The Kennedys and Egalitarian Force

A good friend of mine expressed his view that the Kennedy family are “givers, not takers.”  That’s only partly true, I responded. The elected Kennedys are takers of my wages. Big time. Teddy is essentially a Euro-style socialist opposed to my freedom.

What I bothers me about Ted Kennedy et al is the forced altruism inherent in egalitarian ideology. The Kennedy family has established numerous helpful private sector charities, and I've contributed to several of those myself. Good job!

But the progress of civilization is measured in freedom and individual rights, not entitlements and income redistribution. The ideological right tends to force morality on people, while the secular left tends to force their own "religion" of egalitarianism through government confiscation of the fruits of people's labor.

As none of that social engineering force is authorized by the US Constitution, it's a form of theft and oppression. So left wing forced egalitarianism is no better than right wing quasi-theocratic authoritarianism. In both cases, Americans lose their liberties. I just want to be free.

Obama Sets Back Race Relations

President Obama inappropriately injected himself into a Cambridge, MA, incident involving the local police and Obama’s friend, Professor Henry Louis Gates.  Due to race-related comments by Obama and Gates, the situation was transformed from a routine police response to a reported break-in into a race issue.

Most reports I've seen say Professor Gates behaved badly, and he pursued the policeman as he was leaving the scene. Sgt. Crowley did not take kindly to that.  The black officer accompanying Crowley agreed with the arrest. It could have been handled quietly until Obama and Gates imagined a racist angle, which made the whole thing spiral out of control. This was an ordinary police response to a reported break-in until Gates, then Obama, imagined a racist angle.

There are some calling President Obama and Professor Gates “racists” for jumping to conclusions against a white cop.  I think "racialist" is a better way to describe their controversial attitude.  They have a tendency to frame many issues in terms of race, but they're not necessarily racial bigots.  They just imagine racism where there is none. Racism in America won’t end until racialists of all skin tones let it end.

As we now know, Sgt. Crowley is an expert police trainer in racial profiling. This is only a case of racism in the imaginations of Gates and Obama, and their inappropriate behavior can only delay our path to a post-racial society. Fortunately, Obama now recognizes his huge blunder and is taking an apologetic approach. What beer did they choose?

President Obama seems to forget that he is now president, not a private citizen, but that's a competence issue, not a racial one. Obama wasn't ready for the presidency. He had rather meager political experience, almost no practical professional background, and zero executive experience coming into the job. Unfortunately, the media and political powers ordained him as “The One,” and so now he is.

President Obama has been stumbling since even before the inauguration. My 13 year old daughter is even in disbelief over his clumsiness and apparently inability to speak without a teleprompter.  Well, President Clinton had a rough first year, too, then eventually got his bearings.  Maybe President Obama will, too.

Government Burden on Small Business

I own two small retail stores and a piece of commercial property. Here's what Big Brother requires me to file: annual IRS, CA, and MA personal and business income tax returns (total of 60-90 pages); annual corporate reports; annual renewal applications for common victualler, tobacco, lottery, liquor licenses; semi-annual business fixtures excise tax; quarterly IRS, CA, and MA estimated tax payments; quarterly US and MA wage reports and unemployment reports; monthly withholding (both US and MA), sales tax, tobacco tax.

There are 3 business entities, so some of the above must be filed multiple times. Then, my tax return is so complicated, the IRS conducts mail audits at least once a year - even though I use a CPA who specializes in small business.

Is this the way to run a productive economy? I can guaranty Americans would have a far higher standard of living if we simplified this absurd system of guilty-until-proven-innocent taxation. And all that is independent of the rate of taxation.