The Rantings of a Bulldog, or My Thoughts on Hillary's DNC Speech

I'm a little bit scared of Hilly. Admittedly.

First, the more obvious critique of the physical appearance. I kept thinking she had smudges of red lipstick on her teeth. I couldn't tell for sure. And what's with the probation-orange jumpsuit? Did she come from picking up litter on the side of the road? I mean, really... No way, no how, no shiny, ill-fitting orange tent.

Cut to a teary-eyed Bill Clinton mouthing "I love you" over and over to a Hilly two football fields away. This is either really creepy or a stunt for the cameras. You decide.

Now on to more substantive commentary. If I were a Democrat, it really would've been a rousing speech. You have to give her that. It was pretty expert the way she pitched her big "unity" plan. Essentially, all it was, though, was encouraging her people to vote for the least of two evils in her eyes. She really didn't say much in support of Obama; however, she said a lot about why you should vote Democrat.

Green-collar jobs? Really? I thought I misheard at first. She wasn't kidding.

The one part of her speech that truly did get me thinking were her many appeals to the emotional climate of the room. She described in detail poor little boys whose mothers worked for the minimum wage, or the poor woman who languished on with poor health and no health insurance. And she had me for a couple minutes. I was like "Yeah...I want to help those people!"

But then I came to my senses.

The thing that interests me most about Democrats in general is that they assume they're the only ones that care about people. They assume that because they throw money at problems in the form of welfare or government programs that they are the only ones who want to fix society's ills.

I can attest that Republicans care about people. And I also can attest that they care about bad situations and even care to work to fix the problems in society. They just have a different philosophy on the ways in which this should be done.

This is the crux of why I do not call myself a Democrat. I believe that the ultimate responsibility for people and their lives lies within their own hands. Not with the government in the form of a handout.

Handouts ultimately only enable people to continue making the same poor decisions that got them in that bad place to begin with. Changes in society come about ultimately with the individuals in that society working to bring about change in that their own lives. Granted, there can be systemic issues which contribute to societal problems. People get themselves in binds and need help. But, ultimately, individuals must learn how to be self-feeders, taking care of themselves and not looking to the government to bail them out of bad situations they find themselves in.

I have my doubts if a massive, bureaucratic organization full of red-tape and politicing can really ever "help people". Non-profits have a much better track record on that front. I think the government should leave it to them. But, if the government can do anything to "help people", it should be creating programs to empower people, not to enable them.

And, Hillary should fire her stylist.

Oh, by the way, Hilly, I would never send you on live television wearing Hammer pants the color of a traffic sign. Call me, we'll work something out...