It's All About Me

Two small books have taken the publishing world by storm over the last few weeks. One is Mark Levin's Liberty and Tyranny and the other is Glenn Beck's Common Sense. I have both books. They each provide interesting analysis on how we got into our present mess. Levin's book is a more scholarly approach than Beck's; however, Beck's book is a little more accessible. Essentially, however, these two guys are saying the same thing. Everyone should read both books because they provide excellent analytical frameworks to assess the current state of the world.

That being said, I was really bugged this afternoon when I heard Levin ranting over the fact that Beck and OReilly were alleging book sale numbers that were overstated. He was claiming that his book was outselling theirs and that jealousy was driving the other guys to overstate their book sale numbers.

Is that really all that Levin has to worry about? If he is really interested in preserving our liberty he should be grateful for the efforts of others trying to do the same thing. Who cares who is selling more books? The point is that a lot of good books are being sold and hopefully read. Whether Levin's book or Beck's book, each can educate about the uniqueness of the American experiment and warn of the dangers to which it is being subjected by the soft tyranny of progressive ideas.

Come on guys it's not about you. It's about all of us.

Small Things

I was trying a case today in a public building whose principle function is to dispense government funds to those who fall into the government's need net. However, the state and federal dispensing of other peoples' cash is not the topic of my rantings today. Rather my heartburn is over two posters taped to the walls at various locations in this government office. They were small posters. One was just 8 1/2 by 11. However, the posters' small size belied their capability to get me hugely ticked off.

Exhibit 1

Posted on a window of a family planning office was a picture of a couple dressed in 50s style clothing chastely walking hand in hand. The poster simply said, "Times have Changed."

They most certainly have. This family planning adverstisment was clearly mocking traditional morality. We can each have our opinions on that issue. However, the point of my rant is that here I was standing in a State-run money and service dispensary in front of a family planning office sporting a state sponsored advertisement encouraging and approving the out of wedlock sex that produces the pregnant consequences that form the reason for that office's existence. State money encouraging dysfunctional behavior. Make sense?

Exhibit 2

Sitting in the small conference room, where we were having our proceeding, there was a small poster on the wall. I didn't notice it at first. However as my attention to the case drifted, I looked at the poster and noted it depicted two daddies with two children. The poster also depicted two women walking arm in arm. The tag line on the poster was something like "We are Diverse But We Are Also the Same." The poster then noted it had been sponsored by a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transvestite organization. My purpose is not to get into an argument regarding gay/ straight lifestyle pros and cons. I have friends and business acquaintances of all persuasions and I wish to give no offense. However, as with Exhibit 1, here was a poster espousing family structures that are admittedly non-traditional (at least so far in most cultures) being posted in a public place thereby implying state sanction of the non-traditional family structures.

So what's my point to this other than my usual rantings and ravings about dysfunctional personal conduct and the dissolution of traditional family structures? Just this. Some branches of the Government are vested in encouraging dysfunctional behavior to ensure that they have a never ending client base for their services. A lot of government employees' livelihoods depend on dysfunctional personal behaviors and non-traditional family structures.

I suspect the only thing that would have put the icing on the cake for me, today, would have been to find a state lottery sales office in the same building next to the office providing services to problem gamblers.

I guess just like any other business, the government has the right to advertise and entice its citizens to engage in conduct that ultimately leads to dependency on government services. The only grim satisfaction in all of this is that some our state agencies are effectively using capitalist marketing techniques to sell their services.

Now, if only we could get them to turn a profit.

First Word

I have finally decided to leap into the world of blogging. This foray into another time consumer is not done lightly. I have plenty of things on my plate to keep me busy. Nor am I in need of a creative outlet. I have plenty of those. Rather I need a means to express myself regarding my political and social observations that so often cause mumblings and mutterings that many of my family and friends probably assume are signs of early onset dementia.

Even as a kid I have always been fascinated with the news, world events, history and politics. Never in my 53 years; however, have I been so concerned about the fate of my country. The United States is on edge of a transformation into a society rigidly controlled by central authority whose goal it is to control most aspects of our economy and more importantly control the everyday choices we make as individuals. This is not a sudden transformation. Rather it has been on going for over the past 100 years. With the last national election, progressives / socialists/ statists (whatever the flavor) have finally gained power. The political leadership is attempting to erase what it is that makes America exceptional in its quest for a egalitarian utopia in which everyone but leadership are equally mediocre and equally without hope for something better.

I will always remember a train ride I had in Germany in the 1970s. A member of the German Bundestag was riding in our compartment with us. As we talked about the world the Soviet Union came up. The German parliamentarian expressed his preference for living in West Germany rather in Soviet dominated East Germany. He said that he preferred the illusion of freedom that the west offered compared with the reality of oppression under Soviet rule. While I agreed with him that illusory freedom was better than real oppression I felt sorry for him that he was so cynical about the real freedom that he had. As an American then, I had a hard time relating to his cynicism. I really believed then that I had real freedom or perhaps liberty. America is a unique land in which the people grant its government limited authority rather than in other lands where the state grants limited freedoms. That is a critical fundamental difference in the United States that I think is often not known or forgotten.

Therefore, the purpose of UnCommon Sense (to steal Thomas Paine's title) is to vent my concerns about the current state of our nation. I can promise no original thoughts in this blog and most certainly you will see echoes and concerns that are reflections of commentary from folks much smarter than I. However, I think we all need to be engaging in political conversation at a time when the course of our nation is at a fateful crossroad.

Please feel free to vent as well.