news about moving jobs offshore, because companies are sensitive to the bad publicity garnered in announcements and press releases. In the past, companies felt that a public threat of jobs moving overseas was a good way to quiet union protests, but no more. Now they just quietly move.

Many of the jobs now being lost to overseas-based companies are now service-sector jobs. This is really scary considering that our government promised that us that things would be better if we had free trade and a service-based economy.

There was an article in BUSINESSWEEK on June 18, 2007 (The Real Cost of Offshoring) by Michael Mandel that pointed out a serious flaw in the way the US government has been coming up with our Gross Domestic Product numbers. If he is correct, our country has been harmed by globilization far more than anyone has realized.

I know that our unemployment rate is high, but not that high. Certainly not as high as it was in the Great Depression.

However, how many folks do you know that lost their good-paying job and are now working at a lower-paying job? Multiply that by people all over the country, and you have a fast but certain lowering of disposable income in the US. We are a country of workers. We like to work, as a general rule. Those that don’t were on the welfare rolls already. Those that do are going to find another job, period. Even if it doesn’t pay as well.

No wonder that our country is in a recession.

And how did we get here? We shopped ourselves here.

We consistently supported the big box stores that were driving prices down to the lowest possible. We looked for those foreign made bargains. We got bad toothpaste because we wanted the cheapest, and our manufacturers gave us what we wanted. We got toys with lead paint on them because we wanted the cheapest, and we bought them at the bargain store. The bargain store told the suppliers that they had to cut the price, and the suppliers complied. In order to compete, the suppliers had to cut costs and move overseas or go bankrupt.

So, my question is, how can you have a service-based economy if there is no one left who can afford the service?

The big box stores are keeping prices low by only paying their employees the very minimum necessary. Those folks sure aren’t going to be able to afford life insurance, heck, they can’t even afford the health insurance that the company offers. What will we do when that is the only place left to work? Will we ALL be able to be a Wal-Mart greeter for 15 hours a week at $7.00 per hour?

I think we asked for this recession. We asked for the reduction in quality goods manufactured in our own country. We got it because we “shopped” it into existence. Every time we spent a dollar in a big-box, corporate-owned bargain store, we voted with that dollar. We voted against the Americans who lost their jobs, and we didn’t care.

And there are some bigger catastrophes looming on the horizon. We are outsourcing some pretty important stuff now, food resources, all our clothing, our auto parts and our drug manufacturing. I believe we are leaving ourselves exposed to a grave danger. What would happen if we couldn’t get those things anymore? What if fuel costs rise to the point that it is no longer feasible to import?

And what if, at that point, there is no one left here who knows how to make anything?

Every time a factory closes in the United States, there is an auction of the machinery. According to a friend of mine who frequents these auctions, the majority of the buyers are foreign. So not only will we not know how to make anything, we won’t have the machinery to do it, either.

It is time to say no to this future. This is not the future I want for my grandchildren. I haven’t set foot in a Wal-Mart in over a year now, and I don’t plan to return. I’m going to support my local grocery store, even though they are a bit higher. I’m going to support my local hardware store, and look for American-Made items. I’m going to support my local pharmacy, where there is a guy that I know who owns the place, who looks out for me by getting quality drugs instead of the cheapest. I’m going to support my locally owned restaurants, where the owner looks out for his employees. It may be that I have to make do will less “things.”

I’ll buy less in the long run, and save money. Plus more of my money will stay local and support the local economy. I want that community to be around for my grandchildren.

If we all do that, our customers will also have money to spend with us.

It is time for us to look out for our country. Our citizens. Our workforce. Our community.