Self Reliance vs. Nanny State

When a tree falls on your house – do you call the local authorities to get it removed? No, you call a tree service or you get out your chainsaw and you start going to town on the tree. It’s your home, it’s your mess – you clean it up. You remain a statistic – As reported on the evening news only three trees fell in last night’s storm. –

At what point do you come in contact with the government (any government, state, federal, local)? Here’s an example: If I pick up a pizza pie for my kids down at A&G.

When you get in your car:
You’ve had to get this vehicle inspected.
You’ve had to pay for its registration.
You’ve had to qualify for a driver’s license (which many people shouldn’t be allowed to have because the test is way too easy.)You’ve had to pay a tax to purchase this vehicle.

When you get on the road to get your dinner:
The road you travel on is either a state road, county road, federal road or a local road and either government works to up keep these roads using our tax dollars.

When you buy gas so that your vehicle there is a gas tax – goes to the state and federal government.

Finally you reach A&G – and fortunately for us there is no meters (as there are in Newton) otherwise we’d have to pay for the privilege to park.

I pay for my pizza – which includes a tax because the food is prepared – and that money goes to the state government – 7%.

I’m not done yet.

Additionally, the owner of that property has to have a business license, the building and food needs to be checked – so the health department is also connected to the running of the building (which includes a host of codes and assurances just for A&G to open it’s doors – it needs to meet all of these requirements)

The local town also has their claws into the business because the owner of the property has to meet certain safety codes in order to be open (the flashing around the ovens, the number and height of the plugs, the GFI circuit on the receptacles – to name a few.)

I’m not done yet.

Now just to make that pizza – the suppliers have had to pay for all kinds of additional issues – the truckers bring the materials into the area for the owners of A&G to purchase.
Then there are the employees. The owners of A&G need to have all kinds of trainings so that they are OSHA qualified – and that their employees are looked after.
Chemicals need to be marked and labeled
All kinds phone numbers need to be attached to the paperwork describing the chemical.
Employees need benefits
And under the current legislature we now have the ability of these employees to take as much time off as needed for family issues – while they are still paid and forcing the employee to pay twice the amount of wages – which boosts the cost of my pizza pie – thank you NJ Legislature.


All of this just to make me safer. I feel so special.

I feel so special –

As I drive home, I stop at a light. Another car pulls up next to me – ‘pimped’ out to the nine’s with florescent lights and chrome everywhere. I look over as the loud music from the car penetrates my SUV. As I look over the driver gets offended because he thought I was ‘eyeballing’ him. He starts cursing at me. I try to ignore him and look forward as his Spanish verbal attacks continue. What I don’t see is the illegal hand gun he pulls out and aims at shoots at me with.

The Fix

Of course the answer sits in the idea that we are individuals and we need to do more ourselves. We depend on ourselves and our own support group. In many ways we may believe that we do this now – but in essence for the really important things we do not. The REALLY important things include – security. We depend on a police force to protect us, and in many cases even the quickest acting force is going into a situation to clean up a mess left by a criminal. Because of this we find ourselves depending on someone else to come and ‘save the day’. As much as I like Superman, there is not a Superman to come and rescue us in our times of needs. At the end of the day – when the wolf (or should I say bear) comes knocking at my door- it’s me who has to fend him off.

To re-establish this individualistic spirit we need to tap into the thought of freedom, explain to our neighbors that government needs us to survive – we do NOT need government to survive. The theory here is simple, without us the government doesn’t exist. The issue then comes getting the message out. The majority of our county carries that idea of individualism and self reliance – but the majority of the rest of the state is a nanny state. I know this is material that you already know – but honestly the answer is more then sending these other areas a message.

We need someone who is running for a statewide office who is NOT afraid to go into the urban areas and proclaim a conservative message. A message that will ring in the ears, hearts and minds of those who hear the true conservative message – the message that says – we each individually have the divine right of KINGS! That each of us is a king of our own castle and can and should make our own determinations on the future. That we cannot be forced to kneel before someone else – FREE MEN and WOMEN NEVER KNEEL!

But kneeling is just what those in the urban areas are doing. They are giving their souls and their freedoms to the ‘man’. They have given up making their own decisions because they allow a government that dictates to them – set’s laws and rules that are meant to ‘make their lives safer’ while stealing their liberty.

Cigarettes are bad for you. Make no doubt that they are something that can kill you. But when did it become the power of the government to socially engineer you as a citizen and tax you to the point where you are unable to afford to by these cigarettes and are now forced to quit.

Since when did the government have the power to dictate where your child goes to school and how they are educated – it’s happening right now. The government has the choice of your schools – not you. Any choice you make comes with a bank roll to back it up – cause private school is not cheap.

The list goes on. But I think you get the picture.

Class dismissed.

The problem with Bureaucracy

There are benefits to consolidation – at least for the Democrat Majority. It ensures that a majority will be with them creating more areas of people living on the public dole and more people approving of the Nanny State. We here in Sussex County are only a few decades away from becoming a Bergen County or Essex County, either a county beholding to special interests, or a county beholding to a major town(s) to dictate the future.
The bottom line for all of this is that the fix for the woes of NJ are not in one magic elixier – as I have said. The fix is in several areas, but these areas revolve around a common theme – Less Government control means more innovation and independence based on the consumer and the businessman. Ultimately, the goal here is to get government back on it’s feet, with government back on it’s feet, we have a greater chance of a resurgent economy – but we can’t get business back on it’s feet if people do not want to be here and the state is a hostile zone towards business.
It is not just de-regulation (to coin a Reagan phrase) that is needed – it is de-bureaucracatizing that is needed. One of the only things that I can agree with Jimmy ‘The Peanut’ Carter is that a zero based budget needs to be adopted. The Peanut’s plan of building a budget works in public industry such as schools and government. Start with nothing and justify why you need something. Some of these are obvious – police need cars designed a certain way – a no brainer. But there are other areas when a group would need to justify it’s needs by identifying it’s impact on the community. Spending millions of dollars to service a dozen people is not acceptable. I know these aren’t the numbers – so relax. I think that the disconnect here is the view of those who have and those who have not. It all comes down to one question – IS IT THE JOB OF THE GOVERNMENT TO PROVIDE FOR PEOPLE?
This question strikes at the heart of government. Government that provides for people – controls the people – but to what extent. It is the duty of government to protect the people from harm – according to social contract theory (which is the theory that we give up a certain amount of our rights given by God in order to gain a certain amount of freedom.). According to the model then – is it a pendulum of Freedom. In other words – when the pendulum is set so that we have more freedom – but depend on the government less, isn’t it true then that if we have less freedom we depend on the government more. The second one is the version that we currently face in this state and are moving towards nationwide – a ‘nanny state’.
Getting back the bureaucracy, I heard the definition of a bureaucrat today that I completely agree with – if a bureaucrat fell out of an office window it would take a week for them to hit bottom. Bureaucracy is the great strangler of our democracy and our society – because they are based on people who want to keep their job. If a bureaucrat fixes the problem that the group or individuals were put together to fix – then there is no longer a need for that part of the bureaucracy. So for that group of individuals to keep their job they have to ‘evolve’ their position or portion of the bureaucracy that they maintain to achieve ‘greater’ goals.
And so the bureaucrats build their empires because they are now providing more for the individuals who are no longer individuals but lemmings following the lead of the public dole. So what do we do about all these social programs and social engineering that the government has inflicted on these lemmings? If we cut them off cold turkey, do we face a situation in which they will be forced to improvise, overcome or adapt. Or is this going to be a case in which we struggle along for another election cycle hoping to pay the debt off sometime in the future.
Well, the future is now, and the time is right. If we do not change the system which is raping the individualistic spirit from it’s people and destroying the economic growth ability of our people we will soon slide down into the oblivion of revolving debt, and eventual societal collapse. If you cannot pay your debts you loose your house and all your property – forced to live out on the street. If the government doesn’t pay it’s bills (which it cannot) it will cease to exist as we know it – and then the collapse will be catastrophic – because at that point the government will NOT be able to maintain order – it cannot pay the police forces to maintain order because it has no money, in which case mob rule may come to pass.
I know – pessimistic and crazy talk. However, do not think that just because we live in a world in which we have a fancy way of life and are considered part of the ‘1st world’ that we cannot be brought to our knees if we are not vigilant. It has happened before in history – Greece, Rome, France, England – all of these are just a small selection of those who thought that they could not fall from power – and in many of these the societal collapse came about at the same time as other disasters and problems.

The answer in the next column – but if you are astute you have already figured out the answer.

Rob Peter – Pay Paul.

In the world of politics this has turned into the method of making a budget – at least in the state of New Jersey. Some other things which, while not typical of only NJ, is typical of the way that politics is practiced. You have three powerful figures, from the same party who sit down and discuss the “DEAL”. Now regardless of who the figures are, or what the “DEAL” is – you walk away with that dirty feeling from sitting on the subway for several hours in the darkest times of night. Granted you have the feeling of surviving the night, but it doesn't really alleviate the feeling of dirtiness that pervades you.

Now, I am one of those subway riders – I feel the filth collecting around me, not because I actually road the subway, but because the elected legislature – or should I say the Governor, the Heads of the Assembly and State Senate sat down and 'cut a DEAL'. Not really bothersome in itself except for that this is typical politics.

Here's the scenario. The democratic leadership has been winning and winning state wide for decades, but the problem is they are still getting hammered and do not control – all the vote – in the more rural areas. The Democratic machine has been able to blind the urban areas into taking and needing the dole of the government buck. Consequently, they are the proverbial fish on the line – the hook is so stuck into them that it would gut the urban areas if the state binstitutions and money were pulled from these urban areas. So, the state hook easily explains how much better life is now that the government is fixing things and taking care of them – and treating the citizen as if a nanny was taking care of them – thus the name: Nanny State.

So the government has the people in those areas so convinced that the public dole is better than standing on your two feet that they have managed to corner the vote by controlling the city areas of the state – which they have done quite well – with the help of poor republican candidates who had little or no chance of capturing the statewide position – nor of having coattails large enough to bring any conservative colleagues along to sit in the state legislature.

So the problem with the NJ State GOP is two fold. First they have to overcome numerical superiority and second they have to actually have a candidate who is worthy of the conservative title and the GOP name. Well, first off the first problem is really a misnomer. I stated that the republicans were out numbered – but not by democrats, instead they are outnumbered by INDEPENDENTS! Yes, the state of NJ is mostly INDEPENDENT!. There maybe pockets in which they do NOT dominate, but these are few and far in between. This unaffiliated independents are the swing vote that often decides an election.

So how do you get the conservatives back in power – and more importantly keep them there? Well, this is an easy answer. The answer sits with the the ancient strategist – SUN-TZU. He called for you to prey on your opponents most weakest points – and exploit their greatest weakness. In this case the greatest weakness of the democratic party is NOT corruption. This has been sold to often as a bi-partisan problem that it will not effectively sell as a good point for republican – in fact it can hurt if the democrat running points out the number of republicans who have had problems.

The achillies heel of the Democratic Party is their policies. For example:

The Democrats have to make a choice every election cycle – WHAT DO WE DO ABOUT THE FAILING SCHOOLS OF NJ? The Teachers Union pushes for more money and better working conditions for teachers – which is hogwash. It's no more the answer then is me walking about in a bikini bathing suit.

The answer is charter schools and voucher schools. Not to get too deep in to this – it's important that you understand that both of these – charter and voucher schools are schools of choice. Parents can choose to send their child there or keep them in their regular school. The Democrats don't support Charter Schools or the Voucher program because it would crush their largest constituents – the TEACHERS UNION. The Teachers Union is one of the largest lobby groups in NJ. They lobby \everywhere to get more control of money and funding into the Abbott school districts. So, it didn't stop the Democrats from increasing the amount of money that goes to school – while decreasing the amount of money that goes to the towns.

Where does this leave us – back to why the budget “DEAL” has made me feel filthy. Simply put – the reason why the Dems cut the funding for the Towns is simple. They are trying to force the towns to consolidate and turn those hard working – efficient and versatile small towns into larger unresponsive and troublesome towns that have high crime and difficult lifestyles for the individuals – forcing many middle income, middle class individuals out the door.

Come back for some more.....