Brushfire of Freedom 

Ram Rants

If you’ve spent any time reading newspapers or watching any of the state-run media, you’ve most likely heard that Congress is paralyzed because of “partisan gridlock”.  They try to convince us that the reason Obamacare is not yet law is because the evil GOP has blocked the “noble” liberals at every turn.  If only the GOP would just get on board with the program, we could save the planet, pass health care, give everyone a job, and bring peace to the universe.

I need to raise the “Bullshit” flag here.

The GOP does not have enough votes to block anything, in either side of Congress.  Republicans can not be held accountable for the failures of Obama, Pelosi, and Reid because they lack the power.  They lack the power to stop Democrats, they lack the power to enact new legislation, they lack the power to even amend the bills presented.  Please take a look back through the past year’s debates and discussions on Obamacare.  Each and every amendment presented by Republicans for either of the bills that have already passed were summarily rejected by the votes of Democrats.  

Liberals demonstrated that they had the power to make these bills whatever they wanted.  They passed both bills. They passed them the way the wanted to, with back-room discussions and vote buy-outs.  You did not see pay-offs to GOP Senators for their vote to pass the health care bills.  The “Louisiana Purchase” is a deal for a Democrat to buy a Democrat vote in the Senate.  The “Cornhusker Kickback” is another deal for a Democrat to break the democrat-led filibuster.  Chris Dodd, the Connecticut Democrat, got what he wanted so he would vote for the bill.  Everything that has happened around this health care debate has been defined and driven by the Democrats in both houses of Congress.

Ok, maybe not just Democrats.

There is another factor that seems to be having some impact on the health care debate, and on other topics and debates flowing through our government.  If you recall just a few years ago there was an attempt by the Bush administration to push through an amnesty bill to give illegal immigrants in this country a “free pass” to citizenship.  In effect, we would be rewarding criminal behavior.  This caught fire in the US, and people began calling, writing, visiting, and basically demanding that their representatives, well, represent them.  The end result was a “gridlock” and the amnesty bill eventually died.  It was a slow and painful death but it became clear to the politicians of both parties that passing amnesty would mean the loss of their jobs.  Since all politicians really love the sweet retirement packages, killer perks, and pseudo fame they get with their office, they were inclined to act in a self-preserving manner and stand against amnesty.  In other words, the will of The People was enacted.

The same can be said for the health care bill.  You most likely recall the town halls from this past summer, where Congressional representatives were assaulted with questions about cost, impact to the economy, impact to health care, and other specific questions regarding the legislation.  The House bill (HR 3200), which had already passed in the House, was quoted and commented on and representatives were asked to account for the things they had voted for in the House.  Several Democrats began canceling town halls, or restricting access, to prevent embarrassment in these open, and often televised, public events.

The Tea Party sprang up, and millions of people filled the streets around state capitals and federal offices to make it clear to their representatives that they were not interested in socialized medicine. Despite the clearly biased negative media coverage, the American People were speaking as one voice and they were saying “HELL NO!”  The result was the passage of the Senate bill.  The Senators made a bet that The People would forget their betrayal and they could cheat the people and still keep their jobs.

They were very wrong.

January came and The People spoke again in Massachusetts.  A Republican was elected to the seat previously held by “The Liberal Lion” of the Senate, the late Teddy Kennedy (Philanderer, Chappaquiddick).  The specific reasons given by the voters for this dramatic shift was the vote buy-outs, back-room deals, and underhanded methods used to pass the Senate health care bill.  Senators realized they made a mistake and their reaction was telling.  Many Democrat Senators have announced that they will not seek another term in the coming elections.  They are convinced that they will lose their seats in an open election as the result of their stance on health care.  They could not be more right.

Now, nearly two months after Senator Brown was elected in Massachusetts, we’ve seen the Congress come to a screeching halt on health care.  Many Democrats blame the GOP, but it is their own party that holds up progress.  The Republicans have little power to stop anything.  But The People have flexed their muscle and are beginning to fight back.  It is The People that are voicing their opinions and holding their representatives accountable.  It is The People that are pushing for some basic common sense on this issue.  It is The People that are trying to drive this nation away from socialism.  And it is The People that will hold every single representative who fails them accountable in the November 2010 elections.  Politicians really love the sweet retirement packages, killer perks, and pseudo fame they get with their office.  They are often inclined to act in a self-preserving manner.  Some of them are standing against Obamacare.  But this gridlock, this freezing of the legislative process is not their doing.  This is The People’s Gridlock.  And that is as it should be.

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Copyright 2010.  The published content is the sole property of the author.  Any copy, use, or redistribution of any portion of the material without the written consent of the owner is a violation of international copyright laws.

 Brushfire of Freedom

The Armory

Originally published on March 31st, 2009 at Brushfire Sparks

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” 

Freedom of the press.  The third most important right of the people because our founders knew that the press was designed to be an extension of the voice of the people.  They knew that a watchdog press should and would oversee the actions of those in government and drive them toward the will of the people.  The had seen first hand the value of a free press during the revolution, when posters, pamphlets, and local newspapers had defined the views of the colonies and helped fan the flames that forged this nation.  The press is a key asset of the people, a protected right, and if properly practiced, a potential barrier against the corruption that tends to result from power.

One of the forgotten factors regarding our rights is the need for responsibility.  We have the right to free speech and we are required to be responsible in the practice of that right.  We have the right to freedom of religion with a similar requirement.  These rights are protected for all Americans.  The free press is protected to benefit all Americans, but the responsibility rests with those who are “practitioners of the art”.  Freedom of the press protects our members of the media from forced government controls and influence, and it is thus the responsibility of those same members of the press to ensure they perform their duties, acting as watchdogs of the government.  

As with many of the rights in the first ten amendments, a failure to exercise these rights openly and frequently is a step toward losing those rights.  It is the responsibility of the possessor of the right to ensure the right is not lost.  Many of our current media outlets are failing in their responsibility of exercising free press, and are in increasing danger of losing that right.  One need only look back to the 2008 election to see the failure of the media in exercising free press.  They have even admitted to this failure, though they have failed to mend the error of their ways.  They’ve become lapdogs to a specific political philosophy, and their bias is now thickly woven in the tapestry of their craft.  

One example of failure brought forward by the media; failure to know who B. Hussein Obama was as he was running for President of the United States.  We actually had members of our “free press” admitting just weeks before the election that they did not know much about one of the two major candidates for the highest executive office in our country.  These are the people whose press credentials can provide them access to places and people that a member of the general public cannot access.  It is their responsibility to utilize that access, to find everything they can on each candidate, and to report their findings in an objective manner to the voters of this nation.  For the government of this nation to be effective, it requires an educated electorate.  The media has a responsibility to provide as much information about every candidate for office to ensure the electorate has the needed facts to make an effective decision.  If the members of the press do not “know who Barack Obama is...”, how can the voting public be expected to know anything about him?  We are not on his planes and busses, we can not sit him down for an interview.  We rely on our “watchdog” media to use their right to free press and properly inform the public.  They have failed, and have admitted to failure, in the 2008 election.

Failure to practice our right of free press, even in the face of criticism and ridicule, is a surrender of our rights.  It is for this reason that the internet, blogs, and other outlets have become the center of free speech and press in this nation.  Our current press practitioners have failed in their responsibility to exercise their right.  They have surrendered their right in exchange for popularity, in exchange for additional access, in exchange for personal fame.  They are failing the American people, and they are giving away their right to free press, a right that is key to the survival of this nation.  Others, including the general public, are stepping in to their place, but the failure of the “main stream” press is having an impact.  Because the watchdog has been tamed, many of our rights and liberties are under open attack.    

The Founders knew that absolute power corrupts absolutely.  They placed the free press at the door of freedom to ensure those in power did not encroach on the rights of the people.  The press is failing in its responsibility to inform this nation.  The watchdog has been tamed and is now a pet of the powerful.  If we can not replace our watchdog, or return it to our control, the people may find many of their rights are stolen by the powerful.  We must step into the breech and fight for our rights, or we will soon find that free speech, free press, and many other rights will become like the media; tamed and under control of a powerful government. 

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Copyright 2009.  The published content is the sole property of the author.  Any copy, use, or redistribution of any portion of the material without the written consent of the owner is a violation of international copyright laws.

 Brushfire of Freedom

The Conservative Cowboy

I want to take this opportunity to talk about why our government feels that they can spend our money with no regard to the total.  As many have said before our children’s children will still be paying for this debt that BHO is racking up.  I think I might know why liberals like to spend other peoples money.  You see it takes a certain irrational mode of thinking to be a liberal.  What these liberals in Washington fail to realize is that this money comes from real people and their hard work, and they are turning around and spending it on things that the buyers disagree with, the buyer’s of course are the people of this country.  See BHO and his cronies are spending money that they did not earn, and by not earning the money they do not value the money highly as the people who worked for it.  

You see this logic also works with the youth of our nation, if you are a parent and give your child everything they ask for and they do nothing to earn it then they will grow up to be a liberal.  The entitlement ideology that is plaguing this country comes from any legislation that has passed taking something from one individual and giving it to another with no accountability.  In other words this is liberal ideas at work. 

I know that what liberals preach sounds great on paper and in speeches but unfortunately does not work when reality comes into play.  The policies that are coming out of Washington forcing things like redistribution of wealth, extended unemployment benefits, universal healthcare, and so on actually have the reverse effect.  These policies are put into place to try to get the “more fortunate” to help the “less fortunate” when in fact you just piss the “more fortunate” off and now they really don’t want to help any more.  The “more fortunate” in this context are the small business owners and their workers that work hard for their pay and want to keep as much of the fruits of their labor in their pocket.

So what takes the money out of the pocket of the worker, that is easy, things like union dues, income tax, Medicare tax, social security, and all those are before you even get to deposit your money.  You see everyone in the country then the concerned about the mounting debt, more concerned about that then healthcare reform.  As an individual in these hard times I cannot get an unlimited credit limit to rack up all of the things that I “need” then have someone else pay that off, and if it doesn’t work for me then in a representative democracy it shouldn’t work for the government.

Every other business in a recession cuts costs to balance out the lost revenue, the government raises the price, this is what the liberals in Washington are doing with our hard earned money and it is not going to stop until we get all of the politicians out.  If the government is not run like a business then it will continue to lose money.                     

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Copyright 2010.  The published content is the sole property of the author.  Any copy, use, or redistribution of any portion of the material without the written consent of the owner is a violation of international copyright laws.

 Brushfire of Freedom 

Ram Rants

In stunning evidence that our public education systems are failing our children, a recent Rasmussen survey indicated that just 53% of Americans believe capitalism is better than socialism.  In fact, 33% of adults under 30 believe socialism is better than capitalism.  That’s one-third for those of you who attended Berkley.

Let’s ignore for a moment the fact that most socialist governments become totalitarian regimes that repress and destroy the population.  Let’s ignore the fact that socialism has failed in virtually every incarnation, in every country where it’s been tried.  That includes the United States, where initial efforts at socialism during our colonization nearly destroyed the colonies before they got off the ground.  If you’d like a more recent example, check out Detroit.  About the only good thing about their drift into socialism is the fact that you can buy a Detroit home right now for about $1.00.  

Let’s ignore the fact that America, as a capitalist society, has been a world leader for many decades, and that our rise to that position was nearly instantaneous when compared to other nations who have led the world.  

Socialism sux for two main reasons.                            

First, in order for socialism to work, we would have to see the evolution of the Socialist Man (or Woman).  This would be a person that is just as willing, or even more so, to work as hard to support their neighbor as they are to support themselves.  We’re not talking about family here, we’re talking about the guy in the next county or in a different state.  The Socialist Man (or Woman) enjoys supporting the faceless “them” without any compensation for themselves.  

For those of you who think you are the Socialist Man (or Woman), please feel free to send an email to Brushfire.  We will be happy to make arrangements to collect some or all of your paychecks.  Yes, that’s exactly what it means.  You just keep working, we’ll relieve you of the burden of that nasty old money.  And thanks for being the Socialist Man (or Woman).

Reality check.  People in general are not wired that way.  We all, at some point, no matter how much we like to serve others, do expect, and are motivated by, some form of personal compensation for our efforts.  Translation for those who went to Berkley, people like to get paid.

Barring the evolution of the Socialist Man (or Woman), there is a second reason why socialism sux.  Enter Ludwig von Mises, a guy you should have studied in school but were probably too busy trying to finish that paper on Marx.  Ludwig was a philosopher and economist from Austria.  At 12 he spoke three languages and could read Latin as well. He received his doctorate from the University of Vienna School of Law in 1906 at age 25.  For those of you into Objectivism, his New York seminars in the 1940’s were attended by Ayn Rand.  

As you might imagine, Ludwig was not a big fan of socialism.  It was his work that demonstrated the second reason socialism sux.  According to Ludwig, socialism, “...would be disastrous for a modern economy because the absence of private ownership of land and capital goods prevents any sort of rational pricing, or estimate of costs...”. Again to help my friends educated at Berkley, under socialism you would lack an understanding of the fair-market value of products or services because there would be no fair market.  Socialism by definition erodes and eventually replaces the market structure and the valuation of production defined by the market.  As the market is eroded, cost and price structures begin to shift in random directions.  You get $600 toilet seats and free health care, as an example.

This is not a minor consequence of socialism.  One historic example of its impact can be seen in the fall of the Soviet Union.  With the elimination of the free market, the central planners had no idea how to value specific investments of the “people’s resources”.  A basic cost-value calculation was not possible because the pricing and costing structures, normally present in free markets, were absent from their government-controlled society.  The result was a distribution of effort and resources based on the views of the central planners, which became more focused on the maintenance of their comfortable life styles and less focused on the people they deemed to govern.  The government collapsed under the weight of its on self-serving practices in part because the leadership lacked the information needed to make rational, market-based decisions. 

So to pretend that socialism is as good as or better than capitalism is to ignore the facts regarding human nature and market mechanics.  There are few people who have crossed the face of this earth who could be said to be the Socialist Man (or Woman).  Without this type of personality as a dominate aspect of our culture, the chances for a successful implementation of socialism are dramatically reduced.  Those who think the evolution of the Socialist Man (or Woman) is a potential are simply ignoring human nature.  Even if such an evolution occurred, the onset of socialism would destroy the free market, crippling any governing body by reducing, and eventually eliminating, key data points needed to manage the government, national defense, and the companies that would be a part of their socialist society.  In other words, for those of you who attended Berkley, socialism sux.   

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Copyright 2010.  The published content is the sole property of the author.  Any copy, use, or redistribution of any portion of the material without the written consent of the owner is a violation of international copyright laws.

 Brushfire of Freedom

The Armory

Note: Originally published at Brushfire Sparks on March 24, 2009.

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” 

In addition to the right to a free expression of religion, the Founders felt it necessary to protect the freedom of speech.  It should be noted that the text of the amendment does not specify what type of speech.  It is not a freedom of liberal speech or approved speech or even militant speech.  It states that Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech...period.  It is not a protection of the freedom of expression, but the freedom to speak your mind no matter the subject, no matter who might be offended.

Our freedom of speech has been rather insidiously eroded through several methods of attack.  Oddly, the same people who fight so diligently to protect the right of Larry Flint to publish and post pornography are offended at commentary by Don Imus and Sean Hannity.  These “PC Police” attack free speech by declaring commentary of which they do not approve to be “hate speech”.  The hate speech argument states that individuals do not have the right to speak their mind if another individual might at some point become offended by the comment.  In the words of the immortal Dr. Johnny Fever, “Booger”. 

It is quite possible, even highly probable, that someone that stumbles across the Brushfire site will find something offensive.  They might even find the commentary “hateful”.  It is this labeling of speech by the politically correct that has so stifled our political discourse.  By identifying commentary as “offensive” and demanding that this commentary be silenced, we have enabled those who would deprive us of our basic right to free speech.  We have given them a tool that they have used to beat back those who might oppose their opinions.  They have categorized words like “fail” and “discrimination” as non-cooperative, evil terms that they say define the person and not their specific views of that person.  Then they state that because these terms offend someone, the individual who uttered them should be silenced, and the words stricken from the record.  How is this supporting free speech?  

If you wanted to see true free speech in 2008, you needed only go to any of the “Bush is an Idiot” web sites (there were several) to see inane and often vulgar commentary on the policies and lifestyle of then-President Bush.  Yet that is protected speech under the first amendment.  Offensive?  Yes, to many it was but that is not the point.  The Founders knew that for this nation to survive in the form they had devised, a free and open discourse was not only necessary but a key stone.  

Want to see a restriction of free speech?  You should have tried to post negative comments on the Obama site during the same campaign.  When a government in power stifles or attempts to stifle the voice of its opposition, it has in fact eliminated the freedom of speech for all persons of that nation.  Look south to Venezuela and you will see that the first target of the Socialist dictator Chavez was to invade, close, and destroy the media outlets that opposed his positions.  Free speech is second only to freedom of religion in the minds of our founders.  Free speech is the voice of the nation, it fuels discourse, debate, and sometimes decisions.  The freedom of speech is key to the protection of the liberties of this nation.  

So why should you be concerned about this protected right?  First, because it is under attack by the current ruling party (yes, I meant to say ruling).  They are attempting to manipulate ownership, content, and regulation of media outlets to silence those that oppose them.  Yet these same people have defended their own dissension during the Iraq war.  They were outspoken against the policies of the President, much as others are now.  Since that is the case, the only rational conclusion regarding their current efforts to “manage” the media is that they wish to stifle the opposition.  They have taken a page from the Socialist handbook and are attempting to silence your voice.  The loss of free speech for even one person in this nation is an overt abandonment of that freedom outlined in the first amendment.  It is a freedom we must defend at all costs, before the voice of this nation, like Nazi Germany, Stalinist Russia, and Chavezian Venezuela, is permanently silenced. 

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Copyright 2009.  The published content is the sole property of the author.  Any copy, use, or redistribution of any portion of the material without the written consent of the owner is a violation of international copyright laws.