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Saturday, January 7, 2012

Steve Jobs: The Beauty of Capitalism


                In our society, it is quite often that those who succeed are thrown under the bus.  Often, the leaders of big business are shown to be lying, dishonest, disloyal, and utterly immoral cheats,  and to some degree, there are quite a few that are.  The fact is that there are some CEO’s that are getting paid millions in bonuses that were paid for by TARP and the Bailout.  Honestly though, I can see no reason why we should expect anything different – there was a reason they were in need of it to begin with.  When you give a drunk a filled keg, do you expect him to use it wisely? 

                But, the fact is that in our society, we also have some of the most valiant human beings who run big businesses.  I can think of no better example than the late Steve Jobs.

                For Christmas I received his biography by Walter Isaacson.  Though I haven’t finished, I can’t help but find it very interesting how the man himself represented the American Individual.  While Jobs wasn’t the ideal man – none of us are – it can’t be denied that his whole intent and being was very much like the rugged Individual that we believers in Capitalism take heart to. 

                Contrary to the popular idea that CEO’s are all about money, Jobs was just the opposite.  It’s actually quite funny to read some of the conflicts that he came into with those who were simply in the computer business for the money – he hated them.  For Jobs it was about beauty, art, and the desire to create something that would last and that would revolutionize humanity.  Much to the chagrin of some of his co-workers, he stayed with that belief whether it took him to bankruptcy or not. 

                However, this is the story of what Capitalism allows us to do.  Capitalism, that is not crony-controlled, has shown itself to be the place for great Individuals like Jobs.  Can it be argued that the man was not strong willed and ambitious?  No.  But then could he have done it if he had been hindered by government regulation?  Could he have been able to compete had the government subsidized IBM or even Microsoft?  That is something that we can never know, but we can look to the past and see that Individuals are squashed by the government intervenes either way. 

                And that is why Jobs is the proof that Capitalism is the greatest, and only moral, economic system.  Were there any such people in the Soviet Union?  No, the greatest inventor there was perhaps Mikhail Kalashnikov, the inventor of the AK47.  And beyond that there was never true innovation as was seen when the walls came down.  What of North Korea?  Cuba?  I believe we can collectively laugh at that thought. 

                We have fallen away as a society and a people from realizing what is staring us in the face.  The Crony-Capitalism is not going to stop until those who are in control are taken out, when people are given a chance to do as they want, and when we have a Free Market and Laissez-faire Capitalism once again.  Until then, the Steve Jobses of this country will become a dying breed and that should make us all sigh with despair. 

Monday, January 2, 2012

Vote Rich Santorum if you want Obama 2012

                Mr. Santorum would be fine if he were merely a big government Republican like Newt, he would be fine if he were merely a flip flopper like Romney, he would even be fine if he were as inarticulate as Rick Perry.  However, he is not graced in these failures.  No, Mr. Santorum falters in a way that makes it almost unforeseeably dangerous. 

                He is the one candidate that makes Obama look like a peaceful hippy quite honestly, and that is why if Republicans want to lose 2012, they’ll pick him.  I know this is post will either be berated extremely, or ignored completely, however I can’t in clear conscious let the Iowa Caucus go by without doing SOMETHING.  And so it’s because of this that I am compelled to spell it out, why Santorum is the worst candidate in the Republican field.

                First of all, he makes Nixon look like Reagan (‘nuff said).  He supported the Liberal Arlen Specter, a person who was pro-abortion, pro-affirmative action, and pro-amnesty for the senate.  He was named the most corrupt member of congress by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.  These two things automatically make him ridiculous as the candidate without considering his other qualities that would kill him in the major election.

                In the General Election, the goal is to gain at least SOME of the Independents.  Please tell me, how do we hope that a person who is as anti-gay as he is will somehow magically gain support when much of the U.S. is shown to be pro-LGBT rights?  The other candidates aren’t half as intolerant as he is, or at least not as blatantly so.  Do you suppose that the few LGBT voters that could be pulled in would actually support someone like this?  Please.  Also, he is in full support of the War on Drugs.  Past the fact that it has been ineffective, past the fact that it’s cost more lives than any it would have saved, past the fact that it can be determined as unconstitutional, the fact is that many of the people in the U.S. are tired of it!  How can we hope that this deluded man can gain ANY of the Independent votes?  We would have to be as deluded as he is to hope for that.

                Next, is his foreign policy.  It’s tolerable that most of the candidates are for an offensive foreign Policy.  Do I like it?  No.  Could I still support some of them?  Sure.  However, this guy goes over board to an extreme.  He recently said that he would order Iran to shut down their nuclear plants, and if they didn’t, he would bomb them.  Excuse me, but that is what we like to call an Act of War.  That really will be the final straw and we will be in war with Iran before the end of 2013 if this man is in office.  I guarantee you.  Not only is this idea of his a sure fire way to get into another war (funny how he’s never been in the service, right?), it is totally blind to the repercussions that such actions would have on an international level.  Do you think that Russia would let this happen?  What about China?  Are we really so blind as to believe that these two countries will let the money they threw into Iran simply be blown up? That is wishful thinking. 

                But let’s be honest.  If Santorum gets the Nomination, we will have another four years of Obama.  Whether you like it or not, there is a large group of anti-war voters.  If it is only to avoid a war with Iran, they will go to Obama.  So let’s look at this now.  If we have Santorum, we lose the LGBT voters, the Independents, the Anti-War voters, and I will promise you he won’t get the Ron Paul supporters without a doubt.

                 So yes, vote for Rick Santorum Iowa.  That’s what we need.  Someone who will lose definitively.