A reader asked me the other day if I considered myself a liberal or a conservative. That surprised me a little bit because I've always thought that I made myself pretty clear in most of what I say and do. Since I'm apparently not as clear as I thought I was, I'm now going to break a self imposed rule and discuss my personal political beliefs in detail.

I come from a relatively poor family. My grandparents were adamantly democrat but when you consider that they survived the depression by eating too few potatoes and eggs which they produced themselves and by standing in long lines to take any available odd job to survive, their political beliefs are not difficult to understand. It was, after all, a democrat who put this country back to work and out of the depression.

Another great democrat who was elected president and killed shortly after my birth spoke with great wisdom about how our country would benefit from a sizeable tax cut. I say wisdom because a wise man knows that the majority of people do not stuff their money in a mattress. The wise ones invest it and the more common of us find ways to spend it. Wise or not, both of these disciplines create cash flow. Cash flow creates jobs and more jobs create prosperity for all of us. Even ultimately for the tax collector.

I learned at an early age that my family's financial situation was sufficient to keep me fed and clothed most of the time. However, if I wanted nicer clothes so I didn't get made fun of or if I wanted to do some of the fun things that my friends were doing it was going to be up to me to provide the means.

By the age of 8 I was the goofy kid knocking on your door with a rake or snow shovel in my hand asking if you had any work I could do to earn some money.

By the age of 11 many of my friends were pulling down enviable allowances for little more then taking out the garbage. I was taking out the garbage then walking or hitching a ride to one of the area commercial farms to pick beans or tomatoes or cherries for a paycheck. Often times a share of my earnings went to pay family expenses because the family simply did not have enough otherwise.

Now before you "holier than thou's" start wagging your fingers at my parents, you need to understand that they would have had a difficult time stopping me. I was what you might call an independent little cus and I pretty much did things my own way. I still do.

The point of this whole digresses is simply this; these experiences did not make me bitter and feeling like the world, or more specifically the government, owes me something. Instead they made me realize that we can go much farther and achieve much greater things if we do not have some rich uncle making life easier for us.

In fact I dare say that if many of our children today were guided and given the legal opportunity to help provide for the support of their own families, we would have far less drug and gang problems. You don't build self-esteem by giving handouts and if you haven't noticed, farm kids don't have time for gangs.

It's like the old biblical proverb, give a man a fish or teach a man to fish. The man who is taught will have more self esteem, be more productive and will be far less likely to wind up in prison. For this reason I do not look at a successful man and silently wish that someone would take what he has earned away and give it to me. Instead I look at that man and silently wish that I could convince him to show me how he achieved that success so that I might incorporate his good habits into my own life and eventually earn what he has earned.

So back to the original question, if the answer is still not obvious, then you my friend need to first learn how to push a small, steel pin clearly through a voting ballot. Then once you have acquired that skill you need to vote for people who favor teaching your children to fish rather than feeding them or they will wind up as ignorant as you.

Still not clear? Okay, but remember you asked for it.

In my opinion, many modern republicans are too far to the left for our own good. Modern democrats are true red socialists who because of a never ending stream of special interest groups have blinded themselves to the fact that while men rule men, socialism is destined to fail, usually in a bloody manor. God forbid the sad day they ever achieve the full power they seek.

Have you ever noticed that every modern liberal cause is based entirely upon the premise that the road to utopia is paved with the lost rights of anyone who disagrees with them? We used to fear those 'dirty red commies' but in truth, when that wall came down the misguided beliefs of that depressing land moved into our schools and our neighbors homes. Ultimately into the very institutions created by our forefathers to defend our freedoms against that type of threat.

Higher taxes limit freedom and destroy prosperity for all. Gun control limits freedom and will never increase the safety of a single citizen. An attempt to force me to accept gays or any other group of citizens as equal leads me to think that maybe they are not equal, when in all honesty I had no opinion before you attempted to force one on me. Hate crime laws only increase hate by telling one group of citizens that another group of citizens is more important and deserving of better protection.

The separation of church and state laws were written by people fleeing a king who would not allow them to worship the God of their choice in a manner of their choice. The intention was to prevent the government from impeding our rights to religious expression. Now the traitorous left, along with special interest groups like the A. C. L. U. (Anti-Christ Lovers Union), have twisted and perverted the meaning of those wise words. The government is now compelled by misinterpretation of law to prevent us from expressing our religion in places that we built and paid for because that expression may offend some atheist, or devil worshipper.

The bible teaches in another great proverb that to spare the rod is to spoil the child and yet we have responsible and caring mothers thrown in jail for spanking a deserving child.

Gee! I wonder why we have become mired in social unrest and violence? Why are our children killing each other in the streets and schools? BECAUSE SOCIALISM, FOR ALL OF IT'S GOOD INTENTIONS, IS A FOOL'S GAME AND DOES NOT WORK!

When humankind is not held accountable for their own actions they become complacent in their natural quest for self-improvement. Instead, we begin thinking that we are free to act out any deviant behavior or openly express any deviant thought because, after all, it is not our fault. A stingy society and violent cartoons made us do it.

I'll let you in on a little secret folk's. I grew up idolizing John Wayne and immensely entertained by the violent but comical antics of Wiley Coyote and Bugs Bunny. As children we strapped on toy six shooters and pretended to kill each other as cowboys and Indians. Yet to the very best of my recollection not a single one of us took a real gun to school in an attempt to kill our teachers and classmates. As a matter of fact I don't think I personally have ever shot, stabbed, poisoned or hanged a single person.

As a society, these things didn't generally come to pass on such a mass scale until the democrats became socialists and the Anti-Christ Lovers Union started perverting everything we stood for. These groups are gradually but persistently turning our great country into an infested cesspool and to top it off are just as persistently convincing our young that only they can elevate us out of the mire.

Here is a little tip. You can't force anyone to like or even tolerate anyone else if they do not choose it themselves. The harder you try, the deeper you seed hate that may not have ever existed without your interference.

It is time to rethink your value's people. It is a sad day indeed when our president can get away with the filth and lies that our previous one did and an even sadder day when a single televised kiss can nearly change the outcome of something as important as the campaign for President of the United States of America.

If you want me to be charitable then give me my money and mind your own business about what I do with it. If you want me to be more tolerant then stop trying to force me to accept your deviant behavior or that it is natural. A thief is born to steal and a murderer is born to kill but that does not make what they do anymore acceptable. I'm willing to give anyone a chance but keep your bedroom activities in the bedroom with your partner and leave me out of it. This type of stuff is what turns otherwise community preservationists into self-preservationists and ultimately serves no good purpose.

I consider myself a good, God fearing, tolerant man. I am not apt to harm you in any way unless you first seek to harm me or mine. But do not ever kid yourself. The day may come when we must take up arms to protect our constitution and our way of life. Possibly even from our own government if people don't soon wise up. On that day, if you are flying the colors of socialism you will be my enemy and make no mistake. The fight will not be a pleasant one.

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