Where do I stand?

A while back, I posted my position regarding a number of different topics. Going back over my blog, I have found that I've covered everything from political beliefs to some personal issues that have arisen. I guess the time has come to once again go over my political and philosophical beliefs.

First and foremost, I don't go for this uber-sensitive garbage. If you're looking to find political correctness on this blog, just keep moving on to somewhere else because you won't find any of that crap here.

In everything that happens, we have a choice on how we react, including whether or not to choose to be offended. Someone once said that "Real power is the ability to pause between stimulus and response, and in that pause, choose." If merely reading, seeing, or hearing something you don't like is enough to cause you to automatically be offended, then you should just go ahead and pop about 20 valium. I'm sure you'll feel much better in about half an hour.

From this point on, I'm going to itemize my beliefs for easier reading. If you find any of these to be offensive, then go see your doctor about some valium.

• Welfare: Welfare was intended, at inception, to be helping hand to those who need it, not the way of life it has become. One of the few (very few) things that Bill Clinton ever did right was to push for welfare reform and turn it back over to the states instead of it being doled out by the federal Mommy State.



• Religion: You're free to worship whomever you choose. You could choose to worship Beppo the Wonder Monkey if you wish, but that doesn't mean the rest of us should have to care. There isn't a religion around today that's not trying to pull the line of "Waaah! Waaah! I'm being persecuted because I'm Christian/Jewish/Muslim/Whatever!" Get over yourselves already. No one is persecuting you, so get off your cross.
  
  Oh, and for the record, I do not subscribe to Christianity, Islam, Judaism, or any of that claptrap.



• Sexuality: What consenting non-related adults (notice the operative words here) do in the privacy of their own home is their own business and nobody else's. If you're straight, that's fine. If you're gay, that's fine, too
  
  Too many people are working themselves into a tizzy over the fact that somone might be enjoying life in a way that they, personally, do not approve. Religionists (especially Christians and Muslims) are notorious for this.



• Same-Sex Marriage: This is one topic where I happen to piss everyone off. Marriage is a religious institution in which the State should not be involved. It is my personal belief that the State should have no hand in religious affairs. Whether or not a church wishes to endorse same-sex marriages, that's their business. Personally speaking, I see no need for a slip of paper - from either a church or the State - to legitimize any of my relationships.
  
  
• Church and State: The State has no business inserting itself into the affairs of any church, regardless of the faith or denomination. At the same time, no god (pick one, any one) belongs in government. Keep in the church or in the home where it belongs.



• Taxes: As it stands right now, we pay taxes on what we make, what we spend, and what we don't spend. Pretty soon, the government will find a way to tax us on what we don't make. Oh, wait, they already do that - it's called "property tax."
  
  Our current tax system is unfair in that it treats people differently for various reasons. A more fair system should be implemented, like replacing it with either a flat tax (absolutely no loopholes, shelters, or exemptions PERIOD) or (preferably) a national sales tax. The reason I say a national sales tax is a good idea is that it is a tax on consumerism. Rich people buy more, so they pay more in tax. People who aren't rich buy less, and thus pay less in taxes.
  
  For more information, go to FairTax.org.



• Healthcare: Speaking as someone who used to work in the healthcare field, I can tell you why the cost of good healthcare in this country is so damned expensive: the unholy trinity of insurance companies, ambulance-chasing lawyers, and a gullible public with a belief that they're entitled to something. Doctors weren't able to save the life of your 70 year-old-mother whose been smoking for 60 years, has emphesema, cancer, diabetes, and bad acne? Well, just go get a lawyer and sue! Enter the malpractice insurance agency who will, more often than not, go ahead settle out of court to save costs on a court battle - even in the case of an unwarranted lawsuit. Then you have personal health insurance comapnies who charge you an arm, a leg, and one testicle to provide "affordable" healthcare - at the discretion of some brainless bureaucrat, and, if you should actually happen to use that insurance for its intended purpose, they raise your rates to cover their costs.
  
  If you think the above situation is bad, wait until the Left manages to get government involved in the form of "universal" or "one-payer" healthcare! Historically, any time the government intevenes for "the public good," things go right to hell. Now, not only will we be paying for everyone's healthcare - in the form of higher taxes - we'll also be paying for the bloated bureacracy that will inevitably be needed to run this monstrocity.



• Iraq: I regret that we have to be there now when we could have been finished with this mess back in 1991. Don't confuse me with some pro-war chickenhawk. Having been in the military, and having served in the first Gulf War, I know what things are like over there, what the people are like, how they are treated, etc. When we pulled out back after the Gulf War, I made the prediction that we'd be back within fifteen years. Also, I can pretty much say that, those who have seen war, never want to see it again, but that does not prevent of from doing what is necessary, no matter how much we may not want to do it.



• Second Amendment Rights: What part of "A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed." is so difficult to understand?



• Partisan Politics: Give me a friggin break here. George Washington had it right when he said that there should be no political parties in the US. Parties lead to an inherent divisivness, which has never been more apparent that it is today. Issues are far more important than parties; a concept that brainless partisans seem to have difficulty understanding.
  
  Let us take the two major parties in the US, the Democratic party and the Republican party, as examples. Fundamentally, there is very little difference between the two. The Democratic party has embraced socialism, while the Republican party has embraced theocracy. Both parties seek to use the legislative (and sometimes the judicial) process to push their disparate brands of "morality" upon the masses. While their goals may be different, the end result is the same: Statist intrusion into the private lives of American citizens.