still crazy.. all I did on my way out was write "Who is John Galt?" on the white board. A few asked, "What does that mean?" I said, "Read the book and you'll totally understand." (or not...bla)
Still surprised you didn't get reprimanded for that stunt. I mean, the admin can't get caught allowing anything recognizing liberty/freedom or there will be anarchy.
What could they do? Fire me? I was on my way out for good. lol And you mentioned, precisely, the reason why. :) (I wore Atlas Shrugged shirts on a regular basis...no one ever even acknowledged them until my second to last day, a volunteer noticed it and said she loved that book, but hadn't seen the movies yet. We had a little talk.)
Why is everybody to say it-Revolution! I completely believe in Thomas Jefferson's statement:The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. Thomas Jefferson The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government. God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty.... And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? We must get the populace out of their lethargy. They are so lulled into apathy by the larger media outlets. Are they so afraid of the gov't and losing their jobs they don't rock the boat. We must gather together the citizens who believe in the America of our founding fathers that they will have to take up the Tools to remove the fascist gov't.
you nailed it, Owlsrayne! fascists they are, who seek to gain total control of the private sector by way of regulations, and of the public sector by way of power assimilation within the executive branch.
under the banner of "fairness" or "social justice", the fascists unite. they use healthcare and all attendant factors to control our lives. Somehow, peacefully we do surely hope, they must be Stopped. They Are Raping My Lover, the U.S.A. -- j
When I was a child, the USA was still filled with patriotism, exceptionalism and respect. I'm old enough to remember those days -- the 40's and 50's. The current generation looks at it as naïve and downright primitive. I still hunger for those days and hate to think that my beloved country is so far gone that it is not worth saving. It is saying that the American Experiment has failed, or at the very least come to an end. If the country is sick, shouldn't we try to cure it rather than abandon it to die?
It's getting sicker, indeed. This brings me back to my post from a couple of weeks ago about whether America is still worth trying to save. I think it is too far gone. My wife frequently refers to some patients as DNRs for Do Not Resucitate. I think that at this point America is a DNR.
Continued ..... and not compromise core values no matter how much pressure the Washington groupies apply.
Our problems are that a good number of us can make excellent talk about what should be done... But I have often experienced that when it comes down to "brass tacks" well, there you get the compromise. A leader who would not placate, even somewhat, the Washington cronies would most likely scare the hell out of everyone. Even among my friends whom many could be said to speak and to act on Randian principles- when there is something to lose, when it hits too close to home- well the exception is made. Even with my idealistic nature "not to accept things the way they are but the way they ought to be" is a daily fight often leaving one ostracized as too eccentric, etc. I am not happy to see America in the position it is. I have seen it from the outside looking in since I lived almost 30 years in Italy. Americans do not realize how much it means to other countries that America survive and prosper because it remains the biggest hope for freedom in all that word implies, because America has to be the experiment that works, because the individual must triumph above and beyond historical heritage and prejudice, because America is not just a country it is a dream, a hope in the spirit that must never die. That is why Americans have a grave responsibility to themselves to maintain and foster the hollowed freedom of their lives. Unfortunately, unless you do not have it, have not lived without it then you do not recognize and cannot fully appreciate what this means. America is a symbol in the hearts of all people, even it's enemies. Hail to America, may it survive and return to its rightful place as the greatest adventure of mankind. I will close with this comment: I have had many a discussion in Europe on the "imperialistic" and "aggressive" ways of the United States and Inevitably I pose the question, " Who then would you want as the leader of nations." Russia? China? France? Great Britain? Turkey? Well, whom? Who better can fill this position? And it inevitably stops the discussion in its tracks. JC
professor, I must do a Dagny on you and assert that there is still hope. the tea party folks and 2010 make me think this, as does the raw popularity of AS. further, the relatively widespread awareness of the "phony scandals" -- even to the extent that wicked witch 2 Feinstein (Pelosi is 1) is saying that things are bad -- this awareness may well turn this country around.
and, Jim, I fell in love with the U.S. a long time back. I can't let go. -- j
I loved the US through the Reagan years and tolerated it through the Bush/Clinton/Bush years. Now is the first time in my life that I have not been proud of my country, to put a spin on what Mrs. Obama said in 2007/2008. I thought that there could have been hope in 2012 after what happened in 2010, but then we doubled down on stupid. I can understand the Dagny syndrome. I had it for a LONG time. I would never divorce my wife, but the only thing keeping me from divorcing from my citizenship is my more than acceptable "shrug job".
Let's interject here that fraud and deceit were a HEAVY influence at the polls in 2012. I will go so far as to say that after the 2010 elections, our leader put in place "stops" on the vote counters. Perhaps that was what he meant when he said, "Well, we know what to do now."
Ah, but what is the cause of fraud and deceit? I say it is the breakdown of the moral fabric of our society. This has been ushered in by the progressives (and to a lesser degree the anarchists and atheists) in order to "fundamentally change our nation."
Heh heh. So you crash landed here in the Gulch like Dagny. I can't toss the first stone, because I have not COMPLETELY gone Galt either. Unlike the characters in AS, my shrug job is not humiliating at all, and actually pleasurable.
DNR - You've got a point there. While I agree with you that I'm not sure it's worth saving, I'd be willing to give it one more try. Maybe it's time to start over, maybe it's just time to just start our government over. We should maintain backups and when it gets like this we should just do a restore to known good date and time. We need to shrink it to a manageable level no matter what, it's too out of control now. Were George or Abe able to greet and meet with everyone that was in the government during their time?
Those voting in that era were restricted to property owners. By giving moochers voting rights, America has ultimately assured a society where moochers outnumber producers, and where looters are all too ready to facilitate the mooching.
Another excellent point, however today there are many property owners that are also moochers. The hard part would be defining at what level of property ownership do you get a vote, and/or what level of mooching blocks you from voting. The biggest issue would then be who gets to decide? Would a simple reset to 1950 work for anyone or would we have to go way back?
Okay, then 1950 it is. How do we get this started? First we'll need a chart of accounts on the government from 1950 that we can reset the current one to. And we will need to see the 1950 balance sheet and an income statement to determine it's debts, cash flow, expenses, income, etc.. We need to see how much income they should expect to see from us and other sources to run those programs on that balance sheet. Personally I think perhaps Scott Walker and Dr. Ben Carson might be able to handle this. Is there someone out there will call them to see if they want the job?
1950 would be nice from a cultural standpoint. From a fiscal standpoint, let's try for more like 1960. We still had a lot of war debt back in 1950. Ben Carson has already been summoned to the OR if you've heard the radio ads. I like Scott Walker, too.
Well then we agree on who should run in 2016. I, born and raised in Wauwatosa, left it in 1953. Moved to CA for 24 years, then WA for the last 37 years. Except for the political views, it's wonderful here, but it rains every day, winter and summer, day and night, all the time, so don't send anymore people here.
We like it here. I'm actually from MN, so that might change your opinion. And you've been gone longer than I've been alive (by 10 years). But if you've been keeping up with the political environment here, you know that Scott Walker has had some terrible battles, but has prevailed thusfar (though the Dems keep challenging things in the courts, and the lefty judges in Madison side with them, but the WI SC has been knocking them down).
I believe that SW's policies would work for the nation, but I'm not sure that he would be capable of getting them enacted. The US congress is a tougher animal than the WI legislature.
And even with the success that SW's policies have had, the current polls show him and the lefty Dem in a tie.
Oh, I wasn't endorsing those taxes. But I keep trying to imagine what kind of insane growth we would have had had if the tax rate had been even an unreasonable, rather than insane rate. Say 25% and 15%...
Correct. But today that would be considered "unfair discrimination." As you point out, those who are exercising the ability to determine national policy (which is what you are doing by voting) need to have a stake in the costs as well as the benefits of those policies. We've reached a point where there are more folks receiving benefits than those paying for those benefits. That is unsustainable.
I think that there are other mechanisms to achieve a proper balance. I've advocated a 2 tier type citizenship system. Anyone born here would be a resident, but to achieve Citizen status, you would have to contribute to the nation - my preference would be 2 yrs service, military or medical service corps. You would only earn the right to vote after completing service, which could be done at any age after 18.
I'm not sure that it's getting any sicker, but where people used to self censor, today when they have nothing to lose, they just go for it.
I know that the hardcore O's reject religion out of hand, but I posit that the elimination of that cultural force has lead to these sorts of actions. When you have no concern for accountability for your actions - like this teacher at the end of her career - then there's nothing to hold you back from conducting yourself in such a manner. At least religion (most of them, anyway) had a final judgment which served to help people self control.
this woman is an idiot! she had the gall, nerve to say this was not representative of the children, of course not. it is representative of you and the many more people with the title teacher in the school system of the usa.
Thomas Jefferson
The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.
God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty.... And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance?
We must get the populace out of their lethargy. They are so lulled into apathy by the larger media outlets. Are they so afraid of the gov't and losing their jobs they don't rock the boat. We must gather together the citizens who believe in the America of our founding fathers that they will have to take up the Tools to remove the fascist gov't.
seek to gain total control of the private sector by
way of regulations, and of the public sector by way
of power assimilation within the executive branch.
under the banner of "fairness" or "social justice",
the fascists unite. they use healthcare and all
attendant factors to control our lives. Somehow,
peacefully we do surely hope, they must be
Stopped. They Are Raping My Lover, the U.S.A. -- j
It's past time for the lights to go out.
Our problems are that a good number of us can make excellent talk about what should be done... But I have often experienced that when it comes down to "brass tacks" well, there you get the compromise. A leader who would not placate, even somewhat, the Washington cronies would most likely scare the hell out of everyone. Even among my friends whom many could be said to speak and to act on Randian principles- when there is something to lose, when it hits too close to home- well the exception is made.
Even with my idealistic nature "not to accept things the way they are but the way they ought to be" is a daily fight often leaving one ostracized as too eccentric, etc.
I am not happy to see America in the position it is. I have seen it from the outside looking in since I lived almost 30 years in Italy. Americans do not realize how much it means to other countries that America survive and prosper because it remains the biggest hope for freedom in all that word implies, because America has to be the experiment that works, because the individual must triumph above and beyond historical heritage and prejudice, because America is not just a country it is a dream, a hope in the spirit that must never die. That is why Americans have a grave responsibility to themselves to maintain and foster the hollowed freedom of their lives. Unfortunately, unless you do not have it, have not lived without it then you do not recognize and cannot fully appreciate what this means.
America is a symbol in the hearts of all people, even it's enemies. Hail to America, may it survive and return to its rightful place as the greatest adventure of mankind.
I will close with this comment: I have had many a discussion in Europe on the "imperialistic" and "aggressive" ways of the United States and Inevitably I pose the question, " Who then would you want as the leader of nations." Russia? China? France? Great Britain? Turkey? Well, whom? Who better can fill this position? And it inevitably stops the discussion in its tracks.
JC
that there is still hope. the tea party folks and 2010
make me think this, as does the raw popularity of
AS. further, the relatively widespread awareness
of the "phony scandals" -- even to the extent
that wicked witch 2 Feinstein (Pelosi is 1) is saying
that things are bad -- this awareness may well
turn this country around.
and, Jim, I fell in love with the U.S. a long time
back. I can't let go. -- j
Perhaps that was what he meant when he said, "Well, we know what to do now."
I believe that SW's policies would work for the nation, but I'm not sure that he would be capable of getting them enacted. The US congress is a tougher animal than the WI legislature.
And even with the success that SW's policies have had, the current polls show him and the lefty Dem in a tie.
I think that there are other mechanisms to achieve a proper balance. I've advocated a 2 tier type citizenship system. Anyone born here would be a resident, but to achieve Citizen status, you would have to contribute to the nation - my preference would be 2 yrs service, military or medical service corps. You would only earn the right to vote after completing service, which could be done at any age after 18.
I know that the hardcore O's reject religion out of hand, but I posit that the elimination of that cultural force has lead to these sorts of actions. When you have no concern for accountability for your actions - like this teacher at the end of her career - then there's nothing to hold you back from conducting yourself in such a manner. At least religion (most of them, anyway) had a final judgment which served to help people self control.