Go Cougs! and other political ramblings

This is a great article. My mom has been saying for years that the Democratic leadership's problem is their disdain for the people they want to help - and she used to be a Dem. I also really enjoyed this article that my friend Kristin recommended to her sister Shauri. It made me marginally less afraid of Obama, and gave me a greater respect for the way he makes decisions. But, I still don't agree with him on most of those decisions :).

I suppose the root of my opposition to the Democratic party is that I don't want someone doing for me what I can do for myself - you can ask my mother, it started early. And I also don't want to be doing for someone else what they should be doing for themselves. If you can't do something yourself, than that's a different story -- but I think that is the exception rather than the rule. Don't take away my freedom to fail and I won't take away your freedom to succeed.

The extreme Democratic position is a lot like socialism. I love the idea of zero homelessness, but if it comes at the cost of my right to fail, then no way. Take away my right to fail, and you have also taken away my right to build my life into something better with my own two hands. No, I would not trade 100% employment for my dignity or the right to chart my own path. Perhaps that seems extreme. Most likely that is not the end goal of the Dems but I worry that is where the path leads nonetheless. The Libertarian in me revolts.

All I know is, I don't want to end up like the Russian people. Steve reminded me of a famous Russian movie that shows a man who leaves his apartment to go to work but then goes home to a completely different apartment but continues to live his life like nothing has changed. The point being that it didn't really matter because everyone's life was exactly the same. It was mocking the Russian system and it's lack of variety and ingenuity - the cost of perfect equality.

Failures and bad choices can strengthen and define us, as we overcome them. America has never promised everyone a perfectly equal result just because you live here. It does however promise everyone the equal opportunity to pursue happiness. And by equal opportunity I don't mean equal resources and means. I mean, you have freedom. Some people are born into humbler and harder circumstances than others. That is a part of life. But in America you have the choice to work as hard as you can to try to improve your circumstances. Freedom to work hard no matter where you are placed and no matter what your critics say. Those who have chosen to overcome the odds (immigrants, people from humble circumstance) inspire me. Partially because I know I have that same choice everyday, to pursue a path toward happiness, including all the bumps of failure and flights of success on the way. But it is my choice, my hard work or lack thereof, that earns my reward at the end of the day - not some handout from some bureaucrat. In most cases I would say free handouts take away the dignity of the one receiving it (especially if they know they could have done something to earn it) and handouts don't even begin to engender in the receiver any abiding love for the giver - in fact just the opposite seems to be true in many cases. There is often a deep sense of bitterness that accompanies such freebies. But that's for a different post.

On top of everything I just wrote please add my deep misgivings about Obama's social policies. Steve is telling me that I've already written too much, so to be continued . . . Goodnight.