Capitalist Fortune Cookie?

Yesterday I cracked open a fortune cookie that read:

"A fine is a tax for doing wrong. A tax is a fine for doing well."

Ideological? Who Me?

Glenn Beck sums up the misleading usage of ideological and pragmatic that we hear so much about these days:

http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/20408/

How about some honesty...let's both present our ideologies, figure out where we agree and disagree, and work out a decent solution, rather than just belittling the other side. So many opinions deemed "evil" or "hateful" by the other side are just logical extensions of a difference in assumptions earlier up the chain of argument. Maybe if we unraveled each others arguments to understand them, we'd be better off than just conveniently labeling others.

More Quotes

A wise assessment to remember in these trying economic times:

"A nation trying to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to pick himself up by the handle." -- Winston Churchill

The elitism is dripping off this one:

"I don't mean this will happen tomorrow, I know that the majority (of British people) are still opposed, but there is a period of consideration underway and the people which matter in Britain are currently thinking about it." -- European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso (http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=081130204959.yq2a770m&show_article=1)

...and I thought "the people which matter" in a democratic society are the entire general population.

A few great quotes from our Founding Fathers, great men who if they were alive today would sadly be mocked and reviled as religious nutjobs:

"And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with his wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep for ever." -- Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, Query 18, 1781

"It is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favors." -- George Washington, Thanksgiving Proclamation, 3 October 1789

"It is the duty of every man to render to the Creator such homage, and such only, as he believes to be acceptable to him. This duty is precedent both in order of time and degree of obligation, to the claims of Civil Society. Before any man can be considered as a member of Civil Society, he must be considered as a subject of the Governor of the Universe." -- James Madison, A Memorial and Remonstrance, 1785

-1 for Socialism

Another lesson on the pitfalls of socialism / nationalizing private business:

Fannie, AIG Struggling After Federal Takeover on washingtonpost.com

Though we could have predicted that by looking at history. How about we work on privatizing more government programs instead and letting competition work. Potentially painful? Yes. But the markets have a better chance of picking the best solution than the government, which seems to specialize in putting down layers of ineffective inefficiencies.

Again With the "Rights" that Aren't Rights

Some good points from Thomas Sowell on gay "marriage" in this townhall.com article.

Revive Reagan!

No, not Republicans that just say they're like Reagan, we really need somebody like this to emerge strongly in 2012:

Karl Marx is Not the Father of Capitalism on townhall.com
Inside Ronald Reagan on reason.com