Lennon and Obama

If he truly believed the lyrics in his song “Imagine” then John Lennon was a coward. Imagine there’s no Heaven, it’s easy if you try. No hell below us, above us only sky… Nothing to kill or die for and no religion too… Imagine all possessions; I wonder if you can no need for greed or hunger, a brotherhood of man… What a wimp. He might as well not have been born. What’s the point in living? I’m not saying that greed or hunger or killings are good things, but there really doesn’t seem to be any reason to live in his imagined world. What would be your motivation for anything? I’m grateful to live and to realize that some things are in fact worth dying for, such as the freedoms guaranteed by our Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

I recall reading “A Brave New World” in high school in which society has “evolved” to a point where people are controlled by drugs, mixing that with sensual pleasures and creating classes of society by selective genetic engineering. The parallels between the book, the song and what we’re currently experiencing as a Nation are enough to raise some eyebrows. I don’t believe that President Obama intends to destroy the free market, Capitalism, or the Republic under which we were founded (acknowledging the fact that we’ve since shifted more towards a democracy). I do believe that in his effort to do something noble and worthy, he’s in danger of doing just that. While I don’t believe to be an expert in much of what is going on in Washington or the faults or merits of every piece of legislation which is brought before the Congress, I do try to be well read on the issues. Being removed from the country has caused me to do more research than normal on the health care issue.

President Obama’s statement that the recently passes bill ensures “the core principle that everybody should have some basic security when it comes to their health care” makes me slightly uncomfortable. While I don’t believe that people should have to go without basic healthcare and that it should be affordable, I don’t think that the federal government needs to, or should ever get involved in something like that.

A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government.- Thomas Jefferson

I don’t like the idea of if I work hard and become wealthy, then I will be singled out and taxed because of my work ethic, smart decisions and to a degree, luck. Is it an appropriate time to bring out the flat tax argument? I know that people don’t choose to be poor, my closest friend struggled his whole life against the bonds of poverty, and I know it hasn’t been easy in the least. Health issues, lack of jobs and education among other things affect some people more so than others. To be penalized for not having health insurance, to restrict my choice of what I want to pay for, it just feels wrong. Is it unconstitutional to require people to have health insurance or pay a fine? They can require auto insurance for people who drive because you have a choice to drive or not, but you don’t really have a choice to be alive. Well yes you do, but we’re assuming the majority of people have some sense of self worth and are in decent mental health.

I wonder how all this will turn out. As far as I can see, it’s going to increase our national debt (if you didn’t know, the Chinese already OWN EVERYTHING) regardless of how much it promises to reduce costs in the future. How do you increase the amount of people covered while reducing costs? Lower quality of care? I hope that this doesn’t end up like Social Security, a good idea, just poorly thought out. The smart way for that would have been to just eat the up-front cost to provide for the older generation when it was passed, and then have each rising generation pay into their own accounts. Oh, and have the Federal government stop dipping into that pool of money for other things. We should take a look at how the President tried to shove this through, and why, since he's all about debating and bringing everyone together...

On a happier note, I ran in a 10k this morning! I came in 25th out of 149, with a time of 47:15; 2 females beat me, which is really awesome that they can run that fast! And one of them is 42, amazing. The theme for the race was Al Asad: Worst Beach Ever, All Sand, No Water”. It was a pretty crazy course, steep inclines on gravel roads, declines, more inclines. I swear one of the inclines was a ¾ mile stretch at a 15% or 20% grade. Oh and I started figuring out this whole Roth IRA thing. I thought that if you opened one up and dumped money into it, that was it. After 4 months of having it sit in the account and only earning $1.52, I was slightly frustrated. Turns out you have to actually figure out what you want to plug the cash into! So I did some research, picked one and I’ve made almost $37 in 3 days! Now that makes me happier.