Breakfast in America

Forgive me, this post is coming from a dark place.

Three days ago my internet decided to change it's signal status from good, to low, which is basically the equivalent of being placed in a torture chamber. Since I just use the school's internet in my apartment, there isn't much I can do to rectify the situation, except walk across the street to sit in the library.

This puts me in a bad mood, I should be able to file my taxes and watch the training videos for the state bar application and the MPRE lecture from the comfort of my own home! I don't want to go to the library.

I recognize that this is a first world problem, but it is exacerbated by the fact that I was sick this week (starting around the time the internet decided it hated me) and apparently people can't be bothered to call and tell me they no longer need a ride to Boston, they wait until I have gotten up early and wait for them to arrive at my apartment at 7:30 in the AM, only they aren't there. So I'm tired, and in a bad mood. It is what it is, I'm blogging politics. Now I probably won't sound as nice and coherent, but I've decided its time for me to say what I've got to say.

I don't like the federal government. At all. I don't like democrats, I don't like republicans. I don't like conservatives, and I really don't like liberals. I've never liked Barack Obama. I think he is a terrible president, and I don't want him back in office. I voted for Mitt Romney in the AZ republican primary, but I don't know how I feel about that.

Mitt is certainly better than Newt Gingrich. I'm pretty sure that guy is actually the monster that lives under every child's bed, and in their closet. Yes, he is both monsters. I really liked Jon Hunstman, but then he dropped out. I also like Ron Paul, but when it came to my vote, I knew that Mitt had the better chance of winning. I am completely opposed to voting for "the lesser of two evils." Since I don't mind Mitt I voted for him, but it was really more because if it comes to November and our choices are Newt and Obama, I'm moving to a remote desert island and not coming back.

I mean, come on America! What is your problem? Are you really so unaware of how good you have it that you are willing to let others take away the most important gift you've been given as a human being? I am talking about the power of choice.

Why is it that when there is a problem in this country the solution is, "make the federal government fix it for us." I don't know if you've noticed this, but they suck at fixing things. Michelle Obama just signed something with Mars Bars so they won't make king sized candy bars any more. Okay, so take away all the unhealthy options and you're left with a bunch of fat people who still don't know how to live a healthy life, but now they can't stress eat a giant candy bar so what do they do instead? Engage in aggressive driving? Something even worse? I don't know. Taking away someone's power to choose is never a good solution. I know someone who tried that once, he got thrown out of heaven. Just saying.

Let me try and liken this to something that will make this incoherent rage fest make sense. When we are very young our parents say, "don't touch the oven, it's hot, you'll burn your hand." Some children will choose to listen to their parents and not touch the oven. Some choose not to. They burn their hand. It hurts, they cry, and hopefully they learn to listen to their parent the next time they tell them not to do something that will hurt them.

Unfortunately there will always be children who choose not to listen and touch the oven. Should we take the oven away? Maybe this seems like a good solution because then nobody will ever get burned. It isn't a good solution. Believe me, I lived without an oven in France and it was not pleasant. Besides, if we never have ovens wherein someone can learn, "hot things burn us," then when will we learn it? Should we take away all hot things so nobody ever gets burned?

There are some things in life that really should never exist. Like pornography. If we rid the earth of all pornography then I really do believe that most of the world's problems would no longer exist. If you don't know, if you haven't seen what it does to people, let me tell you, pornography is an insipid, powerfully destructive force that can only ever be used for bad. Anything that falls into that category should be gotten rid of. We should all agree on that. I would like to make it my own life's mission to educate people on the harms of pornography so they will make the choice to never look at it, or make it.

Other things are not inherently bad. Like ovens. Ovens do a lot of good. They cook food. They bring us cookies. They fill our homes with good smells. Certain ovens are used solely for warmth so people don't freeze to death. These are all all positive things. However, ovens do come with drawbacks. If not used correctly, an oven will burn you, or your food, or both. That is a part of life, and the only way you can ever learn not to burn yourself or your food is to learn how to use the oven properly. Getting rid of the oven is not solving any problems. It only leaves a gaping oven-less hole in your life. Believe me. I know. Living without an oven is truly a terrible thing.

I used the oven as an example, having first hand experience of what it is like to live without one. In all seriousness though, I look at our federal government and I think, "they want to take away our ovens." They say it's for our own good, but it isn't. It's for their own good. If you have all the power, and take away everyone else's ability to choose and make educated decisions, then you keep all the power. It's terrifying.

I am opposed to losing my power to choose. Why aren't we investing in education? Why don't we want to teach people what their options are in life, and why don't we want to give them the tools to choose what to do? Unfortunately, I know very few people in government right now that want to fight for our right to choose good in our own lives. Read Brave New World people. That is the train we are headed on.

Now I sound like a crazy conspiracy theorist, but maybe I am becoming one. Never give up your right to educate yourself and make your own choices in life.

That is why I don't like our federal government. I miss George Washington. Maybe I'll vote for Henry Clay in November. I've always liked him.