How do you vote?

Please don't tell me Republican or Democrat because neither of those matter.  The Republican party and the Democrat party are merely political affiliations for which one or the other will more closely represent your values but voting for a party has become more and more detrimental.

All that you've got to do is look at the legislation that's making its way out of our nation's capital to see how people vote. We routinely see legislation designed to provide for, or in some way protect the citizenry from themselves. Ask yourself, who needs help in these desperate times? The answer is everyone. Everyone is struggling. The question is: Do you need the government to take care of you or to enable you? By continuing to convince you that things are bad and that you need change, the politicians are by way of repetitive sound bytes convincing you that you are unhappy, your life is miserable, and that you can't make it on your own. John Kerry actually place a "Misery Index" on his website when he was running for President. The misery index is there to inform you of how miserable you are. This is exactly why we have welfare and social security, and now healthcare. Those in the government convinced us that we couldn't make it on our own and that we must have them and their programs. As I stated in a previous post, the government deals in disparity, not prosperity. If you actually believe that it's so bad that you are incapable of caring for yourself then you should continue to vote for social programs.

There is a place for "safety net" programs but that place is extremely small. The fact is that the vast majority of Americans are full well capable of caring for themselves without the aid of the government. Safety net programs should focus solely on those who truly cannot support themselves and have no one else to help. A couple of examples might be orphans, those that are truly physically handicapped and cannot work to earn a living, and those that may have been incapacitated by some extreme illness or tragedy. These safety net programs used to be run by churches, local charities, and local governments where they could closely match the needs of the respective local community. The more that we support these local groups with money and time (time is the real key), the more that we will not need the federal government.

Back to the question at hand, how do you vote? Ask yourself, do you vote the party line and where has that gotten you? Do you vote on your emotions, for social programs? Do you vote for your own personal gain, to preserve your own benefits? I can tell you that none of those are the answer and if you do, I'm sorry to say that you are part of the problem.

Voting the party line only emboldens the party devaluing your input. Voting emotions is a surefire way to socialism, as is voting to preserve benefits. Voting to enable men and women to have the opportunity to succeed is America. Voting to protect individual freedom is American.

You must vote to protect and preserve what is America! I would encourage each of you to read the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. Revisit what our founding fathers created for us. Revisit what so many have died for and ask yourself, is that what I'm voting for? Ask yourself, is that what my Senators and Congressmen are protecting in Congress?

I believe that you should vote for the same values that you teach your children. We teach our children to be honest, obey laws, work hard, have honor, and accountability. We teach our children to help the poor, not support them, and not enable them. Do you make your children give half their allowance to a perfectly capable man or woman panhandling on the street?

It's time that we apply these same standards to our government. If we all think of these things when we carefully read proposed legislation most bills wouldn't pass at all.

Think about this logic the next time that there's a "bond" on the ballot. Bonds are nothing more than loans. How many times have you ever borrowed your way out of debt? When you can't make the bills, another credit card never helps.

How is it that we allow our government to do what we know in our hearts to be foolish?