The Great Islamic War Continues

Happy Birthday Paul!!! You are now as old as me!

I was listening to an interview with the author of Power, Faith and Fantasy, Michael Oren. For those unfamiliar, we are now at war with Islamic terrorists for 231 years. It started when we declared independence because we lost British protection for our trade. The Barbary Wars were the first battle in this struggle with Islam. Thomas Jefferson tried to form a coalition and the Europeans turned him down, especially the French. The Europeans just paid off the Barbary Pirates. In Jefferson's report to Congress, he retells his meeting with the leader of what is now Libya. He was told that the Islamic states wanted war with the US because the Koran tells them that they must destroy all infidel states. If they die in the process, they go to heaven. This is why Jefferson had a Koran. In 1734, it was translated by George Sails and it he gave is to Jefferson so "good Christians will know their Muslim enemies and can better defeat them." This is the same Koran Kieth Ellison swore on earlier this year. The US Navy was formed for this first foreign American conflict. In 1805, Jefferson sent the Marines to Tripoli and finally, in 1815 we forced them to surrender at cannonponint.

Now, for some, this means we will never defeat Islamic terror. Since we can't win, we shouldn't try. For the rest of us, this means that we can never stop fighting Islamic terror because it can be defeated but it has to be defeated again and again in every generation. We had our eye on Communism for so long that after we defeated it in so many places, we took our eye off Islamic terror and we find ourselves where we are today. I don't believe that we will ever see at time with no enemies. After the fall of Russia, we should have already been looking for our next enemy rather than them looking to strike us. We need to learn the lessons of our forgotten American history.

-Jeremy

Sheehan for Congress

In California, Sheehan wants to run against Nancy Pelosi for Congress. By the time she runs, we will have a new President so I am not sure what she will accomplish. But I hope she does run. I hope she finds out that people don't really support her ideas on a grand scale. If for no other reason than it would be political suicide for other Congress members to side with her. Her beliefs are fringe. She is in a prison of her own making in the pursuit of someone to pay for the source of her pain. If she looks close enough though, she will find that the source of her pain is her son who defied her long-standing America hating beliefs to join the service in the first place. When she accepts the fact that her son did not share her belief system, then, maybe she can move on from this crusade.

-Jeremy

Cindy Sheehan

The circus came to Charlotte yesterday in the form of Cindy Sheehan and her band of anti-American protesters. The most disturbing thing to me is that she views her son as a victim, and not a hero. She has literally diminished his contribution to his country because of her political vendetta. The reason I know it's impossible for her to see her son as a hero is because heroism is defined by someone who sacrifices voluntarily for a greater cause or purpose. Since she thinks the War on Terror is an unjust, illegal war, she makes her son's death meaningless. Her son voluntarily re-enlisted for a 2nd tour of duty to bravely serve his country, and she has stolen his honor by painting him as a victim. I feel for her loss, but what she doesn't realize is her fiery hatred for Bush and the Republicans will not warm her heart one degree. She is destined to a life of bitterness until her son's legacy becomes more important to her than her political axe to grind.

-Paul

Generosity and Taxes

Generosity, by definition, must be voluntary. I hate the way the politicians who love "big gov't" are trying to persuade Americans, particularly religious americans, that giving more taxes is equal to charitable donations. YOU CANNOT LEGISLATE GENEROSITY. It says in the Bible that God loves a cheerful giver, and that in matters of charity we are not to give under compulsion but out of our hearts. Tax money taken coercively doesn't fit that description in any sense. I heard a guy on the radio yesterday who was arguing for "economic justice". He hated the fact that a large percentage of the wealth in the U.S. is concentrated in the hands of a few. SO WHAT!!!! If they earned it, it is rightfully theirs. Also, wealth is not a closed system. It is constantly being created by inventive, innovative people with ideas. The wealthy are not hoarding some finite amount of dollars. They are just making lots of good decisions on how to invest their money to create more wealth. How did Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Sam Walton, Henry Ford........etc. create their fortunes? They came up with innovative products, or new business models to create wealth. If people studied the wealthy they would understand that it's available to anyone who would attract it, and master it.
Contrast that with the static economies of non-capitalist countries. Africa is the richest continent in natural resources, but is terribly underdeveloped because the financial structures of capitalism are not there to invest in the African people's entrepreneurial ideas. Peaceful, democratic societies with capitalist economic policies will always thrive. Capitalism embodies idealism, and hope for something in it's earliest stages being able to grow and bear lots of fruit. I LOVE CAPITALISM!!!!!!

-Paul

P.S. - If the government was really interested in me being charitable it wouldn't cap the the amount of charitable donations eligible for a tax deduction. I want lots of money so I can give most of it away!!!!!!

It's Worse Than You Think!!!

I pulled this off the Cato Institute website:

Today, 70 cents of every dollar goes not to poor people, but to government bureaucrats and others who serve the poor. Few private charities have the bureaucratic overhead and inefficiency of government programs.

Not only is our money taken but 70% is lost in paper transfer. How could any "Business" stay in business with 30% of it's revenue to spend when it always finds something else to spend money on? And that Madison statement is very telling now that the Federal government gives benevolence to nearly every country in the world, not to mention the well spent money on the United Nations and NATO.

-Jeremy

The Common Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Happy Birthday Jen, Jen!!!! There is a true story of James Madison (essentially, the author of the Constitution) who was at the time a senator, confronting the rest of the senate on a matter of charity. The senate wanted to appropriate $15,000 to assist some refugees from another country, and Madison's response was something to the effect of 'I cannot place my finger on any article in the Constitution that empowers us to appropriate money for the purpose of benevolence.' Pretty powerful stuff coming from the dude who wrote it. Now fast forward to today when the vast majority of Federal spending is for "benevolence" (welfare, medicare, Social Security, medicaid......etc.) I put the word benevolence in quotes because they are actually doing more harm than good. The gov't delivers about 1 out of every 10 dollars allocated for a certain purpose, to that purpose. They are extremely inefficient, bureaucratic, and slow!!!!! The vast tendency of people who receive a hand out is to not work to get out of their situation. The gov't is literally incentivizing people to have a lack of initiative.
There's something so basic that Americans don't seem to understand. If the Gov't coercively takes your money it is the same as stealing.......yes even if it's for good purposes. If I mug a rich guy and use all his money to feed and clothe a homeless guy, I still committed a crime. I HAVE NO RIGHT TO HIS PROPERTY no matter what the perceived inequity is. It is the same for the Gov't and taxes that are coercively taken. The Constitution provides only for the levying of taxes in the form of a consumption tax, or in the time of war a temporary income tax, and that's it!!!!! No death tax, no income tax, no capital gains tax.......etc. And that would be the Common Good, the bad, and the ugly.

-Paul

Heroes first? Heroes only!

How about Heroes instead of pork? The constitution only provided for our heroes, people to protect us. It is so unfortunate that "the common good" is too broad a phrase for some people to understand. Security and protection are the only things guaranteed to be provided by the Federal Government.

A special Happy Birthday to my wife Jennifer on this Friday the 13th.

-Jeremy

July 4th Reflections and Heroes

The 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays. I love what it represents and how it's celebrated. Fireworks are not only celebratory, but they are symbolic of the battles that were fought for our freedom. Every year people take out their flags, and red, white, and blue clothes and join to celebrate our unity - not diversity. I love the ethnic diversity in the country, but for one day its great to come together simply as AMERICANS.
Now this leads to an issue that's been on my heart for awhile. While I believe there is a lot of extravagant spending going on with our taxes, I think there's one group of people who totally deserve a better deal. They are our 1st responders at home and our soldiers abroad. It's insane that a family would have to struggle financially after the death or injury of a loved one sacrificing their personal well-being for the common good. Anyone in that situation should have an automatic 100,000 per year (tax-free) pension kick in to support their dependents. It is the very least that society can do for these heroes. Instead, I hear of collections being taken for the families of fallen officers and soldiers. Those are good causes, but why is there a shortfall to begin with?
I actually heard some Charlotte officials spreading fear to the public that if their bloated train tax wasn't approved in the fall that they would have to cut police, and fire budgets back. Excuse me...........!!!! Playing politics with the most important and legitimate uses of government. We have a tremendous crisis of priorities. If a politician is unable to prioritize spending they will always misuse the tax money. My point is simple - HEROES BEFORE PORK!!!!!