The UFO Syndrome

I want to begin by saying this isn't about UFOs and space aliens. What it is about is our government and how it controls speech. It began one night in 1947, Roswell, New Mexico where something crashed in the desert. After discovery of the craft, the local paper's headlines were about some type of aircraft crash. The government seemed to be talking openly about the unidentified craft. Then something suddenly happened, the crash became a weather balloon, and none at the scene were allowed to talk.

In time, stories began to spread about what had happened that day. The government turned these stories into a joke, laughing at them. In time, the government laughed at anyone who talked of anything flying that couldn't be defined, whether it be extraterrestrial or secret government programs. The government had discovered the greatest disinformation tool possible, mockery. The media was all too happy to join in because they feared being mock, themselves. They had a reputation to maintain.

Political diagram 2013

This is another revision to my ideology graphic (View the original). I believe this one more accurately reflects what we have today. Some might be confused by where I placed the perceived moderate. I believe most people fall in that category even though they might think they are more to the left. Most people are sadly driven by party instead of personal beliefs. Most people vote for whom they believe cares the most for them.

Because it's the US Constitution by which all other laws are measured, that should be the moderate. Because too many people no longer care about the Constitution, I have placed it on the edge of moderation. The Kennedy administration is a good point to begin the modern moderate. He seemed to try to adhere to the Constitution, while his party might have been more progressive. Because of the FDR period it was impossible to move Kennedy farther to the right because of his connection to the Democratic Party.

I'm called the extremist

Each day I'm told over and over by the media how people who think like me are extremists. I was recently de-friended by someone on a social site because of my extreme views. Extremism is often relative to the other person's beliefs. I want to go over a few things that led this person to view me as an extremist.

The United States is approaching the so-called fiscal cliff and my belief is, in the end, the country might be better off if we take the dive. For a decade we have listened to government talk about cutting spending and then pat themselves on the back when they propose a spending bill that cuts projected spending by a few billion dollars. What they don't tell us is that once again, spending increases dramatically. We are running a trillion dollar deficit and neither party seems to care. The Democrats want to raise tax rates on the top 2% earners, which would raise only about $80 billion. Neither party is willing to rein in the IRS and look at all the deductions. They love deductions because that's how they repay those that contribute to their campaigns. Because I point out that taxing the top 2% is simply misdirection, and say we get only double speak from both parties, I'm called an extremist.

Legislating Morality and Speech

Many conservatives will tell us that violence, along with a general lack of morals in movies, needs to be controlled. They believe in the moral decay of our nation. This is not about if they are right or wrong. This is about those that wish to use government to control these issues.

The Supreme Court has ruled time and time again that the government must be careful when it comes to controlling speech or freedom of expression. Despite these rulings the Federal Communications Commission continues to place limits on speech. There are certain words that cannot be said on broadcast television, while the same words are allowed on premium channels that air only on cable or satellite.

And they came for the children

You cannot find a Republican source that isn't trying to define why they lost the 2012 presidential election. All logic dictates that with an 8% unemployment, Obama should have lost, except he didn't. The loss was an electoral landslide, while the popular vote was close.

The only thing that matters at this point is the loss. Romney was a weak candidate, but he was portrayed as the only man that could beat Obama. What republicans don't understand is it doesn't matter if the candidate is good or bad. Most people vote with their feelings.

After Sandy hit and we saw Governor Christie parading Obama around telling us what a fantastic job he was doing, people sitting on the fence fell to Obama's side. They felt he cared. It's not even important if he did care, it's the fact that he projected that image.

Wasted vote

I just watched an electoral landslide victory of a lesser of two evils. Obama was not the man of hope and change that people believed him to be. He has been a failure as president. It should have been impossible for him to win with nearly 8% unemployment, yet he did.

A lot of people are sitting around wondering what went wrong. The wrong is the two parties. We are forced into positions where we must elect someone that will either expand federal power a lot, or a little.

I think we can reduce this to gay marriage. No, this is not about the Republican Party’s stand against gay marriage. It doesn’t matter if we have a republican or democratic president, those laws never change. The mistake is that people think they vote for someone who will help them legalize their relationships.

1892 Homestead Strike

While watching the History Channel’s Men Who Built America, I became intrigued with the Homestead strike of 1892, where 10 men were killed, three of which were Pinkerton agents. History sometimes portrays this as some kind of atrocity. In a sense it was, but who was really at fault? We could blame Carnegie Steel’s, Frick, but that is too easy.

Working conditions were hard, but that was life in America in those days. Those people worked twelve hours a day in torturous heat. Those men were steel workers who were known for their toughness.

Enter the union, who told the men they needed more money, which was fair. The unions took things too far. They convinced those workers that the steel mill belonged to them. They were the ones who built it. Unions and the left are telling people the same things today. They tell people that those who built the industry couldn’t have done it without the worker, which is true, in some sense. It’s this kind of thinking that leads many of us to say that unions and the Democratic Party are communistic. They overlook the fact they were given much needed jobs in which to feed their families.