Back and At It Like Never Before

This past week, I have realized something: at present I am the maddest I have ever been before and the happiest at the same time. It is really hard to attack one or the other when they are at the opposite ends of the spectrum. It's like I have two broken hands and my back itches, if I scratch my back with my broken hands I will slow the healing process down on my hands. If I leave my back alone, I am miserable. What's a guy to do?

I know, I know.....holler at Jenna to scratch my back. That one was easy, but you get the point.

On August 27th, Jenna and I welcomed Claire Jocelyn Hovey into the world. It is amazing, she is an awesome kid and everything has been wonderful in her almost three weeks of life. She's also a super baby, she was almost 22 inches long and weighed a whopping 9 pounds 12 ounces. She can hold her head up all day, is as alert as any baby I have ever seen, and is generally the epitomy of pride in the world. Parenthood is pretty awesome.

Now to my rage!!! This is going to be confusing possibly, and is going to be the subject of my posts here for a while. There is a huge power grab going on in the world right now, and it is screaming at us from all around. The government is out of control, and believe me it did not start with Barack Obama or George W. Bush. Through the out of control government, we have a world where every one votes for the self. This self that people vote for is not for individual rights and liberty, but a power grab where their elected officials rob from the pockets of others in order to benefit their agenda.

Parenthood is getting under control, and my happiness should keep me rational and reasoned. I would like to pursue a lot of topics, some starters are listed below:

1) The Civil War: a heroic war against slavery or a power grab against state secession?
2) The Holocaust: a religious mass killing spree or a Socialist power grab from the successful (the Jews are the bankers as the stereotype goes).
3) The War on Terror: a defensive war against terrorist or an occupational power grab throughout the Middle East?
4) Socialism: the most efficient war to protect the lower classes of society or a power grab for control over a nation or region's economic activity.

I'm going to dig further and think about more issues, but I am going to start here. Books could be written on each of these subjects, so I'm sure a few blog posts won't do them justice. But I'd at least like to take a reasoned look into each, at least get out the rationale, and see what I can find.

There was an excellent op-ed this week at Ron Paul's Campaign for Liberty website, and I have it linked below. It discusses our natural rights to life and liberty and to our possessions which are the means to the previous to. It also discussed how the Declaration of Independence identified the government as a "Securer of Rights" and not a "Provider of Services" as it has become. How individual liberty is earned and a government that provides services must take from you in order to give it back to you.

http://www.campaignforliberty.com/article.php?view=209

Think about the lack of power we all have over our lives. We pay insurance companies to pay our medical bills for us. If we, as a community, pay for our medical bills AND insurance company salaries/profits through our insurance contributions, then how are we less able to pay our own bills? If that makes as little sense to you as it does to me, then why is the solution to our woes to get more people buying insurance? Does that sound like a Government/Insurance Company power grab or a solution?

The issues of our day all involve a big power grab. The idea that someone else can pay our bills, take care of our children, save for our retirements, and the like is really a violation of our liberties. The idea that the government can take money and redistribute out of our wallets to the poor without standards of giving better than we can take a percentage from our own pockets to give to those who are poor AND worthy.

The idea that free individuals took back our free society from a government, and yet today our government thinks it can do a better job of building free societies overseas than their own people can.

Isn't the idea of freedom individual liberty, work, and the pursuit of one's own way? If so, where does a government fit into all of that? These are the ideas I would like to pursue in the discourse of power grabs without taking a partisan spin that is unfortunately destroying our society.

We'll see what I can come up with. Stay tuned.