MyWay1

IF I HAD IT MY WAY
AmericanDaily.com March, 20005
Copyright Steve Pomper, 2004

There's a lot of information out there, but what to do with it all? Not only do we have the old stalwarts of the
traditional mass media: Television, radio and the press, but we now have global internet resources such as
bloggers who opine on both the left and the right as well as from many countries around the globe.
Information is often a good thing. It allows us to sort through opinion and fact and arrive at what we hope is a
cohesive argument or conclusion. However, like quicksand, too much information can suck us in and drown
us. A superfluity of information makes it difficult to sort out the facts from the crap.
Sometimes it helps to distill an argument down to its essential elements, instead of adding information, strip
away what is unnecessary. The basic political struggle in America today pits the left vs. the right, the liberal
vs. the conservative, or as I prefer, the collectivist vs. the individualist.
Everyone owns their opinion as to how far the government may go in limiting individual liberty for what they
feel is the good of society. Most of those, for whom government interference is to some degree justified,
would say that the government should go only as far as what's reasonable. The problem: Who gets to decide
what is reasonable? As the socialistic envelope is continually pushed, what used to be seen as unreasonable
now becomes acceptable.
We all fall somewhere between totalitarianism and anarchism. Most of us have priorities in our lives, such as
raising families and being productive. Often there is little time to dissect our political beliefs. Too many of us
get satisfy our meager appetites for news with spoon-fed sound bites from the nightly news, or even worse
from late night entertainers, and then we settle into an easy and comfortable group-think. We feel the way
we feel, we think the way we think. Period. We fasten ourselves to our shallow arguments and incomplete
conclusions and too often refuse to consider new information. Especially if it requires contemplation.
When I distill my political philosophy down to its essential elements and compare it to that of the collectivist, I
arrive at a simple fact: If I get my way I would be able to conduct my life as I choose free from government
interference, keep the product of my life's energy, and generally pursue my happiness so long as I do not
interfere with the rights of others to do the same. (If this sounds familiar then perhaps you've read America's
founding documents.)
If the collectivists get their way: I would be unable to conduct my life as I choose; government taxes and
regulations would smother my ambition, creativity, and productivity, and regardless of my not interfering with
anyone else's rights, I would not be generally free to pursue my happiness.
Unfortunately, too much of the latter has already come to pass. I recently completed my tax return for the
year. What was the reward for my annual productivity? Undeserved stress over tax forms, because if I don't
give up my money, or if I make an error, which, with thousands of pages of regulations seems more likely
than not, I risk fine or imprisonment. (Although, I suppose I'm just as likely to unintentionally pay too much,
as pay too little.) What an insult to liberty: Not only does the government economically hang me, it hands me
the rope and points me toward the gallows.
A tangent issue is the fascinating concept that the left would wear a pendant of choice as a preeminent jewel
of their philosophy. Their version of choice certainly doesn't sparkle. This jewel is smooth and has no facets.
Other than abortion, where is the collectivist passionate about individual choice?
Too many Americans are no longer able to choose how to use their own property, or run their own businesses,
because government officials have purchased bogus environmental and social calamities from crisis
entrepreneurs. Too many of these disasters are fostered by junk science, which serves to reduce credibility
regarding legitimate concerns.
Many Americans can no longer choose whether or not to wear a seatbelt while driving their cars. I can't
choose whether or not to wear a helmet while riding my motorcycle, and in many places now, even while riding
my bicycle, all in the name of protecting the collectivist-fabricated Goliath we call the public burden.
The, Public Burden, that clever socialist construction that makes me responsible for my unproductive
neighbor's medical (and food, and utilities, and childcare, and transportation,) and other expenses, and after
emptying my wallet, usurps my right to decide how to care for my own body in the name of protecting "my"
tax money.

STEVE POMPER

AUTHOR

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