My Perspectives

Just a brief rant about me and my opinions... I know where I stand on most every issue that comes my way. I am somewhat of a fan of Ayn Rand - if such a thing can exist. I believe strongly that personal liberties and small government are required for a nation to continue to grow intellectually, economically and socially. Any other course will result in the degredation of all three. Take a look around you at the intellectual and social condition of our country.

Taxation, although I dislike it, I find to be a necessary evil. The extent to which we are taxed today I find repressive. Additionally there is some question as to the constitutionality of the income tax.

Welfare must be transformed to Workfare administered and funded at the state level. There is no reason that those people who are collecting welfare can’t be picking up trash or cutting grass along our nations highways and byways. Don’t even try to tell me that it is demeaning to the individual who must do that. Isn’t more demeaning to feel controlled by a government grown too large.

Public education should be privatized through a system of vouchers administered and funded at the county level. Schools should have to compete for their funding. The better the school, the more students it will attract. Lousy schools will change or be closed.

Gun control should be funded and administered at the household level. I have never seen any evidence that demonstrates that guns commit crimes - PEOPLE DO. A person has every right to be secure in their person and free to defend themselves in the way they choose.

Religious freedom is something I wholeheartedly support. Let us understand what the definition of Religion is: it is a system of beliefs, values and ethics or any system suggestive of or resembling such a system. What does that mean? To me it means that to prevent a child from praying in school is equivalent to a government enforced system of atheism. This is specifically forbidden in the Bill of Rights.

I own guns, I hunt, fish and ride my motorcycle without a helmet or at 180 MPH when I choose to do so. I drink alcohol, mountainbike and camp. I will build a campfire only if necessary to keep me warm or cook my food. There is enough pollution out there that we don’t need to add to it when we get in touch with nature.

If you want to eat meat, kill the animal yourself. Not every time you want to eat meat, just enough for you to realize that death and blood are the first steps towards your Independence Day barbecue. If you are not willing to do so, and you choose to eat meat, don’t call me a Bambi killer when I choose to hunt. Odds are you think Bambi is a female deer. If you are anti-hunting, you had DAMN well better be a vegetarian.

Would I support a law preventing others from doing what they enjoy? No, unless it could fall under the category of murder, sexual assault, vandalism or theft.

Sensitive people PISS ME OFF to no end. It is now a crime to have a prejudice or opinion and express it. Whatever happened to freedom of speech. As a coworker of mine said to a person in our human resources department, “These hypersensitive people are creating a hostile work environment for me. I no longer know what I can or cannot say to them.” Hence the reason I choose to vent on the internet.

One last thing, I have voted in every election since becoming eligible to vote. I believe I have every right to complain about how our government is run today. You see, nobody, let me say that again, nobody who I have supported and voted for has won an election.

Respond to this Essay

My current favorite quote comes from Sergel Kruschev, son of former Soviet Dictator Nikita Kruschev. When asked who he would vote for in his first election as a United States Citizen, he replied, “I won’t vote for a democrat, they are too dangerous.”

This occasional unsyndicated opinion column, A Rant of My Own, fails to appear in more than 250 papers nationwide.