What I Believe

There is not currently a bio section here on Failurisms, so let me introduce myself. I drive a truck for a living, sing and try to play music and write for enjoyment. I love my Harley and I feel like I'm being forced into paying attention to politics for many reasons.

I am not a communist, more a Social-Democrat with a wide Libertarian streak. I know these ideologies seem at odds with each other, please let me explain. In an ideal world, the basic Libertarian idea that rights come with responsibilities would be universal and we could rely on our neighbors to live up to them. Ideas like ' it's in our own self-interest to help those less fortunate, because they'll turn into customers when they get on their feet,' aren't much different from 'we need to help those less fortunate because it's the right thing to do.' It's just a matter of who is doing the helping and why- the end result is the same.

Fortunately, I am a realist as well. My faith in human nature has been damaged over the years until it's just this pathetic little guttering flicker. Humans need government to keep a check on the idiots who still think that might makes right whether that might comes from a fist or a large bank account. Governments need the real threat of revolution hanging over their collective heads to keep them from infringing unnecessarily on its subjects lifestyles and rights.

I'm all for freedom of religion, but not to the point of someone ramming their ideologies down my throat with legislation. I'm all for a single-payer universal healthcare system, just as I'm all for the right of the populace to be well armed for self-defense against criminals – both those on the street and those in our houses of government. I'm all for paying taxes on fuel in order to maintain the roads, but I can see that the internal combustion engine may be the death of our ecosystem. I'm all for shrinking governments, but not to the point that they can no longer perform the very real job of governing. I'm all for property rights, but not if a river runs through your land and you decide it's OK to build an outhouse over it. I'm all for the end of the “War on Drugs”, but God help you if it can be proven that your intoxication led to someone else's injury. I'm all for making a profit, but not the expense of another's dignity or the health of our planet. I'm all for free education, but not if the recipient is only using it figure out how to game the system. My right to swing my fist ends where your nose begins, unless you've violated my nose already - then all bets are off and a can of whoop-ass will be opened.

So that's the kind of wild-eyed radicalism you can expect from me,

OneEyeChuck