Let It Be

I think I decided to start writing a blog when I was on my third cup of coffee driving my family home from our holiday journey to Ohio.  When I drink a large amount of caffeine, I talk a lot.  On a particularly long trip like this one, my wife and I exhausted the gossip about friends and family, the kids, and what we would like to accomplish next year.  Thus, the conversation inevitably turns to politics and economics.  This is where I spend a vast majority of the time talking, while my wife pretends to listen while warding off the sandman.  I can't really blame her, she has heard most of it before and either already shares my point of view or has agreed to disagree with me.  But I do believe my ramblings have increased our household awareness of the impact our political and economic choices have on our lives, and, more importantly to me, my children's lives.

So I am starting a blog mainly to keep from annoying my wife (as much).  But more importantly, I think people don't like to discuss these topics because its easy to offend others and/or the information is so politicized, no one really knows what to believe and get turned off out of frustration.  However, even with these difficulties, these topics have too much impact on our lives to be ignored and should be discussed well beyond your comfort level to insure people are actually making informed decisions.

I am not going to pretend I have taken on the noble task of providing you with non-partisan information.  If you can't tell from the blog title, I am more Friedman than Keynes.  I believe in a few things with all of my heart:

1) Free Markets - goods & people are worth their market values
2) Limited Government - Just enough to keep us safe and secure
3) Fiscal Responsibility - spend less than you collect, governments and households

I will spend the vast majority of my blog posts trying to persuade you on why these things are good for the whole of society and the steps we can take to move in that direction.  I am an engineer by trade and therefore look for more practical solutions to problems. i.e. I think you will hear me talk more about raising the retirement age on social security, though its a given I think we would be better off phasing it out entirely.  I believe it is important we make steps toward fixing issues and not just debate ideology ad nauseam.  Understanding whats possible to do gives you a better idea of what to look for in a presidential debate or on your local congressman's website.

So with that, I'll leave you with one of my favorite Milton Friedman quotes: 

"A society that puts equality before freedom will get neither. A society that puts freedom before equality will get a high degree of both."