The Big Difference

I had a very interesting conversation with a coworker today. He somehow got on the topic of "Night Vision Goggles". Do I care about them? No, of course not. So Why would I blog about this? Because of his comment... "Why would anyone need Night Vision Goggles". It reminded me of a conversation I had with a cousin of mine years ago. My cousin is a NYC Police Officer. I was talking about getting a Pistol Permit. My cousin asked "Why do you need a gun?" My answer was "That's not really your business. I want one and the constitution says I have a right to have one." But that's a little off topic. My co-worker had drawn a parallel between Night Vision Goggles and Assault rifles. "Why does anyone NEED one?" That got me thinking;thinking back to another conversation I had had with a different co-worker of mine back in 2008. She had asked me "why don't you like Barack?". I said "Because he is a socialist." I was expecting the liberal talking point answer "No he isn't." The answer I heard was a shock... my co-worker said to me 'Why is that bad?". Well, long story short we had a long chat about the relative merits of capitalism vs. socialism, when I brought up Tiger Woods. Why? Well, the philosophy of Marxism is "To Each According To Hes NEED, From Each According to His Ability". Under the Marxist/Socialist model if you have a NEED it will be provided to you and if you have the ability to provide something you will provide it. But do we actually NEED professional sports? No, of course not. Professional sports are pure luxury and entertainment and we, society, pay quite handsomely for them. But what is the impact of professional sports on our economy nationwide? What about the charity work and contributions made by players? (Ok, not all but many). What would Tiger Woods be doing (besides cheating on his wife) if there was no professional golf? (Answer: Sitting in a cubicle with the rest of us.) Michael Jordon opened a restaurant chain. How many jobs has that created? What aboout musicians and entertainers? The economic impact is immeasurable, when you consider the amount of jobs created simply because the NFL has a game in 10 different cities every week. But I'd like to go back to the original statements: "Why do you need those?" Why do you need a gun? Why do you NEED A set of golf clubs? Why do you NEED tickets to the Yankees-Red Sox game? The point is, most people don't. Most people can live their whole lives without a gun, a set of golf clubs or going to a Major League Baseball game. Most people will ALSO go through their entire lives without winning the lottery. BUT... to each according to his NEED FROM each according to his ability. That statement implies that if nobody NEEDS what you can best provide, than it is worthless. Imagine Michael Jordon working in a restaurant instead of owning one. Michael Jackson as a hairdresser (god-forbid!) or for the "Over 35's" among you, Thurman Munson as an airline pilot (Yikes!). There is the big difference between Liberals and Conservatives. Liberals focus on NEEDS to the point of deciding FOR you what you NEED and what you DON'T. Everyone needs HEALTHCARE. The poor need public assistance. EVERYONE needs a 4 year college degree, and by God we Liberals are going to see that you have it. The second ammendment? Well sure you have a RIGHT to bear arms but the founding fathers didn't really mean that and why does anyone need a gun anyway? The ultimate nanny state. They will make sure you have health insurance weather you WANT it or not. Oh... did I just say "WANT"??? Ooops...my bad. Conservatives believe that you should have both what you NEED and what you WANT if you can afford to PAY for it. If you can't then you can be helped in our society, because that is good for society, but nobody owes you a living. That is the big difference... if the socialists had their way everyone would have what they NEED but nobody would ever get what they want.

A final healthcare rant

I really have to wonder what possibly could be so dreadfully wrong with our current system. Yes there are problems. All though I do not consider healthcare a right, I think that many people who don't have access to healthcare should. That also doesn't mean everyone MUST have "comprehensive" health insurance. Many people in this country, young, single and rarely in need of a doctor choose to carry major medical only. There is nothing wrong with that. I just struggle with what could be so dreadfully wrong that it warrants over 2,000 pages of legislation. In fact, I'll bet I could insure every american within 5 years in the pages of this blog.

Here it goes:

1) Dump the employer based system. Part of the problem is that in the old days people worked for their employers for 30 years. That is a good insurance model. Now people work for their employers for 5 years. Second, remember... you are not the customer, your employer is. My solution is that if you leave your employer, you have the option to retain your insurance permanently ( as long as you pay the bill). Eventually, that will lower costs, because insurance companies will have to compete for your business. Also require employers to pay sunbsidies uniformly. It shouldn't COST you to keep an insurance plan. This applies to dependents too. You should not lose your policy at 25. You should be given your own at the appropriate rate.

2) Treat all insurance premiums equally for tax purposes. If I decide to change careers and my new employer doesn't provide insurance, I need to have either private insurance or COBRA. Those premiums are not tax-deductible. Unlike my employer based plan which reduces my income by what I pay, AND the employer subsidy is deductible to my employer and non-taxable to me.

3) Allow competiton across state lines. This will drive down premims

4) Don't require me to buy a policy that covers Physical's, Doctor Visits for every sneeze or sniffle, and Mental Health care. A policy that will cover me in case I get cancer, break a leg, or some other problem is more than adequate.

5) Create an Assigned Risk pool for people with preexisting conditions, and apportion the risk across all companies doing business in the state.

6) Tort Reform - 'Nuff Said

Now clearly this will not fix every case...
So to fill in the blanks we have a model plan here in Connecticut, called HUSKY for people who still would not have insurance under this plan. And NOBODY goes to jail..
See? Wasn't that easy?

A Win???? Really???? For Who????

Well, I never intended for this to be a daily blog, but there is just so much to talk about. Imagine the audacity of Nancy Pelosi saying that the Democrats picked up 2 seats, so it was a win? Are you kidding? She has been drinking WAY too much of her own purple kool-aid. As for the NY-23 race, the odds of Hoffman winning were pretty long. It is not often that a minor party candidate makes that kind of showing. In 2010 the Republicans will field a more conservative candidate (Hoffman, part II???) and Owens will be on the unemployment line. A win for Pelosi? I’ll call it a draw. Scozzafava would have been closer to a win, because now they’d have a RINO to vote with the Democrats on the Healthcare disaster. And what’s with the 7000 people that voted for her anyway? If they had gone for Hoffman he may have won!
The big win of the day for conservatism was the New Jersey race. Is it an indictment on the President? We may not know that answer for a while. What IS clear though is that Corzine was in office when the economy went in the tank. You cannot sit there and spend the better part of 3 years consistently bashing President Bush for the financial mess without blaming other people as well. Corzine was one of them. So are Chris Dodd, Barney Frank, John Murtha and a whole host of Democrats who will be the next target of voter’s ire. The Republicans have been completely out of power for 1 year, and from 2006-2008 President Bush was a lame duck. Nobody with a pulse can possibly think the Democrats chickens wouldn’t come home to roost.
The problems they are having are completely of their own making. In 2006, the Democrat seats that were won were won largely on an anti-war agenda. There was no other choice. Just look at the Senate race in Connecticut. All Ned Lamont talked about was the war, and it got him the nomination. Fortunately, Lieberman had enough clout and support to run his own campaign, otherwise we’d have been stuck with Ned. Second, are the Blue Dog Democrats. They came largely from Red Districts. The Blue Dogs were key to getting and keeping control of Congress. It was Rahm Emmanual’s doing. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/28/maxine-waters-rahm-to-bla_n_246325.html. (Gosh I just love using Liberal links to prove my point). The Blue Dogs cannot go home to their districts with a Health Care plan. If they do, they will be on the unemployment line.

Hey Folks... I'm back

Ok, everyone. I know I have been less than diligent in posting here, but I think it's time to change that. It's Wednesday, November 4th and the results are in. One year to the day after Barack Hussein Obama used a smokescreen of "Hope" and "Change", instead of "Yes We Can" voters have said "Oh no you won't!". The worm is turning. The Virginia gubernatorial election was not even close. The New Jersey election was closer, but when you consider how blue of a state New Jersey is, how popular Obama is there, and all of the money that Corzine threw around, Christie's win was nothing short of a miracle. Special thanks to Jenny Bea for pointing me to the race in NY-23. Even in that Democratic victory there is much hope for Conservatives. The major party candidate was soundly defeated because she was far too liberal. That is a very important lesson that the Democrats learned in 2004, and that certain Republicans seem to have forgotten. Given a choice between a Democrat and a Republican who sounds like a Democrat, the Dem will win every time. Even in Maine, home of the RINO Olympia Snowe, the popular referendum of Gay Marriage was a resounding “No”. People simply do not want it, and do NOT want their government forcing it on them.
Now the elections are over, and with them, the "Year of Obama". President Obama is not a stupid man. In fact he is extremely intelligent. The reason all of the bills like the "Stimulus Package", Cap and Trade and Healthcare have been treated with such urgency is that the President knew the bloom would eventually come off of the rose. If the Healthcare bill was completed before the members of Congress were forced to go home and face their constituents, it would be law. I would say that if Congress were able to pass a bill before Election Day it might have had a shot. But the clear answer that was given was that “We are NOT buying what you are selling, and if you come back to us next year with the same tired old garbage, you’ll be next on the unemployment line.” Well, now. Here we can see that the Healthcare Bill will most likely fail. Completely. See this article. http://abcnews.go.com/m/screen?id=8987651&pid=4380645.
The bottom line is that all of these Democrats from more conservative parts of the country are going to have to start campaigning in about 3 months. They will not be able to hang their hat on a Healthcare bill that nobody wants, deficits that we don’t need, and “Hope and Change” that hasn’t happened. They were given their shot and they didn’t get it done. Now they will have to take their medicine, because the “blame Bush” days are over. I truly believe that the Democrats will pay a heavy price for 10% unemployment, falling property values, and quite possibly the inflation that is soon to come.

Welcome to Common Sense. Let me start by clearing up the name of the blog. It is named for the pamphlet published before and during the Revolutionary War by Thomas Paine. As you read further blogs it will become apparant that this is my favorite time period of all in American History. It was a group of people just like you and me that saw something wrong and sought to correct it. Was everything perfect? No, and it would be unreasonable to expect it to be; but these people changed the course of history forever.

Why am I starting this blog? I am afraid for America. The ideals of the founding fathers no longer exist for the majority of Americans. The election of last night has marginalized our belief system, and undermined our economic system. The election of this man is a slap in the face to those who... "mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor". For those of you who have not been taught, that is the last line of the Declaration of Independence. A great fraud has been prepetuated on the people of our nation. Barack Obama is disingenuous about who and what he really is. Americans were fooled by his campaign rhetoric. If you want to know who he is read his book. Listen to his interviews from 2002. You will find out that he is if nothing else a Marxist. He and his team have done a very effective job of masking it. Who else is he? Ask Jerrimiah Wright. Ask Bill Ayers. They know him for who he really is.



This post is kind of short but it is to be an introduction. Over the coming months you will learn a lot more about me and a whole lot more about Barack Obama. I truly believe that his writings and speeches and interviews from a number of years ago will show him for who he is, and in 4 years time the American People will know him for who he is, and remove him before he can do any real damage.