Rhino Revolution
One of my friends on Facebook is a Democratic State Representative in the State of Iowa. I don’t know how we became “friends”. I’m sure she is wondering the same thing!! Actually, I enjoy having Facebook friends with diverse interests and opinions. Then, I feel like I’m not just preaching to the choir. Hey, I try to love everyone, but I won’t shy away from expressing my opinion even if it ruffles feathers.
This State Representative posted a petition from MoveOn.org demanding that the “super-rich” pay more taxes. I made what I thought was a reasonable comment – “How about reducing the size of the government instead?”
The first response said, “If you do not like taxes or government, please kindly do the following…” followed by a list of 102 things that the government does to, I mean, for us. Not included on the list, yet, is the government burping us and wiping our butts.
This is what the Rhino Revolution is about – turning this government babysitter mentality around. There are legitimate functions of a government, but I don’t think the founding fathers envisioned #64. Have the government bail companies out during recessions. The list could go on and on, and is being added to daily by the current administration.
The government has gone cancerous and will bring us down. Fight “the man” at every turn. Voice your opinion. If someone needs help, help them. Protest. Vote for limited government politicians. Stand for freedom. We can get it back!! Keep charging!!
Here is the list: If you do not like taxes or government, please kindly do the following….
1. Do not use Medicare.
2. Do not use Social Security
3. Do not become a member of the US military, who are paid with tax dollars.
4. Do not ask the National Guard to help you after a disaster.
5. Do not call 911 when you get hurt.
6. Do not call the police to stop intruders in your home.
7. Do not summon the fire department to save your burning home.
8. Do not drive on any paved road, highway, and interstate or drive on any bridge.
9. Do not use public restrooms.
10. Do not send your kids to public schools.
11. Do not put your trash out for city garbage collectors.
12. Do not live in areas with clean air.
13. Do not drink clean water.
14. Do not visit National Parks.
15. Do not visit public museums, zoos, and monuments.
16. Do not eat or use FDA inspected food and medicines.
17. Do not bring your kids to public playgrounds.
18. Do not walk or run on sidewalks.
19. Do not use public recreational facilities such as basketball and tennis courts.
20. Do not seek shelter facilities or food in soup kitchens when you are homeless and hungry.
21. Do not apply for educational or job training assistance when you lose your job.
22. Do not apply for food stamps when you can’t feed your children.
23. Do not use the judiciary system for any reason.
24. Do not ask for an attorney when you are arrested and do not ask for one to be assigned to you by the court.
25. Do not apply for any Pell Grants.
26. Do not use cures that were discovered by labs using federal dollars.
27. Do not fly on federally regulated airplanes.
28. Do not use any product that can trace its development back to NASA.
29. Do not watch the weather provided by the National Weather Service.
30. Do not listen to severe weather warnings from the National Weather Service.
31. Do not listen to tsunami, hurricane, or earthquake alert systems.
32. Do not apply for federal housing.
33. Do not use the internet, which was developed by the military.
34. Do not swim in clean rivers.
35. Do not allow your child to eat school lunches or breakfasts.
36. Do not ask for FEMA assistance when everything you own gets wiped out by disaster.
37. Do not ask the military to defend your life and home in the event of a foreign invasion.
38. Do not use your cell phone or home telephone.
39. Do not buy firearms that wouldn’t have been developed without the support of the US Government and military. That includes most of them.
40. Do not eat USDA inspected produce and meat.
41. Do not apply for government grants to start your own business.
42. Do not apply to win a government contract.
43. Do not buy any vehicle that has been inspected by government safety agencies.
44. Do not buy any product that is protected from poisons, toxins, etc…by the Consumer Protection Agency.
45. Do not save your money in a bank that is FDIC insured.
46. Do not use Veterans benefits or military health care.
47. Do not use the G.I. Bill to go to college.
48. Do not apply for unemployment benefits.
49. Do not use any electricity from companies regulated by the Department of Energy.
50. Do not live in homes that are built to code.
51. Do not run for public office. Politicians are paid with taxpayer dollars.
52. Do not ask for help from the FBI, S.W.A.T, the bomb squad, Homeland Security, State troopers, etc…
53. Do not apply for any government job whatsoever as all state and federal employees are paid with tax dollars.
54. Do not use public libraries.
55. Do not use the US Postal Service.
56. Do not visit the National Archives.
57. Do not visit Presidential Libraries.
58. Do not use airports that are secured by the federal government.
59. Do not apply for loans from any bank that is FDIC insured.
60. Do not ask the government to help you clean up after a tornado.
61. Do not ask the Department of Agriculture to provide a subsidy to help you run your farm.
62. Do not take walks in National Forests.
63. Do not ask for taxpayer dollars for your oil company.
64. Do not ask the federal government to bail your company out during recessions.
65. Do not seek medical care from places that use federal dollars.
66. Do not use Medicaid.
67. Do not use WIC.
68. Do not use electricity generated by Hoover Dam.
69. Do not use electricity or any service provided by the Tennessee Valley Authority.
70. Do not ask the Army Corps of Engineers to rebuild levees when they break.
71. Do not let the Coast Guard save you from drowning when your boat capsizes at sea.
72. Do not ask the government to help evacuate you when all hell breaks loose in the country you are in.
73. Do not visit historic landmarks.
74. Do not visit fisheries.
75. Do not expect to see animals that are federally protected because of the Endangered Species List.
76. Do not expect plows to clear roads of snow and ice so your kids can go to school and so you can get to work.
77. Do not hunt or camp on federal land.
78. Do not work anywhere that has a safe workplace because of government regulations.
79. Do not use public transportation.
80. Do not drink water from public water fountains.
81. Do not whine when someone copies your work and sells it as their own. Government enforces copyright laws.
82. Do not expect to own your home, car, or boat. Government organizes and keeps all titles.
83. Do not expect convicted felons to remain off the streets.
84. Do not eat in restaurants that are regulated by food quality and safety standards.
85. Do not seek help from the US Embassy if you need assistance in a foreign nation.
86. Do not apply for a passport to travel outside of the United States.
87. Do not apply for a patent when you invent something.
88. Do not adopt a child through your local, state, or federal governments.
89.Do not use elevators that have been inspected by federal or state safety regulators.
90. Do not use any resource that was discovered by the USGS.
91. Do not ask for energy assistance from the government.
92. Do not move to any other developed nation, because the taxes are much higher.
93. Do not go to a beach that is kept clean by the state.
94. Do not use money printed by the US Treasury.
95. Do not complain when millions more illegal immigrants cross the border because there are no more border patrol agents.
96. Do not attend a state university.
97. Do not see any doctor that is licensed through the state.
98. Do not use any water from municipal water systems.
99. Do not complain when diseases and viruses, that were once fought around the globe by the US government and CDC, reach your house.
100. Do not work for any company that is required to pay its workers a livable wage, provide them sick days, vacation days, and benefits.
101. Do not expect to be able to vote on election days. Government provides voting booths, election day officials, and voting machines which are paid for with taxes.
102. Do not ride trains. The railroad was built with government financial assistance.
It's time for a Revolution!!!
Yeah because none of that could have happened in the private sector. And it certainly wouldn’t be a better service and a profitable one if the private sector developed and ran it, oh no way only the government is capable of such great and magnificent things like medicare and social security. I certainly do not wait for the police to happen by to stop an intruder in my home (I just send for the coroner). The dependence is so pervasive it is hard to know where to truly start to cut out the cancer!! (though there is 535 spots we could start with
It appears that that latest sound bite going around is that we live in a “nanny state”. The American people expect their government to do everything for them and they need to become self reliant and everyone be responsible for themselves. It harkens back to the myth of the American Frontier, where each family was on it’s own for survival. And this supposedly breeds a tougher and more resilient American. For those who profess this belief it means shutting down most of the parts of government they do not like and the list seems to always include the IRS.
However, like many simplistic slogans, the nanny state concept totally ignores a basic fact, which is no one in America ever got to where they were on their own. Each of us owes a debt to our parents, teachers, medical staff and others who helped raise us and take care of us. Every day when we go to work we depend on people who will deliver the gas to the gas station so we can driver to work, or the bus driver who allows us to live farther away than walking distance from where we work. Whether we cook a meal or go out to eat, we are dependent on those who deliver, sell or prepare the food for us. The clothes on our back are only there because of those who work stocking and selling the clothes, shoes, and accessories that we use every day.
Think for a moment, if the CEO who makes millions, had to provide his or her own medical care, raise their own food, make their own clothes and extract and distill the oil needed to get gas for their car. Would they have any time at all left to be a CEO? Would they even be successful at raising corn or making a shirt? So are these CEOs really doing it all on their own?
What about the employees of the company where the CEO manages? Without them, would the CEO even exist? Again, is this CEO really self-made?
When we go into the factories, mines, working establishments of America, we are helping those workers be more productive by ensuring they have safe and healthy work environments, by making sure they are being paid fairly and that where they have a pension, it is being safe guarded. Others of us provide the data used by the country to make economic decisions that impact everyone, make sure that discrimination of any type becomes a thing of the past, or help others have the opportunity to learn and train in a new job. And some of us like myself help other Federal workers when they are injured on the job.
In the old days on the frontier, the community got together and helped each other, whether it was raising a barn, or lending a hand when a disaster hit. Self reliance was the way of the outlaw and not the way of the frontier. Working together and helping each other was, is, and always should be the way of the American. We are not a nanny state. We are a Community of Americans. Remember that Labor Day is your day!
Jorge, you are right about the American way is to help others. The difference is choice. Some of us do not want to be “helped”. The nanny has determined that we are gonna get it whether we want it or not. And that nanny has a lot of ambition and energy and stolen money to implement whatever comes to mind. The nanny must be fired!!!
How about if I do not like the way my country is being governed I can vote you butt out of office.
Thanks Scott for the long list of all of the things that government is willing to do for me or to give me; I might feel better now when I get to pay all of those taxes and fees; NOT!
Your post and the comments herein remind me of the time a neighbor came over to my house ringing my doorbell like crazy … when I answered the door, she told me that I needed to hurry up and get downtown because the government was giving away a bunch of cheese and I had to go get mine. (seriously) … I told her, I don’t need the government’s cheese, I am sure there are people that need it more than I do, but yet she persisted … “YOU DESERVE THAT CHEESE AND YOU REALLY NEED TO GO AND GET WHAT’S YOURS”.
Of course, I did not rush downtown to get my wheel of cheddar, but was absolutely stunned by her insistence that I somehow “deserved to get what the government was giving me”.
That incident has replayed in my mind over and over again through the years as I see so many people who believe that the government owes them something, anything and that they somehow deserve it .. even if it is a block of cheese.
How soon the populace has forgotten the immortal words of John F Kennedy who said, “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country”
I hope that the “sleeping giant” has at last awakened and all RHINOS will accept the call to do what is right and if it means a fight, so be it.
I love America, I love American genius and I certainly don’t want to see it perish because of a false sense of protection and provision from the U.S. government.
WAKE UP, educate yourself, no time for being apathetic or complacent any more… WE THE PEOPLE did it once, and WE THE PEOPLE can do it again.
If only more people rejected the cheese, but that’s just what the government wants. They grow by giving away as much as they can. Of course, they have to steal it from somebody first, because the government does not generate wealth. A tip of the horn to you, Paula!
Thanks, Scott … you make such a great point .. Uncle Sam is not our RICH UNCLE.