Ah politics....

For every action there is an equal and opposite government program.
Bob Wells

My wife hates political discussions. Her opinion of political discussions is absolutely accurate; which could be described as, “Political discussions typically have two or more ignorant people supporting opinions which are loosely based on exaggerated or misinterpreted facts.” Political discussions get even better when people throw their “moral/ethical” two cents into the equation as well, which needs no facts or evidence to be supported, just their gut feeling. I can’t ever recall observing or participating in a political discussion in which both sides were edified and enlightened at the end of the discussion. The typical conclusion of political discussions are that everyone walks away cursing the stupidity and illogical standpoint of the opposite perspective. I love it! A good book once said, “Contention is of the devil.” If that is true, then all politically active people, especially politicians, are the devil’s minions. Ha!

For most of my life I have been rather complacent with the knowledge that better minds are determining what the future will bring. Parents, teachers, advisors, friends, family, church leaders, even politicians could all be considered people that I have always trusted to provide great counsel on how to proceed in life and form my opinions of right and wrong. Wisdom which has been accrued by life experience teaches that most of their suggestions and directions were accurate, however, a small portion of that has been proven to be bologna, which is somehow pronounced baloney proving that truly some things in life are not as they seem. Here are some instances of times in my life that I was absolutely fooled and had to learn by sad life experience the resounding truth.

Tobacco- I was fifteen the first and last time I smoked a cigarette. Kurt Cobain was a chain smoker, so it had to be a cool and totally gnarly experience to smoke. There were three of us first time smokers gathered together to “enjoy” our first cigarettes. We repeatedly tried to hack and cough down the whole pack of Marlboro Reds that day. At the end of the day, I realized that people smoke because they are absolute idiots and cannot be counted on for the truth in any regard. At the age of sixteen, I had my first go-around with chewing tobacco. This time it was five guys giving it their best shot. There was so much projectile vomit found around the house that it looked like the film set of the Exorcist. Society taught me that it was “cool” and “thrilling” to use tobacco products, that myth was debunked in a matter of hours. I really have no clue why people smoke or chew; they must be so bored with life that they have relegated themselves to forms of torture to pass the time.

She wasn’t possessed by Satan; she had simply attempted to use Copenhagen chewing tobacco for the first time. The power of Pepto-Bismol compels you!

Real horsepower - My parents used to own a 1996 Toyota Avalon family sedan which looks just like a Camry with a different grill. This is a grocery-getter car. During my sophomore year in college my parents were kind enough to donate the family sedan to me, which I was/am very grateful for. I had a couple buddies at the time that had some Ford Mustangs and a Chevy Camaro. One day we thought it would be cool to do a quarter mile drag of a 1996 Ford Mustang GT versus a 1992(?) Chevy Camaro. We all loaded up in a bunch of cars to go watch the scene. The Mustang whipped the Camaro like a red-headed stepchild. Some guys said, “hey, let’s race the family sedan avalon versus the camaro to make the camaro owner feel better.” The family sedan absolutely raped the camaro by hundreds of feet. Then it raced the mustang and dusted it too. Which goes to show that horsepower and speed don’t need bad gas mileage, uncomfortable seats, no rear seats, no head room, a loud exhaust and everything else that sports cars represent as being fast. The really sad thing was that the GT owner’s brother owned a newer Mustang Cobra which was actually slower than the older GT. Figure that one out??!!

Fastest commercially available car on the streets today

Diplomas- Having graduated from high school and an accredited four year university, I now have two special pieces of paper. I always thought that having those pieces of paper would prove that I was now smarter than before. Life experience has taught that those pieces of paper represent nothing more than lots of hours and money dedicated to the pursuit of a better lifestyle, that’s it.

Obesity- I was always taught that everyone has a different inherent metabolism and energy storage (fat) ratio. You can’t fight it, so just put up with it, accept it. I have since learned that if anyone performs thirty minutes of continuous by-the-book cardio exercise (70% max heart rate/30 continuous, nonstop, uninterrupted, no break minutes) and regulates a balanced diet every day, that obesity will not exist except for medical anomalies which comprise 0.00007% of American society. I knew a guy who lost 120 pounds in one year because he just had to walk everywhere he went and didn’t have tons of junk food available to him. I know this is a very easy thing to say when you are the skinny guy.

Cardio Queen

Technological capabilities have nothing to do with age – I grew up with a commodore 64. For those younger than me, this was a monochrome computer which had the processing abilities of today’s handheld calculator. My Uncles copied a bunch of games that were like 4-bit computer games with fancy names like Burger Time and Advanced Pinball Simulator so us kids could play. You had to type in loading functions to get the 5 ¼“ floppy disk game to play. Sometimes the command prompt written on the disk wasn’t correct, so we would spend hours and hours typing in various commands until something would work. Everything, in the end, worked for us because 30,000 attempted failures were not in vain if the game finally played. See, when you get old, failure completely frustrates you. Old people can’t deal with the fact that something didn’t work the first time, so they throw their hands up in frustration and ask a younger person for help. Little do they know that younger person spent 376 hours last year figuring out how to solve this problem and makes the solution look very easy in about 30 seconds. Old people aren’t dumb at all; they are just easily frustrated, stubborn, and impatient. If anyone has the time and money to figure out technology it is retirees.

As the child softly states, “See Grandpa, you have to press Ctrl+C not just right click. Will you ever learn?!”

The Female "O" - Figure that out yourself.

Ok, enough about life’s truths that I had to learn the hard way, what does this have to do with eliminating political corruption? Please read the quote below and then reread it three more times to actually understand it, as it has been translated about 13 times.

“If liberty and equality, as is thought by some are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in the government to the utmost.”
Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC)

It is very easy to sit back and say everything is going to crap, it is a different story to fix the problems before you. The only way people will determine the truth about 1) society’s problems, and 2) how to fix said problems -is to get your hands dirty. You have to get involved at some level. My whole life I have never gotten involved in politics much less watched mainstream news but it has become blatantly clear to me that those in recent power are not steering our great nation in the right direction. It is finally getting to the point that this course deviation is starting to affect my life. Here are some areas that government intervention is currently (or about to) affecting your life:
1) Devaluation of our currency
2) Devaluation of our economy
3) We can’t manufacture, process, or produce anything without severe regulations
4) It is easier to receive handouts than work for it yourself
5) Healthcare
6) Moral issues
7) Taxes

I heard somewhere that Aristotle was a smart guy, he said the only way for real liberty and equality to exist is if everyone gets involved. Until everyone gets involved in the topic, whatever it is, it is not diverse enough to accurately understand. A real democracy is led by the people. It is time for the “people’s” decisions to govern society, not the “people’s” politicians. Only the “people” can get to the real truth, not a committee or special interest group.

Join a Tea Party, speak up for your chosen party, write your congressman, discuss things with friends, family and co-workers, actually vote, get involved somehow on some level or else you have no reason to complain about what is coming. Cheers!