We no longer have a choice.  We are told what to accept and what to allow.  Special interest groups dictate our available choices.  Our Government is no longer interested in our desires; they now tell us what to like and what to accept.  We have no choice.

I want to preface this document with a few personal statements.

1.    I don’t care about your sexual preferences

2.    I don’t care about your religious preferences

3.    I don’t care about your ethnicity or national origin

4.    I don’t care what car you drive or about its color

5.    I don’t care how much money you make or how you make it

6.    I don’t care how smart you think your children are or where you choose to school them

7.    I don’t care how much hair you have or don’t have

8.    I don’t care about your personal life…  At All!

 

This came to light during a conversation with my wife about homosexuality and our acceptance of this alternative life style.  I asked my wife how she viewed homosexuality.  Her response was typical of her personal views… “I don’t care what they do behind closed doors as long as I’m not forced to condone or accept that lifestyle.”

I happen to agree.  I don’t care either.  My problem with this and many other of the items listed above is that we no longer have a choice or the opportunity to voice our opinion openly.  If I do voice an opinion I am immediately labeled as an Anti-(fill in the blank) person; racist, bigot, etc.  I no longer have a choice.   If I don’t accept or embrace it openly, I am judged to be against it.  The fact is that I don’t really care!  I do care about the label and the obvious connection to being against something simply because I am not for it.

I want to address each of these items individually.

1.    Sexual Preference:

I don’t care what you do, how you do it, or with whom.  Your choices are personal and none of my affair.  I you want to have sex with farm animals that’s your concern.  I don’t want to know about it nor do I wish to join in.  However, if for some reason you want to advertise your love affair with a goat; that’s your business.  Don’t expect me to accept your decision or to demand that you be able to marry that goat, or to demand fair treatment and equality for farm animals everywhere.  They don’t need my support for heath care, or pensions funding, of Social Security.  If you want to support them you do it on your own.  America does not owe you or your goat anything.  The same holds true for same sex marriages.  I don’t care how the government or church defines marriage, but I will not support your decisions with my taxes or with my vote.  These are not the proper forum for this situation.  If you want to marry another of your same sex, you should do it and be subject to the same laws and policies as the rest of us.  It is NOT an issue for The Supreme Court to decide.  It is between you and your partner.

 

Forcing me to side is taking away my rights to choose.  You are making this a public issue and when the public sides against you, your response is outrage.  You expect that just because you think it is right; everyone must follow, but when we don’t you’re incredulous and we are anti-gay.  Did you ever consider that forcing someone to choose puts them on the defensive?  Did you consider that most of America is not going along with your program?  We’re not against your choice; we’re against being forced to accept your decision as the only RIGHT choice.

 

2.    Religious Preference:

I have very firm beliefs about religion and especially bout organized religion.  I don’t care if the world is Muslim, I’m not and don’t want to be.  This is one area that I will fight for to the death.  I will not have someone dictate my belief or preference where my belief in god is concerned.  My god does not punish people for their belief.  He does not create natural disasters.  He does not hate anyone.  He is the Judge.

 

The perversion of secular writings, yes I consider the bible to be secular writing, is an abomination.  Any book can be considered a text for living.  I can misinterpret the text to allow any behavior.  The bible is a set of orally repeated moral stories, transcribed, published, and misused to control humanity.  Religion is all about control.  It is not about personal choice or belief; it is a club used to beat people in to submission.  This is not god’s idea… it was ours.

Any religious organization that uses the pulpit to support any governmental or non-parochial idealism should be taxed.  We included the separation of church and state in the constitution for a reason.  It’s time we started following our written social doctrine.  We fought several wars to secure control of our destiny; religious freedom is one of the primary tenants.   By the way, this includes a right not to believe in god!

3.    Ethnicity and National Origin:

Sometime over 350 years ago, people from Europe came to this continent to create a new life free from the oppression of European rulers and antiquated laws that kept them in poverty and under control.  They came here as many ethnicities and colors to form a country based on individual choice.  They were no longer interested in identification with the past.  They were interested in the future.  That future did not include ethnic identifiers and dialing “2” for their local language.  They adopted English as their new tongue and learned to use it to communicate.  Each ethnic group contributed to colloquial English, adding words that helped describe a unique concept.  They did not insist that this new world speak (fill in language) and accept it nationally.  Everyone learned English.  They we so proud of this country that many refused to speak anything but English to their children.  Now we’re lucky if the children speak any English at all.

 

My family came to America sometime after slavery was abolished.  We had nothing to do with it.  We do not support or condone it.  We were not involved.  Blaming slavery and bigotry on anyone is idiotic.  The slave traders were Dutch.  They purchase African slaves from other Africans.  They purchased Chinese slaves from other Chinese.  The Dutch brought these slaves to the Americas and sold them.  If you want to blame someone for slavery; blame capitalism.

 

If you come to this country legally, you will be afforded all the rights and honors this country has to offer.  If you come here illegally, you are a criminal and should be deported.  Illegal immigrants do not deserve and have no rights to the same support and subsistence guaranteed to citizens or legal immigrants.  You broke the law to enter this country; you are a criminal.  Anyone at anytime should be proud to prove citizenship.  If law enforcement requests my identification, I am proud to provide it.  I am here legally. 

 

Children born to illegal immigrants should not be automatic citizens.  This law is antiquated and obsolete.  It must be repealed and anyone that was considered to be citizen by birth should be forced to prove the citizenship of their parents.  End of story.

 

English is the national language.  Learn it.  Use it.  We will no longer transact our business in any other language.  If you can’t speak it, read it, and function with it, you and better enroll in a class to help you get with the program.

 

4.    Personal Possessions:

Your vehicle, purse, cloths, hair style, shoes, watch, etc do not afford you any special privileges.  Just because you chose to flaunt your wealth or debt does not mean that I buy into your show.  I know plenty of very wealthy people that drive VW’s and Fords.  Clothes do not make the man or woman.  It is an outward indication of who you think you are often more than who you really are.  The person in the cloths or car is what is really important.  I spent several years in the land of glitz and glitter.  I worked with some of the top people in many industries in LA.  Several were the CEO’s or owners of these top businesses.  They are the just the same as me, only much luckier and certainly richer.

 

5.    Wealth:

Money is not the root of all evil; the love of money is.  Some people will sell their souls for wealth.  Sadly the pursuit of this wealth causes people to ignore the potential good that can be done.  There is an interesting principle that states: “Give and it shall be returned to you 1000 fold.”  It is written in many texts and in many forms.  The idea is that giving for the right reason is the most important.  If you give without thought of return, you receive much more than you give.  Giving with the expectation of return gets you very little.  It’s the reason that counts.

 

Using money for control or for the acquisition of power is a very poor use of the tool.  Yes, I consider money a tool.  It can be used for good or evil.  It is way to trade goods and services; that’s all.  It is not an end unto itself.  Of course having a safety net of funds is important.  Savings help you acquire things to expensive to purchase outright.  I do believe in credit, but not in credit cards.  There are things that require extended payment plans; houses, cars, etc.  Living on a credit card only prolongs the inevitable day of reckoning.  Credit cards create profits for the bank, which prey on our need for immediate gratification.  The latest figure on personal credit card debt is $4,100.00.  The average income is $28,000.

 

6.    Smart Children:

Every parent believes their children are the smartest and brightest on the planet: Good for you.  The reality is that children like their parents have certain capabilities and certain liabilities.  They have gifts and abilities that should be identified early and nurtured into maturity.  This means that some children are suited toward math and science, some are best suited to manual labor.  There is nothing wrong with either.  The world needs doctors and engineers and much as it needs gardeners and brick layers.  Our educational system rewards the less suited to the determent of the brighter children.  I call this playing to the lowest common denominator.  Our current system dumbs-down the curriculum to allow these lesser equipped students to keep up. 

 

No parent wants to admit that their child should be a fast food clerk.  No parent wants to accept that their child is holding the class back.  They insist that this child is special and deserves the extra effort of the teacher to help them keep up.  Class sizes and limited resources require teachers to make value judgments for the entire class.  So the decision is to dumb-down the curriculum so that everyone moves to the next grade, but to the determent of the country.

 

Unfortunately this creates boredom in the brighter students and frustration in the less well equipped.  We test memorization of the students.  We teach the test to these kids, then measure how well the retained the information.  The information rarely includes contextual application or background.  It is merely fact.  I can remember memorizing historic dates and the events without understanding the importance of the events or dates.  When I finally realized the implications, I began to appreciate world history, US history, and how these events shaped who we are and how we arrived here.  It is said that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.  Our current situation in this country is a prime example.  A broader look exemplifies the world situation, as well.

 

There is a solution, but unfortunately it required us all to take a long hard look at the individual and to accept that the good of the many is more important than the good of the one.

 

7.    Hair – or the lack thereof:

I don’t need a full head of hair to be a good person, or to have a good job, or to have a nice car, or to have big boobed blonds at my side.  I choose to have a natural look: male-patterned-baldness and all.  Patrick Stewart was asked in an interview about baldness in the 25^th century.  Mr. Stewart replied “I would rather think that by then we would have gotten past the physical appearance and arrived at the person as the point.”

 

It’s not just about hair.  It’s about the advertising industry in general.  They are paid to find better ways to promote products for the manufacturer.  They are paid millions of dollars to create ads that entice us to buy that product: Whatever the promise either spoken to visual, think about the reality of the situation.  Will driving that new BMW really make you a better person or will you still be the same inadequate asshole behind the wheel.

 

We have either become so shallow or so deluded that we believe that an object can make us a better person.   We actually buy products for their image enhancing properties rather than for their functionality.  Look around the house for those things that actually make your life better and for those things that you hoped would enhance your life’s image.

 

8.    Your Personal Life:

No… I don’t care about your personal life.  I am not your confessor, your priest, your Rabbi, your Imam, or your confidant.  I don’t care.  I have enough trouble in my own life; I don’t need yours, too.  I am glad that I am approachable and easy to engage.  I appreciate my ability to obtain information and that I am easily befriended.  Please don’t mistake this for my caring about your problems.  Sure, it’s good to share our triumphs and failures.  It allows us to solidify and clarify the facts as they apply to us, but it is not license to dump on every person you meet.  It is not license to lay them at my feet.  If you ask my opinion, please be ready for the truth.  If you ask me what course of action to take with a problem, please be ready for my opinion on the best way to deal with it: Or Don’t Ask!

 

In fact, dealing with the select few friends I have keeps me occupied constantly.  Coupled with my own problems I have a full time job.  This leaves me with precious little time for enjoyment.  So… I DON’T CARE.

 

I don’t care if your grandparents were slaves.  I don’t care if you are Hispanic and the Europeans stole Mexico and California from you.  I don’t care that you are an American Indian and the Europeans stole this country from you.  I don’t care that you are an illegal alien and here to make a better life for your family: you are a criminal.  I do care that you came to this country for an opportunity, but take the steps to legalize your immigration.

 

I don’t want the refuse and politically oppressed from every other country in the world.  If they want asylum, let them apply, but they had better have skills that will support them when they arrive.  I Don’t care if your political views are not popular at home.  Mine are not to popular here.  Fortunately, I’m net being hunted or oppressed: Yet!

 

So, what does this all have to do with not having choices?

 

When did anyone asked your permission to amend the constitution to support same-sex marriage? 

 

When did anyone ask if they could dump millions of illegal aliens in your backyard, give them free medical care, education, welfare, childcare, rent, and the right to protest the laws of the state. 

 

When did anyone ask if they could overturn your laws in favor of a special interest group?

 

When did anyone ask permission to grope you going through a security check point and deny you access if you question them? 

 

When did anyone ask your permission to make education so poor that the only skill acquired in high school is the ability to use a calculator and ask “Do You Want Fries with that, or would you like to “Super Size” that order?” 

 

Why do we need to off-shore our call centers and customer service centers?  Don’t we have enough workers here to staff them?  When did anyone ask your permission to do this?

 

Why do even the pay-to-view channels inundate us with commercials?  Isn’t the subscription fee I pay enough?  When was I asked to be barraged with insipid ads extolling the virtues of body spay to make you more manly?

 

When was I asked my permission for any of these and other choices made for me?

 

My freedom of choice was removed systematically and yes surgically.  It was removed intentionally!  I had no choice in these and many other matters.  I was told that “This is how it will be…” for whatever contrived or implied reason; but I didn’t have any input.

 

I don’t hate homosexuals.  I don’t need to know or want to know that you are one.  I don’t care.  It doesn’t bother me one way or the other except when I am forced to acknowledge that it is now fashionable and accepted practice, and that it is flaunted publically.  The fact that I have a physical relationship with my wife, yes she is female, is not a matter of public information.  It is private and very personal.

 

I don’t hate religion.  I don’t like zealots or door-to-door proselytizers.  I don’t care that you believe there are 77 virgins waiting in heaven.  Robin Williams said that “anyone that has been with one virgin know that this is one too many, imagine having 77 virgins.”  I don’t care how you get there as long as your path does not involve violence toward me or my country: then we will become some fightin’ motherfuckers!  Keep it to yourself.  I don’t care and I really don’t want to know.  If you believe in the “Flying Spaghetti Monster” it’s up to you.  I don’t care.  Don’t expect me to sit quietly while you try to shove it up my ass.

 

I am an American.  My origin is English, Irish, and Scottish.  I am an American.  I live here, speak, read and use the language because that is the national standard.  When I travel I attempt to learn enough of the local language to function.  I do not expect or demand that they adapt to my inabilities to master their tongue.  When I work in a foreign country I expect them to continue to speak their language and that I will attempt to learn a functional command of that tongue.  I do not demand that they change to my ways and add “Dial 4 to speak Charlie’s language.” 

 

I didn’t enslave your grandparents: my family wasn’t even here.  I refuse to accept blame for something that your own people did.  I refuse to accept that there are no alternatives.  I am not keeping you in the ghetto; your own people are.  I’m not denying you any jobs: your laziness and inability to use common language are.  I’m not forcing you to live on welfare: you bought into the system and use it as a convenient excuse for your plight.  There are as many excuses as there are stars in the sky.  What matters is your self-worth and what you chose to do with your life.

 

I drive used cars, and wear clothes that I can afford.  I don’t expect anyone to treat me differently because I drive a Mercedes-Benz or Toyota; wear a suit or blue jeans.  I dress for the occasion and I dress appropriately.  Business casual does not include flip-flops, tank tops, and shorts.  The point here is beach or work: dress appropriately.

 

I make an excellent living.  I have enough money to live comfortably.  I work hard and take a load of shit to make this living.  I endure more assholes, jerks, know-it-alls, and morons than you can imagine.  I do it because that’s what I do to survive.  It’s none of your business how much I make.  It’s none of your business how I reconcile my actions to make it through the day.  It is none of your business and I don’t care how much you have, how you make it, or whose ass you kiss to get it.  I don’t care!

 

I don’t care that your child is special.  I don’t care that they have commencement exercises to move to the next grade.  If you child can graduate from school and contribute to the economy and welfare of this country, great.  If they are burden on this society; you failed as a parent.  It was not the educational system in this country.  I don’t care if your child is a nuclear physicist or a gardener: We need both.  When your vicarious life intrudes on that of your child and those vicarious needs dumb-down the educational system: I care because it affects us all.  I don’t care why or how you became so insecure or why you insist that this below average child is special.  He or she is not!

 

I don’t buy into all the advertising hype about hair, clothes, cars, etc.  I have a very solid sense of self, and I am very secure in that image.  Your image is not my problem.  If you actually believe that any product or service will enhance you in any way; the advertiser win.  If you find you self-worth in a product or service; you need a good self examination, and you need help.

 

What you chose to do personally is your business.  I don’t need to know and I don’t want to know about it.  Your problems are your own.  You create them: not your parents, not your boss, not the church, and not the government.  You are your own person.  It’s not my problem.  I don’t want to know about it and I really don’t care.

 

This all leads to the inescapable conclusion that we, you and I, created this situation.  The insistence and demands of special people, like you, have taken away my choices.  Just because you think you are special does not make it so.  Just because you choose to live and alternative lifestyle does not make it right for me or for anyone else for that matter, however your demands and insistence for recognition for this personal choice removed my choice.  Insisting that your existence on this planet grants you the right to direct other’s lives is deluded thinking.  Your inability to deal with the reality that you are NOT special, that you are just like everyone else and that your choices although right for you are not right for everyone.  Your zealous pursuit of your specialness is what cheats me out of my rights to choose.

 

I am angry that we as a society lean on excuses for our shortcomings. 

 

I am angry that I cannot speak out openly against the situations that I did not create and that I recognize but cannot change. 

 

I am angry that all of the things mentioned above, and too many more, have been forced upon me by the insistence of special interests, and the liberal views this country adopted. 

 

I am angry that no one in our country has the balls to stand up for this country the way is once one: Great, Proud and Powerful. 

 

I am really pissed me off when I think that so much is being expected from those that can ill afford it.

 

I am saddened because that nothing will be done to correct it.