Food for thought

(Please pardon the cliché title line.)
Here is a matter to ponder:

Many religious people believe that a "god" created the universe. They defend this claim by arguing that, since the universe is such a complex and (specifically when considering human life) beautiful place, that it had to be created by some "higher-power".

My question is: then who or what created the "god"?

Seemingly, under this logic, so complex a thing as a "god" would also be need to be created by something. Why would it make sense that a "god" spontaneously existed but not the universe? (For, would not the "god" be necessarily more complex than the universe if he (she or it) is able to conceive of and create the universe?)

My philosophy of Politics

I value both economic and personal liberties equally - after all, they really are one in the same: you are either free or not free. During the primaries I supported Ron Paul, a Republican congressman from Texas who ran as the libertarian candidate for president in 1988. I disagreed with him on a few issues, but I supported his philosophy: limited government. In the Democratic primaries, I hoped that PE Obama would prevail - I thought Hillary Clinton's healthcare plan to be inherently flawed and was inspired by Obama's rhetoric.
When the primaries ended, I was faced with an interesting choice. I have great respect for John McCain and believe that if it weren't for Bush's dirty tactics in South Carolina, he would be our president, and we would be much better off. Scoff if you will, but he is a maverick - especially by today's fiercely partisan standards, but in the past four years he did serious damage to this reputation.

To our President-elect, Senator Obama: He is without a doubt one of the greatest orators of our century. He truly knows how to inspire and motivate people, and by the end of this campaign, he could effectively speak to and for a great number of disaffected people in our country, reengaging them in politics and patriotism (these terms are not synonymous, but quite close in meaning), or even engaging them for the first time. That is a wonderful thing and will definitely work to help improve our nation's unity (which has been quite obviously suffering over the past few years).
The reason I did not bestow upon Senator Obama my support was a question of difference in philosophy:
Senator Obama's ambitious plans are all directed towards using the government to effect peoples' lives. I philosophically disagree with this strategy. I believe that people are best off not when the government attempts to run their lives, but when people are left to run their own lives. What is this aversion to the government that I have? It is because all liberty – not just economic – is threatened by this type of plan.

We must ask ourselves: what is the purpose of the government? I believe that the purpose of government is to ensure peace and harmony through regulation and moderation of disputes and to carry out functions which the private sector cannot (e.g. police, defense, etc). In this way, Government acts a check to balance an unfair distribution of power which might arise from the free-market economy: so monopolies are bad because utility companies could charge whatever they want, which is why the government regulates them.

But are you familiar with the quote, “Who watches the watchers?” When the government is in charge of carrying out a function which it should also be regulating (such as lending money or providing healthcare plans), how can it regulate these functions? There is a conflict of interest – the government is responsible for regulating itself. This is a recipe for disaster. This is how totalitarian states function. The “party” controls all functions and is responsible (in theory) for regulating these functions. But of course, it does not regulate itself so it is left free to do what it wishes.

The result of this is that You CANNOT have Civil Liberties in a country in which the government controls economic functions.

I know you have stated in the past that you like the “idea” of communism. From my perspective, which I believe history to have vindicated, you cannot enforce equality.

It his here where we arrive at the true genius of the Founding Fathers: they created a country in which we strive to provide equal opportunity to every woman and man.

This principle, I believe, is violated by the concept of “spreading the wealth around”. Now perhaps that was a slip of the tongue (a Freudian slip), who knows. What I do know is that we can accomplish much more as a nation through individual ingenuity and the motivation imbued by the free market system than by the government oppression (and yes, I say oppression) of the European-style socialist state. Remember, we enjoy many more civil liberties in this country than our friends in Europe (just look at France or England's anti-terrorist laws, for example – many of which were set up even before 2001).

Have you ever played the game: rock, paper, scissors? Sure you have. Rock beats scissors, scissors beat paper, and paper beats rock. This is how our democracy works: the people elect (or check) the government. The government regulates (or checks) businesses (which are the creation of “the people”) and the actions of “the people”. In this way, everyone is checked. In a state where the government starts to take over business, this model collapses, and suddenly the government has too much power – it checks more than it is checked. It is then when you begin to see our “essential liberties” disappear.

Complaints

Here is the address to complain to:
Mr. Albert Spim
1,000,008 London Road,Oxford.

[Read:]The Royal Frog-trampling Institute
16 Rayner's Lane,London

I'll just repeat that:
Flight Lt. &
Prebendary Ethel Morris
The Timples
Thaxted
Mr. Buenos Aires.

[Read:]Tristram and Isolde Phillips,
7:30 Covent Garden
Saturday, near Sunday,and afterwards
at the Jingo Jones Fish Emporium.

Epicurus' philosophy on divinity

Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?
Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing?
Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing?
Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing?
Then why call him God?
- Epicurus