Recent thoughts, and National Ammo day 2012

I try to avoid too much posting on here about political topics unrelated to Texas Independence or gun ownership, but this current Federal Presidential election doesn't want to be left unnoticed. It has completely polarized the nation, with very few undecideds out there. On the one side, is the avowed socialists who want to further their goals of punishing big business and enriching "the little guy." On the other side are those who want to put a full stop to that march toward socialism, and rebuild what made our country great by removing govt restrictions against business. By my reckoning, removing the roadblocks to business would be a much-needed kickstart to the economy, as I think the business owners have been hesitant to invest in their own companies if the govt would come along and take it under Federal management because it was "too big to fail." Pff, more like too big to lose union donations to the democrat party. See: Fed takeover of GM and the pushing of the Volt car, at a loss to the company for every one that's sold, and the govt's trying to make us buy them by offering tax rebates on them.

How does this relate to National Ammo Day, you might ask? As has been joked about in many gun forums and gun shoppes, the current President has been the best motivation for buying guns and ammo, as many citizens are understandably scared that he could place more restrictions on the ownership of said small arms and ammo, as he has done with many other things, with his electro-signature on an Executive Order, without any of the pesky checks-and-balances of Congress or the Supreme Court to stop him or hold him accountable. Meanwhile, many gun owners have been stocking up as best they can, while supplies in the gun stores fluctuate. Still, it's better than those months between the last Presidential election and the Inauguration Day, when demand shot up (no pun intended) and the shelves were bare, after people realized an avowed damnyankee democrat "community organizer" from Chicago, a place not known for its love of private gun ownership, was on the way to the White House with his entourage. Do I think the President *would* sign an Executive Order banning gun ownership in another term if he's reelected? Not if he wants to prevent the current political cold civil war from going very hot, he won't! Even if current democrats and republicans hate each other, they can still manage to be civil in public, unlike the good old days of fistfights and knife duels breaking out in Congress. (Can you say, Aaron Burr?) However, I'm pretty sure the same cannot be said for their fans, especially the ones who think they are entitled to certain benefits, and said benefits would be completely cut if their guy doesn't get reelected. Like many police departments across the country geared up before the Inauguration in expectation of "celebratory riots," like after any sports team wins the national championship, I'm sure they are quietly gearing up for similar events next month, in the event that such candidate doesn't win reelection. However, I can't be certain that he and his administration wouldn't do something stupid, like has happened with the Fast and Furious operation, or the Libyan consulate attacks and coverup-- nobody brings an RPG or two to a "protest"!

So, I would strongly suggest that you go ahead and purchase any ammo now, in case you might need it before next month's official day of buying, perhaps if your neighborhood watch is called out and you have to put up a sign that reads "You loot, we shoot," as has been done many times before after a hurricane blows thru and disrupts power and emergency services. And either we will all give out a big sigh of relief and you can make another purchase of ammo on the official day, or, as some places online have half-joked about the future, we'll be too busy reloading. This would also be a great time to go ahead and pick up that gun you've been eyeing as a Christmas gift; your loved one might get to unwrap it early if needed.

Definitions: Conservative

This has been rattling around in my head the last few days, growing in response to a friend pointing out she is a Democrat and didn't care for all the right-wing-slanted emails she was getting, and I wanted to point out that really, neither of the major political parties in the US represent my views, and really don't look like they're going to change to meet those views in the near or distant future. Mainly because my views can be summed up as "leave me and my sh!+ ALONE!", and neither party is going to be following that advice anytime soon.

Both parties, to varying degrees, have inserted themselves into my daily life, whether it's how many time I have to show some type of identification card or paperwork to prove my identity, or how much taxes I have to pay just buying a soda, a car, or a gun. I became very disillusioned with the Democrats, under Clinton, when they decided it was ok to burn down a church with children inside on a Sunday morning after a almost-2-month standoff following a botched raid, all because of suspicions of machine guns at that property. The Republicans didn't do much better, when after regaining control of Congress after a 50+ year absence, they became the same big spenders as the other guys, even if they changed what the spending was on, they didn't follow thru with any of their promises of cutting back (and by cutting, I mean, last year your department got $100, this year you get $75, not the usual gubmint SOP of granting an automatic raise of $110, and "cutting" it to only $105!). And the so-called War on Terrorism was turned into a PC-at-all-costs Charlie Foxtrot, instead of "This is War, we fight it to WIN!" And the eight years of whining from the Dems and their useful idiots on the far left about "Bush is the Hitler" kinda grew annoying quickly-- I think when Hitler was around, his political opposition grew quiet, once they started ending up in ditches with a hole in their head. I seem to recall reading about a "Night of the Long Knives" where the Officer Corps of the German army was violently purged of anyone suspected of not being loyal enough to Der Fuhrer. Hmm, wasn't it in the recent news that the General in charge of the war in Afghanistan was forced out of his position after some remarks made by his staff being derisive of the civilian leadership, found their way into print... and that's under this current administration, isn't it?

Pretty much, I don't like either major party, the Democrats or the Republicans, each claiming to be "Liberal" and "Conservative," respectively... ok, that's more like, disrespectively, by their own actions. Altho this administration seems hell-bent for Change At Any Cost, thankfully, they have little to show for their efforts that is positive. I mean, usually when the news reports that some law or budget failed to pass in Congress because the Repubs opposed it, they treat it like they voted against it out of some political (and racial) bigotry, and fail to note that Dems who also opposed it. Usually this is trumpeted as "bipartisan support" if something passes, but not "bipartisan opposition" when it fails. (Oh, except when it was back during the Repub-majority Congress.) Sen. Pelosi wants to claim she's gonna "drain the swamp" that is DC's political good ol' boy (and girl) network of corruption, but she can't get it thru her head that she's the biggest, ugliest gator there, after her remark about the ObamaCare bill, "we have to pass it to find out what's in it." Excuse me?!? NO!!! They've demonstrated more than enough times that they aren't interested in any input from The People of these many States, enough to make one think that they don't care what We think, they're ramming their legislation thru, whether we like it or not! And any "Change" to reverse this trend isn't gonna come soon enough to save the US from it's own internal destruction. They're proving the claims of some of the wild-eyed crazies out there saying that voting doesn't matter, the self-appointed Elites will do what they want with our taxes and with our laws, exempting themselves all the while.

It may sound overly dramatic to compare the current state of the US to an abusive marriage, but when DC makes all the rules, demands all the taxes, and the States and the People have to toil to meet these demands for the "promise" of getting back some of our tax monies in the form of Federal Funds and all these BS "Stimulus programs", it's more than an unequal agreement, it's time for a divorce. Let the States take care of themselves instead of paying tribute to DC, and hoping that the Feds will take care of us. Texas for Texans, California for... those peoples, New York for the DamnedYankees; let us all go our own ways, and reform into regional confederations to better meet our needs. (Those needs certainly aren't being met by the present FedGov; DC is going after Arizona for daring to enforce Federal immigration law, while now giving a silent nod of consent to California to allow marijuana to be grown and sold there-- back during the "evil Bush years" the DEA raided some of the Pot shoppes; now, not so much. Hmm, I wonder if you have to present ID when buying weed there, just to prove that you are old enough or whatever!)

Certainly there's enough folks here in Texas raising their voices in support of independence once again, but that still has a ways to go, from what I can see. Too many people brainwashed into thinking they need the FedGov in their lives, to protect them, to support them. WTF?!? We're Texans, dammit, we support and protect ourselves! If we have hard times, we have friends, family, neighbors to turn to, not some damned NannyState FedGov, offering us candy with hooks attached! (The Federal Highway Funds, collected from the taxes we pay on gasoline, have always come with strings attached: lower the highway speed limit (remember the good ol' "Double Nickle"?), raise the drinking age, require wearing seat belts, lower the drunk-driving intoxication levels, and I'm sure I've missed a couple of others.) I think we could easily cut out the middle man of "wealth redistribution", by keeping our money, that WE earned, in our pockets, and we can give it to whatever suits our fancy. We could donate to church charities because we want to, instead of being taxed without any real say-so, and then the charities would be able to afford to help the needy in our own area, instead of them having to cut back on their services offered (which in turn creates more demand for gubmint services, which raises their budgets, increasing the taxes they need for their support, out of my and your wallet!)

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Ok, this has drifted heavily from what I intended to write, trying to define myself as what I see as a "plain conservative" with the main focus being "Leave me and my sh#+ ALONE!" and how the Federal gubmint isn't meeting any of that thinking. Isn't a major part of the usual definition of conservative, being that you are content with things the ways they are in your life? Meanwhile, the Liberals in DC are pushing any and every Change on us, just because they can! ("Yes, We Can!" "Change is good!" Wait a minute, weren't those the main slogans for the last two winning Dem Presidents? Hmm... maybe we should revive Clinton's own "It's the economy, Stupid!" next time.) For some reason, Jeff Goldblum's line in Jurassic Park comes to mind:

Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.

Hence, we have a bunch of laws being forced on us by the Elites in DC, in arrogant disdain of the limits on the FedGov by the US Constitution. I realize this has been going on for, oh, a couple of centuries, but I was never able to get away with something wrong by claiming that I was only continuing what I did the day or week before, and I wasn't punished then, so why pick on me now? Why do we excuse, or allow excuses from, the FedGov for willfully violating the Constitution, which everyone serving there took an oath to defend and protect? Wouldn't a "plain conservative" be reminding those bastids, "Hey, that's not in your job description, so cut it out, or you're fired!" Well, I have, and it's not doing much good, since most of those bastids will look at any "petition of grievances" I send and ignore it for the simple reason of, I don't live in their district. Since they don't think my opinion is important enough to listen to and take counsel, then my tax money can't be important enough to fund their pet projects that enrich their buddies.

Fine, whatever, I'm taking my ball and going home, and taking my home with me! Texas doesn't need DC telling us what to do anyway!