America Today: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The Good

People are good.  You can see it everywhere if you just look.  This country is made up of people from all over the world with varying ideas about how they want to live.  There is no denying how different we are.  But the one thing to remember is that the vast majority of the people in this country are good.

At a yard sale in California, a homeless man walks by.  He wanders up into the cluttered isles where he spots an old portable CD player.  The owner notices the homeless man's interest and runs inside.  Was she going to call the police?  Moments later, she came outside and approached the man with something in her hand.  "Some batteries.  Pick a few cd's to go with it and it's all yours!"  People are good.

In the very last row of a jam packed parking lot in North Carolina, a young woman unloads her shopping cart.  When she finishes, she looks around for a cart-return and doesn't see one anywhere.  She decides to push the cart all the way back to the store instead of leaving it by the bushes.  As she got closer, an older man noticed what she was doing and offered to take the cart the rest of the way.  People are good.


The Bad

The media in America is beyond terrible.  It is virtually impossible to find a non-biased news source.  You don't have to look far to find a poll that shows Americans have been losing trust in the main stream media in the last 20 years or so.

Over the past several months, MSNBC has pretty much had non-stop coverage of the Chris Christie "Bridge-gate" scandal.  When phone records are released that contain call-logs of Christie's aids contacting the Port Authority, you better believe MSNBC will devote a half-hour of each news program that night to the story.  Yet they have maybe given the IRS targeting story a few 6 minute segments in the past three months.  Now take that same example, switch the scandals, and replace MSNBC with Fox News.  Do you see the problem here?  MSNBC wants to do everything they can to stay away from stories that might damage the left while they cover stories that could damage a potential Republican Presidential nominee for 2016.  Fox News just wants to destroy the current administration.  Shame on you, main stream media.

Not only is the media extremely biased, but it is also encourages the people of this country to argue about everything.  Just look at MSNBC and Fox News specifically -- they probably couldn't exist without the other!  They can barely go a night without mentioning how biased the other is.  But I cant say I blame them.  Their ratings are crucial to their survival, after all, and who would watch the news if everything was running smoothly in America?


The Ugly

Money is the root of all evil.  It's also the "ugly" part in this article.  Our government has practically an unlimited supply of money -- $3,800,000,000,000.  No person has ever had that much money.  You probably had to count the sections to figure out how to say it -- millions, billions, trillions.  And our government wastes so much of that money, it's incredible.

The War on Drugs started in the early 1970's and we spend an estimated $51 billion dollars annually in this domestic fight against illegal drugs.  Sure, we might capture and prosecute some guy connected to a Mexican drug cartel.  We've probably had some pretty huge busts that they've made movies about.  But mostly we just permanently ruin the lives of college-age kids who want to smoke pot and end up with a criminal record for having a bag of weed.  That seems like something we should keep spending money on, right?

But the worst thing money does to America is it drives every single policy and decision that our government makes.  Behind every law, there is a donor.  Why do you think we really went to war in Iraq?  The giant oil companies wanted access to Iraqi oil -- and now they've got it.  Why do you think the Democrats are pushing for amnesty?  The Unions get more workers, which means more union dues and more campaign donations for Democrats (not to mention more Democrat voters). 

Our political system is designed so the rich and powerful get to spend our tax dollars while maintaining their money and power.  They spend more money than any other nation in the world, and yet no problems are ever solved.  The media and government successfully deflect all attention off of them, and the people fight among themselves instead of holding the rich and powerful government accountable.  Congress maintains a horribly low approval rating, yet somehow incumbents are rarely beat in their re-election campaigns.  Why is that?  It takes access to millions of dollars to unseat an incumbent.  So the rich and powerful continue to maintain their money and power in our "representative democracy."


People are good.  But people put trust in our media to educate them on the state of our country and hold the government accountable.  When those things don't happen, the power and wealth of the government increases, while the accountability of the government decreases.  The government takes our money, wastes our money, and the people play the blame game.  The goodness in people trusts that our government shares our best interests.  The goodness in people believes that our government wants to make our lives easier.  But money and power trump goodness -- and we are none the wiser. 

Case of the Missing Emails

Quite an exciting title, eh?  Perhaps someone should call Shaggy and Scooby or the Hardy Boys to solve this one.  Let's cut to the chase.

Before my time, there was the scandal of all scandals -- Watergate.  This involved the President of the United States wire-tapping the Democratic headquarters to gain a political advantage.  Perhaps the most infamous part of the entire story is the lost 18 1/2 minutes of the recorded tapes.  This portion was claimed to have been erased as a result of an error by President Nixon's secretary.  She received a phone call while transcribing the tapes for the court and meant to press stop but pressed record instead.  Or at least that's her story.  The lost portion of the tapes was quite possibly the most damning evidence that proved when and why this scandal began.

Now compare that to today's IRS scandal.  For over a year, Lerner and the IRS have claimed they are working to satisfy the subpoena by turning over all of her emails.  Yet suddenly, they've admitted that a computer crashed, resulting in all of Lerner's emails being lost from 2009-2011.

Is this the Obama administration's lost 18 1/2 minutes?  The purpose of the IRS targeting conservative groups was to gain a political advantage.  The purpose of wire-tapping the Democratic headquarters was to gain a political advantage.  The most damning evidence was lost in both scandals.  The similarities are uncanny.

The American people deserve to know the truth.  We always deserve to know the truth.  I don't know about you, but I'm tired of being lied to by politicians playing politics.  I'm tired of the media defending their favorite politicians instead of asking them the tough questions.  I'm tired of our government officials living above the law.  I'm tired of zero accountability. 

Wasteful Spending

Our government wastes more money than any normal person could fathom.  Lets look at some examples:

• $25 billion dollars annually spent maintaining unused/vacant federal properties
• The FCC spent $350k to sponsor NASCAR driver David Gilliland
• $7.8 billion dollars intended for aid in Iraq is "unaccounted for" 
• $3 billion dollars was spent on "re-sanding beaches" in 2009
• High ranking government officials commissioned portraits go for approximately $50k
• In 2006, the government helped fund a golf course in Atlanta ($1.8 million)
• The Conservation Reserve program pays farmers $2 billion annually to not farm their land
• $1.5 million is spent annually to help Hollywood movies and t.v. shows portray the FBI
• $300k spent to build an Agricultural and Motorsports Museum in Iowa
• National Science Foundation spent $350k in 2012 studying golfers envisioning a larger hole
• Air Force One costs over $200k per hour when in the air

Obamacare is another great example.  I'm all for finding a way to get healthcare to every American in our country.  Obamacare is not it.  It cost over $1 billion dollars to fund the federal Obamacare website.  I work in the software industry, and I could have created that website for around $300,000 from start to finish.  Think about how many people could have been saved from a lifetime of debt with $1 billion dollars.  Instead of wasting money on a broken website and countless advertisements, that money could have actually helped the American people directly.  

Green Energy and Global Warming are two more mind boggling examples of wasteful spending.  What is more important:  helping the poor and the sick, or putting some solar panels on top of a corporation so they can save $50k a year on electricity?  What is more important:  funding more research on global warming or helping kids with disabilities get the care they need to succeed in life?  It's a no-brainer.

Can anyone explain to me how this happens?  How do the leaders in our country get away with such wasteful spending?  Why do I constantly hear that the rich should "pay their fair share" when the government spends over $3.8 trillion dollars a year?  Is that honestly not enough money to solve our country's problems?  

WAKE UP PEOPLE!  Stop arguing with each other and start holding the government accountable for doing a terrible job.  

Sources

http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2009/10/50-examples-of-government-waste

http://thewastelist.nrcc.org/

Student Loans or Playing Politics?

Student Loans.  Just another issue that our government gets to play politics with.

So Elizabeth Warren decides she wants to do something great for the country.  She proposes a bill that will allow young adults with student loans re-negotiate for cheaper interest rates.  You see, back in the early 2000's, interest rates were 7-9%.  So of course it makes perfect sense for these now young adults to take advantage of the low interest rates of today.  And this would truly help put money back into the hands of the young generations that are working hard to succeed.  These are the people that are becoming the leaders of our country.  I admire what Elizabeth Warren is trying to do.

Except none of that is true.

Do you know what happens in November?  Mid-Term elections happen in November.  And the forecast for the Democrats does not look good.  So instead of finding ways to drive up the public's perception of Democrats, they've decided to try to drive down the perception of Republicans. 

This bill failed to make it through the Senate.  It needed 60 votes to overcome a Republican filibuster, and it only received 56.  Aww shucks.  I'm sure the Democrats are so upset.  I guess we get to blame those darned Republicans now!

So think about what the people in this country want.  We want Congress to pass a law that causes them to make less money.  These student loans are owned by the government, and they are profiting off of the high interest rates.  It would be a monumental task to successfully get our government to agree to make less money.  The last thing they are willing to do is to give up money or power.

So Elizabeth Warren decides to find a way to offset the profits -- the profits that are coming directly from the college educated lower/middle class -- by taxing the rich.  Sounds great in theory, doesn't it?  Let's make those evil people who are successful pay the government more money, so young adults can save a bit of money on their student loan debt.  Great idea Elizabeth. 

Every Democrat in the country knows that "taxing the rich" will never be something Republicans vote for.  In general, the rich support Republicans.  Those Republicans are not going to risk losing their financial supporters.  So they will never vote against their personal interest, despite the fact that the country would benefit greatly.  If Elizabeth Warren truly wanted to do something great for this country, she would have sat down with the Republicans and negotiated cuts that everyone can be happy with.  That's what any good politician would do if they were honestly interested in helping America.  But Republicans and Democrats aren't interested in helping America.  They just want to win their next election.

The Most Important Freedom

Freedom to choose is the most important ideal that this country was founded upon. Freedom to choose to own a gun. Freedom to choose to marry someone of the same sex. Freedom to choose how to discipline your children. Freedom to choose your own health care. Freedom to choose to get an abortion. Freedom to choose to smoke marijuana. Freedom to choose your religion, or have none at all. Freedom to say a prayer in a public place. Freedom to express negative opinions (though not free from consequence of those opinions). Freedom to eat too much food. Freedom to start a business. Freedom to hide your money under a mattress. Freedom to be a failure. Freedom to work hard and succeed.

The freedom to choose is what we are losing in this country. The government is slowly taking that freedom away from us. Too many people in this country care about what other people choose to do. I'm a Christian and I don't support abortions, but I realize that it's not my place to make that choice for another person. I've never smoked weed or cigarettes, but it's not my place to make that choice for another person. I don't think our government has the right to re-define marriage as defined by the Christian faith, but two gay people getting married doesn't affect me, so I couldn't care less.

This is the attitude our country needs to adopt. I think it's time we agree to disagree on most topics.  So lets just get out of other peoples' business, and live our lives how we CHOOSE.

Everyone Has an Agenda

Everyone has an agenda these days.  It's pretty disgusting.  And the worst part is that most of the entertainment industry is Democrat, so the country is not receiving an equal amount of agenda-driven media.

When I arrived home from work today, my wife was finishing an episode of Catfish on MTV.  As I began to play with my 8 month old son, the show "Faking It" began on MTV.  Only halfway listening to it in the background, I could already tell how agenda-driven this show is.  I mentioned to my wife that I guaranteed this show was not only going to be pro-gay, but it was also going to be anti-Republican.  In the very next scene, the main character (who is faking being a lesbian) says she doesn't want her "Republican mother to find out."  Needless to say, the mother was speechless and devastated that her daughter was a lesbian.

I'm a huge fan of scary movies.  Last year, my wife and I went to see "The Purge" in theaters on opening night.  As blatantly as possible, The Purge portrayed the right wing (more specifically the Tea Party, NRA, and Sarah Palin) as gun-loving, poor-hating murderers.  It didn't even attempt to hide it's agenda-driven message. 

On the flip side, Hollywood is presented with a "based on a true story" horror movie called "Gosnell".  This man was literally convicted of murdering seven children and one adult.  He is a modern day serial killer that would make a great Hollywood horror flick.  So what's the catch?  Gosnell was an abortion doctor.  Not only was this movie not picked up in Hollywood, but the media actively tried to cover up and block funding for a movie that doesn't support their agenda.  The movie ended up successfully raising 2.1 million dollars via the crowd-funding site, Indie Go-Go.

So what is the difference in the left-dominated media of today, and the propaganda of the Nazi Germany era?  Obviously left-dominated media isn't trying to create a superior race, but they are trying to keep the oppositions ideas from spreading.  They are trying to spread their ideas by making sure their message is louder and more frequent than anyone else's.  

The point of this article is to make people realize that agenda-free media is hard to find.  Not enough people in our country are given the opportunity to decide for themselves what they think is right and wrong.  If you're told to think a certain way enough times, eventually it sinks in.  In an ideal society, everyone would decide for themselves what they believe in, and the best, most popular ideas would succeed.  Unfortunately, too often the loudest ideas are what drive America.

Miss USA and Self Defense

It’s come to my attention that there has been quite a negative response to Miss USA.  Apparently, suggesting that women learn “self-defense” as a way to protect against rape is a bad thing.  This is a common problem with our society today.  Instead of taking someone’s words at face value, people like to imply words and meanings that just aren't there.  Let’s look at some examples.

Pretend a Republican says: “Welfare programs need to be scaled back in this country.  Too many people are fully dependent on the system, and aren't motivated to find a job.”  That does not imply that the Republican thinks all poor people are lazy.  That does not imply that the Republican thinks that poor people don’t need help getting off their feet.  But those are always the conclusions that Democrats jump to when this very common argument is made. 

Now pretend a Democrat says: “We need to scale back government spending on national defense.”  This does not imply that Democrats are weak leaders.  This does not imply that Democrats don’t support our troops.   But again, this is the immediate response we've heard countless times from Republicans against this point.

So back to our “self-defense” comment by Miss USA – she is not saying that it’s okay that rapists rape.  She’s not saying that the problem is that women are weak.  She is simply giving one option that can help stop rape from occurring.  Other options could be to have more police patrols at night, add better street lights down dark alleyways, and increase punishments for convicted rapists.  Why would we not utilize as many strategies as possible to prevent such a horrible act?  The outrage over her comments is completely illogical – and it doesn't surprise me at all. 

Logic Solves Problems

There are so many problems in this country.  How many times have you heard that?  From racism to government spending, we are constantly arguing about how who to blame for these problems and nothing is ever actually solved.

The purpose of this blog is to explain exactly why things are the way they are.  I'm not going to sugar coat anything.  I don't have an agenda.  I do not affiliate myself with any political party.  I take each situation presented to me, and I use simple logic to come to the best, most efficient resolution.  Because that's what normal people do -- they use logic to solve problems.  Yet somehow, the richest, most capable country in the world is unable to solve it's own problems.  How illogical is that?