Talking to Children

Ask kids questions they know the answers to, for children delight in knowledge, and they will love you for giving them the chance to put theirs to use.

How to Fix America's Budget Issues

It seems to me that America finds itself perpetually in a budget crisis.  Popular remedies involve cutting back on domestic services like AmeriCorps and the entire education system.  Those who make the money decisions don't eliminate these programs entirely; they only render them less potent, less able to serve their purpose.  And yet the money used on these programs, while it does add up to quite a sum, is spread very thin.   It is all being used, and in countless ways.  So if you're trying to save money without ruining these programs entirely, you're not going to be able to get enough out of them to solve anything.

No, here's the real solution-- the real sinkhole out of which billions of dollars can be fished:  Cut the military.  Sure a military (which don't forget is, when simplified unfairly, a kill squad, and when simplified optimistically, a protective force) is a necessary evil.  But we're (at least ostensibly) only at war in a few countries.  And we, ourselves, are only one country.  So why the fuck do we need 750 military bases in 63 different countries? 

Is it necessary?  Are we trying to protect the whole world or control it?  Can either be done?  And if we're trying to do it, if we've got guns at the ready in every part of the world, ready to be called into action on a moment's notice-- if the message our military sends is "Don't fuck with us, or you're done," are we the heroes or the bad guys?  Is all of that necessary for us to feel safe?  Is us being more comfortable worth the spending of billions upon billions?  Is it worth putting lives in danger?  Is it worth the arms buildup which, if the Cold War was any indication, will result in an eventual surplus of weaponry which after enough shady deals go down will probably end up in the hands of the very types of forces we're fighting against?  And while we're at it, is it worth making war for an entire country when you're only after a select group within it?  Might that be a better job for a smaller, more covert, more precise, and less destructive task force?  Where is the cutoff?  How many lives is it okay to end with a bomb as long as one of those lives happens to be a terrorist leader?  You can't put out a fire with a flamethrower.  It might make you feel more powerful and safer that you can make a fire even bigger than the other guy's fire, but the overall fire, once your hand comes away from the trigger, will either stay the exact same size or it will get bigger, and it will only stop if it runs out of things to burn.

Cut the military.  Cut it big.

Fight Entitlement

Americans have this view of themselves as powerful, as winners, as good people in a good country.  They've come to expect opportunity to come at them.  Our constitution gurantees us certain rights.  Our celebrity culture generates a want to be worshipped.  Our labor unions generate job security.  There are all these systems set up that enable people to feel great, honorable, worthy, and entitled without necessarily doing anything to earn it. 

Rights are meant to protect us from unjust suffering.  They aren't meant to make us think we can do (or not do) anything we want and be rewarded for it.  You are not special because you're an American.  You are simply lucky.  You are certainly not a better person by being American, nor by being wealthy or famous.  The only true way to deserve what you have is to earn it.

All people should have the rights to respect, courtesy, safety, freedom.  But even these can be taken away or witheld.  Even these must sometimes be earned.

But most "rights" should always be earned.  You do not have the right to a job, education, reward, or opinion if you have done nothing to earn it.  You do not have a right to your job if you aren't doing it well.  I don't care what that job is, whether you pick up trash, teach children, put out fires, grow food, or run a country-- if you suck at your job, you don't have a right to keep it. 

If you enter a competition and lose, you don't get a trophy.  If you haven't contributed anything valuable to society, you shouldn't be famous.  If you spend two dollars on a random lottery ticket, you don't deserve 50 million dollars for it.  If you aren't actively trying to learn, no one will want to teach you.  If all you do is tear others down, you shouldn't speak.  If all you do is take and not give, what do you really deserve?  Who wants to spend their time on someone who will take that time and waste it?

There is nothing about you- not your wealth, your intelligence, your job, your social status, your friend count on Facebook, your awards, your parents, your country, your fame, your ideals, your advantages, your disadvantages-- nothing that makes you a better person than anyone else, nothing except your actions.  What will you do to benefit others?  What will you do to contribute to the betterment of your little part of the world? 

You deserve less than you think, and you will be given even less than that.  So don't expect someone else to save you, heal you, teach you, make you, or love you if you aren't going to go out there and do the same for them.  Engage the world.  Prove your worth.  You are not entitled.  

Stairway to Heaven

The stairway to Heaven
Is built on sacrifice.
I'll say that twice;
The stairway to Heaven
Is built on sacrifice.