Ok, on to the policy stuff...

The Fair Tax (www.fairtax.org) is the biggest policy change to hit Washington since the New Deal. It is also the single biggest shift of power from government back to the people since our inception.

What is it? The Fair Tax basically replaces the entire income tax system with a consumption tax - good-bye IRS. I know it sounds crazy, but if you read about it you'll see that it actually makes pretty good sense. In fact, it is actually a bill before congress (HR25).

I won't rehash the specifics of the policy or the criticisms and rebuttals - you can read about those at the Fair Tax site or in the Fair Tax book. I will provide my list of why I can't live without it:

1. As a business owner and the husband of a self-employed wife, I have had it up to here with the headaches and the thousands of dollars and hours of my time trying to comply with income taxes as both an individual and an employer.
2. Every business decision we make is impacted by taxes. Heck, we invent new questions just to answer tax issues.
3. I have no idea how much money I make. Sure I have a gross income figure, but after federal income tax, self-employment tax (i.e. social security & medicare), state income taxes, my company's portion of social security, etc. not to mention property and other taxes, I'm not sure what's really left over. I don't think I want to know.

There are more to be sure, but all of the above will go away when this bill is passed. I have read everything I can about the bill and while I can't say with any certainty that the promise of prosperity and economic growth will be realized, I believe that it cannot be any worse than the current system and that is good enough for me!

What now? Write your congressman and tell him or her that this is an important issue to you. There are over 43 co-sponsors in the house already and the goal is 100. Find your representative here and get on your bike - TODAY!

Call it my Mantra - it's all about personal responsibility. This great country has passed it's mid-life crisis and is on the downhill side of life. That's ok, all empires have a shelf-life and we are no different. It's still a great country even if some things are FUBAR.

My biggest pet peeve is our growing culture of dependence and lack of personal responsibility - I could go on forever on this topic, but I'll spare you. This is where the biking comes in. I ride my bike to work - not every day, but about 2 days a week on average I gather up my gear and rain or shine, hot or cold, mount my aluminum steed and pedal my 13.1 miles to work.

The biggest hurdle is getting over how it's going to work. I put it off for months trying to figure out how to get everything to work and coming up with all sorts of excuses. So one day, I decided that I wasn't going to wait any more and I just did it. I didn't have a shower available at work and I didn't have any fancy bike equipment. I just did it despite all of the hurdles. It didn't work great at first, but I slowly improved my planning, route, equipment and even got access to a shower. Now, I'm a pro (well, almost).

I bike to work for a lot of reasons and depending on the day of the week each one varies in importance: environment, dependence on foreign oil, save money, exercise, etc. which all boils down to one very important concept... PEACE OF MIND! Happiness (for me anyway) basically comes down to living within yourself, self-reliance and personal resposibility.

Get on your bike and ride. Quit with the excuses and get on with it. It feels good and you will learn from it, no matter how many mistakes you make at first.