Our Serious Condition...

The United States of America is no longer founded upon nor governed according to the principles enshrined in the Declaration of Independence nor enumerated in the Constitution. The problem is worse than just the government having abandoned and trampled upon the principles defined by those two documents: the populace at large has abandoned the civic virtue and integrity that must exist for a free country to endure.

John Adams said "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." Ben Franklin issued an equally dire warning to that effect: "Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become more corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters."

Sadly, our condition today accurately reflects the degenerate nature of our national character and the aggregate absence of virtue from the people. Before we can right our government, we must first right ourselves.

Before we can reclaim our liberties, we must personally reclaim our civic virtue. And before we can reclaim our civic virtue, we must reclaim our faith in God. We would to well to consider the comment by General Douglas MacArthur: "History fails to record a single precedent in which nations subject to moral decay have not passed into political and economic decline. There has been either a spiritual awakening to overcome the moral lapse, or a progressive deterioration leading to ultimate national disaster."

Running Against the Wind

Running is easy
When you run with the wind:
Your steps go further,
And your muscles hurt less.

And a wind you can't feel
When you're there just standing,
Blows like a gale
When against it you're running:

It shortens your steps;
It tears at your face.
And distances easily covered,
With the wind,
Are marathons indeed,
Running against the wind.

But the wind never cares,
No matter what you do.
It is what it is:
... it just blows.

When you run with the wind:
The wind does the work,
Your muscles wont grow,
Nor your heart get as strong...

So don't fret and pine
Nor slacken your pace
When the course you've chosen
Puts the wind in your face.

For it's the muscle, not the miles
That in life really matter.
And muscles are stronger
And accomplishments greater...
When acquired by
Running against the wind.

Reigning in the National Government... the right way

I read an opinion piece Gary Andres the Washington Times commenting on the fact that people in this country want more state control of the services the "Government" provides to the people. "Power to the people"

He offered polling data that shows there is a significant fraction of the country that want the National government's power dilluted if not returned to the states. It didn't mention how that would happen however. That's where this blog takes off...

There's only one real lasting solution: change the government structure so politicians can say "No" to creating government agencies without committing political suicide. Otherwise, whenever a pet project gets cancelled the Representative or Senator has to run for cover or face the wrath of the special interest group who's ox he gored. This ability to say "no" must also be balanced by keeping the government responsive to the collective will of the people. We don't want a government that runs roughshod over our rights, although a strong case can be made that, that is what's happening now...

So, how to do this balancing act? It's easy to say, but it'll be very hard to do. Repleal the 16th AND 17th Amendments. That's all. "How will that work?" you ask. This is how...

The 16th Amendment allows the national government to tax the incomes of the electorate directly. Repealing this amendment will force the government to do it the way it did for 120 some odd years, by getting the money from the states and forcing the states to raise the money. This puts the level of "fund raising" at the state level. Which is one level closer to the people. But this alone isn't enough.

If this is all that happened, the national government would be free of the onerous task of raising the money it spends. Spending would spiral out of control much faster than it is now. That's where the second step comes into play: repealing the 17th Amendment.

This amendment changed to constituency of Senators from state governments to the people at large of the state, a role that was prescribed in the Constitution to be done by the House of Representatives. It in effect turned them into Congressmen with six-year terms of office. But with the Senators beholden to the states they are insulated from the wrath of the electorate and can make the tough decision without fear of direct electoral reprisals.

Since just the states will have the task of raising money for the national government, they will feel the wrath of the electorate for the taxes they must enact to raise their portion of the federal budget. Fear of this wrath will be the wellspring of an enormous incentive to the Senator to say "No" to spending bills: He keeps his job only if he says no to spending so the states don't have to raise so much money and therefore can themselves stay in office longer than a couple of terms. It also gives sufficient political cover to the Senator to survive saying "no." Members of the House of Representatives can point a finger at those "stingy" Senators for the failure of a spending bill to pass and the Senators can take comfort in knowing that their constituency, the state government is happy with them for doing so.

Consequently, an environment where fiscal sanity can exist at the national level and equally importantly, States will have a much bigger voice in the operation of the national government.

Come on, Apple!!

I've had my eye on a new Mac mini, but I've been waiting for Apple to update the machine (hopefully with a Core 2 Duo and a better graphics sub-system). Actually, I've often thought a sweet spot for geeks would be a "Midi" that has a single slot for a video board and a 3.5" drive bay and a case that's easy to open. If they built the machine like they did with the Intel Mini's so the CPU could be swapped out, I think they'd have a gamer's dream machine. (In the Mini's the CPU's not soldered in place like it is in the MacBooks and MacBookPro's.)

Ah, but what do I know. I'm just a software developer. The current boxes are so fast, even a Mini is overkill when it comes to web and application development. Now, if I were in the Windows world... different story. (Different post too.)

I guess I could always buy a Mini, yank the innards out of the case and drop it into a larger, more mod-worthy case, but you still can't do the video card upgrades that way...

Come on, Apple, throw us geeks a bone!! :)

The True Benefits of Social Security

Me and spreadsheets are really tight. I like doing random "what ifs" everynow and then with them just to see how things are really going. "Do I really save money buying a new fuel efficient car compared to keeping my older, paid-for car?" Those kind of questions... Well, I was doing a "what if" exercise last night about Social Security and came up with some rather interesting information.

The question: "Which pays more, Social Security or your own personal retirment account?"

The rules: You earn $9.00/hour. You work 40 hours a week with paid vacations. You're 21 years old and you'll retire when you're 68. Throughout your career, you'll never make more than 9.00/hour. Inflation is not taken into account in any of these numbers.

In scenario A, the money you and your employer would have paid into Social Security, and Medicare etc. would be paid instead into an investment account that returns five percent per year, compounded monthly. These are not unreasonable numbers, by the way. Many investment portfolios beat those numbers consistently.

In scenario B, the money is paid into Social Security as it is now.

The monthly payout:
Scenario A: $2,200.
Scenario B: $964.

The details:
Scenario A, You'll have accumulated more than 500,000 dollars. Your monthly payout is just the interest off of that money. Meaning, you'll have that money until you die.
Scenario B, you'll have accumulated nothing. The money the government gives you will be taken from two other people's monthly wages.

Where would you rather be?

Of News Media and Politicians

Judging from the firestorm of news reports swirling around the President, he made a huge mistake regarding the Department of Justice's firing of eight U.S. Attorneys. In reality, he made only one mistake.

His "mistake"? He talked to the wrong people. Instead of talking to his staff, he should've talked to Bill Clinton and his wife, the junior Senator from New York.

Why them of all people? Because in 1993, then-President Clinton with input from his wife sacked ALL of the U.S. Attorneys for purely personal and political reasons and got a pass from the media...

Paycheck Days

I have eight children: seven daughters and one son. My son is in the "fourth" position in the family. When I describe the effect raising such a large family has had on me, my answer is: My receding hairline was caused by the three older girls. The silvering temples is caused by the next two children. And the wrinkles around the eyes and the wholesale migration of hair from my head is caused by the youngest three girls. In response, people usually politely chuckle. It makes for a pleasant way to introduce, eight, in my very subjective opinion, very remarkable people whom I've had the opportunity to know and care for.

In reality, raising children is the toughest job around. There's no vacation. If you're fortunate you have a spouse to help you. (It's usually us vs. them and there are more of them!) No two children are the same. They all want things, different things no less, at the same time and they are eternally insistent. I've never met such strong willed people as my children. It is emotionally, physically and financially taxing to raise children. But...

There are days, when the paycheck comes for all your work. It's those moments of glory when your children show you that all your blood, sweat and tears are not in vain. I got one from my son yesterday. It was in a letter that showed by its contents that he's changed from the self-absorbed teen-ager that he was, into a mature young man. Those moments, rare though they are, make all the rest worth the effort.