Voting and God

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I've never truly been excited to vote, but I do because it's a privilege, honour, duty, and commandment to do so. Voting is a blessing, a privilege, granted to a veritable few in context of human history and the present world population. Many people don't take it seriously, and many of those who do vote for things I detest, but it is a fundamental principle that men have moral agency. Our one true God gives us freedom to choose for ourselves- liberty and eternal life, or captivity and death. So, on or before November 8th this year, I will go down and exercise a divine right, granted by our Constitution, inspired by our Creator, and historically true to God's behavior and interpolations in the actions of man.

God has always desired His people to be free. For this reason, He promised a Savior. For this reason, He led Israel out of Egypt. For this reason, slavery and debt and caste stratification are eschewed by those who truly love and worship Him. Benjamin Franklin suggested that the national motto of the United States ought to be "Resistance to Tyrants is Obedience to God". Whether the tyrants were slave masters, foolish Pharisees, a wicked king anointed by the prophet, or a corrupt judge who sells his judgments for 20 pieces of silver, God allows and encourages His people to choose. Prior to the reign of Saul, God's people were ruled by His laws without the interference or involvement of men. After the tradition of Moses, who appointed others to assist him in the arbitration that arose from violations of the Mosaic Law, once in Canaan, Israel established a series of Judges. These men spoke on God's behalf, served at the will of the people, and didn't pass on their position by virtue of inheritance. We know this because Samuel, the prophet who later anointed Saul king, served under the Priest Eli, who was chastised while Samuel was very young for being part of a corrupt heritable patriarchal order with his sons, both of whom were slain by God. This is in large part why bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people. God does not interfere to respect their agency, and He expects us to use ours wisely and well.

The Constitution and Declaration of Independence are inspired documents. Mathematically, the odds of those men being born in the same region at the same era under the same circumstances, not to mention the chance of actually winning or composing something on which a plurality would agree, defy the odds of winning roulette in Vegas. Instead, they came, they came together, and they set up a system that allows us to come choose our own heads in the tradition of ancient Israel. Enshrined in those documents we find the pieces of truth these Founding Fathers were willing and able to receive and wisely use. In my Faith, previous church leaders officially declared these papers to be inspired works, although they are not necessarily canon, and we take it seriously to sustain and defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic. As part of the government established by these documents, we vote for our leaders, and with that opportunity to vote comes the concomitant responsibility to select the choicest candidates we can. I won't comment here on how many candidates next month lie far from choice, but we are supposed to pick the people we best believe will "lay its foundations in such principles and organize its powers in such forms as shall seem to them most likely to secure their safety and happiness" (Declaration). Our government has God's fingerprints on it, and so it pleases God that we vote and moreso when we vote wisely.

Agency is essential to God's plan and free, civil society. True, the dark side is quicker, easier, more seductive, and I understand the temptation to treat people as objects rather than agents and dictate to them, but there is no virtue in using the Adversary's methods to achieve the Father's plan. For that reason, Lucifer was cast out of heaven and God's presence in favor of Jesus coming to atone for men and alleviate the consequences of our mistakes and rebellions for those who care to apply the atonement. Sometimes our choices are not great. Sometimes, we have to choose between trading one tyranny for another and losing a woman that you love. Sometimes the only thing to do is to trust God. Sometimes, our choices are between the lesser of two evils. Ultimately the only choices that actually elevate our state are those that show love to God and our fellowmen. most people love themselves, and since those people are the ones most likely to run for office, we find that our choices often do not include the people we prefer. My ancestors had a saying that power is for those willing to stoop low enough to take it. I know that these moments are ultimately tests of character, and I know that character matters most, and so I will go vote and do the best I can to give God and His children the best chance they have to continue exercising their agency in every aspect of their lives possible.

We feel powerless sometimes because experience teaches us that we rarely get what we deserve, but we forget that what we send out always comes back to us. Sometimes it doesn't come in the manner or the timing we expect, but it comes back somehow, some way. Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the son of God, and the fullness of my intent is that I may persuade men to come to God and be saved. There is a very good reason that the tag line of this blog is taken from Deuteronomy 10:25 which says "Proclaim liberty throughout all the land and to all the inhabitants thereof." I believe that is my purpose in life, and so I try to talk about it on this blog, with my friends, with students, with strangers, and with all who will listen. When Jesus came of age and went to read in the synagogue, He read this verse from Isaiah: "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord". Liberty, freedom, good news, opportunity, happiness, and what God truly desires for His people- to be free. That is the way God always works. This is the way He works among this people today. He inspired men to establish a government in this land where people could choose liberty and life and happiness. As long as we have that power, it's one we ought to exercise. Life, liberty, and the pursuit. That means something to me.

Service or Charity?

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Far too many people equate charity with service without asking why we have two different words to describe what appears to be the same thing. While service is about doing, charity is about being; service is how we are but charity is what we are. It is difficult because the world distracts us with din and dissonance, calling a spade a club and a circle a square, but we are not really asked to just do things in order to show what master we truly serve. Being begets doing, or in other words our actions will evince who and what we truly are and value. We read in Luke 10:27 "And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself." Immediately after declaring this, Jesus dictated to them the parable of the good samaritan, the well-known story of service, sacrifice, and selflessness that borders on heroic. While inspiring us, at the same time, it may cause us to condemn ourselves as we realize how many opportunities we miss to reach out in small ways to the people around us or feeling hurt that in our darkest hours nobody seemed to be there. At some point in life, everyone comes into dire circumstances that necessitate help, and at some point each of us will see one of those people and have the opportunity and onus to help. Some of those people will be people we dislike, or people we don't think deserve our help, or people that won't accept it, but in that moment, how we act will show what we really think of God in the manifestation of how we treat His children.

At the very least, when others come into duress, we should notice. Even in the parable aforementioned, the priest and levite knew that the victim needed help. They didn't even bother to notify anyone else so that he could get help. Often, in our haste to get from A to B in our lives, we don't plan ahead well in order to avail ourselves of opportunities to help, but things do happen of which someone ought be made aware. Ironically enough, most of the time, people just need to be noticed or acknowledged in some way in order to have part of their burden lifted, because most people are lonely, or unsure, or they think less of themselves than they ought. Wednesday night before class, I met student worker Paul, about whom I wrote some time back, while walking to class, and because he seemed down, I stopped to chat with him. Sure enough, all I had to do was talk in order to make a difference, and I think he felt better. This level of service frequently costs you nothing except time and some air, both of which we pass anyway and frequently in things of no moment, in order to make someone's moment in the moment. Christ did this. He called out the woman who touched Him, not to make her selfconscious but to teach her that He noticed her, loved her, and valued her, and that's what service is supposed to achieve- making others feel, not just that they are made of matter, but that they do matter.

Service to others asks us to give what we can. It really doesn't cost us very much to make some sort of gesture, and there are people out there who genuinely need and appreciate small efforts. Each Saturday afternoon, a group of Harley Davidsons gathers to feed the homeless just north of the Vegas Strip. The food isn't noteworthy or particularly abundant, and the recipients are rather uncouth by visual and behavioral standards, but they appreciate the gesture, and both groups benefit from the virtues of the other. It really would have taken nothing for the levite and priest to drop some coins, to leave a tankard of water, or to cover the wounded man. In fact, their arguments seem invalid if they were willing to at least make a token gesture. Even if it wasn't what the man needed or wanted, and even if he wasn't conscious to know, it would still be a blessing, and the giver would gain God's blessing for his service. My next door neighbor took in a congregant of his faith who lost almost everything when he was robbed and his house burnt to the ground. Jeff isn't home much, so it doesn't put him out a great deal, and the man has a place to stay and things for comfort until he can get back on his own feet. At the very least, service involves an effort to empower others to lift themselves. Sure, there is a minor upset to his routine, perhaps his budget, and his privacy, but he was able to share some of his to help before moving on with his normal plans. This is where most "charity" ends, with service, where it doesn't really ask you to give anything of yourself, and most of the people who claim to be charitable stop here, because it's the least intrusive and painful effort with the maximum potential for visibility.

Valiant service asks us to give, not just to our convenience, but to the ultimate healing of the wounded. Notice in the story that the Samaritan tells the innkeeper that, in addition to paying for things with coins he leaves behind, to take whatever care is necessary and that he will be paid when the man returns. This isn't just service. This is heroic. At the time of his departure, the man was rescued, recovering, and rejuvenated, and although you can't really regain your previous status, it was essentially the same as if he'd never been robbed minus the loss of his wares. However, the good Samaritan wanted to make sure that NOTHING was lost to this man, and he paid to make sure that the man got right back on the path as if he never left it. How many people, especially those who prattle their own virtues and preach charitable service, ever found a homeless man, got him showered and shaved, bought him a custom suit, arranged for a job interview, and put him up until he was on his own? True charity, even in its lowest form, invites us to not wait until others can lift themselves but to lift them because we can. One of the reasons I go hiking each week, aside from my own desires, is to help out my buddy, who has some issues. Between his military service, the death of his parents last year (due to old age at least), and the murder of our common friend in 2013, without our regular romps, he fears he would go out of his mind. He does not believe his family can or will understand or that they even care, and so when he needs help he calls me. I am now the holder of the note on his house because I don't need the money, but because he couldn't pay attention to the payments and almost lost it to foreclosure. When we get together on the mountain, he leaves behind his bad habits and some of the bad memories and goes to a higher place. Not all wounds are physical, and not all needs can be served, solved and salved with monetary outlay.

Discipleship demands that we do what Christ would have us do. It is not enough to feed, to clothe, to pay for, and to otherwise lend assistance. It is also essential to lift them to a higher place. It was not enough for Christ to simply remediate their plight; He invited the disciples to come and follow Him, giving up all other worldly previous pursuits and follow Him remediating the plights of others. Only in losing our life can we truly discover it. When the rich man came, Christ told him to give up EVERYTHING and follow Christ. It's very rare that we do this, and it's not often asked or recommended, but only in this can true charity be found. When we think of the truly charitable, they are not people who have foundations and give large sacks of money or hefty sums in philanthropic gestures. The truly charitable are people like Mother Theresa, who gave EVERYTHING in order to be of service to her neighbors. Far too many of the elite among us talk of charity only when it doesn't cost them anything, but that's not what charity asks. Most people do not really need things, and the things we give them do not really help. What most people really need is love. What they really need is for us to BE Christians, to comfort the weary, to visit the sick, to give of our time, our talents, and our very essence. We can always get more money, sometimes in illegal or immoral ways, but we cannot simply go out and get more character, and you do not get good character by illegal or immoral means. Jesus spent time with the unloveable, the unwelcome; He forgave the prodigal and the erred; He healed people of their SINS before caring about their infirmities. Essentially, Jesus showed other people that they mattered more than any thing a man might give or possess or seek, that it was about people and not about the adornments, vestments, and baubles we usually use to stratify one another. True charity treats people as they really are rather than what we assume based on the imperfect and partial information we possess- as Children of God. My Sunday School class last Sunday admitted that it probably displeases God when we sing "I am a Child of God" and then focus on our weaknesses. Most burdens are not physical and cannot be solved by throwing money at them, and most people remember the giver far more than they remember the amount given. In the parable, although the good Samaritan also gave much of his substance, he gave much more- he showed that this stranger mattered. We only truly possess charity when we fight for, work with, and give aid to people we do not know and in particular that we do not like. Jesus ate with publicans and sinners. A harlot cleaned his feet with her tears. He didn't seek out the wicked, but He saw them for what they were rather than just seeing what they did- as children of His father, God.

Far too much of what we assume to be charitable is the letter of the law rather than the spirit and about us more than it is about those we claim to serve. At both ends of the spectrum, we pay attention to people, not because they are statistics or because we are statistics, and not to reach goals, but because people matter. The Samaritan was chosen as the hero because he was the person least likely to intercede- he was unliked and unwelcome among the Jewish people, not because of what he believed but because of some label given to him by others for something he did not control. In the end, he showed that he saw people as they were and for what they really needed. He wasn't content to simply call 911 and report an accident or shoot video on his phone to upload later for lolz. He wasn't content to toss some coins in a jar or leave something or just tear his sandwich in half and share. He wasn't content to simply throw money at the Samaritan. He didn't have to care about what happened in the inn when he returned, but he did. He was HEROIC. Maybe you aren't, and if not, that's ok. What is important to understand is that there is a higher law, a higher ideal, and a higher expectation. What matters is that we remember that people are primary. Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved (Thomas S Monson). People aren't things, and problems aren't physical, and money isn't the answer. What they need is YOU. They need to know that they matter more than money, than fame, than rank, than entertainment, than image, than whatever else distracts you, and you need to know by whom you serve if you really love God or if you just love when it's easy. It is said that a man can be measured by what he does for those who can do nothing to help him. This parable teaches us that a man can be measured by how much he's interested in the well-being of those who would hate him if they knew and who might reject his help. Each of us is a prodigal. Each of us is the recipient of Christ's love and sacrifice for us, no matter how unlovable we may feel. Mankind ought to be our business and discipleship the ideal for which we strive.

Soothing the Savage Beast

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Since the radio cycles through talk shows and advertisements during my commute, I turned back to my cassettes for music during the commute. One of the unmarked cassettes in my car contained Christmas Music from Mannheim Steamroller, and I've listened to it all this weekend as I drove around, and I remembered something. Over the last decade, I have listened to a particular remix of Silent Night from this group when I needed to recenter myself and prepare myself for a difficult situation. I share it here in hopes that maybe it can be of help to you:

While I was still married, frequently my days got worse when I arrived home. Before going into the house, I would sit in the car and play this version of Silent Night over and over until I was calm, until I felt peace, until I was ready to go in and face whatever new madness threatened to rob me of a refuge in my own home. I'm actually surprised this cassette is in as good shape as it is, since I know I have rewound and replayed this particular stretch of tape probably thousands of times. Something about the energy of this song always helped, no matter how bad my day went, and I went in to face my new challenges in the best attitude possible.

They say that music matters, that music is life, that music can affect people. THey also say that what they want us to buy is music, and I think most modern "artists" have a "song" about which could be said, "Someone really got paid to write that tripe?" Many of them repeat the same four chords, use the same three instruments, and use repetitive lyrics, and the rest aren't music as much as they are noise. I don't really know how someone is supposed to be made a better person when the lyrics are vapid, violent, or vulgar. I don't really know how a person cannot help but be helped by music well composed, well designed, and well orchestrated to elevate your life. You don't have to believe in Christ or like Christmas to appreciate a good remix of a song, and you don't have to be perfect to have God step into your life and touch your heart, calm your mind, and heal your soul with good music.

I doubt very much that Mannheim Steamroller intended this when they wrote this arrangement, but it STILL works to help me when my mind is troubled. This week, with my mind awry, my nerves on edge, and my heart still broken, I sat in my car Friday night and listened to "Silent Night" until I felt better. Maybe it's because I served as a missionary in Austria near where this song was originally composed that I feel a special bond to Silent Night. Perhaps it's because I sang it in German for a program in church eight years ago. It could be that this song was really written so that anyone troubled can "sleep in heavenly peace". It did that for me that night, and I hope that you choose music that helps you become a better person. I know it's early for Christmas, but it's been far better than the music to which I listened during the past few weeks, and I feel a difference already. At least for tonight, I feel some peace.

Only At the End Do You Understand

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Two days before I reported to return home from my missionary service, I experienced the only time ever as a missionary that someone asked us to return without our having to broach the subject. My companion grudgingly accompanied me to this apartment complex near where we did service in order to knock doors for what I think was the fourth time, and as before most of the apartments gave no answer at our arrival or rejected the invitation. One family, however, invited us in, listened intently, and then asked us when we could return in order to teach them more. I told them I was returning to America on Wednesday but that my companion would be happy to return. I don't know what happened with that family as Elder Gertge and I never really got along and never spoke again, but it reminded me that the race isn't over until it's actually over. The watermelon comes at the end; upgrades come later in life; God's promises, although not always swift, are always certain.

When my marriage fell apart nearly a decade ago, I felt very strongly that my life was over. For reasons I will mention elsewhere at another time, I felt I had failed at life and could/would never recover. I blamed myself, since I'm the only person whose behavior and choices I can actually change, and held myself to a degree of scorn and disproval of such degree that God chastised me for being so hard on myself, prompting me to write about allowing the atonement. Since then, although things have been rocky, shaky, and uncertain, I have seen His hand bringing me to better opportunities and places, and when problems arose at work in 2011, trusting Him brought me to a land of promise. In 2013, when something dear to me was taken from me, I wrote here and told Him elsewhere that I trusted Him then and was trusting Him now. I'm not making progress as quickly as I'd like, but in comparison to that dreadful day, I'm far better off than I ever have been, and I've never lost any of my Seven of Eight.

People often criticize me carte blanch for living in the past. The trouble with the past is that the past, unlike the future, consists of things that already are real. "History is not 'was'. It's 'is'," said William Faulkner, which is why there is truth in the past. The future largely enflames hope and fear, and the adversary of truth wants us to live there as much as possible instead of being grounded in truth, always afraid of what will or will not happen to us in the future rather than focusing on what we actually do. God, however, wants us to busy ourselves with what we do. The way we win matters. Virtuous means justify virtuous ends. Joseph Smith taught that if we do our duty, it will be with us as if all men accepted our message. The trouble for me is that the past seems much more interesting to me than my future. I had something going that I thought was amazing, and years later all I've seen is time pass without any indication of a replacement let alone an upgrade, and I'm not sure when God intends to change that. I'm afraid my happy ending will come at the ending, which makes me less jubilant about future prospects than I ought to be. If this is what my life consists of for the next 50 years, is that supposed to make me happy? At least Wesley had a wheelbarrow and cloak about which to get excited...

That's where the Atonement of Christ steps in and really heals men's souls. God doesn’t care nearly as much about where you have been as He does about where you are and, with His help, where you are willing to go. What are you going to do today to make possible that future about which you ostensibly care? There is hope smiling brightly before us, and we know that deliverance is nigh. God brought Israel out of Egypt, led them across the Sinai desert, gave them a land of promise, protected them even in their sin, provided them a Savior, and promised to make all things rich unto them because they are a people of promise. Everyone has a Land of Promise- maybe not today, and maybe not tomorrow, and maybe not until after your days on earth end and you enter into eternity. Sometimes, things must die to give way for better things, and just because the better things aren't there yet doesn't mean they will never be. You usually find things in the last place you look, and usually when you have reached the end of your options you turn to God and finally understand that He was there waiting to bless you until you were ready to receive it. Unlike the crackpot gardener, He only sows seeds when and where they can grow, so until you're ready for planting, He will keep plowing.

Only when you are at the end of your rope do you really begin to understand the width and breadth of the Atonement, that there is not only a future but hope IN the future and FOR YOUR future. I previously wrote that time does not heal wounds, but time does give us hope, which gives us power and reason to try again, love again, and live again, and so sometimes it just takes time. I am worried because I've already waited longer since 2013 to have a prospect for a better future than I did after I was divorced before a prospect appeared, and I've never had to wait this long before. Essentially, I'm in uncharted territory, and I'm nervous. As my last days as a missionary wound down and I remained bereft of anything to show for my efforts, and even when I got off the plane without any idea how any of those stories ended, I reached the end of my rope. However, I feel good about the fact that, over Elder Gertge's objections I continued to return to that complex to tract, because if we had gone elsewhere, we never would have met that family, and they would have had to wait longer for a season of perpetual hope.

I don't really know how this will end, and I don't know what form the end will take. I don't know how close I am to the end, but I know better than to give up now. Many people tell me to abandon my hopes, to leave my Faith, to give up on God, and to live it up, but this is who I am, and this is how I will stay. I saw God lead me to a better place, and although some fruits withered and died on the vine, I continue to improve my lot little by little, yard by yard, every year through His blessings and mercy. Yes, I attribute the blessings to Him because "against none is his anger so kindled as against those who confess not his hand in all things". People around you who talk about how you should trust and hope because they have seen it have reached their end, and that's why it's hard to listen to them. You don't really understand until you also arrive where they are, and they forget what it's like to be you because they reached the end of that trial and got to eat their watermelon. It took many miracles to establish my prior circumstances, and I expect it will take more to provide me with another opportunity, especially a better one.  If you think that you're not worthy or whatever, that God will not bless you, especially if miracles are required to right your options, rest assured that God desires to bless us with the greatest of blessings; He understands that what we obtain easily we may esteem lightly. Consequently:

He will set them off with communications of His presence which, though faint, seem great to them, with emotional sweetness, and easy conquest over temptation. Sooner or later He withdraws, if not in fact, at least from their conscious experience, all those supports and incentives. He leaves the creature to stand up on its own legs-- to carry out from the will alone duties which have lost all relish. It is during such trough periods, much more than during the peak periods, that it is growing into the sort of creature He wants it to be. Hence the prayers offered in the state of dryness are those which please Him best. We can drag our patients along by continual tempting, because we design them only for the table, and the more their will is interfered with the better. He cannot 'tempt' to virtua as we do to vice. He wants them to learn to walk and must therefore take away His hand; and if only the will to walk is really there He is pleased even with their stumbles. Do not be deceived, Wormwood. Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our Enemy's will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.

At that point, where you still desire, still obey, still hope, because you don't obey unless you have at least some scintilla of hope, that is where you are beginning to see the end. Only after the trial of our faith do we see the end of our faith. Only after we plant the seed, nurture the seed, prune and dung and dig about it, can we actually hope to harvest. The Lord of the Harvest knows when the fruit is ready, what fruit we will enjoy, and how best to enjoy it. Only at the end will we understand as we look back how the loss and the struggle and pain we went through brought us to a better place. I'm not there yet. I may never be there in this life. I hope you do get there and get there soon, because I care about you and desire you to be happy and enjoy the blessings now. More than that, I desire what is best for you, for God, and for me. Only at the end will I understand how that really is the way it turns out to be.

Myth of Aliens and Taxes

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Most taxes are paid by the rich and by the single who are honest about what they earn and own. In the case of the first part, they can sometimes shelter their money and often receive deserved vilification for hiding it in offshore accounts. As for the latter part, without allowances (dependents), they provide a larger than life share of their money to the government while families are incentivised with refunds to care for their children. Politicians sometimes erroneously claim that admission or legitimization of large numbers of illegal aliens will lead to higher tax revenues because they will "pay their share". Since when do criminals pay their fair share of anything? The math does not corroborate this. The math shows that the lion's share of taxes are paid by the people duped into believing that someone else will pay.

Rich people pay the lion's share of taxes period. Although I think he was an idiot for pointing it out, Romney was correct that 47% of Americans don't pay ANY taxes, and a large fraction of those people actually get money back for filing. Essentially, we pay them to be Americans. I have found at least four food stamp cards this year in the gutter, and many receipts I pitch into the trash account for the purchase with SNAP benefits. I watch latinos cart their food stamp purchase out to their Cadillac Escalade and wonder how they get away with it. Rich people pay accountants to help them hide money, but even if a millionaire pays only 1% of his salary, he still pays more each year than you will in your lifetime. Oh sure, his rate may be lower, but you wouldn't complain if things were reversed. Rich people buy things; when they buy new, they pay taxes. Rich people own property; when they hold it, they pay property taxes (unless you create a Trust, which shields you from property tax increases, or a Homestead which shields you from luxury taxes). Rich people own businesses, and they pay half of your SSA, most of your health care if you get it from an employer, and taxes on all goods/services they produce. You whine because you pay taxes on your salary. They pay taxes even after they collect it and for the right to pay you a salary (payroll taxes).

Single people pay the rest of the income taxes. A few weeks ago, a coworker left her thumb drive behind. In order to track it back to its owner, I went through the files, and the only file with a name on it was a paystub she downloaded for later. I do that too, but I probably shouldn't. Among the rest of her information, I discovered that she claimed 9 (nine) allowances and did a quick calculation to find that she pays a meager $1000 per year in federal income tax, despite earning more per year than I. The government, in recognition of and encouragement to people who raise their own children, allows us to claim a reduction in taxes for the care of our own families. Well, if you don't have a family and when your children leave the nest, you can't claim that anymore, and you find your adjustable and taxable income rises. So, even though I earn less than this woman, I pay more to the federal government every year because I'm "not doing my share" to help raise the next generation. Of course, the government doesn't give me credit for things I do to help raise, take care of, and educate other people's children, and it roasts me for not being willing to pay for children I didn't get to have the fun making, but this is how the tax law works. Consequently, illegal aliens won't pay "fair" taxes because they can simply either bring dependents in via chain migration or procreate, reducing their tax burden and ultimately when possible paying negative taxes, which means we essentially pay them to be here. Meanwhile, I pay everything myself.

Government officials constantly prattle until they essentially dupe us into believing that someone else will pay. They load up debt, they promise you the moon, they promise free college, free healthcare, and the like and spend like there's No Tomorrow. What do they care if they got what they want? Someone else will pay. Unfortunately for you, that someone else will probably be you, and if not you it will be your children and theirs for seven generations or more. Every pyramid scheme or game of musical chairs or game of hot potato leaves someone holding the bag when the music stops. Essentially, government is a pyramid scheme wherein those who have the ideas and sign on early get to benefit from the rest, and eventually the last in become responsible for all the costs, debts, and obligations. Britain and Rome were once mighty empires, and although those nations still exist, they are shadows of their former glory, wealth, opulence, and opportunity, because eventually someone has to pay, and the barbarians are willing to come and take by force if others aren't willing to do their part to push back.

Aliens do not pay taxes, politicians do not pay taxes, and rich people do not pay taxes. You do. Remember that the government redefined "millionaires and billionaires" under Barack Obama as a family of four earning $250,000/year. What if you don't "earn" money? What if you aren't a family of four? What does million mean anyway? Most people don't consider themselves rich, even millionaires, because there's always someone richer than they are, and usually by far, so these promises and words are largely meaningless. The people stuck holding the bag are those too poor to pay for advice and counselors to help them hide their money but too rich to reap from the generous welfare benefits. The people who pay taxes are the people with a code of morals and ethics, who honestly admit they need to pay taxes, and it has nothing to do with how much money you have or how much money your neighbor has. Ultimately it boils down to how much money the government can prove you have or at least claim you have, and a group of people who already evaded detection getting into this country aren't going to suddenly confess to being any wealthier than the government can prove. It's still a game of Catch Me If You Can.

Review "No Tomorrow"

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Despite being under the weather, I stayed up a little last night to watch the pilot episode of the CW's new series "No Tomorrow" and came away not only disappointed but irate. The show essentially boils down to stereotypes, typecasting, and a predictable chain of decisions interrupted by brief periods of insight. However illuminating those flashes might be, they are quickly covered by shallow acting, shallow characters, and a shallow plot which could have been told in a 90 minute movie instead of creating a series, especially since we only have eight months left on earth. I found the characters shallow and stereotypical, evidence of why young people this day look in all the wrong places for love; these are their exemplars to follow, a bunch of teenagers trapped in adult bodies who mistake chemicals for chemistry, play to their own lusts, and fall for old tricks. What seemed an interesting premise, a promising plot, and a new take on an ancient apocalytic theme devolved into a retread of a story as old as time and twice as dusty. Rather than compel us to think, this show parades before our eyes well weathered stereotypes of young people and their idiocy, fallacy, and indeterminancy. I looked forward to watching something new, but "No Tomorrow" really has no tomorrow if its actual "plot" comes to pass, because eventually the eight months will pass, and we'll either see the show terminate or find that it's nothing more than a sappy "love" story more about codependence and lust than anything substantive.

The female protagonist shows that women will go to any length if they like a guy. When an order shows up on her porch, somehow she knows it's for him and carries it some significant distance to his house (does she not have a car? How pathetic is this chick? Oh well, she's hot...). He offers her a beer, which tastes awful, then goes into his house when she invites him despite being warned by her sister before leaving about warning signs. At least this plotline rings true- that if she really likes him, she will swallow camels in order to get together and go out of her way to spend time with him. When he forces her to karaoke, she steps right up. When he leaves stuff at her place, she uses it despite blowing him off (how does he know where SHE lives?). Despite refusing to see him after her accident, despite his stalking behavior, she stalls for time when her boyfriend proposes and then looks for ways to spend time with this limey dude. You see, he's so tall and handsome as hell, he's so bad, and he does it so well, and so she will do whatever it takes to continue to hang out, even after she is injured due to him. If a girl really likes a guy, it won't matter if he's a dork, has a beard, drives a 21-year old car, or whatever; she'll do what it takes to make things work.

Unfortunately, the female protagonist shows that women will change guys in order to keep things fresh. When the show starts, you don't even know she has a boyfriend. Honestly, I don't know why she was even dating this guy, who is mocked by her family and seems embarrassed to speak up anywhere, and so it's pretty unbelievable that this pathetic character would have ever won her attention. Since he's so boring and uninteresting, she misinterprets that as not being ready to marry and follows after this new guy, despite the quite literal warning klaxons that blare when she visits the dude's house. There are so many red flags, any woman worth having would run away. They sure run from me, but I digress. Instead, she goes out of her way to pick the exciting and exotic albeit vapid foreigner over the safe and reliable boyfriend. To his credit, her now ex tells her that he won't be her backup plan. When it fails, and it will, he won't be there to pick up the pieces. It will fail. It might take 30 years, but eventually the reality sets in and the routine and responsibility of adulthood puts an end to their carefree existence, and she'll look for someone else to keep things exciting. I think this in large part accounts for infidelity in marriage. People get together because they like having fun together, but when the work comes, they realize they didn't really like each other after all and should have been more judicious.

The female falls for the guy because of hormones and not character. She falls for him during an adrenaline rush that makes her think she's into him. Young people advise me all the time to take women out on dates to do dangerous things so that girls will like me, but I'm adult enough to know that she'll be enticed by the hormone rush and require that in order to keep our connection intact. Unless I keep it fresh and real and constantly one-up myself, she'll grow tired. It is said that nice guys don't finish last; "boring" guys do. well, I'm not boring, but I do have a JOB. She ends up fornicating with him the first day they hang out together. It's only AFTER that that we learn she has a boyfriend, or ex, or whatever, who doesn't know and proposes in a way that ends in failure. He insults her when he visits, and somehow for some reason she finds that endearing.

The male protagonist is a chauvinist. His Apocalyst is rife with references to all the women with whom he wants to fornicate. It's all about him. He quit his job, does whatever he likes, purports to take the list seriously but discounts her suggestions of what things he should do next because they're not fun or comfortable even. It's obviously about slaking his lusts and going out with a bang. He wracks up debt because he won't have to pay. Trouble is, that he MUST be correct, or there will be recompense. When he tells his costar why he likes her, he refers to "her bum" twice. TWICE! He's a shallow man with no job and no future; he's compelling because he's hot and foreign. If you switched his character with the person playing the woman's original boyfriend, he wouldn't be compelling or believable. He isn't even good company. He's sort of a boar, a bore and a boor. He goes on and on about himself, tries to push her around, actually hacks her account and almost gets her fired, injures her with a pogo stick, and she likes him more. Is she retarded? He's a bad boy with a devil may care attitude, and this stupid chick falls for him hook line and sinker. She knows he's trouble; she doesn't care. Oh, and the episode ends with his brother, freshly escaped from prison, on their front door. Red flag much?

Both protagonists are teenagers stuck in bodies twice their mental, psychological, and emotional age. It's all about fun, frolic, frivolity, and fornication. They don't want partners; they want to be entertained. They aren't looking to work together or plan ahead, but of course since they believe in the apocalypse, they don't need to plan ahead. What's worse is that too many young people actually are like this and don't have long-term thinking because they believe zombies or global warming or whatever other madness they imagine will wipe us from the planet, so we best live it up while we can. Neither one of them seems to have an education, but they seem to know everything about everything, with that sense of self-importance that enraptures young people in puberty. Neither one of them seems to have any assets; the woman seems to have no car, and the guy has a house full of things for which he never intends to pay. Neither one of them is someone you would keep; you play with them and then move on to someone else, that is if that's part of YOUR moral code. For my part, I wouldn't pay attention to either of these idiotic fops; as pretty as she may be, she's not the kind of partner I seek, even if I knew with certainty that the world does end next June.

Ultimately I was disappointed, disgusted, and disjointed. I've been in a foul mood all day because of the stereotypes these people represent of what's wrong with young people, with relationships, and with the world in general. The good guy gets shafted; the foolish but sexy guy gets rewarded. The girl is vapid, fleeting, and unreliable. The characters are unbelievable; I don't know people like most of them. The plot is...well, I'm not sure what the plot is. They really covered everything in the pilot episode, and I'm not really on the edge of my seat awaiting with baited breathe their next episode. It reminded me of what I see in the real world, that dingbats date deadbeats, that lust supplants love, that entertainment trumps engaging company, and that youth, health, love and beauty are wasted on the young, those most likely to abuse it and least likely to appreciate or use it well. If it were up to me, "No Tomorrow" would have no tomorrow, and it won't, at least not for me. Nice try, CW, but I guess I shouldn't really be surprised. It's just another formulaic attempt to catch the attention of a specific demographic in order to sell advertising, direct behavior, and boost your ego and bottom line. You wrote a series with characters for whom it's all about them because it's all about you and you don't know how to do anything else.