ubi dubium ibi libertas

The biggest lesson I want people to get out of this blog is this:

Think for yourself.
Question what you read and hear.
Decide for yourself whether or not what is going on is good for you, your family, and your community.
Be accountable for your actions.

Sad to say, I think most of our fellow citizens have become sheep. Do people actually think about what they politicians are telling us? What about what we see and read in the news? If you are not asking questions then I want you to start today.

Another problem I see is that people refuse to take responsibility for their actions. A small example is someone spilling coffee and then suing the store for getting burned. A big example is running a large bank into the ground and getting a handout from the government.

We have taken common sense out of the equation and replaced it with infinite regulation. Does we really require a document that says everything we can and cannot do? No wonder legislation is out of hand. The only people who benefit from this obfuscation are the politicians who promulgate it and the attorneys who are the only one who can understand it.

I consider myself somewhat intelligent, at least in a few areas. I am a computer engineer who is practically halfway to being a math teacher. Yet, I have to go to my local tax preparer hat-in-hand with all of my confusing documentation in order to make sure I meet all of the government's demands, and to make sure the government does not cheat me.

Now, once I have handed my local tax preparer my documentation I do not care what he does with it. Considering how complicated the tax code is, for all I know he could be taking my papers into the back room, burning them, dancing around the fire, after which he smears the ashes all over his face, looks into a mirror, and screams "Refund!" Watching them use the tax preparation software looks like just as much voodoo to me.

Here is what I would like to see: I want a personal tax code that is so simple that it will fit on the front and back of a single 8.5 x 11" sheet of paper in a font no less than ten point written in language the average high school graduate can understand.

That little sidetrack is just one example of legislation out of control. If we all could be just a little kinder to each other, if we could stand firm in our beliefs when necessary and yet acquiesce on the little things when it would promote the general well-being of our relationships and communities. As one celebrity says: "Can't we all just get along?"