I obviously haven't blogged enough to make it a habit! I recently returned from vacation with my family to Playa del Carmen, Mexico. It was a family reunion with Michele's family, the first one I have made in all the years we have been married. Our son, John, was the only one missing as he is feverishly studying and spending time in the T-6 simulator as he prepares to make his initial flight in that airplane on August 15th. We had a great time, what a beautiful place.
As we traveled to Ek Balam, an ancient Mayan site, I had an interesting conversation with my brother-in-law. It went well considering that I am an ultra-conservative and he is from a left-leaning nation with many socialistic policies that he supports. I have since pondered that conversation and need to write down some of my musings, if only for my own benefit. Conservatives are many times labeled as cold, heartless people that would probably steal candy from a baby if given the chance. Not true. In a number of studies it has been shown that conservative people are much more generous than liberals. A comment left on one of the studies I read said: "Liberals advocate the government putting its hand in the pocket of someone else to give to someone it decides is in need (very often this decision is based not on genuine need but political gain)." Political opinions should be made between your ears not within your chest. My heart aches for the underprivileged of the world, but my head tells me that government is not the answer, never has been nor will it ever be.. If I were independently wealthy I would be in the highlands of Guatemala helping to bring clean water into homes or in Africa helping to find methods to increase agricultural production or some other remote place doing whatever needed to be done. You can say, "Oh sure you would.", and my answer would be, "I KNOW I would!" But I am far from wealthy. My wife and I have worked hard to acquire what little we have and I believe it is up to us, not the government, to decide how much of our resources will be used to help those that are less fortunate than we. You can be assured that the lazy, something-for-nothing, won't work, takers of all the "free" government stuff kind of people wouldn't make my list! There are people that society has a moral obligation to temporarily sustain but that list is short. Sorry my socialist friends but there will always be the poor. But why not just sock it to the rich? Nobody has ever given me a plausible reason as to why the rich should pay a larger percentage of the bill. Whether they inherited it, were lucky, worked harder than the rest, or whatever the reason, they should not be expected to sustain the dregs of society (a group that I contend is much larger than people, especially liberals, think) by paying a larger share.
I have a renter in a small house that I own. He moved in over 2 years ago and has never paid a dime in rent. I know, stupid me for letting him get away with it. I saw him in the parking lot of our local grocery store the other day. I asked him if he was saving his pennies, he gave me an odd look, and I continued to explain to him that he owed me over $10,000. He said, "Dave, I barely make enough money to pay the utilities.", and I in my best conservative voice said, "Not my problem Lewis." I then indicated that he could come out to my hog farm and put in some hours to at least make a dent in the bill. Yep you got it...he has never shown up. There are people like Lewis all over the place. Take whatever they can get and let the "rich" pay for it. We have a nation full of entitlement-crazed people. I work part-time as a Federal egg grader. The majority of the work force are Mexican, Filipino and Vietnamese people. They work 10-12 hours a day, 5-6 days a week and get no overtime pay. They earn between $9 and $10 an hour. Out of that wage they pay their bills and still manage to send money home to their family members. I can hear it now, "Those illegals are taking jobs from hard-working Americans!" You think? If so you are wrong. Very few Americans even show up to fill out an application and if one does get hired they generally don't last 2 days. "The work is too hard!", they whine. Too easy to go and get all the government "free" stuff.
I am a conservative and always will be. My head will continue to shape my political opinions and my heart will hopefully lead me to do some good in the world. I invite your comments.
