Freedom

I don't like Barack Obama, and it has to do with freedom.

I look at what he stands for, and what I love about America. To me those two things seem opposed to one another.

I am a lover of history. I look back to the accomplishments of our founding fathers and can feel nothing but honor for the grand experiment they undertook. And this was no trivial thing. All had studied the successes and failures of the past. All were determined to regain liberties lost to tyrrany. All found themselves--somewhat reluctantly for no small number of them--on the verge of changing the world for the better.

And what started all this? This Revolution? In large part, two things that I think Americans take so very for granted that some are ready to hand them over to a man who wants to quash them--the sister-rights to property and self-determination.

To make things clear, I should say that:
*I believe, as the founders did, that human beings are endowed with certain inalienable rights, as outlined in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution;
*I believe that the men responsible for those documents, in writing those documents, were inspired by the very God who wishes all his children to attain those rights;
*I believe, as they did, in man's right to choose for himself, as long as those choices do no harm to anyone else, and that when we are free to choose for ourselves we are also free to enjoy or suffer the consequences of our choices;
*I believe, as they did, that this right to choose--agency--should be extended to a person's property and how he or she chooses to manage it.

So why do I stand in opposition to Barack Obama?

If you don't know you don't know enough about him to make an educated and informed vote--which is your duty as a citizen of this nation.

Obama wants to take away, to a greater degree than his predecessors anyway, my right to decide how I want my property used. He calls it 'sharing the wealth.' Some might call it charity. But I believe that when we stand before the bar of God, charity will only be counted in our favor if we have given by force of our own free will, not by force of government compulsion. And no, it doesn't matter if YOU are OK with it. Because for every person who is OK with it, there is at least one other person who is NOT OK with it. And THAT person is being forced to charity. THAT person has had his/her freedom to choose stripped from him.

Besides, if you want to get right down the nuts and bolts of it, who REALLY believes the government--that lumbering monstrosity of organization and management principles--is the best solution to the nation's problems? I suppose if what you want is a flood of red tape, mismanagement, gluttonous spending practices, dirty-handed dealing, then SURE! By all means. Let's make it bigger, more encompassing, give it more control over our lives and livelihoods. Cause, gee, I'm so POSITIVE that Obama will make it super-efficient. Obama will end the practice of adding pork to every spending bill that comes down the pike. Obama will convince every employer in this nation that he will not only want to give more of his earnings to the government but that he'll be grateful for the opportunity to do so.

Wow! Barack's our man!

(You DO know sarcasm when you read it. Right?)

Me, I'd really rather take care of myself, thanks just the same Mr. Obama.

My Kind of Politics

I'm a conservative, so there.

I do not affiliate with any party. I find party politics distasteful and self-serving.

I believe in small government, TINY government, and the protection of our right to self-determination wherever that self-determination does no harm to anyone else.

I received an email from my dad yesterday. As is so common in emails that travel the circuit, it was attributed to someone who probably didn't actually ever say it or write it, but I liked the email anyway. It said this:

* You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.

* You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.

* You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.

* You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down.

* You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.

* You cannot build character and courage by taking away men's initiative and independence.

* You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves.

I agree strongly with these statements, whoever said them. My question, for myself mostly, is, which candidates most likely agree with these statements and will work to make them a reality in the administration of our government--both local and national?

"Strange Love" Where Did THAT Come From?!?

I'll tell you.

I once participated in an online critique group. We'd 'meet' once a week, exchange manuscripts, then meet back a week later to give our critiques.

In between we'd talk about this and that. Mostly writerly things. On one occasion, we were talking about some aspect of the writing craft. I don't even remember what. Mind you, this was probably three years ago or more. At any rate, I just started writing, slapping words onto an email, and out came this THING! It was like that scene in Men In Black where the alien woman gives birth to the squid baby--something kinda cute, kinda ugly, kinda very unexpected worming its way out of the dark recesses of my mind.

In reality, I'm a fairly ordinary person.

OK. Maybe not ORDINARY, per se.

But, heck! If the odd sells, maybe I should write more of it!

DELICIOUS!!

First, the band is ON A ROLL!!

Another first place--this time by a spread of only 7 points!

There were some tense moments for the band when they watched three of the four caption (or section) awards go to another school, but apparently their scores were close enough, and their music score high enough, that they beat the other school out and took the day!

YAY! Go Tigers!!!

Second, I just listened to "Strange Love" on the Drabblecast as performed by actor Steve Anderson. It was WONDERFUL!

What a DAY!!

The band saga continues: Another tournament, another SWEEP of the awards!

AND...

I just heard from Norm at Drabblecast. My story, "Strange Love" will be up on the site as an audio cast Tuesday night or Wednesday of this week! The site address is: www.drabblecast.org
Those of you who still think I'm a mild-mannered Mormon girl (still proudly Mormon, but hardly mild-mannered and WAY beyond being a girl), I hope you won't think less of me after listening. ;-)

Wahoo!!

We have a sweep!

Ogden High School's Marching Tigers took a clean sweep of Tuesday's Davis Cup Band Tournament, taking all four section awards plus first place in their division!

That's my boy at the back of that formation. (In marching band lingo, it's called a pod.)

Go TIGERS!!!