Occasionally I am queried as to my political affiliation and I always respond raging moderate. I am of the belief that 90% of what makes this country great is still in place and the 10% that is wrong could be easily fixed using a logical, incentive based approach. I am not blind to the dangerous imbalances that exist in the country today such as excessive government spending compared to tax receipts, increasing wealth disparity, poor regulatory structures and social safety nets that have become corrupting, economically un-sustainable entitlement programs. It's just that when I take an "America, Love it or Leave It" perspective, I can find nowhere else in the world to go that would be an improvement. It appears that I am not alone in that opinion judging from immigration statistics.
What gives rise to this rather lengthy disclosure is that the local Tea Party group has decided to picket in front of my office and it has become an aggravation. And when I requested that they move their operation down the street in front of their own office I got a fairly rude response. What lead to my irritation was the hypocrisy of the entire episode. According to this group's press release, members want respect for property rights while violating mine by giving the impression of protesting my business in front of my building. They want to pursue happiness while imploring motorists to honk thereby disturbing mine. They want less government but disregarded my request that they honor my property rights, insuring the need for police enforcement. Arrogance bothers them but they demonstrated it with their behavior. They take issue with taxes and wealth redistribution, but judging from their ages, I'll bet that they receive the funds that I pay into social security. The intention of this protest is probably to gain support for their movement, but with me and others I have discussed this matter with the result has been the opposite.
Maybe they should take their protest to the post office, the forest service, or the courthouse, thus negating my complaints. My oppressor, when alerted to the fact that the honking of horns was annoying said "it's the sound of freedom". Well so are gunshots and I hope that is not what they plan for today. As the late comedian Mitch Hedberg (no relation) said, "I'm against picketing but I don't know how to show it".