I’ve always tried to live by the rules. The "Golden" Rule! in particular but, I’m also a bit of a Rebel at Heart. I’ll be the one person who will ask "why" or "what for" whenever the latest, next best “thing” comes along. 

Why? Because after many years of observation, I discovered that most of the decisions made by our “leaders,” no matter how well intended, usually come with unintended consequences. More often than not, the results of the proposed cure tend to be worse than the condition it was meant to treat. The result is, In addition to being a skeptic, I'm also a card carrying armchair economist and political atheist. 

Politically I support neither the Democrat nor the Republican Party, which I generally refer to as Demagogue and Reprobate respectively. While I do believe that there are a select few honorable individuals within each, I’m thoroughly convinced that most are criminals and neither "Party" represents me or is doing what is best for the country.

As Trends Research Institute founder, Gerald Celente, likes to say when choosing between the Demagogues and Reprobates, “it’s like choosing between the Gambino’s and the Bonanno’s. No matter who gets put in charge, you know you’re going to get robbed!”

One party speaks about free markets, fiscal responsibility and balanced budgets yet are as addicted to cronyism and wasteful spending as the other. The other party talks of civil liberties and claims to be champions of the right to choose. That is till you “choose” to disagree with them! Their solution to every problem is to shackle us with more rules and restrictions. Think of the irony in that last statement. To liberate us, they must enslave us? How Orwellian!

The real choice the world faces today isn’t between right or left, conservative or liberal, Demagogue or Reprobate. It’s
between collectivism and individualism. The former speaks of doing the greatest good for the most people. This sounds high minded. The problem is, that in a collectivist system when the leaders get it wrong, and they get it wrong far more often than they get it right, everyone collectively suffers, everyone except the leaders that is!

Even on the off chance that the leader gets it right, the problem inherent in such a system is that while you may have a high minded leader currently running the show, the system makes it possible for a lightening quick transition from a relatively benign government to a totalitarian Hell hole when the next “great leader” comes along. That’s far too quick for my tastes.

The record of history has proven beyond the shadow of a doubt that in every place where such centrally planned, systems have been tried, they have utterly failed. The market, whether it is the consumer marketplace or the marketplace of ideas, is simply too dynamic a place and impossible for any one individual or any like minded group of people to control. It matters neither, how hard they try or high minded they may be. The market needs to be free!

There is another a great fallacy that too many American’s mistakenly believe. They think that America is a democracy. They’re wrong! It is a republic! A republic is superior to a democracy because it is better equipped to defend the rights of the minority than the “mob rule” of democracy. I say mob rule because in a democracy, when the majority rules, that isn’t always the best thing. A perfect example of a democracy in action is the lynch mob. There’s is one dissenting vote. Unfortunately the person who dissented is usually at the end of the rope!

The free market and individual rights mean that an individual gets to make their own choices and with said choice comes individual responsibility. If you make the wrong choice, only you and those immediately around you will suffer. That is far superior to everyone suffering equally! You also have the right to pursue an idea and if you succeed, you have the right to keep the fruits of your labor.

You also have the right to fail. That is where real learning begins! When that happens, you can choose to stay a failure or to pick yourself up, dust yourself off and start all over again. History has also shown us that some of the world’s greatest successes were born out of failure. Just ask Thomas Edison.

But government isn't all bad. It was instituted to protect individual rights and pursue and punish ALL those who engage in force or fraud against their fellow citizens. The problem is when "big" government takes it upon itself to pick winners and losers through subsidies, excessive regulations and the tax code. When they choose, we all lose!

A country's foreign policy should pursue neither isolation nor adventurism. I agree that America needs a strong military, primarily Navy and Marine Corps team to protect its interests around the globe. It should have offensive capability but, its purpose should first and foremost be defense. 

That is why it's long past time for America to close its bases overseas and bring the troops home. The use of military force should always be a last resort and difficult to implement. That’s why the U.S. constitution restricted that duty to the congress.

They say that offense is the best defense but, the focus shouldn’t be on building weapons or the number of men and women in uniform. Instead the citizens would be better served by promoting defense through free trade because, as it has been said, “borders where goods freely cross, armies do not!” 

Presently, America spends more on its “defense” than all of the other countries of the world combined. This is great for the Military Industrial complex but, bad for everyone else. That's because every dollar spent by government is one less dollar for the citizen to save for retirement or spend on their needs and wants. Our Department of Defense needs to go on a crash diet. We simply cannot afford it anymore.

Lastly, by defending those who won’t defend themselves, we’ve lured ourselves and our so-called “allies” into a co-dependent relationship, not at all unlike the relationship between the alcoholic and a co-dependent spouse. It’s time for America to stop being the world’s policeman and for our “allies” to stand on their own two feet and live up to their own responsibilities.

My philosophy is simply to live and let live. It’s the Philosophy of Liberty and I'm an individualist!