I quit catechism when I was 8 because I asked a lot of questions and my all knowing Catholic priest told me I was not there to ask questions but I was there to listen and believe. I never went back.

And yes I do believe that people can make it on their own, my wife and I did. The problem is that you have the pols, the news and the general whining public telling you how hard and horrible everything is and most people believe it.

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"If you want the government to give you puppies and rainbows, don't pout when you're picking up dog shit in the rain"
--Skull Pilot


...being permitted to vote for politicians who enact unjust, oppressive new laws magically converts the stripes on prison shirts into emblems of freedom.
--James Bovard

It is not the function of our Government to keep the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the Government from falling into error.
-- U.S. Supreme Court, in American Communications Association v. Douds, 339 U.S. 382,442

Always and never are two words you should always remember never to use.
- Wendell Johnson

I do not believe in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance.
-- Thomas Carlyle