Life Got You Down? Blame Government

Are you happy? Are you satisfied with your job, making good money, have a loving family that you spend loads of time with, you're in perfect health, have no debt, got a good education, plenty of money in the retirement account, own a nice home that you're able to update semi-regularly, take vacations annually, and all the rest? I mean, that's the American dream, isn't it? The one we've been taught is achievable in America and nowhere else because of our grand, unrelenting commitment to freedom and individuality. Or are some or all of those areas lacking in your life?

I was thinking about it earlier and I'm quite certain that most of the discontent we experience in our lives can easily be found with its roots in government. There are some out there who think corporations are the world's greatest evil, but do corporations have as much influence over your day-to-day life as government does? Can corporations hold a gun to your head and make you pay for goods and services you don't want? Can corporations be absolutely inefficient, fail in their mandates and missions, lose money year after year, steal from you, fine you for not buying their products, violate your civil liberties and still count on you giving them your business? No, of course not. They have to earn your business. Government just points a gun at you and forces you to do business with them and on their terms only. That's not to say that there aren't bad corporations out there with evil business models, but once again that's because of government enabled cronyism. While businesses and corporations can cause minor hiccups in our day-to-day lives (ohmgygawd, I just spent 30 minutes on hold with Verizon #hearthisassholes), it's the ever-present leviathan of government hanging over our heads, like an eternally cloudy sky that you don't even notice anymore (but once you're "awake" you  notice it all the time), that causes us the most misery.

For example, are you or a family member sick or suffering from chronic pain and you can't get your hands on the drugs you need to treat it? That would be government's fault. Government is keeping marijuana, medicinal and otherwise, illegal and off market in many states. The FDA is the one holding up approval on potentially life-saving drugs, drugs that terminally ill patients are more than willing to risk their already dying lives to take in the hope that it might give them a few more precious months or, God-willing, years on this earth. The market is trying to bring life-saving drugs to the people who desire it at affordable prices. The only reason you can't have them is because of government laws, red tape, and regulations. Food and drug safety and efficacy can be proved by various private, competing entities and get safe drugs to market much faster than the several years-long process it takes for the FDA to complete its studies.

Moving on, what about your quality of life and finances? Are you happy in your job, following your dreams and passions? No? Why not start your own business? Maybe start small and work out of your home? Oh, because your local government regulations prevent home businesses? Hmm, well how about you become a professional of some sort? Oh, you don't have the right government licensing for your floral shop or interior design degree? Understandable. I can see why we need the government to protect us from the dangers of unlicensed florists and interior designers. Or from the horrors of a bad haircut. The stuff of nightmares really. Well why not go back to school to pursue that degree you've always wanted? Too expensive? Was that Amazon's fault, or Ebay's? Hmm, don't think so. When government will hand out or subsidize student loans for everyone with a pulse, it increases demand. The only way to satisfy demand and create equilibrium in the market is to raise prices. Rising prices means it's less affordable, so we need more student loans. Oh vicious circle! And many in government insist that we must make it our goal that every child in America receive a college degree. Because there's no better way to render something completely valueless than by making sure everyone has one. But if you still think that going into debt to get that online degree from Phoenix University that every Tom, Dick, and Harry is now trying to get will finally give you the leg up you've been looking for, be my guest. However, if it doesn't work, you know who to blame <whisper> government.

Have you taken your annual vacation this year? Full two weeks? No debt? Trying to figure out what exactly it is you're saving all that money for anyway? No? Walmart charging you too high of prices again so you can't save money? Or could it be something else.... You see, our government thinks it can control money. They think that they can solve all of our economic woes by printing money or otherwise manipulating the currency. You'll hear our politicians claim that inflation is a good thing. Government will tell you that rising prices makes everyone wealthier because, you know, I never feel richer than when I pay $4 for a gallon of gas that only cost $3 last year. Your home is worth more, but with that food prices keep rising, gas prices keep rising, the cost to heat and cool your home keep rising, but the price of iPads is falling so there's that. I hear they're quite tasty when baked and feed a family of four quite easily.

 Despite the constantly rising prices that you've been told make everyone wealthier, you can never quite figure out what happens to your paycheck each month. And while your home might be valued at $250k, you can't manage to sell it because who's able to save $50k for a nice, respectable 20% down payment? Nobody! But that's okay. Government to the rescue again! They'll subsidize agencies like Fannie and Freddie to give you a loan for as little as 3% down, no savings needed! What could possibly go wrong? Without government, who would force banks and other entities to give out loans to people to buy overpriced homes they can't afford? Wait, don't tell me...Walmart. Amiright?

Not only is your paycheck being eaten away by the insidious hidden tax known as inflation, it's also being eaten away by the never-ending string of overt taxes we're subject to. Sales tax, income tax, payroll tax, property tax, hotel tax, rental car tax, airfare tax, death tax, inheritance tax, capital gains tax, corporate tax, the not buying a product you don't want tax (aka Obamacare), excise tax, gasoline tax, utility taxes, telephone usage tax, cigarette tax, luxury tax, gift tax, gambling tax, lotto winning tax, IRA early withdrawal tax, vehicle sales tax, and on and on and on. Really, though, they're doing you a favor. The government steals this money from you and makes it harder to make ends meet each month because if they didn't you would probably spend it irresponsibly. It's much better that they spend it irresponsibly for you.

"But," you may say, "I'm willing to pay those taxes because I get important government goods and services in return." Like pothole free roads. And pleasant, stress-free visits to the DMV. And an easily navigable and affordable justice system that works for the little guy. And over 700 military bases all over the world. I'm sure if the government weren't stealing your money from you every two weeks you would willingly donate that money to the military bases in Germany and Japan that are so imperative to our safety. You can never be too safe, after all. Which is why I thank the Lord every time I go to the airport and get groped down, nude scanned, or irradiated that my money was taken from me forcibly to pay for my safe travels. Granted, they've never caught a single terrorist no matter how much money I give them but I'm sure it will pay off one day. Given how greedy corporations are, I know American Airlines and Southwest have zero interest in keeping their flights and passengers safe and therefore would not be willing to provide adequate security measures for their passengers; it would eat into their bottom line after all. Terrorists would just keep hijacking their planes and Jetblue would be all like "That's cool. Any publicity is good publicity, right?"

Don't even get me started on companies like Apple. How dare Apple invade countries like China and give those Chinese workers jobs they would never have had otherwise so that Americans can buy highly innovative and desirable products that have literally changed human life at reasonable prices!? If Apple were more like government, they would have invaded China with the Apple Army they keep on retainer, destroyed Chinese cities to build their factories (for which the Chinese should be grateful), used their Army to take out all competition, and then hired a bunch of union workers to charge $20/hr to work no more than 8 hours a day so that in 10 years time they could sell you a phone the size of your shoe for $5000 and then balked at you if you weren't grateful to them because if it weren't for them you wouldn't have a portable phone at all dontchyaknow?

I could do this all day, but stop for a moment and just think about it. Who controls the money? Government. Who controls interest rates on money? The Federal Reserve. Who determines the type of currency we use? Government. Who prints the money that causes inflation? The Federal Reserve. Who forcibly takes money away from us to pay for things we don't want (and maybe a few things we do)? Government. Who controls your education? Government. Who controls your food? Government. Who controls your healthcare? Government. Who controls your retirement? Government. Let's not even think about this in the left/right paradigm. These things are true no matter which party is in power and have been for half a century now or more. It's time to wake up. It's time to open your eyes. It's time to see what's really going on here. It's time to join the revolution. As Katniss Everdeen was told in book 2 of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire as she was battling for her life against her competitors in the Capital-controlled games, "Remember who the real enemy is." I promise you it's not Walmart.       

 

Confessions of a Former Liberal

Yep, that was me. If any of you have taken the time to read my ‘About This Blog’ tab over on the side, this shouldn’t come as a surprise to you. Growing up, politics was not on my radar whatsoever. I was a Dean’s list student and also a nationally competitive two-sport athlete. I had a part time job. I didn't grow up in a very political family. My mom wasn’t overtly political, although she was one of the original feminists from back in the 70s and would pass off some of those beliefs to me. But I wasn't always passionate about politics. It took two disastrous presidencies, a decade of continuous war, and the systemic erosion of our civil liberties right before my eyes before I finally "woke up" as they say. 

I remember as early as 8^th grade, I was sitting in my science class and that day was a special day because instead of class, we all had to take some sort of big long survey. The survey included questions about your behavior and beliefs at the time, things like “How often do you smoke?” “Do you do drugs?” “What kinds?” “How often?” “Have you ever had sex?” and so forth. These were completely anonymous to ensure honest answers. In my view, the anonymity gave me complete cover to lie through my teeth. I guess I was pretty cheeky even back then because I answered all the questions about as falsely as you could. Some statistician out there was probably horrified to learn that there was an 8^th grader out in the world who had sex every day in her mom’s bed after school but only after getting high and raiding the liquor cabinet. Not to mention the 3 cartons of cigarettes I smoked per week in between all of my Satan worship. 

I was having a giggle at my minor act of defiance, even tapping my lab bench partner to point and snicker at all my off color answers. She just looked at me partially horrified even though she knew I was kidding around. Finally I got to a question that stumped me. It asked something along the lines of “Politically, do you consider yourself a conservative or a liberal?” That one made me furrow my brow. I’d never thought about it. I was13, what did I know about politics? But the little sheet demanded an answer so I reasoned it out. Well, I’m pretty funny and generally outgoing. I’m captain of my soccer team. I ran for student council. Heck, according to these answers I’m a little misfit! And even if I really wasn’t, the mere act of filling it out as such must merit something. Given my 8^th grade knowledge of the definitions of ‘conservative’ and ‘liberal’, I surmised that I certainly wasn’t conservative, or shy, by any stretch of the imagination therefore I must be a liberal*! 

Fast forward all through high school where I had zero political knowledge or interest outside of a watching a few snippets of the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal unfold and now I get to college. Being at the end of the alphabet lottery for that semester, I got my last choice for freshman year seminar, Violence of Everyday Life of Latin America. Boy was it an awakening. It was taught by probably the most liberal professor on campus (and that’s saying something for a college campus) and I learned all about the dirty little wars the US had been in and the role the US played in installing dictators and puppet governments all throughout Latin and Central America who then turned around and killed or disappeared thousands of their own citizens. Talk about something you never, ever learn about in your normal K-12 education!

I went to a good public high school and was in all of the Advanced Placement classes, yet had never acquired this depth of knowledge, nor were these type things discussed in my household. My professor would pepper our lessons about Latin America with other typical liberal hot button issues: garbage and climate change, evil corporations, poverty, and so forth. It was everything I thought college would be: an intellectual revolution. I was learning about concepts and events I'd never studied before and the veil that shrouded the world during my public school education had finally been lifted. Or so I thought. 

I wasn't so lucky.

See here's the thing. If you think back about your education, what is the one constant that you get whatever grade you're in? You get some form of social studies, government, or US history class, right? Every public holiday like President's Day or Columbus Day or Veteran's Day provides multiple excuses per year to remind every school child in America just how great America is, how great every president we've ever had was, why every war we were ever in was good and justified and how we made the world a better place by being involved in such wars. We honor State figures. We don't honor entrepreneurs and innovators like Steve Jobs, who has probably done more to better America and the world than almost any president, the same way we do statesmen.

This freshman seminar of mine was eye-opening. It was the first time I had heard in any phase of my education that maybe America wasn't all around great, grand, and wonderful in every aspect. I finally heard about the seedy side of American history, the stuff that the 80% of Americans who don't attend college were never taught in all their years of K-12 schooling. I learned big words like 'hegemony'. Which is cool, I mean, that's what college is for right? And I was so enamored and excited to finally be learning, as opposed to the usual school method of memorizing and regurgitating, that I soaked up whatever I was told. My professor would trot out other liberal talking points and by virtue of my almost never having studied them or learned about them all through public school, I soaked them in like I did all the info about America's dirty wars and pursuit of worldwide hegemony. And thus a liberal was born. 

Apparently it wasn't just me, however. What I find interesting is that, while I still don't think that my university would rank as one of the most liberal universities out there, nonetheless I'd say that out of the people I'm still acquaintances with from college I would say that fully 75% of them or more are liberals. Did they start off that way or did they become that way through the university process? I don't know. But I'll take a guess as to why this is in just a minute.

Several years later after enduring a terrible Bush presidency and excited for some Hope and Change, it took just a couple of years into Obama's first term when I started to realize that he didn't seem to be cashing in on any of his campaign promises. In fact, I recognized him as engaging in the same behaviors, or even exacerbating them, as his predecessor. In the interest of being intellectually honest, I realized that I couldn't support Obama for doing or saying the exact same things that I criticized George Bush for. So I found myself in political limbo. I was seeking answers. I was confused. I turned to my comfortable liberal haven, reading books by Ralph Nader and agreeing with what the problems were but feeling his solutions were lacking.

My husband suggested expanding my circle and reading something outside of the box, perhaps on the other side of the spectrum. I had a think and remembered a friend posting a few things about Ron Paul during the 2008 election. At that time, I looked at his webpage for about 2 minutes in an attempt to "inform" myself before deciding his ideas didn't make any sense and dismissing him. Other than that, I didn't know much about him. So I picked up his book, Revolution: A Manifesto, and much like my first course in college, my mind was blown. 

Dr. Paul was talking about things no other politician ever talked about, like the Federal Reserve and how it contributes to all of our economic instability. It made perfect sense in context of our recent housing bust. If I had heard anything about the Federal Reserve at all before (very seldom), it was usually talked about as just another integral part of the government like the Supreme Court or House of Representatives, not some insidious institution created in secret for the benefit of a few bankers and their well-connected friends. 

I appreciated Dr. Paul's policy of non-intervention in foreign affairs. Finally, someone who sounded like he practiced what he preached! I was pleased to find out that he thought the War on Drugs was a waste of time and money as well. Furthermore, he didn't pull any punches when talking about the debt, entitlements, or anything else and he didn't demagogue the issues like a standard politician usually does. 

Lastly, how many politicians can you say genuinely inspired you to learn more about economics? Economics was yet another hole in my education that a mere one semester as a high school senior hardly filled. No more! Hayek, Hazlitt, Mises and more now filled my reading list due to the interesting and common sense ideas of theirs that Dr. Paul touched upon in his book.

You see, here's the other thing about the typical American public education. As I mentioned before, we get educated about government and US history and important political figures almost every day for the entire duration of our primary and secondary education. Government did this, government created this program, this President was responsible for this, and so on. Yet in all your years of education, can you remember any significant schooling on free market principles? On entrepreneurship? Did you learn about how capitalism has improved the standard of living for people worldwide or were you taught that businessmen like Carnegie and Rockefeller were robber barons who exploited workers for personal gain? Were you ever taught about the Constitution? If so, was this put into any real world context i.e. well according to the 4th Amendment we have an expectation of privacy and the government can't seize our belongings or spy on us without a warrant but the Patriot Act violates that? Did you ever do a thought exercise encouraging you to brainstorm private sector or individual alternatives to government run institutions? Are you ever taught at any time and at any level that government just might be the cause of and not the solution to many of the problems we face today? I bet not.

Even in my senior year econ class, all I remember learning about is There Is No Such Thing As a Free Lunch and some general supply and demand curves. Econ was just something you had to take for a few weeks as almost a crash course in "here's how the world out there operates" before they shoved you out into the real world. As for the rest, well, I wrote a lot of papers in school. I did many presentations, both group and individual. I did some chemistry. I took lots of tests (oh Scantron, how I don't miss you). I read lots of Shakespeare (why is Shakespeare still considered required reading?). And yet something that I learned almost nothing about was running a business. You never learn anything about prices and wages, about how and why they rise and fall (hint: it's not by government decree). You don't learn about taxes and taxation or how to file a tax return. You don't hear anything about inflation. For all the time we spend on government for 12 years you never hear boo-diddly about the Federal Reserve (at least not back then, I don't know if things have changed more recently). No, it's not one of the official branches of government but for an institution that controls the monetary policy for the entire country and, by default, the world, it certainly does a good job of remaining in the shadows and out of the realm of public discussion (by design, I'm sure). 

Supposedly that's all considered "higher education". The basic functioning of an economy, how it grows and why it crashes, is way too complicated for the majority of the citizens to understand, or so we're made to believe. It's reserved for university study and only if it's in a field of interest for you. If it's not part of your field of study, then even with all your higher education you still have no knowledge of capitalism or a free market. You get 12+ years of government education at government schools and maybe about 4 total months of any sort of business or economics education in your life. Given all this, is it any wonder that the vast majority of people look to government for the answers to everything? Is it any wonder that there are so many economic illiterates out there who think that prosperity comes from the barrel of a gun pointed at you by the government? Who think that the way to enrich everyone is to just steal the wealth and property of anyone and everyone and hand it out to those specially protected government groups and businesses? Is it any wonder that generations of people who've systematically never been exposed to the ideas of liberty are reluctant to embrace them? Not really. But all that is slowly but surely changing.  

It only took me one reading of Ron Paul's book for the liberty light bulb to switch on in my head. Here were some ideas that had never been presented to me before and yet they immediately took hold. They filled in the gaps where I felt the liberal ideology fell short and what I saw as a flaw in government when I recognized Obama as pursuing many of the same misguided policies as Bush, despite his promises to the contrary. It only took me a few election cycles to realize that no matter who you put in office, nothing really changes, and libertarianism explained why. 

I felt that, like me, most people just had never been introduced to the ideas of liberty and once they were informed about them (I mean, as Americans we're supposed to cherish freedom and liberty, right?) that most people would see the light. Boy have I been proven wrong. One does not overcome a lifetime of government indoctrination as easily I did. But then again, I have a history of marching to the beat of my own drum. That doesn't mean I will stop trying. That's the purpose of this blog. It's not big, but it gets enough hits every time that I hope it will open some eyes along the way. Freedom is worth fighting for. Liberty is achievable. The free market is beautiful. I hope that I'm able to do my small part to help open some eyes and create a few "former liberals" or "former Republicans" along the way.

Are you a former something or other? What did you or didn't you learn in school that shaped (either rightly or wrongly) your views? Leave a comment and tell me about it!

*As an aside, I think the names used to describe political ideologies themselves i.e. "conservative" and "liberal" work against anyone who believes in limited government. The connotations are all wrong. Much like what my experience taught me, what normal teenage kid, whether they know a lick about politics or not, wants to think of themselves as "conservative"? Adolescence is nothing if not a series of events trying to prove how cool, avant garde, and rebellious one is. If a teenager were to organically drift over to the political realm and were curious to find out more, do you think they would be enticed to learn more about "liberals" and "progressives" or "conservatives"? The labels work against us. Perhaps the label of "libertarian" will garner a few more inquisitive minds but I think something liberals/progressives/Democrats do substantially better than the conservative/Republican side is branding and messaging. It's something limited government supporters need to figure out if they have any hope of growing their ranks.