The Success of Failure

Failure is not an options they say. I have heard that in education, I've heard it in sports. "We have to win, failure is not a option". Sadly my team didn't win state, and i never got straight A's so failure was an option. Failure is not an option only when there is no other alternative or the outcome of failure is unthinkable. "We have to defeat Nazi German, failure is not an option", "I have to get this job to pay my rent, failure is not an option."" I have to save my child from a burning building, failure is not an option"...The list of examples can go on forever. In order for failure not to be a option you literally have to have your back to a cliff or have the prospect of failure being so horrible that it inspires you to greatness. With that truth made clear, in America is failure an option?

Is failure an option in High school? Most Definitely!! When the WASL ( Washington Assessment of Student Learning) became a graduation requirement over 30% didn't pass the required sections, so they lowered the standards to have more people pass. The power of failure! The same was true of our senior project, it was a "pass or fail", there was almost no way to failure even if you didn't do it they would find "alternative projects for the student to do" to "pass".   

Sadly in American failure can be a better option then success. As many prospective and current college students know, the majority of scholarships go to really rich or poor individuals. If your middle class your not rich enough to have the income to be able to spend addition money on your son daughter for special classes or hobbies that can bring with them opportunities for college scholarships. If your poor there are a whole world of scholarships open for you, because of the choices of your parents. I'm not saying that you shouldn't have scholarships for the poor, but you shouldn't create incentives for people not to save or be reasonable with what they have. I came from a mid to upper low income bracket growing up. My parents are teachers, and for most of my life i had one stay at home parent. I wasn't rich or poor but because my parents saved to much i didn't qualify for scholarships but i still could really afford to go to college. I picked up jobs in college and during the summer to pay for my school because i had no other options.

For a lot of people in my generation government money and welfare programs pay for a lot of services and life styles of those who don't really need it. I have friends that are 19 that are on welfare, but they don't want to get a job because they could lose their welfare money. I know college students that spend all there money on beer and liquor but get food stamps. The power of failure!, Why save when others will front the bill!

Even TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) has provisions for debt forgiveness, so if you spent too much money and couldn't pay it back don't worry Obama has your back . Some of the biggest problems we face as a nation are because of this mind set, why transcend over adversity, if your guaranteed mediocrity?

Information Wars: Media Bias in America

If you have ever been interviewed by the newspaper or been quoted for an article, what happened and what is reported can often be extremely different. The Washington Post came out with a article about the Bias in American mainstream media. ( Article) The article talks about how news programs like MSNBC & FOX have a very one sided form of news reporting and how there report to a very specific political group. With the media taking sides, its no surprise that the political candidates are also so polarized. Because of the political bias, candidates and officials have been using non-common modes of marketing to get their political agenda across. Obama went on the View, the Tonight Show, and on MTV to get his message across about health care reform. If the president is going to those channels for better exposure, what does that tell you about our news programs, If you have get on a  talk show to get the news out.

With new media forms such as blogging and twitter, creditable news is hard to come by. When some people in the media see "fact" as malleable and relative, it surprises me that those people could be given the job of giving us the news. This sad true is easily seen on college campuses across the nation with the students newspapers. Through my travels i have yet to see a truly neutral student paper. It seems that the nations future journalist are following the journalist method  that you have a story and you have to go find sources, instead of reporting on whats going on. Having run a political club on my campus i have only been approached by the student journalists only to be miss quoted or attached by the paper. If they can't miss quote me they don't quote me. This trend you can see on a national level with mainstream shows. They only bring an elected official on for an interview to support their views not to understand the person in question. With studies out that show that more people get there news from comedy shows then news shows, makes you wonder about the future of the American press.
   

Can't Buy Me Love or Can I?

"Say you dont need no diamond ring and I'll be satisfied 

Tell me that you want the things money just cant buy 

I dont care much for money, money cant buy me love" Can't Buy Be Love-The Beatles 

The Beatles had it right you can't buy love and you can't buy happiness. Ironically some people in the government believe that you can. Raising taxes, new regulations, and more government control over business....that's going to make life better right? With the election coming to a close in less then a month you will hear a lot of theories about how to best fix our nations problems and thus our lives problems. Tax and spend or cut back and save, are about the only options out there. So the question arises which is better? Which one will bring about a better end and a happier America? Well one group believes that if you take away our money then give less of it back to us we will be happier and the economy will be better. The other believe that if we have more and can spend more we will be happier and the economy will do better. 

I have always felt that when i worked for my money and i got to keep more of it that i felt more content and was happier. The money didn't give me happiness, but the fact that i could keep more of the fruits of my labor made me happy. The current growth of government directly combats that idea. It seems with taxes such as the Income Tax, people think that if you take money away from one group and give it to another, then they will be happy. But that would only work if money could "buy" you happiness or as the Beatles said love. As we know it cant, so taxing one group to benefit the other doesn't work very well. So when it come times to vote in the weeks ahead give that a thought.

I hope the government doesn't find a way to tax the things money just cant buy....

State Income Tax: Getfree.tv

A New Video From the Get Free Team. Learn more about the income tax that we will be able to vote on in Washington State come November. Check out their website at (getfree.tv) for a list of their other great videos.

The Role of Government

What is the role of government?  What is the governments primary purpose? What was it organized for? These questions are a very important ones. Our leaders have very competing views of what the governments role is in our lives should be. This question is also the root of the majority of political arguments you may read about in the opinion section of the paper, or on the comment chains that correspond with a number of online blogs and news posts. So what is the role of government? At what point do the elected officials over step there authority? 

"If a nation were founded on this basis, it seems to me that order would prevail among the people, in thought as well as in deed. it seems to me that such a nation would have the most simple, easy to accept, economical, limited, non-oppressive, just, and enduring government imaginable-whatever its political form might be." Bastiat- The Law

The "basis" that Frederic Bastiat talks about in his book  The Law, is the more common view of what government should be. Government should be a government of law, were all are equal before the law, not made equal by it. The government should moderately regulate trade not create or distribute wealth or try and directly control commerce. The governments laws should be applied equally to all, not differently for different people. There are other factors a just government should have but theses are the ones that i feel are most applicable to the issues that are being debated in our government today.  Another way to think about these points is in the game of Monopoly.

In the board game of Monopoly from Hasbro, Hasbro makes the rules, then we play by them. It doesn't matter what piece you play with or with who you play with, the rules are always the same. This should be the same of the government. They create the rules they don't play the game.

Leadership Conference

he 2010 West Coast Leadership Conference will be held November 12-13, 2010 at the Reagan Ranch Center in Santa Barbara, California.  You are invited to send the Left a message by learning conservative ideas, networking with like-minded peers from across the country, and visiting the Reagan Ranch.  The early-bird rate is only $75 if you apply by October 15 and $99 after.  For more details, please email Roger Custer at rcuster@yaf.org or call (800) USA-1776.

This conference is held at the beautiful Reagan Ranch Center, includes the opportunity for all attendees to visit President Reagan’s beloved Rancho del Cielo, and gives you many opportunities to hear and meet top-notch conservative speakers.  They will be listed here when confirmed.  Past speakers include Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Dana Rohrabacher, Kate Obenshain, Lynn Vincent, Michael Reagan, Dennis Prager, Kiron Skinner, Peter Robinson, Joe Wilson, and many others.   
At the conference, you will:

• Learn conservative ideas
• Interact with conservative heroes
• Receive valuable activism resources
• Improve your debate skills
• Visit the Reagan Ranch
• Become a young conservative leader

  

Creating the Nanny State: A Nation of Children

I was listening to the radio on my way to work the other day. I was going through the stations looking for something to preoccupy myself with as i slowly cheeped foreword in traffic on the freeway. I finally arrived upon a 90's rock station. After about one song they went into a recent headline segment were the two hosts provided commentary on the comings and goings of the world at large. It was mildly funny but one of the thing they sad out of jest really hit home with me and it really made me think. There was a minor news report about a young adult playing a prank on some people, and how it backfired. The radio hosts commented on how they would have expect that from a 14 year old, not person in there adult years. This created of a rabbit trail of comments on the idea, are Americans becoming more immature?  Are people become "adults" later on in life?

Once i got to the office i decided to do some research into the idea. After awhile i came to see the truth in that statement. The signs where everywhere, the crime statistics about young adults, the economic situation of young adults in their 20's, even laws that are being pushed through the legislature all led to the same conclusion. The conclusion that my generation is maturing slower and later on in life. Under Obama's health care plan young adults can stay on there parents plan till there 26 (New American Media) . The income of people age 55 and older is higher then those 21 to 28. Another fun fact, 77% of college graduates are moving back home with there parents. (Pittsburgh Post)

After realizing this fact the question came to mind, why is this happening? The answer is simple this trend is because of the creation of what some have call the "Nanny State". Then it donned on me, in order to have a nanny state you have to have children to take care of. The creation of adult children or institutionalized dependency is the legacy that my generation has been given, and the logical cause for the decline in rate of maturity among young adults. This conclusion explains why people want a bigger more controlling government, and more of the "Nanny State" that conservative Americas fighting against. But if indeed the youth are not mentally maturing or becoming "adults"  in the same rate as before, what could that fact have on the culture of American, and the future of our nation?