Can NASCAR Lead

"The private sector, not Government or bigger Government, is what spurs innovation."


The problem is that the private sector doesn't, won't, and isn't.  But can it, will it, and should it?  I think so, and that's why I drafted this letter to NASCAR's customer feedback link:  fanfeedback@nascar.com


To Whom it May Concern,


I have been a fair weather fan of NASCAR for years, and a fan and participant of racing in general for as long as I can remember. I think that the very best innovation in engineering happens in and around the spirit of 'competition'.  And today, we have a gasoline engine capable of maximum horsepower while still delivering efficiency. The advances that have occurred 'under shade trees' is truly astonishing...

I ask now, when is racing going to go 'green'...?

Why can't we turn this massive tool of innovation into delivering unto us super-fast, super-efficient cars and motorcycles???

The government can't, won't, or isn't spurring the market into more affluent actions, but the private sector could. In fact, an entity like NASCAR, could change everything in a single race season. Simply create a division that offers more prestige with much higher purses. However, it would only be successful if the incentives for gasoline racing were drastically reduced or eliminated.

I can't imagine how different so many people would view racing, if next season every official NASCAR race track was powered by 100% renewable energies, each one outfitted with solar arrays and wind turbines, selling building-it-yourself home kits in the gift shop that allow kids to build and learn about these technologies first hand. NASCAR could lead the American marketplace into a sustainable way of life, rather than being the well painted dirty stepchild of the industrial industry.

With that, I'll thank you for taking the time to read this, and ask that you please pass this 'request/suggestion' onto someone who might make this lofty notion an actual reality. I would love to receive a response or take part in an ongoing exchange with NASCAR upon these matters.

-Race Fan
---

To date, I've received no response, nor do I expect to, which is the problem.  There is nothing as 'conservative', traditional, or unchanging as Southern culture.  NASCAR's is set in stone, and gasoline racing will likely live long through "Peak Oil".  Half of the current sponsors are Gas and Oil Companies.   


The chances of progressive change coming out of this private sector are slim to none.    But imagine if this weren't true.  Imagine if NASCAR went whole-hog into creating renewable racing, who's sole purpose is to make advancements in electric motors and battery technology.  The American racing world could save the planet, rather than slowly destroying it at 200 mph, and $75 per spectator.


This is just a blog, and not a call to action.  I hope only to move my readers to consider "what if"...


That said, feel 'free' to write NASCAR yourself, and also make this recommendation.  :)

No Mosques in America

"We Ought to be Done with the Building of Mosques in the United States of America."

So much for America being the Land of the Free...

That Democrats aren't flocking to the defense of American Muslims and their right to practice, freely associate with one another, and indeed even build their own houses of worship is well beyond appalling to me.  That so many can so easily dismiss the notion of American religious tolerance is the biggest step backwards we've taken since the adoption of the Patriot Act.  The problem is that far too many leaders have settled on doing what is popular, rather than what is right.

Faced with the potential of being labeled "Pro-Muslim", just months before an election, has turned principled leadership into impudent followers of the lowest common denominator.  When the leading Democratic Senator Harry Reed sides with the likes of Pat Robertson, one must wonder where we can turn to for Liberal leadership, willing to stand up for actual Constitutional standards.

The only ones making any kind of sincere argument are liberal commentators, and comedians like Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.  My favorite retort was made by Stewart when he noted, "...no one is protesting the building of Catholic Churches next to daycare centers."  While the comment is obviously a jab at the recent child molestation troubles the world's oldest and largest Christian religion has had, it makes a great point-  "We don't punish a whole group for the sins of a few within that group."  There are  over a billion Muslims, and those who object to Mosques in America are willing to discriminate against an entire religion based on the acts of less than .01%.  

This is America, where people are supposed to be FREE to worship when, where, and how they like.  Our leaders are supposed to be willing and able to take principled stands against those who would discriminate based upon religious beliefs.  At the very least, someone should be willing to say out loud, "We were attacked by Al Caeda, NOT Islam."  Or, how about stating the simple fact that the latest protest about the "Ground Zero Mosque" are completely misplaced, as the proposed project is neither a Mosque nor at Ground Zero, and that its organizer has actually worked in conjunction with our F.B.I.

When the actual facts of the matter and Constitutional standards take a backseat to emotional statements and people's feelings then we're truly in a sad state of affairs.

Immigration Reformation

"If you break the Law, you are a criminal.  You shouldn't get to go to the head of the line, when some people did the right thing and waited their turn."

Let us begin by admitting that America, today, is still the biggest most opportunistic market place in the world.  If you are hungry and eager to work, you can find a job here.  The more talented you are the more money you can make. America is like a Super Wal-mart with only a single-lane driveway for customers to get in and out, with 'illegal customers' making their own way in using 4X4's, and creating their own roads into the marketplace.

Our 'legal' immigration offices are that single-lane driveway.  It is simply not designed to handle the flow of present immigration demands being placed upon it by the current influx of people.  Lady Liberty herself has opened her arms to the masses of the world:

"Give me your tired, your poor, 
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, 
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. 
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, 
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"  

The problem is that those charged with filing the paperwork, are way way behind, so much so that people simply aren't willing to wait any longer...

And for the 'crime' of wanting to work to feed and provide for themselves and their families, Conservatives want the "illegal immigrants" punished.  Since some 'waited their turn', I guess it's only fair that those who didn't, be forced to pay a fine of some sort, not unlike a speeding ticket.  But after that we should fast track them into full citizenship.

What we need is an immigration super-highway.  We are losing tax revenue by our inability to process those who flow through our system, and we are turning the very people Lady Liberty invited here, into criminals.

I do not understand why these lawbreakers can't suffer a meaningful penalty, but then be offered amnesty and be made citizens.  The system and its budget are only hurt by having undocumented or 'illegal' workers here, because they aren't paying their fair share of taxes, and they are still utilizing our roads and services.

We can fix immigration by raising the ability for immigration offices to handle the demands being placed upon it.

The Rich EARNED Higher Taxes

"Why should I be punished for being successful?"

This is the conservative talking point or response, when the issue of graduated or higher tax brackets is raised.  The notion that the more successful or rich you become, the more onerous your tax burden becomes, isn't a punishment at all.  However, this is not the way conservatives see it...

So, the point I'd like to make here is: 'the more you benefit from something, the more you owe it'.  There's a system of government in place that serves us all, and it must be paid for through taxes.  If you aren't 'benefitting' from said system, then your duty to it isn't comparable to someone who has garnered great wealth from the same system.  You see, alone one can accomplish very little, and hold even less.  Wealth can't be created in a vacuum, and it can't be held as an individual.

If you were the richest man in the world, but there wasn't a stable system of government to protect and serve you and your wealth, you'd soon find yourself at the hands of marauders and or pirates better armed and or organized than you.  Luckily we aren't truly 'individuals' anymore.  We exist, as we do, as part of a community or government.  We left the State of Nature, to form this "more perfect union".  And as part of this union, we all have a duty to fund it, as it is the thing that safeguards all of us and the wealth we garner.

When the system benefits you 'more', you should feel more obligated to pay for it.  Imagine a lemonade stand where an owner employs 2 squeezers.  Out of each glass sold, the owner keeps .50, and pays the workers each .25.  Then one day a tornado completely destroys the stand and all the inventory.  Upon deciding who will pay to fix it, would it make sense to demand that everyone pay the same amount?  Possibly, IF they were all going to be equal partners, but if the profit isn't going to be shared equally, if would be unfair to ask those not benefitting from the operation to pay the same as someone making twice as much.

With that said, I believe that we DO all deserve to pay the same 'rate' of taxes, on our earnings.  If you make "0", you pay "0".  If you make a $1, you pay .10.  If you make $10, you pay $1.  If you make $1,000,000, then you pay $100,000.  This is what as known as the "Flat Tax", and is NOT what is being employed right now.  Instead, we have a convoluted system of laws complete with loopholes, caps, and exemptions that allow those who can afford it- Tax Lawyers, who's sole purpose is to make it so that the rich DON'T pay their fair share.  Worse yet, is the fact that people brag about legal tax evasion as though it isn't stealing from everyone.

Instead of viewing taxes as a patriotic duty, taxes are thought of as punishment.  Friends, my fellow countrymen, nothing could be further from the truth.  We owe each other a tax debt, and the more you benefit from this system, the more you owe to it, period.