Ok - for the few who actually read my blog - I'm not gonna give you some bleeding heart thing about how we "have to do something" about poverty.

We live in the most economically privileged country in the world. While I acknowledge that there are scattered cases of true poverty in this nation - most of what is considered "poverty" is actually something far more insidious:

Consequences of Our Own Actions.

The reason I am not rich - the reason I have had to live, at times, at near minimum-wage - is because I have made poor decisions with money in my life.

The reason MOST Americans are not at least well-off, if not rich - is because MOST Americans have done the same thing.

When you refuse to take charge of your own life, waiting for someone else to give you "what you deserve" or to "give you a break" - you are condemning yourself to some level of poverty. Economic, moral, or spiritual - when you refuse self-reliance, you are POOR.

When you realize that no one OWES you anything in this country - that there is NO SUCH THING as the PROMISE OF AMERICA - but that everyone has the opportunity to be as big or as small as their own ambition and will to work can make them - then you shake off the bonds of poverty.

I'm not going to recite a long list of "wrong decisions" that lead Americans into poverty. Everyone that reads this has made choices with money that they regret. Everyone that reads this has made "bad decisions" that have cost them money - "stupid tax" is how I've heard that stated before.

Buying a car on payments is a "bad decision" that can make, or keep, you poor.

Doing business with a check-cashing company is a "bad decision" that can make, or keep, you poor.

Using credit cards to live a lifestyle higher than you can actually afford is a "bad decision" that can make, or keep, you poor.

Buying cigarettes, liquor, or drugs when you should be buying food or paying rent is a "bad decision" that WILL make, or keep, you poor.

We are all responsible for our own financial decisions. We must make better decisions with the money we already have - or we will continue to be the fools from whom our money is "soon parted".

We must make better decisions with our money so we can develop the ability to help those who are less fortunate. We ARE responsible for our neighbors - to a point. Abdicating that responsibility to the government because we are too immature to handle money well and therefore handle the responsibility ourselves is a disservice to our own communities.

We must make better decisions with our money - and we must TEACH our children to do the same. We were sold a "bill of goods" by the banks and credit companies - and by our political leaders - who said we can "have it all, and pay for it later" - they LIED! But WE are the ones who actually signed the credit applications, swiped the cards, walked out with merchandise on a "promise to pay" that we don't feel too awfully bad about breaking.

WE HAVE TO DO BETTER.

I'm debt-free as of last December. How are you doing?

(I posted this on another site on 7/19/08)

To believe in one's country - especially when that country is this grand and wonderful United States of America - is more than just something you can say in passing and then go about your daily business as if you hadn't said it.

Belief requires action:

Get up every morning and thank God (or whomever you believe in - Allah, lucky stars, whatever) that you were born in the land where the greatest opportunity to achieve your dreams exists.

Dare to dream! You've been given this wonderful opportunity - it's wasted if you don't DO SOMETHING WITH IT!!

Do something every day to work towards that dream!

Don't you dare let anyone else tell you "you can't do it" or "you're not good enough". In this country - if you work hard enough - and long enough - and treat people the right way while you're at it - you can be anything you want to be!

Be responsible! Do what is necessary, as a citizen, as a taxpayer, as a member of your family - especially as a member of your family.

FREEDOM is not defined as the absence of responsibility. FREEDOM is the reward for the exercise of responsible choices and behavior. BE RESPONSIBLE!

Don't expect others to take care of you. If you're able-bodied, able-minded - you have the obligation to take care of yourself - and any others that you bring into this world. DO IT! AND BE PROUD OF IT!

ACHIEVE! You have the obligation as an American to achieve! You do not have the right to sit on your butt and watch others do and expect them to do for you as well. Failing to try - failing to at least put out an honest effort - is a betrayal of the very LIBERTY you have been entrusted with.

We all have the right to succeed, and to reap the rewards of that success. No one has the right to take that away from us.

We all have the right to fail, to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and try again. But NO ONE has the responsibility to do it for us. When we fail, it is OUR JOB to get up - not the government's job.

STOP saying SOMEONE OUGHT TO DO SOMETHING.
DO SOMETHING!!!

I believe in the power of the individual to dream, to apply effort towards that dream, to fail in the effort if necessary, but to eventually succeed and fulfill that dream!

I DO NOT believe in the right of groups to usurp the individual's right to achieve!

I believe EXCUSEISM is the worst sort of cancer affecting this country. The willingness of her citizens to accept anything less than 100% effort from themselves and each other is a disease. STOP MAKING EXCUSES for why you CAN'T do it - START FINDING WAYS YOU CAN!!!

I believe the federal government's role should be to protect our nation from external enemies, and to prevent barriers to our individual success. Anything more than that is an overreach on the part of the Federal Government. GET OUT OF OUR WAY, WASHINGTON!!

I believe the American Citizen is the most gifted, most potentially powerful person on the planet. He or she has the opportunity and the right to achieve things most other citizens of the world cannot even imagine. We have the responsibility to live up to that opportunity - or we risk losing it. Every time we accept "good enough" when "GREAT" was possible, we risk losing it.

GO OUT THERE AND ACHIEVE!! IT'S YOUR BIRTHRIGHT! IT'S YOUR RESPONSIBILITY!
IT'S YOUR DESTINY!!!