What's Wrong With America?

In case you hadn't noticed, America is in shambles. Almost one out of every ten people you will meet will be out of a job, the economy and stocks are plummeting, the housing market is dire, our morals are so bad that we legally kill three thousand five hundred children a day, we have people who are married to others of their own sex, just turn on the news for Chicago, New York, or L.A. if you want to know about the crime rate, and a public so uneducated that they visit a wallstreet protest one day and blame Republicans for unemployment the next. Of course, I could go on about our various shortcomings, but they all are a result of a common thing: our culture.

So what's wrong with us? Why is the unemployment rate at eight point two percent? Why is their abortion, gay marraige, and crime? What is it about our culture that generates these things?

First of all, we have a culture based off of rights. "I have the right to..." is becoming a refrain for the American people. In a way, this is a good thing. I people never fought for their rights, the pilgrims never would have started America so that they could worship God freely without interuption. But the pilgrims understood something that the American people have missed horribly. That is the idea of rights with responsibility. Our culture has skipped over this priceless truth, and we have paid dearly.

It isn't hard to draw the paths between our shortcomings and the lack of responsibility. Abortion, for example, is a woman taking her rights to control her own body (and her baby's body) because she does not want to take the responsibility to raise a child. Also, she believes she has the right to have sex, but won't take the responsibility that comes with it, raising a child. With Walstreet prostests, people believe that they have the right to money, but will not take the responsibility of working hard.

Another result of the lack of this right and responsibility concept in America is the entitlement culture. This is very closely tied into the rights problem, but it deserves its own topic because it is the ultimate root to so many of our problems.


Mull on this: if you had the choice between someone giving you a dollar because you are a person, or working hard for the same dollar, which would you choose? Obviously, America has chosen to take the free dollar. Now, what if you were really hungry and there was a hotdog for one dollar. You are about to take the free dollar, but a Republican walks up to the character (aka the gov't) holding that free dollor and convinces him not to. You would get pretty mad, but you still have to eat. So, you slothfully do the work, get the dollar, and buy the hotdog. A jobs crisis, a poverty crisis, and a government debt crisis solved by one action by that mean old Republican.

Of course, we have a much larger scale that we are dealing with in America, but the principle is the same: if you give a man a fish, he will eat for a day. If you stop giving him a fish, he'll fish for himself every day.

The solution is obvious: take away entitlements and cut down on welfare programs. Restore the principle of Bradford: If a man (not a woman, working is the man's job, she has enough on her hands at home) does not work, he does not eat. Problem solved.

 This is not only a job stopper, entitlements lead to all sorts of laziness. This mentality leads to Occupy Walstreet, which leads to poverty, which leads to crime, etc. A downward cycle, that won't end until the source dies: entitlements.

Isaiah Taylor


"Aren't you a little young to being doing this?"
"Yes, yes I am"
-Phineas and Ferb

Daily Quote

"It is hard to feel individually responsible with respect to the invisible processes of a huge and distant government."


John W. Gardner

"Aren't you a little young to being doing this?"
"Yes, yes I am"
-Phineas and Ferb

Why vote Romney?

I hear a lot of Republicans complaining about Mitt Romney. They ask why they should vote him because, "He isn't any better than Bush" and "He made RomneyCare" and anything else they can scrounge up about him. They just decide not to vote because he is so moderate.

Well, guess what. For every one thing you can find on Romney, I'm sure you could find ten on Obama. And don't tell me that's why your not voting, because by not voting for Romney, it's almost voting for Obama.

Here's a way to think about it. There are two countries in battle, and one is lead by Obama, and one by Romney. The armies are the enlisted, or registered, voters, and the citizens of the town which they are fighting in are unregistered potential voters.

Now you are in the ranks, marching through political rants from the other side when you decide to just desert. One less soldier for Freedom.

Now you haven't joined Obama, but you have gone half way there. If the other side cheers when you decide to do something, you know it isn't good.

So there is no truly middle ground unless this is your first time around. Someone out there is counting on you, and no matter what you do, you're striking a blow for one side or the other. Freedom or Socialism? It's your choice, your right, and your duty. Which side will you strike for?

Isaiah  P. Taylor


"Aren't you a little young to being doing this?"
"Yes, yes I am"
-Phineas and Ferb

a carefree culture

Disgusted, I skated over to him after hearing him shout endless threats at his DS the whole skaterball tournament. He had played with us for about five minutes, and then gave in to his digital idol. Out of curiosity, I asked him in a casual manner, “Hey, what job do you see yourself as having when you’re twenty?” Still looking at the small console, he told me, amidst more shouts of victory and “I’ll get you yet"s, that he would work at GameStop. He did not respond when I informed him that he needed proficient grades for just about every job. “I like video games,” was his answer when questioned why they would hire him. Then the climax, accurately representing the majority of America’s youth, including young adults, “I’ll just live here and play games and watch TV while my parents pay the bills.” There was more, and it was just as hopeless. In this report, we will review the great gulf of differences between Mr. Bowditch and today’s youth in three areas: work, school, and recreation.

“I’m going to work at GameStop.” Why would they let him? “’Cause I like video games.” Again, the ideology of our youth: let’s see what the least work I can possibly do while keeping a roof over my head. That is not excellence! The modern conception of a good worker is someone who usually comes on time and barely meets the job description. In Nat’s time, a good worker was someone who excelled. As a teenager, Nat was a hard worker at the chandlery, working from sun up to sun down every day except Sunday, even though he would rather be studying for Harvard. As an indentured servant, labor was not a decision, but it was Nat’s choice to work hard. If most teenagers today found they were indentured for nine years, they would go into depression, drugs, alcohol, and maybe suicide. Cowards! Clearly, Nat was a much more diligent worker.

Unfortunately, my statement to him about having to get good grades was only sort of true. Many jobs these days don’t require good grades. The national average is a C. On the other hand, Nat, as a teenager, learned two languages and became a major mathematician. In America, school is not viewed as a privilege, but as a punishment. Unfortunately, todays parents are often still under many of the false assumptions created in the hippy movement, and do not teach their kids that education is what propels a person through life. Follow your heart! Even if that means ruining your life by failing education. In Nat’s day, education was a great privilege. Therefore, most students put valiant efforts into making their education successful. Early America had much better ideas on how education was to be treated.

The topic with the most contrast between our groups is recreation. It is a common misconception that Americans have been getting less and less free time. We’ve actually been getting more. The misconception comes from the fact that it seems shorter. Why? Television and video games. The average adult spends two and a half hours a day in front of the TV. It’s even more with teens. Today’s culture is so aggressively lazy, it’s scary. Nat, however, spent all his free time on learning, his entire education being developed in free time. His whole teenage life was spent on working and learning and he never had a shred of regret. As you can see, Nat Bowditch is a huge contrast to today’s youth.

I have shown in many ways the utter differences, but the major reason for these differences is a culture that is not motivated to contribute. Today’s youth are unmotivated to do well in school, get a good job, etc. because they fail to see how the benefits outweigh the work. But that isn’t the correct attitude at all. Instead of trying to see what he could get out of it, Nat did all that he did for others. He could’ve just been an angry wretch his whole indenture, but he made the choice not to. With today’s carefree culture, they just don’t care what happens to other people. If they do once in a while, it’s not enough to do anything, especially if it involves work. This is an evil culture.


"Aren't you a little young to being doing this?"
"Yes, yes I am"
-Phineas and Ferb

Occupy Laziness (wait that's us)

I saw a political cartoon the other day that just about summed up my feelings about Occupy Wall Street.

It's amazing to me that these people can just sit around protesting the people who are going to work to create jobs for them! "Tax the rich and their corporations!" one sign reads. It's those corporations that are keeping us out of a major depression! And besides, they're already paying a higher tax rate! Instead of sitting on your bum waiting for the 1% to give you 50% of their hardearned money, why don't you 99% start making some of your own? You can't just depend on the big bad "1%" to keep the economy going.


I saw another cartoon.

Who the heck cares!? Why does making the rich poorer make you happier? If you aren't dying of starvation or out on the street, just be thankfully for what you've got and work toward getting more by going to work instead of sitting on your bum! You want money? Power? So did they; but they didn't get it from the 1% of their time, they got it from getting an education and then a job. Stop saying give us money! Get some for yourself or be quiet because you're making a fool of yourself!


I'm done. That's my view. There will probably be plenty to come out tomorrow.


From my blog, The Washington Critique, watching Washington, Wall Street, and the World


"Aren't you a little young to being doing this?"
"Yes, yes I am"
-Phineas and Ferb