Category: "Political Perspirations"
Brushing the dust off
Man I haven't posted here in a long time. Facebook has largely replaced this blog, simply because I have a larger audience there. I guess however, more indepth writing should be posted in this medium.
I do have a quick update- I have a teaching job in North Carolina. It's been going quite well, but I've learned that the grass isn't always greener- just a different kind of grass. More on that later. Hopefully I'm going to keep this going.
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Economics of Fail
I'm currently taking entry level economics in order to satisfy a requirement in order to add History to my teaching certification. The class has its faults- lazy TAs, poor attendance-tracking methods, Captain Tangent as our professor...
But the real problem I have with this class is the professor's unabashed and unapologetic love for socialism. The professor never outright says he's a socialist, but he agrees with socialist policies. He uses this view to justify FDR's big government policies, and now Obama's policies as well.
The class has gone pretty well up until now- most of the early content I have already learned and it pretty basic for Economics. Now that we've turned to the Great Depression, the professor has begun to heap praise for "the greatest economist of the 20th Century," John Maynard Keynes. Keynesian(pronounced Canes-ian) economics is roughly described as using government(public) spending to make up for the slowdown of private spending during a depression or a recession. The idea is that the government, with its massive power, can spend money to create jobs and thus giving people the confidence in the capitalist system. FDR took this idea and ran with it as part of his "New Deal" policies, creating new entitlements like Social Security, and setting the stage for more entitlements in the future.
Despite my professor's laudatory attitude towards Keynes and FDR, he stated clearly in class that FDR's Keynesian policies didn't work- because he didn't spend fast enough. It wasn't until the government stepped up spending for World War II did the economy start picking back up again. So was it Keynesian economics that got the economy going again? I doubt it.
In an earlier discussion, our class talked about how early capitalism was helped along by reducing taxes and reducing regulations in order to give people more opportunity to spend on business. Entrepreneurs(good ones at least) want to reinvest their money back into the business so that they can grow. This is a fundamental element to understanding capitalism, and my professor agreed that it can make an economy grow. Presidents John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, and George W. Bush had each proven that lowering taxes and reducing regulation can pull the economy out of a recession with their policies as well. So, why have the government spend like crazy if reducing taxes/regulation could achieve the same effect of creating growth?
The answer is simple: If the government gets out of the way and reduces taxes and regulation, business picks up and reinvests that money back into business again, reinvigorating the economy. The average Joe American entrepreneur gets the credit for growing the economy, and ending the recession. However, if government follows Keynesian economics, and spends the money to create jobs and pushes make-work programs, government gets the credit! And with that credit comes power- people will become beholden to that power.
My economics professor stated that Keynesian economic policies were used at every recession since the Great Depression, and gave complete credit for the victory over the recession to those policies, and not the tax-lowering policies of the presidents mentioned above. I reject this claim.
So this discussion brings us to today. People are equating Obama's policies to FDR's, and believe Obama is trying to apply Keynesian policies. Despite my disagreement with Keynesian economics, I can't even say Obama is trying to follow such a doctrine. The "stimulus" package he signed doesn't do what he claims it will. Argue with me about that and I can say you didn't read the bill! In fact, no one did! Not even the people who signed it! The "stimulus" bill does not have the make-work ideas that FDR put forward, it has 8500 earmarks and pet spending projects that have nothing to do with stimulating the economy. Didn't Obama say something about no earmarks?
Suffice it to say, Obama was voted in and now we have to deal with him for two more years until we can do something about him. Let's hope the damage he's done can be mitigated or delayed. He said he was about hope and change, Well I hope he fails, or changes his path towards socialism.
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The party of Tolerance, Openness and Good Will
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQalRPQ8stI
This video pretty much sums it up.
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Jeff Raven announces endorsement of John McCain for President
As some of you know, I've always had a lukewarm response towards John McCain. He called himself a maverick but it was what he was a maverick about that irked me. His record showed him siding with liberals time and again. I didn't like his random left-turns and I could not support him in 2000.
Fast-forward to June 2008. John McCain is seeking the job and over the past eight years, his record had not improved. Among the many Republican candidates, there were others with far better conservative credentials than John McCain. Mit Romney and Fred Thompson came to mind- however they could not pull together the political clout to win the nomination, and John McCain had won.
This was a frustrating event and and despite my misgivings I grudgingly accepted him as the person for whom I would vote in November. John McCain wasn't conservative on many things but he did share some of my views.
Fast-forward to now. John McCain has now done two things to convince me of his conservative efficacy. His interview with Rick Warren was brilliant. John McCain was clear and concise with his answers and it showed to me that he was speaking from principle. It wasn't completely conservative but it was good enough for me. John McCain comes from a senatorial position which doesn't always require leadership experience, but this interview demonstrates that he knows how to be a leader, and can be a president whose decisions are made from a solid foundation of principle.
The second thing that John McCain has done was his choice of Sarah Palin for his Vice President. Governor Palin also speaks from principle. Her views are grounded in that same solid foundation of conservatism and ethics. This tells me that she too knows how to be a leader.
John McCain, with these two events, has demonstrated to me that he wants to represent me and conservatives everywhere. I will no longer feel reluctance while pulling that lever for John McCain, but will pull it proudly. I am endorsing John McCain for President of the United States.
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Hillary for Democrat Presidental Nominee
I'd like to advocate Hillary for the Democrat Presidential nominee. You heard me right. I want Democrats to choose her. You all know me as a conservative and Republican, so why should I care? Because I think Hillary is the easiest candidate to defeat in 2008. Granted, the other candidates look like they're running for class president rather than US president, but she's the easiest to defeat. Why? Apparently her negatives are the highest. A recent poll states that 40% of the voting population is willing to vote against her. That's twice the next-highest candidate, Rudy Guiliani. I also think she has no experience in leadership. What has she done to lead anyone? She followed her husband around in the 1990s. She's a junior senator from NYS(and has done nothing to help us whatsoever). And her current campaign has nothing to do with how she plans to go on issues, but rather if she's a nice person, or that she's an agent of change(that has changed very little over the years). Yes, let Hillary be the Democrat nominee for president, and guarantee a Republican victory.
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Say it isn't so, Mel...
Mel Gibson is my favorite actor. From Mad Max to Lethal Weapon to Braveheart, and Payback. I think he's a great actor, and I thought The Passion of Christ was a movie that had to be made, and probably the only movie ever done right.
Recent events have had my torn. For those who haven't heard, Mel Gibson was arrested for DUI. Apparently in his drunken tirade Mel said some very defamitory words about Jews and as with most public figures, Mel was immediately criticized and ostracized. Some people say a drunk man says what a sober man thinks, and I'm not sure I believe that.
Mel did apologize at first but was criticized again saying it was half-hearted and weak. So he apologized again, and pleaded for help from the Jewish community. Are these the words of someone who hates Jews? I don't think so. I only hope he is as sincere as he sounds.
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