Other things, et cetera, and so on #8

Back from vacation

It's been tough getting back in the swing of things after a week at the beach. We had a great time with friends and family, and the kids came home tanned and very, very tired. It's been four days, and they are just now starting to settle back into a routine. Of course that routine consists of bickering, fighting over who gets to do this or that irrelevant thing first, etc. Still, it's great to be home.

Interesting video

This video was forwarded to me by my father-in-law. It's a monologue by some Brit named Pat Condell who, in a funny and deliberately offensive way, lambastes Islam's growing influence in Europe, and the fact that the West's multiculturalism has stripped our defenses. Note that this is not a blanket endorsement of Condell or this particular video. His website shows that he's a bit of a nut, but the video is worth a watch nonetheless.

Stop serving me!

I am so incredibly tired of hearing about "public servants" and politicians who say they have dedicated their lives to serving the people, the country, etc., or who extoll the supposed virtues of serving "something greater than one's self." Galileo Blogs just posted a fantastic article about McCain's "Country First" focus and how wrong and evil it really is.

The American Revolution was fought to overturn the principle of individual subservience to the state, to overturn the tyranny of kings and their ilk. In America, men could proudly claim their own happiness first. Their patriotism was based on the knowledge that the government existed to protect them from the tyranny of the state and the forceful violations of their rights by their fellow men.

McCain’s old vision is not patriotic, properly understood. Carried to its logical extreme, it will reduce our status to the level of serfs. Man will return to his traditional relationship with the state, that of subservience. Men will be put back in the dungeon....

Expect more of the same from McCain and the new-old Republican Party, for now. For a vision of our longer-term future, study the history of every society that proclaimed the state first. The party of the state is not the ally of each of us who wants to pursue his own happiness. With country first, the individual is subservient.

In his speech, McCain said something like "I don't work for the party, I don't work for myself... I work for you." I wish he would stop. I don't want him to work for me, or for anyone else. I just want him and all other politicians to uphold the Constitution and protect individual rights. That's it. I don't need some groveling power-luster claiming he's serving me, all the while telling me to serve my country.

Looking for insightful analysis?

For consistently brilliant and devastating analysis of the campaigns, the two conventions, and the candidates themselves, simply bookmark Myrhaf's blog and check in on it every day. I'm not exaggerating when I say that if you wanted to look to only one source for election coverage, that would be the place to go.