We Are The 2%; this is what demagoguery looks like

Numbers are not that complicated, provided you are not associated with government and don't do business with them or a variety of credit card companies.

It puzzled me that all the sequester talk in DC involved discussions of cutting back Coast Guard activities by 25%, leaving ships in need of refueling, and the public without police protection (somewhat of an oxymoron in most cases), fire department services, and a host of items for the children. So, I put pen to paper to see how much of a chunk was really involved.

There is probably no way to be accurate, but close enough for government work.  After all, didn't they lose dozens of billions of dollars in Iraq?   I mean literally lose it.  They don't know where it went.   No one can account for it.

What I hear is that this latest crisis involves 85 billion in cuts to overall expenditures of 4 trillion.  If that is right, we are talking roughly 2.1 %.  Two percent.

Couldn't that be accomplished better by cutting all non-urgent studies funded by the feds, all salaries of Pres. VP and Congress---or at least their healthcare and other perks?  Maybe just cut foreign aid for awhile?

Cut off the ATF and DEA altogether.

It is a joke.  One of the dumbest, biggest scams ever.  Welcome to BigBrother/BigSister Land.

A self made crisis designed to force through a budget no one likes and "raise revenue"(higher taxes = higher prices no matter who you gouge).  A hoax which further sends us into utopian beehive.  To me, the Dystopian beehive.

                            Don't worry, be happy. Celebrate


I've thought about it and concluded that under the philosophies espoused by both Republicans and Democrats, the end result is inevitably totalitarianism.  Neither understands the difference between being a subject of the state, and a free citizen of a place.

Also neither grasps the fact that plain old democracy does not promote freedom.  I hear the word "democracy" thrown around as something holy, but it is not so benevolent if you are in the minority.  At best, it involves imposing the will of the majority on all.   It comes back to haunt you. Mob rule. Neck tie party..

It is also a widely spread misconception that our only rights are those listed in the Bill of Rights when, in fact, all natural human rights not expressly forfeited to government and prohibited by law are guaranteed.  But, then one needs to understand the difference between a right and an entitlement to grasp that notion.

Natural rights don't need enumeration.  Restrictions on those rights do.  The Bill of Rights was designed to ensure that means of countering power happy types could in no way be abridged.

A right does not require involuntary action on the part of others, and doesn't interfere with their right to conduct life as they see fit.  You have a Right to a house if you can build or pay for it.  You cannot require it provided and call that a right.  Sorry FDR, Jimmy Carter and your philosophical progeny.

At worst democracy involves a forced equality, as in a communist state.  Of course, some are always a little more equal--like elected officials who travel with armed guards while proposing rules which make it tough for a citizen to protect him/her self.   Mayor Bloomberg, and Sen. Feinstein are two examples.

Majority rule within very narrow limits on its power over the individual is about the best tool, provided it doesn't step on the individual's rights.  But it mostly is used to elect representatives who then vote on behalf of their people.  We're a republic.  Sort of.  Supposedly limited by a charter called a constitution. Only way known to slow the inevitable power grab.  Pretty much down the tubes, but not totally.

People aren't ready for it.  I hear of those who want to regulate more and more in the realm of private choice.  What can you do when coyotes are people, too, and the earth has a fever?

We'll figure ways around them.  People always do.  That is what made some of the old movies so fun--rebels sneaking by the Nazis or pulling one over on them, like in Casablanca.  

Gives us something to look forward to.  There is always a sense of purpose and satisfaction when one decides to overcome oppression and nasty odds, knowing it is the right thing.   Self-respect comes from choosing not to be a part of a jackboot monster, or cruel gang.

It is quite remarkable that such high stakes chicanery exists, let alone receives respect as if it were at all legitimate.

There must be something I'm too stupid or lazy to understand about this.  It is difficult to filter through the histrionics to find the facts and bottom line numbers.  Underlying view of societal organization is still the real culprit.

Maybe authoritarian rule repulses me so much for perverse reasons; it gives me something against which to contrast my own beliefs.  By doing so, maybe that reinforces my own sense of self.

I do believe that humans exerting power over others by force, when some form of self defense can't be cited, is against reason and decency.   I also believe that, even today, many would gladly enslave others if it were possible and acceptable.   And I believe minorities are at least as likely to accept such an offer, maybe moreso, as whomever is considered the majority.

Just the way it is.  In the mean time, I hope to get rich before becoming an insurance outlaw, forced to go live on the lam, finding medical care in back alley veterinary clinics.
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