Farewell, Uncle Teddy

America lost a great friend this week with the death of Senator Edward Kennedy. Teddy was loved by those on the left, and respected by his colleagues on the right. While some controversy surrounded him for the last few decades, albeit mostly manufactured, Teddy dedicated his life to serving those who were born into less fortune than he. It would be difficult to find a more caring, sincere, and compassionate person, elected or otherwise, than Senator Kennedy

It is because of this that I was shocked by the right wing response to the loss of such a great man. I listened in horror this morning as a colleague laughed and bragged about a neighbor of his who launched fireworks in celebration of Teddy’s death. Rush Limbaugh is warning his listeners that the left will exploit the situation to push through health care reform. Joe Scarborough took the opportunity to trash Kennedy’s record, personal and political, all the while pretending to be objective, in the condescending manner only Joe could pull off.

The right wing has shown their true colors more and more every day since then Senator Obama’s nomination for president, and their behavior surrounding Teddy’s passing demonstrates the vast differences between the two sides ideologically as well as politically. While I believe that President Reagan did more to hurt our country than any president in its 233 year history, we on the left did not take his passing to be an appropriate time to voice these opinions, and there were certainly no fireworks being launched from my yard. The left sat mostly silent as the republican controlled senate and house discussed whether Reagan’s head should be added to US currency or Mount Rushmore.

The best tribute we could pay now is to finally pass the health care reform that Teddy has been fighting for for decades. For a century now, every time the left has proposed providing health care to all citizens, the right has blocked every move. It is no source of embarrassment to the republicans that we are the only industrialized nation for over 90 years now that does not afford all citizens that security.

I have never believed in using tragic events for political gain, but it is also my belief that that vast majority of congress, be they republican or democratic, know in their hearts that the right to affordable health care should transcend economic stature and be provided to all citizens of our country. If Teddy’s passing helps those senators and congressmen realize that people are more important than profit, and convinces them to vote for strong health care reform, then there could be no greater tribute to one of America’s greatest patriots.
-Nick Star

The Soaring Age of Anarchy

Unfortunately I have been out of the loop the last few months because I went on a worldwide tour to see how the rest of the world looks, especially since we Americans are the butt of many jokes for not knowing our world. My line of travel allowed me to see the practices of the Inuit people of Canada, who fortunately for them they have avoided the problems of socialized Canada to socialistic Denmark to the once before mentioned Libertarian society of Somalia (it’s still the model country) to the land of God also known as Peshawar, or at least it will be once the Pakistani military is kicked completely out. From these travels I kept somewhat of an eye on the situation in the United States, and its outward push to become the next socialist power (You know, the type of system that the government takes care of its people, and these countries tend to be healthier, have a longer life expectancy, stronger small business based economy, and a happier society). However, I was happy to see when I returned that outward impressions are not always true! I have attended and have been following these evil democratic practices such as town hall meetings, which for too long have allowed Congressmen to hear coherent ideas and discussions about what they should do to help their constituents in Congress. Yet, now people are finally taking a stand in these meetings, and are using these platforms to yell and scream at their elected officials! I say keep doing that; drown out reasonable debates with shouting and off the wall (maybe dumb) questions.
The most recent one that I have had the opportunity to experience was the recent town hall meeting (or port-a-potty) with Bob Inglis in beautiful Boiling Springs, SC. This meeting contained some of the shouting and yelling, but it also contained some great questions that attacked the government. Which should be attacked, it would be much better if we had no existing government. Seriously, what good has the government ever done for this country? One fine gentleman was irate about the fact that the government wants to improve health care, the system that could one day lead to a death panel, which decides who lives or dies. We must keep that in the hands of private industries. However, I truly believe this older gentleman has never been helped by the government, and will never need be help. I am sure he cannot live a better life with his social security, or as he ages get benefits from Medicare or Medicaid. I think he would agree with a true Libertarian outlook that after he retires from a job at the age of 80, he has confidence that his family (hopefully he has one) will look out for him until his day is done. Yet, they may just keep grandpa around until he is worthless and then they will do what the Inuit people used to do with their old people, put them on an ice float and send them away! That is the way we should operate, however, it might be tough to find ice in the Artic any more so it might be easier to drive grandpa up into the mountains, give him a piece of hard candy and say good luck!
Another issue I was glad to see brought up dealt with vaccinations. I hate the fact that the government thinks that we as a people should be healthy. I agree with this lady, we should go back to the days when dysentery, typhoid, small pox, polio, and measles ran rampant. If we allow these diseases run all over our population again and couple it with sending old people into the sun, then we can decrease the overpopulation in our country. Heck, maybe we could return to the good old days before the Civil War, when this country was at its pinnacle. The country was small, the health and life expectancy were low, and by God if someone ticked you off you could just go shoot them.
There were many other questions and issue brought up at this meeting, but I will not waste any more time bringing up my agreements with these too. These people realize that we live in a truly awful nation which is destroyed by the law and order of a stable, democratic government that does tries to help its people. We have shown that we do not want to be like Canada, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Spain, and Norway, but in fact we should embrace the governments of Somalia, the Congo (either one), Sudan, Mali, Nigeria, Liberia (FREEDOM!!), Zimbabwe, Afghanistan (once a true theocracy, which some would like to see in the USA as an alternative to anarchy), and Ivory Coast. I say keep it up people, and one day a great revolution will return the USA’s lawless past. Not sure when that past was other than the rough Wild West, but I can’t wait either way!