Government Week Five essay

Federal Subsidies

If the people give power to a government to help them, they give just as much power to harm them as well. One situation in which this concept is applicable is monetary subsidies.

Where does the money come from that is being used for subsidies? The money comes from taxpayers. Taxpayers pay money to the government under the assumption that the government will use it to protect and better the country. But if the government gives subsidies to large corporations, then the money is not going where the taxpayers wanted it to go.

Since government is created by the people and for the people, then if the government puts taxpayer dollors toward something that will not benefit the people, or if the dollars go toward something that the people do not wish to put their money towards, then the government is not doing its job. None of this has to do with wether or not the government should be giving out monetary subsidies, it simply has to do with the logic behind Federal control along with subsidies.

In conclusion, we can say that if the people want the government to give Federal subsidies, there must also be some level of Federal control.

English week five essay

Momentous occasions

While I wouldn't go so far as to say that I haven't had any turning points in my life, I can't exactly say that I have very many. The simple fact is that I haven't had a very 'interesting' life, but perhaps I could name a few.

For one, the decision I made a few years ago to not wear T-shirts or shorts and exclusively wear polo shirts and long pants was fairly big for me. It wasn't 'life changing', but it certainly was a change. But it wasn't very big, and probably not very interesting.

This change, however, is fairly large; we moved from our apartment in New York to a house in Ohio. Now, it was not as big as moves from one state to another often are, as we did not live in New York for very long compared to how long we have been living here in Ohio and we were homeschooled so we did not have any 'friends', but it was quite momentous for me.

The biggest turning point by far, though, was the death of my brother. It was a very big change as I'm sure the loss of a loved one always is. I don't think I can go into specifics.

As I said, I haven't had very many turning points, but these few were big changes for me.

English Week Four Essay

A Story of Note

If I had to pick a single story from Lerher's book A Bus of My Own that grabbed me I would have to pick the story near the beginning of the book where he and a bus driver from his dad's bus company were driving their passengers tot he next stop and the bus had no brakes.

This story stood out to me because I can relate to it; I have been in a vehicle that has no brakes before, on more than one occasion. This story had me tensing and wincing as I recalled my own experiences of fearing a crash at any given moment.

It also struck me during this story exactly how miraculous it was that the bus did not crash on the busy intersection when the driver was unable to stop the bus at the red light on time and the bus went straight into the thick of the cars. Surely, the chances of all of the cars stopping on time and letting the bus through were very slim.

There are, of course, many stories in his book that are worthy of mention, but this one was the one that stood out to me the most.

Government Week Four Essay

Bastiat's Argument

In Bastiat's essay “That Which is Seen and That Which is Unseen”, he discusses economics and economic fallacies. A summary of his argument follows.

Basically, he says that in economics, there are the effects of the actions of an individual that everyone sees, and these might be apparently good or bad. For instance in his broken window fallacy, he says that the man whose window is broken will be a benefit to society because he will have to buy a new window and that will give somebody somewhere the job of replacing the window and it will put his money into the system.

The part which is unseen, though, is that the man ultimately loses an opportunity because the wealth that he now has to spend on replacing his window could have been spent on something else that the man wanted or needed and the person who would have sold him this product is the ultimate loser, as he can no longer sell his product to the man.

In accordance with his title, Bastiat's essay was critical of those who look only at that which can be easily observed in economics and encourages people to look for the winners and losers in the economy that are not so easily seen.

Engilsh Week Three Essay

The Silver Lining

     Most people would agree that a heart attack is a terrible thing. And it certainly is, as it might kill you and if it doesn't it will change your life significantly. But in Lerher's case in his book A Bus of My Own, some of the changes were for the better.

      The first thing he did when he woke up was to make lists and organize his life, which certainly is a good thing. Anyone can benefit from a little more organization and coherence. He decided that he needed to pursue his ambition of writing fiction more avidly, and he also resolved to be more serious about his collection of bus memorabilia.

      Another change that might be seen as not very enjoyable, but certainly beneficial, is the change in his diet. His former diet consisted solely of comfort foods and fast food, which was probably a proponent in his heart attack in the first place. He had to change his diet to far more healthy foods, which he did not enjoy eating quite so much but it probably improved his overall health in the long run.

      Before his heart attack, he was a heavy smoker. In fact he described it as being an important aspect of his life, and after his heart attack he never smoked again. Luckily this was not a reluctant change; it simply never crossed his mind once during or after his recovery and what was once a main ritual in his daily life just faded away. This was clearly a good thing.

      A heart attack is a very bad thing, and changes are not always good, but these three things certainly changed Lerher's life for the better.

English week two essay

Three Essential Stories

    If there were three stories that I would absolutely put in my auto biography, they would be (so far, as obviously my life is not over and there will be many more stories to come) my fourth birthday, the move from New York to Ohio, and the death of my brother Max.
    My fourth bithday I feel is an important story because that is when I got my first LEGO set, and building with LEGO bricks has been an very large part of my life so far. I have since then collected quite a large amount of LEGO bricks, and thanks to that one set I got on my fourth birthday, I have taken a very big interest in designing and building things.
    The move to Ohio from our old home in New York is important because it was rather like staring over -- I didn't see it at the time, but looking back at it, we only stayed in New York after we moved from New Mexico for about four years, and I wasn't old enough to remember moving from New Mexico. So we only stayed in New York a relatively short while, moved to Ohio, rented a house there but only stayed a year, and then moved to our current home and we haven't moved since. it has been about eight years and it doesn't look like we will move again.
    Finally, the death of my brother Max is the most important, probably fro pretty obvious reasons. It was probably the most painful days of my life, and it came upon me then that it had seemed impossible that my unassailable older brother could be killed, that such a travesty could happen to our own family, and I realized that anyone can and will die and that we should take nothing for granted.
    I cannot say that I will not have any more important stories, indeed I hope I do live to see many a tale, but out of all the life I have seen I would pick these three as most essential.

Government Week One Essay

Family Government

    We don't normally think of government as anything beyond civil government, but there are in fact four spheres of government, including self government, church government, and family government, and civil government is just one of these areas. It may not be obvious that family is a legitimate form of government, but if we ask ourselves the five questions of government, it becomes more apparent.
    The first of these five questions is a question of sovereignty. Who's in charge of any family? The parents, of course. The father is often seen as the head of the family (but many husbands admit to their wives actually being in charge), but it is obviously a 'team effort'.
    The next question is of hierarchy. Who reports to whom? The parents are in charge, and have ultimate jurisdiction over their children. Of course, in a 'clan' setting, there would be a hierarchy with multiple levels, but in a single family the parents have ultimate authority.
    The next question is one of law. What are the rules in a family? Obviously, rules differ from family to family, as parents set their own rules according to how they wish to raise their children.
    Next is a question of sanctions. What are the rewards and punishments for obeying or disobeying? Parents may choose to reward their children with privileges such as 'dessert' or 'TV', and punish their children with spankings or removal of privileges.
    We next have a question of succession. Of course, a family's children will grow up and have their own families, thereby extending the line of their parents and expanding the family government.   
    We can conclude that family is an institution of government, as well as self-government, civil government, and church government.