Civil War

I don’t know if I’ve discussed this before or not … If I have, well figure out which one’s written better and ignore the other one, if I haven’t then we’re good.

As some of you know I’ve recently been playing EVE Online, a sci-fi MMO in which the human race, after being cut off from earth and one another by a dark age, have re-developed space flight and made contact with one another. I mention this, not because I plan on writing a full long piece about EVE and the depth of the game, size of the universe, or differences or similarities of the various ‘races’ in the game to modern earth philosophies or governments, but rather because it got me thinking about the American Civil War.

No … I haven’t gone off the deep-end, and in all honesty it was a conversation in the game that got me started thinking, but elements of the backstory of two of the ‘races’ in the game that kept me going. People often look for those ‘turning points’ in history … those points where the directions of things change. And it is by studying those points that we can get an understanding of where we are and where we’re potentially headed.

So … what does this have to do with the civil war … or a sci-fi computer game for that matter?

In short, nothing and everything.

The civil war (yes, I know it’s incorrectly titled, but I’m going to be typing it a lot and ‘civil war’ is shorter and easier than ‘the war between the states’ … and at this point I think that certain battles are already lost and the term civil war is one of them ….) was one such turning point for the United States. So the question is, was it a turn for the better or for the worse?

Before I answer I want you to read the WHOLE answer before flipping your lid and calling me a bunch of nasty names.

As you can probably guess by the preceding sentence, my answer is that, in many ways, it was a turn for the worse in this country. Those of you yelling and screaming and calling me names can now leave the page and I’ll ask you not to return until you can learn to follow directions.

Why the worse? Well to understand that we need to examine a few things … the first of which is why the civil war was fought. No, it wasn’t slavery, it really wasn’t even about ‘preserving a way of life’ which you’ll also hear (since this usually refers to slavery) … that was an issue focused on and used to vilify the south, not the reason for the war.

The civil war was fought over the issue of State Rights …. That is the right of the state to govern itself and its citizens as opposed to being governed by the federal government. The original concept of this country was government on a local level where the further removed from the people the government was, the less power it held directly over those people. Cities towns and villages governed themselves; if a dispute came up between people from different cities then it went to the county or state level, if an issue came up between states then it went to a federal level.

The federal government, however, was starting to encroach on that system on several issues, of which slavery was one, seeking to pass laws that had a greater effect on individuals within the States than was technically within the granted powers of the federal government; with the northern states, which held a population majority, having the balance of power and, thus, effecting the rights of the southern states who didn’t have the political power to oppose them.

So a contingent of southern states withdrew from the union, at first it was a couple of states, and then as the debate increased more withdrew as the federal government said ‘you don’t have the RIGHT to leave, you must abide by our rules.’

Our forefathers must have spun in their graves … had people already forgotten? Did they no longer remember that the war for independence had been fought for the very right for people to govern themselves?

The war itself was, realistically, inevitable … The US Federal government was not going to remove it’s troops from the Confederate States, the Confederate States weren’t going to just roll back over and return to a government that was essentially telling them ‘you’ll do it our way and like it’. In that powder keg of a situation it was only a matter of time before someone blew the top off ….

States rights, however, died before the first shot was ever fired … sure they’ve sputtered up here and there, but ultimately it had already been decided … the states have no rights and, in turn, neither do the citizens of those states. Because, you see, the federal government has set the precedent … you don’t have the right to leave the union unless they let you.

Would things have been different had the war ended differently? Certainly different … better or worse no one can really say. So why did I say better earlier? Look again … I said that the war was a turning point for the worse, not that we would be better off had the outcome been different. The turning point was not the war, but rather the decision to place the power of the federal government above the rights of the States, and to enforce that power through force against an unwilling citizenry.

Since then the federal government has grown ever more powerful taking on more and more of the duties of the state and local governments … directly affecting the lives and liberties of people of whom they have no knowledge nor direct answerability. [Yes, your Senators and Representative are marginally answerable to you, but that’s 2 (of 100) Senators and 1 Representative (of about 430) …. Heck even the voting power of a single State realistically holds minimal pull within the view of the Federal machine.]

This has become considerably longer than I had intended, so I will tie this back into EVE in order to complete the train of thought and bring the discussion full circle. We had been discussing the civil war in Corporate chat one day when it struck me how similar the beginning of the civil war was to the break away of the Caldari State from the Gallante Federation … The Caldari, unhappy with the Federation rule sought the right to govern themselves and when confronted by the Federation declared their independence. A long and bloody war followed with the Federation only withdrawing because of an encounter with another race that threatened to divide their forces. Now the Caldari live, ruled by their mega-corporations with each of the controlling corporations (states) independent of the others but with an equal say in the governing of the whole.

Could it be that the programmers of CCP in Iceland have a better understanding of the American War Between the States than most Americans?

Just a note

Actually don’t really have anything to rant about, but I’ve got some time while this project is rendering to drop some notes here about what’s new.

In all honesty, not much really. H and I are going to attempt another ‘Novel in a Month’ next month so I sense much sleep deprivation and hectic weekends in the near future. But I’m sure that I’ll enjoy it as much as I have the last ones. (This will technically be our 4th run and hopefully my 3rd successful finish.) I’m not sure what I’m going to write about this time, but as usual it’s not because I don’t have any ideas, but rather that I have several ideas and I just haven’t settled on any specific one to load in the barrel.

On top of that, H and I have recently started returning to our artwork, some of which can be seen on our Deviant Art (DA) page Grimscale Studios right now we are still in the early stages of setting things up and getting some material out there. Eventually we plan to offer prints of some of our work and using DA as well as our own website (as yet undesigned) for selling prints, painted models, photographs, and possibly a webcomic of our own. The creative process is something that we both enjoy and hopefully some people can enjoy the fruits of our efforts.

And … if that wasn’t enough … I have recently been bit by the urge to learn to play guitar … bass guitar specifically, but I plan on learning a bit of 6 string as well. I’m taking it slow … I’m not going to be a master bass player in a month so I’m taking my time and trying to get good solid basics down before I move on. I think H was a bit surprised … not that I wanted to start learning since we were playing Guitar Hero on the PS2 when it came up and learning to play was a natural impulse, but that I’ve stuck with it and play (even if I’m just playing around and not practicing) a couple times a day. (My new axe: Ibanez GSR 200 4 String Bass)

I have found, however, that music … specifically playing music … is a relaxation that I’ve been missing for years. I look back now, at how much I’m enjoying learning guitar (and part of it is because I’m learning something new and that’s always stimulating), and wish that I had the patience to stick it out and get back into band after we moved to Miami. While I don’t think that I’d have gone for a career in music, maybe at least I’d have kept playing as a hobby and I wouldn’t need remedial sheet music reading classes.

Things have also been very busy at work lately … learning new applications, designing new rooms, installing new gear and going through all the growing pains of adapting to new technology. The general manager of the company complains constantly about all of the problems … but then again we’re using the systems and doing things that very few other places in the country are doing (in fact some of the ‘big’ houses in New York say that what we’re doing ‘can’t be done’ and anyone that says that they are doing it is lying … but I can assure people that we are not lying … and when you’re on the cutting edge … you’re going to bleed.

Now … if we could just get some rain to keep my yard from dying….

Why DO we?

“Why do they always send the poor?”

Song lyrics from System of a Down’s ‘B.Y.O.B’ …. And a sentiment that I’ve seen in various forms in documentaries and blogs for a while as well as at ‘peace rallies’ and war protests … a certain segment of the population would like to have you believe that there is a conspiracy in this country to send the poor … oh, sorry … the ‘less fortunate’ (see my December 2004 entry ‘It’s the holiday season’ if you want my opinion of that particular term) … off to fight and die.

The fact of the matter is … it is based on a false premise to start with … the United States boasts the largest all volunteer military in the world. The key word there being ‘volunteer’ … there is no draft … no one is forced into the service … they are there because they chose to be there.

Now … can it be said that a majority of the troops come from the ranks of the ‘less fortunate’? Yes, but lets think about why that is…..

First … let’s look at the motivation. The young adult from a family that is scraping by with two parents working minimum wage jobs … To many of these the military represents their best hope of earning a good wage, learning a trade, and coming out with a student loan option that is one of, if not THE, best available to anyone. This is the type of person that has a very large motivation to join the military; it’s likely their only shot at college (unless their grades are exceptional or their sports ability in the top percentage) and even without that the skills learned in the service will likely give them a good advantage in the job market … or they can go career military which also has it’s benefits. Starting pay is likely better than what their parents are making and the benefits are really good.

Now … let’s look at a middle income household. College is more likely option without the military help, though the GI bill is still a consideration. Pay scale is likely less attractive, however, and benefits, while still good, are more likely to be considered ‘average’. There is still some motivation for joining the military, but unless they are from a military family that ‘pull’ is likely to be less than the pull of college and ‘professional’ life.

Now … someone from upper middle or upper income family … college (assuming they have the grades for admission) is almost definitely a ‘given’ without the military assistance, starting pay is unattractive; and benefits are likely to be considered ‘sub-par’ in their experience. There is likely to be very little motivation to join the military; the incentive just isn’t there.

Now … this isn’t scientific by any means … just observational data … but it would make sense to me that the lower the income of the family situation to start with the higher the incentive to join the armed forces … meaning, that a volunteer military is almost certainly to be made primarily of those coming from lower income households with middle income households having the next best showing and upper income households to be virtually absent.

Adding more incentive to the middle and upper income brackets is going to add even more incentive to the low/no income households and therefore likely maintain the relationship between the three brackets.

The only way that you are, realistically, going to get a military that is an even representation is to instate mandatory service; at which point it has ceased to be a volunteer military and become enforced servitude.

Now … let’s look at this from a different angle … let’s assume, for a moment that there is some conspiracy out there to send our ‘poor’ off to war ….

I’m going to be called a cold heartless monster for this, but what’s the problem? Should we take our ‘producers’ and put them on the field of battle? The poor represent the greatest drain on social resources while providing the least benefit to said society. Yes, some of them are hard working and just can’t manage to get ahead, some are truly victims of circumstances beyond their control. Certainly some of the young individuals from these poor households will rise up and become the producers of tomorrow … most of these, however, will distinguish themselves in other ways; either in school or early in their military career (should they volunteer).

Now … I don’t advocate rounding all the poor up and shipping them off to Iraq … that’s not my point. My point is simply that, the military is generally made up primarily of lower and lower middle income families because they are the most likely to see service as a substantial benefit. We are not ‘luring them into service’ we are offering an incentive to serve … anyone has the opportunity to do so and many do. I do not believe that there is now, or ever has been, a president that would wantonly put those that serve in our military into harms way … regardless of the backgrounds of those servicemen. And I would like to think that ‘we the people’ would have enough sense to not put someone into power that would, but maybe I’m too optimistic about the aptitude of the voting public…..

The people questioning the ‘exploitation’ of the poor by the military need to take a step back from their political agenda, stop thinking with their hearts, and use the grey matter between their ears for a change. Do they want a no exemption draft, or maybe 4 years of mandatory service for every high school graduate? No … they don’t want that nor would it be a good idea to fill our military with people that don’t want to be there … it is, however, technically what they are arguing for every time they point out the fact that the military is largely filled with young adults from lower income households….

Okay … I think I’m done rambling on this issue … it’s odd what a song on a radio station will start….

Tax Day

Well it's tax day ... hopefully everyone has their taxes done and filed already. If not, well you'd better hurry it has to be postmarked today. I am assuming that, as usual, the post office will be accepting filings until around mid-night and postmarking them with today's date.

So ... how much did you pay this year?

What is sad is the number of people that will answer that question as 'nothing, I got money back'. Yes, yes, that's nice ... I got a refund too ... but how much did you pay?

People are frikkin clueless. It's like no one pays any attention to it anymore wake up and smell the coffee people, you're being fleeced. You are falling into exactly what the government wants ... they rely on the fact that once you get used to your Net Income that you'll forget about the Gross Income that you actually EARN.

They aren't giving you a refund ... it's not a rebate ... it's your flippin CHANGE. You had a bill (a tax bill but a bill) you over paid they're giving you the remainder of your money ... it's change it may be $10,000 but it's still your change from the bill.

Now ... let me ask you ... if you go to a store and buy a new portable radio (I guess these day's it would be an iPod) that costs $250 and you give the clerk $300 and they give you $50 and someone asks you how much you paid for the radio do you reply 'nothing! I got money back!'? If you do ... you're a moron and need to stop reading now ... you're beyond help.

The problem, of course, is that taxes aren't collected like that .... frankly if they were to do away with withholdings you would have a riot in this country as people realized exactly how much of their money the federal government was confiscating every year.

You see ... even most people that do their own taxes don't pay much attention to that 'Tax Due' amount that is looked up on the tax tables once you jump through all the hoops to figure out what your taxible income is ... all they look at is the total at the bottom of the page telling them if they owe or if they are getting a 'refund' (change). If they're getting a refund they don't care how much was taken ... those that owe may actually shake their heads and bemoan the fact that they have to shell out some of their actual earnings to pay the government ... but still they generally only pay attention to that final number ... not the total tax due.

Yes, I got a refund, no I can't tell you off the top of my head what I paid (nor would I post it here if I could) but I can tell you that it was right around 20% of my earnings for the year (which by definition means that they withheld more than 20% of my income for the year since I got change) ... 1/5th of my income to the government ... and that was after substantial deductions to my income.

What's my incentive to do better and earn more? The only result is that it's going to move me up into a higher tax bracket, meaning that harder work earns me the right to give a larger % of my income to the government..... In fact it's possible for a small increase in income to actually cause you to owe MORE than the actual increase in your income if you were to go from the top of one bracket to the bottom of the next ....

As many of you know ... I support tax reform in the form of the Fair Tax bill (more info at Americans for Fair Taxation). Recently they have been heading up a campaign to send faxes from 100,000 fair tax supporters to thier congressmen by Tax Day ... I am pleased that as of last Wednesday they had sent faxes from 105,000 fair tax supporters to their respective Senators and Represenatives. I am hopeful at least that some represenitives will see that there is serious support for this issue and that as a result that maybe it will get the attention that it deserves.

On top of that the Fair Tax bill in both the House of Represenitives and in the Senate has the greatest support that it has had to date ... including represenitives from both major political parties. The more people that hear about this, the more support that it has gained in the population and the harder it has become for the politicians to ignore.

That said, however, I don't see the bill passing this year ... or likely next year either. This is not an issue that I believe this congress is going to let go through because I feel that there are those elements within both the House and Senate that will bury any meaningful reform in either the tax or social security systems of this country in order to prevent the credit for those reforms being attributed to G.W. Bush or likely any republican president.

In watching the political atmosphere in DC I don't think that much that isn't involved in laying out a timeline for our surrender ... er ... sorry ... I mean withdraw from Iraq (a move that would be a virtual death warrent for the new Iraqi government), further increasing the income tax burden on the 'wealthy' (despite the fact that a majority of people in this country fall into the current definition of 'wealthy' ... and many of them are the first ones to shake their fist and yell 'yeah, tax the rich!' and then wonder why their tax bill went up.), or is otherwise directly harmful to the president or someone in his cabinet is going to see the light of day on the congressional floor until after the 2008 election.

Oddly enough, however, if they continue in this vein I think it runs a good chance of costing them in the 2008 elections because I think the people are paying more attention to these issues than some of the politicians realize.....

Wow and bleargh!

I really can't believe that this is my first post to the Path in 2007 .... Heck ... since mid-December 2006 .... man have I been lax.

A lot has happened since last I walked the path ... most of it a blur. I swear that every year the days drag slower, but the months go faster.... Time really is an interesting filter of perception.

There are many many reasons for my silence ... not the least of which is that I'm as lazy as ever and I swear that in the last couple of months what little time management that I had managed to hold over from NaNo has not only evaporated but took with it some of the time management that I had BEFORE NaNo 2006.

Work is as it always is ... somehow managing to have absolutely nothing on the schedule, but still managing to have more work to be done than can be finished today .... so it always looks like you can catch up tomorrow and maybe cash in some comp-time only to have that snatched away by a boatload of unsceduled work that manages to overflow into tomorrow.....

I've been pushed into the 3pm-11pm shift for the week so I can be here to help with any issues in our new DI suite as it has its maiden voyage so to speak. I'm hoping that means that I can maybe get some other writing done. ............

.....

I had written about 6 or 7 more paragraphs dealing with the Fair Tax, democrats, republicans and a bunch of other stuff ... but it seems that I wasn't paying attention and the editor here decided that I hadn't actually written any of that stuff .... or put any formating into the page at all and so it is gone forever into the void of the internet ... never to be seen. Maybe it was just a glitch .... or maybe blogger has brought a censor on board .... let the conspiracy theories begin....