A New Way to Think About Those Government Bailouts

http://townhall.com/columnists/MikeSAdams/2009/01/26/my_new_spread_the_wealth_grading_policy

Anyone who doesn't have even the vaguest misgivings about Obama's stimulus package or the recent bailouts needs to check out this article.

Wheels in our Heads

"The thought is my own only when I have no misgiving about bringing it in danger of death every moment, when I do not have to fear its loss as a loss for me, a loss of me."
-Max Stirner, The Ego and His Own: The Case of the Individual Against Authority

We Americans have wheels in our heads. Some of us suffer from this more than others, but the fact is that most people hold beliefs that they have either inherited from their parents or have been led to believe will make them better people. Most people don't take the time to test these beliefs in the fire of reason because the beliefs are comfortable. To question and test your own beliefs requires a great deal of separation; it requires the knowledge that although your beliefs are a part of you, you are not your beliefs.

I have had the experience of testing the wheels in my own head. Raised in a Christian home, I grew up believing that God was king of my life and Christian conservatism was the political way to go. The problem that I encountered was that I had a hard time trusting in the infallibility of the scriptures; I also had problems justifying the hypocrisy of the people around me, as well as my own hypocrisy. To be a Christian conservative meant that I wanted everyone around me to not only accept the beliefs that I held, but that I wanted to shove these beliefs as far into their lives as I could, whether they believed them or not. I did not feel comfortable with this approach because I know that I would not want someone else's beliefs and way of life imposed upon me.

It took a great deal of strength to examine my beliefs and realize that they did not stand up to reason. I was defined by my Christian beliefs - they were me. To separate myself from them took a great deal of personal honesty and courage; after breaking myself apart and examining the pieces, throwing out the ideas that hindered me and keeping the ones that helped, I came out a much stronger and more secure person.

The purpose of this blog is not to impose my personal beliefs on you, the reader. Rather, I hope that this blog will cause you to look at your own beliefs and figure out which ones are a part of you and which ones you are using to define yourself. Tearing down the wheels in your own head can cause a feeling of liberation because you know that your ideas and beliefs are your own and you know why you hold them. And above all, YOU hold THEM - THEY do not hold YOU.

Nationalization!?!

I was wading through this morning's news reports when I saw it: Obama's economic recovery team is considering nationalizing the banks in order to stop the current banking crisis. Granted, they understand the economic pros and cons of this move, but they are still considering it.

As a Libertarian and someone who has a deep respect for the principles that this country was founded on, the idea of nationalizing any business strikes fear in my heart. Not that I didn't expect it, though. I, along with the rest of the taxpayers in this nation are the largest shareholders of Bank of America and CitiGroup as a result of the government's bailout of both of these banking institutions. Now that the government has gotten a slight taste of bank ownership, what is to stop lawmakers from taking complete control of the banks?

Let us stop and consider what this would mean for our country. First of all, the men that worked hard to create their banking business would lose their ownership of what they had built, having it taken from them by politicians who, in the end, reap all of the benefits. Imagine if the government controlled how your moneyis held, who could receive a loan, or anything else that banks do.

I want to take you for a moment to a place where the government already has control: the public schools. Education of our nation's children is a top priority since they will be the ones leading and producing in the future. But on a worldwide scale our children are continually ranking lower and lower in education, leading one to wonder what they are gaining from our system. Parents have little or no choice about where they can send their child to school, and are subjected to being ordered to take their child to a different school in the name of "cultural or economic diversity." Teachers are subjected to so many rules and standards that their focus is shifted from giving students the best that they can to making sure that students meet the requirements of the government. And schools in every part of the country face so many budget problems that it is a wonder that they can even afford the supplies needed to teach our children.

What does this mean for our banks? Banks would not have to compete for customers, so imagine any perks that you get at your bank disappearing and customer service resembling that of the DMV. And imagine how much worse your banking fees would be. The government has never been able to run any program at a surplus and they have to get the money to run the banks from somewhere. Getting a loan would become almost impossible with all of the regulations and restrictions that would be imposed, especially since irresponsible lending is one of the things that got us into this mess in the first place.

Many people downplayed Obama's socialist background, but if the process of nationalizing the banks turns out to be easy, e.g., his administration doesn't face too much opposition, then what would stop them from nationalizing the automotive industry, another sector of the economy facing financial problems?

Americans stand to lose much more than we would gain from the nationalization of any industry in the country. We have already seen it in our school systems. I hope that the American people will not stand idly by while it happens to our banking industry as well.