Who I Am

I’m an American, born and raised in Los Angeles.  I’m happily married (one time, almost 25 years) with 2 amazing children.   I’ve lived in 3 states and two countries.  I’ve traveled to more than 25 countries on four continents so far.  I have owned three businesses, two of which experienced enviable success.

I was raised by a Jewish family on my father’s side and an Italian Catholic family on my mother’s side.  I was much closer to my mother’s family, so they have had more influence on my life.

I have a classic Type-A personality.  I know what I want, and I go for it.  But I have a strong sense of values and family which always comes first.

My opinions are strong.  I am outspoken and not very concerned with political correctness.  Add to that the fact that I have a dry sense of humor, and I am often seen as cynical.  I believe that to be an incorrect assessment of me.  I am an incurable cautionary optimist.

I am not a writer.  I am not a politician.  I am not an economist.  But I have opinions to write about, many of which are about politics and economies.  This blog is my place to vent.  It is a journal of my thoughts of the world and the people in it as I see it all.

My Core Views

With respect to politics, I am registered as a Republican, but I am not a Republican.  I find myself often agreeing with Libertarians, but not enough that I would carry the party flag.  I very rarely, albeit occasionally, agree with liberal views.

I operate on the core belief that people are generally good, or at least operate with good intentions.  Some are not and do not, but I believe them to be a very, very small minority.  To legislate in such a way to tie the hands of all people in order to protect us from that small minority is wrong.

I don’t see business executives as evil people that should be punished for success.  I see them as people that are creating jobs both directly and indirectly.  I believe that lower taxes on business frees up investment capital and ultimately generates more tax revenue and more disposable income in circulation.

I believe with all my heart that anything managed by a government will be mismanaged.  A government and those that work in it lack incentive.  Additionally, the bigger an organization, the less efficient it can run.  With that in mind, I am against socialized medicine… especially based on my extensive experience in Europe.

So far I come across as a classic conservative.  Here is where we part ways.  I do not believe the government should be involved in issues of morality.  It should not legislate for or against abortion or gay marriage.  Whether I agree or disagree with gay marriage, for example, is of no consequence to my point.  The government should not make laws based on any specific religious view, it should make them based on the constitution.

I believe in freedom of religion, so far as that freedom causes no harm to others.  In recent years, that has somehow changed to freedom ‘from’ religion, which I am against.  In other words, You should be free to put your religious symbol in a public park, but don’t tell me I can’t put mine there, too.  If the cross is on a city seal, so be it.  The city seal does not need to represent all religions.  Don’t tell me that the schools can’t use the word God in the pledge of allegiance.  If a child feels strongly enough not to use that word, he can omit it, but on the same note, nobody should be forced not to use the word either.

There is no such thing as reverse racism.  There is just racism, and it goes in many directions.  I think it is good to try not to offend people, but I believe there is a limit, and I believe it must always cut both ways.  I am tired of wondering what the politically correct term for a specific group of people might be this year, be it race, religion, lifestyle, or ethnic group.  I am tired of the fact that a majority group gets slammed for disparaging remark, label or term toward the minority group,   but the minority group can say what they want.  I agree that you should be able to ask others not to refer to you in a certain way (within some limits), but for god’s sake, if you are not willing to treat others they way you demand to be treated, you have no platform to complain from.

I hate the term ‘Hate Crimes’.  If someone beats my child to within inches of their life, I believe it was a hate crime.  Why should the resulting punishment be different depending on my child’s designation as a certain category of human?

I believe we have become too litigious.  We are no longer willing to throw our hands up and say ‘Shit Happens’.  Whenever there is a problem, we focus on finding someone to blame more than dealing with the problem.  I don’t like living in a world where I can be sued if someone slips and falls in my house.  They should have been more careful.  I don’t think it is right that a restaurant should have a ‘watch your step’ sign, or that a cup of coffee should have a notice saying ‘contents may be hot’. Why do we still say ‘automobile accident’ when we are no longer willing to accept that it may have simply been an accident?

In a Nutshell…

I believe that as a society, we have taken our eye off the ball. We have become too caught up in trying to make all the people happy all the time.  We have lost our collective sense of personal responsibility.  I believe we have lost our way.  But I also believe that when we lose our way, eventually we find it again.

I’m Michael Kovnick.

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