Progressives Versus Corporations

I recently had a day long twitter exchange with a progressive. As usual it always came down to the evils corporations do. Are there corporations that place profits over common morality? Of course. There are corporations doing things that can be seen as crimes against nature, but they typically do them in countries like China.

I tried explaining to the progressive that taxes and government regulations force these companies to move jobs to countries like China where sweat shops thrive. In some cases the poor in China are happy to have jobs even if they are in deplorable conditions. This isn't an excuse for consumers and corporations that ignore the plight of foreign workers—it's just one symptom of poverty and an out of control Chinese government.

In the USA we have a long list of jobs that the left calls, “Jobs that Americans won't do.” For those jobs we import workers from south of the border who are happy to have any job. Those people are so desperate for even the lowest paying American jobs that they sometimes risk their life coming to this country. This is despite such trade agreements like NAFTA that has driven American jobs across the southern border. NAFTA decimated many rural textile communities such as the one in which I live.

Knowing History—The Pledge of Allegiance

The Pledge of Allegiance is something I thought little about as I stood in my grammar school class each day repeating the phrase. My only thoughts were that my nation was something about which to take great pride. I feel no differently today. The only difference today is that I often have to seek out corrections to history as taught by our schools and perpetuated by the different political ideologies. The simple Pledge of Allegiance is one of those things.

Where did the pledge originate?

The Pledge of Allegiance was written in August 1892 by the socialist, Baptist minister, Francis Bellamy (1855-1931). It was originally published in The Youth's Companion on September 8, 1892. Bellamy had hoped the pledge would be used by citizens in any country. Years after the Civil War had ended the nation was still divided. This was an attempt to bring the nation together under one flag.

The pledge in its original form:

I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

Obama Syndrome

President Obama's overall performance rating has been constantly above 50%. This week the daily tracking poll had it at 54%. Since the election we have wondered how he won so easily and people still believe he is doing a good job. Right after the election I wrote as to why he was re-elected. Now that some time has passed, and some of the shock has worn off, I began to think after seeing this poll result.

Another factor that led to this new look is the on-street interview where Jimmy Kimmel asked people what they thought about the Super Bowl, even though it had yet to be played. One man went so far as to say he lost $200 on the Ravens. Some went on about Beyonce and her performance at halftime.

I'm Called the Extremist

Each day I'm told over and over by the media how people who think like me are extremists. I was recently de-friended by someone on a social site because of my extreme views. Extremism is often relative to the other person's beliefs. I want to go over a few things that led this person to view me as an extremist.

The country is approaching the so-called fiscal cliff and my belief is in the end the country might be better off if we take the dive. For a decade we have listened to government talk about cutting spending and then pat themselves on the back when they propose a spending bill that cuts projected spending by a few billion dollars. What they don't tell us is that once again spending increases dramatically. We are running a trillion dollar deficit and neither party seems to care. The Democrats want to raise tax rates on the top 2% earners, which would raise only about $80 billion. Neither party is willing to rein in the IRS and look at all the deductions. They love deductions because that's how they repay those that contribute to their campaigns. Because I point out that tax on the top 2% is simply misdirection, and say we get only double speak from both parties, I'm called an extremist.

Wasted vote

I just watched an electoral landslide victory of a lesser of two evils. Obama was not the man of hope and change that people believed him to be. He has been a failure as president. It should have been impossible for him to win with nearly 8% unemployment, yet he did.

A lot of people are sitting around wondering what went wrong. The wrong is the two parties. We are forced into positions where we must elect someone that will either expand federal power a lot, or a little.

I think we can reduce this to gay marriage. No, this is not about the Republican Party’s stand against gay marriage. It doesn’t matter if we have a republican or democratic president, those laws never change. The mistake is that people think they vote for someone who will help them legalize their relationships.

Who Are The Progressives?

For the past 100 years the progressive movement has pushed and clawed its way into control of the Unites States. Franklin D. Roosevelt brought the progressive movement into prominence. His progressive polices catapulted the United States into the worst economic period in history. While the rest of the world experienced a recession, or even a depression, only in the USA is it known as the Great Depression.
During the period known as the Great Depression, the USA witnessed the largest expansion of government in history. FDR perpetuated the depression so that he could push an progressive agenda. People looked upon FDR as if he was a savior when he began the jobs programs. Those people built parks, bridges and roads. While those things aren’t bad, they did little to provide permanent work.

It was only after World War 2 that the depression ended. For the next twenty years the USA saw prosperity never before experienced. That prosperity was kick-started by a drastic cut in taxes. Taxes needed to fund the war had been pushed even higher than the progressive tax of FDR. The war taxes were just, but the reduction of those taxes are what propelled us into the roaring 50’s, just as the reduction of taxes propelled the nation into the roaring 20’s.