I don’t believe

Readers know I generally avoid spouting off about the carnival of politics unless its processes affect people’s lives, create injustice or cause environmental destruction. Not that there’s a thing wrong with speculating about or analyzing purely political matters, especially since there are inept and corrupt practices to generate endless opinion fodder.

I suppose if I had to pigeonhole myself when it comes to politics, I’d call myself one who believes in common sense, the Constitution under which our nation was birthed and willingness to listen to those who appear to make sense when it comes to the welfare of our nation. Radical philosophy in some circles today, eh?

Asked the other day just what policies I believe in when it comes to politics, I pondered briefly then rattled off a list of positions I don’t believe in.

For instance, I don’t believe it makes a whit of common sense for you and I, our children and theirs, to spend anywhere from $25 trillion to $93 trillion on such needless folly as the Green New Deal in the coming decade. One estimate placed the potential cost of that bad idea at $600,000 per household.

I do not believe convicted felons and/or terrorists, as well as citizens of other nations who enter our country in violation of immigration law, should be allowed the right to vote.

I don’t believe humans

(or other animals) are comprised of many genders, or that women must allow men to use their locker rooms, bathrooms and showers. It’s also wrong that males be allowed, sometimes even encouraged, to enter competitions among females. That’s preposterous.

I have never believed an innocent human infant can be callously and brutally murdered up to the instant of their birth, or even afterwards.

I don’t believe in opening our borders in an irrational move that violates common sense, especially in times of worldwide terrorism, drug wars, vicious criminals and calculated waves of peaceful invasions. Doing so would involve tearing apart our law enforcement agencies while importing countless aliens wrongly into the nation and awarding them health care and much more supported by tax dollars paid by citizens.

I don’t believe a candidate for president who spends the most money or panders to our electorate with promises of endless free stuff deserves to be elected to the highest political office on the planet, especially with an unimpressive track record as a previously elected official.

You can never believe socialism or communism (regardless of how either is craftily adorned with verbal “democratic” lipstick) is anywhere near as preferable as our proven free enterprise system and individual freedoms.

I don’t believe in trying to stifle one’s freedom of speech or expression simply because I might disagree with them.

I most assuredly don’t believe in any cockamamie plans to shut down our industrialized nation’s gas, oil and coal industries. That idea is “public servant” insanity and a slap in Americans’ faces, one that undoubtedly would trigger an economic depression.

As for the Second Amendment, I believe it means just what it says; as citizens we have the right to bear arms, although common sense also must prevail.

I don’t believe in blaming others for my poor decisions and actions. We each are fully accountable for the consequences of our individual choices, period.

Deserved honor

I can’t speak for you, but I’ve fully adapted to my digital version of this newspaper, and in some ways already have come to enjoy its many advantages as much as I do my paper version.

In fact, on Sundays when we receive both the digital and paper versions, I find myself stopping to peruse the iPad for five minutes, or 10, well, perhaps 40, before venturing out to the driveway. But by then, I’ve usually already read it from cover to cover. Shoot, I’m as trainable as a border collie.

On a somewhat related note, I smiled big the other day at the news that Walter Hussman received a richly deserved national journalism honor during the Key Executives Mega Conference, billed as the “major newspaper industry conference of the year,” in Fort Worth. The event is, according to the group, “a joint effort of newspaper media associations with an estimated combined membership of more than 5,000 publishers.”

The recognition was given for the innovative program involving the iPad you likely are reading on today courtesy of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and Hussman’s willingness to take a big financial risk.

The Mega-Innovation Award, represented by a crystal statue, honors the nation’s finest effort toward sustaining local journalism. That has always been Hussman’s primary objective in investing some $12 million to keep his privately owned statewide newspaper thriving into the future. We who read can thank him for taking that enormous risk.

Now go out into the world and treat everyone you meet exactly like you want them to treat you.