Why SHOULD You Care?

It never ceases to amaze me that so many people are still so apatheic about specific political issues or candidates, or even politics in general. I think there are several reasons for this. Many people have a stressful or busy life and feel like they don't have the emotional "room" or time for it in their lives, and are thus content to leave it to the "experts" or pundits and instead focus on football and "American Idol". A vast majority of people however are not plugged in out of simple ignorance. Don't confuse my use of the terms 'ignorance' with 'stupidity', in this or any post. Ignorance means you simply don't have the information you need (I am ignorant as to how to change the oil in my 4Runner since I don't care to do that and I've never been shown how to do that so thus leave that to an expert). Stupid means you know the necessary information but for whatever reason don't have the ability, capacity or desire to make the right decision (high school dropouts, those who break the law, the person on their 3rd abortion, etc).

While at every election someone at some point says this is one of the most important elections of your life, the one that occurred in Nov '08 was definitely one of the most important ones in our lifetimes and a majority of the country made a horribly wrong, ignorant and/or stupid decision, and many of those who chose poorly are now realizing their poor choice of candidates. As Hannity says, elections have consequences. Nov '08 had HUGE consequences. Those in power ARE setting out to "fundamentally" change America - Obama's own words from during the campaign - but in the WRONG direction. America does not need to be fundamentally changed. America was built on the best, wisest foundation of any nation in the world past or present. We lead the world in many areas, and in all of the important areas. Why do you think so many people risk their lives and their family's lives to come here legally and illegally? It isn't because we have the worst health care system in the world, or the worst criminal justice system, or the worst standard of living. To the contrary, we have the BEST of those things and of many others - at least for now.

The health care bill currently in Congress will "fundamentally change" us from the best health care system in the world to a sub-standard system with waits of months and even years for necessary procedures, waits of multiple years for non-medically necessary procedures, rationing due to system overload, and a shortage of Drs. Trust those who are telling us in other countries that this IS happening in Canada and England. If you think waiting an hour or two in your Dr's office now is bad - wait until the whole country is on the same plan, 1,000s of Drs have left the profession b/c they can't stand the bureaucracy anymore, and you're forced to see whomever the local bureaucratic health care board decides you can see. I know, someone will pop in here with "we have to wait now and HMOs choose a list of Drs for us". However, under HMOs you can still choose to go to someone else if you choose to pay for that, perhaps instead of buying that next new car, new big screen t.v. or newest cell phone. Under socialized medicine, that doesn't happen. Again, ask the Brits and Canadians who have this now. With Healthsare Savings Accts now, you do get to choose whichever Dr you want, and under the current socialized medicine bill being discussed in Congress, HSAs would not be permitted. The socialized medicine bill also has fines for not signing up under the plan and those fines result in IMPRISONMENT after so many "offenses." IMPRISONMENT for not signing up for socialized medicine!!! There are no provisions that would prohibit coverage for illegal alients (i.e., your tax $ will be used to pay for illegals' medical care). There are now, after Tuesday's vote, provisions for your federal tax $ paying for somebody else's abortion. There ARE rationing panels that will determine the cost-benefit ratio of the particular procedure you asking for, or perhaps desperately needing. The "benefits" of the proposed socialized medicine doesn't kick in until 2014, but you have to start paying for it immediately. Getting an idea yet of why you should care about and OPPOSE the socialized medicine a/k/a health care bill??

Many people don't care b/c they don't have skin in the game. That is, they don't pay taxes so of course have no problem with the government taking my tax dollars and wasting it on handout after handout. With the latest numbers, 46% of people in the U.S. pay NO income tax!!! That astounds me. That means nearly half of the country will of course ALWAYS be in favor of raising taxes on the rest of us, and will have NO incentive to work harder and provide a higher standard of living for themselves b/c Big Government will always be there to step in and take care of every little need or want in their lives, at OUR expense. Also, once something like the socialized medicine bill is passed it's nearly impossible to ever get it repealed so don't think that electing new people can get it thrown out. Democrats will use that to convince the poor and elderly in future elections that they MUST keep re-electing Democrats to ensure the government handout gravy train never ends.

The Cap and Trade legislation that has been proposed will, in Obama's own words, "necessarily make energy prices skyrocket" and will make 1,000s, maybe tens of 1,000s of people, who work in coal, gas and oil lose their jobs. Do you want your electric and gas bill going up astronomically so that you have to choose whether to get on the computer, turn on the t.v. or turn on the heater in the winter? Under the currently proposed "energy" legislation, there are also provisions to put meters in every house monitored by the federal government so they can see how much energy you're using. Guess what the natural extension of that is??? They can turn off your heater, t.v. or a/c if they think you're using more than "your share". Getting an idea yet of why you should care about and OPPOSE the Cap and Trade bill??

One of Obama's cronies in his administration, Lisa Jackson, from NOLA, is also pushing Obama to sign the "One World Order" environmental treaty that will punish American and British corporations for their output of whatever they decide on a whim tomorrow is a "pollutant". That punishment will be monetary and the money will be "redistributed" to the "less fortunate" a/k/a "developing" countries (many of which are either our enemies or in some way in bed with our enemies). This One World Order treaty would set up a "one world government" that will pass environmental legislation that will require all participant countries to adhere to the legislation, therefore foreigners would be making decisions about what American countries can and cannot produce, where they can do so, and even who they could hire. Getting an idea yet of why you should care about this issue??

The Death Tax (estate taxes) are very low this year, thanks to President Bush, and, thanks to President Bush, will be 0% next year. However, Obama and Democrats in Congress want the rate to go up to 45% in 2011!! So, not only will you be taxed to death while you're alive but your family will be punished by your death and have to fork over up to 45% of your estate. Know what that will do to your kids and grandkids ability to afford college, or whatever else you've planned for them? Getting an idea yet of why you should care about the death tax??

Obama has set up a "diversity czar" in the Federal Communications Commission that will seek to ensure t.v., radio and Internet broadcasts reach their definition of "fairness", which thus far has been described by them as forcing t.v. and radio stations to have certain content and prohibiting certain content, to permit certain people to speak and prohibiting others, etc. They've also proposed forcing a certain percentage of outlets to be owned by minorities. (As a refresher, the Supreme Court has ruled that such decisions themselves are racially discriminatory as we shouldn't make ANY decision BECAUSE OF someone's race whether the decision is in favor or or against someone's race). Whatever happened to the free market?? Getting an idea yet of why you should care about the direction the FCC's heading under Obama?

The free market is in greatest danger by Obama and the Democrats in DC. One of the primary reasons America has been able to get to the leadership position it has in the world is b/c of American exceptionalism and, relatedly, our free market has permitted small business ownwers to become medium-sized business owners and even some can become large business ownwers when left alone by the government to work hard, do the right thing and reap the rewards thereof. Those business owners are not "evil corporations" or "bigwigs" or "fat cats". Get that class warfare language out of your vocabulary. It's dangerous and is fueling the fire that's destroying our free market. Business owners give people the JOBS they have. Without business owners there would be NO jobs. Small business owners provided 60% of the jobs in America in 2007 and 2008. If they're left alone from government interference they can thrive, give raises, and hire more and more people. What many people don't understand either is the tax situation with small business owners. Most small businesses are set up in such a way that the income is treated as the business owners' personal income. That is, if the business (say a dry cleaners) brings in $500,000 in dry cleaning receipts, the dry cleaners owner has to pay his/her employees out of that $500,000 and pay its other bills like utilities, marketing costs, AND taxes. Therefore, that business ownwer falls into that bracket of so-called "rich" people the Democrats try so very hard to make you hate as "evil big fatcats" b/c their business BRINGS IN more than a certain amt per year (if you haven't noticed, before and after the campaign, Obama's definition of the "rich", those who will be taxed to pay for all of the government handouts, has changed weekly). When businesses are taxed higher and higher, they have to lay off more and more employees, and aren't able to give raises or bonuses. Getting an idea yet of why you should care about taxes on small business??

One of the fundamental rights in our Constitution is that of private property rights. That is, we have a right to obtain, retain and use our private property as long as the property doesn't hurt someone else or interfere with someone else's use or enjoyment of their property. Private property consists of our homes, our cars, our jewelry, our savings accts, AND our income. When the government takes our property thru taxes to redistribute it to someone else thru government programs, they violate this right to our private property if not done so properly. Now, I know that governments must provide certain basic functions like police, fire and roads and those must be paid for by tax $. Therefore, we tacitly agree by living here that the government may levy SOME taxes for those basic functions that fall within the power granted to the federal or state government by the Constitution. But, that latter part is the kicker here - the fed and/or state government must be acting within their enumerated powers when they tax and spend. MOST government programs are beyond the powers granted to it by our Constitution. Congress does not have the power or authority to provide or run health care for instance. Look in the Constitution. It isn't there.

Some or all of these things may be issues about which you're already informed. However, if you aren't already informed, you should get informed and do so quickly. Every single American needs to be plugged in to what's going on in DC, what taxes are being added, what laws are being passed & what freedoms of yours are being taken away daily. WE MUST pay attention and keep paying attention, and not just leave it to the people in DC, blindly trusting that they'll do the right thing. The ones there now will NOT, or at least a majority of them in DC now won't, and that's why we have to boot them out come next November and 2 yrs after that. Get involved in your local Republican party (search Facebook). Find out who your state's Young Republican National Federation reps are (also look on Facebook). Get plugged in. EVERYTHING that is done by the president and reps in Congress DOES have an effect on even the smallest part of your life if it's being done thru the taxes you pay. PLEASE, I implore you, at least educate yourself on what's going on in DC and hold your reps accountable for their actions and ensure they know you're watching and paying attention. Let them know They Work For Us!!! It's Government FOR The People BY The People.