Who's That Knocking ???

I’m starting to see it everyday. Opportunity. I read an article such as this one by Thomas Sowell on Townhall.com and instead of focusing on the main idea which is excellent and as well thought out as always by Mr. Sowell, I see Opportunities in which there is an opening to attack the left with common sense Conservative ideas. Hopefully this evolution? In my thinking will lead to finding and getting practical alternatives started when presented with these “Opportunities”
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http://townhall.com/columnists/ThomasSowell/2008/12/02/freedom_and_the_left
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The article is an expose against the idea of “community service” which is a requirement in some High Schools. Mr. Sowell asks two questions.
1. Who should have the right to “commandeer young people’s time”, the schools or the parents?
2. What gives the schools the right to decide what constitutes “community service”?
His is a well reasoned article about the how the left as Thomas Sowell points out, defines freedom as its ability to impose their will on others.

We see it all over the place, from Biden saying it is “patriotic” to pay taxes, thru the idea of redistributing wealth favored by his boss.

No where in this article is there any mention of a way to fight this? What is the alternative to the encroachment upon our freedoms by people who make a living enhancing their own freedom by imposing their will upon us by taking what we make through our own sweat and toil.

These alternatives are the “Opportunities” of which I speak.

Thomas Sowell asks why is even “…voluntary military training in high schools or colleged,…..” not considered as “community service” and why those who feel feeding the poor is more of a service than helping those that defend the poor and the rich alike?

As in all my thinking, the way to make change happen is at the local level. There we are freer to try different approaches we can limit the losses of failure, and we can try another fix and keep learning from our mistakes.

A specific example I can think of is to get on the school board and if community service comes up offer an alternative that does not enable destructive behavior but encourages constructive behavior. The military one is as good as any. Others may be showing people how to grow gardens, how to cook real food, how to sew. How to get a low paying job and start to climb out of the hole.

Again I see opportunities because the system is so stacked against anyone doing just that few have the chutzpa to manage. It is our opportunity to suggest and fight with thought out plans that system. Change it in ways that enable those in the worst need can obtain the basic food and shelter then be able to learn the gardening sewing and et all to help them get out of the cellar.

Let’s start with the idea that if we already have a program let’s use it and make it as efficient and productive as possible. Then we can actually learn what is good and what is not about the program. At the same time that we are showcasing our conservative core ideas such as taking responsibility for our actions. The benefits of controlling our own lives and the idea that we have the inalienable right and the abilities to do so.

Let us come up with alternatives that showcase our desire to help “facilitate” people to nurture those abilities so they can better enjoy the pursuit of those rights.

Simple programs that teach “how to” things that people on the edge can actually use are a step in the right direction. When people understand that just giving a meal to someone only teaches that person to become dependent upon the meal giver, they will also start to learn that the work it takes to actually get a person to change their ways to something that can give that person more freedom to create their own destiny is not child‘s play but something done with care and knowledge. Devotion and dedication. A student will benefit more and the one we help will be helped more if they both learn the concept along with where to go for the next meal.

Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative

Imagine a bird that is on the ground with a broken wing. Throwing it bread crumbs may make you feel good, but does little except to help fatten it up for the next cat that comes along. We learn more about ourselves and the bird if we make room in our lives to do the job of taking in that bird and fixing or letting the wing mend itself along with feeding it. That is another story altogether. A story that works. A story we can all learn and enrich ourselves from. As in all things, it works best if it is voluntary.