Most of my friends and acquaintances know that I ride a motorcycle. Most everyone that reads my blog knows that I'm really big on freedom and freedom to choose how to live our lives. I can't express how much freedom I feel on the open road with the wind blowing through my hair and whispering past my music playing. There's just so much that it offers to those that ride. It's not about the "Sons of Anarchy"--honestly I will no longer watch that show after the season finale last season. That is not bikers. That is not even the 1%ers that I have known over the years. That is a morbid twisted version of what bikers are. Does it likely happen with some? Maybe. I don't care. I don't like the fact that some *sshole in Hollywood doesn't think about the ramifications to the biker community and the perception of us. Most of us are like "Wild Hogs". We have a group that we typically ride with. We like to have fun and we all share the love of the open road much like surfers love the waves, a chef craves to create the perfect dish, a grandmother craves the perfect picture of her grandchild. We crave the perfect road--curvy, no idiots pulling out in front of us, trees, shade, up a mountain, down a mountain, and the roar of our engines. The perfect day for a biker. But hey, that's not this blog or that would be it....
Most people that are pushing for helmet laws have never rode. They don't know what it's like to be on the open road. They have no idea what it feels like riding down the road with a helmet. They have no idea what it feels like without it. They really don't understand the freedom that they really have no business taking away. As I've stated in previous blogs, we as a society should acknowledge that as long as the person isn't hurting anyone else, then we should be free to choose how we will live our lives. And, the truth is that helmet laws are not based on anything but the "do good" mentality.
Yesterday we rode to Lake Lure. North Carolina is a helmet state. South Carolina is a choice state. With my helmet, a half shell, my head was a bobble head on the interstate. It was a bit aggravating the whole time. The extra weight of the helmet caused my neck and upper back to have to compensate for the extra weight. While I am an experienced rider with more than 26,000 miles on my current bike, I cannot imagine what an inexperienced, fair weather rider would feel. The wind at interstate speeds, plus every day wind, well, it's all fine and dandy for someone in a cage to say..."oooo, you need a helmet". Ok, how about we take your windshields out of your car or truck, roll all the windows down, take the back of your driver's seat out, and put an extra 5 pounds on your head. Then you drive 60 to 70 miles per hour down the road? It's not as easy as it sounds. If you're scientific at all, the extra force created by the helmet is the equivalent of putting a 30 pound dictionary on the top of your head and running at 3 miles per hour. A slow jog. That's a lot of extra distraction for the rider that normally would choose not to ride with a helmet. The goal of the helmet is supposedly to protect...but that's a lot of extra stress on the body. So what, do-gooders would say. It's supposed to protect the head, not the neck and the spine. Yet, in a study conducted on autopsies of bikers that died without helmets--nationwide and paid for by our government--the mass majority of head injuries would not be protected without a full helmet. In the study, yes, head injuries were the majority of the problem--but the jawline was the most likely area of the face to be damaged. For example, a biker going over the bike because they were hit from behind. Most helmets are laughable in that case, and full face helmets can be 10 pounds of added weight. The study also expressed concern that neck injuries from helmets should also be reviewed (it was a decent report). I know my neck and in between my shoulder blades was pretty sore yesterday. I'd really like to see that study if they were to ever do one.
Here's the numbers by the CDC study conducted in 2010: In the entire United States, there were 4,502 fatal motorcycle crashes that year. Yes, in the entire United States--ALL 50. In the last government study conducted of how many motorcyclists are on the road in 2006, there were 6.7M bikers on the roads. Harley and other motorcycle companies have acknowledged continued growth in sales, several states show marked increases in motorcycle licenses issued, continued growth of the industry in spite of economic downturn, with industry estimates for riders in the United States now exceeding 8M people. Let me put that in perspective for you: The government is estimating for 2014 there will be 5,000 fatal motorcycle accidents, nationwide, all 50 states, in comparison to 8,000,000 people out there riding. That is 0.0006%. Yes, less than 1/16th of a percent of any rider will be in a fatal accident in the entire United States. Why is the government so worried about this? Seriously? In fact, the overall population is 240M in the United States. Don't we sound like a drop in the bucket?
It honestly doesn't make sense. But then consider the demographics of the motorcycle riders. In 1985, the average age of a rider was 27 years old. In 2010, the average rider was 42. Motorcycles are not cheap. Compared to a car or truck, well, yes, they are, but most owners own at least 2 other vehicles. We are not out there as wild as we used to be or as the stereotype that Kurt Sutter would have you believe. The average price of a Harley Davidson cruiser is almost $20K. It's not a cheap hobby anymore. Sports bikes, "crotch rockets" are the cheaper bikes to own with the average price for a new one running around $8K. In fact, the government also says that the rockets are 4 times more likely to be in a fatal crash, but they are also more likely to be at speeds in excess of 160 mph and the average sports bike rider's age is 27. Let me put that demographic into perspective also: Sport bikes make up about 4,000 of those estimated 5,000 deaths.
Now, let's consider sports bikes versus cruisers. The registered sports bikes in this country make up 10% of all registered bikes in the United States. That means for every 90 of us riding a Harley or Gold Wing or other cruiser bike, there's ten of them. More number crunching: An estimated 80,000 sport bike riders nationwide make up 4,000 of all fatal motorcycle accidents. The percentage chance of a sport bike rider of being in a fatal accident is 5%. More importantly, do the math for the cruisers: 1,000 estimated fatal accidents a year out of 7.9M riders. Even at the 2006 count of 6.7M, reduced by 100K to take those sport bike riders out, our percentage of risk of being in a fatal accident is 0.00015%. Less than 1/70th of a percent of cruiser riders will be in a fatal crash by government estimates if we actually look at their numbers.
Experience comes into play too when we talk about motorcycle accidents. We all get wiser with age and experience. The average motorcyclist rides 1800 miles per year. The average sports/crotch rocket biker rides less than 1500 miles a year. It's a rough ride. Takes a toll on the body because the bike is a piece of paper compared to a cruiser. The average cruiser biker rides 2500 miles per year. People like me ride an average of over 5000 miles per year. Unfortunately, I cannot give you a number of the average miles of experience versus fatal crashes. I can tell you that a lot of riders start on rockets and end up on cruisers sooner or later. So, I can kind of say it is possible if the government really wanted to know, they could probably find out how much experience is involved in most of these fatal crashes also. Most of us that ride can tell you that it's much more likely for someone we know that has just started riding to have an accident than someone that has been riding for years. We also can tell you that it takes a couple hundred miles on a new bike or even when you've made changes to a bike you've been riding for some time to adjust even for the experienced riders. You shouldn't just jump on a bike and just have fun. You have to pay attention to everything around you and develop a relationship with your bike. Like riding a horse, maybe the bike doesn't have to understand you, but you have to understand the bike.
I'm not trying to change your mind on whether you would wear a helmet if you were riding. I'm trying to put perspective on trying to take someone else's freedom away. If you've never felt the wind in your hair on motorcycle, you can't grasp it. I'm not asking you to understand it. If you are for helmet laws, you are punishing a large amount of people, well over 7 million people, for what less than 100,000 are accountable for the majority of the supposed issues that are trying to be addressed. We are a small amount when you think about it. We are nationwide a little over 2 times the amount of people that live in Los Angeles County in California. We live everywhere. We ride all over the place when we get a chance. We should, even though we are a small minority of the overall population, have the right to choose a helmet or not. If I were riding a rocket still, I'd probably wear a full face. Almost every one of those bikes can hit 60 mph in 1st gear. By 5th, they are well over 150 mph. My Harley Fatboy can get there I suppose, but why? I'm not trying to get anywhere that fast. I'm out there for the ride, to enjoy the wind, and would just frankly prefer not to be a bobble head because someone who has never rode, has no idea what it's like, sits behind a desk, crunching some numbers arbitrarily without combining them for any real analysis and telling you and me what I should or should not be doing. Would you want someone telling you which wave you can ride, what cake you can eat, or whether you could quilt with the material you chose or not? Probably not. I don't want to be told to wear a helmet. I'm 45 years old. I'm a big girl now. I can choose. I'm not a fan of the numbers in regards to sports bikes, but that's probably why I spend a lot of time talking my boys into cruisers and riding with people that I know are as experienced or more experienced than me. It's a choice to ride or not to ride. It should be a choice to wear a helmet or not to also.
Monday, April 28, 2014
Thursday, April 10, 2014
Home of the Free and the Brave
Recently, I've seen a lot of negative posts on Facebook from more and more friends, "liberal" and "conservative", about the American Dream. OK, I'll admit I'm still a "registered" Republican, but that was when I was 18. The world was still in awe of one of the greatest Presidents of the last century, Ronald Reagan. President Reagan was the embodiment of the American Dream--a man from humble beginnings, faithful to his wife (although a man who likely made mistakes in previous marriages), and a true believer in the United States of America. I grew up on his version of the American Dream. I get all teary-eyed at the sight of Old Glory going into battle in old Civil War and Revolutionary War films. I still shed a tear by the end of the Star Spangled Banner and cry at the end of "The Cowboys" when John Wayne dies. I still believe in the American Dream of the beginning of the last century, because I drank in the Kool Aid of what that Dream is. No matter what anyone wants to post on Facebook, the American Dream is not in Denmark or Greece or even in England. It's not in Japan. And, it most certainly is not in China. No, to understand the American Dream, there are two fundamentals that none of those countries, that no other country offers so completely than the United States of America. Those my friends are freedom and bravery. That is not to say that other countries don't afford their citizens some freedoms or have just as brave of citizens as our young men and women that volunteer to serve in our military. It's just to say that when it comes to freedom and bravery, we are overrun with it compared to other countries. That's got nothing to do with politics. It's got nothing to do with economics. It's who we are as a people--American.
First, let's deal with politics. I'm mortified that the first black President has created more racial divide than any other President in history...and in 1928, the damn Ku Klux Klan had their "million man" march on Washington DC. I don't give a rat's *ss if someone is Republican or Democrat, Libertarian, Tea Party, Fruit Loop in a Basket, we are American. The American Dream really requires us to understand that over all of our political wranglings. phony debates that no longer even follow true debate standards, a ton of rhetoric that we all make jokes means nothing after a jerk-off is elected, the American Dream is to be American. As Americans, we refuse in general to be spoon fed our information, although we are pretty fond of bandwagons. We're a confusing breed to the rest of the world because we simply always seem to be arguing about something. That's part of who we are. We are always arguing about something. Taxes is a great example--a fundamental debate ingrained into the very fabric that Old Glory is made with. Come on now, we rebelled against the British Empire over it. There were always supporters of the British Empire, even after we had won the Revolutionary War. They called themselves "Loyalists"; the Continental Congress called them "traitors". Toe-mae-toe, toe-mah-toe. We didn't punish them worth a diddly. They became loyal Americans, albeit eventually. There's not a "loyalist" family left now, but I guarantee they are all interwoven into our society and proud to be American families that date back to pre-Revolutionary times. We set our own standard that we would always be at odds with one another from the jump. The Continental Congress, the Presidents that followed could have squashed any "resistance", instead we simply took their points of view and ultimately, decades, even a century would go by in some cases, and each issue resolved itself. The issue of slavery was in great debate even as the Constitution was finalized. Senator John C. Calhoun threatened President John Quincy Adams with secession from the Union forty years before the Civil War. (History refresher: John Quincy Adams was the 6th President.) We are full of idol threats and bashing our own government, but we still participate and throw ourselves into the arguments, sometimes just for arguments' sake. It's what makes us American. The great Civil War was fought over a great debate...a great debate over freedom. What many fail to recognize is that our great Civil War was the point in history where for all our arguing, all our debates, the American Dream of freedom would not be stricken from this earth. American Politics has been full of rhetoric, back room dealings, bullsh*t frankly, from the start. It has always been polarized whether debate of a national currency and a national bank--what would eventually become the Federal Reserve and Treasury--or whether to enter World War Two and smite the Nazis back where they belonged. Make no mistake our politics is not changing and yet over decades, even a century or more, our politics is constantly changing. We are the world's leader in change. That change is driven by how our political system works, no matter how ridiculous it can be sometimes. We're not going to have another Civil War over damn politics. There's no one's freedom at stake. There's taxes and how those taxes are going to be distributed. The one fabric of American politics that hasn't changed since day one. We'll debate wars, because it's what we do. We'll debate welfare because since the 1930s it's what we do. We'll debate whether the sky is blue if we think it will make our point. We're Americans, and for better or worse, it's part of what makes us American.
The economics of being American is varied. I mean we are truly the first country in the world to ever have a "middle class". Karl Marx's theories on the class wars never accounted for us. Thus, his "theories" were based on inaccurate and incomplete data. The middle class in his eyes was the poor and downtrodden, just as the poor and downtrodden were in Europe in the 1800s. He did not see the emerging middle class of Europe holding any real power and therefore the classes would still be ultimately divided into 2 simplistic sides--the haves and the have nots. It's sad that our current President doesn't actually understand the middle class, but coming from money does make that a bit difficult just as it was difficult for Marx to see the middle class as anything but part of the servitude class of his Europe. The American Dream isn't to be rich. Money really has nothing to do with the American Dream. "One man's trash is another man's treasure" is an American saying. Each American has their own version of the American Dream from a financial standpoint. It is a different picture from one person to the next. To some Americans, the financial portion is to own a home and retire comfortably. To others, it's to be a Wall Street tycoon. Like our view of politics, this is not the same for each and every American. It's more of a myriad of mis-mash expectations that vary as much as the branches of one tree to the next. It's kind of the same, even can be the same type of tree, but each American has their own expectations of what their Dream means. No two are exactly the same. It is a moot point to try and tell most people this, but the American Dream has nothing to do with money because each of our definitions of wealth vary so greatly. For some true wealth is just good health, great family and friends and being happy. For others, it's a large mansion with all the bells and whistles and good health, great family and friends and being happy. Money cannot buy great family and friends or happiness, and very, very few do not include family, friends and happiness in their version of the American Dream. The class warfare of 1800s Europe is just that and the fact the current President and many Americans don't understand that money isn't the American Dream is mortifying. But think about it. Please. The American Dream was and will never be about money. That just isn't the American way. The American Dream's finances is on a case by case basis, and each of our cases has a different view. The freedom to define our own American Dream's finances is one thread in the fabric of each individual American Dream. It has never been the dream to have someone else define the finances for us.
In spite of what some Europeans and Asians think, the American Dream is not always to get what we want or what we don't want. It's the freedom to choose what we want and having the option to fail or succeed on own merits. This is an exclusively American thing. We do get "free" education to our senior year in high school. Our parents are free to choose to try and provide even better education if they want. We are in fact the first country to offer "free" education to all. Yes, I'll state it again. We, the United States of America, are the first country to offer "free" education to all. This is OUR brain child. It comes from our fundamental belief that all of us are equal, and as all of us are equal, we believe that all should be afforded a basic education. And guess what else, we are also the first to believe that is afforded all the way through high school for ALL. In Europe, this stops a year or more short of our educational systems. We can debate all day long about who has the better system, but bottom line, education is also what the student makes of it. "Free" college? Look at the countries that offer truly free university level educations. They have massive exams for college entrance that failure means no college education at all. In fact, in most of those countries, if actually researched instead of sound bite snippets of only the good stuff, do not offer truly free education to all. If we were to fail in their systems let's say in the 8th grade, our education ends. That's it. No repeat of the 8th grade. No, no, out into the workforce with a 7th grade education, because in order for their systems to remain "free" for those attending college and pursuing advanced degrees: A failure means that a child is "left behind" so that others may achieve. Yes, that sounds like the American Dream to me (feel the sarcasm). One failure means that our whole lives are predefined for us. So much for our precious freedom to choose who we want to be and whether we can achieve. Our mistakes do not overrun our potential like it does in other countries. Our education system, for all its flaws, is still the only one that "rewards" students with multiple chances to succeed. Would I trade that for "free college"? Would you? Consider that those college entrance exams take days and in most cases only half of the applicants are selected. Yes, really. Is that what you would want to hang your kid's hat on?
One of the more recent posts was from a supposed Danish woman claiming that she'd rather pay 70% taxes and have "free" healthcare, college, et cetera. "Free"? Well, yes, free, if she can get into the college she wants, but if not, then she is paying for someone else. Free healthcare? There's a reason that the rich from all over the world come here for surgery for major life threatening issues. Newsflash: it is rocket science and you get what you pay for. Over-inflated drug costs? Yes, we Americans do pay over-inflated drug costs and often are the last for the FDA to give approval. All that red tape costs money. All that red tape is supposed to protect us too. I took Depo-Provera during the drug trials as a US military guinea pig. I had anti-periods for over 9 months. Anti-periods: 3 weeks on flow and one week off. Make jokes about not trusting something that bleeds for 7 days all you want, but it wasn't natural. The studies were being pushed and the Naval Hospital pushed and pushed for me to take another shot. I refused and withdrew from the trials. The drug based on those trials was eventually released to the general public. Those shots have made women ill and have a myriad of side effects that were, or at least should have been, caught in those trials. Thousands of women experienced anti-periods, amongst other symptoms. I'll take the costly red tape any day. I'm sure there's a happy balance somewhere, but I have faith that the politics of it will eventually meter it out albeit probably not as fast as I would like. The Danish woman claimed that she's OK with her 70% taxes, because she has all this "free" stuff. It's not "free"--it's her 70%. And she doesn't have the freedom to choose where to spend that 70%, because those options have already been chosen for her. Guess what else her 70% doesn't get her? Her freedom. What freedom? She probably doesn't own a house and if she does it's less than half the size of the same home that her income could buy here in the United States. Denmark isn't even in the Top 5 for square footage of a home. We Americans are always accused of liking our space, unless we live in major cities. Most of us freak out at the pictures of micro-apartments that are under 300 square foot (average 173 square feet) for an average of $1500 rent in major cities like San Francisco or New York. The average American house is 2170 square feet, only second to Australia. UK, aka. Britain, is the highest in Europe with the average house being 818 square feet. Yes, deary you can have your 70% tax and live in a smaller house on average than 800 square feet and pay through the ying yang for the sardine can. That's a family home, 2 or 3 bedrooms, kitchen, living room, bath. And, consider that we have a slew of prices for a 2000 square foot home. Depending on where we live, the same 2000 square feet could go for $100,000 or $400,000. In Europe, what we can afford basically defines how much house you can have. Yes, my fellow Americans post that all over Facebook, but only an unaware buffoon would post it unless living in a micro apartment. But, hey why stop there? Go outside to that driveway--the one that really doesn't exist for most European homes. Look at the 2003 Explorer, the 2009 Dodge Ram, or even the brand spanking new turbo 350 hp Audi in the drive. We're used to paying personal property tax on our vehicles in most states of the Union. The average property tax for a brand new car is $600 a year. The average annual tax in Europe for a car is $2000, and that's not for brand new. In Europe, they pay tax on horsepower....can you imagine? On horsepower. No wonder the most popular vehicle in Europe is a Vespa. But, hey not just horsepower--add onto that age (so what, so do we), fuel type, fuel economy, engine cc (yea, because the size is just as taxable as the horsepower, let's not get into a debate over the whole double taxation thing), how many miles driven in the year (it may depreciate the vehicle, but it was being driven--let's not go into the double taxation thing on the exorbitant fuel taxes added at the pump)...in fact, they tax their vehicles so much that when the EU commissioned a study on taxes in the EU, more than a third of the study was on the taxation of vehicles. Yep, just vehicles. Denmark leads the taxes on vehicles in the EU. In fact, let's close this particular point off with the study's conclusions. Denmark is the highest in the EU for taxes period--vehicle, income, real estate, et cetera. That Denmark sweetheart bragging that she would love to continue to live her supposed "American" Dream with her 70% tax burden? The study concluded that the average percentage of taxes paid in Denmark per person was 218%. I'm not even sure how in the hell Denmark can get 218% out of the average Denmark worker. Oh, right. It probably comes out of the corporations that do business there; they take 70% from her and 148% from her employer. What does the corporation do to her salary to make up that 148%? And, where do you suppose those companies make up that profit margin? Oh you bet your sweet Denmark *ss where. Right here darlings in the land of the Free and the Brave. So yes, take that Denmark Dream and shove it where the sun doesn't shine. I'll whine and complain about our average 30% tax burden, but I'm free to choose where 60% more of my income gets spent or saved because it's sitting in my bank account and my salary is higher in a cost of living comparison.
We have our American Dream, whatever our individual version is, because we are the Free and the Brave. We've fought wars that were not our burden not because we had to. but because we are the only country in the world that truly 100% believes in freedom. Yes, I know that most of Europe has come to a version of freedom, but most Americans, regardless of their politics, don't like the idea of flying cameras used by police to monitor our backyards or a Federally run camera system that tracks almost every movement of every citizen. We don't like the idea of mandatory DNA tracking systems, I mean *cough*, identification. We still believe our homes are our sanctuaries and we don't want someone coming in and searching through our undie drawers without true justification which we define as a warrant issued by a judge. We still scoff at mandatory finger printing of our children and most of us freak out at the idea that we all have retinal scans that would identify our every move from any camera with the video viewed with the right surveillance software. Yet, these things are implemented all over the world in some of the countries that some Americans think are great. Ignorance is bliss, but as Americans we can be blissful because none of that nonsense is implemented here. We have lead the charge to save Europe from themselves, twice. We have answered attacks on our own hollowed ground only twice. Pearl Harbor and 9/11. We have argued and argued and argued till the cows came home on all four occasions after we were wearied from the fight. Old newspapers can be researched to see the rhetoric as it played out. Of course, during World War Two freedom of the press was limited by President Roosevelt himself. Good luck doing that now with the internet. In World War 2, Japan employed a woman known as "Tokyo Rose" and broadcast her over the airwaves hoping to incite American sailors and soldiers to abandon the war effort. Not much of her made it stateside until after the war, and by then it was all laughable. Nowadays every two bit moron with an opinion, including yours truly, can share their opinion on the internet and anyone could read it. Propaganda is nothing new and the fact that we weary of a fight whether in Iraq or Afghanistan, the fundamental truth is that we are there because we truly believe in freedom. We question ourselves because we are human and we find our resolve in the American Dream. The Dream of Freedom for All resounds in the lengths that we will go to secure it for others, and the Bravery we have shown and continue to show in the belief that we are all free, or should be.
We may be overstretching our bounds. It is the American Dream to be free--to live our lives as we choose, whether how we spend our money, which religion we follow, where we live, whether we go to college or not, or who are friends are or can be. We all believe that Freedom is not exclusively American either. We as Americans have all drank the Kool Aid that we, all human beings, are born entitled to live free to achieve or fail on our own merits. This is not a fundamental in any other society, in any other country. Some of us think we should help the downtrodden; some don't. Some of us think animals are equal to human beings; some of us don't. Some of us think that insurance should be guaranteed; some of us think it's a waste of money, but a necessary evil. None of us have come up with a better way, yet. But, the fundamental truth to every American is all people, not just a chosen few, should be free.
A friend of mine from Italy once said to me that he didn't really understand Americans. We are so different from anywhere else. We are. Take the EU. Italy is part of the EU, I had explained, but is there a part of him that thinks of himself as German? No, of course not. For Americans, we may be "French", "German", "British", "Chinese", "Native American", "Italian", "Japanese". "Irish"....New Englanders, East Coast, West Coast, Great Lakes, Mountain people, Southerners, Texans, Westerners, Mid-Westerners..., but we are all American. The EU has no bond. We argue much like the EU countries argue and debate with each other, but our sense of belonging is always bonded to the United States of America. In EU countries, the EU flag, if flown at all, flies below the country's flag. In the United States of America, Old Glory flies over all other state flags. No state claims the most freedom or the most brave. When we mourn a fallen soldier or sailor, we do not mourn them because they came from a state, but from our country. When a fallen Brit is mourned, he or she is mourned as a Brit, not as a European. To understand us, the Europeans would have to turn themselves inside out, because we are that. We are not comparing two of the same trees, let alone branches. Europeans have been given, allowed, even taken and crushed, the freedoms bit by bit, ounce by ounce. We have taken freedom, all of it, as an inalienable right from inception and as such we are mortified whenever we find freedom being taken from anyone. "Liberals" are worried about the lack of freedom in Africa, yet are upset that "conservatives" do not want to leave freedom to chance if we pull out of Afghanistan. We are by best terms, an odd bunch, but freedom and the lengths that we go to ensure it and even secure it for others fuels the bravery of not just our military, but every American as we live and breath. Our inherent weakness is that we'll debate to death until we come to a compromise on how much, how little, too this, too little that. If Vietnam should have taught us anything, if the enemy can ride out until we are exhausted from the debate, we will let them get away with murder. Liberals, conservatives, libertarians, fruit loops in a basket, all Americans should consider that as we post stupid unproven, unsubstantiated, non-fact supported rhetoric on the open internet (Facebook, Twitter, et cetera) unless we have the research and understanding why we stand where we do. The debate shouldn't be about winning for us individually, but making the right decision as a whole. Frankly Europeans don't understand us, because often we don't even understand ourselves.
To that end, our freedom is the only thing that we understand universally as Americans--we are the Free. Our American Dreams, no matter the individual specifics, is the freedom to live as we choose. We only limit that we cannot infringe on someone else's freedoms in our quests for our own. We are really quite simple that way. We would like to spread that American Dream and we will go to great lengths to protect it for ourselves and even to secure and guarantee it for others--the Brave. I'm quite proud of all my friends that even have opinions about anything, but I'm also painfully aware that sometimes regardless of where their opinions fall that they have done no real research before they post the rhetoric. If we are truly fond of the American Dream, then it's time that we acknowledge that it isn't about taxes, who we pay for or don't pay for, it isn't even to own a house. The American Dream is not that shallow. More American men died in the Civil War than in any other war in the history of our Great Nation. They hollowed the land with their blood that we would serve one ideal and one only--Freedom, and we would give our last drop of blood for it--Bravery. The American Dream is Freedom and it is fueled exclusively by American Bravery.
First, let's deal with politics. I'm mortified that the first black President has created more racial divide than any other President in history...and in 1928, the damn Ku Klux Klan had their "million man" march on Washington DC. I don't give a rat's *ss if someone is Republican or Democrat, Libertarian, Tea Party, Fruit Loop in a Basket, we are American. The American Dream really requires us to understand that over all of our political wranglings. phony debates that no longer even follow true debate standards, a ton of rhetoric that we all make jokes means nothing after a jerk-off is elected, the American Dream is to be American. As Americans, we refuse in general to be spoon fed our information, although we are pretty fond of bandwagons. We're a confusing breed to the rest of the world because we simply always seem to be arguing about something. That's part of who we are. We are always arguing about something. Taxes is a great example--a fundamental debate ingrained into the very fabric that Old Glory is made with. Come on now, we rebelled against the British Empire over it. There were always supporters of the British Empire, even after we had won the Revolutionary War. They called themselves "Loyalists"; the Continental Congress called them "traitors". Toe-mae-toe, toe-mah-toe. We didn't punish them worth a diddly. They became loyal Americans, albeit eventually. There's not a "loyalist" family left now, but I guarantee they are all interwoven into our society and proud to be American families that date back to pre-Revolutionary times. We set our own standard that we would always be at odds with one another from the jump. The Continental Congress, the Presidents that followed could have squashed any "resistance", instead we simply took their points of view and ultimately, decades, even a century would go by in some cases, and each issue resolved itself. The issue of slavery was in great debate even as the Constitution was finalized. Senator John C. Calhoun threatened President John Quincy Adams with secession from the Union forty years before the Civil War. (History refresher: John Quincy Adams was the 6th President.) We are full of idol threats and bashing our own government, but we still participate and throw ourselves into the arguments, sometimes just for arguments' sake. It's what makes us American. The great Civil War was fought over a great debate...a great debate over freedom. What many fail to recognize is that our great Civil War was the point in history where for all our arguing, all our debates, the American Dream of freedom would not be stricken from this earth. American Politics has been full of rhetoric, back room dealings, bullsh*t frankly, from the start. It has always been polarized whether debate of a national currency and a national bank--what would eventually become the Federal Reserve and Treasury--or whether to enter World War Two and smite the Nazis back where they belonged. Make no mistake our politics is not changing and yet over decades, even a century or more, our politics is constantly changing. We are the world's leader in change. That change is driven by how our political system works, no matter how ridiculous it can be sometimes. We're not going to have another Civil War over damn politics. There's no one's freedom at stake. There's taxes and how those taxes are going to be distributed. The one fabric of American politics that hasn't changed since day one. We'll debate wars, because it's what we do. We'll debate welfare because since the 1930s it's what we do. We'll debate whether the sky is blue if we think it will make our point. We're Americans, and for better or worse, it's part of what makes us American.
The economics of being American is varied. I mean we are truly the first country in the world to ever have a "middle class". Karl Marx's theories on the class wars never accounted for us. Thus, his "theories" were based on inaccurate and incomplete data. The middle class in his eyes was the poor and downtrodden, just as the poor and downtrodden were in Europe in the 1800s. He did not see the emerging middle class of Europe holding any real power and therefore the classes would still be ultimately divided into 2 simplistic sides--the haves and the have nots. It's sad that our current President doesn't actually understand the middle class, but coming from money does make that a bit difficult just as it was difficult for Marx to see the middle class as anything but part of the servitude class of his Europe. The American Dream isn't to be rich. Money really has nothing to do with the American Dream. "One man's trash is another man's treasure" is an American saying. Each American has their own version of the American Dream from a financial standpoint. It is a different picture from one person to the next. To some Americans, the financial portion is to own a home and retire comfortably. To others, it's to be a Wall Street tycoon. Like our view of politics, this is not the same for each and every American. It's more of a myriad of mis-mash expectations that vary as much as the branches of one tree to the next. It's kind of the same, even can be the same type of tree, but each American has their own expectations of what their Dream means. No two are exactly the same. It is a moot point to try and tell most people this, but the American Dream has nothing to do with money because each of our definitions of wealth vary so greatly. For some true wealth is just good health, great family and friends and being happy. For others, it's a large mansion with all the bells and whistles and good health, great family and friends and being happy. Money cannot buy great family and friends or happiness, and very, very few do not include family, friends and happiness in their version of the American Dream. The class warfare of 1800s Europe is just that and the fact the current President and many Americans don't understand that money isn't the American Dream is mortifying. But think about it. Please. The American Dream was and will never be about money. That just isn't the American way. The American Dream's finances is on a case by case basis, and each of our cases has a different view. The freedom to define our own American Dream's finances is one thread in the fabric of each individual American Dream. It has never been the dream to have someone else define the finances for us.
In spite of what some Europeans and Asians think, the American Dream is not always to get what we want or what we don't want. It's the freedom to choose what we want and having the option to fail or succeed on own merits. This is an exclusively American thing. We do get "free" education to our senior year in high school. Our parents are free to choose to try and provide even better education if they want. We are in fact the first country to offer "free" education to all. Yes, I'll state it again. We, the United States of America, are the first country to offer "free" education to all. This is OUR brain child. It comes from our fundamental belief that all of us are equal, and as all of us are equal, we believe that all should be afforded a basic education. And guess what else, we are also the first to believe that is afforded all the way through high school for ALL. In Europe, this stops a year or more short of our educational systems. We can debate all day long about who has the better system, but bottom line, education is also what the student makes of it. "Free" college? Look at the countries that offer truly free university level educations. They have massive exams for college entrance that failure means no college education at all. In fact, in most of those countries, if actually researched instead of sound bite snippets of only the good stuff, do not offer truly free education to all. If we were to fail in their systems let's say in the 8th grade, our education ends. That's it. No repeat of the 8th grade. No, no, out into the workforce with a 7th grade education, because in order for their systems to remain "free" for those attending college and pursuing advanced degrees: A failure means that a child is "left behind" so that others may achieve. Yes, that sounds like the American Dream to me (feel the sarcasm). One failure means that our whole lives are predefined for us. So much for our precious freedom to choose who we want to be and whether we can achieve. Our mistakes do not overrun our potential like it does in other countries. Our education system, for all its flaws, is still the only one that "rewards" students with multiple chances to succeed. Would I trade that for "free college"? Would you? Consider that those college entrance exams take days and in most cases only half of the applicants are selected. Yes, really. Is that what you would want to hang your kid's hat on?
One of the more recent posts was from a supposed Danish woman claiming that she'd rather pay 70% taxes and have "free" healthcare, college, et cetera. "Free"? Well, yes, free, if she can get into the college she wants, but if not, then she is paying for someone else. Free healthcare? There's a reason that the rich from all over the world come here for surgery for major life threatening issues. Newsflash: it is rocket science and you get what you pay for. Over-inflated drug costs? Yes, we Americans do pay over-inflated drug costs and often are the last for the FDA to give approval. All that red tape costs money. All that red tape is supposed to protect us too. I took Depo-Provera during the drug trials as a US military guinea pig. I had anti-periods for over 9 months. Anti-periods: 3 weeks on flow and one week off. Make jokes about not trusting something that bleeds for 7 days all you want, but it wasn't natural. The studies were being pushed and the Naval Hospital pushed and pushed for me to take another shot. I refused and withdrew from the trials. The drug based on those trials was eventually released to the general public. Those shots have made women ill and have a myriad of side effects that were, or at least should have been, caught in those trials. Thousands of women experienced anti-periods, amongst other symptoms. I'll take the costly red tape any day. I'm sure there's a happy balance somewhere, but I have faith that the politics of it will eventually meter it out albeit probably not as fast as I would like. The Danish woman claimed that she's OK with her 70% taxes, because she has all this "free" stuff. It's not "free"--it's her 70%. And she doesn't have the freedom to choose where to spend that 70%, because those options have already been chosen for her. Guess what else her 70% doesn't get her? Her freedom. What freedom? She probably doesn't own a house and if she does it's less than half the size of the same home that her income could buy here in the United States. Denmark isn't even in the Top 5 for square footage of a home. We Americans are always accused of liking our space, unless we live in major cities. Most of us freak out at the pictures of micro-apartments that are under 300 square foot (average 173 square feet) for an average of $1500 rent in major cities like San Francisco or New York. The average American house is 2170 square feet, only second to Australia. UK, aka. Britain, is the highest in Europe with the average house being 818 square feet. Yes, deary you can have your 70% tax and live in a smaller house on average than 800 square feet and pay through the ying yang for the sardine can. That's a family home, 2 or 3 bedrooms, kitchen, living room, bath. And, consider that we have a slew of prices for a 2000 square foot home. Depending on where we live, the same 2000 square feet could go for $100,000 or $400,000. In Europe, what we can afford basically defines how much house you can have. Yes, my fellow Americans post that all over Facebook, but only an unaware buffoon would post it unless living in a micro apartment. But, hey why stop there? Go outside to that driveway--the one that really doesn't exist for most European homes. Look at the 2003 Explorer, the 2009 Dodge Ram, or even the brand spanking new turbo 350 hp Audi in the drive. We're used to paying personal property tax on our vehicles in most states of the Union. The average property tax for a brand new car is $600 a year. The average annual tax in Europe for a car is $2000, and that's not for brand new. In Europe, they pay tax on horsepower....can you imagine? On horsepower. No wonder the most popular vehicle in Europe is a Vespa. But, hey not just horsepower--add onto that age (so what, so do we), fuel type, fuel economy, engine cc (yea, because the size is just as taxable as the horsepower, let's not get into a debate over the whole double taxation thing), how many miles driven in the year (it may depreciate the vehicle, but it was being driven--let's not go into the double taxation thing on the exorbitant fuel taxes added at the pump)...in fact, they tax their vehicles so much that when the EU commissioned a study on taxes in the EU, more than a third of the study was on the taxation of vehicles. Yep, just vehicles. Denmark leads the taxes on vehicles in the EU. In fact, let's close this particular point off with the study's conclusions. Denmark is the highest in the EU for taxes period--vehicle, income, real estate, et cetera. That Denmark sweetheart bragging that she would love to continue to live her supposed "American" Dream with her 70% tax burden? The study concluded that the average percentage of taxes paid in Denmark per person was 218%. I'm not even sure how in the hell Denmark can get 218% out of the average Denmark worker. Oh, right. It probably comes out of the corporations that do business there; they take 70% from her and 148% from her employer. What does the corporation do to her salary to make up that 148%? And, where do you suppose those companies make up that profit margin? Oh you bet your sweet Denmark *ss where. Right here darlings in the land of the Free and the Brave. So yes, take that Denmark Dream and shove it where the sun doesn't shine. I'll whine and complain about our average 30% tax burden, but I'm free to choose where 60% more of my income gets spent or saved because it's sitting in my bank account and my salary is higher in a cost of living comparison.
We have our American Dream, whatever our individual version is, because we are the Free and the Brave. We've fought wars that were not our burden not because we had to. but because we are the only country in the world that truly 100% believes in freedom. Yes, I know that most of Europe has come to a version of freedom, but most Americans, regardless of their politics, don't like the idea of flying cameras used by police to monitor our backyards or a Federally run camera system that tracks almost every movement of every citizen. We don't like the idea of mandatory DNA tracking systems, I mean *cough*, identification. We still believe our homes are our sanctuaries and we don't want someone coming in and searching through our undie drawers without true justification which we define as a warrant issued by a judge. We still scoff at mandatory finger printing of our children and most of us freak out at the idea that we all have retinal scans that would identify our every move from any camera with the video viewed with the right surveillance software. Yet, these things are implemented all over the world in some of the countries that some Americans think are great. Ignorance is bliss, but as Americans we can be blissful because none of that nonsense is implemented here. We have lead the charge to save Europe from themselves, twice. We have answered attacks on our own hollowed ground only twice. Pearl Harbor and 9/11. We have argued and argued and argued till the cows came home on all four occasions after we were wearied from the fight. Old newspapers can be researched to see the rhetoric as it played out. Of course, during World War Two freedom of the press was limited by President Roosevelt himself. Good luck doing that now with the internet. In World War 2, Japan employed a woman known as "Tokyo Rose" and broadcast her over the airwaves hoping to incite American sailors and soldiers to abandon the war effort. Not much of her made it stateside until after the war, and by then it was all laughable. Nowadays every two bit moron with an opinion, including yours truly, can share their opinion on the internet and anyone could read it. Propaganda is nothing new and the fact that we weary of a fight whether in Iraq or Afghanistan, the fundamental truth is that we are there because we truly believe in freedom. We question ourselves because we are human and we find our resolve in the American Dream. The Dream of Freedom for All resounds in the lengths that we will go to secure it for others, and the Bravery we have shown and continue to show in the belief that we are all free, or should be.
We may be overstretching our bounds. It is the American Dream to be free--to live our lives as we choose, whether how we spend our money, which religion we follow, where we live, whether we go to college or not, or who are friends are or can be. We all believe that Freedom is not exclusively American either. We as Americans have all drank the Kool Aid that we, all human beings, are born entitled to live free to achieve or fail on our own merits. This is not a fundamental in any other society, in any other country. Some of us think we should help the downtrodden; some don't. Some of us think animals are equal to human beings; some of us don't. Some of us think that insurance should be guaranteed; some of us think it's a waste of money, but a necessary evil. None of us have come up with a better way, yet. But, the fundamental truth to every American is all people, not just a chosen few, should be free.
A friend of mine from Italy once said to me that he didn't really understand Americans. We are so different from anywhere else. We are. Take the EU. Italy is part of the EU, I had explained, but is there a part of him that thinks of himself as German? No, of course not. For Americans, we may be "French", "German", "British", "Chinese", "Native American", "Italian", "Japanese". "Irish"....New Englanders, East Coast, West Coast, Great Lakes, Mountain people, Southerners, Texans, Westerners, Mid-Westerners..., but we are all American. The EU has no bond. We argue much like the EU countries argue and debate with each other, but our sense of belonging is always bonded to the United States of America. In EU countries, the EU flag, if flown at all, flies below the country's flag. In the United States of America, Old Glory flies over all other state flags. No state claims the most freedom or the most brave. When we mourn a fallen soldier or sailor, we do not mourn them because they came from a state, but from our country. When a fallen Brit is mourned, he or she is mourned as a Brit, not as a European. To understand us, the Europeans would have to turn themselves inside out, because we are that. We are not comparing two of the same trees, let alone branches. Europeans have been given, allowed, even taken and crushed, the freedoms bit by bit, ounce by ounce. We have taken freedom, all of it, as an inalienable right from inception and as such we are mortified whenever we find freedom being taken from anyone. "Liberals" are worried about the lack of freedom in Africa, yet are upset that "conservatives" do not want to leave freedom to chance if we pull out of Afghanistan. We are by best terms, an odd bunch, but freedom and the lengths that we go to ensure it and even secure it for others fuels the bravery of not just our military, but every American as we live and breath. Our inherent weakness is that we'll debate to death until we come to a compromise on how much, how little, too this, too little that. If Vietnam should have taught us anything, if the enemy can ride out until we are exhausted from the debate, we will let them get away with murder. Liberals, conservatives, libertarians, fruit loops in a basket, all Americans should consider that as we post stupid unproven, unsubstantiated, non-fact supported rhetoric on the open internet (Facebook, Twitter, et cetera) unless we have the research and understanding why we stand where we do. The debate shouldn't be about winning for us individually, but making the right decision as a whole. Frankly Europeans don't understand us, because often we don't even understand ourselves.
To that end, our freedom is the only thing that we understand universally as Americans--we are the Free. Our American Dreams, no matter the individual specifics, is the freedom to live as we choose. We only limit that we cannot infringe on someone else's freedoms in our quests for our own. We are really quite simple that way. We would like to spread that American Dream and we will go to great lengths to protect it for ourselves and even to secure and guarantee it for others--the Brave. I'm quite proud of all my friends that even have opinions about anything, but I'm also painfully aware that sometimes regardless of where their opinions fall that they have done no real research before they post the rhetoric. If we are truly fond of the American Dream, then it's time that we acknowledge that it isn't about taxes, who we pay for or don't pay for, it isn't even to own a house. The American Dream is not that shallow. More American men died in the Civil War than in any other war in the history of our Great Nation. They hollowed the land with their blood that we would serve one ideal and one only--Freedom, and we would give our last drop of blood for it--Bravery. The American Dream is Freedom and it is fueled exclusively by American Bravery.
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