Don't Tread On Me

Things I Believe

These are in no particular order. The first one is no more important than the last one. If you think you can state it better, leave a comment. If you disagree, leave a comment. If you have a contribution to make and I deem it worthy, I will amend the list and re-publish.

1. The only thing a degree from Harvard proves is that your family spent a lot of money for a piece of paper.

2. Having grown old in the United States after WWII simply means you are lucky and is no indication alone that you have a shred of wisdom.

3. Men with strong sex drives and women with weak sex drives tend to marry each other and vice versa.

4. Hoplophobes (Gun Fearing Wussies) not only can't stand being around weapons, but they want to deny everybody else from being around them as well.

5. Hoplophobes in the United States walk around oblivious to the fact that they enjoy relative safety because people like me are trained, ready, and able to put bullets into a bad guy in less than two seconds.

6. Anyone who buys supermarket tabloids such as the STAR, et al, should be required to surrender their voter registration cards, on the spot, to the cashier. Only after passing an intelligence test and a test on the constitution, would such a person be allowed to vote again.

7. Anyone who does not know the names of both of their Senators and the name of their Representative in the U.S. Congress, must immediately surrender their right to vote until they pass the requirements of item #6.

8. No person receiving welfare, in any form, including: food stamps, medicaid, medicare, social security, or the evil "earned income tax credit," should be allowed to vote.

9. Any person who actually has a few thousand dollars withheld from his paycheck and then believes that the IRS "gave" him money after April 15th, should be slapped and denied the right to vote for at least two years.

10. If you think that medical treatment, housing, and a living wage are "rights," you should immediately be put aboard a C-5 and airdropped over the nearest communist country, where they think like you do. You will have to provide for your own parachute, since they are not listed as a right.

11. Public education is when you take your own home-schooled child on a field trip to a museum or zoo or factory, etc. Government education is that catastrophe that the taxpayers are funding to propagandize children into socialism.

12. "One of the sad signs of our times is that we have demonized those who produce, subsidized those who refuse to produce, and canonized those who complain." -- Thomas Sowell

13. In a free society, 95% employment is the absolute optimum, because only in a communist society is everyone guaranteed a job.

14. Only in a free market economy can things be so good that at least 5% of the population is between a job and a better job.

15. Considering how many laws are currently on the books; if you hear someone utter the words, "There oughtta be a law," just beat the hell out of them.

16. The Supreme Court of the United States is now the most dangerous oligarchy the world has ever seen. What part of "Congress shall make no law" (1st Amendment) and "Shall not be infringed" (2nd Amendment) do you not understand? You arrogant freakin' tyrants!

This is by no means the last you'll see of this post. Get crackin' people!

Age and Wisdom

Remember when you were a teenager? Some of us thought we had "the world by the tail on a downhill drag," as my father said.

Now that I've got a few decades and a lot of very varied experiences under my belt, I can look back on my youth with a lot more discretion.

I remember encounters with adults of great age and experience. Because I was an orphan, I had to live with many various adults being in charge of me. After all these years, I can look back and compare their guidance and words against what I know to be true today. Some of them still impress me as being wise. Others are just as stupid and in a few cases more than stupid than I thought they were when I was 16, 17, or 18.

Some of the things my dad said are no less true because he was a hopeless drunk. I am a gentleman in public because he made me realize how important it was. My dad drank heavily, but he tried to be a good provider and he was liked by almost everyone who knew him. He had a weakness, and my mother beat him up over it. It took me many years to discover that my mother was a closet drunk and gave us kids the impression that dad was the evil one.

Now that I'm "older" I am often disappointed when talking to teenagers. It sometimes makes me feel "old." But it frustrates me that some young people think that they know so much. They get just enough knowledge and accolades for what they know, and suddenly, they think they deserve deference beyond reason.

I really hate the casual and prolific use of vulgar language, which is why it was so difficult to watch "Good Will Hunting." (What a clever title) But there is the scene where Robin William's character is so disturbed by what "Will Hunting" has said, but after a few shots of scotch, he gets this satisfied, resolved look on his face. Then in the subsequent scene, he is talking to "Will" and he puts it so succinctly. I don't remember the exact words of Robin Williams' character so I'm going to simply write my own little scene now.

"I finally realized it. You can quote great books and talk about profound concepts and theories, but the truth is, you're just a kid. You can quote someone on the beauty of various places in the world, but you've never been there. You can quote great authors about the experience of love, but you've never been in love. You can quote great heroic stories, but you've never been close to death. Yeah, you've been picked on, but never threatened with real imminent death. You've read an awful log about life, but you've never really lived it."

But to be fair, I know plenty of adults who I could take the same attitude with. I just happened to focus on a teenager because of a recent run in. I've had similar encounters with people more than twenty years my senior. Ignorance does not honor age. Wisdom does not honor age. You can be 13 years old and recognize intelligence. You can be 95 and oblivious to a profound thought. But deep and abiding wisdom needs time to mature. If you are smart when you are 5 and you live to be 60, you will most likely be wise. If you are stupid and you live to be 90, you will merely be old.

There are many rabbit trails that could result from this post, but I will resist the temptation.

Old is a relative term

I was at fault in making someone think they were at fault for not finding something I directed them to. I was forgetting some key information and sent them on a wild goose chase. They headed off any criticism I might level by citing their age. "I'm old." Now, you know who you are, but remember I love you and I have really grown fond of you. But you have also given me an opportunity to address something I've always wanted to, but until now, I haven't known where to start.

There are many myths in the world, and one of them is the equation of age = wisdom. That just makes me so angry I can't stand it. While I truly believe that most people under 25 at minimum are airheads who are merely looking for the next fun thing and how to impress the next person they want to sleep with, I am also convinced that many people between the age of 30 and 90 are some of the stupidest people walking the planet. Thus proving that Darwin was mostly wrong. You see, while serendipity occaisonally kills off incredibly stupid people, (see Darwin Awards, I don't space for it here). There are still millions of people who drain resources and energy and talent from the rest of us.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Euthanasia? Forget about it. Sanctity of life comes first with me. I just resent subsidizing stupidity. You see, I believe that if conditions merit, people will be forced to start thinking. If you make it possible for people to be lazy, they will be lazy. Keep that in mind. I have to go back to the beginning.

My parents lived well before, during and long after the Great Depression and WWII. They taught me much. They also treated me harshly.

Some of the things my parents taught me were very valuable. Some of it was pure garbage. Do I think I have all the answers? No way. But my wisdom is in understanding that. But there is no vice in striving to know the right thing and fighting for it. And there is no hypocrisy in preaching against your past errors as long as you no longer engage in them.

I can respect old people, but to mortgage the future of my children to pamper the elders is unacceptable. Past election results tell me that as the country ages; as the avereage age of voters increases, either the I.Q. is going down or the selfishness quotient is going up.

When politicians are willing to sell any and all future generations down the river to insure re-election by people who can vote themselves free medication on the backs of the working people of America, it's just a matter of time before problems will make this situation untenable.