Unless you have been hiding under your bed or under a rock the past few hours, presumptive Presidential nominee Gov. Mitt Romney has picked Rep. Paul Ryan as his running mate.
There are some things that have changed in this race, because of that, and others that remain the same. I've said this a number of times in a few places, but it bears repeating:
This election is not about candidates, not about parties, not about personalities. It is about the size, scope and power of the US federal government.
All else is distraction. Your job is to keep your eye on the target, do not flinch with the exploding shiny objects as they are ephemeral. To permanently alter the course of this Nation away from its Statist and decrepit ends, you must vote and you must make sure that everyone you know is registered to vote. To do so go to Wall Builders as they have a site up to allow you to check the registration status of individuals. Too many 'conservatives' are sit on the side complainers unwilling to even register to vote. Ask them if they are willing to do the simplest thing necessary to change things so that they can stop complaining and become an active critic that matters to their fellow citizens.
Ask them if they have any honor.
Give them the low-down on what honor means:
HONOR
Do as You say.
Say what You mean.
Mean what You do.
There are no excuses brooked in this. If they have already registered, make sure they will honor their duty to society, the thing that We the People acting as Caesar ask of you to do: vote your conscience. This IS a rendering unto Caesar, make no mistake about it, and is a requirement of our civilized society to do with a representative democracy.
From Lincoln we have learned that you can fool all of the people, some of the time; some of the people, all of the time; and all of the people some of the time. You can't fool all of the people, all of the time. Sit this election out, and you are just a fool and have been fooled and will continue to be in that 'some of the people, all of the time' group.
Your vote does matter and there is no brooking this question.
This is not part of one's duty to God but to the service that you agree to by being part of civilization. Civilization is not a gift but a life-long occupation you get from the moment you can rationally think.
Anyone who complains, who doesn't register or won't vote is a fool. You may want to find a better sort of friend that no longer includes fools. Better to be friendless and committed to the hard work of civilization and upholding your responsibilities to it than to accept authoritarian barbarism delivered with a sweet smile and a set of chains to hook you up to the chattel car. A civilized person will be dead long, long before that point, defending their life, their liberty and their inalienable right to pursue happiness.
Do I think Mitt Romney is a hot and great candidate? No. Yes I have a variety of reasons on that. I don't have to like a man to vote for him. He has some character. The person we have as President is a character, and a composite one, at that.
Is he a lesser evil, like all we have been presented with in the latter part of the 20th and first decade of the 21st century? To a degree, yes. That is a distraction. Your job is to get good people elected locally, from the neighborhood level on up, to start removing the claws and tentacles of the beast of government, and to stop it from sucking the life blood of this Nation out and putting our inalienable rights in danger at every turn. You can start to limit evil and start removing choices from it. You can't get to there from here without voting.
Did I mention that YOU have to be registered to vote and have a commitment TO VOTE on the assigned day? 06 NOV 2012. It is printed on most civic minded calendars. It is a date. Keep it.
The job of curbing the extent, the reach of government begins with YOU not the government. If you self-govern, abide by the laws (at least to the degree that you can as the evil concept of making so many laws that you are in danger of violating any of them by just being alive is now seeing fruit), be a good neighbor and help your neighbor... even that smelly guy at the end of the block who passes out on the sidewalk far too frequently... yeah, that guy... do you live at the end of the block and pass out frequently?... imagine what a horror HIS LIFE must be. Reach out to help that sot. Once he is sober he can tell you to keep out of his life! You will find no good deed goes unpunished. Let that sot know that if he ever needs help, he can knock on your door and get it.
Notice the part government plays in that? Zip.
Nada.
You are not depending on government for getting the guy into rehab. That is HIS decision to make, not ANYONE ELSE'S which includes YOU. You can look up the number to a rehab clinic if he asks you to do so. But that poor sot may have other problems of which being drunk and passed out is just a minor side-effect.
Say, is he registered to vote?
Find out.
He might not get sober enough for this election, but might make the next one... which will be a LOCAL election. For you to create a better society you must not only be willing to help out that drunken sot at the end of the block who tends to rant too much and not take showers that often, but go and vote. Of the two, voting is the more difficult one. He might even be able to give you some insight into that.
Bet you thought this 'civilization' stuff was going to be easy, huh?
These critical fundamentals of being kindly to your fellow man, taking responsibility to make sure that those heading to hell in their own hand-basket know they have a hand ready to get them out of it, and upholding your duty to your fellow man by telling Caesar what to do.... these don't change.
Notice how this isn't about Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney or any other thing beyond you being a good person, saying 'hey, no thanks' to government 'help', and then being willing to help others. And VOTE THAT WAY? Geez, wouldn't it be great if more people did this?
The enemies of liberty seek to beguile through theft via government... taxation is legalized theft to do a few small things, but handing that hard earned money over to those who didn't earn it because THEY DIDN'T EARN IT and are UNWILLING TO EARN IT, that is theft of a greater sort. Beyond the mere wasteful spending of government on overhead, forms, layers of bureaucracy that yields no better results save to ask for a larger bureaucracy (and this is thievery as well)... is the belittling of our fellow man saying that they are entitled to be kept alive for the sole reason that they are ALIVE. Sorry, you gotta earn your keep and prepare for a bad life.
Are you prepared to practice the principles necessary to get to the good ends of man helping man instead of saying, 'Hey, Caesar! You take care of this guy, ok?' I'm sure Jesus said to deliver the sick and poor unto Caesar... no, wait a sec.... you're supposed to take care of those folks. So sorry! If you want to stop having money thefted from you via taxation, that means you have to pick up your end of that deal. And no matter how much fancy and nice language you put up to this, it is destruction of the moral will of individuals to be individual and to be a vibrant member of society and to uphold the good of society so that government can get on with the few things necessary to protect us from attack. That in no way relieves YOU of the obligation to protect yourself, your loved ones, your neighbors or your property from attack, either.
I suggest you be well armed. Others tend to forget that what you earn is yours, not theirs. Government is just at the top of the list, it is not the list entire.
So what has changed in the Presidential race?
The above is now the new focus.
Remember it.
Keep your eye on the target.
Ignore distractions, and they will be outrageous.
Make sure your friends are registered to vote.
Make sure your friends vote.
Make sure YOU VOTE.
And after that be a beacon and light of liberty to others, holding out a hand in friendship and yet prepared to confront those that only have a fist ready for you.
This is not the end of the procedure.
It isn't even the beginning of the end.
It isn't even the end of the beginning.
Depending on how much of this you already do you are either in Square 1 and saying 'where the hell am I?' or a few squares down the road. Getting to GO is a long, long, long way away and every decision you make will become a gamble on yourself, your neighbors, your life and your Nation.
Every.
Single.
Decision.
Keep your eye on the target as it is the light of liberty and freedom for all mankind.
Government can't build that. ONLY YOU CAN.
Isn't life grand?