Peace, Love, Selfishness

This is the time of hipster discontent. They've gone to college, gotten an obscure degree, accrued a mountain of debt, can't find their dream job, and they're happiness is your responsibility. Didn't you know, if you are a responsible person, you're on the line to make everyone else happy? Occupy Wall Street seems to have no coherent message, but the one thing they all seem to believe is their failures in life are the fault of someone else. They have a hate-on for those who have made something of themselves. Plain and simple, they're jealous.

This movement is less about 'fairness' in business and more about the bruised feelings of generations of Americans who feel the world revolves around them. It must be quite a shock to wake up and realize the sun rises and sets on lots of people, not just yourself. OWS can be blamed on decades of selfishness and thinly veiled egotism hidden behind equality jargon. The caring, hard-working attitude that made America so exceptional is now pushed behind a tidal wave of "me, me, me!"

Being successful isn't easy. One of the keys to being a self-obsessed jerk is believing hard work is for suckers. Why run the race yourself when you can ride on someone's back? This is why systems like socialism fail, the workhorses get tired of working for everyone but themselves. No amount of sitting in a urine-stained park, spewing anti-capitalist hate, and using 'twinkle' fingers can change the fact that to get rewarded you have to first put fourth an effort. That's how the world works.

The other reason their effort will fail is when you place all your hopes on the backs of legislation and regulation, you give up any kind of control over your own life. To regulate business the way they want, to force companies to abide by their demands, would be to relinquish any promise of future successes. Capitalism is a vital link in the chain of our culture and economy. If that link is weakened or compromised, the rest of the chain is compromised. This is something the protesters don't seem to understand. It's tough to see the implications of your decisions when you believe all your ideas are perfect and you're above fault.

Our country needs to be healed, but not with a vegan smoothie and a drum circle. We need the solace of hard work and great achievement. We need the strength of knowing we've done something epic with our lives. As I've written before, we need to return to the exceptionalism that made us great. Whimpering on the street, being violently selfish; that's not exceptional. Exceptionalism isn't a costume you can wear, it isn't the size of your bank account (no matter how the riches are gained), exceptionalism is the strength of your spirit and the integrity of your soul. OWS needs to understand their future is in their own hands. If they want to be successful, it's up to them. They need to put down the signs and start at the start. That's the only sure-fire way of running a winning race.

The Gravitation of Atlas

"A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not the desire to beat others." -Ayn Rand

With the advent of the Tea Party, there's been a lot of talk about Ayn Rand's work and Atlas Shrugged in particular. The first in a presumed three-part film series opens in theaters, appropriately on April 15th. With all the conservative and Tea Party buzz around Atlas and Rand, it stands to reason that some would be defensive of what they see as a co-opting of ideas they believe aren't rooted in conservatism. They site Rand's atheist beliefs and her focus on objectivism. Some call her a Libertarian, some say she was simply an individual. Others will readily tell you she had more in common with Margaret Sanger than she did with Sarah Palin. These people aren't wrong, they just fail to see the truth behind the conservative connection to individuality and works like Atlas.

The tax day opening of the film is an allusion to the theme that so many equate with the Tea Party; the belief that one should be able to keep their reward for hard work. So many Americans who see more and more of their tax dollars going to fund the comfort of those who simply refuse to work find solace in this theme. Many see it as glorification of selfishness, which taken on it's own, could certainly cause one to negate the importance of others. But this, like other sub-themes of Atlas, should not be the main focus. Respect for self and desire to be rewarded are outcomes of respect for the individual and must be kept in check.

No, individuality and flourishing potential is the true balm for the conservative heart, not the much maligned self-centered haughtiness, or the hand-over-fist monetary gain, or even the defiance of fat-cat government foes. Conservatives are drawn to and support the individual because they believe in exceptional innovation and drive. This is the fuel of the trail-blazing American spirit. These things lead to personal success, an idea that strikes terror into the liberal 'everyone is equal' mind. But what liberals fail to see is that personal success naturally leads to broad, culture-wide success. Without personal success and innovation, we wouldn't have any of the things that make us comfortable, happy, and safe today.

I don't believe Ayn Rand was anything other than what people say she was. I don't see her as a conservative and I don't see her work and beliefs as infallible. To do so would be to acknowledge her as some sort of deity, which would be foolish and illogical. Every story and every self-developed belief system is colored and poisoned by that person's life experiences. No one will ever have a life like Rand's, therefor her beliefs can never truly be shared fully by anyone else, not in a healthy way at least. Rand's abilities to paint success seem to have stopped at domination, selfish power grabs, and amassing of fortunes. This is unfortunate as it causes some to be instantly turned off from her work. But when approached with a level, objective mind, this can be put aside as a product of the writer's emotion.

A story, no matter how epic and sprawling, must be used only as a supplement to an ideal, not the complete framework for it. To believe everything someone writes or says to the letter is to completely negate one's individuality. Somehow, I don't think Ayn Rand would have liked that to happen. I don't know how she would feel to know her work is a rallying cry for the Tea Party and that being said, no one else can know for sure either. But as we individuals set our eyes on the horizon, we see the light of potential; knowing that in each of us is the power to make America exceptional once more. Denying the individual is what has quelled our pioneering fire. Imagine what we can do when we are allowed to flourish and do so together.

Sowing Seeds of Self Love

"The biggest problem we have in the world is lack of self love. Every cruelty comes from those who don't understand what they're worth!" -Jim Carrey

Mr. Carrey posted this on twitter recently, smearing his pompous ignorance on the computer and iPhone screens of millions of fans. With these two sentences, he proves he actually does know how to tell a joke. This joke is on him and all those who somehow find sense in his logic. Indeed, self love is the biggest problem we have, but a lack would only be the solution. Theodore Dalrymple on Self-Esteem versus Self-Respect states: "Self-esteem, it appears, is like money or health: you can't have too much of it." I think this is one of the reasons the 'self love' Mr. Carrey speaks of is such a pox on our society. Just like lusting after money, we have a need, an addiction to self-esteem. We crave prop-ups and pedestals, we thirst for mere ounces of praise and when we get them, we thirst for gallons. As the gallons come, we search for easier and easier ways to get more. Like Narcissus and his reflection, we've become unable to tear ourselves away... from ourselves.

Years of liberal indoctrination and preoccupation with 'self love' has seen to the formation of the 'entitlement gene'. This gene is passed from one self-esteem drunken moocher to the next by way of crippling stereotypes and baseless buzzwords. If you break down a great deal of the activism in our society today, you will always find overblown narcissism hiding under a rock in the background. Let's look at some examples.

• ACORN and other community-activist-type groups grew from the notion that by rights of ethnicity or degree of laziness, people are entitled to homes and sneaky tax breaks. We know now the lengths these people would go to in order to get their agenda across. The offenses range from advising a pimp on how to make his 'business' appear legitimate to the US government to registering dead and imaginary voters as default votes for Obama. There was nothing humble about ACORN. Everyone involved saw their cause justly because it's what they would want from the world. Why would they advise law-breaking prostitution-peddlers to clean up their act when they themselves live on the stolen rewards of other people's hard work? Why would they be equal in their voter canvasing when they know the 'other guy' makes no promises where entitlement is concerned? Every decision, every bit of advice, came from their darkened heart of self-adoration.

• Feminist organizations come from the same stock. Most believe women deserve certain things just for being women. If a woman and man were up for the same job, the woman should automatically get the job even though the man may be more qualified. And why would someone believe that? Simple. These women know that's what they would want. They know genuine respect comes from genuine hard work and frankly, they're not ready to do that hard work. They look in the mirror and hear the oft-whispered mantras "women are special, things are harder for women so the world must make consolations, women deserve to this respect because they're women." Humility teaches that in order to surmount obstacles, you must work harder. Vanity uses non-issues as crutches to hop undeservedly into the 'special' line.

• Anti-war fanatics, aside from being grossly undereducated in history and civics, are usually the kind of people who wish nothing more than to rule as dictators over their own life and the lives of those around them. Their crusade against war is a surrogate for the battle they are afraid to wage against their own insecurity. Facing up to the truth of the world would mean facing up to the possible lies they live by and that's just not easy for people who think the world tips on them as an axis. War is a mirror and these people prefer only the mirror that tells them they're the fairest in the land.

Communists, socialists, and entitlement junkies everywhere are little more than vain children. How else could you explain someone's belief that the spoils of hard work and dedication of someone like Bill Gates belongs to them when they've done nothing to deserve it? When I think of entitlement, I recall the folk tale 'The Little Red Hen.' The hen works at planting wheat, cultivating it, harvesting it, and baking to produce a loaf of bread. From the planting stages to the work of baking, she asks for help from her farm friends who all simply say "Not I." When the bread has been baked, the friends are more than happy to help the hen eat it. She, in efforts to teach her friends the errors of their selfish and lazy ways, refuses to share her bread.

Our society today is so poisoned by entitlement it's hard to imagine a future without it. But we must soldier on. Peace, charity, hard work, all of these things have a requirement so many refuse to fulfill: humility. On the hard-labor-bended backs and in the blister-peppered hands of those before us, our country has been carried in humility. Wars have raged, tensions abroad and at home have waxed and waned, tragedies, both man-made and natural have tested us, and we have remained. We must now concoct an anecdote to the self-love epidemic that ails us. We must replace selfish esteem with self respect. You reap what you sow, not what others sow for you. The entitlement gene is pushing the American ideal into extinction. Now is the time to sow humility and accountability before all that remains is ashes and dust.

Be an Undercover Boss

CBS has a hit on their hands. Their reality show Undercover Boss is doing well in the ratings and bringing a much-needed rosy glow to leadership of business. The premise is simple: the CEO goes undercover as a new employee in their own business. They try out a number of jobs and meet a lot of people along the way. These people help the CEO understand the workings of their business in a way not previously seen. Along the way, we meet people with amazing and touching stories. We see the shining good and shockingly bad. Not only do the 'untouchable' CEOs get a lesson but the employees come to see their leader as someone who really cares about them, not just a shadowy fat-cat only interested in money.

There's a lesson we could all learn from this. When you walk in someone else's shoes you get to know them in a special way. You find out who they really are, what their life is like. Our elected officials have forgotten what it's like to be an 'average' American. They haven't done an honest day's hard work in years, if ever. They lead pampered lives, feasting on the money we provide them in taxes. When you live like that, it's easy to legislate in a way that seems out of touch with America.

The 'historic' passage of Obamacare is an alarm clock; the time has come for an evaluation of the people who supposedly represent us. We have to be the undercover boss. We must do our research, get to know these people as we have never done before. The internet and social media provide for us excellent tools. We're able to see government stripped down, raw, uncensored, and dirty. Reagan's 'shining city on a hill' has become a dark and stormy palace of upper-crust elitists and we are the peasants toiling beyond its gates. Our civic duty is not to work our fingers to the bone and have our livelihood 'spread around'. Our duty is to choose the best employees for the job; the job of representing us in Washington. Don't be afraid, don't let them intimidate you. They are your employees, you are their boss. If you find good, celebrate it. If you find bad, punish it.

A business can only succeed if all the pieces are in place. Good leadership guides good employees and good employees make and sell a good product. The 2008 election proved one thing: we have been bad leaders. We chose our employees poorly and now, they're tearing our business down brick by brick. I say we evaluate their performance before the business that is America ceases to be.

With the stroke of a pen, revolution begins.

Flag of our Fathers
original digital art by x_1013_x

"When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation." -The Declaration of Independence, 1776

America, it's time for separation. The people who govern us no longer represent us. We have, by rights of our own electoral mistakes, allowed people into our government who want only to grow government's power and expand the capacity of their own coffers. In 1776, our founding fathers did the same. They declared their independence from a tyrant who wanted no more than to keep them under his thumb. I'm not purporting succession, but we must pull away from those who wish us harm and draw closer to those who truly support freedom. As the founders outlined in the Declaration of Independence, I will outline here the acts which support my feelings.

Members of Congress and the President have expressly broken the laws of process as put fourth in the Constitution of the United States.

They have convened in partisan, closed-door proceedings to deliberately stifle debate and obfuscate the public.

They have used bribery to coerce votes.

They have falsified findings and documents to erroneously support their efforts.

They have inveigled a once free press into reporting widely only what the government deems acceptable.

They have allowed into the governing process those with threatening beliefs and agendas.

They have supported the use of taxpayer funds to finance propaganda.

They have provided money and protection to organizations who blatantly ignore the law and oftentimes use physical and mental violence as methods of coercion.

They have overstepped their boundaries of commerce by injecting themselves into the private sector.

They have exploited misfortunes to emotionally manipulate the public.

They have slandered the reputation and names of their political foes and gone unpunished.

They have many times ignored the cries for assistance from our allies in order to appear more favorably to our enemies.

They have shown blazon disrespect for our history, our national symbols, and the memory of those who have died for our freedom.

Our outcry for accurate representation has fallen on deaf ears. Our pleas and demonstrations have been met with slander and injury. Our elected leader has exhibited all the traits that could be applied to a socialistic dictator and is in no way fit to represent the interests of a free people.

A revolution is upon us. Not a revolution of muskets and blood but of votes and knowledge. We know our enemy, their injustices have been displayed for us. We must rise up against our oppressors and take back our freedom!

The 3/22 Project

Today I feel much like I did on September 12th, 2001. I was terribly wounded, but filled with a renewed sense of patriotism. I was ready for a fight. Last night's vote on healthcare reform was an act of domestic terrorism. The Democrats abused every tactic they could to get their legislation passed. They ignored the cries of the American people and they ignored the Constitution. You see, we were of no consequence to them. They had an agenda, a goal, and nothing was going to stop them from achieving that goal.

From the smoldering ashes of our Constitution, we must rebuild. We must pick out the strong principles that were placed in our founding documents, principles that are impervious to the selfish fire of socialism. We will rebuild stronger and wiser. That building starts now.

You are very important. No matter who you are or what you do in life, you are important. Participation at all levels is key. We have to start at the bottom in our communities and go from there. If you can work for a campaign, do so. If you can only contribute a little money, do so. If you have a talent you think can get a message across, by all means, use it. Song, art, writing, blogging, anything.

And as important as you are, the next generation is more so. It is imperative that we teach our children about true freedom. They have to know the reward for hard work and the sacrifices we all must make. The greatest lesson we must teach before the liberals have a chance to indoctrinate them is that they are the only guardians of their prosperity. Freedom is up to them, success is up to them. No government promise can sustain their soul.

I am reminded of a scene in "An American Carol" where Michael Malone meets George Washington. The general speaks of freedom and how you cannot take such things for granted. As they walk through St. Paul's chapel, Malone asks why the place is so dusty. The doors open to reveal the source of the dust: the ruins of the World Trade Center. Washington says, "When you meet the almighty, only the truth will do." The truth is this: our country needs us now. Freedom needs us. If we allow our truths to remain silent, we will lose our freedom. Speak now, or forever hold no peace.

Unions: Expired Twinkies

I hate smug people; I hate smug things even more. Toyotas are smug vehicles. They have average-looking bodies with middle-of-the-road drivetrains and they cater to nose-in-the-air people who just want to be part of the cool crowd. If attitude is any indication, Toyota is the Apple of automobiles. These cars probably won't be classics, not in the sense of a '57 Chevy or a '32 Ford, but they will do just fine for driving the kids to school or going on road trips. As someone who knows a few things about the auto, I never understood why Toyota seemed so smug or why the people who owned one were smug too. Needless to say, I grew to dislike Toyota quite a bit.

When the government acquired GM by rights of a generous and ill-conceived bailout, my lifelong love of cars was tested. I had always been a GM girl. Fords were 'Found On the Road Dead' and Chrysler, can anyone say K-car? My family had Chevys, Buicks, and Cadillacs. The later was my all-time favorite. I had entertained dreams as a child of working in Cadillac's promotional department, cranking out advertisements that featured their powerful, elegant coaches. Those dreams were shattered by the reality that GM would probably never be truly great again. My deepening understanding of business practices and my growing distaste with the government led me to think more broadly about automobiles and the industry as a whole. I realized what had been holding American car companies back for so long, what had led them to their demise like sheep to the slaughter: unions.

Unions came to be the way a lot of things do: they were needed. Workers were being abused. They were overworked and underpaid. Long since, regulations and laws have been set in place to stop employee abuse, but at the time, the only way to ensure the rights of the workers was to organize and turn the tables on the employer. This method was successful, but was not without its dark side. As the years went on and unions continued to gain power, corruption crept in. Backroom deals were made, the overwhelming sense of entitlement soared, and quality of labor suffered. When people were allowed to believe the most minimal amount of work was enough for payment, they stopped trying. No one made an effort to excel. The workforce that had once dreamed of advancing to management, became complacent to stay working class, as long as the union secured their jobs.

GM, Chrysler, and Ford, the American 'big three,' all had union workforces. When times were tough, management tried different ways of making things better. It seemed, no matter what they tried, the unions opposed. For whatever grounds they cited, they never once admitted that they may actually be the problem. They demanded astronomical pay for small amounts of work. They made it impossible for people to shift their position by restricting who could do what job and how long they could do it. All jobs were specialized, compartmentalized, and subsequently doomed if the employees weren't there to do them. There was no way to replace someone unless management begged the union. And as for taking pay cuts? Never. If anything, they wanted more. These people, some of which had only meager high-school educations, were bound and determined to get their way, even if it meant their source of employment would go belly-up in a few years. Unions are short-sighted at best.

And all the while, as the big three struggled, Toyota and its other foreign counterparts were doing just fine. Their sales were up and consistent, their companies growing. I could never figure out why. Their cars weren't anything special. But then it clicked: Toyota does not employ union labor. They employ people the old-fashioned way. You do the job, you do it well, you keep the job and get paid. If you don't do your job, you're gone. There's no boss to push the company around. No strikes to threaten. No one is going to step in and claim the job is your right as a bipedal humanoid and nothing else. The skill and drive is what they pay you for. I had never looked kindly on Toyota, but knowing this made me see them in a different way.

Though I had this new-found respect, I couldn't help but smile when I learned the news of the Toyota recalls. Something about their haughty infallibility being tested made me happy. But I knew recalls were normal things. They happened all the time to all kinds of companies. Most didn't even make the news. My joy was shallow, I know, and it was short-lived. I cringed as the transportation secretary suggested people stop driving the cars involved in the recall, something that sent Toyota into a frantic tailspin. Confidence began to fall and the government was to blame. Something clicked in my head, sparked by months of news about union deals with the government. Ray LaHood's statement wasn't an accident, quite the contrary. Under-the-table money was in play here. The unions were going to have their revenge on Toyota and those like them. The government is behaving a lot like the leadership in Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs!" They are teaming with the ultimate army of wealth spreaders to try and take down a capitalist giant.

These are truly the times that try men's souls. We will be given a choice, a choice far more difficult than what car to buy. The automobile, this symbol of ingenuity and prosperity, is now a shining star of evidence, a spotlight on things to come. We must have the courage and strength to choose the right future. Toyota may not have the style of a '67 Shelby GT, the rumble of a Willys hot rod, or the glide of Auburn boattail, but it is a vision of how that stellar past can come to be again. An industry without the threatening and greedy underbelly of union labor is the only kind that will prosper now. Unions must be abolished, shown for what they truly are; an expired product for a different time. Believe it or not, some things thought to never expire really do eventually. Given the years, even a smug Twinkie will become inedible. And we all know what happens when we eat something that's gone bad.

Healthcare Puppies

Americans are children. There, I said it. We want everything, we want it yesterday, and we never pay any mind to what may happen if we get it. Free health care isn’t mentioned in the constitution. We know this thanks to a lengthy historical expedition to Google where ‘top men’ typed in U.S. Constitution and read the full text on what’s known as a web page. It’s all there in black and white, or, I’m sure, green and red, if you prefer. History doesn’t lie, at least real history doesn’t. And until they find a way to alter the official, historical wording of the Constitution, which they may, it’s not going to state that health care is a right. Boy, I’d like to be in the room when they had the argument over whether ‘White-Out’ was racist, but I digress. Taxpayer-subsidized health care is not a right, whether you're tickled with that truth or not. Just like choices to degrade one’s health by smoking, excessive drinking, and obesity; health care is up to the person. If you’re able to get yourself in a mess, you should be able to get yourself out. That is in the Constitution, something about rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Your life is your right. By expecting the government to take care of your health and most likely regulate what you can and can’t do with your body, well, that would mean the government holds the rights to your body. You want someone else controlling your life? Move.

The whole situation puts me in mind of a whiny child wanting a puppy. Everyone else has one! In that case, sure, you can have a puppy. But that puppy comes with consequences. You have to feed it, bathe it, walk it, and pick up its crap. But what little kid really wants to do those things? That’s no fun. No matter how much the kid is told about these ‘consequences’ beforehand they just don’t seem to truly understand them until the little fuzz monster shows up and shreds their favorite teddy bear. Reality bites, literally. You want government health care? You think it’s going to be free! So here you go, your very own federal health plan… with consequences. In a few months, you get sick, really sick. You’re miserable and stuck in a line for hours to see a poorly funded and poorly qualified physician. On top of that, the treatment you need just isn’t available to you. It was needed for someone sicker a few towns over and surprise, Big Brother government doesn't have enough of other people's money to supply everything for every medical facility. Too bad. How’s that puppy looking now?

As for health care being free; that’s a load of daschund doo. You may be able to ride your free health care for a while, but when all the companies and ‘rich people’ taxpayers are tapped out, they’re coming for you. Depending on your circumstances, the good old government is going to start docking your welfare check or maybe even stop giving you one all together. Maybe they’ll place a heavier tax on that minimum wage check you get from Burger King. You may still be able to stand in a socialized medicine line for free, but you won’t have any money for bus fare to get there.

And still they wail, the malcontent children who are unwilling to learn you can't always get what you want. What about all the sick people who can’t get insurance from the mean old capitalists? I’ll tell you, but you may not like it. The reason so many people can’t afford health care or are turned down: no industry competition and soaring costs of medical lawsuits. Competition is healthy. Competition is the reason our country was good in the first place. Businesses were able to compete with one another for the consumer’s dollar. Innovations were made thanks to competition. As it stands, insurance companies don’t have that competition to help drive prices down. They aren’t allowed to sell across state lines; something that, if changed, would boost competition. The resulting price wars would be nothing but good for the consumer. Personally, I prefer lots of choices to only a few, but hey, that’s just me.

What happens when you spend tons of your capital paying off frivolous lawsuits? Think about it like this: You don’t deal with stress very well. You come home from work in a sour mood. Your husband/wife, children, pet does something that irritates your already sore disposition. What do you do? You pass your frustration off on them. This ‘blowing off of steam’ is your way of surviving. It’s not good for you and it’s not good for the final recipient of your anger, but it may keep you from having a heart attack or stroke. When insurers are forced to pay out large sums in medical lawsuits, they have no other way of surviving than to pass that cost onto the customers. It’s not evil or a symptom of the capitalist plague, it’s just the way businesses stay alive. If there was a way to deal with your workday stress directly, you could save yourself and your loved ones a lot of heartache. See how that works? TORT reform could take a lot of financial stress off the insurance companies and consequently, off the customers. Did I mention that health care costs themselves could go down too? If doctors weren’t forced by their paranoid insurers to do unnecessary tests, the costs would be much lower. TORT reform is a win-win for everyone… except, of course, the ambulance-chasing lawyers. But they’re really evil, so they don’t get a say.

There you have it, the explanation of why health care is not something you can get just by crying. Children aren’t allowed to get puppies just because they’re children, and though America may be a prosperous nation (at least it was) that fact alone does not guarantee its citizens everything they could ever want… for free. Everything has a cost, even freedom. And that ‘pursuit of happiness’ thing, well that doesn’t mean you sit on the sidelines while someone else runs the pursuit for you. So stop whining and curb your dog already.