“Who Am I??” or “The Whacky World of Small Government Fiscal Conservatives”

I thought I would begin my foray into blogging by giving my readers (all 2 of you) an idea, albeit a brief one, of who I am and where I am coming from. I say a brief one because I’m not going into a clinical analysis of who I am or how I developed – psychologically (I really don’t think I want to go there myself). I certainly don’t need to lay on a couch to the tune of several hundred dollars an hour to be told that my Mom or Dad either didn’t love me enough or loved me WAY too much. While we are on the subject, my Mom and Dad did a great job.  Thanks Mom and Dad!  No, this is more along the lines of where I stand politically on certain issues. I think if you know a little bit more about my beliefs you might have a better understanding of how I form my opinions and where I’m coming from – politically.

When asked on my facebook profile to categorize my political affiliation, I created my own – “Small Government Fiscal Conservative”.  I thought this explained it perfectly and probably explained my political ideology better by what it didn’t say.  Being a fiscal conservative, I’m certainly not a Democrat but I’m also not a Kool-Aid drinking Republican either.  Neither party has been fiscally responsible for many years.  I’m usually more disgusted by the Republican’s fiscal irresponsibility because most of them have run for office on a small government/low taxes/fiscal responsibility platform and then failed to live up to their pledges.  At least with Democrats, you know where they always stand.  They believe that the only good government is BIGGER AND BIGGER government; tax and spend recklessly, baby!  Show me a Democrat who says otherwise and I’ll show you a politician who is campaigning in a red district during an election year.  But I digress.

If you were to research my official political affiliation, it would probably show me as a registered Libertarian.  I haven’t changed this since college, though, and now consider myself an independent.  While I agree with much of the Libertarian ideology, life has taught me that there are some major flaws with some of their platform.  Therefore, I prefer Independent.

I believe in small government; I believe in federalism.  The original framers had it right.  Having personally experienced the problems inherent in an all powerful central government, they were very careful to limit the powers of our federal government.   Any power not specifically given to the federal government by the Constitution was dealt with by the Tenth Amendment:

“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

This amendment, along with the Second Amendment, is critical to keeping our government in check and allowing individuals “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”.  Especially in an age where the different branches of our government often step outside of their constitutionally limited boundaries.  Thomas Jefferson said it best:

“A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned – this is the sum of good government.”

Governments are NOT efficient.  Governments are often corrupt.  Why anyone would want our government to make decisions regarding how they live their lives or how their money is best spent is beyond me.

Socially, I guess you would consider me more of a moderate in that I don’t think the government has a right to tell adults how to live their lives.  As long as you are not breaking the law or infringing on the rights of others, then more power to you.  It is not my or Uncle Sam’s job to tell you how to live.  It IS my right, however, to disagree with you.  Just because I disagree with you, please don’t label me as a hate spewing, thought criming, domestic terrorist extremist.  Right or wrong, it’s just my opinion.  Wouldn’t the world be a better place if people would just grow a thicker skin??

I could go on and on regarding what I believe on various issues, but I guess I’ll get to them all eventually through this blog.  At least, now, you have a fundamental understanding of where I am coming from.

I will leave you with this, my 10 point “What I Believe” summary.  Drum roll please.

1. I believe in a small, fiscally responsible government
2. I believe in low taxes.
3. I believe in a strong national defense.
4. I believe the government does not have the right to dictate how you live your life.
5. I believe that individuals can better determine how to raise their family and spend their money.
6. I believe it is the parents’, not the village’s, job to raise their children.
7. I believe that there are consequences for your actions; most of the time criminals deserve punishment not understanding.
8. I believe in the separation of church and state; what it was intended to be, not what it has become.
9. I believe that, yes, evil does exist in this world and moral relativism is an argument used by those afraid to take a stand.
10. I believe that we are blessed to live in the greatest country in the world.

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Join me next time as I take on the global warming, er, uh, I mean the climate change fiasco.  Or, maybe I’ll discuss Obamacare.  So many issues, so little time…

Hello world!

At the urging of many of my friends, I have decided to start my own blog and air my occasional grievances to the blogosphere.  Although, with the current political climate, these “occasional grievances” have become daily occurrences.  So now I leave my sarcastic, pithy Facebook comments behind and journey headlong into the mysterious world of blogging.  I hope you will join me as I start this journey.  Maybe, together, we can figure out the mess our government has become.  As always, I welcome and encourage your comments, complaints, and CIVIL debate.