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I'm OK, You're Not OK
#1
I'm Ok, You're Not Ok
A popular book on Transactional Analysis entitled, "I'm Ok, You're Ok" sold millions of copies when it came out in 1969. A lot of us baby boomers just read the title; we took it as a permission slip to do whatever we wanted. That’s pretty much our signature move.


We created our own delusional definition of liberty – freedom from consequence – and built an entire ideological framework to support it. It was a shaky lattice constructed of moral relativism, cultural diversity, notional entitlement, positive collective "rights", the nanny state, subjugation of individual rights, perpetual debt, and the decoupling of status from achievement.


After nearly a month of unionist protests in Wisconsin and across the nation, it should be clear to even us boomers that the time has come to grow up and admit that some of us, sadly, are not ok.


For example, the people who vandalized the Capitol building - not ok. And the teachers who took their classrooms to the protest - not ok. Workers who walked off the job - not ok. Cops who refused to enforce the law - not ok. Doctors who wrote fraudulent permission slips - not ok. People who took their protests to opponents' private residences - not ok. The bomb-threat guy – not ok.


People who slung profanity and hate speech at public rallies in public places with children were present - not ok. The guy with sign proposing gang-rape of female news reporters - not ok. The self-titled feminists whose silence on that matter was deafening - not ok. Threatening anal rape of a gay camera man - not ok. The silence of the LGBT community on that one - not ok. The legislator in a union T-shirt threatening to kill another legislator - not ok. The silence from the members of that union - not ok.


And the media covering all of this ugliness like it was a conference of angels blocking a foreign dictator from microwaving American kittens on Wisconsin soil - not ok.


We have become a not-ok nation. Most of us have come to expect someone else will pick up the tab, clean up the mess, rebuild from the rubble, and catch us when we fall. When 90% of us carried the misfortunate 10% to a life of quiet dignity, that was ok. When 50% of us are carrying the other 50% to a life of arrogant privilege and noisy ingratitude, that is not ok.


There is unfortunately only one budget proposal for us to consider in Wisconsin, and it balances the budget with $4.2 billion in spending cuts. The smarter alternative from the leftist elites, who ridicule Governor Walker for his lack of a University degree, is...oh, that's right, nothing.


A million brainiacs with enough degrees to trigger a solar flare and all they can come up with is a collective pout delivered in four-syllable word diatribes and four-letter word tantrums. Duh, winning.


Even us wacky Libertarians can improve on the GOP plan without getting sweaty: add up the costs of incarceration, prosecution, and street enforcement of simple possession, and tell me again this is the best we can do. Or how about this: repeal all the tax loopholes and subsidies, instead of just the ones that Republicans don't like. How about School Choice? Nullification, anyone? C'mon, at least try.


Democrats never did have game; they yell like Tarzan and play like Jane. Their guy "fixed" his budget gaps by robbing trust funds, raising taxes, reneging on debts, misappropriating stimulus money, and accounting voodoo. He gave out more silly tax breaks to his friends than Walker has friends. When it was their turn, the Democrats now hiding in Illinois did nothing, unless you want to count the smoking ban. That seems to be a recurring theme – doing nothing.


Would you not-ok people like this Governor to punt, too? How about he raids that $66 billion in the state employee pension trust fund? Since Michael Moore says that all money is a national resource, maybe Walker should just withdraw $4.2 billion of everybody’s money from the fund and avoid all this unpleasantness.


Or how about he sells off state lands to mining and logging companies, so funding could be restored for mandatory recycling? And how much of a tuition increase did you sit-in student protestors volunteer so the University faculty won't have to pay 12% of their flu shot? Oh, that's right, nothing – it’s your default setting.


Let me explain balancing a budget to all the faux-mensas out there who majored in social sciences or victimhood studies: you either spend less or you pay more.


It's a simple math problem; and I hate to break it to you, but "effin" is not a number. $4.2 billion works out to $2,366 per household, excluding the disabled and those below poverty line. If you don't want to cut spending, then just attach your check to the Recall Walker petition; no, double it to $4,732 since the Walker voters have already made their preference for spending cuts quite clear.


Better yet, have a telethon on Wisconsin Public Radio to raise the $4.2 billion in voluntary tax contributions; there’s a nice libertarian solution to your partisan standoff. Let all the people of Wisconsin decide how much spending they want "spared" with their contributions, instead of running countless polls rigged to come out either against or in favor of the Governor’s plan. How far do you think that campaign would get - a million dollars, maybe? Half that?


And there is the problem distilled to its essence: the not-ok people demand more government than they are willing to pay for. After decades of just going along with the flow, the ok people have decided not to give them any more of either one – government or money.


Every dollar that government spends is either a right or pork, depending on whether you are the butcher or the hog. All across the nation, the ok people have decided we do not want to be the hog anymore, and the not-ok butcher is angry about having to learn a new trade.


And if you happen to read this, Mr. Moore, the wealth you recently described as a national resource is actually the most personal thing there is. It is the warehouse that stores value between the time you labor and the time you consume. If it is not yours, then neither is your person or your pantry, the source and use of the wealth you find so troubling – except for your own $50 million, of course.


You, sir, are definitely not ok.




“Moment Of Clarity” is a weekly commentary by Libertarian writer and speaker Tim Nerenz, Ph.D. Visit Tim’s website <!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.timnerenz.com">www.timnerenz.com</a><!-- w --> to find your moment and order his new book, “Tooth Fairy Government
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