philosophy – Becoming American

Perception and the highlight reel of time

If you had come into my life towards the end of 2011, you would have assumed my wife and I were fairly average for our ages. Married young, paying on a car for my wife, and a motorcycle for me, we lived in a town home, and had relatively little furniture. Our major purchase for 2011 was a new bed that I had bought with extra money from overtime. My wife was an aspiring young photographer, but we had yet to do any weddings together.

Had you entered my life in late 2011 you may have assumed we were relatively normal, despite our unique relationship spanning the oceans. You would have thought we blended in quite well. Into 2012 and onward, we became more and more successful, almost as if we were favored, almost as if luck had everything to do with it. If you had entered our lives around the end of 2011 and watched us acquire everything that we did afterwards, it would have been easy to become jealous, and to think of favoritism of some sort.

Had you entered our lives around this time period, you would not have seen all the hard work that had gone into all that we have now. The courting period. My working hard in England, saving to move here. You would not have seen the nearly four years of marriage, and commitment to each other just to get to 2012.

During 2012 I became a citizen, I paid my motorcycle off, I bought a brand new jeep, we bought new furniture, we paid my wife’s car off, we traveled to England to visit my family for the first time since I moved here. We shot weddings together. I sponsored my parents to move here. In 2013 my parents came to live with us, we bought a house, and a plethora of tools and fixtures that come with buying a house. We began to host birthday parties, and our success was erupting for everyone to see. In 2014 we shot more weddings than ever before, and my wife’s business began to grow. Being able to buy nice things for me was a luxury I had seldom experienced thus far, and was an experience in and of itself.

What many did not see was all the hard work that had gone into all that. The reason, as my wife pointed out, that more and more people became negative towards us in the end of 2014 is because they only saw the highlights of our lives. Up until and including buying the house, many cheered for us. When we stayed successful and continued streaking across the sky, those who could not live up to our example began to become jealous, and some would nip at our heels whenever they had the chance.

They do not realize the many years that have gone into building the life that we have. They do not see the many hours my wife and I put into working our butts off to live this life. They do not see the trials and tribulations. They do not understand what it takes to endure, because they have never had to.

The trials we went through as teenagers, and in our early marriage when first coming together permanently, has solidified our relationship and our individual resolve.

Those who met us earlier on in our courtship, have a better understanding of our trials. As 2015 comes into bloom, we are doubling down on our commitment to each other and to our own entrepreneurial spirit. It has taken this long just to start seeing real profit. My wife can now eye working from home on a permanent basis, while I finally wade into publishing writings I have had sketched out for years.

Nothing good is ever easy. It takes a lot of hard work, a lot of patience, and a commitment to do good, no matter what others may throw at you or say behind your back.

Perception is important. Those who have known me longest know that I am in fact very humble by nature. Those who haven’t known me long probably perceive me as arrogant. That’s OK. Whatever arrogance I may have, I’ve earned it. I worked my butt off to be where I am today, and I intend to go further. Not for fame, not for glory, nor even for riches. But to live an authentic life that is all my own.

When you only ever observe the highlights, you miss the full picture. The saying goes ‘never judge a book by it’s cover’ perception it seems, is everything.

If you want a good life, you have to work hard. There is no other way around it. You will have hardships of many kinds you will have to endure. If you use philosophy as a guide and believe in yourself, in your abilities and have a little faith. You can create whatever you want. Do not concern yourself with what others are doing. Do not concern yourself with their highlight reels. Your perception is important, and you should strive to see the best in yourself, and in turn become the best you can be. You really can achieve anything if you put your mind to it.

An adventure of two individuals

For the second time in a week my wife and I went to watch ‘Man of steel’. This time, instead of traveling with her parents, we traveled as individuals on my V-Star. Like going out to buy the CD for my father in law, this adventure had to be done on a bike. I had to feel the raw elements as the wind rushed around my body, the steel horse belting down the road beneath me.

We arrived at the theater, parked up and bought our tickets. The musical opening to the movie had my senses heightened, and I felt emotional again watching the masterpiece that is ‘Man of Steel’. My wife and I looked at each other as Jor-El and Lara-El gave birth to their son. The individual birth to a supreme being after hundreds of years of planned births.

The references in the movie are comparable to our modern world. Instead of reaching out to the Stars, the NASA program has been all but shut down, while we spend trillions on welfare programs and planned societies which always fail.

Watching superman grow up as an individual and become more than what society had intended for him, Brooke and I held hands and shared a moment that binds us. We each set out to become more, to become better, to become all that we could be, no matter what we were told, no matter what society wanted for us.

As the movie ended and the credits rolled up, we slowly left the theater with the amazing music still playing behind us. As I fired up the bike a huge gust of wind kicked up and we could see storm clouds rolling in, in the distance. “Oh man” Brooke said as she pointed out the thick black clouds that hung just to the west of where we were heading.

Knowing that the storm was most likely heading east, I revved up the bike and headed directly east, just to the south of the storm in a hurry to outpace it before it hit our destination.

Blazing down the road, V-Twin thumping, I kicked the bike up into 5th gear, thumping down the road much faster than I should have been going, in order to outpace the ominous storm clouds.

I began to zig-zag up north east toward our northward destination in an attempt to beat the storm, but traffic light after traffic light held down my progress. The heavens opened up and we began to get pelted with thick drops of rain. I took a sharp right to head further to the east and eased the bike back up into 4th gear. After a couple of tense minutes we were back in front of the storm again, dry road underneath. Apart from slightly stinging faces, we were in the clear for now, but we were running out of time to get home before the storm hit.

By this point Brooke was laughing, the speed of the bike, the raw elements flying at us, the quick burst of rain before coming flying out of the downpour had her excited, feeling the same spirit of individuality that I did, knowing that at least briefly we had defied the God’s and were making up our own rules as we went along.

“Let’s go eat at the Greek place!” Brooke shouted in my ear as I built up the revs in the V-Star’s belly. “Good idea!” I shouted back “that’ll give us a chance to outpace the storm and dry off before it hits again!”

We jumped on the highway and raced toward the next exit where our favorite restaurant ‘Greek Isle’s’ is located. The heavens began to tip open again, huge drops spattering down, with the threat of a full downpour just seconds away.

We turned onto the exit and left onto the restaurants road, staring the thick black clouds in the face. We turned into the parking lot, as the rain began to pick up, seconds away from a full downpour. I kicked the bike into neutral, coasted cleanly into a parking spot, slammed down the kickstand and simultaneously switched off the ignition while closing off the fuel line. We both jumped off the bike and walked calmly toward the doors of the restaurant with the cool swagger of movie stars as the heavens finally broke and dumped tons of heavy water droplets in a flurry behind us.

“Phew we just made it!” Exclaimed Brooke, exhilarated.

Konstantine, the restaurant’s owner looked up, said hello, then looked at us incredulously trying to figure out why we were so wet. “what happened to you guys?” We explained that we narrowly escaped the storm, but that it got a slight lick at us before we were able to outpace it. He offered us a couple of towels which we gladly accepted, and he took our usual order; an order of Greek chips and two gyros.

We sat down, dried off, and watched the rain pour down, knowing that we would have become completely drenched if it hadn’t been for my evasive actions. Sure we could have stayed at the theater, or hidden under a gas station, but that simply wouldn’t have been as much fun.

We dug into our order of Greek chips and our gyros, and explored the virtues of the individual, the movie and our lives together. Days like this make you feel so alive, and so glad that for the most part we still live in a free country, and that heroic actions make all the difference.

Most people wouldn’t risk riding in weather like we did, but we know that if you keep a cool head and keep exploring new and sometimes wild options, you can rise above the mediocre, and have a true adventure to show for it.

After the rain subsided, and we finished our meal, we talked to Konstantine for a few minutes and paid our bill before walking out into brilliant sunshine. We jumped on the bike and rode off North toward our new home. By the time we got there, the roads were completely dry. The storm hadn’t even touched the house. This storm was confined to a relatively small area, but it just goes to show how much fun you can have when you test your abilities and put your own philosophy to the test.

I will not fight

Violence is not the answer. War is a racket; it is always started by deception, and there are always special interest groups who profit, while the blood of innocents is spilled.

If you want a war, go start it on your own. Don’t call for a war and then expect the youth (and hope) of the nation to go and die for it.

I will have nothing to do with the next war, I refuse to give my life for a senseless cause, so that others may profit from my plight.

I call on the non aggression principle. I will not attack unless I am personally attacked. I will vehemently pose my opinions and express my views, but I will not attack others.

It takes more courage to be peaceful in times of outrage, than to be barbaric and lash out.

There are many intricate webs of lies floating around to do with our government, our officials and their intentions. There are conspiracy theories, pressure groups and special interests lining the halls of congress.

If you want a revolution, if you want to retake this country, rebuild it, make it more free, you cannot do it through violence. You cannot beat the US Army as it currently stands. You cannot take out certain government officials, there is too much security through the hundreds of different government agencies. But what you can do, using the non aggression principle is make alliances, make friends, spread your viewpoints, agree with other people, get them to see your points of view, build relationship bridges based on freedom. Remember that an army does not fight unless it believes in the cause for which it is fighting. As it stands right now, many security and army forces in the US do not believe in Barack Obama or his policies.

You should continue to point out Obama’s mistakes, but perhaps you should look at your own party and your own weaknesses also. The democrats as they stand today base everything on some kind of welfare; which overtaxes and overwhelms the entire system. By contrast the republicans as they stand today base everything on some kind of warfare; which overtaxes and overwhelms the entire system. Welfare and warfare are extremely expensive and neither are sustainable. Welfare rots away society from the inside, and warfare rots it away from the outside. Our actions overseas make us weaker and actually creates more terrorist cells which will do harm against us. We are not a popular nation right now; precisely because of our overbearing and ugly foreign policy.

If you want to fight the system; do it non-violently; use civil disobedience. You can stop working so much and give up your luxuries if you don’t want to be looted. You could go galt or you could find loopholes and find more tax write offs. Do whatever you can to undermine the looters complex, but do not get into fights with the ignorant, or the protectors of the ignorant. Peace is a better alternative. The longer we sustain peace, the longer we have to teach those who do not know yet how to think for themselves. The seeds that you sow today will bloom later down the road when they are needed.

Peace leads to more trade, more designs, more prosperity and a better future. War only leads to ruin.

I will not fight. I will continue to educate those who are unaware for as long as I can until the fight comes to me, only then will I pick up arms, and only in self defense as a last resort.

Statism is dead

Here is a great series of videos from True News, on the philosophy of statism. There is a lot of great information packed into these videos. The videos talk about war, fiat currency, fascism, socialism, money, big government, spending, terrorism and human farms. There is a great deal of explanation that goes into these videos, with plenty of information to back up the arguments. It will take a while to watch them all; so grab a drink and a pen to jot down notes!

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Part 4:

Part 5:

One of my favorite line’s was in part 5 when the narrator called taxation a form of terrorism.

I particularly liked the last three videos, and found them quite incite-full. How about you? What did you learn from the videos? What is your take on statism?

Why we fight

I have nothing to gain from these posts except a chance at a future.

There are periods in history where the individual must stand up and fight, or perish with the collective. We are currently living in such a time.

I do not relish the idea of pounding out an article each day. Well; not every day. There are days, as in recently that I’d rather just wake up, take a shower, make a pot of coffee, cook breakfast and take the dog for a walk, and not think about anything but the fresh morning smell and the sun rising.

The reason I study politics and philosophy is because politics affects my life whether I like it or not, and philosophy is the key to unlocking the potential to change the status quo and deal with life in general.

In a political sense, I do not fall into the left/right paradigm. It makes no sense to me, and I only take part in it when there is advancement to be gained toward liberty and economic freedom.

With the current presidential contenders from the democrats and republicans there is a dead heat. They are both as bad as each other. I don’t buy the idea that Barack Obama is an undercover Marxist Muslim here to drive the country back into the stone age. Equally I wouldn’t call Mitt Romney a great businessman, or our lord and savior. At best, these two clowns are puppets who will do whatever their financial backers tell them to. Almost all of those in power have been bought and paid for, and it does not matter if they are all Marxists in disguise or if they are fascists only interested in a quick buck. They are all bad, and they need to go.

I’m not interested in term limits, because there are good congressmen out there such as Ron Paul who have served well for over two decades. Term limits would only give the wrong-doers a tighter time frame to commit their evil acts.

Our problems are far deeper than ‘the economy’, ‘benefits’, ‘medicare/medicaid’ and all the other ‘issues’ that have been trumped up by the past administrations and played like a pied piper for all of us to debate about fruitlessly and endlessly.

The United States has the most advanced document that enshrines human freedom ever conceived by human intelligence. The protection of this document and the enforcement of it by its citizens is paramount to the survival of this country and to the world.

Before the US constitution there was the Magna Carta, a document which was signed in my very own home town of Canterbury, England. For me; freedom and the ability to say and do as you please runs deep.

If we do not restrict the power of government from both sides of the US political isle soon, we will lose the ability to do so entirely.

For my generation, it really is liberty or death. We are not much interested in all the other ‘issues’. On our current path; which is nearing hyperinflation; we know that the economy will fail. We can deal with that, we can rebuild that. But if we lose freedom now, we will never again see it in our lifetime. Economies boom and bust, but can be rebuilt. But can a country which has lost its moral compass return to freedom so quickly? I doubt it.

No one in my age group who I have spoken to seriously about politics is going to vote for Romney or Obama. They are all Ron Paul supporters. We will all be voting for Gary Johnson in this election period, in support of the same ideals. If you are serious about defending liberty, and providing a chance at a future for my generation, I suggest you do the same.

It does not matter if we win the election or not. Mitt Romney is not going to beat Barack Obama. Romney is too stiff, too out of touch, and his rejection of the young and grassroots movements has already cost him the election.

Can we survive another four years of Obama? That is uncertain. Can we afford not to make a difference in this election? No. We must make a difference. The more people vote libertarian, the bigger the message will be to Washington to change its ways. Who knows, we might even win.

Freedom is not won overnight. It takes many battles, many of which will be lost, but over time the message will spread and the war will be won. But it is up to the individuals to stand up and make a difference. And that is why we fight.

Tail of the Dragon; The beast released

Today is the day!

Tail of the Dragon has finally been released!

I already wrote a review of the book a few weeks ago. I got a chance to read an early copy of it since my father-in-law is the author who wrote it.

Rich Hoffman and I have a lot in common. I met his daughter when we were both very young. Over the years he has been a mentor to me, and I have learned a great deal about philosophy and mythology from him.

Over the years Brooke and I have supported him in all his endeavors and we have worked on various different video shoots together. A couple of weeks ago we designed a T-shirt for him to promote the book. In a couple of weeks these T-shirts will become available to anyone who wishes to buy one, so stay tuned!

Rich has a very good way of sifting through the stagnation of society and cutting straight to the chase. His viewpoints on the freedom of man and of government intrusion are very similar to my own. I came from a different upbringing and I don’t see eye to eye with him on everything that he thinks, but using critical thinking, I understand almost everything he says and does.

Our current government has become too encroaching on our lives and has been using us as cash cows for not only taxes but also for petty fines in the form of speeding tickets. This is something that greatly irks the both of us, and something which ‘Rick’ fights in ‘Tail of the Dragon’

Are you tired of the cops pulling you over for silly reasons? Are you tired of getting speeding tickets when you pose no real danger to other drivers? Are you tired of the government getting its grubby hands all over your hard earned money?

If you’re tired of the government telling you what to do and what not to do, and clamping down on those who rebel. Then I suggest you order it online!

I don’t just say that because I am related to the author, I genuinely mean it. When I read the original manuscript, I literally couldn’t put it down. I was blazing from page to page just to see what happens.

With many blurbs from various well known people, from the co-author of ‘A Patriots Guide to American History’ to ‘Doc Thompson’ you can be sure that this book is no fluke.

You will enjoy ‘Tail of the Dragon’ it is a non-stop heart racing chase around the Smoky Mountains, with death defying driving against a tyrannical government.

I suggest you go out and buy yourself a copy today!