My Frustration with Canadian Police

It’s no secret that the public’s trust in police officers is at an all time low. This isn’t because Canadian police are dirty, in fact I will fight that allegation until I’m blue in the face. The problem is the American media’s portrayal of police in the United States. Things are different down there, especially when it comes to policing. Canadians have a sense of all being in this together. In the States, they are indoctrinated into a militaristic capitalist society. This means they glorify violence and strive to compete against each other, rather than cooperate. While related, that’s an entirely different essay. My point is policing competitive violent people is much different than policing cooperative people. They have to play by a different set of rules than we see in Canada, so it’s a lot rougher and the media has a heyday selling newspapers and web hits based on the violence, which is often necessary down south.

In Canada, we don’t have nearly as much violence, and our police get to be nice guys more often. However, our brainwashing by the American media is changing our attitudes towards police so that we’re afraid of them. When we fear them we will lash out at them. When we start to lash out at them, they will fear us. When the police fear us, they’re more likely to hurt us. Let’s stop this downward spiral of hate and fear. Fear is the path to the Dark Side.

Now, we’re getting close to where my frustration with police happens. Policing standards and professionalism dictates that police agencies do not engage the irritated public on social media. This makes sense. I’ve attended several training sessions on how to handle online reviews, and they all say “don’t feed the trolls.” If you engage the morons that just want to be heard, the noise will far outweigh any useful information. Where this differs in policing and public relations is, the morons that just want to be heard are being heard, and nobody is hearing any useful information.

In a very recent case in Edmonton Alberta, a man protected his mother from two hijackers. He tackled and subdued the first one, and then he tracked down and dragged the second one three blocks back to his place to wait for police. Police arrested and charged the carjackers, but they also arrested and charged the man who defended his mother. Link to the Edmonton Sun's Story

Naturally, people are jumping all over this. There’s comments about dirty police, stupid police, corrupt systems, corrupt police, and evil police. I don’t believe this is the case. There are several sections of the Criminal Code at play here, plus some of what I think is fine police work.

Any person in Canada may use reasonable force to stop an offense. Beating the tar out of possibly armed men while they are threatening your mother, without getting into too many detailed variables, is fine. Morally, I think you have a responsibility to do so. Also, any person may arrest without warrant any person they find committing a criminal offense, and deliver him forthwith to a peace officer. This means that tackling and holding the first one while you wait for police is just fine. In fact, I believe this was the morally responsible thing to do again. Assuming he didn’t go overboard and continue beating the guy’s face into hamburger after he was subdued, the police would not have a problem with this.

He caught up to the other guy 3 blocks away. This is where the law starts working against our hero. After he subdued the first guy and go looking for the second, he was no longer using force to stop an offense. At the same time, the “finds committing” clause in Section 494 of the Criminal Code also no longer applied. He found someone who he believed had committed an offense and assaulted him. This is assault, black and white. Citizens can’t do that. There are other factors involved the media doesn’t report on, like the level of force used, but since it wasn’t reported, I won’t elaborate on those laws.

Now with this knowledge, do you still believe the police are out of line? I hope not. They are enforcing the law as it is written, and what more can we possibly ask of them? That’s their job. You don’t get to pick and choose what parts of your job you’re going to do, and neither do they. Was this guy in the wrong to go get the second guy and bring him back for police to deal with? I don’t think so, but the Criminal Code says he is. I think this is fine police work, but a flawed Criminal Code. It is up to the Federal Government to change that statute in relation to defense of self, others, and property. Possibly also a change to the citizen arrest section.

If you still think the police are out of line, you’re either not paying attention, or you’re just not very smart.

Now this is where I get frustrated with Canadian Police. I should not be explaining to anybody how self defense and citizen arrest law works in Canada. A Deputy Chief of the Edmonton Police Service should be holding a public press conference, and posting it on their Facebook page.

The public’s distrust of the police comes from a lack of understanding. Since we started watching cartoons as a child, we’ve become familiar with the phrase, “People fear what they don’t understand.” For fuck sakes, because of liability concerns, most police services don’t even do ridealongs anymore!

It is the moral responsibility of Canadian Police Services to inform and educate the public. Rather than allowing a watered down, just-the-facts press release let the media tell part of the story and then let everyone else’s imagination run wild with the rest, tell the whole story. Explain why charges were laid. This isn’t pandering, and this isn’t just good public relations.  This is officer safety and long-term survival of Canadian police officers.

I hope that important people within policing read this. I hope that politicians read this. And for goodness sake, if you’re a member of the media, ask why once in a while.

The REAL Benefit of Martial Arts in Youth

Take a couple of minutes to watch this video. Instructors like this contribute to creating some of the most wonderful people in our society.



When I was eleven, I was awarded my red (brown) belt. At this stage, it was mandatory to break boards to gain further rank. I was okay at forms, and acceptable at sparring, but board breaks were terrifying. There was no grading, either the boards broke, or they didn't. And real pine boards don't lie. If your technique is off, you're going to make a thunk, not a snap. If you're really unlucky, you're going to make a crunch.

Rewind to yellow belt. I was 8 years old, and we were practicing punches. My punches were sloppy, and I didn't care about technique. I was just going through the motions because my instructor told me so. She put a board in front of me and told me to punch it. I made a thunk, and it really hurt. She corrected my technique, and told me next time, the board had better break. Every time we did punching drills after that, I was very cognizant of my technique, and always working to improve upon it.

Fast forwarding back to red belt, we had some options. We had to break the board using an elbow strike, and a choice between a front kick and a side kick. We had three attempts. I requested special permission to use a reverse punch instead of an elbow strike, because it was important to me to prove to myself that I had mastered that technique since being a yellow belt. After getting my parents to sign a waiver, I was allowed to make the attempt, on the condition that I also forfeited my choice to do a front kick and attempted a side kick instead.

During our Testing Ceremony at East Longview Hall, I completed my forms, my one-steps, and my sparring. I got a few minutes rest while the higher ranks went through their tests before the board breaking part commenced. I didn't even really watch, even though the black belts were always fun to watch. I spent the whole time visualizing the punch. When it was finally my turn, I set up my two break stations, just as I had been coached the previous week. After receiving permission to begin my attempt, I lined up the punch, and blew through it beautifully. That was my first board break. Everyone cheered, because my instructor explained why I was doing it, and explained the higher difficulty and risk level. The thing with punching solid objects is the bones in your hand are actually very small and easily broken. If the board doesn't break, your hand probably will.

Riding the euphoric high of the accomplishment and all the cheering, I lined up my side kick, and missed. I made three thunks. My heart totally sunk. After I had accomplished so much with my punch, I failed my test anyways. I still felt proud of what I had accomplished. Following me, my instructor made one of the fully grown black belts attempt a punch, and that resulted in a bloody broken hand. There was some controversy and a lot of hard feelings around that decision, but from where I was sitting, it really illustrated just what I had accomplished.

Now began the Saga of Ty's Side Kick. Much like my punch, I needed to master that kick. Mastering that kick took a long goddamn time. I used to get so frustrated, I almost stopped training. My parents wouldn't let me stop. My dojang had testing ceremonies quarterly, and it took me about 3 years to master that particular technique and actually pass my test. 12 tests later, I finally got some stripes on my belt. In hindsight, it wasn't really fair in competition, because I was the most experienced red belt in just about ever. Once I got some stripes on my belt, I STILL had trouble breaking boards in tests. 2 more years would pass before I received black belt at 16 years old. Of course at 16, I was getting big enough I could easily power my way through a single board, so now I was breaking two.

As a black belt, in practice and in competition, my side kick became famous. I had studied it so much that I could throw a side kick from any position, any stance, with or without a jump, and with or without a spin, and it couldn't be stopped unless you practiced with me a lot. I would find your ribcage or chin every time. I won international tournaments with that kick. Just a couple of months ago, I was visiting a friend I hadn't seen in a long time, and he told me he had heard stories of that kick from a Karateka I used to play with. My battle with the boards had given me an extremely valuable gift.

A year later, when I was allowed to test for my Second Dan, I choked on my board breaks again. They STILL created a mental block for me. I failed another test. I had grown into a liked and respected Student Instructor, and I actually coached a lot of others through their board breaks. I was widely regarded as an expert in the field, but I still couldn't overcome the pressure! 3 months later, I was allowed to attempt again, and this time I made it through on my third attempt, and while I was very happy I passed, I was so upset that boards were STILL a challenge for me.

When I tested for my Third Dan two years later, I was really nervous for my board breaks. I hadn't tested in two years (mandatory waiting period for my rank), and I was going up against my old nemesis once again. I completed all my forms (exhausting), I performed various self defense techniques, and then I sparred with every other black belt and a couple of red belts (super exhausting). I tried so hard to rest while the red belts were completing their board breaks so I would be fresh for mine, but everyone wanted big strong Ty, who had helped coach them in their techniques, to hold their boards. I was exhausted, but I did it anyways.

When my turn finally came, I was still exhausted. My heart rate had come down a bit, but my arms and legs felt like spaghetti. I set up my stations, going with old reliable, a side kick, and a reverse punch. The difference was I was using 3 boards on my reverse punch, and I was spinning during the side kick. Scary stuff, right? Right.

After receiving permission to proceed, I lined up my spinning side kick, and blew the boards into three pieces each. Everyone cheered. I lined up with my reverse punch, but my focus was broken by fatigue. I kept thinking, "I hope I'm not too tired to make this break." I threw everything I had into that punch, lost control of where my elbow was, and my hand bounced. I was awarded with two thunks for one punch. The two men holding my boards fell back a step from the impact. My hand hurt.

My instructor ordered my board holders to drop a board so I was attacking the standard two boards instead of three, and I reset my stations. I lined up with the punch first, because if I didn't make it, there was no sense in wasting the other boards. My hand hurt so bad. After receiving approval for my second attempt, I lined it up, and I hit the boards. Thunk. My hand hurt. I began my final attempt. Thunk. The crowd's groan drowned out my grunt of pain.

I turned to the judges' table at attention, waiting to be dismissed. I had once again failed. Instead of dismissing me, Master Woodson directed some of the other judges to take up a station for another break. I understood the point she was making. I had defeated myself. The boards couldn't defeat me, they were inanimate objects. I had failed another test, but now I was being given the opportunity to show everyone, and more importantly myself, that I really was a good martial artist.

I think the first one was a jumping, turning side kick. Broken.
Knifehand strike, broken (hit one of the board holders on the other side. Sorry).
Axe kick. Broken.
Spinning Heel Kick (sometimes called a Wheel Kick). Broken. (look at the knuckles on my right hand. It hurt a lot.)
Elbow Strike. Broken.
Jump Front Kick, Face Level. (Broken)
Round Kick, Face Level. Broken.
Side Kick. Broken.
Front Kick. Broken.
Palm Heel Strike. Broken.

These breaks were easy. I didn't spend time lining them up, I just did them. First attempt, all of them. I didn't follow the formalities of requesting permission, I just attacked. Master Woodson yelled out a technique, I destroyed the wood. Simple. It felt felt good to get out some of my frustration over failing my test by smashing things. Of course, a lot of these techniques were extraordinarily difficult and nobody attempted them in a test if they could help it. They were flashy and fun in demonstrations, but too easy to mess up for a test. I didn't care. I had already failed my test, so the pressure was off. I was just playing, now. I was showing off and enjoying the attention I was receiving from my fellow students and the spectators. See? When I was coaching you, I knew what I was talking about, I just choke on pressure. Master Woodson either ran out boards or ideas, because I was dismissed.

Spectators from upstairs found me after the testing ceremony to console me, and to tell me they though my instructor was unfair, making me break all those boards as punishment for failing. I told them I was grateful for it. It wasn't a punishment, it was a favour.

Afterwards, during the potluck dinner and awards ceremony, I sat and sincerely cheered and congratulated everyone on passing their tests. This certainly wasn't my first failed test, so there was no envy, no hard feelings, I was genuinely proud of everyone for passing their test, because I had helped teach a lot of them. After everyone else had been called up and given their new stripes or belts and their certificates, my name was called. I was shocked. I had no idea I was getting called. What was going on? Was I gonna have to break something else? My muscles were cold now, and my ass hurt from sitting on that chair, so I hoped not.

The judges had discussed and decided to award me my Third Dan because I obviously had the skill, and once I could ignore pressure, I could accomplish what I needed to accomplish. I was elated! Judging by the picture, I don't think Master Woodson was quite as excited as me, but there it was. I had earned my Third Dan. Nobody could dispute it, because I broke more boards than anyone in that school had ever seen.
                    

Later in life, my instructor and I had a falling out, but that lesson has been such a valuable lesson in life. In my security career, I was always able to handle the pressure of any situation and make the intelligent decision, and in my hospitality management career, I could handle any level of rush in any department. Pressure is nothing.  If you know your stuff, you can get through it.

Put your kids in martial arts training. I don't mean martial sports. I don't mean self defense. Find a more traditional art, like Karate, or Traditional Taekwondo (not Olympic). Find a good instructor, and they won't just learn kicks, punches, combinations, techniques, forms, and the like. They will learn how to be a good and successful person. Martial sports and self defense can come later in life. Learn to be a good person, then learn to be a good competitor.

Fight Back Against the Police!!! Wait, that was a bad idea...

Don't fight the police on the street. If you do, you'll get hurt. Fight them in the courtroom. That's what it's for. If you don't like the court system, vote for a candidate that will fix the court system, or run for office yourself.

Don't ambush, assassinate, execute, hunt down, and murder police. You think they're violent now? Just wait. While this certainly isn't the most scholarly thing I've ever said, WATCH ROBOCOP. Ignore the story of Murphy, and just pay attention to what the city of Detroit looks like. That's what you're working towards. Eventually, some corporation is gonna come along with the genius idea of privatizing policing, and using military grade drones to get the job done. The government is gonna be like, "Awesome. We want nothing to do with this shitstorm anymore. Take our money and have at 'er."

The premeditated and organized killing of police will have one of two effects in each jurisdiction, and every jurisdiction will see it happen to varying degrees.

Option 1: The police will step it up. You're looking at martial law. If you see a police officer, you know he will be scared and angry at any given time. Any sudden movement, and you're dead. Police will no longer patrol as we know it now. Police will travel only in force, and respond to calls only with overwhelming force. If someone gets called in for driving unsafe, they will be stopped with a spike belt, approached by a fully armed and armoured tactical unit, and taken down hard. Only once the suspect and police are secure in the fortified compound will the investigation begin.

Option 2: The police will protest. Do you know what a police protest looks like? It's not picket signs and irritating traffic. THEY GO HOME. If police officers obviously aren't safe at work, they're going to stop going to work. This goes one of two ways:

Option 2 A) Seriously understaffed police services cannot help people who need help. Anarchy takes over. This isn't the overly romanticized punk rock anarchy. This is the only the strong survive, everyone is out for himself, whoever has the most guns is in charge anarchy. Justice is out the window, now it's just a power game, and there are no bystanders or innocents. Eventually it evolves to a feudal system.

Option 2 B) Police leaders don't give up, but they can't hire good police anymore. They can hire only the losers off the street that really enjoy hurting people. Take what you can get. Now there are no good police. Now the police are the corrupt, evil bastards that you see in other countries. The good police officers that kept the bad ones in check have gone home and circled the wagons to protect their families.

The answer is absolutely NOT "fight back." The answer is "stop making the police fight you." Some of them really enjoy the excuse. Just comply. If they're in the wrong, attack their career.

CNN's Story

Changing our National Anthem, plus some brain-puking.

It is being reported on several news sites that the Canadian House of Commons is debating changing a line O Canada from "In all thy sons command," to something a little more gender neutral.

To the Honourable Member who brought this bill forward:

Pull your head out of your ass and take a look around you.

- We have hunger at home and abroad

- We have increased crimes of desperation because of the terrible economy.

- People want the right to become one with the Force on their own terms.

- Confidence in our leaders is at an all-time low.

- Trust in our police officers is at an all-time low.

- There is still a gigantic wildfire in northern Alberta, with about 100,000 Canadians displaced.

- While the economy is already terrible, one of the country's economic powerhouses is pretty well out of business until the fire is dealt with and Fort McMurray is rebuilt.

- Donald Trump might be the next POTUS

- Mexican drug cartels are coming up with new ways to infiltrate Canada, and they're bringing their violence with them.

- Our allies have lost respect for us because of our current stance on ISIS.

- Education costs are way too high.

- Our post-secondary education system teaches too much unnecessary crap for a degree.

- Health care wait times are terrible.

- People are still arrested and charged with impaired driving every day, so obviously we aren't deterring anything with the current system.

- Repeat offenders keep going free and offending again, to the point of premeditated murder of citizens and police.

- So many more REAL problems.

With all this going on in the world around you, your government wants to bring attention to the attention whores who want their 15 minutes of fame for bitching about the wording of one line in the national anthem? Get your priorities straight.

We live in a society where we think we can make people obey the law by passing more laws. People are able to rob others because they know victims are taught to comply for their own safety. We wear pink t-shirts once a year to signify the repugnance of bullying, yet we don't teach our children how to survive bullies. Our young adults are weaker and less healthy than they've ever been, because they aren't active enough and they have only enough time to each something quick, cheap, and easy, like macaroni and cheese.

We are becoming a society of victims.

As individuals, it's time to stand up. Get on your feet and make a decision to make our country a better place. Pay attention to what's happening in government, and tell your representative how you feel about it. Teach your children how to stand up to a bully. Teach your children they MUST stand up to a bully, even if they aren't the ones being bullied. Make the decision to stop the man with the knife robbing the liquor store, even if it's just by making a lot of noise and throwing bottles at him.

Accept your complicity if you see wrongdoings and allow them to happen.

Every citizen of Canada has the right to be heard by their government. If you see the police enforcing a law you disagree with, your beef is not with the police. Your beef is with your local political representative. Change the law. If you do have a beef with the police, write a letter to their superiors. Get off your ass and do something.

Keyboard warriors create modern lynch mobs from behind the safety of their computer monitors. If they don't like something someone said or did according to a 150 word article, they actively try to destroy the person's life through cyberbullying, sending flaming messages, and even pressuring their employer to remove their livelihood to punish their entire family for something they said or did. All this from behind the anonymity of the internet mob. If you don't like something, get off your ass and go handle it. Learn the whole story before reacting.

I'm very concerned about the direction we're headed. Our people are getting weaker, the stupid are getting louder, the dangerous are getting braver, and we are handicapping our peacekeepers because we think rainbows make effective weapons against evil.

Please think on this. Please don't stop at thinking on this. Please get off your ass and do something about it. Write an email to your Member of Parliament. Write a letter to your Member of the Legislative Assembly. Call your City Alderman. Stop by the police station and ask to go on a ride along. Speak up when something uncool is happening. You have the power to create change. Use that power for something positive.

Why I Call Myself a Jedi

I take part in religious discussions almost as often as political ones. Inevitably,  this leads people to become curious about my  own faith, and for several years  I’ve claimed to be a Jedi. Invariably, this causes people to look at me funny. What varies is the meaning in the look. Sometimes it’s accusing me of being a wise-ass, sometimes it’s judging me to be a Star Wars fanboy. Either way, it destroys all my credibility on the topic and kills the conversation. While I can be a bit of a wise-ass, and I do like Star Wars, neither of these is the case. I’ve put a lot of thought into this version of faith. To understand how I came to this decision, you first must understand how I define God, and then how I interpret the Old Testament and the New.
God is not some dude sitting on a throne in the clouds with a righteous beard, as he is often depicted in pop culture. I think this is how churchgoers, Hollywood, and even preachers have come to picture him over the centuries. Not that I think our religious leaders picture him as the only 5-fingered character in the Simpsons, but they picture him as physically a man. The Holy Trinity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is a depiction of 3 separate entities that function interchangeably and simultaneously. Of course God must be a man, because we were created in His image, right? I’ll come back to that.
God is an intangible entity. God is love. God is goodness. God is life. You cannot see Him, but you can see evidence of Him, and if you open your heart and mind, you can feel Him. He is in everything, and every person. He is your conscience, your good idea, your urge to hold someone who is crying. The Chinese concept of chi is actually more accurate than the Western idea of a man. When we were created in His image, it doesn’t mean we were created with our eyes, hands, toes, and buttocks in the same place as the Almighty. This means we were created with His love, goodness, life, and conscience.
God’s angels in similar fashion, are not winged humans. That is an artistic representation by Michelangelo that was adopted by the subconscious of western culture. Angels are agents of God. They are his fingers, working for the goodness and love that is God. When someone feels like something isn’t quite right, so they check it out, that is angelic inspiration. When the investigate, find someone in need of help, and help them, they are an angel for the time being. If you’ve been stranded on the side of the road, but someone stops to help change your tire, you were helped by an angel.
The Bible is also very much taken too literally. If you’ve ever opened it, you’ve noticed it is subdivided into Testaments, Books, chapters, and verses. These individual verses are then taken out of context, studied, and argued about. Wars have been fought over individual verses of the Bible. The Old Testament was written by barely literate Hebrews living in the desert, based on divine inspiration and their own spin on life. It was written by them, and for them. Genesis, the story of creation, was written in such a way they could understand. There’s no way to explain eons, dinosaurs, ice ages, and evolution to them. If you lie the timelines of Creation and the Big Bang side by side, they look pretty similar. First, there was nothing, and God said, “Let there be light.” First, there was chaos in the form of an electron field, until electrons managed to bump into each other at just the right force and angle that a photon was created. It continues from there. Leviticus was written to help them survive and prosper. At the time, procreation was absolutely necessary for survival, so homosexuality was a bad thing. Tattoos were forbidden because they would die of hepatitis. The New Testament was written after Jesus of Nazareth denounced the old teachings, and the old churches, and taught his followers that times had changed and that it’s okay to not fight. It’s preferable to love one another.
Sometimes, we forget that science and religion are not exclusive of each other. Science is a method of study and discovery, not a belief system. Science has neither proven nor disproven the existence of God. It has proven the existence of goodness, and love, and conscience. That is God. That is the intangible entity that is God. That is the intangible force that makes us want to do good things. That intangible force is simplified to the Force, and my belief in that doesn’t make me a Christian in the traditional sense of the word, so I don’t identify with that definition. What can you call a man that believes in, and strives to understand, commune with, and serve the Force? The only way I could answer that question is: I am a Jedi.

Why I Hate Gender Neutrality

At the risk of being offensive, I'm going to share my feelings on the Alberta government's new "gender neutral" policies.

I believe strongly in equal importance of the sexes, and I believe that men and women's respective strengths and weaknesses complement each other in a yin-yang effect that is important to embrace for a successful and happy life.

I believe that men and women are intellectual equals. Women are naturally more compassionate, and men are naturally more analytical. This makes for an excellent balance in a society of equal rights.

I believe men are more physically suited for hard labour. Women are more physically suited for administrative, academic, or domestic roles. I say this while I work in an administrative role and I am the main cook at home, so I am fully aware that this is an over-generalization, but that doesn't make it less true. I'm definitely better suited to go throw square bales into the back of a truck than my wife is. This is true for most couples. Men's domination of leadership roles is strictly a leftover of the patriarchy, but is slowly lessening.

I believe that being a manly man is something to strive for and be proud of. I believe that being a womanly woman is something to strive for and be proud of. Being a manly man includes being in complete control of (sometimes out of touch with) his emotions, being a leader, some form of physical prowess, commanding the respect of betters, peers, and subordinates in equal measure, being able to put food on the table, and being responsible for the protection of loved ones. I also appreciate the "rites to manhood" like swimming in a mountain river, snaring food, hunting, fishing, camping, building fires, shaving, growing a beard, etc. I'll admit complete ignorance in what it takes to be a womanly woman, but I think it has something to do with being awesome in ways that I can't fathom while still having time to do her hair, but I don't know. I don't think men are meant to understand that. However, men can still tell on a subconscious level how womanly a woman is, and respect her for that.

I believe it is a positive thing to encourage children to learn to be manly men and womanly women. It's more important to encourage happiness of course, but there's nothing wrong with gender roles! My very young son likes to wear nail polish. That's fine, when he's old enough I'm still going to teach him how to sharpen a hunting knife. He'll just have to take it off when he's learning how to stalk a deer because I don't want the deer to smell it.

I believe the best successes are had in parenthood when there is a mother and father both in the household. Single parents or same-sex couples can do just fine, but I think it's more difficult for them.

I believe male and female emotions are very different in how they must be managed. It's a man's job to teach his son how, and a woman's job to teach her daughter how. This is one of the most important lessons of parenthood, because understanding the difference between delayed satisfaction and instant gratification can be the difference between a happy, successful life, or incarceration.

I believe that males and females should only be nude in the same room if they are consenting adults, or young children who don't know the difference but are accompanied by a trusted guardian. Adult men and women want to be nude together? Cool, where's the hot tub? Adults think it's okay to put boys and girls in the same change room? Nope, and I'll take a hard line on that.

I believe it is wrong to compel the overwhelming majority to make lifestyle changes for the comfort of a small minority. The minority must be protected from harm, and they are free to do what they wish as long as it hurts no one. However, it is up to the minority to adapt and compromise, not the other way around.

What I Want From My Government

I think of myself as a free market socialist. Here's what I want from my government:

- Stay out of my life. It's not your business what I put into my body, or do/have in my home. However, if you ask politely, and have a legitimate reason, I'll gladly give your agents a tour.
- Stay out of my business. Unless it has a direct effect on public safety, what I sell and how isn't your concern. How I run my business and what I'm willing to pay is also none of your concern, unless I am doing evil, like defrauding my customers, employees, or tax collectors.
- Keep me safe. Give police and military the training and tools necessary to protect me from people who would do me and mine harm. Allow them to perform their function, and hold them accountable with fair consideration for the position they're in.
- Don't waste time and resources. Pass legislation that makes sense and has a purpose. Don't just pass laws to keep the media saying nice things about you.
- Educate me. Education certainly isn't my right, but it is an investment that will almost always pay huge dividends to the community.
- Keep me healthy. Also not a right, but definitely an investment in the community. I can't contribute if I'm ill or injured, so give me a boost.
- Tax me fairly, in a way that makes sense. Current taxation is far too complicated. How many resources are wasted in simply interpreting the policies and procedures?