First Post

Why I Should Be President

Lately, there has been a great deal of political upheaval, especially regarding budgets, collective bargaining, etc., etc.  Most of the rhetoric has been coming from the left, so I thought as a member of the so-called right, that I should present what I feel is the right way to run our beloved country.  So I will just jump right in.  I certainly welcome any feedback, questions, comments you may have. 

I am going to start by going back to when our country was first settled by Europeans.  I think it is vital to look back at history in order to understand where we are today and therefore how we can move forward.  I will be the first to admit that we treated the Native Americans like dirt and if we are going to pay reparations to anyone, it should be them.  That is a whole topic of discussion in and of itself, but let’s move forward.  Our country was first settled by those that wanted a new life in which they had the freedom to practice religion as they pleased and could make their own opportunities and live their lives the way they wanted to; without the rule and oppression of a monarchy.  The first groups of settlers didn’t fair so well, but eventually persistence and determination overcame those obstacles and America was born.  There was no real central government, yet we managed to survive and thrive without anyone’s help.  Eventually, our founding fathers formed our government system: a Democratic Republic – “Of the people, for the people, by the people.”  AS YOU READ THROUGH THIS, KEEP THOSE WORDS IN MIND!  However, at no point in our Constitution does it mention anything about what our “rights” are, except Life, Liberty, and The Pursuit of Happiness.

Okay, I need to bring up the topic of religion as this is a huge part of our world politics today.  This is very plain and simple.  Our government was formed with an inherent Christian belief system.  Though it may not be spelled out in so many words, America was formed with Christian beliefs in mind.  Our money still says “In God We Trust”.  Our Pledge of Allegiance still says we are “One Nation, Under God”.   And those principles still hold true today.   THIS IS A GOOD THING!  Our laws are, for the most part, based on the Ten Commandments.  These are good laws to live our lives by.  They basically tell us to treat each other with kindness, dignity, and respect.  How is that bad?  Now, I understand that we are a country of religious freedom so we should not persecute those that choose to observe a different religion.  Unless the practice of that conflicts with those principles on which our country was formed and those laws that we have enacted. 

World politics:  in any group of people, there are always going to be power struggles, bullies, etc.  This is human nature.  So, there is always going to be the need for someone to put down those bullies and / or watch over those that are not able to take care of themselves.  America, as the most powerful country in the world, and because we are a compassionate people, has the job of fulfilling that role right now.  Now, you can debate all day long as to what our motives are (oil, other resources, strategic locations) and I don’t know that you will ever find a consensus as to whether or not we should ever send our armed forces to another country, but once again, that is another discussion altogether.

Let’s go back to history.  After the Revolutionary War our national government was very small.  It was basically there to protect the people from invasion by another country and provide some basic, basic governing policies.  THAT’S IT!  Our economy was based on agriculture and manufacturing and our founding fathers were smart enough to realize that a free market was the best thing that could happen and stayed out of the way to let competition drive the market.  When the industrial revolution came along, there were those unscrupulous bosses and business owners that treated their employees poorly.  And the employees really didn’t know any better or didn’t have the education or know-how to stand up for better working conditions, higher pay, etc.  In this sense, I can agree that labor unions might have been a good thing at that point.  Unions helped those people and did some good things:  for those people, at that time. 

Here is why I believe that unions are no longer needed, and are in fact doing more harm than good:  The whole function of the unions is to get as much as it can for its members and “protect” them from the “evil corporate bosses”.  In today’s workplace, this is no longer necessary.  American workers are much too smart and the workplace much too competitive for anyone to need outside representation.  If you don’t like your pay or working conditions at one place, go to another one!  If a company is treating all its employees poorly, they will not last long because no one will want to work for them.  They will either have to improve, or go out of business.  These same principles hold true for the public workforce as well as private.  If you take a public position, you do so with the understanding that your pay and benefits are, in a roundabout way voted on by the public.  They are the ones that pay the taxes that make up your salary, so they should have a say in what you make.  If you don’t like that arrangement, don’t take a public position.  I have to make a couple more points about unions while I am at it.  I will use some references to teachers since they seem to be in the news most recently.  Not long ago I read a story in Reader’s Digest about how there were hundreds of teachers in several states who were going to be fired for either not doing their jobs effectively or being accused of sexual misconduct or other criminal activity.  But because they were part of a union, they were allowed to keep their full pay and benefits to basically sit and do nothing all day for several months.  There was no objection, mind you, on anyone’s part that these teachers had done any of the misdeeds.  Yet they were soaking up millions of taxpayer dollars.  I also read many stories about how union jobs are defined and how absurd this can make the workplace.  For example, if a teacher wants to clean his erasers because they are full of chalk he cannot because it is the job of the union custodian to do that.  So if he does, he is violating his union contract.  If a union construction worker wants to sweep the floor after he is done working, he can’t because it’s the union sweeper’s job to do it.  I ask you, what sense does that make? 

Let’s apply some of this to a global perspective.  Let’s say I am an American business owner.  Whether I like it or not, for the most part, price is what drives competition.  If I can get my product made for less by someone overseas, why wouldn’t I?  Again, if I am a good business person, I will pay those people a fair salary and give them good working conditions so they will be productive for me.  As much as I want to keep my production in the U.S., if I do I won’t be competitive on price and I will lose.  If I could pay an America worker the same as someone in another country (or even slightly more because then I wouldn’t have to pay to have the product shipped back to the U.S.) I would do it in a heartbeat.  My point is that I believe unions have driven American wages past the point of global competition.  Instead of understanding this and saying “hey, maybe we need to get our butts back to being the best country in the world” we all just want to yell and scream about how overworked and underpaid we are.

Let’s go back to some basic principles about what our government should and should not do.  As I mentioned earlier, when our founding fathers formed our government it was intended to be very small.  Most of the governing was done by the individual states.  We need to return to this philosophy.  We don’t need a monstrous government.  And here is why:  we, the people, can take care of ourselves!  One of the basic beliefs of the left is that when someone cannot get something for themselves, the government should provide it for them.  If someone is out of a job, the government should give them money.  If someone can’t afford food, the government should give it to them.  If someone does not have health care, the government should provide it for them.  THESE ARE NOT RIGHTS AND THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD NOT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR PROVIDING ANY OF THEM!!!!  Before there were any social programs that were run by the government, there were plenty of people who did not have jobs, food, or healthcare.  They did not all just waste away and die.  They were taken care of by others who provided for them out of the goodness of their hearts.  Churches ran charities.  Civic groups pitched in to help, and so on.  People did this because it was the right thing to do, not because they were forced to.  Wealthy people gave a lot of their money to charities.  They still do!  And this money is much more efficient in helping the people it needs to help.  Charities are run by more volunteers than paid employees.  Government social programs are run by bureaucracy that requires several levels of management that all have to be paid before any of the money actually goes to helping those that it’s intended for.

The basic principle is this:  The government has no right to collect taxes from me or you in order to provide for someone else who cannot provide for themselves.  I should be able to contribute what I feel is the right amount for me… of my own free will.  The government should not have the responsibility to provide human services for its citizens.  “But, Scott.” you say, “This is cold-hearted.  People will die or not be provided for if not for these government social programs.  Children will go hungry and the elderly will be neglected.”  BALONEY!  As I mentioned earlier, there was a time when there were no government social programs and we managed to take care of children and the elderly just fine if not better than what we do today.

I hear many on the left shouting “Tax the rich, tax the rich!”  I will explain how that will not work for those who don’t understand.  If you tax the rich into oblivion, you do two things that just won’t work.  1.  Eventually, there won’t be any more rich people to tax because you have taken all their money.  2.  You will take away the incentive for anyone to become rich, because they will just have to pay most of their earnings in taxes.  To me, that’s about as basic as it gets. 

Just a couple more topics and I will be done for now.

Socialized medicine – All you really have to do is look at the countries that have this and you will see how it doesn’t work.  Go ask someone in Canada how long you have to wait for a hip replacement.  Six months?  A year?  Would you want your mother or grandmother to have to suffer for that long?  Probably not.

Immigration – Plain and simple.  If you are not in this country legally, you should be forced to return to where you came from.  If you want to turn around and re-enter legally and become a legal citizen we will welcome you with open arms.  Until then, you are not entitled to any services we may currently provide. 

This is probably one of the most controversial things I will say.  I believe the basic difference between conservatives and liberals is their beliefs in their fellow man.  In other words, liberals tend to think that people are not capable of taking care of themselves and that they need someone or something (the government) to do it for them.  Conservatives believe that people are fully capable of taking care of themselves and each other and should be allowed to do so without any government intervention.

The bottom line is this:  are we a perfect society, country, or government?  No.  Do we still have the opportunity to be pretty close?  Absolutely.  But I believe we have to take a step back in order to take two steps forward.  We have to understand that we have to have less now in order to provide more for our future.  We have to get government out of the way of what built our country – the FREE MARKET ECONOMY.  We have to get back to SELF-RELIANCE!!! 

I know I have tended to jump from topic to topic, but I wanted to at least get some thoughts out of my head.  Again, please feel free to comment or ask questions.