Parameters:
Beggar: presumably, a homeless person who begs others for money, having no job and no money of their own. This is what I am referring to as "I" in this argument. I am not referring to any particular person or group of people who have ever been, are now, or will be in the future, homeless and/or out of work, and begging for their subsistence.
Government program: a program established by a government entity (Fed., State, County, or City) that provides housing, food, health care, or other "services" to someone who meets a set requirement to qualify for the program[s].
Welfare state: the time when as many people as possible in the U.S.A. will be on a government program that would provide "X" for the person without their having done anything to earn that particular "X" except fill out a form, be a U.S. citizen, or otherwise meet "Requirement R".
***
Recently, I was thinking about the welfare state that obamination is trying to push all of us into. I thought about the cost of such a process, the degeneration of our society, the cost in human dignity, the people who would pay for the benefits of others. While thinking about all of this, I realized something. I realized that I would not cooperate with such a process in any way, shape, or form. I must pay my taxes or go to jail, yes. But when it comes to signing up for those "incentives" to buy houses, or new cars, oil spill benefits, or pantyhose (oh, they haven't done that one yet?), I would not participate. Anything that is voluntary, I'm not volunteering for.
Why not? Because when I think about the cost of my soul, it's worth so much more than that. I cannot be bought like a cheap car. I cannot be bought with promises of $8,000 for a house purchase. I cannot be bought with anything obamination has to offer. All of his "offers" are not truly not offers, after all, and I will not add to my neighbor's burden -- even if they make more money than my family.
In fact, I decided, that it would be better to be a beggar than to be on any or all of those programs that the government has so readily pushed onto the American taxpayer's wallet.
How can I make such an absurd statement? Consider:
If you sign up for a government food program, you are getting food that you have no pride in earning the right to purchase, to have, to eat. All you have done is fill out the forms and met the bare minimum -- or the utmost, whichever -- requirements of the program to qualify. When in government programs, the government decides who is going to give to you and how much they shall give. It is not an independent choice made by the giver. It's government mandated and government enforced; taking away the giver's right to choose whether to give and how much, if giving.
If you sign up for a government housing program, you live in a house that someone else is paying for altogether, or that someone else subsidized. If you want to have pride of ownership, you cannot do it there because you didn't work to get it. You signed up. You have your neighbors and those throughout the country who work and pay taxes to thank for your house. It is not truly yours; it is theirs because they are paying for it, or helped pay for it.
If you sign up for a government health care (or is that he11-care?) program, you have no control over what kind of care you receive, over who you see, over what medications you receive, or when you get seen. You are stuck on their time table, their prescription regulations, their doctor list and their idea of "good care". Your neighbors, again, are forced to pay for you and you have them to thank for the generic drug that made you healthy last time, the name brand drug that was prescribed this time, and the lack of complete hospital care that you will receive when you are diagnosed with cancer and there is no room to keep you, or there is not enough money to treat you. You have no choice but to leave and go home to die.
Your neighbors and the rest of the country would pay for everything you have, everything you get, everything you want. You would pick my pocket, the pocket of every relative you have who works and every stranger in America who pas taxes in order to get from "the government" -- "We, the People". We would have no say, we would have no way to stop it except to quit working. We would not have the option of holding you accountable for the way you spend our money and we would not be able to say, "No! You've taken enough."
All of the things you have would be received via government form and without doing more work on your part besides paperwork. That gives you no sense of pride, no sense of accomplishment, no self-confidence; unless you would be proud to take from others so that you can sit on your backside all day, every day and get as much from the rest of us as you possibly can.
There are those out there who do just that. Where their dignity is, their self-esteem, their pride, I don't know. I just know that there are people out there with the mentality that they "deserve" everything they can get from the government, even if they cheat (lie on their forms) to get it. That, to me, is not a human being; they are the human worms who suck the life out of any economy as long as "the government" will give to them and they can sit on their backsides and do nothing to earn it.
That is not my idea of a good life, not my idea of "acceptable".
While if a beggar, I would have to get up off my duff every day and go out and -- at the very least -- have a sign that would ask people for their support. Whether they supported me or not would be their choice. I would not be taking a set amount from them because how much they gave me would be their choice as well. "Beggars can't be choosers" and I could not choose who gave to me -- family, friend, or foe: whoever would, would be welcome.
As a beggar, I would have to use the money I received from the good hearts of my fellow humans until it ran out and I would have to go out and ask for more. This, in its turn, would teach me something about gratefulness, about humility, about shame and pride. It would teach me about being careful with the money strangers gave me and to use it wisely for the things I need; not whatever I wanted. A budget would be imperative and it would be followed to the strictest "nth" degree. Every penny pinched, every dime made a dollar, so that I would not have to face the empty pocket at the end of the week and go out and ask strangers for more.
As a beggar, I would be forced to do what I legally and morally could to entice people to give me some of their money. Whether that be smiling sweetly, looking as pitiful as I can, changing the wording of the sign I used, or washing their car, it would be up to me to get them to agree to give to me. I would have to be creative, resourceful and capable of getting people to agree to give me some of their hard earned cash. This would either allow me to continue begging, or teach me something about entrepreneurship and encourage me to do something besides begging.
As a beggar, my family and friends and total strangers would not be forced to give to me, to support someone they had no say in supporting, and they would not be forced to give whatever dollar amount the federal (or State, County, or City) government took from them via taxes to support me in my government program houses, food, health care, etc. It would be a free choice of compassion and mercy on their part, allowing them to reap the spiritual and emotional benefits. As a beggar, my gratitude may be the only reward they received, but it would be eternal.
As a beggar, finding a safe, comfortable place to sleep would be my job, my desire, nightly. It would be upon my head if I wound up sleeping where I got rained upon, or if I was uncomfortable nightly. This would lead to my trying harder to get enough money to eat and to either find a shelter for homeless people that would have space for me, or to be able to rent a room so that I could sleep in a bed and not on the street.
As a beggar, while it would not be a matter of pride, at least I would not be looking at my neighbor and thinking that there is another program I can sign up for in order to have "X" as they do, or to be able to have "Y" as someone else does. Government programs would not be my failsafe, my "go to" relief: it would be myself on whom I would have to rely and that would be so much better than stealing from all of you.
That's why I think it would be better to be a beggar than to be on welfare, living in government housing, on food stamps, W.I.C. and other food programs, while getting Medicare/Medicaid to get health care and to snarl that I don't have enough. I want more and the government, "We, the People", should -- better! -- provide it. At least, as a beggar, I would be able to look you in the eye and not feel like a thief.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Monday, May 17, 2010
Tea Party Suggestions: Please be proactive
Many of my readers know that I have been what some would call “critical” of the Tea Party movement. While I support their cause wholeheartedly, I have never thought that getting together at a rally where nothing is actually done besides a support system and a lot of “feel good” speeches accomplished anything except emotional support. While emotional support for those who are in the Tea Party may be a good thing in keeping them from feeling alone, it does exclusively that: emotions. Emotions are not actions and that is what I have always thought the Tea Party should be about. After all, if your numbers have Congress and the MSM afraid of you, why waste that fear? Why not put that power into action and do something with it? However, I saw very few Tea Party activities besides rallies and speeches; and neither of those things accomplishes anything. Therefore, in order to encourage Tea Party members in their activities to make a difference, I have the following suggestions for getting active and doing something.
Please take these suggestions in the spirit they are offered: not as a criticism, but as a list of things people may have the time, be willing to make the effort, and have the wherewithal to do without having to do it all themselves, and without having to feel as though they weren’t cut out for one particular item that every Tea Party member is already doing because there are no other ideas put forth. I try to run the gamut of ideas that require differing amounts of effort, money, time, personal nerves and attendance. Not everyone will wish to do every suggestion; not every suggestion will be right for all. Pick one or more that you are comfortable with and do those. As the Bible says, “And he gave some, apostles, and some, prophets, and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ:” (Eph. 4:11-12). No one person is supposed to be everything. Choose which you will do and follow through with all your heart.
The list of possibilities:
GOVERNMENT:
• Start attending Brevard County Board of County Commission meetings and speak against items that would mean the BOCC voting to spend your money. This is a necessary step to help lower taxes at home. Remember, with the manned space program (so far just the manned) shut down, there will be fewer people to pay for the things the BOCC wants to spend money on. There will be fewer homes occupied and there will be fewer people paying property taxes in order to fund those BOCC votes. It’s your money; do something to protect it. There should be no fewer than forty or fifty Tea Party members at each BOCC meeting and at least that many at the Budget meetings.
• If you do not wish to attend BOCC meetings and speak on spending items, then attend smaller meetings: workshops, budget discussions, etc., and speak against the spending items there. Again, the car pool organizers would be vital here. If you do not wish to be involved in the BOCC or budget discussions because you “don’t do numbers”, then do something else in a County Committee or Board. Request that your County Commissioner appoint you to represent your area. If you get to vote on spending items, vote against them. If you do not get to vote on spending, then vote in the most conservative way possible. Boards and Committees are usually stepping stones for those wishing to become political candidates. Being assigned to Boards and Committees means making political connections. Keep your eyes open and find out who is trying to use it as a stepping stone and what their political bent is (progressive or Conservative). Inform the present of the possible future. (If you live in an incorporated city within Brevard County, do the same things as suggested above for the “County” section, but at your City Council meetings. That’s a given.)
• Become a candidate. If you are the right person for the job, you can do so and be elected, especially in today’s climate. I know it’s scary and that there are a lot of requirements and very little time left (if any) to qualify. But if that is what you are being called to do, go for it. Campaigning between now and August primaries is going to be difficult, but you can do it. Look at all of the people who went to the Tea Parties and request their help with getting you into office. If you have been at the Tea Parties, they may recognize you. If not, show them what you’re made of and stand for lower taxes at all times; before the election, and if you win, after the election.
• If you choose not to become a candidate, be sure to vote for the most CONSERVATIVE person on the ballot, no matter what the party designation is behind the candidate’s name. Conservative people are for smaller government and lower taxes, and that’s what the Tea Party is all about. We all know that there are way too many RINOs in the Republican Party nowadays to believe that the “R” party designation means that they won’t vote for higher taxes (think Mary Bolin and Chuck Nelson on the BOCC: both ran as Republicans).
• Contact your local representatives and tell them that you are forming a group of people who would like to meet with him/her on a regular basis to advise them on what the people are thinking. IF they agree to meet with you regularly, excellent! They’re interested in what their constituents think. IF they don’t agree to meet with you, get together with the group of people and talk about what this representative (BOCC member, Senator, whatever) is doing and discuss your reactions to what they are doing. Take notes on what was discussed and send those notes to the representative on a regular basis. This will let the representative know that they are being watched and whether you think they are doing a good job, a terrible job, or just middling.
• Visit your local representatives’ offices individually (just you and/or your family): BOCC, State and U.S. elected officials should become familiar with your face and with your name. This reminds them that their votes have an impact on individuals, not just groups. It makes it more personal when they see that you have a war injury and walk with a cane and that vote is going to affect your veteran’s benefits; or that your little boy has aspirations to be an astronaut and the space program is important to the future, too. Write to them, call them and visit them. Let them know that you are watching them and that you have the vote and you will use it. Don’t stalk them; just let them know that you are watching their every vote.
NEIGHBORHOOD:
• Start “Tuesday Teas” (use whichever title you wish for them) in which you gather a few of your neighbors (5-10) each Tuesday and talk politics and taxes. These do not have to be Tea Party members, just people who need the information. Have facts and figures ready. Have the information available. Get online and be ready to prove your assertions. Have your computer set up in a convenient location for questions to be looked into immediately. “Fingertip knowledge” is very handy in winning people over to the truth.
• Coordinate a bi-annual Block Party for your street and get Tea Party speakers to come speak at your event. This should not be an election event; it should be an educational event. Tea Party speakers should be from a different area than your neighborhood so that people don’t see it as a “get out the vote” event. This will help with participation and ease suspicions. The Tea Party speaker may get some good feedback and people will talk, but they won’t be able to vote for him/her.
• If you can afford the expense, order pamphlets and books from www.wallbuilders.com and other websites to teach the truth of how America was founded and who America is supposed to be. Wallbuilders.com has one particular pamphlet that talks about “Separation of Church and State” and covers that subject thoroughly (did you know that statement was written in a private letter and taken totally out of context?) that sells for 50¢ each. Twenty of those will cost you ten dollars plus shipping. If you have that to spare, order it and loan it to your neighbors and after they read it, discuss it with them. Then ask for it back and ask someone else to read it. Or, just let them keep it but ask them to promise to pass it on.
• If the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, etc., have guest speakers, ask if you can come speak to their members and teach them about the Boston Tea Party for a merit badge event. Teach the members about the tax rebellion during our Founding and relate it to today’s Tea Party and what the governments (city, county, state and federal) are currently doing to us.
• Have a garage sale and have information about the Tea Party and what it stands for and what it is trying to accomplish ready to give to anyone who visits your garage sale. Some will not like it; some will not accept it; some will accept it and drop it on the ground right in front of you. Expect that, but at least you tried. With every purchase, have a plastic bag ready to put the purchases in; include your information on the Tea Party in the bag with purchase.
SCHOOLS:
• Get involved in your child’s or grandchild’s school. Volunteer and watch the way the classes are run; what they teach the children and how they teach the children. If you see that the progressive slant is being favored, make a fuss about it and contact the School Board after speaking to the principal if he/she will not make a change.
• Check your child’s/grandchild’s school text books. If they are teaching “the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth”, excellent! If they are skewing the information and Ronald W. Reagan gets a short paragraph and Clinton and Obama get a few pages of praise, they’re doing it wrong. Make a fuss at the school and at the School Board about the book being skewed.
• Volunteer to teach a class on the Founding Fathers and what they actually believed and wanted for America. Resources are available on the internet – especially at www.wallbuilders.com , www.askheritage.org -- among others. Teach the children the truth about our Founding Fathers and the fact that they started this nation as a Christian nation.
OTHER:
• Start a phone bank and man it. Be the person who puts together a phone tree and be the person who is the person to contact in case there is an action item, important development, etc., that the Tea Party members need to know about or act upon.
• If you cannot attend BOCC meetings, be the person who organizes car pools and pick-ups for those who wish to attend but have no transportation. This would be a vital service to get the Tea Party voices to the BOCC meetings and keep your taxes down.
• If you are a member of Toast Masters, Kiwanis, Elks, etc., ask to do an informational speech on the Tea Party and on what it is trying to accomplish. Be sure to have facts and figures readily available and proof of any political assertions you may be making printed out.
• Write a blog about what is going on in government, about the waste and spending. Your writing is not like mine and your writing may reach someone that my writing will never touch. This is due to the differences in writing styles. While I hit people on the nose with the truth, some do not like that style, while others respond favorably to it. Your style will be different from mine and your style may reach your neighbor, your friend at church, or whomever that I would never be able to reach. Print “web cards” (like business cards, but with your blog info) and put them everywhere.
• Write letters to the editor about the issues facing us with high taxes, job losses and the impacts it will have on your children or grandchildren (or you). Write not just to Florida Today, but to every printed item in your neighborhood including HOA newsletters, your area freebies (Coffee News, Hometown News, Senior Life, etc.), and any Club newsletters you belong to that may have the slightest possibility of publishing the letter: ‘Tis better to try and fail than never to have tried.
• Something EVERYONE CAN AND SHOULD DO: Get a copy of the U.S. Constitution (even if it’s printed out on your own printer) and carry it with you after you have read it four or five times through. Know the U.S. Constitution. Remember that it protects you more than it does the government.
Please take these suggestions in the spirit they are offered: not as a criticism, but as a list of things people may have the time, be willing to make the effort, and have the wherewithal to do without having to do it all themselves, and without having to feel as though they weren’t cut out for one particular item that every Tea Party member is already doing because there are no other ideas put forth. I try to run the gamut of ideas that require differing amounts of effort, money, time, personal nerves and attendance. Not everyone will wish to do every suggestion; not every suggestion will be right for all. Pick one or more that you are comfortable with and do those. As the Bible says, “And he gave some, apostles, and some, prophets, and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ:” (Eph. 4:11-12). No one person is supposed to be everything. Choose which you will do and follow through with all your heart.
The list of possibilities:
GOVERNMENT:
• Start attending Brevard County Board of County Commission meetings and speak against items that would mean the BOCC voting to spend your money. This is a necessary step to help lower taxes at home. Remember, with the manned space program (so far just the manned) shut down, there will be fewer people to pay for the things the BOCC wants to spend money on. There will be fewer homes occupied and there will be fewer people paying property taxes in order to fund those BOCC votes. It’s your money; do something to protect it. There should be no fewer than forty or fifty Tea Party members at each BOCC meeting and at least that many at the Budget meetings.
• If you do not wish to attend BOCC meetings and speak on spending items, then attend smaller meetings: workshops, budget discussions, etc., and speak against the spending items there. Again, the car pool organizers would be vital here. If you do not wish to be involved in the BOCC or budget discussions because you “don’t do numbers”, then do something else in a County Committee or Board. Request that your County Commissioner appoint you to represent your area. If you get to vote on spending items, vote against them. If you do not get to vote on spending, then vote in the most conservative way possible. Boards and Committees are usually stepping stones for those wishing to become political candidates. Being assigned to Boards and Committees means making political connections. Keep your eyes open and find out who is trying to use it as a stepping stone and what their political bent is (progressive or Conservative). Inform the present of the possible future. (If you live in an incorporated city within Brevard County, do the same things as suggested above for the “County” section, but at your City Council meetings. That’s a given.)
• Become a candidate. If you are the right person for the job, you can do so and be elected, especially in today’s climate. I know it’s scary and that there are a lot of requirements and very little time left (if any) to qualify. But if that is what you are being called to do, go for it. Campaigning between now and August primaries is going to be difficult, but you can do it. Look at all of the people who went to the Tea Parties and request their help with getting you into office. If you have been at the Tea Parties, they may recognize you. If not, show them what you’re made of and stand for lower taxes at all times; before the election, and if you win, after the election.
• If you choose not to become a candidate, be sure to vote for the most CONSERVATIVE person on the ballot, no matter what the party designation is behind the candidate’s name. Conservative people are for smaller government and lower taxes, and that’s what the Tea Party is all about. We all know that there are way too many RINOs in the Republican Party nowadays to believe that the “R” party designation means that they won’t vote for higher taxes (think Mary Bolin and Chuck Nelson on the BOCC: both ran as Republicans).
• Contact your local representatives and tell them that you are forming a group of people who would like to meet with him/her on a regular basis to advise them on what the people are thinking. IF they agree to meet with you regularly, excellent! They’re interested in what their constituents think. IF they don’t agree to meet with you, get together with the group of people and talk about what this representative (BOCC member, Senator, whatever) is doing and discuss your reactions to what they are doing. Take notes on what was discussed and send those notes to the representative on a regular basis. This will let the representative know that they are being watched and whether you think they are doing a good job, a terrible job, or just middling.
• Visit your local representatives’ offices individually (just you and/or your family): BOCC, State and U.S. elected officials should become familiar with your face and with your name. This reminds them that their votes have an impact on individuals, not just groups. It makes it more personal when they see that you have a war injury and walk with a cane and that vote is going to affect your veteran’s benefits; or that your little boy has aspirations to be an astronaut and the space program is important to the future, too. Write to them, call them and visit them. Let them know that you are watching them and that you have the vote and you will use it. Don’t stalk them; just let them know that you are watching their every vote.
NEIGHBORHOOD:
• Start “Tuesday Teas” (use whichever title you wish for them) in which you gather a few of your neighbors (5-10) each Tuesday and talk politics and taxes. These do not have to be Tea Party members, just people who need the information. Have facts and figures ready. Have the information available. Get online and be ready to prove your assertions. Have your computer set up in a convenient location for questions to be looked into immediately. “Fingertip knowledge” is very handy in winning people over to the truth.
• Coordinate a bi-annual Block Party for your street and get Tea Party speakers to come speak at your event. This should not be an election event; it should be an educational event. Tea Party speakers should be from a different area than your neighborhood so that people don’t see it as a “get out the vote” event. This will help with participation and ease suspicions. The Tea Party speaker may get some good feedback and people will talk, but they won’t be able to vote for him/her.
• If you can afford the expense, order pamphlets and books from www.wallbuilders.com and other websites to teach the truth of how America was founded and who America is supposed to be. Wallbuilders.com has one particular pamphlet that talks about “Separation of Church and State” and covers that subject thoroughly (did you know that statement was written in a private letter and taken totally out of context?) that sells for 50¢ each. Twenty of those will cost you ten dollars plus shipping. If you have that to spare, order it and loan it to your neighbors and after they read it, discuss it with them. Then ask for it back and ask someone else to read it. Or, just let them keep it but ask them to promise to pass it on.
• If the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, etc., have guest speakers, ask if you can come speak to their members and teach them about the Boston Tea Party for a merit badge event. Teach the members about the tax rebellion during our Founding and relate it to today’s Tea Party and what the governments (city, county, state and federal) are currently doing to us.
• Have a garage sale and have information about the Tea Party and what it stands for and what it is trying to accomplish ready to give to anyone who visits your garage sale. Some will not like it; some will not accept it; some will accept it and drop it on the ground right in front of you. Expect that, but at least you tried. With every purchase, have a plastic bag ready to put the purchases in; include your information on the Tea Party in the bag with purchase.
SCHOOLS:
• Get involved in your child’s or grandchild’s school. Volunteer and watch the way the classes are run; what they teach the children and how they teach the children. If you see that the progressive slant is being favored, make a fuss about it and contact the School Board after speaking to the principal if he/she will not make a change.
• Check your child’s/grandchild’s school text books. If they are teaching “the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth”, excellent! If they are skewing the information and Ronald W. Reagan gets a short paragraph and Clinton and Obama get a few pages of praise, they’re doing it wrong. Make a fuss at the school and at the School Board about the book being skewed.
• Volunteer to teach a class on the Founding Fathers and what they actually believed and wanted for America. Resources are available on the internet – especially at www.wallbuilders.com , www.askheritage.org -- among others. Teach the children the truth about our Founding Fathers and the fact that they started this nation as a Christian nation.
OTHER:
• Start a phone bank and man it. Be the person who puts together a phone tree and be the person who is the person to contact in case there is an action item, important development, etc., that the Tea Party members need to know about or act upon.
• If you cannot attend BOCC meetings, be the person who organizes car pools and pick-ups for those who wish to attend but have no transportation. This would be a vital service to get the Tea Party voices to the BOCC meetings and keep your taxes down.
• If you are a member of Toast Masters, Kiwanis, Elks, etc., ask to do an informational speech on the Tea Party and on what it is trying to accomplish. Be sure to have facts and figures readily available and proof of any political assertions you may be making printed out.
• Write a blog about what is going on in government, about the waste and spending. Your writing is not like mine and your writing may reach someone that my writing will never touch. This is due to the differences in writing styles. While I hit people on the nose with the truth, some do not like that style, while others respond favorably to it. Your style will be different from mine and your style may reach your neighbor, your friend at church, or whomever that I would never be able to reach. Print “web cards” (like business cards, but with your blog info) and put them everywhere.
• Write letters to the editor about the issues facing us with high taxes, job losses and the impacts it will have on your children or grandchildren (or you). Write not just to Florida Today, but to every printed item in your neighborhood including HOA newsletters, your area freebies (Coffee News, Hometown News, Senior Life, etc.), and any Club newsletters you belong to that may have the slightest possibility of publishing the letter: ‘Tis better to try and fail than never to have tried.
• Something EVERYONE CAN AND SHOULD DO: Get a copy of the U.S. Constitution (even if it’s printed out on your own printer) and carry it with you after you have read it four or five times through. Know the U.S. Constitution. Remember that it protects you more than it does the government.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Why I HATE the Minimum Wage
Why I Hate the Minimum Wage
(NOTE: All names used herein are fictional and do not refer to any known real life person.)
Back on October 24, 1938, when the Federal Government set the first minimum wage at twenty-five cents per hour people lost the right to negotiate for themselves how much their time and effort were worth. It was no longer an "experience counts" and hard working employees make more verses inexperienced, or lazy workers thing. It became "everyone starts at the same rate" and no choices were offered.
That amount rose steadilly and became a source of discrimination in 1961 when there were different categories of workers: "large retail and service enterprises as well as to local transit, construction, and gasoline service station employees" or employees of farms or "nonexempt" workers. Depending upon where you worked in 1968, you could be paid as much as forty-five cents more per hour because the minimum wage dictated so. Does that sound like a fair practice?
Nowadays, it's an exception between the nonexempt workers and the exempt workers and the federal government participates in age discrimination: "A subminimum wage -- $4.25 an hour -- is established for employees under 20 years of age during their first 90 consecutive calendar days of employment with an employer." If you are a day over twenty, you must be paid -- according to federal law -- $7.25 per hour. That's a three dollar difference decided by one day. Is that fair?
Did you know there were differences? There are.
The thing that minimum wage earners do not seem to understand is that they could be worth more if they negotiated on their own behalf. When people get high-powered, high paying jobs, it isn't because the federal govermnent was involved and decided what their wage was going to be. It was because they knew their education, their experiences, their insight, their qualifications made their services more valuable than a government set wage. They walk into a potential employer's office and know that they want $80,000 for their base pay, full benefits including medical coverage, vacation pay and flex time (or PTO). They get it there, or they move on to a company that will pay them what they think they are worth (or they have to re-evaluate their self-worth).
Let's say that Sam Smith went to Harvard and got his degree in Mechanical Engineering with secondary studies in Business Management. He graduated in the top twenty percent of his class and he has some work experience but it was working at a fast food restaurant and a paper route when he was in his teens. He's now twenty-four and he's going on his first job interview since he was sixteen. He walks into the "Manufacturing X" company in time for his appointment, gets shown in and shakes hands with the personnel manager and the department head he would be working under. They talk and the "Manufacturing X" company likes what they see. Do they offer Sam Smith minimum wage because this is his first job in years and he's basically starting over, and it is the government mandated wage? No. He gets to say what he is expecting to earn. They get to say, "Well, yes, we can do that," or, "Sorry. We could offer you fifty. Would you take that?" It's then up to Sam Smith to decide his own value.
Same holds true with someone just getting their first job at a fast food restaurant, a grocery store or a car wash. Ken Kirk is perpetually punctual, hardly ever gets sick, is good at making change, is driven to succeed and is shooting to be promoted at least once (preferably twice) within the next six months. Lenny Ladd walks into the same establishment, has a track record of working for a similar establishment, but has been sick often, has a history of putting nominal effort into his work and sometimes was as much as $5.50 off in his drawer count at the end of the day because he has a problem making change. There are two identical jobs available. Ken Kirk talks to the manager and impresses him very much. Lenny Ladd has experience and the manager needs experience. They both get hired and they both get paid minimum wage for the first six months of employment.
Problem is, the manager has to pay Lenny Ladd the same wage as he has to pay Ken Kirk when it is Ken Kirk who has made a huge difference in the first two weeks of his being employed and Lenny Ladd has done just about nothing extra. Due to the minimum wage, there is no money to give Ken Kirk a raise; nor can Lenny Ladd be fired because a second worker is definitely needed; even if it is a nominal worker. Ken Kirk has to wait until there can be more money in the budget for his raise. Six months pass. Ken Kirk has been noticed by other employers and he is being offered other jbos. Loyalty makes Ken Kirk want to stay; money makes him want to go. Ken Kirk makes a decision to stay for two more months, just in case things get better. Two months later, Ken Kirk is still making minimum wage and Lenny Ladd is getting lazier.
Even though Ken Kirk absolutely loves working there, and loves what he is doing he decides to leave the company because he can't see himself going further up the ladder due to Lenny Ladd's employment costing his employer equal pay for less work than Ken Kirk was putting into the job. Ken Kirk leaves his employer and makes two dollars more per hour at his new job because of his positive work attitude, drive and contribution to his employer. Lenny Ladd is still at the store and still making minimum wage with his boss trying to decide whether Lenny Ladd is worth it because the boss can't find anyone else to take the job.
Ken Kirk's decision was right for him only in the dollar and cents mode. Emotionally, Ken Kirk felt like a traitor because he respected his boss and had a fond attachment to him. He felt resentment toward Lenny Ladd for costing Kirk his dream job, and he considered his first job a failure because of his decision to leave and he carried that with him the rest of his life.
This isn't as far fetched as you might think. There are employers out there every day who have a similar situation: go-getters who cannot be given a raise due to minimum effort minimum wage employees who take up pay and space and do just about no work. Yes, they could be fired (as long as it's not a union job), but they would only be replaced by someone else making a minimum wage and the people who deserve more money wouldn't be receiving it because of that minimum wage being forced upon the employer. The employer is stuck with the inability to reward good workers for their effort; or to discipline bad employees for their lack thereof. Money is supposed to be a good motivator, but for some it is not. Firing those who do no work only begins the cycle again and means training another new worker and making the HR department work harder to do the processing out and in. Training time means down time and that means money lost; at least with the slacker he was already trained, even if he's producing 3/4 of what he could be doing.
Minimum wage is a trap for both the employer and the employee. There is no negotiating, no figuring out what you are worth, what the job is worth. It's here: take it or leave it because this is what the government says we have to pay. Minimum wage depletes creativity (who wants to be more creative and make more effort than the Lenny Ladds of this world and still receive the same pay?), depletes initiative, depletes drive. It's a job that will pay you no matter what as long as you show up and you can always get another job that will pay you that same amount as a newbie, so why bother with effort?
Minimum wage is a vacuum of despair. I heard so many people at my last job complain that they were "stuck" there because they couldn't get anything better (no matter what their pay was). I have heard so many people in other jobs decry their pay because they "couldn't do better". They never tried. They heard that the minimum wage job they were in was basically their only choice because if they changed jobs, it would just mean downtime and they'd be paid the same thing at the new job -- no matter how long it was between jobs -- and they are raising three children on that minimum wage job and it's hopeless.
Even though minimum wage is said to be ensuring a "living wage" for everyone, it is a farce. With gas, food, electricity, water, housing costs as high as they are, the "living wage" has never been a "living wage": never. In 1938, at twenty-five cents per hour, the minimum wage earner made $520 per year. The average cost to raise a family of four with food, shelter and clothing outstretched the minimum wage (see the chart on the third page) and it has every year since its inception.
The minimum wage is an useful tool, however. It keeps people believing that if they rely on the government to do things for them -- to "give" them health care, to "pay" for their car, to "demand" a living wage for them -- then all they have to do is show up at work and do minimal work. They don't have to meet standards and they don't have to work hard to get ahead. They will -- probably at the next big election cycle -- get a raise automatically when the minimum wage goes up to buy more votes for re-election. Very useful for those who are willing to keep people down and to keep them ignorant of the true price of their vote and of their own willingness to let others do things "for" them. Remember, it's not always "for" you. When it is a politician doing it, it's usually "to".
(NOTE: All names used herein are fictional and do not refer to any known real life person.)
Back on October 24, 1938, when the Federal Government set the first minimum wage at twenty-five cents per hour people lost the right to negotiate for themselves how much their time and effort were worth. It was no longer an "experience counts" and hard working employees make more verses inexperienced, or lazy workers thing. It became "everyone starts at the same rate" and no choices were offered.
That amount rose steadilly and became a source of discrimination in 1961 when there were different categories of workers: "large retail and service enterprises as well as to local transit, construction, and gasoline service station employees" or employees of farms or "nonexempt" workers. Depending upon where you worked in 1968, you could be paid as much as forty-five cents more per hour because the minimum wage dictated so. Does that sound like a fair practice?
Nowadays, it's an exception between the nonexempt workers and the exempt workers and the federal government participates in age discrimination: "A subminimum wage -- $4.25 an hour -- is established for employees under 20 years of age during their first 90 consecutive calendar days of employment with an employer." If you are a day over twenty, you must be paid -- according to federal law -- $7.25 per hour. That's a three dollar difference decided by one day. Is that fair?
Did you know there were differences? There are.
The thing that minimum wage earners do not seem to understand is that they could be worth more if they negotiated on their own behalf. When people get high-powered, high paying jobs, it isn't because the federal govermnent was involved and decided what their wage was going to be. It was because they knew their education, their experiences, their insight, their qualifications made their services more valuable than a government set wage. They walk into a potential employer's office and know that they want $80,000 for their base pay, full benefits including medical coverage, vacation pay and flex time (or PTO). They get it there, or they move on to a company that will pay them what they think they are worth (or they have to re-evaluate their self-worth).
Let's say that Sam Smith went to Harvard and got his degree in Mechanical Engineering with secondary studies in Business Management. He graduated in the top twenty percent of his class and he has some work experience but it was working at a fast food restaurant and a paper route when he was in his teens. He's now twenty-four and he's going on his first job interview since he was sixteen. He walks into the "Manufacturing X" company in time for his appointment, gets shown in and shakes hands with the personnel manager and the department head he would be working under. They talk and the "Manufacturing X" company likes what they see. Do they offer Sam Smith minimum wage because this is his first job in years and he's basically starting over, and it is the government mandated wage? No. He gets to say what he is expecting to earn. They get to say, "Well, yes, we can do that," or, "Sorry. We could offer you fifty. Would you take that?" It's then up to Sam Smith to decide his own value.
Same holds true with someone just getting their first job at a fast food restaurant, a grocery store or a car wash. Ken Kirk is perpetually punctual, hardly ever gets sick, is good at making change, is driven to succeed and is shooting to be promoted at least once (preferably twice) within the next six months. Lenny Ladd walks into the same establishment, has a track record of working for a similar establishment, but has been sick often, has a history of putting nominal effort into his work and sometimes was as much as $5.50 off in his drawer count at the end of the day because he has a problem making change. There are two identical jobs available. Ken Kirk talks to the manager and impresses him very much. Lenny Ladd has experience and the manager needs experience. They both get hired and they both get paid minimum wage for the first six months of employment.
Problem is, the manager has to pay Lenny Ladd the same wage as he has to pay Ken Kirk when it is Ken Kirk who has made a huge difference in the first two weeks of his being employed and Lenny Ladd has done just about nothing extra. Due to the minimum wage, there is no money to give Ken Kirk a raise; nor can Lenny Ladd be fired because a second worker is definitely needed; even if it is a nominal worker. Ken Kirk has to wait until there can be more money in the budget for his raise. Six months pass. Ken Kirk has been noticed by other employers and he is being offered other jbos. Loyalty makes Ken Kirk want to stay; money makes him want to go. Ken Kirk makes a decision to stay for two more months, just in case things get better. Two months later, Ken Kirk is still making minimum wage and Lenny Ladd is getting lazier.
Even though Ken Kirk absolutely loves working there, and loves what he is doing he decides to leave the company because he can't see himself going further up the ladder due to Lenny Ladd's employment costing his employer equal pay for less work than Ken Kirk was putting into the job. Ken Kirk leaves his employer and makes two dollars more per hour at his new job because of his positive work attitude, drive and contribution to his employer. Lenny Ladd is still at the store and still making minimum wage with his boss trying to decide whether Lenny Ladd is worth it because the boss can't find anyone else to take the job.
Ken Kirk's decision was right for him only in the dollar and cents mode. Emotionally, Ken Kirk felt like a traitor because he respected his boss and had a fond attachment to him. He felt resentment toward Lenny Ladd for costing Kirk his dream job, and he considered his first job a failure because of his decision to leave and he carried that with him the rest of his life.
This isn't as far fetched as you might think. There are employers out there every day who have a similar situation: go-getters who cannot be given a raise due to minimum effort minimum wage employees who take up pay and space and do just about no work. Yes, they could be fired (as long as it's not a union job), but they would only be replaced by someone else making a minimum wage and the people who deserve more money wouldn't be receiving it because of that minimum wage being forced upon the employer. The employer is stuck with the inability to reward good workers for their effort; or to discipline bad employees for their lack thereof. Money is supposed to be a good motivator, but for some it is not. Firing those who do no work only begins the cycle again and means training another new worker and making the HR department work harder to do the processing out and in. Training time means down time and that means money lost; at least with the slacker he was already trained, even if he's producing 3/4 of what he could be doing.
Minimum wage is a trap for both the employer and the employee. There is no negotiating, no figuring out what you are worth, what the job is worth. It's here: take it or leave it because this is what the government says we have to pay. Minimum wage depletes creativity (who wants to be more creative and make more effort than the Lenny Ladds of this world and still receive the same pay?), depletes initiative, depletes drive. It's a job that will pay you no matter what as long as you show up and you can always get another job that will pay you that same amount as a newbie, so why bother with effort?
Minimum wage is a vacuum of despair. I heard so many people at my last job complain that they were "stuck" there because they couldn't get anything better (no matter what their pay was). I have heard so many people in other jobs decry their pay because they "couldn't do better". They never tried. They heard that the minimum wage job they were in was basically their only choice because if they changed jobs, it would just mean downtime and they'd be paid the same thing at the new job -- no matter how long it was between jobs -- and they are raising three children on that minimum wage job and it's hopeless.
Even though minimum wage is said to be ensuring a "living wage" for everyone, it is a farce. With gas, food, electricity, water, housing costs as high as they are, the "living wage" has never been a "living wage": never. In 1938, at twenty-five cents per hour, the minimum wage earner made $520 per year. The average cost to raise a family of four with food, shelter and clothing outstretched the minimum wage (see the chart on the third page) and it has every year since its inception.
The minimum wage is an useful tool, however. It keeps people believing that if they rely on the government to do things for them -- to "give" them health care, to "pay" for their car, to "demand" a living wage for them -- then all they have to do is show up at work and do minimal work. They don't have to meet standards and they don't have to work hard to get ahead. They will -- probably at the next big election cycle -- get a raise automatically when the minimum wage goes up to buy more votes for re-election. Very useful for those who are willing to keep people down and to keep them ignorant of the true price of their vote and of their own willingness to let others do things "for" them. Remember, it's not always "for" you. When it is a politician doing it, it's usually "to".
Monday, March 15, 2010
What I sent Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State -- at her request
Secretary Clinton,
Your website and the article at CBS News (http://cnsnews.com/news/article/62698) said that "citizens" are allowed to write in and tell you what we think about America's human rights record. That I will do.
Since its inception and the U.S. Constitution, America's human rights record has been better than any other country on earth. We wrote laws that enabled people to benefit from the sweat of their own brow and to toil on their own land and keep the things they grew for themselves, or to sell what they grew for a profit; to manufacture and benefit from their labor and to create and benefit from their creativity. We tried to keep government out of the way of the people's prosperity and freedoms.
We have a record of standing up for the little guy -- domestically and abroad -- and always responded when asked for help. We respond when a country is attacked and requests assistance: whether the attack be from another country, or from "Mother Nature" and our help is always in the nature of trying to do what is right.
We have a record of admitting wrongs and righting them. When slavery was finally abolished (Thank you, President Lincoln, Republican.), we corrected a wrong that was a shorter duration here than in any other country on earth. In fact, there are still today countries that have slaves of one sort or another and America takes a stand against such a practice.
We have a record of helping the political prisoners and political targets of tyrants and dictators -- except of those currently running America: this administration -- and offering them a place of safety and political freedom to speak as they wish and to stand against their tyrannical government back home.
We have a record of standing strong for what is right, what is good, what is pure and what is best for the people and the people's freedoms.
Never overlook those things -- our actual record on human rights -- when you consider the history of America's human rights record. Until this administration, we were a good nation. We were a nation that tried to do what was best for its people and the people of other countries. We were sincere in our efforts to protect the weak and injured, to help those in need, to promote freedom within our borders and beyond. This administration does its best to reverse all of that. But I hope that it won't last for long. Four years is the most we can take: preferably less with impeachment possible soon.
America was founded on "the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" and that ideal has carried us thus far. Let us not now turn back from it and become a nation that follows Hitler's, Stalin's, Mao's and Che's example into that dark night of murder and starvation for the sake of the power of the administration. America -- this administration -- needs to return to its roots and return to our freedoms and turn away from the Marxist/Socialist/Communist hateful ideas of those who have already proven it doesn't work for the people. America's record was good. Remember that. America is a good nation as long as it has good leaders. This administration is not "good leaders": Ronald Reagan was.
Sincerely,
Your website and the article at CBS News (http://cnsnews.com/news/article/62698) said that "citizens" are allowed to write in and tell you what we think about America's human rights record. That I will do.
Since its inception and the U.S. Constitution, America's human rights record has been better than any other country on earth. We wrote laws that enabled people to benefit from the sweat of their own brow and to toil on their own land and keep the things they grew for themselves, or to sell what they grew for a profit; to manufacture and benefit from their labor and to create and benefit from their creativity. We tried to keep government out of the way of the people's prosperity and freedoms.
We have a record of standing up for the little guy -- domestically and abroad -- and always responded when asked for help. We respond when a country is attacked and requests assistance: whether the attack be from another country, or from "Mother Nature" and our help is always in the nature of trying to do what is right.
We have a record of admitting wrongs and righting them. When slavery was finally abolished (Thank you, President Lincoln, Republican.), we corrected a wrong that was a shorter duration here than in any other country on earth. In fact, there are still today countries that have slaves of one sort or another and America takes a stand against such a practice.
We have a record of helping the political prisoners and political targets of tyrants and dictators -- except of those currently running America: this administration -- and offering them a place of safety and political freedom to speak as they wish and to stand against their tyrannical government back home.
We have a record of standing strong for what is right, what is good, what is pure and what is best for the people and the people's freedoms.
Never overlook those things -- our actual record on human rights -- when you consider the history of America's human rights record. Until this administration, we were a good nation. We were a nation that tried to do what was best for its people and the people of other countries. We were sincere in our efforts to protect the weak and injured, to help those in need, to promote freedom within our borders and beyond. This administration does its best to reverse all of that. But I hope that it won't last for long. Four years is the most we can take: preferably less with impeachment possible soon.
America was founded on "the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" and that ideal has carried us thus far. Let us not now turn back from it and become a nation that follows Hitler's, Stalin's, Mao's and Che's example into that dark night of murder and starvation for the sake of the power of the administration. America -- this administration -- needs to return to its roots and return to our freedoms and turn away from the Marxist/Socialist/Communist hateful ideas of those who have already proven it doesn't work for the people. America's record was good. Remember that. America is a good nation as long as it has good leaders. This administration is not "good leaders": Ronald Reagan was.
Sincerely,
Thursday, January 7, 2010
"Oad" to obamination
In the year of our Lord, 2008,
In front of the world a man filled with hate
Began to run for President of the U.S.
And filled the land with words of excess.
He promised all everything and more than enough
To have what they wanted and with bellies stuffed
They would play on their toys in a house paid in full
By someone besides them; their neighbors would do.
He promised to give whatever was wanted
Including health care free - for his supporters, at least.
The others who opposed him would pay through their teeth
For his word was golden and delivered their dreams
Not exactly when, nor how, nor all;
Just the thimbleful of his word did he deliver,
But it was enough to placate and keep him in power
On their hopes and dreams, he had started to sour.
For now that he had tasted the ultimate power of the land
And been given the Prize from other hands,
He decided that was all that he wanted
His time was too precious to serve those who trusted
And when they cried loudly, he'd throw them a bone
A little thing, really, a single buffalo wing,
To make them shut up and leave him alone,
Quieting the masses became his full art
And when they'd start whining, he'd reply with this start,
"When I ran for office, I promised you this…"
And naming a thing he'd throw out the wing
That was their dream - or at least a small part.
It's a beginning, they'd sigh, and be contented again
With little, small things, beginning to end.
Until months later, when realize they would,
And it became clear (finally) that they didn't get their due.
Hue and cry would set forth and complaints they did rattle,
And on and on the leader had to prattle
About what he promised, though none could contend,
That deliver he had finished not one could amend
The list of unfinished promises and such
The leader had actually given all he had said
On any one thing - not a one - would be named
And there was the truth staring them straight in the face.
The leader had used them, and used them fair well,
For getting what he wanted and no one could tell
Anything he wanted more than the power
To do as he pleased and to waste 'way the hours
Consuming his high end food, wine and steaks,
Flying here, there and shopping trips did take,
So many - so many - that even his friends
Began to notice that their lives were in his hands
For if, in a battle, for one more hurrah!
Their lives were but fodder for the leader to draw
And to use and to discard as only leaders can do
And to ruin and lay waste to, just like you know who.
This leader refrained from doing what was right.
He insisted on doing just as he pleased,
He wasn't interested in laws, rules or promises;
Those were for others, not he, the great liege,
For in his own mind he was all that and more
And everyone must listen, bow and adore
And if they did not, he'd make sure to remember
And punish them later, come June or December.
Then in a fury the people of the land
Decided that enough of the leader was had.
They'd put up with all this, and more than they knew,
And it was time to give the "liege" his fair due.
To their House they did march, signs in their hands,
And demanded a return of their rights in their land.
From the window did look the leader with fascination
"What have I done?" Queried obamination.
"To bring out the ire in these little people?
To make them all hate me and want me to leave?
I've done all I wanted, they've nothing to grieve."
And stare he did nightly into the abyss
Of the people of the land he summarily dismissed.
A voice rang out from the people of the land,
"America is Freedom! Return to the Law!
Stop changing our nation to meet your desires.
We want nothing of your Socialist ways!
We want America in Founding Fathers' ways!"
"Oh!" Exclaimed obamination, now "understanding"
And he ran quickly to the laws and destroyed them completely
And declared himself King - Greatest and First.
And because "First" none dare call him the "Worst".
He'd rule until death and he'd be their Sovereign.
They'd learn to love him, whether like it or not,
And he'll leave to his successor the wealth of this nation,
The whole world would call him "King obamination".
The flaw in his plan, he saw not a one.
No inkling had he of the folly nor fun,
Others would now have at his expense
For Americans do not bow knees to a prince,
Nor curtsey to queens, kings and the like.
We take not to Duchess "Such and Such" or
"Baron So and So"; no. We prefer our Freedom
To bending and scraping and when obamination, the "King"
Revealed his new plan for our land,
We reeled him in tightly and took back our House,
Surrounding him closely with bars and a guard
Who would not listen to his foolish declarations,
For there was a greater, written for the Foundation.
The moral of the story, if one need it explained,
Is that with an ego as big and as plain,
As the one in obamination, the "King" in his head,
Ruining the country that is supposed to feed you,
Isn't the smartest plan and that you should heed to
Those "little people" who don't want to become
Something besides what our Forefathers had done.
We don't want to be ruled without being listened to at all.
We want our country to be as before;
greatest on earth and it we adore.
Now, obamination, "King" in your head,
The people say "No more taxes" if you wish to eat.
For taxing us more will lead to your defeat.
It may be earlier than you ever planned,
For we rebelled once, again if your plans demand.
America was built on rebels such as us.
Don't push us too hard, or soon you will dread
The things you have done and that went to your head
Will rise again in those "little people" a fire,
That will return to quench your desires.
So stop now, or else you'll learn the hard way
It's not to the "King's fiddle" the "little people" do play.
To the tune of Freedom is our favorite dance,
And dance it again hence we get the chance.
Take not for granted that "all's well" with your world.
It's more than a given that your flag is unfurled.
Soon you shall see the truth of these words,
"Give me liberty or give me death…"
And even if breathed with last breath,
Others will come and take up the banner
And more than enough will fill up the stage
To make the "King" in your head
understand that we rule the land.
Not one man, but many: "E Pluribus Unum",
Not Ruler, not "King", nor any such thing.
'Tis "We, the People" who Constitution brings
To make of this land what is supposed to be.
No room for an "organizer" who would be "King".
Be gone, obamination, to far off shores.
We want no more of your commies galore.
We want back our Freedom and take if we must
But you shall not rule us, nor of our land bust.
Our right, by God, is given to us,
Not from your hand, Alinsky's or Dohrn's;
And from ours it cannot be torn.
It's ours by birthright, not from Pelosi,
Reid cannot grant it, no Rahm can demand it.
God's own hand passed on to us
Our rights as Citizens of this great land,
Not a decree from someone else's hand.
So get not too comfortable in the chair as your "throne".
Your "kingdom" will not support you;
You'll be all alone.
Think now, obamination of the truth:
The "course of human events" not just Nation's youth,
We shall be here to hold you accountable for all of your wrongs
And not just one, there will be throngs,
To make sure you know that "We, the People"
Have finished with patience and wait for the sign
When we will rise up and take back our nation,
Returning her to the Founding Declaration
Of Freedom from tyranny, oppression and taxation
And bringing back our Rights that you can't deny.
'Tis true, it's an old song, an old truth, an old plan.
But more beautiful words were never spoken
Than, "We hold these truths…" and those that followed,
And live by them we shall, no "King" allowed.
Copyright 2010 Linda McKinney All Rights Reserved
In front of the world a man filled with hate
Began to run for President of the U.S.
And filled the land with words of excess.
He promised all everything and more than enough
To have what they wanted and with bellies stuffed
They would play on their toys in a house paid in full
By someone besides them; their neighbors would do.
He promised to give whatever was wanted
Including health care free - for his supporters, at least.
The others who opposed him would pay through their teeth
For his word was golden and delivered their dreams
Not exactly when, nor how, nor all;
Just the thimbleful of his word did he deliver,
But it was enough to placate and keep him in power
On their hopes and dreams, he had started to sour.
For now that he had tasted the ultimate power of the land
And been given the Prize from other hands,
He decided that was all that he wanted
His time was too precious to serve those who trusted
And when they cried loudly, he'd throw them a bone
A little thing, really, a single buffalo wing,
To make them shut up and leave him alone,
Quieting the masses became his full art
And when they'd start whining, he'd reply with this start,
"When I ran for office, I promised you this…"
And naming a thing he'd throw out the wing
That was their dream - or at least a small part.
It's a beginning, they'd sigh, and be contented again
With little, small things, beginning to end.
Until months later, when realize they would,
And it became clear (finally) that they didn't get their due.
Hue and cry would set forth and complaints they did rattle,
And on and on the leader had to prattle
About what he promised, though none could contend,
That deliver he had finished not one could amend
The list of unfinished promises and such
The leader had actually given all he had said
On any one thing - not a one - would be named
And there was the truth staring them straight in the face.
The leader had used them, and used them fair well,
For getting what he wanted and no one could tell
Anything he wanted more than the power
To do as he pleased and to waste 'way the hours
Consuming his high end food, wine and steaks,
Flying here, there and shopping trips did take,
So many - so many - that even his friends
Began to notice that their lives were in his hands
For if, in a battle, for one more hurrah!
Their lives were but fodder for the leader to draw
And to use and to discard as only leaders can do
And to ruin and lay waste to, just like you know who.
This leader refrained from doing what was right.
He insisted on doing just as he pleased,
He wasn't interested in laws, rules or promises;
Those were for others, not he, the great liege,
For in his own mind he was all that and more
And everyone must listen, bow and adore
And if they did not, he'd make sure to remember
And punish them later, come June or December.
Then in a fury the people of the land
Decided that enough of the leader was had.
They'd put up with all this, and more than they knew,
And it was time to give the "liege" his fair due.
To their House they did march, signs in their hands,
And demanded a return of their rights in their land.
From the window did look the leader with fascination
"What have I done?" Queried obamination.
"To bring out the ire in these little people?
To make them all hate me and want me to leave?
I've done all I wanted, they've nothing to grieve."
And stare he did nightly into the abyss
Of the people of the land he summarily dismissed.
A voice rang out from the people of the land,
"America is Freedom! Return to the Law!
Stop changing our nation to meet your desires.
We want nothing of your Socialist ways!
We want America in Founding Fathers' ways!"
"Oh!" Exclaimed obamination, now "understanding"
And he ran quickly to the laws and destroyed them completely
And declared himself King - Greatest and First.
And because "First" none dare call him the "Worst".
He'd rule until death and he'd be their Sovereign.
They'd learn to love him, whether like it or not,
And he'll leave to his successor the wealth of this nation,
The whole world would call him "King obamination".
The flaw in his plan, he saw not a one.
No inkling had he of the folly nor fun,
Others would now have at his expense
For Americans do not bow knees to a prince,
Nor curtsey to queens, kings and the like.
We take not to Duchess "Such and Such" or
"Baron So and So"; no. We prefer our Freedom
To bending and scraping and when obamination, the "King"
Revealed his new plan for our land,
We reeled him in tightly and took back our House,
Surrounding him closely with bars and a guard
Who would not listen to his foolish declarations,
For there was a greater, written for the Foundation.
The moral of the story, if one need it explained,
Is that with an ego as big and as plain,
As the one in obamination, the "King" in his head,
Ruining the country that is supposed to feed you,
Isn't the smartest plan and that you should heed to
Those "little people" who don't want to become
Something besides what our Forefathers had done.
We don't want to be ruled without being listened to at all.
We want our country to be as before;
greatest on earth and it we adore.
Now, obamination, "King" in your head,
The people say "No more taxes" if you wish to eat.
For taxing us more will lead to your defeat.
It may be earlier than you ever planned,
For we rebelled once, again if your plans demand.
America was built on rebels such as us.
Don't push us too hard, or soon you will dread
The things you have done and that went to your head
Will rise again in those "little people" a fire,
That will return to quench your desires.
So stop now, or else you'll learn the hard way
It's not to the "King's fiddle" the "little people" do play.
To the tune of Freedom is our favorite dance,
And dance it again hence we get the chance.
Take not for granted that "all's well" with your world.
It's more than a given that your flag is unfurled.
Soon you shall see the truth of these words,
"Give me liberty or give me death…"
And even if breathed with last breath,
Others will come and take up the banner
And more than enough will fill up the stage
To make the "King" in your head
understand that we rule the land.
Not one man, but many: "E Pluribus Unum",
Not Ruler, not "King", nor any such thing.
'Tis "We, the People" who Constitution brings
To make of this land what is supposed to be.
No room for an "organizer" who would be "King".
Be gone, obamination, to far off shores.
We want no more of your commies galore.
We want back our Freedom and take if we must
But you shall not rule us, nor of our land bust.
Our right, by God, is given to us,
Not from your hand, Alinsky's or Dohrn's;
And from ours it cannot be torn.
It's ours by birthright, not from Pelosi,
Reid cannot grant it, no Rahm can demand it.
God's own hand passed on to us
Our rights as Citizens of this great land,
Not a decree from someone else's hand.
So get not too comfortable in the chair as your "throne".
Your "kingdom" will not support you;
You'll be all alone.
Think now, obamination of the truth:
The "course of human events" not just Nation's youth,
We shall be here to hold you accountable for all of your wrongs
And not just one, there will be throngs,
To make sure you know that "We, the People"
Have finished with patience and wait for the sign
When we will rise up and take back our nation,
Returning her to the Founding Declaration
Of Freedom from tyranny, oppression and taxation
And bringing back our Rights that you can't deny.
'Tis true, it's an old song, an old truth, an old plan.
But more beautiful words were never spoken
Than, "We hold these truths…" and those that followed,
And live by them we shall, no "King" allowed.
Copyright 2010 Linda McKinney All Rights Reserved
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Selfish is as Selfish Does
When I was a kid, the most often heard phrase was, "I want a better world for my children." It was our parents' main goal to make sure that we had a great America in which to raise our children -- their grandchildren.
Nowadays, it's more likely to hear parents say something like, "I want health care. I want it now. I want the government to pay for it." The problem with that sort of thinking is that it's not good for your children to have to be burdened with the cost of your desires. That's like saying that you're horny so your child should have sex with you. Not a good idea.
Your children shouldn't be burdened with the cost of your desires. Not for health care, not for sexual satisfaction. And yet, more and more parents are demanding of their children the cost of the parents' desires. Whether those desires be for nationalized health care at an enormous cost to their children and grandchildren, or their parents' desire for "fullfilment" as the mother and father both trudge off to work daily as the child is raised by a multitude of babysitters and before- and after-school programs. If the parents' desire is to have "social justice", the child is stuck with a world in which he or she gets promoted even when not ready, leaving the child feeling panicked due to not understanding the work; or, on the other side, being not chosen for college due to another child's preferential treatment based on "social justice": the children pay the price, no matter which parent is dreaming of "social justice".
The children of today are paying the price of four decades' worth of parental selfishness. Since the sixties, parents have been into "peace, love and rock and roll", leaving the child to pay for the "peace" by not having a missile defense system or enough airplanes to defend them. The child paid first for the "love" because the child had no father in the home and it was "okay" to break social norms of the time and to raise a child without having a husband. "Okay for whom?" was never asked and the child grew up feeling different and intimidated, or followed Dear Ol' Mom and did the same thing and became sexually permissive and wound up presenting Mom with a grandchild to help raise because Mom put herself first, why shouldn't the daughter? Or, why shouldn't the son be sexually permissive, that's the way Mom and/or Dad were, so if it's good enough for them... They pay the price in rock and roll in learning what they live, not what they're told. If Mom and (or) Dad are into the kind of music that is infamous for the drug scene (Jimi Hendrix, etc. for the older generation; I don't know who for the younger), then that's the way the child will grow up. Don't expect your child to not impersonate you in most things, or at least in the big things. As long as they live it, they will learn it.
Nowadays, it's children having children because the parents are too busy working: parents putting their reputation for having nice things is more important to them than having a solid family where the child feels important and knows that Mom and Dad love them. I've heard parents say that they love their child and would do anything for them, but those same parents don't have time to sit and talk to the child who needs advice, who has a heart ache, who has been abused by someone -- all in the name of "I have to go to work, I'll see you later." What is more important? Your savings plan for your new car, or the fact that your daughter was just pressured into having sex with her boyfriend for the first time even though she's just thirteen?
Selfish parents think that a bigger, better, more world (bigger house, better car, more designer name fashions, etc.) is better for their children than a small house with an older car and Wal-Mart brands with Mom at home and Dad working to support all of them because they put their children first. It's no use blaming "the world we live in" because it wasn't the world who taught your children that it should be that way in the first place. It was you!
When you have children, it's your job to raise them, not someone else's. When you have children, it's your job to teach them right from wrong, not someone else's. When you have children, it's your job to teach them about sex, not someone else's. When you have children, it's your job to teach them about God and your belief system, not someone else's and it certainly isn't someone else's job to tell them that they can't believe, either!
Putting your children first in this world means not only putting off that BMW until you are retired, but it means having the patience, determination and courage to do what is right for your children and their future and your grandchildren's futures in every instance and every decision you make. That's being a parent. Thinking of the "here and now" and only the "here and now" will do no good for your children's futures because they will be the ones paying the price for you thinking of only the "here and now".
Consider the fact that with health care, it will currently cost the average American family of four almost twenty thousand dollars a year for Pelosi's HR 3962 if the Senate agrees with it and this thing goes all the way through. Think of how much it will cost your children's average family of four in twenty years from now. We all know that the costs of government plans always go one way: UP. So how much will it cost your children when they're thinking of having children? It's estimated at almost twenty thousand annually now, how much more will it be in twenty years? Thirty thousand a year? Do you even make thirty thousand a year? If your child does, what will your child live on, buy food with, do for their children what they want to if all of their money is going toward this nationalized health care plan? How will your child survive? Obama won't be in office in twenty years. Pelosi hopefully won't be in office in twenty years. Who will do for them? You? Will you then pay the price for your current selfishness? If not, then who?
Are we to provide everything for your child via a government program? Is that how selfish you want to be? If that be the case, then what will your child have to pay in taxes in order to be able to have everything from the government? Or, what will your child have to do for the government in order for the government to be so magnanimous toward your child? Do you want your child to do without because you wanted health care now? Sounds to me as though your child will not only do without, but your children's children will, too. If your children have to pay thirty thousand a year for the health care system you wanted now, then how much more will their children pay? Fifty thousand a year? Sixty? Does that sound like a loving thing to do to your grandchildren?
I thought you were supposed to love them, take care of them, prepare for them, protect them, not burden them with your desires. Plan for your children and your grandchildren, not just the "here and now" or your grandchildren will be paying the price for your selfishness.
What will they think of a grandparent who burdened them with so much government debt that their economy is ruined and the cost of bread is twenty-five dollars a loaf? What will they think of a grandparent who made it impossible for them to go on vacations because they can't take time off of work due to their tax burden and the resulting economy? What will your grandchildren think of how you treated them and their futures when it didn't have to be that way? What will they think of you then?
Will they think that you made a mistake? Will they think that you were misled? Will they think that it's all the government's fault, or will they wake up to the fact that it was you who helped push this thing through and it was you who made their lives a miserable, joyless, slavish burden because their freedoms were gone via Cap & Trade, their banks were gone via government takeover, their health care took most of their pay and what wasn't taken via health care was taken in other taxes to pay for vehicle production and unions? What will they think of you as they work fourteen hour days to pay for your desires?
It's not right to be a selfish parent. It's not right to think of only yourself when you are trying to get something from the government. It's not right to think of just the "here and now". You must think of the future for your children's sake and stop thinking only of yourself and your desires.
You consider nationalized health care good for your children's futures? Not when you look at the big picture and the money involved. Not when you look at it objectively and unemotionally. It cannot be. Any time you add a burden to future generations for the satisfaction of the present, you are putting that burden on your children and making their debt to the government bigger each time. There's a number out there that is about $38,000 and is the amount of taxes each child will owe thanks to this administration's plans and deeds. That's not a very auspicious beginning for your child's future. Add to that the health care plans and it's even more debt already owed. When will it end?
In today's America, your child has the option to be whatever he/she wants to be. There have been people all across this land who started with nothing and rose to power, prestige, leadership positions, riches even because of their God-given talents, determination, drive and intelligence. They didn't rely on the government to get them there; they relied upon themselves. If they needed help, they went to family, friends and -- if nowhere else could help them -- the government as a last resort. People who dream big and aspire to be something can accomplish their goals and dreams in today's America. In tomorrow's America -- with health care, Cap & Trade, etc. -- that won't be even remotely possible. Why? Because no matter what aspirations your child may have in your selfish tomorrow's America, the government will have to step in and take most of their money, delineate what they can and cannot do because of Cap & Trade emissions laws, prevent them from living where they wish to live because a gopher turtoise was just found on the property's border and work will be the focus of their taxpaying lives.
All of this is the result of your selfishness; your "here and now", live for today attitude. To think that it could have all been prevented if you had stopped, thought about the future and thought about how it will effect your children and your children's children. To think that your children could have lived in a FREE America, instead of one that is burdened with debt, extreme environmentalist laws, and no hope for making it better, or getting out of it, all thanks to your selfishness.
I think your children deserve better. That's why I have my website, write this blog and encourage parents to have Mom stay at home with their children during their school years. Because it's selfishness that will bring about a worse world for our children, not a better world. Selfishness is demanding health care reform now so that you can feel better about yourself later. How you can feel better about yourself bringing all of that upon your children and grandchildren, I do not comprehend. But you will. My question is, will you even see what you have done as your child works so hard for your desires?
How selfish are you? Will you think of your children? Or will you say, "I want it and I want it now!"?
It's simple. Think of their future tax burden. Think of their lives and how they must live them in order to pay for your desires. How long will they have to pay for you? Wouldn't it be better to have just said, "No. I'll find a better way. I don't have to do that now."?
Grandpa, Grandma, Mom, Dad and Aunts and Uncles: do not burden the younger generations with your desires. Have mercy. Have mercy.
Nowadays, it's more likely to hear parents say something like, "I want health care. I want it now. I want the government to pay for it." The problem with that sort of thinking is that it's not good for your children to have to be burdened with the cost of your desires. That's like saying that you're horny so your child should have sex with you. Not a good idea.
Your children shouldn't be burdened with the cost of your desires. Not for health care, not for sexual satisfaction. And yet, more and more parents are demanding of their children the cost of the parents' desires. Whether those desires be for nationalized health care at an enormous cost to their children and grandchildren, or their parents' desire for "fullfilment" as the mother and father both trudge off to work daily as the child is raised by a multitude of babysitters and before- and after-school programs. If the parents' desire is to have "social justice", the child is stuck with a world in which he or she gets promoted even when not ready, leaving the child feeling panicked due to not understanding the work; or, on the other side, being not chosen for college due to another child's preferential treatment based on "social justice": the children pay the price, no matter which parent is dreaming of "social justice".
The children of today are paying the price of four decades' worth of parental selfishness. Since the sixties, parents have been into "peace, love and rock and roll", leaving the child to pay for the "peace" by not having a missile defense system or enough airplanes to defend them. The child paid first for the "love" because the child had no father in the home and it was "okay" to break social norms of the time and to raise a child without having a husband. "Okay for whom?" was never asked and the child grew up feeling different and intimidated, or followed Dear Ol' Mom and did the same thing and became sexually permissive and wound up presenting Mom with a grandchild to help raise because Mom put herself first, why shouldn't the daughter? Or, why shouldn't the son be sexually permissive, that's the way Mom and/or Dad were, so if it's good enough for them... They pay the price in rock and roll in learning what they live, not what they're told. If Mom and (or) Dad are into the kind of music that is infamous for the drug scene (Jimi Hendrix, etc. for the older generation; I don't know who for the younger), then that's the way the child will grow up. Don't expect your child to not impersonate you in most things, or at least in the big things. As long as they live it, they will learn it.
Nowadays, it's children having children because the parents are too busy working: parents putting their reputation for having nice things is more important to them than having a solid family where the child feels important and knows that Mom and Dad love them. I've heard parents say that they love their child and would do anything for them, but those same parents don't have time to sit and talk to the child who needs advice, who has a heart ache, who has been abused by someone -- all in the name of "I have to go to work, I'll see you later." What is more important? Your savings plan for your new car, or the fact that your daughter was just pressured into having sex with her boyfriend for the first time even though she's just thirteen?
Selfish parents think that a bigger, better, more world (bigger house, better car, more designer name fashions, etc.) is better for their children than a small house with an older car and Wal-Mart brands with Mom at home and Dad working to support all of them because they put their children first. It's no use blaming "the world we live in" because it wasn't the world who taught your children that it should be that way in the first place. It was you!
When you have children, it's your job to raise them, not someone else's. When you have children, it's your job to teach them right from wrong, not someone else's. When you have children, it's your job to teach them about sex, not someone else's. When you have children, it's your job to teach them about God and your belief system, not someone else's and it certainly isn't someone else's job to tell them that they can't believe, either!
Putting your children first in this world means not only putting off that BMW until you are retired, but it means having the patience, determination and courage to do what is right for your children and their future and your grandchildren's futures in every instance and every decision you make. That's being a parent. Thinking of the "here and now" and only the "here and now" will do no good for your children's futures because they will be the ones paying the price for you thinking of only the "here and now".
Consider the fact that with health care, it will currently cost the average American family of four almost twenty thousand dollars a year for Pelosi's HR 3962 if the Senate agrees with it and this thing goes all the way through. Think of how much it will cost your children's average family of four in twenty years from now. We all know that the costs of government plans always go one way: UP. So how much will it cost your children when they're thinking of having children? It's estimated at almost twenty thousand annually now, how much more will it be in twenty years? Thirty thousand a year? Do you even make thirty thousand a year? If your child does, what will your child live on, buy food with, do for their children what they want to if all of their money is going toward this nationalized health care plan? How will your child survive? Obama won't be in office in twenty years. Pelosi hopefully won't be in office in twenty years. Who will do for them? You? Will you then pay the price for your current selfishness? If not, then who?
Are we to provide everything for your child via a government program? Is that how selfish you want to be? If that be the case, then what will your child have to pay in taxes in order to be able to have everything from the government? Or, what will your child have to do for the government in order for the government to be so magnanimous toward your child? Do you want your child to do without because you wanted health care now? Sounds to me as though your child will not only do without, but your children's children will, too. If your children have to pay thirty thousand a year for the health care system you wanted now, then how much more will their children pay? Fifty thousand a year? Sixty? Does that sound like a loving thing to do to your grandchildren?
I thought you were supposed to love them, take care of them, prepare for them, protect them, not burden them with your desires. Plan for your children and your grandchildren, not just the "here and now" or your grandchildren will be paying the price for your selfishness.
What will they think of a grandparent who burdened them with so much government debt that their economy is ruined and the cost of bread is twenty-five dollars a loaf? What will they think of a grandparent who made it impossible for them to go on vacations because they can't take time off of work due to their tax burden and the resulting economy? What will your grandchildren think of how you treated them and their futures when it didn't have to be that way? What will they think of you then?
Will they think that you made a mistake? Will they think that you were misled? Will they think that it's all the government's fault, or will they wake up to the fact that it was you who helped push this thing through and it was you who made their lives a miserable, joyless, slavish burden because their freedoms were gone via Cap & Trade, their banks were gone via government takeover, their health care took most of their pay and what wasn't taken via health care was taken in other taxes to pay for vehicle production and unions? What will they think of you as they work fourteen hour days to pay for your desires?
It's not right to be a selfish parent. It's not right to think of only yourself when you are trying to get something from the government. It's not right to think of just the "here and now". You must think of the future for your children's sake and stop thinking only of yourself and your desires.
You consider nationalized health care good for your children's futures? Not when you look at the big picture and the money involved. Not when you look at it objectively and unemotionally. It cannot be. Any time you add a burden to future generations for the satisfaction of the present, you are putting that burden on your children and making their debt to the government bigger each time. There's a number out there that is about $38,000 and is the amount of taxes each child will owe thanks to this administration's plans and deeds. That's not a very auspicious beginning for your child's future. Add to that the health care plans and it's even more debt already owed. When will it end?
In today's America, your child has the option to be whatever he/she wants to be. There have been people all across this land who started with nothing and rose to power, prestige, leadership positions, riches even because of their God-given talents, determination, drive and intelligence. They didn't rely on the government to get them there; they relied upon themselves. If they needed help, they went to family, friends and -- if nowhere else could help them -- the government as a last resort. People who dream big and aspire to be something can accomplish their goals and dreams in today's America. In tomorrow's America -- with health care, Cap & Trade, etc. -- that won't be even remotely possible. Why? Because no matter what aspirations your child may have in your selfish tomorrow's America, the government will have to step in and take most of their money, delineate what they can and cannot do because of Cap & Trade emissions laws, prevent them from living where they wish to live because a gopher turtoise was just found on the property's border and work will be the focus of their taxpaying lives.
All of this is the result of your selfishness; your "here and now", live for today attitude. To think that it could have all been prevented if you had stopped, thought about the future and thought about how it will effect your children and your children's children. To think that your children could have lived in a FREE America, instead of one that is burdened with debt, extreme environmentalist laws, and no hope for making it better, or getting out of it, all thanks to your selfishness.
I think your children deserve better. That's why I have my website, write this blog and encourage parents to have Mom stay at home with their children during their school years. Because it's selfishness that will bring about a worse world for our children, not a better world. Selfishness is demanding health care reform now so that you can feel better about yourself later. How you can feel better about yourself bringing all of that upon your children and grandchildren, I do not comprehend. But you will. My question is, will you even see what you have done as your child works so hard for your desires?
How selfish are you? Will you think of your children? Or will you say, "I want it and I want it now!"?
It's simple. Think of their future tax burden. Think of their lives and how they must live them in order to pay for your desires. How long will they have to pay for you? Wouldn't it be better to have just said, "No. I'll find a better way. I don't have to do that now."?
Grandpa, Grandma, Mom, Dad and Aunts and Uncles: do not burden the younger generations with your desires. Have mercy. Have mercy.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Don't Call Me "White"
Well, I've reached my limit. I'm so fed up with the idea that I have to kowtow to someone else regarding what words I can use in this "free" country, that I have decided to rebel. I will not use the term "African-American" unless and until I am given the same considerations.
If I have to use the terms that keep changing (used to be "negro", then it was "black", then "African-American" [even though born here, thus making people AMERICAN-AMERICAN), then others have to refer to me as the term I choose. Fair is fair, right?
So, I have decided that I shall from now on be referred to as being -- not white -- but "A person who is peach-toned with rosey highlights that used to be known as a 'white' person." If someone can't refer to my race as what I want them to refer to me, then they better not refer to me at all, or I'll take offense. It has to be my way, or the highway. After all, I have rights, too. I am going to take offense and be upset if anyone refers to me as anything besides, "A person who is peach-toned with rosey highlights that used to be known as a 'white' person."
Why, "A person who is peach-toned with rosey highlights that used to be known as a 'white' person."? Because I can. I can change it at my whim and I can make it known throughout the world (internet gives internationality, right?) and if someone screws up and calls me "white", then they're hate mongers. They're race baiters. They're racists because I'm not "white". I am, "A person who is peach-toned with rosey highlights that used to be known as a 'white' person."
Don't the rules apply equally to all of us? Isn't that what everyone wants: equal rights? Well, if that's going to be the rule, then why should I put up with someone using an erroneous color designation as my race delineation? I will no longer stand for that! I am not "white". Even my teeth are not "white" since I can apply a treatment that will make them "whiter". That means that they are not purely "white": off-white, maybe, not "white". So why should I be called "white"?
It's a racist thing to call me "white". It does not designate my race (there is no such thing as a "White" race), it doesn't designate my color (and we're all supposed to be color blind anyways), it doesn't designate anything about my origins since those formerly-known-as-"white" do not come from one particular place, just as those who designate themselves as "African-American" do not always come from (ancestrally speaking) Africa.
Strictly speaking, since ancestry is a supposed designation for others, then I should be called something besides "white" sinceI am part Cherokee (NOTE: I found out via finding someone on Ancestry.com who had done the research that our oral family history is incorrect and I am NOT part Cherokee). If I can consider that portion of me as others can consider their supposed ancestry out of Africa, then I should be called exactly what I requested, "A person who is peach-toned with rosey highlights that used to be known as a 'white' person.", anyways since "red" (as in American Indian: red man) and "white" make pink. Or perhaps I should go for my full great-grandparental designation. I would then be, "Bohemian-Cherokee-British-Irish-American". People can call me that and I would not be offended. After all, that's equal treatment, isn't it? Wouldn't you love to go around asking everyone their ancestry before referring to them?
So, if I can be internationally referred to as "white" even though it is not my desire and it is racist, inaccurate and offensive to me, then I can call others whatever designation I desire to call them. Therefore, I shall refer to whomever I wish as whatever I wish when it comes to race and color designation. If others can do so to me, and they want equal treatment under the law, then I can do so to them unless and until they call me, "A person who is peach-toned with rosey highlights that used to be known as a 'white' person."
If I have to use the terms that keep changing (used to be "negro", then it was "black", then "African-American" [even though born here, thus making people AMERICAN-AMERICAN), then others have to refer to me as the term I choose. Fair is fair, right?
So, I have decided that I shall from now on be referred to as being -- not white -- but "A person who is peach-toned with rosey highlights that used to be known as a 'white' person." If someone can't refer to my race as what I want them to refer to me, then they better not refer to me at all, or I'll take offense. It has to be my way, or the highway. After all, I have rights, too. I am going to take offense and be upset if anyone refers to me as anything besides, "A person who is peach-toned with rosey highlights that used to be known as a 'white' person."
Why, "A person who is peach-toned with rosey highlights that used to be known as a 'white' person."? Because I can. I can change it at my whim and I can make it known throughout the world (internet gives internationality, right?) and if someone screws up and calls me "white", then they're hate mongers. They're race baiters. They're racists because I'm not "white". I am, "A person who is peach-toned with rosey highlights that used to be known as a 'white' person."
Don't the rules apply equally to all of us? Isn't that what everyone wants: equal rights? Well, if that's going to be the rule, then why should I put up with someone using an erroneous color designation as my race delineation? I will no longer stand for that! I am not "white". Even my teeth are not "white" since I can apply a treatment that will make them "whiter". That means that they are not purely "white": off-white, maybe, not "white". So why should I be called "white"?
It's a racist thing to call me "white". It does not designate my race (there is no such thing as a "White" race), it doesn't designate my color (and we're all supposed to be color blind anyways), it doesn't designate anything about my origins since those formerly-known-as-"white" do not come from one particular place, just as those who designate themselves as "African-American" do not always come from (ancestrally speaking) Africa.
Strictly speaking, since ancestry is a supposed designation for others, then I should be called something besides "white" since
So, if I can be internationally referred to as "white" even though it is not my desire and it is racist, inaccurate and offensive to me, then I can call others whatever designation I desire to call them. Therefore, I shall refer to whomever I wish as whatever I wish when it comes to race and color designation. If others can do so to me, and they want equal treatment under the law, then I can do so to them unless and until they call me, "A person who is peach-toned with rosey highlights that used to be known as a 'white' person."
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