Pumpkin Hunting Year 2

No comic this week, sorry guys, but between moving plans and pumpkin hunting (which fetched a rather impressive watermelon looking thing) and preparing for Nekocon this weekend, it just has to be put off. But there will be one next monday, so just pretend that the usual "after con late comic" was this week instead of next.

So I will be bringing book pre-orders with me at Nekocon so if you'll be there you can snag a copy for yourself if you don't favor the on-line ordering. Please remember that we really need those pre-orders. I feel kinda like a jerk to keep saying that over and over again, but it doesn't make it any less true. I'll of course be bringing an extensive selection of choice comedity merchandice with me to Nekocon, as per usual.

And now onto a topic of conversation I very seldom bring up: Politics. Oh stop screaming. Yeah it's a touchy subject, and I'm sure many people disgree with my views quite vehemently. Which is why I don't bring it up, I feel no need to argue. I have no wish to force my views upon others or have their views forced upon me. But this isn't really about political views, though the thought did start there, this is more of an observation about society. Quite simply, people don't like taking responsibility for themselves.

Quite possibly you're thinking, "duh, but what does that have to do with politics?" Well, it seems to me that we have found a perfect way to disolve ourselves of all responsibility as individuals. We give it all to the government. And I think this is monumentally stupid. I hate big government. Ok, hate is probably a strong word. More accurately, I do not favor the concept and feel that it is detrimental to society, the economy, and life in general. Government is necessary, important, but it should not carry all the weight of responsibility. I do not think the federal government should be involved in or carring about a lot of things that it does these days. At best, I feel that many "issues" that are the topics of debate these days should at best be dealt with at the state level if not the individual. Education should not be federally controlled. The welfare state is about the most broken, leaky, inefficient thing I can imagine. And for the life of me I don't know why the federal government is concerned with who can marry whom. I could have sworn marriage licenses were issued by the state.

There was a reason the USA was set up as a tiered system of government, and over the years all the power and responsibility has flowed away from the personal up through the state and pooled in the lap of the federal government. This seems terribly wrong to me. Everyday life events should be governed by the individual. Individual responsibility, what a noble concept. Issues that effect a large but localized group of people should be handled by local governments. Those local governments should be regulated by state governments. The Federal government is there to make sure the state governments play nicely together. Why should the Federal government try to medle in the affairs of individuals? It's like using a howitzer to hunt quail. Stupid, inefficient.

For the longest time I called myself a Republican. Yeah, yeah I can hear you all booing. I most frequently agreed with the Republican party because the Democrates were the big proponent of BIG government. I didn't like that. And now I can't even call myself a Republican. I am forced to settle with the title of "conservative," which probably isn't that accurate but I don't care about all the little shades between conservative and liberal. I could be a libritarian for all I know, but I don't care, the name doesn't mean anything to me. What does matter is that I no longer have a party, because the Republicans are all BIG government too! The parties have slightly different goals, but they're both advocating the expansion and bloating and clogging of the Federal goverenment. And I can't support that.

I think people should be responsible for their own actions. People should be free to govern themselves and choose their lifestyles so long as they do not interfere with the choices and self-governing of other citizens. This seems fair and just to me. I take responsibility for myself, I see no reason why other's shouldn't too.

Time and time again some issue comes to the light of the people and the people demand something be done. So the federal government steps in for some reason and tries to do something. But it's like a bull in a china shop. Take education for example. It's pretty widely accepted that the public education system sucks. Private schools are the way to go if you want to learn. Sure they've got their issues, but you can choose, right? And that choice determines which schools and schooling techniques win and which loose. The freemarket at work. Conversely, in the public school system your choices suck equally. Some states are better than others, and some counties better than others, but because they all have to opperate within the guidelines set down at the federal level, they can't do jack to really improve themselves. I think we all know how well that whole "no child left behind" thing went over. Teachers get paid shit, students don't get an education, the system doesn't work. All because the responsibility shifted out of the hands of the teachers, principles, and other key individuals who actuall do the job.

And what's worse is that we are constantly told that we want to be coddled and taken care of and that we don't need to take responsibility for ourselves. We're told by the politicians, we're told by the media, we're told day in and day out "oh, don't you worry about that, we'll take care of you." What happened to bootstraps? What happened to the American dream? When did we go from a land of opportunity where an individual willing to apply themselves could make their fortune and their dreams to a land where people expected everything to be handed out to them without effort? You have to chase your dreams. No one will give them to you.

You may not agree with me. You may not share my views. Which is fine. This is the USA after all. We're supposed to be allowed to choose for ourselves, and decide what we believe in. Our country is still what we make of it. If we, as citizens, decide something, it will eventually happen. Look at the trend of green design. The message finally got there. People decided this was important, and then enough people decided it was important and companies decided "hey, they want it, maybe it really is important." It starts with us. I'm sharing with you my believes, because I belive them to be important. I don't expect you to share them, but maybe it'll make you stop and consider your own. And maybe we will share the same dream. And slowly, we can make that dream true. But it has to start with us. The government won't suddenly change. We have to have the will and the dream to show politicians what we believe to be important. And slowly they will start believing in our dream (because that is what gets them elected). We can chase our dreams. We can catch them. They won't be given to us.

Wow, I've got to stop ranting when I'm this tired.

Welcome to the Comedity. Don't step on the Penguin.
Garth(Monday October 29th, 2007) -01:58:09