The more I hear from Washing DC, the more I get disgusted with it. I didn't vote for "change I could believe in", but I am seeing "change I can't believe". I often get asked about my political views and why. These are my thoughts.
Some may see the Constitution as a 200+ year old, outdated document. Some want to update it and will do so by any means necessary (front doors or back doors). I personally believe there's nothing really wrong with the Constitution, and we shouldn't be meddling with "something that ain't broke". I fully admit to hating studying the Constitution in grade school, but as I get older I recognize the brilliance in the simplicity of it. It was written by people who were truly oppressed and didn't want that to ever happen again. I really wish we could see that right now.
My belief is that the government should be a framework, not big brother or a nanny. Give everyone an equal opportunity to succeed or fail. Some will succeed beyond their wildest imaginations. Some will fail and give up, but some will fail, pick themselves back up, and keep going. The beauty of the American system is that everybody has equal tries. If that person wants to stop trying or decides to plateau, that person has every right to do so.
There are many in the government who want to tilt the playing field towards people who are unmotivated and do not want to make anything of themselves. This is insulting to those people since it says "you're not good enough to handle it on your own". This punishes/takes from someone successful and gives it to someone who hasn't earned it. In every industry that I've been in, there's always been "paying your dues" where you start at the bottom and work your way up to the top. This instills an earned sense of accomplishment and makes the person appreciate the work done. If something is just handed to a person on a silver platter with no work done, will that person appreciate it? Or will that person start calling it an entitlement? If the government starts stepping in, where does it stop? "Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime."
America was built on capitalism. I believe in capitalism, but it has gotten a really bad rap lately. I've dub'd the version I believe in to be "ethical capitalism". Ethical capitalism tries to do a good job and deliver products as advertised. I really consider unethical behavior in the capitalistic system to be criminal and not capitalism. These people take advantage of and manipulate the system to their own benefit, not caring who they step on. Criminally unbridled greed in unethical capitalism is what caused our current financial crisis, not capitalism alone. I believe in government rules and regulations to be enough to prevent this criminal behavior but not so much to become a nanny or to execute political agendas under the table.
I don't believe in allowing monopolies. It is a very touchy subject on how monopolies are defined. I don't have a clear answer, and I doubt there is one for all cases. I don't believe in letting companies get "too big to fail". There has been a lot of political uproar about this. Putting all one's eggs in a single basket has always been dangerous. If one single company that is "too big to fail" decides to do some "questionable things", how can that company be controlled and be brought back in line? What if it decides to manipulate the markets and the politicians are bought off? What if it screwed up and seriously crashed the markets? What if it decides to squash upcoming competition that has better products?
I do believe in competition. It sparks cost cutting and innovations. Great innovations become very popular in the market place. The people behind the scenes get rich and are incentivized to do more. Greed may not be a very popular way of defining motivation in capitalism, but greed under proper control can be very powerful. There are some amazing technologies that have been born out of this greed. I'm not saying all innovations were greed based, but most of them have undertones of it in some way.
I do not believe in socialism. Everybody may be equal under the sight of God, but they are not equal in the work force. Some are smarter than others. Some have more motivation than others. Some are physically stronger than others. All humans are slightly different. Forcing everyone to have the same skill set and not excel is a deterrent for innovation. People get complacent, mind numbed, broken, and just don't care any more. Look at the former USSR as an example. Their "glorious" model failed. As they rebuild, capitalist influences are winning out. While some may be unethical, those who embrace capitalism are growing quickly.