Duck Dynasty; the Tipping Point?

For far too long, a majority of Americans have been quietly ignoring small groups of malcontents that continue to push their agendas in the face of the people who may not agree with their views but are tolerant of allowing those views to be heard. Is the latest attack on Duck Dynasty patriarch Phil Robertson the final tipping point?

There comes a time when a bully is finally confronted by the victim and the outrage is so pent up that the results are rarely good for the bully. The American people’s compassion and tolerance have been pushed by many. The atheists, the gay community, the democratic and republican big government types, race baiters, and the political correct coalition have all been pushing their agendas by belittling the majority of American’s core beliefs…

The Duck Dynasty is a program that I have only watched once. I am not a huge TV guy. But it is the largest cable TV show in the history of cable. It is a family that lives by many of the core values the majority of Americans live by. At the end of every show they say a prayer and praise Jesus. That alone makes it a target of every politically correct group in the nation. But here’s the problem, the cumulative number of politically correct groups in comparison to the majority of Americans are not worth comparing. But even though their numbers are small they have figured out how to drive the conversation in their favor.

Tolerance is not accepted by these minority groups. Their creed is: if you don’t believe the way we do, you must be silenced and destroyed. That is not a core value of the Americans they are intent on destroying. A majority of Americans is truly tolerant and believe in free speech and liberty for all. But the groups they are tolerating do not want the majority to have those same courtesies.

The network A&E decided that comments made by Phil Robertson about his religious beliefs in a personal interview by GQ Magazine, and shared by a large majority of Americans, was an opportunity to punish him by firing him from his family’s show. This may be the tipping point.

No matter how you feel about the comments made by Phil Robertson about the gay lifestyle, in America tolerance is how we best react to people’s individual opinions. We don’t have to agree and we especially don’t have to watch the show, but to silence a man’s opinion because a small militant group has decided this opinion is to be silenced, we must reject their actions.

It is time that the majority of Americans that are tired of being told their beliefs are no longer allowed to exist in America, fight back. We need to treat these small radical and intolerant groups the way they have been treating us for years. We need to shut them up by shutting them out of our concerns. We no longer should ignore their radical agenda and we must respond in numbers so overwhelming that these groups understand and everyone observing has no doubt, they are the minority opinion in America.

The attack against the religious beliefs of a member of the Duck Dynasty family may be the attack “heard around the world” by the overwhelming majority of the good tolerant people, no longer willing to ignore the assaults on their beliefs…

A Political Christmas Wish for America

I am tired of the assault the federal government has perpetuated on the people they are sworn to serve. The latest assault Obamacare, is the most dangerous assault in my lifetime. This healthcare takeover is not only unconstitutional (no matter what tortured logic John Roberts used to uphold it), it will cause the death of an unknown number of Americans. It is why I am praying hard for the following:

·         I pray that we begin to see the fallacy that a government of the people, by the people, for the people can succeed without the moral foundation of a belief in God.

·         I pray Americans wake up to the radical left wing that has taken over the former Democratic Party, and vote to elect constitutional supporters in the next election.

·         I pray for all of the victims of Obamacare that have lost their insurance while fighting life threatening diseases. That their stories will end the federal government’s takeover of healthcare. And mostly they find an alternative to continue to successfully fight their diseases.

·         I pray that the State convention process under Article V of the constitution takes hold and passes term limits as its first successful amendment.

·         I pray that every young adult is awakened to the assault on their future opportunity which is being destroyed by an out of control federal government - spending and borrowing away their future.

·         I pray that the military and intelligence agencies are not as aloof as our president when it comes to monitoring and stopping terrorists. And they stop spying on Americans because it is the right thing to do.

·         I pray for the end of poverty by reducing government programs that remove incentives to be self-reliant.

·         I pray that the capitalist system takes the Obamacare disaster and creates a better more efficient and compassionate alternative to healthcare.

·         I pray that Americans wake up and realize politics does matter and that they have a direct role in ensuring a bright future for their children. And they do their due diligence on candidates and don’t simply vote party lines.

·         And finally, I pray the president and democrats are overwhelmed by the response of the American people and stop their assault on American tradition and values.

Merry Christmas! I pray that you and your family have health and happiness during this Christmas season and throughout your lifetime…

If You Care Don’t Ask the Government to Help

If you truly care about the needy, that last place you should look for assistance is a government agency. Government agencies and their perpetual quest to help the needy are the reason the numbers of needy have grown. Yet we still hear from seemingly educated people that we need the government to help.

I guess it’s hard to understand that the government as a compassionate entity is hopeless. I think that people that put their faith in government fail to realize that it is not their wishful thinking that makes people compassionate, it is people with compassion and the willingness to spend their own time and money is what makes for compassion.  

Too often liberal people want someone else to help the poor and that “someone else” for liberals is the government. Even when the evidence is clear that government is a failure at almost everything it does, why would we subject the needy to the workings of a failed government bureaucracy?

Detroit is a city that is the shining example of a place that embraced government intrusion in every aspect of the city’s management. Chicago streets are the shining example of government programs designed to help minority youth in the city. NYC is the shining example of how government programs have chased many of the most successful from the city and if Wall Street financial firms ever decide to go to another city, it would be completely devastated. Public education is an absolute failure in DC, NYC, LA, Chicago, Houston, and every other major city in this country.

Black Americans have too often relied on government programs for their subsistence. I will only say that having grown up in the Bronx, I can tell you first hand, those government programs have created dependency and stolen the hope of multiple generations of Black Americans.

The healthcare system is being destroyed right before our eyes because of government tinkering and liberals still can’t figure out that the place to put your faith is in yourself and the individual. It is not complicated.

I wish liberal people would stop trying to “help” others by asking the government to do what private citizens and civic and church groups are much better suited to do if you actually want to help the needy…

This Pope is Wrong, Really Wrong…

Pope Francis has the noble goal of ending poverty. But the Pope has the wrong solution; spreading socialism. In his first “position paper” as the Pope, he attacks the free market calling it a “new tyranny.” This Pope may be popular but his thoughts on how to create the best opportunity for the poor is dangerous.

This Pope has grown up in an area of the world that is rich in resources but poor in access to those resources. The government in the name of “helping the poor” is doing the exact opposite. What socialists like the Pope fail to realize is the absolute truth of the Bible story “Teach a Man to Fish.” Socialism is about punishing success. It takes away an individual’s incentive to work hard because no matter how hard you work under socialism (unless you are a politician); you make the same as the guy who doesn’t work at all.

Compassion is a great trait to have but not at the expense of other people’s individual right to keep the harvest of their labor. It is easy to feel bad for the poor but it is exactly that feeling that destroys the poor’s incentive to help themselves. Compassion should be measured by how many people can take care of themselves - not how many people the government supports through re-distribution programs.

The Pope talks about the unhealthy pursuit of money. But it is not money people pursue; it is the lifestyle that having money provides for the people that have money. Human nature is proven through history and a billion studies. Human nature defines the actions we take to survive and thrive. When we are incentivized with rewards, have the ability to create and keep wealth, we as humans then can focus on helping others. The United States is (although we are slowly losing the opportunity) the best example of compassion. Because we value individual wealth creation, our nation boasts of being the most charitable nation in the world. It is because of excess that we can be charitable. If our wealth is confiscated by governments, our ability and will to be charitable is diminished.

This Pope would do well to understand why people have been leaving his church in droves, especially in the United States. The lack of women in the priesthood, the bureaucracy and the lack of connection with the way the world works today are just a few of the reasons. I believe tradition is important but the tradition of who is allowed to lead in the church is a tradition that should end. It can’t be defended and is the ultimate “good ol boys club.” The patriarchal nature of the Catholic Church is a stumbling block to connecting with more and younger people. That is where the Pope should spend his time. But this is hard work and disruptive to the Church’s empire. It would also help with his socialist message to divest of the wealth of the Vatican and all of its holdings by giving them directly to the poor.

I know it is easier, and accepted, by many progressives in the world to denounce capitalism, greed, and wealth but it is the wrong message to send. This Pope seems to like the role of playing the “regular guy” and God Bless him for getting out into the real world. But if he really looks around at the real world what he will find is the enemy of the poor is not money, capitalism, or wealth creation. It is an ignorance of the economic realities that create the greatest opportunity for the poor.

This Pope should be out there spreading the word that government creates more poor, socialism creates more poor, and the answer is individual accountability and opportunity that is the path to a healthy life. “Give a man a fish and he eats for a day, teach a man to fish and he can feed himself for life.” Give the poor the wealth created by others and they soon become incapable of creating wealth for themselves. That serves no one, especially the poor…

Why the Income Gap is a Red Herring

Just say the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer and you will find yourself surrounded by liberal and leftists salivating to tell you how bad capitalism is as an economic system. They trace the increase in this gap back to the Reagan years. There is no doubt that the income gap exists but what does it mean, and what are the causes?

If we look at the greatest expansion of wealth in this country for the most Americans ever, you find that expansion during the Reagan years. More people than ever were able to participate in the growing economy because of the massive job growth. This opportunity added to people being able to fund 401K’s, buy homes, drive multiple cars, and in general build individual wealth. Family incomes increased and people were living the American Dream.

During this same period and beyond, many industrious Americans were building companies that created enormous wealth for many individuals. Many became the 1%’s; so often targeted for envy by the left. You see, when wealth creation happens some people do better than others. They are rewarded for their ideas through the market and can accumulate massive wealth which they can then use to create or invest in other economic opportunities. The people that also benefited from this wealth creation were the people that worked at all of these businesses that were created. As employees often do, they saw increases in their pay and may have bought a home and made some investments in their future. Many increased their possessions and chose to spend instead of save. That’s what freedom means, the ability to do what you want with your private property.

So the 1%’s saw huge expansion of their wealth as they chose to continue to invest in the economy. Some won and some lost. You see, the 1%’s are not the same set of people that were there in the 80’s or 90’s. The 1%’s change just like people in the 50% go up and down in income level based on their choices and circumstances.

The income gap is measured by “household income.” So if your household has two working members you are likely to have a higher income. If you are a single parent household, your income level is likely to be less.

The chart in this article shows a reduction in households in the income ranges of $35K - $99K. The lower and upper ranges have grown. So there are more rich and more poor which increases the “gap.” But what it doesn’t show is who is moving where and why.

The income gap can be the result of so many factors but moving to the lower income levels has nothing to do with people moving to the upper income levels. There are simply more people in this country that have not become rich (yet), and the people at the high income level are a very small group of people and not the same people at any given time.

The left wants you to infer that the rich are rich because they are keeping the rest of the people in the lower income category. They have gotten to where they are as a result of screwing other people. There are some of those but they are the people using political power to get and maintain wealth. They are the exception not the rule. This is the left’s attempt to use envy as their weapon to destroy even more wealth.

The income gap proves nothing but the fact that some people have been better at creating wealth in the marketplace. The people moving into the lower income levels have many stories but they also have the opportunity to get back out of that group if the government would stay the heck out of the economy.

What the left wants to do to “fix” the gap is to reduce everyone’s ability to succeed. They want to regulate wages, business opportunity, tax the rich, re-distribute according to the left’s definition of fair. A “fair” that punishes success and rewards poor choices and the invisible hand of the market place.

Taking from the rich, increasing taxes, stealing people’s hard earned retirement, and creating envy among people is evil and needs to be rejected by every American that still believes in the American Dream. There is the greatest gap in incomes where there is the most freedom. The people that are determined to succeed become wealthy. Some people are driven more than others and depending on choices some may be left behind by not creating any personal wealth. This is why freedom is so great and why so many on the left hate it! They hate it because it rewards based on merit. A free market does not care who you vote for, what color your skin is, what heritage you come from, it only cares if you have something everyone else wants. A true free market can’t be manipulated by politics and that’s what the left hates…

Why Do We Give Thanks on Veteran’s Day?

This is the day we honor our veterans for their service to our country. It is a day that all political spectrums come together in thanks for the people that have served this greatest nation on earth. It is the greatest nation in a large part due to the strong desire there is in this country for freedom. We hold freedom as the most fundamental principle and right of every human being.

Every one of the founders of this nation was prepared to die for the cause; throwing off government control and creating the concept of self-rule. Up until that point it was the norm that government controlled people’s lives, and that birth right was the way it would always be. If you were born of royalty, someday you would rule the kingdom. The founders turned that concept upside down and created the miracle we call the United States of America, and its founding principles the US Constitution.

The founders knew freedom wasn’t free, and that it could only survive if the citizens were willing to fight, defend, and die for the cause. The founders expected a lot from the citizens and believed that once individuals were given freedom they would certainly be willing to defend that God given right. The founders believed in God and that certain rights were beyond the realm of man. They believed the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness were precious and worth dying for.

The founders also knew that history was a great indicator of the future, and that human behavior had to be harnessed to protect those most basic rights. They harnessed them in limiting government and expanding individual freedom to the outer limits. They knew individuals could only prosper if they were allowed to freely create their path without government intervention. It worked for a hundred years. The last hundred years have been a return to the past that the founders were so intent on protecting us against.

Since FDR, we have seen a drift back to some utopian vision that the collective is more important than the individual. We have seen an expansion of government and a reduction in individual freedom as we have drifted away from the individual to a more powerful centralized government. If we look today it is such a stark contrast to our founding. A founding that took many lives in a revolution that changed the world. George Washington and his small band of troops set the example of how a powerful cause, freedom, could defeat the most powerful military in the world. He proved how individuals with a cause were the most powerful weapon in the fight for freedom. The spirit and hearts of the soldiers were more powerful than any mechanical weapon or fancy uniform.

Our military men and women have always answered the call to protect freedom. They have done miraculous things around the world and have been responsible for more freedom than any other entity in the world. These men and women are a shining beacon to others that when the cause is just, and the nation calls, they are willing to risk their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor. They leave friends and family behind in the cause of freedom and defense.

While this small minority of military veterans has sacrificed so much in the defense of freedom, we need to ask - have we done our part to honor that sacrifice? Have we protected those freedoms by electing people that honor our constitution and the cause of freedom? Have we been diligent in monitoring the policies that have given us such prosperity and opportunity for future generations? Would George Washington be proud to have sacrificed so many in the cause of freedom he so honorably gave to us?

We honor our military veterans today because they believe in the cause of freedom. They believe our freedoms are worth fighting and dying for. If we look at how intrusive and over reaching our central government has become we must ask – have we been staunch defenders of freedom as the citizens of this great nation?

I know our veterans have held up their part in the role of self-rule. We honor them today and thank them. But what I wish and believe honors our veterans the most is to do our part and protect our freedoms by engaging in the political process with the intensity our veterans have pursued theirs.

God Bless our veterans and their families!

A Birthday Wish

I believe the reason we celebrate birthdays, is to remind us that time is passing by. Time is very cunning; it silently slips past and makes no effort to remind us of the time we have let pass. How many times do we think about time in a way that places the value on it that it deserves?

Time is all we really have if you think about. And if you talk to someone in their later years you realize that even at the age of 96, the realization that time moved so fast changes nothing. What we need to realize is that in the time we have, building relationships that enrich our lives is the best legacy we can leave.

I volunteer at Hospice and I had a patient that grew up in the Bronx and met Babe Ruth as a kid. He used to take the train to 125^th street in Harlem to see all of the great jazz players at the Apollo Theatre. What I learned as he told me his stories was that every story he told me was about the people he met and the family he loved. He had little interest telling me about his career, he would always turn the conversation back to the people and his family. His life’s memories boiled down to wonderful stories about the people.

My mom died last year and when I think about the 75 years she was given, she spent most of it staying in touch with family and friends. She lived the life of a Saint because what drove her was to add value to everybody’s life she came in contact with. Her legacy, when I tell stories about my mom, is about how she loved to connect with people. She never wanted to talk about herself; she wanted to know about the person she was talking to. It didn’t matter to my mom whether you were the president or the superintendent of the building. She just wanted to learn more about the person she was talking to. She was always willing to help in any way she could.

The older we get the more we understand what is important. Birthdays remind us to refocus our efforts on the things that are important. The people in our lives, the dreams and goals we have are limited to the time we are given. We never know how much time we will be given so every Birthday gives us a day to think about what is important.

This birthday I am away for work. Today I was given the wonderful wishes of family and friends. Talking to my wife and children was the only gift I needed. And it is always a gift to have a loving family!

Since my last birthday 365 days have passed. I can’t get any one of them back but I can tell you that they were not wasted. Most of those days were spent healthy, a part of a wonderful family, many camping trips, college visits, family visits, and many conversations with friends and family. I have a lot of goals and dreams as well. They are on track but they are also prioritized properly. Family first, always.

My wife Justine is a compassionate nurse that comforts family’s at the most difficult times of loss. Taylor is an excellent student working hard to become a medical student. Emily is currently choosing colleges and has many choices because she works hard and is very smart. We have 3 pups that make every return home wonderful because they share their unconditional love that fills our hearts. These are the things that I am so proud to be a part of. A family is the legacy we leave. I couldn’t be more proud of my family.

My Birthday Wish is that everyone takes a moment on their birthday to think about what is important. Tell someone you love them. Send a card to a friend that might be struggling. Hug that kid tighter tonight so they know how much you love them. Remember we are here for a limited time. Use every minute you can to let people know you care.

I have never been happier in my entire life because I have so many wonderful people in my life! I hope you can say the same! Happy Birthday!

Healthcare is NOT a Right…

Rights are inherent and are common to all human beings. There are only God given rights, rights cannot be granted by government, but they can be taken away. When people talk about healthcare being a “right” the first question we must ask is: if healthcare is a right, then the people providing healthcare are slaves. Otherwise, it can’t be a right. If a doctor or nurse is needed to provide healthcare then they can’t be forced to provide the service of healthcare.

People use the term “rights” in a way that riles up crowds of malcontents who have been persuaded they deserve something for nothing. You could call that leftism, modern liberalism, communism, or socialism, you choose. The reality is we only have a few true rights as human beings. I believe those to be, freedom to move, freedom to believe or not, freedom to speak, right to our labor, right to private property, right to privacy, right to be left alone, and the right to contract with others. Every one of those rights has one thing in common; they don’t rely on anyone else or expect something from anyone else.

Words mean things. When we use terms in society and politics it is important to use the proper terms. It is why the US Constitution was so brilliant. Just because healthcare is not a right, doesn’t mean it isn’t important. It doesn’t mean as a society we shouldn’t develop policies that help everyone to have access to good healthcare. We should use the same principles in healthcare as we do in other markets like the food industry where the growth and distribution have been able to feed the entire world. You can argue that food is just as important as healthcare. So why do we treat the distribution differently from the government perspective?

The federal government is not allowed to constitutionally do what it is doing in healthcare but it is because too many people are constitutionally illiterate, and we have a Supreme Court that has shunned its responsibility to protect it. We would be better off if we cut the funding for the federal government in half by going to a flat tax and eliminating the IRS, the Department of Education, Commerce, Energy, and Housing. That would leave plenty of money to provide for the poor and truly needy. At the state level we could decide what else we are willing to pay for as citizens. This way if we don’t like the policies we can move to another state.

The way things are we have no place to go. The freedom to move is a right that is no longer relevant when the federal government controls things they shouldn’t, like healthcare. Healthcare is not a right but it is too important to leave to an incompetent federal government…  

Dear Politicians: Its Health Care Not Health Insurance, Stupid!

Can we reset this entire healthcare argument to focus on the real issue here? The issue is healthcare not health insurance! This is driving me nuts. We don’t go to the insurance company to diagnose our runny nose do we? We don’t ask some insurance bureaucrat to reset our lower back due to a tweak we have after lifting a box the wrong way, do we? We don’t go to the insurance office to get a prenatal exam during pregnancy, do we? NO we go to the doctor’s office.

We have been so programmed to deal with insurance companies for healthcare issues that we can’t see the forest through the trees. We should be dealing directly with our doctor to set up our appointments and make payments according to the services provided. Instead we are calling insurance companies to discuss co-pays and coverage of basic services that actually are already affordable.

Now we are on the cusp of adding government bureaucrats into the mix of insurance bureaucrats to get in the way of the relationship between us and our doctor. What are we nuts! The answer is not to empower more useless paper pushing or key banging office people to manage such a simple transaction. Just as you go to the mechanic to fix your car and then you pay the bill, you should be going to the doctor, receive your care, and pay your bill.

The biggest issue that drives the “need” for insurance is the fear of taking ill and needing critical or chronic long term care. The fear of bankruptcy is the biggest driver of insurance. Just like we fear fire and flood destroying our housing investment, in healthcare we fear a heart attack, a cancer diagnosis, or some other illness because if we don’t have insurance it can bankrupt us! What if the issue of going bankrupt from a healthcare issue could be solved? How would that change the complexion of healthcare?

From the service provider side, doctors, nurses, and hospitals fear being sued for mal-practice. They have to carry mal-practice insurance which increases costs and does little for the betterment of healthcare. Actually it has created a “lottery” mentality where any “mistake” is treated as a ticket to Easyville! No doubt there are circumstances where doctors or hospitals are negligent, but lawyers have made an industry of suing doctors for every issue just to get in front of an ignorant jury that award large paydays. Most of the time these frivolous lawsuits are settled to reduce the time and effort it takes to fight the lawsuits. The way to fix it is to have jurists that understand medicine instead of the normal jury process. A “jury of your peers” in healthcare are people that understand healthcare, and I’m not suggesting this to put the fix in for doctors, but to put people on the jury that understand the complex arguments that we just are not educated to understand. It also would reduce the emotional component of “regular” jurists that end up awarding ridiculous amounts for things that are not malpractice. As healthcare professionals know, there is inherent risk in certain procedures. If we don’t address this doctors will stop doing surgeries that have any risk and who benefits from that? What if mal-practice lawsuits were changed? How would that change the complexion of healthcare?

Eliminating insurance from preventative care, removing the fear of bankruptcy due to an illness, and mal-practice reform would be three steps that would change the face of healthcare for the better. If we did those three simple things to start we could then look at the market and see what other issues we could improve through free market principles.

The debate about healthcare should not be dominated by insurance but rather the improved delivery and management of healthcare. Oh and the biggest change of all: get politicians out of our doctor’s office!

Leaders Never Follow Polls…

If there were polls in the days of our founding we would have never had the blessings of liberty we take for granted today. Mike Huckabee on his radio show last night criticized the Tea Party Republicans because there was no way to “win” the defund Obamacare movement, so it was foolish to stand up against the law. He and many other conservative talk hosts have been crowing about the polls. The polls are not in support of shutting down the government to stop Obamacare, and the shutdown will hurt future elections! Polls are just snapshots of opinions at that time. They do not reflect changing circumstances because everything is fluid. And leaders change circumstances.

Thank God our founders were leaders and not the sheep we see today. Most people don’t realize that the movement for our independence back in 1775 and 1776 was a minority movement. Most colonists were either supportive of the King, looking for a resolution that would keep the colonies part of Britain, and just a few visionaries could see the centralized authority of a King was an abuse of natural law. If a poll were taken at the time of our founders declaring independence - it would be at best 30% support. That means 70% of the country was eventually led to victory.

All throughout the revolutionary war, George Washington was outnumbered, fighting for support and supplies, and in many instances, at the breaking point of defeat. If the talk show hosts were around then, they would have been treating George Washington the same way they are treating Senators Cruz, Lee, and Paul. They would be spreading the criticism that we should wait until we can win. George should surrender since there was no way to win. They would be suggesting we must wait until we can convince enough people that the revolution is a good idea. “Just look at all the cannons and bullets they have” and we “have no hope!” These people are a bunch of comfortable talking heads that don’t understand that this country is in real trouble.

A true leader takes the risk of taking the first step in the battle. This is a battle that CAN be won. Any leader knows if they can get the truth in front of the people, the polls will follow. So will the talk show hosts.

We are spiraling into debt, we have a President that is incompetent at best, and we have democrats in the senate that are left wing radicals and must be repelled and defeated. We have middle of the road republicans that are the new Gentry class and are too comfortable in being useless at governing but too incompetent to make it in the private sector.

Our founders were brilliant leaders, strategic geniuses, but most importantly they were men of character. They were willing to risk everything that was precious to them for the sacrifice of a better future for their posterity. Our “leaders’ today borrow like thieves in the night from our future generations. It is time for every patriotic American to lead; the polls will follow...

A Disaster So Easy to See

“If you think healthcare is expensive now, wait until it’s free!” Ronald Reagan. In all his wisdom, Ronald Reagan would never suggest he was a man of exceptional intellect. He just used common sense. Albert Einstein never considered himself a genius; he simply was determined to use his God given gifts of intelligent exploration. We are all geniuses in our own right, but why are so many people blinded to the impending disaster of Obamacare?

Is it simply that people don’t want to believe their government could be so incompetent? Do they dis-trust the private sector economy so much that the government seems to be a better choice with something as precious as healthcare? Do people not care? Are people too busy? There are probably many reasons why people are not willing to see this tragedy ahead for our healthcare, freedom, and country, but you don’t need to be a genius to predict the results.

A simple look at history will give you all the reasons you need to be scared to death of centralized government. Especially centralized governments that say they have your best interests at their core. Ask the millions of people slaughtered by Stalin’s government. Oh wait, you can’t. Ask the millions of people killed by Pol Pot in Cambodia. Oh wait you can’t. Ask the millions of people killed by Mao Ze-Dong of China. Oh wait you can’t. And the list goes on. What do they all have in common? They all promised to “take care of the people” from some evil force or something. How could millions of people be fooled to support a government that so obviously has no capacity to take care of anything? What they also have in common is the belief that the “community” is more important than the individual.

Our US Constitution protects the individual from the government. We are an anomaly in the history of the world. The fact that our government is dependent on its power from the people is why we have enjoyed such prosperity and freedom throughout our short history. The fact that the free exchange of goods and services between groups and individuals has been free of government control is why we are successful. It is also why resources are abundant in America unlike the countries that I mentioned above, and the countries that have socialism ( a system that claims to be “fair” to everyone equally) as their government structure, like Cuba.

If we follow the logic of Obamacare, does it look like a system that would be more comfortable in a communist/socialist country? Or in America where we have always believed in the free exchange of goods, services, and ideas between individuals?

Obamacare is about controlling cost, services, access, pricing, and delivery of healthcare. If a program is so good for the people it is supposed to serve, why does the government have to force people to join? Why is the government forcing doctors and hospitals to accept their payment schedules? Why is the government threatening people with fines and liens if this is supposed to be a system that helps the people? Things that are designed to help people don’t need to force people under penalty of law to comply.

A truly effective healthcare system relies on the choices of individuals to utilize the services they believe are best for them. An effective healthcare system starts with doctors and hospitals creating services at a price people need and can afford. Healthcare is no different than shopping around for any other product or service we need. The cost of healthcare should be driven by what people can and are willing to pay without third party assistance. Third party payers are what have been driving up healthcare costs over the years. Costly and tightly controlled Medical Schools, the threat of mal-practice lawsuits, regulations that impede the free exchange of services have all played a role in driving up costs. And in every instance it is either government regulation or third party payers that are impacting costs negatively.

Doctors should get paid fairly for their services; hospitals should operate under their own business models, because in the end they need patients to pay their bills. The healthcare industry like every other industry needs to compete for the individuals business. Then and only then will prices reflect the true value of the service. We need more doctors and hospitals and fewer government programs, IRS agents, and laws that utilize force and coercion.

If we lose sight of the individual over the community, the individual becomes expendable. Group think is responsible for millions upon millions of tragic horror stories throughout history. Don’t believe it can’t happen in America because it will. When demand increases, supply is short, lines are long and doctors are few, who do you want determining whether or not you receive medical treatment, you or some government agent? Under Obamacare you will be expendable and that will be a tragedy.

If healthcare is given the freedom to operate in a free market, demand will level, supply will be abundant, lines will be non-existent, and you and only you will decide what healthcare services you need and want. We have a choice and the choice is clear. Even Albert Einstein and Ronald Regan could make this choice. It doesn’t take a genius…

Attacks on Senator Ted Cruz

The people attacking Ted Cruz are foolish. The simple matter of fact is he is simply bringing attention to an issue that the American people are very concerned about, Obamacare. Obamacare is a disaster that will continue to have negative ramifications and may cause the collapse of the most powerful economy in the world.

You might expect democrats and the left to be on the attack because they are the ones responsible for voting for this destructive law, but republicans seem more animated about Ted Cruz than the democrats. In all honesty, there are probably many democrats that are silently praying this train wreck is stopped since it is an albatross around their necks in the next election. Democrats will not campaign on Obamacare because unlike in the 2012 presidential election, when it was still relatively unknown how this law would impact the average voter, today we see the millions of negative stories associated with Obamacare. So for Senator Chuck Schumer to say there was an election already on the merits of Obamacare that is disingenuous. No democrat will campaign on this unless they are in a safe leftist district. So why the republican ire?

The simple answer is that Ted Cruz is upsetting the leadership apple cart. He is forcing the republicans to take a principled stand. And if there is anything the current republican leadership is afraid of is a principled stand. The GOP leadership is all about power just like the democrats. That is also why they demonize the Tea Party. The GOP should be very careful how they treat the Tea Party. They are the reason that the GOP holds the majority in the house and could be the reason they gain the senate. But it may not work out that way in 2014 with the current crop of GOP incumbents.

So the GOP should remember that if their strategy is to win in 2014 they better stop insulting the base of the voters in the GOP. Attacking Senator Cruz is the same as attacking conservatives and Tea Party patriots. The GOP does that at their own peril. The conservative and Tea Party voters are principled and will put primary challengers in place or stay home in 2014. Some things are worth fighting for. Defunding Obamacare is one of those things…

 

The Pope is Right and Wrong

The Pope recently chided the world for the worshiping of “the God of money.”  The under tone of the comments were a criticism of capitalism. The Pope was right that worshiping money for the sake of money is to have an empty life. But the Pope was wrong when he said “"We don't want this globalised economic system which does us so much harm. Men and women have to be at the centre (of an economic system) as God wants, not money.” "The world has become an idolator of this god called money," he said. This argument is too simple and could easily be heard by any two bit dictator of the world rousing the people’s ire.

The greatest way to end poverty is to unleash the human desire to take care of one’s self through the creation of products and services to be used by fellow humans. Capitalism is the answer to the world’s woes. To say that the worker is the where we need to focus is wrong. We need to nurture the free exchange of goods and services by individual and every size business. When we nurture business we create jobs. When we create jobs we need workers. To say you support workers but demonize the people that create work is a circular argument that ends the same, no work or workers.

Money is not evil. The pursuit of money is not evil. Money is simply the mechanism used to exchange goods and services in a market. The more money you make the better off your circumstances. The Pope needs money to travel. Nothing is free. So the idea that the pursuit of money is the problem in the world is a really disingenuous argument to create envy among the people. The Pope seems to want to blame capitalism and the pursuit of money as the reason for poverty in the world. The reason for poverty in the world is government control of the economies of the poorest nations. Show me a poor country and I will show you a corrupt government. Socialist, communist, and dictatorships are the cause of poverty. Any attempt to control people and markets smothers the economy.

There are greedy people in the world and they are usually found in those corrupt governments. There are some captains of industry that are greedy but in America most contribute to the many charities and causes that help the less fortunate. It is their choice to do so and that is the way it should be. To take their hard earned money under the guise of “fairness” is the real greed. That is what corrupt governments do.

The Pope needs to be a promoter of capitalism around the world if he really wants to help the workers of the world. To stoke the fire of envy in the world is below the dignity of his position. The Catholic Church has a history of keeping property in the ownership of the Church. One of the many reasons Priests were forbidden to marry has roots in keeping property in the “family.” In the 9^th century priests that were married willed property to their wives and in 1123 celibacy was made was made official. Was that dictate out of greed? Why not share the accumulated property of the church? Why not sell the Vatican and its furnishings to give to the poor?

I am not trying to bash the Catholic Church. I was raised catholic and we had family friends that were priests. But the Pope needs to nurture the spirit of the human condition which is fed through freedom, the dignity of work and the ability to be compassionate. The most compassionate people are those that have succeeded through a capitalist economy. The Pope needs to support capitalism and the pursuit of a better life for all and that requires money…

 

Real Poverty is Coming…

The Census Bureau recently released a report on poverty and the reporting on it in the media was predictable. The mantra was the “rich get richer”, “the gap between the rich and poor widens”, etc… Instead of an analysis of the cause of poverty, and how we could all be headed to real poverty, we heard the typical emotional arguments about the unfairness of some people doing better than others. Here is my analysis.

Let’s start with the definition of poverty: “state of being poor: the state of not having enough money to take care of basic needs such as food, clothing, and housing.” In most of the world this definition applies but in America, most people in poverty have plenty to eat, drink, and have a place to live, have a TV, cable, iPods, computers, cell phones, and a car. So how can this be poverty as compared to the rest of the world? This is not poverty this is income redistribution and an effort to foster class envy. It is also unsustainable, and if not corrected could be the beginning of the end of our way of life as we know it.

The democrats are notorious for stoking envy but the republicans are not exempt. The reason the opportunity class is shrinking is because the federal government is taking the wealth through taxation. The median income is down to around $50,000 per year, the lowest it’s been in a very long time.  Every dollar the federal government takes from the productive people to give to people in “poverty” the less money is available to be put to productive use in the economy. The people in poverty are getting what would be equal in value to a productive person bringing home $38,000 in wages. Is this poverty? We need to bring back real poverty so people have an incentive to climb out of it. We should feed people who can’t feed themselves and provide a basic roof over their heads but everything else must go.

Who defines poverty? The government and that is the problem. The government has a self-interest to increase its tentacles to ensure its survival and growth. It needs to be stopped or we will all be in poverty. Before you say, poverty doesn’t seem that bad, the poverty we will all encounter will not be what we see today. It will include a collapse of the financial system, food shortages and absolute chaos which will generate more calls for a government “solution” which is exactly what we don’t need. We need to collapse the central government.

The generations of people in poverty are mostly people that have failed out of the education system, depended on government for their subsistence for generations, are disproportionately black and minority, and are the most vulnerable to a struggling economy. They are squeezed out by the educated in society which are mostly white. That is where the dishonesty and racial politics rears its ugly head.

Poverty is the result of poor choices not race or some other demographic. Most people in poverty failed out of school, had children out of wedlock and in their teenage years, and have an attitude that someone else is to blame. Every one of the causes of poverty is subsidized by the central government for political reasons. The public education system is broken; the government undermines family, and the culture, and pays the poor for bad choices. Until we call it what it is we will continue to have the poor.

If we don’t reduce the power of the central government we will all become poor but not the poor we see today. We have a choice to make and little time to make it. What we need is a return to self-reliance and the greatness we achieved through freedom and free markets. The federal government is subsidizing the cause of poverty and it must be stopped by returning to our founding principles…  

Blame the Federal Government not the Rich

We are working less because the federal government is squeezing out the private sector. The “rich” are to blame according to the President and his party, but it is he and his party that are destroying the opportunity class and our future economic recovery. There is a full court press by this President to blame the rich and many will believe him but will never see a recovery until they accept the truth. The truth is that the only “plan” he has is to destroy the rich by taking away their incentive to produce through higher taxes and increased regulation.

If you believe the federal government is the answer, you are a significant part of the problem. Until we cut federal spending and intrusion into our lives we will continue on this path of misery. The federal government does not care about the individual. It is a leach that can only survive by sucking the blood of its host, the American economy. It does that by limiting freedom and stealing the wealth of the producers.

We can’t wait another 3 years to fix this and turn our country around. The 2014 election cycle needs to change the leadership in the house and senate. It is not republicans that will turn us around. It will be constitutional conservatives that happen to be republicans who are the leaders we need. We also need to follow the advice and guidance of Mark Levin.

The Liberty Amendments, the newest book from Mark Levin has the answer. We need to activate the state legislatures to stop the out of control bureaucracy in DC. There is no one in the federal government that can be counted on to put themselves out of business. We need to do it in the states if we are to survive.

This road will be difficult but the road we are on will be devastating. Stop blaming the rich and understand that the federal government is to blame. It is time to take back control and fix this country. It is up to us and the states. Stop investing any hope in people that are living off the federal largesse. They will protect their largesse with the fury of a cornered animal. We need to start acting like the cornered animal we are…

Remembering and Reminding…

Today is the 12^th year to the day of the attack on America by Islamic terrorists. That day is etched in the minds of most Americans, and almost everyone can tell you where they were, and how they felt that day. Most of us (including me) knew somebody who was a victim of the attack. We spend this day remembering the people who died and the people that heroically saved countless others from death.

But where are the reminders? The national media is very reluctant to show the towers on that day as they were struck and later crumbled to the ground. Every time I see those towers get struck by the planes and every time I see the towers crumble I am reminded of the importance of never forgetting there are still terrorists out there determined to kill us. Islamic terrorists hate what America stands for and would like nothing more than repeating the kind of attack that happened on 9/11/2001.

Why do we rarely see the images of this day? Why if they do show the footage is it done so rarely? It should be played over and over as a reminder of why we remember. Islam is a danger to this country and it is politically incorrect to say so. But every American knows that it is Islam that is at the root of the evil that happened that day. It is not a small radical sect of Islam, but rather a very large and organized group as seen in every Middle Eastern country currently in flames. Until Islam goes through a reformation or the people who defend Islam as a religion of “peace” speak out and condemn these terrorists, then Americans will remain suspicious and on guard against Islam.

In order to remember, remind, and survive, we must embrace the truth of the matter, view the images, and call the perpetrators for who they are and represent. That is the only way our future can be secured. We can’t put our heads in the sand on what this religion professes to accomplish. Sharia law and Islam are not compatible with a constitutional republic. That is a fact the way the religion is currently practiced.

Today we honor our fallen and our heroes. Today we remind our fellow Americans about who and why this was done to us. Today we remember to stay diligent and honest about what we need to do to remain free and keep our enemies at bay. Today we profess the truth in honor of those who were taken so brutally from us for simply being American…

The Federal Disconnect

The federal government is ruining the economy, undermining liberty and privacy, and now considering a military move to “punish’ Syria for using chemical weapons. Even when there is evidence that both sides in the civil war in Syria have chemical weapons, we are blaming one side over the other without knowing who actually used the weapon.

The American people have no interest in another war in another nation that hates our guts. When are we going to learn? What is it with Senator McCain, Graham, and now speaker Boehner, that they feel obligated to taking action? They are representatives of the people and only 9% support any action in Syria. Why the urgency? What is our interest? How will a couple of American missile strikes “punish” anyone for using chemical weapons? Needless to say, both of the factions in Syria are our enemies.

We have lost the connection of our representative republic. The Constitution is being trampled at every turn and no one in the government is listening to the people they are representing. The circumstances we find ourselves in are the exact reason the founders created a limited federal government.

It is time to reinstate our federal limits. Mark Levin’s new book the Liberty Amendments is correct in suggesting there is no way we can count on the federal behemoth to reform itself.  We must take control and reinforce the US Constitution by adding amendments that will codify any ambiguity of the founder’s intent. Like a balanced budget, limits on federal spending and printing money, term limits, and a number of other limits needed to get us back on a path of constitutional republic values.

The federal government has been too large for too long and the time is now to rein it in. These representatives will not vote for anything that will limit their power. They have been consumed by the self-indulgent importance in the “club” they have created in Washington DC. They need to be reminded who they work for and what their role is.

We need to reconnect in the political process to awaken the federal government to a renewed constitutional republic…

The Liberty Amendments: It is Time!

I am an avid Mark Levin listener and supporter. I wanted to make that perfectly clear as I discuss his new book which is really a call to action, “The Liberty Amendments.”

I have been reading books about the history and founding of our country for many years now. I believe that reading the Constitution is important but understanding the context of when and why it was written is as important, if not more important, for a true understanding of the intent of our founders. I wish this book had come out sooner because in encapsulates everything I have read to date that has provided me with the knowledge to argue the intent of the Constitution. It would have saved me a lot of reading! I am only half kidding because I do love reading our history, but for those of you that find history a chore, you now have the perfect alternative.

Mark has taken what so many true constitutional conservatives have been thinking and has given us a plan to rally around for the sake of saving our future in the Liberty Amendments. My brother and I do a little known Blog Talk Radio program called “Hand’s On Politics” and this book is going to be a feature item during our shows to help Mark rally the troops. The beauty of it is Mark has created an easy read and the book is only a few hundred pages. You will not want to put it down if you love this country.

Mark is too humble when he talks about the book as being a “conversation starter.” It is a book that is going to create a constitutional movement stemming from the grass roots where it belongs. To think that the federal government will ever reign itself in is a fool’s hope. As Mark lays it out in plain words and plenty of supporting facts and statistics, we the people need to take back control through the amendment process laid out so prophetically in Article V of the Constitution. It must start in our state legislatures where we can have a true impact as individuals, and for the purpose of rebalancing the power between the states and her “baby” the federal government.

The amendments are an excellent foundation to restore the Founder’s intent. He starts with the Balanced Budget Amendment which is supported by overwhelming numbers of the citizenry and would be the perfect way to “test” out the process for those weary of a gathering to change our most cherished form of government, the Constitutional Republic. The Founders knew that someday the federal government would overstep its founding intent and provided the mechanism to take it back. The state initiated amendment process is also limited in scope to amending the constitution, and must be supported by 3/4ths of the state legislatures to become law. So there is a strong hurdle and impediment that will allow only the most needed and supported amendments to pass.

Mark has laid out the argument and path forward to get it done. I know the Founder’s would have been proud but they would have said, “What took you so long?” Although it may seem late in the process, politics often needs the right circumstances to whip people into action. The politicians in Washington have created the circumstances and Mark has provided the plan.

My only question is: “What are we waiting for?”

Common Core is not Common Sense…

The newest push for creating education “standards” for the American public school system have taken shape and they are packaged in a program called the “Common Core Curriculum”. This new set of standards is supposed to focus on the learning needed to be a success in the world. But when an administrator in the Illinois public school system argues that it is more important to explain how a student gets an answer of 11 from a 4x3 multiplication problem, instead of getting the right answer, this is a program that lacks all common sense.

Anything created by Washington DC bureaucrats (and state politicians associated with DC) to teach our children should be thrown out just because it comes from Washington DC elites. It is also a product of the “do-gooder” types like Bill Gates (who does good through charities) and others that have forgotten what education is and is not. It is not a one size fits all proposition.

Centralized command and control of education dumbs down everyone. Education should be a local process that teaches to the strengths and skills of the individual student. Should every kid know how to read, write, and calculate numbers? Yes, but how they get there is best left to local educators and parents to determine.

Many educated men and women throughout our history were self-taught including President Lincoln. Education is the self-pursuit of knowledge. Our kids need to be taught a passion to learn and what will make them the most productive throughout their lives. By bringing together parents, educators, and the business community, local communities could determine what works best for their kids. Setting guidelines for students at certain levels is fine but to make a kid wait to take calculus until 10^th grade when a kid is ready in the 6^th grade is ludicrous. The study of the US Constitution and American history must replace all of this global push but that’s a post for another day.

Home school programs have the right formula in many ways. Most curriculums are self-paced. Kids are encouraged to keep moving forward and learning more at their pace. When you base education on a kid’s age it is limiting to so many kids. Kids are smarter than most people give them credit for.   

Common Core makes no sense. We have a 50% drop out rate in many urban public school systems. In many more affluent communities we have kids in first grade that can already read, write, add, multiply and subtract but when the get to school their education is slowed down to align what they learn with their age. How do you create a one size fits all program when there are millions of sizes of educational preparedness?

The answer is you can’t. The answer is not Common Core, it is common sense…

Single Payer Will Never Work…

We are now hearing the true intentions of Obamacare as a “single payer” system. What that really means is the government becomes the only “insurer” of healthcare. Ultimately the government becomes a monopoly for approval of services provided, and the payment for those services to medical professionals which are doctors and hospitals.

The reason it can’t work is basic economics. Supply and demand will create two systems: one will be for people that can’t afford to pay out of pocket, and those that are willing to pay out of pocket. I will describe the two systems and you tell me which one is likely to prevail.

Single Payer: Under this system the government becomes the insurer and will decide how much the premium will cost, what health services it will cover, and how much it will pay the provider (doctor/hospital) for the service. There is no competition to the government so premiums will continue to rise whether it is through individuals being forced to pay more or some kind of increased tax to subsidize individuals. The individual will only be able to get healthcare that is covered. This is where the death panels come in. In order to contain skyrocketing costs because now everyone thinks healthcare is “free” (demand increases to unsustainable levels), hip replacements for example, will be subject to a government bureaucrat’s approval. If you are 80 years old in marginal health, do you think the replacement will be approved? Long lines, doctor shortages, and poor care will be the results of this system. Doctors and hospitals will create a separate system in order to make more money.

Free Market Care: This system will develop because of the inefficiency, corruption; wait times, lack of doctors and hospitals, and fundamental collapse of the government single payer system. Doctors and hospitals will limit the care they provide to the government system or completely drop out of the single payer system, and start an all cash system. This system will work on all of the free market system principles and thrive. People that can afford to pay will pay out of pocket. They will get excellent care, short wait times, and will get any service based on their willingness to pay. Doctors and hospitals will charge what the market, (people willing to pay a price) keeping them incentivized to provide the service. This is the same principle every business works under in a free market system. This is the system we should be embracing now but we have too many people that think the government is a good alternative, especially leftists.

There will be some attempts by the government to make laws that force doctors to provide service to their patients, and laws that make it illegal to set up private practices, but this will create a revolution of types and most likely will be termed slavery, therefore unconstitutional.

“Single Payer” is code for government controlled, socialist healthcare. The healthcare system can’t sustain itself with the government in control. It will destroy itself under the weight of incompetence. We already have every entitlement the federal government controls now on a path to bankruptcy. Taking on healthcare will exponentially reduce the time it takes to get there…

God’s Assessment of Me…

What if, tomorrow God sent us all a meeting invite with the subject line: Your Life Review, Done by God. How would we react? How would we prepare? Most of us have had our quarterly or yearly review done by our boss or the HR department, but by God? I know it might seem silly but it got me to thinking about my life. And by writing this I hope it gets you to think about yours.

As we know, every good assessment has categories and areas that need to be discussed so that the assessment looks at the most important aspects of what we do in our jobs. But what would God assess? How would (s)he determine if we are achieving success? What is success in God’s eyes?

I don’t know but my guess is God would focus on three categories; Kindness Toward Others (KTO for all of you metric acronym types), Service To Others (STO), and Living Up To God Given Potential (LUTGGP). I think most of us could quickly make a case for the first two measurements and discuss with God the plan we have to do better, but the third measurement is the one that had me thinking and perplexed, LUTGGP. The first thing that came to mind for me was: what are my God Given Skills? And even though I may not have all of the skills I need to be who I want to be - do I have the potential to be that person? You see, it does start to get interesting!

What do I believe was God’s plan for me? I believe we all have a purpose here on earth so we must have been given a plan? Not the step by step type plan but as a pirate might say, “More like guidelines.” What would God say about my potential, and have I lived up to it? Would he say, “Rich, I had so many hopes for you, and it seems you have steered away from every one of the things I gave you the skills to be.” Or would she say, “Rich, you have really taken the lemon of a life I gave you and made lemonade!”

If something is burning in our belly and we conveniently find ways to ignore it, what would God say? “I have given you the passion because I know you have the GGP (God Given Potential in case you forgot) but you have ignored it. Why?” “I did not place the fear there, you did.” “Why do you fear what you desire to do with your life?”

The older we get, the more we seem to reflect on the past. It may be that we just have more past to reflect on, but can it also be that we want to make a positive impact and know time is running out? I am not being doomsday(ish), I just know that time keeps going and we can’t stop time. Someday it will run out for all of us- is all I am saying.

Are we going to be ready for our assessment? Will we have a positive tale to tell? The tale can be as simple as volunteering to help the elderly or disabled. The tale could be you’re a great coach for your kid’s team. It could simply be being the best husband or wife, father or mother you can be. It could be setting your kids up for a bright future, or reading to kids that need help to get to that bright future.

I was just thinking and I thought I would share these thoughts with you. Is that part of my potential? I don’t know but I have a lot of fire in the belly type of things I am and will pursue. I hope I, and you pass the assessment if one ever comes… I hope we all get the promotion!

The True Seed of Racism

We all want to associate with people that share our values. It is human instinct, a survival mechanism, and creates for a civil society. The values often include things like religious beliefs, work ethic, educational desires, housing preferences, and economic status. But when people that believe that racism is a motivating factor to the makeup of a neighborhood (like the HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan has proposed), programs like the “Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing” is born.

This program assumes that if a zip code has too many people of one race then it must be the result of racism. When you think about the logic of this type of thought, you can’t find any. I compel you to think about why you live in the neighborhood you do? Is it because you’re racist? Or is it because you wanted a good school for your kids, it has a Church you can attend, maybe a nice shopping area, a short commute to work, open space or in the city, and it is a place you could afford to buy a house.

When the population demographics are simply looked at from a race perspective, how do you evenly distribute a Black population of 13%, Hispanic population of 15%, and the White population at 72% (2010 Census data) throughout the zip codes of America as this plan intends to do? More importantly, why would you think that race is a factor in any of it? This is the true reason why the people in the federal government and the left are so dangerous and it is why racism persists.

By trying to force people to live together by simply looking at race, you stir up resentment between the races. The assumption that race is why people live in a particular neighborhood, and then forcing that neighborhood to make housing exceptions in their neighborhood based on race, is divisive. What I mean by exceptions is the fact that forcing people into a neighborhood without the necessary means to live there undermines the economics of the neighborhood. The people that live in that neighborhood have worked, saved, and sacrificed everything to be able to live there. Now you are going to give it to someone that hasn’t done the same to get there like everyone else regardless of race has had to do? That fosters resentment. Not to mention the fact that they are using the tax dollars they have taken from you to make this possible.

Whenever you undermine the values that it takes to live somewhere, you foster resentment toward the people that receive that handout. Racism is on the rise in America not because we are racist, but because racists are stirring the pot with programs like the “Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing” program. No matter what race a person is, if they can afford a house in the neighborhood on their own merit, they will be accepted into that community in 99% of all of the communities in America. I know the liberals and left that push these programs don’t believe that but the rest of us know it as a fact.

Racism is on the rise in America because we have a President and an administration that believes the answer to “fixing” racism is by being racist. To look exclusively at race to “fix” and “diversify” a neighborhood is to not understand what makes human beings tick. Common values don’t rely exclusively on race. Religious beliefs do not rely exclusively on race. Work Ethic does not rely exclusively on race. Living in a city or suburb does not rely exclusively on race. All of these values are based on individual choices that people make when living their lives. They have nothing to do with race. All races make similar choices when they choose where to live. It is just that race is an easy assumption to make for people that are racist. That is the seed of racism and we need to stop watering it if we want it to die…

Hand’s On Politics Blog Talk Radio Show is Back!

We’re back! My brother Ken and I are bringing back the extremely popular Blog Talk Radio show “Hand’s On Politics.”

We started this program to discuss the 2012 presidential election and try to communicate how bad the policies of President Obama were to the moral and economic health of this nation. Although thousands of people listened, the president was re-elected. Go figure? We tried and failed but we don’t flinch in the light of failure, we press on and will continue to discuss the political issues of the day and do our best to inform the “low information voter.”

As a constitutional “scholar” (I have read the Constitution more times than there are members of Congress), we discuss the issues from a founding context. We will apply economic theory (Ken is an economic “scholar” since he can balance a checkbook) in a way it is easy to understand. Ken will use really simple examples that even I can understand. We will discuss the responsibility of the media in a free society. The NSA and the 4^th amendment (I think we scared away our “low information listeners” already!), and so many other issues of the day.

We will make fun of liberal policies and spoof their results compared to intent. We will be as funny as we can in light of the topic and introduce “characters” like “Richie Bag – O – Donuts” (that’s me doing my best Bronx impressions & Kenny will play the angry, uninformed, full of confidence in what he doesn’t know lefty). We will take the issues of the day and put our spin on them.

We are going to take on some guests but only people we believe are worth listening to like Professor Walter E. Williams (listen here). We will also dig into Mark Levin’s new book “The Liberty Amendments” and Mark if he wants to join us.  We will do our best to support Mark’s efforts with this ambitious project!

Talk shows are a dime a dozen but we have discounted ours to reflect our originality and popularity to a penny for your thoughts.

To our Facebook friends: no need to worry all political discussion will be discussed on the Hand’s On Politics Page. Phew! Collective sigh! Please join our page if so inclined…

The show can be heard Wednesday evenings from 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM Eastern.