Gone fishing -- but before I leave...

I'll be gone for about 5 days to a lake to fish and relax. I might pop in and post something short if someone does somethng stupid, but mostly I'll be away from the laptop.

I've been thinking today about the coming elections. There's a possibility that this election will be a game-changer in that it sends a message to professional politicians that the government has become too powerful and America wants a change. There's also the possibility the elections will not change anything and support the status quo.

I'm hoping there's a big shake-up and that the American people are beginning to realize that our answers lie in the private sector and a free market rather than in government and statist intervention. I've beaten this point to a pulp, but it can't be stressed enough that a major change in direction is vitally needed. Those who insist on having a plan for everything are missing the point -- what's more important is having the structure whereby a free society can work together to find solutions in the myriad transactions and interactions which are voluntary and focused on individual needs and wants, as they fit in with our need for cooperation with each other, and supply and demand. We can do this is an atmosphere of peace and free trade.

By changing directions, each problem can be met by relying on the principles which established this country -- equal opportunity, equal application of the rule of law, liberty, the rights of person and property. By going in this direction our system of justice, the court systems, can be innovatively reshaped to assure that the State is not simply making decisions which assure the growth and power of the State. By going in this direction we can transistion from a welfare state to charity and private sector assistance -- we can end the State's power to involve us in overseas conflicts -- we can free money from the control of politicians and bureaucrats -- we can find ways to protect the environment which aren't perverted by State power and politics -- we can free education and return it to parents and communities -- we can release entrepreneurs to invest and create economic growth -- we can free the market so that workers can find and establish their true value -- we can free the media and entertainment so that tv and news outlets aren't homogenized and mind-numbingly boring -- we can stop the State divisions and find a beautiful/strange mosaic in diversity. Yes, we need hope and change. I need to go fishing.