I’ve had Libertarian ideas before I even knew that’s what they were.  When I was in high school, it made me sick to walk through a metal detector and have my backpack rummaged through.  My backpack was my own personal property.  To have every student that walked through the door presumed guilty of having some type of drugs or weapons was an insult. I’m not going to go overboard with trying to convince you to read this book. All I will say is that if you ever plan to vote for a president in the US, you need to do so only after reading this book.

My eyes have been opened even further upon reading this short book.  It is surprisingly light reading, even given it’s sujbect matter, but Mr. Paul is still manges to drive home the importance of his ideals of less government and more liberty.  I’ll end with a few excerpts.

“Every election cycle we are treated to candidates who promise us “change,” and 2008 has been no different.  But in the American political lexicon, “change” always means more of the same:  more government, more looting of Americans, more inflation, more police-state measures, more unnecessary war, and more centralization of power.”

“…Every four years we are treated to the same tired, predictable routine:  two candidates with few disagreements on fundamentals pretend they represent dramatically different philosophies of government.”

“[The] mainstream media…focuses our attention on trivialities and phony debates as we march toward oblivion.  This is the deadening consensus that crosses party lines…and that is strangling the liberty and prosperity that were once the birthright of Americans.  Dissenters who tell their fellow citizens what is really going on are subject to smear campaigns that, like clockwork, are aimed at the political heretic.  Truth is treason in the empire of lies.”

“Early on in my presidential campaign, people began describing my message and agenda as a “revolution.”  In a way, it is, albeit a peaceful one.  In a country with a political debate as restricted as ours, it is revolutionary to ask whether we need troops in 130 countries and whether the noninterventionist foreign policy recommended by our Founding Fathers might not be better.  Is it revolutionary to ask whether the accumulation of more and more power in Washington has been good for us.  It is revolutionaryto ask fundamental questions about privacy, police-state measures, taxation, social policy, and countless other matters.”

I know what you’re gonna say, but this is just too neat!

Not.

I have wasps.  <3

According to a Rockefeller Foundation poll, 85% of us believe that the country is on the wrong track.  Nearly half of those between ages 18 and 29 say America was better in the 90s.  People in that age group weren’t that old in he 90s, however, and you should probably ask their parents what they think.  82% want public works projects, paid for, of course, by our taxes, to save the economy.  70% say more government programs should help those now struggling.

Why do so many people think that the government that got us into this financial mess actually has the power or the know-how to fix things?  Why is everybody giving up and holding out their hands to wait for the government to take care of them?  Where is the work ethic that once pushed people to either work more or make yourself worth more to earn more money?

The amount of government we have has gotten us to where we are now.  More government will only mean more taxes and more problems.  We need to eliminate income tax and personal property tax right off the bat.  From there we need to reduce our military involvement from 130 countries around the world to one: ours.  We need to stop foreign aid and take of ourselves for a change.

We need to drastically reconfigure our government to a simpler, more economical version, the likes of which we haven’t seen for nearly 100 years.  But as long as 70% of people think MORE government is the answer, we will only continue along this path of decline.  That being the case, it looks more and more like our experiment in democracy is failing and this country is being swallowed by socialism.

This trailer looks amazing.  I was never much of a comic book geek, so I had to do a little googling to get the back story on this new batch of superheroes.  As usual, Wiki has all the info you need.

The good news:  I got off work, went to Hampton to pick up my Scrambler.   It runs like new!  All it took was a new battery, some fuel stabilizer and what was it?  Oh yeah, the pros at All Out Cycles basically ripped out the gas tank, fuel lines and carburetor and scrubbed the dirt and trash off them all.  I can’t believe I’ve finally got it fixed!  I am just as excited today as when I got it new.

The bad news:  After I got back from picking up my Scrambler, I got tied up in a bunch of stuff at my parents’ place.  Between moving some appliances with Dad, eating dinner, helping Ma with the kittens, trying to fix the touch lamp said kittens broke and so on…I just got home and took a shower.  So yeah, tonight is not the night and tomorrow isn’t looking great either unless you wanna tag in to go help Dad set poles for a lean-to.

I will give you another teaser pic.  Here’s me with a cool Hare Krishna guy.  He tried to get me to make a donation to a group I knew nothing about in exchange for a book I didn’t know if I’d like.  After bartering for a bit he decided we didn’t have a deal but on the next trip to the bathroom I scored one somebody left by the sink.  When I passed by him again I asked him if I could put his picture on my web site after I lied to him about how I got a copy of the book.  He said yes and asked what the site was.  When I told him Kevin108.com he got really excited.  He said 108 was a very spiritual number and showed me the significance in the book.  Free book, neat story…I thought that was pretty cool.