Once again the liberal blogs have picked up a story running through the social media. It appears they are rather up in arms over this photo:
Here on the far right we have Greg Cimeno - who I also happen to be friends with on Facebook, and have been for a number of years. I don't know him personally but I do feel as though I know him. We've chatted rather frequently through the years and I consider him to be a great guy. He's young, very ambitious, and has always been an open and honest guy as far as I can tell.
The only stories or movies I truly enjoy are those that are coming of age or comedy. I find that stories that offer a reason for laughter or give the audience a message of succeeding, overcoming great obstacles are those that connect well with me. If I am needing to gain something else for my entertainment, I can merely live life or watch the news, which is certain to bring me sorrow or reveal the lower levels of humanity.
America is currently witnessing great polarity within our culture. There are those that would like to change many basic American principles and replace them with old ideas that reflect those of the European world -- the world our founding fathers left in hopes for a new life. Then there are those of us who desire to move towards preserving the value of individual freedom and responsibility. Of course we also have people who all over the spectrum. There are those who do not subscribe to any ideology, traditional or otherwise, so their opinions often seem to contradict one another. There seem to be quite a number of citizens who do not involve themselves at all in politics viewing it as worthless because they have been encouraged to be jaded or felt to believe their voice does not matter. Still, the idea of evolving into something else remains strong in today's current political climate.
My personal view is one that believes in American wisdom. The belief that all who desire more can receive more and this can best be gained through teaching personal responsibility and valuing individual, G-d given rights.
My criticism of the current American left comes into play when I see and hear the words of those who have expressed American tradition as being evil, racist, and blasting capitalism as a purely corrupt system. These are people who subscribe to the zero-sum principle which is to hold the idea that if one person gains, another person must be losing. They have somehow convinced themselves that there are only so many resources, that everything is limited or constricted in some way and this includes individual's abilities and talents. The far left loves to remind us of our country's poverty, racism, crimes that involve guns, intolerance to homosexuality and other sexual taboo behavior, "imperialism," evil capitalism, war, corrupt police, and of course our lack of "free" healthcare.
To be fair, these issues do exist but does it never occur to the modern day far left that these things have always existed in some way, shape, or form? Does it not occur to them that countries around the world that hold a variety of different types of government/beliefs/ideologies also experience these same woes, most being even worse when compared to ours?
The fact is, we must deal in reality when it comes to understanding the nature of why these problems occur in the first place. By spending our time constantly focusing on what is wrong, we lose sight of what is right in our world; we divide ourselves. If you listen to the left long enough, you will come away thinking in false dichotomies. To them we have the haves and have nots; minorities vs. whites, heterosexual vs. LGBT's, intelligent vs. stupid, capitalism vs. socialism, and the list goes on and on. They draw attention to differences and problems and wonder why polarity increases along with the problems. The far-right does this as well but the difference is that the far-right has very few outlets to express their views, so much of their message is widely ignored.
Individuals are powerful. The importance of protecting individuals is vital for a culture that wants to grow as a whole. The left is focused on the "common good" so much so that they ignore or underestimate the power of the individual. They mock conservatives who believe that the poor can overcome their circumstances because they believe that the examples of those who have raised themselves to higher statuses are anecdotal and are based on luck. They do not posses the insight and wisdom that dictates hard work and gratitude can help people increase their life and the lives of those around them. They have such a disbelief in this principle that they actually tell the poor they will remain poor no matter what they do. The more moderate will state that the poor can only do well if only the liberal policies can be implemented. Those who are ill can only get the help they need if their precious health care bill gets passed. Yes, if only the evil Republicans would go away your grandmother could live forever and collect Social Security in order to bake you cookies.
Listen to Michael Moore as he tells Wolf Blitzer that there is only room for so many people at the top. This is a far-left wing ideologue who is just like so many in this country who has plenty of his own money from working hard but he's here to tell the rest of America that there is only so much wealth to go around. Notice how he is promoting the idea of limitation, this is exactly what the zero-sum argument is. There is only one pie and it can only be cut up into a certain amount of pieces. Also notice how he likes to separate the top "one percent" from the rest of us. This is very typical hyperbole from the far left because they refuse to understand our connection with each other. He speaks of the one percent as being separate from us rather than being one of us.
The fact is liberals either do not know or do not want you to know, it does not matter what system a person is living in, those who want to become successful and develop themselves into characters who desire more for themselves can and will achieve. You can be who you want in any system; the world will open up opportunities for you. If you are poor in a capitalist system, you will remain poor in a socialist system as well only you will also be much more likely to lose many individual rights; this indeed holds true under communist regimes where poor individuals have almost no rights.
When you have a culture and government that promotes the importance of general moral principles and rewards morality, you can then increase the amount of moral individuals. Moral individuals who do well and succeed will operate their businesses in moral ways offering valuable jobs, goods, and services. Using this principle there is ultimately no reason for businesses to actually "compete" with one another because when individuals are working for the good and using moral principles, they will be responding to the needs of the whole.
Liberals actively engage in destroying taboos and promoting immorality. They support the efforts of Hollywood that increase exposure to sexuality of all kind, demonetization of religion or tradition, the promotion of breaking down the normal family unit by belittling the importance of fathers, and even slander the free market by labeling it "legalized greed," just as Michael Moore stated in the video clip above. After they twist and turn definitions and bring messages of moral relativity to the population, they then become shocked when things go bad, like businesses not paying taxes or offering better pay and benefits.
Honestly, how can you expect businesses to be honorable and make good decisions if you are promoting individuals to be immoral or have no real concept of right and wrong? How can anyone possibly expect government officials to behave in a certain way if our culture is currently determined to promote values that are in exact opposition of how you expect them to behave?
Humans are complex but they are not complicated. Regardless of race, sex, or lifestyle we all desire to grow and become more but if we live among many individuals who act immorally and who promote pessimistic ideas it does indeed become more difficult to overcome bad circumstances. Even if a person is able to do so they will treat others poorly because they have never been shown a more superior way to behave. True success cannot be found among those that compete and use others for the sole purpose of clawing their way to the top. These people abuse their power by abusing others, spreading even more content and anxiety.
If however, more individuals do act morally we will have more examples for people to follow and emulate. Having these examples coupled with faith and gratitude can actually help people overcome their personal challenges, rise above, and become great examples themselves.
We have to stop pitying people and look at them more as those who have yet to advance themselves. We must believe in our fellow man the way we believe in our source, our G-d, our own spirit. The best way to connect with our source and receive those blessings come from having self-interest and promoting self-interest. Only by gaining more in life can we possibly help ourselves, our families, and others. There is absolutely nothing wrong or greedy about wanting to obtain wealth and success unless you are someone who enjoys promoting the failure of others and yourself. The only person we can control is ourselves, not others. If we cannot help ourselves, we are of no value to anyone. We cannot merely preach to others about what they should do; we must be an example for them.
What example do modern day liberals give us? Their promotion of immorality and/or moral relativism has brought an increase in many problems we face. They use scare tactics to convince people they have a "solution" for these problems yet they have to know that there will never be a cure. It is ultimately up to individuals to make the first move. Their only solutions come with government and the payment for these solutions is individual liberty -- personal responsibility. Personal responsibility is how people learn and move to overcome their personal obstacles.
Of course the government is influential in people's lives and of course the government can help in many areas of life, but using the government's influence as a way of promising people things that can really only be solved by the individuals themselves is abusive. This means that while government is necessary, it does not mean that government should be intrusive to an extent that takes away a person's identity and/or choices. Doing so removes personal responsibility and gives people an excuse to refrain from advancing as individuals; people can blame their government, their circumstances, others, or we take away their entire motivation.
Again, I say that those who are at the top now will still be at the top in a socialized system but under socialism or communism we know its very construct promotes a disbelief in individuals being able to succeed which only breeds more complacency. Focusing on issues that concern the modern left only increases the existence of those issues.
When individuals work to become moral, they learn to develop an understanding of being their brother's keeper. This means being honest with others and shaming those who do wrong rather than being politically correct and avoid the criticism of bad behaviors. We have slowly become people who are afraid to criticize anything immoral or unnatural for fear of being labeled and shunned. When we draw attention to racism against minorities, we encourage minorities to play the role of victim. When we call attention to the poor, we discourage people to become wealthy. When we say money is limited only to those few privileged in the world, we indeed create limitations on others. We indeed create our reality but not just for ourselves but for those around us who are weaker. This is why it is so important to understand the importance of being accountable to our brothers and sisters -- we are all brothers and sisters and if we love each other, we are honest with one another and we are good examples for them. Pitying them is telling them we do not believe in them. We are telling them they cannot succeed; they cannot overcome.
Remember that mathematics teaches us the term infinity, which defines numbers increasing or decreasing in value with no end. There are no limitations, in any direction. Anyone who tells you that there is only so much of anything in this world is a liar and an insecure person who is desperate and afraid of you and even their own shadow.
I'm not advocating our country get rid of all safety nets for those in need or that we need to do away with food stamps or help with daycare or any of that nonsense that many on the left claim the right wants. It's absurd and quite frankly a nasty attack. What I do ask is that we promote morality and that we offer pragmatic solutions coupled with help that involves teaching others how to see this world as expanding, advancing, and that we all have a place in this world, connected with one another as human beings, not divided.
As individuals we are powerful and having self-interest and a burning desire to succeed is not just important to the individual but it's important to the whole. The more we can encourage people to advance themselves, the more we advance as a whole. This is American wisdom and this is what we should work to preserve, not dismantle.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and was unable to directly answer why it was big businesses were given the opportunity to delay their compliance with the new affordable health care act, while individuals were not being afforded the same option.
After pressing her further on the issue to no avail, a somewhat exasperated Stewart finally smiled and asked, “Am I a stupid man?”
To understand the workings of American politics, you have to understand this fundamental law: Conservatives think liberals are stupid. Liberals think conservatives are evil. — Charles Krauthammer
In psychology, the term projection is used to describe a person's thoughts and behavior as being a reflection of their true self. People who make accusations towards others are really only revealing who they truly are on the inside.
I've always agreed with the quote above from Krauthammer. I have heard those sentiments exactly from liberals about conservatives and vice versa. Could it be that both sides are projecting themselves with these descriptions?
Well, I don't know about you but I would rather be stupid than evil.
