Independence

The word independence means different things to different people. When you're a child you dream of growing up and having your freedom from your parents. We then look for someone to spend our lives. It is important to understand the personal independence comes at a high cost. In 1624 John Donne wrote the inspirational phrase "no man is an island." We are social creatures and even the most solitary of us need human contact.

Most of us wish to prosper in our lives. Prosperity only matters if you are part of society. Societies have a cost to the individual. We have obligations to one another, but these are voluntary. Well for a while anyway. The obligations that we owe to each other are not something that the government should mandate. We are dependent on others for work. Those who own or run businesses are also dependent on each of us. True independence is rare and valuable.

As we grow older the meaning changes. For many Americans Independence Day means a summer vacation with fireworks, cookouts, and time spent with family or a trip to the ocean. But many of us know the history, but I think that there are many who do not know or appreciate it. There are many that have been told in this nation that it is evil and that we as a people should feel guilty for all the bad that has been done to create this country. Many of our citizens are now ashamed of the United States. They have become enemies of a country that they call home. Their loyalties are not with our nation, but they wish to open our country to the world and they expect that surrendering will make this country better. They believe that our enemies would treat them better than the current for form of government.

So we must understand what it means when we talk about independence. The truth of independence is from tyranny. That is what the founders of the US were declaring when they signed the Declaration of Independence. They understood that they were cutting the ties to Great Britain, but that act made them dependent on each other to protect the freedoms they were creating. As we think about independence we must remember the true meaning.

©2010 Pedro Sykes - Some Rights Reserved

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

Insurance

Why does Auto Insurance only cover accidents? Why not gas and oil? Shouldn't the greedy auto insurance companies also pay for regular maintenance? If the insurance covered oil changes and other necessary car care items then cars would use less fuel and last longer. Well this seems to be the thought process that many people use when they talk about "health insurance." But auto insurance does not pay for all those things and there is a very good reason. If the insurance companies covered these things, rates and costs would sky rocket. There could even be a shortage of mechanics.

There are those who will say that this is a good thing. I can see people who will read this and think that the government should mandate this change in insurance coverage. They would say that the auto insurance industry is making huge profits and this windfall should be used to better serve the public.

Well consider this, if all gas and oil for autos were covered then there would be no reason to conserve energy. People would have no reason to worry about not only about how much they drove, but they would not worry about millage. Gas prices would increase since supplies lines would become strained. Insurance companies would merge or the government would have to take over the system. The system and the world economy could not handle this type of change.

Well now that you've thought about this, think about the way that health insurance has changed. There was a time when you only bought medical insurance to cover major medical issues. Medicare Part A only covers hospital costs. The idea was that individuals controlled cost by only using the services that they needed. This system was turned on its ear with the idea of preventive care and the HMO concept. Now with ObamaCare we have gone farther down this road then we can afford. The idea that unlimited preventive care just like unlimited car maintenance can bring down cost is showing that it can and will not ever happen. Europe has discovered this truth, but our government still thinks that they are smarter then history. Well we will see.



©2010 Pedro Sykes - Some Rights Reserved

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

Prosperity

How can the government spend the country into prosperity? To create prosperity requires the creation of wealth. Some may think that since the government creates money, it creates wealth. This is not true. The government does not create anything but debt. Money is worthless without something to back it up. Wealth and therefor prosperity is created by the private sector. The more debt the government creates the less the money is worth.

Sure you can say that education creates better citizens, which has some merit, but education is still mainly a product of the local and state government. But there again the wealthy and anyone who can flock to private schools. The most prestigious higher education institutions in the country are private, not public universities.

Too many people don't understand how wealth is created. For too many years the government has used increases in the minimum wage to convince people that they are improving the standard of living. The sad truth about such moves by the government is that it does not improve the standard of living. Each time wages are artificial increaseds, the value of the money goes down. In the end pay goes up along with prices.

The only way you can prosper is to pick yourself off the floor and make your life better. Prosperity is not free, easy, or provided by politicians. No one will become rich on unemployment. Those in the government think they are doing good by spending stimulus money, but for every dollar the spend the less each is worth. Stop waiting on the government and find a way to improve your own life. Prosperity is not about riches, it is about the wealth of the human spirit.

©2010 Pedro Sykes - Some Rights Reserved

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

Law Enforcement

Arizona'a new law is designed to enforce federal immigration law and the administration threatens to sue the state. The President says that the Federal laws are impossible to enforce. California and other states are not enforcing marijuana laws and they do nothing. They refuse to prosecute individuals for voter intimidation. Why doesn't the administration want to enforce laws? Isn't there some kind of oath that our leaders take that they will enforce the law? Why do they think that the American people would want another amnesty program for Illegal Aliens? The last one was a complete failure.

Do the Democrats leaders really think that they can spend us into prosperity?


©2010 Pedro Sykes - Some Rights Reserved

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.