Kate's Takes

Barack Obama's minions in cyberspace work through Change.Org and offer weekly updates and causes to respond to. On February 11, 2010, the topic was the Water Protection and Reinvestment Trust Fund. This was my reply:

No! It is not up to government actions to step in here. The principle to establish is to let private companies in each community be responsible and to stop befouling our nest and our life support. The growth of bottled water, and the cost of that as a routine part of life, is moving us farther from what we would like to take for granted, namely that tap water is plentiful and safe and economical, like the clean springs and streams we have in our racial memories. Bottled water is only a stop gap that could become an excuse for letting our bodies of water continue to be polluted. But at least it is a means to secure safe drinking water through private effort.

Many households are still on well water and septic systems, and that needs to be watched carefully lest the sewage seep deep enough to pollute the groundwater the well pumps from. We need to find a way to recycle sewage so that nature itself reuses and purifies it, and so that it serves as a nutrient for plant life, rather than flushing it into the rivers and oceans. Our technology can find a way to establish a natural balance threatened by increasing population.

It is a false assumption that private companies do not have the public interest as a priority. Without the public they would have no business and no income. It is by pleasing the public and supplying what people need that the companies become successful. How else can they make money? Making money is not evil. It is the reward for good work done. It is the company's paycheck for value produced. If there were not productive private enterprises, there would be nothing for government to tax to pay themselves and their allegedly important social programs.

Further, we should encourage private investment in better husbanding of fresh-water supplies, such as major snow and ice run-offs. Rather than letting clean water run into the salty oceans, build aqueducts and pipelines to move the annual melts to regions that need it, as has been done for centuries in the desert regions of Persia.

Explore trading water for oil. We have disgraced ourselves in the eyes of the world by destroying the water processing infrastructure of Iraq, causing hundreds of thousands of deaths from polluted water supplies. Did Americans even know this was being done in their name?? As an American, I object profoundly to such crimes against humanity carried out by our government without our knowledge and consent.

Count me as a No vote against government control of our water management, and count me as a No against our wars in foreign lands. I am dismayed that Obama has broken his promises to end the wars. I feel thoroughly betrayed. So much for Change!

# posted by Kate Jones @ 10:25 AM 0 comments

Change.org in January 2010 launched the 2010 "Ideas for Change in America" competition, and I just submitted an idea you might like to support. No money, just your vote. The title of the idea is "Protect Constitutionally guaranteed individual rights."

To vote for my idea, all you have to do is click on the link below and you can vote in less than 20 seconds.

The top 10 voted ideas will be presented at an event in Washington, DC, to relevant members of the Obama Administration, and then promoted to Change.org's full community of more than 1 million people. So we could have a real impact with this radical idea about unalienable rights.

Here's the text of my proposal. If you agree, please click on the link and vote. Thanks for your help!

All the changes and programs being promoted and passed into law aim only to help certain groups and to spend ever more government money, which is either taxed or borrowed. Both come out of the people's substance, Socialism in action. I propose that every bill before Congress be first measured against our Constitutionally guaranteed individual rights, to make sure that it does not abrogate individuals' life, liberty and pursuit of happiness (i.e., property). You may have to set up a special Congressional committee or get advice from the Supreme Court. But the first question to ask is, "Will this harm any individual?" And if the answer is Yes, cease and desist from pursuing such legislation.

# posted by Kate Jones @ 7:35 AM 0 comments

An apparently enlightened organization, Global MindShift, in response to Change.org's 2010 invitation to enter their Ideas for Change in America competition, submitted an idea titled: "A campaign to put Life ahead of profits." And although I like their philosophy of "All is One" and "Love is the Action," I just had to object:

Sorry to have to demur. Life and profits are interdependent, not mutually exclusive. Profits is what we earn by investing our time and effort, whether by renting them to an employer or creating our own enterprises.

Other than by force or fraud, the ONLY way to earn profits is by producing or providing what other people want and need--by delivering a value they are willing to pay for. In brief, by mutual exchange of values. "Find a need and fill it" is the recipe for creating goods, creating jobs, creating profits. It started tens of thousands of years ago when mankind discovered the division of labor, or diversification of functions.

Profits are a company's wages. Surely you don't mean to say that workers should not be paid for their labor because that would constitute a profit for the workers? If a company is begrudged its earnings, where do you think the money will come from to pay the employees? Where will the money come from to invest in new enterprises that create new jobs and keep the economy healthy?

Groups that pride themselves on being "non-profit" still need money to operate. Where does that come from? Voluntary contributions. Where do people get the money to donate to their favorite causes? They first have to earn it by creating something of real value. And if government gives grants and subsidies, where does it get the money? From taxing the working people.

"There ain't no such thing as a free lunch." (TANSTAAFL)

Please do not confuse profits with exploitation. The only agency that has the power to exploit people without their consent is the government. And when government teams up with corporate entities to make rules that limit the freedom of some to play favorites with others, the freedom of all is imperiled. When government steps between employers and employees, dictating terms such as minimum wage and mandatory benefits (entitlements), government fosters grotesquely distorted economic relations and eventual meltdown, as we are seeing now.

As there is a Constitutional separation of church and state, and there should be a separation of school and state, so should there be a separation of business and state. Any other course deprives people of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, among other freedoms.

Forcing people (through taxation) to give up their substance, their earnings, so government can use the money to advance social engineering projects, is not putting people first. Perhaps being good, kind, benevolent and helpful to others is a noble idea, but socialism is not the road to that ideal. It is through individual enterprise, initiative, creativeness, and the freedom to act on it that members of a society can offer value to other members, including opportunities for new jobs that improve everyone's lives. Their profits are well earned. Profits make Life possible.

If you'd like to support Life, take government out of business and out of our pockets.

Labels: Constitution, government regulations, jobs, life, profits, rights

# posted by Kate Jones @ 7:51 AM 0 comments