Happy Anniversary GJP

Posted on 31/03/2012 by Grumpa Joe
Quote from novelist Ayn Rand.

Quote from novelist Ayn Rand. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Today marks the fourth year since the birth of Grumpa Joe’s Place blog.  In the beginning I wanted a blog that would give me a teaching opportunity. The object was to convince people of the huge potential they carry within themselves. Topics like goal setting, baby steps, project management, visioning, self talk, defining goals, you name it, if it related to getting things done and making lives more productive I wanted to cover it. At first I did, then something happened to steer me off course. The campaign for the 2008 election began and my goal changed. I saw something happening very early that made me realize a danger coming that many people would not recognize, i.e. socialism under the disguise of modern progressivism.

My entire being focused on stopping the Democrat take over. It didn’t matter if it was Obama or Hillary, they promote the same philosophy. After the election and I realized failure, the goal changed to one of stopping Progressives from anymore take overs. My entire being concentrates on that one goal, stop socialism from happening in America.

Maybe I’m too old to understand that young people want someone to care for them because they are not capable of doing it themselves. I wish I could adopt that mindset, it would be so much easier, for a while anyway. That is, until everyone finally wakes up to find the evil capitalists replaced by even more evil bureaucrats. There will be differences however, under evil capitalism, liberty allowed me to decide how hard to work to make a successful life. Under socialism, evil government will decide what you do in life, and life is not worth writing home about. Everyone will be equal. Think about that, everyone will drive the same car, live in the same kind of house, watch the same brand of TV on the same channel, and there is only one because that is the only way to give everyone equal entertainment. All of us will sit on the same kind of couch, go to the same doctors, make the same amount of money, and have the same number of babies of each sex. If a baby is the wrong sex, you may  decide to have an abortion, or send baby to a government exchange. There, you get to take home a baby of the right sex, or to try again until you get it right.

One thing that GJP has done is open my mind to new ideas from books. Most of the time, I read conservative authors because I still have the liberty to do so. “Atlas Shrugged” is a favorite. Author Ayn Rand saw the future when she wrote this story. I believe the premise for her book begins during the 2008-2012 period. Her story actually begins in the year 2016. If we keep the same political leaders we have, it will only take until 2016 for progressivism to transform America into a mindless population that waits for the next order to come down from the politiburo.

I like to think of myself as characters Hank Rearden or Dagny Taggert who prevail in spite of the complete and inevitable take over of all private enterprise by the élite progressives who steer the country for the good of everyone. To make this story short, even Rearden finally quits and seeks a new beginning through John Galt.

Who is John Galt?

“We are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: The stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission – which is the stage of the darkest periods of human history, the stage of rule by brute force.”[6] 

 Ayn Rand

Ameritopia is Atlas Shrugged

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Obama’s New Gun Control Tactic

Posted on 07/07/2011 by Grumpa Joe

The same old tired ideas that don’t work, TAX, TAX, TAX.

In the finale of Atlas Shrugged, Mr Williams holds John Galt hostage while making it seem he is free. John Galt is the only entrepreneur industrialist that can save the nation. Mr. Williams puts a gun to Galt’s head and asks for Galt’s advice.

The country is out of work, on the verge of bankruptcy, and the people are beginning a revolution; Mr. Williams is desperate for Galt to tell him how to save the economy.

Galt says, “Eliminate regulations and cut taxes.”

Williams answer to Galt’s suggestion, “We can’t do that.”

Obama accuses the Republicans of putting a gun to the head of America. He forgets that a few months ago he rammed Obamacare legislation through Congress with a gun. He had no regard to the voice of the American people on that one.

I am an American, and I say let’s shut the country down. Make the bureaucratic departments and bureaucrats suffer like the private sector jobless for a while.

Obama offers a compromise, cut the defense budget and he will approve. As an American, I say eliminate the Department of Education completely, and I will agree to a small cut in defense.

President Obama stop promoting the tired old ideas of the New Deal that are documented not to work as a solution to this massive mess. It is easier than you think to get out of it.

1. Repeal the housing act that caused the housing bubble.

2. Stop pushing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into giving away money for houses people can’t afford. You haven’t provided a single regulation to these two rogue organizations.

3. Eliminate Capital Gains Taxes.

4. Give small business incentives to build their businesses.

5 Repeal PPACA (Obamacare).

Try these tired old ideas and watch the country come alive again.

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Atlas Shrugged-Directive 10-289

Posted on 17/06/2011 by Grumpa Joe

A few weeks ago I heard friends talking about a movie called Atlas Shrugged.  My Facebook friends commented about how the liberal Hollywood establishment panned the film. That is all it took to raise my ears. Anything that gets a liberal mad is fuel for my soul.

I procrastinated for days before I finally asked a friend to go see the film. My buddy Al immediately turned me down because he had read a review by Michael Medved who panned it.

I said,  “Thanks, I’ll save my money and read the book instead.”

The Frankfort library did not have the book on the shelf so I ordered it through the South Suburban Library System.

A week later, Atlas Shrugged arrived and I picked it up. Immediately, I knew why the movie is a dud. The book is two inches thick. I didn’t even know what it is about, and I could tell that no single two-hour movie can do the job of telling the story without omitting huge sections. This story can be a series similar to Dallas or Dynasty, but not a single movie.

It took me three weeks to read the story. I am not a fast reader, but the story held my interest and I could not put it down. Several times, my eyes grew weary and I fought off sleep.

The story Atlas Shrugged is definitely not a liberal favorite. The plot revolves around a socialist United States government that has hypnotized the people into believing that all industrialists are evil profiteers. Profit is evil in the possession of the profiteer. Profit is “greed” in the hands of the businessman, and belongs to the people. It must be diverted to “social good.”

Ayn Rand, the author, devised an amazingly complicated and entertaining plot and describes an advanced socialist progressive society well. Those governing want control of the minds of the people. Not because the governing wants to use men’s ideas beneficially, but rather so the people would not use ideas against the governing.

Government is comprised of a group of good old boys who all believe in the same principles of providing for social good. Their efforts become disastrous.  Only those who believed in themselves, and were in business to make a profit, actually provided goods and services that contributed to the social good. The “looters,” were just that, “looters” they contributed absolutely zero to the social good.  The more they looted, the more they needed to loot.

Miss Rand first published this book in nineteen fifty-seven, but I recognized elements of 2011 throughout. She used words like “greed,” to describe evil business. “Social good” was a euphemism for ”income redistribution,” and the government lived for taking control of, and regulating everything.

The story moves along at a fast pace, and except for a single chapter near the end, was totally entertaining. Ayn Rand tends to use too many words to describe her characters; I would have done the same story in one-third the pages. but I am not a writer.

I have inserted a page from the story describing how the actions of government made the economy crash further and further. Each time, the government reaction was more control. Each time the economy lost ground. The social good became poverty for the people. Their final action was called Directive Number 10-289, a list of wage and work controls that turned every one into a slave. Directive 10-289 became the straw that broke the camel’s back.

A single character named John Galt, an inventor, physicist, and businessman is captured and held hostage. He is literally their last chance to save the world. They need him to resurrect the business and industry to get the economy rolling again. Galt’s first recommendation is to cut taxes and to roll back regulations.

“No, no” responds the leader, “we can’t do that.”

Sorry folks, but Mr. Williams, the so-called leader, sounds like Barack Obama. He wants someone to save the economy for him without giving up an inch of his turf.

Atlas Shrugged may be Barack Obama’s playbook for hope and change. If you want to know where you fit into the plot, read the story and decide if you still want Obama’s version of America.

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