Liberty and Prosperity

If you want liberty and prosperity reduce government. It is time to stop looking to our government for a solution to our problems and start with a government reduction plan.

Eric B. Saub

Attn: State & Local Governments - Federal Funds are Not Free Money

I cannot fathom the foolishness of those who act as if federal funds are free money. They say “yes” to everything at the state and local level governments because of the “free” federal funds. Federal spending, the deficits and the national debt are insane not to mention the constant battle from the left to increase taxes and fees on the already over burdened taxpayer while advocating that those who cannot or will not provide for themselves receive more and more of what other people have worked for.

Eric Saub

Martin Luther King Jr. Words of Wisdom

Martin Luther King Jr. was a great man and my words are simply inadequate to communicate his great wisdom and value to the American people and the world. So rather than belittle him with words of my own I have compiled several quotes so that people can understand and honor him from the very words he spoke.

“Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal.”

“A man who won't die for something is not fit to live.”

“I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

“Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”

“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education.”

“A nation or civilization that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on the installment plan.”

“Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.”

“He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.”

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

“Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”

“I just want to do God's will. And he's allowed me to go to the mountain. And I've looked over, and I've seen the promised land! I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land.”

“A right delayed is a right denied.”

“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.”

“All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.”

“I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made straight and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.”

“I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit together at the table of brotherhood.”

“All progress is precarious, and the solution of one problem brings us face to face with another problem.”

“Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will.”

“Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better.”

“An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.”

“An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.”

“The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: ‘If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?’ But... the good Samaritan reversed the question: ‘If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?’ “

“At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love.”

“Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can't ride you unless your back is bent.”

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

“The art of acceptance is the art of making someone who has just done you a small favor wish that he might have done you a greater one.”

“Discrimination is a hellhound that gnaws at Negroes in every waking moment of their lives to remind them that the lie of their inferiority is accepted as truth in the society dominating them.”

“Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.”

“We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.”

“We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.”

“We must use time creatively.”

“We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people.”

“We will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

“Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality.”

“I am not interested in power for power's sake, but I'm interested in power that is moral, that is right and that is good.”

“Whatever your life's work is, do it well. A man should do his job so well that the living, the dead, and the unborn could do it no better.”

“Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.”

“We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear.”

“The quality, not the longevity, of one's life is what is important.”

“Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable... Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.”

“I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality... I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.”

“The moral arc of the universe bends at the elbow of justice.”

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

“Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'”

“The question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be... The nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.”

“The time is always right to do what is right.”

“The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict.”

“We are not makers of history. We are made by history.”

“If physical death is the price that I must pay to free my white brothers and sisters from a permanent death of the spirit, then nothing can be more redemptive.”

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

“There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love.”

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

“To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.”

“Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not cause the philanthropist to overlook the circumstances of economic injustice which make philanthropy necessary.”

“We have guided missiles and misguided men.”

“We may have all come on different ships, but we're in the same boat now.”

“We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.”

“If we are to go forward, we must go back and rediscover those precious values - that all reality hinges on moral foundations and that all reality has spiritual control.”

“It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important.”

“Law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress.”

“Pity may represent little more than the impersonal concern which prompts the mailing of a check, but true sympathy is the personal concern which demands the giving of one's soul.”

Thank you and let us remember not only the words but most importantly the actions Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered for us all in the name of liberty for all people.

Eric Saub

Advice To Live By

Advice To Live By

If you want your dreams to come true, don’t oversleep.

The smallest good deed is better than the grandest Intention.

Of all the things you wear, your expression is the most important.

The best vitamin for making friends is to be one.

The 10 commandments are not multiple choice.

The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts.

Minds are like parachutes… they function only when open.

Ideas won’t work unless you do.

One thing you can’t recycle is wasted time.

One who lacks the courage to start has already finished.

The heaviest thing to carry is a grudge.

Don’t learn safety rules by accident.

We lie the loudest when we lie to ourselves.

Jumping the conclusions can be bad exercise.

A turtle makes progress only when it sticks out its neck.

One thing you can give and still keep…your word.

A friend walks in when everyone else walks out.

The pursuit of happiness is the chase of a lifetime.

Author Unknown

Oregon Bad for Business

During the “Great Recession” (Dec 07 – June 09) the United States lost 271,553 or 3.52% of business establishments with employees. In Oregon we lost 5,349 or 4.72% ranking Oregon 42 out of 51.

Entrepreneurs fueled by private investor’s fuel economic growth through small business not the government. However if we are going to transform Oregon from a state of high unemployment and low opportunity into a thriving and prosperous state we need a state government that will stop oppressing job creators but instead create a welcoming environment  and unleash our abundance of natural and renewable resources.

They can start with lowing personal income and capital gains tax which are the highest in the country @ 11% as well as corporate income and capital gains that place 28^th in the nation at 7.6%.

Will My Generation Please Wake Up

When will the masses of my generation wake up and understand that they are entitled to nothing they do not earn? Instead of envying the fruit of other peoples labors they should rise to the challenges and participate in the journey to success that many of us call work. This is the land of freedom and opportunity not the land of the entitled. Instead of asking those who already carry the weight of our nation’s taxes on their shoulders to pay more they should start asking the government to do less for and start doing more on their own. Instead of demonizing business they should get out there find a need deliver value and learn what it is like to be an entrepreneur. Just stop blaming their shortcomings and failures on everyone and everything else and learn to accept correction and prosper.  

Eric Saub

Venture Capital Firms Can't Find Investors

Venture capitalists in the 3rd quarter raised less than half of the $3.5 billion collected in the same time last year. In fact the $1.7 billion raised in the 3rd quarter is the lowest sense 2003.

Considering the war that has been waged against entrepreneurs, businesses and investors this should be of no surprise. If we are seeking economic prosperity, increased opportunity and lower unemployment then we need to remove the government made barriers, challenges and cost that stand in the way of economic prosperity. Remember economic prosperity starts with entrepreneurs and our small businesses that are fueled by private, free market investors.

Eric Saub