6/26/2010
June
Has been one insane month. I have had almost no time to blog. I've actually been working on multiple posts, but I have not had time to finish. Boo.
6/11/2010
Why I'm a Libertarian.
So, since about 1st grade i've been aware of politics. I say 1st grade because that was the year Clinton was running for re-election against... eh, i don't remember his name anymore. I remember liking Clinton much better than the other guy, and in our little class poll, voting for him.
In growing older, I came to learn more about politics. Seeing as I was in middle school and I grew up in a particularly liberal town, I was an ardent democrat, though for no other reason than it was what everyone was, including my parents. I remember the 2000 election, and being so angry that more people wanted Al Gore to be president, but because of the electoral college, Bush (whom I should state now I still don't like and don't think should have ever been given the power we gave him) won.
I remember talking with my friend about how the electoral college should be demolished in favor of the popular vote. Despite learning about how the popular vote is just a 51% majority ruling over the other 49%. All this going into the 2004 election year, wait and hoping and praying that Kerry would finally take the idiot out of office, and was sorely disappointed when nothing if the sort.
All this leading up to the year of 2008. This was my senior year in high school. That year I took an ethics class with a teacher named Bill James. Bill James himself was a Libertarian, and during our seemingly endless class discussions, he would question all of us as to what we thought was right. While I can't say at the time I agreed with everything he said, it got me thinking.
So, from then on I did a lot of thinking, particularly about political things. I also did some reading, mostly online columns and some books. I really began to look at what the government was doing and how it was effecting the people who lived under it. I began to notice just how much control it had over the individuals life, and how, most of the time, it just tended to fuck things up.
As the year passed on, I began to realize more and more that the government had no place in my personal life, and that it really needed to stop taking away the money I was working so hard for (well, alright, i'll admit at the time my job as a receptionist was anything but difficult, but I still wanted all the money I was supposed to be paid). It also didn't help that I began to attend college at Columbia College Chicago, an arts school in the heart of Chicago that was so very Liberal it's borderline Socialist (and there is a thriving socialist community in the school).
These factors lead me to where I am now. I think that the federal government needs to get it's ass out of almost everything. whether it's gay rights or guns, abortion or religion, the federal government just shouldn't be there. It's all about freedom. I have the freedom to own a gun. I have the freedom to be gay. I have the freedom to open up any business I want, get as big as I want, and make as much money as I want, and the government should sit down, shut up and let me do what I'm going to do, because in all reality, it's probably better for the country than any damn regulation that those assholes can come up with.
So yes, I'm a Libertarian. I believe in freedom, period. As long as you don't physically hurt anyone else, you can do whatever the hell you want.
To put it in perspective, I believe in very Conservative economic practices, that the government needs to deregulate the entire economy, because regulations only cause more harm than the situations they are meant to help. I also believe in a very Liberal social practice, that the government needs to butt out about who I want to marry, what religion I want to be, and what I want to do to my own body. It sounds greedy and selfish, and maybe it is, but it's the way i think it should be, because I'm not going to get on anyone else for doing things to themselves, as long as they don't get on me.
I guess it all comes down to freedom. I believe in it. People are stupid, and that sucks, but people are much stupider in big groups that get to control other people. I'm sorry, but I don't want anyone controlling my life but me, and yes, sometimes I make mistakes, on occasion big ones, but I'm held responsible, only me.
That's another part of it, I suppose, personal responsibility, me being responsible for me, and no one else. But, that might be for another day.
Anyway, that is how and why I am a Libertarian, and whether you agree or disagree, you're allowed, because you have the freedom to.
In growing older, I came to learn more about politics. Seeing as I was in middle school and I grew up in a particularly liberal town, I was an ardent democrat, though for no other reason than it was what everyone was, including my parents. I remember the 2000 election, and being so angry that more people wanted Al Gore to be president, but because of the electoral college, Bush (whom I should state now I still don't like and don't think should have ever been given the power we gave him) won.
I remember talking with my friend about how the electoral college should be demolished in favor of the popular vote. Despite learning about how the popular vote is just a 51% majority ruling over the other 49%. All this going into the 2004 election year, wait and hoping and praying that Kerry would finally take the idiot out of office, and was sorely disappointed when nothing if the sort.
All this leading up to the year of 2008. This was my senior year in high school. That year I took an ethics class with a teacher named Bill James. Bill James himself was a Libertarian, and during our seemingly endless class discussions, he would question all of us as to what we thought was right. While I can't say at the time I agreed with everything he said, it got me thinking.
So, from then on I did a lot of thinking, particularly about political things. I also did some reading, mostly online columns and some books. I really began to look at what the government was doing and how it was effecting the people who lived under it. I began to notice just how much control it had over the individuals life, and how, most of the time, it just tended to fuck things up.
As the year passed on, I began to realize more and more that the government had no place in my personal life, and that it really needed to stop taking away the money I was working so hard for (well, alright, i'll admit at the time my job as a receptionist was anything but difficult, but I still wanted all the money I was supposed to be paid). It also didn't help that I began to attend college at Columbia College Chicago, an arts school in the heart of Chicago that was so very Liberal it's borderline Socialist (and there is a thriving socialist community in the school).
These factors lead me to where I am now. I think that the federal government needs to get it's ass out of almost everything. whether it's gay rights or guns, abortion or religion, the federal government just shouldn't be there. It's all about freedom. I have the freedom to own a gun. I have the freedom to be gay. I have the freedom to open up any business I want, get as big as I want, and make as much money as I want, and the government should sit down, shut up and let me do what I'm going to do, because in all reality, it's probably better for the country than any damn regulation that those assholes can come up with.
So yes, I'm a Libertarian. I believe in freedom, period. As long as you don't physically hurt anyone else, you can do whatever the hell you want.
To put it in perspective, I believe in very Conservative economic practices, that the government needs to deregulate the entire economy, because regulations only cause more harm than the situations they are meant to help. I also believe in a very Liberal social practice, that the government needs to butt out about who I want to marry, what religion I want to be, and what I want to do to my own body. It sounds greedy and selfish, and maybe it is, but it's the way i think it should be, because I'm not going to get on anyone else for doing things to themselves, as long as they don't get on me.
I guess it all comes down to freedom. I believe in it. People are stupid, and that sucks, but people are much stupider in big groups that get to control other people. I'm sorry, but I don't want anyone controlling my life but me, and yes, sometimes I make mistakes, on occasion big ones, but I'm held responsible, only me.
That's another part of it, I suppose, personal responsibility, me being responsible for me, and no one else. But, that might be for another day.
Anyway, that is how and why I am a Libertarian, and whether you agree or disagree, you're allowed, because you have the freedom to.
6/01/2010
On the Oil Spill
So, I'd like to talk about the giant oil leak out in the ocean right now. it's still pumping, gallons and gallons of oil, and the, well... it really fucking sucks. Lord knows what it's going to do to the ecosystems, and eventually our water supply.
Right now there's a lot of blame going around, mostly on BP, and yes, they are at fault. It's their responsibility to make sure that shit doesn't happen, and if it does, to make sure there's a way to fix it as quickly as possible, and they've seriously fucked up. In all reality, I don't know that I could fill up at a BP station knowing their company is run this way. I also know that a lot of Americans are feeling the same way, and the longer this goes on, the more I see a future where BP is no longer a company. However (yes, there is a however) the oil Company isn't entirely to blame
Yep, that's right, it's not all BP's fault. They're still responsible for fixing this mess, for better or worse, but this accident was caused by a number of factors, some of which were out of control of the BP company. There are two other large factions to blame, the environmental movement, and the federal government. Both for the same reasons.
They are both responsible for this accident because they are both against drilling in ANWAR (That's right, just when you thought that shit was over). Very simply, the feds and the hippys both decided that drilling in Alaska was bad because it was just going to mess up all sorts of shit and just kill everything there. In fact, many of them would argue that this leak is exactly what they are protecting ANWAR from, and that we should be glad that it happened out at sea, and not in Alaska.
That's a bunch of shit. In reality, were this leak happening on land, it would be plugged and cleaned up already. Wanna know why? CAUSE THERE'S NOT A MILE OF OCEAN WATER ON TOP OF A PIPE IN ALASKA! I know it seems simple, but it's true. Remember when you were a kid and you'd swim head first underwater, and when you started getting in deeper (around 6+ feet) your ears would start to pop. That was the pressure of the water, no imagine that times about 1,000... yea, it's kind of a bitch to get anything down there. And yet somehow it's safer to drill out there than on land, where oil moves slower (it being in liquid state and therefore traveling easier through water) and is easier to fix.
And speaking of that mile of water, that's another thing those assholes fucked up, by banning offshore drilling. Because if this was offshore, say in about 500-600 feet of water (instead of 5,280) and it would still be thousands of times easier to fix instead of the debacle we're currently in.
And this is both the fault of the environmentalists and the federal government because the former lobbied for these laws and the latter passed them.
Right now there's a lot of blame going around, mostly on BP, and yes, they are at fault. It's their responsibility to make sure that shit doesn't happen, and if it does, to make sure there's a way to fix it as quickly as possible, and they've seriously fucked up. In all reality, I don't know that I could fill up at a BP station knowing their company is run this way. I also know that a lot of Americans are feeling the same way, and the longer this goes on, the more I see a future where BP is no longer a company. However (yes, there is a however) the oil Company isn't entirely to blame
Yep, that's right, it's not all BP's fault. They're still responsible for fixing this mess, for better or worse, but this accident was caused by a number of factors, some of which were out of control of the BP company. There are two other large factions to blame, the environmental movement, and the federal government. Both for the same reasons.
They are both responsible for this accident because they are both against drilling in ANWAR (That's right, just when you thought that shit was over). Very simply, the feds and the hippys both decided that drilling in Alaska was bad because it was just going to mess up all sorts of shit and just kill everything there. In fact, many of them would argue that this leak is exactly what they are protecting ANWAR from, and that we should be glad that it happened out at sea, and not in Alaska.
That's a bunch of shit. In reality, were this leak happening on land, it would be plugged and cleaned up already. Wanna know why? CAUSE THERE'S NOT A MILE OF OCEAN WATER ON TOP OF A PIPE IN ALASKA! I know it seems simple, but it's true. Remember when you were a kid and you'd swim head first underwater, and when you started getting in deeper (around 6+ feet) your ears would start to pop. That was the pressure of the water, no imagine that times about 1,000... yea, it's kind of a bitch to get anything down there. And yet somehow it's safer to drill out there than on land, where oil moves slower (it being in liquid state and therefore traveling easier through water) and is easier to fix.
And speaking of that mile of water, that's another thing those assholes fucked up, by banning offshore drilling. Because if this was offshore, say in about 500-600 feet of water (instead of 5,280) and it would still be thousands of times easier to fix instead of the debacle we're currently in.
And this is both the fault of the environmentalists and the federal government because the former lobbied for these laws and the latter passed them.
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