About our free market system and planning your life.

What is the significance of planning your life to reach a goal of self-sufficiency and autonomy? I think it is what enables one to truly be a free person living in a free country.

Calvin and free enterprise

After reading Dave Ramsey’s rant about our socialist lawmakers getting the average, hard working Joe’s income in the “Tax and Redistribute” crosshairs, I have thought long and hard about the world I grew up in vs. the world of “Hope and Change” that continues to only give raising taxes as the way to get there. This is an assault on every person who has ever worked and sacrificed to have the American Dream.

When I was growing up in Central Indiana, my mother worked, which wasn’t a popular choice among women in her generation, but she considered it a duty to my Dad and her children. She was able to give us the opportunity to explore our interests early on. I took private art classes from age 7 until my dear art teacher retired and moved to Florida when I was 14. I started painting in oil at age 9. I took a shot at being an Art major at a State College at age 18, but found my feminazi, attention whore instructor a bit much to handle. She decided getting a nude model in a Drawing I class to be appropriate, and I guess it fit in with her braless appearance and platform shoes. After sitting through a class that was composed of not only art majors but architect and engineering students and watching the males squirm through the embarrassing, growing lumps in their britches, I went home and announced to my conservative, southern mother that I just couldn’t deal with the unprofessional conduct in the world of academia, so I was done. I went to work and at the age of 28 decided to pursue education again. I was a displaced auto worker who had become tired of being laid off time and again, so I went back to school.

During that time, I bought a $100, rusted out Pinto coupe to get back and forth to classes. I waited tables at banquet facility, putting up with many a drunken bowler along the way, as a means to put gas in that Pinto to get to class and to put a little cheap stew beef and some veggies in the crock pot so could eat. Not one time did I complain, as I considered my journey to self-sufficiency a blessing and a lesson in the appreciation of what my country offers. I emerged to work my way into the comfortable living that I make now, but it took years of working in IT to get there. I still dabble with art, but I consider contributing to this society and the economy more important.

I have spoke with my son about planning his life and ability to make a living. You see, he wants to be a writer. If I were a more liberal parent, I would just tell him, do what you feel led to do, and after years of living in poverty… some liberal in Congress will force taxpayers to take care of your needs. Instead, I explained the idea of planning for comfortable survival, while pursuing your dreams. I told him that he can pursue a profession that will give him skills needed to write and research, such as science, medical or technology documentation or research specialist, etc. You don’t have to be stuck in a teaching field in order to go into writing. Having siblings who are in the teaching trade, I know that the income is not the greatest and it takes up a lot of “time”. My watching my brother having to do roofing in the summer for years in order to provide for his family, plus continue his education clear up to getting his doctorate. He is now administrative, which is a good living, but he spends evenings and weekends having to attend games and activities, and once again he has little time to do anything else. I have told my son about a friend who’s passion is photography. She got her education to do tech writing and research. She now makes a good living doing work from home for a large company and has enough time to do her passion and makes great money from that as well. She is the master of her time and has the resources to live her dream. She has done it without any help from the Government.

I have reached the point in my career that I do reasonably well too, but even when I was living in poverty, I never spent one single day on welfare, never received food stamps or Medicaid. I worked and planned to make my security real. This is how my family for generations have done it and it makes us stronger. So yes, I do resent the government and politicians telling me that they will take a good chunk of my income in order to help other people who don’t want to do the work to take care of themselves. My thoughts are, I’ve done it for myself, and I don’t think there is any excuse for an able bodied person to not be able to do it like I did. I’m not prepared to give my hard earned cash to government so they can give it to people who have made poor choices in life. I don’t resent individuals who have been disabled in accidents or injured in service to this country to be cared for by our tax dollars. As a compassionate society we should actively take care of those who have become unable to care for themselves by no fault of their own. But I don’t care for the idea of taking care of people who have contributed absolutely zero to this country, who considered it a right to pop out babies they have no means to care for, or people who consider themselves entitled to government hand outs. Taxation is much like highway robbery. When the Tax Man wants your money, he has the power of law to make you pay up or go to prison. We are forced to pay whether we like it or not. That is why we have to make a stand against politicians that have no problem telling us they want to take more to help “fix the poor people”. Why should people be motivated to pull themselves up the way our forefathers did if they can count on the government to provide them with 3 hots and a cot, plus healthcare, plus drug money, etc, etc, etc.

This is my rant. I believe in the right for anyone to succeed in our society and to achieve self sufficiency as well. There is no better character and self-esteem building experience than working toward this goal. My mother quoted the Bible many times, and one quote has served me well in life, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”… the actual verse reads:

1 Corinthians 8:6
…yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.

When I was living in poverty, without healthcare and going to school, or when I was a single mother trying to care for my son and ailing parents, and even now, in the wretched economy, this continues to hold true, and I feel blessed and watched over every day. I can’t point to any sure “proof” of God’s existence, I can only go on the blessings and miracles I’ve experienced in my own life. The joy and comfort of his divine leadership in my life over the years feeds my faith. This is why, no matter how tough the journey, I always know I can stand up to the trials. Thanks be to God for all the goodness in my life.