Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Two Thoughts... Well really three but I'll save the third for later

I know I generally dislike discussing politics but I read an interesting article and watched an interesting argument on Fox News that I want to mention it here...

There's a huge debate brewing in congress about raising the debt ceiling on the US government spending. Now, in general I am a Republican in the idea that I believe the government should be smaller. Ideally the government should only be in charge of regulation of taxes and inter-state commerce and international trade, and of course national defense. So, that being said the raising the debt ceiling will only serve to increase the amount the government borrows each year and will continue to balloon the national debt. Don't get me wrong I'm not all doom and gloom about the national debt, however, it doesn't make any sense to increase the spending limit on an already insanely huge debt. Just think about this monetarily; if you have a credit card with a bank and you constantly have the card limit maxed out and are only able to make minimum payments and never actually pay the debt off does it make sense to RAISE that credit limit? Now, technically in one sense it DOES make sense to raise the limit... because that means you can spend more and therefore owe the bank MORE money and they can charge more interest. However, there's a danger in that, because the bank is constantly in danger of the indebted person claiming bankruptcy then the bank gets little to nothing back from the debt. In the case of the government (I can't imagine what declaring bankruptcy would entail) to whom do they owe this money? I've been watching some youtube videos about this by Learn Liberty. It's difficult to imagine these amounts of money, and to whom, or where did it all go?

Second thought for my blog centers around a disturbing article I read in USA Today about girls hitting puberty sooner than ever. The article doesn't directly impact my life, I don't have any daughters (yet). However, it does bring up an over-arching point that I've struggled with as a father for a long time. Namely, the idea of kids being able to be kids! I hope that Michelle and I can provide the kind of safe family environment that our kids can be kids. I can't imagine what my life would have been like if I hadn't had the opportunities I had as a child to run and play. I was at an advantage since I grew up on a farm in the country side, but that doesn't give me any excuses on how I raise my kids. It just makes it a little harder to get them outdoors. On top of not living on a farm or in the country, I struggle with helping my kids be kids because I've been deployed (now two summers in a row). I know it's my duty as a military member, but I can't wait until I'm done with my commitment to go wherever they tell me whenever they tell me. Unfortunately, since I'm planning on making a career of this, I'll be working in the Air Force until long after my boys are all grown up. This just means that I'll have to make good use of the time I have with them and use that time the best I can. On that note I can't wait to move to Japan, because I get to take my family, and while I'm there it's highly unlikely I'll deploy any for any length of time. So I should have three years with my family in "the Hawaii of Japan."