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If you’ve never read the book, I highly recommend it.  The movie is just as good.  For those that don’t know it, here is a brief synopsis of the movie:

The movie follows Maj. Ben Marco (Denzel Washington), a war veteran who begins to doubt what is commonly known about his famous army unit. During Operation Desert Storm, Sergeant First Class Raymond Shaw (Liev Schreiber) supposedly rescued all but two members in his unit, of which Marco was the commanding officer. While this made Shaw a war hero, gained him the Medal of Honor, and launched him into a career in politics, Marco and other members of the troop feel that while they remember that Shaw did rescue them, they do not actually remember him doing it.

Shaw is nominated to run for president in his party.  However, as the Marco searches for the truth, he discovers that his army unit was not ambushed but captured and brainwashed by the Manchurian Global, a global conglomerate with major political ambitions.

Because of Shaw’s heroic service, he wins the election.  But he realizes that his mother orchestrated the capture to put a sleeper agent into the White House that can manipulate politics to Manchurian Global’s advantage.  The film ends with Marco assassinating Marco and his mother on stage.

When I first suspected this, I initially thought I was crazy.  But as I began to see the general election come closer and closer, the pieces started falling into place.  And I realized, I wasn’t alone in my thoughts.

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Anytime you move states, a lot of paper work is involved to make sure your mail gets forwarded, your taxes get updated, and your car gets registered. When I moved to Virginia, the first two were fairly easy. Dealing with the VA DMV was torture.

I had to go to the DMV several times because I didn’t have the paperwork needed to change my address and register my car. Even though I spoke with several people at the DMV, each time they told me that I didn’t have the proper forms. I spent a total of 8 hours just trying to get new plates and registration.

Then my ID. Converting my license took about 3 hours of wait.

Why is this? Why does it take this long just to get a new license?

Obama’s plan to “revamp” the economy is to regulate Wall Street. Can someone explain to me why this is a good idea? I don’t understand how government intervention will solve a free market. In fact, government intervention on the economy is more like communism and socialism than capitalism.

Most Obama fans don’t understand the complexity of the economy. Most Obama fans think, “Give people money! Give people money! That’s the way!” By question to him is why does he insist on giving people money and then at the same time say that he wants to regulate Wall Street? The two are incompatable.

Wait…they are compatible because Obama wants to take money way from people who have actually worked and earned it to people who didn’t.

What Obama doesn’t realize is that the market will be fine without his kind of help.  Several months ago, when crude oil topped at $120 a barrel, his strategy was to regulate oil.  Of course, he doesn’t introduce legislation on it.  He just made it a campaign promise.  (Does anyone else find that odd?)

But as months went on, the market reacted by consuming less fuel, carpooling, traveling less.  This caused demand to decrease, which caused prices to fall and close yesterday to below $100 for the first time in so many months.

You don’t see Obama celebrating this.  I haven’t heard him make a speach about this yet.  Why is that?  Is it because he relizes that we was wrong?  What people like Obama fail to understand is why the market works.  It’s not a perfect system, mind you, but it works best with very little outside interference.  When people start tinkering with it, you force the market to respond in ways that are hard to predict.

Take gas for example.  Obama wanted to regulate speculators so that they wouldn’t drive up the cost of oil.  But he doesn’t compain when those same speculators also cause the price of oil to come down!  Had he regulated these speculators, oil would be haven artificially inflated beyond what it is already.  The more restrictions there are, the less freedom there is to move in the market.

Now, I’m not saying that some rules aren’t necessary.  Market works best if and when everybody plays by the rules.  And for the most part, they do.  Some rules can be bent strategically and legally.  But breaking other rules will create an advantage in the market that would be similar to the consequence of government regulation.

Governments have yet to find a way to make going to the DMV, getting a passport, gaining immigration status, or even counting votes accurately efficiant.  Until they can figure out this stuff, why should we allow them to regulate in an area where they will give themselves an unfair advantage in the market?

The saying goes that death and taxes are the two certainties in life. Taxes are a necessity to keep the government running. And the government is needed to provide security and peace for all people who live under it’s authority. I only say this because not many people understand where their hard-earned money goes.

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