Thursday, August 5, 2010

New Age Redneck

I not only own a farm but a business and I'm a capitalist pig, a libertarian who usually votes Republican mostly because I own guns and value the Second Amendment and don't like socialism/welfarism.

But I'm also tree-hugger. Most of the farm is actually forest and it's in the middle of a national forest. I recycle and aim for sustainable living. Yep, I'm a Green Red in a Blue state. And yes I'm "spiritual" - practice kriya yoga (meditation) and study the I Ching.

I guess I am pretty serious. I was not born in America. I was born and raised in a Third World police state. Life for me was a heavy serious business from the get-go. I immigrated to the USA when I was 30 and my character had already been formed. So, yes, I'm quite serious about serious things but I have a wicked sense of humor and love being a clown in the right situation.

My seriousness is probably the reason that I don't enjoy chatting. I'm not good at small talk and prefer to get right down to business. So, yes I can sometimes be overly blunt and impatient.

Like our Founders, I believe that government is a necessary evil and that it's only purpose is to maintain law and order and protect our "unalienable rights" and private property. I vote Republican not because I agree with it 100% - I only agree with about 60% of the GOP agenda but I disagree with the Democratic Party's agenda almost 100%. The GOP is the lesser of two evils.

I'm a Republican for the following reasons:

I'm an immigrant from a police state. (I also lived in Europe for 8 years before coming to the states.) The USA is the best place in the world. I don't take American for granted and I don't think Europe is more civilized than the USA. It's simply more socialist and the problem with socialism is, as Margaret Thatcher said and as Europeans are now discovering, that eventually you run out of other peoples' money.

I own guns because I have to for protection and hunting. There is no police force in the boonies. We're on your own. Us country bumpkins do not rely as much on government services as city slickers do and I'm a businessman. Which party taxes us less, protects our property rights and defends our Second Amendment rights better?