Swickard: The right to have rights

© 2017 Michael Swickard, Ph.D.  “… that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Thomas Jefferson

             We have a national conversation going about our “rights” in society. In 1776, the three were life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness which in earlier drafts read the pursuit of property. During the time of President Franklin Roosevelt there was a push to increase the rights.

            In 1941 Roosevelt spoke about the four freedoms considered four rights that should be available to all Americans. They are: the freedom of speech, freedom to worship God, the freedom from want and the freedom from fear. The controversy was freedom from want and fear. Is it even possible to be free of wants and fears?

            Later Roosevelt proposed eight additional rights: the right to a useful and remunerative job. The right to earn enough money. The right of farmers to have a decent living.

            Also, the right of businessmen to have freedom from unfair competition. The right of every family to a decent home. The right to adequate medical care along with the right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident and unemployment.

            Finally, there is the right to a good education. Not any education, a good education.

            So, do you have a right to clean water and air? Do you have a right to transportation? Do you have a right to retire when you wish? Do you have a right to entertainment?

            The problem is that some rights come with a price tag. Someone must pay, whom will that be? If each of us has the right to a good education, do we have to pay for it? Is it a right and other Americans must provide this or medical care regardless of if we pay because it’s a right?

            That is a slippery slope when we start taking the productive ability of Americans and without compensation giving their productiveness to other Americans. It is like the notion of a one hundred percent tax on some people. Sounds like government would get lots of money but that is not true because if we were taxed at one hundred percent, taxed such that we received nothing for working, it is likely we would quit.

            It’s a convenient talking point that all Americans have a right to adequate medical care. Do they have that right without compensation to the people providing the care? Do care professionals have a right to be compensated? Where is the line?

            Usually at a traffic accident, each of us is obligated to help, but is it a right for injured people? By getting into an accident do they have the right to compel us to act? Perhaps, or is that an ordinance rather than a right? Different things when we call that a right.

            Years ago, I was working as a school photographer and that day set up at an elementary school in Tucumcari, New Mexico. During the morning, a rough looking hombre walked up to the seat and before sitting down said to me, “I’ve got a Constitutional Right not to smile.”

            I said, “You’ve got it Bud.” He was happy and looked happy as I took the picture. I understood that he didn’t want one of those cheesy pictures. He wanted dignity. I was glad to give it to him but I didn’t think it a Constitutional Right. It was professional.

How do we deal when two people with rights are in conflict? It is like the question: if one endangered species is eating another endangered species what should we do? It is tough to decide since if you do not let the first species eat that species will die. And if you do then the other species becomes more endangered. It is fundamentally the same issue with rights.

            The Income Tax which came about in 1913 takes part of your productivity. It is considered the right of society to take your productivity. How much of a right is there? Can you take most of someone’s wages because of the supposed right of redistribution? Very slippery slope. Maybe we should go back to only three rights.

Email: drswickard@comcast.net - Swickard’s new novel, Hideaway Hills, is available at Amazon.com 

Swickard: The right to have rights

Swickard: Automatic voter registration for everyone

© 2017 Michael Swickard, Ph.D.  One thing that drives some people in our country crazy is that about half of our citizens either do not vote in our elections or worse, are not by choice even registered. A new plan has emerged in several states to have everyone eighteen and older automatically registered to vote.

            Here is the reasoning: the states have computers that can hold lots of data so automatically registering anyone in the state would be easy to do. But would it be wise? I have been on record as saying that voter registration drives do not impress me since just being registered does not guarantee that people will vote.

            And if they do not care to vote I really would rather they not. Just pulling the lever so we could say more people voted does not help our country in any way.

            Perhaps what we need to do is show what happens when people do not vote. Certainly, some would point at President Trump. Relax, I voted for him or more truthfully, I voted against someone else.

            But people are moaning that they cannot understand how a man such as him could be elected president. Truthfully, he was elected by a weak candidate and the millions of people who stayed home or did not even register to vote.

            So, some people would like to make voter registration automatic. Every person of adult age would always be able to vote. The rub is that most who didn’t vote this time would not vote next time.

            Maybe there needs to be compulsory voting. You must vote in every election. It would be like having to serve in the jury pool. You know, I just thought of a great plan: why don’t we take all those people who don’t vote and vote for them.

            Everyone registered as a Democrat or Republican would be an automatic straight vote for that ticket if they, themselves, do not vote. It would be one hundred percent participation or look like it.

            An extension of that concept would be the concept of proxy. If registration is compulsory, then we citizens should be free to give a proxy for our vote to someone we trusted. They would listen to the debates and research the candidates carefully while we get to spend our time on our Fantasy Football League.

            Or, since the vote is our own, we could sell our vote. Someone who cares and gave us a hundred dollars would be welcome to our vote. Why not? Is it our vote or not? About half of our adult population has already announced by not registering to vote that they don’t give a John Wayne Mickey Mouse Darn about the elections. Let us citizens sell our vote to someone who does care and will pay for it.

            OK, so I am mostly kidding here but the notion of having automatic registration is for real. Let me mention some issues: the sticking point is not registration, rather it appears to be the notion that the will of each and every voter might be corrupted by voter fraud.

            Example: a television station in El Paso had a story about an effort to help residents in a senior care center vote in an election. The seniors were happy that this very nice woman came by their center and handled all of the paperwork.

            The camera recorded one old geezer who said he hadn't voted since that time he voted for Ike. The interviewer then asked him, “So if you do not mind telling us, who did you vote for today?”

            The man looked blank. “Gosh, I don’t know. The wonderful lady took care of that.”

            To me it seems likely the very nice lady was able to vote a couple hundred times for her own candidates because everyone was so focused on these geezers and geezerettes voting and they were not thinking about voting being an expression of choice.

            Quite a can of worms if we mandate registration and voting for all citizens. What is wrong with citizens having the freedom to not do it? Or not even being registered to vote? It is not a problem with me since to vote is to care.

 Email: drswickard@comcast.net - Swickard’s new novel, Hideaway Hills, is available at Amazon.com 

Swickard: Automatic voter registration for everyone

Swickard: Saving the poo-poo head generation

© 2017 Michael Swickard, Ph.D.  “Drive carefully! Remember, it’s not only a car that can be recalled by its maker.” Anonymous

            We need self-driving cars and we need them now. A generation of our kids are set to die and they may take a bunch of us geezers and geezerettes with them. I am not kidding. We need self-driving cars.

            Why? A whole generation of our kids are driving and texting constantly. Yes, I know it is against the law and so do they. But they are addicted to texting and cannot stop.

            Example: If you are at a stop light, several cars do not move when the light turns green. The drivers are engrossed in their online texting conversations: “You a poo-poo head. No, you a poo-poo head. He’s a poo-poo head. She’s a poo-poo head. I hate you poo-poo heads.

            On and on it goes with them happily flaming each other and then being enraged by the flame backs. Meanwhile, I am listening to a nice song on the radio and waiting for them to come back to driving which may take a light or two depending on how many people they are calling poo-poo heads.

            Gee Michael, why don’t you engage your horn? I was born in New Mexico and have spent much of my time in a ranching environment. We blow our horns to warn of danger and not otherwise. I don’t blow my horn to wave, chide someone or to announce I am in the driveway waiting. I just do not do it.

            So I sit peacefully until they come back to consciousness in their car. Often, they look up and see that the light has turned green so they drive through the yellow light or even the red. After getting through the intersection they glance down to see someone has called them a poo-poo head so they text while driving.

            By golly, that behavior is dangerous. And if you want to write the word “Stupid” on your forehead you can spend some time telling them that they should not text and drive. They will do until death, which is closer to them than if they are in a war zone.

            This is why I want self-driving cars and I want them now. It is the only thing that will save our youth. They could spend the whole trip like they spend the rest of their time: you a poo-poo head. No, you a poo-poo head. All these current people know how to do is to flame. You cannot have a conversation with them because all they know is to flame people.

            I am not kidding. Every day there are more tragic deaths because texting and smart phones are an addiction. It’s amazing to watch a young person if my smart phone rings and I don’t answer it. First they start sweating. Then they get restless leg syndrome. They can’t stand that I am ignoring a call or text. When I get where I’m going I’ll check it but not before.

            If we put the vast resources of our great country into having self-driving cars it will take a bit of trust that the technology really works. But I see problems for the youngsters. First, it will be programmed to go the speed limit and no more. Many youngsters have never gone the speed limit. It will be a shock to them.

            Next, it will be hard to do scummy stuff like road rage. The self-driving cars will ignore the command to cut someone off or menace a car. The rage-addicted drivers will need sedation because the programming will not allow those behaviors.

            But now we can go down the road eating nachos and drinking an adult beverage if we so desire. I don’t know anyone who can drive and eat corn-on-the-cob. It takes two hands and then some. The programming could even enforce seatbelt laws. Wow, think of how safe we will all be.

            Me, I would prefer to drive myself since I have driven for fifty years without an accident or ticket. Partially, it is because I am a calm driver and part just luck. But my luck would increase if we put those texters into self-driving cars.

 Email: drswickard@comcast.net - Swickard’s new novel, Hideaway Hills, is available at Amazon.com 

Swickard: Saving the poo-poo head generation

Swickard: Do what works and stop doing what doesn't work

© 2017 Michael Swickard, Ph.D.  The New Mexico Legislature is set to start and there are many plans being foisted upon the citizens for what needs to be done this session. Most do not address the reasons New Mexico is dead last in many categories and will not help the state arise from the bottom.

            Some want to spend lots of legislative time on DWI laws. But over the years all rational people have given up drinking outside their home. All that are left are the people that do not follow laws and young drivers who do not realize that if you drink and drive it will mess up your life.

            What New Mexico needs are the types of laws and rules other states have making them competitive for businesses and jobs. The biggest anchor around our collective necks is the lack of Right To Work laws. Those laws in other states prohibit unions requiring employee membership, dues and fees to be employed.

            The unions have a political death grip on New Mexico so it is unlikely to change. Many companies with jobs bypass New Mexico. If this legislature wants to kick start the economy, it is the first thing they should do.

            The main thing the legislature need to do is push the things that work rather than do the things that do not work. Example: If your horse dies, stop spurring and get off the horse. Find another one that is alive. What that means for New Mexico is quit doing what we have been doing for years and look at other prosperous states to emulate what they do to bring wealth to their citizens.

            This is not rocket science but when I look at what leaders want to do in this session it seems none of them have noticed New Mexico is last in many lists. If not last, the state is close to the bottom. What we need to do is to copy states that are doing well.

            It is not easy to become last in almost every category and it won’t be easy to stop being last because there are some politicians who prosper in an environment of failure and poverty. Still, this legislative session should endeavor to lift New Mexico out of the last places.

            It seems that when the representatives in Santa Fe look at the decades upon decades of poverty in our state they would do something different. But they don’t. How long has it been this way? It makes me think of New Mexico Territorial Governor Lew Wallace in 1881.

            Most remember him for his novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, partially written while in New Mexico. He was appointed territorial governor in 1878 and by 1881 could not wait to leave since he found corruption, gangs, violence and daily battles. Governor Wallace cautioned, “All calculations based on our experiences elsewhere fail in New Mexico.” That’s the New Mexico that was then and appears to be now.

            One of the plans to make New Mexico better will do the opposite. We should already know it but it doesn’t seem that our representative understand. The plan is to take more money from the Permanent Funds to fund more stuff rather than cut back on government. They want to spend more money when our problem is not enough money.

            New Mexico has a spending problem. We have too much government and even this session some want to increase the size of government when we can’t pay for what we already have. That’s the problem with raiding the Permanent Funds.

            Know this: the reason for New Mexico having Permanent Funds is that extractive resources of New Mexico are finite. One day they will all be gone. The oil, gas, uranium, copper, potash, coal, lead, tin and other minerals will one day be gone.

            Smarter leaders than we have now set up the Permanent Funds to compensate for extractives being mined out. Those funds provide lots of money for New Mexico. Now some want to take even more of the funds which may ultimately deplete them.

            Other states have foolishly lost those kinds of resources. Let’s not do the same to New Mexico. They should remain a permeant resource.

Email: drswickard@comcast.net - Swickard’s new novel, Hideaway Hills, is available at Amazon.com 

Swickard: Do what works and stop doing what doesn't work

Swickard column: I pledge no more lying

© 2017 Michael Swickard, Ph.D.  “No man has a good enough memory to be a successful liar.” Abraham “Honest Abe” Lincoln

             I won’t lie to you, I do lie. Michael Swickard is a big fat liar. Well, I am big and no one calls me my nickname of “Slim” any longer without laughter.

            This year my resolution is that I am going to cut out lying. It is such a habit for me to lie. Sometimes it seems the only thing I can do. Often the people that I am dealing with know that I am lying and they prefer a lie.

            Example: I am at the hospital for a routine blood test. Every time I go I must start from scratch. I was born as a small child at Holloman Air Force Base August 24, 1950 at 11:35 a.m. in delivery room B. Yep, we get all the paperwork out there with my numbers and names which are always photocopied again. Then the lie.

            I am given my paperwork to read and either initial where indicated showing that I read that paragraph or at the bottom of some pages to sign and date to show I read it all. What a liar I am. I rapidly scribble my initials and sign the bottom of the many pages and hand the packet back.

            The counter person always sees I didn’t read anything but doesn’t rat me out for being the liar that I am.

            Same at Comcast and Verizon. I am handed a couple pounds of paperwork and told to read and sign it. I am done in less than a minute. The representative doesn’t blink that I read lightning fast and, get this, I understood what I had read before I initialed and signed the many sheets of paper.

            This is a quandary for me because I hate lying. As I grew up, lying was a real offense. Get caught lying and the day turned sour. While there were three of us kids, my mother seemed to know which one of us was not telling the truth.

            One time I told my rehearsed lie and my mother said, “Michael, that is a lie. I can see it on your forehead. The next time I told a lie, I held my hand over my forehead and she still saw through it though she turned to my father and said, “He gets that from your side of the family.”

            Incidentally, she could see through both hands and a cap. And there were severe consequences for not telling the truth. So, in my family we were plain-spoken and just said what the truth was without trying to hide it. The punishment for doing wrong was much better than the punishment for doing wrong and lying about it.

            This is why it pains me to tell such big lies about actually reading the paperwork that I was supposed to read. Therefore, this year I am turning over a new leaf and when I must initial and sign paperwork I swear I will read it. All of it. You have my word on this.

            I intend to pack a lunch and drink whenever I go to places that have those many pages of lawyer words that are supposed to be signed. You have seen the documents that read: … the party of the first part with the party of the second part and the party of the first part with the party of the second part with the party of the first part and second part blah blah blah.

            Perhaps I should take a pillow also since that puts me to sleep. I know if anyone really understands those words, some lawyer will get fired since they are not meant to be understood. And the terms on the paper are not negotiable even if you somehow understand them.

            Further, I promise to not repost hoax news. This will be a snap because I can look stuff up easily. You have my word on this to only post what I know is true. I will forego political sites since lying and politics are bedfellows.

            I’ll let you know how the counter workers handle me spending hours reading every last word.

 Email: drswickard@comcast.net - Swickard’s new novel, Hideaway Hills, is available at Amazon.com 

Swickard column: I pledge no more lying