The time has come to get rid of our elected officials! The Founders believed in government service, not government careers. The elected officials have abused their powers and made it so lucrative that they never want to leave. They forgot where they came from and IF they return, it's not continue to the life they left behind in the community, it's to retire on the backs of the tax payers they are supposed to be representing. Our elected representatives are supposed to go to Washington to represent the people of their districts. I missed the spot in the Constitution where once they get elected we never see them again, well until reelection. Why was there limits put on the President but not Congress. In Nevada, our state officials all have term limits. In the Founders wisdom, they missed one thing, term limits. The precedent set by President Washington by stepping down after two term could be summed up by his Farewell Address, where he said "...cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people, and to usurp for themselves the reins of government; destroying afterwards the very engines, which have lifted them to unjust dominion." he continues "repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of Public Liberty." He continues warning of the dangers, "...habits of thinking in a free country should inspire caution, in those entrusted with its administration, to confine themselves within their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding in the exercise of the powers of one department to encroach upon another. The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all departments in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of government, a real despotism. A just estimate of that love of power, and proneness to abuse it, which predominates in the human heart, is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position." That to me sounds like the perfect reason that term limits should have been included. Take a look at the most senior member of the majority party in the Senate right now. Senator Byrd has been in the Senate so long that he actually was a Senator when the Civil Rights legislation wa on the Senate floor. It just so happens that Senator Byrd also attempted to filibuster that legislation.
Until the 17th Amendment to the United States Constitution, Senator were chosen by the individual states legislatures. This is a much better system, politics are better the closer to home you get. Most states have term limits on their state legislators and that would keep the Senate with fresh members. The 17th Amendment should be repealed, let the states pick their Senators. The Founders did not intend for the people to vote directly for the Senators. The House of Representatives is designed to represent the people, that is why it is the most numerous branch of Congress. The House of Representatives has 435 districts spread out across the country, designed to "represent" the voters of those districts. The Senate on the other hand is designed to represent the state as a whole. The popularly elected state legislators would then decide who would best represent the state's best interest in Washington, not necessarily the people. The Senate is comprised of two members from each state, to ensure every state has an equal vote. The House is broken down by population, states will gain and lose House members based on the outcome of this year's census, representing the people.
The election of the President and Vice President has itself become flawed and has gotten away from the original intent of the Founders. I'm not sure exactly sure why the Founders didn't trust the people or elected officials to choose the President. Probably the same reason they made two houses of Congress, one representing the population and the other representing the states. I'm not against the electoral college, just the winner take all method.
We need to get back to the Constitution, to follow it and to stop the government bureaucracy from growing and looking after it's own interests instead of the people that put them there. It has gotten so bad, we don't even realize how much of our liberty we have lost. The Founders would be very disappointed that we let things get so out of whack. Research your candidates, find out what they are about and what they have done. I can't blame (well I can) people for voting for Obama, our country was in bad shape and he campaigned on "hope & change" but never told us what that meant, maybe that's why everybody ate it up. We never looked into what Obama stood for, we could have learned that he was a radical at heart, following the Saul Alinsky model (he even taught it) and wanting to change our country. Everybody thought he meant transparency, working on both sides of the aisle not transforming the United States into a European Socialist country.
I'm in favor of competency tests to allow people to vote. People need to become educated about their candidates and their stances. People need to know how the government works, what the Founders believed in when they created this great nation. I feel that the biggest reason people voted for Obama is ignorance, they are ignorant of political issues and political stances and voted on the basis of "hope & change". They thought they were voting against the Bush policies and practices, not a fast forward version. We can make changes, it's not too late; all members of the House of Representative are up for reelection this year and 1/3 of the Senators. Do your homework, don't be an ignorant voter!
Friday, January 29, 2010
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Political Climate
The political climate in America is still asking for change. A majority of Americans thought they were voting for that change last November, the only problem is they didn't realize what change they were voting for at the time. The fundamental change then candidate Obama was talking about was away from our roots, our founding and towards the European socialism. Voters in the very liberal Massachusetts voted once again for change, only this time it was for a change back towards our founding. When the bluest of bluest states votes red in the midst of the health care debacle; the political climate is changing. Let's hope that the administration will listen to the people, let's hope that Congress will listen to the people. I hope that the Democrats will see the results of the Massachusetts Senatorial election as a wake up call that America doesn't want the socialist change they are trying to shove down our throats. I hope that the Democrats finally see how the progressives have hijacked their party and battle to take it back. I hope the Democrats see this as an opportunity to start working across the aisle and listening to ideas from across the aisle.
I love to see the country waking up on the "right" side of the bed, to see that government interference denies liberty, never protects it. That the government can't continue to spend like they have no limits (they did just raise the debt ceiling) with no consequences. That the government must be held accountable to the people who elect them. The democrats lost their semi super majority (I say semi because it was always 67 to block a filibuster, until that was to hard to obtain so they lowered it and now some liberals want to lower it again) and can't break a Republican filibuster so now it appears they want to play nice. Rumors have been flying around about whether the Democrats would delay the election certification until after the health care vote, try and force the House to pass the Senate bill so the Senate wouldn't get another vote and a number of other tactics. It now looks like they won't delay the Senator elect's seating and might actually attempt to work on some real health care reform. The part that concerns me is the number of Democratic Congressmen that have announced their retirement and the large number that are in trouble with reelection in their districts. Normally, hearing something like that would usually make me happy; I don't feel happy when I hear this. I'm concerned with what these lame ducks might try and pull off before they ride off into the sunset with a taxpayer funded retirement. I'm worried that there is a deceptiCon out there that will flip flop and give the liberals the cloture vote. I'm worried that the majority will use reconciliation to shove the health care bill down our throats (reconciliation only allows to approve the taxes, there's no legislative language and it's only good for 5 years). I'm worried that these politicians know they are in trouble; no they are not going to be reelected and want to leave their mark on American history. The way FDR is portrayed in the history books, why not try and put your name next to his.
I love to see the country waking up on the "right" side of the bed, to see that government interference denies liberty, never protects it. That the government can't continue to spend like they have no limits (they did just raise the debt ceiling) with no consequences. That the government must be held accountable to the people who elect them. The democrats lost their semi super majority (I say semi because it was always 67 to block a filibuster, until that was to hard to obtain so they lowered it and now some liberals want to lower it again) and can't break a Republican filibuster so now it appears they want to play nice. Rumors have been flying around about whether the Democrats would delay the election certification until after the health care vote, try and force the House to pass the Senate bill so the Senate wouldn't get another vote and a number of other tactics. It now looks like they won't delay the Senator elect's seating and might actually attempt to work on some real health care reform. The part that concerns me is the number of Democratic Congressmen that have announced their retirement and the large number that are in trouble with reelection in their districts. Normally, hearing something like that would usually make me happy; I don't feel happy when I hear this. I'm concerned with what these lame ducks might try and pull off before they ride off into the sunset with a taxpayer funded retirement. I'm worried that there is a deceptiCon out there that will flip flop and give the liberals the cloture vote. I'm worried that the majority will use reconciliation to shove the health care bill down our throats (reconciliation only allows to approve the taxes, there's no legislative language and it's only good for 5 years). I'm worried that these politicians know they are in trouble; no they are not going to be reelected and want to leave their mark on American history. The way FDR is portrayed in the history books, why not try and put your name next to his.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Health care letter to Titus
Below is another letter written to Rep Titus about health care.
I am writing you again, to urge you to make the right decision on the health care bill. You can not support this bill; this bill is bad for America, bad for Americans and bad for Nevadans. This bill does nothing to help control rising health care costs. The bill has no tort reform, has no portability or even interstate purchase of insurance policies. As a business owner, this bill will create more harm. I provide part of my employee's health insurance, under this plan I would be taxed for not providing enough insurance. So, while I'm trying to help out with their insurance, I'm going to be penalized for not providing enough insurance by having to pay a new tax. So on top of paying health care premiums I now have to pay a tax. That leaves me with a couple options; increase prices and lose more business. I could also lay off about a third of my employees to make up the difference, I could even just except it and try to still make a profit or drop the insurance that I currently provide to them. The option I will follow is laying off more workers, adding to the staggering number of people that are unemployed as well as dropping the insurance I provide to them.
Besides the fact that this health care reform does little to actually reform the problems with the health care industry, it is unconstitutional. As a former history teacher, I have read the Constitution, I have taught the Constitution and no where in the document that our country was founded on, does it give the power to anyone to make Americans purchase a good or service. No where in the Constitution does it allow for health care, taking my money to pay for someone else violates my right to private property and my general welfare. How come that hasn't come up in the debate? Senators DeMint and Ensign had it right when they brought the unconstitutionality of the health care bill to the Senate floor. Failure to keep health insurance will now be a crime, enforced by the IRS. Penalties include fines and jail time. So now anyone that doesn't pay for their health care is a criminal? That is not my America, it shouldn't be anyone's.
Another problem with this bill is when it starts. I have to start paying taxes and fees on this bill 4 years before its implemented. No wonder it came under a $1 trillion, that's easy to do if you collect money for 10 years but only pay for 6. What happens to my employees? I mentioned that to stay in business I would drop my insurance plan that I provide to my employees. If I drop my insurance when the taxes kick in, my employees would have to wait 4 years to get affordable coverage, how does that help? What about all the cuts to Medicare? How does that help improve the quality of health care?
Health care does need reform, but real reform. You can't throw some massive 2,000 page bill at it and hope it makes it better. The only thing this bill does is create more beaucracy, more taxes and more government mandates. Health care is far too important; it should be handled slowly and with purpose. Break it down into smaller bills, one to reform that abuse and fraud, one to address costs, one to address tort reform. There are many constitutional ways to reform health insurance. Cramming a half baked scheme past an unwilling public is not the way America is designed to work.
You still have a chance to make it right, do not support this. If you cave in a vote for the party again, I will do everything in my power to make sure you don't get another trip to Washington. I will actively campaign against you; beat the sidewalks to let everyone know how you stand. This bill is bad for America, you must stop it.
I am writing you again, to urge you to make the right decision on the health care bill. You can not support this bill; this bill is bad for America, bad for Americans and bad for Nevadans. This bill does nothing to help control rising health care costs. The bill has no tort reform, has no portability or even interstate purchase of insurance policies. As a business owner, this bill will create more harm. I provide part of my employee's health insurance, under this plan I would be taxed for not providing enough insurance. So, while I'm trying to help out with their insurance, I'm going to be penalized for not providing enough insurance by having to pay a new tax. So on top of paying health care premiums I now have to pay a tax. That leaves me with a couple options; increase prices and lose more business. I could also lay off about a third of my employees to make up the difference, I could even just except it and try to still make a profit or drop the insurance that I currently provide to them. The option I will follow is laying off more workers, adding to the staggering number of people that are unemployed as well as dropping the insurance I provide to them.
Besides the fact that this health care reform does little to actually reform the problems with the health care industry, it is unconstitutional. As a former history teacher, I have read the Constitution, I have taught the Constitution and no where in the document that our country was founded on, does it give the power to anyone to make Americans purchase a good or service. No where in the Constitution does it allow for health care, taking my money to pay for someone else violates my right to private property and my general welfare. How come that hasn't come up in the debate? Senators DeMint and Ensign had it right when they brought the unconstitutionality of the health care bill to the Senate floor. Failure to keep health insurance will now be a crime, enforced by the IRS. Penalties include fines and jail time. So now anyone that doesn't pay for their health care is a criminal? That is not my America, it shouldn't be anyone's.
Another problem with this bill is when it starts. I have to start paying taxes and fees on this bill 4 years before its implemented. No wonder it came under a $1 trillion, that's easy to do if you collect money for 10 years but only pay for 6. What happens to my employees? I mentioned that to stay in business I would drop my insurance plan that I provide to my employees. If I drop my insurance when the taxes kick in, my employees would have to wait 4 years to get affordable coverage, how does that help? What about all the cuts to Medicare? How does that help improve the quality of health care?
Health care does need reform, but real reform. You can't throw some massive 2,000 page bill at it and hope it makes it better. The only thing this bill does is create more beaucracy, more taxes and more government mandates. Health care is far too important; it should be handled slowly and with purpose. Break it down into smaller bills, one to reform that abuse and fraud, one to address costs, one to address tort reform. There are many constitutional ways to reform health insurance. Cramming a half baked scheme past an unwilling public is not the way America is designed to work.
You still have a chance to make it right, do not support this. If you cave in a vote for the party again, I will do everything in my power to make sure you don't get another trip to Washington. I will actively campaign against you; beat the sidewalks to let everyone know how you stand. This bill is bad for America, you must stop it.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Liberal Fallacy
The liberal fallacy is something, like most fallacies, that does not make any sense. What makes liberals think they know what's best for everyone? I must have missed the class where they taught how to be smarter than everyone else. The liberal fallacy begins with the simple fact that they "know" better than everyone else, especially what YOU should do with your life. Let's go back in time, the founding fathers began a revolution to break free of the persecution of the crown. The King of England, all the way across the Atlantic, knew what was best for the colonists and enacted laws to enforce what was best for the colonists. No wonder they revolted. How is someone all the way across the ocean going to know what's best for those in the new world? The King never even set foot in America, but he knew better. The liberals today have a lot in common with the King of England, they think they know whats best. The liberals of today are the same type of person that Thomas Paine warned about in "Common Sense", that they would be the biggest threat to democracy. What goes on in the mind of a liberal that makes them "believe" that they know whats best? A big argument used by liberals if for the greater good. How is denying people liberty for the greater good? The liberals want to control every aspect of your life. They start small, sin taxes on things that aren't good for you. Warning labels on products that should be common sense. Cigarettes are bad for you. This product may cause cancer. Don't leave your child unsupervised. Wear your seat belt. These may be little items, but it is just the start. A label warning of dirty language, or objectionable material may seem harmless, but it's a grab at control of society, to control how people act. What happened to me deciding what to let my children watch or play with or eat? The family unit should decide what's best for THEIR family.
Liberals believe that people are to stupid to make there own decisions or live their own lives. You don't know how to save your money for retirement, we will take your money (no choice in the matter) and put it away for you, so when you retire it's there for you (unfortunately, they didn't put it into an account for you, but the treasury's general fund, to be used for anything "they" want). Since it's not the fault of the unemployed, let's take your money to pay for them, again no choice in what to do with your hard earned money, no reason to teach or train these people to be productive members of society, just give them the money. If liberals don't like something or something might be harmful to you, it's their job to make sure no one does that. There are laws that won't let you smoke in your OWN apartment. There are laws banning trans fat products. There are laws that say you must wear your seatbelt. There are laws that require cars to have breathalizers hooked to the ignition, not to stop repeat DUI offenders, but anyone that might have a drink and drive home. I'm not advocating drinking and driving, wouldn't it be easier to keep the person convicted of DUI from having a drivers license then assuming everyone is going to drive drunk? Once again it's about controlling how people think and act.
My favorite part of the liberal fallacy is the hypocrisy. Liberals don't want anyone to smoke cigarettes or drink alcohol so they apply sin taxes to those products to discourage people from purchasing them. If they get their way and everyone were to quit smoking, they lose all the tax revenue generated from those products. Have the tax happy liberals even thought about that? I think not, why be bothered by the details, it will work itself out. Liberals also believe in the redistribution of wealth, they implement tax brackets to take more from those who have achieved more than others and create class distinction and class struggle. If the liberals were so great at running others lives, how come there are so many problems in the inner cities? Liberals have their run there with all their social programs, which don't work. They work at keeping people down and creating conflict rather than trying to solve the problem. They tax the companies that provide jobs and are the backbone of the country. They tax the business and the business owner, those that produce the goods and services that make our country run. Liberals tax employers and employees, forcing capitalists to look abroad to make profits. Don't get me wrong, liberals don't want to tax everything, imports for example. They would rather have cheaper foreign goods on the American market, than the American made products. Another good example is illegal immigrants, they don't pay any taxes on wages, no social security, unemployment tax, FICA, FUTA, but that's ok with them. It's not about helping America as much as not offending other countries.
The liberal goal is to create a nation that is dependent on government. Everyone has to look to the government for food, clothing, housing, transportation and employment. The liberals even want to tell everyone how to think. Those that make profits are evil, they are trying to screw over everyone just to make a dollar. The liberals would like to see those nasty capitalists go away, leave your money but go away. Here's the hypocrisy again, if they run all the people that actually produce out of the country or take away the incentive to produce, who's going to provide for the dependent class? Remember they can't take care of themselves, someone else has to. If the reward of a profit is taken away, who is going to take the risk? Remember the old saying "risk vs reward"? Is the reward great enough to take the risk? I guess the old saying "from each according to his ability to each according to his needs" comes into play, much like in early 1900's Russia (that's a quote from Karl Marx for you liberals that don't know where it came from).
Liberals in Congress have now even thrown the Constitution out the window. I know all the libs out there will throw out that the previous administration trampled on the Constitution with the Patriot Act (it's the only one they can point to), but the current administration has done nothing to repeal the Patriot Act. But they do make up powers that don't appear in the Constitution to push their agenda, or point to the Commerce Clause to cover anything you want to cram down the citizen's throats. The liberals are even making up rights that don't exist or pointing to wording in the Preamble to push their agenda. The two biggest threats to our liberties (we have lost quite a few already and it's getting worse) are the health care sham and cap and trade. I dare anyone to show me where in the Constitution of the United States of America that Congress, the President or the Supreme Court has the right to make anyone buy a good or service. It's frightening to think that a United States Senator can stand up and say that health care is a right. I must have missed that Amendment in the Bill of RIGHTS. How much is enough? Health care is a right, home ownership is a right, food is a right, transportation is a right, childcare is a right, clothing is a right even internet access is a right. Notice the only thing that liberals don't think is a right is a job!
Liberal hypocrisy knows no bounds, let's look at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, government ran home lending firms. The government made home lenders make questionable loans to high risk people and guess what happened, wait everyone has heard about the housing troubles except maybe the liberals. So what does the administration do? Remove the cap off of the $400 billion ceiling to the government backed home lending firms, meaning that taxpayers are now on the hook for an unlimited amount of money. Unlike the evil GM corp, which the government took control of, Obama didn't fire the executives at Fannie and Freddie (like he did at GM and AIG). He didn't even limit the pay of those executives who will still make millions per year, unlike the banking industry where Obama's pay czar stepped in to limit the pay of PRIVATE companies. Obama didn't even take the millions in bonuses from these executives like he did to other PRIVATE companies.
I think I can reasonably come to one of two conclusions: 1. Liberals were brain damaged at an early age and can't think logically or 2. liberals are all communists, socialists, facists or progressives. Either way, we can not let these liberty hating people ruin the greatest country in the world.
Liberals believe that people are to stupid to make there own decisions or live their own lives. You don't know how to save your money for retirement, we will take your money (no choice in the matter) and put it away for you, so when you retire it's there for you (unfortunately, they didn't put it into an account for you, but the treasury's general fund, to be used for anything "they" want). Since it's not the fault of the unemployed, let's take your money to pay for them, again no choice in what to do with your hard earned money, no reason to teach or train these people to be productive members of society, just give them the money. If liberals don't like something or something might be harmful to you, it's their job to make sure no one does that. There are laws that won't let you smoke in your OWN apartment. There are laws banning trans fat products. There are laws that say you must wear your seatbelt. There are laws that require cars to have breathalizers hooked to the ignition, not to stop repeat DUI offenders, but anyone that might have a drink and drive home. I'm not advocating drinking and driving, wouldn't it be easier to keep the person convicted of DUI from having a drivers license then assuming everyone is going to drive drunk? Once again it's about controlling how people think and act.
My favorite part of the liberal fallacy is the hypocrisy. Liberals don't want anyone to smoke cigarettes or drink alcohol so they apply sin taxes to those products to discourage people from purchasing them. If they get their way and everyone were to quit smoking, they lose all the tax revenue generated from those products. Have the tax happy liberals even thought about that? I think not, why be bothered by the details, it will work itself out. Liberals also believe in the redistribution of wealth, they implement tax brackets to take more from those who have achieved more than others and create class distinction and class struggle. If the liberals were so great at running others lives, how come there are so many problems in the inner cities? Liberals have their run there with all their social programs, which don't work. They work at keeping people down and creating conflict rather than trying to solve the problem. They tax the companies that provide jobs and are the backbone of the country. They tax the business and the business owner, those that produce the goods and services that make our country run. Liberals tax employers and employees, forcing capitalists to look abroad to make profits. Don't get me wrong, liberals don't want to tax everything, imports for example. They would rather have cheaper foreign goods on the American market, than the American made products. Another good example is illegal immigrants, they don't pay any taxes on wages, no social security, unemployment tax, FICA, FUTA, but that's ok with them. It's not about helping America as much as not offending other countries.
The liberal goal is to create a nation that is dependent on government. Everyone has to look to the government for food, clothing, housing, transportation and employment. The liberals even want to tell everyone how to think. Those that make profits are evil, they are trying to screw over everyone just to make a dollar. The liberals would like to see those nasty capitalists go away, leave your money but go away. Here's the hypocrisy again, if they run all the people that actually produce out of the country or take away the incentive to produce, who's going to provide for the dependent class? Remember they can't take care of themselves, someone else has to. If the reward of a profit is taken away, who is going to take the risk? Remember the old saying "risk vs reward"? Is the reward great enough to take the risk? I guess the old saying "from each according to his ability to each according to his needs" comes into play, much like in early 1900's Russia (that's a quote from Karl Marx for you liberals that don't know where it came from).
Liberals in Congress have now even thrown the Constitution out the window. I know all the libs out there will throw out that the previous administration trampled on the Constitution with the Patriot Act (it's the only one they can point to), but the current administration has done nothing to repeal the Patriot Act. But they do make up powers that don't appear in the Constitution to push their agenda, or point to the Commerce Clause to cover anything you want to cram down the citizen's throats. The liberals are even making up rights that don't exist or pointing to wording in the Preamble to push their agenda. The two biggest threats to our liberties (we have lost quite a few already and it's getting worse) are the health care sham and cap and trade. I dare anyone to show me where in the Constitution of the United States of America that Congress, the President or the Supreme Court has the right to make anyone buy a good or service. It's frightening to think that a United States Senator can stand up and say that health care is a right. I must have missed that Amendment in the Bill of RIGHTS. How much is enough? Health care is a right, home ownership is a right, food is a right, transportation is a right, childcare is a right, clothing is a right even internet access is a right. Notice the only thing that liberals don't think is a right is a job!
Liberal hypocrisy knows no bounds, let's look at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, government ran home lending firms. The government made home lenders make questionable loans to high risk people and guess what happened, wait everyone has heard about the housing troubles except maybe the liberals. So what does the administration do? Remove the cap off of the $400 billion ceiling to the government backed home lending firms, meaning that taxpayers are now on the hook for an unlimited amount of money. Unlike the evil GM corp, which the government took control of, Obama didn't fire the executives at Fannie and Freddie (like he did at GM and AIG). He didn't even limit the pay of those executives who will still make millions per year, unlike the banking industry where Obama's pay czar stepped in to limit the pay of PRIVATE companies. Obama didn't even take the millions in bonuses from these executives like he did to other PRIVATE companies.
I think I can reasonably come to one of two conclusions: 1. Liberals were brain damaged at an early age and can't think logically or 2. liberals are all communists, socialists, facists or progressives. Either way, we can not let these liberty hating people ruin the greatest country in the world.
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