Don't Tax Don't Spend

The smoke has cleared and we stand on the rubble of a demolished civilization. Millions have died.

We are in ruins. Mothers roam the streets, starving babies in their arms, begging for a drop of milk or

a crumb from a rich man’s plate.

They are shooed away. Oftentimes, they are shot for sport and their children are fed to the rich man’s dogs. In the ruins, hildren play with rats because they have no toys. Eventually, when the play is no longer an adequate distraction and the hunger is too great, they eat the rats. In one horrific action, they lose their toy… and their innocence as they learn that in this new world, you have to kill in order to stay alive. We live in this horror because you got a tax cut. I hope you’re happy. Bastard.

Yesterday, the US senate passed the $1.5 trillion tax cut bill. Several companies like Boeing, Wells Fargo, and AT&T among others reacted by giving their employees bonuses and raising their minimum wage to $15. That’ll kill a baby like nobody’s business.

The right is jumping up and down. The left is crying over this latest end of the world. Libertarians are shaking their heads wondering when the duocracy will address the real issue: spending. Nothing matters if we don’t cut spending. We run deficits every year. We have more debt than we’ll ever be able to pay. Giving us back some of our money doesn’t hurt anyone except the beast that feeds on our money. This beast is known as congress. They take our money to fund pork barrel projects in their districts and they act as if they’re doing it out of the kindness of their hearts. They point to these projects every 2 or 6 years and say, “Look what I did for you. Send me back to Washington!”

The tax cuts are a good thing. Spending cuts would be an even better thing. Cutting short the careers of these tax-and-spend demagogues would be the most effective way to tame the deficit and keep taxes low, but they wouldn’t vote to get off the gravy train. They know the debt doesn’t matter because it’ll be here long after they’re all dead. They know the only thing that matters is reelection. The only thing that matters is that you keep writing that check so they can keep spending it like the reckless fools they’ve proven themselves to be. Tax cuts threaten their existence and so they fight. The question is whether you’ll fight back.

Here’s how you fight back:

• Write your member of congress and tell them to cut spending and then go get a real job.
• Vote against the incumbent - whoever the incumbent happens to be.
• Run as a libertarian and disrupt the entire system.

My Dinner With Ron Paul

I am a relatively newly-minted libertarian. I grew up a republican, was very involved in republican party functions, serving as a committeeman, executive committee member, operative, campaign manager, and more. I have often said that I would have been a republican all my life if not for two little words: John McCain. McCain is essentially a democrat. Once he became the nominee, I knew I could no longer identify with that particular organization. I left the republican party, but they left me first.

Before my time in the wilderness, I had already started to feel us growing apart.Sure, McCain was the final straw, but there were others. There was W and his spending. I had long felt very uncomfortable with the endless wars and with supporting a president who never met a spending bill he didn’t love… and worse, sign into existence!

There was of course, the PATRIOT Act. And I was never comfortable with the term, “Compassionate Conservative.” It implied that I had been heartless and lacking in compassion. I didn’t think the man who took his country into two wars, one of which was entirely unnecessary, had the moral authority to define compassion.

So off I went into the wilderness where I wandered. I wrote off politics. I focused on other things, wrote a few screenplays, traveled a bit. Focused on my family. But I never lost interest. I hoped the republicans would find their way back to me. But they didn’t. The truth is they moved farther away… in a leftward direction as it were. While I moved in the direction of common sense. Alas, our relationship would never be restored to its former glory.

So I wandered some more. I read. I met a woman named Ayn and a man named Milton. They invited me to dinner; an intellectual banquet of sorts. There were many chefs who seemed to be there to prepare a feast just for me and my starving mind. A man named Ludwig was at the carving station and heaped raw meat on my plate. A nice man named Lao Tzu served up a spicy noodle-for-my-noodle dish. It was more than I could consume! Where had this place been all my life?

I took my overflowing plate and my cup, which had very nearly runneth over by this time. There was only one seat left in this entire banquet hall. It was at a table for two. A nice, older man sat at one of the seats. I asked him if he would mind me sitting with him. He smiled and motioned to the chair. I introduced myself. He smiled and told me his name was Ron Paul.

I began to gorge on the delicacies. I cleaned my plate and went back for more but it seemed I couldn’t tame my hunger and each time I went back to the buffet, there were new dishes prepared by new chefs.

Ron, my dining companion, nibbled on a cookie. He seemed dejected. I asked him what was wrong and he shrugged. He looked around the room and then at me and then down at the table and said, “Such a waste.”

I looked down at my plate, which was piled high and assured him nothing would be wasted. I would devour every last morsel.

He smiled. “Not you,” he said. “This. All of this. We are all here because of our beliefs and yet we accomplish nothing because we all want to be the smartest guy in the room.”

Ron wiped his hands with his napkin and asked me to follow him. We walked around the room, checking out the other diners. There were people of all races, all walks of life, all different age groups. There were businessmen in Brooks Brothers suits. There were hipsters. There were Christians, Muslims, Jews, atheists, and agnostics. I think I even saw a pastafarian.

I saw so much. I didn’t see the problem. So I asked my new friend what was troubling him. Ron explained that we were all there for the same reason. We were there because we were libertarians. We had great minds and people capable of achieving great things but we never would until we knocked the chip off our collective shoulder.

“What chip,” I asked.

“Libertarians have been outsiders since the party was formed in 1971. It served us well, since we were trying to change things. We knew those who were in power would never give up power. We would have to take it from them and give it back to the people in the form of freedom.”

“Sounds good to me,” I said. “I’ve been looking for this my whole life!”

Ron said, “It does sound good, but the way we’re acting right now, It’s probably never going to happen.” He must have seen the confused look on my face. He continued, “Libertarians have gotten so used to being outsiders that we don’t seem to be willing or able to do the things necessary to reach our goals. It seems most of us would rather retain our outsider status because we need something to complain about.”

Rather than attacking the problem, we attack one another. We call each other dirty names like, ‘Republican’ or ‘Democrat.’ We’re so busy trying to be the most libertarian guy in the room, we don’t bother to bring in new libertarians. So rather than a thriving political party and a viable third option, we’ve become a debate society.”

“That’s not so bad, is it?” I asked.

“It wouldn’t be so bad at all if we were debating our opponents. It would be great if we engaged them in the arena of ideas because I have no doubt we’ll win. But too many libertarians are so smug and high on their own superiority that they will only debate other libertarians. They can’t get their hands dirty with people of lesser philosophical inclinations.”

“So what you’re saying is that we don’t bother going toe-to-toe with the very people who we are supposed to be fighting against?” I asked.

“Correct. And since we don’t engage them, we don’t present our case. And since we don’t present our case, our opponents define us.”

“Which explains why people think we’re a bunch of kooks,” I mumbled. “The only thing the public at large knows about the libertarian party is what the left and right wings of the ruling party has told them about us; that we’re a bunch of stoners who only exist to tip presidential elections to the other side, whatever side that might be for them.”

“Now you’re understanding. Now you see why I’m not enjoying the banquet this evening,” said Ron, looking around and smiling wistfully.

“Ron, please. Tell me you know how to fix this!”

He looked at me for a moment, then looked at his watch. He shook my hand. “It’s up to you, and all of them, to fix it.”

Then he walked away and I was left alone. Now that I wasn’t focusing on Ron Paul, I would hear bits of the conversations happening around me. They were disheartening.

“Oh, you’re just a republican in libertarian clothing!” yelled one man.

“I bet you haven’t even read Hayek,” said a woman dismissively.

“Someone needs to explain the N.A.P. to this guy!” called another voice.

I heard another man talking about how he rejected the new tax plan because it didn’t go far enough and was too this and not enough that and blah blah blah… He sounded like a democrat, which was all right. He was right to feel how he felt. What he didn’t understand is that libertarians have earned nothing. We have to take our small victories (however they come) and build on them toward big victories. I tried to explain this to him but the man turned his back on me, telling me I was not libertarian enough to join the conversation.

A group of people who claim to all want the same thing, and yet they could get nothing done because they were too preoccupied with remaining pure. They want libertarian senators and governors and presidents but they’re not willing to first create libertarian council members and dog catchers. They want dessert before vegetables and they’re more concerned with being libertarian to the extreme - even if it means living in chains; the very chains they claim to abhor.

Being number two (three in our case) allows you to do things the big boys can’t do. You have nothing to lose. You can go all in, which will often result in spectacular victories and your failures will often go unnoticed. Libertarians have an incredible opportunity to define who we are. We need to show the world what we are, rather than proving it to ourselves and to one another.

Adolfo Jimenez is the Vice Chairman of the Libertarian Party of Broward County.

Taxation is Theft?

We’ve all seen the hashtag. Maybe you’ve seen a bumper sticker. Certainly a meme. The phrase has become ubiquitous. It’s also fun to say. But is it true? Is Taxation really Theft? It’s a question libertarians need to ask themselves.Are we right to resent every penny of taxes we are forced to pay? Or would it be more intellectually honest to only resent the wasteful portion? I know, the vast majority of the money we surrender to the government is wasted. But still…

I am a libertarian, to be sure. I believe in maximum freedom and the bare minimum of government. I believe we should have a strong defense, and that we can most effectively defend our country by not being engaged in endless war and occupying the world. I believe in educating young people. I just don’t think the $5+ trillion we have spent on the department of miseducation is the right way to do it. I believe our society is now such that we may never have the teeny tiny government most of us would want, but I know we are due for a reduction in the size and scope of government at all levels.

I want to be safe in my home, and I believe this can be achieved without the militarization of my local police. I believe a city the size of the one I live in can collect the garbage without needing to contract with 26 different trash-hauling companies (true story.) I believe the taxes I pay mean I shouldn’t have to give up two lanes of an interstate I use because the local powers figured out they can charge an additional toll for the use of those two lanes.

See, I don’t mind paying taxes. They are necessary. I do, however resent paying for sexual harassment settlements. I resent financing mistresses. I don’t see why I have to pay for people to travel first class to New York City to tell people there that we have beaches in Florida. I don’t want to pay for NPR. I don’t want to pay for someone to urinate on a statue of Jesus and call it art. If it’s art, let there be patrons. Picasso got by without the NEA, you’ll manage!

I don’t resent taxes, but I resent paying for waste.

I resent that members of congress live better than their constituents.

I resent that I pay for their premium, top-of-the-line healthcare while they dictate (unconstitutionally) what insurance I must carry.

I resent that members of congress have lush retirement plans even as they contemplate pillaging my 401 (k).

I resent that my tax dollars pay for illegal aliens to go to college while my kid has to work two jobs to finish his degree without drowning in debt.

I resent that whatever financial success I achieve is frowned upon by the very scoundrels who rely on the taxes generated by my success to continue their spending spree.

I resent that we are taxed at every turn and still manage to find ourselves $20 trillion in debt on a federal level and greedy cities and municipalities whine for more at the teet they’ve sucked nearly dry.

Is Taxation Theft? Not necessarily. Waste and abuse are most definitely theft. I believe most reasonable people are willing to shoulder a reasonable portion of the burden. I believe it’s unreasonable to expect them to watch you recklessly waste what they generously share with you and then demand more, calling them greedy when they want to keep what’s rightfully theirs.

I believe Americans have become battered housewives. Government is the abusive husband. He goes out boozing and whoring and doesn’t really care if there’s money enough for rent and milk. Then, he gets angry and beats us until we give up the little bit we’d saved up for Christmas gifts. Our friends and our conscience say we should leave him but we’ve convinced ourselves that he’s a good man going through a rough patch. He’ll change. Just give him time. Listen to his promises. He means it this time.

It’s time we traded in the housedress for high heels and did something about it. We can continue to demur and allow the drunken bastard to mistreat us, or we can replace him with a younger, better-looking new guy who will appreciate us. Divorce day is coming in November. Get your lipstick!

Composure and Credibility

I’ve spent over 20 years in the event business. I’ve been a waiter, a coordinator, planner, and provider. I’ve worked events ranging from baby showers to carnivals, corporate meetings, weddings… name it, I probably have done it.

And no matter how many events I work, no matter how diverse the attendees, no matter what the aim of the event is, there is one universal truth: someone is drowning in a glass of water, unable to handle the pressure, and is in a panic.

The first problem with panicking is that it destroys your credibility. I understand the pressure is real. I understand timetables. I know you have a lot of plates spinning. I just don’t care about your little problems because they are manageable.

When you panic, it makes it near impossible for you to focus. If you’re panicking, you’ve lost confidence, so you no longer have confidence in your staff. You’re trying to do their job for them. Now one person is doing the work of the many, and very likely doing it badly, while the many are standing around with nothing to do.

I’ve seen this enough to know that there are usually a few reasons why this happens.

Disorganization. Yes, it’s an obvious one, but a common one. Countless times, I’ve heard everyone from the coordinator to the florist, asking where their whatever is. Of course, things will get misplaced. The important thing is to make sure you brought the thing in the first place. And then try not to misplace it.

Tardiness. Tardiness wrecks credibility. On time is late. Especially when you’re supposed to be in charge. Especially when you know things will go wrong. You owe it to your client, to your crew and to yourself to be early. Like, way early.

I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I’ve waited for a planner to show up only to arrive a few minutes before showtime, in a panic, barking orders at people. As we like to say: A lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.

The need for attention. Too often, people want the attention that comes with being in charge. They love being the driving force, even if it means they’re driving everyone crazy. Perhaps they make mountains out of molehills because they think people will be impressed by their boundless energy. They want to give the impression that they are successfully navigating through the tempest they created in their own little teapot. More likely people will be put off by their frenetic display of incompetence. People who act this way in front of clients rarely get rehired.

Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe these people just don’t know what the hell they’re doing.

I’ve chosen event planners because they are a familiar example but the same rules apply to any position in any industry. Losing your composure will hurt your career and your standing with your peers. The easiest way to avoid losing it is by being organized and on time. It really is this simple.

Here’s how:

Plan the work and work the plan. There is no excuse to not have a schedule. You can use a paper one. There is a schedule on your phone. GMail provides a schedule. NO EXCUSES. Plan every minute of your day. I understand that there will be unexpected phone calls, client visits, problems, and the like. I understand these hiccups will get you sidetracked. No matter. Put out the fire and get back on schedule. Schedule the time you go to sleep and the time you wake up. Schedule the time you get on the road in the morning. Schedule your mealtimes. Schedule everything. Give it a try. I promise, it’ll be life changing.

Easy tips to not destroy your credibility by drowning in a glass of water:

1. Be on time. Late people suck. You should know that if you’re late, people are talking about you and it ain’t pretty. Being early gives you a chance to assess the situation in real-time and to brief your crew. I recently set up an event at a local country club. Simple affair for about 25 people. We were early. The problem was that the prior event that had used the room wasn’t done yet. Our event was an upscale birthday party for a 14 year-old girl. The event wrapping up was a golf tournament. We had to work around them. So we not only had to set up a party in a short window, we had to work around a bunch of sweaty drunk men who were lying about their golf scores and claiming their silent auction prizes. Had we been disorganized or late, we would have never gotten the room set on time.
2. Prepare in advance. You should be ready for whatever it is by no later than the night before.
3. Write out a plan. Put it on paper and make sure anyone who could conceivably need a copy has a copy. I say paper because it’s reliable. Paper doesn’t need to be charged. Paper doesn’t require wi-fi. Paper will serve you whether you are a Mac or a PC. By all means, rely on your tablet if you must, but please have a paper backup.
4. Be organized. Know what goes where and who should be doing what. You don’t want people standing around doing nothing anymore than you want them running around doing everything… or worse, not knowing what they’re doing.
5. Remain calm. This ain’t rocket surgery or brain science. No one will die if something goes wrong. All you have to do if the train goes off the rails is remain calm, get the train back on the rails, and get the job done.

So get out there and do the job without the drama. You can. Drop me a line if I can help or to share your insights. You can always find me at adolfo@adolfojimenez.com

Adolfo Jimenez lives in Hollywood, Florida, and is a Certified Speaker, Trainer, and Coach with the John Maxwell Company.  He consults with entrepreneurs and businesses, primarily in the areas of customer service and sales. 

He is the Director of Someone To Laugh At, a stand up comedy workshop; HostAnOpenMic.com, and CruisingWithComedians.com; Adolfo is the co-owner of Abdaliz Custom Bakery, which you can visit at www.abdaliz.com.

He can be reached at adolfo@adolfojimenez.com

  

Nicky and the Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Manager

It was our first night out of the year. We went somewhere we'd never been before. Kid's choice. They wanted to go to a Mexican restaurant.

I complied. They had me at guacamole.

Our server, a young man named Nicky, came by and explained how all the food was made to order from scratch. He boasted about the amazing, hand-crafted margaritas. I should note that unless you are on a cruise ship, I don't know of any beverages that are not hand-crafted... but I digress. It all sounded wonderful. We ordered drinks, nothing hand-crafted, just sodas and water. A few minutes later, we had our drinks and placed our orders. Easy!

A fairly long time passed before our hand-crafted food arrived. We weren't offered refills, hot sauces, additional napkins, or anything else. I was sure this would be handled shortly... It wasn't.

We finished our meals and we waited. And we waited... Nicky shows up. I ask for drinks,,, and we waited

Nicky returns and asks is there is anything else we needed. I asked for drinks again. Not because we were especially thirsty, but because we had never received them. He proceeded to tell me someone was supposed to have brought them. I knew that. I told him, but no one had.

Nicky is a young man, but he's not too young to understand the concept of responsibility. Your table, your fault. It's that simple.

Another twenty minutes go by before we get our water. Yes. Twenty more minutes for water. Another fifteen for the check. You see where this is going. He took my credit card and vanished. I wouldn't have minded so much if he'd literally vanished. This would be a better story. I got up and went looking for him. Never good for you as a waiter if your customer has to come looking for you. He was outside. Not having a smoke break or anything. He was assigned tables outside. What kind of station covers this much real estate? An ill-conceived one.

I was angry. No tip for Nicky. Altogether, I spent over ninety minutes in a fairly empty restaurant. I wanted to complain to the boss, but he was nowhere to be found.

Nicky was punished for his inefficiency, sure. But he was also punished because he works for a crappy manager. To explain:

The manager led us to a table and informed us the server would be with us shortly. He then apologized to the people in the next booth. This proves the problems started long before I developed my hankering for guacamole! I find four pretty obvious lessons in this situation:

Lesson 1: Don't just apologize, fix the problem. Take ownership. Just because you're the shift boss, or the G.M. or the CEO, doesn't mean you're above carrying drinks or wiping down tables. Or bringing me my guacamole, for that matter. If you are the waiter and your team fails, don't blame them; apologize the customer, fix the problem, and then address it with your team. Leadership is relevant at every level.

Lesson 2: Logistics matter in every business. Nicky's tables were hundreds of feet apart but the booth immediately next to ours was handled by a different server. Why? It's hard to explain the way this restaurant was laid out but there was so much empty space that the sections occurred naturally. Why complicate it by giving poor Nicky one table here in Florida and another in Canada?

Lesson 3: Use your resources. Staffing was not a problem. There were at least 8 servers on staff for four occupied tables in our section. There were maybe three or four more occupied tables outside. That's it. Because the manager did a lousy job of directing his staff, service suffered.  I am never going back to this restaurant. I have told my friends, plus thousands of people on TripAdvisor and other social media, that this restaurant should be avoided. This will negatively impact the owner of the business and the people who rely on the restaurant for their livelihoods.

Lesson 4: Everything is your job! Stop trying to act like your above the menial work of a waiter. You're not. No one is. Walt Disney walked around his parks picking up scraps of paper. Michael Eisner did the same. Marcus Lemonis can clean toilets. You can bring me my salsa! You can refill my water and bring me a fresh napkin. You can be more than a piece of living modern art.


These things aren't complicated. The difference between a happy customer and one who writes an article like this, is simple. It's as simple as stopping by the table and asking if everything is okay. It's as simple as refilling a water glass. It's as simple as knowing that even though you are a leader, the most important part of your job is to serve.



Adolfo Jimenez is an Independent Certified Speaker, Trainer, and Coach with The John Maxwell Company. He is also the Director of The Comedy Shack Standup Comedy Workshop. 

If you'd like to learn more about Adolfo, you may visit his website at www.adolfojimenez.com or follow him on Twitter: @adolfojimenez .